All
around
Meta’s
Menlo
Park
campus,
cameras
stared
at
me.
I’m
not
talking
about
security
cameras
or
my
fellow
reporters’
DSLRs.
I’m
not
even
talking
about
smartphones.
I
mean
Ray-Ban
and
Meta’s
smart
glasses,
which
Meta
hopes
we’ll
all
—
one
day,
in
some
form
—
wear.
I
visited
Meta
for
this
year’s
Connect
conference,
where
just
about
every
hardware
product
involved
cameras.
They’re
on
the
Ray-Ban
Meta
smart
glasses
that
got
a
software
update,
the
new
Quest
3S
virtual
reality
headset,
and
Meta’s
prototype
Orion
AR
glasses.
Orion
is
what
Meta
calls
a
“time
machine”:
a
functioning
example
of
what
full-fledged
AR
could
look
like,
years
before
it
will
be
consumer-ready.
But
on
Meta’s
campus,
at
least,
the
Ray-Bans
were
already
everywhere.
It
was
a
different
kind
of
time
machine:
a
glimpse
into
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg’s
future
world
where
glasses
are
the
new
phones.
The
Ray-Ban
Meta
smart
glasses.Photo
by
Vjeran
Pavic
/
The
Verge
Meta
really
wants
to
put
cameras
on
your
face.
The
glasses,
which
follow
2021’s
Ray-Ban
Stories,
are
apparently
making
inroads
on
that
front,
as
Zuckerberg
told
The
Verge
sales
are
going
“very
well.”
They
aren’t
full-fledged
AR
glasses
since
they
have
no
screen
to
display
information,
though
they’re
becoming
more
powerful
with
AI
features.
But
they’re
perfect
for
what
the
whole
Meta
empire
is
built
on:
encouraging
people
to
share
their
lives
online.
The
glasses
come
in
a
variety
of
classic
Ray-Ban
styles,
but
for
now,
it’s
obvious
users
aren’t
just
wearing
glasses.
As
I
wandered
the
campus,
I
spotted
the
telltale
signs
on
person
after
person:
two
prominent
circle
cutouts
at
the
edges
of
their
glasses,
one
for
a
12MP
ultrawide
camera
and
the
other
for
an
indicator
light.
This
light
flashes
when
a
user
is
taking
photos
and
videos,
and
it’s
generally
visible
even
in
sunlight.
In
theory,
that
should
have
put
my
mind
at
ease:
if
the
light
wasn’t
on,
I
could
trust
nobody
was
capturing
footage
of
me
tucking
into
some
lunch
before
my
meetings.
But
as
I
talked
with
people
around
campus,
I
was
always
slightly
on
edge.
I
found
myself
keenly
aware
of
those
circles,
checking
to
see
if
somebody
was
filming
me
when
I
wasn’t
paying
attention.
The
mere
potential
of
a
recording
would
distract
me
from
conversations,
inserting
a
low
hum
of
background
anxiety.
When
I
put
a
pair
on
for
myself,
the
situation
changed
Then,
when
I
put
a
pair
on
for
myself,
the
situation
suddenly
changed.
As
a
potential
target
of
recording,
I’d
been
hesitant,
worried
I
might
be
photographed
or
filmed
as
a
byproduct
of
making
polite
eye
contact.
With
the
glasses
on
my
own
face,
though,
I
felt
that
I
should
be
recording
more.
There’s
something
really
compelling
about
the
experience
of
a
camera
right
at
the
level
of
your
eyes.
By
just
pressing
a
button
on
the
glasses,
I
could
take
a
photo
or
video
of
anything
I
was
seeing
at
exactly
the
angle
I
was
seeing
it.
No
awkward
fumble
of
pulling
out
my
phone
and
hoping
the
moment
lasted.
There
might
be
no
better
way
to
share
my
reality
with
other
people.
Meta’s
smart
glasses
have
been
around
for
a
few
years
now,
and
I’m
hardly
the
first
person
— or
even
the
first
person
at
The
Verge
—
to
be
impressed
by
them.
But
this
was
the
first
time
I’d
seen
these
glasses
not
as
early
adopter
tech,
but
as
a
ubiquitous
product
like
a
phone
or
smartwatch.
I
got
a
hint
of
how
this
seamless
recording
would
work
at
scale, and
the
prospect
is
both
exciting
and
terrifying.
The
camera
phone
was
a
revolution
in
its
own
right,
and
we’re
still
grappling
with
its
social
effects.
Nearly
anyone
can
now
document
police
brutality
or
capture
a
fleeting
funny
moment,
but
also
take
creepshots
and
post
them
online
or
(a
far
lesser
offense,
to
be
clear)
annoy
people
at
concerts.
What
will
happen
when
even
the
minimal
friction
of
pulling
a
phone
out
drops
away,
and
billions
of
people
can
immediately
snap
a
picture
of
anything
they
see?
Personally,
I
can
see
how
incredibly
useful
this
would
be
to
capture
candid
photos
of
my
new
baby,
who
is
already
starting
to
recognize
when
a
phone
is
taking
a
picture
of
her.
But
it’s
not
hard
to
imagine
far
more
malicious
uses.
Sure,
you
might
think
that
we
all
got
used
to
everyone
pointing
their
phone
cameras
at
everything,
but
I’m
not
exactly
sure
that’s
a
good
thing;
I
don’t
like
that
there’s
a
possibility
I
end
up
in
somebody’s
TikTok
just
because
I
stepped
outside
the
house.
(The
rise
of
sophisticated
facial
recognition
makes
the
risks
even
greater.)
With
ubiquitous
glasses-equipped
cameras,
I
feel
like
there’s
an
even
greater
possibility
that
my
face
shows
up
somewhere
on
the
internet
without
my
permission.
There
are
also
clear
risks
to
integrating
cameras
into
what
is,
for
many
people,
a
nonnegotiable
vision
aid.
If
you
already
wear
glasses
and
switch
to
prescription
smart
glasses,
you’ll
either
have
to
carry
a
low-tech
backup
or
accept
that
they’ll
stay
on
in
some
potentially
very
awkward
places,
like
a
public
bathroom.
The
current
Ray-Ban
Meta
glasses
are
largely
sunglasses,
so
they’re
probably
not
most
people’s
primary
set.
But
you
can
get
them
with
clear
and
transition
lenses,
and
I
bet
Meta
would
like
to
market
them
more
as
everyday
specs.
Of
course,
there’s
no
guarantee
most
people
will
buy
them.
The
Ray-Ban
Meta
glasses
are
pretty
good
gadgets
now,
but
I
was
at
Meta’s
campus
meeting
Meta
employees
to
preview
Meta
hardware
for
a
Meta
event.
It’s
not
surprising
Meta’s
latest
hardware
was
commonplace,
and
it
doesn’t
necessarily
tell
us
much
about
what
people
outside
that
world
want.
Camera
glasses
have
been
just
over
the
horizon
for
years
now.
Remember
how
magical
I
said
taking
pictures
of
what’s
right
in
front
of
your
eyes
is?
My
former
colleague
Sean
O’Kane
relayed
almost
the
exact
same
experience
with
Snap
Spectacles
back
in
2016.
But
Meta
is
the
first
company
to
make
a
credible
play
for
mainstream
acceptance.
They’re
a
lot
of
fun
—
and
that’s
what
scares
me
a
little.
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