Tech
The Rise of the Ray-Ban Meta Creep
Other governments have taken notice of the privacy implications of wearables like Meta’s glasses, raising concerns about more advanced capabilities they may have in the near future. On Tuesday, Democratic senators Ron Wyden, Ed Markey, and Jeff Merkley addressed an open letter to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg about the company’s reported plans to integrate face-recognition technology into these devices.
“Given Meta’s vast data collections, its smart glasses could capture images of thousands of people without their knowledge or consent and then instantly link those faces to names, workplaces, or personal profiles, creating serious risks of stalking, harassment, and targeted intimidation,” the lawmakers wrote. They noted “how easily real-time identification technologies can be repurposed to discourage political expression, target vulnerable communities, and chill lawful dissent.” The trio demanded Meta detail its biometric data practices and explain how it could hope to obtain “express affirmative consent” from every bystander whose face happens to be captured through a user’s glasses.
Meanwhile, communities are organizing to protect themselves from harassment by self-styled pickup artists with Meta glasses. Earlier this month, a redditor posted on a forum for residents of Vancouver, British Columbia, that a man was frequenting the clubbing district downtown at night to record, via smart glasses, his techniques for chatting with women. “In many of his videos women are very uncomfortable and are clearly rejecting his advances and saying no,” the redditor wrote. The videos appear on the man’s Instagram account, @vibrophone, which has some 12,000 followers, identifies him by the first name Sherif, and advertises him as a “rizz” coach. Other videos show him “curling” the women he meets, lifting them horizontally to his chest like barbells. (The owner of the account did not respond to a request for comment.)
On multiple Reddit threads, Vancouver locals have shared their frustration that Sherif might be monetizing his content, though it’s not clear whether he is. One objective of such channels seems to be to attract opportunities for cross-promotional branding: Kaghazi, for example, has a link on his profile for a “dating assistant” AI app, while John offers a promo code for the nicotine product Nic Nac.
One woman, who spoke with WIRED on condition of anonymity so that he would not have her personal information, says that Sherif approached her near an arts and recreation center last fall.
After stopping, he asked her, “Who let the dogs out?” He repeated the question when she expressed confusion. “And when I still paused, he did that little hand motion people do to mean ‘continue,’ and said, ‘Who, who, who?’” she says. “I laughed a little and kept walking. I’m a millenial, I obviously know that song, but the interaction was so corny, I just blanked. I remember noticing that he had those camera glasses and thinking ‘Oh, he probably just filmed that.’”
She later saw the recent Reddit posts about him. While he didn’t upload a video of her, she’s nonetheless disturbed by the other Meta Ray-Ban clips. “They seem predatory,” she says. “I have no expectation of privacy when out in public. But if a person is approaching strangers with a hidden camera and interacting with them without disclosing that they are filming for content, that’s a problem.”
Tech
The Best LED Skincare Deals I’ve Seen This Mother’s Day Are at Megelin
The red-light therapy market shows no signs of slowing down. According to Fortune Business Insights, the industry is projected to grow from $1.21 billion in 2026 to $1.76 billion by 2034. Riding that wave is Hong Kong-based Megelin, which is currently running its largest Mother’s Day sale yet, offering major discounts on most of its LED devices and select electrical muscle stimulation (EMS) tools.
I’ve been testing the Duo Lux Laser & LED Light Therapy Mask for the past two weeks as part of a six-week trial. While I’m still forming my final verdict, I already have some early thoughts (more on that below). In the meantime, check out the standout deals because some of these discounts might be too good to pass up while they’re live.
This Laser & LED Light Therapy Mask Is $270 Off
The Megelin Duo Lux Laser & LED Light Therapy Mask combines 660-nanometer (nm) and 1,064-nm lasers with a 660-nm LED light for a more intensive treatment. The brand claims it can help smooth wrinkles, soothe inflammation, reduce pigmentation, and minimize redness. After two weeks of testing, I haven’t noticed any visible changes in my skin just yet, though to its credit, I also haven’t experienced any irritation or adverse reactions.
My biggest issue was the initial unboxing experience: The mask had a strong chemical odor that reminded me of formaldehyde. For a device that sits against your face and doesn’t have a mouth opening, that’s not exactly reassuring. Wiping it down and letting it air out significantly reduced the smell, but it definitely made for a less-than-ideal first impression.
That said, the mask itself is extremely comfortable. The soft, flexible silicone contours well to the face, and the dual-strap design keeps it secure without feeling restrictive. Treatments are quick and easy to customize thanks to four different modes, all controlled through an attached remote. And because it’s cordless, you’re free to move around while using it.
At full price, it’s a steep investment compared to its competitors. But with the current $270 discount, it becomes a much more compelling option, especially given the added laser therapy component, which isn’t as common at this price point. I’ll continue testing through the full six-week period before sharing my final verdict, but if you’re tempted to take advantage of the sale now, Megelin does offer a 60-day money-back guarantee and a one-year warranty.
Tech
‘Orbs,’ ‘Saucers,’ and ‘Flashes’ on the Moon: Pentagon Drops New UFO Files
Trump first teased the release in February in a Truth Social post. The Pentagon coordinated the release in partnership with the White House, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the Energy Department, NASA, and the FBI. Many of the files in this new drop contain documents that are already publicly available. However, some versions of these known documents in the new files contain more pages, or fewer redactions, than previously released versions.
