Â鶹´«Ã½

Sci-Tech

    • Facebook and Ray-Ban are rolling out smart glasses that actually look cool. Will anyone buy them?

    Ray-Ban Stories, a pair of $299 smart glasses built by Facebook and EsillorLuxottica, can be used to take photos and videos, play music, and take calls. (Facebook) Ray-Ban Stories, a pair of $299 smart glasses built by Facebook and EsillorLuxottica, can be used to take photos and videos, play music, and take calls. (Facebook)
    Share

    On a sunny May day in 2012, Google cofounder Sergey Brin walked down King Street in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood with a pair of black, lens-free smart glasses on his face.

    He was trying out Google Glass about a month before the company publicly unveiled the device. But he wasn't actually doing anything with it, because it was out of batteries. (I know, because I saw him walking down the street that day, and asked him.)

    Google Glass eventually flopped as a consumer product, with for the perceived creepiness of the device and its prism-shaped over-eye display. But it set the stage for years of wonderment and bewilderment about smart glasses: What should they look like? What will we do with them? And who even wants to wear them, anyway?

    In the nearly a decade since, many tech companies (including , , and ) have tried to answer these questions in different ways, but none have truly popularized the idea of smart eyewear. On Wednesday, Facebook became the latest to offer an attempt for public consumption: glasses called Ray-Ban Stories, created with Ray-Ban (the brand is owned by eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica). Facebook hopes they'll be worn to take pictures and short videos, listen to music, and make phone calls, by anyone 13 or older.

    The glasses, , start at US$299 and come in three styles, including the iconic Ray-Ban Wayfarer, and five hues (all the colors, including blue and green, are on the darker end of the spectrum). Initially, they're being sold at some Ray-Ban stores and at Ray-Ban.com, and are available to buyers in six countries, including the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom.

    By looking, for the most part, not just like a normal pair of glasses, but like a classic, popular style, Ray-Ban Stories solves one of the biggest issues facing Google Glass and many other chunky, funky smart glasses of the past. The electronics are so well hidden that there are just a few hints that something is different about these specs: there's a camera embedded in the edge of each side of the frame, for instance. But on a pair of shiny Wayfarers they seem to melt into the frame itself.

    Hind Hobeika, a product manager for augmented-reality devices at Facebook Reality Labs, told me Ray-Ban Stories are "the first smart glasses that people will want to wear."

    Facebook lent me a pair of Ray-Ban Stories with sunglass lenses so I could decide for myself. After about a week of trying them out, it's clear the glasses look and feel very much like a regular pair of shades. But Facebook and Ray-Ban may not fully appreciate the enormous challenge that remains in convincing people to buy and use such a wearable device, particularly when its capabilities seem more neat than essential.

    THEY FELT A LOT LIKE SUNGLASSES

    The first thing I noticed when putting the sunglasses on is that they felt a lot like, well, sunglasses. Sure, there's a power button hidden inside the glasses' left temple, a slim button for taking pictures and videos on top of the right temple, a slender speaker built into each, and a front-facing LED light that shines white when you take a picture or video. There's a touchpad on the right temple, too, though you can't see it. But the glasses only weigh a bit more (five grams, according to Facebook) than a standard pair of Ray-Ban Wayfarers, which makes them comfortable to wear for long periods of time. They're not annoying to charge, either: similar to , they can do so while sitting in their included case. Like many other smart glasses released in the wake of Google Glass, they don't have a display.

    Ray-Ban Stories are surprisingly good for listening to music or making phone calls. The audio sounded crisp and dynamic during a nature walk, while not obscuring the sounds of birds and squirrels. I was a bit self-conscious while listening to tunes, though, since I could tell that anyone within a few feet could hear bits of the music. I also had trouble using the touchpad, which often interpreted my attempts to turn the volume up as pausing the music, or turned it down rather than up.

