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Mark Gurman at Bloomberg has released a report about Meta’s next steps in hardware, crediting sources familiar with the company’s work. According to these insiders, Meta is developing at least three new smart glasses models and has set a roadmap toward releasing its first true augmented reality glasses. The company is reportedly also continuing efforts to implement AI tools in a wrist wearable and in earbuds.

Meta already sells smart glasses in partnership with Ray-Ban, a product line internally called Supernova. Gurman reports that this existing lineup will be introduced to new markets, although he didn’t offer specifics about where. Meta’s technologies also be applied to frames from other brands owned by its partner, Luxottica Group. This will allegedly lead to the launch of glasses codenamed Supernova 2 based on the Sphaera glasses from Oakley. This set would be intended for cyclists and other athletes, and its camera would be placed in the center of the frames.

The third model is internally dubbed Hypernova. This product would be another step closer to a genuine AR experience, giving wearers the capability to run simple software apps, view notifications and display photos taken by the device. The more advanced feature set would reportedly come with a more advanced price tag; sources told Gurman this set is currently projected to cost $1,000. Insiders had already revealed last month that Meta was working on bringing a display to its Ray-Ban glasses models. 

Alongside these smart glasses, Meta has also been developing an AR product dubbed Orion. Gurman reports that the Orion set will not receive a commercial release. Instead, he said that Meta plans to launch a different iteration of the hardware as early as 2027. This product is codenamed Artemis, and sources told Gurman that these prototype glasses aren’t as heavy as Orion and are more advanced than the predecessor.

Another item of note in Gurman’s report is that Meta is developing a wrist strap that could control its smart glasses. Most of the company’s models have controls at the temple, but a wrist option would be similar to the one used for the Orion prototype.

Finally, he confirms that Meta is still working on prototypes of camera-enabled earbuds that could be a rival to Apple’s AirPods. The Information reported on this project in May 2024, and it seems that the concept has faced some development challenges. If these “Camerabuds” do reach the market, it likely won’t be for years.

We’ve reached out to Meta for comment on this report and will update with any statement we receive.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/wearables/report-meta-could-release-its-first-true-ar-headset-as-soon-as-2027-222502610.html?src=rss 

Instagram blocked searches related to a number of political hashtags, including #democrats, #democrat, #jan6th, #republicans and a number of other terms Tuesday. Users who searched for these hashtags were instead greeted with a notice that “we’ve hidden these results” because they “may contain sensitive content.”

It’s not clear exactly how many search terms were affected but users on Reddit reported that dozens of tags were unsearchable. Meta spokesperson Andy Stone blamed an unspecified “issue” in a post on Threads and said the company was working on a fix.

The timing, just days after Mark Zuckerberg took a front-row seat at President Donald Trump’s inauguration, understandably prompted speculation that the “issue” was politically motivated. Zuckerberg recently moved to end Meta’s fact-checking programs, roll back content moderation standards that prohibited dehumanizing language and slurs targeting immigrants and LGBTQ people. The company also internally shuttered its corporate diversity programs. Stone, however, said the issue affected “a number of different hashtags on Instagram – not just those on the left.”

Indeed, there seemed to be some inconsistency in what was blocked. #Democrat, #democrats and #republicans were reportedly affected, but #republican was viewable. Users reported that #constitution, #johnoliver and #queer were also unviewable. Meta now seems to have addressed most of the hashtags in question, though the company hasn’t explained what caused the “issue.”

This, notably, isn’t the first time Instagram has inexplicably blocked searches for hashtags. Meta blocked hashtags related to LGBTQ content and labeled it as “sensitive content” for months. The company said earlier this year that was an error, noting that “we do not consider LGBTQ+ terms to be sensitive under our policies.” In 2020, Instagram briefly prevented users from sharing posts with the hashtag #blacklivesmatter. The company said it was a mistake and blamed its spam detection features.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-blocked-searches-for-democrats-and-other-political-hashtags-195612128.html?src=rss 

This year’s NAMM trade show has opened up its doors, so that means there will be a wealth of new musical doodads to lust over. Case in point? Polyend just dropped a hybrid device that combines the functionality of a standard guitar pedal with a drum machine.

The Polyend Step is a “fully-featured, programmable drum machine in stompbox format.” This should be an absolute boon for those who want some accompaniment while playing guitar, or any other instrument. That alone makes it the perfect practice tool, however it looks like it could also be a great resource for anyone doing the whole “one person band” thing.

Drum stompboxes are nothing new, but the Step kicks things up several notches. It comes with over 200 drum kits to peruse, along with 350 preset rhythm patterns. These patterns consist of 16 steps, but can be combined to build full songs. To that end, the pedal can store more than 1,000 songs.

Drum patterns can also be made from scratch via the built-in step sequencer, giving users four tracks to work with. Each track has a wide array of adjustable parameters, including swing, speed, step probability, velocity control and more. There are over 50 effects to choose from, and each song can handle 16. These effects include a number of delays and reverbs, and can be activated on the fly via footswitches.

The connectivity here is on point. The Step includes MIDI I/O for syncing, guitar jacks, stereo input and output and a microSD card reader. It’s available right now for $500. Polyend is primarily known for its sequencing devices, like the Polyend Tracker and the Tracker Mini.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/music/polyend-stuffed-a-fully-programmable-drum-machine-in-a-stompbox-190008034.html?src=rss 

EA’s Origin PC client has officially reached the end of the line. The gaming company had previously announced its plans to rebrand the Origin app for desktop players back in 2020 and began rolling out the new EA app in 2022. However, Origin will be completely shuttered on April 17, 2025, as Microsoft ends support for 32-bit software. Anyone still using Origin will need to swap over to the EA app before that date.

For those PC players who have not migrated over to the EA app, the company has an FAQ explaining the latest system requirements. The EA app runs on 64-bit architecture, and requires a machine using Windows 10 or Windows 11. (Although Microsoft would really prefer that everybody upgrade to Windows 11 as it sunsets the previous OS.)

If you’re simply downloading the EA app on a current machine, players won’t need to re-download their games. And if you have cloud saves enabled, all of your data should transfer without any additional steps. However, it’s always a good idea to have physical backups with this type of transition, especially since not all games support cloud saves, and those titles will need to have saved game data manually transferred. Mods also may not automatically make the switch, and EA recommends players check with mod creators about transferring to the EA app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/eas-origin-app-for-pc-gaming-will-shut-down-in-april-191807523.html?src=rss