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Snap unveils 1,995 smart glasses after previous flops

BBC News

Snapchat's parent company has announced it is releasing new smart glasses, a decade after its original pair lost the company tens of millions of dollars . The new augmented reality (AR) glasses, called Specs, will allow users to see digital elements overlaid onto the world. They will cost £1,995 in the UK and $2,195 in the US when shipping begins this autumn. That makes them cheaper than Apple's Vision Pro mixed-reality headset and its $3,499 starting price, but far more than Meta's smart glasses, which start at $224. Evan Spiegel, co-founder and chief executive of Snap Inc, said the glasses marked the beginning of a new era in computing.


Evan Spiegel doesn't want you to call Snap Specs AI glasses

Engadget

Evan Spiegel doesn't want you to call Snap Specs AI glasses Evan Spiegel doesn't want you to call Snap Specs AI glasses Snap's CEO sat down with Engadget after his keynote at AWE. Snap's newly announced AR Specs might seem similar to other smartglasses, but Snap CEO Evan Spiegel says that's the wrong way to think about the product. Specs, he says, is a new type of computer, a see-through computer. Shortly after unveiling Specs at AWE, Spiegel sat down with Engadget to tell us more about the device we got a glimpse of onstage. The CEO repeatedly referred to Specs as a computer and that really is core to understanding how Snap is positioning the product (and justifying the price). Specs, Spiegel said, is able to overlay computing on the world around you and bring computing into the world, which is so important if you want to make computing feel more human. But Snap will have to do more than just persuade people to buy a computer for their face.


You Can Finally Buy Snap's New AR Specs--for 2,150

WIRED

You Can Finally Buy Snap's New AR Specs--for $2,195 Snap CEO Evan Spiegel lays out the company's vision for its augmented-reality smart glasses, arriving later this year. Snap--maker of the popular social app Snapchat--has a new pair of augmented-reality smart glasses called Specs. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel revealed the new glasses at an event during the Augmented World Expo (AWE) tech conference in Long Beach, California. As Snap frames it, this isn't a prototype or developer device--it's the first actual consumer version of the Specs AR glasses, unlike the previous generation exclusively sold to developers and creators. Snap says it expects the devices to ship this fall in the US, UK, and France.


NSDAP archive: How DER SPIEGEL processed the data from the Nazi card file

Der Spiegel International

Bereich How DER SPIEGEL processed the data from the NSDAP membership card file aufklappen The NSDAP membership card file was recently made available by the US National Archives on its website in digitized form. DER SPIEGEL downloaded all of these documents and extracted the content with the help of artificial intelligence. To minimize errors when reading the old files, the dataset was first classified with the help of machine learning and pre-sorted into groups. The handwriting on the index cards is in some cases difficult to read, on some the text has faded, many are written in old German script (Sütterlin). Other cards, meanwhile, were filled out with a typewriter.


"Reckless, Suicidal Race": The Deadly Threat Posed by Artificial Intelligence

Der Spiegel International

The rapid rise of artificial intelligence is just as dangerous as the invention of nuclear weapons. AI pioneers are warning that the technology must be brought under control while it's still possible. In November 2017, a short, eight-minute horror film went viral on the internet. The dystopic Slaughterbots" depicts attack drones equipped with facial recognition software infiltrating the U.S. Congress and universities and selectively killing senators and students who have spoken out against corruption. The film never makes clear who is behind the attacks. Or perhaps a cutting-edge arms manufacturer producing new AI-powered weapons, led by a young, charismatic CEO who markets autonomous killer drones as the future of warfare. The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 10/2026 (February 27th, 2026) of DER SPIEGEL. Slaughterbots" was made as a warning.


