Sony has announced its latest flagship smartphone, the Xperia 1 VII, and it fits right into the company’s wheelhouse: a familiar design, tech cobbled together from across Sony’s other hardware brands, and a price tag that’ll sting.Sony’s last few flagships have been technological powerhouses that eschewed tech industry trends in favor of enthusiast features like expandable storage, headphone jacks, and an emphasis on Sony’s hardware know-how. In recent years, Sony has leaned on the expertise of its Alpha camera and Bravia TV teams in designing its Xperia handsets, and this time it’s added the Walkman department into the mix for upgraded audio. On the camera side, the big Alpha addition is an AI-based auto-framing mode, which recognizes human subjects and automatically crops videos to keep them centered in the frame (though the max resolution drops to Full HD due to the crop). As for hardware, a new 48-megapixel ultrawide, with a sensor twice as large as before, is the main upgrade on last year’s phone. The ultrawide was the clear weak link in the 1 VI’s camera setup, so it’s understandable that the main and variable telephoto lenses are returning unchanged.As for audio, high-end components from Sony’s modern line of Walkman audio players have been carried to the phone, right down to using higher quality solder in the headphone jack. AI-based DSEE Ultimate upscaling is supported, along with Hi-Res, LDAC, and Dolby Atmos formats, and the stereo speakers have been given a bass boost.The big lift from the Bravia display division is smarter adaptive brightness for the 6.5-inch OLED display. The phone has light sensors on both the front and back to more accurately assess surrounding light levels and adjust brightness, color gamut, and color temperature accordingly. None of the core specs are otherwise too surprising. It’s powered by the flagship Snapdragon 8 Elite, with 12GB of RAM and 256GB of storage — expandable by up to another 2TB with microSD. There’s an IP65 / 68 rating, wireless charging, and a generous 5,000mAh battery. One downside is the commitment to only four years of OS updates and six years of security patches, several years less support than Samsung and Google offer.The other thing the Xperia 1 VII shares with its predecessor is where it’s coming out. There’s no sign of the phone releasing in the US, though it is available to order in the UK and Europe starting today, where it costs £1,399 / €1,499 (about $1,700).

Long before I began writing about technology, I was my mother's key computer technician. Well, I say "was;" the truth is, I still kind of am. However, explaining to my mother why putting an app's shortcut in the recycle bin doesn't uninstall it was a keystone in my learning what I wanted to do as a job. Well, it turns out that my old job's vacancy has now been filled, as Copilot Vision on Windows will give people step-by-step instructions on how to use their computer.

If you have a standard TV without internet connectivity, you may have purchased a Chromecast with Google TV to extend its functionality. Apart from letting you stream content from services like Netflix, Prime Video, Hulu, etc., the Chromecast has several other features that make it a handy little accessory. It lets you mirror your phone's display onto the TV, view your Google Photos album on a large screen, and even use Google Assistant to get your queries answered. Apart from these usual features, though, there's one use case that has remained untapped -- using the Chromecast with Google TV for retro gaming.

Despite it being introduced some years ago, the Samsung 990 Pro is still one of the best SSDs that you can buy right now. So it only makes sense that the brand would come out with something better when going to Gen5, and the 9100 Pro delivers. With blazing-fast performance that can reach up to 14,800MB/s, this SSD is a no-brainer if you're looking for one of the best PCIe 5.0 SSDs.

Only Google Labs users can currently see the experiment. | Image: Google / <a href="https://www.threads.com/@chris/post/DJkf7LZB8eC?xmt=AQF0-VsPgfBDfV46VV2jdT3gJzbSeP1jQuParZuSHd99jA">Chris Messina</a>Some Google Search users are starting to see the platform’s AI Mode search engine chatbot in the wild. Several user reports across X and Threads show that Google is testing different locations to display the AI Mode tab — while some examples show it in the search bar itself, besides the “search by image” button, in others it replaces the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button underneath the search bar.There’s also some variation to the appearance of the AI Mode button, with some users seeing a rotating rainbow border when the cursor hovers over it. In another example where AI Mode has replaced “I’m Feeling Lucky,” the rainbow border is seemingly the default design, and makes the search-focused AI chatbot button stand out among Google’s other offerings.I see this… AI Mode button next to Google Search. pic.twitter.com/zacHHA5AwH— Glenn Gabe (@glenngabe) May 10, 2025Google said on May 1st that a “small percentage” of people in the US would soon start seeing an AI Mode option in Google Search, but the screenshots of these tests give us some idea of where it may be placed when (or if) it rolls out to the wider public. For now, Google spokesperson Ashley Thompson told The Verge that AI Mode in Search is currently limited to users of Google’s experimental Labs environment.“We often test different ways for people to access our helpful features,” said Thompson. “This is just one of many experiments.”It’s not guaranteed that the “I’m Feeling Lucky” option will officially be replaced by AI Mode, but even the knowledge that Google is considering it may upset folks who use the niche feature. The button that takes users directly to the first webpage of any search results has been a fixture of Google’s homepage since the search engine launched. This may be Google’s way of suggesting that AI Mode’s chatbot-like responses to search queries are more efficient than allowing users to bypass the traditional search results page.

