The biggest threat to the Steam Deck in 2025 won’t be the arrival of other Windows-based handheld gaming PCs. Instead, it’ll likely be the Nintendo Switch 2, which arrives on June 5 for $449.99 — smack dab between the cost of the $399 Steam Deck LCD and the $549 Steam Deck OLED. 

Ironically, the Steam Deck is also the Switch 2’s biggest threat. While Nintendo’s new console may have Valve’s beat on screen resolution, refresh rate, and a custom Nvidia processor capable of DLSS and ray tracing, Steam trumps it in value, particularly with game prices.

I get it, I get it. They’re totally different devices. So even though comparing Nintendo and Valve’s hardware and software philosophies is an apples versus oranges exercise, the two devices — and companies — are more aligned than you might think. And that’s especially true when consumers, whether because of tariffs or other economic reasons, need to choose between one or the other.

You’ve come to the right place, as we’ll break down all of the specs worth caring about to show how they stack up.

Pricing and availability

As mentioned, the Switch 2 and the Steam Deck have somewhat similar prices. The Switch 2 …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Amazon is comparing a new feature for the Kindle to the “Previously on…” segments that TV shows frequently use. But the Kindle’s Recaps feature is instead focused on book series and provides a “quick refresher on storylines and character arcs” before readers start the next book, Amazon says.

The short Recaps, which do include spoilers, are available to readers in the US for “thousands of bestselling English language Kindle books in series you have purchased or borrowed,” according to Amazon.

You can determine if a series you’re reading has Recaps available by looking for a View Recaps button “in the series page in your Kindle Library.” It will also be available in a three-dot menu where you see a series of books grouped together in the Kindle UI.

Recaps was first introduced on a Kindle software update released last week that also lets Kindle Colorsoft and 12th-gen Paperwhite Signature Edition users double-tap the back and sides of their e-readers to turn pages or scroll lists. The Recap feature will be available on a wider assortment of Kindle devices, including older models that are eligible for the 5.18.1 update.

Amazon says it’s being rolled out as an over-the-air update over the next several weeks, but it can also be downloaded from Amazon’s website and manually installed on Kindles immediately. Amazon also plans to soon make it available on its Kindle app for iOS.

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 a new model capable of performing actions within your browser, along with Anthropic’s Claude.

When you tap on an item that supports the feature, you’ll see all the product details directly within the Amazon app. Pressing the “Buy for Me” button will bring up an Amazon checkout page, where you can verify your payment information.

Amazon will then use AI to “securely” provide your “encrypted name, address, and payment details to complete the checkout process on the brand’s website.” The company says it can’t view previous or separate orders from third-party sites. Even though you’ll be able to track your orders directly on Amazon, you’ll have to visit the other brand’s site for customer service and returns.

Amazon doesn’t say whether it will get a cut of a “Buy for Me” purchase but notes that third-party companies can opt out. “Buy for Me” is currently available to a “subset” of users in the US on iOS and Android devices. Amazon is also testing it with a limited number of brands and products for now, but it plans to expand it in the future.

Even with all the self-induced turmoil that Sonos has been through over the last year, if you’ve been eyeing any of the company’s products, it might be wise to buy sooner than later. In an email, spokesperson Erin Pategas tells me that Sonos is “closely monitoring developments related to the proposed tariffs and actively assessing potential implications for our business, customers, and supply chain. At this time our focus remains on delivering the best audio experiences for our customers.” That’s less optimistic framing than the company gave only a couple months ago, but for good reason.

Like many other tech companies, Sonos thought it would be in a good position after mixing up its supply chain beyond China to other production hubs. On the company’s most recent earnings call, chief financial officer Saori Casey said the following:

“You may recall we underwent a significant effort to diversify our supply chain a few years ago, which resulted in a manufacturing of nearly all of our U.S.-bound products shifting to Malaysia and Vietnam. As a result, we expect tariffs to have a minimal impact to our gross margin in Q2 based on what we know today.”

So much for that.

The sweeping proposals announced yesterday by President Trump place a 46 percent tariff on Vietnam and 24 percent on Malaysia, making this strategy far less effective than Sonos likely hoped. The Santa Barbara-based brand is a relatively small company that already operates on thin hardware margins, so it can’t afford to simply absorb the cost of these tariffs. Sonos’ stock slid 15 percent on news of Trump’s far-reaching plans. “Our inventory consists of $117 million of finished goods and $24 million of components,” Casey said in February.

