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Tariff Troubles Ahead: Auto Experts Advice on Rising EV and Car Prices

It's not just iPhones and TVs that might cost more. President Donald Trump's tariff policies might be driving up the cost of electric vehicles and combustion cars, too. EVs, in fact, might be especially vulnerable to the new tariffs that target China (a major exporter of critical metals) and the steel industry. China already has a near monopoly on critical minerals and rare earth metals used to manufacture cars, and these tariffs have given China a reason to use that as leverage over the US. Th

Trump and the Energy Industry Are Eager to Power AI With Fossil Fuels

AI is “not my thing,” President Donald Trump admitted during a speech in Pittsburgh on Tuesday. However, the president said during his remarks at the Energy and Innovation Summit, his advisors had told him just how important energy was to the future of AI. “You need double the electric of what we have right now, and maybe even more than that,” Trump said, recalling a conversation with “David”—most likely White House AI czar David Sacks, a panelist at the summit. “I said, what, are you kidding?

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Google’s AI can now make phone calls for you

is a news writer who covers the streaming wars, consumer tech, crypto, social media, and much more. Previously, she was a writer and editor at MUO. Google will now let everyone in the US call local businesses using AI. The feature, which is now available in Search, allows you to use AI for pricing or availability information without having to talk on the phone. Google first started testing this feature in January, and it’s still only available for certain kinds of businesses, like pet groomers

The 13-inch M2 MacBook Air is a great back-to-school deal at just $699

It’s almost back to school season, and we’re starting to see some great laptop deals trickle in as a result. Walmart continues to sell the M1-powered MacBook Air for $599, but if you want more power and a sleeker design, the 13-inch M2-powered MacBook Air starts at just $699 ($100 off) from Best Buy. That’s its best price to date, and it’s available on the configuration that offers 256GB of storage and 16GB of RAM, double what’s in the base M1 model. The M2-powered MacBook Air remains an excell

Google rolls out AI-powered business calling feature, brings Gemini 2.5 Pro to AI Mode

Google is rolling out an agentic AI-powered business calling feature to all users in the United States, the company announced on Wednesday. The tech giant is also enhancing Google Search’s AI Mode by bringing its Gemini 2.5 Pro model to the search experience and introducing deep research capabilities. The new business calling feature uses AI to call local businesses on your behalf to collect information about availability and pricing. The idea behind the feature is to help you access informatio

Leading AI Models Are Completely Flunking the Three Laws of Robotics

In his genre-defining 1950 collection of science fiction short stories "I, Robot," author Isaac Asimov laid out the Three Laws of Robotics: 1. A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. 2. A robot must obey the orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. 3. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law. Ever since, the elegant

AWS aims to be your one-stop-shop for AI agents from Anthropic, IBM, Perplexity, and others

SOPA Images / Contributor/Getty Amazon Web Services (AWS) wants to be the go-to marketplace for businesses looking to buy and implement AI agents. At the annual AWS Summit in New York City on Wednesday, Amazon announced the launch of AI agents and Tools, a new virtual store within AWS Marketplace where enterprise customers can search through agents from Anthropic, IBM, Perplexity, Salesforce, and other vendors. Also: How agentic AI is transforming the very foundations of business strategy Cr

5 entry-level tech jobs AI is already augmenting, according to Amazon

Amazon / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNET Amazon today published a blog post by Michelle Vaz, managing director, AWS Training and Certification, that contains some fascinating insights about how AI is changing the landscape for people early in their careers. To understand this dynamic, Amazon partnered with Draup, a "data intelligence firm specializing in workforce planning and talent analytics." Together, the two companies conducted a study entitled, "The Evolution of Early-Career Technical Roles

Our 11 Favorite Air Quality Monitors We’ve Tried (2025)

In the past five years, I’ve tested dozens of indoor air-quality monitors but have relied on my iPhone’s Weather app to check outdoor air quality. On questionable days that might include haze or the smell of wildfire, I’ll check the government’s free AirNow website, where I’ll plug in my zip code and see its easy-to-read air quality meter. With the increasing wildfire activity from coast to coast, however, I realized it was time to test an outdoor air-quality monitor. The Zen is larger than the

