Technologies

Google 3D animals: How to conjure AR animals with Google search and more

With Google’s 3D objects, you can put virtual animals in your real world. (Plus some other options.)

Feeling bored? Put a virtual animal in your home. One thing that might have felt like a passing fad but still gets people’s attention (at least according to the new likes on my old Twitter thread about it) is this list of augmented-reality animals that I dropped into the real world through Google search. That’s right. AR animals, now that we’re all becoming stay-at-home people for a while and can’t go to zoos or pet shops, are a thing. Google has added even more AR searchable things like skeletons and microscopic cell structures, but animals (and dinosaurs) are probably more adorable.

If you’ve been curious and haven’t tried it yet, I have some tips.

First I saw some news stories linking to my Twitter thread. Then, my first-grader son asked what another kid was doing on his school video chat: It turns out she was making a cat appear on her head, and in her room, all via AR. It’s because of them — and you — that I’m giving you my guide on How to Make Magic Animals Appear.

The easy way is directly below. Keep scrolling for two other methods to put virtual animals in your mixed-reality world.

window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel(‘%c One Trust ‘, «Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5»);

First off, the easy way

Google put 3D objects into Google search over a year ago. To find them, you need to search on Google for the right ones. Think of an animal. Type it in. See what happens. Google has a lot of animals, and also some space objects like planets and satellites via NASA. And the list of 3D objects may increase, based on indications from Google and Apple.

First make sure you have an AR-ready device. For iPhones and iPads, you’ll need iOS 11 or higher. And that’s not older than an iPhone 6S or SE, or a third-gen iPad Air, or fifth-gen iPad, or any iPad Pro. Or, a seventh-gen iPod Touch. (Yes, Apple’s model naming gets super confusing.)

Android phones need to be ARCore compatible, which includes a lot of models running Android 7 or later. Here’s a helpful list of all the phones that 9to5Google compiled.

Then launch Google Chrome (or Safari on an iPhone or iPad), search for your animal — it doesn’t have to just be a tiger — and somewhere on the page will be a Google information box that also has a «View in 3D» button.

Click on it, then a viewer will appear showing where you can place your virtual animal. Move your phone around as it instructs, so it can scan your floor. Leave some extra space to place it.

Congrats — you have an AR animal!

Pinch to zoom to make it bigger or smaller.

What if you don’t see the 3D button? I’ve had people ask me this. You might be browsing in desktop-view mode. On iOS 13, in Safari, try tapping the Aa icon on the search bar. If you see an option that says «request mobile website,» tap on it. In Chrome, go to settings (the … icon on the lower right) and if you see «request mobile site,» tap on it.

Another tip: To record it, you could take a screenshot (tap your power and volume button or power and home button on an iPhone or iPad), or do a screen capture video on iOS if you’re fancy. Pro tip: You can add screen capture recording to your Control Center tools in Control Center settings, which easily allows you to start and stop recordings and save them to your photo roll. Or, just be in the moment and enjoy seeing your animal buddy.

window.CnetFunctions.logWithLabel(‘%c One Trust ‘, «Service loaded: script_twitterwidget with class optanon-category-5»);

A starter list of Google AR 3D animals

I’ve hunted around and found a bunch, but a larger trial-and-error list compiled by 9to5Google includes:

Alligator
Angler fish
Ball python
Brown bear
Cat
Cheetah
Deer
Dog (bulldog, pomeranian, Labrador retriever, rottweiler, pug)
Duck
Eagle
Emperor penguin
Giant panda
Goat
Hedgehog
Horse
Leopard
Lion
Macaw
Octopus
Raccoon
Shark
Shetland pony
Snake
Tiger
Turtle
Wolf

Option 2: Even more animals

You can download some AR-compatible apps to try on the App Store or Google Play. One free app with a ton of AR-compatible 3D objects is Sketchfab, an online 3D object repository that has its own app, and recently updated to better support Apple’s AR. It’s a little harder to browse through, but there are tons of user-created things that can be dropped into your world.

I found a scorpion, many dinosaurs and more. This isn’t a great option for kids, though: best to do with your kids and vet out if there’s anything weird on Sketchfab that isn’t appropriate or too scary.

Option 3: Don’t forget about Snapchat

Snapchat’s wildly good face filters and AR effects offer some animal transformations and disguises, too (or, even room-altering effects, depending on the day). You’ll need a Snapchat account, and I’d suggest parents do this with kids together rather than have them play on their own — not all options may be suitable.

Once in Snapchat, the small smiley-face on the right of the larger circle at the bottom brings up face filters. You can browse through a bunch of weird and fun experiments — again, parents, vet out the scary ones; this isn’t entirely kid-friendly.

But you could try one out and have fun, and not record any of them. Or, press the shutter button (the circle) to snap, or hold to record a clip. When done, you can save locally to your phone by hitting the «save» icon on the lower-left corner of the screen, and it saves to your own photos so you don’t have to post anything online if you don’t want to.

Technologies

Little Caesars Wants ChatGPT to Order Your Pizza for You

You can personalize your pie and place your order without leaving the chatbot.

When it comes to building the perfect pizza, you need perfectly structured crust, quality cheese, well-seasoned sauce and fresh, delicious toppings. Oh, and artificial intelligence, naturally.

Or at least that’s what Little Caesars is saying.

Starting today, you can order Little Caesars through a new app inside ChatGPT. OpenAI’s chatbot can customize and order pizzas, or you can use ChatGPT to receive recommendations based on your budget, preferences, dietary restrictions or the number of people you need to serve.

