Meta Adds Enhanced Voice Controls for Ray Ban Stories

Hey, keep in mind Ray Ban Stories, Meta’s collaboration with the sunglass maker on digitally enhanced glasses that may take images, play audio, and so forth.?

Properly, they’re again – or at the least, Meta’s announced some new elements for Ray Ban Stories, which don’t take it into AR territory simply but. However they may very well be related for some customers.

First off, Meta’s added new voice instructions throughout the system, which is able to allow you to answer to incoming WhatsApp, Messenger, and textual content messages simply by talking.

As per Meta:

“Once your message is read out, say ‘Hey Facebook, reply’, and you’re off to the races, while you can also now tee up a new WhatsApp, Messenger, or text message with a single voice command. For example, you could say, ‘Hey Facebook, send Jasmine a message on WhatsApp: can’t wait for spring break,’ and your glasses will confirm the message before sending.”

That is considered one of a number of new voice controls you can activate when sporting your Meta glasses – which could look somewhat bizarre to passers-by, however may very well be helpful for replying on the go.

Meta’s additionally trying to make its voice instructions extra conversational and responsive, with extra natural-sounding engagement.

“Instead of saying, ‘Send a message’, soon you’ll be able to also say things like, ‘Ask Martha if she wants to come to the party’, or ‘Tell David I love him’, and the glasses will be able to infer that you’re trying to send a message. They’ll even know whether they should punctuate your outgoing message with a period or question mark based on context cues.”

Once more, may very well be bizarre for folks in your fast neighborhood, but it surely’s one other method to assist enhance the utility of the machine, which may very well be helpful in some conditions.

Meta’s additionally integrating Spotify controls for Android (which is already out there on iOS), enabling you to cue up music when sporting the machine, whereas it’s additionally rolling out Meta accounts to Ray-Ban Stories, which is able to imply you can log into their sensible glasses with out utilizing a Fb account.

So, cool, proper? Some new tweaks for Ray Ban Stories, which is able to present extra, practical worth in some methods.

However they’re not main updates – they’re not Meta’s long-awaited AR glasses, that are reportedly nonetheless in improvement.

There have been reviews, at one stage, that Meta had shelved its AR glasses project as a part of its broader cost-cutting push, however extra not too long ago, Meta has indicated that the following stage for the machine will probably be coming in the next few years, which may even tie into its metaverse imaginative and prescient.

In response to Meta’s product roadmap, the following massive replace for its Ray Ban Stories glasses, presently set for launch in 2025, will embody a ‘viewfinder’ factor, which is able to allow you to learn incoming textual content messages inside your area of view, whereas they’ll additionally embody QR code scanning capability, together with hand controls to navigate the show.

A full AR model is then slated for launch in 2027, which would be the subsequent massive leap for Meta’s wearable tasks, and can convey digital experiences into direct integration together with your on a regular basis life.

Although as famous, that plan may very well be impacted by Meta’s effectivity push, which is able to see it cut over 20,000 staff in total. However even inside this, Meta’s still spending big on its next-level developments, and given its alignment with the metaverse, it does seem to be the following stage of its sensible glasses will stay a precedence.

However we’re not there but. These are a lot smaller tweaks, that are unlikely to immediate a sudden rush on Ray Ban Stories gross sales, however they’re steps which might be needed within the regular improvement of the machine.

And so they look cool, which in itself is a serious win for the mission.