Skip to main content

Dutch museum is incorporating Hololens for augmented reality exhibits

It was only a matter of time. We’ve already seen digital graffiti in an art museum, and now the exhibitors themselves are getting in on the action. The Dutch National Museum of Antiquities is set to start using Microsoft Hololens headsets to provide augmented reality exhibitions for its visitors. Better yet, they can be used to show antiques which cannot otherwise be displayed.

As it stands, the museum, located in Leiden on the west coast of the Netherlands, is only able to showcase around 20 percent of its collection due to space considerations and the condition of some of its antiquities. With the Hololens, it’s hoped that it can give people a look at much more of what it has on offer, but in an augmented reality, digital form.

Recommended Videos

It will also be possible to make regular changes to what’s on show and to augment existing exhibitions. One that is currently under construction, the Egyptian-themed Temple of Teffeh, will be kitted out with relevant digital artefacts, giving people the feel of the ancient temple, despite it being an exhibit that is many decades old.

Other features that are being implemented to augment the experience of visiting the museum include prompt points for more information, and virtual breadcrumbs, shown as footprints, which help guide visitors to particular parts of the museum. It’s easy to imagine how such features could be expanded to make navigation, as well as information, easier to get to grips with in a museum setting [thanks MSPowerUser].

While the program is currently in its infancy, the Museum of Antiquities expects to expand the scheme in the future, potentially offering much more to digital viewers. It also believes that such hardware could one day become commonplace, and could be rented out to visitors much in the same way that museums loan out audio guidebooks now.

Jon Martindale
Jon Martindale is a freelance evergreen writer and occasional section coordinator, covering how to guides, best-of lists, and…
Intel Arc GPU users lose Deep Link features as support ends without notice
The back of the Intel Arc B580 graphics card.

Intel has quietly discontinued its Deep Link technology, the suite of features designed to enhance collaboration between its CPUs and GPUs. Notably, the confirmation did not come through an official announcement, but via a developer comment on a public GitHub thread, where an Intel representative acknowledged that Deep Link is “no longer actively maintained.”

Launched in 2020 alongside Intel’s push into discrete graphics, Deep Link aimed to improve performance and efficiency in systems combining Intel 11th, 12th, or 13th generation processors with Intel Arc GPUs. It bundled several features like Dynamic Power Share which redirected power between the CPU and GPU based on load, Hyper Encode that enabled multi-engine video encoding, and Stream Assist for offloading media tasks to the GPU during live streaming.

Read more
AMD CPUs should support CUDIMM memory soon, but not this generation
Official product render of the G.Skill Trident Z5 Neo memory for AMD.

AMD processors can't make full use of CUDIMM memory just yet, but it may well do before the end of this socket. In a recent interview with DigitalTrends, AMD's product management lead for gaming and workstations, Sourabh Dhir, told us that there was no reason that AM5 couldn't support CUDIMM, but wouldn't be draw on a timeline of when we might see it.

Considering we expect AM5 to be AMD's flagship CPU socket for the next couple of generations at least, that probably means we don't have long to wait for the added memory speed support.

Read more
Asus’ new RTX 5090 might be the most ridiculous GPU ever, and it costs $10,000
RTX 5090 Dhahab Edition.

It's no news that Nvidia makes some of the best graphics cards, and Asus is one of its most prominent partners. However, this time the company truly took things to the next level by launching an RTX 5090 that just might be the most ridiculous GPU I've ever seen. Prices range from $7,000 to over $10,500, and there's a good reason for that ... kind of.

The unique Asus ROG Astral RTX 5090 "Dhahab Edition" draws inspiration from the Middle East. In the announcement, Asus says that the card blends modern technology and cultural heritage, reflecting the rapid growth of the Middle East."

Read more