Wearable Computing & Fashion

Lenovo has jumped into the AI smart glasses market with the unveiling of V1, a pair of smart glasses that are lighter than any other competitor.

One of the biggest problems when it comes to smart glasses is the bulkiness that users have to endure, and while companies such as Meta are ironing out this issue with each new generation, AI smart glasses are generally still thicker and heavier than a traditional pair of reading glasses. This isn't surprising, given that AI smart glasses need to house all the necessary components within the glasses' frame, but the weight trade-off may outweigh the functionality they offer, making them a dealbreaker for some users.

Lenovo is looking to scoop those users up with the AI Glasses V1, which come in at just 36g, making them lighter than the Rokid Glasses, which weigh 49 g. The V1 glasses are only 1.8mm thick and feature a resin diffraction waveguide display that has a peak brightness of 2,000 nits. Additionally, the V1 glasses support a 15 x 11 mm eye-box, which assists in keeping visuals stable as the user is moving their head. Users can also switch between monocular and binocular display modes.

Nike has announced Project Amplify, which it describes as the "world's first powered footwear system" that is aimed at sliding on the foot of athletes who want a second set of calf muscles.

That last sentence is ripped directly from the Nike press release, which states Amplify isn't designed for pro athletes that are looking to shave a few seconds of their latest record, but instead, it's aimed at athletes that want to move faster and farther with less effort, "in effect, a second set of calf muscles". According to Nike, Project Amplify is best used by someone who is running a 10-to-12-minute mile pace, and the development of the product has come after it was tested on over 400 athletes over the past several years.

Despite Nike unveiling Project Amplify, the company states it isn't ready to bring it to market just yet, and that it will remain in development until its release is ready "in the coming years". Project Amplify is for both running and walking, and is engineered to augment natural lower leg and ankle movement, providing support for wearers and an "unparalleled boost to anyone who wants to move".

Apple is reportedly shifting its focus from overhauling the Vision Pro headset to developing a pair of smart glasses that will rival Meta's Ray-Ban AI glasses.

The news comes from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, known for having his finger extremely close to the pulse of what is happening inside Apple. Gurman wrote in a recent Bloomberg piece that Apple has "hit pause" on the development of its planned overhaul of the Vision Pro headset, which included the company creating a cheaper, lighter version of the original headset.

The cut-down version of the Vision Pro was slated for release sometime in 2027, but now it appears plans have changed. It appears Apple has recognized the potential of smart glasses technology, particularly in the form factor of sunglasses, as Gurman reports the company is working on at least two types of smart glasses.

The MetaConnect 2025 keynote conducted on Wednesday gained quite a lot of attention for all the wrong reasons, as multiple demos failed in front of live audiences. Now, Meta's chief Technology Officer, Andrew Bosworth, has explained what happened behind the scenes to cause the failures.

For those who haven't seen the video circulating online, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg attempted to make a WhatsApp video call with Meta's next-generation AI glasses on stage, but was unable to due to a bug. Zuckerberg said, "This, uh... it happens." Adding, "Let's try it again. I keep messing this up."

That wasn't the only demo that failed during the event; another involved content creator and chef Jack Mancuso, who asked Meta AI to help him make a steak sauce out of the ingredients he had in front of him. Meta AI went off script and was unable to fulfill the request. "You already combined the base ingredients," the AI told Mancuso, who was looking at an empty bowl and a table full of ingredients.

The future is here - the "next chapter of human-computer interaction" no less - and it's embodied in an AI-powered headset (of sorts).

Tom's Hardware spotted the revelation of Alterego on X by the co-founders of the company Arnav Kapur (CEO) and Max Newlon (COO). As you can see, it's billed as the "world's first near-telepathic wearable that enables silent communication at the speed of thought".

The best way to swiftly grasp the concept is to watch the wearable - which is worn on the ears, and rests around the back of the head - in action. The wearer simply thinks and Alterego picks up those thoughts, in a fashion. However, it isn't actually reading your mind - the conclusion a fair few commenters on X (and elsewhere) immediately jumped to. I'll come back to how it works in a moment.

