Connecting the dots: Despite modern breakthroughs in medicine, researchers are still having a hard time studying certain traits of the brain. A new study suggests that this complex part of the human body is, in fact, composed of two distinct functional organs acting as one. Trying to generate one specific type of brain cell from the other in a laboratory setting may therefore be doomed to fail.

Scientists have tried studying and scanning every single part of the human brain, but it turns out that everything they thought they knew was (mostly) wrong. A new study by researchers at Stanford School of Medicine explains that the brain is comprised of two distinct organs that have evolved to work together over hundreds of millions of years.

The Stanford research goes way beyond the popular – and mostly incorrect – idea that the brain consists of three main regions controlling specific functions of the human body. In fact, the study says that the two organs comprising the human brain originate from two different types of stem cells.

The first part – the hindbrain – is tasked with overseeing some of the body’s most basic functions, such as the heartbeat, breathing, and swallowing. Meanwhile, the second part – the midbrain and forebrain – manages more complex functions including higher-level thinking and speech.

As researchers explain in the new study, the hindbrain is derived from a different type of stem cell than the “high-level” part of the brain composed of the midbrain and forebrain.

According to Stanford researcher Kyle Loh, the discovery “means that we can now grow neurons from the back of the brain, the hindbrain, in a petri dish and study their functions.”

So far, biologists have had a hard time developing samples of hindbrain-related neurons for research purposes. The study says that one particular type of stem cell expresses the Otx2 gene and will eventually develop into cells that form the higher parts of the brain. Meanwhile, another type of cell expresses the Gbx2 gene and will develop into hindbrain neurons.

The two cell types have other significant differences, including how DNA is packed and “condensed” inside a cell’s nucleus in a process known as chromatin organization. Chromatin structure affects which genes are expressed and how they are expressed during a cell’s lifespan, which in turn influences the cell’s developmental fate. Otx2-expressing cells and Gbx2-expressing cells have “fundamentally” different chromatin structures, the study says.

Previously, researchers tried to develop hindbrain cells from pluripotent cells that were “designed” by nature to become forebrain and midbrain neurons. The Stanford study suggests that this type of effort is essentially fruitless because it lacks a major piece of the brain’s evolutionary puzzle.

The researchers discovered that the two-part origin of the brain is also present in modern chickens, zebrafish, and acorn worms. Jellyfish, a type of marine creature that diverged from humans 600 to 700 million years ago, still have two distinct nervous systems at opposite ends of their bodies.

Now that they have a better understanding of how the two-part brain evolved, researchers hope to have a better chance of studying – and eventually treating – debilitating neurological conditions such as spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Both SMA and ALS can significantly impair neuron function in the hindbrain, and the new study could provide clues for developing effective regenerative therapies for both conditions.

The smart glasses are also arriving in five new markets this fall.

Wireless headphones have become dramatically better, but the basic connection problem has not disappeared. Bluetooth remains convenient and power-efficient, yet higher-resolution lossless playback still runs into bandwidth, codec compatibility and battery-life limitations that become harder to ignore as headphones themselves get more sophisticated.

Qualcomm thinks the next step involves adding something Bluetooth headphones have traditionally avoided: Wi-Fi. Its new Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 platform integrates micro-power Wi-Fi 6E, Qualcomm XPAN, aptX Lossless, substantially more AI processing and a fifth generation of Adaptive ANC into a platform designed for future headphones, earbuds, open-ear products, audio glasses and other wearables.

We recently examined whether wireless headphones really need 24-bit/192kHz lossless audio, along with HiFiMAN’s Arya WiFi and HE1000 WiFi, which already demonstrated both the sonic potential and battery-life consequences of moving serious headphone playback onto Wi-Fi.

Qualcomm would clearly prefer that tradeoff to become considerably less painful.

What Is Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2?

Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 is not a headphone or wireless codec. It is an integrated hardware and software platform that manufacturers can build into future audio products, combining audio processing, wireless connectivity, AI acceleration, sensing and voice processing in one architecture.

The biggest audio development is integrated micro-power Wi-Fi 6E, supporting the 2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz bands. Combined with Qualcomm’s XPAN technology, the platform can deliver lossless music streaming at up to 192kHz over Wi-Fi, while also extending wireless range beyond what conventional Bluetooth connections can provide.

Bluetooth is not disappearing. Qualcomm still includes aptX Lossless, and products will continue to use Bluetooth where its lower power consumption and universal convenience make more sense.

The interesting part is that future headphones could potentially move between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi depending on what you are doing rather than forcing one connection technology to handle everything.

Why Does This Matter?

We have already seen how messy premium wireless audio can become.

The Bowers & Wilkins Px8 S2 supports aptX Lossless and aptX Adaptive, but Apple hardware does not support either codec natively. The Sennheiser HDB 630 attacks the problem with its BTD 700 USB Type-C transmitter, while HiFiMAN’s Arya WiFi and HE1000 WiFi largely sidestep Bluetooth bandwidth limitations by using Wi-Fi as their primary high-quality connection.

All three approaches work, but none qualifies as completely frictionless.

