Unveiling Technology with a Twist: The Demo Disaster!

At the recent Meta Connect developer conference, CTO Andrew Bosworth took to Instagram to spill the beans on why Meta's highly-anticipated smart glasses demos flopped spectacularly—and it wasn't just a Wi-Fi hiccup!

During the event, Meta showcased three new pairs of smart glasses: the upgraded Ray-Ban Meta, an enhanced Meta Ray-Ban Display with a trendy wristband controller, and the sporty Oakley Meta Vanguard. Unfortunately, multiple live demos turned into cringe-worthy moments.

In one awkward instance, popular cooking content creator Jack Mancuso asked his Ray-Ban glasses for guidance on a sauce recipe. Despite repeating, "What do I do first?", the AI went rogue and skipped steps, forcing him to end the demo. He joked onstage, blaming it on suspect Wi-Fi.

In another demo, a WhatsApp video call between Bosworth and CEO Mark Zuckerberg fell flat as the glasses failed to connect. Zuckerberg, frustrated, eventually had to abandon the demo as Bosworth humorously lamented the "brutal" Wi-Fi.

The Truth Behind the Tech Trouble!

After the embarrassing glitches, Bosworth took to Instagram for a revealing Q&A session. He clarified that the issue wasn't simply due to Wi-Fi issues as initially suggested.

The chaos began when Mancuso's command triggered all Ray-Ban Meta devices in the venue, overwhelming the system—an unexpected turnout during rehearsals. "We didn’t have that many in practice," Bosworth admitted.

To complicate matters, Meta routed Live AI traffic to a dedicated development server, but it backfired spectacularly. "So we basically DDoS’d ourselves with that demo," he explained, highlighting that the server was unprepared for such an onslaught.

A Bug Uncovered!

As for the botched WhatsApp call? Bosworth attributed the failure to a mystifying bug causing the glasses’ display to go to sleep right before Zuckerberg’s call arrived. This left Zuckerberg fumbling when the call came through.

"That’s a race condition bug we hadn’t encountered before," Bosworth revealed. "It’s now fixed, but of all places for it to show up, this wasn’t ideal!" Despite the mishaps, he emphasized confidence in the product's core functionality.

Looking Ahead: No Worries Despite the Glitches!

Despite these setbacks, Bosworth assured fans that he’s not losing sleep over the demo blunders. "I know the product works and has real potential. This was simply a demo fail, not a product failure," he concluded.

With loads of excitement still buzzing around the innovative smart glasses, all eyes remain on Meta. Let’s just hope the next demo goes a bit smoother!