Meta is currently preparing to release its first smart glasses with a dedicated display, and according to reports, the glasses will be cheaper than initially anticipated.

A new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a known industry insider with a reliable track record for the movements of big tech companies operating in Silicon Valley, suggests that Meta is prepared to accept lower margins to boost demand for the upcoming smart glasses. Notably, the new glasses are being called Hypernova internally, and are a precursor to the fully-fledged augmented reality glasses the company is striving towards.

Gurman writes that the new glasses will be unveiled sometime next month, and they will feature a small screen for mini apps and alerts. The screen will be located in the right-hand lens of the smart glasses and can be controlled with the included wrist accessory. As for the unreleased product's price, previous estimations pegged the price tag to be $1,000, which is a steady jump from the $200 to $400 Meta Ray-Ban glasses that don't feature any displays.

Apple's upcoming foldable iPhone has entered prototype production, with the P1 (Prototype 1) hitting production in the last few weeks.

In a new report from DigiTimes picked up by insider @Jukanrosleve on X, we're hearing that Apple's supply chain said the new P1 (Prototype 1) for the foldable iPhone went into prototype production in June, with the potential to complete the Prototype development process before the end of the year. After which, it'll enter EVT (Engineering Verification Test) and then the new foldable iPhone will reportedly launch in the second half of 2026.

Supply chain sources also teased that Apple's original plan for new products includes a larger-sized foldable iPad, which will join the foldable fray with the iPhone Ultra. Apple will be releasing its new foldable iPhone first -- which we've heard is called the iPhone Ultra -- with the foldable iPad reportedly "temporarily put on hold".

Apple didn't hit the mark with its uber-expensive Vision Pro headset, but that hasn't deterred the company's ongoing efforts in wearable technology, with a new report providing some more details on Apple's cheaper Vision Air headset.

The new Apple Vision Air headset will feature an all-new form factor, and it will be significantly lighter -- somewhere around 40% lighter than the Vision Pro -- suggests a new report from insider Ming-Chi Kuo. In a new post, Kuo said that the new Vision Pro will be powered by Apple's latest flagship iPhone processor, with mass production expected in Q2 2027.

Apple's new Vision Air headset will have its 40% weight reduction achieved through glass-to-glass replacement, extensive magnesium alloy use (titanium alloy is deemed too expensive) and a reduced sensor count. Kuo notes that the new Vision Air headset will have a "significantly lower" price point than the Vision Pro, too.

Meta is slated to become the first company to release smart glasses that feature a screen for displaying apps and photos. The new pair of smart glasses could be released as early as the end of this year.

According to unnamed sources familiar with the project who spoke to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Meta is working on a pair of premium smart glasses that will be priced at more than $1,000, with the price hovering somewhere around the $1,300 and $1,400 mark.

These smart glasses are gearing up to be industry first as Meta plans on implementing a screen for displaying photos and apps, which is unsurprisingly the main component driving up the total cost of the glasses. According to Gurman, the price hike versus the Ray-Ban Meta Glasses ($299) can be attributed to the monocular panel (screen) located within the right lens's lower-right quadrant.

Visual intelligence could be heading to Apple's smartwatch line up as the company is exploring its implementation into the wearable devices with the additional of cameras.

In his latest Power On newsletter, Bloomberg's Mark Gurman explained that Apple is exploring the idea of adding cameras to its smartwatches, which would be paired with visual intelligence features, illustrating Apple's overall intention to integrate AI into its catalog of devices. Gurman explains the main idea of Apple Watches gaining cameras and visual intelligence would be to enable users to query their watch about the surroundings of the user.

