Rumors emerged last year of a collaboration between former Apple designer Jony Ive and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, but the two have until now kept quiet about it. In a profile by that was published this weekend, though, Ive confirms his company LoveFrom is leading the design on an AI product being built with Altman. Also on board are Tang Tan and Evans Hankey, both of whom held big design roles at Apple.

There’s so far a team of about 10 employees involved with the project, based in a San Francisco office building that’s one of several properties Ive has purchased on a single city block, according to the Times. But we still don’t know much about the product they’re working on. The report describes Tan and Hankey wheeling chairs between the LoveFrom properties that were “topped by papers and cardboard boxes with the earliest ideas for a product that uses A.I. to create a computing experience that is less socially disruptive than the iPhone.”

Since Ive left Apple in 2019 to start LoveFrom, the design firm has worked on and even , but we haven’t seen much in the way of hardware — just . While an AI product seems to be on the horizon, there’s currently no timeline for when it’ll make its debut.

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of The Rings Game will launch on March 25, 2025, a solid date but one that will make fans wait a wee bit longer.

The game is coming from Take-Two Interactive’s Private Division publishing label and Wētā Workshop, the creative studio known for their work on The Lord of the Rings film trilogy. The duo had considered launching Tales of the Shire this fall, but now it is coming next year on the PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S and Netflix Games.

It’s a cozy game that invites you to fulfill your dreams of living the idyllic countryside life of the Shire. You can spend your days full of jovial meals with Hobbit friends, foraging for tasty morsels, and decorating your home. The announcement was made on Hobbit Day, September 22, which is celebrated as the birthdays of the characters Bilbo and Frodo Baggins. This title is the kind of game that gives mental peace to gamers and it’s increasingly popular as a category.

The companies also showed off a 90-minute preview that gives you a flavor for the quiet life of a Hobbit in J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle-earth. Normally, The Lord of the Rings games and shows — including Amazon’s The Rings of Power Season Two — let you feast on serious combat with orcs and trolls. But this game has none of that — just the peaceful life of fishing, gathering, cooking and eating.

You can create your unique Hobbit avatar, choosing from a variety of very Hobbit-specific features to express yourself – including foot-hair styles and personality ‘moods’ that bring your character to life. Then you set out to make your home in sleepy Bywater and enjoy the simple pleasures of life in the Shire.

“Wētā Workshop has been trusted with J.R.R. Tolkien’s Middle-earth universe for more than 25 years, and over that time we have built up a deep understanding of the lore and a real love of Middle-earth that flows through our creative work across screen, collectibles and now, our cozy sims games,” said Richard Taylor, Co-founder and CEO at Wētā Workshop, in a statement. “Tales of the Shire allows us to inspire our talents in an entirely new medium and, ultimately, create this game for people just like us – fans of The Lord of the Rings. This is a beautiful way that players who are looking for a quieter, more peaceful time can discover this in a less explored corner of this universe.”

This small, growing community is home to a humorous cast of residents, who will request your aid in placing Bywater on the Shire’s map as an official village. To accomplish this goal, you will grow and nurture relationships with other characters. For most Hobbits, the best way to build bonds with others is through the comforts of a warm meal.

Much like in real life, cooking requires proper preparation, careful attention, and a “dash of this or that” for the perfect feast. Chop up home grown vegetables, sauté foraged mushrooms, perhaps add a tart pickle or a dollop of sweet jam to balance the dish. Every meal has various steps to complete to earn multiple stars, all in an effort to present a dish that satisfies and delights your guests.

As a newly established Hobbit, you’ll have access to the essentials — a bedroom, a lounge, and your pantry and kitchen to prepare meals for expected and unexpected guests. From these humble beginnings, you’ll soon be able to expand your space and supplies — fishing, foraging, gardening, and trading with your neighbors.

This will quickly enable you to establish a well-stocked pantry and upgraded tools for harvesting and cooking. The shops of Bywater are bustling with many vendors who are willing to sell you all kinds of ingredients, as well as decorative items for your Hobbit home.

