Tech Brew Ride Home - Thu. 09/09 – Facebook Glasses And Amazon Fire TVs

Episode Date: September 9, 2021

Facebook launches some smart glasses. Amazon launches its own, branded smart tv. Soccer players are turning into NFTs. Twitter is turning into Reddit. And I still have questions about the whole Buy Now, Pay Later space. Sponsors: Otter.ai code ride Gainful.com/techmeme Links: FACEBOOK ON YOUR FACE (The Verge) Amazon Unveils First of Its Own Smart TVs, Will Bring TikTok to Fire TV in U.S. and Canada (Variety) Amazon’s new Fire TV Stick 4K Max adds Wi-Fi 6 and faster performance (The Verge) Spain’s Football League Seals Digital Player Card Deal With Sorare (Bloomberg) Twitter wants you to tweet to interest-based communities, not just followers (TechCrunch) BNPL platform Scalapay raises $155 million in Tiger Global led round (Tech.eu) (Today's twitter poll) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On April 4th, 2023, around 2 in the morning, a man was found stabbed multiple times on a sidewalk in downtown San Francisco. Hey, who did this to you? What happened next turned the story into a political firestorm. Reports have identified the victim as Bob Lee, the founder of Cash App. From Bloomberg Podcasts, this is Foundering, the Killing of Bob Lee, beginning April 16. Welcome to the Tech meme right home for Thursday, September 9th, 2021. I'm Brian McCullough. Facebook today launched some smart glasses. Amazon today launched its own branded smart TV. Soccer players are turning into NFTs. Twitter is turning into Reddit, and I still have questions about the whole buy now, pay later space. Here's what you miss today in the world of tech. What did I say yesterday about feeling like we hadn't had any new gadget news recently? Never mind. Facebook this morning. launched $299-RayBan Stories Smart Glasses to let users capture photo and video, listen to music or take phone calls, available to buy in six countries, including the U.S., quoting Alex Heath in The Verge.

They're called Rayban Stories, and you'll be able to find them pretty much anywhere raybans are sold, including lens crafters and sunglasses hut stores. The frames feature two front-facing cameras for capturing video and photos. They sync with a companion camera roll app called Facebook View, where clips can be edited and shared to other apps on your phone, not just Facebook's own. There's a physical button on the glasses for recording, or you can say, hey, Facebook, take a video to control them hands-free. And perhaps most importantly, they look and feel like regular glasses. With their core ability of taking photos and videos, Rayband's stories are essentially a sleeker version of Snapchat's spectacles, which first debuted in 2016 to a lot of hype that quickly fizzled. These raybans don't have displays in the lenses like the latest spectacles that were unveiled earlier this year.

However, speakers on both sides of the frame can play sound from your phone over Bluetooth, allowing you to take a call or listen to a podcast without pulling your phone out. A touchpad built into the side of the frame lets you change the volume or play and pause what you're hearing. Rayband's stories are the first product in a multi-year partnership between Facebook and European eyewear conglomerate, Isolour Luxottica, Raybans parent company. While they're limited in what they can do, Rayband's stories are the most normal-looking accessible pair of smart glasses to hit the market so far. Both companies also see them as a step toward more advanced, augmented reality glasses that overlay graphics onto the real world.

After testing a pair of Rayban stories for the past week, I'm impressed with the build quality and how well they work. Initial pairing was easy and sinking footage from the glasses back to the view app took only a few seconds through a Wi-Fi connection the glasses initiate. The dual five megapixel cameras can capture just over three dozen, 30-second video clips are roughly 500 photos before the on-device memory fills up. A physical button on the top of the right side of the frame lets you manually capture. If you'd rather not use the Hey Facebook wake phrase, Facebook says its voice assistant only listens for that phrase when turned on and that its functionality is limited to starting recordings. A light on the inside of the glasses gives you

a range of information, green for fully charged, orange for low battery, blue, for pairing mode, red for dead battery or overheating, and white for a capture error. A separate front-facing white light next to the right camera illuminates whenever the glasses are recording. Facebook says the glasses take about an hour to fully charge and that the battery will last for roughly six hours with intermin use. The companion view app shows a live readout of the battery when the glasses are paired. My battery drained by about 20% during heavy use for an hour.

