At Wednesday’s Connect 2026 showcase, Meta officially lifted the curtain on its newest wearable: a pair of AI glasses completely devoid of cameras. Officially dubbed the Ray-Ban Meta Audio, the device tackles head-on the privacy backlash that has plagued smart eyewear in recent years.

By stripping out the lenses and image sensors, Meta hopes to shed the infamous "creeper" reputation that haunted earlier iterations – where bad actors used hidden recording capabilities to film people without their knowledge or consent. Meta had previously tried to curb this by disabling the camera if anyone tampered with the recording LED, but public discomfort lingered, reports TechCrunch.

The new Ray-Ban Meta Audio pivots entirely to sound. Starting at $349 and crafted alongside long-time hardware partner EssilorLuxottica, the specs function essentially as open-ear smart headphones. Wearers can take calls, stream music or podcasts, get live speech translation, and chat directly with Meta’s newly minted AI assistant, Muse. It’s a move that places the frames in direct competition with screenless voice accessories like Apple’s AirPods.

"Once you get used to high-quality audio, it’s just something you want around all the time," CEO Mark Zuckerberg noted during his keynote, explaining that what started as an experiment eventually morphed into its own standalone product lineup.

Shedding the camera modules allowed Meta’s design team to trim down the bulk significantly. The frames weigh just 43 grams and come equipped with practical comfort tweaks like adjustable temple tips, swappable nose pads, and flexible overextension hinges. On the battery front, Meta promises up to 12 hours of playback on a single charge, stretching to 48 hours when paired with the included charging case.

Related Meta’s Muse Charm Gives AI Wearables a Tamagotchi Twist

Style options haven't been dialed back, either. Buyers can pick from 23 frame-and-lens combinations across two brand-new silhouettes: the retro "Clubmaster" and the structured, rectangular "Burbank." Prescription lens options remain available, and pre-orders officially open on October 13.

What Else Came Out of Connect 2026?

For those who do still want visual capture, Meta didn't abandon its standard lineup. The tech giant also unveiled the camera-equipped Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3) line. Alongside the flagship Wayfarer, Meta is adding the classic Aviator and a cat-eye frame called the Zena. These feature an upgraded 12 MP camera capable of shooting 3K Ultra HD video, a six-microphone array, and up to nine hours of battery life.

To boost global appeal, Meta is expanding its international rollout and rolling out fresh celebrity partnerships – notably tapping global pop icon Lisa, following a previous campaign with Kylie Jenner.

Every model in the lineup will integrate with Meta’s Muse AI assistant. Meta also teased a roadmap of incoming features across the ecosystem, including:

• Dolby Atmos Capture for richer sound recording
• An automated feature that selects the sharpest image out of multi-frame bursts
• Manual toggles for portrait and landscape video orientation
• Assistive audio boosts designed for users with mild hearing loss
• Customizable gesture controls and fine-tuned audio profiles
• A new "private processing" architecture aimed at keeping user interactions hidden from Meta's internal servers

AI-powered wearable devices have become something of a running joke in the tech world. Products such as Friend have made some consumers skeptical about the idea of carrying an AI companion around with them.

Meta, however, is willing to give the concept another shot.

The company has unveiled Muse Charm, a small AI-powered wearable designed to keep users connected to Meta’s recently introduced personal AI assistant, Muse.

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg introduced the device during the company’s annual Connect event, saving it for a surprise “one more thing” reveal. The gadget is not quite ready for consumers yet. Zuckerberg said the company is still finalizing the internal component layout but expects Muse Charm to begin shipping in time for the December holiday season, according to Tech Crunch.

At first glance, the device looks more like a tiny digital companion than a conventional piece of technology. The palm-sized gadget can be carried in a pocket or attached to a keychain. A small built-in display shows a cute digital character called Jolly, which serves as the visual identity of the Muse AI assistant.

Users can interact with Muse by simply talking to the device. A fingerprint sensor on the corner allows them to activate the assistant without unlocking a smartphone or opening an app.

During his keynote, Zuckerberg described it as a way to put the entire Muse experience – including real-time voice interaction and its animated avatar – into a device small enough to hang from a keychain.

Related Meta Unveils High-End VR Glasses

The company believes the wearable could be particularly useful when users aren't wearing Meta's smart glasses. Instead of reaching for a phone, they can simply tap the device and start speaking to Muse. The assistant can also potentially respond to information about the user's surroundings and perform tasks on their behalf.

The design gives Muse Charm a distinctly Tamagotchi-like personality. Rather than feeling like another piece of serious-looking hardware, it resembles a small digital pet that happens to be powered by artificial intelligence.

That playful approach may also be strategic for Meta. Instead of betting heavily on another standalone AI gadget, the company can use Muse Charm as a relatively low-risk experiment in the growing AI wearable market.

More importantly, the device gives Meta another physical gateway to its AI assistant. If users become comfortable carrying Muse Charm everywhere, Meta could gain a new and more personal way to keep people interacting with its AI services throughout the day.

Whether consumers will embrace another always-available AI companion remains to be seen. But with Muse Charm, Meta appears determined to prove that AI wearables don't have to look like futuristic gadgets – they can be as simple, playful, and addictive as a tiny digital pet.

SiBionics, a Shenzhen-based Medtech company presented "See More, Act Earlier," connecting continuous sensing with future diabetes care, at the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) 2026. Three exhibition chapters shaped this vision: "See More: Beyond Glucose," covering glucose, ketone and combined monitoring; "Act Earlier: From Insight to Intervention," exploring multimodal sensing and insulin delivery; and "Go Further: Realizing the Unimagined," looking toward broader biosensing applications.

The vision was further explored at the SiBionics industry symposium, "From Sensors to Integrated Care: Emerging Technologies Shaping the Future of Diabetes Management." The symposium was chaired by Prof. Mark Evans, of the University of Cambridge and Cambridge University Hospitals, United Kingdom, and Dr. Guido Freckmann, of the Institute for Diabetes-Technology GmbH (IfDT), Germany, says a press release.

Prof. Karolina Kędzierska-Kapuza discussed CGM and individualized care in type 3c diabetes. Prof. Wei Qiang presented CGM accuracy findings and future multimodal sensing concepts. Prof. Andrej Janež explored continuous ketone monitoring in the GLP-1 era. Prof. Ahmad Haidar presented ketone monitoring research and the first findings of the SMART02 feasibility study on integrated glucose sensing and insulin delivery.

SMART02 evaluated an early prototype of niia signature, an investigational device jointly developed by PharmaSens and SiBionics since the two companies announced their collaboration in June 2025. niia signature will combine continuous glucose monitoring (CGM), insulin delivery and an automated glucose control (AGC) algorithm in one wearable patch. It aims to reduce the burden of managing separate devices for automated insulin delivery (AID).

