Hey there, greetings from the land of Apple and all things silicon—yup, I’m in Cupertino! Just touching base before I hop over to Berlin for a gig at XRCC. The vibe here in the Bay Area? Fingers crossed it’s better than last week’s AWE chaos—I was basically a zombie shuffling around. Anyway, send some good mojo my way, and I’ll hit you back with the latest in XR shenanigans!
Top Weekly Whispers
So, newsflash—Meta and Oakley are teasing some new glasses. Saw this wild post on a social media account called “oakleymeta.” They’re mixing up their logos in some trippy video, claiming “The next evolution is coming on June 20.” Sounds like they might be rolling out their new glasses this Friday. Didn’t see this coming—I figured they’d wait for Meta Connect. But y’know, summer’s rolling in, so sunglasses launches in June? Makes sense. Plus, launching now keeps them from cluttering the spotlight with Meta’s other smartglasses. Smart move or not? Who knows, but I’m itching to get the scoop.
Over at AWE, Evan Spiegel dropped a bomb for Snap: new Spectacles set for 2026. These next-gen Spec—shorter, lighter, and supposedly packed with capabilities. Not just dev toys anymore, these will hit the market for all of us. Say goodbye to “Spectacles,” hello to just “Specs.” No clue on specs (I know, eye roll), but they’ll mesh with all those Snapchat lenses—a casual 4 million of them. Could this be Snap sprinting ahead in the AR marathon? Your guess is as good as mine.
Qualcomm played their AR1+ chipset card at AWE. It’s geared for high-end smartglasses—consumes 7% less power and slims down temple heights by 20%. But the kicker? It runs AI models locally which is huge for privacy. The glasses can dish up AI features locally without pinging data monsters online. And I was there, jaw pretty much on the floor, during their demo. Hyped? Oh yeah.
Quick detour: Google’s XR magic trick—rumors say Samsung might drop Project Moohan’s launch date soon. Meanwhile, HP is tossing out a big-bucks teleconferencing doodad with Google’s Beam tech. And XREAL showed off a 70° field of view for their Project Aura glasses at AWE—matching Meta Orion. Cool, right?
Flipping back—last week I blabbered about Apple’s WWDC and Vision Pro. Now, we’ve got more juicy tidbits: widgets for walls and PSVR 2 controllers playing nice with more games. Adobe’s brewing up an immersive app for spatial video editing, and VisionOS 26 boosts memory for “high-end iPad games.” Cheers to more killer content soon!
Mentions in the Mix
Mbucchia working on a SteamVR driver for WMR headsets, reviving old tech post-Windows 11. And some data miners might’ve dug up specs for Meta’s upcoming headset. Then there’s Palmer Luckey spilling secrets on his military-grade “Eagle Eye” headset. I mean, he’s talking top-tier prices because a soldier’s life is priceless—makes sense.
Lastly, OpenXR’s adding spatial computing features like Plane Tracking and Anchors. A wild ride ahead, don’t you think? Stay tuned.
AWE Wrap-up
AWE’s done and dusted, but my dives into products there aren’t. More soon! And hey, quick side note: Umbrella Up by MonstarAI is about to hit VR lovers. It’s whimsical—because who doesn’t wanna glide through theme parks with umbrellas, right?
Help Out?
Same as last week, don’t bother sending money my way—let’s help those who need it more. Consider tossing some change to the Red Cross in Ukraine. Big love to all my Patreon backers—it’s your support that keeps this chaotic train running.
Feeling generous? Here’s the link to donate: Support The Red Cross in Ukraine.
Till next time, friends. Keep those vibes rolling.
