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Beats 360: Swappable Cushions Bring a New Twist to $350 Headphones

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Beats 360 headphones cost $349.99 and offer swappable cushions, 32-hour battery life, stronger noise cancellation, and Apple and Android support.

The post Beats 360: Swappable Cushions Bring a New Twist to $350 Headphones appeared first on TechRepublic.

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Meta made a Tamagotchi-like wearable for its Muse AI agent

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The AI amulet has become a bit of a cliché in the tech industry — devices like Friend have turned the idea of physical AI into little more than an exercise in eye-rolling for many consumers.

But that hasn’t stopped Meta from jumping into the arena with its own AI wearable, called Muse Charm, which is designed to give consumers another way to stay connected to its recently launched, and already popular, personal AI agent, Muse.

The device, which CEO Mark Zuckerberg revealed in a “one more thing” moment during the company’s annual Connect event, isn’t ready to ship just yet. Zuckerberg said his team had to “finalize laying out the components” and promised the devices would be “ready to ship in time for the holidays in December.”

The Muse agent, which is now embodied by a cute digital avatar known within the company as Jolly, lives inside the palm-sized totem that users can carry in their pockets or attach to a keychain. The device comes with a tiny screen that displays the avatar representing the agent. Users can talk to the device, which can then presumably carry out tasks on their behalf.

“We packed the whole Muse experience, including the whole real-time voice and avatar stack, into something that fits on a keychain and is always available to talk to,” Zuckerberg said during Wednesday’s keynote. “You just go ahead and tap here in the fingerprint sensor in the corner, and you can start talking without having to unlock a phone or open an app.”

Zuckerberg added: “So if you’re not wearing glasses, this is going to be by far the fastest way to talk to your Muse and to show what’s going on around you.”

Appropriate for what it offers, the gadget has a quasi-Tamagotchi feel to it — a lightweight, personality-filled device designed to keep users always connected to Meta’s software. It also feels like a relatviely low-stakes way for the social media giant to experiment with AI wearables while also offering yet another way to distribute its AI agent to the masses.

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Meta is trying VR glasses (again), this time with more IMAX

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Meta is renewing its quest to make virtual reality a thing. At Connect on Wednesday, the company announced Meta VR Glasses, its newest entry into the VR market. These glasses actually seem quite promising given their substantially lighter form factor and a host of new entertainment integrations — including (allegedly) IMAX compatibility.

The company says that the glasses are five times lighter than the Meta Quest 3 — and they look much more like normal glasses than the bulky headsets that Meta previously released. Made of magnesium alloy, the glasses are powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon Reality Elite processor. They are powered by a computing puck, which also acts as their battery. Presumably, a user can just slip the puck into their pocket, which allows the glasses to be used on the go.

The glasses are largely entertainment-focused and come with micro-OLED panels built into the lenses, which provide a 5K Infinite Display with 37 pixels per degree, as well as Dolby Vision and support for Dolby Atmos audio. Users will be able to download and watch movies.

Perhaps one of the more unique features of the glasses, however, is that Meta is pitching them as a great way to enjoy IMAX-captured films.

Indeed, the company calls the glasses the “first IMAX Enhanced certified VR device ever.” What does that mean? Meta maintains that their glasses will be one of the only ways to experience the expanded aspect ratio that defines the distinct high-resolution viewing experience.

The glasses are also compatible with 3D experiences — and even movies that integrate a user’s physical space is integrated into their viewing experience. Meta says that it has teamed up with Disney and that, in November, Disney+ users will be able to stream specific movies — including certain Marvel movies — in 3D.

Meta says that users will be able to watch specific movies and have their surroundings “transformed with immersive environments, dynamic effects, stunning 3D visuals, and spatial audio” — essentially converting the movie into a VR gaming-type experience.

The glasses will also come with Meta AI — its automated virtual assistant — built in, which means that users will be able to talk to the glasses and automate various tasks via voice command. For instance, Meta says you’ll be able to start a movie just by asking your glasses to do so. Other ways to issue commands include hand gestures.

Meta says the glasses will be available next spring with a starting price of $1299.99.

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Meta introduces camera-free AI glasses

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Confirming earlier reports, Meta announced its first pair of camera-free AI glasses, the clunkily named Ray-Ban Meta Audio, at its Connect 2026 conference on Wednesday. Designed to combat criticism around the more malicious use cases for AI glasses, which saw them nicknamed “pervert glasses” by some, the new devices will be audio-only, offering the ability to listen to music and podcasts, take calls, translate speech, and communicate with Meta’s AI assistant, Muse.

The glasses are designed by Meta’s partner in its AI hardware efforts, EssilorLuxottica, and will start at $349.

While Meta today offers a range of AI glasses in a variety of styles, colors, and capabilities, the audio-only glasses could help the brand recover from some of the reputational damage after critics pointed out how people, often men, were using AI glasses to record videos without subjects’ consent. Meta attempted to mitigate this issue with an update that would disable the camera if the LED light that indicated the glasses were recording was ever tampered with. However, the creepiness factor remained.

This latest device could prove to be more popular for that reason, while also providing an answer to something like Apple’s Siri-powered AirPods.

“Once you get used to high quality audio, it’s just a thing that you want all the time, right?” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said during a keynote Wednesday, adding that the company after working on the idea realized it could design a whole new category of glasses around audio glasses.

Image Credits:Meta/Screenshot /

Because they don’t have to house cameras, the glasses are slimmer than Meta’s other models and weigh only 43 grams. They also have adjustable temple tips, swappable nose pads, overextension hinges, and battery life of up to 12 hours on a single charge, Meta claims. With the included charging case, that battery life extends to up to 48 hours.

They’ll also come in a variety of colors and options — 23 color and lens combinations in total — and in two new styles, a retro-inspired “Clubmaster” Ray-Ban style and “Burbank,” described as more of a “classic, timeless, rectangle shape.” Like other Meta glasses, you can order them with your optical prescription as well, if needed.

The glasses will be available for preorder on October 13, the company noted.

Alongside the glasses, Meta announced its next-generation AI glasses (the ones with cameras), the Ray-Ban Meta (Gen 3). In addition to the Ray-Ban Meta Wayfarer, there will also be two new styles, the Aviator and Zena — the latter offering more of a cat-eye frame shape. These will have a 12 MP camera that supports 3K Ultra HD video, a six-mic array, and up to nine hours of battery life.

The glasses Meta launched with EssilorLuxottica will also see an expanded lineup of styles and colors as well as a new partnership with singer Lisa, which follows the company’s earlier brand partnership with Kylie Jenner. The glasses will also be roll out to more countries globally, Meta said.

All of Meta’s AI glasses will, of course, feature access to its newer personal AI assistant, Muse.

The company also teased other coming updates, including support for Dolby Atmos Capture, a feature that picks the best photo from multiple frames, an option to choose landscape or portrait modes, hearing enhancements for those with hearing loss, more detailed responses, different audio modes, customizable controls, and something called “private processing” that Meta claims will prevent the company from seeing your data.

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