• My husband died when I was 46, and I received a wake-up call about financial preparedness.
• His life insurance policy was a lifesaver as I developed a more long-term plan for our family.
• I sought professional advice to get through that time, and I'm glad I did.

In the wee hours of the morning, several days after my husband's death in 2003 from sudden cardiac arrest, I awoke out of breath, my heart racing. Would my daughters be able to stay in their schools? Could I continue to pay the mortgage on our home?

When my husband accepted his first overseas diplomatic assignment, I gave up my career. Once back in the States, I began to slowly rebuild my professional life, but I was far behind my peers in earning power and savings. Still, I didn't worry too much about our income and my slow-growing 403b. We weren't diligent savers; we had mortgages, car loans, and two children in private schools. We relied on the assumption that Uncle Sam had our backs.

Insurance was a lifesaver for me during that time

Suddenly, with a base salary of $42,000 a year, I became responsible for my two teenage daughters and, as an only child, my elderly mom. My husband had good life insurance in place (with his morbid sense of humor, he often joked about how "well off" I'd be when he died), which was a godsend, but I needed to understand how to use our money efficiently.

Most financial experts say you should have enough money in your emergency savings fund to cover three to six months' worth of living expenses. Being unprepared is exacerbated if you are not used to navigating the finances. In my case, I was aware of our position in general terms, but large decisions, such as our daughters' education and buying or selling a home or vehicle, were always joint.

As my husband's beneficiary, I received his federal life insurance payout. Early on, I received incorrect information, leading me to believe that I needed to keep the insurance payout I received in the low-interest settlement account. Learning that I was able to move it to an account that delivered a higher rate of return eased a lot of stress. My initial priority was not investing but making sure I had enough money coming in to pay our bills. I chose to work with an advisor at our credit union to invest the money in instruments that would conserve — and hopefully increase — my principal and provide an income stream to supplement my small salary.

I developed a long-term financial plan

My advisor suggested investments that would help me achieve the goals we had planned for our daughters. I was happy to learn I'd be able to keep my younger daughter in parochial high school and enable my older daughter to remain at her current college. Next, I paid off some high-interest items with part of the insurance money, which eased the burden on my modest income and saved me from having to make large draws from our investment accounts. Later, I tackled estate planning issues such as updating my own will and beneficiaries on all financial items.

Even though I knew how to access our bill-paying software and bank accounts, having no real savings of my own and a meager retirement plan due to contributions of only the 10 years we'd been back in the States made me anxious. The reality of planning a possible solo retirement made me again wish I'd been wiser about my personal saving practices. Soon after tragedy strikes, many widows and widowers rush to make huge — and sometimes unwise —

major financial decisions. A short time after my husband's death, I considered selling our home. but an accountant friend advised me to wait until I was on steadier emotional ground. I'm glad I did because the house appreciated in value, and I was able to secure a good price when I did sell it 15 years later.

I learned a lot about financial preparedness when I became a young widow

In my grief support group, I saw firsthand others having to sell homes or move in with family after losing a spouse or partner's income. I know I was fortunate because of my husband's foresight in planning for a future that did not include him. Because my life insurance had always come as a benefit of my employment, I purchased additional insurance to guarantee that the girls would have some assets should my financial situation change, or I could no longer work.

Even though I learned a lot by becoming a young widow, I wish I'd known more about financial planning before tragedy struck. Having to shoulder the weight of a family's financial present and future only added to my already fragile emotional state. At least, seeking both professional and personal help and a dose of strategic planning eased one of the burdens I felt immediately after my husband's death.

• Some Americans are stockpiling essentials and other items after Trump announced a set of widespread tariffs.
• Americans told BI they're buying makeup, skincare goods, pet food, spices, and meat.
• Others are slowing purchases of items they now consider luxuries, like tea and fruit.

Melanie Moroz now has enough makeup, skincare, and hair care products to last two years.

Moroz told Business Insider that while she's been stocking up for a couple of months, efforts by the White House to dismantle the Department of Education put her into "hyper-gear stockpiling mode" because the moves made her fearful that she could lose a teaching job she's held for about 25 years.

"I'm not purchasing anything that's not an absolute necessity," she said. Moroz, who lives in Morgantown, West Virginia, said she's now saving funds that once went to DoorDash, shopping, and dining out.

With the US edging closer to what could amount to a widening trade war, Moroz plans to work through a list of things she expects she'll need. That includes buying meat to freeze and upgrading her aging iPhone 11 to a newer model sometime this month so she can stay ahead of what she expects will amount to "major price hikes."

Moroz isn't alone in thinking about what she might alternatively accumulate or cut back on amid fears that tariffs will make much of what Americans buy more expensive.

While President Donald Trump has repeatedly gone back and forth about tariff enactments, on Wednesday he signed an executive order to impose a 10% baseline tariff on all countries by Saturday. Following the news, Mark Cuban advised Americans to "Buy lots of consumables now."

Some US consumers, worried about the economy's prospects and experiencing flashbacks to pandemic-era supply chain kinks, are wasting no time.

Pet food, shampoo, and meat to freeze

For months, Elizabeth Blackstock and her husband have been "keeping an eye on" price changes resulting from tariffs. Following Wednesday's announcement, though, their priority is stocking up on food and medication for their six rescue cats, some of whom, Blackstock said, require special diets because of illnesses.

Beyond that, the couple is looking to grab extras of everyday items like hair products and meat they could store in their deep freezer.

Blackstock, who lives in San Antonio, said that even though they're doubling down on essentials, she still feels unsettled because prior tariff announcements were on-again, off-again.

"We've prepared, but it's impossible to feel prepared," she said.

She said the couple is now considering other potentially big-ticket purchases, like a new transmission for the Mazda she drives.

