Meta is holding its annual Connect developers conference next week, and it’s going to showcase a bunch of expected and perhaps some surprise new VR and AR hardware — alongside what might be a heavy Meta AI showcase featuring the company’s newest Llama large language model and image generator in apps like WhatsApp.
And as Meta sunsets custom tools for AR filters, we could end up seeing a whole new set of developer tools designed to harness generative AI experiences. Perhaps it will all come together in Meta’s next big push into its alternative reality ideas (and namesake) in the metaverse, including significant Horizon Worlds updates.
However, the most anticipated products expected to appear during the conference are the successor to the Meta Quest 3 and perhaps updates to Meta and Raybans, which are very cool smart glasses. Hopefully, we’ll see the rumored “Orion” AR glasses, but we will need to catch the Connect keynote to find out.
When is Meta Connect 2024
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Meta’s Connect developers conference this year starts on Wednesday, September 25th, 2024, and ends the next day on Thursday, September 26th. The conference will kick off with the Connect keynote, headlined by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, at 1PM ET / 10AM PT, followed immediately by a Developer keynote at 2PM ET / 11AM PT. Meta has a full program schedule on the Connect site.
How to watch Meta Connect 2024
The Meta Connect keynote will stream live on the official Meta Connect website. If you’re a Quest headset user, you can also watch it on Horizon Worlds. Following the keynotes, you can participate in live developer sessions for deep dives on AI and mixed reality on Facebook.
What to expect at Meta Connect 2024
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Expect a cheaper Quest VR headset.Photo by Becca Farsace / The Verge
The most exciting thing about Meta is that it holds the keys to the closest thing to mainstream VR headsets with the Quest 2 and Quest 3. The latter, however, started at a price that was too high ($500 compared to the now $200 Quest 2) and did not have a very sharp AR video passthrough. Now we’re expecting a cheaper version, the Quest “3S,” that might sell for as cheap as $299.99, according to leaks.
Meta also has other new VR headsets in the pipeline, including a new Quest 4 for 2026 and something at the pro level designed for spatial computing internally dubbed “La Jolla” for 2027. Recent reports suggest plans for the latter might now be on ice, especially as Apple’s $3,500 Vision Pro struggles to gain traction. We may not see these models specifically at Connect, but other models in the pipeline may show up.
Can Meta make an even cooler pair of smart glasses?Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
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Expect an update on the futuristic Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses at Connect too. The current glasses look clean and aren’t too chonky, but they’re ripe for an iterative update, even if no AR capabilities are coming. The glasses respond to your commands with Meta AI, so expect fresh chatbot assistant experiences on the way.
Meta is also working on new mixed reality glasses internally dubbed “Orion,” which we can expect at least a glimpse of. Snap recently let us wear its new AR Spectacles, but those are developer-only, and a former Snap engineer on the project called them “obviously bad.” Hopefully what we see of Orion is a lot more interesting.
Along with Meta’s VR strategy comes expectations of new software and experiences, including the future of games on Quest. Right now, there are questions about what Meta is doing for games: it’s shutting down the Ready at Dawn game studio that made immersive 3D games like Echo VR, while casual games like Wordle are rolling in. Meanwhile, Meta recently launched an app that lets you play console games on the headset through HDMI.
Back in the Mad Men days, the only thing that might interrupt the corporate blandness of a workspace might be a photo of your family or maybe a coffee cup with a funny saying. But nowadays, especially if we’re working at home, we can have some pretty interesting, weird, or just plain nice-looking items on our desks.
We asked the folks here at The Verge what they have on their desks or in their offices that they keep just for the hell of it — because they like it, because it means something special, or just because. Here are some of the answers we got.
A looping gif of our late cat Pouncey on my keyboard’s LCD
Antonio G. Di Benedetto, commerce / deals writer
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The LCD on the keyboard can show data — or lovely GIFs.GIF: Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge
One year ago, my wife and I were forced to say goodbye to one of our two beloved cats, Pouncey. She was a caring companion of over 11 years that my wife adopted as a kitten shortly before we started dating, making her a fixture in our relationship. That made it all the more traumatic when our farewell, due to her deteriorating health, was more sudden than expected. But in addition to all the photos and videos we have to remind us of our bestest girl (apologies to our eight-month-old daughter), I’m given a heart-warming reminder of Pouncey every time I sit down at my desk.
