In this world, every moment can be a story waiting to be told. However, capturing those precious moments can be challenging, as, by the time you take out your phone camera, the moment may have already passed. That’s where the Ray-Ban Meta glasses come in. These glasses are powered by Meta and beautifully crafted by Ray-Ban, offering a stylish combination of fashion and technology.
At first glance, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses look like a stylish pair of sunglasses, but they are actually packed with technology. With a camera to capture any moment and a speaker that eliminates the need for headphones, this device is automatically connected once you put on the glasses.
The sound quality of the glasses is impressive, and you can listen to music or take phone calls without needing headphones. One of the remarkable features of the glasses is that you can capture precious moments with just a click or long press to capture a video. Once you capture the moment, it can be transferred immediately to your paired phone.
The sunglasses have an inbuilt 12-megapixel camera that allows you to capture high-quality video footage at 1080p resolution. The camera can record videos for up to 60 seconds, making it perfect for capturing events or creating short clips. Despite the size of the lens packed into the sunglasses, the quality of the video footage captured is impressive and comparable to that of larger cameras. You can confidently capture your favourite moments without compromising on quality.
These glasses have an advanced feature that sets them apart from all other glasses in the market, which is the inclusion of Meta AI. This means you can easily use them to ask questions and get immediate answers. For example, you could ask, “What am I looking at?” and the glasses will quickly reply with a concise answer. You could also ask about the current weather or time, and the Meta AI will instantly provide you with the information you need. With this feature, these glasses are not just a mere fashion accessory but a powerful tool that can help you stay informed and connected with the world.
The Ray-Ban Meta glasses are an exceptional blend of style and technology, making them a popular choice among fashion enthusiasts and tech-savvy individuals. These glasses are sleek and modern, crafted with high-quality materials that ensure durability and comfort. The advanced technology in these glasses offers a range of features, including polarized lenses that provide crystal-clear vision and protection against harmful UV rays. Additionally, the glasses feature an anti-reflective coating that reduces glare and enhances visual clarity. All in all, the Ray-Ban Meta glasses are a perfect accessory for anyone who wants to make a fashion statement while enjoying the benefits of cutting-edge technology.
Earlier in January, Meta announced that it would be restricting the algorithms on both Facebook and Instagram from showing sensitive content to teens aged 18 or 16 and below across the world. Following up on those actions, Meta has introduced a newer restriction from anyone randomly sending DMs to teens. Teens on the platform shall not be approachable by anyone via DMs based on the geographical locations and their norms considered as teens either 16 or 18 years of age and below.
These restrictions are a welcome addition to the already existing restrictions on showing sensitive content to teenage users on both Instagram and Facebook. Anyone who does not exist in the friends or followers list, would not be allowed to text teen users on the said platforms. These stricter guidelines on private messaging are a good move towards safeguarding teens from the horrors of social media psychopaths. These restrictions shall be on the teen’s app end and shall be restricting texts or media from unknown people.
People allowed to connect with the teens on Instagram and Facebook will only be people in their contact list on these social media platforms or on their phones connected to the teens on the same mediums. Meta also wishes to restrict messages via AI technology, considering sensitive content could also be shared by people in the teen’s contact list on social media. It’s not like teens do not know workarounds, but a system-level restriction safeguards most teens from creeps on the internet.
Yesterday, at the exhilarating Meta Connect event, Meta unveiled a game-changing collaboration with EssilorLuxottica – the next-generation Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses collection. With the launch, the company has revolutionised wearable technology, elevating every aspect of the original while introducing groundbreaking capabilities that redefine the smart glasses landscape.
With Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, you’re the director of your own story. The glasses empower you to seize the moment with a simple snap, effortlessly capturing photos and video clips from your unique perspective. But it’s not just about preserving memories; it’s about experiencing them in their fullest, most authentic form.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses invite you to relive these moments and genuinely revel in them as they unfold. These glasses aren’t just a device but your passport to truly live in the moment. The next generation of smart glasses from Meta and RayBan are more accessible and versatile than ever, but what makes these glasses groundbreaking?
Firstly, they aim to redefine how you experience audio. Imagine a world where your headphones are replaced by a stylish pair of glasses. The Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses introduce a personal audio system akin to Amazon’s Echo Frames and the Bose Tempo series, delivering music and audio experiences only you can hear.
The auditory immersion is complemented by a substantial microphone upgrade, featuring five microphones, including one ingeniously embedded in the nose bridge. These enhancements ensure crystal-clear calls and voice commands, even in noisy or windy conditions – a significant improvement from the previous model, which often faltered.
