By Christopher Lawrence, Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS — “We’re all ‘Star Wars’ nuts,” Barry Ray says as his wife, Melissa, and daughter Evie play nearby.

Evie knows all the “Star Wars” characters from multiple readings of the Little Golden Books series. She’s wearing a Princess Leia costume so, in keeping with the canon, her parents are dressed as Darth Vader and Padmé Amidala.

They’ve traveled from Granbury, Texas, to celebrate Evie’s 6th birthday in the middle of a 100-acre dry lake bed that’s the next best thing to Tatooine. The previous night, they’d watched the 1977 original, “Star Wars: Episode IV — A New Hope,” inside a two-bedroom cave.

“We’ve had a great time,” Barry says, “and it’s an experience she won’t ever forget.”

“It” is OutpostX, a swath of raw desert flush with science-fiction iconography that founder Travis Chambers refers to as “a film-set hotel with a story.”

The whole thing feels like it’s part of a different galaxy, even though it’s not all that far, far away.

A ‘postapocalyptic sanctuary’

During a 2013 visit to a pirate-themed Airbnb in Southern California, something clicked inside Chambers. He started traveling the world, racking up 30-something countries in short order.

“I got to the point where I’d rather stay in a shack in the jungle in Belize than go to a Four Seasons,” Chambers says. “Luxury just does not do it for me.”

That same year, he founded the digital ad agency Chamber Media, which would land him on a Forbes 30 Under 30 list. Ultimately, he says, the company was a means to an end. In 2021, Chambers cashed out with a reported $17 million to fund his real dream.

OutpostX is a whole lot of nothing, and that’s by design. Imagined as a “postapocalyptic sanctuary,” the retreat covers 240 acres yet feels significantly larger given the lack of visible borders. You can see for miles there without recognizing anything other than mountains and scrub.

Chambers identifies luxury, service and location as the three elements on which most hotels compete. “We didn’t follow any of those,” he boasts.

There’s no gift shop, no restaurant, not even a vending machine. You could complete your stay at OutpostX without interacting with another soul.

The accommodations consist of three cave dwellings, four Zen Domes and a handful of tents. Whether you purchase the ingredients from OutpostX or bring your own food, you’ll be cooking for yourself — either in your kitchenette or the fire pit in the common area.

Instead of a staff to pamper guests, there are hot tubs, a cold plunge and a sauna with a wood-burning stove. A solitary hammock offers its occupant a silence most will never know.

In keeping with Chambers’ tastes, OutpostX is aggressively anti-luxury, and guests are more than happy to pay for that vibe. Zen Domes start at $320 a night, the one-bedroom caves at $390 and the two-bedroom cave at $475. Ahead of its opening in 2023, the retreat was sold out for its first year.

“We’ve gotten comments on the internet, ‘You want us to pay to stay in a Third World country?’ ” Chambers says. “And we’re like, ‘Yep. Exactly. A Third World country 2,000 years from now.’ ”

A mythology of its own

Not only is OutpostX reminiscent of the Skywalkers’ home planet, guests can explore its outer reaches from inside sand cruisers, custom-built vehicles that greatly resemble Luke’s banged-up landspeeder — minus the hovering.

Just don’t expect anyone involved in the enterprise to mention the words “Star Wars.” (It’s a bit like the episode of “The Simpsons” in which the family hires a singing British nanny named Shary Bobbins who insists she’s “an original creation, like Ricky Rouse and Monald Muck.”)

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Instead, the retreat comes with its own backstory involving brothers Maa and Naa Hyer, who were separated at birth to avoid being recruited into the galactic military. What you experience at OutpostX is the settlement as it’s being rebuilt after The Empire destroyed it with a solar flare.

That story plays out in the multi-episode podcast that’s sent to guests so they’ll have something to listen to during the 180-mile drive from Las Vegas or the 100-mile trip from Zion National Park.

Signs around OutpostX tell more of the tale, the way a state park might showcase its flora and fauna. The caves, they inform the guests who notice them, were built with materials hauled out of far-off granite quarries by giant Armaados, while the Zen Domes were constructed from the blast glass salvaged from a crashed ship.