What Actually Happens When Programmers Use AI Is Hilarious, According to a New Study

AI has taken the programming world by storm, with a flurry of speculation about the tech replacing human coders, and Google's CEO recently claiming that 25 percent of the company's code is now AI-generated. But it's possible that in practice, AI is actually hindering efficient software development. As flagged by Ars Technica, a new study from the nonprofit Model Evaluation and Threat Research (METR) found that in practice, programmers are actually slower when using AI assistance tools than maki

These four charts show where AI companies could go next in the US

While the impact of AI on tech hubs like San Francisco and Boston is already being felt, AI proponents believe it will transform work everywhere, and in every industry. The report uses various proxies for what the researchers call “AI readiness” to document how unevenly this supposed transformation is taking place. Here are four charts to help understand where that could matter. 1. AI development is still highly focused in tech hubs. Brookings divides US cities into five categories based on h

The AirPods 4 are still on sale at a near record low price

Engadget has been testing and reviewing consumer tech since 2004. Our stories may include affiliate links; if you buy something through a link, we may earn a commission. Read more about how we evaluate products . Prime Day is no more, but you can still save on Apple’s earbuds. Prime Day might be behind us, but the dregs of the deals are still lingering. And if you’re in the market for a new pair of AirPods, you’re in luck. Apple’s ever-popular AirPods 4 (the ones without ANC) are currently dow

Google adds AI-generated summaries to Discover

Google is bringing AI‑generated summaries to Discover, the personalized stream of articles and videos found in the Google app curated based on a user's interests. The search giant remains undeterred by the imperfect nature of AI Overviews, or what it might mean for publishers whose content largely makes up Google's search results. TechCrunch has reported that some Android and iOS users in the US are seeing cards containing AI‑generated summaries on their Discover page. These cards appear with n

The best free VPNs of 2025: Secure, safe, and fast VPNs

My top pick for free VPNs available in 2025 is Proton VPN, which, despite its limits, will suit many users who do not want to subscribe. Why we like it: The free version of Proton VPN offers many useful features that are paid for through other services and VPN subscribers. This is important when it comes to free VPN services, as it provides a measure of security and data protection that some shady services do not. After all, if your information is being sold in return for a VPN connection, this

China’s Wild World of AR Glasses Has Me Convinced Meta Is Cooked

I know I’ve said it 1,000 times, but AR glasses are hot right now, and arguably no one is more on fire than China. While the U.S. is patiently waiting for Meta to release anything even resembling its prototype AR glasses, Orion, China seems to be making strides day by day. The latest example? These glasses with full-color optical waveguide lenses and 900 nits of brightness from a Chinese company called Wigain. In plain speak, they’re full-color AR glasses with enough brightness to actually use o

Former Top Google Researchers Have Made a New Kind of AI Agent

A new kind of artificial intelligence agent, trained to understand how software is built by gorging on a company’s data and learning how this leads to an end product, could be both a more capable software assistant and a small step toward much smarter AI. The new agent, called Asimov, was developed by Reflection, a small but ambitious startup cofounded by top AI researchers from Google. Asimov reads code as well as emails, Slack messages, project updates, and other documentation with the goal o

Former Top Google Researchers Have Made A New Kind of AI Agent

A new kind of artificial intelligence agent, trained to understand how software is built by gorging on a company’s data and learning how this leads to an end product, could be both a more capable software assistant and a small step towards much smarter AI. The new agent, called Asimov, was developed by Reflection, a small but ambitious startup confounded by top AI researchers from Google. Asimov reads code as well as emails, Slack messages, project updates and other documentation with the goal

UK retail giant Co-op confirms hackers stole all 6.5 million customer records

The chief executive of U.K. retail conglomerate the Co-op on Wednesday said that hackers had stolen the personal data of all of the company’s customers during an April cyberattack. Co-op Group CEO Shirine Khoury-Haq told BBC News that the hackers copied the company’s member list of 6.5 million members, but that the Co-op shut down its network before the hackers could lock up its systems with ransomware. The members’ data includes names, addresses, and contact information. The retailer’s netwo