They also moonlight as a high-quality camera. Small camera lenses adorn the right temple, capturing 12-megapixel photos and 1080p videos – a substantial leap from their predecessors. With a generous 32GB of internal storage, you can store approximately 500 photos and up to 100 30-second videos. All your media syncs seamlessly through the Meta View app, providing effortless sharing across Meta’s expansive ecosystem of platforms.
The boldest addition to these glasses is the capability to start live streams on Facebook or Instagram with a couple of taps on the stem. A pulsating white light around the lens signals you’re recording, offering unprecedented ease in sharing your world with your friends and followers. However, this feature amplifies the already pressing privacy concerns accompanying such technology.
Meta’s vision for these smart glasses is clear – they’re not just a messaging tool but a creative instrument. They empower you to engage in two-handed activities, from cooking to playing musical instruments, while capturing your perspective. They are available in various stylish colours, like rebel black, shiny black, jeans and caramel, along with multiple lens options.
The next-generation glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 processor, boasting “on-glass AI” in a remarkably efficient package. They also offer an impressive battery life, with four to six hours of active use and up to 36 hours with a charging case. The sleek and innovative eyewear is available for pre-order now and will hit the shelves on October 17th, with prices starting at an enticing $299 – roughly ₹24,999.
If you haven’t been living under a rock then you’re well aware of the fact that Meta recently launched the Threads platform which is a direct competition to Twitter. The Internet had a field day yesterday when users flocked to the newly launched platform to share their views predominantly on Twitter vs Threads. The newly launched platform saw thirty million users signing up on the first day, which is not a surprise for me as Threads has the benefit of launching under the Instagram brand, it’s borderline nepotism, to say the least. While Threads has already become a definitive platform in the social media circle, Twitter has threatened legal action against Meta.
Twitter threatens legal action against Meta
Twitter’s lawyer Alex Spiro accused Meta of using their company’s trade secrets by ‘hiring dozens of former employees of the blue-bird app’ Elon’s takeover of Twitter resulted in many employees laid off which became talk of the town back in February. Reacting to this latest development, Musk tweeted that he supported good competition but not ‘cheating’. Musk replied to a news article about Twitter’s potential legal action against Meta writing “Competition if fine, cheating is not”
Spiro, who also works as Elon Musk’s personal lawyer has alleged Meta of systematic, willful and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property. Twitter claims that its former employee still had access to its crucial confidential information which was used to build a “copycat” application.
Spiro wrote in a letter, “Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information”
On the other hand, Andy Stone, a Meta spokesperson, stated in a Threads post that the engineering team at Threads does not consists of any former Twitter employees. Twitter CEO Linda Yaccarino also took a dig at Meta’s Threads recently saying that Twitter can be imitated, but the Twitter community can never be duplicated.
Twitter has been going through a dramatic meltdown ever since Elon Musk took command of the platform. Just recently, Musk revealed that Twitter will be limiting how many tweets a user sees down to just a thousand for non-paying users. It won’t be wrong to state that Twitter is no longer the platform is used to and the changed leadership has caused more damage than one could’ve initially imagined. Taking advantage of a failing platform, Facebook parent Meta is all set to launch a microblogging app of their own titled – Threads.
Twitter competitor on the way
Threads, Instagram’s text-based conversation application is expected to be released on July 6, 2023. This platform will allow users to follow the same people they follow on the photo and video sharing platform of Instagram along with having the same username. The launch comes merely days after Twitter announced the restrictions on their app.
The application is already live on Apple’s App Store. The description for the same read – “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow. Whatever it is you’re interested in, you can follow and connect directly with your favorite creators and others who love the same things — or build a loyal following of your own to share your ideas, opinions and creativity with the world.”
while Threads is closely connected to the Instagram platform, it is a standalone application which is an interesting approach, to say the least. There is no definitive information on how the application will operate as of now. However, it looks like users can like, comment, repost, and share posts on it. It will be interesting to see if Meta is able to migrate hardcore Twitter users to their platform. The general consensus about the new Meta platform has been rather underwhelming on Twitter with many users straight up saying they’re not interested in it. One of the tweets I read was something along the line of – “It’s a Meta product, so we won’t use it” which was followed by a good chunk of likes and replies.
It is human to seek validation. Social media validation, on the other hand, gives people a sense of superiority. There’s a reason why people heavily document their international vacations or even a weekend getaway on their social media through stories or posts. Showcasing that you’re living a better life than the average Joe has become the twisted reason why people post on social media nowadays, or at least, that’s what my pessimistic worldview says to me. To add fuel to the fire, social media also has a class divide. The verification badge!
