Tariff Commission announces dumping probe into Thai gypsum board importsAuthored by Victor Davis Hanson via American Greatness, Donald Trump will not be president for almost another two months... Yet Democrat politicians, both federal and local, vie to be the most strident in denouncing his plans to begin deporting millions of foreign nationals who, over the last four years, have entered the U.S. illegally. Trump pledges to focus initially only on the 400,000 to 500,000 current felons and some 1.4 million additional aliens who have ignored legal summons for their deportation. Weekly we read of thousands of illegal immigrants arriving from areas controlled by violent Mexican cartel gangs or failed, strife-torn South American countries that have emptied their jails to send their felons northwards. Hundreds of thousands of them have been committing violent crimes while demanding still more free housing and support from strapped American taxpayers. Big-city left-wing mayors and city councils boast that they will do all their best to nullify federal immigration laws, even as their cities face near insolvency housing, feeding, and monitoring the influx. More specifically, they brag they will continue to order local and state authorities to resist all efforts of federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. They scream about possible “massive deportations” to come under Trump, callously ignoring that their own advocacy has fueled rising crime waves of unaudited illegal aliens. And they appear absolutely indifferent to the social costs imposed by illegal immigration upon their own poor and middle-class constituents. Virtue-signaling Democratic governors and mayors have so far not dared to utter a word of criticism about what has been the Biden administration’s truly historic “massive importation” of illegal aliens into the U.S. over the last four years. Why? Largely because these political grandees and media demagogues have the money, connections, zip codes, and influence to be immune from the fallout of their own performance-art advocacy of illegal immigration. They take for granted that the baleful consequences of open borders always falls upon the distant and vulnerable Other. Again, consider the left-wing logic: it is deemed moral to dismantle the border, disrupt the social fabric of the country, and destroy federal immigration laws. But: it is immoral to restore U.S. sovereignty, secure the border, stop the flux of lethal cartel-supplied fentanyl and child sex trafficking, and follow the law? In this regard, the party that prides itself as progressive is regressively adopting the states’ rights arguments of 19th-century southern states that boasted they would resist all federal enforcement of tariffs. By the late 1850s, these future Confederates were asserting that the national government had no jurisdiction in their state domains. Such brazen nullification would lead to the Civil War. Note the left assumes that conservatives will not emulate their tactics and thus declare swaths of federal firearms or environmental laws null and void within their red state and county jurisdictions. They know that doing so would start a cycle of lawlessness that would eventually result in either civil war, total anarchy, or both. The open-borders-left’s more immediate spiritual predecessors are states’-rights-resisters like former segregationist Governor George Wallace. He boasted that federal civil rights legislation had no sway over his own state’s laws. Wallace, remember, in a historic moment, was removed from blocking the entry of black students to the University of Alabama by federal troops. Given that nullification now has been turned upside down, will California Governor Gavin Newsom or New York Governor Kathy Hochul block the entrance to their state jails to prevent federal agents from sending home murderers and rapists who arrived in the U.S. illegally? The left has learned nothing and forgotten nothing from the recent election and decisive Trump victory. The defeat of left-wing candidates was a result most prominently of the Biden administration’s deliberate destruction of the southern border and the illegal welcoming of some 12 million foreigners without legal sanction or health and criminal background audits. This lawlessness ensured that Kamala Harris, who had sanctioned it, was going to lose the election. The daily sight of thousands swarming the border with impunity, coupled with Orwellian assertions of President Biden, “Border Czar” Vice President Harris, and Homeland Security Director Alejandro Mayorkas that the border was absolutely “secure,” doomed the Biden and then Harris campaigns. Violating U.S. sovereignty and laws while sending millions into already frayed health, food, housing, medical, legal, and education social services designed to help American