When I got my Meletrix Zoom75 mechanical keyboard from a long-awaited group buy preorder last year, I opted for the built-in LCD add-on because — well, why not? And, maybe unsurprisingly, once I built my board with that little screen inside it, I wondered, “Okay, what do I do with this thing?” So, I left it displaying something boring like battery level.
After Pouncey’s passing, I reconsidered the looping GIF feature and decided to put a cute clip of our girl on there. The GIF was just a burst of images from a random day, and if you look closely, you can see her eyes adorably widen once she notices me taking her picture. We now refer to it as The Pouncey Keyboard, and while it’s bittersweet to see her nuzzling on my desk but unable to feel her soft fur or hear her gentle purrs, I love seeing “our Pouncey-girl” every day.
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$209
A gasket-mount 75 percent keyboard with many user-swappable options like a rotary knob, LCD, and decorative external weights / back plates.
The Legend of Zelda Heart Container Icon Light
Sean Hollister, senior editor
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The Legend of Zelda heart container is sitting on the speaker.Photo: Sean Hollister / The Verge
Whenever I’m feeling a little worn out, I’ve got an extra life sitting on my desk. My family bought me this Legend of Zelda heart container one year ago, so it encapsulates their love, too! (Less significant if you buy it for yourself, so I’d recommend gifting it instead.) It glows when you press the front button, and that’s it. Two AA batteries won’t power it for months on end, so turn it off when you’re feeling cheerful again! You can also import a Tears of the Kingdom version based on the newer game.
$40
The iconic heart symbol from the Legend of Zelda — it glows with a soft red light.
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Command spring wall clips
Allison Johnson, reviewer
These clips let you exhibit family art without damaging the walls.Photo: Allison Johnson / The Verge
I get cold feet about putting nails in the wall in my office (which, incidentally, is also my bedroom). So, I end up with a pile of little things I kind of want to put on the wall but can’t commit to, like something my kid drew or the mess of tech event badges in my desk drawer. But recently, I’ve been on a command strip kick, putting up little hooks and clips around the house, and I started using them to decorate the wall behind my desk.
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The clothespin-type clips are perfect; I can swap in a new piece of cute kid artwork whenever I want, and I don’t have to commit to their placement. That’ll come in handy if I want to rearrange my office — er, bedroom — and I’ve never had a problem taking them off the wall damage-free.
$17
Clips for hanging photos, reminders, towels, etc. that won’t damage your walls.
TWSBI Eco fountain pen
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Adi Robertson, senior tech & policy editor
This fountain pen is attractive, comfortable, and reasonably priced.Photo: Adi Robertson / The Verge
I keep a paper planner and notepad(s) for tracking stories and meetings, and the TWSBI Eco (in creme rose gold with burgundy Noodler’s ink) is my favorite writing implement for all of them. It’s a reasonably priced fountain pen that’s attractive, not hard to fill, and feels good to fidget with.
$53
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A high-quality good-looking fountain pen at an economical price.
Link amiibo for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
The Link amiibo is not only magical, but inspiring.Photo: Jay Peters / The Verge
I’m not really one for desk trinkets, but I love this Link amiibo for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. I get inspired by the way Link seems to be using his Ultrahand powers to craft a better world around him. If he can do it, maybe I can, too — though I might have to make things happen without a magical arm.
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$16
An amiibo of Link using his magic arm in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
Kirby pencil case
Kylie Robison, senior AI reporter
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My tiny Moleskine notebook keeps track of my whole life — I go through about two a year. That’s where I keep my weekly and monthly calendars, along with any source / general meeting notes. I use micron pens because they’re simply the best, and I keep them in a Kirby pencil case that I’ve even shown off in Verge videos (see above). I just recently redid my entire home office, and part of that was lots of decor, my favorite being an LED Majora’s Mask.
$40
A neon gaming sign in the form of Majora’s Mask from The Legend of Zelda.
