|
Google says it sought to make a model that was both fast and smart.
|
|
Last year, Meta announced that it was opening up its VR operating system to other headset makers, starting with ASUS and Lenovo. Now, it seems that Meta is pumping the brakes on the effort and those third-party Horizon OS headsets might never actually launch.
The company has "paused" the program, Road to VR reported. Meta confirmed the move in a statement to Engadget, saying that it's instead focusing on "building the world-class first-party hardware and software needed to advance the VR market." ASUS and Lenovo didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. Both companies have said little about the headsets since they were first announced in 2024. ASUS' was going to be a "performance gaming" headset under its Republic of Gamers (ROG) brand, while Lenovo's was intended to be a mixed reality device focused on "productivity, learning and entertainment" experiences
The shift isn't entirely surprising. Meta Connect was very light on virtual reality news this year as smart glasses have become a central focus for the company. Earlier this month, Bloomberg reported that Meta was planning significant cuts to the teams working on virtual reality and Horizon Worlds. The company said at the time it was "shifting some of our investment from Metaverse toward AI glasses and wearables given the momentum there."
Still, Meta is seemingly leaving the door open for third-party VR headsets in the future. "We're committed to this for the long term an
|
|
Samsung's Galaxy Z TriFold is less versatile than the comparable Huawei Mate XT, but several smart design choices give it unique advantages.
|
|
 Samsung kicked off a holiday sale last week, and this event has expanded recently with even more great deals on monitors, TVs, Galaxy smartphones, and home appliances. Many of these deals are the exact same all-time low prices we tracked during Black Friday and Cyber Monday.
|
|
Back in September during Meta Connect, the company previewed a new ability for its smart glasses lineup called Conversation Focus. The feature, which is able to amplify the voices of people around you, is now starting to roll out in the company's latest batch of software updates.
When enabled, the feature is meant to make it easier to hear the people you're speaking with in a crowded or otherwise noisy environment. "You'll hear the amplified voice sound slightly brighter, which will help you distinguish the conversation from ambient background noise," Meta explains. It can be enabled either via voice commands ("hey Meta, start Conversation Focus") or by adding it as a dedicated "tap-and-hold" shortcut.
Meta is also adding a new multimodal AI feature for Spotify. With the update, users can ask their glasses to play music on Spotify that corresponds with what they're looking at by saying "hey Meta, play a song to match this view." Spotify will then start a playlist "based on your unique taste, customized for that specific moment." For example, looking at holiday decor might trigger a similarly-themed playlist, though it's not clear how Meta and Spotify may translate more abstract concepts into themed playlists.
Both updates are starting to roll out now to Meta Ray-Ban glasses (both Gen 1 and Gen 2 m
|
|
 All of the iPhone 16 and iPhone 17 models are equipped with a Camera Control button that provides quick access to the Camera app and camera settings, but not everyone is a fan of it. Fortunately, though, Apple apparently plans to improve it.
|
|
Sometimes you can notice the signs of a failing SSD. For instance, the once-quick transfer speed slows to crawl, there are frequent program or system crashes, or file system access errors or SMART errors occur. If you notice these things, especially in combination, there's a good chance your SSD is on its way out. In that case, it's time to prepare for the worst and do the following:
Back up critical files
It goes without saying that the first thing you'll want to do if you think your SSD is on the blink is to back up your critical data. Backups should be done regularly anyway, but even if you're doing that, you'll still want to make a new backup of your critical files at this point to have them ready to go should your SSD suddenly die.
See our roundups of the best Windows backup software and
|
|
