Meta is selling a small AI pendant called the Muse Charm for the holiday season. It has a soft face and talks to Meta's AI helper. Verge writer Sean Hollister decided to build his own instead.
He bought a $50 touchscreen device from China called the Waveshare ESP32-S3. Meta lists the same gadget as a way to build a "Muse Gadget" using its open code. Out of the box, it barely worked. Replies were slow and silent, and the screen showed only a few words.
Hollister then used an AI coding tool called Claude Code to rewrite it. He added a history screen, a spoken voice, a camera remote and a small pet game.
π The Backstory
Tamagotchi toys became a craze in the late 1990s. People carried a tiny screen and had to feed and clean a virtual pet. The idea was that the device needed you.
Meta has been pushing AI into hardware. Its smart glasses are its best-known product. The Muse Charm borrows the Tamagotchi idea and adds a voice assistant.
AI coding tools now let people with no coding background build small apps. Hollister says he has no coding experience and still made the device work.
π― Why It Matters
This shows how cheap hardware plus AI tools lets anyone tinker. It also raises privacy questions about AI devices in your home.
Meta is selling a small AI pendant called the Muse Charm for the holiday season. It has a soft face and talks to Meta's AI helper. Verge writer Sean Hollister decided to build his own instead.
He bought a $50 touchscreen device from China called the Waveshare ESP32-S3. Meta lists the same gadget as a way to build a "Muse Gadget" using its open code. Out of the box, it barely worked. Replies were slow and silent, and the screen showed only a few words.
Hollister then used an AI coding tool called Claude Code to rewrite it. He added a history screen, a spoken voice, a camera remote and a small pet game.
Tamagotchi toys became a craze in the late 1990s. People carried a tiny screen and had to feed and clean a virtual pet. The idea was that the device needed you.
Meta has been pushing AI into hardware. Its smart glasses are its best-known product. The Muse Charm borrows the Tamagotchi idea and adds a voice assistant.
AI coding tools now let people with no coding background build small apps. Hollister says he has no coding experience and still made the device work.
This shows how cheap hardware plus AI tools lets anyone tinker. It also raises privacy questions about AI devices in your home.