Meta’s Invisible Pen

PRESENTED BY XAVIER AI

Happy Friday, Future Party. We’ve entered a new era of brand ambassadorship — licensing your AI likeness. Carvana is rolling out “Shaqbot,” a chatbot modeled after NBA legend Shaquille O’Neal, across its ecommerce ecosystem. Shaq as a literal car salesman wasn’t on our 2025 bingo card… but here we are.

Meta unveiled its newest smartglasses — AI-powered, wristband-controlled, and featuring a display right in the lens.

The Big Picture: While Meta’s Reality Labs has lost $70 billion since 2020, its smartglasses line has steadily gained traction. The latest model, the Meta Ray-Ban Display, is designed to shift users from smartphones to facial computing — a move that could turn Reality Labs into a success story (or at least help it sidestep Apple’s and Google’s app-store fees).

Behind The Lenses: Zuckerberg showed off the new Ray-Bans — which will be available for $799 starting September 30th — during his Meta Connect 2025 keynote.

The Future: Onstage, Zuckerberg demonstrated “air writing” using the Neural Band— holding his fingers like a pen and scribbling in midair. Reality Labs testers managed 21 words per minute this way, compared to the 36 wpm average on a smartphone. The company expects users to get faster as they adapt to the tech.

It’s wild to think Meta may have just invented an even more distracting way to text in class.

Vision: Pairing its wrist-control tech with future AR capabilities could eventually position smartglasses as a defining technology for Meta — firmly ushering in its hardware era.

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Fashion influencer Lyas has turned a viral meet-up to livestream a runway show into a global tour.

Why It Hits: Luxury fashion shows are notoriously exclusive, but their fandom is massive. By transforming livestreams — which have been around for decades — into in-person gatherings, Lyas is opening high fashion to a new generation of fans eager for shared experiences.

Behind The Gatherings: When Lyas wasn’t invited to the SS26 J.W. Anderson Dior show, he organized a watch party at a Paris bar. Hundreds showed up.

That sparked an idea.

Last Looks: Lyas describes the events as a “hybrid between festival and Fashion Week,” recreating the vibe of watching soccer or UFC at a bar — but with couture. Guests gather to enjoy, discuss, and share the moment with strangers who love the same thing. With the rise of run clubs, book clubs, and, well, every kind of club, it was only a matter of time until fashion joined the movement.

Next Season: Sports bars are a dime a dozen, so expect there to be fashion bars in the near future.

55.9% of you voted Yes in yesterday’s poll: Did you ever use LimeWire back in the early 2000s?

“Nelly, Limp Bizkit, and Korn.”

“Had to make those ‘going out CDs’ for the pre-party and the ride out to the club!”

“It was the sexier version of Napster.”

“Those viruses on the family computer didn’t download themselves. 😅”

“I didn’t, but my daughter did. I was always afraid the FBI would come knocking on our door!”

Let’s keep the conversation going. Join our Poll Of The Day newsletter, so your opinions can shine. Discover how your views line up with your peers’, check out cool insights, and have some fun. It’s data with personality.

🎫 The FTC is suing Live Nation and Ticketmaster for allegedly colluding with resale platforms.

🍿 A24’s Materialists is the first indie movie to cross $100 million at the global box office this year.

🏗️ LEGO has launched LEGO Masters Academy at its location in Denmark to teach building skills.

🎥 Luma AI has partnered with Adobe to launch the first “reasoning” generative-video system, “Ray3.”

👭 Bumble is rolling out a revamped BFF app, as friend-finding becomes the new trend in swiping.

🚗 Tesla is updating its controversial door handles to make manual opening easier after accidents prompted an NHTSA investigation.

🛒 Phia, the AI-powered price-comparison app created by Phoebe Gates, has raised an $8 million seed round.

🤖 Google and PayPal are partnering to supercharge agentic shopping, so you don’t have to do your own shopping anymore.

🎮 Fortnite will finally allow creators to sell in-game items starting this December.