citizens was never a winning campaign strategy. Yet almost nothing could deter the Biden-Harris administration from their fixation with undermining the border and federal immigration law while seeking to change the very demography of the American southwest. The resulting influx of illegal aliens within just three years proved comparable in size to the creation of some 12 American cities, all the size of San Francisco. The mass crossings resulted from an effort by Joe Biden to utterly disregard his oath to faithfully execute the laws of his country. He was also helped in his lawlessness by some 600 state and local “sanctuary city” jurisdictions that subverted federal law by using their own offices to thwart immigration enforcement. Indeed, left-wing state and local officials pledged their own greater fealty to the welfare of the illegal millions who ignored the law and swamped the border than to their own overtaxed and underserved American citizen constituents. Finally, on November 5, the people said no more. In historic fashion, traditional Democratic constituencies of the working class and minorities turned on their own left-wing politicians who had first turned on them. Yet the cynicism of the left had known no bounds. As the presidential campaign had heated up, and the polls, first for Biden and then for his surrogate Harris, began to erode, both began to lie that their vanished border was in fact “secure.” In other words, they knew they had permanently alienated the American public , knew that it would cost them the election, and so then frantically first tried to deny the truth they had welcomed in millions of illegal aliens. Then they pivoted and sought belatedly to stop the public relations disaster at the border for a few weeks before the election, vainly hiding the sheer cynicism of such an insincere effort. Earlier, they had tried blaming border hawk Republicans for not signing onto a false border “bipartisan,” red-herring bill. The left introduced it in Congress solely to allow blanket amnesties for millions of illegal aliens while still allowing 4,000 illegal aliens daily to enter the U.S. The great majority of sane senators who did not sign the Trojan Horse bill were then immediately demonized for the mess by Biden and Harris themselves, who deliberately created the catastrophe. Now that the election is over, an enfeebled Joe Biden has two months left on his presidency and no longer worries about reelection. So, in its final gasp, the left is again trying to invite in more illegal aliens. Apparently one final huge caravan is forming south of the border and plans to make its way northward just days before Trump takes office and begins to fulfill his promises to the majority of voters to close the border. Finally, why did illegal immigration explode to levels never seen before? One, the left saw millions of desperately poor foreign nationals as a natural long-term constituency for their big-government, anti-poverty programs. They felt that some 20-30 million illegal aliens over the last 50 years, along with their children, had flipped California, Nevada, New Mexico, Colorado—and soon Arizona—from blue to red as planned. Of course, should the sudden Hispanic backlash against the immigration insanity of bicoastal elites persist, then the left might turn on their Hispanic voters as illiberal or brainwashed by the right—and ironically move to close the border to preclude more MAGA boosters. Two, Mexico and Latin America received some 120 billion dollars per year in remittances, mostly sent by their own citizens residing illegally in the U.S. and reliant on American government services that free them up to send billions into the coffers of our own increasingly hostile neighbors. Mexico further sees its 20 million expatriate illegal aliens as a strong lobby group to promote Mexico City’s agendas. The more Mexico exports its impoverished citizens, the more it saves on social services for them, while cynically noting that the more distant and longer their citizens reside away from Mexico, the more they romanticize it, safely from afar. Three, corporate employers like cheap labor from Latin America, especially when the U.S. government subsidizes such workers with massive housing, food, transportation, and health social services. On the other side of the ledger, the left cares little that an open border is destroying support for legal immigration and de facto punishes immigrants who wish to follow our laws. A cynic might argue that the left also may fear legal immigrants applying under meritocratic standards, as too independent, self-supporting, educated, skilled, and law-abiding to become its predictably loyal constituents at the polls. So, what might change to close the border and stop the massive influx? Donald Trump won the electoral college and the popular vote with a mandate to restore border security and immigration sanity. He received a near-record number of minority voters for a Republican candidate, given they believed that most often must deal with the realities of what elites have unleashed. In other words, the proverbial people are on to the no-borders elites. They suffer firsthand from their utopian bromides and are tired of being smeared as racists and xenophobes for simply wishing the United States to follow the law, restore secure borders, and end illegal immigration. And now they have the power and mandate to do all of that.
