Meta Hits the Brakes on Portal, AR Glasses, and Other Hardware

Hardware is hard. In the metaverse, it's pretty much true.

Meta has slowed its pursuit of augmented reality glasses. The headset was years away from actually being developed. It seems that those plans are on hold. A few weeks ago, Meta admitted it burned through more than $10 billion on its metaverse efforts.

Meta has other hardware on its back burner. Portal is going into limited production. The product will be aimed at business users instead of consumers. The company stopped development of a wristwatch with cameras that had been in the works for a couple years, according to reports. Maybe the guy who came up with the metaverse is legit now that he's getting into NFTs.

The lens crafter.

The phone cameras have become dull. They've remained the same for a long time. The company Metalenz is moving camera tech forward by developing flatter lens elements. The smaller the package, the better the lens, because it is easier to stack.

Metalenz will be entering the consumer market through a partnership with STMicroelectronics. The first product utilizing the meta surface lens tech is a depth sensor that can be used for functions that require 3D data. The same sensor can be used to detect depth in other things.

The flatter and more powerful lens could be used in more smartphone-ready camera modules to help you see the world around you.

There are problems with the electric car.

After a series of crashes last year, the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it will dig deeper into its investigation of the autopilot feature. In August of last year, the NHTSA began looking into 11 accidents in which cars ran into each other at emergency scenes. The expanded investigation will look at the cars themselves to see if the systems were to blame or if they made the mistake worse.

When a car crashes into an ambulance at night, it gets investigated, but when I do it, I'm arrested on the spot. Either way, whatever.

There's more pro for the OnePlus 10.

When a Chinese company releases a new phone, they don't get the same amount of attention as other companies. We tend to like the hardware that is called the Ones Plus. There's a new configuration with more memory and storage coming on June 15th, but it's already on sale in the US and Canada. The new version of the phone will have more RAM, storage and internal space than the previous version. The old model runs OxygenOS and the new model does the same thing. Only black is available for the beefier config.

There are games without the console.

If you bought a new smart TV, it's time to say goodbye to the console. The cloud gaming feature of the Xbox Game Pass will be available on the smart TVs on June 30th. You don't need a console to watch more than 100 games on your screen. Microsoft wants to expand to other smart TVs.

People can play on consoles and PCs with the help of the Game Pass. The days of the console seem to be numbered as Microsoft seems keen to keep its hardware.

There are tales from an in-person event.

If you missed it, Apple held a conference this week. On Monday, Apple laid out its vision for the next iteration of its operating systems. One of the MacBooks shown was the favorite child.

The WIRED product reviewer comes on the show to talk about what he learned from the event and what it was like on the ground.