Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, counts more than 3 billion monthly users across its family of apps. Now, it’s trying to build the next generation of services in virtual reality and the metaverse through Meta Quest headsets and Horizon Worlds — all while dealing with antitrust pressures, privacy concerns, and younger users shifting to other platforms.
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Meta’s new glasses have twice the battery life, but they still have the tricky issue of being a camera right on your face.
Last October it introduced facial scans to spot ads scamming users with fake celebrity endorsements, now the same tech will look out for impostor accounts. It’s switching on for Facebook in the EU and UK, with Instagram to follow. No-one tell the arm of the company in charge of celebrity lookalike chatbots, alright?
Current AI spending means the industry needs $2 trillion in annual revenue by 2030, according to estimates from Bain & Co. That’s “more than five times the size of the entire global subscription software market,” write Eliot Brown and Robbie Whelan. But there’s a plan: 1. Build data centers. 2. ???? 3. Profit. Anyway, I’ve been wondering about this for a while now.
And by “old-fashioned,” of course I mean the Facebook Dating AI assistant. I didn’t even know Facebook Dating was a thing, and it’s already worse than I could have guessed.
Nicholi:
I think “Meta’s dating assistant AI chatbot” might be the worst imaginable response to asking someone how they met their partner.
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It’s reasonable to feel wary about this tech, but we can’t ignore how it can be a game-changer for disabled communities
CTO Andrew Bosworth showed a sneak peek of it during the Connect developer keynote. Looks a little Vision Pro-y!
Perhaps we’ll hear more details about the new Meta Ray-Ban Display smart glasses or Meta’s plans for the metaverse. You can watch the show live on YouTube.
We got a glimpse of Meta’s new AI glasses and a bunch more.
I have no idea what’s going on.
Look, James Cameron is an icon. A treasure. But we need to bring the Thunder Round sound effects from Hot Girl Vergecast Summer in to wrap this up. Kinda wish we got more Meta Ray-Ban Display demos, even if they did fail.
Cameron is here to talk about VR and immersive entertainment, particularly Cameron’s passion for 3D filmmaking. “I’ve spent my filmmaking career really trying to engage people,” he says.
Including a new “immersive” virtual home. There won’t be an “8-bit Eiffel Tower,” he said, referencing a famous Zuck meme.
This is kind of nuts if you really think about it. The Ray-Ban Meta glasses launched in 2023, and now, two years later there are four glasses announced in a variety of styles and designs. One with a display. That’s a massive leap forward in such a short period of time.
Which he calls Meta’s “fall 2025” lineup. See you next year?
Hm. I swear that in MY DEMOS this stuff worked. But this is a good example of why we need real-life testing for reviews.
After that first live demo fail, I get why. But the crowd has demanded a live demo and so... here we go!
We went hands-on with the glasses this week.
The new $800 Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses have a screen that can show directions, pictures, translations, and more.
I may look like a jabroni, but IP67, new video modes, and Garmin integration are huge upgrades for the outdoorsy crowd.
