Meta’s annual Connect Developer Conference, Meta Connect 2023 held on 27th and 28th of September 2023. The conference had an in-person presence at Meta Headquarters in Menlo Park, California, and streamed live on various social channels.
Meta made waves in the tech world with a series of exciting announcements at the conference with the highlight being the Meta Quest 3 mixed reality headset.
Meta Quest 3 VR
The Quest 3 isn’t just another VR headset; it’s the first mainstream mixed reality headset from Meta.
Its seamless blend of both physical and digital worlds is sure to redefine our interaction with digital content.
With the Quest 3, users can bring digital objects into the real world and interact with their surroundings while wearing the headset.
Quest 3 is a significant leap forward from its predecessor, the Quest 2.
Meta’s CEO. Mark Zuckerberg proudly stated that it boasts of 10 times more pixels than the preceding Quest 2. This accounts for its crystal-clear view of both virtual and real environments.
The headset is powered by the next-generation Snapdragon XR2 Gen 2 processor and 8GB of RAM. That gives it double the graphics performance of the Quest 2 and surpassing even the Quest Pro.
The Quest 3 comes with highly impressive lenses. A 2064 X 2208 LCD display in front of each eye. It also offers a generous field of view (FOV) of 110 degrees horizontally and 96 degrees vertically.
Meta offers users the flexibility to switch between pure VR mode and a “blended” mode, which seamlessly merges virtual and real-world surroundings.
Meta has also prioritized comfort in the Quest 3’s design, ensuring a more enjoyable and extended wear experience.
The Quest 3 is available for pre-orders, starting at $499 and will begin shipping on October 10th, 2023.
Mark Zuckerberg also teased the forthcoming Meta Quest for businesses, which is set to launch in the coming year.
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses
If you’re looking to get some new glasses, Meta has you covered with its new Ray-Ban smart glasses.
what truly sets the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses apart from other smart glasses is their integration with Meta AI. These glasses run on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon AR1 Gen 1 processor.
Other features include;
Two round modules on the side of either eye include a 12-megapixel camera and an LED light that flips on to alert others that you’re recording.
You can livestream to friends and followers from the glasses.
There are more than 150 design combos possible when you factor in frame color, style and lenses.
They will be available for purchase starting October 17th, 2023,
You can preorder now in certain markets. The price starts at $299 for standard lenses. Polarized run $329 and transitions $379.
Coming soon: the ability to translate text.
AI Studio
Meta stirred the AI waters with the launch of the AI Studio platform and other AI powered features.
With the AI Studio, businesses and developers can build custom AI chatbots for Meta’s messaging services. This means companies can build their own customized chatbots for Facebook, Instagram and Messenger.
According to Meta, AI Studio will allow companies to “create AIs that reflect their brand’s values and improve customer service experiences,”
CEO Mark Zuckerberg clarified that the use cases Meta envisions are primarily e-commerce and customer support.
AI Studio will be available in alpha to start, and Meta says that it’ll scale the toolkit further beginning next year.
To complement this, a sandbox tool will soon be available, allowing anyone to experiment with AI creation
Meta AI
Meta also launched a host of new AI-powered bots across its messaging apps. One is an advanced conversational called Meta AI.
It can help plan a trip with friends in a group chat, answer general-knowledge questions, and search the internet across Microsoft’s Bing to provide real-time web results. It can also generate photorealistic images from text prompts in seconds,
Meta AI, is already in beta and accessible on WhatsApp, Messenger,and Instagram
It will soon come to Meta’s newly announced Quest 3 VR headset and the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses.
AI Stickers & EMU
Meta didn’t stop at conversational AI. They introduced AI stickers, a tool that simplifies the creation of customized stickers for chats and stories.
Additionally, the introduction of Express Media Universe (EMU). This AI tool generates high-quality photorealistic images in seconds. will enhance visual content across the Meta ecosystem.
Meta also announced upcoming features “restyle” and “backdrop” coming to Instagram.Users will soon have the ability to transform images or co-create AI-generated visuals with friends,