You can meet humorous and interesting characters like Old Noakes, a cantankerous master angler. Not only can he give you tips on improving your own fishing skills, and help unlock secret fishing spots, he trades his daily catches. Nora and Fosco Burrows’ shop is stocked to the brim with adornments for your home as well as other charming items to fill out your wardrobe. There are many other Hobbits awaiting you in Bywater, so be sure to meet and invite them over for a second breakfast.

If you are not feeling up to the bustle of the market, wander through the fields and the forests to scavenge for seasonal items. Collect some juicy berries for a fresh summer tart or mushrooms to add to a harvest pie. Butterflies often flutter by and when closely followed can guide you to new discoveries. Beyond the rounded opening of your Hobbit home, a short venture reveals a bounty – your very own garden. This fully customizable area allows you to place multiple plots.

Want to place a daybed in your garden? Perhaps you’d like to create a summer table setting? The space is yours to create! Your garden offers a personal touch to your Hobbit life, and here you can grow a variety of fruits, vegetables, spices, and other harvestable ingredients. Just be sure to take proper care by watering and checking on them daily.

“The Lord of the Rings is an extraordinary world, beloved by hundreds of millions, and people have been clamoring for a game to bring the community, fellowship, and warmth of the Shire to life,” said Eric Correll, head of marketing at Private Division, in a statement. “In Tales of the Shire, Wētā Workshop has created the countryside village of Bywater like no one else could do, and we can’t wait for gamers to unwind, relax, and explore.”

Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game is possible due to Middle-earth Enterprises having licensed the literary works of The Lord of the Rings series and providing Wētā Workshop Game Studio with the creative license.

Jony Ive, the legendary designer who left his full-time role at Apple five years ago, is working on a new startup with OpenAI and its CEO Sam Altman.

The collaboration was first reported last year, and Ive confirmed it in a New York Times profile about what he’s been up to since leaving Apple.

If the startup has a name, Ive isn’t sharing it, but it apparently emerged from dinners with Altman last year where the pair discussed the potential of generative AI. With Ive’s firm LoveFrom leading the design, the profile describes the goal as building “a product that uses A.I. to create a computing experience that is less socially disruptive than the iPhone.”

So perhaps Ive and Altman can succeed where other AI device companies like Humane have struggled.

Industrial designer Marc Newson, who’s working with Ive, said the product specifics and release timing haven’t been decided. Despite that vagueness, the startup is fundraising, with Laurene Powell Jobs’ Emerson Collective and Ive himself contributing. It sounds like the company is aiming to raise up to $1 billion by the end of the year.

No sooner has the Phone 16 lineup arrived than the folks at iFixit start taking them apart, a process made easier this time around by the day-one release of repair manuals from Apple. The disassembly process shows the Camera control is a real button that moves, along with a flex cable that likely measures force, and the heat sink that appears positioned to keep the A18 chip’s Neural Engine cool while it handles AI workloads.

After disconnecting the battery from the board, you apply electric current from a power source (a 9-volt battery for 90 seconds will do it), and the previously glued-in battery slips out easily enough that gravity alone can do the job. Then to make the adhesive stick for the new battery, it just needs pressure.

Apple notes that over time, the time to release could get longer, but on these brand-new phones, iFixit found that using 20V current was enough to undo the bond in five seconds, and Apple says you can use up to 30V. iFixit also brought in some microscopic close-ups of the frame that holds the battery and the machined ridges it has to give the battery something to stick to.

We’re beginning to see the arrival of mini PCs running AMD‘s powerful Zen 5-based Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 Strix Point processor, the latest of which is Aoostar’s GEM10 370.

First teased on X (formerly Twitter). The AI 9 HX 370 processor features four Zen 5 cores, eight Zen 5c cores, RDNA 3.5 Radeon 890M integrated graphics, and a Ryzen NPU capable of up to 50 TOPS of AI performance.