A simple blue tick beside your name sets you apart from the masses. For years, the verification badge on your profile was something you earned by standing out from the crowd. An entertainer, a philanthropist, a businessman, or a content creator amongst many other notable professionals were awarded the verified status on social media. Well, those were different times and the new age of social media has allowed users to buy verification badges!
Meta Verified comes to India
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced on his broadcasts channel that the paid verification system has now launched in India. The US, Australia, and New Zealand were the first countries to receive the paid verification now followed by India, the UK, and Canada.
The verification subscription in India is directly available for purchase on Instagram or Facebook. People can purchase a monthly subscription for ₹699 on iOS or Android. Whereas, users with legacy blue ticks will maintain their verified status. This is a different approach from that of Twitter which decided to yank away the verification status of legacy users in the hopes of turning them into paid subscribers. So, what do you get besides a verified blue tick if you decide to buy the subscription?
After providing a government ID to confirm their identity, subscribers gain access to proactive impersonation protection along with direct access to customer support. Additionally, users also get benefits like badges and exclusive stickers on Facebook and Instagram along with 100 Stars per month on Facebook to support other creators.
Paid Verification: Double-edged Sword
The implementation of paid verification has garnered mixed reviews. The supporters of this subscription model believe that increases the platform’s dependability and openness. This translates to users being more likely to identify between real users and/or impostors. The Meta Verified subscription could lead to solid protection against identity theft, fraud, and fake news.
However, there are also people like me who believe that the service is a class divide between Instagram and Facebook users. The elite hierarchy of a verified badge could breed toxicity among social media users. Some creators on social media often look for shortcuts through unethical bot followers and fake engagement. In a way, Meta has enabled such users by introducing a paid subscription model. Creators who worked hard to achieve a verified status are clearly distraught by Meta’s money-spinning move. It won’t be long before everyone walks around with a verified status on social media and we’re all notable social media personalities!
Meta, the parent company of Facebook has been fined a record whopping €1.2 billion by the Irish regulator for breaching EU data protection rules. The Irish Data Protection recently announced that Meta has violated General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) by moving data between Europe and the US. Regulators added that Meta failed to protect European users from having their data used under US law.
Meta fined record €1.2 billion
Meta will now be fined €1.2 billion and also be required to delete the Facebook data or move it back to Europe. This fine is the most EU has levied upon any company under the EU’s General Data Protection Regulations. The previous record was held by Amazon. The Jeff Bezos-owned company was fined a hefty €746 million by regulators in Luxembourg. However, the four biggest fines after Amazon have been paid by Meta itself as a part of issues revolving around Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.
Meta has issued a statement calling the fine ‘unjustified and unnecessary’ adding that it will appeal the ruling. It also stated that there will be immediate disruption to the way Facebook operates. The company has been vocal about how the new limits on data transfer to the US could cause the company to shut down operations in the EU. This could lead to Facebook and Instagram shutting down in Europe entirely.
Meta’s president of global affairs Nick Clegg and chief legal officer Jennifer Newstead said in a statement that the company feels disappointed to have been singled out. The ruling was called unjustified and a dangerous precedent for countless other companies. This marks the third fine imposed on Meta so far just this year in the EU and its fourth in six months. With Meta always being in the news in recent times over company-wide layoffs and budget cuts, the big fine only puts the company down furthermore.
If you were on the internet in 2021 like most of us were thanks to the pandemic, then you know how crazy the hype around the metaverse was. Touted as the next big thing in the tech world, the metaverse promised an entirely immersive virtual world including futuristic avatars and wearable devices. It was back in October 2021 when Facebook made the announcement of changing its name to ‘Meta’ reflecting upon its goals to expand from a social media giant into the metaverse. Cut to 2023 where it looks like Meta’s dream has lost its momentum if not come to a complete stop. What was called by Mark Zuckerberg the ‘next chapter of the internet’ finds itself lost somewhere in the noise with little to no interest amongst the general public. So, is the metaverse dying?
Zuckerberg pulls the plug
Since 2021 when Zuckerberg announced the Facebook rebranding to Meta, the company has lost a big chunk of money. As per reports, meta lost as much as $20 billion as of December 2022 from its ‘Reality Labs’ segment since its start in 2021. The losses kept piling up to the point where investors started raising concerns about Mark’s approach to this business expansion. Brad Gerstner, whose Altimeter Capital fund owns hundreds of millions worth of Meta shares wrote an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg stating that the company had lost investors’ confidence. People and organizations with major stakes in the company expressed concern that Zuckerberg had lost the focus of his company’s core social media empire to pivot onto a concept that may take years to come to fruition.