Dorothy Parker finger puppet
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Barbara Krasnoff, reviews editor
Dorothy Parker finger pupperPhoto by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge
I love Dorothy Parker, both for her writing and for her acrid personality. I once even bought a bottle of gin because it was named after her (and, to tell you the truth, it wasn’t half bad). So, when I spotted her among a plethora of famous people finger puppets at a book fair a few years ago, I simply had to buy it. The Parker puppet has a small magnet on the back of its head, so it can easily hang on any metal surface. In fact, I brought it with me when I started working at The Verge, and when I accidentally left it in the office during lockdown in 2020, I was bereft. Luckily, Dorothy hung in there throughout the pandemic, and she’s now back in my home office, grinning sardonically at me.
$8
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A plethora of finger puppets made to resemble a variety of celebrities from the past and present, with a magnet on the back so they can hang from your fridge.
Cute desk note holder
Victoria Song, senior reviewer
This cat-shaped desk holder can hold notes that are motivational or just plain fun.Photo: Victoria Song / The Verge
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A while back, a friend gave me this adorable cat-shaped desk note holder as a souvenir from Beijing. At first, I didn’t know what to do with it. Then, I started putting motivational notes into it, and surprisingly, that worked. After a while, I started printing or writing out the occasional meme. (Why, yes, I did write the entirety of Vice President Kamala Harris’ coconut tree speech on a Post-It one week.) When I’m really in need of strength, I stick on a photocard of my favorite K-pop singer.
This only really holds one note at a time, which helps keep me creative week-to-week. Most importantly, it reminds me to take breaks and laugh at myself whenever I get too self-serious. I don’t know where to get this exact desk note holder, but you can find a bunch of fun ones on Amazon and Etsy.
Obscure SSD vendor is using revolutionary cooling system in order to deliver best-in-class performance — iodyne’s portable SSD packs AirJet, iPhone connectivity and unique RAID-6 capabilities in a tiny footprint
iodyne has announced the Pro Mini SSD, a portable, bus-powered storage solution designed for professionals. The Pro Mini features a durable machined aluminum chassis with Frore AirJet membrane vibration cooling to prevent thermal throttling and ensure the SSD delivers consistent performance even under heavy data loads.
Iodyne claims the device achieves sustained performance of over 3GB/s, making it ideal for tasks like video editing, media offloading, and data transfer. Pro Mini provides solid security through XTS-AES-256 encryption and RAID-6 data protection, safeguarding data even in the event of a hardware failure. Passkeys replace traditional passwords, allowing users to securely unlock the device with their phone or computer. It offers NFC tap-to-unlock functionality too.
The SSD includes a customizable digital label that displays project names or other relevant information on its 2.1-inch e-ink display. The multiple containers feature allows users to divide the SSD into distinct partitions, each with its own filesystem.
Available in 4 and 8TB capacities
The Pro Mini comes with USB 4 and Thunderbolt (40 Gbps) ports so you can plug in a wide range of devices, including phones, tablets, cameras, and computers. Additionally, Find My tracking helps users locate lost or misplaced devices, while Fleet Management via the iodyne app allows for remote provisioning and management of multiple drives.
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Mike Shapiro, Co-President iodyne said, “There is so much powerful performance and revolutionary engineering packed into the Pro Mini. Every single feature was thoughtfully designed with the specific needs of production professionals in mind – innovative breakthroughs thanks to our collaboration with Frore Systems to bring solid-state active cooling to portable SSDs.”
Pro Mini comes in 4TB and 8TB capacity, ideal for those needing to store large amounts of data, such as 4K video footage. It is available to preorder now and is expected to ship in Q1 2025.
Introducing iodyne Pro Mini: The Smart Drive – YouTube
Part Transformer, part Star Wars stormtrooper and with hands that look like they can crush beer cans, at 1.8 metres tall and weighing 120 kilograms, NASA’s Valkyrie robot is an intimidating figure. It is currently being put through its paces at the Karda laboratory in Australia so researchers can work out what it would take to get a humanoid robot onto offshore energy facilities or into space. New Scientist‘s James Woodford took the controls to see what the $2 million-plus device is capable of.
The race toward achieving AGI (artificial general intelligence) continued apace with what felt like a monumental week in the rapid development of AI.
From Apple giving us a taste of its Intelligence to huge advances in AI-generated video, let’s take a look at some of the top AI stories from this week.
It was an eventful week for the Cupertino-based device manufacturer. We saw the public debut of iOS 18, WatchOS 11, and MacOS 15, immediately followed by the iPhone 16 and Apple Watch 10 going on sale, as well as Apple rolling out its first update to the new OS with 18.1 beta.