«Today’s consumers are turning to Gen AI as part of how they search for everything, including where to get their next meal,» Greg Hamilton, chief marketing officer at Little Caesars, said in a statement. «We recognize this shift and want to meet our customers where they already are and be the go-to for their pizza occasions. The process is as natural and intuitive as having a conversation. It’s not just about technology for technology’s sake — it’s about making life a little easier for people who love great pizza.»

How ordering a pizza with ChatGPT works

To get started, you’ll need to launch ChatGPT on your desktop or mobile device. On the ChatGPT interface, go to the Apps menu and select Little Caesars. You will need to connect your accounts by signing into your Little Caesars account or creating one. From there, you can get started with ordering.

You can simply type in something like, «Pizzas for five people with no meat,» and you’ll get personalized recommendations for pizzas and sides that match your preferences. From there, you can tailor your order further by swapping toppings, adjusting amounts or adding an order of cookie dough brownies.

Once you review your order, you can checkout through the Little Caesars app and then your order will go to the nearest location for you to pick up when ready. You can also schedule an order ahead of time and track your order in real-time through the app.

The new ordering function is now available across all Little Caesars locations in the US, and many locations in Mexico and Canada.

Not interested in using AI? The Little Caesars app and website are still available, or you can always pick up the phone and call.

Technologies

Don’t Lose Your Texts: How to Move Away From Samsung Messages Before It Shuts Down

Samsung is deactivating its long-standing Messages app in July. Here’s what to do next.

Samsung is closing the book on its proprietary texting platform this summer. After years of slowly phasing out the software in favor of a more unified experience, the company is finally pulling the plug on its Messages app this July. While many Galaxy owners have already been using Google’s version for years, those holding onto the legacy interface now have a firm deadline to migrate their conversations before the service goes dark.

On a page with information about the switch, Samsung points to instructions on how to swap over to Google’s Messages app, including for phones that are still on Android 12 and Android 13. Samsung has historically preinstalled its own Messages app on Galaxy phones, but began transitioning toward Google Messages as early as 2021.

To encourage people to switch to Google Messages, Samsung’s instructions list new features offered by Google Messages, like RCS-enabled texting for features like typing indicators, easier group chats and sending higher-quality images. Google’s Messages app also has AI-powered spam detection and spam filters, multi-device access to messages and some built-in Gemini AI features. It’s also the app that most Android phones use as their default texting app, including Samsung’s more recent Galaxy S26. There are other SMS texting app alternatives in the Google Play Store if you don’t want to use the one made by Google.

Samsung has not said when exactly in July messaging will no longer work in the app. A Samsung representative didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment. Once the app is deactivated, only messaging to emergency services will work on Samsung Messages.

While Samsung did stop including it as the default texting app in 2021, it wasn’t until 2024 that Samsung stopped preinstalling the texting app alongside Google Messages. The Galaxy S26 can’t download the Samsung Messages app, and other phones won’t be able to download it after the app’s July sunset.

Samsung said users of Android 11 or lower aren’t affected by the end of service, but would also likely benefit from switching to a supported texting app like Google Messages. To switch to Google Messages, the company asks users to download the app if it’s not already installed and to set it as the default SMS app when prompted after launching it.

The post also notes that anyone using an older Galaxy Watch that runs on Samsung’s Tizen operating system will no longer have access to their full conversation history since these watches cannot use Google Messages. Samsung said that they will still be able to read and send text messages, but the company’s newer watches (Galaxy Watch 4 and later) that run WearOS will still have access to full conversations.

Technologies

New AT&T Elite 2.0 Phone Plan Boosts Wireless Hotspot and Data Performance

For customers willing to pay for it, the new top plan offers more high-speed data and performance than the former one.

Only a few weeks after overhauling its unlimited phone plans, AT&T has added a new plan to the top of the lineup that offers more data and performance — for a higher price. The AT&T Elite 2.0 plan is available now.

For a single line, Elite 2.0 costs $110 (plus taxes and fees). As more lines are added, the per-line price goes down. AT&T customers can mix and match plans on an account, but if we assume everyone is signing up for the Elite 2.0 plan, the costs break down like this:

• One line: $110
• Two lines: $100 per line, $200 total
• Three lines: $85 per line, $255 total
• Four lines: $75 per line, $300 total
• Five lines: $75 per line, $375 total

To compare it with AT&T’s next-priciest option, the Premium 2.0 plan costs $90 for a single line, or $55 per line on an account with four lines.

What’s included in the AT&T Elite 2.0 plan

For those amounts, the plan includes unlimited high-speed 5G data, prioritized even during network congestion, just like the Premium 2.0 plan, and 250GB of hotspot data (up from 100GB for the other plan). It also includes cellular access for one smartwatch and one tablet per line.

For travelers, Elite 2.0 has unlimited international talk, text and 20GB of high-speed data per month in 210 countries. The Premium 2.0 plan has unlimited talk, text and high-speed data, but only for 20 Latin American countries.

Aside from the data amounts, the Elite 2.0 plan includes AT&T Turbo, a feature normally offered as an add-on that increases data performance for video calling, gaming and streaming on 5G-capable devices. For other plans, AT&T Turbo costs $7 per line per month.

(AT&T Turbo is a separate feature from AT&T Turbo Live, which is designed to boost performance in certain crowded venues such as concerts or sporting events.)

AT&T Elite 2.0 vs Premium 2.0

	Price for 1 line, per month	Price for 4 lines, per month	High-speed data	Mobile hotspot	International Call/Data	AT&T Turbo
AT&T Premium 2.0	$90	$220 ($55 per line)	Unlimited	100GB	Unlimited talk, text and high-speed data in 20 Latin American countries; unlimited texting from US to 200+ countries	Not included
AT&T Elite 2.0	$110	$300 ($75 per line)	Unlimited	250GB	Unlimited talk, text and 20GB high-speed data in 210 countries	Included