Related Google to Add Insulin Resistance Tracking

The study addressed a central integration challenge: maintaining glucose measurement performance when insulin is delivered close to the sensor. Temporary interference after a bolus was uncommon overall and occurred mainly with doses of 10 units or more, where the probability was 20 to 25%. On average, the sensor signal fully recovered approximately 20 minutes after bolus delivery. In the second part of the study, the prototype was also tested together with the AGC algorithm developed by Prof. Ahmad Haidar. The PharmaSens niia patch pump, the SiBionics sensor and the AGC algorithm performed consistently throughout the study. The findings, also featured at the SiBionics booth, mark an early development milestone.

Together, the exhibition and symposium connected clinical needs with emerging technologies. Through niia signature, PharmaSens and SiBionics are exploring how integration could make future AID easier to wear and use. Further research is needed to establish its performance and clinical potential.

niia signature is an investigational device. It is not approved or cleared in any market and is not available for sale.

About SIBIONICS

Founded in 2015 and headquartered in Shenzhen, SiBionics is a medical technology company specializing in CGM and multi-parameter health solutions, with nearly 700 professionals worldwide. Combining advanced sensor technology with AI-driven algorithms, the company develops accessible, reliable solutions for chronic disease management.

About PharmaSens

PharmaSens AG, a privately owned Swiss company, is dedicated to simplifying diabetes management and broadening the reach of insulin pump therapy. The PharmaSens team has a wealth of experience in diabetes care and medtech device engineering, having contributed to the development of multiple insulin pump generations.

A team led by University of Massachusetts Amherst researchers has developed a wearable wrist device powered by a machine-learning algorithm that can continually track changes in arm movement impairment caused by strokes. Monitoring changes throughout the entire rehabilitation process will allow clinicians to make real-time adjustments to therapy programs for tailored interventions and personalized care instead of the one-size-fits-all current standard.

"We are the first group to actually show that, using wearable data, we can extract information about patients' motor severity, which clinicians can actually use to determine whether their intervention is effective or not," says Sunghoon Ivan Lee, associate professor in the Manning College of Information and Computer Sciences at UMass Amherst and corresponding author on the paper describing this new technology. The research was completed alongside colleagues from Washington University in St. Louis, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab and Harvard Medical School/Mass General Brigham.

Annually, more than 795,000 Americans experience strokes, with upper-limb mobility issues affecting up to 77% of patients immediately following the event. About 40% of patients continue to have chronic issues, posing a major limitation to independent living, reports Laura Marshall in U Mass – Amherst.

While physical therapy improves these mobility issues, it is not without its limitations. Currently, progress is measured by a clinician's observational assessment, which takes about 30 minutes. Because this is a time-consuming process, assessment typically occurs only pre- and post-rehabilitation.

“That means during that therapy process, neither the patient nor the therapist has a clear idea of how patients are responding to the treatments that they're receiving. Currently, clinicians aren't able to see if patients are responding to the prescribed exercises, and patients have no way of knowing how they are progressing,” says Lee.

With a wearable monitor, recovery data collection can be ongoing and occur outside of therapy sessions, allowing the therapist to make timely adjustments to treatment strategies for truly personalized rehabilitation.

Also, tracking movement in a patient's real-life environment may be more indicative of true performance, as opposed to movement that is artificially produced in a clinic. The wrist-wearable also captures movement at all times of day, versus at just one snapshot of time. And finally, patients may find that tracking their own recovery progress increases their engagement in the therapy practices and keeps them motivated.

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Lee is optimistic that this increased transparency will translate to improved therapy outcomes.

An accelerometer sensor in the device captures upper-limb movement, which is then interpreted by a machine-learning algorithm developed by Lee and his graduate student and the lead author on the paper, Ryan Wang.

"[Movement and impairment severity] are related because the less severe you are, the more likely you're going to move a lot, but they're not exactly the same," says Lee. "Increasing the use of the limbs-yes, we can encourage the person to make use of the limb more. But patients cannot make instant changes to motor severity through short-term behavior change."

Their model, described in Science Translational Medicine, was trained on accelerometer data and clinician assessment scores of subacute (one week to six months after a stroke) stroke patients and healthy individuals. They found that their algorithm was 40-50% more accurate-meaning a better reflection of the patient's true condition-compared to clinician evaluation.

In addition to the clinical application of using the device to inform personalized interventions, Lee's work demonstrated that the device has a strong research application. In recreating a previous study using their own digital biomarker instead of clinician observations, the researchers found that they generated statistically significant results with 50% fewer participants.

"We can get a clear idea of the effectiveness of the intervention using a lower sample size and far fewer resources," says Lee. This can expedite the research process and reduce costs."

This work was supported by the National Institutes of Health. With a provisional patent filed, Lee is pursuing commercialization through the startup Lumid Health with support from UMass Amherst Institute for Applied Life Sciences' Translational Seed Award, the UMass Office of Technology Commercialization & Ventures' (OTCV) Technology Development Fund and participation in the NSF I-Corps Training Program.

To further develop the technology, Lee's research partners are currently recruiting stroke patients for a study held at the Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital in Boston. Those interested in participating can see the inclusion criteria and apply here.

The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared Marani Health’s remote maternal monitoring system.  The company is now eyeing commercialization of its tool for addressing maternity care ‘deserts’ across the US by providing a homecare option for fetal monitoring.

Marani’s Mwrap is worn around the abdomen and uses embedded electrodes to capture fetal and maternal heart signals that are transmitted to the Minnesota-based company’s digital platform.

Healthcare professionals can remotely analyze complete tracings via a site, while patients can use Mwrap's companion app to record fetal movements and monitor average heart rate findings, reports Medical Device Network.

By extending the reach of care teams and lowering the number of monitoring sessions conducted in a conventional clinical setting, Mcare assists health systems and health plans in facilitating prescribed maternal monitoring outside of hospitals and clinics.

For patients, Marani’s tool potential implies fewer travels to a hospital or clinic for recommended monitoring - a consideration the company said should benefit people facing vast travel distances, transportation hurdles, or limited access to prenatal care.

Digital midwifery is being advanced by a variety of wearable technology and remote monitoring systems for expectant and new mothers. However, research by maternity-focused NGO March of Dimes suggests that one in three US counties remains a maternity care desert, while 5.8 million women and 358,000 infants live in counties without complete access to maternity care.

Related Oura Introduces AI Model for Women’s Health

According to the report, inhabitants of maternity care deserts must drive almost three times longer to receive care, and more than half of US counties lack a hospital that offers labor and delivery services.

According to Marani's CEO, Ann Holder, the FDA clearance "fundamentally changes" the firm's current condition, moving it from being a developing company to one that is currently getting ready for Mcare's commercialization in 2027.

“We now have a cleared product, a path to commercialization, and a platform that can enable health systems to extend maternal monitoring beyond the hospital or clinic and into the home,” Holder, said.

With FDA clearance in hand, Holder highlighted that the company is now focused on bringing Mcare to market and building partnerships that can “drive adoption at scale”.

“We see a significant commercial opportunity as health systems and health plans look for new ways to extend maternal monitoring beyond traditional care settings,” Holder continued.

