No more boring meetings: Zuck's display glasses have potential

Contents

Of course, something doesn't work at first. Sure. What's less clear is whether it's a clever and charming way to make the audience laugh or whether there really are problems. Mark Zuckerberg, who used to be criticized for being robotic, has now mastered the art of playing with the audience – Not everything went smoothly at Connect 24 either, much to the amusement of the audience.

This year, it first hit a colleague who was supposed to put together a sauce for his sandwich with the new AI assistant Live AI. Live AI sees and hears everything through its glasses, receives information from the wearer and can also search the internet. But the AI goes on strike – or the Wi-Fi.

And even Zuck can't answer a call with the new display glasses via the accompanying wristband. Intentional or not, the jokes about it work. Zuck's nonchalance is believable. His glasses and sales figures may prove him right in not betting on the wrong horse this time, as many believe he did with the metaverse. And they clearly give him confidence.

The new POV of the Meta Ray-Ban Display

At the beginning of his keynote speech on Thursday night, Zuck, as he calls himself, is shown in a video. A live recording. Someone calls out that he should come on stage now. Zuck puts on his new "Meta Ray-Ban Display," and the perspective switches to his glasses camera. POV – which stands for Point of View and is now used for everything you have to say from your own perspective.

Eine Analyse von Eva-Maria Weiß

Eva-Maria Weiß ist Journalistin für Social Media, Browser, Messenger und allerlei Anwendungen im Internet. Seit ChatGPT ist KI in den Vordergrund gerückt.

POV, Zuck selects the right music from Spotify and sets off. On the way to the stage, he watches the group chat with his colleagues – including photos, videos are also possible. Everything can be seen on the display of the new glasses. This display is similar to a HUD – like the speed display in a car. The only difference is that it can do much more and looks much better. "Realistic holograms," says Zuck. A high-resolution display is behind it, 600 × 600 pixels. Usable day and night, with transition lenses, absolutely invisible to other people.

Of course, the glasses only work with a connection to a smartphone and specifically the Meta AI app. But Zuck demonstratively hands his smartphone to a colleague just before going on stage. In his vision of the future, smart glasses are set to replace smartphones, and he has been talking about a new category of device for a long time. He also hopes that this will make Meta less dependent on other hardware manufacturers. Until now, they have had to offer apps for Apple's and Google's devices, which in Apple's case has already led to disputes over fees and data leakage.

AI makes smart glasses truly possible

So now the glasses with a display are here. Everyone had expected them in advance. Zuckerberg's vision of smart glasses is possible thanks to artificial intelligence (AI). Large language models have made it possible to control a device using speech. Meta has now added a wristband, the "Neural Band." Small muscle movements such as a pinch of the index finger and thumb are enough, and the wristband sends signals to select a service, start music, or read a message. Everything is completely inconspicuous.

In fact, it's one of those rather awkward moments when you're talking to someone in a crowd wearing Ray-Ban Meta glasses, for example, to find out what kind of building you're standing in front of. The tip on the temple for control is already familiar from the previous model. The wristband has the advantage of being particularly inconspicuous.

This inconspicuousness then also causes a conflict – We remember Google Glass and the campaign against"glassholes". Zuckerberg says that the smartphone has separated us from our surroundings. In his eyes, the glasses make things better by keeping us connected to the world around us. But the environment could also be a conversation partner at the dinner table who doesn't realize that we are reading other people's messages in our glasses. Let's be honest: there are enough events where everyone has wished for inconspicuous distraction, but it can also be inappropriate.

800 US dollars for a lot of gadgetry

The glasses will cost a slim 799 US dollars. The sales launch for Germany is still unknown. It will probably be for regulatory reasons. Strangely, however, the Ray-Ban Meta Display is due to come to France and Italy next year. So we can hope that Germany will also be on the list by then. Meta is not yet able to provide any information on this.

Will the glasses be a bestseller at this price, as the classic Ray-Ban Meta (RBM) already is? That is a little doubtful. But there will certainly be some people who enjoy playing enough to spend the money. Or there will be enough people who are sitting in a lot of boring meetings and events for which they need a distraction.

The situation is likely to be different for the two less prominently displayed glasses. The RBM is already a classic and will continue to be sold. The Oakley Meta HSTN also has enough style factor and the same range of functions. Zuckerberg repeatedly emphasizes how important looks are, and he may be absolutely right. Nobody wants to walk around with a block on their face. Meta is doing well by partnering with EssilorLuxottica, the company behind Ray-Ban, Oakley and pretty much every eyewear brand known to man.

The Oakley Meta Vanguard is guaranteed to appeal to athletes who already have an expensive hobby or are already professionals. No racing cyclist is without glasses, so why not go for a pair with significantly more helpful functions.

But: Meta warns before the keynote that it's about the future, which may turn out differently than you think.

(emw)