"It was like, 'Is that going to be heavily tariffed now?' because we have to get that."

Weighing price increases against a recession

Felix Tintelnot, an associate professor of economics at Duke University, told BI that if you're in a secure position, it doesn't hurt to stock up on some goods whose prices might go up. That's what Moroz did with beauty products she knows she'll use.

In 2024, the US imported $7.59 billion worth of beauty goods, including makeup and skin care products, according to government figures.

Tintelnot said worries that the economy will falter under the new trade barriers might prompt more people to save.

"The risk of a recession in the US has increased," he said.

Tintelnot said that's one reason some people might want to consider setting aside funds instead to prepare for potential shocks.

He also said if a recession did occur, not everyone would be hit equally, in part because job security differs across industries. So, Tintelnot said, people who are new in a role might want to take extra precautions because those are often the jobs that are the first to go in a downturn.

Some people are already preparing for bumps and discussing their moves online in forums such as Reddit.

One Reddit user, who said he lives in Illinois, told BI that much of his spending would come to "a complete standstill" for things that aren't essential.

Items the US imports, like fruit, avocados, and tea, "are all a luxury now," he said, adding that he plans to switch to canned fruits to satisfy his "sweet cravings" or buy fresh fruit when it's in season from local vendors.

The man, a tea lover who plans to take the train to Chicago to attend the city's tea festival in mid-April, might not continue to buy in bulk to replenish his supplies. Ordinarily, he said, he spends between $100 and $300 every few months on a new batch of tea. But now, tariffs combined with international shipping rates could stop that.

"I just can't afford an additional $100 in fees," he said.

'A better ROI than the stock market'

Another Reddit poster, who said they live in Florida, said in a message to BI that they plan to buy a variety of spices, basmati and jasmine rice, dry beans, and olive oil "to ride this out and have a buffer."

The user pointed to a jump in the price of chlorine for swimming pools during the depth of pandemic lockdowns. Too often, they said, price increases stick.

That's another reason to collect what they can, the person said.

"If prices are going to jump 10-30%, that's a better ROI than the stock market," they wrote.

That was especially the case on Thursday after a rout in global markets following the escalating trade tensions. The Standard & Poor's 500 index lost 4.8%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled 1,679 points, or 4%.

One Reddit user who said they live in Arkansas told BI that between the tariffs and what could happen with gas prices, they're stocking up on shelf-stable goods like freeze-fried fruit to have snacks handy that their kids will eat.

The person said they've often heard that companies will stop raising prices when customers can't afford to pay them.

"That has never been my experience as an Arkansan," they wrote. "People just learn to live without."

Do you have a story to share about your reaction to tariffs? Contact these reporters at aaltchek@businessinsider.com or tparadis@businessinsider.com.

It’s 2025, and SaaS has become the modern-day gold rush for tech-savvy builders. Everywhere you look, someone is launching a subscription product. And why not? The appeal is obvious: high margins, recurring revenue, and the potential to scale without trading […]

The post Dear Founders: Stop building SaaS without an audience and distribution first appeared on Tech Startups.

A SpaceX and X engineer, Christopher Stanley—currently serving as a senior advisor in the Deputy Attorney General's office at the Department of Justice (DOJ)—was reportedly caught bragging about hacking and distributing pirated e-books, bootleg software, and game cheats.

The boasts appeared on archived versions of websites, of which several, once flagged, were quickly deleted, Reuters reported.

Stanley was assigned to the DOJ by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). While Musk claims that DOGE operates transparently, not much is known about who the staffers are or what their government roles entail. It remains unclear what Stanley does at DOJ, but Reuters noted that the Deputy Attorney General’s office is in charge of investigations into various crimes, "including hacking and other malicious cyber activity." Declining to comment further, the DOJ did confirm that as a "special government employee," like Musk, Stanley does not draw a government salary.

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UNITED NATIONS - The DOGE Caucus just got a consulting offer from an initiative looking to remove waste in the United Nations. 

Dynamic Oversight for Global Efficiencies in the U.N. (DOGE-U.N.) is looking to help the caucus identify cost-cutting opportunities and hold the U.N. accountable.

"Accountability should extend beyond domestic institutions to global organizations that America funds. And they all should operate with fiscal responsibility and proper oversight," DOGE-U.N. wrote in a letter to Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, who founded the Senate DOGE Caucus.

'UN80 INITIATIVE' APPEARS TO SHOW WORLD BODY'S PANIC OVER POSSIBLE DOGE-LIKE CUTS

Last month, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres announced the UN80 Initiative in honor of the 80th anniversary of the international organization. Despite speculation that the initiative was a response to Elon Musk’s work with DOGE, Guterres told reporters that it was completely unrelated. Guterres said the project is meant to handle the U.N.’s ongoing "liquidity crisis."

"For at least the past seven years, the United Nations has faced a liquidity crisis given the fact that not all member states pay in full, and many member states also do not pay on time," secretary-general spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric told Fox News Digital at the time. "This is about prudent spending planning to ensure that we can continue to fulfill our core functions and the mandates given to us by member states."

Hugh Dugan, the head of DOGE-U.N., told Fox News Digital that this is an opportunity to reform the U.N., which has not undergone any significant overhaul since 2000. Dugan also emphasized that the U.N. should be under this type of scrutiny more frequently and not just when the U.S. is "frustrated with" the organization.

DOGE USAID BUDGET CUTS HIT UN IN 'WORST LIQUIDITY CRISIS SINCE ITS ESTABLISHMENT'

Under Musk, DOGE first tackled waste at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which drew significant criticism. President Donald Trump listed several examples of the ways USAID allegedly wasted U.S. taxpayer dollars, including millions of dollars that went to diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in other countries.