The carrying case that comes with the glasses is sturdy. with a leather-like material and built-in charger that can refill the battery three times. The case itself charges via a USBC cable that comes in the box. I expected the speakers on both sides of the frame to be soft and hollow, but they were surprisingly loud and full. I can see the audio playback over Bluetooth coming in handy for taking phone calls or maybe listening to podcasts, but I'd prefer to use proper headphones for listening to music. The audio doesn't sound specifically targeted at the wearer's ears,

making it easy to overhear when you're standing next to someone wearing the glasses. The touchpad on the side of the frame is a welcome inclusion for volume adjustment. The cameras in the glasses are nowhere as high quality as the cameras on modern smartphones. Instead, Rayband stories are meant to be used in moments when your hands are occupied or you want to capture something fleeting. Despite a teaser video recently posted by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg showing him out in the ocean with them on, the glasses aren't designed to get wet. The companion view app is barebones serving as a camera roll for the glasses with basic editing capabilities. You can favorite clips and do minor touch-ups before sending footage to any app of your choice.

During the initial setup, it walks you through the privacy policy that asks to let Facebook collect data about how you use the glasses. A Facebook account is required to use them, but the company isn't analyzing what you record and save in the Vue app to personalize ads to you. The most compelling part of Rayban Stories is the form factor. I've tried a bunch of smart glasses over the years, and these are by far the most comfortable. They weigh just a few grams heavier than normal wayfarers. You'll also be able to get them with prescription lenses, although my ability to test the glasses was limited, since the pair of Facebook sent me to try, didn't have my prescription, and I don't wear contacts. The tech in the glasses is so hidden that it's hard to tell there are cameras on them at all. The white recording light is also fairly dim, which could pose privacy concerns that people don't realize the glasses are capturing photos or video. As far as smart glasses go, Rayband stories are relatively affordable. They start at $299 with polarized lenses bringing the price to $329, and transition lenses costing $3709.

The price for adding a prescription varies based on the type of insurance. There are three mainframe styles, Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor. In total, there are 20 combinations of styles, colors, sizes, and lens types. They are initially being sold online and in stores in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Italy, Ireland, and Australia, end quote. As rumored, Amazon this morning launched the Fire TV Omni series, shipping in October, quoting variety. The baseline Fire TV Omni series with support for 4K Ultra HD, HDR10, HLG, and Dolby Digital Plus will be available in three screen sizes. 43 inches for $409.99, and 55 inches for $5.59. The Fire TV Omni series with Dolby Vision will be available in 65 inches for $829.29.99 and 75 inches for $1,099.99.

The Fire TV Omni's hands-free Alexa voice controls are always available, whether the TV is on or off, or when using an HDMI input. Users can ask Alexa to tune to a specific show or live event without needing to specify channel, streaming service, or input device to switch to. The feature also lets you use voice commands to control playback, close captions, and brightness, manage TV or soundbar volume, switch inputs, and more. The Fire TV Omni series integrates smart home features like LiveView Picture and Picture, which allows you to check your smart cameras without interrupting your TV viewing, and can show your ring video doorbell view when someone is at the door. Later this year, a new smart home dashboard for Fire TV will let you view and control compatible connected devices throughout the home.

In addition, Amazon is baking in new features. to the overall Fire TV platform, including bringing TikTok content to the platform in the U.S. and Canada, letting users access Netflix's shuffle mode feature via Alexa and being able to ask Alexa for movie or TV show recommendations. The company is also bowing the new Fire TV Stick 4K Max for $55, which it says is more powerful than the prior generation model and is Amazon's first streaming media player to launch with Energy Star certification and Wi-Fi 6 support, end quote. Yes. Speaking of that, say hello, as I just said, to the Fire TV Stick 4K Max. Amazon's new flagship streaming device with Wi-Fi 6 and faster performance for $55 shipping October 7, quoting the verge.