Just this week, Sonos lowered the price of two products, the Era 100 soundbar and Ray soundbar, to $199. Should Trump’s tariffs actually go into effect, it’s not unthinkable that those cuts could be reversed in the not-too-distant future. Sonos last raised prices across its product lineup in 2021 amid a global supply chain crunch.

But for now, as Pategas’ statement underlines, the company is concentrating its focus on improving its core user experience — and that mobile app.

With every new portable console comes a mountain of new third-party accessories. We’ve already seen Hori’s Piranha Plant alternative to the Switch 2’s USB-C camera, but Genki has announced a larger lineup of accessories designed to help protect the portable console while you’re playing away from home, plus some clever ways to keep it and its Joy-Con controllers charged.

The $49.99 Genki Joy-Station looks like a sleek way to avoid the annoying juggling act of keeping more than two Joy-Cons charged, with some additional, well thought-out functionality. The Joy-Cons attach to two delta-shaped grips turning each pair into standalone controllers. Two Joy-Cons can be simultaneously charged using a USB-C cable while attached to the grips – useful for those times when you want to play and the Joy-Cons are nearly dead – but they also charge when the grips are reattached to the charging base.

Thanks in part to a larger screen, the Switch 2’s battery life is estimated to be between two and 6.5 hours per charge. You can extend that using Genki’s $69.99 Energy Pack which is designed to conveniently magnetically attach to the back of the console and charge it at up to 30W speeds. The 10,000mAh Energy Pack is Qi2 compatible so you can also use it to wirelessly charge your phone, but the Switch 2 isn’t, so the battery instead connects to the console’s top USB-C port using a short included cable.

For gamers wanting added protection while they’re playing the Switch 2, Genki’s Attack Vector is a $49.99 three-piece dock-compatible protective shell that can be upgraded with a screen cover for an extra $10. Its most compelling feature is that it comes with three different sizes of sweat-resistant grips including a slim option designed for travel and a chunky option for maximum grip.

The $29.99 (or $39.99 with an optional screen cover) Force Field 2 shell is a cheaper alternative to the Attack Vector featuring a swing open design so you can detach and reattach the Switch 2’s Joy-Cons without having to fully remove it. It’s also dock-compatible, and allows for full use of the Switch 2’s folding stand.

If you’re simply looking for a way to keep the Switch 2 safe from dirt and scratches while it’s stuffed in a bag, Genki’s $42.99 Sleeper Case features a hidden zipper and a soft wool finish inside and out wrapped around a sturdy shell the company describes as both “crushproof” and “virtually indestructible.”

Genki has also introduced a $19.99 Switch 2 screen protector called the Aegis Shield, and the Mimic Chest: a $19.99 plastic case sold in three-packs that each hold 12 game cartridges. All of the accessories are available for preorder now and expected to ship sometime in May or June 2025. If you want them all, Genki also sells the collection as a bundle with either the Force Field 2 shell for $184.99 or the Attack Vector for $199.99.

Just about everything with the Nintendo Switch 2 is more expensive than the original Switch. 

It’s perhaps not unexpected that the console itself costs more money than the first Switch. That device launched more than eight years ago, after all. But following yesterday’s big Switch 2 Direct, there has been a lot of sticker shock as people have seen just how much Nintendo is charging for the console and its games, including multiple titles with a price tag of just under $80. (And some of those games are just improved versions of years-old Switch titles.)

Based on hands-on reports from my colleagues, the Switch 2 seems like another excellent device, with upgrades like an improved Nvidia processor and a bigger screen with support for HDR and 120fps framerates. Nintendo games like Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza seem like they’re shaping up well, too.

But if you’re looking to buy a Switch 2 for yourself – pre-orders in the US start on April 9th – you’re going to have to pay up. (And, depending on the impact of President Trump’s newly-announced tariffs, the Switch 2 could cost even more.)

Here are some comparisons of console, accessory, and game costs betwee …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Hyundai’s Ioniq 6 electric sedan already had a polarizing “streamliner” design that only owners seem to love. Now the automaker has massaged the front a bit more for a new look for 2026. The latest Ioniq 6 has squintier daytime running lights and headlights that are lower down into the bumper, something that we’re seeing in a lot of new EVs, like the redesigned Tesla Model Y and Chevy Equinox EV.

The original Ioniq 6 already looked like a car modeled from an Apple Magic Mouse, and the new one looks even slope-ier, enhanced further by pressing in the hood brows. Here’s what the Hyundai press release says about the changes:

With the new IONIQ 6, Hyundai Motor is emphasizing the identity of electrified streamliners, focusing on connecting the body flow more precisely and naturally based on the evolved concept of ‘Pure flow, Refined.’