The beta doesn’t offer the AI’s full feature suite — we don’t expect to see that until 18.1’s official release in October — but it is enough to give interested users a taste of what the generative AI agent will soon be capable of.
Though, from what Digital Trends already seen, Apple Intelligence is going to likely need more refinement and polish before it’s ready for the public.
Weird, I could have sworn last summer’s Hollywood writers strike happened specifically in opposition to Hollywood’s ill-considered embrace of generative AI. That collective action has apparently done little to dissuade Lionsgate from jumping right back on the AI bandwagon, which announced this week that it is partnering with Runway, makers of the Gen-3 Alpha video generation model.
The agreement will see the two companies collaborate to develop and train a video generation model using Lionsgate’s expansive catalog of film and TV content. The two plan to use it to “develop cutting-edge, capital-efficient content creation opportunities,” which we all know is the hallmark of great cinema and not a poorly conceived attempt to disenfranchise the thousands of storyboard artists, lighting and effects designers, actors, musicians, and others that perform the actual labor of producing movies and TV series by replacing them with a slapped-together generative AI.
Snap keeps trying to make AR glasses a thing. This week the company released the fifth and latest iteration of its Spectacles AR glasses line. The new hardware offers a wider field of view and a display that appears similar to “a 100-inch display 10 feet away,” while SnapOS and the associated smartphone app have both received significant upgrades over their previous versions. Snap is also reportedly teaming with OpenAI to bring “cloud-hosted multimodal AI models” to the smart glasses.
The new specs also weigh a hefty 226 grams, which is over 100 grams more than last year’s edition, and look like something Edna Mode would wear. They’re currently only available to developers who shell out $99/month for program access, and there is no word yet on when a consumer version will be released.
In an effort to lower the barrier to entry for new content creators and better compete with short form video platforms like TikTok, YouTube introduced a bevy of new AI-enhanced production tools this week. Google announced Wednesday at its Made on YouTube event in New York City that DeepMind’s Veo video generation model will be incorporated into YouTube Studio. The model can generate six-second clips in 1080p resolution and a wide variety of cinematic styles, from only a text prompt.
The company is billing these new features as a “brainstorm” assistant that can suggest topics for the video, as well as generate a title, thumbnail, and the first few lines of the script. Users will also be able to use Veo in conjunction with Dream Screen, which generates AI background images. You’ll be able to create a static background with Dream Screen then animate it using Veo.
Coincidentally, did you know that having a chatbot write a 100-word email for you consumes the equivalent of three bottles of water and 14 LED light bulbs running for an hour? Maybe try using that noggin of yours to brainstorm some original ideas instead of boiling lakes to hear a large language model’s recursive suggestions.
Before it announced its partnership with Lionsgate, Runway started the week by rolling out a new feature for its Gen-3 Alpha video generation model: the ability to change the cinematic style of any video through text prompts. AI enthusiasts are having a field day with the new tool.
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You can see the technology in action in the social media post above. Runway also debuted an API this week that will enable third-party developers to incorporate the video model into their own apps, systems, and devices.
Apple recently announced the most anticipated iPhone 16 series at the “It’s Glowtime” event. Now that the company has kicked off the sale of its latest iPhones, we are starting to see multiple durability test videos. So, if you are eager to watch how the iPhone 16 Pro stands out in the durability test, two YouTube channels, namely Apple Track and Tech Rax, have videos for you. To save you time, we have discussed the findings from the videos, keep reading.
iPhone 16 Pro durability test reveals a potential flaw related to its ultra-thin bezels
In the first video, Sam Kohl from Apple Track performs the casual drop putting the durability of the iPhone 16 Pro and iPhone 15 Pro to the test. Surprisingly, the iPhone 16 Pro took a hit on the bottom edge causing a minor dent in the first drop. What’s worse, it took Sam only four drops before making the iPhone 16 Pro unusable.
While dropping the iPhone 16 Pro from head over height, the display abruptly shut down. Meanwhile, he also noticed a crack at the right bottom of the screen which supposedly killed the display entirely. Sam speculates that this happened “because of the thinner bezels.” However, Sam noticed that the iPhone 16 Pro stood pretty firm over the course of testing.
