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Scottish Sun
14-05-2025
- Scottish Sun
I tried Meta's Orion hologram glasses to SEE apps in mid-air – they're so good I'm convinced we'll all bin our phones
A FUTURE without phones feels much more real now that I've donned Mark Zuckerberg's latest pair of sci-fi specs. I took a trip to Meta's London HQ to try on the Orion holographic smart glasses – letting you see a virtual world all around you, rather than through a tiny phone screen. 15 The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach goes hands-on (and eyes-on) with Meta's futuristic Orion glasses Credit: Sean Keach 15 The Orion holographic smart glasses let you see apps floating in front of you Credit: Sean Keach 15 It turns the world around you into a giant computer screen Credit: Meta First off: this is NOT a virtual reality headset. You can see the real world through the lenses – with some apps overlaid holographically. You're not looking at a simulation or video feed. Orion looks like regular glasses, but a little thicker. It reminds me of the 3D glasses you're handed at the cinema. We first heard about Orion last year at Meta Connect, when Zuckerberg showed a prototype off on stage. That same day, I sat down with his second-in-command and VR boss Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth who told me the specs might not just replace your phone but TVs and buttons in your home too. Trying them on during a demo in London, this futuristic vision starts to make sense. EYE LIKE IT You spend a bit of time calibrating the eye-tracking (look up, look left, so on). And you strap on a wristband that lets you make subtle hand gesture to control the specs. So if you want to bring up the app menu, you'd just touch your middle finger into your palm facing up. And to click something on screen, you just point your eyeballs at it and click your index finger and thumb together. You don't even have to raise your hand to be in view of cameras. It's the wristband doing the work, so you can leave your hand resting by your side. Neat. Scrolling works by balling your hand up into a fist and then rubbing your thumb against the edge of your finger. Meta's top VR boss predicts AI-powered future with no phones, brain-controlled ovens and virtual TVs that only cost $1 It all feels very natural. These apps float in front of you, and feel very familiar. It's like a computer screen in the air. You've got Instagram and WhatsApp (both owned by Meta, of course), which work well. I did a video call where I saw the other person hovering before my very eyes. I send a text with my voice using the built-in microphones, and browse the web too. You can have multiple apps open at once, so you can text a pal while watching YouTube, for instance. I'm also very impressed by the gaming on the glasses. I played a game of Pong with a Meta staffer. We use our hands to knock a virtual ball between us. She wins comfortably. I am emotionally crushed – but impressed nonetheless. 15 These hi-tech specs were first shown off by billionaire tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg during his Meta Connect event in late 2024 Credit: Meta 15 You control the glasses by performing simple hand gestures Credit: Sean Keach 15 I played a game of Pong that was floating in mid-air – and it was great fun Credit: Meta It won't win any gaming awards mind, but it's a nice demo of the potential of a device like this. The proper VR table tennis games on Meta's virtual reality goggles are far more impressive, so you can imagine something more like that arriving on these specs one day too. A more thrilling game let me control a spaceship to blast alien baddies out of the sky. Moving my head controlled the motion of the spaceship, while eye-tracking let me aim at enemies – firing missiles with finger taps. I could've played it for hours. Sadly my future as a starship pilot is once again locked behind closed doors at Meta HQ. 15 A smart wristband can tell when you're moving your hand – relaying controls to the glasses Credit: Sean Keach NO PHONEY What strikes me during the session is that I've scrolled Instagram, taken a video call, watched a YouTube video, sent a text message, and played a game – all without having to touch my phone. There's a friction with having to drag your phone out. The delay of having to pull it out when you want to navigate somewhere, or take a photo, or quickly search something adds a hundred micro-annoyances to your day. God only knows how people who live in skinny jeans must feel. These specs basically resolve that problem completely. It's hard to imagine much that they couldn't do that only