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The Morning After: Electronics got a temporary US tariff exemption

Engadget

Just before the weekend, the US Customs and Border Protection published a list of products excluded from Trump's tariffs, including smartphones, PCs, memory chips and let's say 80 percent of everything we write about at Engadget. However, that's more because they'll be siloed into a specific product category. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said in an interview on Sunday: "Those products are going to be part of the semiconductor sectoral tariffs, which are coming." The new exclusions would exempt many devices and parts from both the 10 percent global tariff and the steeper tariff on China. Lutnick told ABC News' Jonathan Karl that, in doing this, the president was "just making sure everyone understood that all of these products are outside the reciprocal tariffs and they are going to have their own separate way of being considered."


The Morning After: Our verdict on the Pixel 9a

Engadget

Google is back with another entry-level smartphone, the Pixel 9a. With more AI smarts, a new hardware design, and the biggest battery on any Pixel yet, on paper, it sounds good. In our full Pixel 9a review, Sam Rutherford breaks down where corners have been cut compared to the rest of the Pixel 9 family, namely screen (which is still nice!) and sluggish charging. While there is support for nearly all of Google's AI features, the 499 Pixel 9a doesn't get access to Google's Screenshots app, which is an odd oversight. Especially when the phone has the Tensor G4 chip.


The Morning After: Trump's tariffs are disrupting Nintendo's Switch 2 plans

Engadget

Hours after I published our Friday newsletter, debating the price of Nintendo's new console, the company announced it would delay US pre-orders for the Switch 2 as it wrestled with a new set of tariffs introduced by President Trump. "Pre-orders for Nintendo Switch 2 in the US will not start April 9, 2025, in order to assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions," Nintendo told Engadget. It added that the console is still set to launch on June 5, however. Last week, the Trump administration announced a set of new tariffs on a swath of countries, including Japan (Nintendo's base of operations), China and Vietnam. Those last two countries, where Nintendo manufactures much of its hardware, will be subject to import duties of 54 percent and 46 percent.


The Morning After: The Justice Department wants Google to sell off Chrome

Engadget

The Justice Department said in a filing that Google will have to break up its network of myriad, overlapping businesses and services, upholding the previous administration's proposal. The DOJ reiterated Google will have to sell the Chrome browser -- saying, last year, that selling off Chrome "will permanently stop Google's control of this critical search access point and allow rival search engines the ability to access the browser that for many users is a gateway to the internet." Google is likely to file its own alternate remedies, of course. In a December filing, the company said the Justice Department's original remedies went "overboard" and reflected an "interventionist agenda." But Google is huge, and the DOJ is trying to grasp how its parts intermingle and make it less monopolistic.


The Morning After: Netflix struggles with its livestreaming tech

Engadget

Two weeks ago, Netflix confirmed it would livestream the Love Is Blind season four reunion. But when the time came, first it was delayed, then, after an hour, Netflix pulled the plug. The streaming service soon tweeted an apology and aired the reunion yesterday. This was only Netflix's second attempt at livestreaming. Its first, Chris Rock's comedy special Selective Outrage, aired live in March.


The Morning After: Final 'Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' trailer showcases Link's allies

Engadget

Nintendo shared one last trailer of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before it launches on May 12th. It teases the whole Hyrule world – including the floating island – as well as Link's allies, who will fight alongside him. The plot is typical Zelda fare: You have to find the princess and defeat Ganon. But the fused weapons and vehicles both seem to be major parts of how the game will play. You can even build a robot to take on enemies that have their own battle platform.


The Morning After: Biden administration wants help making rules for AI models like ChatGPT

Engadget

Now, the US government is trying to get a handle on things. The National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) is asking for public comments on possible regulations to hold AI creators accountable. The measures will ideally help the Biden administration ensure these models work as promised "without causing harm," the NTIA says. Hopefully, they'll also speak to experts, too, and not just rely on the anonymous internet public. Get our daily audio briefings, Monday through Friday, by subscribing right here.


The Morning After: Microsoft's VALL-E AI can replicate a voice from a three-second sample

Engadget

While there are already multiple services that can create copies of your voice, they usually demand substantial input. Microsoft claims its model can simulate someone's voice from just a three-second audio sample. The speech can match both the timbre and emotional tone of the speaker – even the acoustics of a room. It could one day be used for customized or high-end text-to-speech applications, but like deepfakes, there are risks of misuse. Researchers trained VALL-E on 60,000 hours of English language speech from 7,000-plus speakers in Meta's Libri-Light audio library.


The Morning After: The best of CES 2023

Engadget

The top news stories today: Apple’s long-rumored mixed reality headset could finally debut this spring, Samsung might unveil the Galaxy S23 series on February 1st, The best of CES 2023..


The Morning After: San Francisco reverses approval of lethal police robots

Engadget

In November, the San Francisco Police Department proposed approving the use of remote-controlled robots with deadly force. This was after a law came into effect requiring California officials to define the authorized use of military-grade equipment. It would have allowed police to equip robots with explosives "to contact, incapacitate or disorient violent, armed or dangerous suspects." San Francisco's Board of Supervisors approved this proposal, initially, despite opposition by civil rights groups. However, during the second of two required votes, the board voted to ban the use of lethal force by police robots. According to the San Francisco Chronicle, this is unusual as the board's second votes typically echo the first results.