Dugan told Fox News Digital that a significant portion of USAID funding was "funneled" through U.N. entities. He believes the "money trail will definitely be taking us through many of those entities, whether it’s peacekeeping or a U.N. development program."

In its letter, DOGE-U.N. lists several recommendations for the DOGE Caucus, including decentralizing New York-based U.N. entities to lower-cost countries, which the organization said could save "at least 40% in salaries alone." DOGE-U.N. also recommends an audit of the U.N.’s ongoing "liquidity crisis."

The U.S. is not the only country rethinking its contributions to the international body. Dugan told Fox News Digital that other countries are also reevaluating their spending, but the U.S. is "the most colorful and biggest" because of Musk.

Dugan ultimately pointed the finger at Guterres and told Fox News Digital that there are "whispers and grumblings among ambassadors" who are allegedly dissatisfied with the secretary-general’s performance. Senior U.N. insiders allegedly told Dugan that they too are "very eager" to see things turn around "sooner rather than later."

Ernst’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.

• Jacob Saunders was fired in February as part of sweeping cuts to the US federal workforce.
• He turned down an offer to return to the role because he was worried he would get axed again.
• Saunders also didn't want to burn the bosses who had rehired him at a couple of part-time jobs.

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Jacob Saunders, 25, who lives in Silver Spring, Maryland. In February, he lost his job at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a US federal agency, as part of cutbacks orchestrated by the Department of Government Efficiency. Saunders said he received an offer to return to CMS but declined. Business Insider verified his identity, that he worked for the federal government, and that he received an offer to return. The following has been edited for brevity and clarity.

Growing up, I had family friends who had government jobs and spoke highly of them because of the benefits and the work itself. I saw that as an opportunity. In school, I earned a master's degree in homeland security. It felt like a good gateway to a decent career.

After what felt like a long time of applying, I became a student intern at the Department of Homeland Security. I was there for nine months — until September of last year — not long after I finished grad school.

It was a wonderful experience. The projects we worked on were often well-known in public and on the news. I really felt like I was able to make a difference.

After that, I went back to working part time while looking for a full-time role. At the end of last year, I got a job at the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Even though it was different from Homeland Security, I enjoyed the work. Plus, the pay was competitive, and the benefits were good.

At CMS, I was essentially a business analyst on a team that managed a program for evaluating the medical care professionals provided and then allocated funding.

Signs of trouble

Not long after I started at CMS, I heard small talk about possible job cuts. One coworker jokingly said something like, "What if we all get fired?" Still, I wasn't taking it too seriously.

A couple of days before I got let go, the news came out that the president had directed agencies to fire probationary employees. That's when I became concerned.

The day before I got fired, I checked my email every two seconds, but there was no notice. The next day, February 15, was a Saturday, and I was home. I opened my work laptop, and the message was there.

Even though I saw it coming, I was still surprised. Your heart sinks. I think I said out loud: "Oh, no. Why did this happen?"

My supervisor didn't even know I was going to be fired. I had to text them that day to tell them. I was the only one from my team of 14 or 15 people who was cut.

That was disappointing because it felt like everybody on my team was rooting for me to get up to speed and become a valued contributor. I felt like I did my best to be professional and do what I was supposed to do. On top of that, I miss the people.

My firing felt impersonal because the reason cited, which everybody got and I know is illegitimate, was related to how I did my job. The email said something along the lines of: "We deem from your performance that you're unfit for the position." It sucked to hear that from somebody I'd never met.

Besides, I was only there for five weeks. You can't really evaluate somebody based on that short amount of time.

Luckily, I wasn't that far removed from the part-time jobs I'd had before I went to CMS.

The night I got fired, I texted my old boss from my job as a junior-varsity high school lacrosse coach. I could jump back into that position because they hadn't found a replacement. I was also a flag football referee on the weekend, so I've returned to that as well.

I was grateful my old jobs still had spots for me; they could have said no.

The callback

But a month after being fired from CMS, my old supervisor called one morning and explained that I could return. They said they needed an answer later that day.

I was conflicted because it was a joyful place to work. I'd love to go back and pretend everything was back to normal. Unfortunately, that's just not reality. I was already fired once, so I'd never feel secure there, at least while this administration is in office.

It had only been a month, so I don't want to say I'd moved on, but I had moved forward. When they offered a chance to return, I thought, "I have these other jobs now, and I can't drop everything just to go back."

I wouldn't have had enough time to give two weeks' notice to the people who rehired me for my part-time jobs. They came through for me when I needed them, and it's only right that I stay true to my commitment. I just don't think I could leave them like that.

Luckily, I'm living with my parents, so these jobs help me avoid spending my savings on food and gas.

I'm keeping an open mind

I'd still like to find something else that would benefit my career. Getting a full-time job hasn't been easy, but you've just got to be consistent and apply every day, and eventually, an opportunity will come.

For now, I'm looking for jobs in the private sector and state government. I want to find something that will give me a future. It looks like a federal job is unlikely, even though that's what I prefer. Working for something bigger than yourself is always good.

When I was in government and someone would ask what I did, I was excited to tell them. It felt like it was impressive and I would like to continue that aspect of it — of public service. But it's also possible I'll find something in the private sector where I believe in the mission.

I've been doing my best to keep an open mind. The silver lining to all of this is it's a chance to reset and reevaluate.

Are you a government worker? Contact this reporter via email at tparadis@businessinsider.com or Signal at tparadis.70. Use a personal email address and a nonwork device; here's our guide to sharing information securely.

• In the 1920s, workers commuted via buses, subways, ferries, streetcars, and automobiles.
• Improved public transportation for commuting led to the development of suburbs in major US cities.
• Modern commuters still use New York City's subway system, which is over 120 years old.

