Foursquare’s MarsBot has been reborn as BeeBot (basically).
It sounds like a glimpse at the future of computing (ambient computing!). The interface is your headphones (AirPods get the name drop) and information is fed to you via your location (using AI (obvs)).
Audio augmented reality
Apple is bringing in the big guns to power Siri: now with AI!
OpenAI and Jony Ive are thinking screen-free.
Google and Perplexity are powering assistants elsewhere.
Smart glasses are spilling from every nook and cranny.
As the ambient computing future draws nearer, what does your brand sound like?
This Exponential View episode is worth a listen as a quick overview of the current tech inflection points, like:
But this is the big one for me:
> It”s no longer about phones. It’s about ambient computing.
>
> Ambient, invisible computing
I started writing about this way back in 2020, this will be the biggest marketing shift of the era.
Read more →Does Meta have its long-desired hardware platform? Or at least the start of it?
It’s extended the contract with the Ray-Ban parent company for more years of smart glasses collaboration.
Now, according to Bloomberg, Oakley is joining the crew.
Plus…
> Company resumes work on smartwatch and develops AirPods rival > > First real AR glasses, dubbed ‘Artemis,’ are planned for 2027
The question used to be: what will replace the smartphone?
Read more →2025: rise of the smartglasses?
Halliday Glasses have boarded the smart spectacles hype train, featuring “proactive” AI assistance and a near-eye display that shows information directly in the user’s field of view.The display appears as a 3.5-inch screen in the upper-right corner of the user’s view with minimal obstructionThe near-eye display is supported on both prescription lenses and if no lens is used at all. The displayed information isn’t visible to other people and can be controlled using either voice commands, frame interface controls, or a ring that features a built-in trackpad.
The number of in-optics display announcements is accelerating.
Read more →Soliddd’s scientifically formulated and user-tested virtual reality smartglasses are lightweight and feel like normal eyeglasses. SolidddVision provides the first true vision correction—and, indeed, sight restoration for those living with vision loss due to macular degeneration.
The smartglasses use Soliddd’s unique and proprietary lens arrays, which resemble a fly’s eye, to project multiple separate images to the areas of the retina that are not damaged. This allows the brain to naturally construct stereopsis (the making of a 3D image in the brain) and a single full-field image with good acuity that feels like normal, in-focus sight.
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Sources told the Financial Times that Meta is planning to expand its partnership with Ray-Ban to make glasses with a little display on the inside, so users can gaze out at the world with a digital overlayThe sources said Meta wants to add a screen on the inside of the glasses that would be able to flash things like text messages, and that the product might be ready to hit the shelves as early as the second half of next year.
On-lens optics is the next big step.
Read more →😎😎😎
> Meta plans to add displays to its Ray-Ban smart glasses as soon as next year, as the US tech giant accelerates its plans to build lightweight headsets that can usurp the smartphone as consumers’ main computing device.
> According to people familiar with the matter, the company has accelerated Orion’s development following the enthusiastic response of early testers.
The next form factor has been decided.
Ambient computing is coming.
via the Financial Times
Read more →I just concluded a prez to the Blue Ion crew by saying that smart/AR glasses are the next consumer computing wave.
This piece from The Verge makes me feel better about that prediction.
> and the third is the idea that no one device is the future of XR. Headsets, for example, may just be “episodic” devices you use for entertainment. Glasses could supplement phones and smartwatches for discreet notifications and looking up information. > > “The way I see it, these devices don’t replace one another. You’ll use these devices throughout your day,
Read more →Samsung and Google are working on smart glasses to rival Meta’s Ray Bans to be released late next year.
Gemini would handle AI tasks alongside support for “payment,” QR code recognition, “gesture recognition,” and “human recognition functions.”
I think we’ve found the most probable next consumer computing platform.
AI needs a computer, but not necessarily a screen.
The era of ambient computing is upon us.
It’s a new year, a new decade(?), so you know what that means: it’s trend time! We dusted off our crystal ball (not to be confused with our Cristal Ball) and took a peek at the future of marketing. Here’s what we saw (actual footage above).
It’s been a rough time for platforms, fire hose marketers, and data vacuums lately. Enough scandals have piled up that users seem legitimately interested in their privacy and data security. A mix of regulations, technical changes at the browser level, and ad blocker use is going to make it more difficult to track users around the web and will shake up the current status quo.
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