Marani’s system is part of the remote monitoring market, which is growing at a CAGR of 1.9% and forecast to reach a valuation of around $25.7bn in 2035, as per GlobalData analysis. Other participants in the remote maternal care monitoring market includes Owlet and Pulsenmore, with equipment for the continuous monitoring of a baby’s heart rate and oxygen saturation levels, and doing at-home ultrasound scans, respectively.

People with type 2 diabetes (T2D) who use basal insulin may have a significantly lower risk of death and cardiovascular complications when they use a continuous glucose monitor (CGM), according to new research presented at the Annual Meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD) in Milan, Italy.

The study found that people with T2D who started using CGM had a 44% lower risk of death from any cause after one year compared with those who did not use CGM. After two years, their risk of death remained 35% lower, reports News Medical.

Researchers say this is the first study to show an association between modern CGM technology and a reduced risk of death in people with T2D treated with basal insulin, either alone or alongside non-insulin diabetes medications. The study also found that CGM users had fewer major cardiovascular events.

Around 7% of the estimated 405 million people living with T2D worldwide – nearly 30 million people – require insulin therapy. Maintaining healthy blood glucose levels can be challenging, and prolonged high blood sugar can increase the risk of serious complications such as heart disease, stroke, and vision loss.

CGM devices use a small sensor worn on the skin to continuously measure glucose levels. The readings are transmitted to a smartphone, dedicated reader, or insulin delivery system, allowing users to monitor glucose throughout the day and make informed decisions about diet, physical activity, and insulin treatment.

While CGM has already been shown to improve blood glucose control and reduce episodes of hypoglycemia, its potential impact on long-term complications and survival among people with T2D has been less clear.

What the Study Found

Researchers from Abbott and collaborating institutions analyzed anonymized electronic health records from the Truveta platform, which contains data from more than 140 million Americans.

The study included 27,870 adults with T2D receiving basal insulin between January 2017 and March 2024. Researchers compared 13,935 people who began using CGM with an equal number of people who did not use CGM.
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The two groups were carefully matched using 29 characteristics, including age, sex, ethnicity, diabetes duration, HbA1c levels, diabetes complications, other medical conditions, medications, healthcare use, and blood glucose monitoring.

At 12 months, death from any cause occurred in 1.16% of CGM users, compared with 2.09% of non-users, representing a 44% lower risk. At 24 months, mortality was 2.12% among CGM users versus 3.26% among non-users, a 35% lower risk.

CGM users also experienced fewer major cardiovascular events, including heart attack, heart failure, stroke, transient ischemic attack, and peripheral artery disease. The risk was 26% lower after one year and 24% lower after two years.

The most notable finding involved heart failure hospitalizations. These were 54% lower after one year and 47% lower after two years among CGM users. Recurrent major cardiovascular events were also 35% lower at one year and 36% lower at two years.

Study lead Professor Jochen Seufert of University Hospital of Freiburg said the findings suggest CGM could make a meaningful difference to the long-term health of people with insulin-treated T2D and may help reduce the risk of premature death.

However, the researchers caution that the study was observational and cannot prove that CGM directly caused the lower risk of death or cardiovascular events. Although the participants were matched across 29 factors, other unmeasured differences may have influenced the results.

The researchers also noted that the findings may not apply to every person with T2D using basal insulin. Larger prospective studies will be needed to confirm these results.

If confirmed, the findings could strengthen the case for expanding access to CGM technology among people with type 2 diabetes who use basal insulin.

Georgia Tech engineers have developed a wireless networking system that enables wearable technology and tiny implantable sensors and actuators to connect with one another by using the human body to convey data.

Because of their system, devices can cooperate like never before, sensing in one area of the body and causing a therapeutic reaction in another, possibly by activating a nerve or releasing medication.

Described Sept. 24 in the journal Science, their communication method is expandable to include multiple interconnected devices across the body, even deep inside the stomach, reports Joshua Stewart in Georgia Tech.

“With our system, you can now place sensors in the best possible place to detect a biological signal and place actuators in the best possible place to perform a therapeutic action,” said Alex Abramson, the study’s senior author and an assistant professor in the School of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering. “They don't need to be connected, aligned, or even near each other; they can just send signals to each other through the surrounding tissue.”

The researchers aimed to imitate the same level of connectedness the body achieves through the nervous system. They call their invention SWANS for Smart Wireless Autonomous Networking System.

Related How Wearables are Unlocking the Secrets of the Human Body

According to Abramson, the degree to which wearable technology and implants can cooperate has historically been constrained by our bodies' poor ability to transmit conventional wireless signals like Bluetooth or NFC. Large antennae and a lot of power are also needed for those communication, therefore implants need to be big enough to fit those parts.

By utilizing the inherent ionic conductivity of bodily tissue as the link between devices, SWANS eliminates these restrictions.

To enable selective activation, each implant is designed to react to electrical pulses of a particular voltage and duration that are transmitted from one device to another through the tissue. Additionally, they can be configured to synchronize data from various sensors both within and outside the body in order to initiate a possible therapeutic action.

“I’ve always been passionate about creating devices that improve patient quality of life,” said Ramy Ghanim, a Ph.D. student and first author of the Science study. “Automation improves outcomes and simplifies treatment regimens for patients.”

In their study, the researchers demonstrated dual-limb motor control in a rat by coordinating a full-body network of sensors and neural interfaces. Their sensors detected when the rat’s front paw moved and autonomously triggered another device to stimulate and contract the muscle in the hind leg, simulating the animal’s natural walking pattern.

SWANS is designed to transmit only small amounts of data between and among devices — the presence or absence of something or a yes/no trigger for some action. Larger data exchanges or heavy computation happens on an external wearable hub that can coordinate sensor readings from implants and direct therapeutic actions by others.

Imagine a clinical trial in 2036. Two hundred participants wearing sleek, sensor-laden wearables go about their daily routines while real-time data on their heart rate, blood pressure, and hormone levels flood into an AI engine. Doses of a novel cardiovascular medication are continuously calibrated for each patient, while virtual health assistants explain complex results in plain language.

For over a decade, technophiles have envisioned decentralized clinical trials where volunteers rarely need to set foot inside a hospital. The surge in consumer wearables – smartwatches, wristbands, smart clothing, and adhesive patches-fueled hopes for a rapid transformation. Packed with accelerometers, gyroscopes, photoplethysmography (PPG) sensors, and barometers, these devices capture physical activity, heart rate variability, body temperature, and sleep cycles, reports Nature.

Proponents point to undeniable advantages: higher patient retention, better access for remote communities, substantial cost reductions, and richer, around-the-clock data. Continuous remote monitoring provides an authentic look into a patient’s everyday life – far more accurate than a brief snapshot taken during a stressful clinic visit.

Tangible Proof in Cardiovascular Care

Cardiology has spearheaded the integration of wearables, accounting for nearly 29% of smartwatch-assisted trials, followed by neurology (21.8%) and oncology (11.5%).

