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Eero has today announced Wi-Fi 7 equipped versions of its eponymous mesh routers, the Eero 7 and Eero 7 Pro. The Amazon-owned company is selling both products on the back of Wi-Fi 7’s promised improvements in speed compared to its existing fare.

The advent of both products is hardly a surprise as, last year, Eero launched both the Max 7 and Outdoor 7. Max 7 is the company’s flagship standalone router / repeater duo equipped with beefy ethernet ports, while the latter is designed to push internet for distances up to 15,000 square feet.

Eero

First up, the Eero 7 is a dual-band (2.4GHz and 5GHz) system that promises a maximum wireless top speed of 1.8 Gbps and up to 2.3 Gbps through its pair of 2.5 Gb ethernet ports. All of that is crammed into the same small package Eero’s mesh units have become famous for, easily able to blend in to your home’s decor.

Naturally, the Eero 7 Pro is the more eye-catching of the pair, since it’ll harness all three bands (2.4GHz, 5GHz and 6GHz) available for Wi-Fi 7. The company promises a theoretical top wireless speed of 3.9 Gbps and, when hooked up to one of its two 5 Gb ethernet ports, will get 4.7 Gbps when wired.

Eero

Previous Eero Pro units stood in the same chassis as its vanilla siblings, but the 7 Pro is getting the same body as found on its Max 7. Eero says that the bigger, cylindrical “passive thermal” design offers quieter operation and far less risk of dust build up compared to its predecessors.

Both the Eero 7 and 7 Pro promise a range of 2,000 square feet per node, and will be sold in single, two or three-packs at retail. The company does remind users, however, that you can tie on additional nodes depending on your needs and the size of your home.

A big part of Eero’s pitch has been to ensure setting up a mesh in your home is as easy and stress free as it possibly can. That incudes a suite of software technologies to keep everything running smoothly, getting your data routed to the most efficient node at all times. Users who pay for Eero Plus will also get additional online security features and parental controls, plus access to 1Password, Malwarebytes and Guardian VPN. All of the units will also connect to your smart home gear if it uses Matter, Thread or Zigbee, and will get the usual Amazon and Alexa integrations.

If you’re familiar with our mesh Wi-Fi buyer’s guide, you’ll know Wi-Fi 7 is a less exciting upgrade than Wi-Fi 6E. The current standard offers a more robust experience and can take advantage of the 6GHz band to cut the volume of wireless clutter on the 2.4GHz and 5GHz bands. Wi-FI 7’s headline feature is its ability to combine those bands together for a vastly increased maximum speed and far more connections. Which is great if you’re in dire need of pushing an 8K movie from one device to another in a matter of seconds.

Until now, Wi-Fi 7 gear was still prohibitively expensive, although the fact Eero is joining the fray suggests prices will start falling in the near future. Certainly, Eero can boast that it is selling the cheapest Wi-Fi 7 gear on the market in the US, with the Eero 7 available for $170, $280 (two-pack) or $350 (three-pack). The 7 Pro, on the other hand, will set you back $300, $550 (two-pack) or $700 (three-pack), which still makes it one of the cheapest tri-band Wi-Fi 7 products on the market. Both products are available to pre-order today, with the first deliveries beginning on February 26.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/home/smart-home/eero-launches-its-wi-fi-7-mesh-routers-160018656.html?src=rss

Microsoft has introduced Majorana 1, a chip for quantum computing, which it said will enable computers to solve incredibly difficult industrial-scale problems in mere years instead of the decades current machines need. The company explained that Majorana 1 is the first quantum computing chip that uses a Topological Core architecture. Specifically, it uses a new type of material called a topoconductor or a topological superconductor that can create Majoranas — a state of matter that's not a solid, a liquid or a gas.

Majoranas were first predicted in the 1930s, but they do not exist in nature: They need to be brought into existence with the right materials under the right conditions. Microsoft's topoconductor wire, which the company built atom by atom for precision, combines indium arsenide with aluminum. When a topoconductor wire is cooled to near absolute zero and tuned with magnetic fields, it forms Majorana Zero Modes (MZMs) at its ends. Majorana qubits are more stable than current alternatives, Microsoft explained. They're fast, small and can be digitally controlled, and they have unique properties that can protect quantum information. 