Guests typically break down into thirds, Chambers says. There’s the “sci-fi geeks and nerds” who’ll take to the origin tale and rent the corresponding costumes; those looking for seclusion; and the Burning Man/hippie crowd. The communal Kaan Lounge offers Frank Herbert’s “Dune” books for the former. For the latter, it also houses a guitar, drums, a sonic energy handpan and a “Sound Bowl Experience.”

More is on the way

“Every very smart person told us that it was a horrible idea,” Chambers says.

They’ve started coming around, though. OutpostX is 90% booked six months in advance. Similar locations are planned to open in Moab and Puerto Rico this year.

By then, potential guests may have figured out whether the minimalist concept is right for them.

“I’ve seen people show up in a Maybach or a Bentley and get out,” Chambers says, “then get in their car and leave.”

The OutpostX clientele, he adds, isn’t so much a demographic as it is a personality: someone who’s creative and imaginative — and willing to pay a premium to exercise those attributes.

“I think when everyone is at OutpostX,” Chambers says, “they’re experiencing what you would build with your friends if you were 14 years old.”

©2025 Las Vegas Review-Journal. Visit reviewjournal.com.. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI has recruited Jony Ive, the designer behind Apple’s iPhone, to lead a new hardware project for the artificial intelligence company that makes ChatGPT.

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OpenAI said it is acquiring io, a product and engineering company co-founded by Ive, in a deal valued at nearly $6.5 billion.

OpenAI said its CEO Sam Altman had been “quietly” collaborating since 2023 with Ive and his design firm, LoveFrom.

Ive worked at Apple for over two decades and is known for his work on iconic iPhone, iMac and iPad designs. Ive was Apple’s chief design officer before leaving the company in 2019 to start his own design firm.

In a joint letter posted on OpenAI’s website Wednesday, Ive and Altman said it “became clear that our ambitions to develop, engineer and manufacture a new family of products demanded an entirely new company.”

That’s when Ive co-founded io with Scott Cannon, Evans Hankey and Tang Tan.

OpenAI said Ive will not become an OpenAI employee and his design collective, LoveFrom, will remain independent but “will assume deep design and creative responsibilities across OpenAI and io.” Both OpenAI and Ive’s design firm are based in San Francisco.

The Associated Press and OpenAI have a licensing and technology agreement that allows OpenAI access to part of AP’s text archives.

By MICHAEL LIEDTKE

The popular video game Fortnite has returned to the iPhone app store in the U.S., ending a prolonged exile that was triggered by a legal showdown over the lucrative fees that Apple had been collecting for years through a payment system that it has been forced to change.

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Fortnite hailed its app’s long-awaited restoration to the iPhone and iPad in a Tuesday post, marking the first time it will be available on those devices since it was ousted in 2020 for trying to avoid the 15% to 30% commissions that Apple collects on in-app transactions.

The video game featuring a virtual fight on a digital island is coming back to the iPhone just a few days after its parent company, Epic Games, filed a motion asking a federal judge to order its return as part of a civil contempt of court finding issued against Apple late last month.

In a brief statement filed in court late Tuesday, Apple said the dispute that had been keeping Fortnite off its iOS software for the iPhone had been resolved. The Cupertino, California, company didn’t immediately respond to a request for further comment.

The legal wrangling is all part of a bitter feud that is still boiling.

Epic filed a lawsuit alleging Apple had turned its app store into an illegal monopoly — a claim that it lost under a 2021 ruling made by a federal judge after a month-long trial.

Although she decided Apple wasn’t breaking antitrust laws, U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers ordered the company to loosen control over in-app payments and allow links to other options that might offer lower prices.

After exhausting an appeal that went all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, Apple last year introduced a new system that opened the door for links to alternative payment options while still imposing a 27% commission on in-app transactions executed outside its own system.

Epic fired back by alleging Apple was thumbing its nose at the legal system, reviving another round of court hearings that lasted nearly a year before Gonzalez Rogers delivered her stinging rebuke that included a ban on collecting any kind of commission on alternative payment options.

