The Morning After: Meta launches a newer, cheaper VR headset
Plus, we’ve played with the PS5 Pro and the new Zelda.
Meta Connect is over for another year, leaving nought but some paper plates on the floor and a raft of new AR/VR gear on the table. Because we’re nice, we’ve prepared a comprehensive list of all the goodies announced at the show for you to peruse at your leisure.
The headline act is the Quest 3S, a stripped-down version of the Quest 3 that’s $200 cheaper than its namesake. Getting the base price down to $300 has meant some compromises, however, like removing the pancake lenses, dropping 4K and reducing the storage.
The 3S seems like a smart idea, since cost remains the second biggest barrier to getting VR/AR gear into people’s homes. The first, of course, being there’s still not a truly killer use case to convince the vast majority of people.
To further lever users toward the Quest 3 series, Meta also announced the Quest 2 and Quest Pro will soon shuffle off the stage. Naturally, given longstanding developer gripes that it’s difficult to develop for both the Quest 2 and 3, this makes plenty of sense.
The other big news to come out of the show is the announcement of the Orion Smart Glasses, Meta’s new prototype AR wearable. These, the company admits, aren’t ready to go on sale yet, but it’s working with developers to refine the technology for some unspecified future release.
I’ll be honest: I’m forever skeptical about the potential for AR to be as smart and useful as I’d need it to be. I’m not going to invest until it’s at least as useful as Jeeves — from PG Wodehouse, not the search engine — even if it’s never going to be able to fold my laundry.
— Dan Cooper
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The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is as familiar as it is fresh
It’s a throwback with a modern twist.
Nathan Ingraham was lucky enough to play The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and is happy to share his thoughts. It’s a throwback top-down Zelda title, albeit with you playing as the title character for the first time. Rather than engaging in combat directly, Zelda must use her magic to defeat enemies and solve puzzles. Nathan’s a fan but, much like Tears of the Kingdom, found the sheer breadth and depth of tools available to be frustrating to marshal and organize.
PlayStation 5 Pro preview: I don’t need it, but I want it
We’ve played with the new console already.
Speaking of being lucky to play things ahead of time, Jessica Conditt has only bloomin’ gone and played with a PS5 Pro already. She has outlined her thoughts in this preview that says it’s a luxury you can live without, if you so choose. But if you have $700 lying around and really would like to see your games pop in a way they never have before, you should get one.
DoNotPay robot lawyer fined $193K by the FTC for not being a lawyer
Mostly for not backing its claims that it was better than a flesh-and-blood lawyer.
DoNotPay, the “robot lawyer” designed to help you battle the smaller legal irritations of life, has been fined $193,000 by the FTC. Not for anything untoward, but for making unsupported claims about its efficacy compared to the human lawyers it seeks to replace. It’s part of the FTC’s crack down on companies using AI to make boastful claims about their abilities.
New report details OpenAI’s plan to switch to for-profit mode
Spoiler: Sam Altman will get equity in the new company.
It looks like OpenAI will soon restructure itself into a for-profit corporation, giving CEO Sam Altman an equity stake in the company. This is both in response to the boardroom drama that briefly saw Altman ousted from the project, and because OpenAI is likely to become a cash cow.
