In partnership with eyewear brand Ray-Ban, Facebook has released its first pair of smart glasses, offering wearers the ability to capture photos and videos without even needing to pull out their phone.
The glasses, called Ray-Ban Stories, are now available for A$449 and are functionally similar to devices already on the market, such as SnapChat Spectacles. They allow users to capture images and video and upload them to their social media accounts, via an app called Facebook View.
Users will be able to share content on Facebook and other Facebook-owned platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as non-Facebook apps such as Twitter, TikTok and SnapChat. Besides two 5-megapixel cameras, the glasses have three microphones and built-in speakers, so they can respond to voice commands and also be used for calls.
The glasses are the latest step in Facebook’s initiative to develop wearable tech. As chief executive Mark Zuckerberg puts it, such devices represent “a future where phones are no longer a central part of our lives”.
These are not augmented reality yet - that's where one has the ability to overlay one's view of the physical world with digital images. Doesn't that mean that we could live our "dream lives" - overlaying something "better" than what is in reality.
Our dream life will be within reach. The glasses came out in September so I can imagine how soon more developments will be on the way. This is the start of "Metaverse" to me.
We step into it via a great tradition of celebrities in Ray-Ban Sunglasses. Think Roy Orbison, James Dean, Bob Dylan, John F. Kennedy, The Blues Brothers, Men in Black, Justin Timberlake, David Beckham and others. What a tantalizing idea that Rayban Wayfarer glasses can make my dreams come true.
This is what a perfect year looks like around the corner when there isn't any wind - the large Japanese Maple drops its leaves in the driveway, making a brilliant carpet.
