Google alternative DuckDuckGo has come up with a pair of plastic, non-pervert glasses in response to Meta's controversial smart glasses.
  • garretble@lemmy.worldEnglish
    29 minutes

    I wish DDG defaulted to their no ai search.

    If they want to make silly little jokes about “the other guys and their ai” then maybe don’t use ai shit as your default search option on your own platform?

    • FerrisEuler@programming.devEnglish
      5 hours

      While the headline doesn’t discuss it, the article begins with “Meta has opened Pandora’s box with its AI-infused smart sunglasses. The pricy accessory has sparked a heated debate over privacy, with unsavory individuals abusing the eyewear’s easily-missed cameras to harass unsuspecting strangers in public — garnering the specs the distinctly unflattering nickname of “pervert glasses.””

      • betanumerus@lemmy.caEnglish
        4 hours

        “Zero AI, Cameras, or Even Electronics Whatsoever”. but i conceded that manufacturing a lens and a frame qualifies as technology as far as i’m concerned

  • architect@thelemmy.clubEnglish
    5 hours

    This is so stupid. Ddg thinks their users are dumb as fuck. I’m sure they’re right.

  • twisted@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    24 hours

    So it’s not anti-pervert then. It’s just non-pervert.

    Anti-pervert would be something like sunglasses that zap the pervert sunglasses’ cameras with lasers and damage the sensor. Maybe they don’t have to be so accurate.

        • benjirenji@slrpnk.netEnglish
          3 hours

          Not sure. I assume they have a better IR filter than the small cameras used for the pervert glasses.

          Although they may be IR sensitive because they also need to work at night though. Would need to see the technical specs.

    • muusemuuse@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      22 hours

      Maybe a sort of anti pervert mesh network where gamma radiation is fired in the direction of whoever wears pervert glasses and eventually kills them with cancer.

      It’s incredibly irresponsible and would have unintended consequences for otherwise innocent people but it would technically work so capitalism says ship it before China does!

  • Carl@anarchist.nexusEnglish
    23 hours

    The real move would be to include polarized lenses or a holographic coating to block infrared facial ID cameras like Flock. Because most sunglasses don’t block the infrared spectrum, meaning something like a Flock camera can see right through them.

    These are basically just a dad joke, based on the fact that meta has made every other pair of sunglasses “anti-pervert sunglasses” by default.

  • graynk@discuss.tchncs.deEnglish
    1 day

    Sooooo not anti-pervert and a generic publicity stunt. Haha please laugh etc. Don’t have anything against DDG but can only roll my eyes at something like this

    • T3CHT @sh.itjust.worksEnglish
      6 hours

      Fair - it’s marketing.
      But it’s good marketing - lambasts a stupid thing that people dislike to promote a product that is selling the opposite (privacy).
      Good goal, and the marketing is clearly working here we are talking about it.

      Also DDG browser is awesome on mobile and Windows. Blocks many ads and trackers, even on YT. Lightweight, wicked fast, offers not only private search but private AI chat.

      Use DDG Because Gemini is SUPER creepy when it inserts personal info in unrelated questions. It keeps inserting my family details in answering unrelated questions now… Like a perv.

    • credo@lemmy.worldEnglish
      9 hours

      Right. Anti-pervert glasses would at least require some lasers to meet the requisite qualifications.

    • k0e3@lemmy.caEnglish
      21 hours

      You can hide your eyes with the anti light version of the anti pervert glasses!

      • bluGill@fedia.io
        1 day

        Probably more expensive than AliBaba. Which might or might not mean better quality.

          • FrChazzz@lemmus.orgEnglish
            20 hours

            Iʻve been buying Knockaround glasses for years. Theyʻre not owned by Essilor-Luxottica and have pretty great quality that has improved over the years. Only reason Iʻve had to buy new glasses from them was either due to theft or loss.

            EDIT to make the conglomerateʻs name accurate and not sound like itʻs co-owned by Aragorn using his kingly name

    • ShaunaTheDead@fedia.io
      1 day

      Yeah… I think “anti pervert glasses” is a stretch for normal glasses. If anything, it makes you accidentally look like a pervert using pervert glasses to spy on people.

  • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
    24 hours

    Meanwhile, I recently got new prescription glasses (after wearing my previous pairs for way too long, BTW) and got some that have an IR-blocking coating that’s supposed to block face recognition cameras. Because that apparently needs to be a thing these days.

    (I’m disappointed that these DuckDuckGo glasses don’t have a similar special coating. I like the company I got mine from, but I’d like to see more companies offering privacy-enhancing tech.)

      • grue@lemmy.worldEnglish
        22 hours

        I didn’t want to give the appearance of shilling. But if you want to know, it’s https://www.zennioptical.com/id-guard

        There are apparently also similar products from “Reflectacles” and “Vaydr,” but they were more expensive and/or not normal prescription glasses. The Zenni thing is just an extra coating you can add on to the glasses you would have otherwise bought anyway (which is how I found out about it; I didn’t know it existed beforehand).

  • sem@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    1 day

    “No camera, no microphone, no AI, no battery, no electronics of any kind,” Knockaround boasts on its website. “Just a beautifully crafted pair of matte black sunglasses with a glossy DuckDuckGo logo, designed to block the sun and never send data to the cloud

    • DrakeAlbrecht@lemmy.worldEnglish
      1 day

      They’re barely making back the research costs of producing sunglasses without a lithium-polymer battery or a 12 megapixel CMOS camera.

      THE ABOVE COMMENT IS SARCASM.
    • adarza@lemmy.caEnglish
      1 day

      there’s no extra markup involved here for what is essentially a marketing thing.

      they’re $35. which is also the price the ‘normal’ (not ‘collab’ edition) ones sell for direct on ka’s web site or at retailers like rei.