To understand the extent of the pope's interest in AI, we first need to look at his choice of name. His decision to go by Pope Leo XIV harks back to Pope Leo XIII, who held the papacy at the time of the industrial revolution and wrote an encyclical called Rerum Novarum on capital and labor. The current Pope Leo is in many ways continuing the work of his namesake, according to Brian Boyd, US faith liaison at The Future of Life Institute. "Leo is developing the tradition of Catholic social teaching on asking how can we, as a society, serve the common good better -- recognizing that AI is the mos
Do the AirPods Pro 3 really sound better than AirPods Pro 2?
The design changes help unlock improvements to sound quality, though a key component of those gains comes from a redesigned low-distortion 10.7mm driver and a new venting system that brings more airflow to the buds. As I said in my full review of the AirPods Pro 3: "The bass has more definition and extension -- it hits harder and goes deeper -- and the earbuds sound clearer, more natural and open with more sparkle in the treble." It's a noticeable difference, and their sound now rivals that of the very best-sounding earbuds. Reviewing audio products is by its very nature a subjective experien
Is the AirPods Pro 3's noise canceling noticeably better?
In my review of the AirPods Pro 3, I pitted them against Bose's $299 QuietComfort Earbuds (2nd gen), which were released in the US only a few weeks ago. Many reviewers said they had the best noise cancelling, and I felt that way, too, until I tried the AirPods Pro 3. Then, I wasn't so sure. I didn't feel I could declare one better than the other without running my own lab tests on a rather expensive rig that CNET doesn't own, but I was quite impressed with the noise-canceling. Compared to the noise-canceling on the AirPods Pro 2, I could definitely hear the difference when I used the buds on
Do you really need the AirPods Pro 3's heart-rate monitoring?
I personally don't feel that heart-rate monitoring is a must-have feature, particularly if you already own a smartwatch with the feature. But for some folks, it will be a welcome addition. The heart-rate sensors have been custom-designed for the AirPods Pro 3 (they're Apple's smallest heart-rate sensors) and aren't identical to the ones in the Powerbeats Pro 2, but the experience using the heart-rate monitoring feature is the same. There may be more to come, as Apple has a habit of leaving off a few tricks when it first launches products (remember that the AirPods Pro 2 didn't have spatial au