Meta META said on Friday it has teamed up with Oakley to release AI-powered smart glasses, expanding its push into wearable tech after the success of Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

The social media company is expanding its partnership with Oakley and Ray-Ban-parent EssilorLuxottica EL amid growing consumer interest in AI-powered wearable devices.

Meta has sold millions of Ray-Ban Meta glasses since their launch and said its “Oakley Meta HSTN” will feature a hands-free high-resolution camera, open-ear speakers, water resistance and Meta AI capabilities.

The limited-edition product will be available for preorder starting July 11 at $499, with additional products starting at $399 launching later this summer.

Meta said the product line would roll out in North America, Australia and several European countries, with plans to expand to Mexico, India and the United Arab Emirates by the year-end.

The Oakley Meta HSTN will debut this month at several major sporting events including Fanatics Fest and UFC International Fight Week.

Smaller rival Snap SNAP said earlier this month it would launch its smart glasses, called Specs, for consumers next year. Companies such as Google are also exploring similar investments.

The scorching hot sun is setting on advertising’s annual shindig in the south of France, Cannes Lions, for another year.

At the sprawling event, there was a level of thematic whiplash. In the span of an hour on the main stage in the Palais you go from hearing about the creation of the iconic Snickers “You’re only you when you’re hungry” campaign to hearing a speech from human-rights activist Sonita Alizadeh on the humanitarian crisis of child brides in Iran and Afghanistan.

There was also a whole lot of partying. Spotify’s beach concert stage hosted rapper Cardi B and indie rockers Royel Otis. Diplo was spinning the decks for Yahoo. Talent agency UTA’s annual VIP “dinner” at the luxury Hôtel du Cap-Eden-Roc had no sit-down meal but instead a punchy set from comedian Sebastian Maniscalco.

Business Insider was on the ground — and occasionally the yachts — to get the inside look on the big topics that are top of mind in an industry undergoing seismic changes. Here were the key themes.

The AI of it all

If the advertising industry is losing people to artificial intelligence, it certainly didn’t look like it at Cannes this week. The streets were bursting with lanyard-wearing, hungover Lions attendees trying to figure out which opulent branded beach setup their next meeting was located. Still, AI was the talk of the town.

With AI spinning up thousands of ads cheaply and in seconds, the business model of billing clients for time is under threat. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg ruffled feathers ahead of Cannes when he said AI will essentially automate the ad business.

“​​You tell us what your objective is, you connect to your bank account, you don’t need any creative, you don’t need any targeting demographic, you don’t need any measurement, except to be able to read the results that we spit out,” he said in a May interview with the tech newsletter Stratechery. (Is that the sound of Don Draper dropping his glass of rosé, we hear in the distance?!)

In an interview with BI, Meta’s chief marketing officer, Alex Schultz, said his boss was talking about small businesses, not Fortune 500 brands.

“I don’t see myself fully automating my ad campaigns and not using my agency at any point,” Schultz said.

(Donny D! Come back, you’re safe!)

For all the promises of AI, advertising still appears to be a people business. Cannes showed people in the ad industry believe that relationships matter. It’s how attendees convince the finance department back home that the $5,000 festival pass, flights, Airbnb, meals, and a 2 a.m. expense receipt for a Jéroboam of Rosé at the Carlton Hotel was all worth it.

Marketers are racing to sports

If you haven’t got an F1 sponsorship deal, are you even a CMO in 2025?

Sports was a pervasive theme at Cannes Lions this year, and athletes were out in force. Take a stroll down the famous — and exceptionally hot — Croisette promenade, and you had a good chance of bumping into tennis champ Serena Williams, McLaren Racing driver Oscar Piastri, or Kansas City Chiefs tight end — and Taylor Swift beau — Travis Kelce. Advertising company Stagwell’s “Sport Beach” had some of the longest lines in town, some for the star-studded panels, others for the bragging rights of trouncing a colleague at pickleball. (Disclosure: BI hosted an event on Sport Beach, too.)

With traditional, or linear, TV viewing in decline, sports is one of the last destinations where marketers can guarantee getting their brands in front of large audiences.

“It’s a way of being involved right in the moment, live,” Michael Lacorazza, CMO US Bank, told BI. US Bank is involved in numerous teams and recently announced its partnership with the Premier Lacrosse League.

It’s not just about placing 30-second spots or slapping logos on jerseys. Marketers talked up how they’re enhancing the live experience in stadiums while people are in a joyful mood. Uber Advertising was pitching clients using a case study from beauty brand La Mer, which sponsored rides to and from the Miami F1 Grand Prix, stuffed with skincare goodies.

