Photo credit: Bloomberg
Facebook Inc. is now officially known as Meta Platforms Inc. and their first hardware product may have leaked well ahead of its official unveiling. This image allegedly shows a smartwatch that somewhat resembles the Apple Watch with its curved edges, but unlike the competition, the Meta Watch boasts a front-facing camera, similar to what you’d find on the front of a smartphone. Read more for a video to see how Facebook users will interact in the metaverse and additional information.
Project Nazare is set to become Meta’s first full-fledged augmented reality (AR) glasses, and so far, it’s just a research project. They are currently working on making its form-factor and experience perfect for consumers. This entails developing custom hologram displays, projectors, batteries, radios, custom silicon chips, cameras, speakers, as well as sensors, to map the world around each user and more into glasses that measure just 5mm thick.
During the Facebook Connect 2021 event, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that the company will be rebranding as Meta, with the main goal being to bring together their apps and technologies under a new name. The ultimate goal is to bring the metaverse to life and help people connect, find communities as well as grow their businesses. Users will be able to share immersive experiences with other people, even when you’re not together physically. Read more for two videos explaining everything and showing how it will work.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg teased a prototype virtual / augmented reality headset that his company is currently working on, calling it a “retina resolution” device. Some are speculating that it could be the next Oculus VR headset, since the retina resolution means that the device could potentially have a high enough pixel density that exceeds that of the human eye. Read more for another picture of a different prototype headset.
Facebook and EssilorLuxottica have teamed up to unveil Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses, which start at $299 USD and will be available for purchase in 20 different style combinations online as well as in select retail stores in the US, Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy and the UK. Its two integrated 5-megapixel cameras allow you to capture moments in a unique first-person perspective, whether it be taking photos or up to 30-second videos. Read more for two videos, including an early hands-on review.
Just when you thought you’ve seen it all, Facebook introduces reverse pass-through VR. This technology basically projects a three-dimensional view of the wearer’s eyes to multiple outside viewers in a perspective-correct manner, with a prototype headset containing a world-facing light field display. Why is this even a thing? Facebook claims that this existing video (forward) pass-through technology allows more seamless interactions between people with and without headsets in social or professional contexts. Read more for another picture and additional information.
Researchers at The University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) and Facebook developed a “speech neuroprosthesis”, or brain-computer interface, that allowed a man with severe paralysis to communicate in sentences. How so? This interface translated the signals from his brain to the vocal tract directly into words that appear as text on a screen. This also marked the first time in over 16 years that he’d been able to communicate without having to use a head-mounted device. Read more for a video and additional information.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is known for posting some unusual stunts, and his latest one has him riding an electric surfboard to celebrate Independence Day, all the while holding an American flag. A fitting theme song, John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads”, played in the background. For those who want their own electric surfboard, it’s made by Lift Foils and will set you back around $12,000 USD. Read more for the video and additional information.
Some of the latest deepfakes are hard to distinguish from reality, but Facebook, in partnership with Michigan State University (MSU), have developed a method of detecting and attributing deepfakes that relies on reverse engineering from a single AI-generated image to the generative model used to produce it. That’s right, AI can now facilitate deepfake detection and tracing in real-world settings. Read more for a short video and additional information.
Facebook’s TextStyleBrush, the company’s latest AI research project, needs just a photo of a single word to emulate your handwriting style. This means that you’ll easily be able to edit and replace text in images, making it the first self-supervised AI model that replaces text in images of both handwriting and scenes using a single example word. It opens the door to advancements in personalized messaging and captions, such as photo-realistic translation of languages in augmented reality (AR).