Related Wearables Are Paving the Way for Data-Driven Healthcare

A landmark study led by Dr. Dipak Kotecha at the University of Birmingham highlighted this potential. Researchers used consumer Fitbit trackers alongside traditional methods to compare the efficacy of digoxin and bisoprolol in patients with atrial fibrillation and heart failure. Powered by 150 million data points, the trial proved for the first time that digoxin was just as effective as standard β-blockers – a conclusion that would have been impossible without continuous remote metrics.

Moreover, wearables can save lives. Real-time AI analysis can instantly flag dangerous vital sign anomalies, triggering immediate medical intervention. Economically, avoiding frequent on-site visits slashes trial expenses – which often run upward of $10 million for Phase III studies.

Why Has Progress Been So Slow?

Despite the undeniable promise, the digital overhaul of clinical research remains a gradual evolution rather than a sudden revolution. Data from ClinicalTrials.gov showed that drug trials incorporating wearables grew from under 30 in 2014 to a modest 128 in 2024.

The primary bottlenecks aren't hardware limits; they stem from real-world execution, regulation, and trust:

• Technical Vulnerability: Georgia Mitsi, CEO of Mirawell Health, experienced this firsthand during an epilepsy drug trial. An unexpected firmware update crashed the seizure-tracking app, forcing device recalls and technical support interventions that risked patient dropout.
• Regulatory Hurdles: Agencies like the US FDA and European Medicines Agency require rigorous validation. Devices must prove pinpoint accuracy, reliability across diverse demographics, and a direct link to meaningful clinical endpoints (such as pain reduction or disease progression).
• Privacy & Ethics: Mounting concerns surround data privacy, cyber security, and the growing influence of big tech corporations in personal healthcare.

As AstraZeneca’s Martin Cowie notes, successfully scaling wearable technology in clinical research isn't just about accumulating vast piles of data – it requires building robust, clinically validated systems that regulators, researchers, and patients can trust.

Around 50 million adults in the U.S. live with hearing loss. Only about one in five of those diagnosed seek treatment. The reasons are well known: hearing aids are expensive, can be uncomfortable, and still carry a stigma. Legato wants to remove all three barriers at once. In August 2026, the startup emerged from stealth with $12 million in funding and its first product, Legato Frames. No earpieces. No visible device. Just a pair of glasses.

The Technology Behind It

Legato Frames look like ordinary eyeglasses. The hearing system sits in the arms: microphones, speakers, and hearing-assistance electronics, driven by AI-based audio processing. The company calls them the world's first AI-powered hearing glasses and says they deliver hearing performance comparable to traditional hearing aids.

The technology is protected by four granted patents, with more than 20 applications pending. Legato has not yet released full technical specifications, such as battery life or fitting details.

Hearing as a Style Choice

What sets Legato apart is less a single sensor than a change of perspective. “We wanted to turn a hard-to-swallow medical device into a product people are actually excited to wear,” says co-founder and CEO Mehul Trivedi. Investor Kittu Kolluri of Neotribe Ventures puts it this way: while hearing aids have focused on being invisible, Legato treats hearing assistance as a style choice.

The go-to-market plan builds on that idea. Legato Frames will be sold as over-the-counter hearing aids, available online and through selected eye care providers in the U.S. Bought through an eye care clinic, they may even qualify for vision insurance. The frames will come in several styles and cost a fraction of the price of traditional hearing aids. The launch is planned for this fall.

About Legato

Legato was founded in 2024 in Boston, Massachusetts, by product veterans from Bose and Apple who previously worked on hearing and wearable technologies. The company is led by co-founder and CEO Mehul Trivedi. Its $12 million funding comes from Neotribe Ventures, Listen, and Village Global. Legato targets a global hearing device market of around $15 billion.

Meta’s latest spatial computing device reimagines virtual reality by shrinking the hardware down to a pair of 100-gram, open-sided glasses – roughly the weight of a deck of cards.

Arriving in Spring 2027 for $1,299.99, the Meta VR Glasses ditch heavy head straps by splitting the hardware into two parts: the lightweight glasses hold the display and sensors, while a pocketable tethered puck houses the battery, storage, and Qualcomm Snapdragon Reality Elite processor, reports Meta.

Core Hardware & Display Specs

• Visuals: Dual micro-OLED panels delivering 5K resolution (37 pixels per degree) paired with compact pancake lenses and Dolby Vision support.
• Audio: Integrated Dolby Atmos spatial audio built into the frames.
• Battery: Up to 3 hours of continuous playback via the tethered puck, featuring 45W fast charging.
• Control: Screen-free navigation powered by built-in Meta AI, eye-tracking, and hand gestures (no physical controllers required).
• Work & Play: Includes full-color passthrough, virtual multi-monitor desktop capabilities, surface-projected typing, 75+ launch gesture games, and Xbox Cloud Gaming support.

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Immersive Cinema & Front-Row Sports

Meta is positioning the glasses as the ultimate portable theater:

• IMAX & 3D Streaming: It’s the first IMAX Enhanced certified VR device. Disney+ will offer select 3D titles (including Marvel and Star Wars films) with themed virtual environments. Paramount+, Peacock, and HBO Max will also debut 3D streaming catalogs.
• Future Blockbusters: Meta is partnering with James Cameron’s Lightstorm Vision to bring exclusive 3D releases to the platform in 2027.
• Live Sports: Partnerships with ESPN, MLB, NBC Sports, TNT, and UFC will deliver over 100 live 8K, 180-degree immersive sporting events annually.

Photorealistic Hologram Calls

The device also introduces Hologram Calling. Using built-in sensors, the glasses generate a photorealistic 3D avatar that mirrors your real-time facial expressions. Compatible with standard calling apps like WhatsApp and Zoom, callers using Meta VR Glasses see 3D spatial holograms in their physical environment, while non-VR users see the rendering on their standard smartphone or computer screens.

Screenless health trackers are having a massive moment right now. Everywhere you look, brands like Oura, Ultrahuman, Google, and Garmin are pitching the same dream: continuous, round-the-clock body tracking without a glowing screen constantly begging for your attention.

The problem? Once you strip away the screen, you also lose most of the day-to-day convenience that makes smartwatches so useful.

Parisian wearable startup Circular is trying to bridge that gap. Announced on the show floor at IFA in Berlin, the new Circular Ring 3 Pro and Circular Ring 3 Slim bring a few major smartwatch features directly to your finger – most notably, contactless payments and localized buzz alerts, reports CNet.

By adding NFC tap-to-pay and bringing back the original model's built-in haptic motor, Circular wants to do more than just passively log your vitals. Your ring can now nudge your finger for phone notifications, medication times, and health warnings – no phone screen required.

What’s New on the Health Front?

Alongside the physical upgrades, Circular is expanding its health metrics to include blood pressure tracking, estimated glucose trends, and deeper sleep breakdowns.

