LONDON: Facebook Inc. launched its first smart glasses on Thursday in a step toward its aim of offering true augmented-reality spectacles.
The glasses, which were created in partnership with Ray-Ban maker Essilor Luxottica, allow wearers to listen to music, take calls or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app. Facebook said the glasses line, called “Ray-Ban Stories,” would start at $299.
The social media giant, which reported revenue of about $86 billion in 2020, makes most of its money from advertising but has invested heavily in virtual and augmented reality, developing hardware such as its Oculus VR headsets and working on wristband technologies to support augmented reality glasses.
Facebook’s chief scientist said last year the company was five to 10 years away from being able to bring to market “true” AR glasses, which would superimpose virtual objects onto the wearer’s view of the real world.
Major tech firms including Amazon.com Inc, Alphabet Inc’s Google, Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc. and Snap Inc. have raced to develop various smart glasses products, but early offerings like Google Glass proved difficult to sell to consumers put off by high price points and design issues.
Snap, which unveiled its smart Spectacles in 2016, this year launched AR glasses but they are not for sale and are offered only to AR creators. Snap’s CEO, Evan Spiegel, said in 2019 that he expected it would be a decade before consumers widely adopted AR smart glasses.
Facebook’s CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, recently announced the company was setting up a team to work on building the metaverse, a shared virtual environment which it is betting will be the successor to the mobile Internet.
“We’ve believed for a long time that glasses are going to be an important part of building the next computing platform,” said Zuckerberg in a video posted on his Facebook page on Thursday.
Facebook, which has been criticized over its handling of user data, said it would not access the media used by its smart-glasses customers without their consent.
The company also said it would not use the content of the photos or videos captured using the glasses and stored in the Facebook View app for personalizing ads, and said the glasses would be an “ads-free experience.”
The glasses include an optional virtual assistant so photos and videos can be captured hands-free through voice commands. Facebook said an LED light on the glasses would show when the camera is on, to make other people aware when a wearer is taking a photo or video.
It published a guide outlining how to use the glasses responsibly, for example turning them off in private spaces like public bathrooms and not using them for illegal actions like harassment or capturing sensitive information such as PIN codes.
Facebook unveils its first smart glasses
https://arab.news/ztuur
Facebook unveils its first smart glasses
- Facebook launches its first smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban
- The glasses allow wearers to listen to music, take calls or capture photos and short videos and share them across Facebook’s services using a companion app
Israeli journalists warn of media crackdown as UK billionaire prepares Channel 13 sale
- The Union of Journalists in Israel has condemned the transaction as “an unlawful deal”
LONDON: Israeli journalists and media unions have voiced serious concern over a proposed sale of a major stake in Israel’s Channel 13, warning that the move could deal a devastating blow to independent journalism in the country amid a broader campaign to reshape the media landscape ahead of elections.
According to The Guardian, British billionaire Sir Leonard Blavatnik is preparing to sell a 15 percent stake in Channel 13, one of Israel’s few mainstream channels critical of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to telecom tycoon Patrick Drahi, a French-Israeli businessman who already owns media outlets perceived as sympathetic to the current government.
Journalists and free press advocates said the sale risked consolidating pro-government influence in a media environment already under pressure from financial sanctions, lawsuits, and regulatory threats.
The Union of Journalists in Israel has condemned the transaction as “an unlawful deal,” describing it as part of a broader “master plan to capture the media” ahead of the country’s scheduled elections.
Channel 13 has aired critical coverage of Netanyahu in recent years, including reporting on his corruption cases.
Drahi’s reported acquisition would make him a significant stakeholder at a time when Blavatnik is pulling back after years of financial losses, reported The Guardian.
Although the stake falls within the legal threshold for media ownership, critics argued that Drahi’s financial power as the only investor currently willing to inject funds would give him de facto control of editorial direction.
“While Patrick Drahi is only buying 15 percent, our fear is that by buying 15 percent, he gets 100 percent hold of the policy of the channel,” Anat Saragusti, a senior official at the Union of Journalists, told The Guardian. “It’s a lose-lose for the Israeli public, in terms of freedom of speech and diversity of opinions.”
A separate offer from a group of liberal Israeli tech entrepreneurs, reportedly valued at up to $120 million over three years, was also on the table, but ultimately rejected. A spokesperson for Blavatnik’s Access Industries insisted there was no political influence behind the deal and that Drahi’s bid was “the stronger, faster option” of the two.
“Any suggestion that the preferred offer has been selected for political reasons is entirely false,” the spokesperson said, adding that the transaction would allow Channel 13 to invest in high-quality content and digital innovation.
The Netanyahu government has come under growing scrutiny for actions seen as hostile to independent media, including imposing sanctions on the newspaper Haaretz and initiating defamation lawsuits against investigative reporters. The prime minister is also on trial for alleged efforts to trade regulatory favors for favorable press coverage, one of several corruption charges he faces.
“If Channel 13 falls, this would be the end of the free press in Israel,” Saragusti warned. “It’s the tipping point.”
