Technologies

Facebook’s AI research could spur smarter AR glasses and robots

Rummaging through drawers to find your keys could become a thing of the past.

Facebook envisions a future in which you’ll learn to play the drums or whip up a new recipe while wearing augmented reality glasses or other devices powered by artificial intelligence. To make that future a reality, the social network needs its AI systems to see through your eyes.

«This is the world where we’d have wearable devices that could benefit you and me in our daily life through providing information at the right moment or helping us fetch memories,» said Kristen Grauman, a lead research scientist at Facebook. The technology could eventually be used to analyze our activities, she said, to help us find misplaced items, like our keys.

That future is still a ways off, as evidenced by Facebook’s Ray-Ban branded smart glasses, which debuted in September without AR effects. Part of the challenge is training AI systems to better understand photos and videos people capture from their perspective so that the AI can help people remember important information.

Facebook said it teamed up with 13 universities and labs that recruited 750 people to capture more than 2,200 hours of first-person video over two years. The participants, who lived in the UK, Italy, India, Japan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, the US, Rwanda and Colombia, shot videos of themselves engaging in everyday activities such as playing sports, shopping, gazing at their pets or gardening. They used a variety of wearable devices, including GoPro cameras, Vuzix Blade smart glasses and ZShades video recording sunglasses.

Starting next month, Facebook researchers will be able to request access to this trove of data, which the social network said is the world’s largest collection of first-person unscripted videos. The new project, called Ego4D, provides a glimpse into how a tech company could improve technologies like AR, virtual reality and robotics so they play a bigger role in our daily lives.

The company’s work comes during a tumultuous period for Facebook. The social network has faced scrutiny from lawmakers, advocacy groups and the public after The Wall Street Journal published a series of stories about how the company’s internal research showed it knew about the platform’s harms even as it downplayed them publicly. Frances Haugen, a former Facebook product manager turned whistleblower, testified before Congress last week about the contents of thousands of pages of confidential documents she took before leaving the company in May. She’s scheduled to testify in the UK and meet with Facebook’s semi-independent oversight board in the near future.

Even before Haugen’s revelations, Facebook’s smart glasses sparked concerns from critics who worry the device could be used to secretly record people. During its research into first-person video, the social network said it addressed privacy concerns. Camera wearers could view and delete their videos, and the company blurred the faces of bystanders and license plates that were captured.

Fueling more AI research

As part of the new project, Facebook said, it created five benchmark challenges for researchers. The benchmarks include episodic memory, so you know what happened when; forecasting, so computers know what you’re likely to do next; and hand and object manipulation, to understand what a person is doing in a video. The last two benchmarks are understanding who said what, and when, in a video, and who the partners are in the interaction.

«This sets up a bar just to get it started,» Grauman said. «This usually is quite powerful because now you’ll have a systematic way to evaluate data.»

Helping AI understand first-person video can be challenging because computers typically learn from images that are shot from the third-person perspective of a spectator. Challenges such as motion blur and footage from different angles come into play when you record yourself kicking a soccer ball or riding a roller coaster.

Facebook said it’s looking at expanding the project to other countries. The company said diversifying the video footage is important because if AR glasses are helping a person cook curry or do laundry, the AI assistant needs to understand that those activities can look different in various regions of the world.

Facebook said the video dataset includes a diverse range of activities shot in 73 locations across nine countries. The participants included people of different ages, genders and professions.

The COVID-19 pandemic also created limitations for the research. For example, more footage in the data set is of stay-at-home activities such as cooking or crafting rather than public events.

Some of the universities that partnered with Facebook include the University of Bristol in the UK, Georgia Tech in the US, the University of Tokyo in Japan and Universidad de los Andes in Colombia.

Technologies

Today’s NYT Mini Crossword Answers for Saturday, Nov. 22

Here are the answers for The New York Times Mini Crossword for Nov. 22.

Looking for the most recent Mini Crossword answer? Click here for today’s Mini Crossword hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Wordle, Strands, Connections and Connections: Sports Edition puzzles.

Need some help with today’s Mini Crossword? It’s a long one, since it’s Saturday, and some of them were tough today. (Two Bee clues?) Read on for the answers. And if you could use some hints and guidance for daily solving, check out our Mini Crossword tips.

If you’re looking for today’s Wordle, Connections, Connections: Sports Edition and Strands answers, you can visit CNET’s NYT puzzle hints page.

Read more: Tips and Tricks for Solving The New York Times Mini Crossword

Let’s get to those Mini Crossword clues and answers.

