Author: News Room
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…
Five years after Nikon released its entry-level and more affordable alternative to its original Z7 and Z6 full-frame cameras, the company is finally updating its Z5 with improved autofocus and image stabilization, and a much brighter electronic viewfinder. Nikon says the new Z5 II is also its first camera that can capture video in its proprietary 12-bit N-RAW video format directly to an SD memory card, instead of pricier CF Express type B cards.The Nikon Z5 II will be available sometime in April 2025 starting at $1,699.95 for the body alone – which is about $300 more expensive than the…
Nintendo Switch 2? Nintendo Switch 1.1, more like. During Nintendo Direct, Nintendo’s Wizard of Switchness (I’m pretty sure that was his actual job title) claimed the new console “isn’t simply an improved Nintendo Switch”. But it kind of is. As Nintendo reeled off a list of specs and features, my brain translated what was being said. We’re basically getting the original Switch, but a bit bigger and more powerful, with a few fancy new tricks by way of Joy-Cons that can pretend to be weird-looking mice, and a C button that unleashes the horrors of multiplayer voice chat. And you know…
As the US government launches investigations and threatens to pull federal funding, some elite universities have decided to take the path of least resistance. Colleges across the country have responded to the Trump administration’s attacks on diversity programs and student protesters by complying with these “anti-woke” witch hunts. In recent weeks, university administrators at Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University, and other schools have let the government interfere with entire academic departments, fired professors over allegations of antisemitism lobbed by right-wing groups, and announced their refusal to intervene in immigration arrests on campus.The Trump administration has warned it will yank funding…
Verizon is announcing a new price lock policy today, and the timing is probably no coincidence. The company is extending a three-year price guarantee on certain plans, both for new and existing customers. The announcement comes a day after President Trump unveiled sweeping tariffs, and Verizon says it’s hoping to give customers more “predictability” in the current economic environment. But the fine print leaves Verizon plenty of wiggle room.The three-year guarantee covers the base charge for your rate plan, but not fees and taxes — and you have to be on one of Verizon’s newer myPlan subscriptions to qualify. That…
When you jump into a video on YouTube or Netflix, a lot happens very quickly behind the scenes. Video data is rapidly downloaded to your device, which then has to unpack and normalize that information into a smooth, hiccup-free stream. The process of encoding and decoding video data has changed greatly over the years, with H.264 (AVC) and its successor H.265 (HEVC) remaining two of the most widely used codecs for streaming.But in 2015, tech giants including Netflix, Microsoft, Google, Amazon, and Meta banded together to develop video compression’s latest evolution: AV1. The companies, which are part of the overarching…