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Today — 3 April 2025Tech News

Superman’s latest trailer introduces his team of robot assistants

3 April 2025 at 18:13

Though Superman is clearly going to get the living daylights beat out of him at some point in James Gunn’s upcoming DC Studios feature, the movie’s latest trailer puts a spotlight on how the Man of Steel gets put back together again.

During its presentation at this year’s CinemaCon, Warner Bros. shared an extended sneak peek from the new Superman, and the studio has just posted the footage online. For the most part, the video focuses on a very badly-wounded Superman (David Corenswet) begging for his dog, Krypto, to drag him home because he’s unable to walk or fly.

While it’s played for comedy, it’s a little morbid to see Superman’s body flopping around like most of his bones are broken. But the scene becomes much weirder (in a good way) as Krypto drags Superman to a very inspired take on the Fortress of Solitude, where a team of cape-wearing medical robots are ready to run triage. Along with a very wild shot of the robots concentrating the sun’s light to heal Superman, the trailer also features longer shots of Lois Lane (Rachel Brosnahan), Lex Luthor (Nicholas Hoult), Hawkgirl (Isabela Merced), Mister Terrific (Edi Gathegi), Metamorpho (Anthony Carrigan), and Guy Gardner (Nathan Fillion).

Gunn is obviously banking on audiences digging a wilder, more whimsical world of superheroes, and it might pay off when Superman hits theaters on July 11th.

Amazon’s new AI agent will shop third-party sites for you

3 April 2025 at 17:35
Amazon is starting to test a new AI shopping agent, a feature it calls “Buy for Me,” with a subset users, the company announced in a blog post Thursday. If Amazon doesn’t sell something that users are searching for, the Buy for Me feature will display products to users that other websites are selling. Then, […]

Steve Jackson Games says tariffs are a ‘seismic shift’ for board games

3 April 2025 at 16:56

The CEO of Steve Jackson Games, which makes board games and card games, says that the 54 percent tariff on goods imported from China that will go into effect on April 5th is a “seismic shift” for the board game industry and that “prices are going up.”

“At Steve Jackson Games, we are actively assessing what this means for our products, our pricing, and our future plans,” CEO Meredith Placko says in a post. “We do know that we can’t absorb this kind of cost increase without raising prices. We’ve done our best over the past few years to shield players and retailers from the full brunt of rising freight costs and other increases, but this new tax changes the equation entirely.”

In the post, Placko spells out an example of how the tariff could affect costs. “A product we might have manufactured in China for $3.00 last year could now cost $4.62 before we even ship it across the ocean,” she says. “Add freight, warehousing, fulfillment, and distribution margins, and that once-$25 game quickly becomes a $40 product. That’s not a luxury upcharge; it’s survival math.”

Placko adds that the company doesn’t manufacture in the US because the infrastructure “doesn’t meaningfully exist here yet.” She acknowledges that tariffs can be “an effective tool” when they are “part of a long-term strategy to bolster domestic manufacturing.” But she says that “there is no national plan in place to support manufacturing for the types of products we make.”

If you’re frustrated with the tariffs, Placko suggests writing to your elected officials. “Ask them how these new policies help American creators and small businesses,” she says. “Because right now, it feels like they don’t.”

The Game Manufacturers Association (GAMA) has also issued a grim warning. “The latest imposition of a 54% tariff on products from China by the administration is dire news for the tabletop industry and the broader US economy,” GAMA said, according to Polygon. Card-grading company PSA has released a statement about the new tariffs, too, saying that the company has paused direct card grading submissions from outside the US.

In March, Hasbro CEO Chris Cocks told Yahoo Finance that “when you’re talking about tariffs in the neighborhood of 20 percent plus, that’s a cost that we can’t fully accommodate. It will have to be passed on.”

Brazil now investigating Apple over App Tracking Transparency after Meta complaint

3 April 2025 at 17:05

As we have reported in recent months, Apple has been facing scrutiny in Brazil over accusations of anti-competitive practices with the App Store. Although the company has been given more time to discuss the case, the Brazilian antitrust regulator “Cade” is now investigating Apple over the App Tracking Transparency feature.