The smartwatch feature would be similar to the new Visual Intelligence feature on iPhones, where users can long press the camera button and be presented with a new interface that lets them choose if they want to take a picture of something and have it analyzed by Google Search or ChatGPT. This feature isn't very well known or used due to it currently being locked to the iPhone 16 series, but it's expected to be adopted further when Apple releases iOS 18.4 next month, and it becomes available on the iPhone 15 Pro.

Smartwatches seem to quite often hit the headlines for their lifesaving potential, and Google has just announced the arrival of a feature for its Pixel Watch 3 in the US along these lines.

Yes, the 'Loss of Pulse Detection' functionality - launched last year in the EU - has finally come to watches in the US. It does pretty much what it says on the tin: if the watch fails to detect any pulse at all, it can take action to get the wearer help.

Google tells us:

Garmin have opened their showing at CES 2025 by announcing the Garmin Instinct 3 series of outdoor-focused smartwatches.

Available in both AMOLED and Solar display and packed within durable metal-reinforced bezels - the rugged new lineup caters to both adventurers and athletes alike.Sporting all of the activity and wellness tracking you'd expect from a Garmin watch, the Instinct 3 notably offers a whopping 24 days of battery life in the AMOLED model.

Battery life and a focus on detailed activity tracking are generally the key features that attract users to the Garmin range. To contrast, Apple and Samsung Galaxy Watches generally require charging on a daily basis - prioritizing brighter OLED displays, higher refresh rates, and more extensive smart features/app availability. 

NVIDIA has just filed a patent for AR glasses, which would use an innovative augmented reality display system that transforms optical occlusion through digital holography.

The patent was picked up by "seti_park" on X tagging tech evangelist and XR enthusiast Robert Scoble, with NVIDIA's new AR glasses patent being one of the things that were NOT on my bingo card for 2025.

The patent explains that the backlight-free augmented reality glasses using digital holography would be "implementing sophisticated self-interference techniques with incoherent light, the system achieves superior occlusion performance while significantly reducing power consumption and form factor compared to conventional backlit AR displays. This subtractive display approach marks a fundamental shift from traditional additive AR display methods"

Apple's new flagship Watch Ultra smartwatch will reportedly have non-emergency satellite messaging capabilities, just like the iPhone received earlier this year.

In a new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, the new Apple Watch Ultra will also be adding the long-rumored blood-pressure monitoring feature. We've heard about satellite messaging on the Apple Watch Ultra before, but Gurman reports that it would work like it does on the iPhone, allowing wearers to send text messages from their Apple Watch Ultra without a 4G/5G or Wi-Fi connection.

Apple is also reportedly removing the Intel cellular modem out of the Watch Ultra, and in its place will use a MediaTek chip, with the new cellular chip expected to be included in "at least some models" in 2025. The new blood-pressure monitoring feature has been in the works for a while, but will be great to see materialize next year.

Gemini 2.0 has arrived, and alongside the announcement of the highly anticipated update of Google's AI companion is a teaser for new AI assistant-powered smart glasses.

Google may very well be preparing to make a smart glasses-related announcement, as the company has teased via a new YouTube video posted to its official channel, "Project Astra," a demonstrative video showcasing the future capabilities of an AI assistant. Currently, in the research prototype phase, Project Astra was detailed by Google DeepMind product manager Bibo Xu, who revealed that a small group of people within Google's Trusted Tester program would be testing Project Astro on the prototype glasses.

Notably, Google's Trusted Tester program consists of members who get to play with Google prototype products, most of which never make it to market, which may have thrown a dampener on the idea of Google releasing these glasses showcased in the above video. However, when asked about the glasses Xu said, "for the glasses product itself, we'll have more news coming shortly."

Casio is a Japanese brand with a long history of creating iconic analog and digital watches. In 1974, the company released the first wristwatch with an LCD. In 1980, it released its revolutionary calculator watch, followed up in 1984 with a watch with enough memory to store up to 10 phone numbers. And to celebrate 50 years of creating digital timepieces, Casio is releasing a digital smart ring watch that draws inspiration from its classic watches.

