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Salt Typhoon’s espionage campaign has been confirmed by the FBI and CISA.

FBI and CISA confirm networks have been compromised by Salt TyphoonDevices and networks used by government individuals also hitThe group also successfully breached a network used by US authorities

A joint statement from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed “broad and significant cyber espionage campaign” with links to the People’s Republic of China successfully breached numerous commercial telecommunications organizations.

The infiltration of these communications networks, believed to be the group tracked as Salt Typhoon, has allowed the threat actors to gain access to customer call records data as well as the private communications of a limited number of individuals within the US government.

The joint statement has also confirmed the group managed to successfully infiltrate a US wiretap system used by authorities to submit requests pursuant to court orders.

ISPs and telecoms compromised by Salt Typhoon

In late September 2024, Salt Typhoon targeted several US internet service providers in a reconnaissance scan that is believed to assist in vulnerability hunting for potential use in later attacks. In early October 2024, it was also reported the compromise affected a number of telecommunications companies such as AT&T, Lumen Technologies, and Verizon.

Now, it appears that the issue is more widespread than first thought, with the Wall Street Journal reporting that the group may have had access “for months or longer,” citing people familiar with the matter.

This access may have allowed them to harvest “internet traffic from internet service providers that count businesses large and small, and millions of Americans, as their customers.”

Salt Typhoon has also been targeting Canadian organizations, with wide sections of the government also subjected to reconnaissance scans, as well as “dozens of organizations, including democratic institutions, critical infrastructure, the defence sector, media organizations, think tanks and NGOs,” the Government of Canada said in a statement.

“The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) continue to render technical assistance, rapidly share information to assist other potential victims, and work to strengthen cyber defenses across the commercial communications sector,” the joint statement concluded. “We encourage any organization that believes it might be a victim to engage its local FBI field office or CISA.”

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Amazon adds new products to its Fire TV range, with a new mini-LED in its Omni series and a new soundbar – plus a refresh of an old favorite.

Amazon announces its first mini-LED TV in its Fire TV rangeAlso adds new soundbar to range called Fire TV Soundbar Plus Amazon Fire TV 4-Series gets a refresh too

Amazon has announced it’s adding all-new products to its Fire TV range, the Amazon Fire TV Omni Mini-LED series TV and Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus. Additionally, the Amazon Fire TV 4-series is getting a refresh.

Both the Amazon Omni Mini-LED and Amazon Soundbar Plus will be available starting today, November 14, 2024 – starting at $819 for a 55-inch TV and $249.99 for the new soundbar.

The Omni Mini-LED series is Amazon’s first foray into the competitive mini-LED TV market and joins its range of Fire TVs, including the Amazon Fire TV Omni QLED series, one of the best TVs for those looking for a budget TV.

The Omni Mini-LED series is said to deliver 1,400 nits of peak brightness, which would put it in a similar range to the Hisense U7N, one of the best mini-LED TVs of 2024, and is said to have 1,344 local dimming zones for improved backlight control over standard LED and QLED models in the Fire TV range. It will also feature what Amazon calls ‘Intelligent Picture Technology’ which is said to combine AI and the new mini-LED backlight to optimize and analyze scenes on screen and adjust color, detail and more, as well as a light sensor, reminsicent of ‘AI TVs’ from the likes of Samsung.

It also has support for both Dolby Vision IQ and HDR10+ Adaptive, as well as support for Dolby Atmos audio and a speaker system consisting of two speakers and two subwoofers.

The Omni Mini-LED also comes with an extensive list of gaming features up there with the best gaming TVs including 144Hz refresh rate, VRR with AMD FreeSync Premium Pro and ALLM in Gaming Mode, a step-up on the 60Hz refresh rate of the Omni QLED.

It will also support Amazon’s list of Fire TV features such as the Ambient Experience, which displays static and dynamic art and photos when the TV enters idle mode, replacing blank screens, the Fire TV smart TV platform and Alexa voice support.