Veering to the Right in Silicon Valley: The Two Faces of Mark Zuckerberg

Der Spiegel International

There have always been two sides to the Meta CEO. But since the beginning of Trump's second term, the nice side has taken a back seat. Ruthlessness is now the name of the game. January 31, 2024, is an uncomfortable day in Washington. An icy wind is whistling around the corners of the Dirksen Senate Office Building, right next to the Capitol. Inside, the atmosphere is not much more welcoming. Indeed, it feels downright hostile. In the large hall, women and men are holding up signs - silent, in mourning and protest. On them are pictures of girls and boys, 12, 13, 14, 15 years old. Harassed, sexually abused, mistreated on social networks on the internet. Many of the children have died from the consequences. And the man primarily to blame is said to be the one sitting in a blue suit in the front row: Mark Zuckerberg, 39 years old at the time. His usually radiant boyish face is expressionless.


Never Out of Date: How Hannah Arendt Helps Us Understand Our World

Der Spiegel International

Fifty years after her death in New York, Hannah Arendt has become the most popular philosopher of our time. For good reason: Her views are just as timely as ever. It must be so nice to play Hannah Arendt. No fewer than five actresses are on stage this evening at the Deutsches Theater Berlin to portray the philosopher. The piece is an adaptation of the graphic novel by American illustrator Ken Krimstein about the philosopher's life, called The Three Escapes of Hannah Arendt," combined with scenes from the famous interview that journalist Günter Gaus conducted with Arendt in 1964 for German public broadcaster ZDF. The article you are reading originally appeared in German in issue 49/2025 (November 28th, 2025) of DER SPIEGEL. They play Arendt and a few of her contemporaries, the philosopher Martin Heidegger, the writer Walter Benjamin, her husband Heinrich Blücher. There is a great deal of speech in the play, especially from Arendt herself. The places of her life are ticked off, her ...


Critiquing DER SPIEGEL: The Four Dilemmas Facing Quality Journalism

Der Spiegel International

Not only that, but information is suddenly everywhere, people are losing trust in news outlets and there is a growing exhaustion with crisis reporting. Serious journalism is under greater pressure than ever before. How is DER SPIEGEL reacting? Quite some time ago, an email landed in my inbox from a former DER SPIEGEL editor. He wanted to pitch me a story and, as I quickly realized, stir things up a bit. Then, a couple of months ago, he approached me personally on the sidelines of an event in Hamburg, perhaps because I still hadn't shown much interest. He said we should meet up for a tea or something harder." He is plagued, he told me, each and every week by the wrenching, agonizing decision as to whether he should cancel his subscription to DER SPIEGEL - dismayed by what he described as an incipient decline under the dictates of late-capitalist sales imperatives" he had observed at his former employer.


Doctors at Cedars-Sinai develop AI-powered mental health 'robot' therapist

Los Angeles Times

Misty Williams checks into the emergency room at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center from time to time for treatment of debilitating pain from sickle cell disease, which causes red blood cells to stiffen and block the flow of blood. After pain medication and hydration are ordered, the 41-year-old Los Angeles resident makes an unusual request: access to a virtual reality headset with an artificial intelligence-powered chatbot that can carry on a dialogue with her. With the headset on, Williams finds herself in a virtual garden, butterflies drifting around her. A humanoid robot greets her with a soothing female voice. My name is Xaia, and I'm your mental health ally," it says. After a session, Williams' pain eases and her mind is calmer. "Mentally and physically, I feel more at peace," Williams said. Xaia (pronounced ZAI-uh) is just one of many ways that artificial intelligence technology is barreling its way into the burgeoning sector known as digital health.


Using AI to Humiliate Women: The Men Behind Deepfake Pornography

Der Spiegel International

The whistleblower confirmed to DER SPIEGEL that all Clothoff employees work in countries that used to belong to the Soviet Union. That is consistent with the fact that all of the company's internal communications that DER SPIEGEL has in its possession are completely in Russian, and the company's email service is also based in Russia. The four central players declined to respond to attempts by DER SPIEGEL to contact them for the story published in December 2024. A person named Elias did get in touch, however, claiming to be a spokesperson for the app. He said the four people mentioned above were unknown to him.