Snapdragon Sound Elite Gen 2 could give manufacturers a more integrated route to Wi-Fi playback without requiring them to engineer the entire connectivity architecture themselves. Qualcomm also says the platform is up to 30% smaller than its Snapdragon S7 Gen 1 design and can use up to 40% less power in the Wi-Fi-connected idle scenario used for its internal comparison. Those are Qualcomm claims, and the company notes that actual implementations will vary.

That qualification matters. Audiophiles have heard enough miraculous battery-life predictions to know where the charger is kept.

ANC, AI and Earbuds That No Longer Need Your Phone for Everything

Qualcomm is also giving manufacturers considerably more processing power. Elite Gen 2 provides up to 128 GOPS of AI acceleration, twice the peak AI capability Qualcomm cites for Snapdragon S7 Gen 1, along with fifth-generation Adaptive ANC and enhanced cVc voice processing.

Those resources can be used for adaptive noise cancellation, voice capture, transparency modes, real-time translation, personalized hearing and contextual audio processing.

More unusually, the integrated Wi-Fi connection can provide direct cloud connectivity, allowing future earbuds or glasses to communicate with online services without routing every interaction through a smartphone. Qualcomm is packaging those capabilities under Snapdragon Sound Apps & Agents.

The target products extend well beyond conventional ANC headphones. Qualcomm specifically lists earbuds, open-ear designs, audio glasses, hearing devices and even camera-equipped earbuds, because apparently putting cameras into glasses was merely the opening act.

What Products Will Use It?

None that consumers can buy yet.

Cleer demonstrated an early audio, vision and AI concept at Snapdragon Summit 2026, but Qualcomm has not announced it as a commercial product. Qualcomm also said HP is developing a product based on the Snapdragon Sound Elite platform and that it has been working with Bose on potential future applications, without announcing specific Bose hardware.

That means the real test comes when manufacturers start shipping finished products.

Qualcomm can provide Wi-Fi, XPAN, lossless playback, AI processing and better ANC tools, but manufacturers still have to build headphones that sound good, remain comfortable, deliver acceptable battery life and do not require a flowchart to connect to your phone.

The Bottom Line

Could This Actually Change Wireless Headphones?

Potentially, yes, because the important development is not AI whispering restaurant recommendations into your ears, but the possibility that Bluetooth stops being the only practical wireless pipeline for premium headphones.

Wi-Fi could handle higher-bandwidth lossless audio, longer-range playback and cloud connectivity while Bluetooth remains available for lower-power everyday use. If Qualcomm can make that transition seamless and manufacturers can preserve battery life, wireless headphones could finally move beyond the codec compromises we have been discussing for years.

The headphone industry has spent a decade trying to squeeze increasingly ambitious audio through Bluetooth.

Qualcomm’s answer may be surprisingly simple: stop asking Bluetooth to do everything.

For more information: qualcomm.com\

Related Reading:

Artificial intelligence (AI) is often framed solely as a productivity tool for education leaders. While it does help in that capacity, I believe we are measuring AI’s value against the wrong metric.

School leaders do not simply face a shortage of time. We are facing a shortage of uninterrupted attention to our tasks at hand. Each day brings a relentless cycle of fragmented focus, decision fatigue, compliance demands and communication priorities that quietly erode the mental space needed for meaningful work – instructional leadership, relationship building and strategic systems thinking.

As a principal in a large Virginia school division (district), I have found that AI’s greatest benefit is not writing emails faster or summarizing meetings. It is reducing cognitive load so I can be more present in classrooms, coach leaders more intentionally and make better decisions when they matter most. 

My Commute as a Sounding Board

Every morning, I commute approximately one hour each way to and from school. Before I began using AI, that time was divided between listening to a streaming service, mentally replaying difficult conversations and trying to remember the priorities waiting for me when I arrived. The drive was full, but it was not always reflective or productive.

Now, when conditions allow and I can use hands-free technology safely, I use ChatGPT’s voice conversation feature to turn part of my commute into a structured space for reflection and preparation. On the way to school, I might talk through the day’s priorities, anticipate a challenging conversation or identify questions to consider before a meeting. On the way home, I might process a difficult interaction, examine what went well and identify one next step for the following day. 

To get the most out of these conversations, I prompt ChatGPT to draw on key leadership frameworks such as Courageous Conversations, Cognitive Coaching and Deloitte’s Courageous Principals — acting as a thought partner to refine my approach. For example, before a sensitive staff discussion, I might prompt: “Act as a cognitive coach grounded in Courageous Conversations principles. Help me outline open-ended questions to address performance concerns while maintaining trust.” 

On the return drive, I might ask: “Help me process today’s leadership meeting using Deloitte’s Courageous Principals lens. What blind spots should I reflect on, and what key follow-up action should I prioritize for tomorrow?”

The value is not that ChatGPT gives me a perfect answer. Speaking aloud to a responsive thought partner helps me slow down and organize my thinking before I walk through the school doors. During the school day, I use ChatGPT selectively to synthesize information, process experiences and coach my thinking between competing responsibilities. After a meeting or classroom visit, I can drop in a few nonconfidential notes to identify patterns in teacher or student behavior, clarify next steps or prepare for a follow-up conversation.

