Liz Reid, vice chairman, search, Google speaks throughout an occasion in New Delhi on December 19, 2022. (Photograph by Sajjad HUSSAIN / AFP) (Photograph by SAJJAD HUSSAIN/AFP by way of Getty Pictures)AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Google Says Clicks Have Not Gone Down. Publishers Disagree. Google positions its AI Overviews and new AI Mode not as predators of writer site visitors, however as catalysts for richer consumer engagement and higher-quality clicks. Liz Reid, Google’s head of Search, asserts natural click on quantity has been “comparatively secure” year-over-year, and that “common click on high quality has elevated,” which means customers spend longer on the websites they do go to. Publishers and digital-leaders warn these assurances masks a troubling actuality. SimilarWeb knowledge signifies that main information retailers like Forbes, CNN, and Day by day Mail, have seen site visitors droop as much as 40% since Google launched AI Overviews. Cloudflare CEO Matthew Prince calls Google’s AI search includes a menace to the online’s elementary “referral economic system,” pushing firms towards pay-for-access fashions to protect content material viability.
Demo of Meta Ray Bans at AWE in June, 2025. AWE
Ray Ban AI Glasses Promoting Tens of millions As Quest VR Slumps. Meta’s Actuality Labs generated $370 million in Q2 2025 income, a 5% year-over-year improve. The expansion was attributed to robust gross sales of Ray-Ban Meta sensible glasses, which greater than tripled from the identical interval final yr. Regardless of this, Quest headset gross sales declined, persevering with a downward development. Meta has reportedly canceled its deliberate Quest 4 headset, shifting focus to a brand new machine with a tethered compute puck. This new headset is predicted to run Horizon OS, Meta’s standalone working system for combined actuality. The corporate says it’s now optimizing its {hardware} roadmap based mostly on market suggestions and evolving product technique. The Quest 3S, launched earlier this yr, stays obtainable as Meta’s current-generation headset.
LAS VEGAS, USA – JANUARY 09: An attendee explores the Meta Quest 3 combined actuality headset seen at CES 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA, on January 9, 2025. Blended and digital actuality applied sciences emerged as standout sights at this yr’s occasion. (Photograph by Artur Widak/NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures)NurPhoto by way of Getty Pictures
Meta Exhibits Off the Way forward for Blended Actuality with Tiramisu and Boba 3 Prototypes. Meta Actuality Labs used SIGGRAPH 2025 to unveil two hanging VR analysis prototypes, signaling doable pathways for the subsequent technology of immersive visible techniques. The Tiramisu prototype delivers a “visible Turing take a look at” with hyperreal constancy—that includes 90 pixels per diploma (3.6× the Quest 3), ultra-high distinction (~3×), and 1,400 nit brightness. Nevertheless, it compromises on discipline of view and portability, remaining cumbersome and heavy. In distinction, Boba 3 and its VR-only variant prioritize immersion with an ultra-wide 180° × 120° discipline of view—approaching human imaginative and prescient—whereas sustaining 4K‑by‑4K per-eye decision utilizing Quest 3–class show and lens applied sciences. Each prototypes are firmly within the analysis stage; neither is meant for fast shopper launch. Nonetheless, they highlight Meta’s foundational push to raise realism and immersive boundaries throughout its future XR roadmap.
The Apple Imaginative and prescient Professional has a characteristic known as Eyesight which permits the consumer’s eyes to be seen from outdoors of the headset.Apple
Meta Is About to Meet A Tidal Wave of Massive Rivals. Scott Stein of CNet takes a deep dive into what comes subsequent for VR. Stein says that 2025 marks a pivotal second for XR, with main gamers together with Meta, Apple, Google, Samsung, and Valve shifting consideration towards glasses-based units. Meta’s Ray-Ban sensible glasses are gaining traction, and Meta is predicted to unveil a neural enter wristband alongside new display-enabled glasses at its Join convention this fall. Samsung and Google are launching Venture Moohan, an Android XR headset that integrates AI options and showcases Google Play and Gemini integration in VR. Apple is rumored to be updating the Imaginative and prescient Professional with a brand new M-series chip and spatial controller assist, whereas working quietly on smaller glasses. Valve might re-enter the scene with a Deckard headset that works standalone or tethered. The sensible glasses class is anchored by units like Meta Ray-Bans, Xreal, and Viture. It’s evolving quickly, with wearability, battery life, and AI options driving innovation. Stein suggests this “yr of scattered items” will form the post-headset period of spatial computing.
Halo, now open for pre-order, coming this fall. Sensible Labs
Sensible Labs’ All Day AR Smartglasses. Sensible Labs has launched Halo, its next-gen, open‑supply sensible glasses priced at $299, now obtainable for pre-order with transport anticipated in late November 2025. Weighing simply over 40 grams, Halo features a 0.2‑inch full‑shade micro‑OLED show, bone‑conduction audio system, a microphone array, IMU, and an optical sensor working on an extremely‑environment friendly Alif B1 chip with an NPU, enabling as much as 14 hours of battery life. Halo’s AI assistant, Noa, helps pure actual‑time conversations with context consciousness, anchored by Narrative, a reminiscence system that retains particulars like names and previous interactions. Its experimental Vibe Mode allows customers to generate customized apps by way of voice instructions.”Doom scrolling is useless,” says Karan Anand, CEO of Character.ai.C.ai
Doomscrolling Is Lifeless, Content material Is Liquid, Declares Character.ai CEO as Its Social Newsfeed Launches. Character.AI launched a Social Feed For its AI Avatars, that options interactive, mixable, characters and leisure produced by customers and creators. With the rollout of the AI character feed of its 20 million customers, Character.ai is the primary artificial social platform. Content material is created and recreated by customers with AI. On this means, each submit is an entry level into an evolving, participatory storyworld.A collection of movies from the Runway AI Movie Competition might be proven in choose IMAX theaters August seventeenth – twentieth, 2025.IMAX
IMAX Brings AI-Generated Shorts to the Massive Display. IMAX is partnering with Runway to display ten AI-generated quick movies from the 2025 AI Movie Competition throughout its massive screens in ten U.S. cities, August 17–20. Chosen from a powerful 6,000 submissions, the finalists span genres and topics. The announcement ignited passionate backlash on-line, with critics difficult AI’s creative validity and environmental footprint. But the pageant and screenings additionally underscore AI’s evolving democratizing position and its enhancement of human creativity.
AI Movie: “LAST CALL BEFORE A.G.I | Discovered Footage from the Future” by KNGMKR (aka Matt Zein).
This column has a companion, The AI/XR Podcast, hosted by its writer, Charlie Fink, and Ted Schilowitz, former studio govt, and founding Purple Digital camera govt, and Rony Abovitz, founding father of Magic Leap. This week our visitor is Brent Bushnell, founder and CEO of Dreampark. We will be discovered on Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
What We’re Studying
Bear in mind the Metaverse? Zuck Doesn’t Both (Graham Barlow/TechRadar)
Ex-Google Exec Says Job Losses Will Be Enormous (CNBC)
