Robotics

Truth Social / Elyse Betters Picaro / ZDNETUS President Donald Trump took to Truth Social on Friday to deliver a frank message to Apple: If the iPhones you sell in the US aren’t built on American soil, you’ll face a tariff of at least 25%. It’s the latest move in a months-long push by the President to force one of the world’s most powerful tech companies to bring more manufacturing home.”I have long ago informed Tim Cook of Apple that I expect their iPhone’s [sic] that will be sold in the United States of America will be manufactured and built in the United States, not India, or anyplace else. If that is not the case, a Tariff of at least 25% must be paid by Apple to the U.S. Thank your [sic] for your attention to this matter!” Trump wrote.Also: Why I bought a $5,300 Apple Mac Studio in the midst of tariffs news – and don’t regret itThe announcement quickly sent ripples through the markets, CNBC reported.  In premarket trading, Apple’s share price dipped more than 2%, suggesting investor jitters over the possibility of a higher-cost iPhone — a product that accounts for roughly half of Apple’s annual revenue. More

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNETComputex 2025 just kicked off, and we’re on the ground in Taipei with eyes on all the latest gadgets in the computing world. Unsurprisingly, AI is everywhere, with a general theme of leveling up on the gains made in the last year when it comes to processing power, power efficiency, and next-gen NPUs. Both Nvidia and AMD announced new GPUs, with the GeForce RTX 5060 series and Radeon RX 9060 XT series, respectively, and Intel teased its new “Panther Lake” series of processors, along with some of the first devices to sport the new chips. Also: The best laptops of 2025: Expert tested and reviewedBut it’s not just laptops and computers in the spotlight. We saw some exciting new gaming handhelds, a split keyboard from Asus, and a competitively priced smart ring from Acer that takes aim at the more expensive models — the first of its kind from the computing giant. 1. Nvidia’s new GeForce RTX 5060 GPU More

rob dobi/Getty Have you ever posted something personal or sensitive on social media and regretted it later? Many of us have fallen into that trap. Whether you use Facebook, Instagram, X (aka Twitter), Snapchat, Threads, Bluesky, or even LinkedIn, sometimes you post before you think and eventually realize you overshared. Sure, you can delete your […] More

Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images I’ve worked from home, on and off, for most of my career. I put in my time commuting down the 101, sitting in bumper-to-bumper traffic, and taking two hours to make a 20-minute drive to work. But for the past two decades, I’ve exclusively worked from home. Special Feature In […] More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETGoogle’s Chrome browser for MacOS and Windows is receiving an infusion of new Gemini-powered capabilities, including an AI browsing assistant contextually sensitized to a user’s browsing activities. Google made the announcement this week at Google I/O 2025.Dubbed Gemini-in-Chrome, the feature will be available May 21 to Google AI Pro and Google AI Ultra subscribers in the US as well as Chrome Beta, Dev, and Canary users.  Also: Everything announced at Google I/O 2025: Gemini, Search, Android XR, and moreThe general idea behind Gemini-in-Chrome is to reorganize, aggregate, and then more sensibly redisplay the data found on one or more browser tabs while also embellishing the final output with additional but relevant Gemini-generated information.For example, during a pre-event press briefing attended by ZDNET, Google director of Chrome product management Charmaine D’Silva demonstrated how Gemini-in-Chrome could not only organize a head-to-head feature comparison chart of individual sleeping bags — to which multiple Chrome tabs (one tab per sleeping bag) were pointing — but could respond to text prompts about each bag’s suitability to the expected temperatures for an upcoming camping trip in Maine.  More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways EZQuest’s 6-in-1 USB-C Slim Hub Adapter is available now for $80. It’s super thin and light, the host input cable is removable, and the cable can be replaced if damaged. The writing on the ports is small –> The shift to thin and light laptops has ushered in a host of […] More

<!–> ZDNET’s key takeaways HSFTools’ HF96V thermal camera is available now for $219, with a $50 off coupon on Amazon. It has a broad temperature range and a high level of accuracy with an eight-hour battery life. It has an IP54 rating for dust and water-resistance, but it’s not waterproof. –> Regular readers will know […] More

Kerry Wan/ZDNETGoogle’s Project Starline, first announced years ago, subsequently evolved into an AI-forward 3D video conferencing platform in partnership with HP. Now, Google is rebranding Project Starline into Google Beam and hopes to make the platform available to select customers later this year.Google Beam leans on artificial intelligence (AI) much more heavily than Project Starline did. It uses the power of Google’s AI volumetric video model to transform traditional 2D video streams into realistic 3D experiences. According to Google, the company’s AI expertise, coupled with Google Cloud’s scalability, delivers enterprise-grade reliability that makes true-to-life 3D video conferencing compatible with existing workflows. Also: Everything announced at Google I/O 2025 Communicating via Google Beam, Google noted, will offer a more natural experience than you’d get with traditional video conferencing software or hardware. Google Beam adds depth and dimensionality to the image, thanks to the combination of its AI video model and a light field display. As someone who works remotely, I couldn’t be more excited about this technology, especially when and if it gets condensed into something more applicable in a home office space. More