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang wants to sell more advanced chips to China after H20 ban is lifted

Nvidia is looking to ship more advanced chips to China than its current generation, CEO Jensen Huang said on Wednesday, as he looks to revitalize sales in the world's second-largest economy. The comments come after Nvidia said on Monday that it will resume sales of its H20 artificial intelligence chip to China, reversing a previous ban. The H20 is a less-advanced semiconductor designed for AI workloads that comply with U.S. export restrictions to China. "I hope to get more advanced chips into

The live-action Legend of Zelda movie has cast its princess and hero

Benjamin Evan Ainsworth must be really good at saying 'hup' over and over. Nintendo has revealed the two lead actors for its live-action The Legend of Zelda movie. Bo Bragason is playing the title character, Princess Zelda, while Benjamin Evan Ainsworth is taking on the role of Link, series creator Shigeru Miyamoto announced on X. The performers are around the right ages for their parts — Bragason was born in 2004 while Ainsworth is 16. These are by far the biggest roles to date for both actor

Today's AI Appreciation Day Feels Weird. Celebrate These Other Made-Up Holidays Instead

July 16 is AI Appreciation Day. So break out the champagne for ChatGPT! Bring gifts of Nvidia chips and cake for Gemini and flowers and training data for Claude. Meta AI has had a particularly rough year, so when you're forced to use it on Instagram, make sure it feels your love. Think that sounds ridiculous? Same. But like most things when it comes to AI, today's Appreciation Day is unbelievably stupid, in a way that's totally on brand. If you've never heard of AI Appreciation Day, don't feel

Best Camping Chairs (2025): Snow Peak, Kelty, Helinox, and More

Picking the right camping chair will enhance your time in the outdoors, whether you're thru-hiking the Pacific Crest Trail or pitching up at a boutique campground. Here's what to consider to find the ideal seat for your adventures. Portability: For backpacking beyond the campground carpark, weight and packed size are crucial. Ultralight chairs like those from Helinox and Nemo are designed to be easy to carry. Many hardcore hikers are happy to sit on the ground or take a simple foam sit mat like

AV startup Pronto acquires off-road autonomous vehicle rival SafeAI

The Venn diagram of engineers who know a little bit about AI, self-driving, and mining has a small intersection. Pronto CEO Anthony Levandowski wants as many of those people as possible. And an acquisition is helping him achieve that goal. The San Francisco-based startup, which has developed a self-driving system designed for haulage trucks and other off-road vehicles used at construction and mining sites, has acquired competitor SafeAI, TechCrunch has learned. Terms of the deal have not been

A Staggering Proportion of Teens Say Talking to AI Is Better Than Real-Life Friends

A new survey found that over half of American teens are regular users of anthropomorphic AI companions like Character.AI and Replika. That's striking on its own, as an illustration of how embedded AI companions have become in mainstream teenage life. But even more startling were the 31 percent of surveyed teens who said their interactions with AI companions were either as satisfying or more satisfying than conversations with real-life friends — a finding that shows how profoundly AI is already

Nintendo Has Found Its Live-Action Link and Zelda

In a surprise announcement this morning, Nintendo has confirmed the stars of its live-action Legend of Zelda movie. In a statement first revealed through its Nintendo Today app (which previously gave us the film’s original release date), the publisher confirmed that relative newcomers Bo Bragason and Benjamin Evan Ainsworth will play Princess Zelda and Link, respectively. This is Miyamoto. I am pleased to announce that for the live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, Zelda will be played by Bo

Don't Make the Job Hunt Harder. 9 Strategies to Stay Sane and Get Hired

From ghosting to burnout, experts share how you can land a job in a brutal market. Jeffrey Hazelwood/CNET Stephanie Wandell applied to hundreds of jobs since getting laid off from a tech marketing role last November. When I spoke to her this summer, she'd been ghosted by recruiters and hadn't received any offers. "I was a little bit naive going into it, thinking I could do what I always do and depend on applying to as many places as I can," said Wandell. "It became pretty clear that this time