Casey Liss

So Reuters writes, Massimo said that on September 25, founder Joe Chiani has decided to step down as the medical device maker CEO days after shareholders voted to remove him from the company's board following a bitter proxy battle with activist hedge fund Politan Capital Management.

There's also some news over the last week or so. Meta, Meta, Meta, whatever you want to call them.

There's also some news over the last week or so. Meta, Meta, Meta, whatever you want to call them.

Sorry.

Sorry.

Um, anyways, uh, the, that company that Facebook would not, uh, they have really, or not released, I shouldn't say, but have demoed, uh, some AR glasses that they're calling Orion. And apparently this stuff is really freaking slick. Uh, there's a, uh, wrap up at the verge for meta connects, which is their, you know, kind of equivalent of WWDC.

Um, anyways, uh, the, that company that Facebook would not, uh, they have really, or not released, I shouldn't say, but have demoed, uh, some AR glasses that they're calling Orion. And apparently this stuff is really freaking slick. Uh, there's a, uh, wrap up at the verge for meta connects, which is their, you know, kind of equivalent of WWDC.

There's also a post, uh, where, uh, one of their authors whose name I don't have in front of me. I am so sorry. Uh, Alex Heath, um, actually got to demo the Orion glasses, uh, in part with Mark Zuckerberg. And there's also a post over, a couple of posts, I think, over at Stratechery with our friend Ben Thompson. I will try to dig up a link for the show notes for at least one of those.

There's also a post, uh, where, uh, one of their authors whose name I don't have in front of me. I am so sorry. Uh, Alex Heath, um, actually got to demo the Orion glasses, uh, in part with Mark Zuckerberg. And there's also a post over, a couple of posts, I think, over at Stratechery with our friend Ben Thompson. I will try to dig up a link for the show notes for at least one of those.

But anyways, I haven't read a lot on this, but everything I've read on this is, oh my, this is the future. The Vision Pro is a mistake. When can we have this? And the answer is, well, probably not soon. So let me read some stuff. So from The Verge,

But anyways, I haven't read a lot on this, but everything I've read on this is, oh my, this is the future. The Vision Pro is a mistake. When can we have this? And the answer is, well, probably not soon. So let me read some stuff. So from The Verge,

meta not meta has revealed its orion augmented reality glasses and they look almost like a trendy pair of frames you could pick up without all the tech inside orion uses micro led projectors inside the frame and beams images in front of your eyes via wave guides in the lenses

meta not meta has revealed its orion augmented reality glasses and they look almost like a trendy pair of frames you could pick up without all the tech inside orion uses micro led projectors inside the frame and beams images in front of your eyes via wave guides in the lenses

The glasses pair with a wireless compute puck and a neural wristband you wear on your arm that responds to gestures like pinches. Again, this from the Orion review now. Orion, Meta's first pair of augmented reality glasses, was supposed to be a product you could buy.

The glasses pair with a wireless compute puck and a neural wristband you wear on your arm that responds to gestures like pinches. Again, this from the Orion review now. Orion, Meta's first pair of augmented reality glasses, was supposed to be a product you could buy.

When the glasses graduated from a Skunk Works project in Meta's research division back in 2018, the goal was to start shipping them in the low tens of thousands by now. But in 2022, amidst a phase of broader belt tightening across the company, Zuckerberg made the call to shelve its release.

When the glasses graduated from a Skunk Works project in Meta's research division back in 2018, the goal was to start shipping them in the low tens of thousands by now. But in 2022, amidst a phase of broader belt tightening across the company, Zuckerberg made the call to shelve its release.

As Meta's executives retell it, the decision to shelve Orion mostly came down to the device's astronomical cost to build, which allegedly is in the ballpark of $10,000 per unit. Most of that cost is due to how difficult and expensive it is to reliably manufacture the silicon carbide lenses.

As Meta's executives retell it, the decision to shelve Orion mostly came down to the device's astronomical cost to build, which allegedly is in the ballpark of $10,000 per unit. Most of that cost is due to how difficult and expensive it is to reliably manufacture the silicon carbide lenses.

When it started designing Orion, Meta expected the material to become more commonly used across the industry and therefore cheaper, but that didn't happen. Quote, "'You can't imagine how horrible the yields are,' says Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth of lenses. Instead, the company pivoted to making about 1,000 pairs of the Orion glasses for internal development and external demos."