your phone can. Manually typing without voice? Playing a game that relies on touch? The list is thin. 15 The Orion glasses are just a prototype for now – with a real consumer version still four to five years away Credit: Sean Keach 15 The prototype specs are packed with groundbreaking tech Credit: Meta It's also worth noting that the visual quality of the glasses is pretty decent. This isn't crystal-clear in the way that the pricey Apple Vision Pro is, but that's a full-blown headset. But it's easy to read text and watch videos without straining. If you're watching a beautiful movie, you'll still want to stick to a regular TV. In the future though? Upgraded visuals might kill the telly completely. META'S ORION – THE VISION Here's how Meta describes its own gadget... "Orion offers a glimpse into the future of human connection. "At Meta, we continually strive to break down the barriers between the digital world and the real world. "While not available to the public, the breakthroughs from this internal product are rapidly ushering in the next generation of computing and a paradigm shift in how we communicate with one another. "The culmination of effort from thousands of passionate individuals, countless hours of research and development, and extensive challenges overcome – Orion pushes the limits of what it means to connect to each other and to the world around us." Picture Credit: Meta AI AM HUNGRY I also get to use the AI element of the glasses. The specs feature built-in Meta AI, which is a chatbot you can control with your voice. I look at some ingredients on a table, and ask for a recipe out loud. Meta uses the built-in camera and correctly identifies the oats, bananas, cacao, chia seeds plus a few other bits – and tells me how to cook up a posh porridge. 15 The smart band sits snugly around your wrist, monitoring for subtle movements Credit: Sean Keach 15 You can use built-in cameras and Meta AI to ask about the world around you The recipe appears in mid-air, and I can click through to follow along with it. I can even keep it up while I cook. Cleverly, the floating window is placed above the table – and to the right of a lamp. That way, it doesn't block anything important. I'm told this isn't by chance, but a design choice. It's smart. In fact, these floating windows get even smarter, because they have 'persistence'. So if I put up a YouTube video on my kitchen wall, then pop out to the shop and come back, it will still be there in the same spot. Of course there's nothing actually on my wall. But in this virtual layer over the real world, anything goes. All the computing is handled by a small pod (a little smaller than a Beats Pill speaker, or roughly the size of a glasses case). 15 A computing pack needs to stay within range of the glasses for the system to work Credit: Sean Keach 15 It's possible to multi-task with several floating windows open at once Credit: Meta You can move about 30 feet from the pod, so you'll want to keep it on or near you. This helps to keep the weight of the glasses themselves down, and it seems like a fair trade-off. You could imagine one day a phone (or phone-like object) serving this purpose. COMING SOON(-ISH) So when can you get a pair? Well Meta tells me a proper consumer version is about four or five years away. And I can't imagine they'll be cheap. Meta has chucked billions at developing these prototypes, and it will want a decent return. The company has flogged VR headsets for hundreds and even thousands, so the pricing of these specs is anyone's guess. Ultimately, Meta will be hoping to make these glasses better, lighter, slimmer, and price-attractive for people with each version. And once we start reaching version four or five of this product, it's going to be be a serious contender for replacing a smartphone. 15 You can move around freely with the glasses – and they'll remember where you've placed virtual windows Credit: Sean Keach Even in their current state, I can think of many tasks (video calls, quick internet searches, texting, and checking social media) that would be much easier to do on the glasses versus dragging my giant mobile out of pocket. I can't give a proper verdict on Orion because it's not a final product. It doesn't have a release date or a price, and it's still far from being complete. But when I use Orion, I feel very deeply that it makes sense as a gadget. Accessing computers in this way feels a lot more free. Smartphones are limiting because you're capped at one specific screen size and shape. Orion basically turns your entire world into a computer. And if that sounds terrifying, don't worry: you can always just take them off.
