Meta

While campaigning for the US Senate in 2021, Vice Presidential nominee JD Vance filmed a Facebook Live using his smartphone’s selfie camera, which mirrored the image, and therefore his campaign signs.

That can be fixed, but Vance’s idea — rotating the phone — is not it. (I recommend waiting a moment to turn on the volume, unless you’re a fan of TikTok’s text-to-speech voices.)

That’s Instagram chief Adam Mosseri’s response to Walt Mossberg’s frustration about recent Threads engagement. Mosseri acknowledged that Mossberg has a “handful" of posts with engagement that seems “remarkably low.”

In a related update, my colleague Umar Shakir, who wrote yesterday about Instagram disabling his account for allegedly being underage (he’s not), had his account restored with no word from Meta.

I’m in a love-hate relationship with these smart shades. This’ll be the second time I’ve returned a pair! I gave them another chance because the see-through model looks fantastic... I’d use them almost every day if I could ditch these dealbreakers.

It’ll roll out in more languages and to 21 additional countries by the end of the year, starting today with the UK, Brazil, Guatemala, Bolivia, Paraguay, and the Philippines. The AI assistant currently has almost 500 million active monthly users.

Meta AI is also coming to Meta’s Ray-Ban smart glasses in Australia and the UK, though the latter is only voice support “to start.”

Meta’s avatars can now sit in Horizon Worlds experiences — well, as long as a developer uses the right “gizmo” in their world.

Meta introduced upgraded avatars last week.

Mosseri, who now heads up Instagram, talked a bit about the project in response to a post from our EIC Nilay Patel about the HTC First.

If you want to do some time-traveling, check out Dieter Bohn’s review from 2013.

If you thought standard-issue ad tech was a little weird and creepy, get ready for the future: platforms letting marketers use all their data to make an infinite number of AI-generated ads specifically targeted to individual viewers. Digiday reports on TikTok’s Smart , which competes with similar offerings from Meta and Google:

Marketers can let TikTok’s AI handle the heavy lifting — building and delivering ads to drive conversions, leads, or app downloads. […] The pitch is all about simplicity and speed — no more weeks of guesswork and endless A/B testing, according to Adolfo Fernandez, TikTok’s director, global head of product strategy and operations, commerce.

Super normal, everyone! No potential issues here!

...and leaves with two Porsches. The car customizer has continued operations long after its four-season association with MTV’s Pimp My Ride, and now Meta’s chain-wearing CEO is a customer.

Along with a GT3 Touring, the Zuckerbergs obtained a Porsche Cayenne SUV that’s stretched out and now features sliding doors.

The Washington Post has a story about Mark Zuckerberg’s recent fashionbro glow-up, and I can’t stop laughing at this bananas grant of anonymity for what amounts to a stan quote — my italics added for emphasis:

“Zuckerberg is ruthless as both a leader and an executive, but in his heart, he’s just a start-up guy who wants to be cool with the nerds,” a former Facebook executive said. “He’s living his best life,” added the executive, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to avoid retaliation.

Zuck or nothing, indeed.

Focus grouping upcoming films is a pretty standard practice. But according to Variety, the rise of toxic online fandoms who treat review bombing and leading harassment campaigns like it’s their job has prompted many of Hollywood’s studios to start soliciting feedback from “superfans” about how to avoid potential backlash from trolls who “are just out for blood, regardless.”

The new features for video calls include ten filters that adjust color or add things like “Fisheye” lens and “Vintage TV” grain effects, and ten virtual backgrounds that blur your environment, or replace it entirely with a beach, cafe, office, and more.

WhatsApp says the video effects are rolling out starting today, and will be available to all users “in the coming weeks.”

Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth doesn’t reveal anything particularly new here, but I do love looking at prototypes. There’s much more detail in Alex Heath’s Orion hands-on — perhaps most importantly that Meta doesn’t plan to use these expensive silicon carbide lenses whenever it does produce an actual AR product.

The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) announced the fine against Meta’s EU branch, saying the company “failed to notify”. the DPC that it “inadvertently” stored user passwords without encryption in 2019.

Dimensional Double Shift is a four-player co-op game from Owlchemy Labs, the creators of Job Simulator, Vacation Simulator and Cosmonious High.

Like those games, you’ll be doing hilarious oddball tasks in VR — but now you’re working for an “interdimensional” gas station, diner, and garage, and using your actual tracked hands to manipulate objects.

Meta was using Brady’s face for a goofy and now-discontinued chatbot character program, so maybe he’s just mad about that. No explaining why Kristen Bell, who is part of a current Meta celebrity AI product, also fell for it, though.

The AI Act came into law on August 1st, but some rules for “high risk” systems won’t be enforced until August 2027. Now, companies like Google, Microsoft, Adobe, and Samsung are promising to make a head start.

Meta and Apple (which have been critical of the EU’s AI stance) are notably absent, but OpenAI has signed the pledge despite previous grumblings.