Newsbrief: The Financial Times reports that Apple has hired Doug Bowman, an award-winning VR and AR researcher and, for the last five years, director of Virginia Tech's Center for Human Computer Interaction.
What's unclear, however, is what sort of project Bowman might become involved in at the company. His research has included augmented reality, virtual reality, and gesture-based computer interfaces -- any or all of which might be of interest to Apple.
Apple bought augmented reality startup Metaio last year, and has acquired other companies that specialize in facial animation and recognition.
Google, which competes directly with Apple in the smartphone space, recently appointed a vice president of virtual reality.