I also use Gemini for image creation and custom Gems to streamline walk-through feedback. Because my school is under a Comprehensive Support and Improvement order, providing immediate, actionable insights following daily classroom and grade-level visits is essential.

These AI tools do not replace the human coaching relationships I am fortunate to have; they supplement them. Trusted colleagues and coaches offer professional judgment, context, challenge and care. Conversational AI simply provides a low-stakes sounding board between formal coaching sessions, helping me return to those human relationships more centered.

To be clear, I never input confidential student or personnel information into AI. I use these tools strictly in ways that protect privacy, ensure accuracy and maintain human accountability. Establishing these guardrails helped me transition from using AI merely as a personal productivity aid to leveraging it to support stronger routines and shared learning across our leadership team. 

From Weekly Execution to Universal Design

As I became more comfortable using AI every day as a principal, I moved from one-time prompts to repeatable workflows. In leadership, those tasks include drafting communications, synthesizing evidence, organizing meeting notes, preparing feedback and differentiating messages for different audiences. Instead of asking AI to complete an isolated task, I am building systems around the work that takes a significant cognitive load.

For my weekly work, I rely on custom AI projects to organize recurring materials, think through priorities and create first-pass summaries that I can review and refine. 

One of the most transformative shifts has been how I approach communication using tools such as Gemini Notebook. Weekly principal messages can become text-heavy and hard for busy staff members to digest. To practice what we teach about Universal Design for Learning, I use Gemini Notebook to transform my messages into podcast-style audio overviews. Instead of receiving only a dense memo, staff members have access to a quick, 90-second to two-minute overview.

This gives staff another way to engage with important information. It also reminds me that communication is not complete simply because information has been sent. Communication is successful when people can access, understand and use what they receive.

Using AI with the evidence and documents in front of me has also been valuable when making leadership decisions. Rather than asking for generic advice, I can ask for work-aligned insight by providing approved materials such as school improvement documents, assessment summaries, staff feedback, observation notes or professional learning resources. AI can help identify patterns, gaps, contradictions and questions that require further investigation.

This helps me show up to leadership meetings with a clearer picture of the evidence and better questions for my team. The decisions about what to do next still belong to me and to the people closest to the work. AI can organize the evidence, but it cannot replace professional knowledge, context or accountability.

From Individual Experimentation to Shared Professional Learning 

My school division’s investment in artificial intelligence has moved my use from private experimentation to shared professional learning. Through professional learning, partnerships and access to approved tools, I have developed workflows that prioritize data privacy, protection and responsible use. 

During our school’s leadership kickoff session, “AI in Action 201: Custom Gems, Projects, and Powerful Learning Design,” I learned workflows that I have adapted to improve my day-to-day messaging, communication and leadership routines. I have also shared these workflows with my principal peers so they can consider how similar tools might support their own practice and leadership.

As a lead learner, I am working to model thoughtful and responsible AI use for my assistant principals and leadership team, with the goal of eventually helping teachers and students use AI as a tool for reflection, creativity and learning. The division’s approach has helped me think more clearly about guardrails: using division-supported tools and approved environments, protecting confidential information, verifying AI-generated content and centering professional judgment and human accountability.

The value of these AI workflows is not that they make leadership less demanding. Schools are still complex, human organizations, and the most important work cannot be automated. The difference is that they bring me greater clarity. When AI helps me organize competing priorities, synthesize information or prepare for a difficult conversation, I can listen more carefully, notice who has not spoken in a discussion and respond with greater patience.

That additional capacity changes what people experience from me as their school leader. Staff members see a leader who is more prepared and present in meetings. Students see a principal who can focus more fully during walk-throughs, classroom visits and school events. Families see a leader who has more patience and attention for their questions and concerns.

Making Space for More Human Leadership 

As I have grown in my AI journey, my perspective has shifted. I am no longer looking at AI to determine how many minutes it can cut from my task list. I am asking: How can I use it so I can invest more deeply in relationships, empowerment and presence?

Using AI requires discipline. Responsible AI use is not about surrendering judgment to a tool. It is about using the tool to create more space for judgment.

When AI helps offload low-value administrative friction, we reclaim the mental bandwidth required to notice the small human elements. We regain the energy to lean into empathy, walk the hallways with our eyes up and truly listen to the staff, students and families we serve.

The next time we evaluate a new tool or workflow, let us do more than ask what administrative task it can automate. Let us also ask what relationship it can protect, what decision it can help us consider more carefully and what kind of leadership it makes possible.

The scarce resource in school leadership is not simply time; it is attention. It is the ability to be fully present for the people and decisions that matter most. 

If AI can help us make better use of our time and reduce the cognitive load that competes for our attention, then its greatest contribution is not greater efficiency; it is more present, human leadership.