Since the company's chip architecture joins topoconductor nanowires together to form an "H," each unit has four controllable Majoranas that make up one qubit, the basic unit in quantum computing. The H units can be connected, and Microsoft has already managed to put eight of them on a single chip. As you can see in the image above, the chip can fit in one's hand and can be easily deployed to data centers. Microsoft designed the chip to be able to fit one million qubits, because that's the threshold anybody developing quantum computers has to reach for their creation to be able to truly make a difference in the world.

A million-qubit machine could lead to self-healing materials that can repair cracks in planes, Microsoft said, or to catalysts that can break down all types of plastic pollutants into valuable byproducts. It could also allow scientists to perform computations for the extraction of enzymes that can boost soil fertility or promote sustainable growth of food for the sake of ending world hunger. Microsoft's Majorana 1 requires more parts than just the topoconductor to work, and the company needs more years to get all the elements to work together at a bigger scale. Figuring out how to stack the topoconductor's materials just right was one of its biggest challenges, however, and Microsoft had already conquered that. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/microsofts-majorana-1-quantum-computing-chip-uses-a-new-kind-of-superconductor-160009056.html?src=rss

Despite the obvious benefits of electric cars, Toyota spent the last decade insisting hydrogen would win out in the end. But, as the company announces its third generation fuel cell system, you can tell it’s finally ready to tacitly admit defeat: the new cell is designed for industrial applications, where hydrogen clearly always made more sense. 

The new cell is designed to meet the “particular needs of the commercial sector,” focusing on durability equal to a diesel engine. It’s a lot more fuel efficient, cheaper to make and outputs twice as much power while sitting in the same footprint as the second-generation model. Given Toyota’s love of shrinking its engine technology, that size wasn’t a factor here is enormously telling of where it envisions these cells being used.

Toyota could never make the economic or technological argument for hydrogen cars as a better option than electricity (the Mirai, Toyota’s flagship hydrogen EV, has managed to sell just 28,000 models since its 2014 birth). But for heavy duty vehicles, where battery weight and power are more pressing concerns, hydrogen’s flaws turn into assets. Trucks, construction vehicles, trains, ships and backup generators — less at risk from the lack of general-purpose hydrogen infrastructure — are welcome homes for fuel cells.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/toyota-kinda-sorta-gives-up-on-hydrogen-cars-151059624.html?src=rss

The crackdown on diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in the federal government follows a steady rollback of similar efforts in the private sector. Now, the NAACP is calling out some of those businesses and asking Black consumers to respond by leveraging their purchasing power.

The NAACP issued a “Black Consumer Advisory” over the weekend, calling for accountability for the businesses that have rolled back their DEI initiatives and encouraging Black consumers to prioritize shopping in places that are sticking to them.

“Black consumers have $1.8 trillion of spending power,” said Keisha Bross, director of opportunity, race and justice at NAACP.

The organization is researching and building resources for consumers to track where companies stand, she added. “What we’re saying is, ‘You have a choice that you can make and how you choose to use your dollars.'”

While the NAACP is calling out companies like Meta, Walmart and McDonald’s, Bross said that the realities of the economy make it hard for people to avoid some companies altogether.

So rather than calling for boycotts, the group wants shoppers to be intentional. And many already are, according to a recent survey from the Harris poll, which found consumers of all political stripes are already changing their shopping behaviors.

“It seems there is a group of consumers that are sort of breaking up with the economy. 43% of them have shifted their spending in the past few months to align with their moral views,” said John Gerzema, CEO of the Harris Poll. “That goes up to 66% of Black consumers, 65% of Black women, and even 69% of under-35 black consumers.”

Some shoppers are boycotting stores and products that don’t align with their political views, but others are going out of their way to support the companies that do — a buycott, if you will.