It’s been two years since Google burst into the smartwatch market, and that means we’ve seen a few upgrades since Google launched the very first Google Pixel Watch. If you’re still using that watch, you may wonder if now is the time to upgrade and whether the third-generation Pixel Watch 3 is worth it. Or you may be getting your first smartwatch and considering buying either a cheap first-generation Pixel Watch or the latest and greatest of Google’s wearables.

Choosing between these two devices is surprisingly easy. Sometimes, the newest is the best, and this is the case with the Pixel Watch 3. However, there’s a significant price difference, so is the Pixel Watch still worth buying? Let’s examine the differences to help determine which you should pick, and explain why now is the best time to upgrade from the original Pixel Watch.

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Google Pixel Watch: specs

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: design and display

Put the Pixel Watch 3 and Pixel Watch alongside each other, and aside from the size, it’s difficult to tell the difference. Google’s design language hasn’t changed a huge amount in three generations, and the minimalist look is attractive and works with most outfits.

The Pixel Watch 3 is the first of Google’s smartwatches to come in two sizes. The smaller 41mm size is identical to the original but 5 grams lighter, while the bigger 45mm version is just 1 gram heavier than the original. The larger size is ideal if you have bigger wrists or find the original Pixel Watch too small for daily use.

The new AMOLED-LTPO display gives the Pixel Watch 3 display a big upgrade over previous generations. Both sizes get the upgrade, which offers a variable refresh rate of 60Hz and shrunken bezels to maximize the screen real estate.

The display represents a significant upgrade in legibility, but otherwise, these two watches share the same physical traits. Domed Gorilla Glass displays provide protection, a rotating bezel allows you to scroll and select — a feature sorely missing from the new Samsung Galaxy Watch Ultra — and the same lug-style watch band system lets any Pixel Watch band work with the third-generation model.

Each watch has the same 5ATM water resistance, which provides protection when submerged up to 500 meters, and a suite of sensors on the rear. The Pixel Watch 3’s sensors are improved over the original’s, and they have a different design, but otherwise, these two watches share many similarities.

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: health, fitness, sensors

The Pixel Watch 3 shares the same sensors as last year’s Pixel Watch 2, which saw Google improve the accuracy of the data collected. The heart rate sensor is one of the most accurate on any smartwatch and one of the many hardware sensors that are improved over the original.

The Pixel Watch 3 adds a thermometer and skin conductance sensors, which provide valuable insights into your skin temperature while asleep and are used for cycle tracking. There’s also a new light sensor, barometer, gyroscope, and the pulse oximeter used for the new Loss of Pulse Detection feature.

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This feature is designed to get you help when you need it most. Most smartwatches offer a fall detection feature that will get you emergency help if you have a fall, but Loss of Pulse Detection takes things much further. If your Pixel Watch 3 fails to detect a pulse, it’ll undergo a further check to rule out a false negative and, failing that, contact emergency services. It’s only available in certain EU countries, but it’s a worthy reason to upgrade to the Pixel Watch 3.

The Pixel Watch 3 also adds new Cardio Load and Target Load features, a Daily Readiness score, and a Morning Briefing that gives you pertinent information on your health and sleep. The two Load features are designed to track your heart’s performance over the day (and longer) and give you a numerical understanding of your cardiac function. The Target Load feature then sets a daily goal to aspire to, ensuring you won’t overtrain or undertrain.

All of this information is presented in the Fitbit Premium app. Certain features, like the Daily Readiness score, required a Fitbit Premium subscription, but now all users get it included. The Pixel Watch 3 comes with six months of Fitbit Premium for free — just like the original — after which the subscription costs $10 per month or $80 per year.

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: two versions of the same platform

The Pixel Watch 3 offers significantly more than the original, including hardware improvements and useful wellness features in Wear OS 5. Many of these are powered by Google AI, which analyzes and provides recommendations on achieving and surpassing your goals.

There are also unique features that only work when the Pixel Watch 3 is used alongside a Pixel phone. For example, if you have the Pixel 9 Pro or Pixel 9 Pro XL, you can use the Pixel Watch 3 to control the camera. You can also use it to control Google TV, letting you change volume, inputs, and virtually everything else from your watch.

