The New Orleans attacker wore Meta glasses. What can they be used for?

The attacker who drove a truck through Bourbon Street in New Orleans used Meta smart glasses to scout the scene ahead of New Year’s Day, according to an announcement from the FBI on Sunday.

The attacker who drove a truck through New Orleans’ Bourbon Street on New Year’s Day used Meta smart glasses to scout the scene weeks earlier, according to the FBI. Shamsud-Din Jabbar stayed at a rental home in New Orleans beginning October 30 and wore the smart glasses to record video while he bicycled through the French Quarter, said Lyonel Myrthil, the FBI New Orleans Special Agent in Charge. Jabbar wore them again on New Year’s Day but did not activate them that day. “Jabbar was wearing a pair of Meta glasses when he conducted the attack on Bourbon Street, but he did not activate the glasses to livestream his actions that day,” Myrthil said on Sunday at a press conference. A Meta spokesperson declined to comment to CNN. Meta released its smart glasses in 2021 in collaboration with Ray-Ban, called Ray-Ban Stories. The Meta smart glasses are priced as high as $379, according to the Ray-Ban website, and can be purchased at Best Buy, Target and T-Mobile, among other retailers. Meta smart glasses — which are part of a wider industry push to make hands-free, wearable technology the next big computing platform — can take photos and use artificial intelligence to answer user questions about their surroundings. Meta also included a feature so bystanders know when a user takes a photo or shoots a video: a small, front-facing LED light that shines white when the camera is operating.