Ray-Ban Meta Audio smart glasses could be the Christmas gift of the year. Meta is expanding its Ray-Ban Meta line and promoting it in pop-up stores in Los Angeles and Phoenix, offering experiential retail events to enhance the product’s fashion appeal. I am happy to report that, after using them for over a week now, the new Ray-Ban Metas are GOOD. Really good. They look great. They feel good. And now that Meta AI has been integrated, they represent something truly new. Say “hey Meta” and ask for what you want. Using computer vision and the outward-facing camera, Meta will translate a sign, menu, or history – anything you would otherwise type into a chatbot. The success of Meta has inspired all major tech companies to explore smart glasses. Apple is reportedly developing its own AI-powered smart glasses, aiming for a 2027 release. Samsung and Google are also entering the smart glasses market. Baidu expected to unveil its smart glasses at Baidu World event in Shanghai, featuring cameras and voice interactions powered by its Ernie AI model. The only thing missing is a screen, but since it’s connected to my smartphone via Bluetooth, I wonder if I even need another one.

Odyssey has secured an $18 million Series A round to create a digital twin of the physical world. EQT Ventures led the funding round, bringing Odyssey’s total to $27 million since its inception just a year ago. The company develops high-fidelity 3D datasets of real-world environments using custom hardware equipped with six cameras and two lidars, capturing 13.5K resolution images with precise depth data. Teams carrying sensor-laden backpacks across various terrains, including urban areas, parks and natural landscapes, carry out this data collection. Odyssey will use the collected data to train generative models capable of creating realistic virtual worlds for high-end cinema and gaming applications. The funding will accelerate the development of a new 3D representation integrating graphics, machine learning, real-world data and modifiability.

REPLIKANT launches AI-powered chat platform on Steam. REPLIKANT Chat was released today on Steam Early Access. The new platform enables real-time interactions with AI-driven avatars. Blending advanced AI with 3D graphics, the system delivers immersive experiences in education, storytelling and gaming. Users can interact with multiple AI characters in dynamic virtual environments, featuring persistent memory and natural language communication. The platform will soon integrate REPLIKANT Editor, a no-code tool allowing users to design custom AI companions and environments.

Meta’s Horizon worlds have been hijacked by pre-teens. Someone just said it Wired what every Meta user knows: children as young as seven or eight have been polluting Horizon Worlds (and VR Chat) for years. The influx of young users accelerated following the lowering of age restrictions to 10 in August 2024. This demographic shift has transformed the platform into a bustling environment dominated by preteens playing and socializing, attracting predators and chasing away adults. Either this will end very badly for Meta, or they will transform Horizon Worlds into a VR or Roblox version.

Google Maps presents AR for Paris monuments with Rock Paper Reality. Google Maps’ new augmented reality feature allows users around the world to interactively explore Paris’ most iconic landmarks. The project, developed in partnership with Rock Paper Reality, Google Arts & Culture and Google AR/VRoffers immersive 3D experiences of landmarks such as the Eiffel Tower and Pont des Invalides, now enhanced with historical overlays and real-time navigation.

“Wall Town Wonders” is a charming mixed reality city builder, coming to Quest 3. Supporting hand tracking, the mixed reality game lets you interact with tiny characters while helping them reconstruct and customize their world on your real-world walls.

All I can say about the creator of this video is that the filmmakers are commercial and music video directors in Japan. They use Kling AI to animate their images.

Machine Mythos made this extraordinary short film inspired by the Hellraiser films. Created using AI tools with HailuoAI Image to video, Udio, Midjourney, Elevenlabs

This column, formerly titled “This Week in XR,” is also a podcast hosted by this column’s author, Charlie Fink, Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and co-founder of Red Camera, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. We are off this week. This is the first episode we’ve missed in 218 weeks. We can be found on Spotify, iTunesAnd YouTube.

What we read

Infographic: The Rapid Rise and Fall of the Metaverse (Advertising week)

Rethinking the Retail Experience with AR (Rolling Stone)