In a podcast with David Senra, Spiegel says, “I think Meta needed to partner with [Essilor]Luxottica because the Meta brand, I think, is not something people want anywhere near their face.” He’s not wrong. I hear that all the time from y’all in my smart glasses coverage — and the facial recognition controversy hasn’t helped.
The civil rights organization and 75 other groups published an open letter to Mark Zuckerberg, urging him to “immediately halt and publicly disavow” plans for a reported facial recognition feature on its Ray-Ban smart glasses. It’s unsurprising that privacy advocates are wary, especially since documents show Meta originally planned to launch the feature during public unrest.
[ACLU of Massachusetts]
Fawn Friends is a befuddling mix of AI companionship, fantasy lore, and social robots. AI Burt Reynolds is also involved.
Whoop and Oura are health tech trendsetters. But hurtling toward innovation can have some unintended ripple effects.
MAHA is obsessed with these wearables — for all the wrong reasons.
In a recent Optimizer, I wrote about how influencers use viral trends to undermine trust in medical science and profit. Well, here’s an example of the consequences in this STAT op-ed penned by a doctor: people are starting to trust untested peptides peddled online over drugs with decades of evidence.
After scoring $575 million in funding earlier this week, Whoop is suing Bevel — a startup that has marketed itself as “Whoop, but for the Apple Watch.” The complaint centers on whether Bevel copied Whoop’s app, a claim the former denies. Can’t lie… I feel like I’ve seen 10,000 versions of this app design over the last decade.
Digital health screeners weren’t a thing until the Apple Watch. It’s shaped how we think about wearables ever since.
Starting Monday, wearing smart glasses with audio or video recording is verboten in Philadelphia’s courts. That includes prescription smart glasses. Violators could be arrested and face contempt charges. This follows other state bans and a judge reprimanding Mark Zuckerberg’s team for wearing smart glasses during Meta’s social media addiction trial.
[NBC10 Philadelphia]
