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

NEOPAY Wants To Follow Merchants Across Channels And Borders

A controlling 65% stake in noon payments would give NEOPAY access to marketplace sellers, online merchants and the payment flows they generate.

Published

1 day ago

October 5, 2026

Nour Nasir

neopay wants to follow merchants across channels and borders

It’s been a long time since checkouts were single defined places. A merchant might take payments at a physical register, on its own website and through an online marketplace, sometimes in more than one country. NEOPAY wants to follow those transactions wherever they happen.

The UAE payments company has entered into an agreement to acquire a 65% controlling stake in noon payments. NEOPAY already runs the acquiring infrastructure that lets merchants accept card payments, along with omnichannel acceptance and a merchant services platform. This new deal would add noon payments’ embedded payments platform, e-commerce gateway and merchant network across the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt. That would considerably expand both NEOPAY’s digital commerce capabilities and its regional reach.

For merchants, the attraction is a single provider for online and in-store payments, plus faster settlements, data and analytics, and value-added financial services.

“Payments should be simple, reliable, and built for the markets they serve,” said Faraz Khalid, CEO of noon. His counterpart at NEOPAY, Vibhor Mundhada, added: “We have built a strong payments business in the UAE, and our ambition is now to take that capability across the region”. The acquisition, Mundhada added, would “expand our footprint into Saudi Arabia and Egypt” while reinforcing NEOPAY’s position at home.

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NEOPAY is also keen to point out potential payment volume increases. The company says noon payments’ integrations with marketplace sellers and online merchants create high transaction density in some of the region’s fastest-growing digital commerce segments. It also believes control of the business would give it access to those merchant relationships and payment flows, and speed up the rollout of alternative payment methods and installment options.

The combined roadmap targets faster merchant onboarding, better payment performance, tighter fraud controls and embedded financial services. The deal could also strengthen cross-border payments and settlement along key regional commerce corridors.