Latest news with #RealityLabs
Phone Arena
20 hours ago
- Business
- Phone Arena
Meet the Oakley AI glasses, a more robust successor to the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses
Meta Oakley smart glasses Oakley and Meta partnered up for these AI-powered smart glasses. | Video credit — Oakley Would you ever buy smart glasses that don't have a display? Yes No Undecided Not interested in smart glasses Yes 0% No 0% Undecided 0% Not interested in smart glasses 0% Ray-Ban glasses were an unprecedented success The Ray-Ban smart glasses were very popular. | Video credit — Meta When the Ray-Ban smart glasses took off, Meta immediately restructured Reality Labs: its XR ( Extended Reality ) division. The idea was to focus much more heavily on similar wearables that are affordable and don't have a display, yet are extremely practical due to AI. This strategy has caught the attention of competitors like Apple, which is also experimenting with releasing a similar product. Apple is working on proper AR glasses too, of course, but something like the Oakley and Ray-Ban smart glasses is a currently achievable product that is proven to be in demand. A stepping stone towards AR smart glasses The Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses are, in my eyes, an intermediary step between smartphones and proper AR smart glasses. Meta, as you may know, is working on the On the other hand, Apple CEO The Meta Oakley smart glasses will become available for pre-order in the coming months and cost $399. A limited edition $499 model will be available for ordering from July 11. When the Ray-Ban smart glasses took off, Meta immediately restructured Reality Labs: its XR () division. The idea was to focus much more heavily on similar wearables that are affordable and don't have a display, yet are extremely practical due to strategy has caught the attention of competitors like Apple, which is also experimenting with releasing a similar product. Apple is working on proper AR glasses too, of course, but something like the Oakley and Ray-Ban smart glasses is a currently achievable product that is proven to be in Meta Ray-Ban and Oakley smart glasses are, in my eyes, an intermediary step between smartphones and proper AR smart glasses. Meta, as you may know, is working on the Orion smart glasses . A consumer version is expected to launch around 2027, though a version with a simpler display make come out later this the other hand, Apple CEO Tim Cook is obsessed with making Apple the first company to bring consumer-grade AR smart glasses to market. I'm quite excited to see what these companies are able to offer in a few years, and if they manage to replace the Meta Oakley smart glasses will become available for pre-order in the coming months and cost $399. A limited edition $499 model will be available for ordering from July 11. Grab Surfshark VPN now at more than 50% off and with 3 extra months for free! Secure your connection now at a bargain price! We may earn a commission if you make a purchase This offer is not available in your area. When Meta launched the second-generation Ray-Ban smart glasses in 2023, the company did not foresee just how popular they would become. Following that unprecedented success, today Meta has announced a successor to the Ray-Ban smart glasses: the Oakley AI performance collaboration with Oakley wasn't just for a flashy new design — and they look pretty neat — it's also for enhanced functionality. Meta Oakley smart glasses are built with the outdoors in mind. The glasses have almost double the battery life of the Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses, and come with water resistance as can also record videos in 3K resolution, a way for Meta to encourage more people to use these when they're out having a good time. The standard features of the Ray-Ban glasses — taking photos, making calls, and getting answers from Meta AI to name a few — are also present.
