Update: Get Ready For A Lot Of Great Spatial Computing Content From AWE 2026

Aura, AR Glasses And Use Cases That Actually Fit The Enterprise Amir Khorram, XREAL From AWE 2026

Get a front row seat to the conversations about AI, AR smartglasses, and the future of enterprise technology from Augmented World Expo 2026.  For six or seven years, the XR industry has been selling upgrades to people who already believe. Better resolution, more compute, a sleeker strap — for the same early-adopter audience already wearing a headset. I kept waiting for someone to answer the obvious question: when does this technology reach anyone else? Amir Khorram, Head of Enterprise at XREAL, is back on The Tech Glow Up — we recorded this one live at AWE in Long Beach — and he had the most concrete answer I have heard. XREAL Aura [https://www.xreal.com/aura]is a full AR device built in collaboration with Google (Android XR operating system) and Qualcomm (Snapdragon Reality Elite Platform). Lightweight, wearable, designed for multi-use deployment, and enterprise-ready: MDM integration, kiosk mode, custom app stores, and the data privacy track record of Android — a platform with hundreds of millions of devices deployed globally. Seventy percent of the XR industry already works on Android. Aura meets enterprise buyers where they already are. Episode Key Moment Highlights: * [00:00:00] Aura explained: what the device is, who built it, and why it clears healthcare and financial services data standards on day one. * [00:00:28] Beyond the believers: why Aura is the first device Amir genuinely expects to pull new audiences into XR — lighter, multi-use, and comfortable enough to wear all day. * [00:00:22] Global XR reach: developers in Germany, schools in Latin America, healthcare in Asia — the industry is bigger and more global than it gets credit for. * [00:00:00] Enterprise readiness: the Android track record that means enterprise buyers don't have to make a new bet — just extend one they already made. * [00:00:00] The industry's next glow up: Amir's case that the development community needs real investment — not just launches — to make XR sustainable. I walked away with four people in mind to connect with Amir. If you work in health, education, spatial computing, or enterprise tech, this conversation is for you. Watch the full episode on YouTube → https://youtu.be/Vvh_XWE_gig — like and subscribe to catch every episode of The Tech Glow Up.  Join the Tech Glow Up newsletter on Substack → https://substack.com/@mxnathanc Wardrobe provided by: Wildfang [https://www.wildfang.com/]. A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself. At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders. In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.  If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ07BGiM_bIi-QQeL_qhdp15OPewIZ0JZBa9gv1JDHV35CCw/viewform].

Update: Get Ready For A Lot Of Great Spatial Computing Content From AWE 2026

Smart glasses had a moment at Augmented World Expo 2026 — and I was there for all of it. Here's your preview of what's coming. Sending this from a co-working spot in Japan, where I'm traveling for work and a little pleasure after AWE. I'll be honest: rather than wait to record a polished intro for every episode, I wanted to drop this quick update so you know what's heading your way before it starts hitting your feed. The content is too good to sit on. At AWE 2026, Snap announced the new Specs AR AI-powered smart glasses, and if any year was the year of smart glasses in XR, this was it. I sat down with leaders from Specs, Meta Display, and the XREAL team — three of the biggest players shaping where this hardware is headed — and those conversations are some of my strongest to date. Smart glasses aren't a concept anymore. They're here, they're good, and the people building them are moving fast. I also talked with Neil Trevett of the Khronos Group and the Metaverse Standards Forum about the open content standards that will determine whether spatial computing reaches everyone or stays niche. And with Sean Mann, CEO of RP1, about open metaverse browsers — the next evolution of what a URL can do. These are the infrastructure conversations that don't get enough attention, and they're fascinating. On the enterprise side: honest conversations with leaders from Salesforce, Wieden+Kennedy, and Amazon about how organizations are actually applying XR right now — not in the future, right now. And a first for the Tech Glow Up — my first ASL conversation, with Michael Alan Nesmith of Not Breaking Space, on accessible and universal design in XR. I hope you love it as much as I did. Then there's the Spatial Creator Spotlight. Close to ten interviews from the Snap SPECS Developer Bootcamp — artists, designers, researchers, and tinkerers turning what's technically possible into things people actually want. Those drop first, followed by AWE episodes twice a week for most of the rest of the summer. Subscribe so you don't miss any of it → https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPCFJLJF5522VdY5xCrYvPA A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself. At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders. In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.  If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ07BGiM_bIi-QQeL_qhdp15OPewIZ0JZBa9gv1JDHV35CCw/viewform].

