Zuckerberg Hints at Upcoming Wearable AR Controller

Mark Zuckerberg has teased a new smart glasses project in partnership with EssilorLuxottica, a report from Reuters says.

The report says Zuckerberg teased it by posting a picture of the other company’s chairman wearing a prototype of a neural interface wristband which is designed for directing other devices.

Zuckerberg, in the post, said Leonardo Del Vecchio, the EssilorLuxottica chair, was “using a prototype of our neural interface EMG [electromyography] wristband that will eventually let you control your glasses and other devices.”

Facebook parent Meta had previously said it wanted to make a wristband to control augmented reality glasses and let users interact with a virtual world with finger movements. Zuckerberg had been in Milan to discuss with EssilorLuxottica the possibility of making such a product.

EssilorLuxottica announced in 2020 a partnership with Meta to develop smart glasses. They currently sell frames such as the classic Ray-Ban Wayfarer model — but embedded with tech to let the user take photos and listen to music and calls.

The tech companies are making a bet that augmented reality glasses could eventually replace mobile phones someday.

In related news, Facebook has recently announced that it will be shutting down its podcast segment of its site. The company will remove podcasts altogether by June 3.

Read more: Facebook Shuts Audio Hub, Drops Podcasts

The company will not be letting users upload new podcasts, and it plans to discontinue Soundbites, its short-form audio product, and remove its central audio hub as well.

Podcasts had debuted last year in April, as the market for such things had been strong for some time.

The company has plans to focus on other things now, though – a disappointment to some providers. A Meta spokesperson said there wasn’t a specific date for when Soundbites and the audio hub would be done, though it will likely be within a few weeks.