After more than a decade of headset work, Meta introduced Meta VR Glasses at Connect 2026 today as a two-piece system that keeps roughly one hundred grams on your face and parks the rest in a clip-on puck. Magnesium alloy frames sit on your ears with no head strap and open sides so you still see the room to your left, right, and below.

Dual high-quality OLED panels inside the compact pancake lenses produce 2412 by 2288 pixels per eye at up to 120 Hz and 37 pixels per degree, resulting in a significant increase in sharpness that allows tiny text to be read on virtual screens. The field of view measures 70 degrees broad and 66 degrees tall, which is not as wide as the Quest 3, but still adequate for watching movies and working on many screens at once. Full-color passthrough cameras fill in the scene in front of you at around 26 pixels per degree, while the periphery remains loose enough to keep you oriented in the real world.

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The puck contains the Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite CPU, 12GB of memory, 128GB of storage, and a battery. This is connected via a thin optical wire that transmits power and data. The puck clips to a pocket or bag, weighs roughly 300 grams, has a microSD slot that accepts cards up to a terabyte, and charges at 45 watts. You can also continue to use the glasses while the puck recharges; media playback can last up to three hours before that happens, and you get Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos built in, as well as Meta claiming to be the first VR device to receive IMAX Enhanced certification, which means certain films will look even more epic.

Hand tracking, four-camera eye tracking, face tracking, and speech recognition replace the traditional controls. You can select something by pinching, scrolling with your thumb, or simply seeing and speaking. At launch, you can use over 75 titles with just your hands while still having access to the whole Quest catalog. Touch Plus controllers can be added later or used with your existing Quest 3 or 3S. Any table transforms into a virtual keyboard and trackpad, and if you have a Mac or a Windows laptop, you can connect a Bluetooth or USB-C Displayport to feed a big private display to the glasses while maintaining an eye on your real desk and phone.

Disney+ will launch 3D movies and immersive cinema environments in November, followed by James Cameron and Lightstorm Vision 3D in 2027. Prime Video, YouTube, HBO Max, and Paramount+ are also preparing to update their 3D catalogs. ESPN, MLB, NBC Sports, TNT Sports, and the UFC are aiming for over 100 immersive live events per year, some of which will be in 8K and feature 180 degrees of action. Xbox Cloud gaming uses a Bluetooth controller, and there is hologram calling, which is based on Meta’s Codec Avatars research and allows you to communicate with people via WhatsApp or Zoom while they see a photorealistic image of you. Other VR Glasses owners get a full life-size spatial perspective, but the original version just shows a 2.5D stream of your face.

When you want to turn the theater up to complete darkness, optional light blockers can close in on the sides, and prescription inserts cost a hundred dollars because standard glasses just will not fit underneath. Muse, Meta’s AI-powered assistant, resides right alongside Quest 3 in the same operating system, so you can simply instruct it to start a movie, move the windows around, or search for something without lifting a finger. You must accept that the shorter battery life and reduced field of view are the clear trade-off for how lightweight and portable this device is. The Meta VR Glasses, priced at $1,299.99, are expected to be available in the spring of 2027; no preorders have been announced as of yet.

from the to-hell-with-those-children dept

What if all this time, we have completely misunderstood RFK Jr.’s obsession with keeping children from being vaccinated? What if the notion that he was a true anti-vaxxer, or was ignorant and confused on how this whole science things works, was completely wrong? What if he just hates children, particularly black and brown children, and wants less of them to exist?

It’s a weird premise, I know. But then you learn that Kennedy has exploded the budget for his own personal security to three-times the historical amount and he paid for it by grabbing funds meant for the Office of Minority Health.

According to a Wall Street Journal article published on Tuesday, the Department of Health and Human Services told congressional appropriators earlier this year that it was shifting about $12 million from its Office of Minority Health to help pay for Kennedy’s protection. The Journal cited people familiar with the matter and a document it reviewed.

According to The Journal’s sources, Kennedy’s security costs rose from roughly $10 million in fiscal 2025 to $17 million in fiscal 2026. Those sources said protection for previous HHS secretaries ran about $5 million a year.

The Office of Minority Health was created under Reagan when people bothered to notice that black infants in America had a survival rate well below that of their white counterparts. It has an annual budget of $74 million, meaning that Kennedy yoinked away nearly a quarter of its funding. You may also have noticed that Kennedy’s security costs rose $7 million, yet he took $12 million from OMH. Why? According to HHS, the answer is because HHS has been hit by large funding cuts. Cuts that this administration, and Kennedy, put in place.

So, to summarize, Kennedy has a security budget for himself that is over 3 times the historical budget for his position, he took more money than that security actually costs from a tiny agency in government meant to protect the health of black and brown people, mostly babies, and HHS essentially blamed all of this on itself. Black children must die so that Kennedy can feel more safe, apparently.

Oh, and it seems Kennedy may not have even needed that money in the first place.

The sources also told The Journal that the secretary’s office had a large pool of discretionary money it could have used instead. 

Now, I’m not saying that Kennedy definitely wants black and brown children to die at a higher rate. I’m saying he clearly doesn’t care that they may die at a higher rate, so long as he feels more safe. After all, sociopaths don’t really want others to die or be in pain; they just don’t care if that happens so long as they benefit.

