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Although Meta Connect 2024 lacked a marquee high-end product for the holiday season, it still included a new budget VR headset and a tease of the magic glasses Metas XR gurus have been talking about for the better part of a decade. In addition, the company keeps plowing forward with new AI tools for its Ray-Ban glasses and social platforms. Heres everything the company announced at Meta Connect 2024. Orion AR glasses Meta Todays best mixed reality gear like Apples Vision Pro and the Meta Quest 3 are headsets with passthrough video capabilities. But the tech industry eventually wants to squeeze that tech into something resembling a pair of prescription glasses. Well let you judge whether the Orion AR glasses pictured above pass that test, but theyre certainly closer than other full-fledged AR devices weve seen. First, the bad news. These puppies wont be available this year and dont have an official release date. A leaked roadmap from last year suggested theyd arrive in 2027. However, Meta said on Wednesday that Orion would launch in the near future, so take what you will from that. For its part, Meta says the full-fledged product prototype is truly representative of something that could ship to consumers rather than a research device thats decades away from shipping. The glasses include tiny projectors to display holograms onto the lenses. Meta describes them as having a large field of view and immersive capabilities. Sensors can track voice, eye gaze, hand tracking and electromyography (EMG) wristband input. The glasses combine that sensory input with AI capabilities. Meta gave the example of looking in a refrigerator and asking the onboard AI to spit out a recipe based on your ingredients. It will also support video calls, the ability to send messages on Metas platforms and spatial versions of Spotify, YouTube and Pinterest apps. Meta Quest 3S Meta This years new VR headset focuses on the entry-level rather than early adopters wanting the latest cutting-edge tech. The Meta Quest 3S is a $300 baby sibling to last years Quest 3, shaving money off the higher-end models entry fee in exchange for cheaper lenses, a resolution dip and skimpier storage. The headset includes Fresnel lenses, which are familiar to Quest 2 owners, instead of the higher-end pancake ones in Quest 3. It has a 1,832 x 1,920 resolution (20 pixels per degree), a drop from the 2,064 x 2,208 (25 PPD) in the Quest 3. Meta says the budget models field of view is also slightly lower. The Quest 3S starts with a mere 128GB of storage, which could fill up quickly after installing a few of the platforms biggest games. But if youre willing to shell out $400, you can bump that up to a more respectable 256GB. (Alongside the announcement, Meta also dropped the 512GB Quest 3 price to $500 from $650.) The headset may outlast the Quest 3 in one respect: battery life. Meta estimates the Quest 3S will last 2.5 hours, while the Quest 3 is rated for 2.2 hours. Those ordering the headset will get a special Bat-bonus. Quest 3S (and Quest 3) orders between now and April 2025 will receive a free copy of Batman: Arkham Shadow, the VR action game coming next month. The Quest 3S is now available for pre-order. It begins shipping on October 15. Out with the old To celebrate the arrival of the Meta Quest 3S, Meta is kicking two older models to the curb. The Quest 2 and Quest Pro will be discontinued by the end of the year. The company says sales will continue until inventory runs out or the end of the year, whichever comes first. The company now views the Quest 3S, with its much better mixed reality capabilities, as the new budget model, so the $200 Quest 2 no longer has a place. The Quest Pro, which never gained much traction with consumers, has inferior cameras and passthrough video than the two Quest 3-tier models. The Pro launched two years ago as a Metaverse-centric device back when the industry was pounding that word as hard as its pushing AI now. The headset launched at a whopping $1,500 and was later reduced to $1,000. Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses updates Sam Rutherford for Engadget Although the hardware stays the same, Meta is adding new AI features to its tech-filled sunglasses. The Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses will get an updated AI assistant. The assistant will now let you set reminders based on objects you see. For example, you could say, Hey Meta, remind me to buy that book next Monday to set an alert for something you see in the library. The glasses can also scan QR codes and dial phone numbers from text it recognizes. Metas assistant should also respond to more natural commands. Youll need to worry less about remembering formal prompts to trigger it (Hey Meta, look and tell me). It will let you use more casual phrasing like What am I looking at? The AI can also handle complex follow-up questions for more fluid chats with the robot friend living in your sunglasses. According to Meta, the glasses live translation is also getting better. While last years version struggled with longer text, the company says the software will now translate larger chunks more effectively. Live translations will arrive in English, French, Italian and Spanish by the end of 2024. Meta AI updates Meta The company said Met AI now supports voice chats. Although