Coming soon will also be support for the Audio Streaming for Hearing Aids (ASHA) protocol which enables streaming of the TV’s audio to compatible ASHA hearing-aid devices.

Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus and 4-series refresh

The Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus brings Dolby Atmos and DTS:X support to the Fire TV soundbar range for the first time. (Image credit: Amazon )

Amazon has also announced a new soundbar, the Amazon Fire TV Soundbar Plus series, a step-up model on last year’s Amazon Fire TV Soundbar. The new model has a 3.1 channel speaker array and supports both Dolby Atmos and DTS:X, something the company’s Soundbar series did not.

There’s also the option to upgrade the Soundbar Plus with a new wireless subwoofer and wireless rear speakers for those looking to expand the soundbar to a home theater system like the Hisense AX5125H, a budget 5.1.2 Dolby Atmos system and one of the best soundbars around.

In the United States, the Fire TV Soundbar Plus is $249.99 on its own, but with a wireless subwoofer, it is $374.99, and with that, plus two surround sound speakers, it is $489.99. Once we confirm pricing in the UK and Australia, we will update this story.

Finally, the Amazon Fire TV 4-series will be getting a design update with a new ultra slim bezel designed to give more space to the picture on screen. Amazon will offer the 4-Series in three sizes – 43-inches for $329.99, 50-inches for $399.99, and 55-inches for $459.99.

Another competitor vying for the mini-LED crown

The Hisense U7N looks set to be the Amazon Omni Mini-LED’s major competitor. (Image credit: Future)

It’s been a busy year for Amazon in the TV world, as it entered a partnership with Panasonic to bring the Fire TV smart TV platform to Panasonic’s TVs as Panasonic re-entered the US market for the first time in over a decade. This brought Fire TV to elite-level TVs such as the Panasonic Z95A, one of the best OLED TVs of 2024, for the first time.

Now, Amazon has decided to enter one of the most competitive, crowded TV markets around – mini-LED TVs. An area that has been dominated by the likes of Hisense, TCL and Samsung over the past few years has seen Sony shock the TV world by opting for mini-LED in its 2024 flagship, the Sony Bravia 9.

On paper, the Amazon Omni Mini-LED isn’t going to take on top-level mini-LEDs such as the Hisense U8N or TCL QM851G based on its number of dimming zones and peak brightness. Still, it sounds like it will be taking on more budget and mid-range models like the Hisense U7N and Samsung QN85D. While this would usually be a bold move considering Hisense, TCL and Samsung’s dominance of the market, if anyone can do it, it’s Amazon.

The Fire TV smart TV platform is a solid interface that’s already widespread thanks to the inexpensive Fire TV Stick range. Also, its TVs are already very popular and it appears to have gone the right way with pricing. So, if Amazon can nail the mini-LED part, as it did a pretty good job with QLED in the Omni QLED, then we could be looking at a new powerhouse in the mini-LED market. We can’t wait to get our hands on it.

Amazon is taking orders now for its Fire TV Omni Omni Mini-LED TVs in four sizes. In the United States, they cost $819.99 for a 55-inch, $1,089.99 for a 65-inch, $1,499.99 for a 75-inch, and $2,099.99 for an 85-inch.

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A cautious approach and varying priorities is making it hard to measure AI ROI, but UK companies are more eager.

Businesses don’t know whether to prioritze productivity gains or revenue growthGenAI is being favored over automation and predictive AIMore UK businesses are experimenting with GenAI than the global average

Although businesses are actively investing in artificial intelligence, new research from Gong has revealed many are struggling to quantify the value they’re getting from new technologies.

Part of the struggle to identify the benefits is the inconsistency in priorities – 53% are prioritizing productivity gains, and a further 53% are focusing on revenue growth for their key success metrics.

However, as AI becomes more integrated into daily workflows, three in five (61%) CIOs are now recognizing increased revenue alone as a justification for the additional costs. A similar number (60%) are just as happy to use time savings as a justification.

How do businesses measure AI ROI?