Hopefully the rest of us not dealing with that affliction can agree that this is very gross.

Filed Under: hhs, minority health, office of minority health, rfk jr., security

I’m almost embarrassed to admit that the first time I saw one of Meta’s new holographic avatars today, during a WhatsApp call with a Meta rep I had just met a few minutes before, I didn’t immediately clock that I was speaking to an avatar. That’s how far the company’s avatar technology has come in the last couple years.

Meta announced at Connect that it’s bringing its holographic avatars to its new VR glasses and to the Meta Ray-Ban Display frames. I got the chance to experience both ahead of the keynote and was surprised at how far the tech has come since the first time I experienced it on Meta’s Orion prototype.

Setting up an avatar is a bit different depending on which device you’re using. With the display-enabled glasses, you create an avatar in the Meta AI app through a process similar to creating a Vision Pro “persona.” Using your phone’s camera, you’re prompted to turn your head to show different angles of your face. It then asks you a series of questions that are meant to capture how your voice sounds in different interactions.

In my demo, it asked me things like “what does your perfect day look like from start to finish” and “what’s one of your hobbies, and why do you like it.” This part of the demo actually glitched. The Meta AI app kept skipping through the questions as if it couldn’t detect my voice, but the hiccup didn’t seem to affect the process. I was then prompted to “smile and show your teeth” and repeat a phrase as if I was surprised.

In all, creating a holographic avatar for the display glasses should only take about 5 minutes from start to finish. Once set up, you can use it on a video call while wearing your display-enabled glasses, whether you’re chatting via WhatsApp or Zoom.

The avatars are powered by Meta’s new Muse Realtime Avatar model, and it uses that brief training period to approximate your actual facial expressions while you speak. Watching my avatar speak was a strange experience. While I was wearing the glasses and speaking as my avatar, I could see a small preview of myself in the bottom corner of the display. It looked exactly like me, but my brain was also able to immediately recognize that it wasn’t me.

But when I tried the experience from the other side, holding the phone and chatting with an avatar, I was fooled at first. It might be because I had only just met the person I was speaking to. So I wasn’t familiar with his mannerisms or expressions, but it looked very similar to how I would have expected him to appear on a typical video call. It was only when looking more closely at his background that I could detect the video wasn’t quite normal. Meta is also adding a transparent watermark to all video calls with an avatar. In my first viewing, I mistook this for a logo on his shirt, but if you know what to look for, it is a clear identifier.

Meta’s plan for holographic avatars in its new VR glasses is even more ambitious. Because the cameras and sensors on that device are much more advanced, you can create a full-body avatar and you don’t need to “teach” it your expressions. It instead relies on the inward facing cameras and sensors to understand your facial expressions.

I was able to chat with a full-size hologram of a Meta product manager while wearing the VR glasses. And it felt less weird than I expected. It was definitely much more natural looking than Apple’s “persona” avatars, which have always looked weirdly smooth and alien-like to me. (Those also don’t show lower bodies or arms, which doesn’t help.)

But the VR avatar I spoke with looked pretty close to the person I had just met, and didn’t feel creepy either. There was some distortion toward her feet, especially if I moved around the room, and I could see some blurring towards the edges of her head. The avatars aren’t fully 3D. They only show a frontal view of a person, so there are some limitations. But I was surprised at how much more realistic it felt than any other interaction I’ve ever had with a VR avatar (a low bar, to be fair).

Holographic avatars are still in an “early preview” stage, and there’s clearly some bugs to be worked out. Availability is also limited to the device you’re using, so someone with Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses can call someone else as their avatar but only when wearing the glasses. And someone on display glasses can’t call someone wearing VR Glasses. VR avatars are limited to glasses to glasses interactions for now.

Meta has said these avatars could help people feel more of a sense of presence when on a video call, and I definitely felt that in my demo. There’s still something about calling a close friend or family member as my avatar that would feel weird and inauthentic, but I could see how some might feel otherwise. The Meta reps I spoke with told me they often call into work meetings as their avatar, which might be a nice alternative when you’re not quite camera-ready.

Holograms will be available to Meta Ray-Ban Display in early access this fall.

We sat down with Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis last week. He told us the digital euro would offer ‘cash-like privacy’ and cut Europe’s reliance on foreign card schemes.

The digital euro could go live in 2029 if the Irish Presidency of the Council of the EU gets the legislation over the line before the end of the year, according to EU commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis, formerly prime minister of Latvia.

Speaking to SiliconRepublic.com at a visit to Research Ireland last week (17 September) Dombrovskis, the European commissioner for economy and productivity, implementation and simplification, said Brussels was firmly behind Ireland’s push to conclude talks this year.

“The Irish Presidency has an ambition to finalise the legislative process this year, and from the Commission side, we are very much supporting this,” he said. “And if this is the case, then ECB [European Central Bank] can start the preparations in earnest, and then it would go live as of 2029.”

