GoKawiil
Tech News
Vonder, a new eyewear brand from the founders of XR company Viture, has unveiled its first collection of smart glasses built around privacy rather than cameras or screens. The glasses come in six frame styles, three colors, and can be made with prescription lenses, weighing under 30 grams. Pre-orders open September 28, 2026, starting at $299, with shipping planned for November.
Viture, the San Francisco and Beijing-based maker of display-equipped smart glasses like the Viture One and Beast, announced a new product called Vonder that ditches the virtual screen and built-in cameras. Instead, the glasses use an AI assistant to observe user behavior and habits, organizing memories, ideas and goals into a digital vision board, and can proactively message users with behavioral feedback.
A new analysis argues that earbuds, already worn daily by millions, are better positioned than smart glasses to host always-available conversational AI assistants. The piece contends that audio-first wearables offer a more natural and less socially awkward way to interact with AI throughout the day.
A tech guide outlines how homeowners can assemble their own smart security systems using motion sensors, door sensors, cameras and video doorbells that store footage locally instead of in the cloud. The approach avoids recurring subscription costs charged by brands like Abode and SimpliSafe, while still letting users customize and expand their setup over time.
A Wonder Tools newsletter roundup highlights 20 Google Docs capabilities that many regular users overlook, including voice typing, instant translation, smart chips, and AI-assisted proofreading. The piece frames these as practical productivity boosts hidden within a tool most people already use daily.
EssilorLuxottica has released the Nuance Audio Plus, an upgraded version of its FDA-cleared over-the-counter hearing aid glasses that look like ordinary eyewear. The new model adds sharper voice clarity in noisy settings, extra physical controls on the frame, and up to 10 hours of battery life, and comes in three frame styles and five colors starting at $829. The original Nuance Audio glasses, priced from $699, will continue to be sold alongside the new Plus version.
Morphotonics, a Netherlands-based nanoimprint lithography company that makes waveguide displays for AR glasses, has raised €40 million to scale production and expand into optical components for data centers. The round included 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, a Dutch family office, and the European Investment Bank. The funding extends a round that began in 2024 as the company rides growing demand for smart glasses displays.
Counterpoint Research reports that global AI glasses shipments grew 263% year over year in the first half of 2026, driven largely by cheaper display-less models like Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses, which made up 96% of all shipments. Meta captured 94% of that display-less segment, while AR-enabled glasses, though still a small niche, saw shipments jump 449% year over year, led by Rokid ahead of Meta.
Ahead of Wednesday's official launch of Apple's M6 Mac mini, M5 Pro mini, and Mac Studio, GoKawiil staff compiled their favorite peripherals to pair with the new machines. Recommendations include Apple's discounted Studio Display, Samsung's M9 OLED Smart Monitor as an alternative screen, and the Logitech MX Master 4 mouse for those skipping Apple's own input devices.
Oura's upcoming IPO will offer 50 million shares priced between $40 and $44, but nearly two-thirds of those shares are being sold by existing shareholders rather than the company itself. Forerunner Ventures, an early backer since 2020, stands to collect roughly $1.2 billion by selling its entire stake, accounting for about 80% of shares sold by insiders. Oura itself expects to net around $532.6 million, most of which will go toward covering tax obligations tied to vesting employee shares.
Petivity, a Purina-owned brand, has released a $150 smart pet feeder built specifically for cats that uses facial recognition and onboard cameras to identify which cat is eating and log portion sizes, frequency and timing. The system can distinguish up to five cats in one household, letting owners spot if one animal is stealing another's food, though it only dispenses dry kibble rather than wet food. Data on feeding patterns is delivered through a companion app, with the AI trained on tens of thousands of real feeding sessions and cat images.
Apple is internally testing a smart home hub codenamed J490 that would rival Amazon's Echo Show and Google's Nest Hub, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. The device would feature a camera, microphones, facial recognition to personalize content per user, and an interface blending iOS, tvOS and watchOS elements, all built around the newly launched Siri AI from iOS 27. Gurman also reported Apple scrapped a special Pencil designed for the dual-screen iPhone Duo due to technical issues, opting instead to support the existing iPad Apple Pencil.