{"id":625772,"date":"2026-09-24T08:14:08","date_gmt":"2026-09-24T08:14:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625772\/"},"modified":"2026-09-24T08:14:08","modified_gmt":"2026-09-24T08:14:08","slug":"theres-nothing-like-it-meta-unveils-dedicated-charm-device-for-using-muse-ai-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/625772\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018There\u2019s nothing like it\u2019: Meta unveils dedicated\u00a0\u2018Charm\u2019 device for using\u00a0Muse AI \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Meta<\/a> Platforms Inc has unveiled a palm-sized, dedicated gadget for using Muse, the company\u2019s popular new artificial intelligence assistant, pushing deeper into the AI<\/a> devices market with a surprise announcement.<\/p>\n

The product, unveiled on stage by Meta chief executive Mark Zuckerberg<\/a>, was born out of the company\u2019s new design lab led by former Apple Inc interface design chief Alan Dye and its Superintelligence AI group.<\/p>\n

The device, called the Muse Charm, looks like a Tamagotchi \u2013 the digital pet from the 1990s<\/a>. It has a roughly 2in display and runs a new operating system designed to bring Muse to life on its own hardware.<\/p>\n

The unveiling \u2013 made during Meta\u2019s Connect conference \u2013 comes just weeks after the Muse assistant launched on iPhones, Android devices and the web.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s cool, it\u2019s fun, it\u2019s neat, it\u2019s weird, it\u2019s different. There\u2019s nothing like it,\u201d Meta chief technology officer Andrew Bosworth said in an interview. He called the device an \u201cexploration, the classic v0\u201d, referring to the state of a product before a formal first-generation launch. \u201cLet\u2019s see what people think,\u201d he said. \u201cLet\u2019s see how they use it. Let\u2019s see how it goes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meta unveiled a variety of other devices during the Connect presentation, including lighter-weight virtual reality goggles and audio-only smart glasses that dispense with a camera. The company also touted the popularity of the Muse assistant and announced new partnerships with retailers. Muse will now more seamlessly connect to Walmart, Best Buy, Gap and other chains.<\/p>\n

But the Charm product was the biggest surprise of the event. The novel device can be held in the centre of a palm and navigated with a thumb on its OLED touch screen. That technology \u2013 short for organic light-emitting diode \u2013 is the same standard used in many smartphones.<\/p>\n

An on-board 5G modem lets users access Muse models while away from Wi-Fi. The Charm includes other features commonly found in smartphones, though it doesn\u2019t make phone or video calls. It will rely on a fingerprint sensor to unlock the interface for users.<\/p>\n

A virtual Muse character appears at the centre of the screen, and users can customise its appearance, outfits, voice and other attributes. The device can be worn with a wrist strap, carried in a pocket or attached to a bag or keychain with a lanyard. A translucent case allows users to see the internal circuitry through the back and sides.<\/p>\n

People with knowledge of the device, who declined to be named discussing the product, describe it as a \u201choldable\u201d rather than a wearable. That means it\u2019s a small, dedicated device that people can pick up and talk to throughout the day.<\/p>\n

Two users with Muse Charms can also allow their devices to recognise and interact with each other when they\u2019re placed nearby.<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg showed off Muse Charm, without providing details, after saying during the Connect keynote that he was building something with Muse. The company originally aimed to bring the device to market in 2027, but Zuckerberg pushed the teams to unveil it in 2026 and place it on sale before the end of the year, said the people with knowledge of the matter.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Politicians get to have a go at Big Tech, but will anything change?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Zuckerberg said during the presentation that the device would go on sale by December, in time for the festive season.<\/p>\n

The company hasn\u2019t decided how much it will charge for Muse Charm, Bosworth said, though the people familiar with the plans said it would be priced in the range of a smartwatch. Meta also hasn\u2019t finalised details such as cellular carrier fees for mobile network access.<\/p>\n

Dye, the former Apple design executive, and Billy Sorrentino, one of his top deputies at the iPhone maker, were two of the driving forces behind the project and the creation of the Muse character-based interface, Bosworth said.<\/p>\n

Meta recruited the executives at the end of 2025, forcing Apple to shake up its own design team to fill the void left by their absence. Dye and Sorrentino hired a slew of other designers from Apple as well, and they contributed to Muse Charm as well as the interface of its Muse smartphone apps, Bosworth said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Apple\u2019s iPhone set for biggest overhaul in yearsOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The company started looking at the Charm concept in March and said, \u201cHey, we\u2019d like to launch something this year in hardware that doesn\u2019t exist yet\u2019,\u201d according to Bosworth. \u201cAnd they were pumped, man. They were game for it. That was something completely different for them, obviously, from a timeline perspective.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Charm has cameras on the front and back that can capture photos and video, though they are intended primarily to give Muse visual information for analysis and AI-assisted actions. Users can also view the photos and videos they have taken on the device. It supports music and video playback and includes speakers, microphones and a USB-C charging port.<\/p>\n

Users set up and synchronise the Charm through the Muse app on either an iPhone or Android device.<\/p>\n

The Charm initially emerged as a playful prototype before Zuckerberg pushed for its release. \u201cMark was like, \u2018Yeah, we got to do a real programme here. Let\u2019s get it together\u2019,\u201d Bosworth said. Internally, the team called it \u201cClawmagochi,\u201d a reference to its Tamagotchi-like form and the developers\u2019 fascination with the OpenClaw AI assistant.<\/p>\n

The Charm went from its initial vision to a finished product in about nine months and was developed in close co-ordination with the Muse team. \u201cIt\u2019s coming in fast \u2013 it\u2019s hardware that we literally designed and built in the same calendar year,\u201d Bosworth said.<\/p>\n

He cautioned that the device isn\u2019t the centre of Meta\u2019s broader AI hardware strategy. The company expects substantially more people to use Muse through their phones and Meta\u2019s smart glasses than through a dedicated Charm.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re trying to thread a needle here, which is like, yeah, we\u2019re excited about it. We think it\u2019s cool. It\u2019s also not the core of the strategy,\u201d Bosworth said. \u201cObviously, you expect more people to use Muse through their glasses and through their phone than through a dedicated charm device. But Muse has developed a pretty good set of hard-core fans already. So yeah, I think there\u2019s going to be an audience for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bosworth wouldn\u2019t disclose sales projections for the Charm. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of factors in terms of the volume,\u201d he said. \u201cOne is obviously the sales side and what\u2019s the pull and what\u2019s the pricing. The other one is also the production side: what can we land and what\u2019s our confidence level and those kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n

The initial model is intended largely for Muse enthusiasts and will serve as a first run, the people said. The company is considering follow-up generations if the concept proves successful. \u2013 Bloomberg<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Meta Platforms Inc has unveiled a palm-sized, dedicated gadget for using Muse, the company\u2019s popular new artificial intelligence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":625773,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[670,343,85,46,3032,1430,125],"class_list":["post-625772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-apple","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-mark-zuckerberg","tag-meta","tag-technology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=625772"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625772\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625773"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}