Meta (Facebook) is developing a smartwatch with a front-facing camera
bloomberg.com
bloomberg.com
Facebook may have a future beyond social media, or at least beyond what we know as social media. Back when Google was absolutely not this huge, they were a company whose main products were a search engine, a web mail client (which wasn't even the most popular), and a video content provider. They had to fight against powerful and big Microsoft, who controlled all the spectrum of computing (back in 2007, even IIS was popular) in a closed and proprietary manner, who applied the rules of EEE as a means of survival and who made sure nobody ate its cake.
But then, Google built a platform based on open source software that was beyond what anybody had to offer back then (except for the iPhone, which was better but restricted to Apple), and now we know how the story goes (Alphabet has significantly higher revenue than Microsoft, and controls the web, the majority of phone devices and is gaining substantial market share in Microsoft's territory, the PC).
However, there's a platform nobody has conquered yet, because it's inmature: AR. This is an opportunity for Facebook (Meta). They know about social (Google doesn't that much, and for sure the rage nowadays is social interaction with the people, there you see Twitch's success), and they know about AR and VR. I can't say they've any significant advantage over Google, but I believe they can be competitive.
Recent news is they're working on a Microkernel-based OS (I think it's been managed by a top Windows NT co-developer, so serious people that know their stuff), with a small footprint to conquer AR, as the current software simply doesn't cut it. We don't know its status vs. Google's Fuchsia, which is the other contender, but if they can pull it off, it's a substantial improvement and a solid foundation for the future. The idea is to repeat Android's road to success: open but controlled ecosystem that many OEMs can take advantage of. I'm all in for that, and I hope it's either them or Fuchsia the ones that get us to the future (because I honestly don't believe Linux will be). Of course, I'd say Fuchsia seems much more ready, and they're not ready at all.
Plus, they're working on a smartwatch. Let's see how it is, because Google has tried for long, but they simply are not competitive vs. Apple. Facebook could do something different.
Again, it's not my intention to bash Linux, or to say I like Facebook. I absolutely hate FB's social practices, but they know how to engage people, how to do social, and their work on Open Source, crypto, the internet as a whole and VR/AR is absolutely splendid, and for that, they deserve credit.