Meta launches £299 smart glasses with Ray-Ban featuring two hidden cameras – as Mark Zuckerberg desperately tries to maintain interest in the ‘metaverse’

• Meta unveiled the £299 smart glasses at  Meta Connect 2023 last night
• They feature two hidden cameras as well as new AI capabilities 

At first glance at these glasses, they look like any other pair of stylish specs.

But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice two tiny cameras hidden in the arms that let wearers snap photos and videos on the sly.

The £299 glasses are the latest wearable from Meta, which unveiled them during the Meta Connect 2023 conference last night.

They feature new AI capabilities, meaning they can identify places and objects that people are seeing, as well as perform language translation in real-time.

‘Smart glasses are the ideal form factor for you to let AI assistants see what you’re seeing and hear what you’re hearing,’ Mark Zuckerberg said.  

At first glance at these glasses, they look like any other pair of stylish specs. But upon closer inspection, you’ll notice two tiny cameras hidden in the arms that let wearers snap photos and videos on the sly

The £299 glasses are the latest wearable from Meta, which unveiled them during the Meta Connect 2023 conference last night

READ MORE: Meta will STILL devote 20% of its costs to the metaverse – despite stock plunging 60%

Meta is still making a major push into building the metaverse – committing to devote 20% of its costs to the much-maligned effort at the company’s Reality Labs division

Zuckerberg announced the new glasses during the Connect conference at Meta’s headquarters in Silicon Valley.

‘Advances in AI allow us to create different (applications) and personas that help us accomplish different things,’ he said.

‘And smart glasses are going to eventually allow us to bring all of this together into a stylish form factor that we can wear.’

The second-generation Meta Ray-Ban smart glasses feature improved speakers with extended bass, higher maximum volume, and improved directional audio. 

Meanwhile, a new 12MP ultra-wide camera allows wearers to snap photos and record videos up to 60 seconds. 

Likely designed with Instagram Stories in mind, photos are automatically taken in portrait orientation.

‘We’ve also made the blinking privacy LED on the outside of the glasses bigger and more noticeable, so people know when someone is capturing photos or video or livestreaming from the glasses,’ Meta said. 

In terms of battery life, users can snap away for up to four hours at a time, before using the accompanying case to charge the glasses. 

The glasses feature new AI capabilities, meaning they can identify places and objects that people are seeing, as well as perform language translation in real-time

Users can choose between the iconic Wayfarer style or a new Headliner syle, in five colours – Matte Black, Shiny Black, Jeans, Rebel Black, and Caramel

What is the metaverse?

The ‘metaverse’ is a set of virtual spaces where you can game, work and communicate with others who aren’t in the same physical space as you. 

Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg has been a leading voice on the concept, which is seen as the future of the internet and would blur the lines between the physical and digital.  

‘You’ll be able to hang out with friends, work, play, learn, shop, create and more,’ Meta has said.

‘It’s not necessarily about spending more time online — it’s about making the time you do spend online more meaningful.’

While Meta is leading the charge with the metaverse, it explained that it isn’t a single product one company can build. 

‘And it won’t be built overnight. Many of these products will only be fully realized in the next 10-15 years.’ 

While you might worry that the cameras, microphones and battery would amount to a heavy device, Meta reassures that it has reduced the weight of the frame and improved the weight distribution, making them ‘lighter and more comfortable.’ 

Meta’s AI has been integrated on the smart glasses, and can be activated with the wake phrase ‘Hey Meta’. 

For example, if you wanted to share a photo that you had snapped with a friend, you could simply say ‘Hey Meta, send a photo to [insert name].’

Unfortuntately, this feature is only available in the US at launch, although Meta says it plans to ‘expand availability and the types of questions you can ask over time’.

Users can choose between the iconic Wayfarer style or a new Headliner syle, in five colours – Matte Black, Shiny Black, Jeans, Rebel Black, and Caramel.  

The glasses will have a starting price of £299 ($299) when they go on sale on October 17.

The smart glasses are Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg’s latest attempt to maintain interest in the ‘metaverse’.

Last year, it was revealed that Meta is committed to devoting 20 per cent of its costs to  its Reality Labs division – despite the company’s stock price dropping 60 per cent and a top metaverse executive departing.

Fewer than half the expected 500,000 users had signed up for Horizon Worlds – the firm’s main virtual reality world – in December. 

Meanwhile, over the course of a year, Meta lost at least $30 billion in its bid to build virtual worlds.

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