Welcome back to Spatial Beats, where we round up all the top news and happenings from around the spatial computing spectrum, including its escalating infusions with AI and other emerging tech. Let’s dive in…
The Lede
Meta is expected to launch its first AR display glasses at its Connect event in September. Called Hypernova, the device adds a built-in monocular display in the right lens capable of showing navigation, messages, and other contextual information. Priced at $800, the glasses mark Meta’s most advanced hardware release to date. Hypernova will ship bundled with an sEMG wristband, codenamed Ceres, that reads muscle signals in the wrist to enable discreet gesture controls such as pinching. Running on a custom Android system and paired with the Meta View app, the product extends Meta’s eyewear line beyond the display-less Ray-Ban models.
Feeling Spatial
HTC has entered the AI eyewear race with the Vive Eagle, a lightweight pair of glasses weighing under 49 grams. Like the Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses, they feature a 12-megapixel camera, open-ear audio, and a discreet design that can pass for everyday eyewear. The Eagle supports both ChatGPT and Google Gemini, offering real-time translation, note-taking, and encrypted local processing. Meta’s version, by contrast, connects users to its own Llama AI. The Eagle launches in Taiwan for about $520, a premium over the Ray-Ban Meta’s $299 entry price, positioning HTC at the high end of smart eyewear.
The AI Desk
Will OpenAI Sell Ads? Asks Shelly Palmer. OpenAI is making billions, but still burning cash. Revenue has jumped from $3.7 billion in 2024 to an estimated $12.7 billion this year, yet the company says it won’t break even until 2029. Because only 5% of their users pay for the service, the economics don’t work without advertising, something Sam Altman once dismissed as a “last resort” and “uniquely unsettling.” Ads would close the gap, but at a cost. Shelly Palmer argues they would compromise the very thing that makes ChatGPT valuable: trust. If users believe answers are influenced by sponsors, the app risks losing its core appeal, no matter how many billions it brings in.
Vigil Labs AI Raises $5.7 Million To Build Bionic Traders. Founder and CEO, Kole Lee, dropped out of Stanford to start what may become the world’s largest hedge fund, powered by real-time data from proprietary sources, and a reasoning system specifically trained to advise and augment human traders. His first customer is himself. Lee is literally betting his fortune on his startup.
Invisible Universe has opened Invisible Studio, an AI-powered content creation platform for short-form video, to its waitlist of creators. Already used by major media companies, the tool integrates image, voice, and video AI into a modular workflow that takes projects from script to publish-ready content in minutes. Features include a creative assistant trained on short-form trends, automated storyboarding with voice options, and Image2Model, a patent-pending system that generates consistent characters from a single image. A character library and upcoming “Story Lands” expand storytelling options. Invisible Studio, which cut the company’s own production costs by 95%, starts at $10/month.
Spatial Audio
For more spatial commentary & insights, check out the AI/XR Podcast, hosted by the author of this column, Charlie Fink, and Ted Schilowitz, former studio executive and futurist recently at Paramount and Fox, and Rony Abovitz, founder of Magic Leap. This week, our guest is novelist Devon Ericson. You can find it on podcasting platforms Spotify, iTunes, and YouTube.
Charlie Fink is an author and futurist focused on spatial computing. See his books here. Spatial Beats contains insights and inputs from Fink’s collaborators including Paramount Pictures futurist Ted Shilowitz.
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