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There's an important caveat here, though: outside of an FDA-cleared ECG feature for AFib detection, most of these new tracking capabilities lack regulatory clearance. That means they're purely designed for spotting personal baseline trends—something to chat about with your doctor—rather than official diagnostic tools.

Circular’s biggest advantage over competitors like Oura or Whoop has always been its business model. Out of the box, you get full access to your metrics and "Kira," Circular's AI health assistant, completely subscription-free. That said, Circular seems to be flirting with paid tiers; a few advanced medical features in the app currently carry a "limited time" tag, suggesting paywalls could be coming down the line.

Pro vs. Slim: How Do They Compare?

While both models include the headlining NFC payments, haptic alerts, and standard health tracking, their designs cater to very different preferences:

• Size and Fit: The Ring 3 Slim lives up to its name. It’s noticeably narrower and thinner than previous generations, putting its profile right up against ultra-compact options like the Oura Ring 4. The Pro, on the other hand, shaves off a little height compared to its predecessor, but keeps a heftier, thicker profile.
• Build Quality: The Pro sports a premium solid-titanium chassis, whereas the Slim uses a biocompatible resin coated in titanium to keep the weight down.
• Battery Life: You get a little extra longevity with the thicker hardware. Circular estimates up to 12 days of battery life for the Pro, compared to a still-respectable 10 days on the Slim.
• Exclusive Sensors: If you want ECG checks or blood pressure monitoring, you'll have to go with the Pro – the Slim leaves those sensors out to maintain its smaller footprint.

The Catch

Circular is pushing the envelope on ring functionality, but it's still playing catch-up on the software side. Tech juggernauts like Google and established players like Oura have spent years refining their algorithms, actionable recovery advice, and software ecosystems.

As for cost and release dates? Circular is keeping those details under wraps for now. Pre-order timing and final retail prices are slated for announcement in the coming months.

Optical systems have evolved from large, cumbersome setups to sophisticated, compact systems thanks to the field of silicon photonics, which uses light instead of electricity to transmit and process data on semiconductor chips. But these silicon-photonics devices are usually opaque and stiff.

Scientists at MIT have now discovered a scalable method for making silicon-photonics chips transparent and flexible, paving the way for the development of sophisticated microchips that may find use in things like transparent augmented reality displays that fit the curve of a pilot's helmet or covert health monitors that conform to the body.

While scientists have recently performed lab demonstrations of chips that were flexible or transparent, they could only fabricate a few devices at a time, reports Adam Zewe in MIT News.

The MIT researchers, in close collaboration with engineers at NY Creates at the Albany NanoTech Complex, created a fabrication process that uses standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques to generate flexible and transparent silicon-photonics chips on large-scale wafers.

To validate this platform, the researchers bent a single chip thousands of times around cylinders with various diameters — down to the width of a small screw — with no drop in performance. They also determined that looking through the chips would not cause much haze or distortion.

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“We’ve now developed a wafer-scale process that produces wafers that are mechanically flexible and optically transparent, enabling novel applications that weren’t previously possible with silicon photonics. We hope that, by working closely with our colleagues at NY Creates and using the foundry at the Albany NanoTech Complex, there’s the potential for us to make the platform accessible to other groups within our research community and open these new application areas to the field of silicon photonics as a whole,” says Jelena Notaros, the Robert J. Shillman Career Development Associate Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT, a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics, and senior author of a paper on this fabrication platform.

Flexible and transparent

In the past, researchers have created translucent or flexible single silicon-photonics circuits, but these methods were not scalable. Notaros' team recently presented a foundry-scale method for producing silicon-photonics devices on a flexible substrate in order to overcome this scalability issue.

With a scalable method that yields translucent and flexible 300-millimeter silicon-photonics wafers, the team has now advanced these breakthroughs even farther.

They start the fabrication process just like they would with a conventional, hard silicon wafer. On this stiff silicon substrate, the researchers meticulously place and design tiny optical lines called waveguides.

A temporary silicon wafer is then bonded on top. All of the original silicon substrate is removed from what is now the wafer's top by flipping the wafer over. After that, they are left with a thin layer of material that is thinner than a tenth of a human hair.

They use an adhesive to stick a thin, transparent polyester film on top of these ultrathin layers and “de-bond” the temporary silicon wafer from the bottom to remove it.

This leaves them with a flexible, transparent wafer only a few microns thick that contains the oxide and waveguide layers needed to capture and transport light for silicon photonics.

The researchers performed three experiments to test different functionalities of these flexible, transparent silicon-photonics wafers.

They also evaluated transparency by setting up a bionic eye and testing whether the chip would distort the user’s vision when placed in front of the eye. They found that the chip causes only minimal haze for the viewer and would not noticeably distort images the eye perceives when looking through it.

In the future, the researchers want to add more complex components and functionality to the chips as they move toward enabling these and other new applications. They also want to refine the design to further improve waveguide efficiency and boost transparency performance.

According to a visually challenged woman, AI-enhanced smart glasses protect her guide dog while allowing her to remain independent in hot weather.

Lorraine Virco, a resident of Preston, Lancashire, is gradually losing her vision due to optic nerve atrophy, a disorder that was discovered during a regular eye test eight years ago, reports Parin Begum in BBC.

The 44-year-old stated that although she enjoys being outside with her three-year-old guide dog, Gigi, she must exercise additional caution when it's hot outside.

According to Guide Dogs UK, dogs should not be trained or employed in temperatures above 24 degrees Celsius (75.2 degrees Fahrenheit) due to the possibility of heatstroke.

When it's too hot to take Gigi outside, Lorraine, who is medically retired from her position as a teaching assistant, uses a white cane and AI-powered smart glasses as an alternate method of safe mobility.

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Although the glasses resemble regular eyewear, they are equipped with artificial intelligence software, open-ear audio, and cameras.

"I can ask them where I am and they'll tell me what street I'm on," Lorraine said.

"If I go into a supermarket, I can video call somebody and they can see what I'm looking at and help me find things on the shelf.

"I can call Be My Eyes and that does the same thing."

Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low-vision users with sighted volunteers and AI for real-time visual assistance.

"I can take photos and ask, 'What am I looking at?' and it'll tell me. I can also ask for more description.

"They read letters, appointment information and bus timetables too."

Although Lorraine claimed that spending time with Gigi was more fun than using the technology, it did help her keep the puppy safe in hot temperatures.

Lorraine explained that Gigi helps her navigate everyday journeys, from riding buses and locating kerbs and crossing points to moving through busy shopping centers and train stations. Over time, they have also developed familiar routes for their regular trips, including visits to Lorraine’s local choir, a place Gigi particularly enjoys.

She said she still made sure Gigi received plenty of stimulation at home.

"She's got toys and brain activities to do, like a toy where we hide biscuits and she's got to find them."

Sally McCoy, from Guide Dogs UK, said: "We strongly advise people not to work their dogs if there's an amber or red weather warning because of the heat.