Without technology like computers and the internet, remote work wasn't a possibility 100 years ago.

In the 1920s, workers in major US cities commuted via buses, subways, ferries, streetcars, and automobiles.

Getting to work has changed dramatically in cities like Los Angeles, which in the 1920s was home to the world's largest electric interurban trolley system. Today, the streetcars have been replaced by highways clogged by private vehicles.

New York City, however, still uses the same subway system built over 120 years ago.

Commuting has continued to evolve since the COVID-19 pandemic. While some companies are requiring employees to return to the office after years of working from home, a 2024 analysis by Stanford, WFH Research, and Gusto found that workers now live nearly three times further from their offices than they did before the pandemic because of the rise of remote work.

Here's what commuting looked like in three major US cities 100 years ago.

A century ago, the streets of New York City were full of buses, cars, and pedestrians walking to work.

By 1900, the population of New York City reached 3.5 million people as large numbers of immigrants arrived in the US, TR News magazine reported. Many newly arrived residents lived in tenement districts within walking distance of the factories or sweatshops where they worked.

The subway was a popular way to commute to work in New York City.

While New York City's elevated railroad began operating in 1868, the subway system was built between 1900 and 1936, with the first underground railway opening in 1904.

The underground trains helped relieve congestion above ground and expand the distance from which people could commute to work.

The subway cost five cents per ride — lower than today's fare of $2.90.

In the 1920s, parts of the subway system were still under construction.

Some subway tunnels were built using a method called "cut and cover" in which workers cut trenches into the street and built temporary wood structures over the hole to allow for the continued flow of traffic, according to the New York Transit Museum. The construction of deeper tunnels required the use of dynamite.

New York City's municipal ferry system also serviced all five boroughs and New Jersey.

The ferry routes became obsolete as more bridges were built, allowing cars to cross New York City's waterways. Out of the dozen or so ferry routes that operated in the 1920s, the Staten Island Ferry remains the only free ferry service provided by the city, according to the New York City Department of Records and Information Services.

In the 1920s, Chicago's elevated railway, known as the "L," had recently been constructed.

Chicago's first elevated railroad opened in 1892, and the Union Elevated Railroad connecting all four lines was completed in 1897, according to the Encyclopedia of Chicago.

The city's first subway didn't open until 1943.

Even with commuters riding the "L" trains, Chicago's Loop was also congested with buses and automobiles.

The population of Chicago was around 2.7 million in 1920, according to US Census data.

Crowds gathered at bus stops to wait for their rides.

In the 1920s, women often wore flapper dresses and cloche hats, while men wore suits and fedoras.

Before most Los Angeles residents drove everywhere, electric street cars were a popular mode of public transportation.

Operated by the Pacific Electric Railway, the red streetcars provided interurban service to the greater Los Angeles area, leading to the development of suburbs in the nearby Orange, San Bernardino, and Riverside counties.

By the 1920s, Los Angeles had the world's largest electric interurban trolley system.

At its peak ridership of 3.1 million passengers in 1924, the Pacific Electric Railway operated 2,100 trains a day across 1,100 miles of track in the greater Los Angeles area, Pasadena Weekly reported, citing data from the Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California.

The streetcars were eventually replaced with buses.

Pacific Electric Railway's streetcar service shut down fully in 1961.

The launch of ChatGPT more than two years ago ignited a shift in how people think about building and shipping software. Thanks to ChatGPT and other large language models (LLMs), it’s now easier than ever to spin up AI wrappers—apps […]

The post Distribution Eats AI for Breakfast (and Lunch) first appeared on Tech Startups.

Bob Keller, former US Army Special Forces and Delta Force operator, rates 10 Army special operations scenes in movies and TV, such as "Black Hawk Down," for realism.

Keller breaks down the accuracy of special operations scenes, such as the depiction of the first Special Forces team in Afghanistan — nicknamed "Horse Soldiers" — in "12 Strong," starring Chris Hemsworth; the Delta Force mission to capture high-value targets in "Black Hawk Down," with Josh Hartnett, Ewan McGregor, Eric Bana, and Tom Sizemore; and the collaboration of Delta Force operators with law enforcement, as well as the accuracy of tactics and weapons handling, in "Sicario," with Emily Blunt and Benicio del Toro. He discusses the depiction of Special Forces soldiers in Vietnam War movies in "Apocalypse Now," with Marlon Brando and Martin Sheen; the unconventional warfare strategies that Rambo, played by Sylvester Stallone, demonstrates in "First Blood"; and the nighttime raid scene from "The Green Berets," starring John Wayne. Keller also breaks down Delta Force operations and skills, as depicted in the hostage rescue scenes in "White House Down," starring Channing Tatum and Jamie Foxx; and "Land of Bad," starring Liam Hemsworth and Russell Crowe; the close-quarter combat and motorcycle riding skills demonstrated by Chuck Norris in "The Delta Force"; and the selection process in "The Unit" S1E1 + S2E8 (2008).

Keller has more than 20 years of experience in US Army special operations. He started with the 75th Ranger Regiment, then moved into Special Forces — nicknamed the Green Berets — and later was selected to be a part of the 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment— Delta (Airborne) — also known as Delta Force. He provides tactics instruction across the country through his company Gamut Resolutions, and he owns Range Werx, a shooting range in Fort Meade, Florida.

When we reviewed the iPhone 16 Pro last year, Apple Intelligence was barely available. Since then, the iPhone 16 series has benefitted from several new features, apps and improvements. Some (or most) of them were Apple Intelligence features that were teased back at WWDC 2024, months before the iPhone 16 Pro launched.