Asia-Pacific Images Studio/E+ via Getty Images Last month we published an article on SA with our bullish thesis on the Nebius Group N.V. (NASDAQ: NASDAQ: NBIS ). In summary, we argued: Most money is made in global megatrends AI is the next global megatrend When selecting likely winners, focus on Analyst’s Disclosure: I/we have a beneficial long position in the shares of NBIS either through stock ownership, options, or other derivatives. I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article. Seeking Alpha's Disclosure: Past performance is no guarantee of future results. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. Any views or opinions expressed above may not reflect those of Seeking Alpha as a whole. Seeking Alpha is not a licensed securities dealer, broker or US investment adviser or investment bank. Our analysts are third party authors that include both professional investors and individual investors who may not be licensed or certified by any institute or regulatory body.Terre Haute's Tommy John misses Hall of Fame induction once again
John Fury has thrown down the gauntlet to Logan Paul - with the American responding by telling him to "start training" as he expresses his eagerness to fight the YouTube star in a match that could feature alongside his son Tommy's potential rematch with Logan's brother, Jake. After a period out of the public eye following Tyson Fury's loss to Oleksandr Usyk, John has made headlines at a recent press conference for Tommy's called-off bout against Darren Till. In light of Tommy pulling out, due to Till's warning of a head kick if he found himself behind, John took to social media to lay out a challenge to the Paul brothers. READ | John Fury breaks silence with brutal Logan Paul call-out and makes one condition "This is a message to Logan Paul," said John on social media. "You keep going on about Tommy Fury not wanting to fight your brother. Here's one for you my friend. He does want to fight your brother and I'll tell you what else... I will fight you on the undercard. As soon as possible... ASAP. I'm sick of people saying 'I won't do this and I won't do that.' I will show you how I'll do." "Tommy will fight your brother as early as end of February or end of January and I'll fight you on the undercard. You're a lot younger than me, we know that. You're a 15st man, but I won't do as other fighters do... I will let my punches go at you. I'm sick of the critics saying; 'I won't do this' or 'I won't do that and I'm a coward'. "I will show you how much of a coward I am, I will fight you anywhere in the world - except America - on your brother and Tommy's undercard. Get back to me if you're interested... I will fight you Logan Paul and I will throw punches at you." "I will let my hands go and I won't s*** myself. I'll let my f****** hands go. "So, if you're interested, let me know and then I'll fight you on your brother and Tommy's undercard wherever it may be in the world." Logan has now responded to John Fury's call-out on Instagram, responding with a short message: "Start training". Logan - despite being well-known in the world of WWE - also has some experience inside the ring, as per reports from The Mirror .
BROOKLYN PARK, Minn. — Huldah Momanyi-Hiltsley is the first Kenyan-born state legislator in the country. The Democrat is set to represent Osseo and parts of Brooklyn Park. “IT’S OVERWHELMING AND HUMBLING“ - This newly elected state representative is making NATIONWIDE history - Huldah... Momanyi-Hiltsley says her dream of becoming a U.S. citizen almost didn't happen. "We were literally 48 hours from being deported from this country," said Momanyi-Hiltsley. She moved to Minnesota at the age of nine — her family making the over 8,000-mile journey from Nyamira County in Kenya. But after 11 years working through the U.S. immigration system, it was a last-minute intervention by then-Senator Paul Wellstone that made the difference. "Our case was then able to be overturned and I couldn't have imagined I would be sitting here, doing an interview, 22+ years later as the newly elected representative for this district," said Momanyi-Hiltsley. The district covering Brooklyn Park and Osseo in the Minnesota House holds a special place for Momanyi-Hiltsley. It's an