Skip to main content

Meta Smart Glasses just got the AI upgrade I’ve been waiting for

Phil Nickinson wearing the Apple AirPods Pro and Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
Phil Nickinson / Digital Trends

Meta loves to upgrade its hardware with extra features, and the Ray-Ban smart glasses that I found to be very impressive are getting a big AI update starting today. Lives=treaming capabilities are also expanding.

New features are great, but if you couldn’t find a style you liked when the Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses launched last October, there’s more good news — new styles are on the way too.

Recommended Videos

Multimodal AI

In our comprehensive list of the best smart glasses to buy in 2024, I mentioned that Meta was testing multimodal input for its Ray-Ban smart glasses. That feature is now rolling out to everyone in the U.S. and Canada.

In the next few weeks, you should get this update that allows your Meta smart glasses to “see” what you’re looking at and ask questions. Meta Chief Technology Officer Andrew “Boz” Bosworth demonstrated how it works in an Instagram post in December.

Share your view

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses will let you share your view in Whatsapp and Messenger.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses will let you share your view in Whatsapp and Messenger. Meta

You can already live stream to Instagram from Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses, but there wasn’t a way to share your view with particular people. In an update that’s coming soon, you’ll be able to show your Whatsapp and Messenger friends what you’re looking at and where you are through your Ray-Bans.

You don’t need to join a beta test to receive these updates. Meta does staged rollouts, so you might get the new version today or in a few weeks. Just make sure you have automatic updates switched on in the Meta View app.

New Ray-Ban styles

Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have several new styles, including Skyler and Scuderia Ferrari.
Ray-Ban Meta Smart Glasses have several new styles, including Skyler and Scuderia Ferrari. Meta

Essilor Luxottica created a new cat-eye Skyler style and will add limited-edition Scuderia Ferrari frames to the family that already offers Ray-Ban’s classic Wayfarer and Headliner frames. If you’ve tried smart glasses years ago, it’s time to take another look. The current generation of smart glasses is slimmer and lighter than ever.

Each frame is available in clear, tinted, polarized, or transitions lenses. Transitions are photochromatic lenses that get darker in sunlight, automatically increasing your comfort on a bright day, then becoming clear when you step inside.

Alan Truly
Alan Truly is a Writer at Digital Trends, covering computers, laptops, hardware, software, and accessories that stand out as…
Upgrading your PC just got a lot easier
A new Asus X870 motherboard.

Asus and MSI revealed a slew of new motherboards at Gamescom 2024, and some of them seem to take convenience in PC building to the next level. A few of the motherboard models introduced during the event come with quick-release mechanisms, and not just for the SSD but also for the graphics card. Seeing as some of the top GPUs are now massive and unwieldy, easier installation is going to be a welcome change.

The two hardware manufacturers presented motherboards for the latest processors, including AMD 800-series boards for Ryzen 9000 from Asus, and Intel Arrow Lake-S 800-series chipsets from MSI. Der8auer, a well-known overclocker and YouTuber, got to see the new Asus boards up close and personal, including the ROG X870E Hero.

Read more
I’ve never played a PC game as demanding as Black Myth: Wukong
A character gearing up for battle in Black Myth: Wukong.

Black Myth: Wukong is an anomaly. The game is already shattering Steam records, which is a pretty big accomplishment for a game that has seemingly been a glorified tech demo for the past four years. It doesn't help that the game comes with some of the most demanding requirements we've ever seen out of a modern game. Black Myth: Wukong can push your PC to its limits, but if you're smart with your graphics settings, you don't need one of the best graphics cards to run it.

For the past week, I've been poking and prodding every corner of Black Myth: Wukong to understand how the PC version works, what it's capable of, and where the easy performance gains are. This game will push your PC to its limits, and it's sure to become a staple in PC hardware reviews. And that's because it manages to push an insane level of visual fidelity while still being a game that you can, well, play.
Graphics tweaks are a must
If you were hoping to jump into Black Myth: Wukong, toggle to the highest graphics preset, and be on your way, I have bad news for you. Even with an RTX 4090, I'm not able to jump into the game will all the sliders maxed out. There's a lot of room in the graphics options to optimize your performance, and ignoring the graphics settings will only hurt your experience in the game. Similar to Alan Wake 2, Black Myth: Wukong looks beautiful, even if you need to turn some settings down to Low.

Read more
I’ve never seen a gaming monitor like Alienware’s latest
An Alienware monitor sitting on a desk.

Alienware is cooking up something interesting. The brand already produces some of the best gaming monitors you can buy, including the legendary Alienware 34 QD-OLED, but now it's diving into uncharted territory. The AW2725QF is a 27-inch 4K gaming monitor that comes with a dual refresh rate feature, allowing you to switch between 4K at 180Hz and 1080p at 360Hz at the press of a button.

We've seen this feature before on the LG UltraGear Dual Mode OLED, but Alienware's take is different. For starters, it's available on a 27-inch monitor -- LG's is a 32-inch monitor -- and it's switching between 180Hz and 360Hz. The size plays a big role here, too. Given that the Dual Mode OLED is 32 inches, the drop down to 1080p is very noticeable. On the AW2725QF, the switch between 4K and 1080p shouldn't be as drastic given the smaller size of the screen.

Read more