Author: News Room

TikTok is shutting down Notes, its photos-sharing app that rivaled Instagram. In a notification to users, the TikTok Notes team says the app will stop working starting May 8th, and “all related features will no longer be available.”TikTok first rolled out Notes in April of last year, which lets users share photos alongside a caption, as well as scroll through a “For You” feed with recommended content. The app was initially rolled out in limited testing to Australia and Canada.The decision to close the app “was not made lightly,” according to TikTok’s message. It also suggests that users try out…

If you were wondering how President Trump’s tariffs may impact gadgets like smartphones, laptops, and smartwatches, there’s some bad, and perhaps slightly less-bad news. Unless something changes, Trump’s sweeping tariffs will lead to increased prices for consumers. But it will likely take some time before that actually happens.Modern gadgets generally aren’t made or assembled solely in the U.S. anymore. Device makers big and small source components from all over the world, and often have them assembled overseas before importing the final product into the country. Given that Trump has levied tariffs on every single country, it means that the cost…

Google’s upcoming base Pixel 10 might come with primary and ultrawide cameras that match the hardware recently introduced in the budget Pixel 9A, which aren’t as good as the cameras on the Pixel 9, Android Authority reports. However, the new phone may get a telephoto camera, which the Pixel 9 and other base Pixels haven’t had. As for the Pixel 10 Pro devices, Android Authority reports that they will have the same camera hardware as the 9 Pro, which could indicate that Google may lean more on the abilities of its expected next-generation Tensor G5 chip to improve photos.Meanwhile, the…

The US smartphone market is weird. Most of us buy our phones through some combination of installment plans, trade-in offers, and carrier deals, so answering the question “How much does this phone cost?” can sometimes require a little galaxy-brain math. President Trump’s 34 percent tariff increase on Chinese goods is set to take effect on April 9th, making things even more complicated. Will Apple, for instance, pass the extra cost of an iPhone right along to buyers? The market seems to think so. It’s likely why Apple’s shares are down almost 10 percent, the worst drop in about five years.But…

Amazon is testing a new “Buy for Me” button that will let you purchase products from third-party websites without leaving the e-commerce giant’s mobile app. The feature is powered by agentic AI, allowing the company to purchase items on your behalf.Last month, Amazon rolled out a test that directs you to other brands’ websites for products it doesn’t sell. But now, instead of directing you to the website to fill out your payment details and shipping address, “Buy for Me” is supposed to do all the work for you. The feature runs on Amazon’s Nova AI system, which now includes…

When it comes to finding a device to read ebooks, you have a few options to choose from. You can always buy a tablet or use your phone, but those devices are multipurpose and can be used for a ton of things, like surfing the web or doom-scrolling on X. If you are looking for something to strictly read books, e-readers, while niche, are designed to store all of your books in a virtual library with limited functionality.Amazon, one of the pioneers of the e-reader, has dominated the space for years with its ever-expanding Kindle lineup, which consists of several…

In February, the Trump administration moved to get rid of a little-known rule that allows US consumers to avoid tariffs on low-value packages. The de minimis exemption meant that packages valued under $800 could enter the US duty-free, and shoppers — as well as retailers — relied on the exemption regularly, even if they didn’t realize it. Nearly 1.4 billion packages claiming the exemption entered the US in 2024, the majority of which came from China. The removal of this exemption has been paused since early February, meaning Temu and Shein packages have been able to flow into the country…

For the past few weeks, every day at 7:38 PM ET, I get an email titled “seven39 is open again.” From 7:39PM, I have exactly three hours to check out an experimental new social media site before it completely shuts down.It’s not an empty threat, either. If you visit seven39.com outside of that three-hour window, you’ll be greeted by a red “currently closed” sign. You’ll also get a brief explainer of its mission: “Social media is better when we’re all online together. No endless scrolling. No FOMO. Just 3 hours of fun every evening.” You can’t doomscroll because it literally…

Two leading AI labs, OpenAI and Anthropic, just announced major initiatives in higher education. It’s the constant one-upping we’ve all become familiar with: this week, Anthropic dropped their announcement at 8 AM Wednesday, while OpenAI followed with nearly identical news at 8 AM Thursday.For Anthropic, this week’s announcement was its first major academic push. It launched Claude for Education, a university-focused version of its chatbot. The company also announced partnerships with Northeastern University, London School of Economics (LSE), and Champlain College, along with with Internet2, which builds university tech infrastructure, and Instructure (maker of Canvas) to increase “equitable access to…

On today’s episode of Decoder, we’re talking about AI, art, and the controversial collision between the two — a debate that, to be honest, is an absolute mess. If you’ve been on the internet this past week, you undoubtedly know that controversy was just kicked up a notch by the Studio Ghibli memes — pictures cribbing the style of the legendary Japanese film studio. These images, powered by OpenAI’s new image generator, are everywhere; OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has even been posting some examples to his personal X account. And they’ve widened an already pretty stark rift between AI boosters…

Desktop PC gamers get all the fun. Next-gen hardware typically lands there first, and the mobile versions eventually squeezed into their laptop counterparts usually come with a performance penalty. Well, having just seen Nvidia’s RTX 5090 laptop graphics in action on MSI’s newest and best laptops, there’s clearly still enough power on tap to do justice to all of the latest games. So much so, in fact, my not-that-old gaming PC just got thoroughly humbled. MSI’s RTX 5090-equipped MSI Raider 18 HX AI A2XW was announced at CES in January, but Nvidia’s 5000-series GPU rollout hasn’t been especially speedy. A…

Let’s cut straight to it — you want to know how to scan a QR code on either your iPhone or Android device. Luckily, you’re in the right place. From restaurant menus to ad campaigns and more, you’ll be scanning those little boxes in no time. And when you’re done brushing up on your QR code scanning skills, feel free to peruse some of our other articles, like the best cheap phones. Or don’t. It’s your call. How to scan a QR code on iPhone Good news! iPhones don’t require any extra apps or software to scan QR codes, as…