This Week in Tech (Audio)

TWiT 1050: Live Demo, Good Luck - Meta Ray-Ban Display Glasses Raise Privacy & Social Acceptance Concerns

Sep 22, 2025
Guest
Fr. Robert Ballecer
Guest
Nicholas De Leon
Guest
Devindra Hardawar
In this engaging discussion, guests include Devindra Hardawar from Engadget, Nicholas De Leon of Consumer Reports, and Fr. Robert Ballecer, a tech-ethics advocate from the Vatican. They dive into the controversial features of Meta's new AR glasses, highlighting privacy concerns and live demo mishaps. The panel also tackles the growing distrust in Big Tech, the implications of proposed immigration fees, and discussions on TikTok's future ownership. Fr. Ballecer shares insights on AI's ethical boundaries, questioning the potential loss of human connection.
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INSIGHT

Smart Glasses Force Social Trade-offs

  • Meta's new Ray-Ban Display glasses strap smartphone-style notifications to your face and risk constant distraction.
  • Panelists warned the device creates social friction and normalizes covert recording in public spaces.
INSIGHT

Live Demos Reveal Fragile Infra

  • Meta's demo failures exposed real engineering and scaling mistakes on live stage.
  • The crowd-wide wake word trigger and dev server overload showed how connected device demos can cascade into outages.
ADVICE

Protect Your Data With Vendor Limits

  • Avoid handing perpetual sensor data to companies you don't trust; Father Robert said he wouldn't give Meta his data under any circumstance.
  • Choose devices that let you retain local control or that explicitly guarantee no data collection.
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