area she considers another home after attending Cooper High School in nearby New Hope. But the news of her election win is leading to high-profile invites in her home country. "They have invited me to go with my family for a homecoming celebration," she said. "There's a possibility of even meeting the president of Kenya and the first lady for a state visit." The win here in Minnesota is also generating a sense of pride or "kiburi" in Swahili for those in Kenya. "We belive in her," said Duke Maigna Echate, who grew up with her in Kenya. "We are going to support her both spiritually and socially." A support system that this wife and mother of two says led her own American dream. "I sit here as a testament for what this country stands for and the freedoms," Momanyi-Hiltsley added.
Cordilia scores 21, Mount St. Mary's downs Fairfield 101-94
Putin 'Fires' Top Russian Commander Amid WW3 Preps | 'Make Mistakes But Don't Lie' Recommended Playlist Putin 'Recruits' Houthis To Fight Ukraine Before World War 3 Begins | Iran's Proxy 'Helps' Russia IDF In Crisis: 6 Israeli Soldiers 'Commit Suicide | Troops Mental Health Takes A Toll In Gaza France Declares 'War' Against Russia In A Shock Move, Putin To Press Nuclear Button? | Ukraine Central Israel Under Attack: Missiles Pummel Tel Aviv Suburbs; Hezbollah Bombs North | Watch Iran's 3rd Strike On Israel: Khamenei's Shocking Diktat Amid Killing Of Israeli Rabbi In UAE Deadly Attack Near Israel Embassy In Jordan; Israeli Diplomats In Panic | Gunman Dead, 3 Cops Hurt Iran Ally 'Accurately Hits' IDF's Ashdod Naval Base; 150+ Rockets Fired At Tel Aviv, Haifa Putin's Oreshnik Sends Chills Through NATO | Why U.S. Allies Can't Intercept New Russian Missile World War III Is Here? UK Confirms Will Join War Against Russia 'Tonight' If Moscow... | Watch Putin Aide Reveals Russia's World War 3 Targets In West | 'Our Nuclear Doctrine A Signal' Top Viral Videos Shocking! Lawyer rams Mercedes car into Kachori shop in Delhi, Six injured In a shocking incident, six people were injured after a lawyer rammed his speeding Mercedes car into a Kachori shop in the national capital. The incident took place at Fateh Kachori in Civil Lines area. The police have taken the lawyer into custody and seized his car. The lawyer has been identified as Parag Maini who is a resident of Noida’s Sector 79. The police have registered a case against the lawyer under Section 279 (rash driving) and 337 (causing hurt by endangering life). Telangana cop punched, dragged by villagers, video goes viral On Cam: Crane drags car with senior citizens sitting inside, case registered | video goes viral Instagram influencer shot dead by husband in Rajasthan's Phalodi CCTV: Thieves arrive in car, decamp with jewellery in MP's Damoh Goons hurl abuses at toll plaza employee in MP's Chhatarpur Two goons hurled abuses at a toll plaza employee in Madhya Pradesh’s Chhatarpur. One of the assailants is reportedly the brother of an MLA. The incident was filmed by an employee of ol plaza which has gone viral on social media. The goons were upset after they had to wait in the queue. Viral: Cobra blocks road in MP's Chhatarpur district Nigeria: Lion kills zookeeper at Obafemi Awolowo University CCTV: Biker crushed to death by speeding bus in Madhya Pradesh's Ujjain district Four women steal tray full of earrings from a jewellery shop in MP's Raisen Shirtless British man punches air steward after destroying aircraft toilet, arrested A shirtless British man punched an air steward after destroying the aircraft toilet. The man was arrested. The man went berserk soon after the flight took off . He went up to smash the plane’s toilet. The incident took place on February 7 when the flight took off from Bangkok to London. A video of the incident went viral on social media. On cam: Several injured after swarm of bees attacks guests during wedding ceremony in MP's Guna On cam: Man hurls abuses at government school teacher in MP's Chhatarpur district On cam: Man thrashes youth with stick in MP's Ujjain Doctor loses cool, misbehaves with home guard in MP's Chhatarpur On cam: Goons thrash Dalit youth in MP's Betul A Dalit youth was thrashed in Madhya Pradesh’s Betul. The man was brutally thrashed and forced to squat while holding his ears. A video of the incident has gone viral on social media. Congress leader Jitu Patwari highlighted the plight of the Dalit man. The police have launched a probe into the matter. On cam: Govt employee consumes alcohol at work place in MP's Singrauli On cam: Goons thrash liquor shop employee in MP's Gwalior CCTV: Man thrashed, abducted in Madhya Pradesh's Betul district Fight breaks out between CHC employee and patient in UP's Barabanki Short Videos BJP Orchestrated Attack On Kejriwal During ‘Padyatra’ Campaign: Delhi CM Atishi Your Autistic Child Can Also Make A Difference Your Autistic