Facebook, Ray-Ban launch smart glasses—who will wear them?

Seven years aft the ill-fated Google Glass, and 5 years aft Snap rolled retired Spectacles, different tech elephantine is trying its manus astatine internet-connected astute glasses, hoping that this clip astir things mightiness beryllium antithetic and radical volition really deterioration them.

The happening is, it's Facebook. The company's erstwhile forays into hardware person been met with lukewarm enthusiasm astatine best—and it's not wide if radical volition deterioration connected virtual oregon augmented world eyewear not meant for gaming.

Hoping to springiness its specs a boost, Facebook is putting its tech successful Ray-Bans successful a concern with the European institution EssilorLuxottica. On Thursday, the companies unveiled Ray-Ban Stories—connected eyewear with built-in speakers and a microphone for making calls, a companion app that isn't Facebook, and a charging case. The spectacles outgo $299 and are disposable successful the U.S., U.K., Canada, Italy, Ireland and Australia.

In a blog post, Facebook said the glasses fto radical "capture life's spontaneous moments arsenic they hap from a unsocial first-person perspective," arsenic good arsenic perceive to music, speech to radical and, utilizing the Facebook View app, stock photos and videos connected societal media.

Facebook signed a multi-year concern with EssilorLuxottica. The glasses are the archetypal mentation of what's apt to beryllium much wearable gadgets arsenic the societal media elephantine looks for platforms beyond smartphones. Ray-Ban Stories travel retired of Facebook Reality Labs which besides oversees the Oculus virtual world headset and the Portal video calling gadget.

Anticipating privacy concerns, Facebook said that by default the glasses "collect information that's needed to marque your glasses enactment and function, similar your artillery presumption to alert you erstwhile your artillery is low, your email address and password for your Facebook login to verify it's truly you erstwhile you log into the Facebook View app." Users tin instrumentality photos and videos utilizing the glasses, but they can't station straight to Facebook oregon immoderate different societal media platform. That's wherever the abstracted View app comes in.

Convincing social media users that they request to deterioration an "all-day" connected instrumentality connected their look whitethorn beryllium an uphill conflict adjacent for Facebook.

---

---

© 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This worldly whitethorn not beryllium published, broadcast, rewritten oregon redistributed without permission.