AI features weren't the only changes this time around, with the iPhone 16 getting an entirely new button. The so-called Camera Control wasn’t just a simple app shortcut, but an elaborate multifunction button that offered a haptic half-press and the ability to swipe across to adjust camera settings and options.

Managing Editor Cherlynn Low said we were still ”waiting on Apple Intelligence” in our initial review. Now, as we hit iOS 18.4, was it worth the wait?

iOS 18 and Apple Intelligence so far

Mat Smith for Engadget

Apple Intelligence was late, arriving as part of iOS 18.1 back in October 2024. Initial generative AI features included writing tools like proofreading and rewriting, as well as text summaries and live transcription for phone calls and voice notes in the Notes app. A few months later, iOS 18.2 gave us the Apple Intelligence features that made most of the headlines when first announced at WWDC. That included ChatGPT integration, AI image generation in Image Playgrounds and Genmoji. 

Starting with iOS 18.1, one of the most controversial Apple Intelligence features is actually my favorite: Notification Summaries. It’s a good attempt at taming the wild west of countless group chats across multiple messaging apps, calendar reminders, Substack pings and everything else.

You don't need to update every individual app for Notification Summaries to kick in. As soon as iOS 18.1 landed, my messy WhatsApp chats were streamlined. I thought it cute when my iPhone told me a friend had laughed at my comment, and suggested where we could meet and a date. That was distilled from a ten-message barrage they’d sent.

Mat Smith for Engadget

It’s not perfect, though. Apple had to clarify that notification summaries are AI-generated, and make that clearer beyond a small Apple Intelligence icon. This was after the BBC complained about multiple summaries that twisted the content of some of its headlines. I’ve also had notification summaries that incorrectly guessed the subject of a sentence or entire topic of a thread, but on the whole, it’s a useful utilization of AI smarts.

There are more natural language hooks across most of iOS 18, too. You can now search for images in the Photos app with descriptions, dates, location and more. Those natural-language smarts take on a different function with writing tools, courtesy of Apple Intelligence. Even though I’m not a particularly clean writer (hey, Cher), these writing tools are not all that useful. I haven’t used them much beyond quick email responses to work requests and events, but the ability to proofread, rewrite or check tone may prove useful to some.

The writing tools also work inside the Voice Memos app, which can now transcribe conversations, meetings and more. Here, it helps make things more concise, with options to turn transcripts into summaries, key points, lists and even tables. If the recording is clear enough and they’re not too long, iOS 18 does well on these transcriptions. Several times, the iPhone 16 Pro straight-up declined to summarize a transcript. Why? All I got was a notification that the tools “aren’t designed to work with this type of content.”

Elsewhere, Apple struggles to catch up with AI innovations on rival devices. Like Google Pixel’s Magic Eraser (and all the other Android riffs), Clean Up now allows you to scrub out distracting elements and photo bombers from your pics. However, the results aren’t quite up to the standard of the competition. Sometimes, however, it nails it.

Some Apple Intelligence features have faded into the background after an initial buzz. Image Playground offers the ability to AI-generate your own images and had plenty of users itching to get off the beta waitlist to play around with the app. After a bit of testing, however, I haven’t used it in the months since it launched.

There might be a future for Playgrounds within iOS, though. For instance, Apple’s Invites app lets you embed Image Playground results within your events, which is helpful if you don’t have a photo to illustrate the invitation. As a standalone app, however, it doesn’t quite deliver enough to live on my home screen. It’s gone the way of GarageBand, Pages and Apple Maps on my iPhone.

Genmoji, on the other hand, is easier to use, and I use it often. With it, you can create your own emoji reactions with specific people, objects and backgrounds. I already have several established favorites, like me eating cereal and a chronically late friend with clocks in the background, and I’ll probably continue to make emoji as life demands it. For example, a passenger behind me on a flight to Barcelona last month had three cats with her. So, I made a cats-on-a-plane Genmoji. Exactly what Tim Cook intended.

Mat Smith for Engadget

Some software features are also specific to the iPhone 16 Pro series (and the 15 Pro). Camera Control aside, the new button also offers access to Visual Intelligence with a long press. Visual Intelligence is Apple’s take on Google Lens, tapping visual AI smarts to analyze what your iPhone is pointing at. It can recognize text, like words on menus, and even translate for you. If you get lucky, it’ll even identify the outside of a restaurant and (with some ChatGPT power) tell you the opening hours and what kind of cuisine it offers. It’s particularly effective in identifying landmarks, but busy scenes can quickly derail it. Unfortunately, you can’t tap on a particular object in the frame to clarify specifics. However, the ability to create calendar events from a poster is pretty cool — even if I usually forget to use it.

That’s Apple Intelligence, for now. There are a lot of smart touches, but so far, it isn’t remarkable. I credit Apple’s attempts to make most of its AI features either processed on device, or connected to the company’s Private Cloud Compute, which uses larger server-based models. Apple has reiterated that your data is never stored during these requests. Even with ChatGPT integration, if you don’t use an account with OpenAI, only your request and attachments are sent to ChatGPT. Your Apple Account and IP address are not shared with OpenAI. Apple’s deal with OpenAI means the latter can’t use your request to improve or train its models, either.

The patchy arrival of iOS features, especially Apple Intelligence, isn’t a good look for the company. 

However, the rest of iOS 18 continues to deliver valuable new features and upgrades to the iPhone experience, like the aforementioned Invites app, additional content (and games) for News+ subscribers and my favorite feature since the AirPods introduced noise-cancellation, the ability to nod or shake your head to halt Siri announcements, Fitness prompts and even decline calls. I’m a busy guy!

