How Meta Turned Smart Glasses Into 'Hot Surveillance Summer' (with Taylor Lorenz)

In this special episode in collaboration with the Power User podcast Amy Odell joins tech journalist Taylor Lorenz to trace the arc of wearable tech — from the abomination that was Google Glass to Snapchat's vending-machine Spectacles and the company's recent $2,000 flop. Also, why Meta's rollout of it's new $299 fashion-first AI glasses, odious as many find them, may end up being a smash hit. Follow Taylor's show Power User on Spotify, Apple, and YouTube, and subscribe to her newsletter, UserMag. Chapters: 00:00 Intro — why everyone's arguing about Meta's glasses 01:36 Turning a camera into a fashion accessory 01:55 Welcome + the "hot surveillance summer" question 02:45 Google Glass and the original abomination 04:16 Snapchat Spectacles, vending machines, and a $130 flop 06:48 GoPro and how sports normalized filming everything 08:55 Ray-Ban Stories (2021) and the "creep" problem 10:57 2025: Oakley Meta and the first AI glasses 11:55 2026: low-profile frames, rhinestones, and AI as the real sell 13:25 The influencer rollout and the decline of fashion media 18:39 Why Kylie Jenner 21:40 How phones already normalized recording everything 24:56 Fashion, plausible deniability, and getting women on board 26:20 Will they actually sell? Meta's copy machine 29:19 The anti-screen crowd may be Meta's best customer 32:14 Beyond glasses: pins, pendants, and camera AirPods 35:29 Who owns the data? Facial recognition and the scary part 37:11 Zuckerberg, Bezos, the Met Gala, and OpenAI's fashion play 39:59 Snap's $2,000 flop and why ugly tech dies 43:03 Wrap-up Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices