Mark Zuckerberg Teases Wearable Tech with Neural Interface in Facebook Post

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York, Oct. 25, 2019. (AP)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York, Oct. 25, 2019. (AP)
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Mark Zuckerberg Teases Wearable Tech with Neural Interface in Facebook Post

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York, Oct. 25, 2019. (AP)
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg speaks at the Paley Center in New York, Oct. 25, 2019. (AP)

Meta Platforms Inc's chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, on Wednesday teased a new smart glasses project with EssilorLuxottica, posting a photo of the eyewear company's chairman sporting a prototype of a neural interface wristband - designed for directing other devices.

"Here Leonardo is using a prototype of our neural interface EMG wristband that will eventually let you control your glasses and other devices," Zuckerberg said in a post on Facebook, referring to EssilorLuxottica's chairman, Leonardo Del Vecchio. He closed his message with a smiley-face emoji wearing sunglasses.

Facebook - which changed its name to Meta Platforms in October - said in a blog post last year that it planned to develop a wristband that would control augmented reality glasses, allowing users to interact with a virtual world using finger movements.
Zuckerberg was in Milan to discuss plans for new smart glasses with the eyewear company, he said.

Tech companies Amazon.com Inc, Apple Inc and Alphabet Inc's Google have piled in to the wearable tech business, developing augmented reality glasses in a bet they could one day replace mobile phones. Google also embraced fitness tracking technology by acquiring Fitbit for $2.1 billion.

In 2020, EssilorLuxottica and Meta Platforms announced a multiyear collaboration to develop smart glasses. They currently sell frames like the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer model that are embedded with technology, allowing the wearer to take photos and listen to music and calls, starting at $299.



Apple Still Barred from Selling iPhone 16 in Indonesia Despite Investment Deal, Minister Says

 Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
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Apple Still Barred from Selling iPhone 16 in Indonesia Despite Investment Deal, Minister Says

 Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)

Apple still cannot sell its iPhone 16 in Indonesia despite striking a deal to build a local production facility there, as it has not met domestic content rules, the industry minister said on Wednesday.

Last year, Indonesia banned iPhone 16 sales after Apple failed to meet requirements that smartphones sold domestically should comprise at least 35% locally-made parts.

Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said Apple had struck a deal to build a facility producing its Airtag tracking device on Indonesia's Batam island, close to Singapore, but that still would not count as a locally-made iPhone part.

"There is no basis for the ministry to issue a local content certification as a way for Apple to have the permission to sell iPhone 16 because (the facility) has no direct relations," he said, adding the ministry would only count phone components.

Indonesia's investment minister said late on Tuesday the factory would be worth $1 billion and that it would start operations next year.

Agus, who held two days of meetings with Apple's vice president of global government affairs Nick Ammann, said Apple had proposed "innovative investment" which Indonesia had countered.

Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, but has since 2018 set up application developer academies.