This was a busy week in tech, with everything from more price hikes to updates for apps like Spotify and Firefox. Here are the biggest stories you might have missed over the last week.
The Big News
Get Ready for More Tech Price Hikes as ‘De Minimis’ Loophole Closes
I’m sure your news feed has been filled with news about tariffs and how they affect your pocket. Get ready, then, for even more increases, because tariffs just became a lot more wide-reaching. Continue reading…
Synology NAS Systems Are Getting More Expensive
Synology is raising prices on some of its DiskStation NAS systems. The move is almost certainly another tariff-induced price hike, but the company has not yet confirmed that information. Either way, it’s annoying for anyone looking to get a NAS right now. Continue reading…
Baseus Recalls 55k Portable Batteries, Citing Fire Risk
Baseus has issued a voluntary recall for its 65W 30,000mAh (BS-30KP365) power bank, citing fire hazard. Approximately 55k of these batteries are impacted by the recall. Customer who show proof of purchase and disposal will receive a replacement power bank for free. Continue reading…
Raspberry Pi Is Lowering Prices, Not Raising Them
You have several Raspberry Pi models to choose from at different price points, and now select models are even more affordable. While the price of pretty much everything is going up these days, the Raspberry Pi Foundation is lowering its prices. Continue reading…
GM Issues Major Recall Affecting Hundreds of Thousands of Trucks and SUVs
Automakers issue recalls for all sorts of reasons—some serious, like bad transmissions or broken safety gear, and others pretty minor, like leaky seals or a typo in the owner’s manual. Continue reading…
iFixit Is Helping Make HP Laptops More Repairable
HP laptops are becoming more repairable and upgradable, thanks to a partnership with iFixit. The two companies are working together to sell replacement parts, create repair guides, and other steps to make HP laptops more sustainable and repair-friendly. Continue reading…
Google’s AI Mode Is Now Rolling Out Widely
Google is making its AI Mode search tool available to many more people, but it’s also getting some upgrades. At first, AI Mode was only available through a waitlist in Google Labs, but now it is being offered to more people. Continue reading…
Xbox Gets Price Hikes for Controllers, Consoles, and Accessories
Xbox announced a series of price hikes for its consoles, controllers, and new games. Although they don’t appear to have taken effect everywhere, they will soon be adjusted worldwide. It’s not great news if you’re in the Xbox ecosystem or planning to pick up a console soon. Continue reading…
Fortnite Beat Apple In Court
The 2021 case of Epic Games v. Apple ended with a slap on the wrist—Apple was ordered, in somewhat loose terms, to stop restricting external purchase links in iPhone apps. Now, the judge responsible for the 2021 ruling says that Apple has willfully violated its injunction. The company must now take specific, court-ordered actions that will severly damage its App Store model. Continue reading…
Your Favorite Open-Source Project Might Be in Trouble
The Open Source Lab (OSL) at Oregon State University helps run infrastructure for Debian, GNOME, Inkscape, LineageOS, Alpine Linux, and many other open-source projects. The group is now asking for help securing new sponsors, or it will have to “shut down later this year.” Continue reading…
Google Messages Just Made It Easier to Get Rid of Spam
The next time you open Google Messages and find a spam text from a business or some other junk, you’ll have an easy way to get rid of it. Google is now rolling out a straightforward “unsubscribe” button that’ll instantly cut down on those unwanted messages. Continue reading…
Arch Linux Is Now in the Windows Subsystem for Linux
The Windows Subsystem for Linux, or WSL for short, makes it easy to use Linux software inside a Windows PC. You can now officially use Arch Linux in WSL, alongside existing distribution options like Ubuntu, Debian, and Fedora. Continue reading…
Alienware’s New 240Hz 34-Inch QD-OLED Monitor Is Finally Out
Dell’s Alienware has launched its much-awaited 34-inch 240Hz QD-OLED gaming monitor, the AW3425DW. This ultrawide monitor has high-end design in mind, making it perfect for PC and console gamers. Continue reading…
Ookla Founder Launches “Orb,” a Smarter Internet Quality Tracker
When you want to check your home internet quality, Speedtest.net is usually the most convenient option. But it’s a surface-level tool—it doesn’t offer any deep insight. That’s why Doug Suttles, founder and former CEO of Ookla, is launching “Orb,” a free, always-on internet quality dashboard. Continue reading…
MSI’s New Slab-like Tiny PC Doesn’t Have Fans