Ireland took over the rotating Presidency on 1 July and holds it until 31 December, putting it in the chair for the final stage of negotiations between the Council, the European Parliament and the Commission, known as trilogues. The first trilogue took place on 13 July and a further round was scheduled for late September. The Irish Presidency’s programme commits it to working towards agreement on the digital euro framework by year-end.

It has been a long road. The Commission first tabled its proposal in June 2023. The Council agreed its negotiating mandate in December 2025 and the European Parliament adopted its position in July.

‘Cash-like privacy’

Much of the public debate has centred on privacy and fears that a digital currency issued by a central bank could be used to monitor how people spend. Dombrovskis said those concerns had been addressed.

“We have strong privacy safeguards in place, in the offline functionality of the digital euro. It actually offers almost cash-like privacy,” he said.

Indeed, he argued that the digital euro would reveal less about people’s spending than the payment cards they use now. “In a sense, the central bank will know less about citizens’ transactions with the digital euro than banks know now from card transactions.”

He was also keen to stress that the digital euro is not intended to replace notes and coins. “We had been very clear that digital euro is there to complement cash, not to replace cash. It’s a way to bring central bank money into the 21st century, in the digital era.”

Alongside the digital euro proposal, the Commission put forward a separate measure to strengthen the legal tender status of cash. Dombrovskis said this would mean “obliging [euro] area member states to ensure sufficient availability and acceptance of cash so that it can fulfil its legal tender functions”.

Less reliance on foreign card schemes

For Dombrovskis, the case for the digital euro rests on two points. The first is that cash, the only form of central bank money currently available to the public, is in decline.

“Currently, central bank money is cash. And cash use is declining. So that’s why digital euro is a way to bring central bank money in to the digital era and to provide it as an important monetary anchor,” he said.

The second is Europe’s dependence on payment networks based outside the bloc. “It is a way to develop European-based payment solutions because currently we are heavily relying on card schemes which are foreign-based.”

He added: “With this digital euro project, the [European] Central Bank will also develop a pan-euro area payment solution and infrastructure, which we currently don’t have.”

It is all part of the current push towards sovereignty, Dombrovskis said. “This is also a matter of strategic autonomy of the euro area in this more conflictual and less stable world. Financial stability is the blood flow of the economy, so it’s important in a sense that we have our own structure and are not dependent on outside players.”

‘We should not talk ourselves down’

The digital euro sits within Dombrovskis’s wider push on EU competitiveness. When we spoke, he acknowledged that productivity growth in Europe has trailed the US and China for at least two decades, and agreed there was no quick fix.

“There’s probably not one single bullet we can say, you know, we need to do this and that fixes our [competitiveness] problem,” he said.

But he argued Europe has more going for it than it often admits. “We also obviously should not talk ourselves down. We have many strengths. We have the largest single market of 450m consumers.”

Dombrovskis was visiting Research Ireland as part of his Irish visit, and met several prize-winning teams supported through the National Challenge Fund, which is funded under Ireland’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan. Addressing the gathering, he said the research and innovation undertaken here in Ireland continued to make a vital contribution to Europe’s overall competitiveness, resilience and prosperity today.

“It is a contribution that is needed more than ever,” he said. “We are living in a fast-changing and increasingly fragmented world.  Our prosperity and security depends on generating knowledge, turning it into new technologies and bringing those innovations to market.”

He noted that Ireland recently marked 60 years since the decision to introduce free secondary school education in Ireland.

“It is credited with transforming the prospects of the Irish economy and laying the foundations for the prosperity the country continues to enjoy today. We should draw inspiration from such a far-sighted, visionary policy to help reach our common objective today: to ensure that Europe remains a global leader in science, technology and innovation.”

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from the in-a-police-state-the-police-have-no-accountability dept

In what was a severely belated response to acts of violence by immigration enforcement officers, “Border Czar” (who seems far more interested in raiding inland cities than patrolling the border) Tom Homan assured the nation that all ICE officers would soon be wearing body cameras. The only holdup, he said, was a lack of funding.

It was almost hilarious, or would have been if it hadn’t been uttered by one of the least funny people on the planet. Several months prior, Trump’s budget bill had made ICE the most well-funded federal law enforcement agency. And yet here was the “Czar” pretending it needed to scrape together some cash before it could make this purchase.

Nevertheless, Tom Homan claimed all ICE officers would be wearing cameras by the end of August. Then he said it would be sometime in September before the agency could engage in full roll-out. Then he said vague stuff about training which strongly suggested we’d be lucky to see our tax dollars spent on these quasi-accountability devices.

Well before the roll-out that seems to always be in progress, ICE installed a footage release policy that strongly favored withholding footage, especially in the cases where the public’s interest would be highest… like, you know, the murder of US citizens and residents by immigration officers.

The clock continues to move forward. And ICE continues to move backwards. Homan seems a bit recused at the moment, so DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin is now delivering the dithering, now that ICE has blown past one deadline and seems intent on blowing past the next one.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin’s update this week on when all Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be equipped with body cameras left many inside the agency confused.