Mini across clues and answers

1A clue: Moves (over) in one’s seat
Answer: SCOOTS

7A clue: Capital of Taiwan
Answer: TAIPEI

8A clue: ___ Bee
Answer: SPELLING

10A clue: In the style of
Answer: ALA

11A clue: Device with a keypad that’s typed on discreetly, for short
Answer: ATM

12A clue: ___ Bee
Answer: SAMANTHA

15A clue: «Family Guy» baby
Answer: STEWIE

16A clue: Sings in the Alps
Answer: YODELS

Mini down clues and answers

1D clue: Like some clams and freshly cleaned shirts
Answer: STEAMED

2D clue: What an online meeting invite gets added to, for short
Answer: CAL

3D clue: Vinegar’s counterpart
Answer: OIL

4D clue: Morphine and codeine, for two
Answer: OPIATES

5D clue: First inning in extra innings
Answer: TENTH

6D clue: Greek «S»
Answer: SIGMA

8D clue: Full of back talk
Answer: SASSY

9D clue: «Allegory of the Cave» philosopher
Answer: PLATO

13D clue: Wonderstruck feeling
Answer: AWE

14D clue: Nothin’
Answer: NIL

Technologies

Today’s NYT Connections: Sports Edition Hints and Answers for Nov. 22, #425

Here are hints and the answers for the NYT Connections: Sports Edition puzzle for Nov. 22, No. 425.

Looking for the most recent regular Connections answers? Click here for today’s Connections hints, as well as our daily answers and hints for The New York Times Mini Crossword, Wordle and Strands puzzles.

Today’s Connections: Sports Edition is a diverse one today. As a Seattle resident, I got a kick out of the purple category. If you’re struggling with today’s puzzle but still want to solve it, read on for hints and the answers.

Connections: Sports Edition is published by The Athletic, the subscription-based sports journalism site owned by The Times. It doesn’t appear in the NYT Games app, but it does in The Athletic’s own app. Or you can play it for free online.

Read more: NYT Connections: Sports Edition Puzzle Comes Out of Beta

Hints for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Here are four hints for the groupings in today’s Connections: Sports Edition puzzle, ranked from the easiest yellow group to the tough (and sometimes bizarre) purple group.

Yellow group hint: Gridiron numbers.

Green group hint: The Garden State.

Blue group hint: Guarding against scores.

Purple group hint: DC, or the Evergreen State.

Answers for today’s Connections: Sports Edition groups

Yellow group: Football defensive stats.

Green group: Teams that play in New Jersey

Blue group: US soccer goalkeepers.

Purple group: Washington ____.

Read more: Wordle Cheat Sheet: Here Are the Most Popular Letters Used in English Words

What are today’s Connections: Sports Edition answers?

The yellow words in today’s Connections

The theme is football defensive stats. The four answers are hurry, interception, sack and tackle.

The green words in today’s Connections

The theme is teams that play in New Jersey. The four answers are Devils, Giants, Gotham and Red Bulls.

The blue words in today’s Connections

The theme is US soccer goalkeepers. The four answers are Howard, Naeher, Scurry and Solo.

The purple words in today’s Connections

The theme is Washington ____. The four answers are Capitals, Huskies, Nationals and Spirit.

Technologies

The iPhone 17 Pro’s Cameras Take the Fight to the OnePlus 15, and There Are Bruises

Camera showdown: The OnePlus 15’s camera should have surprised me, but it really didn’t. Meanwhile, Apple’s iPhone 17 Pro keeps on delivering in terms of photography.

The OnePlus 15 impressed my excellent colleague, David Lumb, with its superb battery life and excellent performance, especially for gaming. I wasn’t as thrilled with the cameras in my early testing, but the proof of its photography prowess comes down to how it stacks up against the competition. In this case, the iPhone 17 Pro is one of our favorite phone cameras and indeed one of the best camera phones you can buy in 2025.

For years, OnePlus has partnered with the iconic Swedish camera maker Hasselblad to work on color science and image calibration for OnePlus phones. But that partnership has ended, which puts a lot of pressure on the Chinese company to impress with its camera suite on the OnePlus 15. Throughout all these changes, Apple released the iPhone 17 Pro, which has a brand-new 48-megapixel 4x telephoto camera and carries forward the company’s reputation for excellent photography.

I headed out to the streets of Edinburgh, Scotland, to test both phone cameras in a variety of situations. It’s important to note, though, that what I consider «better» might not be what you agree with. Photography, like all art, is subjective. While, as aprofessional photographer, I prefer more natural, true-to-life tones, you may prefer imagery with more pop and colors. Take my thoughts with a grain of salt.

Note, too, that all images were taken with each phone’s standard camera mode in JPEG format, and all images have been resized using Adobe Lightroom, with no additional edits or sharpening applied. Small print done with, let’s dive in.

