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Ray-Ban, Facebook team up to create Ray-Ban Stories

Look sharp and snazzy!

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Ray-Ban Stories

Ray-Ban’s foray into smart glasses is looking sharp!

The luxury brand has teamed up with Facebook to launch Ray-Ban Stories — smart glasses that capture photos and videos, listen to music, take phone calls, and even share your adventures directly onto social media platforms!

Make and view content through your glasses

Ray-Ban Stories comes with a 5-megapixel camera, designed to capture steadily across all movements. It has several features seen on smartphones such as HDR, Low Light Fusion, Video Stabilization, and Denoising.

Ray-Ban Stories

The smart glasses also pairs with the new Facebook View app, which is available on iOS and Android, making it easy to import, edit, and share content captured. Then, you can send it to various apps such as Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, Messenger, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, and more.

For those who like to edit, you can save the content to your smartphone’s camera roll. Although, Facebook View has exclusive enhancements to make your content special.

Privacy is still a focus

Smart glasses can raise flags, both for users and the people around them. This is why Ray-Ban and Facebook integrated privacy into the product design.

For instance, there are hardware protections like a power switch to turn off the cameras and microphone. The smart glasses notify people nearby, too, through a shining white light when taking photos or videos. For those who like to be more in control of their privacy concerns, you can customize your experience through the Facebook View app.

Ray-Ban Stories

As per Facebook, Ray-Ban Stories collect only what’s needed to make your glasses work and function. Say, your battery status, your Facebook account for verification when using the Facebook View app, and Wi-Fi connectivity.

Price and availability

The Ray-Ban Stories starts at US$ 299 and is available in 20 variations like the iconic Ray-Ban styles such as Wayfarer, Round, and Meteor. Personalization is easy since it comes in five colors with a range of lenses — clear, sun, transition, and prescription.

It’s available for purchase online and in select retail stores in the US as well as Australia, Canada, Ireland, Italy, and the UK.

Accessories

Homture Magic Frame: Reliving wedding moments you didn’t get to see

Bring memories back to life, even the ones you weren’t present for

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Brides say it all the time: savor every moment, because your wedding day quickly becomes a blur. Months go into planning every detail, only for it to fly by in what feels like minutes.

Between the ceremony, conversations with friends, and the after party, there are moments you will miss — no matter how big or intimate the celebration is.

The Homture Magic Frame came to my life at a perfect time. It offers a way for me to experience those in-between moments that didn’t fully register in real time, while also bringing back the ones worth holding onto.

Understated design

Before even turning it on, Magic Frame already feels like something special. The packaging leans premium; it feels like a gift right out of the box.

Setup is simple. The companion app is intuitive and easy to navigate, so going from unboxing to seeing photos on the frame only takes a few minutes.

The 10.1″ screen is fast and responsive, which made setup feel smooth. It’s bright but not blinding, and its anti-glare coating is a nice add-on especially as we get more daylight this spring. It ticks everything you’d want from a digital frame.

The design is clean and modern: a white mat paired with a thin black frame in a basic rectangular shape. The mat makes it look more like a real frame than a generic Android tablet.

While the modern look fits easily into most spaces, I would have loved customization options. As someone who has artwork all over her home in different shapes, sizes, textures, and colors, what’s missing in the digital frame market is fun. There are many options that look exactly like it.

Curved, rounded edges, irregular shapes and textures, or matching frame colors and mats — brighter tones or an all-chrome look are both trending right now. A quirky design could have helped it stand out more.

One subtle detail that I really liked is the back design. It resembles a turntable: the kickstand looks like a tonearm, the internal layout is circular like where a record would sit, and even the power button looks like that of a typical record player. It’s a thoughtful touch, even if it’s not something you’ll ever look at.

Bringing memories to life

What makes Homture Magic Frame different from most other digital frames, is it uses AI photo-to-video technology to animate still images. Within minutes, a photo becomes something more alive.

Right now, the options are very limited. During testing, I tried “Duo” which creates a short clip of two people waving at the camera.

Magic Frame comes with 200 credits out of the box, with each animation costing 100. It’s a fun feature, though a bit early for me to consider paying for more. I’m not sure I want to see more videos of people waving hello or converting ourselves into claymation-looking cake toppers.

Before the wedding, I asked my friends to capture emotion and motion — more candid moments, less posing, even if the results are blurry. The goal was to remember how the day actually felt.

My friends more than delivered, and Magic Frame has allowed me and my husband replay those memories. It reveals moments that we weren’t present for that day. Different friend groups meeting for the first time, a parent getting emotional over a letter, small interactions happening across the room while our attention was elsewhere.

A frame that feels aware

An unexpected highlight is how interactive the frame feels. With a built-in motion sensor, Magic Frame responds when someone walks by, almost like it’s acknowledging their presence.

As I’m still on cloud 9, there’s something special about passing by and catching a moment from the wedding that subtly comes to life, without needing to reach for my phone. It turns a passive activity into something more immersive.

While it’s great as it is, I do wish that photos did not shuffle as quickly, or that the transition was more subtle — things that can be updated later via software.