This Impact Angel Investor Reveals Their Secrets, Plus how Rural Hospitals Can Finally Get Paid - Joseph A. Riddle

Rural hospitals hold some of the most reliable receivables in finance — money owed by the US government — yet they can't borrow against them. Banks won't price the risk. So hospitals pledge buildings instead, starving themselves of capital. Joseph Riddle, Chief Commercial Officer at Capital Pulse, watched this problem up close before his company built the AI that cracks it: a model valuing any medical receivable with greater than 95% accuracy, flagging denials early, and giving lenders confidence to treat those receivables as real collateral. Joseph is also an angel investor in eight startups. He was employee number 25 at SmartBrief before it sold to Future PLC, came up through Gartner, and has been through two successful exits in roughly three years.  He now invests in healthcare and climate — the two sectors he sees as the most pressing challenges facing the United States. His philosophy: "The antidote to anxiety is action." When the problem looks impossible, you start moving. Episode Key Moment Highlights: * [00:08:47] Healthcare and climate focus: Joseph explains why he chose these two sectors and why education, despite its urgency, is harder to shift with technology alone. * [00:15:12] Seed stage investing: At the earliest rounds investors bet on the founder first, idea second — Joseph walks through what conviction and preparation look like to an angel. * [00:20:20] Marketing 101: Stop talking about your company and start talking about your client's problem — in B2B, your client usually understands their pain better than you do. * [00:22:36] Capital Pulse's RCM solution: The AI model that lets banks treat government medical receivables as real collateral, giving rural hospitals predictable cash flow. * [00:28:01] Mentorship without a formal ask: Joseph found people with "special juice" and built reasons to spend time with them — a model most founders never try. His approach across investing and building: talk to customers, combine stories with data, stay focused on the client's problem. Watch the full conversation on YouTube → https://youtu.be/ErrspDJTwaM Like and subscribe so you never miss an episode of The Tech Glow Up. About Joseph A. Riddle: Joseph Riddle is an angel investor, writer, and B2B marketing executive who bridges the gap between financial strategy and spiritual well-being. After rising from a childhood of poverty to become a retired multi-millionaire by age 45, Joseph realized that traditional definitions of success were insufficient for navigating a chaotic world.  He has since reinvented himself as an intentional investor in "Green Tech," funding startups like CarbonWave and Carbon GeoCapture that are turning climate pollution into sustainable solutions. Joseph’s investing philosophy is grounded in the Buddhist concept of equanimity, which he uses to counter climate anxiety, doomscrolling and the rage economy. He advocates for making friends with your Future Self as a strategy for long-term decision-making, arguing that we must invest today to ensure a habitable world for the person we will become.  A member of the Startup Investor Accelorator, Joseph splits his time between Bellingham, Washington, and Mexico City, where he practices the art of creating "islands of stability" through conscious resource allocation. A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself. At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders. In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.  If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ07BGiM_bIi-QQeL_qhdp15OPewIZ0JZBa9gv1JDHV35CCw/viewform].

Building A Sustainable Climate Future That Doesn't Suck Needs More VR Artists - Chip Giller, Agog

