Seeing double? Meta's Ray-Ban success ignites the battle of the smart glasses

The success of smart rings highlights a trend toward discreet and convenient tech wearables. However, the usual suspects, Meta, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Apple, are either releasing or rumored to be working on compact augmented reality glasses (AR). As the smart glasses revolution begins to gather pace, how did we get here?

A decade has passed since Google Glass arrived, only to be removed from the market in 2015 after increasing safety and privacy concerns. But this was just one of many problems with the ill-fated wearables.

Google made the mistake of marketing its smart glasses as a luxury item for a niche geeky audience who became not-so-affectionately referred to as "Glassholes."

AR smart glasses go mainstream

Last year, Meta unveiled Facebook-streaming Ray-Bans. The classic Ray-Ban design doesn’t look or feel like smart glasses, and this discrete approach is proving to be a big hit among early adopters. However, these Ray-Ban Meta glasses have been given a new lease of life upon enabling Look and Ask with Meta AI.

Once activated, this feature enables users to ask Meta AI questions about what they see. The glasses capture a photo and then send it to Meta's cloud for AI processing. The AI then analyzes the image, considering objects, text, and other visual elements, and provides an audio response through the glasses.

Users can request translations, seek gardening advice, or even ask for creative descriptions or captions. The feature enhances the user's understanding of their surroundings and assists with various tasks. However, it's important to note that Meta stores and uses the images processed to improve its products and train its AI systems, in line with its privacy policy.

Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses just got a massive Multimodal upgrade - Meta AI with Vision

It doesn't just take speech input, it can now answer questions about what you are seeing.

Here are 8 features that is now possible

1. Ask about what you are seeing pic.twitter.com/IJQ3WuZMAJ

undefined Min Choi (@minchoi) April 24, 2024

Outside of the useful AI features, the glasses also allow you to take photos and videos, allowing users to get back to recording experiences while remaining in the moment. The problem is the camera and audio quality of the smart glasses cannot compete with the smartphone in your pocket.

Purists will argue that in its current form, users would be better off with normal sunglasses, headphones, and a smartphone. But those who are happy to sacrifice a little quality and prefer to travel light will enjoy this introduction to smart glasses.

Unfortunately, these smart glasses require a Facebook or Instagram account, which can conjure up images of every user's worst privacy nightmares. But if you look behind the scenes, huge investments are occurring as big tech attempts to stake its claim on the future of smart glasses.

Meta and Google consider massive investments in EssilorLuxottica.

As sales of Ray-Ban Meta glasses continue to increase, Meta wants to strengthen its ties with European eyewear group EssilorLuxottica. The tech giant is reportedly considering a 3-5% stake in the company, and based on its current valuation of around $95 billion, this investment could be as high as $5 billion.

With the smart glasses scene enjoying a resurgence, recent rumors suggest Google might try to wrestle the Ray-Ban partnership away from Meta for its Gemini-powered glasses. These investments indicate how big tech is preparing to go all-in on smart glasses. But this trend also paves the way for cheaper alternatives to flood the market, which will inevitably concern security experts.

With health wearables and devices already vulnerable to attacks, it's essential to recognize both the potential and perils of mainstream adoption of smart glasses.

The smart glasses revolution: promises and pitfalls

Ten years later after Google Glass, the smart glasses market is very different. Audiences now expect their tech wearables to be stylish devices for everyday use, with the ability to use tech seamlessly for specific practical purposes when needed. But style comes before the tech.

Elsewhere, techies hiding behind stylish sunglasses can be found living their cyberpunk fantasy in the real world as they sit in a park on a sunny day, watching multi-monitor displays within an augmented reality space.

If you are the type of person who gets anxious at job interviews or a first date, a team of Stanford students has created rizzGPT for smartglasses that provides its wearer "real-time Charisma as a Service (CaaS)," so nervous will always have the perfect answer.

say goodbye to awkward dates and job interviews ☹️

we made rizzGPT -- real-time Charisma as a Service (CaaS)

it listens to your conversation and tells you exactly what to say next 😱

built using GPT-4, Whisper and the Monocle AR glasses

with @C51Alix @varunshenoy_ pic.twitter.com/HycQGGXT6N

undefined Bryan Chiang (@bryanhpchiang) March 26, 2023

It's hard to see how anyone's wisest move would be turning to AI's charisma prompts to overcome a socially awkward situation. Repeating words such as delve and tapestry would quickly give the game away and leave the user looking desperate while gifting the other person a lifetime of amusing anecdotes about that time when someone was using ChatGPT prompts hidden in the glasses to keep the conversation on track.

Nobody wants to be that guy. So, where do we go from here?

Meet the world's first screenless AR laptop

The highly anticipated Spacetop G1 laptop will be released in October. This device is different because it packs a Qualcomm Snapdragon QCS8550 chipset, 16GB of RAM, Wi-Fi 7, a 5G modem, and at least 128GB storage into what appears to be a full-sized keyboard. The screenless laptop provides the user with a 100-inch virtual screen that can be seen through the provided smart glasses.

Users can work from a coffee shop or even on a long-haul flight with a sizeable multi-screen setup without fear of others glancing over their shoulders at what they are doing.

As we stand on the brink of a smart glasses revolution, the upcoming Spacetop G1 laptop offers a glimpse into a potentially screenless future. It remains to be seen whether we're ready for a world where our screens are invisible to everyone but ourselves. But one thing is clear. The future of computing is no longer just in our pockets or desks. It's right before our eyes.