As a result, Mark Zuckerberg had to issue a statement revealing that the metaverse was not the majority of what the company was doing. Mark revealed that about 80% of Meta’s investments are driven towards the core business and only about or less than 20% of its investments went towards Reality Labs. Meta’s core businesses include Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp Messenger. Mark then added that the vast majority of what Meta does will continue to go towards social media until the ‘metaverse becomes a larger thing’ Zuckerberg was insistent about the fact that communication in 2023 will be different than the computing devices used today. The Meta head had gone on record and stated that he is ‘very optimistic’ about the direction Meta was headed in. Well, that was until 2023 when the AI race took an interesting turn and Meta aims to strike gold in that arena.
It might have not come with major announcements or discourse on the internet, but Mark Zuckerberg has quietly pulled the plug on his metaverse dream. The Meta head quietly buried his ambitious project and redirected his attention towards artificial intelligence. Failures are quiet and success makes all the noise stand true in this case. Chatter on the web suggests that issuing a public announcement would force Mark to admit that he was wrong, which is a big price to pay amidst already plummeting stock value and backlash over mass layoffs. On the other hand, Meta’s attention shift to AI reflects upon the unparalleled potential of the technology to revolutionize the world. So what exactly is Meta’s focus now? Here’s what Mark Zuckerberg shared in a post on February 27 –
“We’re creating a new top-level product group at Meta focused on generative AI to turbocharge our work in this area. We’re starting by pulling together a lot of the teams working on generative AI across the company into one group focused on building delightful experiences around this technology into all of our different products. In the short term, we’ll focus on building creative and expressive tools. Over the longer term, we’ll focus on developing AI personas that can help people in a variety of ways. We’re exploring experiences with text (like chat in WhatsApp and Messenger), with images (like creative Instagram filters and ad formats), and with video and multi-modal experiences. We have a lot of foundational work to do before getting to the really futuristic experiences, but I’m excited about all of the new things we’ll build along the way.”
Meta Platforms Inc recently released a new large language model to researchers. The model, titled ‘LLaMA’ is intended to help scientists and engineers explore the application of AI such as answering questions and summarizing documents. The new model has been developed by Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team which was established nearly a decade back in September 2013.
LLaMA is not ChatGPT or Bing Search alternative, which means it is not a system that users can hop on and have conversations with. Rather, it is a research tool which Meta believes will democratize access to AI in a fast-changing field. In simple terms, LLaMA has been made public to help experts dish out problems with AI language models in general. In recent times, there have been reports about Microsoft’s Bing search AI giving passive-aggressive and factually incorrect responses. LLaMA has been publicised to help solve issues like those.
Meta announced its new language model in a blog post writing – “We believe the entire AI community — academic researchers, civil society, policymakers, and industry — must work together to develop clear guidelines around responsible AI in general and responsible large language models in particular, given their centrality in many downstream language applications. A much broader segment of the AI community needs access to these models in order to conduct reproducible research and collectively drive the field forward.” This means that the company’s focus has definitely shifted towards the AI race from the metaverse.
While the metaverse has been put on the sidelines by Mark, the tech leader was quick to realize the paradigm shift with AI technology and pivoted immediately. In the general context, the metaverse could be signed off as Zuckerberg’s expensive fling that ran its course. However, what makes us curious now is the future of virtual reality which was the backbone of the metaverse.
Despite all the flashy and at times downright dystopian demos of VR implemented in the metaverse, Zucklerberg’s dream did not catch on as he would have expected. So, does the failure of the metaverse actually affect development in the VR space? We’d say yes, but only partially. Here’s why –
The Future of VR
While the metaverse vision relied solely on VR technologies to create an immersive experience for people in a digital dimension, the technology itself was never chained to that limitation. VR as a concept has been around since the mid-1980s when Jaron Lanier, founder of VPL Research started working to develop gear including a goggle and gloves to experience virtual reality. However, the VR headsets as we see them now in the mainstream were introduced by Oculus VR and are the brainchild of Palmer Lucky.
VR has been a growing field in the world of tech for over a decade now and has the potential to revolutionize various aspects of our lives be it entertainment, healthcare or education. The main reason why VR gained mainstream popularity is due to the availability of affordable VR headsets right now that allows people to have an immersive experience at a pocket-friendly price. I remember buying my first-ever VR headset for under Rs 2K from Amazon back in 2019 and watching Avengers: Endgame in 3D, it was an experience like no other!