    The glasses were most fun to wear while playing with my kids at the park, as playground shenanigans (such as creeping inside a tunnel meant for 5-year-olds) make it tricky to pull out a smartphone to capture moments. I was able to take a number of photos and videos of my kids that are usually tough to catch while we're roughhousing.

    Yet while a selling point of the glasses is letting you stay immersed in a moment while capturing it, I often had the opposite experience while taking still photos. Many times, even though I was staring right at an object — a flower, a slice of pizza — I either couldn't capture the whole thing, couldn't center the image, or couldn't get the close-up I wanted.

    At one point, I stuck my head into the reeds at my local park to get closer to a frog; I looked silly and didn't get a great shot in the end.

    Ray-Ban Stories rely on a companion smartphone app called Facebook View to let you see, edit and share images and videos. It was easy to send pictures to friends via the app, and I was able to create cute video montages of my kids with a few taps. (Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg to his Facebook page on Monday showing him paddling a boat while wearing Ray-Ban Stories, but the glasses are not splash or water resistant, so you'll want to keep them out of the pool.)

    WAS I TURNING INTO A FACEHOLE?

    Even while pushing a computer that sits on your face and looks quite similar to regular glasses, Facebook and Ray-Ban are emphasizing the importance of making other people aware that you may be recording them (Hobeika noted that the company consulted with numerous privacy experts and groups while building the product, including the Future of Privacy Forum and the National Network to End Domestic Violence).

    The glasses can only take videos up to 30 seconds long, and the LED on the front of the glasses is meant to be visible from 25 feet away; it shines the whole time you're taking a video. You can turn on Facebook Assistant through the View app to use voice commands for taking photos and videos — a way to make it painfully obvious that you're capturing the world around you — but not for anything else, like controlling music playback. (In order to do things such as turn music volume up via voice command while wearing the glasses, I had to summon Siri on my iPhone.)

    Despite these efforts, I couldn't shake the feeling that I was getting away with something while wearing Ray-Ban Stories in public. As far as I could tell, nobody noticed anything unusual about the glasses while chasing my kids around a busy playground, even when I was taking numerous short videos. (It was impossible for me to tell, but perhaps the bright sunlight made the glasses' white LED less noticeable.) I walked into stores with them on, took pictures of myself in mirrors, and nobody even blinked. It would have been easy to use these glasses to invade other people's privacy. Was this accidentally furtive photo- and video-taking turning me into a Facehole?

    I spoke with Jeremy Greenberg, policy counsel at the Future of Privacy Forum and one of the people Facebook spoke with while developing Ray-Ban Stories, about my experience. He said there's "definitely some concerns" that people didn't appear to notice that I was capturing pictures and videos — something that would be more obvious if I had pulled out my phone.

    "It'll be interesting to see, if this technology becomes widespread, will folks sort of develop that cultural understanding that their image might be taken, video might be taken?" he asked. "It's really 'time will tell.'"

    And after days of trying them out, I still didn't have the sense that I (or anyone, really) needs Ray-Ban Stories. You may need eyeglasses or sunglasses, and a smartphone, too. But it's going to be tough for Facebook to convince most people that they have to have a gadget that can replicate a few of their phone's features while sitting on their face — even one that looks this good.

    CTVNews.ca Top Stories

    Two nephews of the beloved Harry R. Hamilton share stories about his life and legacy.

    The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.

    Canada

    • A team of tornado experts is heading to Fergus, Ont. after a storm ripped through the area Sunday night.

    • Two nephews of the beloved Harry R. Hamilton share stories about his life and legacy.

    • The union representing some 1,200 dockworkers at the Port of Montreal has overwhelmingly rejected a deal with their employers association.

    • A man who was critically injured in a police-involved shooting in Hamilton late Sunday afternoon has died in hospital, says the province’s police watchdog.

    World

    Politics

    • Murray Sinclair’s family members say the late justice and senator has been laid to rest according to his wishes.

    • Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced voters in Cloverdale—Langley City will pick their next member of Parliament on Dec. 16.

