Remember Google Glass?
Yeah, that was a full TEN YEARS AGO, and since then, almost no one has touched smart glasses. Wearables have become a huge market in that timeframe, but the focus has been on smartwatches, trackers, rings, and VR headsets.
Well, Mark Zuckerberg of Meta/Facebook is trying to make smart glasses cool again:
Not too shabby-looking! They release on October 17 for $299 as the base price (I'm assuming adding prescription lenses will cost more), which isn't too shabby given the insane grift the glasses industry pulls with $300 frames at the optometrist.
This partnership with Ray-Ban actually launched in 2021 with a small rollout in 4 European nations.
A few features of the glasses for the nerds:
- An ultra-wide 12 MP camera can take photos and 1080p videos up to 60 seconds
- 32 GB of storage
- Onboard Meta AI
- Live-stream capability
- Touch controls on the side of the frame
- Users can share photos and clips directly via voice command
- 6 hours of battery life (4 for livestreaming)
- An included charging case for 36 hours of total battery life on the go
- IPX4 water resistance
- Open-ear, directional audio for music and phone calls
- Prescription lens compatible
Here's a review from CNET:
Other items announced at the Meta Connect event include the company's AI platform (which includes tools to create games with AI as NPCs inside the game worlds) and an update on its augmented reality headset.
Some thoughts:
When I was younger, I was excited for this tech to evolve. As someone who wears glasses daily, I figured it would be a huge bonus to have a futuristic computer on my face.
But those were the naive days before anyone was paying attention to what Big Tech was doing with our data. Before the White House colluded with Big Tech to censor Americans and take power.
And of all the tech CEOs, the guy who seems the most ambitious to play games with our privacy is Zuck.
So as slick as these are, you gotta wonder: What is he gonna do with 1st-person video from millions of people all over the world?
Realistically, it means you're gonna get a whole lot more ads based on everything you look at or talk about (who needs debates over Facebook allegedly using your phone mic when they have access to a camera and mic on your face?).
But it does make you wonder, given the collusion between Facebook and the government over the past three years, where and how will that data be traded or sold?
Is video from your Ray-Ban glasses going to show up in your gulag trial one day? Will audio of you expressing thoughtcrime be leaked to get you fired from your job?
The alphabet agencies once had to come up with creative ways to spy. Now we have cameras with all our records in our pocket, microphones in our homes, and spy glasses on our literal faces!
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