The Irish Sun
14-05-2025
- The Irish Sun
I tried Meta's Orion hologram glasses to SEE apps in mid-air – they're so good I'm convinced we'll all bin our phones
A FUTURE without phones feels much more real now that I've donned Mark Zuckerberg's latest pair of sci-fi specs. I took a trip to Meta's London HQ to try on the Orion holographic smart glasses – letting you see a virtual world all around you, rather than through a 15 The Sun's tech editor Sean Keach goes hands-on (and eyes-on) with Meta's futuristic Orion glasses Credit: Sean Keach 15 The Orion holographic smart glasses let you see apps floating in front of you Credit: Sean Keach 15 It turns the world around you into a giant computer screen Credit: Meta First off: this is NOT a virtual reality headset. You can see the real world through the lenses – with some apps overlaid holographically. You're not looking at a simulation or video feed. Orion looks like regular glasses, but a little thicker. It reminds me of the 3D glasses you're handed at the cinema. We first heard about Orion last year at Meta Connect, when Trying them on during a demo in London, this futuristic vision starts to make sense. Read more on Meta EYE LIKE IT You spend a bit of time calibrating the eye-tracking (look up, look left, so on). And you strap on a wristband that lets you make subtle hand gesture to control the specs. So if you want to bring up the app menu, you'd just touch your middle finger into your palm facing up. And to click something on screen, you just point your eyeballs at it and click your index finger and thumb together. Most read in Phones & Gadgets You don't even have to raise your hand to be in view of cameras. It's the wristband doing the work, so you can leave your hand resting by your side. Neat. Scrolling works by balling your hand up into a fist and then rubbing your thumb against the edge of your finger. Meta's top VR boss predicts AI-powered future with no phones, brain-controlled ovens and virtual TVs that only cost $1 It all feels very natural. These apps float in front of you, and feel very familiar. It's like a computer screen in the air. You've got Instagram and WhatsApp (both owned by Meta, of course), which work well. I did a video call where I saw the other person hovering before my very eyes. I send a text with my voice using the built-in microphones, and browse the web too. You can have multiple apps open at once, so you can text a pal while watching YouTube, for instance. I'm also very impressed by the gaming on the glasses. I played a game of Pong with a Meta staffer. We use our hands to knock a virtual ball between us. She wins comfortably. I am emotionally crushed – but impressed nonetheless. 15 These hi-tech specs were first shown off by billionaire tech mogul Mark Zuckerberg during his Meta Connect event in late 2024 Credit: Meta 15 You control the glasses by performing simple hand gestures Credit: Sean Keach 15 I played a game of Pong that was floating in mid-air – and it was great fun Credit: Meta It won't win any gaming awards mind, but it's a nice demo of the potential of a device like this. The proper VR table tennis games on Meta's virtual reality goggles are far more impressive, so you can imagine something more like that arriving on these specs one day too. A more thrilling game let me control a spaceship to blast alien baddies out of the sky . Moving my head controlled the motion of the spaceship, while eye-tracking let me aim at enemies – firing missiles with finger taps. I could've played it for hours. Sadly my future as a starship pilot is once again locked behind closed doors at Meta HQ. 15 A smart wristband can tell when you're moving your hand – relaying controls to the glasses Credit: Sean Keach NO PHONEY What strikes me during the session is that I've scrolled Instagram, taken a video call, watched a There's a friction with having to The delay of having to pull it out when you want to navigate somewhere, or take a photo, or quickly search something adds a hundred micro-annoyances to your day. God only knows how people who live in skinny jeans must feel. These specs basically resolve that problem completely. It's hard to imagine much that they couldn't do that only your phone can. Manually typing without voice? Playing a game that relies on touch? The list is thin. 15 The Orion glasses are just a prototype for now – with a real consumer version still four to five years away Credit: Sean Keach 15 The prototype specs are packed with groundbreaking tech Credit: Meta It's also worth noting that the visual quality of the glasses is pretty decent. This isn't crystal-clear in the way that the pricey But it's easy to read text and watch videos without straining. If you're watching a beautiful movie, you'll still want to stick to a regular TV. In the future though? Upgraded visuals might kill the telly completely. META'S ORION – THE VISION Here's how Meta describes its own gadget... "Orion offers a glimpse into the future of human connection. "At Meta, we continually