{"id":154722,"date":"2025-09-19T11:12:06","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154722\/"},"modified":"2025-09-19T11:12:06","modified_gmt":"2025-09-19T11:12:06","slug":"lately-metas-live-demo-bungle-canadas-biggest-crypto-bust-and-the-tamagotchi-renaissance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/154722\/","title":{"rendered":"Lately: Meta\u2019s live demo bungle, Canada\u2019s biggest crypto bust and the Tamagotchi renaissance"},"content":{"rendered":"

Welcome back to Lately, The Globe\u2019s weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say hello to a real-life human, send me an e-mail<\/a>. <\/p>\n

In this week\u2019s issue:<\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd13 Mishaps at Meta\u2019s live demo of new smart glasses <\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd11 The biggest crypto bust in Canadian history <\/p>\n

\ud83c\udfdb\ufe0f Parents of teens who died by suicide after chatbot interactions testify in U.S. Congress <\/p>\n

\ud83e\udd5a The Tamagotchi renaissance is here <\/p>\n

GADGETS Meta unveils AI smart glassesOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark Zuckerberg wears Meta’s new smart glasses.Nic Coury\/The Associated Press<\/p>\n

On Wednesday, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg stood on stage wearing black chunky glasses, trying to make a video call to his colleague. He was giving a live demo of Meta\u2019s new smart glasses, which have a screen in the lens that shows notifications and messages without having to look down at your phone. The Meta Ray-Ban display glasses<\/a>, which will sell for around US$799, can also post to social media, play music from built-in speakers, and send messages. The apps are controlled via a wristband that allows the user to navigate with subtle flicks of the wrist and fingers. <\/p>\n

But during the live demo, Zuckerberg ran into technical issues: the glasses stumbled trying to provide a barbecue recipe and failed to pick up a video call. The CEO blamed the bungles on the WiFi. \u201cThey tell us not to do live demos,\u201d Zuckerberg remarked awkwardly, as the audience of Meta developers laughed along. <\/p>\n

This is the second iteration of Meta\u2019s smart glasses, which were first released four years ago. At the time, the glasses were touted as a gateway to the metaverse \u2013 the virtual world Zuckerberg called the future of the internet. With this latest launch, the glasses are aimed at more everyday purposes, like texting a friend. The glasses are also a way for the company to show off its AI capabilities via the voice-controlled chatbot \u2013 at least, as long as the WiFi signal is strong. <\/p>\n

Are you reading this newsletter on the web or did someone forward the e-mail to you? If so, you can sign up for the Lately newsletter<\/a>.CRYPTO$56-million recovered from Canadian crypto platform<\/p>\n

In the largest crypto bust in Canadian history, the RCMP says it has taken down the crypto platform TradeOgre<\/a>, which it said was mainly used for criminal transactions. The police force said it had recovered $56-million after a tip from European authorities that found the platform had failed to register as a money services business and did not identify its clients. The statement did not say whether police had made any arrests in connection with the seizure. <\/p>\n

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE Parents testify about the dangers of AI chatbots in U.S. Congress <\/p>\n

In the days after their 16-year-old Adam Raine took his own life, his parents Matt and Maria searched his phone looking for answers. The California parents didn\u2019t expect to find it within conversations with ChatGPT. <\/p>\n

While Adam first started using the chatbot as a tool to help with homework, it became his closest confidante and a space where he could open up about his struggles with anxiety and depression. Later, when Adam told the chatbot his plans to end his life, the chatbot responded \u201cThanks for being real about it. You don\u2019t have to sugarcoat it with me \u2013 I know what you\u2019re asking, and I won\u2019t look away from it.\u201d The message was included in a lawsuit the Raines have filed against OpenAI, alleging that the chatbot coached their son in planning his suicide. <\/p>\n

Adam\u2019s death, as well the case of a 14-year-old Florida boy who took his own life after forming an intimate relationship with a chatbot from Character.AI, has led to calls for AI companies to make changes to protect young people from potential harms. This week, Adam\u2019s father and other parents of teens who killed themselves after interactions with chatbots testified to Congress<\/a>. The Federal Trade Commission has also launched an inquiry into several companies, including Character, Meta and OpenAI, Google, Snap and xAI. In the U.S., more than 70 per cent of teens have used AI chatbots for companionship and half use them regularly, according to a recent study. <\/p>\n

What else we\u2019re reading this week: <\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s tech bros have a plan for the country. Too bad a chatbot wrote it<\/a> (The Walrus)<\/p>\n

AI psychosis is rarely psychosis at all<\/a> (WIRED)<\/p>\n

Has Britain gone too far with its digital controls?<\/a> (The New York Times)<\/p>\n

Adult MoneyNOSTALGIAOpen this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Tamagotchi fans gather in Toronto in August.DUANE COLE\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

Tamagotchi, $30<\/p>\n

If you are a certain age \u2013 as in, a millennial or the parent of a millennial \u2013 you\u2019re likely deeply familiar with Tamagotchis, the handheld device with a small LED screen that houses a digital pet. I remember wearing my Tamagotchi around my neck, like a prized jewel, in elementary school, sneakily feeding my pet snacks and cleaning up its digital poop throughout the day. (We may not have had smartphones back then, but there was always some kind of newfangled tech to distract us.) <\/p>\n

I hadn\u2019t thought much about the cute devices until I read Aajah Sauter\u2019s recent feature<\/a> about the renaissance of the Tamagotchi. \u201cWhether it\u2019s thanks to nostalgia or escapism (or a lingering effect of the early days of the pandemic, when adults found themselves with more time on their hands), more grown-ups are buying children\u2019s toys,\u201d writes Sauter. The maker of Tamagotchi, Bandai, has recently seen a spike in sales. In August, it had shipped more than 100 million Tamagotchis worldwide. <\/p>\n

Culture radarSTREAMING<\/p>\n

Cancon music hearings begin <\/p>\n

The federal broadcast regulator began hearings<\/a> to look at which Canadian content obligations should apply to music streamers like Spotify, Apple and Amazon, as part of the process to implement the Online Streaming Act. <\/p>\n

Streaming services argue their current efforts to promote Canadian culture \u2013 and the royalties they pay \u2013 are good enough. But radio broadcasters such as Rogers, Bell and Corus say their sector is in serious decline and if the CRTC won\u2019t impose content regulations on streamers, it should reconsider how it applies them to traditional players. <\/p>\n

The federal government is under heavy pressure from the United States to scrap the legislation. Streaming companies have launched a court challenge of an earlier decision requiring them to make financial contributions to Canadian content and news. The hearings run until Sept. 29. <\/p>\n

More tech and telecom news<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Welcome back to Lately, The Globe\u2019s weekly tech newsletter. If you have feedback or just want to say…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":154723,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[1397,10456,49,48,81472,1412,2922,61],"class_list":["post-154722","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-appwebview","tag-aud-growth","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-lately-newsletter","tag-newsletter","tag-noastack","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154722","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=154722"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/154722\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/154723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=154722"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=154722"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=154722"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}