Garmin has built its reputation around feature-packed fitness watches, but the new Garmin Cirqa takes a very different approach. There is no colorful AMOLED display, no stream of notifications and no temptation to constantly check your wrist. Instead, Cirqa is a screenless fitness tracker designed to quietly collect health and activity data throughout the day and let you review everything later in the Garmin Connect app.

At $199.99 in the US, Cirqa sits in an interesting space between inexpensive screenless trackers and subscription-based devices such as Whoop. Its biggest selling point is simple: you buy the device, and the core health and fitness features don't require a monthly subscription.

Minimalist Design, Surprisingly Practical

Cirqa looks more like a discreet fitness band than a traditional smartwatch. A lightweight sensor module sits inside a soft fabric strap, and the entire device weighs around 21 grams. Garmin offers two sizes and several colors, while the fabric construction makes it comfortable enough for sleeping, exercising and wearing all day. It is also rated for 5 ATM water resistance.

The most interesting design element is a physical button. With one press, you can start a workout, while vibration confirms that recording has begun. That sounds like a small detail, but reviewers found it useful because you don't have to open your phone or wonder whether an activity has actually started.

The downside is that Cirqa is somewhat chunky compared with some competing screenless bands. People with particularly small wrists may want to try it before buying.

Health Tracking Is the Real Star

Although the hardware is deliberately simple, Cirqa collects an impressive amount of information. It monitors heart rate, HRV, stress, Pulse Ox, skin temperature, sleep, Body Battery and Training Readiness. It can also automatically detect certain activities and supports more than 80 activities through the device or Garmin Connect.

Sleep tracking is another strong point. Garmin provides sleep scores, sleep stages, HRV trends and personalized sleep guidance. Women's health features, including menstrual-cycle and pregnancy tracking, are also available, with skin-temperature data supporting additional cycle insights.

Independent testing has generally found Cirqa's heart-rate tracking impressively accurate. TechRadar, for example, compared it against a Polar H10 chest strap and found most workouts within a few beats per minute, although one strength-training session produced a larger discrepancy.

Battery Life and the Screenless Trade-Off

Garmin claims up to 10 days of battery life, which is one of Cirqa's biggest advantages. Real-world testing varies depending on usage, but reviewers have generally achieved roughly a week or more between charges.

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But removing the screen creates an obvious limitation: you cannot see your pace, heart rate or workout statistics while exercising. Cirqa also has no built-in GPS, so outdoor distance and pace tracking depend on a connected smartphone.

That makes Cirqa better suited to people who want background health and fitness tracking than serious runners who need real-time training information.

Verdict

The Garmin Cirqa is an unusual wearable, but its simplicity is also its appeal. It delivers a surprisingly comprehensive collection of health, sleep and fitness metrics while staying out of your way.

The strongest reason to choose it is the combination of Garmin's mature health-tracking ecosystem, comfortable screen-free design, long battery life and no mandatory subscription. The biggest compromises are the lack of a display, onboard GPS and the relatively high price for a screenless tracker.

For existing Garmin users, Cirqa can also make a compelling secondary device—particularly for people who don't want to wear a full-sized Garmin watch to bed or during everyday activities. For dedicated athletes, however, a conventional Garmin watch remains much more practical.

Ultimately, Cirqa isn't trying to replace your smartwatch. Its philosophy is almost the opposite: track more, display less, and let you get on with your day.

People can monitor their daily steps, heart rate, and sleep habits with the aid of consumer wearables like smart watches and rings. Because of the devices' widespread use and simplicity, researchers are using them more and more to study health, such as by tracking chronic illnesses or examining workout regimens.

Wuyoh Sui, a researcher in behavioral change and digital health at Western University in London, Canada, has been researching the most effective ways to employ digital technologies to enhance people's mental and physical well-being.

According to Sui, there are numerous ethical issues to consider when utilizing such commercial gadgets in research, even if wearables will surely offer more individualized health interventions through the use of personalized data. The two most important ones are data security (who might be able to access that data) and data privacy (what data these devices' AI-based algorithms use). Among the risks are sale, distribution, and theft of sensitive metrics that disclose an individual's daily routines and physical condition to advertisers, insurance companies, and businesses that sell personal data.

“At the moment, data privacy and security concerns supersede worries about researchers’ ability to validate non-transparent algorithms. Smartphones and smart watches introduced new opportunities to track movement, but added a third-party developer with commercial interests that are beyond the control of the researcher. As scientists, we are sharing the data with the developer, whether we like it or not, yet we have no control over where those data end up or how they are used. Any entity that collects the data is in a position to broker them,” Sui told Virginia Gewin in Nature.

Researchers and study participants can communicate more efficiently thanks to AI tools. For instance, researchers may use an AI chatbot to collect data when offering workout recommendations based on a person's present behaviors by asking the participant about their step objectives or any physical obstacles they encounter. The replies, when combined with wearable device data, can be used to develop customized interventions that influence participants' objectives and behaviors in ways that would be impossible for researchers to do on their own, according to Sui.

Has Radical Transparency Improved?

Not enough. Many wearable companies still explain data collection and usage through lengthy privacy policies filled with legal jargon. This can make it difficult for research participants to understand what happens to their data, according to Sui.

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Researchers therefore have a responsibility to clearly explain the potential risks. Wearable data may reveal information about a person’s location, movements and other identifying details. There may also be risks such as data being shared with advertisers or exposed through security breaches.

While researchers cannot guarantee how companies will ultimately use the data, they can provide participants with a clear explanation of these risks so people can make an informed decision about whether they are comfortable taking part in the study, Sui says.

“The UN can influence global debates over the need for regulation of AI systems that pose risks to human rights, but ultimately it is up to countries to decide. In 2024, the European Union, a global leader in AI regulations, released its regulatory framework, which details the kinds of AI application that it deems to have risks, ranging from minimal to unacceptable,” Sui told Nature.

Coredio, a digital health company developing the first software-as-a-medical-device (SaMD) platform dedicated to heart failure (HF) hemodynamic assessment, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted its Cardiac Performance Simulation Engine (CPSE) Breakthrough Device Designation and accepted the platform into the FDA’s Total Product Life Cycle Advisory Program (TAP). CPSE is a software-only platform designed to deliver catheterization-comparable hemodynamic assessment using consumer smartwatches and standard blood pressure cuffs in clinical and home settings under physician supervision.

Coredio is now on an accelerated, priority path toward 510(k) submission. For many HF patients, the most vulnerable period begins when they leave the hospital. Clinicians often lose visibility into cardiac decompensation until symptoms become severe enough to trigger another ER visit or hospital readmission, according to a press release.

“Heart failure management has long been limited by the gap between what we can measure in the hospital and what we can reliably understand once patients return home,” said Dr. Jagmeet P. Singh, MD, PhD, Mass General Brigham. “Coredio’s approach, using wearable-derived signals and physics-informed AI to estimate hemodynamic status noninvasively, has the potential to give clinicians a more holistic view of patient cardiac function and enable earlier intervention.”