Straight off the bat, I’ll admit a small mistake in the photos above. I took this shot using one of the iPhone’s Photographic Styles. I think it was Gold, and so it’s no surprise that it’s given the image a more vibrant, warmer look that suits the scene incredibly well. I only had the style active for this example and the ultrawide version below.

However, I noticed that the iPhone’s exposure is broadly better, while the OnePlus’ software processing had worked so hard in reducing image noise that a lot of the texture in the floor had been lost.

Switch to the ultrawide lenses, and things do change a bit. The iPhone’s exposure above looks preferable to my eye, but the OnePlus’ shot definitely has more detail overall.

This example above is quite classic of the problems I have not just with the OnePlus 15, but also with most of OnePlus’ phones. The image is quite heavily saturated, with an electric-blue sky and vivid greens that look unnatural to me. The iPhone’s image has a much better handle on color here.

My other problem with OnePlus’ phones is how hard they go with their HDR processing, brightening up shadows and pulling back highlights, resulting in images that quite often lack depth and believable contrast. The image above is a prime example where the deep shadows under this bridge have been maintained in the iPhone’s shot, but where the OnePlus 15 has tried to lighten them so much that the image looks very overprocessed.

And to prove it’s not a one-off, this example above is a real low point for the OnePlus. It really tried to eliminate any kind of shadows in this scene, while pulling back the highlights in the sky outside far too much. The image looks fake, overprocessed and exactly what people would think of if you told them a photo was taken on a phone. By taking a far more subtle approach, the iPhone’s image is much more to my liking.

The OnePlus hasn’t gone as hard with its vendetta against shadows in the image above, but it does look like it’s ramped that saturation way up. It’s not that I don’t like vibrant colors — I do — it’s just that I want to add in that saturation should I want to, rather than having it forced on me by default.

The images above show a more muted scene and a good effort from both phones. Although taken just nine seconds apart (I checked the metadata), I do think the sun may have slightly peeked out from behind a cloud a little more in the iPhone’s shot, as the front of the building does look quite a lot brighter. Or maybe the OnePlus is going hard on the HDR again. Who knows? Either way, good details on this image from both phones.

The same scene in ultrawide does arguably look a little muted from the iPhone, at least when compared with the bold blue of the OnePlus’ shot above. Somewhere between the two would be my sweet spot. After I zoomed in on the details, the iPhone’s shot is certainly clearer, but at full screen — or on your Insta feed — that difference is negligible.

That brightness and color difference persists when taking each phone to its maximum default telephoto zoom, so maybe it doesn’t have anything to do with the sun and clouds after all. Colors aside, the iPhone’s shot above is also clearer, and its details look sharp without being overly digitally sharpened. The OnePlus’ image does have something of a «crunchiness» to it from its software processing that I don’t like as much.

Peeping close up at the pixels on each phone’s telephoto zoom shot, I definitely think the OnePlus has gone too hard with its sharpening in the image above of a person in a window.

I’m slightly more torn on this nighttime scene. The OnePlus shot above has yet again gone big on the saturation. Look at the overcooked green on the grass — it looks like it was taken at midday in the spring. The iPhone’s colors look way more natural. However, the OnePlus’ sharpening works in favor at night, delivering a shot with crisper details throughout.

And in ultrawide, I flat out prefer the OnePlus image above. Those vibrant tones look much better here, especially as they make the oranges of the building in the background stand out more.

And if we peep at those pixels again, it’s clear that the details on the OnePlus’ shot (left) are far better. Finally, a win for the OnePlus.

This final indoor low-light scene is a bit more of a mixed bag. The OnePlus’ image above is unquestionably brighter — especially the people nearest the camera — but its noise reduction has gone a bit too hard in some areas, reducing textures on clothing and hair that the iPhone hasn’t done. Overall, though, I’d say this example is a close fight.

iPhone 17 Pro vs. OnePlus 15: Which camera is better?

For me, it’s an easy victory for the iPhone 17 Pro. Almost across the board, its images are more natural looking with realistic colors, saturation levels and exposure. The OnePlus 15’s reliance on heavy-handed image processing has resulted in often garish-looking photos that are almost the opposite of what I look for in my photography. However, as I said at the beginning, that’s just my opinion.

As a photographer, I want my camera — any camera — to be able to capture the best-looking image straight out of the camera that I can then apply more edits to if I want to. But maybe you don’t want to do that and instead want a vibrant, punchy-looking shot that you can immediately share to social media. If so, maybe the OnePlus will be fine for you.

At the end of the day, deciding which phone to buy will come down to more than just the camera, so make sure to read CNET’s in-depth reviews of all of 2025’s best phones to decide which is the one for you.