You can also see your Nest Cam feed on the tiny screen and either respond using the microphone or send a canned response. Then, there are features like call screening and a smart recorder that can record and analyze audio using AI in real time. There are many Pixel Watch 3 features that will delight anyone who upgrades.

The original Pixel Watch is far more limited. It runs Wear OS 3.5 and offers a fairly standard introduction to the Pixel Watch experience. Many of the Pixel Watch 3 improvements launched on the Pixel Watch 2, and while some of these may eventually come to the original, some will likely remain exclusive to Google’s newer models.

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: battery and charging

One of our biggest complaints about the first Pixel Watch was its battery life. Simply put, it’s not very good and requires recharging more than once per day. The Pixel Watch 3 solves these problems with a more efficient chipset, a larger battery, and improvements in the operating system.

The Pixel Watch has a 294mAh battery, while the Pixel Watch 3 has a larger 307mAh battery in the 41mm model and a 420mAh battery in the 45mm. The Exynos 9110 processor in the Pixel Watch offers far less efficiency than the Snapdragon SW5100 powering the Pixel Watch 3.

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Our Pixel Watch 3 review found that the battery life on Google’s latest smartwatch is exceptional and routinely exceeds Google’s own estimates. That’s with the always-on display enabled, tracking multiple workouts and sleep overnight, and receiving notifications throughout the day when paired with the Pixel 9 Pro. Simply put, the battery life has been very impressive and is one of the best reasons to upgrade from the original.

This means you can expect all-day battery life of around 24 hours with the Always On display turned on or up to 36 hours with the Battery Saver mode enabled. Both are large improvements over the original Pixel Watch, which requires recharging to last a full day.

The Pixel Watch 3 is also vastly improved when it comes to charging. The 41mm is rated as recharging to 50% in just 24 minutes and reaching 85% in 35 minutes, while the 45mm is slightly slower at 28 minutes and 50 minutes, respectively. We found that it charges from 12% to 62% in 30 minutes, and a full charge takes just over an hour, but the fast charging is great for those days when you’ve been using it heavily.

Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: price, availability, colors

The Pixel Watch 3 is available now with a starting price of $349, while the original Pixel Watch launched at a similar price and is now available for just under $200. The price difference is significant, but the Pixel Watch 3 represents much better value despite the higher price.

If you want the Pixel Watch 3 in the 41mm size, the Bluetooth-only model is $349, while the LTE version is $449. For the larger size, add $50 to both of those prices.

The Pixel Watch 3 comes in a choice of colors. If you buy the 41mm model, you can choose from Polished Silver, Matte Black, or Champagne Gold, while the larger model ditches the gold option in favor of a more neutral Hazel color. There is a choice of bands, including a striking new Rose Quartz option that matches the colors of Google’s latest phones.

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Google Pixel Watch 3 vs. Pixel Watch: verdict

If you have the original Pixel Watch, there’s never been a better time to upgrade. The Pixel Watch 3 offers everything you need from a smartwatch and is one of the most stylish options on our best smartwatch list. Crucially, it also adds features that will make your life easier and potentially even save it one day. If you’re considering which to buy and don’t currently have a Pixel Watch, it’s worth first looking at the Pixel Watch 3.

It is Google’s best smartwatch, but it costs double the original. If budget is a concern, the first Pixel Watch is a decent choice, but keep in mind that there are other smartwatches from the same era that are much better, like the Samsung Galaxy Watch 5. If you’d rather stay with Google, then we’d recommend buying the Pixel Watch 2, which is just $70 more, but a much better smartwatch.

However, if you can stretch your budget or snag a good deal, our Pixel Watch 3 review found that it’s the Google smartwatch we have been waiting for. It’s the best that Google offers and one of the best smartwatches you can buy in 2024. The original Pixel Watch still has some value, but given the vast improvements in the third generation, there’s no doubt that the Pixel Watch 3 is the better one to buy.