He said there was “way less damage” in comparison to the iPhone 15 Pro. Moreover, Sam concluded the video by saying “On the iPhone 16 Pro, I think there’s a catch because the bezels are just so thin. So, when you’re getting something like a corner impact or something that just barely touches that edge of the screen, the display panel of the 16 Pro was extremely fragile and noticeably more so than on the 15 Pro.”
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Keep the flagship iPhone far from a knife and a hammer, of course
If you want to see the iPhone 16 Pro’s durability put to the test vigorously, Tech Rax’s recent YouTube video is for you. In the video, the Titanium edges were easily scratched using a knife. Besides, the iPhone 16 Pro also goes through rigorous durability tests with the help of a hammer. You must be wondering if it passed the hammer drop test, right?
At first, the display held up pretty well with the hammer dropping from a height of a few inches. However, it was completely shattered after the next few drops. The same was the case when the hammer dropped right above the spot where the Apple packs the flagship’s battery. You can see it yourself in the video below.
SAP and data management vendor Collibra are putting some teeth into a partnership that was first unveiled more than a year ago.
The two vendors are launching new integrations between Collibra’s data governance, data catalog and metadata management capabilities and SAP Datasphere, a data service that integrates data from sources across the organization.
Collibra has partnered with SAP since Datasphere debuted in March 2023. Now, Collibra’s data intelligence tools are integrated into the SAP Analytics Cloud business intelligence (BI) system, according to the companies. This new integration is generally available. Additional Collibra integrations to support SAP Datasphere models will be generally available later this year.
The expanded partnership and direct integrations signify an advance in data management capabilities for customers, which is particularly important as trusted and well-governed data becomes increasingly necessary for AI and advanced analytics, according to analysts.
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Addressing data challenges
Collibra and SAP decided to broaden their relationship based on projects and discussions with common customers, according to Mike Robertson, vice president of technology partnerships at Collibra.
“We had a number of conversations with our joint customers to understand how we could partner to help them with their data challenges,” Robertson said. “The partnership has been built from this foundation, the importance of data and helping our customers do more with the data they have.”
Collibra is working with other enterprise technology vendors to help companies deal with data management challenges, he said.
“Our customers have complex data landscapes, and we are working to find ways to make it easier for them to address challenges around governance, quality and management of their data assets,” Robertson said. “We have strong relationships with cloud providers, BI and visualization partners, data lakes and data warehouse, master data management and AI data platform partners.”
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Focus on data trust and governance
The focused integration of Collibra and SAP Datasphere provides data management benefits to customers, according to Jayesh Chaurasia, an analyst at Forrester Research.
For one, it will bolster SAP’s focus on data governance and help to ensure that all data — including data that’s used for AI — is trustworthy and well governed, Chaurasia said.
Collibra’s data governance capabilities enable SAP to offer customers a more comprehensive platform that provides accurate, governed data from various sources and lays a strong foundation for effective AI deployment, he said.
“It supports a unified and consolidated view of data assets across SAP and non-SAP environments,” Chaurasia said.
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SAP has always been a tough platform to extract the metadata from, so this integration makes that simpler and provides an edge to Collibra. Jayesh ChaurasiaAnalyst, Forrester Research
This, in turn, will provide business users easy access to trusted and governed data, which could lead to better decision-making.
“It ensures that AI models are fed with high-quality data and enables business users to leverage AI insights effectively without deep technical expertise,” Chaurasia said.
Direct integrations always help in connecting to systems and gathering the metadata, he added.
“SAP has always been a tough platform to extract the metadata from, so this integration makes that simpler and provides an edge to Collibra,” Chaurasia said.
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The expanded integration shows signs of progress that the two vendors are beginning to deliver on the promise when the partnership began in 2023, specifically for the highly regulated customers they share, according to Doug Henschen, an analyst at Constellation Research.
It will help joint customers to not only securely access and harness data from across distributed data sources using SAP Datasphere, but also to classify, improve discoverability, track lineage, and ensure policy-based enforcement of rules and regulations using Collibra, he said.
“It’s a synergistic partnership that makes sense, particularly as organizations seek to securely and appropriately use data to power new AI initiatives,” Henschen said.
Eric Avidon, a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial, contributed to this report.
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Jim O’Donnell is a senior news writer for TechTarget Editorial who covers ERP and other enterprise applications.
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