“Things like buycotts are going to be one of the results that I think are going to shake out, with respect to those companies that are actually going to remain true to what they claim they were in the first place,” said Americus Reed II, a marketing professor at the Wharton School.

Reed predicts we are at the beginning of a larger movement, where consumers demonstrate with their wallets that when companies move away from their DEI commitments, “then you’re going to pay a long-term price for that with respect to the credibility and authenticity of your brand,” he said.

Of course, many of these same companies are facing similar pressure to drop DEI efforts, and have to decide which backlash will cost them more.

The number of deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic was so large that it ended up impacting the nation’s Social Security fund — which had a net increase of $205 billion. That’s according to a study out this week from the National Bureau of Economic Research.

The early days of the COVID pandemic were scary — and for good reason, said Hanke Heun-Johnson, a research scientist at USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy and Economics.

“So we had a lot of excess deaths — there were 1.7 million excess deaths during the pandemic,” she said.

Heun-Johnson co-authored the study and said many of those deaths were in people older than 65 “and were drawing retirement benefits, or were going to withdraw retirement benefits, and they had already paid into the system.”

They paid in but stopped collecting when they died. All those uncollected funds added up. This isn’t the first time a public health crisis has left an economic mark on the social safety net, according to Gopi Shah Goda, director of the Retirement Security Project at the Brookings Institution.

“There is actually an old study about how smoking affects Social Security. Increased rates of smoking reduce the cost to the program, because there are premature deaths associated with smoking,” she said.

While the COVID study looked specifically at excess deaths, the pandemic impacted Social Security in other ways too. Many people with long COVID drop out of the workforce, for example, pointed out Goda.

“The labor force participation rate directly influences the payroll taxes that are going into Social Security, as well,” she said.

Overall, Goda said that the $205 billion boost to Social Security won’t change much in the long term; the government pays that amount in benefits every couple of months.

It's honestly difficult to remember the simpler days of video card shopping, before crypto fanatics, supply chain issues and pandemic demand pushed GPUs far beyond rising manufacturer prices. Ideally, I'd like to tell you that NVIDIA's $549 RTX 5070 and $749 RTX 5070 Ti are more reasonable alternatives to the $2,000 RTX 5090 and $1,000 5080. But card makers and retailers have already pushed RTX 5070 prices far beyond those MSRPs. Our review unit, the ASUS 5070 Ti Prime, is currently selling for $900 at Best Buy and $750 at Newegg (we'll see how long that lasts). And of course, it's out of stock at both stores.

While I can't guarantee the actual cost for any RTX 5070 Ti card, I can say this: they'll definitely be solid 4K performers for far less than the RTX 5080 and 5090. But if you're not desperate for an upgrade, it's worth waiting a few months for inventory and prices to stabilize.

Hardware

Based on its specs and (hopeful) pricing, the RTX 5070 Ti currently offers the best balance between performance and value in NVIDIA's lineup. It features 8,960 CUDA cores and 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM, well below the 5080's 10,752 CUDA cores, but at least those cards have the same amount of memory. The cheaper 5070 comes with just 12GB of VRAM, which could be a problem when gaming in 4K.

Our ASUS 5070 Ti card is fairly nondescript, with three fans, a plastic frame and a standard heatsink design. You can choose between performance and quiet BIOS modes, which only changes how aggressive the fans are. Its 2.5-slot design makes it tiny enough for small form-factor cases, though I noticed it was actually slightly larger than the RTX 5090 Founders card.

