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a day ago
- Business
- IOL News
Fashionable eyewear devices could be the best at enabling AI adoption
A pair of transparent Ray-Ban Meta 2nd generation smart glasses is seen on display during the Meta Connect Developer Conference at Metas headquarters in Menlo Park, California in this file photo. Image: AFP The search for a perfect AI hardware is on and takes many forms. One of them comes in the form of eyewear products that are touted as the next outlet for rendering AI services. Tech companies have tried eyewear devices, however, they were lacking in style and game changing technology. This time around many have improved on the looks and technology. The Meta RayBan collaboration is one of the great examples of merging technology and fashion. It is packed with AI that features technology in ways we've not seen before. In June this year, Xiaomi officially entered the smart glasses market with the launch of its first AI-powered eyewear, positioning itself as a rival to Meta's Ray-Ban collaboration. The glasses are powered by Xiaomi's XiaoAI assistant, enabling users to perform a range of tasks via voice command, including capturing video and photos, recognizing objects, translating text, and scanning QR codes for mobile payments via Alipay. The device has capability to handle first-person video calls and live streaming. Xiaomi's entry into smart eyewear follows similar moves by other major Chinese firms. Huawei introduced its latest AI glasses in April, which feature voice and translation tools but lack a camera. Baidu is preparing to release its own camera-equipped Xiaodu AI glasses later this year, powered by its Ernie AI models. The eyewear space is getting crowded quickly. It also signals a move from smartphones to other form factors that may dominate in future. This move is also one of the most promising for AI adoption. It will enable natural use of AI in our daily lives. According to a report by Counterpoint the global smart glasses market saw shipments more than double in the first half of the year, driven mostly by strong demand for Meta Platforms' glasses, along with new offerings from rising competitors like China's Xiaomi. The report indicates that the 110% year-on-year surge in shipments was fuelled by robust interest in the artificial intelligence glasses segment, which accounted for 78% of total smart frame shipments. Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Advertisement Video Player is loading. Play Video Play Unmute Current Time 0:00 / Duration -:- Loaded : 0% Stream Type LIVE Seek to live, currently behind live LIVE Remaining Time - 0:00 This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color White Black Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Background Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Opaque Semi-Transparent Transparent Window Color Black White Red Green Blue Yellow Magenta Cyan Transparency Transparent Semi-Transparent Opaque Font Size 50% 75% 100% 125% 150% 175% 200% 300% 400% Text Edge Style None Raised Depressed Uniform Dropshadow Font Family Proportional Sans-Serif Monospace Sans-Serif Proportional Serif Monospace Serif Casual Script Small Caps Reset restore all settings to the default values Done Close Modal Dialog End of dialog window. Next Stay Close ✕ The convergence of artificial intelligence (AI) and wearable technology is poised to redefine consumer tech, with an unlikely alliance at the forefront: Meta Platforms Inc. and EssilorLuxottica. This partnership, rooted in strategic synergy between Meta's AI infrastructure and EssilorLuxottica's wearable tech production, represents a bold bet on smart glasses as the next major growth frontier. Meta's 3% stake in EssilorLuxottica, valued at approximately €3 billion, marks a pivotal shift in its hardware strategy. The collaboration, which began in 2019, has already produced two generations of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, blending Meta's AI-driven voice assistant with EssilorLuxottica's expertise in optical design and global distribution. The second-generation glasses, launched in 2023, now boast features like real-time landmark identification, voice-controlled messaging, and recipe recognition via smartphone tether. The partnership's true power lies in its complementary strengths: Meta's AI prowess and EssilorLuxottica's unparalleled access to 150+ eyewear brands, including Oakley, Prada, and Chanel. This synergy enables the duo to tackle two critical barriers to wearable tech adoption—usability and desirability—while leveraging EssilorLuxottica's 8 000+ retail locations worldwide. The adoption of smart glasses is an important progress which may fuel adoption for AI. It is also important for health reasons as well. We are now beginning to see innovations that may transform the spectacles market as well. Recently, Finnish startup IXI has been quietly crafting high-tech specs for more practical purposes. Founded in 2021, the company emerged from stealth in April with $36 million in funding to commercialise what it claims are the world's first autofocus glasses. The prescription specs promise to change the way visually-impaired people see the world around them. This is a space to watch and may be a relief from a world that is dominated by smartphones. Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and Editor-in-Chief of Fast Company (South Africa) magazine. Image: Supplied Wesley Diphoko is a Technology Analyst and the Editor-In-Chief of FastCompany (SA) magazine. *** The views expressed here do not necessarily represent those of Independent Media or IOL. BUSINESS REPORT
