Meta just u-turned on the best VR announcement it ever made — and might have handed the win to Android XR

Meta is set to unveil a new AI image and video model, code-named 'Mango', alongside a large language model called 'Avocado', as announced by Alexandr Wang, the company's AI chief. This development highlights Meta's ongoing investment in artificial intelligence technologies.

Palona AI, a startup founded by former Google and Meta engineers, has launched Palona Vision and Palona Workflow, marking a significant shift towards the restaurant and hospitality sectors. These new features aim to create a real-time operating system for restaurant operations, integrating various modalities such as cameras and task execution. This launch represents a strategic pivot from the company's initial focus when it debuted in early 2025 with $10 million in seed funding.

The family of a teenage boy who died by suicide after being blackmailed on Instagram has filed a lawsuit against Meta, the platform's owner. This tragic case highlights the severe consequences of online sextortion and the responsibilities of social media companies in protecting their users.

The parents of Murray Dowey, a 16-year-old who died by suicide after being targeted by a sextortion gang on Instagram, are suing Meta for alleged wrongful death, marking the first case of its kind in the UK. They claim that their son was misled into sharing intimate images with someone he believed to be a peer, only to discover it was a criminal operation.

Meta has announced a pause on the development of third-party virtual reality headsets from ASUS and Lenovo, indicating a shift in its strategy within the VR market. This decision reflects the company's ongoing reassessment of its product offerings and development timelines.

Patronus AI has introduced a new training architecture called 'Generative Simulators' that aims to address the high failure rate of AI agents, which reportedly fail 63% of the time on complex tasks. This innovative approach creates adaptive simulation environments that dynamically generate challenges and evaluate AI performance in real time, marking a significant shift from traditional static benchmarks.