In terms of the technologies being deployed, 54% of tech leaders are prioritizing generative AI, which Gong suggests could be the result of the ongoing buzz. However 51% prioritize automation and a further 31% prioritize predictive AI, which arguably has more power to generate meaningful outcomes. Data-driven predictive AI can help a company analyze previous trends and prepare for the future, which brings along with it significant efficiency improvement potential.

The vagueness continues with the underlying technologies used – nearly three-quarters reportedly use off-the-shelf LLMs despite the availability of more customized models and the ability to create industry- and workplace-specific applications with minimal coding.

“Over the last two years, the AI hype and pace of innovation has created incredible excitement and confusion for CIOs and tech leaders about its potential and where to focus,” noted Gong CPO Eilon Reshef.

Smaller companies were found to be among the most likely to focus on ROI, likely due to their more limited resources. Two in five (40%) small US firms (identified as those with 250-500 employees) are willing to pause projects lacking a clear ROI, compared to just one-fifth (19%) of larger companies.

Over the pond in the UK, there seems to be more acceptance of trial and error, as separate research from CGI found 87% of UK businesses are experimenting with GenAI, compared to 79% globally.

The study found a strong alignment between business and IT operations when it comes to strategy execution, suggesting that departments are finally cooperating to maximize their returns.

A third (35%) of CGI’s British respondents stated that delivering value and insight through AI and data is a key IT focus, with a similar number (32%) optimizing their processes through digitisation, automation and AI.

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‘Operator’ AI agent could be here in January

OpenAI is rumored to be launching new AI agent tool in JanuaryReport claims it’s codenamed Operator and can control your browserThis help could help it write code or book travel on your behalf

Forget chatbots – AI’s next big trick is expected to be artificial intelligence agents that can carry out computer-based chores on your behalf, and a new report claims OpenAI’s version will be landing very soon.

OpenAI’s new tool, codenamed ‘Operator,’ could be released in January, according to Bloomberg and its two internal sources. It will apparently be released as a research preview initially and through the company’s application programming interface (API) for developers to get their hands on.

AI agents are designed to operate your computer on your behalf without supervision. Like Anthropic’s similar ‘computer use’ tool for Claude, OpenAI’s Operator is expected to be able to carry out actions like writing code or booking travel.

The space is shaping up to be the next big AI battleground, with Google recently leaking its so-called Jarvis AI tool that can browse the web for you. According to The Information, it could beat OpenAI to the punch by landing in December.

Like Google’s solution, OpenAI’s equivalent is expected to be a “general purpose tool that executes tasks in a web browser,” according to Bloomberg’s source. So, while it might not be quite ready to pilot desktop apps on your behalf, OpenAI’s Operator sounds like another pretty powerful browser extension.

How much do you trust AI?

ChatGPT search (above) landed in October and effectively automates Google searches for you. OpenAI’s Operator is expected to do the same with web-based actions. (Image credit: OpenAI)

There’s no doubt that tech giants think AI agents are the next big computing platform – in a recent Reddit AMA, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said, “I think the thing that will feel like the next giant breakthrough will be agents.”

This apparent breakthrough will come soon, too, with Altman adding, “IMHO this is going to be a big theme in 2025.” Recent announcements and leaks from Anthropic, Microsoft, Google, and OpenAI certainly support this.

However, given that AI agents are expected to work autonomously without supervision, they could also demand a large amount of trust. A significant asterisk on tools like ChatGPT Search – which already searches the web for you – is that they’re early releases that can still make mistakes.

In October, OpenAI released a new benchmark called ‘SimpleQA‘ to measure the accuracy of its own AI models – and its recent o1 preview model performed pretty poorly, only getting a 42% success rate in the new benchmark.

So, while AI agents might be the next big hype feature in 2025, it could still be a while before we entrust them with automating our computer-based chores – at least without some careful supervision.

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Windows 11 is becoming a fix-a-thon for Microsoft lately, with new preview build being almost entirely about resolving issues.

