Meta swaps lenses for mics on "pervert glasses" reboot, CoinEx heads for Dec. 22 shutdown 👓🚫

Meta is preparing a camera-free version of its smart glasses, internally code-named Luna, that could ship as early as October, according to a Tuesday report from The Information citing people familiar with the matter. The device replaces the built-in camera with six microphones, allowing wearers to activate Meta AI and the company's newly launched personal AI agent, Muse, through a button on the temple. Two styles are reportedly planned under the code names Clubmaster and Burbank, with slimmer frames and speakers comparable to those in Meta's existing Ray-Ban lineup. Meta could showcase Luna at its Connect developer conference, scheduled for September 23 and 24 at the company's Menlo Park campus.

The pivot follows a turbulent year for Meta's camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses, which critics and users have labeled "pervert glasses" online. A BBC investigation in January found women being secretly filmed and the clips posted to TikTok without consent, while a separate February investigation identified Nairobi-based contractors reviewing footage that included people undressing and using the bathroom. The backlash escalated quickly: class-action lawsuits, a Texas attorney general investigation, and an ACLU-led coalition demanding Meta abandon facial-recognition plans all landed within a few months of one another. Internal memos cited in earlier reporting also show the NYPD and the Department of Homeland Security warning that the glasses could be used to covertly record inside jails and government buildings, and Immigration and Customs Enforcement has banned its own staff from wearing the devices at work.

Luna's design removes the lens that made those incidents possible, eliminating the ability to capture covert video or photographs. It also drops the signature hands-free point-of-view photo and video features that helped drive adoption of the Ray-Ban Meta line. If the October launch holds, buyers would receive the device less than a month after its on-stage debut.

Separately, cryptocurrency exchange CoinEx announced Tuesday that it will cease operations and begin an orderly wind-down, with the platform set to close on December 22, exactly nine years after it launched in 2017. Users have until that deadline to withdraw their funds. Founder and CEO Haipo Yang attributed the closure to a combination of prolonged market weakness and rising compliance pressures. "The security and compliance risks of running a crypto exchange have become increasingly difficult to contain," Yang wrote on X.