Three years ago, Facebook stopped being Facebook to become Meta. Then, Zuckerberg said, the company’s main goal was to create a new virtual world called the Metaverse, which, to this day, doesn’t even seem to have the foundations. But technology doesn’t give up; Or, at least, he doesn’t give up entirely. Keep betting on augmented reality and glasses. And during its annual MetaConnect event this Wednesday, it showed off the company’s first augmented reality glasses. And they’re small, too small for the technology they carry inside. and light. They don’t even weigh 100 grams. They look like conventional plastic glasses.
Speaking on the occasion, Zuckerberg said, “These are the most advanced augmented reality glasses the world has ever seen. But wait, because you can’t use them right now. They’re called ‘gadgets.’ OrionAnd although it is now functional, it is still being tested by the company. So what we have is a prototype, but not one that stays in a drawer. They are the first step to launch a device with these features.
On the surface, they can do exactly the same as the most powerful mixed reality glasses on the market. They are used for work and leisure. To make video calls. To play video games. For everything. But mass-creating them at this point is too expensive. And that, inevitably, is reflected in the price the consumer pays. The feeling left after watching the event is that Meta wants to convey the idea that one of the main obstacles to the Metaverse, its big and bulky visions, has already been overcome. Or almost. But it will take some time to get them.
Zuckerberg, very casual with shaggy hair and an oversized black t-shirt, also showed off some affordable virtual and augmented reality glasses, aka mixed reality, during Connect. The Quest 3S, which will arrive on October 15 at a price of $299 (we should see in Spain). The viewer allows the user to consult virtual information on different virtual screens, while knowing exactly what is happening in their environment, because digital data is visible on it. The operation is very reminiscent of Apple’s Vision Pro at first glance. However, in fact, the price is much lower than the Apple company, which costs 4,500 euros.
The company is also working on improving Horizon Worlds, its own virtual world, and a key part of the Metaverse. Among other things, the company wants the avatars users interact with to be photorealistic.
The Meta Ray-Ban Smart Glasses also get a makeover and become even smarter. Meta has confirmed the launch of new functions, including a real-time translator compatible with Spanish, English, French or Italian. When the update arrives, which will require a few months to wait, users will be able to use the device to scan QR codes or even make calls by looking at a phone number.
More AI in your Instagram
Meta, obviously, does not forget about artificial intelligence. The company shared last July its decision not to bring its most powerful AI tools to Europe for fear of regulations being touted in Brussels. During the presentation, Zuckerberg confirmed the launch of its most powerful multimodal model, Llama 3.2, which is capable of processing text and images.
The model is open source, so it is available to any developer so they can use it to build applications. Well, not everyone, because, as we said, this technology is outside the old continent, at least for now. With this move, Meta tries to catch up with Google and OpenAI, companies that already have similar models on the network.
The company has announced the arrival of ‘influencers’, the new voices of actors John Cena and Judi Dench, for Meta AI, its chatbot powered by AI on WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook, but is still unavailable. Not in Spain, or the EU. It now also allows the user to make video calls with machines just like real people.
The company continues to play with technology and plant it on consumers’ screens. It is also working to start showing AI-generated images related to users’ tastes and interests on sites like Facebook and Instagram. And if there’s one company you know, it’s Zuckerberg, which is what it means to be one of the great kings of data on the Internet. This content is labeled in such a way that the Internet user does not believe it to be true.