The company's latest device has improved processing power more memory and also adds speedier Wi-Fi 6 wireless networking. Plus, it maintains wide support for HDR formats, including Dolby Vision. Pre-orders start today, and Amazon currently shows a delivery date of October 7. The Fire TV Stick 4.5,000, 4K Max is 40% more powerful than the Fire TV Stick 4K, and Amazon attributes those gains to its new quad-core, 1.8 gigahertz processor and 2 gigabytes of RAM. It's also now got a faster 750 megahertz GPU, and Amazon has added auto-low latency mode to help get the best possible performance out of its Luna Cloud Gaming Service. Amazon claims Wi-Fi 6 is something that can't be found in streaming gadgets for under $179. That's a reference to the 2021 Apple TV 4K,

if you're wondering, the company thinks it's a significant addition for more robust, reliable streaming. In another first for Amazon's Fire TV lineup, the Fire TV Stick 4K Max has received Energy Star certification. Its low power mode has improved to use 15% less power than the low power mode on the existing Stick 4K. The Fire TV Stick 4K Max comes with Amazon's Alexa voice remote, now with branded shortcut buttons, and runs the refresh content-focused software experience that rolled out across the Fire TV lineup earlier this year, end quote. And one more thing. Amazon also announced updates to its Luna game streaming service,

including Chromebook support, a $2.99 per month family tier for 35 games, and local co-op couch mode. Spain's La Liga Soccer League has partnered with French platform So Rare to offer NFTs for all of its players, the first major European soccer league to do so. quoting Bloomberg. So rare's virtual cards are non-fungible tokens, collectible digital assets created in small quantities

whose ownership is verifiable through blockchain technology. Under the Accord, fans will be able to trade the cards of players for Spanish top and second-tier league clubs, according to a statement on La Liga's website. Sports clubs are keen to explore the potential of digital assets to create new revenue streams by tapping into fresh ways to engage with supporters. Sales of NFT cards, two users who collect them to create fantasy teams have generated sales of $130 million this year, the statement said.

We've been monitoring the blockchain industry for more than a year, and we believe this partnership is the best way to enter the NFT space. LaLiga executive director Oscar Mayo said in a news conference Thursday. Under the terms of the agreement, the league will redistribute revenue from the partnership to the clubs, he said. The deal is the first so rare is done with a top-tier national league. The firm's backers include FC Barcelona's star Girard Piquet and Atlago-Madrids, Antoine Griseman. So rare plans to partner with the world's top 20 soccer leagues by the end of 2022 and currently has 175 clubs in 35 leagues worldwide under license according to its website, end quote. Chris talked about this extensively on last night's Twitter space, and then none other than Kavon Bakeport, head of product at Twitter, came on the space to talk to us more about this, as well as Twitter's whole product roadmap going forward.

but the headline is Twitter says it is testing communities. Invite only topic-based public feeds curated by moderators initially limited to a few topics. So think of this as Twitter's answer to subreddits or Facebook groups or Discord channels, quoting TechCrunch. Users will be able to join these new social hubs and tweet directly to other people with shared interests rather than their regular group of followers. Those tweets will still be public, but replies will be limited to other community members. Communities will be user-generated, though Twitter says that will be limited for now, so most people will have to wait a few months before starting their own groups. The earliest communities will center around popular and generally benign topics on Twitter, including dogs, weather, sneakers,

skincare, and astrology. Twitter's example images also include cryptocurrency, plants, and black women photographers. The test began yesterday and will show up in a dedicated spot at the bottom of the iOS app or in the side menu on Twitter.com. Twitter says that Android users will be able to read community tweets too, though more functionality is on the way soon, presumably a dedicated app tab and the ability to join and participate in the new groups. Communities will be created and maintained by designated moderators who will have the ability to invite other users to the group via DM and remove content posted within the group. Initially, invites will be the only way into a community, but it sounds like Twitter has some grand plans for discovery features that might make it easier for people to find