Left: 2026 Ioniq 6, Right: 2023 Ioniq 6

There’s also a performance N version coming that’s based on Hyundai’s RN22e concept, revealed in 2022. Hyundai says it will be a “true high-performance electrified streamliner” that looks sportier with a black painted rear. The Ioniq 6 N will be fully revealed in July.

The original 2023 model year Ioniq 6 was already a good alternative to the Tesla Model 3 with a similar size, price, and maximum battery range (EPA-estimated 361 miles on a full charge on the RWD Ioniq 6). Hyundai is continuing to find a place for the Ioniq 6 in its lineup next to its more popular Ioniq 5 crossover SUV, and it’ll be up to buyers to decide if the new look and slightly tweaked button layout in the interior are enough to swing for the 6.

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 tools that support universities as they integrate AI.”

At the center of Anthropic’s education-focused offering is “Learning mode,” a new feature that changes how Claude interacts with students. Instead of just providing answers, the press release says Learning mode will use Socratic questioning to guide students through problems, asking “How would you approach this?” or “What evidence supports your conclusion?” — with the goal of helping students ”develop critical thin …

Read the full story at The Verge.

With President Donald Trump’s new tariff plan, your online shopping packages coming directly from China are about to get much more expensive.

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 without duties. But no longer.

An executive order signed on Wednesday says that packages coming from China and Hong Kong will be subject to tariffs beginning on May 2nd, though the tax structure is slightly different from last time. Under the new plan, packages valued under $800 and sent through the international postal network (think USPS and the like) will get slapped with a fee of 30 percent of the value of the package or $25 per postal item. Ot …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Fiber internet providers are worried they won’t see the funds promised under a Biden-era initiative that would bring reliable internet service to rural areas. Louisiana fiber internet provider Cajun Broadband was granted $33 million as part of the plan, but the “money isn’t flowing” and concerns are growing over whether the new administration will prioritize satellite internet services, like Elon Musk’s Starlink, according to a report from The Washington Post.

The Biden administration’s Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program dedicated $42.45 billion to bolstering internet service in underserved areas, mostly through fiber broadband. However, BEAD director Evan Feinman left the Commerce Department last month. Trump-appointed Commerce Department Secretary Howard Lutnick plans to overhaul the program, citing “woke mandates, favoritism towards certain technologies.”

Many companies relying on funds from BEAD have already invested a significant amount of money in fiber expansion, while several states have also begun putting plans into motion. Two dozen states have already closed their project application window, while Louisiana, Delaware, and Nevada “are only waiting for a sign-off from the National Institute of Standards and Technology to start allocating money to projects,” Broadband Breakfast reports. A shift away from fiber could “force all the states to rerun processes,” which would mean “millions of private capital is in the garbage,” Feinman told The Post.

Not only that, but a potential shift toward satellite means people won’t benefit from the speed and reliability associated with fiber. While it may be faster and cheaper for states to connect people via satellite, it could end up costing residents more money over time. A state official showed Bloomberg data suggesting that satellite service costs customers 53 percent more over the span of 30 years, while maintenance fees are more than double than that of fiber.

Last year, Musk called BEAD an “outrageous waste of taxpayer money.” Starlink hasn’t received any funding under the program, but that could change as the National Telecommunications and Information Administration shifts its plans.

Nintendo’s Switch 2 tech specs yesterday vaguely said that the console is powered by a “custom processor made by Nvidia,” but in a new blog post, Nvidia has shared a little more detail about how it’s powering the device.

Nvidia says that its chip enables DLSS support on the Nintendo Switch 2, allowing the console to upscale games and provide better performance, much like how DLSS powers Nvidia’s desktop and laptop GPUs. Nvidia doesn’t mention which version of DLSS will be supported on the Switch 2, nor whether there will be any frame generation capabilities.

The Nvidia GPU inside the Switch 2 also has “dedicated RT Cores and Tensor Cores,” according to Nvidia. These RT cores will deliver real-time ray tracing on the Switch 2, with the promise of “lifelike lighting, reflections, and shadows for more immersive worlds. The Tensor Cores will “enable AI-powered face tracking and background removal in video chat use cases, enhancing social gaming and streaming.”