RTX 5090 RTX 5080 RTX 5070 Ti RTX 5070 RTX 4090 Architecture

Blackwell

Blackwell

Blackwell

Blackwell

Lovelace

CUDA cores

21,760

10,752

8,960

6,144

16,384

AI TOPS

3,352

1,801

1,406

988

1,321

Tensor cores

5th Gen

5th Gen

5th Gen

5th Gen

4th Gen

RT cores

4th Gen

4th Gen

4th Gen

4th Gen

3rd Gen

VRAM

32 GB GDDR7

16 GB GDDR7

16 GB GDDR7

12 GB GDDR7

24 GB GDDR6X

Memory bandwidth

1,792 GB/sec

960 GB/sec

896 GB/sec

672 GB/sec

1,008 GB/sec

TGP

575W

360W

300W

250W

450W

The 5070 Ti could also easily fit into more gaming rigs without requiring a power supply upgrade. It has a peak power draw of 300 watts, compared to the 5080's 360W and the 5090's whopping 575W. That means the 5070 Ti should be able to run comfortably with an 850W PSU, without needing to make the leap to a massive 1,000W unit.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

What really makes this GPU special, though, is that it fully supports multi-frame generation in DLSS 4, NVIDIA's AI upscaling technology. That allows the GPU to generate up to 3 frames with AI for every frame rendered in real-time. It also lets NVIDIA claim that the 5070 can match the speeds of the $1,599 RTX 4090. While you could argue those frames are just "fake" to make benchmarks look better, my time with the RTX 5070 Ti and 5090 has shown that they do lead to a smoother gameplay experience.

On top of multi-frame generation, other DLSS 4 features are also trickling down to earlier NVIDIA cards. As I noted in my 5090 review, "RTX 40 cards will be more efficient with their single-frame generation, while RTX 30 and 20 cards will also see an upgrade from AI transformer models used for ray reconstruction (leading to more stable ray tracing), Super Resolution (higher quality textures) and Deep Learning Anti-Aliasing (DLAA)."

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget In use: A capable 4K gaming GPU

First things first: The RTX 5070 Ti is only slightly faster than the 4070 and 4070 Ti in most benchmarks. The new card is 17 percent ahead of the 4070 Ti in the 3DMark Timespy Extreme test, and 21 percent faster than the 4070 Ti Super in Speedway bench. The difference is even smaller in raw computing and rendering tasks: The 5070 Ti scored a mere 8 percent more than the 4070 Ti in the Geekbench 6 GPU benchmark.

None

3DMark TimeSpy Extreme

Geekbench 6 GPU

Cyberpunk (4K RT Overdrive DLSS)

Blender

NVIDIA RTX 5070 Ti

12,675

238,417

153fps (4X frame gen)

7,365

NVIDIA RTX 5090

19,525

358,253

246fps (4X frame gen)

14,903

NVIDIA RTX 4070 Ti Super

11,366

220,722

75fps (1x frame gen)

7,342

NVIDIA RTX 4070

8,610

N/A

45fps (1x frame gen)

6,020

But, of course, actual gaming performance matters more than benchmarks. And if you're playing something with support for DLSS 4, you'll certainly notice some improvements. Dragon Age: The Veilguard held a steady 200fps in 4K with 4X multi-frame generation, ray tracing and graphics settings maxed out, On the 4070 Ti, I typically saw between 90fps and 100fps with those same graphics settings and DLSS 3.5's single frame generation.

Now, I can't actually say the game looked twice as smooth on my Alienware 32-inch QD-OLED monitor, but it definitely looked silky over the hours I've tested. There weren't any weird upscaling artifacts, those frames felt real. It's also worth noting the RTX 5090 clocked 240fps in Dragon Age with the same graphics settings. Perhaps my CPU held it back a bit (I'm running a Ryzen 9 7900X), but the 5070 Ti's performance was still remarkably close while being a much cheaper GPU.

Cyberpunk 2077 also played like a dream in 4K in ray tracing overdrive mode with multi-frame gen, reaching 150fps on average. That's well below the 5090's stunning 250fps figure, but it's still impressive for a game that used to bring powerful rigs to their knees. Cyberpunk also hit 230fps in 1,440p with those same settings, which also upscales beautifully to 4K screens.

For games without DLSS 4, like Halo Infinite, the 5070 Ti was still a solid performer, reaching an average of 140fps with maxed-out graphics and ray tracing. In comparison, the 5090 hit 180fps on average. Even if you're lucky enough to have a 240Hz 4K monitor, I'd bet even demanding gamers would be just fine with the 5070 Ti's speeds. But if you care more about framerates than resolution, it'll still have you covered. I saw 220fps in Halo Infinite in 1,440p, and 320fps in 1080p.