Cameras and Camera Control

Mat Smith for Engadget

With Camera Control, Apple has introduced its most intriguing interface change since the short-lived 3D Touch.” That tech, if you forgot, offered haptic feedback on your screen tapping during the iPhone 6 era. Camera Control acts like a proper manual camera button, even when I know it combines a physical button with elaborate touch sensors. This enables deeper controls by swiping across it or semi-pressing.

Instantly, it works as a basic camera app launcher, just like the iPhone’s Action button has done in recent years. Already, it’s better placed, though, lower on the right edge of the phone, ready for your thumb if held vertically, or index finger when held horizontally. It goes beyond being a launcher, though. Swiping across it lets you adjust zoom, exposure and even toggle the new Photographic Style options. Then, a half-press works as a way to confirm your settings.

Depending on how you use the iPhone’s camera, a lot of the settings might not deserve their place within the Camera Control’s menus. While I often tinkered with Exposure and Zoom, Photographic styles are easier to adjust from the iPhone in the normal touchscreen way. I’m also not going to meddle with simulated f-stops when taking candid shots of my friends and family.

Like Apple Intelligence, Camera Control launched incomplete. When the iPhone 16 Pro first went on sale, it lacked a half-press focus like ye olde traditional cameras, and it took till January 2025 for an AF-AE lock to arrive through iOS 18.3. The feature, however, remains buried in settings and has to be toggled on.

It works well though. You tap on an object you’d like the iPhone to focus on, hold the button halfway, and it’ll lock exposure and focus for as long as you keep your finger down – like a camera. It’s frustrating that we had to wait this long for what seems like a core function of Camera Control.

To be devil’s advocate – and it’s an argument regularly leveled at AI features, both Apple Intelligence and elsewhere – did you need Camera Control? Given how much I use my phone’s cameras, I'd argue that a camera launcher is worth factoring into the hardware. But the Action Button covered that.

Camera Control also seemed like a ‘pro’ iPhone feature, so it’s surprising to see it across the entire device lineup, barring the more recent iPhone 16e.

Another change worth noting is that the iPhone 16 Pro got camera parity with the larger Pro Max this year, with a 5x optical zoom I use most of the time. Of course, this isn't a remarkable feature if you were already using an iPhone 15 Pro Max. But if you prefer the smaller of the two Pro options, aside from battery life, there’s no reason to stop you getting the cheaper iPhone 16 Pro.

Repairability and longevity

I haven’t had to repair my iPhone 16 Pro so far, and there are no pronounced scratches on the 6.3-inch screen or body. While I am also a case dweeb, I don’t use screen protectors — I haven’t needed to. The latest iPhones do come with even more repair-friendly hardware and policies if the worst were to happen. Anecdotally, according to my experience the titanium body and Apple's Ceramic Shield treatment on the display do seem to make this generation of 'pro' iPhones tougher than its predecessors

Apple’s new Repair Assistant, designed to address parts pairing issues, lets both you and repair professionals configure new and used Apple parts directly on the device, with no need to contact Apple personnel on the phone to ensure iOS plays with new parts.

Another improvement, while not part of the 16 Pro, is battery removal. On both the iPhone 16 and 16 Plus, the battery can be released from its enclosure by running a low-voltage current through the iPhone’s battery adhesive. However, the iPhone 16 Pro’s battery is now encased in aluminum, making repairs less fraught, and protecting the battery more when exposed to repair tools. I haven’t had to put it to use yet, but the company’s increased willingness to embrace right-to-repair is headed in the right direction, especially after its sluggish response in the past.

Six months on, the 16 Pro’s slightly bigger battery is holding up, with the one I have still showing it’s at full health. I am a heavy phone user, and 256 charge cycles later, iOS says it’s still at 100 percent capacity, which I found impressive. If I need to replace the battery, I’m heartened that it’s easier than ever on an iPhone.

Wrap-up

Mat Smith for Engadget

The iPhone 16 Pro is one of the best smartphones available. But if there’s a particular area where Apple’s phones are lacking compared to the flagship competition, it might be the messaging and the marketing. It took too long for Apple Intelligence to land on devices. If Apple Intelligence hadn’t been so key to Apple’s presentation both at WWDC and the iPhone 16 launch event, the delay wouldn’t look so bad.

Intriguingly, we’re at a time when the likes of the Galaxy and Pixel series have never felt more like iPhones. Or do iPhones feel like Android phones? I’m not sure anymore. Either way, we haven’t seen rival devices mimic the Camera Control button.

I appreciate that a lot of the new features and additions don’t seem to clog up the iPhone experience. Don’t care for camera filters? You’ll rarely see them. Want to swap the Camera Control button for another function? Go ahead. Want to prioritize Messages notifications, but not WhatsApp messages? Go wild.

With a light, strong titanium build, there’s still a tangible premium feel to the iPhone 16 Pro, compared to the aluminum iPhone 16. The same can be said about the cameras, with a 48-megapixel ultrawide sensor and 5x optical zoom, which the base iPhone cannot match. Functionality-twise, the base iPhone 16 now delivers the Dynamic Island and Camera Control, which makes a ‘pro’ iPhone a little harder to define. For the iPhone 16 series, it boils down to more premium materials and a powerful zoom camera.

I’m sidestepping the desperate attempts at April 1 shenanigans and focusing on the imminent Nintendo Direct broadcast, which is likely to confirm rumors and sink others.

The last few Switch 1 games have been revealed, meaning tomorrow’s Nintendo Direct: Switch 2 presentation, kicking off at 9AM ET / 6AM PT will be all about the new console — no distractions. (Although, I’d be cool with a Silksong release date, finally.)

We already know the Switch 2 will be a bigger console, with a bigger screen and Joy-Cons. There also may be some sort-of-mouse functionality baked into the controllers this time, but Nintendo’s focus is on tech specs — and the games. What does the company have cooking?

