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Tech News
Meta held its annual Connect conference, with CEO Mark Zuckerberg delivering a keynote covering upcoming products across smart glasses, VR headsets and AI. Coverage included expectations for a camera-free version of Meta's smart glasses, following an earlier 2026 glasses launch, as well as anticipation of a new Quest headset, with developer sessions continuing the following day.
Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski built ZuckOff, a free Bluetooth scanning app that identifies nearby smart glasses from Meta and Snap by matching device signals to fingerprints he compiled from purchased hardware. The app has drawn over 5,000 downloads on Apple's App Store and 1,000 on Google Play within its first month.
Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses are increasingly being nicknamed 'perv glasses' due to misuse by people secretly filming others in public, echoing the 'Glasshole' stigma that doomed Google Glass in 2014. The author says this backlash has changed their own stance, now favoring reports that Apple's rumored smart glasses, expected next year, might launch without photo or video recording capability.
Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski released a free app, ZuckOff, that scans Bluetooth signals to alert users when Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta, or Snap Spectacles smart glasses are nearby. Launched in August, it has been downloaded over 5,000 times on iOS and 1,000 times on Android, built from a database of device fingerprints Szydlowski compiled by purchasing and testing the hardware himself.
Ultrahuman, a rival to Oura in the smart ring market, secured $70 million from investors including Qualcomm Ventures, Labcorp, Alpha Wave and Blume to fund development of next-generation AI wearables. The company plans to use the funding to advance sensing, materials, electronics and algorithms, and is exploring a future ring that could work with devices like Meta's smart glasses for gesture control, according to chief business officer Bhuvan Srinivasan.
Basement, a well-known New York City nightclub, announced on social media that anyone wearing or carrying smart glasses, such as Meta's, will be asked to leave and could face a lifetime ban. The club says the devices' ability to secretly record conflicts with its existing no-photo, no-video policy meant to protect patrons' privacy on the dance floor.