New preview for Windows 11 is almost entirely about bug fixesBugs, especially weird glitches, seem to be more prevalent since 24H2Microsoft is trying hard to cure all these various issues

Microsoft is busy fixing a whole host of bugs with Windows 11, and that’s clearly illustrated with the work in the latest preview build for the OS, which is almost entirely focused on squashing glitches – of which we’ve seen plenty with the new 24H2 update, of course.

In fact, Windows 11 build 27749 for the Canary channel only has one change that isn’t a bug fix, with Narrator getting a new keyboard shortcut combo (‘Narrator key + control + X’) which copies what was last spoken by the screen-reading tool to the clipboard. Also, Narrator now works to auto-read emails in the new Outlook app, as it did with the classic app.

Let’s cover Microsoft’s raft of troubleshooting work in this build next, then, bearing in mind that the Narrator capabilities are just in testing, as are the bug fixes – albeit with a notable exception.

That’s the fix for a bug where Task Manager errantly tells the user that zero processes and apps are running – which is, of course, impossible, given that the OS itself is built on a load of background processes – as this is also resolved with the cumulative update for the full version of Windows 11 in November. That Patch Tuesday update fixes another weird bug where Alt-Tabbing to switch between apps causes a lengthy pause and a black screen before the app you’re changing to is presented on the desktop – and a problem where the internet connection was failing on some PCs.

Back to preview build 27749, which also shores up a bunch of glitches with the core parts of the Windows 11 interface. That includes File Explorer having the contents of its navigation pane spread out too much (with extra space between them), and also some fine-tuning for the taskbar. Microsoft notes it has: “Made a change so you will now see a search box if the taskbar auto-hides when the setting for search on the taskbar is set to ‘Search box; (rather than an icon).”

On top of that, there’s a cure for an odd issue where a blank entry is present in the Privacy panel in the Settings app, and if clicked, it causes Settings to crash. Microsoft has also fixed an issue where Windows 11 would crank the volume to maximum on “certain audio devices” which doubtless made for a rude awakening after your PC returned from sleep (or it could happen on the first boot-up, too).

Narrator got some fixes as well, including the resolution of an issue where it would slow down after 15 minutes of continuous use in a single app.

There’s a clutch of other miscellaneous fixes here which Microsoft lists in the usual blog post.

(Image credit: Marjan Apostolovic / Shutterstock)

Analysis: The current prevalence of weird bugs

What’s clear is that there’s a growing theme with Windows 11 being hit by some very strange bugs since the 24H2 update hit the scene. The weird spacing in the interface seen in File Explorer, zero processes showing in Task Manager, that blank entry in Settings that causes a crash, your audio suddenly being ramped to full volume, and many more oddball glitches besides (that menu disappearing off the top of the desktop springs to mind, too).

Normally, these kinds of bizarre issues are relatively rare, but seem to have become more common since the release of Windows 11 24H2, both in the update itself, and as we see here, in preview builds. It’s our theory that the major change to a new underlying platform in Windows 11 – Germanium – might have some side effects that we’re seeing manifested in these stranger kinds of bugs.

Hopefully, this run of quality assurance turbulence will start to calm down soon enough, and as we can see with this long laundry list of fixes in the latest preview, Microsoft is busy doing a lot of firefighting to resolve these multiple issues. We’ve already seen other preview updates where a lot of the work is bug fixing in recent times, and indeed in fairness, this era of heightened bugginess does go back further than the new version 24H2. Overall, 2024 has been something of a rocky year for Windows 11.

All of this seems to broadly point to the need for Microsoft to get a better handle on QA and testing processes for Windows 11, something that some people have been banging on about for some time now (ourselves included). The good news with 24H2, at least, is that it’s a major piece of work – in terms of the mentioned new Germanium platform underpinning the OS – and we haven’t seen any huge showstopping bugs (yet – touch wood). Just a lot of weird little cockroaches scurrying about.

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Instant Games – free arcade games you could play via the Microsoft Store without installing them – is now on the scrapheap.