F1 is having a moment. According to the research firm Ampere Analysis, sponsorship spending on F1 and its teams is expected to reach $2.9 billion this year, up 10% on 2024. With viewership boosted in part by the popular Netflix series “Drive to Survive,” brands and media partnerships are helping extend its reach beyond the race track.

“Seeing the new fans come into the sport, we needed to show up in their worlds and be meaningful in their worlds,” Louise McEwan, chief marketing officer of the McLaren Racing F1 team, told BI. “Only one percent of fans ever go to the track in their lifetime.”

Putting consumers in charge

The power of the consumer is stronger than ever.

At the Tubi cabana at Cannes, we spoke with its chief marketing officer, Nicole Parlapiano, who shared how the streaming platform is super-flexible in how it’s marketing its titles. Streamers like Tubi can’t easily test shows and movies before they acquire them, so they relentlessly monitor social chatter to determine how much and where to market a show, Parlapiano said.

Daniel Lawrence Taylor’s hit show “Boarders” got a billboard in New York City’s Times Square. And that’s down to Parlapiano’s team being flexible, pouring extra marketing dollars into “Boarders” after seeing the social media reaction, she said.

Laurie Lam, chief brand officer of E.l.f Beauty, said at a BI event that its product pipeline is often driven by what consumers are saying on social media.

“They’re telling us exactly what they want and we’re then putting it into the market for them,” Lam said.

“And they’re not polite about it, by the way,” she added. “It used to be like, ‘Hey, I would really love it if you can make this primer.’ Now it’s like, ‘Make that primer now. Where is my primer?'”

Brand safety becomes a brand risk

Amid all the talk of AI supercharging creativity, and humanity being the ad industry’s “super power,” there was a big topic execs on the Croisette went super out of their way to avoid.

People noticeably squirmed as we asked questions about the current debate around brand safety — a catch-all industry term to describe how advertisers avoid platforms and media that don’t align with their brand. A few years ago, you couldn’t move for panels on the topic at Cannes, with speakers calling on big platforms to do more to protect brands. This year, with the US government questioning the propriety of those decisions? Crickets.

Barely anyone at Cannes wanted to discuss this enormous elephant in the room. Even the term “brand safety” has become a kind of Voldemort, “He who should not be named” word. One exec told us that the industry is more comfortable talking about “brand assurance” instead, whatever that really means in practice.

Perhaps nobody wants a target on their back. The turnabout shows how Cannes Lions holds a telling mirror into the industry, where sometimes what’s not being talked about can also speak volumes.

The infrared boutique fitness franchise is offering free sessions on June 21

Hotworx is using International Day of Yoga to spotlight its signature infrared yoga offering and tech-forward twist on the traditional practice that blends static poses with muscle-activating heat.

The 24-hour infrared fitness franchise, which has more than 700 locations globally (including a new studio in Dubai), is inviting newcomers to try a free workout on June 21, part of its push to show how its unique sauna workouts can simultaneously build strength, boost recovery and burn calories.

Unlike traditional hot yoga, which heats the room with forced air or radiant heat, Hotworx uses infrared panels to warm the body from within. According to the fitness franchise, the approach increases flexibility, stimulates heat shock proteins, and enhances circulation without the oppressive humidity typically experienced in standard heated studios.

“Infrared yoga at Hotworx redefines what it means to practice hot yoga,” Hotworx founder and CEO Stephen Smith said. “By combining isometric holds with infrared heat, our members experience muscle building, fat burning and accelerated recovery all in one session.”

The workouts take place inside a dry-heat sauna set to around 125°F and involve a series of guided isometric holds, such as Warrior II, Triangle and Eagle Pose, that engage both large muscle groups and stabilizers. 

See Also

“We’re excited to welcome new members to experience the unique benefits of infrared yoga firsthand,” Smith said. “That’s why, at any Hotworx location, your first infrared sauna workout is always free. It’s our way of inviting everyone to see and feel the difference for themselves.”

Interested participants can find their nearest Hotworx location here.

Posted in: Game Hardware, Games, Secretlab, Video Games | Tagged: Automobili Lamborghini, gaming chair, lamborghini

Secretlab has teamed up with Automobili Lamborghini once again for a new gaming chair, this one being super exclusive in numbers

Secretlab has partnered up once again with Automobili Lamborghini for a new gaming chair design, but this one is going to be super exclusive. The new Automobili Lamborghini Pinnacle Superleggera chair brings all of the company’s innovations into one seat, while adorned with a special design and plated number on the back to show you have one of only 100 chairs made. Once they sell all 100, this design is gone for good! The chair will go on sale on June 23 at 9am PT, but until then, you can read more about it below.