The new MSI MS-C926 is an incredibly thin and little PC box. It is fanless and appears like more of a slab than traditional boxes and towers, and it operates without a fan of any kind. Continue reading…
Boox Made a Color E-Ink Monitor for Some Reason
Color e-ink on a desktop monitor? Depending on who you are, it may sound ridiculous or very appealing, especially if your eyes have had enough of the usual screen glare. Regardless, the Onyx Boox Mira Pro Color is that product, and it’s available now. Continue reading…
Acer Has Two New Monitors for Gaming
Acer has added two new gaming monitors to its lineup: The Predator XB323QK V4 and the Nitro XV240 F6. The Predator XB323QK V4 is for those who want high-resolution and impressive visuals, while the Nitro XV240 F6 is built for fast, responsive gameplay. Continue reading…
You Can Now Share Digital Switch Games With Your Friends
Nintendo’s newest system update, version 20.0.0, makes big changes to how players use their digital game collections. Switch owners can finally share their games with friends digitally. Continue reading…
OnePlus 13T Isn’t Coming to US or Europe
OnePlus has decided not to release its newest phone, the OnePlus 13T, in the United States or Europe. The compact budget phone will stay exclusive to China, India, and other countries, leaving fewer options for Android phone buyers in the U.S. Continue reading…
Yale’s New Fingerprint Lock Works With ADT+ Systems
ADT Inc. and Yale have announced the release of the Yale Assure Lock 2 Touch with Z-Wave for ADT+. This smart lock will be the first lock ever to use the new Z-Wave User Credential Command Class, and you’ll be able to use it with your fingerprint. Continue reading…
Amazon Launches Its First Batch of Kuiper Internet Satellites Into Orbit
Amazon has finally launched its first batch of Project Kuiper satellites. This deployment, which was significantly delayed due to manufacturing slowdowns and last-minute launch cancelations, marks a major step in the development of Amazon’s satellite broadband internet service. Continue reading…
Parallels Desktop 20.3 Improves OBS Video and USB Tunneling Support
The latest Parallels Desktop update (v20.3) is a doozy. Not only does it build on Parallels’ x86 emulation engine, but it introduces OBS virtual camera support in VMs, USB device support on virtualized Mac desktops, Touch ID login, and more. Continue reading…
Spotify Finally Lets You Turn Off an Annoying Feature for Good
Shuffling the order of songs may seem like a simple concept, but it’s something that people have strong feelings about. A couple of years ago, Spotify tried to change things up with a new way to shuffle–and now you can turn it off. Continue reading…
Amazon Prime Day Is Returning This Year
Amazon has officially announced that its popular annual Prime Day sales event will return this July. It should work about the same as previous Prime Day events, but there’s still an open question of how much U.S. tariffs will play a role in prices and deals. Continue reading…
Amazon Is Struggling to Explain Rising Costs to Customers
With tariffs increasing the costs of everything left and right, the first ones that will get chewed out by angry customers will probably be retailers. Amazon, for what it’s worth, seems to be one of the companies that’s struggling heavily with this. Continue reading…
Firefox 138 Has Arrived: Here’s What’s New
Mozilla is now rolling out Firefox 138 across desktop platforms, Android, and iPhone. The update includes updates to profiles, more improvements for tab groups, and other helpful changes. Continue reading…
NVIDIA Releases Another Hotfix for the Game Ready Driver 576.02 Update
NVIDIA is bigger, bolder, and wealthier than ever. Yet it can’t seem to fix its buggy RTX 50-series GPU drivers. The company just announced yet another hotfix (576.26) for the recent Game Ready Driver 576.02 update—unfortunately, those who have installed this hotfix still have a lot of complaints. Continue reading…
Pocket Casts Now Automatically Generates Episode Transcripts–With a Catch
Podcasts are inherently an audio experience (sometimes with video), but text transcripts are useful for a variety of reasons. A recent update to Pocket Casts brings transcripts to podcast episodes, regardless of whether the creator provides them. Continue reading…
Open Source Video Editor Kdenlive 25.04 Is Here
Editors who shun proprietary software have reason to celebrate, as the folks behind Kdenlive have released a new version of the open source, non-linear video editor with some major improvements and new features. Continue reading…
It’s Finally Time to Replace Your LG Phone
If you’re still using an LG smartphone, whether that’s an old LG V50 or the wild LG Wing, it’s probably time to replace it. Later this summer, in June, LG will shut down its update servers for all phones, meaning you’ll no longer receive any security or maintenance updates. Continue reading…