Yahoo
13-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta Invests $14.3 Billion in Scale AI as Zuckerberg Builds New Artificial Intelligence Team
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this year that his company will be investing heavily in artificial intelligence in 2025. And on Thursday, he put his money where his mouth is, with the parent company of Facebook and Instagram investing $14.3 billion in Scale AI, a company that offers a platform and training data for developing AI models. The investment values Scale AI at more than $29 billion, the San Francisco-based company said in a blog post. As part of the deal, 28-year-old Alexandr Wang, Scale's chief executive and co-founder, will join Meta to spearhead its new AI research division now dubbed the 'Superintelligence' lab. Meta's stock was down 0.77% on Friday, the morning after the deal was officially announced, to $688 per share. The company's stock price is up about 15% since the start of the year. The tech giant's stake in Scale AI — its second-largest deal ever, after the $19 billion it spent to buy WhatsApp in 2014 — reinforces Zuckerberg's claim that AI is a key focus for Meta moving forward. Zuckerberg in January said Meta would spend between $60 billion and $65 billion to 'significantly' expand its AI team; the company then updated that projection during its first quarter earnings call in April, saying it planned on spending up to $72 billion this year on AI. 'This will be a defining year for AI,' Zuckerberg said in January. 'I expect Meta AI will be the leading assistant serving more than 1 billion people, Llama 4 will become the leading state of the art model, and we'll build an AI engineer that will start contributing increasing amounts of code to our research and development efforts.' The new superintelligence division will be separate from Reality Labs, Meta's division that has been focused on virtual reality, augmented reality and AI. That division has stood out as one sector where Meta is spending more than it is making; the company reported it lost $4.21 billion on Reality Labs during the first quarter, while Meta overall reported $42.31 billion in sales. The post Meta Invests $14.3 Billion in Scale AI as Zuckerberg Builds New Artificial Intelligence Team appeared first on TheWrap. Sign in to access your portfolio
Indian Express
08-06-2025
- Business
- Indian Express
Meta CTO says 2025 is a crucial year for its AR/VR business as competition heats up
Meta's chief technology officer (CTO) Andrew Bosworth said that 2025 will be a pivotal year for Reality Labs, the augmented and virtual reality arm of the tech giant. Bosworth, who was one of the first engineers to start working at Meta, also emphasised that the market competition in the AR/VR segment was a good sign. On the surge in popularity of Meta's AI-powered Ray Ban glasses, Bosworth said that the breakthrough device has excited both consumers and competitors. 'Suddenly, we go from toiling in the realms of obscurity to being very much in the world with a product that is very attractive to consumers, and thus competitors. The clock has started on competition coming, and that just means that the progress we make in this year is of disproportionate value to any year before or after it closes,' he said. The Meta executive made these remarks at Bloomberg's tech conference held last week. His comments come at a time when there is emerging competition in the space with Google announcing last month that it is partnering with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to create smart glasses that run on the tech giant's Android XR operating system. Apple is also reportedly looking to release its own smart glasses by next year. 'The market is actually, especially when it comes to hardware, a trailing indicator. So you look for early indicators. To some degree, you do have to have a level of confidence and taste in-house,' Bosworth said. He also revealed what Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operating officer at Meta, had once told him. 'Sheryl used to always talk about how most companies don't fail because they got beaten by a competitor. Most companies fail because they didn't execute their own plan correctly,' he said. 'And so what I try to do with the team is really focus us, not so much on the competitive landscape as on [whether] we're executing to our standards,' Bosworth added. Talking about the company's ambitious plans for the year, the Meta CTO said, 'What we'll know by the end of the year is whether we executed on our plan or not. What we'll know in five years time is whether that was enough.' In February this year, Meta said that it has sold more than two million pairs of its flagship Ray Ban AI glasses since it was introduced in October 2023. Last month, the wearable became available for pre-order in India in a range of styles, including the new Skyler frame, with prices starting at Rs 29,900 and going up to Rs 35,700 for select models. The smart glasses can be paired to your smartphone using the newly introduced Meta AI app.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
2025 will be a 'pivotal year' for Meta's augmented and virtual reality, says CTO