Nvidia also says that the console has “10x the graphics performance of the Nintendo Switch,” which is a performance claim that’s almost certainly related to the use of DLSS. The Switch 2’s variable refresh rate in handheld mode is also powered by Nvidia G-Sync technology.

Nintendo, from the outset of working on the Switch 2, wanted to improve its power over the original Switch, according to an “Ask the Developer” interview published yesterday. The company says that its improved performance enables things like letting you destroy “anything you want” in Donkey Kong Bananza “without restrictions” and the seamlessly-connected courses in Mario Kart World.

The Switch 2 launches on June 5th. It will start at $449.99.

Though Blumhouse’s first M3gan feature was a near-perfect blend of techno-horror and ridiculous comedy, the sequel looks like it’s going to blow its predecessor out of the water.

Set a couple of years after the first film, M3gan 2.0 once again centers roboticist Gemma (Allison Williams) and her niece Cady (Violet McGraw) — two of the few people who managed to survive M3gan’s (Amie Donald / Jenna Davis) initial murder spree. 

As an advocate for stricter regulations on the very same kind of artificial intelligence she helped create, Gemma knows how dangerous it would be if she were to bring M3gan back. But when a defense contractor uses Gemma’s code to create an even more advanced killer robot called Amelia (Ivanna Sakhno), who immediately sets out to conquer the world, Gemma has no choice but to give M3gan a second chance at life.

While the first M3gan was definitely silly, this trailer’s use of “Oops!… I Did It Again” and its focus on M3gan flying through the sky in a wingsuit make clear that writer Akela Cooper and director Gerard Johnstone are fully leaning into the franchise’s camp. Blumhouse’s other recent AI panic horrors haven’t exactly sparked joy, but M3gan 2.0 feels like it’s going to be one hell of a good time when it hits theaters on June 27th.

“Liberation Day” has arrived. Get ready to be liberated from affordable vehicle prices. 

As promised, President Donald Trump’s 25 percent tariffs for imported vehicles went into effect Thursday, sending the auto industry into full panic mode. Some analysts are predicting a $5,000 to $10,000 price hike on new cars out of the gate, while others are still struggling to wrap their heads around the logic of Trump’s auto tariffs. It was a nuclear-level threat for the already unsettled auto industry, with little relief in sight. 

Trump’s argument is relatively straightforward, if nonsensical: Don’t like the tariffs? Just buy an American-made car. The only problem is that there is no such thing. Even vehicles made in the US rely on a complex supply chain that runs across borders and through multiple nations. The average car contains roughly 30,000 individual parts. Even cars produced domestically obtain 40–50 percent of their parts from abroad, according to Dan Ives, the global head of technology research at Wedbush Securities, a financial services firm.

“The tariffs are a debacle of epic proportions for the auto industry and US consumers as the concept of a US made ca …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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.” 

To my tired old bones, that’s a compelling pitch. I’ve tried all the flavors of social media poison since the downfall of Twitter. In 2025, all social media has the same formula. The never-ending doomscroll keeps you on the platform. The longer you scroll and the more you engage with clickbait and the main character of the day, the more ads and affiliate links you can be fed. By bedtime, your attention span is shot, you’ve been mildly entertained, and sometimes, you feel angry for no real reason.

With seven39, the scroll is finite. There are no ads — just a single chronological feed from users against a purple backdrop. It …

Read the full story at The Verge.

YouTube is adding new features to Shorts that aim to make it easier for creators to edit short-form videos. There are five new tools “coming this spring” according to YouTube’s announcement, including a revamped video editor that provides similar editing features to those already found on competing platforms like TikTok and Reels.

The new video editor allows adjustments like cutting and rearranging clips, zooming into footage, and overlaying text and music to be made from an editing timeline view. Creators can preview the edited short on this timeline view, which can be accessed by swiping up from the bottom of the Shorts editor. YouTube says these new capabilities are the “first of more improvements” lined up to help streamline the Shorts editing process.

YouTube is making it easier to add music to Shorts, allowing creators to pick a song and have their video clips automatically synchronize to the rhythm instead of manually aligning them to a beat. Effects like video filters and overlays will also be available in Shorts templates, making it quicker to jump on viral trends.

The ability to add image stickers from your gallery directly into Shorts will be available “later this spring” according to YouTube, alongside text-to-image AI-generated sticker creation. Users can describe the sticker they want to add to their video, giving creators more personalization options.