Another reason why VR has shaped up to become the next big thing is due to its mindful implementation in gaming. VR unlocks the next level of immersive gaming allowing players that they are inside the game. There are a number of companies right now in the world which are working specifically on developing VR-centric games that are impressive, to say the least. VR has the potential to transform the gaming industry in its entirety. Players won’t experience the game as a character sitting in front of a screen but feel like they’re inside the game. This high level of immersive gaming experience could revolutionize gaming and change the way we enjoy games altogether.
Another end of the spectrum in entertainment. The theatrical exhibition of films has taken a hit in the past few years as the audience shifts to OTT platforms for their entertainment. This hints that the audience can and will adapt to changing patterns of consuming cinema including watching in VR. In the future, films could be produced specifically to cater to the VR audience creating an immersive experience of storytelling like no other. This level of stimulation will undoubtedly hook the movie-going audience who are always on the lookout for something new. VR could also help a lot when it comes to education as students could visit monuments across the world in virtual reality or learn about the human anatomy wearing a VR headset.
In conclusion, I would like to reinstate the fact that VR technology has been around well before the inception of the metaverse. While the metaverse depends on VR to thrive, no such limitations are present in VR technology. While the future of the metaverse looks dark, the same cannot be said for VR.
Large Language Models (LLMs) have taken over the tech industry by a wave in the last few years. These language models have been trained on a vast amount of data capable of performing various tasks. These tasks range from summarizing text and writing essays or poems to generating AI art prompts. One prime example of such LLMs is OpenAI’s ChatGPT, which has overtaken the literary world. To the unversed, ChatGPT is a dialogue-based AI chatbot that can have conversations with users, answer questions, solve mathematical queries and much more. The AI race is gearing up quickly in the form of chatbots with various chatbot AIs popping up on the internet.
Interesting Fact: Right now a chatbot AI named ‘Gita GPT‘ is making waves in India where users can ask the AI questions and receive answers in the context of the Holy Bhagwad Geeta.
As the AI war heats up a key player in the tech industry i.e. Meta has stepped in and released a large language model for researchers.
Meta steps in the AI race
Meta Platforms Inc recently revealed that it’s releasing a new large language model to researchers. The model, titled ‘LLaMA’ is intended to help scientists and engineers explore the application of AI such as answering questions and summarizing documents. The new model has been developed by Meta’s Fundamental AI Research (FAIR) team which was established nearly a decade back in September 2013.
LLaMA is not ChatGPT or Bing Search alternative, which means it is not a system that users can hop on and have conversations with. Rather, it is a research tool which Meta believes will democratize access to AI in a fast-changing field. In simple terms, LLaMA has been made public to help experts dish out problems with AI language models in general. In recent times, there have been reports about Microsoft’s Bing search AI giving passive-aggressive and factually incorrect responses. LLaMA has been publicised to help solve issues like those.
Meta announced its new language model in a blog post writing – “We believe the entire AI community — academic researchers, civil society, policymakers, and industry — must work together to develop clear guidelines around responsible AI in general and responsible large language models in particular, given their centrality in many downstream language applications. A much broader segment of the AI community needs access to these models in order to conduct reproducible research and collectively drive the field forward.”
Only a few months back in November 2022, Meta sacked roughly 11,000 employees from its global workforce. Firing 13 per cent of its global workforce made Meta the company to fire the most employees in 2022 followed by Twitter which sacked 5,000 of its workforce. Now, nearly just four months after the massive layoffs, Meta is gearing up to lay off thousands of employees soon.
Meta layoffs
Meta, the parent company of Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram is planning to lay off thousands of its employees soon as reported by The Washington Post. The new set of layoffs is said to disproportionately impact non-engineering roles. it is also reported that CEO Mark Zuckerberg is currently deputising lawyers, financial experts, top executives and human resources employees to draw up plans to deflate the hierarchy within the company. Back in November 2022, Meta cited that overhiring and poor macroeconomic conditions were the reason behind the mass layoff. It will be interesting to see what reason is cited by the tech giant for the fresh round of layoffs.
It is expected that Meta will be citing a similar reason for the layoffs and additional mitigating costs amid falling revenue will also be one of the reasons for the layoffs. The reports reveal furthermore that Meta is considering rather traditional spending cuts by slashing some projects. These cuts will be targeted at divisions across the company and will happen gradually.
As per reports, the development about the upcoming layoffs comes days after it was reported that the company purposely gave ‘subpar ratings’ to thousands of employees during their performance review. On the other hand, Meta seems to be desperately trying to increase revenues with its verified subscription plans.
