News

Oakley And Meta Reveal Performance-Focused AI Smart Glasses

The AI-powered wearables are designed for athletes, combining voice control, hands-free capture, and enhanced optics.

Published

1 year ago

June 23, 2025

oakley and meta reveal performance-focused ai smart glasses

Meta has partnered with Oakley to launch a new line of wearable devices under the “Oakley Meta” brand, blending Oakley’s sports-focused design with Meta’s voice-enabled, AI-powered tech. The first product, called Oakley Meta HSTN, is aimed at athletes and active users looking for hands-free access to information, media, and recording tools.

Positioned as a continuation of Meta’s expansion into wearables — following the Ray-Ban Meta line — the new collaboration adds a performance angle, with features tailored to sport and outdoor environments. Oakley Meta HSTN includes an embedded camera for video capture, open-ear speakers for audio playback, and integration with Meta’s voice assistant for hands-free prompts and queries.

Battery life is reportedly extended, with up to eight hours of typical use and 19 hours on standby. A dedicated charging case provides up to 48 hours of total use. Video quality is also upgraded, with support for 3K resolution, offering more detail than the previous 1080p standard found in earlier Meta glasses.

The glasses are IPX4-rated for water resistance and will be available in multiple frame and lens combinations, some featuring Oakley’s PRIZM lens technology, which enhances contrast and clarity by selectively filtering light. Prescription-ready models are also available.

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Voice features are powered by Meta’s on-device assistant. Users can initiate commands such as checking wind speeds, asking sport-related questions, or capturing footage via voice prompts. The assistant is designed to respond to real-time queries without needing to access a separate device.

While the launch is backed by a marketing campaign featuring athletes such as Kylian Mbappé and J.R. Smith, the product is also part of a wider strategic push by Meta and EssilorLuxottica to expand connected eyewear into more specialized use cases. Availability begins in July with a limited edition model, followed by a full rollout later in the year.

News

Egypt’s Mobile Wallets Are Booming, But Cash Still Has Power

Egypt’s telecom regulator says $57.6 billion moved through more than 57 million wallets in six months. And one operator handled 77% of the value.

Published

4 days ago

September 12, 2026

Nour Nasir

egypt's mobile wallets are booming but cash still has power

Egypt’s mobile wallets handled EGP 2.96 trillion ($57.6 billion) in transactions in the first half of 2026, according to the National Telecom Regulatory Authority – a 56% rise on the EGP 1.90 trillion ($36.9 billion) recorded a year earlier. Transactions grew faster still, up 62% to 2.22 billion, while registered wallets climbed 23% to 57.01 million.

On one reading, that is exactly what Egypt’s regulators have been pushing for: a payments system that runs through telecom-linked wallets rather than banknotes. But the same data shows how far cash still reaches into it. Cash withdrawals made up just 12% of the transactions taking money out of wallets, yet 75% of the value withdrawn or spent.

Money arrives mostly from bank accounts: transfers through InstaPay accounted for 78% of deposit transactions and 58% of the value deposited, while incoming remittances from abroad made up 3% of deposit transactions but 10% of their value. Once inside, it largely moves between wallets – wallet-to-wallet transfers accounted for 54% of all transactions and 67% of total value, with mobile and internet top-ups a distant second at 25% of volume. In effect, the wallet is serving as a transfer layer: the place money passes through between the bank account and the banknote.

That layer also runs predominantly through one operator. Vodafone Cash held 53% of registered wallets and 57% of active ones, but handled 69% of transactions and 77% of their value. Its nearest rival, e& money, held 23% of registered wallets but 14% of transaction value; Orange Cash 20% and 8%; WE Pay 4% of wallets. How many of the 57.01 million are active is not stated.

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Adoption is rather uneven in other respects. Men held 38 million wallets, or 67% of the total, against 19 million held by women. Users aged 26 to 45 accounted for half of all wallets, and Cairo alone had 10.6 million, or 19% of the national total, with Giza next at 6.5 million.

The NTRA says it is continuing to work with telecom operators on the regulatory framework for wallet services, part of a wider effort to expand electronic payments and financial inclusion. Its own figures show that effort succeeding on the way in. On the way out, three-quarters of the value still leaves as cash.