“By the end of September, I’m pretty sure we will be there,” Mullin told reporters in New York on Tuesday.

Yet every ICE field office in the country has had enough body cameras for all of its employees tasked with making arrests since the end of August, according to a senior Trump administration official and a Department of Homeland Security official with knowledge of ICE’s body camera policy. ICE officers are being trained on how to use them, they said.

So, what’s the hold up? Well, somehow ICE is trying to spend money on microphones for the cameras, despite the fact that cameras already purchased from Axon already come equipped with mics. For reasons Mullin will never fully explain, the agency is securing a second contract for the sole purpose of adding a second-party mic to a first-party product that already has one.

Mullin further fueled confusion within DHS when he added that he’s in talks with Motorola about the company providing microphones for the body cameras.

What is even going on here? First impressions suggest some sort of graft that quid pro quos Motorola for, I don’t know, increasing the funds in Trump’s definitely-not-blind trusts. Or it’s just a thing the DHS wants to do because it will delay the deployment of cameras for just a bit longer, which buys a bit more time for officers who want to kill, maim, or run over people while on the clock.

No one really wants to explain what’s happening here. Mullin remains extremely vague with his comments and the two contractors involved have refused to comment at all on this turn of events. What is known is that ICE already agreed to pay $13 million to Axon to outfit every arresting officer with a camera. As for any bullshit about “training” delays, most ICE officers are already familiar with Axon’s products since Axon has been providing cameras to ICE since Biden was still in office.

It’s probably a combination of all of these things. ICE officers aren’t really thrilled to be wearing cameras. Mullin would probably prefer this whole camera thing never happens. And if you’re wondering about Motorola’s sudden appearance on the scene, well…

Records show Motorola has spent over $1 million in lobbying efforts this year aimed in part at DHS and other appropriations bills.

Adding this all up makes it clear we won’t be seeing ICE officers wearing cameras any time soon. The fuckery going on here indicates September will come and go before we see the promised roll-out. And the more time that passes, the less likely it is that ICE will ever live up to half-assed promises it made to its oversight and the general public that keeps it funded.

Filed Under: accountablity, body cameras, dhs, ice, markwayne mullin, mass deportation, police violence, tom homan, trump administration

Companies: axon, motorola

For years, the technology industry has tried to convince consumers that the future of home entertainment involves strapping increasingly expensive computers to their faces. Apple’s Vision Pro demonstrated just how impressive that experience can be, but at $3,699 and roughly the weight of a small house cat after lunch, mass adoption has remained another matter entirely.

Meta thinks the answer is not abandoning immersive entertainment but making the hardware look and feel considerably less like something borrowed from a fighter pilot.

At Meta Connect 2026, the company unveiled Meta VR Glasses, a roughly 100-gram spatial-computing device with micro-OLED displays, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos and, most significantly for home theater enthusiasts, certification as the first IMAX Enhanced VR device. They will sell for $1,299.99 when they arrive in spring 2027.

Meta also announced a separate Dolby initiative for its everyday AI glasses. Later this year, Meta says its AI eyewear will become the first consumer devices capable of capturing and experiencing video in Dolby Atmos with 360-degree spatial sound. That puts immersive audio creation into glasses intended to be worn around town rather than inside a dedicated VR session.

Our recent coverage of Apple Vision Pro and live 8K immersive baseball looked at Apple’s attempt to make spatial entertainment compelling enough to justify its price, while Samsung’s AI Smart Glasses explored the other end of the market, where open-ear audio, cameras and AI are being squeezed into conventional-looking eyewear.

Meta is now trying to occupy both spaces.

Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos Without the Helmet

The Meta VR Glasses use what the company calls a 5K Infinite Display, built around micro-OLED panels with a claimed density of 37 pixels per degree. Dolby Vision handles HDR playback, while Dolby Atmos spatial audio is integrated directly into the frames.

That combination itself is not unprecedented.

Apple Vision Pro already supports HDR video with Dolby Vision and audio playback in Dolby Atmos, alongside Apple’s own Personalized Spatial Audio system. Anyone claiming Meta is the first company to put Dolby Vision and Atmos into a head-mounted entertainment product would therefore be getting ahead of the facts.

What is different is the packaging.

Meta says the glasses weigh approximately 100 grams, largely because the processor, battery and storage have been moved into a separate puck connected through an optical tether. The glasses handle the displays and sensors, while Qualcomm’s new Snapdragon Reality Elite processor resides in the external unit. Meta rates the puck for up to three hours of high-resolution media playback, with 45W fast charging.

Apple Vision Pro remains a far more substantial piece of headgear, and that matters if somebody expects you to wear one through a three-hour movie rather than a 15-minute store demonstration.

Moving the heavy hardware into your pocket is not exactly magic. There is still a cable and a compute puck involved. But your neck may care considerably more about where the weight resides than the marketing department does.

IMAX Enhanced Moves Into VR

The more interesting home theater development is IMAX Enhanced certification.

IMAX Enhanced has traditionally been associated with televisions, projectors and home theater hardware designed to meet performance standards established by IMAX and DTS. Compatible content can also preserve IMAX’s expanded aspect ratios, giving viewers more of the image on selected films rather than simply placing black bars around another version of the theatrical presentation.