Meta CTO Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth, who was one of the company's first 15 engineers, published a memo earlier this year forecasting that 2025 could be the year of greatness for Reality Labs, the company's augmented and virtual reality unit. Or, it would be the year when the metaverse goes down as a 'legendary misadventure.' These days, Boz appears to be leaning towards its potential for greatness. But, the market will be the final determinant. 'We'll judge at the end of the decade, but this does feel like the pivotal year,' Boz said Thursday during a Bloomberg Technology interview. Boz noted that Meta's Ray Ban AI glasses had been a breakthrough that excited both consumers and competitors. As of February, Meta has sold more than 2 million pairs since their October 2023 debut. Last fall, they outsold traditional Ray Bans, even before Meta rolled out AI features. Meanwhile, Google last month announced partnerships with Gentle Monster and Warby Parker to create smart glasses based on Android XR. Apple is also reportedly making a push to release smart glasses in 2026. 'Suddenly, we go from toiling in the realms of obscurity to being very much in the world with a product that is very attractive to consumers, and thus competitors,' Boz said. 'The clock has started on competition coming, and that just means that the progress we make in this year is of disproportionate value to any year before or after it closes.' Still, competition among other incumbents means nothing if the market doesn't adopt Meta's AR and VR products, which is what would drive the industry to standardize the technology. 'The market is actually, especially when it comes to hardware, a trailing indicator,' Boz said. 'So you look for early indicators. To some degree, you do have to have a level of confidence and taste in-house.' He said this was something he learned from Sheryl Sandberg, former chief operating officer at Meta. 'Sheryl used to always talk about how most companies don't fail because they got beaten by a competitor,' Boz said. 'Most companies fail because they didn't execute their own plan correctly. And so what I try to do with the team is really focus us, not so much on the competitive landscape as on [whether] we're executing to our standards.' The Meta CTO said the company has 'a set of ambitious plans for the year' that it is on track for. 'What we'll know by the end of the year is whether we executed on our plan or not,' said Boz. 'What we'll know in five years time is whether that was enough.' This article originally appeared on TechCrunch at Error while retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data Error while retrieving data
Yahoo
05-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's tech chief says it's time for Silicon Valley to embrace the military again
Meta recently announced a partnership with defense tech startup Anduril on a US military project. Meta's CTO said the partnership is a "return to grace" for Silicon Valley's ties with the military. Anduril said the project isn't funded by taxpayers and will save the military billions of dollars. Meta's CTO Andrew Bosworth said the social media giant's partnership with defence technology startup Anduril marks a "return to grace" for Silicon Valley's relationship with the military. "The Valley was founded on a three-way investment between the military, academics, and private industry. That was the founding of it," Bosworth said during an interview at the Bloomberg Tech summit in San Francisco on Wednesday. "There would be no technology if we weren't all tasked with the problem of keeping naval ballistic trajectories during the first two world wars. That is the heart and soul of the investment that led to what we are today, and that really got severed for a while there," he added. Last week, Meta announced that it was partnering with Anduril to build next-gen extended reality gear for the US military. Anduril said in a statement on May 29 that the project will incorporate its AI-powered command and control system, Lattice, as well as technology from Meta's Reality Labs and Llama AI models. "The effort has been funded through private capital, without taxpayer support, and is designed to save the US military billions of dollars by utilizing high-performance components and technology originally built for commercial use," Anduril said in its May statement. Bosworth said on Wednesday that it was "way too early" to determine if the military would turn into a business segment for Meta. "So far, it's like a zero. Let's start with one and go from there. I think there's no reason it couldn't be meaningful in the impact that it has," he continued. Bosworth said partnering with Anduril doesn't mean Meta's becoming a defense contractor. "They have got a system in a program. We are supplying them with parts. So everything we are doing is for consumers. We are developing technology with a target on consumer audiences," he said. "It turns out a lot of that technology could be multi-use and that is really where I want to establish a partnership," he continued. Bosworth isn't the only Silicon Valley executive who is looking to make inroads into the defense industry. Last year, Google's former CEO and chairman, Eric Schmidt said he was working on a military drone startup with Udacity CEO Sebastian Thrun. Schmidt's startup, named White Stork, plans to mass-produce drones that can take out enemy targets using AI. "Because of the way the system works, I am now a licensed arms dealer," Schmidt said in a lecture at Stanford University in April 2024. A video of the lecture was briefly posted on Stanford's YouTube channel in August before it was taken down. Read the original article on Business Insider
