President Donald Trump’s promised higher tariffs have gone into effect today, targeting many countries whose goods imported to the US were already subject to a 10 percent base tariff that started on April 5th. China has already retaliated in an escalation of Trump’s global trade war.The White House announced the tariffs on April 2nd, dubiously claiming they were “reciprocal” based on a nonsensical formula that far exceeded conventionally calculated tariffs. At the same time it declared a national emergency and stated that the higher tariffs would stay until Trump “determines that the threat posed by the trade deficit and underlying nonreciprocal treatment is satisfied, resolved, or mitigated.” Countries targeted for higher tariffs included China at 34 percent, the EU at 20 percent, and Vietnam at 46 percent, but since the tariffs are additive, some of the real numbers are much higher — Trump had already slapped 20 percent tariffs on China, and added another 50 percent this week after China announced retaliatory measures, bringing it to a total 104 percent. That means the total tariff more than doubles import costs for everything shipped from China, including the majority of the world’s components and consumer electronics. The EU will vote on its own retaliatory tariffs today.China announced another 50 percent tariff — matching Trump’s — on all US goods in retaliation. It’s set to go into effect on April 10th. Some of the trade war’s effects have already been felt, with Nintendo delaying its just-announced Switch 2 preorders, Jaguar Land Rover pausing its April car shipments to the United States, and both Framework and Razer pausing some laptop sales. US memory chip maker Micron announced it would be adding a surcharge to its products on April 9th if the higher tariffs happened, and other companies are likely to follow suit soon.Update, April 9th: Added mention of China’s additional 50 percent tariff levied in response.

Meta is developing a version of Instagram for iPad, according to The Information. Currently, running Instagram on an iPad is just a blown-up version of the iPhone app, so an official Instagram app from Meta would be a very welcome change.Why would Meta do this now, after ignoring Apple’s tablet for over a decade? According to The Information, the uncertain legal status of TikTok amid the divest-or-ban law and Trump’s tariffs might be the push required.The company has publicly resisted building an iPad Instagram app before. In February 2022 (more than three years ago!) Instagram boss Adam Mosseri replied to a post from Marques Brownlee about Meta still not having an Instagram app for iPad to explain why.“We get this one a lot,” Mosseri said. “It’s still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority. Hoping to get to it at some point, but right now we’re very heads down on other things.”Yup, we get this one a lot. It's still just not a big enough group of people to be a priority. Hoping to get to it at some point, but right now we're very heads down on other things.— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) February 27, 2022In 2023, Mosseri said something similar. “Not working on it right now,” he said. “I think it’s a good thing to do at some point. But we have only so many people working at Instagram, so we’ve got to pick the most important things to do to improve Instagram at any given moment. And right now, it’s not quite making the cut.”Using the Instagram app in Stage Manager on supported iPads is a decent experience, and the web app has improved in recent years. But a native version that takes full advantage of the large display is long overdue.Meta didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment.

Copilot Vision running on Windows 11. | Image: MicrosoftMicrosoft has started testing a new update to its Copilot app on Windows that will let you share your screen or apps with the AI assistant. Copilot Vision was originally limited to Microsoft’s Edge browser, but it’s now extending to any app on your PC.Copilot Vision will be able to do things like coach you through using Adobe Photoshop features, or analyze the photos and webpages you’re looking at. I got to see an early version of Copilot Vision on Windows at Microsoft’s 50th anniversary party last week, where the AI assistant guided me through a game of Minecraft and helped to optimize settings in Microsoft’s Clipchamp video editor. View this post on Instagram A post shared by The Verge (@verge)I haven’t been able to fully test Copilot Vision on Windows through the Insider beta because Microsoft is limiting the experience to US testers only. Copilot will be able to highlight parts of your screen to guide you through apps, although this initial beta version won’t have the feature enabled just yet. Copilot Vision might sound similar to Microsoft’s Recall feature that automatically takes snapshots if you allow it, but it’s actually more like screen sharing an app or your entire desktop in a Microsoft Teams call.Microsoft has also started testing file search in Copilot on Windows, allowing you to ask the AI assistant about the contents of a file on your PC. File search supports .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .txt, .pdf, .json files, and you can use Copilot to easily find the documents you were working on recently.Both of these Copilot features just require the Copilot app on Windows, and not a full Copilot Plus PC. You can also use Copilot Vision on iOS and Android. Microsoft has started testing these new Copilot features with Windows Insiders, ahead of a broader rollout to all Windows 11 users in the coming weeks or months.

Curious what all the fuss over shows like Severance and The Studio is about? If you’re interested in streaming either, new and eligible returning subscribers can sign up for Apple TV Plus through April 24th for just $2.99 a month for the first three months. Apple TV Plus would normally cost you $9.99 a month, meaning you’re saving $21 over a three-month period.In addition to Severance and The Studio, Apple TV Plus also grants you ad-free access to other originals — including Ted Lasso and For All Mankind — all of which you can stream in 4K HDR, download to watch offline, and share with up to five family members. The platform also features a wide variety of movies, including Killers of the Flower Moon, Napoleon, The Gorge, Wolfs, and The Instigators. More into sports? Apple TV Plus is home to Friday Night Baseball and select Major League Soccer matches from MLS Season Pass. Just make sure to set a reminder for yourself to cancel your subscription within the next three months. Otherwise, your plan will automatically renew at the going rate (currently $9.99 a month) once the limited-time promotion period ends. As for what defines an “eligible returning subscriber,” we’ve reached out to Apple for clarification, and we’ll update the post if we hear back.

