DuckDuckGo vs MacPaw

DuckDuckGo's 'Normal F***ing Sunglasses' Sold Out

DuckDuckGo and design firm Knockaround launched the 'Normal F***ing Sunglasses', a real, low‑cost product marketed as anti‑surveillance eyewear with no camera and no AI. The sunglasses parody Meta's AI Glasses — which retail in Germany starting around €309 and offer hands‑free photo/video, direct Meta AI access, Dynamic Photo, navigation, and live translations — while highlighting privacy concerns about always‑on recording. Knockaround's site sold out the DuckDuckGo glasses within a week, with restock preorders currently limited to US customers. The article also notes DuckDuckGo's privacy positioning in search (market shares: Germany 1.46%, US 1.58%) and references Meta's mitigation measures for its smart glasses, such as an indicator LED and automatic camera disabling when the LED is blocked.

• DuckDuckGo and Knockaround released the 'Normal F***ing Sunglasses', a real product marketed as having 'No camera. No AI.'
• The sunglasses were sold out on the Knockaround website within less than a week; restock preorders are currently available only for US customers.
• The DuckDuckGo sunglasses are priced at €30.83, compared with Meta's AI Glasses which are available in Germany from about €309.

DuckDuckGo launches 'Dumb Glasses' sunglasses

DuckDuckGo has announced a branded pair of non-smart sunglasses called the DuckDuckGo Paso Robles, produced in partnership with Knockaround. Marketed as a tongue-in-cheek alternative to privacy-controversial smart glasses, the product contains no cameras, microphones, AI features or notifications and emphasizes offline use, UV400 protection, and a long-lasting (jokingly 'infinite') battery. Knockaround lists the glasses for about €31 (≈€42 with shipping to Germany). The move underscores consumer privacy concerns around camera-equipped smart glasses and serves as a brand statement from a privacy-focused company.

• DuckDuckGo announced the DuckDuckGo Paso Robles sunglasses described as "the most innovative anti-surveillance smart glasses, aka normal sunglasses."
• DuckDuckGo partnered with manufacturer Knockaround to produce the Dumb Glasses.
• Knockaround lists the sunglasses for roughly €31; with shipping to Germany the price is about €42.

MacPaw Launches Leebry to Help Overstretched Teams Automate Routine IT Work

MacPaw has launched Leebry, a new product aimed at helping overstretched teams automate routine IT work.

MacPaw partners with Liquid AI for on-device inference

MacPaw has partnered with Liquid AI to develop locally hosted AI capabilities for its apps and to enable on-device inference. The companies plan to build an on-device inference system called Elix and a local memory system to power a locally hosted version of MacPaw’s AI assistant Eney. MacPaw intends to prepare its SetApp subscription app store for AI apps, experiment with credit-based pricing for AI operations, and eventually make the on-device inference stack available to third-party developers while providing access to cloud models from providers such as Google. Liquid AI says it tailors model architectures to hardware to maximize on-device performance and supports model customization using user data.

• MacPaw partnered with Liquid AI to power its products with locally hosted AI models and to make the tech stack available to developers.
• Liquid AI is developing an on-device inference system called Elix and a local memory system for MacPaw’s locally hosted AI.
• MacPaw plans a locally hosted version of its AI assistant Eney and aims to enable offline assistants and agentic workflows.