Meta VR Glasses are the first VR product to receive that certification.

Meta says selected films will be available in IMAX’s expanded aspect ratio, effectively creating a private virtual screening environment without requiring an enormous television or projection screen. Whether that experience convinces home theater enthusiasts to trade an 85-inch television and surround system for eyewear is another discussion entirely, but this is not merely another floating virtual display.

The content strategy is also unusually aggressive.

Meta says Disney+, Prime Video, YouTube, DIRECTV, AMC+, Crunchyroll, Plex, ESPN, Tubi and other services are part of the entertainment ecosystem. Peacock, HBO Max and Paramount+ are also expected to offer 3D content, while Disney is preparing 3D titles and immersive environments tied to properties including The Avengers and Black Panther.

Meta is also working with Disney and ILM on its Disney Immersive Cinema app, with enhanced presentations of films including Avengers: Infinity War and Star Wars: A New Hope. James Cameron and Lightstorm Vision are involved in bringing additional films to 3D during 2027.

Apparently watching a movie on a television is now considered insufficiently futuristic.

Live Sports Could Be Even More Important

Movies are only part of the strategy.

Meta says the glasses will support more than 100 immersive live U.S. sporting events per year, involving partners including ESPN, MLB, NBC Sports, TNT Sports and UFC. Its immersive sports format uses 8K streaming and 180-degree views, with college football among the first applications.

We recently examined Apple’s similar push with live 8K immersive baseball on Vision Pro, and the logic is easy to understand. A movie remains essentially the same movie whether you watch it on a projector, OLED television or headset. Sports can give spatial displays something fundamentally different to offer by placing the viewer somewhere that a conventional broadcast cannot.

A virtual courtside seat or position behind home plate is considerably easier to explain than “your Netflix screen can now be 150 feet wide.”

Meta also has one enormous advantage over Apple here: price.

At $1,299.99, Meta VR Glasses are hardly an impulse purchase, but they are dramatically less expensive than the current $3,699 Vision Pro. Neither price makes an 85-inch television nervous yet, although Meta is at least moving the decimal point in the right direction.

The Other Dolby Story Might Be Just as Important

Meta’s Dolby announcement is not limited to consuming content.

Its AI glasses are also gaining the ability to record video with Dolby Atmos spatial audio, which Meta describes as native 360-degree sound capture. Rather than recording conventional stereo audio and adding an immersive effect during playback, the goal is to preserve the spatial character of the event while it is being recorded.

That could matter more than it initially sounds.

Phones made HDR video recording commonplace long before most consumers understood what HDR actually meant. If millions of people begin recording concerts, sporting events, travel, family gatherings and questionable attempts at social-media fame with spatial audio attached, Dolby Atmos moves further away from being something primarily associated with Blu-ray discs, streaming movies and elaborate speaker systems.

There is also the unavoidable privacy issue. Camera-equipped glasses continue to create legitimate concerns about when people are being recorded, although Meta uses a visible capture LED and says disabling or covering that indicator disables camera capture on its AI glasses.

Technology may change. Human behavior remains considerably harder to upgrade.

What About Apple and Samsung?

Apple Vision Pro remains Meta VR Glasses’ already offers micro-OLED displays, Dolby Vision, Dolby Atmos, Spatial Audio, immersive sports, 3D movies and a mature spatial-computing platform, but Vision Pro is substantially heavier and more expensive. Meta is clearly betting that reducing both barriers will matter more than winning a specification contest.

Samsung’s AI Smart Glasses, developed with Google, Gentle Monster and Warby Parker, compete with Meta from a very different direction. They use open-ear audio, cameras and Gemini but do not include an in-lens display, making them closer to Meta’s everyday Ray-Ban products than its new VR Glasses. Samsung has also not disclosed support for Dolby Atmos capture or anything comparable to IMAX Enhanced.

That leaves Meta in an unusual position. It now has conventional-looking AI glasses for recording, communication and open-ear audio at one end, and a premium VR product built explicitly around movies, sports and spatial computing at the other.

The Bottom Line

The most interesting part of Meta’s announcement is not that another company has made another pair of smart glasses.

It is that premium home theater technologies are moving away from the home theater.

Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos already escaped the dedicated cinema and moved into televisions, phones, cars and laptops. IMAX Enhanced has expanded beyond projectors and AV receivers. Meta is now trying to make those same technologies meaningful inside eyewear weighing roughly 100 grams while also turning ordinary AI glasses into spatial-audio recording devices.

None of this means televisions, projectors or loudspeakers are going anywhere. Watching a movie with friends or family while wearing individual pairs of $1,300 glasses sounds considerably less appealing than firing up a large OLED and a serious Atmos system.

But for airplanes, apartments, bedrooms, hotels and anyone who wants a 100-inch-plus screen without actually owning one, Meta may finally have a more convincing argument.

The future of home theater might still involve something strapped to your face.

At least it is starting to weigh less.

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