#4 I can see the future
I can see for miles and miles.
A late one today because I was travelling and then recovering blah blah blah. Let’s go:
💸 What I’m divesting from
No more smart glasses, please. Meta unveiled their latest glasses last week: Orion, AR (augmented reality) glasses:
A few things:
I’ve tried the Meta x Ray-Ban wearables this summer. The design isn’t as bulky as the AR glasses presented above (I would even call them cute and classic!), and the little camera lenses on the temples blend in with the design. They really could pass as regular glasses. The video function is fun and I can see why they gifted them to influencers — they make content creating a truly seamless experience. That being said, they’re still a gadget.
I tried the second-gen Snapchat glasses in 2018. The yellow circle made the tech aspect more noticeable. 6 years after their launch (the first iteration dates from 2016) I have yet to encounter someone unaffiliated with Snap who uses them.
The AR glasses are “the most challenging consumer electronics device produced since the smartphone.” In the Why section of the website, they list 1. “digital experiences (…) unconstrained by the limits of a smartphone screen;” ⇒ Sure. Do we think holographic displays are going to take? 2. “seamlessly integrate(d) contextual AI;” ⇒ The failure of another AI wearable, the rabbit r1, should probably serve as a lesson. 3. “lightweight and great for both indoor and outdoor use.” ⇒ This one is almost the one I take the most offence to. Not only do they look dorky as hell — that’s not a “why” that’s a “how.”
I closely follow the wearables market for my regular 9-5. The edge AI hardware market (= hardware using AI, able to make decisions without reaching the cloud) is expected to reach $38.87bn by 2030. Let’s take a closer look at past revenue:
Meanwhile, Meta’s Reality Labs segment — which houses the Quest AR/VR headset and metaverse initiatives — posted a higher loss for Q2, as Zuckerberg’s passion project continues to burn up cash. The unit had quarterly sales of $353 million (up 28%) and an operating loss of $4.49 billion (versus a loss of $3.74 billion a year earlier). Reality Labs has now lost an aggregate of $59.5 billion since the start of 2019. The company has said that in 2024, it expects Reality Labs operating losses to “increase meaningfully” year-over-year “due to our ongoing product development efforts in augmented reality/virtual reality and our investments to further scale our ecosystem.” [Variety]
Past results are obviously not always an indicator of future success. I don’t see it in that particular venture.
📈 Bullish news
The crypto bros who dream of crowdfunding a new country [BBC]
VICE Magazine Is Coming Back – no longer bankrupt? [VICE] Disclaimer: I used to be a VICE employee back in the day.
Every tech company is becoming an AI company faster than every company became a web3 company. [On Brand]
OpenAI is set to raise the biggest venture round in history ($6.5B and counting). [Bloomberg]
A decade+ of online fashion. Don’t look back into the web. [Ssense]
Buyout Firm L Catterton to Acquire Majority Stake in Pilates Chain Solidcore. Your Pilates addiction is of interest to private equity firms. [Business of Fashion]
Troy Young (former president of Hearst Magazines) is being positioned to run the entire Forbes empire. [Puck]
Hair is everything. Hair Growth Brand Scandinavian Biolabs Secures Nearly $4.5M In Series A Funding To Accelerate Growth. [Beauty Independent]
📉 Bearish news
TikTok is abandoning its plan to take on Spotify in music streaming [Bloomberg]
The end of the cheap burger [Bloomberg]
The Sicily Market Report
🍒 No boobs for me. I was in Catania over the weekend but didn’t get a chance to try these supposedly trending breast-shaped pastries EVEN THOUGH they live in my head rent-free since I saw Amadeus around age 6(I know). [read the article in the NYT] La prossima volta!
