News
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses must become true smart home controllers
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses are often presented as content tools — devices for creators capturing everyday moments. That framing is far too narrow. If Meta is serious about ambient computing and long-term mass adoption, then Ray-Ban Meta smart home control must become central to the product’s evolution – first by voice, and ultimately through the EMG Neural Band being developed in collaboration with the University of Utah. This is not about novelty. It is about autonomy. I have argued repeatedly on Aestumanda that the glasses should integrate with smart home systems — including the ability to open my own front door hands-free. The case has only grown stronger. From lifestyle accessory to assistive infrastructure A recent LinkedIn post from Bob Carter, CEO of University of Utah Health...
Meta’s rumoured Malibu 2 smartwatch could finally make wearables accessible
Meta is reportedly developing a smart fitness watch, internally codenamed Malibu 2. At first glance, this may sound like just another entrant into an already crowded wearable market dominated by Apple, Samsung, and Garmin. Fitness tracking, heart rate monitoring, notifications — these are well-established features. But Malibu 2 could represent something far more significant. If Meta integrates its emerging neural interface technology into a smartwatch, it could solve one of the most fundamental accessibility failures in modern wearable devices. For many severely disabled people, today’s smartwatches are not accessible at all. The invisible barrier: wrist raise The problem is deceptively simple. Every mainstream smartwatch relies on physical gesture. To wake the screen, interact with notifi...
Why the Meta AI app needs a physical and motor disability section for the company’s smart glasses
Ray-Ban Meta smart glasses have been life-transforming for me and for many others with severe physical disabilities. As the company’s smart glasses, they already show how powerful voice-first, wearable technology can be by removing the need to reach for a phone, press buttons, or interact physically with hardware. For me, that’s already meant being able to take my own photos and videos hands-free, using my voice alone. No phone to hold, no shutter button to press, no need to ask someone else. It’s a small interaction, but a deeply liberating one, and a clear example of what voice-first technology can make possible when physical barriers are removed. That level of independence already exists in the product itself, which is precisely why the limitations of the Meta AI app matter so much. An ...
When the system takes the carer, the disabled person pays the price
From a hospital bed in Arlington, Texas, Wael Tarabishi asked for only one thing: the return of his father. His father, Maher Tarabishi, had been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in late October during a routine check-in. He was Wael’s full-time carer and the person on whom his daily survival depended. Wael described the fear of losing him as “real and immediate”. Wael died on 23 January 2026 after more than a month in hospital. His story stays with me not because it is uniquely shocking, but because it exposes something deeply troubling about how modern immigration enforcement systems operate — and who they harm when compassion is stripped from decision-making. A system that doesn’t see dependency Wael lived with Pompe disease, a rare and progressive condition affectin...
Two years on, Apple’s antitrust case hasn’t gone away — and neither have the accessibility questions
Last week, I received an unexpected email from the U.S. Department of Justice. It wasn’t a press update or a policy statement. It was procedural — a reminder that, as part of the Department’s ongoing antitrust lawsuit against Apple for monopolising smartphone markets, it must produce materials received from third parties during the discovery process. The significance lies in the timing. In early 2026, with the litigation deep in the discovery phase following Judge Julien Neals’ 2025 ruling that the case could proceed, the legal machinery is finally examining real-world impact. Nearly two years after the DOJ first announced its landmark antitrust case against Apple, the litigation remains active. Discovery is ongoing. Questions about how Apple’s platform practices affect disabled people hav...
iOS 26.3 will bring Notification Forwarding to the EU — the UK and others may be left waiting
Apple is currently testing a new feature called Notification Forwarding as part of the iOS 26.3 beta. On the surface, it looks like a small system-level change. In reality, it points to a potentially significant shift in how iPhones interact with third-party wearables. The setting is already visible in iOS 26.3 betas globally. Apple has said the feature exists to meet EU regulatory requirements, and current evidence suggests it is intended to be enabled first within the European Union once iOS 26.3 is publicly released — which is expected towards the end of January or early February. For users in the UK, and elsewhere, that distinction matters. Why iOS 26.3 Notification Forwarding exists Notification Forwarding is closely linked to the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA). The legislation requir...
EMG, smart homes and personal safety: a use case worth considering
Earlier this month at CES 2026, Meta announced a new research collaboration with the University of Utah exploring EMG smart home control and how consumer-grade EMG wrist wearables could support people with different levels of hand mobility. Using the Meta Neural Band, the research will examine how electrical signals generated by muscles at the wrist can be translated into digital input. Importantly, this work is not limited to navigating smart glasses. The stated aim is to explore how custom EMG gestures could be used to control everyday devices such as smart speakers, blinds, locks and thermostats. As part of this work, the University of Utah team is also testing the precision of EMG input by using the wristband to steer the TetraSki, an adaptive ski designed for people with complex physi...
A new smart lock hints at what accessibility-first smart homes could become
The arrival of a new generation of hands-free smart locks, such as the Aqara U400, is one of those moments where a feature framed as convenience quietly reveals something much more important. Using Ultra Wideband (UWB) and Apple Home Key, the lock can unlock automatically as you approach with an iPhone or Apple Watch. It represents a shift toward Zero-UI interaction: there is no tapping, no Face ID prompt, no voice command, and no app interaction. You simply arrive at your front door, and it opens. For some people, that’s a nice quality-of-life upgrade. For others, it’s a glimpse of what truly accessible smart homes could look like. Why hands-free automation matters for accessibility Smart home accessibility is still too often reduced to voice control. Voice assistants have undoubtedly hel...
Labour promised to fix the NHS. So why am I, a vulnerable housebound patient, still waiting for a flu jab?
Flu season has arrived early. BBC News reports a sharp rise in infections, prompting ministers and public health officials to issue their annual directive: get vaccinated now. Hospitals are already bracing for a gruelling winter, and the message to the vulnerable is urgent. Yet while the rhetoric is clear, the reality for those of us who cannot leave home is anything but. This winter, securing a flu or Covid vaccine as a housebound patient with muscular dystrophy has become a battle—one that has revealed not just a breakdown in local systems, but a troubling lack of national transparency. A broken system for housebound flu vaccines I am a registered patient at Victoria Medical Centre in Westminster, central London. Because I am housebound during the colder months, my vaccinations have alwa...
Budget 2025: Motability cuts that betray disabled people’s independence
The Autumn Budget delivered many of the usual headlines — duties rising on cigarettes and alcohol, eye-catching giveaways, and a handful of announcements clearly shaped for the early evening news. But beneath all that theatre came something far more damaging: the confirmation of significant Motability cuts, changes that strike at the heart of independence for thousands of disabled people. The government has confirmed that a range of so-called “luxury” vehicles will be removed from the Motability Scheme. On paper, it sounds minor. In reality, the move dismantles part of one of the UK’s most successful and respected social-policy achievements of the last half-century. Why the Motability cuts really matter The government is selling these restrictions under two banners: fiscal responsibility a...