Meta
is
holding
its
annual
Connect
developers
conference
next
week,
and
it’s
going
to
showcase
a
bunch
of
expected
and
perhaps
some
surprise
new
VR
and
AR
hardware
—
alongside
what
might
be
a
heavy
Meta
AI
showcase
featuring
the
company’s
newest
Llama
large
language
model
and
image
generator
in
apps
like
WhatsApp.
And
as
Meta
sunsets
custom
tools
for
AR
filters,
we
could
end
up
seeing
a
whole
new
set
of
developer
tools
designed
to
harness
generative
AI
experiences.
Perhaps
it
will
all
come
together
in
Meta’s
next
big
push
into
its
alternative
reality
ideas
(and
namesake)
in
the
metaverse,
including
significant
Horizon
Worlds
updates.
However,
the
most
anticipated
products
expected
to
appear
during
the
conference
are
the
successor
to
the
Meta
Quest
3
and
perhaps
updates
to
Meta
and
Raybans,
which
are
very
cool
smart
glasses.
Hopefully,
we’ll
see
the
rumored
“Orion”
AR
glasses,
but
we
will
need
to
catch
the
Connect
keynote
to
find
out.
Meta’s
Connect
developers
conference
this
year
starts
on
Wednesday,
September
25th,
2024,
and
ends
the
next
day
on
Thursday,
September
26th.
The
conference
will
kick
off
with
the
Connect
keynote,
headlined
by
Meta
CEO
Mark
Zuckerberg,
at
1PM
ET
/
10AM
PT,
followed
immediately
by
a
Developer
keynote
at
2PM
ET
/
11AM
PT.
Meta
has
a
full
program
schedule
on
the
Connect
site.
The
Meta
Connect
keynote
will
stream
live
on
the
official
Meta
Connect
website.
If
you’re
a
Quest
headset
user,
you
can
also
watch
it
on
Horizon
Worlds.
Following
the
keynotes,
you
can
participate
in
live
developer
sessions
for
deep
dives
on
AI
and
mixed
reality
on
Facebook.
Expect
a
cheaper
Quest
VR
headset.Photo
by
Becca
Farsace
/
The
Verge
The
most
exciting
thing
about
Meta
is
that
it
holds
the
keys
to
the
closest
thing
to
mainstream
VR
headsets
with
the
Quest
2
and
Quest
3.
The
latter,
however,
started
at
a
price
that
was
too
high
($500
compared
to
the
now
$200
Quest
2)
and
did
not
have
a
very
sharp
AR
video
passthrough.
Now
we’re
expecting
a
cheaper
version,
the
Quest
“3S,”
that
might
sell
for
as
cheap
as
$299.99,
according
to
leaks.
Meta
also
has
other
new
VR
headsets
in
the
pipeline,
including
a
new
Quest
4
for
2026
and
something
at
the
pro
level
designed
for
spatial
computing
internally
dubbed
“La
Jolla”
for
2027.
Recent
reports
suggest
plans
for
the
latter
might
now
be
on
ice,
especially
as
Apple’s
$3,500
Vision
Pro
struggles
to
gain
traction.
We
may
not
see
these
models
specifically
at
Connect,
but
other
models
in
the
pipeline
may
show
up.
Can
Meta
make
an
even
cooler
pair
of
smart
glasses?Photo
by
Amelia
Holowaty
Krales
/
The
Verge
Expect
an
update
on
the
futuristic
Ray-Ban
Meta
smart
glasses
at
Connect
too.
The
current
glasses
look
clean
and
aren’t
too
chonky,
but
they’re
ripe
for
an
iterative
update,
even
if
no
AR
capabilities
are
coming.
The
glasses
respond
to
your
commands
with
Meta
AI,
so
expect
fresh
chatbot
assistant
experiences
on
the
way.
Meta
is
also
working
on
new
mixed
reality
glasses
internally
dubbed
“Orion,”
which
we
can
expect
at
least
a
glimpse
of.
Snap
recently
let
us
wear
its
new
AR
Spectacles,
but
those
are
developer-only,
and
a
former
Snap
engineer
on
the
project
called
them
“obviously
bad.”
Hopefully
what
we
see
of
Orion
is
a
lot
more
interesting.
Along
with
Meta’s
VR
strategy
comes
expectations
of
new
software
and
experiences,
including
the
future
of
games
on
Quest.
Right
now,
there
are
questions
about
what
Meta
is
doing
for
games:
it’s
shutting
down
the
Ready
at
Dawn
game
studio
that
made
immersive
3D
games
like
Echo
VR,
while
casual
games
like
Wordle
are
rolling
in.
Meanwhile,
Meta
recently
launched
an
app
that
lets
you
play
console
games
on
the
headset
through
HDMI.
(Originally posted by Umar Shakir)
Comments