    Health

    Sci-Tech

    Entertainment

    Business

    Lifestyle

    Sports

    Autos

    Local Spotlight

    For the second year in a row, the ‘Gift-a-Family’ campaign is hoping to make the holidays happier for children and families in need throughout Barrie.

    Some of the most prolific photographers behind CTV Skywatch Pics of the Day use the medium for fun, therapy, and connection.

    A young family from Codroy Valley, N.L., is happy to be on land and resting with their newborn daughter, Miley, after an overwhelming, yet exciting experience at sea.

    As Connor Nijsse prepared to remove some old drywall during his garage renovation, he feared the worst.

    A group of women in Chester, N.S., has been busy on the weekends making quilts – not for themselves, but for those in need.

    A Vancouver artist whose streetside singing led to a chance encounter with one of the world's biggest musicians is encouraging aspiring performers to try their hand at busking.

    Ten-thousand hand-knit poppies were taken from the Sanctuary Arts Centre and displayed on the fence surrounding the Dartmouth Cenotaph on Monday.

    A Vancouver man is saying goodbye to his nine-to-five and embarking on a road trip from the Canadian Arctic to Antarctica.

    • Thousands of people are expected to gather in downtown Vancouver on Monday to observe the city’s 100th Remembrance Day ceremony.

    • Weather watchers were treated to an exceptionally rare display on Friday evening as rare cloud formations filled Vancouver skies.

    • Toronto is expected to see an economic boost to the tune of nearly $300 million thanks to Taylor Swift’s upcoming Eras Tour, which will be making a stop in Canada’s largest city for a six-show run later this month.

    • One man was transported to hospital early Monday morning after a stabbing in the northwest end of the city, Toronto police say.

    • Calgarians will be observing Remembrance Day at a number of different ceremonies across the city, including at the Hangar Flight Museum.

    • A home in the northeast Calgary community of Saddle Ridge was damaged in a fire on Sunday.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      Conditions were warm early Monday and expected to remain that way for most of the day.

    • WATCH LIVE

      WATCH LIVE

      CTVNewsOttawa.ca looks at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Ottawa.

    • After months of controversy surrounding a dog park in Ottawa's west end, a solution has been reached to divide the park in half.

    • With fewer interments and rising maintenance fees, the money for Canada's largest military cemetery will run out in three to four years.

    • The employers association at the Port of Montreal locked out nearly 1,200 longshore workers, bringing a halt to traffic at the port.

    • Though most businesses are expected to be open on Remembrance Day, there are some establishments that will be closed to commemorate the holiday.

    • LIVE @ 10:45 A.M. MT

      LIVE @ 10:45 A.M. MT

      Monday is Remembrance Day, a time to honour armed forces members who have died in the line of duty.

    • WEATHER

      WEATHER

      This is shaping up to be one of the warmest Remembrance Days in the past decade, at least, for temperatures.

    • Maritimers will stop Monday to remember those who have served, and continue to serve, in Canada's armed forces for Remembrance Day.

    • A Cape Breton senior recalls her life in German-occupied France, and her mother’s death, during the Second World War.

    • Thousand of people gathered at the Menin Gate in the Ypres, Belgium for Monday’s Remembrance Day Ceremony.

    • Remembrance Day is today, and a number of ceremonies are taking place around the province to honour those who gave their lives to serve our country.

    • A pillar in Canada’s history was honoured in Winnipeg Sunday afternoon, with thousands showing up to pay tribute to the life and legacy of the late Murray Sinclair.

    • Winnipeg police have identified two men involved in a stabbing incident earlier this week.

    • There will be two ceremonies taking place in Regina for Remembrance Day, hosted by the Royal Canadian Legion.

    • Regina author Valerie Crowther is celebrating the release of her book ‘War Letters: Linking Lives in the Second World War.’

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • A team of tornado experts is heading to Fergus, Ont. after a storm ripped through the area Sunday night.