Heart failure is the most expensive problem in American medicine. It affects more than 6.7 million people and is a leading cause of hospitalization in adults over 65, yet the cardiac hemodynamic data clinicians rely on most to guide treatment is concentrated in settings where patients spend the least time. Cardiac catheterization, the clinical gold standard, is invasive and performed in only ~10% of patients. Echocardiography is primarily limited to hospital settings, while implantable hemodynamic sensors are reserved for the highest-risk patients. CPSE is device-agnostic and designed to help close this gap by bringing hemodynamic assessment into the home and physician office using wearables patients already own.

CPSE is a software-only platform with proprietary algorithms designed to identify abnormal status across four key hemodynamic parameters used by cardiologists to assess whether HF patients are stable or deteriorating. These include left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), central venous pressure (CVP), systemic vascular resistance (SVR), and cardiac index (CI), enabling a more holistic view of both left- and right-sided HF.

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“At White Plains Hospital, our transitional care program focuses on the critical weeks after discharge, when heart failure patients are most vulnerable and least connected to their care team,” said Dr. Farrukh Jafri, MD, White Plains Hospital. “What drew us to Coredio is its potential to bring hemodynamic-level data into that gap, without requiring invasive devices or additional clinical visits.”

CPSE pairs a physics-based digital twin of the patient's cardiovascular system with machine learning trained on clinical data. After an initial personalization step, patients use a smartwatch and standard blood pressure cuff for on-demand indication of hemodynamic status for clinician review.

“Heart failure management has long been limited by the gap between what we can assess invasively or with imaging tools and what we can see at home,” said Dr. Jennifer Monti, Cardiologist, SSM Health. “Coredio’s approach, extracting catheterization-comparable hemodynamic data from consumer wearables using physics-based AI, has the potential to close that gap and give clinicians the visibility they need to intervene earlier and make more informed decisions for heart failure patients.”

“We’re proud that Coredio has been granted FDA Breakthrough Device Designation and is enrolled in TAP,” said Mehdi Mortazawy, Co-Founder & CTO, Coredio. “CPSE fuses a physics-based digital twin of the cardiovascular system with advanced AI to noninvasively classify the four hemodynamic parameters central to HF management. These designations from FDA reflect the scientific rigor and the urgency of the unmet need in HF management and how Coredio is poised to help cardiology specialists and their patients meet this need in the future.”

About Coredio

Founded in 2023, Coredio is a digital AI health company developing noninvasive advanced and intelligent hemodynamic assessment technology for heart failure care. Its Cardiac Performance Simulation Engine (CPSE) uses a personalized physics-based digital twin of the cardiovascular system and machine learning models trained on proprietary clinical data to identify abnormal hemodynamic status across four key intracardiac parameters only using consumer wearables and blood pressure cuffs.

From counting steps and calories, wearable technology has come a long way. What began as a consumer fitness trend is rapidly becoming into one of the most prominent intersections of healthcare, artificial intelligence, biometrics, human performance, and security. The human body, computers, and sensors are all merging. The upcoming wearable generation is beginning to demonstrate the practical implications of such convergence.

The primary shift is that wearables are now less about measuring activity and more about getting to know people. Sleep, heart rate, heart rate variability, temperature, mobility, recovery, and other physiological information can now be continuously recorded by sophisticated sensors. Artificial intelligence can identify each person's distinct baseline after evaluating such signals over time. In addition to providing information on what our bodies are doing, the objective is to identify patterns that could help us make better decisions about fitness, health, recovery, and, eventually, longevity, reports Forbes.

That is a significant development in healthcare. Instead of relying just on sporadic measures taken during a medical visit, wearables can provide a constant stream of data about an individual's health. As I noted in a recent wearable article, miniaturized sensors have the potential to significantly change security, healthcare, and human-computer interaction.

Apple Watch

Apple Watch has evolved from a simple smartwatch into a powerful health and fitness companion. It can continuously track important health metrics such as heart rate, activity, calories burned, and workouts. Depending on the model and region, it can also provide features such as ECG, blood oxygen measurements, temperature sensing, sleep tracking, and notifications for unusually high or low heart rates. Apple Watch can detect signs of irregular heart rhythms and alert users when potential atrial fibrillation is detected. Fall Detection and Emergency SOS can also provide valuable assistance during emergencies. With its combination of sensors, health insights, and fitness tracking, Apple Watch helps users better understand their bodies and make more informed decisions about their daily health and wellbeing.

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Dexcom CGM

Dexcom has transformed glucose monitoring with its continuous glucose monitoring (CGM) technology. Unlike traditional blood glucose testing, Dexcom CGM systems use a small sensor worn on the body to measure glucose levels continuously throughout the day and night. The sensor sends real-time glucose readings to a compatible smartphone, receiver, or smartwatch, allowing users to monitor trends without frequent finger pricks. Dexcom systems can also provide alerts when glucose levels are rising, falling, or reaching potentially dangerous ranges. This information can help users understand how food, exercise, medication, stress, and other factors affect their glucose levels. By providing continuous data and actionable insights, Dexcom CGM technology offers a more convenient and connected approach to glucose management, supporting people in making informed decisions about their daily health.

Pison

Perhaps the most fascinating thing to observe on the market is Pison, a newcomer to the scene. Pison is approaching wearable technology in a very different way. Instead of evaluating the body's external responses, its neural-sensing method uses electroneurography, or ENG, to detect electrical signals that travel from the brain to the muscles via the peripheral nervous system. The company states that their platform assesses mental agility, attentiveness, reaction time, and cognitive readiness in addition to normal physiological data.

The Future

When considered collectively, these businesses and their offerings point to a future in which wearables will be more than just apparel. It becomes a link between our biology and the digital world. The ultimate promise of this technology is not that machines will take the role of physicians, coaches, or human judgment. It's that we'll learn more about ourselves and have access to that information when it matters most.

As a result, the new world of wearables might be less about watches, rings, and bands and more about a much bigger change: giving people unprecedented visibility into their abilities, performance, and health.

There are some indications that the enigmatic new Wear OS fitness tracker shown at the FCC may be an impending Google Pixel or Fitbit-branded device.

Both the Pixel Watch range and the recently released Fitbit Air have been successful for Google, and it appears that the firm may be getting ready to add even more fitness monitoring devices to its roster. A mystery new Google-made gadget has suddenly surfaced in an FCC listing, as reported by 9to5Google.

The device, which is referred to as a "Wireless Device," is made by Goertek, a business that has produced multiple Pixel Bud generations in the past. It has the model number G8BL6.

It's interesting to note that the FCC listing implies there isn't Wi-Fi on board. Rather, the device seems to be totally dependent on Bluetooth LE. Additionally, since ADB testing is particularly included in the EUT operation test configuration, there are hints that the device might run a version of Wear OS.

On the connectivity front, this device has Bluetooth LE and Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), or GPS. The former uses a “Metal frame Antenna.”

