Juan M. Londoño

This panel sparked an important (and deeply personal) question for me. How will age verification bills interact with the documents of foreign-born people residing in the US?

I fleshed this thought out in my latest op-ed at RealClear Markets:
www.realclearmarkets.com/articles/202...

TODAY at 12 PM ET: Join @ericgoldman.bsky.social, @senatorshoshana.bsky.social, and @juanmlondono.bsky.social for a discussion on the privacy and security risks of age verification and the evolving landscape of online safety legislation

Register here: us06web.zoom.us/webinar/regi...

User Safety in AR/VR: Protecting Teens Teens are some of the enthusiastic early adopters of augmented and virtual reality devices and the metaverse. Their relative lack of maturity and naivete makes them more susceptible to safety threats ...

Teenagers are among the most enthusiastic early adopters of augmented and virtual reality (AR/VR) devices and platforms, but their relative immaturity and naivete can make them more susceptible to safety threats than adults. itif.org/publications...

The Response to Unity's Engine Monetization Changes Is a Lesson About Metaverse Competition Regulators should view the response to Unity's engine monetization changes as a cautionary tale: Today’s market leaders are still responsive to market forces, and if they ignore their customers’ d...

My latest for @itif.org: The Unity Engine monetization saga, calls for government intervention, and (mis)conceptions about competition in the metaverse.

The lesson: Companies, regardless of their size, cannot afford to ignore their customers’ demands.

Read more:
itif.org/publications...

How do we prevent a situation where someone incorrectly assumes I am recording/taking pictures of them while I am using it to watch a video/write a report? Will having a laptop/keyboard out be enough of a social cue to not make others uncomfortable?

Now, I think it highlights a tension: there’s no mechanism that tells others when I’m recording vs just using the device.

Key to consider as devices move to become a smart monitor. They are easier to carry as well. I can see an scenario where people take them to a coffee shop to work.

It’s not like people are going to be able to stealthily use this devices. You’re not even supposed to use them outdoors!

(Seriously, don’t expose them to the sun. They might break).

imho, claiming the “glassholes” (🙄) are back out of two hyper-enthusiasts pushing social boundaries is kind of a stretch.

I understand the bystander privacy concerns of devices like smart glasses. But these things cover half your face and have very noticeable camera notches.

6) Last: smaller form factor seems like a small thing, but it can have tremendous impact:
-Ergonomics, weight on neck
-Easier to carry/put on a backpack
-Even Nick Clegg mentioned it once: you couldn't drink coffee with Quest 2 on! Hopefully Q3 passes that test (for my sake).

Multimodal AI could bring great progress in terms of accessibility: the language barrier might be gone for some, it might help a person with limited vision comprehend their environment better.

It can be a better-connected GoPro for hands-free livestreaming. Maybe not as rugged as the GoPro but fit for walking, touring a city, cooking, driving. I always think these glasses could be a great improvement over current dash cams.

Pairing with GenAI could be huge for tourism, as shown.

5) Ray Ban Stories 2.0: I think they are finally starting to carve its niche. I have the Gen 1, but I hardly find a situation where they are better than other devices: audio and photo quality, 30s limit on video. Livestreaming option and pairing with AI changes that.

This is going to be a gamechanger for the creator economy. What it means to be a "creator" in the metaverse world might be different from today, but I am excited for the new creativity boundary!

PS: This is something we talked at our panel on GenAI at the AR/VR Policy Conference!

Imagine creating an role-playing world where you carefully train multiple AI-powered NPCs to create unique, realistic, and immersive interactions. This usually needs a group of developers, writers, coders, artists to pull off. With this, you just need to have the concept in your head.

4) Of course, GenAI had to shine: Zuckerberg's keynote doesn't really display it and he mentions it a couple of times, but GenAI could be huge to help create fantastic immersive virtual worlds. Especially when you pair it with the ability for users to train their own AI.

3.5) These added functionalities and quality of life features will play a huge role in making people actually use these headsets for work. Not only for functionality.

Similar to how we decorate our offices to have a happy environment, AR/VR workspaces need to be pretty too!

Screenshot of the Quest 3 keynote on mixed reality features: NBA League Pass with multiple games at once.

Shout out to NBA League Pass, RedZone style!!!

Screenshot of the Quest 3 keynote on mixed reality features: digital photo frames.

3) Connecting back to 1: It is very interesting how companies approach the convergence to MR. You can tell that Meta comes from a VR-first environment with the augments idea: all the quirky and flashy from VR world is now in AR. But also, digital frames!!

2) Some interesting shots at Apple at the start of the keynote: focus on affordability, active movement, and fitness, "no battery packs or connections"

A stark contrast with how tech is characterized as full of monopolies (yes, with an S at the end) that definitely do not compete with one another!

🧵I am still figuring out Bluesky but I wanted to share my thread of thoughts on the Meta Connect last week.

1) Mixed reality as a mass market product is definitely here. When I started looking into AR/VR some years ago it seemed like we were ages away. Moore's law wins again.

Thanks @kirtinuthi.bsky.social for finally getting me on here!

Going through that slow process of finding/adding all my tech policy folks. AR/VR policy wonkiness coming to your home feed soon!