— Mat Smith

The biggest tech stories you missed

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The Light Phone III doesn’t have apps or internet, but still costs $799

$599 if you pre-order.

Light Phone

The company behind several minimalist handsets has just released the Light Phone III. It may be the perfect device for folks who brag about giving up smartphones and have the money to experiment with stripped-down phones that are the ultimate step back from modern convenience. Whoops, sorry, I let my mask slip there. Hey, at least there’s no AI nonsense.

There is a cool, crisp B&W OLED display, new for this third iteration, instead of e-ink paper. There’s still no internet, no apps, no email. There is, however, a place for your podcasts and a simple camera with a physical button. There’s also a Maps app, powered by Here, but it’s private, so there’s no info shared on where you’re trying to get to. Privacy like that, however, costs a heady $799, unless you can get the pre-order price of $599 at launch, with estimated delivery in July.

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xAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, just purchased X, Elon Musk’s social media company

Confused? You should be.

Yes, xAI has purchased X, according to a post shared by Musk. Besides their owner and similar names, the companies are already connected through xAI’s chatbot, Grok, so it makes some sense. The biggest surprise may be that X is still valued at $33 billion — according to Musk and his companies, at least. X, once Twitter, was acquired by Musk in 2022 for $43 billion. xAI, like many leading AI companies, has been raising money as often and as quickly as possible. Combining the two companies may ease some of the debt Musk took on.

The companies’ futures are “intertwined,” according to Musk. Financially, now, that’s very true.

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iOS 18.4 is available now

It adds new emoji, Apple News+ Food and priority notifications.

iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4 include a new Apple News+ Food section in the News app that collects recipes and food-oriented articles, including exclusive recipes for Apple News+ subscribers. The updates also introduce new emoji, AI-sorted Priority Notifications in the Notification Center and a new Ambient Music tool in the Control Center.

After a bit of a delay, Apple Intelligence will be available in the European Union for the first time on iPhone and iPad. The suite of AI features will now also work in several new languages “including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India.”

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Cambridge, Massachusetts, may seem like an unlikely site for a YIMBY revolution.

The historic Boston suburb is home to both Harvard University and a bevy of affluent homeowners opposed to any new development. The city even features prominently in the book "Neighborhood Defenders," a seminal work about anti-building, not-in-my-backyarders. Despite all that, the city recently passed a series of laws that could pave the way for a cascade of new housing construction.

Cambridge could certainly use the new units. Data from Zillow shows the city's average rent is $3,400 a month — slightly higher than San Francisco's estimated average rent of $3,200. Homelessness in Cambridge has also been on the rise, particularly since the pandemic. In an attempt to ease this pressure, pro-housing groups that fall under the YIMBY umbrella (short for "yes in my backyard") — particularly the local group A Better Cambridge and the statewide organization Abundant Housing Massachusetts — have been trying to get more homes built in Cambridge for years.

In recent years, that work has started to bear fruit: The city enacted a 100% affordable housing overlay in 2020, which allows developers of below-market-rate apartment complexes to build more densely than would be permitted under base zoning. Three years later, Cambridge rezoned its Central Square neighborhood, allowing apartment buildings to rise up to 18 stories high.

But the latest measure is perhaps the most radical, and most promising. A measure passed in February will legalize the production of four-story apartment buildings across the entire city, with some larger lots zoned for up to six stories. Sure, these newly possible buildings aren't quite as dramatic as an 18-story tower, but this latest change is by far Cambridge's most ambitious. Unlike the geographically confined Central Square upzoning, the newest pro-housing ordinance has the potential to remake the entire city. The city's planning staff estimate that the new law may increase Cambridge's housing development capacity over the next 15 years from 350 units to 3,590 — a more than tenfold increase.

The likelihood that some neighborhoods will become denser has provoked the usual opposition from local homeowners. But viewed from another angle, this densification could make the city a more vibrant and beautiful place to live. There's a reason the Cambridge city councilmember Burhan Azeem has called the city's new plan "Paris-style zoning." As it turns out, Paris is a good model for midsize American cities to follow. By allowing more European-style construction, places like Cambridge can both lower housing costs and look good doing it.

Alongside the Eiffel Tower and the Arc de Triomphe, one of Paris' most iconic architectural hallmarks may be its most ubiquitous: the Haussmann-style building. Georges-Eugène Haussmann (better known as Baron Haussmann) was the famed urban planner who, under Emperor Napoleon III, redesigned central Paris in the mid-19th century. Paris became a city of wide boulevards and midrise apartment complexes with distinctive limestone facades — the aforementioned Haussmann buildings. Thanks in no small part to the prevalence of these structures, Paris has achieved a density higher than any other major city in Europe or the United States — although the city of lights still struggles to keep up with demand for housing.

While Haussmann buildings are specific to central Paris, plenty of other European cities have equivalent structures: four- to six-story apartment blocks with no buffer area between the front door and the sidewalk. Unlike the boxy, cheap-looking American five-over-one apartment building that has come to dominate much of our development — and which many people regard as an eyesore — Euro-style apartments generally contribute to the beauty and charm of dense, walkable tourist destinations like Stockholm and Rome. Plus, they're more efficient: thanks to European building codes and zoning rules, European-style apartment buildings can be built for less, on smaller lots, and with more family-friendly apartments in the interior.

"Sure," you might say, "but what's good for Paris, Stockholm, and Rome won't work in an American context." That's a common refrain from skeptics — citing cultural differences, the need for abundant parking, or their own gut instincts — when YIMBYs propose allowing more European-style zoning in the United States. But these assumptions are incorrect for two reasons.