The ASUS 5070 Ti typically idled between 30C and 35C, and it quickly reached up to 65C under load. Its fan array isn't as sophisticated as the 5090 Founder's card, but it still managed to cool down the card below 40C in around 15 seconds.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Should you buy the RTX 5070 Ti?

Simply put, the RTX 5070 Ti handled just about everything I threw at it, and I didn't find myself missing the 5090 too much (aside from bragging rights). Unfortunately, I haven't had a chance to test the RTX 5080, but given its high cost, it's still something I'd have trouble recommending to anyone.

The real question for gamers right now is: Do you need the RTX 5070 Ti's 16GB of VRAM and higher CUDA count? If you're aiming to play in 4K most of the time, it'll be worth having more than just the 5070's 12GB of RAM. Games are becoming more complex every year, so it likely won't be long before you'll actually need 16GB of VRAM to play 4K games comfortably. But if you're living the 1,440p life, then 12GB will likely be enough for years to come.

DLSS 4's multi-frame gen is the biggest draw for NVIDIA's 50-series cards, and it's mostly useful for 4K gaming. So if you're happy with your 40-series GPU and don't need to push a 4K 240Hz monitor to its limit, there's not much reason to upgrade. For 30- and 20-series owners though, your patience will be rewarded.

As I mentioned before, it's still worth waiting a few months to see how prices settle. If you're lucky enough to score the RTX 5070 Ti for $750, go for it. But it's far less compelling at $900 or above. At that point, you're just way too close to the 5090's $1,000 MSRP.

We're still waiting to see how AMD's upcoming RDNA 4 Radeon 9070 and 9070 XT GPUs will perform, but they're being positioned as direct competitors to the 5070 and 5070 Ti. AMD finally has DLSS-like AI-powered upscaling coming this year, so the difference between its cards and NVIDIA's may be slimmer than usual. But NVIDIA also has a dramatic head start, and it'll likely take a while for AMD's Fluid Motion Frames technology to catch up on multi-frame generation.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget Wrap-up: A great 4K card... if you can get it close to $750

The RTX 5070 Ti won me over in ways I didn't expect. I knew it would be a tad faster than the 4070 Ti Super, but with the addition of multi-frame generation, it's also a far more capable 4K card. And it's definitely more future-proof than the 5070, since it has 16GB of VRAM like the 5090.

While I think the $549 5070 remains the most intriguing entry of NVIDIA's new family, it's nice to see that there's something for sensible enthusiasts between that and the $1,000 5090. And yes, it's still strange to call a $750 video card "sensible."

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/pc/nvidia-geforce-5070-ti-review-a-sensible-4k-powerhouse-for-749-140023082.html?src=rss

Chinese game publisher NetEase has laid off Marvel Rivals development team members including the game director, Kotaku reported. Some of those let go expressed surprise and dismay at the move considering that the team-based PVP shooter has consistently been in the top ten on Steam since its December debut. A large part of the Marvel Rivals development team is located in China, but only North American layoffs were reported. It's not clear yet how many people were let go.

"This is such a weird industry," wrote game director Thaddeus Sasser on LinkedIn. "My stellar, talented team just helped deliver an incredibly successful new franchise in Marvel Rivals for NetEase Games... and were just laid off." 

“I don’t get it, man,” wrote game artist Del Walker on Bluesky. “You make one of the most successful LIVE service titles of the generation, despite the world telling you LIVE service is dead - and still get laid off? What are we even doing at this point." 

Marvel Rivals currently sits at number six on Steam's top seller list and just had its first big content update for Season 1 that happened at nearly the same time as the layoffs. The game has received solid reviews for its Marvel lore and straightforward gameplay and has reportedly been very successful in its first month. It has been one of the rare good stories in terms of live service games, following announcements from Sony that some of its titles in development had been scrapped. 