With a tiny LCD screen that can display hours, minutes, seconds, and the current timezone or act as a stopwatch, it's like a micro Casio watch for your finger. The casing and bezel are made from polished stainless steel, which even mimics the flexible wristband look of a classic silver-colored Casio watch from the 1980s.

It's a fantastic retro wearable that will undoubtedly be one of those things you either immediately fall in love with or brush off as silly and pointless. I fall into the former category; I've always thought Casio watches looked cool - even in calculator form.

Amazon is reportedly working on a pair of smart glasses designed specifically for delivery drivers, as the company is looking for a method to reduce the time it takes for a delivery to reach its destination.

The unannounced project comes from Reuters in an exclusive report that cites people familiar with the project who spoke under the condition of anonymity due to the project's confidential nature. According to the report, the new smart glasses are designed to assist drivers with the final stretch of the delivery journey, the steps taken from the courier vehicle to the customer's door. While this may sound like the simplest part of the journey, it's actually a major concern of Amazon's as there are many things that can occur during this period that can result in delays that stack up over the course of a day.

Amazon's delivery smart glasses would provide drivers with turn-by-turn navigation on a small embedded screen. The heads-up display (HUD) would inform drivers of their route and each stop within the screen. An example of this would be a driver being required to go up an elevator. The glasses would be able to provide left and right directions for the driver once the elevator doors open to the correct level. Additionally, the glasses would be able to navigate drivers around obstacles such as gates, fences, and even aggressive dogs.

A new report from Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, a known Apple insider and industry analyst, claims the Cupertino company is working on a new health app designed to monitor blood sugar levels.

According to Gurman's trusted Apple employees were given access to the new application that was described as "highly secretive". This new application was also described as a food-logging app, and Apple selected some employees who were prediabetics, requiring them to submit their blood sugar measurements and food intake. Presumably, the logging of the food will inform the user when their blood sugar levels are spiking/crashing.

Ideally, Apple wants to be able to create a noninvasive method of monitoring blood sugar levels, and according to Gurman, the company has been working on it for more than 10 years. However, it's reportedly not ready as Apple is suffering from issues with shrinking the size of the monitor while also keeping it operational without overheating.

Meta has just released a new pair of AI-powered sunglasses with Ray-Ban, and now we have an idea of what Meta plans on doing with the images and videos captured by the glasses.

For those who don't know, Meta's AI-powered Ray-Bans have a camera located in front of the glasses. The camera can be used for taking photos and video, but it can also be enabled when the user initiates an AI feature through saying a keyword such as "look" and then requesting Meta AI to analyze what the wearer is seeing and provide an answer. An example of this would be looking at a mountain and asking MetaAI what the name of that mountain is its height.

When prompted, the Meta Ray-Bans will then capture a selection of images that will be scanned by MetaAI, and the answer will be read out loud to the wearer via the speakers. However, what happens to the captured images? TechCrunch queried Meta on this and discovered the company was being cagey about the process of using captured images and video, but since then it has provided more clarity.

Tech companies have pushed for many years for smart glasses to become everyday items at the same level as smartphones, but unfortunately, the technology just doesn't seem there yet, or at least not at the level where everyone is walking around with a version of Tony Stark's sunglasses.

Despite the pushback from the public at the mass adoption of devices such as Google Glass or, even more recently, Meta's Ray-Ban smart glasses, this hasn't stopped tech companies from investing millions of dollars into various forms of smart glasses research and development. Now, a new partnership has been unveiled between three heavy hitters in the space, Qualcomm, Google, and Samsung - all of which have their own expertise in various forms of hardware and software.

Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon spoke to CNBC and revealed the company has partnered with Google and Samsung to create a brand new product that will explore mixed reality in a set of glasses, and these glasses will be linked to a smartphone. For those who don't know, mixed reality involves the device imposing digital images on top of the real world, versus virtual reality, which completely immerses a user in a virtual world.