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Freedom of the Press's Internal Threat
Americas biggest threat to freedom of the press is its establishment media. This is the inescapable conclusion coming from the medias flurry of apologies over their response during the last four years two biggest events: the administrations manipulation of the public during the COVID pandemic and Bidens incapacitation in office. Through both, the establishment media were at least derelict in their duty; at worst they were accessories. On Feb. 26, the New York Times printed David Wallace-Wells opinion piece, "The Covid Alarmists Were Closer to the Truth Than Anyone Else." It was a confession not just for a paper but for an industry. Following hot on the heels of pandemic apologies, confessions have cascaded from Biden administration insiders and mainstream reporters about what they saw of the presidents declining performance and the administrations increasingly aggressive compensation for it. There is a push, particularly on the part of the establishment media and the elites on whom they depend, to let bygones be bygones and reputations return to what they were. Not so fast, it must not be so easy. The pandemic response struck at the core of how American society operated; the presidents inability to function struck at the core of American constitutional government. The establishment medias response to both struck at the core of the First Amendments freedom of the press. Beyond consequential, these issues are constitutional. Throughout the COVID crisis, the establishment media failed to report objectively. On issue after issue -the Wuhan lab leak theory, vaccine efficacy, social distancing, herd immunity, school closures, and refusal to reevaluate positions as new data emerged - the establishment media locked arms with the administration around an enforced consensus. Missouri v. Biden confirmed that the administration was censoring dissenters and pressuring social media platforms to do likewise. Recalling administration efforts to dictate Metas content, Mark Zuckerberg stated: "Basically, these people from the Biden administration would call up our team and, like, scream at them and curse." Questioners of the enforced COVID consensus - including experts such as those who signed the Great Barrington Declaration - were censored and vilified. For the most part, the establishment media stood silently by or joined the chorus against them. What they didnt do was investigate and ask the questions that informed dissenters were raising: they did not report; they did not do their job. Listening to revelations from administration staff, celebrity Biden supporters, and establishment media members, virtually everyone in Washington was in on the "secret" of Bidens incapacity. Far from a technical, or even a political, point, presidential incapacity undermines constitutional government. Federal power was purposely placed in a single head - not a cabinet, not the legislative branch, and certainly not unelected staff - to execute our laws. To have the executive branch function otherwise is a violation of the Constitution itself. For how long was Bidens presidential capacity questioned? Who was running the country during these periods? Why was the 25th Amendment not invoked? All these questions and more are still valid, but even more: Why was the establishment media not asking these questions at the time - when they now confirm that they suspected or knew. Clearly more than just friendly to the administration, the establishment media had unparalleled access to the president and his staff. This means unparalleled opportunities to know and ask and investigate. If they suspected, it was their job to investigate; if they knew, it was their job to report. They did neither, as their mea culpas now implicitly confirm. Through the two biggest stories of the last four years, the establishment media were little more than the three monkeys, sitting without hearing, seeing, or speaking. Their stance then and exculpatory attempts now call into question freedom of the presss value if the press decide to not use it. For freedom of the press to work, to have meaning, it must be a two-way street. Certainly, it must be protected, as under the First Amendment. However, to be truly free it must also be exercised. This free exercise was the reason the right was enshrined in the Constitution. All the Constitutions provisions, both directly or through their representatives and the states, ultimately exist to protect the citizenry. Without the presss exercise of its right, this freedom becomes worse than a dead letter: It becomes a ruse. Citizens are not simply uninformed; they are left with the mistaken impression that they have been informed. It was an informed citizenry on which the Constitutions designers rested the government; if the establishment media fails to inform - as they did - the government on which it rests is also threatened. As it was. J.T. Young is the author of the recent book 'Unprecedented Assault: How Big Government Unleashed America's Socialist Left' from RealClear Publishing and has over three decades' experience working in Congress, the Department of Treasury, the Office of Management and Budget, and representing a Fortune 20 company.
