Facebook launched its first smart glasses on Thursday, called “Ray-Ban Stories,” in a step toward its aim of offering true augmented reality (AR) glasses.
Elizabeth Culliford for Reuters:
The glasses, which were created in partnership with Ray-Ban maker EssilorLuxottica, 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.
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.
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.
MacDailyNews Take: Sure, put these on and let Facebook, the skeaziest of the skeazy social media outfits, track what you’re looking at and recording. Sounds like a great idea!
By the way, an LED light can easily be covered, making other people completely unaware when a wearer of “Ray-Ban Stories” (stupid name) is capturing photos or shooting videos.
BTW, again, this is why Apple is foolish (or, perhaps, compromised) to squander their privacy bona fides because they’ll need to occupy the privacy high ground if they ever hope to introduce their own smart glasses (that are actually smart, and not just an iPod and two cameras shoved into Bluetooth-enabled sunglasses).