In a previous article, I explained why I stopped using an antivirus on Windows 11. In a nutshell, with a bit of self-discipline and awareness, you simply don’t need one. Though I usually rely on safe browsing habits and system-level defenses, once in a while, I still need that confirmation that everything is OK. Therefore, if the situation demands, ClamAV would undoubtedly be my top pick. Many factors contribute to this decision, from its open-source model and continuous community support to its reliable detection capabilities and versatility across various platforms.

Hours after announcing a 90-day mutual reduction in tariff rates with China, the White House has followed up by confirming a similar reduction on duties for cheap imports from the country. From May 14th, packages from Hong Kong and China valued below $800 will be subject to either a 54 percent tariff — down from 120 percent — or a flat $100 per-parcel fee, which hasn’t changed. Export companies retain the ability to decide whether they want their goods to be taxed at a flat rate or by percentage. Previous plans for a doubling of the flat rate to $200 from June 1st have been scrapped.The tax on goods below $800 is an effort to counter the effects of the previous “de minimis” exemption, which allowed cheaper parcels to avoid import taxes and duties. Donald Trump first announced plans for a 30 percent rate on de minimis goods, with a $25 flat fee, which was later tripled and then increased again. The latest rates remain substantially higher than those included in his first tariffs package.Companies like Temu and Shein thrived thanks to the ability to ship goods directly to consumers tax-free, and even the lowered rates will remain a threat to their business models. Both companies recently raised their prices for US consumers in response to elevated tariffs.

I've been on the Obsidian train for quite a while now, and it's been an excellent way to take quick, structured notes that I can sync across all of my devices. Combined with Blinko, both have enabled me to have a level of organization that I could only dream of in the past. However, as a developer, I recognize that at its core, Obsidian is just a Markdown editor with a bunch of fancy features and a nice UI on top. That's why I wanted to give VS Code a try for note-taking, and it's surprisingly decent.

Getting a new PC is always exciting, but remembering that you have to move all of your stuff over to your new drive can really dampen that. Fortunately, Microsoft has been working on a way to make it easier to set up your new PC. On the Dev branch, we're seeing the Redmond giant develop a tool that should make moving onto a new computer a lot easier.

It's no secret that GPU demand has increased significantly in recent years, and Nvidia holds a massive chunk of the market share with no competition in the high-end segment. Gamers have been incredibly loyal to the company's products, not just for their raw performance, but also for cutting-edge features explicitly tailored to gaming. Yet, Nvidia's launch of the RTX 50-series arguably goes down as the worst GPU launch in history. So, you may wonder how Nvidia messed this up.

Most fans can't wait to get their hands on Nintendo's new Switch 2 after years of anticipation. The new Switch is a huge upgrade over its predecessor and includes new features like enhanced visuals, the GameChat function, and a faster refresh rate. However, the gaming handheld landscape has changed in its eight years of development, and it's no longer the default choice. Countless rivals like the Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally X, and others are now available, and buyers are spoiled for choice.

The S25 Edge is just 5.8mm thick, not counting the camera bump.Samsung's thin phone is here. The Galaxy S25 Edge - first teased back in January - is essentially a slimmed-down S25 Plus, with the same 6.7-inch OLED display, Snapdragon 8 Elite for Galaxy chipset, and AI features. The compact design comes at a price though, and you'll have to do without the telephoto lens or beefy battery.At 163g (about 5.7 ounces), the Edge is just a gram heavier than the regular S25, with its dinky little 6.2-inch screen, and at 5.8mm thick it's comfortably thinner than any Samsung slab phone in years. It's still slightly thicker than Samsung's Tab S10 tablets or Z Fold 6 foldable, which have enough space to get thinner by spreading their batteries out a little more, but if you prefer traditional phone form factors then this is among the thinnest you can buy right now - at least until the rumored iPhone 17 Air comes along.Photos seem to undersell the effect, which I think will be Samsung's challenge marketing the Edge: it basically just looks like a regular phone until you pick it up, which is when everyone seems to ooooh involuntarily.The "Edge" name suggests that Samsung is going to lean on how thin the phone is, but for me the weight is more imp …Read the full story at The Verge.