A new app called Zuckoff can detect if the app user is near someone wearing Meta's controversial smart glasses — which are powered by artificial intelligence and have been criticized for allowing would-be voyeurs to videotape women without their consent.
Developer Pawel Szydlowski says this is what prompted him to create the app…
The Zuckoff app — which detects Bluetooth signals emitted by smart glasses and can calculate the distance to them — has amassed about 5.000 users since it was released on Apple's App Store last month, according to Business Insider . "There's a need for such an app," the 30-year-old Polish tech expert said, adding that European Union regulators have contacted him asking for more information. "As a society, we have the right to at least know that someone is filming us," Szydlowski said...
Earlier this month, the company disabled thousands of glasses that were found to have been tampered with to disable the small light indicator that indicates the device is recording.
The Zuckoff app is already in 61st place on the list of most popular utility apps for iPhone.
In a related news story, “After accusations of selling ‘voyeur glasses,’ Meta is preparing to release a pair without a camera,” writes TechCrunch, citing report by The Information.
The glasses will feature six built-in microphones so users can communicate with the chatbot, as well as a button on the side that will activate the artificial intelligence system… Meta's Reality Labs division, which is responsible for developing the smart glasses line, continues to record huge financial losses, as revealed in the April earnings report.
Meta's stock has fallen 13% over the past 12 months, according to Yahoo Finance . On Tuesday, Meta announced subscription services for its social networking apps as part of its effort to generate additional revenue to offset the cost of billions in investments in artificial intelligence data centers and AI model development.
The plans—with prices starting at $2,99 per month for individual products, $7,99 for individual packages, and $14,99 for packages aimed at content creators and businesses—offer various features to users who want to get more out of their Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp accounts.
Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus will allow users to keep their stories visible for 48 hours instead of 24, send animated “super reactions” and “super hearts” to stories, preview stories without appearing in other users’ viewer lists, and more. WhatsApp Plus will let you share exclusive stickers, have exclusive ringtones for contacts, and pin up to 20 different conversations.
Meta One will also include Core and Premium user plans, which will offer the features found in the individual product plans, as well as increased limits on artificial intelligence (AI) usage for images and videos. The social networking company will also offer plans for content creators and businesses… which, it says, will include features like enhanced profiles, automatic follow invitations to users who interact with your content, and increased access to the Meta Business Agent, which will be able to respond on your behalf.
When Instagram chief Adam Mosseri announced on Threads that the programs were bringing “more features and more AI to Instagram, WhatsApp, Facebook, and Meta AI,” writer Joe Hill ’s response garnered 13.300 likes:
“Very nice… you pay a subscription and you get more AI. Can we make a deal where YOU pay me and I don’t get any AI at all?”
Although the press releases will range from very select to rare, I said I'd pass...because sometimes the editors hide.