Child Can Also Make A Difference Kejriwal Questions RSS Over BJP’s 'Dirty' Tactics Against Opposition | Watch Atishi's 1st Statement After Being Picked As Delhi CM; 'Kejriwal Made Biggest Sacrifice' Kejriwal To Give Up CM Residence; AAP's Sanjay Singh Issues Big Warning... Haryana Polls: Vinesh Phogat & Bajrang Punia Join Congress; Sakshi Malik next? Putin's Big Pledge For Russian Speakers In Ukraine; 'Will Fight For...' Ukraine’s Kursk Incursion Has Failed To Achieve Objectives, Declares Putin Putin Says Russia Will Support Kamala Harris In U.S. Elections Related Articles Russia says US using Taiwan to stir crisis in Asia Turkey's Erdogan to discuss Ukraine war with Nato chief Republican senators eager to see Tulsi Gabbard's FBI file because of her Snowden stance Russia plots to target US-linked defence projects: US intelligence Ukraine claims Russia fired ICBM; mid-range missile, says Putin 'Insane neighbour's attack reveals true nature': Ukraine's Zelenskyy reacts to Russia's use of ICBM India joins Russia on plastic rule concerns at WTO US, others shut embassies in Ukraine amid fear over Russia attackSnap is pitching its new augmented reality glasses as a fun way for you to feel closer to your friends. If only the shades looked a little more friendly themselves. The Santa Monica, California company debuted its first model of Snap Spectacles in 2016. They were brightly colored circular frames that focused primarily on shooting photos and video, which were captured as wide-angled circles that evoked the sort of fun, anarchic energy of a skateboarding video. They didn’t have any augmented reality features at all, and were more akin to early Meta Ray Bans . Crucially, the Snapchat Spectacles were fun, trendy (depending on your style) glasses that looked far more like real, fashionable sunglasses than the typically monstrous smart glasses: rectangular head ornaments, or the dorky and oft-mocked Google Glass . Snap released a few more versions of its circular Spectacles, but in 2021 its ambitions shifted in an effort to incorporate augmented reality—images, words, and graphics projected into your field of view so the visuals seem to hover right in front of you. Snap’s AR-enabled Spectacles traded the whimsical, teen-friendly aesthetic for a black, sharp-angled rectangular look that would fit right into a cyberpunk ‘80s movie. The ‘24 edition of the Spectacles continue that Balenciaga chic, albeit with smoother curves that make them only slightly less blocky and obtuse than the previous version. Also like the 2021 glasses, these Spectacles are not technically on sale to the general public. The 2024 Specs do have a price tag and you can pay to use them, but the cost is hefty and you have to jump through some hoops. To get access to the Spectacles, you have to join Snap’s developer program, which costs $99 per month and requires a year-long commitment. The program is aimed at developers looking to make apps for the platform and priced accordingly, so normies who want to wear them on the street will likely get turned off from signing up. “Our vision has always been to bring the power and joy of augmented reality to people everywhere, and our newest pair of Spectacles is one step closer to making that vision a reality,” Scott Myers, vice president of hardware engineering at Snap, wrote in an email to WIRED. “We’re starting with developers who share our vision for overlaying computing onto the real world and want to build that future together.” Snap announced these new Spectacles in September, just a few days before Meta unveiled its rival Orion glasses . Both are primarily marketed at developers and will have limited distribution. Both pairs of glasses look similar. The Orion frames are slimmer, sure, but both models are bulky black face obelisks that are unlikely to become a popular fashion item. Which is probably why they look so austere. They’re not really for you. Not yet. Snap hasn’t provided a timeline for how that development may go, but it also isn’t just going to wait around until an ecosystem develops. Snap is also aiming its marketing at its core users, eager to eventually ease out of the development phase and reach a wider audience that want to connect with friends and use the glasses for creative collaboration. Snap’s Spectacles web page lets Snapchat users try on a virtual pair of the glasses and encourages them to play and learn together with Specs “Designed to get more people, closer over the things they love, together.” Like Meta’s Orion, it will likely take years for the AR glasses to shape up. But the race is on, and Snap is hoping to get its Specs on people’s faces as fast as it can, even if casual users might not be all that interested in wearing them yet. Face Time The author wearing Snap '24 Spectacles. I got the chance to try the new Spectacles in a