Facebook's partnered with Ray-Ban to make sunnies with cameras in them. The "Ray-Ban Stories" have dual 5MP cameras that'll take photos or 30 second videos on demand (either touch or voice activated) and post them direct to Facebook. A white LED glows when the camera is active to let others know. There's speakers (not bone conducting unfortunately) and noise cancelling microphones built in for phone calls. They look pretty much like normal glasses except for the cameras in each corner of the frame. They'll cost $449, will ship on the 18th of November and can be purchased from Ray-Ban's Australian website. If you've got a prescription, that price jumps to $959. The Verge & Buzzfeed have hands-on reviews.
Texas has a fresh law that "prevents social media companies with more than 50 million monthly users banning users simply based on their political viewpoints", pitched as protecting citizens from "wrongful censorship on social media platforms". The state also wants social media services to produce transparency reports explaining how they promote and moderate content. This law is very similar to the one passed recently by Florida, which a federal court called unconstitutional and temporarily blocked. Both these laws stem from the view that conservatives are being silenced unfairly, which the state has to be involved in because social media is some "modern-day public square" nonsense.
Sony put on a virtual event to show off some games it's got coming for the PS5 (Gran Turismo 7, sick) and the one that captured my interest the most is Kid A Mnesia: Exhibition. That's right Radiohead fans, there's gonna be an "interactive experience" the band calls an "upside-down digital / analogue universe created from original artwork and recordings" that will accompany the 20th anniversary of Radiohead's seminal Kid A & Amnesiac records. I have no fucking idea what is going on in this trailer, but you bet I will will be trying this out. It's not only on PS5, but on PC & Mac too, coming November 2021.
Here's five interesting discussions over on The Sizzle's paid subscriber forum for you to enjoy over the weekend. If you are not a paid subscriber but want to get involved, visit https://thesizzle.com.au/payme to get started.
📻 Knives Out - Radiohead
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