XR Weekly Update (April 30, 2025): Meta Advances Ray-Ban Meta, Quest 3S Refurbished for $270, and More!

Oops, I need to pause for a second. Just got distracted by the random noise outside my window. Anyway, ignoring that. So, yeah, XR news is kinda quiet lately. People are off enjoying vacations for May Day. While others chill, I’ll be buried in work because deadlines don’t care about holidays. That’s why this little piece is coming to you a bit late, sorry! But hey, the quality is still top-notch. Also, if you’re itching to jump into a VR game, you might want to snag a free Harpagun copy from today’s giveaway. Trust me, it’s fun.

Big News This Week

Meta keeps messing around with those Ray-Ban Meta glasses. Gotta admit, it’s interesting stuff:

• Live translations now! English, French, Italian, and Spanish. Wondering if it’s because of Essilor-Luxottica influence.
• AI features hitting Europe hard this week after dealing with privacy hurdles. Privacy’s a fickle thing, right?
• Got a taste at CES with live AI sessions. Now they’re making their way to North America.
• Instagram calls on your shades. Is this the future or what?
• EssilorLuxottica’s rolling out new Skyler designs. Fancy stuff, if you ask me.
• Global launch fever! They’re heading to Mexico, India, and UAE.

Meta’s chasing hard on these glasses. Only time will tell if this smartglasses hype sticks around. Imagine know-it-alls telling us this was a passing trend.

Random News Bits

• Bam! Meta drops refurbished Quest 3S for $270. They’re good deals, but no Batman game – a sad miss if you ask me.
• BigScreen Beyond 2 had a hiccup. PCB flaw drama meant chucking loads of controller boards. Ouch for the wallet, but hey, quality matters.
• Italy wants in on the metaverse game, but their strategy doc reads like it was written in 1992 (hint: ChatGPT vibes). Uh, clueless much?

Italy’s got an XR strategy, sorta. Big, weird claims about AR/VR, straight out from the ’90s. Listing dead products like Oculus Quest 2, feels like a eulogy in tech. But woohoo, local government smells potential! Maybe we’ll eat digital pizza in Mozilla Hubs someday.

Quirky XR Tidbits

Remember Sightful? Now, it’s Spacetop software shenanigans. Got a Windows tablet? Plug in XREAL Air 2 Ultra glasses for a sorta-AR workstation. But are AR glasses ready for this? Dunno, but it’s worth a peek.

Teleport 2.0 from Varjo! Now you can scan stuff using any camera – even drones! Goes from free trial to $30/month. Handy if you’re into space recreations.

Live room meshing on Quest 3 is happening, so mixing your real and virtual worlds just got real. No system-level access yet, but I’m curious about where this will go.

Insta360 pushed out the X5. Crisper videos, sharp at 11K, and better HDR. And available for $550 – not bad if you’re into 360 cams.

Whew, so much stuff happening in XR land! But hey, if you spot fire on your TV, Relic will throw virtual flames around you. Kinda wild, huh?

There’s more happening, but my brain’s reaching its limit for the day. There’s an endless flow of news and releases, like the Elder Scrolls remaster in VR! I might need a VR nap after shuffling through all this. Catch you around and drop me a line if you scoop up anything fun from today’s musings!