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Apple notifies developers invited to WWDC 2025 event at Apple Park

3 April 2025 at 16:33

Apple last week officially announced that WWDC 2025 will take place from June 9 to 13, and although most of the event will take place online, the company will hold an in-person opening keynote at Apple Park. Developers who have applied for a ticket are now being notified of their status.

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Apple TV+ market share compared to others during Q1 2025

3 April 2025 at 16:12

With the premiere of Severance season two in January, Apple revealed an increase in Apple TV+ subscriptions compared to previous months. But was that enough to make Apple TV+ overtake its competitors? New data from JustWatch seen by 9to5Mac shows details about the market share of streaming platforms in the US during Q1 2025.

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Trump’s tariffs mean you’ll pay more for all gadgets

3 April 2025 at 15:47
Yes, prices will likely go up though not right away.

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 to make all our devices will inevitably go up.

“The biggest thing right now is going to be the inflationary impact,” says Jason Miller, professor of supply chain management at Michigan State University. “If they stay in place for several months, we’ll start to see those effects by mid-summer and certainly back-to-school season.”

Miller notes goods shipped from China to the U.S. will face a whopping 54 percent tariffs, including most gadgets. Vietnam, where Apple has shifted some of its manufacturing, also has a high …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Google’s regular Pixel 10 will reportedly get worse (but more) cameras

3 April 2025 at 15:22
The Pixel 9A’s main camera might go to the base Pixel 10.

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 upcoming Pixel 10 Pro Fold, which is rumored to have an almost identical design to the previous model, might also get the Pixel 9A’s primary shooter.

Last year, Google announced its Pixel 9 lineup in August, and it’s possible that the company could pick that timeframe again to launch the Pixel 10 series. The company will release the Pixel 9A on April 10th.

PSA pauses card grading submissions from outside the US

By: Emma Roth
3 April 2025 at 15:17
A photo showing graded Pokemon cards

The card grading service PSA will no longer take direct submissions from outside the US in response to the Trump administration’s new far-reaching tariffs. In an update on Wednesday, PSA says it’s “reluctantly taking these measures to protect our international customers from significant tariff expenses.”

As noted by PSA, the tariffs are “against the value of the items in the order rather than on the PSA service fee.” That means sending high-value Pokémon or sports cards to PSA would result in hefty fees. Under a 10 percent tariff, for example, a card valued at $5,000 would incur a $500 fee.

Though PSA is pausing international submissions now, that doesn’t mean cards currently at — or in transit — to its facilities will escape additional charges. PSA notes that orders entering the US after 12:01AM on April 5th may be affected by tariffs, and may also face “not-yet-announced” retaliatory tariffs upon return. “PSA will leverage available means to limit tariff exposure for customers outside of the US,” the company says.

PSA has already stopped accepting direct submissions from Canada, China, Hong Kong, and Mexico due to the first round of tariffs imposed earlier this year. However, PSA notes that customers in Canada and Japan can still get their cards graded by sending or bringing them to its physical locations in both countries.

Wealthy Americans have death rates on par with poor Europeans

It's well-established that, on the whole, Americans die younger than people in most other high-income countries. For instance, an analysis from 2022 found that the average life expectancy of someone born in Switzerland or Spain in 2019 was 84 years. Meanwhile, the average US life expectancy was 78.8, lower than nearly all other high-income countries, including Canada's, which was 82.3 years. And this was before the pandemic, which only made things worse for the US.

Perhaps some Americans may think that this lower overall life-expectancy doesn't really apply to them if they're middle- or upper-class. After all, wealth inequality and health disparities are huge problems in the US. Those with more money simply have better access to health care and better health outcomes. Well-off Americans live longer, with lifespans on par with their peers in high-income countries, some may think.

It is true that money buys you a longer life in the US. In fact, the link between wealth and mortality may be stronger in the US than in any other high-income country. But, if you think American wealth will put life expectancy in league with Switzerland, you're dead wrong, according to a study in the latest issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

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