These are no Oogle Goggles: Facebook released their first pair of smart glasses, Ray-Ban Stories, today and The Peak got their hands on an early pair to take them for a spin. 

Catch up: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg confirmed that their next product launch would be smart glasses with Ray-Ban and Essilor Luxottica earlier in the summer. Zuckerberg said we could do “pretty neat things” with them but didn’t reveal much more.

The deets: The US-$299-a-pair glasses come with two, 5 megapixel cameras, a microphone, speakers, a charging case. They also feature an LED light and capture sound that tell other people when you’re taking a photo or video. 

Our take: The cameras take iPhone 4-level photos, which isn’t bad for a pair of glasses. Another notable feature is that Ray-Ban Stories’ bluetooth connectivity lets you listen to music and take calls. The downside is that people that are close enough to you can still hear what you’re listening to.

Pretty neat things, indeed. That said, Facebook may struggle to answer the same privacy concerns people had about Google Glass, the tech giant’s iteration of smart glasses. At least with Google, it was pretty obvious when someone was wearing them because of their, err, ~unique~ look.

Zoom out: Facebook’s Monisha Perkash, who led the smart glasses’ development, said the glasses are a first step towards Facebook’s AR vision. These glasses could also be a part of Facebook’s mission to become a sci-fi like “metaverse” company in which our IRL and digital worlds are interconnected.

Quebec-based Canada Computational Unlimited (CCU) is set to go public on the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX). 

What’s CCU? Unlike traditional bitcoin mining operations, CCU uses hydroelectricity to mine bitcoin, and as a result is carbon-neutral. 

CCU will list its shares on the TSX through a reverse merger with Capricorn Business Acquisition.

Zoom out: Growing regulations on emissions has created opportunity for bitcoin miners that can run their machines on clean electricity.

Toronto-based Nuula raised $120 million to expand their services for small businesses.

What’s Nuula? Nuula used to provide loans to small businesses, but in 2019 pivoted to providing these businesses with real time data on how they are performing. 

Nuula can then use this data to offer businesses targeted loans and other financial products. 

Zoom out: Nuula is the latest company to cash in on the growing demand among small- and medium-sized businesses for innovative fintech products.

We’re one step closer to producing nuclear fusion energy.

Science 101: Nuclear fusion is the reaction that powers the sun, and is fueled by hydrogen isotopes. If perfected, iIt could provide us with an abundant and cheap clean energy source that doesn’t leave a carbon footprint.

What happened: But fusion tech requires strong magnets (like, really strong), and until now these magnets have consumed more energy than the reactors have produced. 

But now scientists have managed to make a magnet that’s strong enough to do the job without consuming too much energy, removing a major obstacle to making fusion power a reality.

What’s next: The magnet will be used in a test reactor being built by MIT and CFS which is expected to be complete, and producing net positive energy, by 2025.

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State Of The Race

Driving The News

These days the first thing we do when looking up a new restaurant, dentist, mechanic — really any business — is check out their reviews.

If they have a lot of high quality reviews, they’re probably great. But having negative reviews, or worse, no reviews, is a major red flag.

That’s why asking your customers to leave reviews is so important. And you don’t need to be pushy about it either. Just set up an automatic email to ask satisfied customers to share their experience after they’ve benefitted from your service or product.

At Hey Tony, we’re obsessed with conversion based marketing and helping businesses grow online. We’ll be sharing a tip like this every week in The Peak for the next couple months to help you grow your business.

To get personalized advice and recommendations on how to grow your business online, book a free 15 minute growth call with us today.

A UN panel called out Canada for continuing to sell arms to Saudi Arabia, and for contributing to the war in Yemen. 

Catch up: Around 233,000 people have died in Yemen since 2015 as a result of  Saudi- and Iran-led coalitions.

The UN said after the United States, Canada is the largest exporter of defence equipment to Saudi Arabia.

Most of these sales are tied to a $15 billion contract Ontario-based General Dynamics signed to make light-armoured vehicles for Saudi Arabia. 

Bottom line: With jobs on the line and a contract that would be difficult to exit, it’s unlikely the UN report will have much impact on Canada’s policy.