Apple has reportedly abandoned its plan to launch an AI pendant. Meanwhile, Meta appears to be going all-in on the nascent hardware space with its first wearable AI companion. Mark Zuckerberg used his “one more thing” moment at the company’s annual Connect event on Wednesday to unveil the Muse Charm, an Apple Watch-sized puck featuring an interactive tamagotchi-like avatar that can be used to chat with the company’s Muse AI.
“Muse Charm is a delightful and fun device designed to let you talk and interact with your Muse. It brings the power of Muse with a cutting-edge real-time voice model into a device that fits in your pocket.
“We’ve packaged the entire Muse experience, including the entire real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk. Just tap here in the fingerprint sensor in the corner, and you can start talking without having to unlock a phone or open an app.
“So if you’re not wearing glasses, this will be by far the quickest way to talk to your muse and show what’s going on around you.”
We’ll have more to share later this year. »
That’s everything we know about the device, which Meta aims to put on sale by the holiday season.
Otherwise, Connect was mostly about the company’s new Meta VR glasses. They feature an attached puck for storage and battery, and the headset is claimed to be five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3, with color video passthrough support and a 5K display.
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Meta claims the glasses will deliver “theater-quality clarity” with support for Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos spatial audio, and will be able to deliver up to three hours of continuous playback of high-resolution media on a single charge.
The device runs all games available for Quest headsets and supports Xbox Cloud Gaming. You can also connect it to a PC or Mac and control things with a virtual keyboard and trackpad on a desktop. The Meta VR glasses are expected to launch in the spring with a starting price of $1,300.
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Meanwhile, in an apparent attempt to shed the “evil glasses” label, Meta has also announced an audio-only version of its Ray-Ban smart glasses. The new model supports media playback and calls, and runs for up to 12 hours on a single charge, while the charging case adds up to 48 hours of battery life.
Meta hasn’t abandoned its camera-equipped Ray-Ban smart glasses, however. Far from it. The company is refreshing its Ray-Ban Meta with a slimmer design and a button that activates Meta AI. The third-generation model is said to have a longer battery life of nine hours (up from eight on the second-generation model) and a new six-microphone array that the company says can eliminate more than 90 percent of background noise. The 12MP camera supports 3K video capture, with Dobly Atmos Spatial Audio support coming soon.
Meta’s AI glasses will also get a new hearing enhancement feature approved by the FDA later this year. Users can access it as part of a Meta One subscription or pay a one-time cost of $149. A 30-day free trial will also be available.
