Heads Up and Connected - How Snap’s SPECS Are Bringing AR Smartglasses to Consumers - Joe Darko

Hello, and welcome to the Tech Glow Up live from Augmented World Expo, day one, June 16. We just heard the Specs announcement, and I am here today with Joe Darko, Global Head of Developer Relations for Specs.

Yes.

Oh my gosh.

Yes.

Joe, it's such a pleasure to talk with you on this celebratory day. Thank you for joining me on the Tech Glow Up.

No, thank you, Nathan, and thank you for having me.

Amazing! So for those who maybe don't know everything about Specs and how much Snap invests in developers and the people making XR experiences, can you introduce yourself and the work that you do?

Yes. So hi, everyone, I'm Joe Darko, as Nathan said, Global Head of Specs Developer Relations. and I would like to say quickly, we care so much about developers. From, we've been in this for over the past decade, like 12 years now, right? And every step of the way, we've tried our best to work with developers, ensure that, one, they are supported, they are heard, they are valued, they find ways to monetize, and we try to build them tools that they could use to easily build lenses for their customers or users.

Amazing! And Joe, just to sort of be the person breaking the announcement-

Yes

today, can you give us a little bit of the tea on the Spectacles coming this fall?

Yes. So we're excited for this consumer version of Spectacles. We announced today Specs, and these are smart AR glasses, AR capabilities, which enables people to really be engaged in the real world, right? there are so many XR devices out there, but honestly, we believe this means, a change in the ecosystem in terms of technology advancements. When you look at how technology has evolved over time—

Mm-hmm

mainframe computers, personal computers, to phones, the next wave are these smart AR glasses. That could get us to connect in person. And I have a quick story to tell you, Nathan.

I love this.

Two years ago, I was in Qatar Web Summit.

Mm-hmm.

And I was able to play a game, a chess game, with a grandmaster in Qatar, and it was mind-blowing. And guess what? We played it with both of us wearing Spectacles glasses.

Amazing! So building personal connections- Yes with sort of, like, heroes, epic, stars in the chess world using Specs-

Yes

using a shared augmented reality experience.

Exactly.

Did you have the developer version that gave you a little advantage on how to play a grandmaster?

Actually, I lost. Yeah. I lost. Ha. Because look, honestly, no matter what, because it felt so realistic.

Yeah.

So irrespective of whether I had a developer kit or not-

Yeah

he was able to play like the same way he would play chess in real life.

Yeah.

And he beat me to it. but also you know, with these glasses, we are all about ensuring people still have rich connection with each other in the real world.

Yep.

We're not about pulling people away or people being face down. We want people to be heads up and connected and engaged, right? And that's what these glasses promise. And we've been on this promise for the longest time. Evan has had this vision over a decade, and now it's a reality for developers and also for consumers.

Yep. So you've been leading this charge supporting developers globally for a while.

Yes.

What is your spatial computing origin story? Why did you decide... Like, I love spatial creators. I love AR developers with all my heart, but I have my own reasons. What, what brings your passion to this space? What's your origin story, and where does your passion come from?

Well, it comes from ever since I've been a kid-

Mm-hmm

I've been in love with computers. Grew up on computers. Wanted to be, actually, before computers, wanted to be a scientist. I wanted to find a cure for AIDS. Well, I got older. I figured they had a cure to some degree-

Yeah

so that crushed my hopes and dreams. So went straight to computers because I really wanted to help build solutions and be, uh, like, let's say, on the wave of the next paradigm shift. You know? I missed the first boat. Yeah. But now this is the next boat, and I'm glad I'm on it. And also, it's all about helping developers. Mm-hmm. How do I work with developers? How do I make them successful? How do I find a way to get them to really build the next applications of the future? Yeah. Right? How do I do that? So that has been my passion for the longest time. And how my team works is, one, we wanna find the right developers. Mm-hmm. We also want to find ways to get them engaged in our ecosystem by building community. We want them to feel heard and supported. Yeah. So we try to answer every single email. We wanna make sure they monetize. Mm-hmm. Right? And one thing we did for developers along this launch was any developer who committed with us on our previous generation and subscribed to Spectacles received a $1,000 credit. towards the new devices.

Yo.

And that is how we try to show value. We try to show value to them like, "Hey, you committed to us. We value you. Now stay with us and build with us towards the next future."

Amazing. I've heard that paying attention to every email, every comment in the Discord goes all the way up, and that,

Yes!

Sometimes really good ideas in the community chat- Yes uh, make it to the C-suite around Snap, so.

Oh, it does. It does. I mean, look, I saw Evan, like, 15 minutes ago.

Mm.

And always when Evan sees me, the first question he ask, "Hey, Joe, what are devs saying?" Like, that's- Yeah what he wants to hear, right? And-

Okay, I wanna ask you, what are devs saying? You've been talking to them all morning- Yes about Specs. What's going on? What's on their mind?

Devs are blown away. Devs are super excited, because look, this is not just, a dev kit.

Mm-hmm.

Right? There's opportunity for them to actually really put their skills to work, and also we release new tools for them. Mm. I was actually building a lens with Claude Code with our new agentic workflow- Yo that we had talked about today. Yeah. With its closed loop agentic workflows. So devs are excited. It makes their jobs easier. They're able to build and publish faster, and they're able to really serve their community in a faster way. So devs are excited. They see the vision, they get the vision- Mm and they're ready to get on board. And some devs- Yeah who are on the fringe- Yeah came to me and they're like, "How do I get started?"

Right?