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All things considered, the G8BL6 is probably a Wear OS-powered Google fitness tracker, though it's odd that it doesn't have Wi-Fi. This would be the platform's new form factor, which raises concerns about how battery-efficient the OS is.

This filing coincides with the August discovery of an unidentified Google tracker in Pixel 11 advertisements. We observed a pill-shaped, vertical display with a strap that resembled a Pixel Watch. Even with the current Wear OS fitness complications, the watch face is highly recognizable.

This would make sense as a replacement for the well-liked Fitbit Charge line, which was last updated in 2023 and is presently priced at $160, after the Fitbit Air.

One significant question still stands: when will consumers genuinely want to purchase and wear these gadgets all day? Meta, Google, and other large players are speeding up their AI wearable initiatives. Before they can be widely used, the next generation of wearables—from smart glasses to AI pendants—must overcome basic hardware issues like weight, heat, comfort, battery life, and audio quality. Even the best AI experience won't work if the gadget it runs on is heavy, cumbersome, or overheated.

“From a hardware perspective, there are two fundamentals that are really sticking out. One is weight. Basically, the everyday eyeglasses magic number is 30g. You need to weigh under 30g to be comfortable to sit on the bridge of your nose and your ears all day. Most smart glasses are 50g and up,” Mike Housholder, Vice President and General Manager of the Thermal Management Business Unit at xMEMS, told Electronic Specifier’s Paige Hookway, in an interview.

Cutting weight starts with the speaker. By substituting a thin MEMS device for a conventional coil-and-magnet driver, the speaker loses about 70–90% of its weight and thickness, allowing designers to strive toward a more stylish, glasses-like form factor rather than a heavy headset.

According to Housholder, the second basic is thermal management, which most businesses undervalue. Instead of running a task and then going back to sleep, glasses are being asked to perceive and process continually as AI processing moves from the Cloud to the Edge.

“You now have complex chips generating heat, and the glasses sit on your skin all day,” he explained. “So heat mitigation, heat dissipation becomes a big issue, because you don’t want to have a heat generator touching your skin all day. You can’t just spread heat; you have to get it out before it sinks into the plastics and then sinks into your skin.”

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Engineers must address all three constraints—audio, cooling, and power—within the same tightly confined mechanical envelope, in addition to weight and heat alone. Housholder remarked, "All of this takes space." "To achieve a good form factor, the electronics will always be at odds with the mechanical."

The first-generation cooling product from xMEMS is already made into glasses and is scheduled to hit the market in 2027. The company created the XMC-1200, a smaller version that is around 40% smaller than its predecessor, in response to feedback from early users of its current XMC-2400 device.

The demand wasn’t driven by the glasses’ processor, but by the display. As augmented reality glasses evolve, their displays sit at the front, creating a need for smaller components that can fit within the limited space housing the display driver and light engine, Housholder explained. Manufacturers can now use the XMC-1200 to manage heat generated by the display and light engine, while the larger XMC-2400 remains an option for handling heat from the processor and temple electronics.

Asked what the industry looks like once these constraints are resolved, Housholder starts with comfort rather than capability. “You have glasses that are light enough to wear on your head all day, just like conventional glasses. They have to be comfortable to wear, meaning they can’t heat up the temples of your head. So they’ve got to stay cool, they’ve got to mitigate heat.”

Only when weight and heat are brought under control can these glasses unlock their full potential—supporting continuous, always-on processing and delivering real-time information about the wearer’s surroundings without compromising comfort.

The Colombian-founded medtech startup Samay has expanded its funding expectations, officially closing a $7 million seed round. While the company initially aimed for a $3 million target earlier this year to launch its platform, strong investor demand pushed the total capital raised to $7 million to accelerate its AI-driven respiratory health technology. Samay is founded by Colombian physician María Artunduaga.

This shift is largely due to staff reductions at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the Donald Trump administration; according to Artunduaga, these cuts resulted in the loss of nearly half the agency's workforce and drove up the cost of entry for medical device and biotechnology companies. This environment, the founder notes, has prompted many U.S. companies in the sector to launch outside the country first and return later, reports Forbes.

Artunduaga held talks last week with Invima to fast-track health registration in Colombia and plans to leverage the agency's agreements within the Andean region to extend approval to Peru, Chile, and Ecuador. The company is also exploring entry into Brazil and Mexico, where it is in discussions with investment funds and healthcare systems.

The firm has raised nearly US$7 million since its inception, with 40% to 50% of that total coming from non-dilutive capital via U.S. government grants. After operating primarily as a research project for its first five years, Samay has now secured 18 patents across more than 20 countries.

At the same time, the company began generating revenue through strategic partnerships. It completed a pilot program with a European pharmaceutical company—surpassing technical milestones by over 20%—and is currently negotiating a contract valued in the six-to-seven-figure range. It is also conducting a U.S. government-funded pilot with ResMed (a manufacturer of sleep apnea devices) and collaborating with a Chicago hospital to detect respiratory failure in epilepsy patients. This commercial momentum is driven by a business model the company discovered over the past year: pharmaceutical and device companies pay it to develop artificial intelligence models based on clinical trial data, which they then purchase or license for use in the specific disease areas where they are developing treatments.

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On the capital front, Samay received nearly US$200,000 from Epic Angels, a Cali-based syndicate of female angel investors led by Vivian Argueta. The deal, which involved 69 women, marks the syndicate's largest investment in Latin America and the second-largest in its history.

The device, named Sylvee in honor of the founder’s grandmother, costs US$70 and functions like a pair of headphones for the chest: it emits sound to make the lung resonate—"we make the lung sing," explains Artunduaga—and captures 750 acoustic characteristics used to build algorithmic models.

According to the company, these models achieve an area under the curve of 93% compared to a CT scan—equipment costing US$1.5 million—with its various algorithms ranging between 82% and 93%. Samay maintains that it can detect COPD up to five years earlier than the US$80,000 machine currently used as the diagnostic standard.

The company has tested the device on approximately 500 people and aims to reach 3,000 over the next year and a half. It is also preparing a partnership (not yet disclosed) to establish Colombia as a center of excellence for respiratory clinical trials, featuring a cohort of over 2,500 patients with conditions such as COPD, asthma, cystic fibrosis, tuberculosis, and lung cancer.

Samay—which in 2024 became the first Latin American company accepted into the MedTech Innovator accelerator—won the StartCo awards in Medellín this year (topping a ranking of 350 companies) and GoFest in Bogotá last year; these accolades opened doors with the Bogotá Chamber of Commerce and Invest Bogotá, while the Dubai Chamber of Commerce is exploring the possibility of bringing the company to Dubai in December for pilot programs.

The founder plans to manufacture the device entirely in Colombia—starting with an initial batch of 1,000 to 2,000 units—in compliance with Invima’s Good Manufacturing Practice guidelines. The company currently employs 22 people, more than half of whom are women, including two based near Buenos Aires.