If you've been looking for a new monitor, this one from Asus is going to be a good option. Not only do you get a beautiful and vibrant screen thanks to the OLED panel, but you also get excellent performance numbers as well, with a 240Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms response time.

Laser engraving can bring personalized flair to countless projects while letting you explore your artistic side. Many DIY enthusiasts find it rewarding and practical, combining creativity with precision. It requires the correct setup and tools to ensure safety, consistency, and top-notch results. The following five tools will help you develop a reliable workflow and elevate your engravings to a professional standard.

The original Arduboy.Kevin Bates managed to quit his day job and move to China after his game-playing business card, the Arduboy, went viral in 2014. But a decade later, Trump’s staggering and inexplicable new US tariffs are driving him out of business.Just as he was about to turn a profit for the first time, just before he was about to bring a new product to retail, he tells The Verge that his company can no longer survive as-is. He says that despite lifetime Arduboy sales of over $1 million, much of it from recent growth in 2023 and 2024, Trump’s new 104 percent China tariffs will be the beginning of the end.“I just like making circuit boards and helping people learn to code games. This is all too much,” he says.Even if he wanted to — Bates admits he’s been looking to sunset Arduboy for a while — he says he wouldn’t be able to satisfy Trump’s stated goal of restarting manufacturing in the US. “There are no manufacturers in the USA who would even answer an email to produce Arduboy, much less give a good price. I could build them myself and end up making about $10 an hour, still paying a crazy amount for components.” Instead, he says, his options are to dramatically raise prices, find a way around the tariffs, or simply kill off Arduboy for good. “The fact Arduboy could exist at all was kind of a miracle of global trade. An individual person, producing and distributing an international product with margins that would never work at a larger company. I didn’t need 80 percent markup to survive,” he says, adding that his actual margins ranged from 30 to 50 percent.Trump’s US tariffs would entirely wipe out those margins, and he says China’s retaliatory tariffs would hurt too, as they would impose a 34 percent tariff on the Arduboy’s US-made processor, which Bates says is the most expensive component in the system.While he’s hopeful that some larger organization might buy Arduboy and take up the torch, he admits that’s not terribly realistic in this economic climate, and he’s already declaring Arduboy “dead” on his LinkedIn and in the Arduboy forums. He’s already looking for a new day job once again. But he says Arduboy isn’t quite dead yet. He wants to launch one last Kickstarter for a USB-C version of the Arduboy with “more features like real time clock, IR blaster, and link cable support,” assuming he can figure out how to ship them at a price people will pay. He says he already saw $99 Arduboy FX Special Edition as overpriced for what it is, and he isn’t looking forward to charging $200 for a new version or saddling buyers with customs fees should he choose to drop-ship them. “The only realistic solution is to warehouse the inventory somewhere that doesn’t have Chinese import taxes, and drop ship everything. I visited my factory last year to talk about this, and they said all their customers are in the same situation so they said they would have a solution. But one has not materialized yet,” he says.Speaking of drop-shipping and customs fees, that is probably what you should expect if you buy the new banana-shaped Arduboy or the last few remaining units of the Arduboy FX Special Edition. “I am planning to fulfill the orders but they may be drop shipped, so U.S. customers should be aware that import taxes may now apply,” he tells The Verge. But he also may just turn off Banana-Bit preorders, as he says he’s only sold about a dozen so far.He also warns these packages could get held up at US customs for a time, because Trump has also gotten rid of the de minimis exemption that let low-value packages enter the US duty-free. “That’s going to impact everything from Shein to Temu to AliExpress, and honestly, it’s going to be chaos. U.S. customs isn’t ready for that volume,” he says.Bates says Trump’s trade war is “an absolute unmitigated disaster for anyone without the ability to dramatically restructure.”“I guess that’s the point,” he adds.

Do you remember using DOS to run programs and open files? If you do, I'm sorry to hear about the back pain—I'm right there with you, buddy. But you should also check out this update for FreeDOS. First released back in 1994 and with fond memories of its 30th birthday still in its mind, this program is still an excellent go-to for running legacy applications that relied on the UI-less system. Now, it has received its big 1.4 update, which includes some nice additions to its repertoire.

After months of waiting, Nintendo finally revealed almost everything there is to know about the Switch 2 last week, and it was a wonderful time (until prices were revealed, at least). The Nintendo Switch 2 is the company's best piece of hardware ever, and it improves upon the original in just about every way, making for an even more exciting platform.

Paying for project management software can feel like a necessary evil, especially when you are trying to stay organized. But what if I told you there is a powerful and completely free alternative that rivals the functionality of Trello and Asana? I’m talking about Plaky, a tool that has completely transformed how I manage my projects without adding another subscription to my credit card bill.

If you're anything like me, the moment you feel the slightest bit overwhelmed by the tasks at hand, you reach for some kind of medium to make a to-do list. For things like groceries or other small, menial tasks, a post-it note could do. For deep organization of bigger tasks, however, something a bit more substantial is necessary.

When I was a kid, I always wanted to have a first-person view of my RC car. I loved bombing around behind the wheel in video games, but when it came to real-life remote control cars, I just had to make do with a birds-eye view. As such, you can probably imagine how jealous I was when I saw this guy connect their driving simulator setup with an Arduino to their remote control car so they can drive it around as if they were in the toy car themselves.