    • A man is facing an attempted murder charge after an attack at a bar in downtown Guelph.

    • People across Canada will pause to reflect Monday at Remembrance Day Ceremonies across the country.

    • Saskatchewan RCMP are searching for a suspect after a man was seriously injured in a farm-related incident in Montreal Lake.

    • It was a somber day at Mosaic Stadium as members of the Saskatchewan Roughriders officially cleaned out their stalls and closed the book on the 2024 season.

    • The Regina Rams claimed the Hardy Cup after a hard fought battle against the Saskatoon Huskies 19-14 on Saturday in the first all Saskatchewan U-Sports western conference final since 2002.

    • The events will start at 10:15 a.m. with a parade that forms up in front of the Delta London Armories, marches east on Dundas Street and turns north onto Waterloo Street to Dufferin Avenue, the west to the Cenotaph.

    • Emergency crews responded to the scene on Road 68/Highway 2 east of Thamesford around 7 p.m.

    • On Friday, the Sarnia Police Service (SPS) received a report of an alleged abduction in the area of Kathleen Avenue and Walnut Avenue.

    • Environment Canada issued a weather alert for Barrie, Collingwood and surrounding areas, alerting residents about the wicked winds that are expected to pick up to 80 kilometres per hour in the afternoon hours.

    • Barrie residents gathered on Monday to honour Canada’s veterans and pay tribute to those who served and sacrificed for the country.

    • A driver is facing multiple charges after a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 400 early Sunday morning.

    • WATCH LIVE

      WATCH LIVE

      Representatives of the Windsor Veterans Memorial Services Committee, military representatives, wreath bearers, government officials, and members of the public will attend the Cenotaph at City Hall Square for the outdoor service.

    • One person has been arrested after Chatham-Kent Police Service (CKPS) received multiple complaints about an alleged drunk driver.

    • More details have been released about a police investigation at the Ambassador Bridge that connects Windsor, Ont. and Detroit, MI.

    • Environment Canada says heavy rain and winds could cause power outages on Vancouver Island as an "intense" storm system is set to hit the B.C. coast Sunday.

    • Six deer were struck by vehicles in six different locations in a six-hour period on B.C. highways on Saturday, according to the transportation ministry.

    • The union for locked-out port workers in British Columbia says the BC Maritime Employers Association cut off talks in less than an hour Saturday, refusing to budge on a final offer that the union has so far rejected.

    • The emergency department at South Okanagan General Hospital in Oliver, B.C., will be closed for 31 hours this weekend, the second such closure in a week and the third since the start of November.

    • Police in Kamloops, B.C., are reminding parents and guardians to check their children's Halloween candy after receiving a report of a mother finding a razor blade in one of her daughter's treats.

    • More than two years after Alannah Brown and Douglas Barker were found dead north of Penticton, police are asking for help identifying a vehicle they believe was associated with the crime.

    • The Southern Alberta Recreation Association is officially announcing the Town of Taber as next year’s host for the Southern Alberta Summer Games.

    • The Lethbridge Hurricanes broke open a close game with three goals in the first two minutes of the third period as they defeated the Warriors 7-3 in a game played Friday night in Moose Jaw.

    • There might not a lot snow just yet, but many southern Albertans are still itching to get outdoors.

    • It was just days before the COVID-19 pandemic shut the world down when the Shaft Bottom Boys of Sudbury broke a world record for 'Deepest Concert Underground.' Now, more than four years later, a Timmins band is looking to take the title.

    • Police have arrested a 15-year-old in connection with a break-in and $50,000 in damage done to the Centennial Arena in Elliot Lake in September.

    • Mayors of the five largest cities in northern Ontario met in North Bay the last two days to discuss a range of critical issues impacting their cities and the region.

    N.L.

    Shopping Trends

    The Shopping Trends team is independent of the journalists at Â鶹´«Ã½. We may earn a commission when you use our links to shop. Read about us.

    Stay Connected
    Follow Â鶹´«Ã½