There are concerns that more layoffs may be coming from China-based studios in response to US tariffs. In a statement to VentureBeat, however, NetEase denied that it is eliminating its foreign investments and overseas gaming studios. 

"For 2025, we have an extensive pipeline of titles in development, feature a variety of genres, including FragPunk, Ananta and more," NetEase said in the statement. "[However] as part of our investment strategy, we started scaling down two of our studios at the end of 2024. This decision was based purely on business evaluations and not influenced by other factors. And this represents only a small portion of our overseas studio portfolio." 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/marvel-rivals-team-hit-with-layoffs-despite-huge-success-of-game-133002120.html?src=rss

The US government could impose hefty tariffs on automobile, chip and pharmaceutical imports. According to Reuters and CBS News, President Donald Trump told reporters at his Mar-a-Lago estate that the tariffs on auto imports, specifically, will be "in the neighborhood of 25 percent" and that he'll reveal more details about them on April 2. That's the day he's bound to get reports from members of his cabinet outlining options on duties for different imports across industries. When the president was asked how he could ensure that the European Union wouldn't retaliate by imposing the same levies on US imports, the president reportedly reiterated that the bloc signaled it would lower tariffs on US cars.

During the press briefing, the president also said that he's imposing similar tariffs on imported semiconductors and pharmaceutical goods. He said the government could collect 25 percent in taxes, or higher, for those imports and that they will "go very substantially higher over course of a year." It doesn't sound like the president will announce new taxes on chip and pharmaceutical imports in April, though. He said he wants to give companies in those industries "a little bit of chance" to build factories in the US so that they can avoid the new tariffs. 

To note, Reuters previously reported that the US government is looking to renegotiate the CHIPS and Science Act deals closed by the Biden administration. The program seeks to give semiconductor manufacturing a boost in the US by awarding grants to companies building foundries on US soil. But Trump previously criticized the initiative and argued that increasing tariffs would compel chip companies to build factories in the US without the government having to shell out any money. Trump admitted that prices could go up in the US due to the higher tariffs on foreign goods, but the president believes it'll only be a short-term problem and that they will benefit the country's economy in the future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/trump-plans-to-impose-25-percent-tariffs-on-automobile-and-semiconductor-imports-130044480.html?src=rss

If you’ve ever spent way too much time searching for your keys, wallet, or even your backpack, Apple’s AirTag could be a total lifesaver. This tiny, coin-sized tracker pairs with your iPhone and uses the Find My network to help you track down lost belongings with impressive accuracy. Whether it’s hiding under the couch or left behind at a coffee shop, an AirTag makes sure you can find it fast.

But to get the most out of your AirTag, you’ll need the right accessories. Since AirTags don’t have built-in clips or keychain holes, one of the best AirTag holders can help you attach it to your keys, bags or even your pet’s collar. From sleek leather keychains to rugged waterproof cases, the right AirTag holder not only keeps your tracker secure but also adds a touch of style or extra protection. Some even come with adhesive backs, letting you stick an AirTag onto your bike, laptop or remote control so it never goes missing again.

To help you find the perfect match, we’ve rounded up the best AirTag accessories, including must-have accessories like the best AirTag holders, keychains and protective cases. Whether you need something stylish, durable or budget-friendly, there’s an option that’ll keep your AirTag safe and make tracking your stuff even easier.

Best AirTag holders for 2025

AirTag holder FAQs Why do AirTags need a holder?

AirTags need a holder because they do not have built-in keyring holes like Tile, Chipolo and other Bluetooth trackers do.

How do you attach an AirTag to things?

You'll need a holder or case to attach an AirTag to your stuff. If you're comfortable slipping an AirTag into an interior pocket of a bag or coat, you can do so without an extra accessory. But if you want to use one to keep track of your keys, wallet, backpack or even your pet on their collar, you'll need an accessory that can accommodate that use case.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/accessories/best-apple-airtag-cases-holders-accessories-123036404.html?src=rss

Shakila Hotak turns the keys in her red Toyota. In Afghanistan, where Hotak is from, women are not supposed to drive, especially under the Taliban. But Hotak isn’t in Kabul anymore.