Most climate communication talks at people. It delivers facts, projections, timelines — and wonders why nothing changes. Facts land in the head, not the gut. Immersive media like XR, AR, VR changes that. When you're standing inside a story, it stops being abstract. You feel it. That's the conviction behind Agog, the Immersive Media Institute, and why co-founder Chip Giller believes XR is one of the most important tools the climate movement hasn't fully picked up yet. Chip didn't arrive here in a straight line. He founded Grist.org in the late 1990s — one of the first digital-only nonprofit news organizations — chasing every new platform: desktop publishing, the web, podcasting before it had a name, video, social.  Around 2014–2015, he put on an Oculus DK1. "This is f@cking amazing — this feeling of presence." During COVID he spent time in AltspaceVR and VRChat with people from India, Brazil, and beyond; and saw that XR shows not just what is, but what was and what could be. He co-founded Agog with Wendy Schmidt to build the field that could make that vision real. Key Moments: * [00:08:15] The climate communication gap: why facts don't move people — and why XR does * [00:21:40] Grist to Agog: chasing platforms for 25 years and what the DK1 moment revealed * [00:35:10] Field building: why Agog moved beyond grants to train creators and activate cultural institutions * [00:48:55] "Postcards from Our Climate Resilient Future": AR at Portland bus stops bringing Metro's climate plans to life * [01:02:30] Open call: $1 million for immersive climate storytelling and what judges are looking fo [https://agog.org/opencall2026/]r Agog has distributed $6.5 million in grants in its first two years. Now there's an open call for $1 million in new funding — not for the flashiest tech, but where immersive genuinely adds value.  The 15-person team is growing, the peer-reviewed Immersive Impact Review is underway, and Chip's philosophy says it all: building toward "a future that doesn't suck." Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/igFUkSJ36IU [https://youtu.be/igFUkSJ36IU] About Chip Giller Chip Giller is the executive director and a co-founder of Agog. He has been a visionary in the climate space and media field for 30 years, leading creative storytelling teams and partnering with nonprofits, philanthropists, and other leaders to accelerate progress to a better, more just world.  In 2024, Chip joined forces with Wendy Schmidt to launch Agog: The Immersive Media Institute, bringing their shared passion for innovation and social change to the forefront of the immersive media landscape. Agog helps people use emerging media like XR to imagine and build better futures. In 1999, Chip founded one of the first digital news organizations and first nonprofit newsrooms, Grist [http://grist.org/], to engage the next generation on climate change and other environmental issues. Grist reaches millions and has been recognized in many ways for its impact, including as a recipient of the National Magazine Award for General Excellence.  In 2017, Chip launched Grist’s solutions lab to identify, celebrate, and connect a diverse array of climate solutions leaders, collectively known as the Grist 50 [https://grist.org/fix/]; and to tell unexpected stories in creative new formats [https://grist.org/imagine2200-climate-fiction-2024/] about justice and progress. Among other honors, Chip has received a Heinz Award and been named a TIME “Hero of the Environment.” Follow Chip on Threads [https://www.threads.net/@chipgiller] and LinkedIn [https://www.linkedin.com/in/chipgiller/]. A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself. At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders. In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.  If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ07BGiM_bIi-QQeL_qhdp15OPewIZ0JZBa9gv1JDHV35CCw/viewform].

He’s Built Snap's AR Smartglasses for 10+ Years. Take An Inside Look At Spectacles - Russell Patton

What does it take to stay committed to a vision when the technology is still developing? Russell Patton has been inside Snap working on camera glasses and AR smartglasses for over a decade.  He's a Staff Product Manager on Snap Spectacles, and we recorded this episode at Snap's Spectacles Developer Bootcamp in Santa Monica, where 50 of the world's top lens creators gathered to advance the path toward wearable AR. Russell's through-line isn't hype — it's conviction built on evidence. Snap started making camera glasses in 2016 — not because the product was perfect, but because each generation taught the team something new about comfort, efficiency, and treating privacy as a first-class design principle.  When Evan Spiegel said around 2019 that consumer AR glasses were probably a decade away, skeptics balked. But that call came from a deep understanding of what the technology actually required. * [00:01:39] Snap's AR vision: The challenge was never the idea — it was getting the technology to catch up, and what camera glasses since 2016 taught the team about the path forward. * [00:04:01] Developers vs. consumers: Developers onboard themselves — but consumers need a working content ecosystem on day one and an experience that meets them where they are. * [00:07:40] Spatial UX onboarding: Moving closer to content scales it, content stays anchored in 3D space — intuitive by nature, but people trained on flat screens need to rediscover that mode of thinking. * [00:09:23] Specs 2024 in detail: Large field of view, electronic tint, 6DoF tracking, hand tracking, voice input, split computing architecture, and vapor chambers in each temple for thermal management. * [00:17:27] Vision and conviction: "If the journey was easy, I think it's likely that the innovation would've already happened." On arriving at the right destination, even if it takes time. AR glasses aren't a gadget — they're a new computing paradigm, a canvas for experiences that don't exist yet.  The most common reason developers give for their excitement says it best: get the screen out of the way so we can be in the real world more. Watch on YouTube and subscribe so you never miss an episode of The Tech Glow Up. https://youtu.be/dUkxBmpL2uw Join the Tech Glow Up newsletter on Substack → https://substack.com/@mxnathanc A "glow up" signifies a positive transformation, reflecting the journey of becoming a better, more successful version of oneself. At The Tech Glow Up, we humanize the startup and innovation landscape by focusing on the essential aspects of the entrepreneurial journey. Groundbreaking ideas are often ahead of their time, making resilience and perseverance vital for founders and product leaders. In our podcast, we engage with innovators to discuss their transformative ideas, the challenges they face, and how they create value for future success.  If you're a founder or product leader seeking your own glow up, or a seasoned entrepreneur with stories to share, we invite you to join our guest list via this link [https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdJ07BGiM_bIi-QQeL_qhdp15OPewIZ0JZBa9gv1JDHV35CCw/viewform].