strive to break down the barriers between the digital world and the real world. "While not available to the public, the breakthroughs from this internal product are rapidly ushering in the next generation of computing and a paradigm shift in how we communicate with one another. "The culmination of effort from thousands of passionate individuals, countless hours of research and development, and extensive challenges overcome – Orion pushes the limits of what it means to connect to each other and to the world around us." Picture Credit: Meta AI AM HUNGRY I also get to use the AI element of the glasses. The I look at some ingredients on a table, and ask for a recipe out loud. Meta uses the built-in camera and correctly identifies the oats, bananas, cacao, chia seeds plus a few other bits – and tells me how to cook up a posh porridge. 15 The smart band sits snugly around your wrist, monitoring for subtle movements Credit: Sean Keach 15 You can use built-in cameras and Meta AI to ask about the world around you The recipe appears in mid-air, and I can click through to follow along with it. I can even keep it up while I cook. Cleverly, the floating window is placed above the table – and to the right of a lamp. That way, it doesn't block anything important. I'm told this isn't by chance, but a design choice. It's smart. In fact, these floating windows get even smarter, because they have 'persistence'. So if I put up a YouTube video on my kitchen wall, then pop out to the shop and come back, it will still be there in the same spot. Of course there's nothing actually on my wall. But in this virtual layer over the real world, anything goes. All the computing is handled by a small pod (a little smaller than a Beats Pill speaker, or roughly the size of a glasses case). 15 A computing pack needs to stay within range of the glasses for the system to work Credit: Sean Keach 15 It's possible to multi-task with several floating windows open at once Credit: Meta You can move about 30 feet from the pod, so you'll want to keep it on or near you. This helps to keep the weight of the glasses themselves down, and it seems like a fair trade-off. You could imagine one day a phone (or phone-like object) serving this purpose. COMING SOON(-ISH) So when can you get a pair? Well Meta tells me a proper consumer version is about four or five years away. And I can't imagine they'll be cheap. Meta has chucked billions at developing these prototypes, and it will want a decent return. The company has flogged VR headsets for hundreds and even thousands, so the pricing of these specs is anyone's guess. Ultimately, Meta will be hoping to make these glasses better, lighter, slimmer, and price-attractive for people with each version. And once we start reaching version four or five of this product, it's going to be be a serious contender for replacing a smartphone. 15 You can move around freely with the glasses – and they'll remember where you've placed virtual windows Credit: Sean Keach Even in their current state, I can think of many tasks (video calls, quick internet searches, texting, and checking social media) that would be much easier to do on the glasses versus dragging my giant mobile out of pocket. I can't give a proper verdict on Orion because it's not a final product. It doesn't have a release date or a price, and it's still far from being complete. But when I use Orion, I feel very deeply that it makes sense as a gadget. Accessing computers in this way feels a lot more free. Smartphones are limiting because you're capped at one specific screen size and shape. Orion basically turns your entire world into a computer. And if that sounds terrifying, don't worry: you can always just take them off. 15 Sadly I'll have to wait years to become a spaceship pilot Credit: Meta
The Star
23-04-2025
- Business
- The Star
Meta expands AI access on Ray-Ban smart glasses in Europe
FILE PHOTO: Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivers a speech, as a pair of Ray-Ban smart glasses appear on screen, during the Meta Connect event at the company's headquarters in Menlo Park, California, U.S., September 27, 2023. REUTERS/Carlos Barria/File Photo (Reuters) -Meta Platforms said on Wednesday it is expanding access to its artificial intelligence assistant, Meta AI, on Ray-Ban smart glasses to seven additional European countries. People in Germany, Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Norway, Sweden and Finland will now be able to interact with Meta AI using voice prompts to get answers to general questions, the Facebook and Instagram parent said. Meta launched its AI technology in Europe in March, a rollout that was initially announced in June last year but was delayed following regulatory concerns on data protection and privacy. While Meta AI was launched in the U.S. in 2023, its release in Europe faced several hurdles due to the European Union's stringent privacy and transparency rules. Sprucing up its wearable technology with AI capabilities could help Meta attract new users at a time when the company is investing billions of dollars in bolstering its AI infrastructure. Meta said the expansion will also include a live translation feature, which is being broadly rolled out in its markets. It will be releasing a feature, where people can ask Meta AI about the things they are looking at and get real-time responses, in supported countries in the EU starting next week. The company updated Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses with AI video capability and real-time language translation functionality in December 2024. Meta had first announced the features during its annual Connect conference in September last year. (Reporting by Jaspreet Singh in Bengaluru)