hotel room overlooking the San Francisco Bay. Snap gave me the demo on background, meaning I wasn’t able to quote anyone in the room or shoot any videos of me using the glasses. But I was able to take a sweet selfie so you can see how rad I look wearing them. The first thing I noticed about the Spectacles is that they’re big. They weigh 7.97 ounces, or just under half a pound. That isn’t much, but the weight still wears on your ears and bridge of your nose after a while with Specs on. The good news is that you won’t have to wear them for long, as the battery only lasts for 45 minutes of continuous use. They might be a big, questionable fashion choice, but the Spectacles fit on the face rather well if you can get past the goofy look. The glasses work both indoors and outdoors, which the Snap folks showed me by letting me wander outside to take photos of the San Francisco Ferry building with the Spectacles by using a voice command. The display is sharp and vivid, even outdoors, meaning I could read text or see visuals just fine in the sunlight. The display renders at a resolution of 37 pixels per degree, which is very high for a digital image. It exceeds the PPD of Meta’s Orion glasses, which are currently rated at 13 PPD, with Meta’s stated goal of getting to 30 PPD. (The human eye can register real-world details at about 60 PPD.) The only problem is that the Spectacle’s display window for the augmented features—text, games, holographic overlays—only takes up 46 degrees of your field of vision. That’s three times the width of Snap’s previous AR glasses, so it’s a step forward for Snap. But the company’s optics are bested by competitors. The Spectacles’ 46-degree field of view is slightly less than the 52-degree view in Microsoft’s now-discontinued Hololens 2 , but much less than the Orion’s 70-degree field of view. What that means is that while you can see the rest of the real world like you would through a pair of normal glasses, the augmented elements only come through in a rectangular window right in the middle of your vision. That limits the digital overlay to a block in the middle of the screen, just wide enough to cover, say, a sidewalk if you’re walking down the street. It works just fine with AR features like text that stays in the window and moves with you. But if there are fixed AR elements in a world, the augmented view only extends to where your peripheral vision starts. Move your head around and the images will get cut off when they reach the edges of the AR window. There are microphones to register your voice commands. Forward-facing cameras on the outer rim of the Spectacles control the stuff on the translucent screen and track your hands. There are no hardware hand controllers, you just hold your hands up in the air to make pinch and pull gestures with your fingers. The distances for those controls aren’t super consistent from app to app. Sometimes you have to reach way out in front of you to pop a bubble, sometimes you have to pinch while holding your hand right next to your face. It takes a while to get the hang of normal interactions because of these changes in distances, which vary between the different apps depending on how each one was developed. This rendering shows a concept of what Snap hopes to eventually achieve with the Spectacles' AR capabilities, but the view in the glasses looks nothing like this right now. Snap really wants its Spectacles to do what Snapchat does best: let people share stuff. The Spectacles don’t seamlessly connect to Snapchat the service yet, though there are a few features that carry over. MyAI, Snapchat’s AI chatbot feature, lets you use voice commands and pics snapped by the outward-facing camera to ask questions about your surroundings and get immediate answers and links to sites like Wikipedia that might offer more information at the bridge you’re looking at. Video Calling Lens lets you call people through Snapchat, then lets them see what you are seeing through your Spectacles. Bitmoji also carry over, identifying you as your character in settings and AI interactions. “Snapchatters have been using AR since 2015,” Meyers says, “and because of that, we believe their transition to wearing AR glasses will be seamless.” Snap is also positioning the Spectacles as devices that let people interact in person too. At one point in my demo, all four of us in the room (three Snap employees and me) put on a pair of Spectacles and joined a shared fingerpainting room. We used our fingers to paint shapes and lines in the air in front of us. One of the reps drew a portal in the door. Another challenged me to a brightly colored game of Tic-Tac-Toe floating in the air between us. I tried to draw a big cool S but failed, just like I did in middle school. It was a nice moment, and one that hints at how Snap wants its devices to serve as a