Keeping every memory in one place, not just the highlights

After the wedding, photos start coming in from everywhere — friends, family, group chats.

Magic Frame makes it easy to bring everything together. With unlimited cloud storage and 64GB of local memory, it holds more than just my favorite photos of me and my husband. The candid moments, shiny dresses, high heels, the toasts, the bubbles and the people who made the day special — all of it lives in one place.

Through the app, friends and family can also upload their own photos directly. It’s an easy way to involve everyone, and sometimes new memories pop up unexpectedly on a random day. Instead of a perfectly curated album, I love that it has become a shared collection of perspectives from everyone who was there.

A more meaningful way to look back

There’s still that post-wedding feeling — wanting to hold onto every memory before it fades. Instead of doom scrolling through my camera roll, Magic Frame has given me a reason to pause.

It retails for under US$180, but you can get it today for just US$139. I wouldn’t buy it solely for its AI features, but for something as momentous as a wedding, having the Homture Magic Frame quietly bringing those memories back to life while I sip my coffee in the morning? The experience is priceless.

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Bringing Care-a-Lot to my daily carry

This is why my gizmos and workspace finally feel like a warm hug!

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Growing up, the Care Bears taught us that sharing was a superpower and that every emotion had a color.

For many of us, the Care Bears weren’t just characters on a screen; they represented a language of kindness and colorful dreams.

Bringing the CASETiFY x Care Bears collection into my daily rotation feels like carrying a small piece of that “Care-a-Lot” magic wherever I go.

My iPhone 16 Pro now lives in the Care Bears Shake Shake Case (PhP 3,990). It’s a tactile reminder of playfulness in the middle of a busy workday.

When I’m heading out, the Share Bear Earbuds Pouch (PhP 2,990) clips onto my bag. It keeps my music close while reminding me of the value of sharing. It’s surprisingly versatile, too, fitting my Shokz OpenFit 2+ or even the bulkier case of the JBL Sense Pro.

When I switch to a different MagSafe case, the Starry Night Snappy Cardholder Stand (PhP 2,490) magnetically attaches to the back of my phone, adding a bit of celestial whimsy to my day

Even my workspace has a new glow. The Twilight Dreams Laptop Sleeve (PhP 3,090) fits my 13-inch MacBook perfectly, wrapping my most important work tool in nostalgic, soft-toned illustrations.

We often look for tech that performs, but we rarely look for accessories that hugs back. This collection does both.

It turns my everyday essentials into a canvas for positivity, proving that even in a digital world, there’s always room for a little more care.

Get the CASETiFY x Care Bears collection.

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Soundtrack for the city: HIDDEN.NY x AIAIAI TMA-2 headphones

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Living in a big city like New York makes you want to have music on a lot: on the subway, walking between meetings, sitting in a café with your laptop, zoning out on a long walk home, or romanticizing the smallest things. Headphones have become an essential part of my life.

That’s why the HIDDEN.NY x AIAIAI collaboration makes sense. The TMA-2 HIDDEN Edition headphones are reminiscent of early-2000s tech. It’s nostalgic but with New York City character, at least the kind that I encounter and not the one you see in movies.

If you follow either brand, the partnership feels natural. HIDDEN.NY started as an Instagram mood board and grew into a full lifestyle platform rooted in street culture and design. AIAIAI is a Danish company that’s long been part of music culture, known for modular gear that artists use.

The first thing you notice is the colorway. The transparent design with green highlights is subtle. It’s not loud but still stands out.

You can see the structure of the headphones, which makes them feel more like an accessory than just another piece of black plastic tech. Bonus points that they are a conversation starter, too.

In daily use, the headphones are easy to live with. They are light and comfortable, which is important when you’re wearing them for long stretches. They don’t clamp too hard nor do they feel bulky.

Sound-wise, they’re clean and balanced. While it doesn’t have active noise cancellation, it works well for all the ways people actually listen in a big city. I like that you don’t have to think about the sound much.

It’s just good in a way that doesn’t get in your way, whatever mood I’m in wherever I am in the city, these headphones are great company.

AIAIAI’s modular approach also means these aren’t built to be tossed when something wears out. The speaker, headband, earpads, and cable are all replaceable.

So much of the tech we use should grow with us, even if they get outdated. So AIAIAI builds systems that can be upgraded over time. That’s part of why artists and DJs use them.

Especially because it’s a collectible, it feels like a piece you’ll want to keep. As someone who uses his prized possessions for a really long time, I love this about these headphones.

In a city where everything moves fast and feels temporary, it’s nice to have gear that doesn’t feel disposable.

The campaign, shot by photographer Gunner Stahl, probably looks familiar if you’re attuned to hiphop culture. What sets his work apart is his portraits feel more raw and relaxed instead of posed and polished. It aligns with HIDDEN.NY’s aesthetic, the kind of everyday style that feels genuine.

At the end of the day, the HIDDEN.NY x AIAIAI TMA-2 Bluetooth headphones make sense for people who live in cities like New York, where music is part of how you move, work, and think.

They sound good, they look interesting and different. They fit into real life without trying too hard.

The TMA-2 Hidden Edition headphones retail for US$220 and is available on aiaiai.audio.

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