Meta Connect 2024: Orion glasses, Quest 3S headset, Meta AI upgrades, Ray-Ban Meta real-time video, and more
Meta Connect 2024 is a developer-centric event featuring a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
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Meta Connect 2024 is a developer-centric event featuring a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Meta Connect 2024 is a developer-centric event featuring a keynote from CEO Mark Zuckerberg. He showcased new hardware and software to support two of Meta’s big ambitions: AI and the metaverse. This included everything from new Quest headsets, updates to Meta’s Llama AI model, and even a new fully AR glasses prototype.
Meta Connect 2024 kicked off live at 10 a.m. PT. You can stream it from Meta Connect’s site, on Meta’s developer Facebook page, and you can even stream it in Horizon Worlds from your Meta Quest headset if you really want to feel the full immersion.
We’ll be compiling all of the announcements and reveals out of Meta Connect 2024 below and will keep it updated throughout the event and after as more reactions and analysis arrive.
In a surprise announcement, Zuckerberg dramatically revealed Orion, which Meta says will eventually become the company’s “first consumer full holographic AR glasses,” though they won’t be arriving on any consumers’ faces anytime soon. Touting Orion’s light weight, compatibility for hand-tracking and eye-tracking, and most ambitiously, a neural interface, Zuckerberg also touted some impressed, and famous, early testers (including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang). The Orion glasses were presented as the future of Meta’s AR efforts, with our own ongoing coverage of Meta Connect’s final big reveal here.
Meta’s reveal of the Quest 3S was indicated by several pre-event leaks and confirmed during Connect 2024. The Meta Quest 3S comes as a less expensive alternative to the Quest 3, starting at $299 for a 128GB version and 256GB for $399. The entirely wireless headset is compatible with the existing library of Quest apps and games, though Meta was particularly enthusiastic about its mixed-reality features. With the reveal of the Quest 3S, the Quest 3 will drop from $649 to $499.
Quest 2, Quest Pro discontinued
“With Quest 3S on the shelf, we’re officially winding down sales of Quest 2 and Pro. We’ll be selling our remaining headsets through the end of the year or until they’re gone, whichever comes first,” Meta told TechCrunch about the discontinuation of two of their headsets in the wake of the Quest 3S announcement.
Meta AI is finding its voice. Users can ask a question or otherwise chat with Meta AI out loud through Messenger, Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram and get simulated vocal responses in return. The digital voice assistant will roll out with multiple voice options to choose from, including the AI voices of celebrities like Dame Judi Dench, John Cena, Awkwafina, Kristen Bell, and Keegan-Michael Key.
The reveal comes a day after OpenAI announced the long-awaited rollout of its Advanced Voice Mode feature, with a new look and five new voices. And speaking of vocal announcements, Zuckerberg touted that Meta AI now has 500 million users.
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