shared platform people can creatively build on when they’re together in the real world. It was also just people standing around and doodling, which we have been doing since the dawn of time. “People want to connect with those they're closest to,” Meyers says. “That’s why Snapchat is centered around communicating with your real friends and staying grounded in the real world. “ Heat Vision The '24 Spectacles being announced earlier this year. All this computation uses up energy, which generates heat. Inside the arms of the glasses is a vapor chamber—a miniature cooling system that disperses the heat away from the processors and across the arms of the glasses. This helps keep the chips inside the frame from getting hot against your temples, but it does also mean the heat spreads to the parts of the arms that are touching your head. I wore the glasses for about 45 minutes and when I removed them, the arms felt warm to the touch and I had started to sweat a little around my temples. (Note: I sweat very easily, your glandular output may vary.) It is not an unpleasant amount of warmth, and it’s manageable if the battery is going to max out at 45 minutes anyway. But the Specs do heat up. Maybe Snap could market them as ear warmers. At a demo, one game developer showed me a game his company built for the Spectacles. It tracks how far you walk and overlays a gamified grid over the top of your surroundings. As you walk, you collect coins that add up over your route. RPG-style enemies will pop up occasionally too, which you can then fight off with an AR sword that you wield by waving your hand around in real life. You have to hold the sword out directly in front of you in order to keep it within the confines of that narrow field of view, though, so that means walking with a stiff, outstretched arm. The pitch is that you can play this game while walking, which seems to me like a good way to accidentally whack somebody else walking on the sidewalk or get hurt when you chase a coin into traffic. Snap encourages wearers to avoid using AR that blocks their vision at times when they shouldn't be distracted, and to pay attention to their surroundings. But there are no procedures in place on the Spectacles now that send a pop up warning when something is in the way, or prevent people from using the glasses while driving or operating heavy machinery. People have been grievously injured while distractedly playing Pokémon Go, but Snap says this is a different use case. Holding your phone directly in front of you to catch a rare Snorlax is a problem because then you’re blocking your vision with a device. The Spectacles let you see the real world at all times, even through the augmented images in front of you. That said, I found that having a hologram in the middle of my vision can definitely be a distraction. When I tried out the walking game, my eyes focused more on the little cartoon collectibles floating around than the actual ground ahead of me. This might not be a problem while the Specs are solely at the hands of a few developers. But Snap is moving quickly, and also wants to appeal to a wider array of buyers, likely in an effort to build up its tech before its rivals can run away with the AR prize. After all, Meta’s AR efforts seem to be further along than Snap—lighter frames, more robust AI on the backend, and ever-so-slightly less of an off putting look. But there are some key differences between how the companies are trying to push their burgeoning tech forward. Meta’s Orion glasses are actually controlled by three devices—the glasses on your face, a gesture sensing wristband, and a large puck—about the size of a portable charger —that does the bulk of the processing for all the software features. Unlike Meta’s glasses, Snap’s Spectacles are all packed into a single device. That means they are bigger and heavier than the Meta glasses, but also that users won’t have to carry around extra pieces of equipment when they finally make their way into the real world. “We think it’s interesting that one of the biggest players in virtual reality agrees with us that the future is wearable, see-through, immersive AR,” Myers says. “Spectacles are quite different from the Orion prototype. They’re unique in that they are real immersive AR glasses that are available now, and Lens Studio developers are already building amazing experiences. Spectacles are completely standalone, with no extra puck or other devices required, and are built on a foundation of proven, commercialized technology that can be produced at scale.” Snap’s goal is to make its Spectacles intuitive, easy to use, and easy to wear. It’s going to take a while to get them there, but they’re well on that path to those three points. All they have to do is shave off some weight. Maybe add some color. And keep people from wandering into traffic.