How do I get started?"

Right? Oh, my goodness. So the name of the show is The Tech Glow Up. A glow up is like a notable transformation. Yes. Sometimes a rebirth. For the spatial computing industry, what's the glow up other than today's amazing announcement?

Come on. Come on. Come on.

We gotta push it forward. This is now. We're talking about the future. So what's the glow up you wanna see in the next, like, six months or so?

Next six months I wanna see- People who are not traditional developers pick up the tool and able to build-

Yeah

with just a prompt.

Yeah.

With just a prompt. So long as you have tokens, you have a dream, you have a vision, it can come to life. Yeah. And that is the future. So next six months, honestly, to your point, I want people to really get on board. I want to see university students, developers. I want to see C-suite executives bring their ideas to life as quickly as possible through our technologies.

Amazing. So I got a chance to visit Snap for the developers bootcamp a couple months ago.

Thank you.

And I saw a developer, it may have been Alessio, who was live coding an app, a lens that he was watching in the spectacles, having a conversation with AI, updating repos- Yep connecting APIs. And the app was, the camera glasses were always on. It didn't have to restart.

Yep.

It didn't... It was like live coding and updating and prototyping in a way that I'd never seen, like, a mobile app behave, and that I could be doing this- Yep in cursor, like in AR- Yep was just mind-blowing.

Exactly. So. And that's just the power of AI right now, right? Yeah. And that is what we've leaned in. And honestly, I would say right now with AI and tech, it's two-sided, right? There's one for the consumers which makes your life easier. They understand the world with these glasses, right? It's context, provide solution within context. And also the development side, it makes developers really do exactly what you're describing. Yeah. And once again, I just built an app just sitting in the back- Mm-hmm on my break, drinking coffee, and using our tools to build an app-

Mm-hmm

for Specs.

Amazing. So bringing the glow up a little closer. Yes. What's the glow up you're working on in that same sort of short-term, midterm period?

Um, so right now in short term, I will say this, it's all about community.

Mm-hmm.

No matter what, it's all about community. In the short term, right after this launch, we wanna get face to face with our community members. That is what we believe in. We may be a small team, but we're a mighty team in terms of developer relations, and we wanna meet our developers face to face, get their feedback, get them to build, get them to test, get them to really kind of like, like Evan mentioned, they can sign up and join a lab, one of our studios around the world, one of our offices, and test and really build and publish and see the ideas come to life. Over the next few months, I want to meet as many new developers as much as possible.

Amazing. I also want to meet all the new spatial creators out there. Yes.

And maybe we'll bring you along.

Let's go.

Let's go!

Yeah. Na- name the time and place.

Let's go!

I've been hearing that there's some cool things coming this fall, so-

Well.

Where, where are you announcing those? I'll be there.

Well, well, I got you. I got you.

Awesome! So Joe, every innovation leader doesn't get there on their own.

Yes.

So I've been asking everyone I talk to, how have mentors, guides, coaches impacted your journey in innovation and helped you get to where you are today?

I do have my personal board of advisors. Love it. Right? Uh, and these are people who are invested in me and my career, external or internal to the company, and they really always keep me grounded.

Mm-hmm.

That is one thing they do, right? Working with Snap, working with developer community, we get a lot of wins, but they keep me grounded. They help me- Mm understand the long-term vision. It's not about the immediate wins, it's about the long-term goal, right? To really do your best for the customer. And one thing they always tell me, "Joe, continue to focus on the customers. Be obsessed. Be customer obsessed."

Yeah.

"And drive value for the customer." And, you know, right after the announcement, I reached out to some of the mentors. Mm-hmm. They're like, "Congratulations." And to your question earlier, what's next?

Yeah.

Stay grounded and focused on the customer. Amazing. And that's what we do at Snap. We're focused on our customers.

Oh, my gosh. It's like one of the coolest things, getting a little bit of an inside look at Snap, is seeing how that focus on customer- Yes focus on developer is really top to bottom- Yes part of the culture.

Yes.

Uh, just love it so much. Okay. No pressure. But I also want to give you the opportunity to share a spicy hot take, maybe a soundbite about the state of XR, about wearables- deep technology, culture. Could be anything. Do you have a spicy soundbite for us?

You want a soundbite, you get one.

Yes.

Well, I heard this early today.

Mm-hmm.

And they stated, Snap has won. That's it. That's it. You fill in the gaps. Snap has won. It wasn't from me, it was from a developer at AWE.

Okay. So there were so many announcements made about the upcoming release of Specs. Yes. What are your top three features?

One of the things is that migration agent we meet with a lot of developers from all walks of life, especially developers who build with Unity- Mm-hmm who wanna really come to our ecosystem. That is amazing, right? The next announcement is the pricing. I was very excited about the pricing. I think people are excited. People probably expected something else more, but then to them, this was, like, amazing. This makes sense, it's reasonable. And then last but not least is about, we talked about as someone who works with developers, pretty much our closed loop, agentic workflows that we discussed. Mm-hmm. Right? Closed loop development Claude, that's something I'm also excited about, so yes.

Yes. Amazing. Joe Darko, Global Head of Developer Relations for Specs. Such a treat to be able to celebrate with you. Yes. And to learn a little bit more about where all-day wearable AR smart glasses that bring people together- Yes with a heads-up view are going today. Thank you again so much- Thank you for joining me on The Tech Glow Up Thank you.

Long time coming. I

appreciate it. Oh my gosh, such a treat. Yes. Thank you so much. Oh my gosh,