Apple is reportedly launching its own AI smart glasses next year, per a recent Bloomberg report. While Apple is very much so late to the category, I do think there are a number of great value adds Apple could bring to the table – which I’ll be outlining here.
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Today, Meta shared (via The Verge) a few new details about Aria Gen 2, its next-generation experimental smart glasses.
While they’re still not meant for consumers, the hardware show just how fast Meta is moving and how far ahead it is thinking when it comes to the future of wearables, AI, and spatial computing. It also signals how quickly Apple will have to work if it really intends to do more than simply try to catch up. Again.
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Tim Cook was recently reported to be determined to bring out an Apple Glasses product ahead of Meta’s version, with one insider going so far as to say the CEO “cares about nothing else.”
A new report suggests that Meta is changing its own headset plans in what may be a move geared to accelerate its moves towards an AR glasses product …
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Meta has growing ambitions in the hardware space, and per a new report that growth will soon inspire an interesting new direction: opening physical stores with retail workers, just like the Apple Store.
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The high-stakes antitrust case that could force Meta to unwind Instagram and WhatsApp has officially wrapped. After six weeks of testimony and 38 witnesses, including Mark Zuckerberg himself, it is now up to Judge James E. Boasberg to make history, whichever way he rules.
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Apple’s developer relations are a major point of controversy at the moment following the court ruling related to Epic Games. Earlier this week, Mark Zuckerberg discussed Meta’s relationship with Apple in an interview that was just published at Stratechery. Here’s what he said.
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Meta’s encrypted messaging app WhatsApp will use an approach pioneered by Apple to add AI capabilities without compromising privacy.
The company has announced that it will use tech it calls Private Processing, which appears to exactly replicate Apple’s Private Cloud Compute …
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Ray-Ban Meta glasses now offer a live translation feature to all owners, after an earlier small-scale test. You can download language packs in advance, enabling translation even when you don’t have a mobile data connection.
The Meta AI features, which lets you ask the glasses questions about what you’re seeing, has also now launched in EU countries, and there are new frame and lens combos too …
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WhatsApp users have expressed frustration at the fact that there is no way to remove the new Meta AI chatbot feature from the messaging app, raising concerns that the company is seeking to use their private chats to train the bot.
Meta says the AI chatbot can’t read messages unless one of the chat participants chooses to share it, but adds that the company is “listening to feedback” from users …
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After being announced in January, Instagram’s new CapCut competitor is now available on the App Store. The app is called ‘Edits’, and was announced in direct response to the TikTok ban earlier this year. The app was initially set to launch in February.
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The Instagram app has its own built-in camera, so users can take photos and videos for Stories without needing another app. While users can save this content to their photo library, some people have noticed that the Save button on the Instagram camera has now disappeared – but luckily there’s already a fix available.
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WhatsApp this week released a major update that adds a new way to create and manage sticker packs without having to leave the app. Read on as we detail exactly what’s new for WhatsApp users.
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Lawyers representing Apple said the company may not be able to trust Meta, after the social network company leaked internal data shared with the company in confidence.
Amusingly, Meta didn’t share the data deliberately, but instead used a method of redacting a PDF which is well-known for being trivial to undo …
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Apple Intelligence was announced with iOS 18 and has been available since last October, when Apple released iOS 18.1 to the public. Although most apps provide support for Apple Intelligence features by default, developers can choose not to have them in their apps – and it seems that Meta has decided to do so.
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In an extremely high-profile legal case, Meta is currently trying to fend off antitrust claims so the FTC doesn’t break it up. And today as part of its prepared defense, the company sought to use Apple’s Messages app as evidence that it’s not a monopoly.
Update 4/16 9:45 a.m. ET: Removed references to previously redacted info at Meta’s request.
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Tim Cook really wants Apple to make true AR glasses. He “cares about nothing else”, according to an Apple engineer. That said, building true AR glasses will take a lot of time.
According to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman though, Apple is developing “its own glasses with cameras and microphones” in the meanwhile, similar to Meta Ray-Bans. Despite this interim product, AR glasses are Tim Cook’s “top priority.”
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Meta has been working on a new privacy feature for WhatsApp, which will enable “advanced privacy” for chats. With the feature, users will have the option to further protect sensitive messages.
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Meta on Thursday announced new features coming to Threads, the company’s microblogging platform. Users will now have the option to add specific topics to their profiles, as well as more controls over who can reply or quote a post.
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The Meta AI chatbot is finally rolling out to European countries from this week, and will be accessible in Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Messenger. However, the headline feature of Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will not be available.
The generative AI feature first launched in the US back in 2023, but privacy concerns were raised when it came to light that the company had been training it on Facebook and Instagram posts since way back in 2007 ….
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Instagram last month announced Edits, a new video editor app for mobile platforms that aims to compete with CapCut (owned by ByteDance, which is behind TikTok). Although Meta promised to launch the new app on March 13, it now appears that it will be released a bit later than expected.
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Instagram users saw a flood of violent and sexually explicit contents in their Reels before the company responded to complaints …
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At least nine US states are considering legislation that would make app store owners like Apple and Google responsible for age verification before giving access to apps with minimum age requirements. Currently the legal responsibility lies with developers.
The issue is most applicable to social media apps, which typically have a minimum age of 13, and is an approach advocated by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg …
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Meta community notes are expected to launch within the next couple of months, after the social network announced it would be ending its own fact-checking program because facts are so 2015. You can now apply to be a contributor to these, signing up on one of Facebook, Instagram, and Threads.
Meantime, X owner Elon Musk appears to be threatening the impartiality of his platform’s community notes, announcing plans to “fix” the feature …
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A new report suggests that Apple and Meta could end up competing in the humanoid robots field. The social media company is said to be making “significant investment” in this product category, with a focus on household chores.
But if Apple does proceed with its own reported domestic robot plans, the Cupertino company could have a huge advantage …
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