That appeared to clear the way for Fortnite’s return to the iPhone and iPad, but Epic last week said the video game was still being blocked by Apple. After Apple contended that keeping Fortnite was still permissible while it pursues an appeal of Gonzalez Rogers’ contempt ruling, Epic forced the issue by asking the judge for another order that would make clear the video game should be allowed back on the iPhone and iPad.

Gonzalez Rogers on Monday asked why Apple was still blocking Fortnite without an order from the appeals court authorizing that action. She scheduled a May 27 hearing in Oakland, California, to hear Epic’s latest motion while noting “Apple is fully capable of resolving this issue without further briefing or a hearing.”

When the economy feels uncertain, it’s easy to let that sense of unease slip into your personal finances.

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But there are strategies that can help you maintain a sense of control over your own money — even when the financial news headlines are unsettling.

Here are six techniques to consider:

1. Explore the source of stress

If you notice yourself feeling tension around money, Denver-based financial therapist Wendy Wright suggests first considering what is stirring up those feelings.

“Is it connected to fears, sadness, feeling pressed to look at something you’re trying to avoid?” asks Wright.

Sometimes, she says, people avoid thinking about their personal finances until something in the news forces them to confront the topic, which feels uncomfortable.

If clients tell her that the news is a big source of stress, Wright reminds them that news is a form of entertainment and often designed to hook people into watching more “whether or not it has any bearing on their life.”

In some cases, she says, it’s best to just limit your intake.

2. Ground yourself in the moment

A sensory activity can help you connect with the present moment instead of focusing on what can go wrong in the future, says Nathan Astle, a certified financial therapist and founder of the Financial Therapy Clinical Institute in Kansas City.

He suggests this one: Name five things you see, four colors you see, three things you hear, two things you can smell or taste and one thing you can touch. Next, touch that item and describe it. Then, reflect on how the exercise made you feel — hopefully calmer than you did before.

Deep breathing and scanning your body for different sensations can have similar soothing effects, he adds.

3. Focus on your own numbers

A closer look at your own finances can also help you regain a sense of control, Wright says. She suggests starting with a handful of the most important numbers in your financial life, such as your income, expenses and savings.

From there, she suggests building a financial plan that includes goals and room for adjustments when circumstances change. For example, you might make a plan to turn to short-term savings while job hunting if you were to lose your job.

“If your plan is in place, then you know what adjustments to make and you can breathe through it,” she says.

4. Align your intentions with action

Naming your goals, or intentions, can help you firm up a plan, Wright says.

“My intention might be, ‘I don’t want to run out of money,’” she says. The related action might be, ‘Let me get to know my numbers.’

“It helps give you clarity on what your next steps will be,” Wright says.

As you work through these steps, it’s important to approach the process with zero judgement.

“Money stuff is typically not solved in an afternoon, so having compassion around that is super important,” Wright says

5. Make big decisions when you’re calm

It’s generally best to wait until you feel calm before making any big financial decisions, Astle says.

“Give yourself time between the emotional stimulus and the actual decision-making,” he says, whether it’s deciding to rebalance your retirement accounts or order a new product online.

“Most financial decisions are emotional, so we want to make them in a somewhat calm or calmer state,” he adds.

6. Aim to pay down debt while growing savings and income

Paying down debt, saving for an emergency fund and having insurance policies can help protect you and your family during times of economic uncertainty, says Nicole B. Simpson, certified financial planner and founder of Harvest Wealth Financial in Piscataway, N.J.

Simpson suggests considering starting your own business or taking on a side gig if you find you need to increase your income.

When it comes to wealth accumulation, a slow and steady pace can help you get closer to your goals, as well as weather any financial storms that come your way.

Kimberly Palmer writes for NerdWallet. Email: kpalmer@nerdwallet.com. Twitter: @kimberlypalmer.

The article 6 Ways to Reduce Financial Stress During Uncertain Times originally appeared on NerdWallet.