• Advertise
  • About us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact us
Monday, June 23, 2025
Australian Times News
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia
No Result
View All Result
Australian Times News
No Result
View All Result
Home News

Ray-Ban Stories let you wear Facebook on your face. But why would you want to?

In partnership with eyewear brand Ray-Ban, Facebook has released its first pair of smart glasses, offering wearers the ability to capture photos and videos without even needing to pull out their phone.

The Conversation by The Conversation
14-09-2021 06:07
in News
Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Photo by Claudio Schwarz on Unsplash

Ben Egliston, Queensland University of Technology and Marcus Carter, University of Sydney

In partnership with eyewear brand Ray-Ban, Facebook has released its first pair of smart glasses, offering wearers the ability to capture photos and videos without even needing to pull out their phone.

The glasses, called Ray-Ban Stories, are now available for A$449 and are functionally similar to devices already on the market, such as SnapChat Spectacles. They allow users to capture images and video and upload them to their social media accounts, via an app called Facebook View.

Users will be able to share content on Facebook and other Facebook-owned platforms, including Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger, as well as non-Facebook apps such as Twitter, TikTok and SnapChat. Besides two 5-megapixel cameras, the glasses have three microphones and built-in speakers, so they can respond to voice commands and also be used for calls.

The glasses are the latest step in Facebook’s initiative to develop wearable tech. As chief executive Mark Zuckerberg puts it, such devices represent “a future where phones are no longer a central part of our lives”.

It’s not augmented reality (yet)

Facebook has stressed the glasses do not have any augmented reality (AR) functionality – that is, the ability to overlay one’s view of the physical world with digital images.

That said, during his product launch video, Zuckerberg presents the glasses as a stepping-stone to more fully realised forms of wearable AR — something Facebook has repeatedly hinted at over the past few years. As he puts it, “glasses are going to be an important part of building the next computing platform”.

AlsoRead...

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

5 June 2025
Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

28 May 2025
Mark Zuckerberg revealing Ray-Ban Stories.

With its 2014 acquisition of virtual reality (VR) company Oculus – and numerous other startups in areas such as computer vision – Facebook’s VR and AR development wing, Facebook Reality Labs, has grown so much it now reportedly employs 20% of Facebook’s workforce.

As we argued in a recent paper, Facebook sees AR and VR as a central component of its future, and envisions this technology having a similar impact to the mobile computing revolution of the past decade or so.

This was most recently exemplified in the company’s framing of its social software and hardware in terms of the “metaverse” — a seamless blending of the real and virtual worlds.


These future computing platforms might look something like the company’s announcement of Project Aria — an internal Facebook research project testing the viability of wearable AR smart glasses. Facebook has also been attempting to further integrate AR features into its Oculus VR technology.

One problem for prospective users is that these technologies will require intensive data capture and processing of our bodies, homes and other intimate data.

‘Designed with privacy in mind’

Even without AR functionality, there are still clear privacy concerns associated with a Facebook device that can record whatever you’re looking at.

Perhaps attempting to pre-empt a backlash, Facebook has developed a dedicated privacy policy for the new technology, assuring us:

Ray-Ban Stories smart glasses and Facebook View are ads-free experiences, so you won’t see ads when using the glasses or app. And we don’t use the content of your photos and videos for personalised ads. If you share content to any other app, that app’s terms will apply.

But as with previous forms of smart glasses, such as the widely derided Google Glass, the main privacy issue isn’t protecting yourself from unwanted ads, but protecting other people from being surreptitiously recorded.

Ray-Ban Stories features a small light on the side of the frame, which is illuminated when recording. But it can easily be covered over, and while this would violate Facebook’s terms of service, it’s hard to see how Facebook would realistically stop anyone doing it.

Ultimately, Facebook has put the onus on users to behave responsibly. As outlined in the Stories privacy page, Facebook’s suggested “best practices” include not using the device in private spaces, and advising users not to “engage in harmful activities”. (Facebook’s responsible innovation principles for its AR development staff are similarly vague.)