this capability existed before, it was limited to the Ray-Ban glasses. Meta also partnered with celebrities to help draw customers into its chatbots. Thats right, folks: You can now hear Metas chatbot responses in the dulcet tones of the one and only John Cena! Other celebrity voices include Dame Judi Dench, Awkwafina, Keegan Michael Key and Kristen Bell. Metas AI can now edit photos with text prompts, performing tasks like adding or removing objects or changing details like backgrounds or clothes. AI photo editing will be available on Metas social apps, including Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. Meanwhile, Metas Llama 3.2 AI model introduces vision capabilities. It can analyze and describe images, competing with similar features in ChatGPT and Anthropics Claude. Catch up on all the news from Meta Connect 2024!This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ar-vr/everything-announced-at-meta-connect-2024-202733568.html?src=rss
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Disney announced a new rule intended to curb password sharing among its streaming subscribers, following through on plans initially shared last month in an earnings call. Today's blog post from the company explained that Disney+ is getting a Paid Sharing feature. For an additional $7 a month on Disney+ Basic or $10 a month on Disney+ Premium, an account holder can provide access to their plan to one person outside their household, dubbed an Extra Member. Paid Sharing is rolling out today in the US, Canada, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Europe and Asia-Pacific. With the upcoming price increases $10 a month for Basic and $16 a month for Premium the Extra Member route is still cheaper than buying a separate Disney+ plan. However, the Paid Sharing option comes with several caveats. For starters, only one Extra Member is allowed per account. And if your plan is part of a Disney Bundle, you don't have access to the Extra Member feature at all. Ditto for any subscribers billed through Disney's partners, meaning bundle customers are out of luck. The post says those restrictions apply "at this time," but doesn't give any hint as to whether the company is considering a policy change in the future. This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/streaming/disney-account-sharing-crackdown-starts-today-in-the-us-201102641.html?src=rss
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Mira Murati has departed OpenAI, where she had been the chief technology officer since 2018. In a note shared with the company and then posted publicly on X, Murati said that she is exiting "because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration." Murati gained additional visibility as a face for the AI company when she briefly assumed CEO duties in November 2023 when the board of directors fired Sam Altman. Altman returned to the helm and Murati resumed work as CTO. However, her departure follows on two other notable exits. Last month, president and cofounder Greg Brockman and co-founder John Schulman both announced that they would be stepping away from OpenAI. Brockman is taking a sabbatical and Schulman is moving to rival AI firm Anthropic. Here is the full text of Murati's statement: Hi all,I have something to share with you. After much reflection, I have made the difficult decision to leave OpenAl.My six-and-a-half years with the OpenAl team have been an extraordinary privilege. While Ill express my gratitude to many individuals in the coming days, I want to start by thanking Sam and Greg for their trust in me to lead the technical organization and for their support throughout the years.Theres never an ideal time to step away from a place one cherishes, yet this moment feels right. Our recent releases of speech-to-speech and OpenAl o1 mark the beginning of a new era in interaction and intelligence - achievements made possible by your ingenuity and craftsmanship. We didnt merely build smarter models, we fundamentally changed how Al systems learn and reason through complex problems.We brought safety research from the theoretical realm into practical applications, creating models that are more robust, aligned, and steerable than ever before. Our work has made cutting-edge Al research intuitive and accessible, developing technology that adapts and evolves based on everyones input. This success is a testament to our outstanding teamwork, and it is because of your brilliance, your dedication, and your commitment that OpenAl stands at the pinnacle of Al innovation.Im stepping away because I want to create the time and space to do my own exploration. For now, my primary focus is doing everything in my power to ensure a smooth transition, maintaining the momentum weve built.I will forever be grateful for the opportunity to build and work alongside this remarkable team. Together, weve pushed the boundaries of scientific understanding in our quest to improve human well-being. While I may no longer be in the trenches with you, I will still be rooting for you all.With deep gratitude for the friendships forged, the triumphs achieved, and most importantly, the challenges overcome together.MiraThis article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/cto-mira-murati-is-the-latest-leader-to-leave-openai-200230104.html?src=rss
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