Google Wallet Is Working to Make It Even Easier to Add Cards
Adding new cards to your Google Wallet is a pretty painless process, but imagine if you could get it started with nothing more than a tap. Google appears to be tinkering with a more convenient way to beef up your Google Wallet. Continue reading…
Your Next GPU Might Have a Gyroscope
GPUs are becoming heavier and heavier every generation, and while the Founders Edition of NVIDIA’s RTX 5090 might be considerably smaller than its predecessor, it doesn’t seem to have made a dent on the sizes of third-party SKUs. So much so, that some of them have started to pack gyroscopes. Continue reading…
This Is LG’s 2025 QNED TV Lineup
LG Electronics has revealed its 2025 QNED evo smart TV lineup, with up to 144 Hz refresh rates and 100-inch sizes. If your living room is in need of an upgrade, these should be great LCD TVs when they’re slated to arrive in May. Continue reading…
Nothing Sub-Brand CMF Announces the Stylish Phone 2 Pro and 3 New Earbuds
Nothing’s sub-brand, CMF, is back with four new flashy products, and a smartphone is leading the way. First is the CMF Phone Pro 2, which appears to be a significant upgrade over its predecessor, and a trio of earbuds for various needs and budgets. Continue reading…
Your Backblaze Backups Might Be in Trouble
Backblaze, the company behind the popular cloud backup service of the same name, has been accused of significant financial and organizational problems in a new report from Morpheus Research. If you use Backblaze, it might be a good idea to start looking for alternative services. Continue reading…
The OnePlus Watch 3 Price Is Changing Again
Recently, the OnePlus Watch 3 was news not because of its hilarious manufacturing error, but because of its insane price—OnePlus decided to finally launch it at a $499.99 price point, a move that was widely attributed to tariffs. Now, it looks like OnePlus might have figured things out well enough to roll back to the previous price. Continue reading…
Google Might Skip The Android 15 Update For Your TV
A lot of Android phones have so far received their respective update to Android 15, but if you have something Android-powered that’s not a smartphone or a tablet, your mileage may vary. TVs are still on Android 14, but it’s increasingly looking like Google might just skip the Android 15 update for Google TV and Android TV-powered devices. Continue reading…
Windows Tests Ability to Enable Profanity with Voice Typing
Microsoft, citing “top customer feedback,” has rolled out an update to the Windows 11 Insider Preview Beta Channel that allows you to disable the profanity filter present in Voice Typing. Continue reading…
Self-Zipping Zipper Technology Is Here, but Not for Your Pants
The world’s leading zipper company just demonstrated a self-zipping zipper. YKK’s eloquently-named “self-propelled fastener” is intended for large tents and industrial projects, though a refined and miniaturized version of technology could appear in clothing at some point. Continue reading…
Android 16’s New Protection Mode Will Protect Against Bad USB Devices
Android 16 is shaping up to be a pretty decent release. One intriguing feature that seems interesting is the introduction of “Advanced Data Protection” for USB connections. It looks like Google is serious about tightening security, and this new setting could be a big deal. Continue reading…
Your Nest Thermostat Might Soon Lose Remote Access
Google has said it will stop providing software updates for its first and second-generation Nest Learning Thermostats. This affects models released in 2011, 2012, and a version made for Europe in 2014. Continue reading…
Windows Recall Is Finally Rolling Out After Controversal Reveal
Microsoft’s controversial Recall feature is now rolling out to Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs, along with an improved Windows search. Recall was delayed for months after the first implementation had significant security and privacy issues, but Microsoft has supposedly fixed all the problems. Continue reading…
BOOX Introduces a Pair of Affordable 7-inch eReaders
Onyx BOOX is introducing a new pair of seven-inch eReaders, the BOOX Go 7 and BOOX Go Color 7 Gen II. Priced at a respective $250 and $280, these are the first seven-inch BOOX eReaders to support stylus input. Continue reading…
Google Pixel Notification Issues Keep Getting Worse
If you have a Google Pixel phone, you’ve probably noticed some issues with notifications over the past few weeks. The good part is that it’s not just you. The bad part is that the saga doesn’t seem to have an end in sight for now. Continue reading…