Instant Games has been ditched nine months after it went liveThe feature let you instantly play arcade games without installing themIt’s the ability to play instantly that’s scrapped, not the games themselves

Early in 2024, Microsoft started rolling out ‘Instant Games’ to its store in Windows 11, but the feature has come off the rails – and is now being scrapped.

The idea with Instant Games was to give Windows 11 users another reason to visit the Microsoft Store, allowing them to enjoy some quick-and-easy casual games that didn’t need to be downloaded or installed.

Yes, these were free games you could play on your PC there and then – instantly – with no fuss around setting them up.

Okay, so as you might imagine, they were just simple arcade or puzzle-style casual games – they were housed under the ‘Arcade’ tab in the Microsoft Store’s side panel menu, in fact – but still, they were free, and very easy to access.

At the last count, there were close to 70 games that could be instantly played using the feature in the Microsoft Store.

It seems the feature simply wasn’t very popular, though, because as Windows Latest reports, Microsoft has now canned Instant Games, as of today (November 14). The games themselves aren’t going anywhere, we should note; it’s just that the only option will be to download them going forward – there’s no instant play button anymore.

(Image credit: Windows Latest / Microsoft)

Analysis: Stumbling blocks that led to derailment

As Windows Latest points out, one of the frustrations with Instant Games was that it took a long time to roll out to everyone on Windows 11. Rather ironically, the delivery was anything but instant, as the idea was announced in September 2023, but as noted, the rollout didn’t begin until early 2024 (in February). And even when it did kick off, the feature was slow to be rolled out to Windows 11 users.

That probably didn’t help, and going by reports, there was another stumbling block with Instant Games. While the convenience of just clicking and playing a game there and then was great, running the title directly within the Microsoft Store was seemingly quite resource-intensive. Anecdotally, things could be less than smooth when running these arcade titles, even though they are by their very nature much less demanding than you’re the best PC games.

Granted, the level of smoothness doubtless depended on your PC (and Windows) configuration, but still – there were issues here by all accounts. Although to be fair, the feature did still allow you to try out these casual games, and if you liked them, you could then fully download and install them, to get smoother gameplay.

Whatever the case, ultimately the Instant Games library couldn’t have got much traffic, otherwise Microsoft wouldn’t be shutting it down just nine months after the feature was sent live. The idea was to attract more users to the Microsoft Store – which needs all the help it can get – but the plan seems to have failed in this instance.

Microsoft is, however, very much continuing its efforts to make the Microsoft Store a better place, including ushering in a major visual revamp, and changes to boost performance in various ways, making the app more responsive and much quicker to boot.

None of which can hurt, but in the end, it’s the content that the store will live and die by, and Microsoft still has a lot of work to do in that respect…

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If you want to spread the cost of your annual Microsoft subscription over 12 months, you’ll need to pay another 5%.

Microsoft rolls out monthly payment support for annual subscriptions to more productsTo spread the cost, you’ll need to pay an extra 5%Teams Phone and Power BI also get price hikes

Microsoft has announced that it will be increasing prices for many enterprise-focused subscriptions from next month to keep up with rising costs.

To help customers spread the cost of the additional dollars, Redmond will also roll out wider support for monthly payments on annualized plans.

The company confirmed the changes will impact customers across Buy Online, Cloud Solutions Partner (CSP) and enterprise Microsoft Customer Agreement (MCA-E) channels.

Microsoft’s subscriptions are getting more expensive

Microsoft 365 Copilot, Microsoft 365 Copilot for Sales and Microsoft 365 Copilot for Service annual term subscriptions will now be payable annually or monthly from December 1, but they’ll be subject to a price hike of around 5% depending on exchange rates and local pricing.

Teams Phone is also set to get its first price rise since in 2017 launch, with customers set to pay the equivalent of $10/month or $120/year per user from April 1, 2025 based on annual payments. Like Copilot, Teams Phone users will pay a premium of around 5% to spread the cost of an annual commitment over 12 months.

