Weekly Dose of Optimism #162

Hi friends 👋 ,

Happy Friday and welcome back to our 162nd Weekly Dose of Optimism. Another week, another heavy dose. We got AR hardware and software launches, new Waymo safety numbers that make scaled FSD all but inevitable, record-breaking datacenter buildouts, AI models that can predict health outcomes, and a total of 5 bonus stories. We aim to please here.

Let’s get to it.

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(1) The All-In Podcast (minus Jason) Goes to the White House

Just kidding.

(1) Introducing Meta Ray-Ban Display: A Breakthrough Category of AI Glasses

From Meta

Meta Ray-Ban Display glasses are designed to help you look up and stay present. With a quick glance at the in-lens display, you can accomplish everyday tasks—like checking messages, previewing photos, and collaborating with visual Meta AI prompts — all without needing to pull out your phone. It’s technology that keeps you tuned in to the world around you, not distracted from it.

Google Glass walked so that Meta Ray-Ban Display could run. Earlier this week at Connect, Meta’s annual developer conference and product showcase, Zuckerberg revealed the company’s latest generation AR glasses. While the demo itself was spotted with live-demo mishaps, the product itself is genuinely impressive. It looks cool, delivers real world functionality, and is only $799! Zuck, Boz and the boys cooked here frfr.

The Wayfarer-framed glasses hide a full-color, high-res display and pair with the Meta Neural Band, a wrist strap that reads tiny muscle signals so you can swipe, click, or even “type” without touching a screen. The display (which has gotten really strong reviews) can show messages, give turn-by-turn walking directions, live caption convos or videos, and show camera previews. You can also stream your POV, take calls, and listen to music. These land somewhere in between Airpods/previous versions of the Meta AR glasses and the full-on immersive Apple Vision Pro (which is about 5x more expensive.)

The product hits select shelves on September 30th and