Facebook’s guidelines for responsible use of its Ray-Ban Stories smartglasses. https://about.facebook.com/reality-labs/ray-ban-stories/privacy

What does Facebook expect to achieve?

Smart glasses have always been a tricky sell. Google Glass was an abject commercial failure because of privacy concerns. Despite being just down the road from Silicon Valley, some bars in San Francisco reportedly banned anyone wearing them, and some residents even reacted with violence.

Given this ignominious track record, what is Facebook hoping to achieve here? We believe — based on Facebook’s broader investments in VR and AR technologies — the ultimate aim is to gradually normalise wearable surveillance technology many people currently have deep and understandable reservations about.


By branding them as a Ray-Ban product rather than a Facebook one, with classic styling rather than a high-tech look, and able to upload to many different social media platforms, the company is trying to sell us on the concept of “smart glasses”, rather than “Facebook glasses”. But if video Ray-Bans become mainstream, who knows what other data-intensive gadgets are lurking just around the corner?

Ben Egliston, Postdoctoral research fellow, Digital Media Research Centre, Queensland University of Technology and Marcus Carter, Senior Lecturer in Digital Cultures, SOAR Fellow., University of Sydney

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Tags: SB001
DMCA.com Protection Status

SUBSCRIBE to our NEWSLETTER

[mc4wp_form id=”2384248″]

Don't Miss

From Portugal to Bali: Where Aussies Should Go for Your Next Coastal Holiday

by Fazila Olla-Logday
20 June 2025
Source: Flickr
Travel

Aussies, here is a guide to where you should go for your next coastal holiday.

Read more

Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era

by Pauline Torongo
5 June 2025
Leading with Trust: Why Quality still wins in the AI Era
Business & Finance

If you're leading a software team today, you've likely noticed the shift: faster feature rollouts, routine automation, and AI taking...

Read more

How to Save on Airport Parking: Budget Tips Every Traveller Should Know

by Fazila Olla-Logday
3 June 2025
How to Save on Airport Parking
Travel

Saving money on airport parking can be a challenge,but here are some budget friendly tips to help you navigate.

Read more

Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin

by Pauline Torongo
28 May 2025
Why Australian Investors are Betting on the Aviation Maverick Louis Belanger-Martin
Business & Finance

Bélanger-Martin’s ambitions stretch beyond redefining inflight comfort—they’re rooted in resurrecting the romance of supersonic travel with a modern twist.

Read more

Why a Gluten Free Hamper is simply the Best Gift for a Coeliac

by Fazila Olla-Logday
22 May 2025
Gluten Free Hamper
at

Buying a thoughtful gift can be tricky at the best of times, but when someone has dietary restrictions like coeliac...

Read more

Biela.dev is quietly becoming the Infrastructure Layer for the Next Internet

by Pauline Torongo
15 May 2025
Biela.dev is quietly becoming the Infrastructure Layer for the Next Internet
Technology

Biela.dev is not merely a consumer app; it is infrastructure. It could be a layer that powers the next generation...

Read more

The Battle for the Premier League’s Fifth Champions League Spot: Who Will Prevail?

by Fazila Olla-Logday
8 May 2025
Premier-Leagues-Fifth-Champions-League-Janosch-Diggelmann-Unsplash
at

As the Premier League season nears its climax, the race for the coveted Champions League places is tighter and more...

Read more
Load More

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status

  • About us
  • Write for Us
  • Advertise
  • Contact us
  • T&Cs, Privacy and GDPR
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Weather
    • Sport
    • Technology
    • Business & Finance
      • Currency Zone
    • Lotto Results
      • The Lott
  • Lifestyle
    • Entertainment
    • Horoscopes
    • Health & Wellness
    • Recipes
  • Travel
  • Expat Life
  • Move to Australia

Copyright © Blue Sky Publications Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
australiantimes.co.uk is a division of Blue Sky Publications Ltd. Reproduction without permission prohibited. DMCA.com Protection Status