Secretlab Automobili Lamborghini Pinnacle Superleggera

A custom forged carbon top plate designed just for the chair draws inspiration from Lamborghini’s signature Forged Composites, an advanced composite created with the sole purpose of unlocking new frontiers in technological innovation and achieving record performance. Used exclusively in the Lamborghini Revuelto, Forged Composites makes the car’s revolutionary monofuselage possible, enabling a 20% weight reduction and helping it break new ground in lightweight engineering, torsional stiffness, and energy absorption. Every forged carbon top plate on the Secretlab for Automobili Lamborghini Pinnacle Superleggera Edition is unique, with randomly distributed carbon fiber flecks. Together with a serialized badge numbered from 1 to 100, every chair is a one-of-a-kind collector’s masterpiece.

The finest Dinamica upholstery delivers an unmistakably soft and velvety touch. The choice of luxury super sports cars, Dinamica is a non-woven suede made for exceptional performance and incredible comfort. The chair also features the same Y-shaped motifs that have defined all chairs in the Secretlab for Automobili Lamborghini Collection. Flowing accents trace the sleek silhouette of the chair from the shoulders down to the seat base, capturing the elegance and speed Lamborghini is known for. The Secretlab for Automobili Lamborghini Pinnacle Superleggera Edition chair is paired with all the proprietary technologies of the Secretlab Titan Evo, which has been refined over hundreds of prototypes and rigorous testing to ensure long hours of support.

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LEESBURG, Va., June 20, 2025 /PRNewswire/ — Crunch Fitness today announces the opening of Crunch Leesburg in Leesburg, Virginia. The $5 million, 35,000-square-foot state-of-the-art fitness facility will open its doors June 24^th. Operated by Crunch Fitness franchisee Fitness Growth Capital, LLC, Crunch Leesburg will be located at 536 Fort Evans Rd NE – close to Home Goods, Marshalls and Trader Joe’s – creating new fitness offerings for residents of Leesburg.

Fusing fitness with entertainment, Crunch Leesburg will offer top-quality cardio and strength training equipment, power half-hour circuit training, TRX^®, personal training, Olympic Lifting Platforms, a dedicated group fitness studio, Ride cycling classes, a functional HIITZONE^™ training area with indoor turf, tanning, HydroMassage^® beds, Kids Crunch babysitting, a boxing area, Cryo Therapy Lounge, Cocoon Wellness Pods and full-service locker rooms with showers and a sauna.

Fitness Growth Capital owns and operates Crunch Fitness locations across the U.S., with plans to open in Waldorf, Maryland and other locations later this year.

“We are excited to bring the Crunch brand to Leesburg,” said Chad Smith, owner of Crunch Leesburg. “Crunch is for everyone, from the first-time gym-goer to the seasoned athlete. Add in our high-energy environment and affordable memberships and we have options to meet everyone’s goals and budget!”

Crunch Fitness ranked #1 in the fitness category for the second year in a row and #32 overall in the annual Entrepreneur Franchise 500^® – the world’s most comprehensive franchise ranking. Crunch Fitness continues to expand nationwide and push the bar with innovative offerings for its members.

Prospective members can visit CrunchLeesburg.com for more information about memberships and to sign up. The first 500 founding members to lock in their rate will receive $1 down, one month free, a complimentary t-shirt, discounts on small group and personal training, and more.

Crunch is expanding its team within Leesburg and is looking for individuals who are eager to help their community experience fitness, wellness, relaxation, and recovery. Crunch believes in not only being the best place to work out but also the best place to work. Interested applicants can apply today at CrunchLeesburg.com.

About Crunch:

Crunch is a gym that believes in making serious exercise fun by fusing fitness and entertainment and pioneering a philosophy of ‘No Judgments.’ Crunch serves a fitness community for all kinds of people with all types of goals, exercising all different ways, working it out at the same place together. Today, we are renowned for creating one-of-a-kind group fitness classes and unique programming for our wildly diverse members. Headquartered in New York City, Crunch serves three million members with over 500 gyms worldwide in 41 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, Canada, Costa Rica, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Spain, and India. Crunch is rapidly expanding across the U.S. and around the globe.

SOURCE Crunch Fitness