This isn’t the first batch of TikTok-style updates that have rolled out to YouTube Shorts, which has already introduced robotic voiceovers and started counting views from the point a video is played. While these new features aren’t available to Shorts creators yet, the timing of YouTube’s announcement probably isn’t a coincidence. The Saturday deadline for TikTok to find a US buyer or risk being banned in the country is fast approaching, and the new Shorts features will make it more familiar and appealing to creators who may soon be looking for a new platform.

Democrats are calling on Treasury Department and General Services Administration watchdogs to investigate a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) employee’s access to sensitive data.

In a letter to Deputy Inspectors General Loren Sciurba and Robert Erickson, Reps. Lori Trahan (D-MA), Suzan DelBene (D-WA), and Shontel Brown (D-OH) say the probe should address DOGE staffer Marko Elez’s “unauthorized and potentially illegal disclosure” of a spreadsheet containing personal information while Elez was secretly rifling through sensitive government systems.

Earlier this year, reports emerged that the 25-year-old Elez was granted read and write access to Treasury Department payment systems. Court filings later revealed the extent of his access and claimed that Elez broke Treasury policy by sending an employee spreadsheet to members of the Trump administration. Elez resigned from his DOGE role in February after reporters found racist posts linked to his social media account; however, DOGE head Elon Musk announced Elez would be reinstated, and court filings suggest he now works at the Department of Labor.

In their letter, the representatives say Elez skirted security regulations and “likely” violated the Privacy Act of 1974, a law that prevents agencies from disclosing personal information to third parties without an individual’s consent. The letter adds that if Elez did violate the law and harmed the individuals listed on the spreadsheet, they “may have grounds to seek monetary damages from the government.”

Treasury Deputy Inspector General Sciurba has already opened an investigation into DOGE’s access to the agency’s payment systems, but this investigation would specifically focus on Elez’s actions.

Reps. Trahan, DelBene, and Brown are asking the deputy inspectors general to find out how many people had their personal information exposed on the spreadsheet, as well as whether Elez obtained written consent from each individual before sending it to Trump administration officials. They also want to know why Elez was granted access to Treasury Department systems while his security clearance process was still underway and how the Trump administration officials interacted with the spreadsheet they received.

As DOGE continues to slash and burn its way through government agencies, lawmakers are scrambling to put a stop to the chaos. Last week, a judge granted a preliminary injunction preventing the Trump administration from shutting down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, but it’s not clear how long it will last. A Politico report has also suggested that DOGE leader Musk will step down from his role, which Musk called “fake news.”

One of the games I had on my personal Nintendo Switch 2 bingo card was a new 3D Mario. We didn’t get one at the Switch 2 hands-on, and at first, I thought it was odd that Nintendo would be launching its next big thing without a dedicated title for its number one guy. But after playing Donkey Kong Bananza, I realized that while we’re due for a new Mario game, Bananza is perfectly positioned to fill the plumber-shaped platforming hole.

Donkey Kong Bananza is my personal game of the show. In Bananza, the Kong Kingdom has been hit by a gold rush. Everyone is obsessed with digging in the ground to unearth precious metals and gems, including diamonds suspiciously shaped like bananas. They function like the power moons of Super Mario Odyssey, where Donkey Kong travels the world digging them up out of the ground or fighting monsters who’ve stolen them.

Donkey Kong has a new design that makes him way more expressive and fun to watch as he smashes, punches, and chucks rocks all over the place. I was also really impressed with the literal depth of Bananza’s detailed world. Not only are you platforming above ground, but with DK’s smashing ability on certain surfaces, you can dig b …

Read the full story at The Verge.

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 and critics. 

Brian Merchant, a good friend of The Verge and author of the newsletter and book Blood in the Machine, wrote one of the best analyses of the Ghibli trend last week. So I invited him onto the show to discuss this particular situation and also to help me figure out the ongoing AI art debate more broadly as it continues to collide with legal frameworks like copyright. 

Merchant and I tend to agree a lot more than we disagree when it comes to the technology industry. So I did my best to really take the other side here and push on these ideas as hard as I could. Technology and art have always been in a dance with each other; that’s part of the founding ethos of The Verge. So I think it’s important to put AI in that context — not least because we can see the obvious joy regular people find in using some of these tools to express themselves in ways they might not otherwise be able to.

But there’s expressing yourself, and then there’s churning out AI anime slop that is designed to evoke classics like Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro in a way that devalues and even outright steals from actual human artists. Add in the way the Trump administration jumped on the trend by “Ghibli-fying” a deportation photo, and it’s not hard to see why a lot of folks perceive this tool as utterly grotesque and offensive.  Or “an insult to life itself,” as Ghibli cofounder Hayao Miyazaki once famously said of an AI demo he witnessed in 2016. 

