A few years ago, we had people walking around San Francisco and the Bay Area in their Google Glass specs…and with the built-in camera they were quickly dubbed ‘Glassholes.’ Some bars and restaurants even banned them. Well, now they’re back in a way…the Meta Quest 3 is in the wild, and people have been posting pics of themselves walking around in the world instead of playing games. Theverge.com reports that the things are far more noticeable than the old Google Glass spectacles were…pretty hard to miss…a headset with the three pass through camera ports on the front. So far, there have been videos from a comic convention, in an elevator, and one person walked into a San Francisco coffee shop and bought coffee while never taking the things off. (It should be noted that the person DID take the headset off to drink their coffee.) The big difference with the old Google Glass or even Meta’s glasses-like Ray-Bans is that those warn others they are being videoed. The Quest 3 just slowly pulses a white light…and the light is on by default. We will probably be seeing signs up again soon banning the devices from bars and restaurants.

As predicted by a few analysts, Apple has bowed their new, cheaper Apple Pencil. According to 9to5mac.com, the $79 gadget comes with a hidden USB-C charging port, and will be available to order in early November. It has an indented edge for improved ergonomics. What do you lose compared to the more pricy pencil? This one doesn’t have magnetic wireless charging and pairing support. It can still be attached magnetically to the side of an iPad, though. The new Pencil should work with all iPads that have a USB-C port. The higher line pencil is $129. 

As an old friend often says, ‘That’s how they getcha.’ You’ve had a legacy unlimited plan at T-Mobile, and you’re going to be automatically upgraded soon to a newer plan, with a higher price. Zdnet.com says there is a way to prevent the price raise….which runs $5-10 per month. What can you do? You can contact T-Mobile’s Customer Case support line at 1-800-937-8997 and opt out as soon as you get the notice of the change. 

In another instance of ‘they giveth and they taketh away,’ Instagram has pulled a monetization tool called Reels Play bonus. Mashable.com reports that this has cost some creators $500 to $1000 a month they had been counting on. The program was similar to TikTok’s Creator Fund. The program is still in effect in Korea and Japan, but Meta said that the program had been ‘burning money’ in the US. A Meta spokesperson wouldn’t identify any programs they might roll out that could replace the income stream for the creators that had been using this program. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.