Arab Times
02-04-2025
- Arab Times
Hypernova AR glasses by Meta could cost up to $1,400
NEW YORK, April 2: Meta is reportedly planning to release new augmented reality (AR) glasses, codenamed 'Hypernova,' which could cost upwards of $1,000. These glasses will feature a small heads-up display in the right lens, offering users notifications, photos, and possibly directions from apps like Google Maps. According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, some versions of the glasses may cost as much as $1,300 or $1,400. The Hypernova glasses are expected to launch this year, potentially at Meta's annual Meta Connect conference. The first iteration will include a small monocular display that shows information from your phone, similar to what's found on other AR glasses. It may also include an upgraded sensor for higher-quality photos compared to the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, which currently use a 12 MP camera. The design of the Hypernova glasses will resemble Meta's previous work, such as the Ray-Ban Meta glasses, which start at $300. These smart glasses use physical button controls to take photos or videos and feature onboard speakers for listening to music or making calls. It's expected that the Hypernova glasses will include similar physical controls to the Ray-Ban glasses, potentially using a capacitive sensor on the right earpiece. However, the real challenge for Meta lies in the software. The Hypernova glasses will reportedly feature a home screen with horizontal app icons, giving users access to apps for photos, the camera, and maps. The glasses will continue to rely on the Meta View app, which is used with the Ray-Ban Meta glasses to move photos from the glasses to a phone. However, users have often criticized the app for being difficult to use, and there are concerns about how the Hypernova glasses will handle notifications, especially since the Meta View app is heavily dependent on the operating systems of other companies' phones. Meta has long struggled with software limitations, and the company's web-based approach often conflicts with the closed ecosystems of other platforms, like iOS. If the Hypernova glasses are similarly restricted, they could face the same fate as many previous smart glasses, which ultimately failed to gain traction. Leaks within Meta suggest that the company plans to release multiple types of smart glasses this year, including a pair of Oakley-branded glasses for athletes. While Meta is aiming for a broader range of devices, the success of these glasses will depend on how well they can integrate with smartphones from other companies. Without a significant breakthrough in software, these new glasses may lead to more frustration than excitement.
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Meta's new ‘Llamacon' event is all about open-source AI
Meta announced on Tuesday that it is launching a new developers conference in April, dubbed 'Llamacon,' that will focus on 'open source AI developments.' The event is scheduled to take place April 29, 2025 and comes on the heels of 'the unprecedented growth and momentum of our open-source Llama collection of models and tools,' in an announcement post. The company has not shared any additional details, such as where the conference will take place or how much ticket prices will run, but the company promises to share more details 'in the coming weeks.' Meta also revealed that its Meta Connect event, geared towards virtual and mixed reality developers and content creators, is returning in the fall with 'the latest and greatest in Meta Horizon updates.' The conference will September 17-18, 2025, and promises to 'peel back the curtain on tomorrow's tech.' As with the rest of the American AI industry, Meta plans to spend freely on the technology in 2025. At the end of January, Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will invest between $60 billion and $65 billion on AI infrastructure this year, including a new data center that will consume a full gigawatt of energy — the equivalent energy output of two nuclear power stations. 'This will be a defining year for AI,' Zuckerberg wrote. 'In 2025, I expect Meta AI will be the leading assistant serving more than one 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 R&D efforts.'
