Hi there! My name is Janko Roettgers, and this is Lowpass. This week: GenAI TV ads and Amazon smart glasses.

Roku wants streaming to look more like Instagram 

Are you tired of having to watch the same three or four ads over and over again? That could change soon, if Roku has its way. The smart TV and streaming device maker is working on dramatically expanding the number of advertisers vying for your attention, to the point where ads on streaming could soon look a lot more like those on your Instagram feed, complete with brands you’ve never heard of and videos that don’t quite look real.

Roku’s secret weapon for this is generative AI, according to Roku CFO and COO Dan Jedda, who laid out Roku’s plans for this during two appearances at investor conferences hosted by Citi and Bank of America this month. 

“No longer is it going to be about the top 200 advertisers,” Jedda told investors during Citi’s event. “It’s going to be about 100,000 advertisers.”

Jedda also used his appearances to explain why Roku feels no need to spend heavily on original programming, why the company is investing in its own subscription businesses, and why Roku may give gaming a closer look.

Amazon’s biggest smart glasses challenge

The Information reported yesterday that Amazon is working on its own AI and AR glasses, with plans to launch a model with a monocular (one-eye) display in late 2026 or early 2027. In addition to that, Amazon is apparently also working on a new pair of AI glasses that will pack a camera, but no display, similar to Meta’s Ray-Bans.

The news itself is not hugely surprising to anyone who has been following the smart and AR glasses market. Amazon has an active smart glasses program, and keeps telling potential hires in its job listings that “Echo Frames (Amazon's first Smart Glasses product) is just the beginning.” 

The company has also been actively working on AR glasses for its delivery drivers, as Reuters reported in 2024.

The bigger question is how Amazon plans to sell these things. Echo Frames, the audio-only smart glasses first introduced by Amazon in 2019, haven’t exactly been a hit. Amazon doesn’t publish sales stats for the device on its own website, for good reason: The latest Echo Frames models have less than 400 reviews each. For comparison, the best-selling smart glasses on Amazon.com currently have close to 3500 reviews. And yes, they’re Meta Ray-Bans.

However, the real measure for ubiquity in this space is something else altogether: The number of stores that sell these kinds of glasses. Consumers still very much want to try out glasses in person, and Meta is giving them ample opportunity to do so. 

Thanks to its partnership with EssilorLuxottica, Meta Rauy-Bans are available in countless retail stores, including Lenscrafters, Sunglass Huts and a long list of independent optometrists. A quick search on Ray-Ban.com reveals that there are 91 stores carrying the smart glasses in and around Oakland alone. Amazon also has retail partnerships for its Echo Frames, but far fewer: The company’s website lists just eight optometrists across all of California.

Having a solid retail footprint becomes even more important as companies move from simple sunglasses to subscription eyewear, which is one reason why Google teamed up with Warby Parker and its around 300 retail stores for its own AR glasses push.

Amazon knows that, of course. After all, its own smart glasses efforts are being led by the guy who co-founded what was known as the “Warby Parker of Brazil” …

What else

Whatever happened to Pandora? I spent the past couple of months talking to former Pandora and SiriusXM employees about the decline of the former streaming leader. Fast Company published the first part of my story this week.

How Superman used Gaussian splatting. Fascinating story on what is likely the first use of splatting in a major motion picture.

Vimeo is being acquired. The OG video site is being acquired by Bending Spoons, the company that also owns Evernote and WeTransfer.

Meta reportedly suppressed VR safety concerns. The company is said to have buried internal research about kids facing safety risks in Horizon Worlds, other VR spaces.

Plex got hacked, again. The media center app slash streaming service is encouraging a subset of its users to change their passwords. Plex faced a similar hack in 2022.

Warner Bros. Discovery sues Sling TV. It’s the second media company to sue Dish-owned Sling over its day pass subscriptions.

Spotify finally gets lossless streaming. It only took them eight years. On the plus side, Spotify’s new 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC streaming won’t cost you extra.

David Zaslav thinks HBO Max is too cheap. The service current costs $21 per month of you want to watch 4K video … but sure, it’s cheaper than cable, I guess?

That’s it

Remember that AI-generated-but-also-real Will Smith concert video? Waxy.org not only discovered the backstory, but also went the extra mile and talked to the couple that internet commenters had deemed to be fake. Turns out they’re very much real, and left us with this wisdom for the AI age: “Sometimes it pays to take a closer look.”

Thanks for reading, have a great weekend!

Roku remote image credit: Roku