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Instagram is propping up declining Facebook ad revenues, but with Meta’s huge slate of AI, AR, and robotic projects, the company needs more than one flourishing platform. Improving Facebook’s algorithm to boost visibility for less well-known creators could attract new influencers.

GenAI, blockchain, AR, and more can completely shift the dynamics of how brands connect with consumers. Stay informed and understand what new tools work best. Focus on core business objectives. Maintain an unwavering focus on brand-building, business growth, and sustainable competitive advantages. Every marketing initiative should contribute to one or more of these. Collaborate with finance.

AR tools (Perfect Corp., Zero10). Product recommendation and personalization engines (Bloomreach, Coveo, Dynamic Yield). Review engines (Bazaarvoice, PowerReviews, Trustpilot, Yotpo). Pricing and promotions engines (Grid Dynamics, Revionics). Inventory management systems such as Lightspeed Retail and Oracle NetSuite are often integrated with other solutions.

Snap study shows the power of positive ads: Consumers reported higher brand recall when seeing ads that sparked "joy."

French Hill (R-AR) and Bryan Hall (R-WI) released their own draft bills. What’s inside: These bills offer differing visions on things like the role of state regulators, compliance requirements, and rules for stablecoins with larger or smaller market caps. But the common thread among them is that they call for more rules for stablecoins and their reserves.

Google Gemini fared the worst, with a 60% error rate, while Perplexity performed the best (40%), per Ars Technica. Accuracy failures were the most common issue. Over 30% of responses significantly misrepresented facts, numbers, or dates. One in five AI-generated news summaries falsely attributed statements to BBC sources. 13% of direct quotes were either altered or nonexistent in cited BBC articles.

A) Have a voice conversation with a chatbot B) Generate custom images based on text prompts C) Automatically summarize YouTube videos while watching D) Use AR to visualize answers in real life. Google’s Search Live capability allows users to have back-and-forth voice conversations with a chatbot, according to The Verge. June 19, 2025.

The ubiquity of smartphones makes AR experiences widely accessible through built-in cameras and screens. It’s a potential jumping-off point for mixed-reality headsets and glasses. Key stat: We forecast that by 2028, AR users in the US will reach 116.0 million, and VR users will reach 91.3 million.

Instead, It’l'll show off its AR Ray-Ban Meta glasses with the help of celebrities like Chris Hemsworth and Kris Jenner. Notable no-shows. Who declines to run Super Bowl ads can be as interesting as who shells out. Last year, Temu stormed the Super Bowl by running five ads both during and after the game. But this year, the discount retailer is notably absent.

AR and AI tools are nice to have, but not yet essential. Beauty brands and retailers are investing in AR and AI. AR filters for makeup, shade-matching tools, and personalized skincare advisors are among the innovations beauty brands are using to improve the online shopping experience and boost conversion. Gen Zers and young millennials are the most likely to engage with this tech.

Lawk showed off its AI and AR Smart Glasses, which offer real-time translation in eight languages. Our take: As usual, CES didn’t disappoint with all of its new tech, which also delved into holographic displays, AR headsets, and video gaming accessories. The future is more automated than ever.

This is an article from Benj Edwards of Ars Technica. He was explaining that the researchers tested eight AI driven search tools by providing direct excerpts from real news articles and asking the models to identify each article's original headline, publisher, publication date and URL.

Looktech AI Glasses, TCL RayNeo AR glasses, and Even G1 Digital Glasses will all make an appearance in CES exhibits, but you can bet there will be many more. Rabbit and Humane learned the hard way last year that the world isn’t ready to give up their phones. Expect more devices that complement smartphones rather than any tech that hopes to replace them.

Seventy-five percent of US car buyers prefer used cars, a trend unlikely to shift with electrification, per Ars Technica. EV penetration has averaged 6.8% so far this year, down from 7.5% in 2023. BofA analysts say they now expect EVs to make up about 8% of vehicle sales in 2024, 14% in 2027 and 29% in 2030.

The news: Nvidia will soon make it possible for researchers, developers, and students to run powerful AI models locally with the Project Digits desktop AI PC, per Ars Technica. The $3,000 AI desktop, unveiled at CES 2025, could upend the AI PC market by offering a cost-effective, energy-efficient alternative to cloud-based models when it becomes available in May.

The many devices shown this year did everything from live translation to AR display to capturing images/video. But as the tech and adoption evolves, this wearable tech has the opportunity to play an outsized role in retail media.

ACH payments are still ahead of other payment methods in offering businesses enhanced data and easy AP and AR automation. Their remittance information enables straightforward reconciliation, and the payments can be easily integrated into AP and AR automation solutions.

It also has that those AR features. And unlike a VR headset that gives you the virtual experience, smart glasses are lightweight, they're stylish, you can wear them out in the world without being conspicuous.

"Looking ahead, I predict the convergence of AI, augmented reality, and advanced interfaces will blur the lines between digital and physical experiences," said Kaare Wesnaes, head of innovation at Ogilvy North America. "Brands will engage with people in real-time, contextual ways, seamlessly integrating into their lives.

Zooming out: The market for augmented reality (AR) headsets, including glasses like Meta’s, is set to reach $5.34 billion in 2028, up from $1.86 billion in 2023, per ARTillery Intelligence. That growth is in stark contrast to the rest of the wearables sector: Global shipments of wearables are expected to decrease 3.9% YoY in 2025, per IDC.

Distinctive products like augmented reality filters can attract advertisers in the beauty and fashion sectors. But relying on those niches is not driving the revenue growth that investors demand. Our take: Snap’s Q2 reflects a challenging advertising environment for social media platforms not named Facebook, Instagram, or TikTok.

T-Mobile stated that 300 Starlink low-Earth orbit satellites will cover service for 500,000 square miles of land in the US that isn’t reachable by cell towers, per Ars Technica. SpaceX has a spectrum lease agreement with T-Mobile that covers all 50 states and Puerto Rico. Why it’s worth watching: Starlink and T-Mobile have been testing their satellite connectivity since earlier this year.

Snap is all in on AR for retail. From the unveiling of AR mirrors to a demonstration of its new AR Enterprise Services (ARES) technology, SPS proved Snap is now fully committed to retail AR. The ARES Shopping Suite shows signs of promise. Retail AR is still far from mainstream, but shopping is a growing use case among AR users.

The last few years have been designated the year of the metaverse or AR—only to fizzle or at least fail to meet expectations. Even so, we estimate AR already counts over 90 million users with most engaging with social media AR lenses on their smartphones. The arrival of several innovative immersive media devices in 2024 may spur innovation that will spill into the broader immersive media landscape.