Our first edition of the MetaVisions newsletter!

There was much hype around the Meta Connect event last week, due to their previous early-announcement of the Meta Quest 3. We were all keen to learn more, but that was only one of the main topics. Additionally, it confirmed some of my predictions around Zuck's end goal for the 'Metaverse'.

Let's get it out of the way first: Quest 3

Most of us already knew about the technical specs: new pancake lenses, better display set-up, slimmer, new Snapdragon chipset, etc.
What I was most curious about was the passthrough as it was promised to be much superior to the Quest Pro, as this was incredibly disappointing on the Pro.

Passthrough: using cameras and sensors to display your 'real world' whilst wearing the headset, this comes in handy for use cases where you need to bring in digital elements into your physical world. For example, envisioning how your new office may look like with all of the equipment in.

During the Meta Connect event, journalists and content creators were able to get their hands-on the device, which means many reviews that are mostly unbiased. Having watched a handful of them, it seems like Meta got it right!
Two of the reviews I enjoyed watching:
Adam Savage’s Tested:
Virtual Reality Oasis

Also, something that I think went abit under the radar was the new types of spatial data that the sensors are able to capture. This was highlighted during the Keynote, Zuck even joked about being able to dodge bullets by hiding behind your couch!

I am truly excited to get my hands on a device. It will be great to see what enterprise ISVs will be able to build with the new MR capabilities.

Meta AI and Smart Glasses

It is no surprise that Meta was working on their own Gen AI products, but none knew what to expect and what their spin was going to be.
Meta AI will be quite similar to ChatGPT and Bard, but Meta's spin is that they want to give AI assistants an identity. Yes, assistants, with an S. Multiple AI assistants, each specialised in their own segment such as cooking, fashion, sports, a Dungeon Master (it is Snoop Dog, WTH!). My biggest curiosity is understanding if these assistants will only be based on a LLM, or if they will also have specialised knowledge base on top of the LLM to provide specific advice. Also, hope this is not going to be another form to farm user's data.

I have been aware of Meta's venture into the Smart Glasses business when they released the original Ray-Ban Stories, which honestly was nothing major or with much innovation. I thought it would be the same for this new version, but what really surprised me was the announcement of Meta's AI integration into the glasses. This could mean a couple of interesting use cases such as (nearly) real time translation by understanding what the user is looking at and translating it back (ever wondered how in the MCU all of the characters understand each other? There is an advanced translation system).
Of course, my main concern with these smart glasses will always be Data & Privacy, especially for the the TikTok generation that likes to film and post everything, and let's be honest, Meta's reputation is not the cleanest in that regards.

What is incredibly interesting is that Zuck's vision for Smart Glasses is to implement AR into that form factor. This Ray-Ban collab, is only the start of the journey for them.

Zuck's Metaverse vision

XR, AI and Smart Glasses... Meta's evolution towards the Metaverse. They see it the same way as me.

The concept of the Metaverse is not about taking yourself into a virtual world, but more like bringing digital elements into our 'physical world'. Sure, there will be some use cases where we would want to be fully immersed in a virtual world, such as training scenarios.

However, the ability to continue to do your day-to-day activities in the 'real' world whilst superimposing digital elements into your environment seems like the point where most users will say YES.

Are you cooking a meal and need help with a recipe? Sure, put on your AR goggles that has a Ray-Ban form factor and get help from a cooking-specialised AI assistant.

As Zuck alluded to, all three areas that Meta is working on: Quest, AI and Smart Glasses, are linked by the end goal which is Meta's vision of the Metaverse (Thank god their end goal is not Horizon Worlds).

See you next week,
Davi, MetaVisions