Facebook teamed up with Ray-Ban to launch smart glasses next year

Facebook partners with Ray-Ban to develop a smart glasses / ph: facebook

 Speaking at the Facebook Connect conference that takes place online this morning, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the company's first commercially available smart glasses will go on sale next year, as a Ray-Ban branded product.

 In partnership with Ray-Ban, Facebook's smart glasses will have a more stylish look and design, rather than a tech style glasses.

 The official name and specific features of the smart glasses developed by Facebook are still unknown, but the social network revealed that the product will not be equipped with a screen like Google Glass smart glasses previously, which will be equipped with technologies to support augmented reality (AR).

Before that, Facebook developed and tested a prototype AR glasses called Aria.  Starting this month, Facebook has allowed its employees and partners to test the Aria in the real world to perfect and fix the downsides of its products.

 Facebook has once expressed its ambition to develop an AR device that looks like a standard pair of glasses to suit all users.  Facebook has partnered with Ray-Ban (Italy) to build the frame design for its smart glasses.

The design prototype of Aria smart glasses, which Facebook will most likely rely on to develop smart glasses to market / youtube@emilusvgs 

 “We are passionate about exploring devices that can provide people with better ways to connect with their loved ones.  Wearables have the potential to do just that.  With EssilorLuxottica (Ray-Ban's parent company), we have an equally ambitious partner, with their expertise and world-class brand portfolio that makes smart glasses truly  fashion first, ”said Andrew Bosworth, vice president of Facebook's virtual reality research department.

 After smartphones and smart watches, virtual reality glasses and smart glasses are promised to become an attractive market for the technology "giants" to compete in the near future.  In addition to Facebook, Google, Amazon, Apple, Intel or Microsoft ... are also developing their own smart glasses or AR glasses.

 However, a complicated problem that smart glasses need to overcome is ensuring privacy is not affected, because smart glasses are often integrated with the camera to record the surroundings, and what would ensure that the wearer of the smart glasses does not take advantage of that camera to capture private and sensitive images, such as images in the restroom or in public lockers ...