First, upzoning cities like Cambridge is not the same thing as requiring them to build up to Parisian density. If you own a single-family home in Cambridge, and your lot has been upzoned to allow for the construction of a four-story building, you remain at liberty to keep your single-family home. If you want to redevelop the property into a multifamily building, that's great; if you decide to sell your home to a developer who will replace it with an apartment complex, that's great, too. But nobody is compelling you to do either of those things if you like your existing home.

Second, Cambridge — like many other older cities in New England and the mid-Atlantic region — already has a fair number of dense apartment buildings and townhomes. Rather than destroying the culture or character of these cities, building more Parisian-style housing would signal a return to the pre-single-family era. Many of Cambridge's mid-rise apartment buildings were constructed before single-family zoning became ubiquitous in the United States in the early 20th century. And the ones that have survived are now highly coveted as luxury homes and architectural treasures; yet, for decades, it has been effectively illegal to build more of them. As Azeem wrote on X, Cambridge's previous, single-family-focused zoning laws meant that "85%+ of the existing housing" in the city would be illegal to build. In other words, Cambridge's upzoning may actually help to preserve the city's architectural heritage and New England character. At the same time, it is a model for how other cities can upzone in a manner that actually eases housing costs.

While the patchwork nature of American land-use policy can slow progress in important ways, it can also be an engine for experimentation and friendly, productive competition. Pro-housing activists in cities across the country — in places like Minneapolis, Austin, and Sacramento — and far beyond, in the case of Auckland, New Zealand, have inspired each another, shared insights and tactics, and provided a push to see who can push through the most ambitious land-use overhauls. These pushes can even get a little cheeky: YIMBY advocates in Montana sold zoning changes by urging conservative lawmakers to move away from "California-style zoning." While it will take some years to assess the full impact of these revisions, the early data from places like Auckland is very promising.

Some changes make a bigger impact than others. One lesson from the past few years of YIMBY experimentation is that smaller tweaks to local zoning codes may yield negligible results; ambition is vastly superior to cautious incrementalism. Take Minneapolis, one of the recent YIMBY success stories. Citywide, the production of more housing has helped to keep rents and home prices in check, but as the housing researcher Zakary Yudhisthu has found, there's more going on underneath the hood. The parts of Minneapolis that moved from single-family to duplex or triplex zoning have seen little housing growth, while the corridors that allow for denser construction have seen more permit applications. In other words, going just a few steps further is how you get real results.

But to truly unlock housing production at the necessary scale, high-cost cities cannot stop at upzoning. They also need to reshape permitting rules and other onerous building requirements, such as off-street parking mandates. True European-style zoning would allow for mid-rise apartment buildings with no off-street parking and a single central staircase. (Five-over-ones exist in part because most American cities require multiple staircases in any apartment building over a certain height.)

So while other expensive cities should take inspiration from Cambridge, they should also see if they can go even further. There's still plenty of room for another jurisdiction to take the lead in the race to be America's YIMBY-est city. Any takers?

Ned Resnikoff is an urban policy consultant and writer. He is a fellow at the Roosevelt Institute and is currently working on a book about cities with an expected publication date of Fall 2026.

Johnathan Taylor, former US Marine Corps scout sniper, rates sniping in 11 video games, such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, for realism.

Taylor discusses sniper tactics and equipment, such as the use of the ghillie suit and drones in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II and Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III, and the camouflage techniques and night operations in Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint. He looks at the plausibility of long-range sniper shots seen in PUBG: Battlegrounds, Sniper Elite 5, and Rust. Taylor also explains the realism of popular video game techniques, such as no-scoping and quick-scoping in Counter-Strike 2, and using a sniper rifle in close-range combat in Far Cry 5 and Valorant. He further looks into the accuracy of the equipment and strategies of snipers, such as the sniper's movements in Fortnite, the sniper's shooting position, and the look of the rifle's scope and reticle in Hitman 3 and the suppressed rifle in Apex Legends.

Taylor spent eight years as a scout sniper in the US Marine Corps. He is president of the USMC Scout Sniper Association, an organization dedicated to providing veteran snipers with financial, medical, and psychological support.

You can learn more about the USMC Scout Sniper Association here.

USMC Scout Sniper Association's Instagram.

Apple has released iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4, macOS 15.4 and visionOS 2.4, bringing a grab bag of new features to the companies devices and expanding Apple Intelligence to new countries and languages.

As previously announced by Apple iOS 18.4, iPadOS 18.4 and macOS 15.4 include a new Apple News+ Food section in the News app that collects recipes and food-oriented articles, including exclusive recipes for Apple News+ subscribers. The updates also introduce new emoji, AI-sorted Priority Notifications in Notification Center, new ways to filter photos in the Photos app and lossless audio on the AirPods Max. That's on top of a random assortment of other quality-of-life features like:

• AI-generated summaries of App Store reviews

• An Ambient Music tool in Control Center

• The ability to add and control Matter-compatible robot vacuums to the Home app

• New widgets for the Podcasts app

• A new "Sketch" style for images in Image Playground

Apple

The update to visionOS 2.4 will add Apple Intelligence features like Writing Tools and Image Playground to the Vision Pro for the first time, on top of a streamlined process for sharing your headset with another person, a new Apple Vision Pro app for the iPhone to download apps and experiences to your Vision Pro remotely, and a Spatial Gallery app for the headset itself that features a rotating collection of spatial videos and photos curated by Apple.

After a bit of a delay, Apple says Apple Intelligence will be available in the European Union for the first time on iPhone and iPad. The suite of AI features will now also work in several new languages "including French, German, Italian, Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Chinese (simplified) — as well as localized English for Singapore and India," Apple says.

Back in August 2023, we published an article titled “The Rise of AI Wrappers and the Challenges Ahead,” pointing out the shaky ground some founders were standing on as they built businesses on top of large language models. Nearly a […]

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