She now lives in Houston, which is where she was resettled as a refugee two years ago. She supports herself with a factory job that pays $11 an hour. 

Speaking in Dari, Hotak says through an interpreter that before getting her driver’s license and car, she used to commute to her job by bus. 

“I was taking two buses,” she says. “One bus, they dropped me to the pharmacy, and after that, I took another bus … to my place of work.” 

Her commute was roughly two hours each way. Now that she has a driver’s license and her own car, it’s around 35 minutes. And she has the freedom and time to do other things, like form friendships and take herself to the doctor.

“I’m leaving my home and I’m going to work, and also I go to hospital,” she says. “I drink tea, something like that. And also … I go to chat with my friends, gossip.” 

Learning how to drive and getting a license is a must for refugees and immigrants, many of whom come from countries where public transportation is more widely available. That’s why YMCA International Services in Houston has helped these drivers learn the rules of the road — for free and in their native language. 

During a class in late January, Innocent Tuyiringire led orientation for the driver’s ed program.

“Buenos días a todos. How are you doing?” he asked the class.  

This training walked students through the process of obtaining a driver’s license. It’s part of a program that launched in 2021, and it’s helped around 550 people, according to YMCA.

Tuyiringire asked the class why they’re attending the event. “First question is: Why do you feel like you need driver’s license?” 

One woman said in Spanish: “Driving is obligatory. Everything is far.” 

Another woman said, “There’s a lot of jobs that require a license.”

For many in Houston, driving is crucial for their economic self-sufficiency, which is why Tuyiringire teaches these students about things like insurance and child car seats and what to do when they hear sirens.

Joanne Pantaleon, who supervised the program, said her clients were hired for new jobs and kept their jobs after getting their license through this program, which was especially popular with women.  

“A lot of people talk about empowering women,” Pantaleon said. “You empower women by allowing them to get out of the home and doing things for themselves and not depending on their husband to do day-to-day activities.” 

She said she’s particularly happy that so many Afghan women signed up.

“Culturally, the women from the Afghan community stay at home. The fact that 100 Afghan women came to us to learn how to drive tells me that they’re on the path to integration.” 

At Farhnaz Azimi’s house in west Houston, she sat cross-legged in her living room on a red carpet. Cartoons were playing for her youngest. 

Through her son Hafiz, who interprets Dari, Azimi said she’s been “at home all three years” that she’s here. 

Her life has largely revolved around her home while her husband works and many of her seven kids go to school. She said she decided to get her driver’s license to run her home by herself — buy groceries, go to the gym and one day maybe get a job. 

She’s a step closer to that with the new Texas driver’s license she got through YMCA’s program. She pulled it out of her purse, smiled and said she was “so happy” when she received it.

Azimi is among the program’s many beneficiaries, but it won’t be taking new students anytime soon. 

Weeks after President Donald Trump took office, YMCA International Services in Houston suspended the program and furloughed employees because of the pause on refugee resettlement. YMCA wouldn’t comment further.

“That sense of empowerment is immeasurable, and not just being able to drive the car. But actually, that is the vehicle that connects them with the outside world, to independence,” said Zenobia Lai, executive director of the Houston Immigration Legal Services Collaborative. 

Lai, who has worked in refugee resettlement, said programs and classes don’t just give people the chance to flee violence.

“The refugee resettlement program is actually a beacon of hope about America, what America is. We are losing a lot by cutting the program.”

Without a change in policy, program cuts and layoffs are likely to continue.

This week will be chatty for Fed officials, with remarks scheduled from Federal Reserve bank presidents, governors and others. A topic that’s sure to come up: inflation and how tariffs might affect it. 

In fact, it’s already come up. On Monday, Fed governor Christopher Waller said he thinks tariffs would only modestly increase prices and he favors “looking through these effects when setting monetary policy.” Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee — in previous remarks and on “Marketplace” — has warned that tariffs could increase inflation.