Microsoft confirmed the following product categories will be standardized with the new 5% rise for monthly payments:

Microsoft 365Office 365Enterprise Mobility + SecurityWindows 365Microsoft Dynamics 365 ServicesMicrosoft Power PlatformOther Online Services

For now, customers looking to avoid the 5% surcharge can continue to pay annually.

Elsewhere in the business, Product Management VP Kim Manis confirmed Microsoft Power BI Pro and Premium Per User (PPU) licenses will get their first price hike since their launch around a decade ago.

Also effective from April 1, 2025, Power BI Pro licenses will cost $14/month per user and PPU licenses will be $24/month per user – both representing a $4 monthly increase. Paying annually for Power BI through Microsoft 365 E5 or Office 365 E5 will avoid the price hike.

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A seemingly accidental post by a Danish tech store has revealed the price of the Asus ROG Phone 9.

Danish pricing for the upcoming Asus ROG Phone 9 has seemingly leakedThe phone could cost around $1,400, but we’ve only seen one model listedBoth the ROG Phone 9 and its Pro variant are due to launch on November 19

The Asus ROG Phone 9 gaming phone is due to launch on November 19, but we may already have a fair idea of how much the phone will cost thanks to a new leak.

As Android Headlines reports, a Danish retailer was spotted listing the phone for 9,838 Danish Kroner, or around $1,400 / £1,100 / AU$2,150. That’s for the model with 12GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and the Storm White color option.

That’s quite a lot more than the base model ROG Phone 8, which started at $1,099 / £949 at launch, and around as much as the ROG Phone 8 Pro, which started at $1,199 / £1,099. It’s possible, given the list price, that the retailer has erroneously labeled the Pro model as the standard, or maybe we’re simply seeing a price hike this year. Of course, price conversions aren’t always accurate.

For what it’s worth, the listed model carries the model number AI2501-12G512G-WH.

As spotted by 91 Mobiles Indonesia (via Android Headlines), the upcoming phone’s power certification was also listed publicly by the Wireless Power Consortium (WPC) well before launch day. The WPC listing notes that the phone received certification on November 11.

The listing includes a rendered image of the front of the phone, too, which displays the phone’s home screen and looks much the same as it did during our hands-on time with the ROG Phone 9 at Snapdragon Sumit.

Though the ROG Phone 9 might not look much different than the previous generation ROG Phone 8, we’ve heard a steady flow of rumors suggesting the new phone will receive major upgrades in the performance department.

We previously reported that the ROG Phone 9 is tipped to best the Galaxy S25 in performance benchmarks, and that its Pro counterpart is rumored to launch with a blisteringly-fast 185Hz display.

Other leaks have pointed to the vanilla ROG Phone 9 sporting the same ultra-high refresh rate display. And Asus has itself confirmed that the phone will come equipped with the new flagship Qualcomm chipset, the Snapdragon 8 Elite.

It’s likely that we’ll see the ROG Phone 9, the ROG Phone 9 Pro, or even both make it onto our list of the best gaming phones.

Asus is due to officially reveal both phones on November 19, so we don’t have long to wait for official details on the new devices. For the latest official updates as we hear them, be sure to check out our Asus phones coverage – and for the latest mobile gaming news, head on over to TRG.

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The data was public to begin with, but the size of the cache is still alarming.

Hacker found selling a database of 180+million emails on the dark webThe archive was stolen from a data brokerThe data broker confirmed the information was scraped from public sources

A hacker is selling a database containing 183 million records of people’s contact details, including email addresses, stolen from a data broker who, in turn, generated it by scraping publicly available data.

One might say, no harm – no foul, but still, whoever buys this database will get the chance to annoy millions of people with spam, and possibly even target them with phishing, malware, and business email compromise (BEC).

The database, which includes people’s business email addresses, postal addresses, phone numbers, employer names, job titles, and links to various social media, is being sold by a threat actor alias ‘KryptonZambie’, for $6,000.

