{"id":6961,"date":"2026-06-16T11:07:44","date_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:07:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=6961"},"modified":"2026-06-16T11:07:44","modified_gmt":"2026-06-16T18:07:44","slug":"raven-prism-is-a-linux-computer-that-happens-to-be-a-pair-of-glasses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/?p=6961","title":{"rendered":"Raven Prism is a Linux Computer That Happens To Be A Pair of Glasses"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Smart glasses have become a real consumer product over the past year, being at the center of some pretty funny brainrot and outdoorsy content.<\/p>\n<p>Meta&#8217;s partnerships with Ray-Ban and Oakley have put <a href=\"https:\/\/www.meta.com\/ai-glasses\/\">AI-powered glasses<\/a> on faces across global markets, pitching voice-activated AI assistants, integrated cameras, and phone notifications as the selling points.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The privacy record of those products<\/strong>, however, is extremely disturbing. Meta&#8217;s AI features push footage from the glasses to their servers for processing, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.svd.se\/a\/K8nrV4\/metas-ai-smart-glasses-and-data-privacy-concerns-workers-say-we-see-everything\">an investigation earlier this year<\/a> confirmed that human contractors had reviewed people&#8217;s most intimate moments.<\/p>\n<p>Then there&#8217;s the more recent fiasco, where Meta <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wired.com\/story\/meta-smart-glasses-face-recognition-nametag-connections\/\">was caught sneaking<\/a> face recognition code for its smart glasses onto millions of phones. This quietly laid the groundwork for a system that could match any face the glasses saw against stored biometric signatures.<\/p>\n<p>All of that doesn&#8217;t instill much confidence, but these devices can be useful if the company behind them actually cares about its users rather than harvesting their soul\u2026 err, data.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s a new one being launched by a San Francisco-based startup that has some impressive specs, is powered by Linux, and isn&#8217;t looking to sell user data.<\/p>\n<div class=\"kg-card kg-callout-card kg-callout-card-red\">\n<div class=\"kg-callout-emoji\">\ud83d\udea7<\/div>\n<div class=\"kg-callout-text\">This is not an open source project. We covered it because the operating system for this is based on Linux.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h2>Raven Prism: Is This For You?<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/content\/images\/2026\/06\/raven-prism.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"a raven prism smart glass is seen at the center of this image sitting on a tree branch stand\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1519\" height=\"983\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Founded by Thomas Suarez, <a href=\"https:\/\/raven.computer\/\">Raven Resonance<\/a> is a wearable computing startup with a diverse team of engineers who have experience building wearables, spatial computing, and other electronic gadgets.<\/p>\n<p>The Raven Prism is what they call <strong>the world&#8217;s first ambient computer<\/strong> rather than a smart glass. I know, I implied that this was a smart glass at the start, because to me it looks like one.<\/p>\n<p>It is a standalone Linux computer that can be your everyday prescription (<em>\u22124.5 to +4.5 diopters<\/em>) or non-prescription eyewear that does not depend upon a smartphone to function.<\/p>\n<p>The ambient computing concept, as the company describes it, is technology that is present when you need it and stays out of the way when you don&#8217;t.<\/p>\n<p>In this implementation, a full-color display on the right lens puts information in the wearer&#8217;s field of view without cutting them off from the world around them. Eye control is the primary input, supplemented by voice and wireless HID peripherals.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/content\/images\/2026\/06\/raven-prism-software.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"an illustration showing some applications on the raven prism&apos;s right lens display\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Some use cases<\/strong> the company points to include hands-free coding agents, reading board schematics mid-build, following a recipe in the kitchen, and keeping sheet music in view while playing an instrument.<\/p>\n<p>Powering it is <strong>RavenOS<\/strong>, the company&#8217;s own <a href=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/news\/linux-6-0-release\/\">Linux-based<\/a> OS built around gaze-first, hands-free interaction. So yeah, it does not run Android or AOSP, and Raven is already building apps with future spatial environments in mind.