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After months of rumors the Trump administration was going to impose tariffs on semiconductors, a tariff has been announced for some chips. The tariff only applies to certain semiconductors, including the Nvidia H200 advanced AI chips set to ship to China. President Donald Trump signed a proclamation on Wednesday that entailed a 25% tariff on advanced AI semiconductors that have been produced outside the U.S. and then pass through the U.S. before being exported to customers in other countries. This news formalizes a key component of the U.S. Department of Commerce’s decision to give Nvidia the green light to start…
Other Great Packing CubesPhotograph: Kat MerckShacke Pak Packing Cubes for $29 (set of 8): These were pretty good quality for an Amazon brand; there’s a sturdy handle and the material is slightly thicker than other packing cubes at this price point. I like the mix of mesh for breathability and opaque fabric for privacy. They come in nine colors, but the colors are clownishly bright (blue pictured above), and the four-paneled mesh design reminds me of a jock strap. Shacke says it uses YKK zippers on all its packing cubes, but I peeled back the covering on the zipper and…
Ethereal Exploration Guild, an Indian space tech better known as EtherealX, has climbed 5.5x in valuation to $80.5 million after its latest funding round. The startup is developing a launch vehicle designed to be fully reusable and is readying engine hot-fire tests ahead of its first technology demonstration flight, planned for 2027. The Bengaluru-based company confirms that it closed an oversubscribed $20.5 million Series A round led by TDK Ventures and BIG Capital, as TechCrunch reported earlier. Accel, Prosus, YourNest, BlueHill, Campus Fund, and Riceberg Ventures also participated, EtherealX said. The raise follows a $5 million seed round in August…
A few weeks ago, if you had told me I would be excited to open a box with “Hacipupu” emblazoned on the front of it, I would have called you a liar. But this figure is, for better or for worse, right up my alley. The box contains a blind bag, and the bag contains your bear. I got Blueberry. It’s soft, it’s not too big or too small, its facial expression is adorable, and it smells like blueberries. The smell does dissipate quickly, but it made the unboxing experience even more fun than it would have been otherwise. There’s…
WhatsApp is allowing AI providers to continue offering their chatbots to users with Brazilian phone numbers, days after the country’s competition regulator ordered the company to suspend its new policy that bars third-party, general-purpose chatbots from being offered on the app via its business API. Under the new policy, the company is providing a 90-day grace period starting January 15 to developers and AI providers, mandating them to cease responding to user queries on the chat app, and notify users that their chatbots won’t work on WhatsApp. Now, Meta told developers that they don’t have to notify users with Brazilian…
The embattled Tea app is back.Months after being removed from Apple’s App Store in light of major data breaches, the app that allows women to share anonymous Yelp-style reviews of men is relaunching with a new website designed to help women “access dating guardrails without limitation,” Tea’s head of trust and safety Jessica Dees told WIRED.The app, which launched in 2023 and went viral last summer, getting to number 1 on the iOS App Store, lets users post photos of men while also pointing out red flags, such as if they are already partnered or registered sex offenders. But just…
Nike has confirmed to ADWEEK that it will not air an ad during Super Bowl 60. The move comes just one year after the brand ended its 27-year Super Bowl hiatus with “So Win,” a widely praised ad from Wieden+Kennedy Portland that championed women in sport.At the time of publication, Nike did not provide additional comment on its decision to sit out this year’s Big Game. The brand will still have a dominant presence on the field as the NFL’s exclusive supplier of uniforms, sideline, practice, and base-layer apparel for all 32 teams.So winNike’s buzzy 2025 Super Bowl spot shone…
Google announced Wednesday the launch of a revamped Trends Explore page, now featuring Gemini-powered capabilities that automatically identify and compare trends related to your searches. The update is rolling out on desktop starting today. The Trends Explore page has long served as a valuable tool for content creators, journalists, and researchers, making it easy to analyze search interest for any topic over time, across regions, and by category. The new Gemini experience streamlines much of the manual work involved in exploring trending topics, reducing research time, and surfacing connections that users might otherwise overlook. The redesigned Explore page now features…