places they might want to hang out, end quote. In his newsletter this morning, Casey Newton wrote that Twitter communities could actually help Twitter users combat the trolls that the platform is so famous for by bringing context back. Quote, this afternoon, Josh Ong, who moderates a Twitter community about non-fungible tokens, invited me to be the 229th member of the Twitter NFT community. Like the rest of the NFT-obsessed internet, it's a wash in colorful cartoon profile pictures of animals, a variety of sharks, birds, and especially apes. And the chatter there was notable for its friendliness. One artist announced he would give away some NFTs he created free to anyone who asks for them in the next 10 minutes, and the community responded with a joy

I have not seen on my timeline in the last decade. The community chatter arrived at a steady clip, not quite as fast as you will find in a popular Discord server about NFTs, perhaps, but more rapidly than you would find on the more orderly hierarchical Reddit. More than anything else, I was struck by the sense of possibility that the community had seemed to inspire in its members. One member suggested community-only spaces for live audio discussions, which would be a natural fit for the product. Another, taking advantage of the handful of invitations given each member, announced that he had invited MC Hammer to join the group. We'll see, he said, end quote. Although, I bet you can get him.

Reminds me of the early days of Clubhouse when MC Hammer was in every room, it felt like he was kind of on Clubhouse like 24 hours a day. It would be interesting if MC Hammer becomes the bellwether user, letting you know where the hot new corners of social media are. Milan-based buy-now pay-later service Scala pay has raised $155 million in a series A led by Tiger Global, quoting tech.eU, in line with many other BIA, BNPL providers. Scala pay offers consumers the ability to spread the cost of an item over three interest-free monthly installments. The new funding will be used to accelerate international expansion

efforts as well as the launch of new products designed to support luxury, fashion, and travel merchants. In the two years since its launch, Scala pay has raised approximately $203 million. In a day in age when Clarna has a market valuation of $46 billion, square laid down $29 billion to acquire BNPL player afterpay, and PayPal shelled out $2.3.4.5.000. $7 billion to grab Japan's payee. It's a fair statement to make that the buy-now pay later space is hotter than a stack of flapjacks on Sunday morning. So what's the $155 million differentiator in Scala pay? While other players have launched deposit accounts and moved deeper into the banking space, Scalapay has taken a different route and is putting its focus clearly

on the merchants themselves. Through a more flexible and optimized payment process, Scalapay partners are opening up new customer experiences. And here's the key increasing conversions. According to the startup, partnered retailers have seen average basket sizes increased by 48 percent and an increase in conversion at checkout by 11 percent, end quote. So obviously, I'm sharing this again to show you once more how hot the BNPL space is. I mean, a $155 million series A is still something even in these jaded times. And I'm starting to get a sense of why the space is so hot, as we've discussed. It's a classic win-win. Brands get more sales, bigger order tickets. The unit economics for the BNPL companies are at least as good as credit cards, and credit cards

are a darn good business. But as the article hints at, like, how many players can exist in this space? Aren't they all sort of offering the same thing? Plus, isn't this a winner-takes-the-most partners sort of thing? If I'm Amazon or Peloton or Sony and I partner with a firm or Clarna, there's no room for somebody else, for Ascalapay, right? Like, will it be like credit cards where each merchant offers an array of different BNPL brands at checkout? As ever, I'm eager to learn more about this. So if anybody is an expert in the space, get in touch and maybe come on a Twitter space with us. Get out the vote, everybody.

Jeff Bezos handily defeated Reed Hastings in the hashtag World Cup of Entrepreneurs yesterday. So who will Bezos face in the semifinals? You can decide. Today's voting is Jack Dorsey versus Elon Musk. Go to the show Twitter handle at TechMeme podcast and cast your ballot. We're winding down now. Only five more matchups to go. So make your voice heard. Talk to you tomorrow.