So you’ll hear Merchant and I really go back and forth, digging in on what this all means — for art and artists, and for a creative economy that has long since transitioned from the world of physical scarcity to one of limitless digital supply. And, most importantly, we spent a lot of time talking about how we should feel using these tools at all when they might pose very real threats to people’s livelihoods and the ongoing climate crisis. 

I’ll warn you: there are no easy answers here, and I don’t think Merchant and I came to a single conclusion. I don’t even think we wanted to. But I think this conversation helped me consider more clearly how to think about AI and art. Let me know what you think.

If you’d like to read more on what we talked about in this episode, check out the links below:

• OpenAI’s Studio Ghibli meme factory is an insult to art itself | Brian Merchant
• Seattle engineer’s Ghibli-style image goes viral | Seattle Times
• OpenAI just raised another $40 billion round from SoftBank | The Verge
• ChatGPT “added one million users in the last hour.” | The Verge
• ChatGPT’s Ghibli filter is political now, but it always was | The Verge
• OpenAI, Google ask the government to let them train on content they don’t own | The Verge
• Studio Ghibli in the age of A.I. reproduction | Max Read
• OpenAI has a Studio Ghibli problem | Vergecast
• AI slop is a brute force attack on the algorithms that control reality | 404 Media
• The New Aesthetics of Fascism | New Socialist

_{Questions or comments about this episode? Hit us up at [email protected]. We really do read every email!}

If you’re trying to declutter your desk space, a versatile charger that won’t eat up a lot of space like the Twelve South HiRise 3 Deluxe could be a good investment. That’s especially true today now that the $149.99 charging stand is down to a new all-time low price of $99.99 ($50 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and directly from Twelve South.

The stylish MagSafe-certified charger delivers 15-watts of power to compatible iPhones, can juice up a pair of AirPods, and fast-charge a compatible Apple Watch all at the same time. Unlike similar 3-in-1-chargers, though, Twelve South designed the stand to take up as little space as possible. Instead of arranging the charging pads side-by-side, for example, the company placed them in a front-to-back line. If you need more room, you can even flip up the Apple Watch charging spot.

What’s more, the charger also acts as a useful and well-built metal stand for propping up your phone. It supports iOS 17’s StandBy Mode, allowing you to turn your iPhone into a small smart display of sorts displaying the time, a calendar, and other helpful widgets of information. The MagSafe pad also offers 35 degrees of adjustment, so you can play around with different viewing angles.

More deals and discounts

• Samsung’s Music Frame speaker is available at a new all-time low of $129.99, down from $399.99, at Woot. The unusual gadget is a 12.9 x 12.9-inch picture frame that can display physical photos or art prints, but also functions as a speaker with support for Dolby Atmos, Amazon Alexa, and Samsung Bixby.
• You can pick up a physical copy of Super Mario RPG for $19.99 ($40 off) from GameStop, which is its best price yet. The Nintendo Switch remake of the SNES classic is an exceptionally charming turn-based RPG, offering engaging Final Fantasy-style turn-based battles along with adorable visuals. Read our review
• Govee’s black Floor Lamp 2 is available for $109.99 ($40 off) at Amazon, which is $10 shy of its all-time low price. The 60-inch smart floor lamp offers all kinds of colorful, customizable lighting effects that sync with music. It also supports Matter, so it works with all major smart home platforms for voice control.

When President Donald Trump began yesterday’s announcement of the White House’s latest trade policy brandishing a novelty-sized cardboard sign labeled “Reciprocal Tariffs,” the immediate and nearly unanimous response was bafflement. Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on all imports into the US, including from uninhabited islands, plus absurdly high rates on specific countries, supposedly based on “tariffs charged to the USA” — which didn’t match up to other, non-cardboard-sign-based estimates. Stock markets have plummeted and consumers are facing down sharp price hikes on potentially almost everything they buy. 

Where did these numbers come from? Apparently, an oversimplified calculation that several major AI chatbots happen to recommend.

Economist James Surowiecki quickly reverse-engineered a possible explanation for the tariff pricing. He found you could recreate each of the White House’s numbers by simply taking a given country’s trade deficit with the US and dividing it by their total exports to the US. Halve that number, and you get a ready-to-use “discounted reciprocal tariff.” The White House objected to this claim and published the formula it …

Read the full story at The Verge.