Don’t call them hearing aids. They’re hearpieces, intended as a blurring of the lines between hearing aid and earbuds—or “earpieces” in the parlance of Lizn, a Danish operation.The company was founded in 2015, and it haltingly developed its launch product through the 2010s, only to scrap it in 2020 when, according to Lizn’s history page, the hearing aid/earbud combo idea didn’t work out. But the company is seemingly nothing if not persistent, and four years later, a new Lizn was born. The revamped Hearpieces finally made it to US shores in the last couple of weeks.Half DomesPhotograph: Chris NullLizn Hearpieces…
Microsoft has signed a deal with Indian startup Varaha to buy more than 100,000 tons of carbon dioxide removal credits over the next three years, through 2029, expanding its portfolio of carbon removal projects as the tech giant scales up AI and cloud operations. The project will turn cotton crop waste, which is often burned after harvest, into biochar — a charcoal-like material that can be added to soil, storing carbon for long periods while also helping reduce air pollution from open-field burning. It will initially focus on the western Indian state of Maharashtra and involve around 40,000–45,000 smallholder farmers.…
Once you’ve gotten used to an air purifier, it’s hard to go back to living without one. I like them in the winter because they help the air feel less stale when I can’t crack my windows open. And goodness knows they’re handy in the warmer months, when Mother Nature and her army of grasses and leaves threaten to make me sneeze all day long. We’ve hand-tested multiple models for our air purifier buying guide, and Coway’s have been a consistent favorite. The brand’s popular design-forward Airmega line is discounted right now up to 30 percent off—this is close to…
The reboot of the early internet online community Digg, a one-time rival to Reddit, is moving forward. The company, which is today back under the ownership of its original founder, Kevin Rose, along with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, is launching its open beta to the public on Wednesday. Similar to Reddit, the new Digg offers a website and mobile app where you can browse feeds featuring posts from across a selection of its communities and join other communities that align with your interests. There, you can post, comment, and upvote (or “digg”) the site’s content. Originally a Web 2.0-era news aggregation…
The integrated plate is so beloved that even the company behind one of the most high-end custom shells for the HHKB, Norbauer’s “Heavy Grail” case, designed and manufactured a custom injection-molded plastic plate instead of using individual switch housings.Coding LayoutPhotograph: Henri RobbinsThe largest benefit of any HHKB is the layout. Right out of the box, this keyboard is designed to be intuitive and efficient for coding. The Function key can easily be accessed by the right pinky, and the Control key has been moved from the corner to replace the Caps Lock key. The function layer underneath has also been…
With news that Discord is kicking the tires on going public soon, other tech companies are starting to take their chances. Liftoff Mobile filed its first S-1 document late Tuesday, the first step in the process. The company isn’t yet discussing how big this IPO will be: It has not yet filled in any data about the size of the offering or the stakes held by its principal shareholders. However, the IPO research firm Renaissance Capital reports the whisper number at $400 million, meaning that’s what the street thinks the company hopes to raise.The company offers a platform that helps…
My journey on TikTok Shop started out with a search for “hip hop jewelry.” It’s an innocuous search query multiple users have likely typed in, hoping to find something to wear. While browsing the cheap jewelry, I was struck by what TikTok’s algorithm repeatedly suggested that I might also be interested in: jewelry with blatant Nazi symbolism.TikTok continues to struggle with moderation as its in-app ecommerce store gains traction with younger users. Last year, the social media platform removed multiple antisemitic products from its store. Most recently, many users who were scrolling through videos on their For You pages expressed…
OpenAI announced Wednesday that it had reached a multi-year agreement with AI chipmaker Cerebras. The chipmaker will deliver 750 megawatts of compute to the AI giant starting this year and continuing through the year 2028, Cerebras said. The deal is worth over $10 billion, a source familiar with the details told TechCrunch. Reuters also reported the deal size. Both companies said that the deal is about delivering faster outputs for OpenAI’s customers. In a blog post, OpenAI said these systems would speed responses that currently require more time to process. Andrew Feldman, co-founder and CEO of Cerebras, said just as…