<\/p>\n<p>The device supports SSH out of the box, can be rooted, and system images are planned for release soon. Moreover, as <strong>a native ARM64 Linux platform<\/strong>, it can run anything built for that environment, including Unity, web apps, local AI models, and agents.<\/p>\n<p>At launch, the Raven Prism is set <strong>to ship with more than 25 apps<\/strong>, and if you want to build for it, the SDK is live on <a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/RavenResonance\/raven-framework\">GitHub<\/a>, with a development kit also in the works.<\/p>\n<h2>The Hardware Bits<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/content\/images\/2026\/06\/raven-prism-removable-battery.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"this picture shows a person removing a detachable battery pack from the raven prism smart glass\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>The Raven Resonance team is being tight-lipped about the full specifications of the device but have shared some basic information that gives us an idea of what will be offered.<\/p>\n<p>Under the hood is a <strong>quad-core 64-bit ARM processor<\/strong> running at roughly 1 GHz, with the device available in <strong>2 GB and 4 GB RAM<\/strong> configurations. It<strong> weighs under 70 grams<\/strong>, with the weight distribution tailored for all-day wear.<\/p>\n<p>The display is <strong>a full-color LCoS waveguide<\/strong> positioned on the right eye with <strong>a 30-degree diagonal field of view<\/strong>. Raven describes the viewing experience as comparable to a 16-inch laptop at arm&#8217;s length.<\/p>\n<p>There&#8217;s also <strong>a camera on the left<\/strong>, multiple microphones, and <strong>Raven Wings<\/strong> (<em>shown above<\/em>) as the hot-swappable modular batteries that keep the Prism running throughout the day, with these doubling up as an expansion platform.<\/p>\n<h2>The Privacy-Focused Bits<\/h2>\n<figure class=\"kg-card kg-image-card\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/itsfoss.com\/content\/images\/2026\/06\/raven-prism-camera-cover.jpg\" class=\"kg-image\" alt=\"this picture shows a person putting on the camera cover over a raven prism smart glass\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1920\" height=\"1080\" \/><\/figure>\n<p>Before you get worried, Raven Prism will ship with <strong>a physical cover for the camera<\/strong> that you remove when you want to use it and put back when you don&#8217;t. There&#8217;s also &#8220;<em>Beakon<\/em>&#8221; lights that illuminate when the camera is active, making it visible to both the wearer and anyone nearby.<\/p>\n<p>Similarly, eye tracking uses a combination of in-house models and technology from <a href=\"https:\/\/pupil-labs.com\/\">Pupil Labs<\/a>, but all processing happens on the device.<\/p>\n<p>This way, no user data leaves the device without explicit consent from the wearer, and Prism itself <strong>doesn&#8217;t collect any telemetry by default<\/strong>, with an opt-in path for people who want to contribute anonymized data.<\/p>\n<h2>Want One?<\/h2>\n<p>The Raven Resonance team has shared <strong>a tentative base price of $1,499<\/strong>. Full pricing and availability details will be confirmed at launch, and the device <strong>won&#8217;t require a wallet-draining subscription to function<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>The device is designed and built at the company&#8217;s California facility and assembled in the United States, with them being fully committed to the right to repair.<\/p>\n<p>If you can&#8217;t wait to check it out, there&#8217;s currently a public preview happening at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.awexr.com\/usa-2026\">Augmented World Expo 2026<\/a> from June 16 to 18, at Booth 1028 in Long Beach, California.<\/p>\n<p>The commercial launch is planned for later in 2026, and <a href=\"https:\/\/discord.com\/invite\/QNT9RHWZqr\">their Discord server<\/a> is where the team will be sharing access details and launch news.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/feed.itsfoss.com\/link\/24361\/17362195.gif\" height=\"1\" width=\"1\" \/><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Smart glasses have become a real consumer product over the past year, being at the center of some pretty funny brainrot and outdoorsy content. Meta&#8217;s partnerships with Ray-Ban and Oakley&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6961","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-rss"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6961","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6961"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6961\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/catbradley.io\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}