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Facebook and Ray-Ban Debut 'Smart' Shades

Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo. Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP
Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo. Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP
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Facebook and Ray-Ban Debut 'Smart' Shades

Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo. Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP
Facebook and Ray-Ban have launched new smart glasses, seen here in an undated handout photo. Handout Ray-Ban and Facebook/AFP

Facebook and iconic eyewear brand Ray-Ban on Thursday launched their new smart glasses, the latest effort in a tricky, niche market but which the social media giant sees as a step toward its future.

The "Ray-Ban Stories" shades can take pictures and video upon the wearer's voice commands, and the frames can connect wirelessly to Facebook's platform through an app.

"We took our Wayfarer (frames), born in 1952, and we reinvented the design squeezing in some cool technology," said Fabio Borsoi, global research and design director at the EssilorLuxottica group, Ray-Ban's maker.

Facebook is wading into a market that has already seen 2013's Google Glass, which sparked a privacy backlash over built-in cameras and prompted the tech titan to pivot its focus for the device away from the general public.

Messaging app SnapChat has also released its camera-equipped Spectacles, but they are pricey and have struggled to catch on broadly with tech lovers.

Notably, the Ray-Ban Stories glasses will not have augmented reality features -- technology that can mesh online computing with visual cues such as mapping or face recognition.

Instead, the shades are an early step toward efforts to create futuristic eyewear that adds to real-world views with data or graphics from the internet, Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg has said previously.

The company had said in July it was combining specialists from across its hardware, gaming and virtual reality units to build an immersive digital world known as the "metaverse."

- Privacy features -

Priced starting at $299, the Ray-Ban Stories will roll out in Australia, Britain, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the United States.

Cameras are built into the front of the frames, while the arms are designed to act as directional speakers for listening to calls or streamed audio.

A white light in the front of the frame goes on when the cameras are being used, which is intended as a privacy feature to alert people they could be filmed.

Users can take a picture or a video clip of up to 30 seconds by pressing a button at the temple or using a voice command, both of which can be cues that a camera is on.

"We need the user to feel completely in control of their capture experience," said Facebook Reality Labs product manager Hind Hobeika.

"And, similarly, we need people around them to feel comfortable that these smart glasses exist and always be in the know when a capture is happening," Hobeika added, referring to filming.

The glasses also have a physical switch for turning them off.

Users log into the glasses' Facebook View app using their accounts at the social network.

Ray-Ban Stories frames sync wirelessly to a smartphone app designed specifically for handling images or video captured by the glasses.

Users can decide using the app whether they want to share pictures or video they have just captured, such as posting to Facebook or attaching them to an email.

Only data needed to run the app is gathered, and no information is used for targeting ads, said Hobeika.

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Technology

Meta Unveils Cheaper VR Headset, AI Updates and Shows off Prototype for Holographic AR Glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing glasses (Reuters).
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing glasses (Reuters).
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Meta Unveils Cheaper VR Headset, AI Updates and Shows off Prototype for Holographic AR Glasses

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing glasses (Reuters).
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg wearing glasses (Reuters).

Meta unveiled updates to the company's virtual reality headset and Ray Ban smart glasses on Wednesday as it tries to demonstrate its artificial intelligence prowess and the next generation of computing platforms beyond smartphones and computers.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg also showed off Orion, a prototype he called “the most advanced glasses the world has ever seen.”
“The technical challenges to make them are insane,” Zuckerberg told a crowd of developers and journalists at Meta's Menlo Park, California, headquarters. The holographic augmented reality glasses, for one, needed to be glasses — not a bulky headset. There are no wires and they have to weigh less than 100 grams (3.5 ounces), among other things. And beyond interacting with your voice, typing or hand gestures, Orion has a “wrist-based neural interface” — it lets you send a signal from your brain to the device, using a wristband that translates nerve signals into digital commands.
There is no release date for Orion — Zuckerberg called it a “glimpse of the future.”
Seemingly in his element speaking to a cheering crowd, Zuckerberg said Meta is working to “bring the future to everyone” with its headsets, glasses and AI system. As part of an update to its Llama model, people will now be able to interact with Meta AI by speaking, with voices from celebrities such as John Cena, Judi Dench and Awkwafina.
“We are trying to build a future that is more open, more accessible, more natural, and more about human connection," Zuckerberg said. ”This is the continuation of the values and ideas that we have brought to the apps and technology that we have built over Meta’s first 20 years.”
An AI update aimed at influencers allows them to craft AI versions of themselves — for interacting with fans. On the keynote stage, an AI version of creator Don Allen Stevenson III appeared on the screen and answered a few questions just as the actual creator would. When Zuckerberg asked the AI creator about cattle ranching, it responded “my expertise lies in technology and design, not agriculture.” An earlier version of this tool was text only.
Other AI updates include live translation, which Zuckerberg demonstrated on stage. While wearing the smart glasses, Zuckerberg spoke in English to Mexican mixed martial artist Brandon Moreno replying in Spanish — the conversation was translated in real time. People can also dub their videos in another language so that it looks like they are speaking natively — even going so far as changing their lips movements to match.
Meta AI now has 500 million users, the company said. Jeremy Goldman of the research firm Emarketer called the number “jaw-dropping.”
“Meta has transformed from just a social media company into an AI powerhouse. Zuckerberg’s move to celebrity voices is not just for fun — it’s a direct challenge to OpenAI, with an emphasis on real-world utility," Goldman said.
Meta, which introduced the Quest 3 last year, also showed off a cheaper version of the VR goggles — the 3S — that will cost $299. The regular Quest 3 costs $499. The S3 will start shipping on Oct. 15.
“Meta is aggressively undercutting Apple’s Vision Pro to dominate the middle-tier AR/VR market,” Goldman said. Those VR goggles, which came out earlier this year after much anticipation, cost $3,500.
While VR goggles have grabbed more headlines, the augmented reality Ray Bans turned out to be a sleeper hit for Meta. The company hasn't disclosed sales numbers, but Zuckerberg said during Meta's July earnings call that the glasses “continue to be a bigger hit sooner than we expected — thanks in part to AI.” Zuckerberg said on Wednesday that Meta seems to have gotten past the supply issues that plagued the Ray Bans a few months ago due to high demand.
“They are kind of the perfect form factor for AI,” Zuckerberg said. The glasses, he added, let an AI assistant “see what you see, hear what you hear” and help you go about your day.
For instance, you can ask the glasses to remind you where you parked or to pick up groceries, look at a pile of fruit and come up with a smoothie recipe, or help you pick out a party outfit.
Meta — which renamed itself from Facebook in 2021, still makes nearly all of its money from advertising. In its most recent quarter, 98% of its more than $39 billion in revenue came from ads. At the same time, the company is investing heavily in AI and what Zuckerberg sees as the next generation of computing platforms such as VR headsets and AR glasses.
“VR headsets, despite Meta’s assertion, will not go mainstream," said Forrester research director Mike Proulx. “They’re too cumbersome, and people can only tolerate them in short bursts.”
Glasses, on the other hand “put computing power directly into a common and familiar form factor. As the smart tech behind these glasses matures, they have the potential to disrupt everyday consumers’ interactions with brands.”
Proulx said the Orion prototype "sets the stage for a future where a revolutionary 3D computing platform is within reach and can actually be useful to the everyday consumer.”