More than 60 percent of Americans believe that the government is concealing information about UAP, according to YouGov, while 40 percent think UAP are likely alien in origin, according to Gallup. Congress has held hearings into whether there’s been a decades-long program to recover “non-human” technologies, yet evidence remains elusive.
Courtesy of the US Department of Defense
“If it’s just more blobby photos or redacted documents that don’t have any details in them, it’s more of the same,” Adam Frank, an astrophysicist at the University of Rochester who studies the search for alien life, says of the new files. “What we need are actual scientific results from the investigations that should have been done if the most extraordinary claims being made are true.”
The document drop follows a week of high-profile discussions of aliens, including Stephen Colbert’s interview with former President Barack Obama, released on Wednesday. Obama cast doubt on government cover-ups about aliens by joking that “some guy guarding the installation would have taken a selfie with the alien and sent it to his girlfriend.”
Courtesy of the US Department of Defense
Members of the Artemis II crew also second-guessed the idea of a vast government-wide conspiracy to hide the discovery of extraterrestrial life in a discussion with The Daily this week.
“Do you realize that if we found alien life out there, and we came back and reported on it, NASA would never have a budget issue for the rest of eternity?” said Reid Weisman, the commander of Artemis II. “So trust me.”
Victor Glover, the astronaut who piloted the mission, added: “Why would we hide that from you?”
Tech
Nick Bostrom Has a Plan for Humanity’s ‘Big Retirement’
Philosopher Nick Bostrom recently posted a paper, where he postulated that a small chance of AI annihilating all humans might be worth the risk, because advanced AI might relieve humanity of “its universal death sentence.” That upbeat gamble is quite a leap from his previous dark musings on AI, which made him a doomer godfather. His 2014 book Superintelligence was an early examination of AI’s existential risk. One memorable thought experiment: An AI tasked with making paper clips winds up destroying humanity because all those resource-needy people are an impediment to paper clip production. His more recent book, Deep Utopia, reflects a shift in his focus. Bostrom, who leads Oxford’s Future of Humanity Institute, dwells on the “solved world” that comes if we get AI right.
STEVEN LEVY: Deep Utopia is more optimistic than your previous book. What changed for you?
NICK BOSTROM: I call myself a fretful optimist. I am very excited about the potential for radically improving human life and unlocking possibilities for our civilization. That’s consistent with the real possibility of things going wrong.
You wrote a paper with a striking argument: Since we’re all going to die anyway, the worst that can happen with AI is that we die sooner. But if AI works out, it might extend our lives, maybe indefinitely.
That paper explicitly looks at only one aspect of this. In any given academic paper, you can’t address life, the universe, and the meaning of everything. So let’s just look at this little issue and try to nail that down.
That isn’t a little issue.
I guess I’ve been irked by some of the arguments made by doomers who say that if you build AI, you’re going to kill me and my children and how dare you. Like the recent book If Anyone Builds It, Everyone Dies. Even more probable is that if nobody builds it, everyone dies! That’s been the experience for the last several 100,000 years.
But in the doomer scenario everybody dies and there’s no more people being born. Big difference.
I have obviously been very concerned with that. But in this paper, I’m looking at a different question, which is, what would be best for the currently existing human population like you and me and our families and the people in Bangladesh? It does seem like our life expectancy would go up if we develop AI, even if it is quite risky.
In Deep Utopia you speculate that AI could create incredible abundance, so much that humanity might have a huge problem with finding purpose. I live in the United States. We’re a very rich country, but our government, ostensibly with support of the people, has policies that deny services to the poor and distribute rewards to the rich. I think that even if AI was able to provide abundance for everyone, we would not supply it to everyone.
You might be right. Deep Utopia takes as its starting point the postulation that everything goes extremely well. If we do a reasonably good job on governance, everybody gets a share. There is quite a deep philosophical question of what a good human life would look like under these ideal circumstances.
The meaning of life is something you hear a lot about in Woody Allen movies and maybe in the philosophers community. I’m worried more about the wherewithal to support oneself and get a stake in this abundance.
The book is not only about meaning. That’s one out of a bunch of different values that it considers. This could be a wonderful emancipation from the drudgery that humans have been subjected to. If you have to give up, say, half of your waking hours as an adult just to make ends meet, doing some work you don’t enjoy and that you don’t believe in, that’s a sad condition. Society is so used to it that we’ve invented all kinds of rationalizations around it. It’s like a partial form of slavery.
-
Politics5 days agoIran weighs US reply delivered via Pakistan as Trump signals opposition to deal terms
-
Tech1 week agoThis Indigenous Language Survived Russian Occupation. Can It Survive YouTube?
-
Business1 week agoPSX plunges over 4,800 points | The Express Tribune
-
Fashion1 week agoCanada’s Lululemon appoints Esi Eggleston Bracey to board of directors
-
Fashion7 days agoUS’ J.Jill, Inc. appoints Kimberly Wallengren as CMO
-
Tech1 week agoAlmost half of UK businesses hit by cyber attacks | Computer Weekly
-
Entertainment1 week agoDavid Allan Coe, country singer who wrote “Take This Job and Shove It,” dies at age 86
-
Business1 week agoGovernment hikes jet fuel prices by 5% for international airlines – The Times of India