Decommissioned legacy systems

The archive was stolen from a data broker company called DemandScience (previously known as Pure Incubation) who has confirmed the data was publicly available to start with.

“It is also important to note that we process publicly available business contact information, and do not collect, store, or process consumer data or any type of credential information or sensitive personal information including accounts, passwords, home addresses or other personal, non-business information,” a DemandScience spokesperson said in an email.

HaveIBeenPwned?, a website that tracks email addresses compromised in various data breaches, reports that the archive was pulled from a “decommissioned legacy system: “In early 2024, a large corpus of data from DemandScience (a company owned by Pure Incubation), appeared for sale on a popular hacking forum. Later attributed to a leak from a decommissioned legacy system, the breach contained extensive data that was largely business contact information aggregated from public sources.”

We don’t know if the hacker managed to sell the database already, or if there were multiple buyers. At press time, there was no information of in-the-wild abuse.

Via The Register

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The latest Project Aria update showcases some incredible uses for AI and AR glasses.

Researchers have shared their impressive Meta Aria projectsAria is a research kit to help developers better understand AR and AIThese projects could become Meta Orion features if we’re lucky

Meta has just shared an update on its Aria AR glasses research project collaborations, and they reveal some exciting potential ways that the publicly available versions of its Meta Orion AR Glasses could shape our real-world lives when they launch.

Project Aria’s goal is to help software developers and researchers “better understand how to build the software and hardware necessary for future AR and AI-powered glasses.” Initially an internal undertaking, Meta expanded Aria access to partners like BMW and various universities across the globe – and what they’ve created so far highlights some awesome use cases for AR glasses.

It’s worth noting that all of these tools are still at the research stage, so we’re likely still years from them being packaged into a consumer usable app – something which may not even happen with any of these projects. But they highlight some of the ways Orion could be used, and who knows? With Orion likely years away there’s still plenty of time to turn these projects into the world’s best AR apps before they launch.

1. Learning from the experts

The Matrix series is not a dystopian setting anyone wants to live in, but there’s one aspect of that world I’m sure most of us would want to bring into our real one: the ability to download any skill we could need.

While the Orion glasses might not instantly make you a master of kung fu, or teach you how to fly a helicopter in seconds, they could help us gradually improve our skills with feedback it has learned from experts.

For its Project Aria research, the University of Bristol has been capturing data from highly skilled people – from chefs, to musicians, to athletes, to mechanics – tracking their movements and how they move objects to learn more about how they “interact with and change the world to achieve their goals.”

With this understanding it’s easy to see how Orion could offer AR lessons about how to repair a bike or cook a delicious meal, going so far as to highlight the real-world object you need to use and showing you how to use it in real-time.

2. Driving more safely

Researchers at IIIT Hyderabad have used Project Aria to develop its Driver Intent Prediction Project. Using the AI glasses’ outward cameras, and their inward eye-tracking cams – as well as various other car sensors – the team is able to tell where drivers are looking and importantly where they aren’t.

If a pedestrian mindlessly steps into the street while you’re looking in your mirrors, the glasses can detect that you haven’t seen them yet and warn you – allowing you to take action. The project’s goal is to reduce traffic accidents and it’s easy to see how this tool could help make us safer drivers if Orion were to launch with a version of it.

3. Maximizing accessibility

The last two Aria projects demonstrate the glasses’ accessibility credentials. University of Iowa researchers are using Aria to help people with hearing loss by using the specs’ microphone array to help determine the direction sound is coming from. This could then be combined with prompts on an AR glasses’ display, or used in conjunction with traditional hearing aids to improve its effectiveness.

Meanwhile, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have used the glasses to help people with visual impairments. Using the glasses’ sensors (and some external beacons) Aria could help people more easily navigate unfamiliar environments with real-time guidance.

These kinds of accessibility features and more are exactly how technological advancements like Meta Orion could (and should) be put to use.

As more people get their hands on Aria research kits I’m excited to see what other projects they work on, especially as that hopefully means that Orion will have some awesome tools when it eventually releases to the public.

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