At the heart of the debate is the question: Do tariffs lead to one-time price increases, or do they lead to more persistent inflation?

To predict how tariffs might affect inflation, economist Stephanie Kelton at Stony Brook University said we need to know exactly what the tariffs will be.

“It’s so tough because we’re trying to have a conversation about something where there’s just, you know, nobody knows,” she said.

We don’t know if all the proposed tariffs will go through or if they’ll lead to a trade war and more taxes on trade. So first?

“The Fed is going to try to look past that transitory inflation spike that’ll be created by the tariffs,” said Ken Kuttner, a professor at Williams College and a former Fed staffer.

Unless consumers think that price spike is just the beginning. “People start thinking, well the price of tomatoes went up, everything else is going to start going up. So we’re returning to an inflationary environment,” he said.

“Returning” is a key word here. Years of inflation have primed us to think higher tomato prices mean higher prices for cars and clothes. And with tariffs, that might appear to be true, since they cover many categories of goods whose prices will rise kind of all at once.

Randy Kroszner, a former Fed governor, said a sign that workers believe this is inflation would be that they ask for pay raises.

“Typically, the Fed will respond to something that it sees as an ongoing process. You know, if wage increases continue to be very high and that adds to cost of production and that will lead to higher prices down the line,” he said.

It’s why, regardless of where the tariffs land, the Fed’s messaging will be important.

“If the inflation rate starts to move up for whatever reason, the Fed is going to feel compelled to respond in some way,” said Stony Brook’s Kelton.

Maybe with a longer pause in cutting interest rates or even a hike to signal to consumers that it is serious about getting inflation down to 2%.

AI hardware startup Humane has given its users just ten (10!) days notice that their Pins will be disconnected. In a note to its customers, the company said AI Pins will “continue to function normally” until 12PM PT on February 28. On that date, users will lose access to essentially all of their device’s features, including but not limited to calling, messaging, AI queries and cloud access. The FAQ does note that you'll still be able to check on your battery life, though.

Humane is encouraging its users to download any stored data before February 28, as it plans on permanently deleting “all remaining customer data” at the same time as switching its servers off.

The company says it will refund customers who are still within the 90-day return window, so long as they submit by February 27. It also notes that users who opted to wait for a replacement for the device’s combo fire hazard and Charge Case will now be refunded “the portion of [their] original purchase price that was allocated to the Charge Case.” In the original recall note, that amount was $149 if ordered separately or $129 if ordered as part of the “Complete System” bundle.  

Today’s discontinuation announcement was brought about by the acquisition of Humane by HP, which is buying the company’s intellectual property for $116 million but clearly has no interest in its current hardware business. The AI Pin was famously panned at launch by a broad section of reviewers, including our own Cherlynn Low, who called it “the solution to none of technology’s problems.” 

HP says the acquisition will bring Humane's "engineers, architects and product innovators" to a new team called HP IQ, which it describes as an "AI innovation lab focused on building an intelligent ecosystem across HP’s products and services for the future of work." Good luck with that!

The New York Times reported last June that Humane was seeking a $1 billion buyout after only receiving 10,000 orders, and cited HP as an interested company. Another seven months of reality has apparently persuaded Humane’s founders to settle for a far lower figure.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/all-of-humanes-ai-pins-will-stop-working-in-10-days-225643798.html?src=rss

Samsung just announced it’s going to cancel more than $2 billion of its stock. Meaning the electronics company bought back a bunch of its shares, and now it’s just going to make them disappear.

The upside of canceling shares is that it lets companies make their stock more valuable. But canceling shares can also be a bad sign, especially after a company hasn’t been performing well.

Usually, when companies buy back their own shares, they hang onto what they buy so they can give them to employees, or resell them later when they need a little money.

Connel Fullenkamp, an economics professor at Duke University, said canceling bought back shares is a bold statement.

“Traditionally, this has been a way for companies to try to signal to the markets, ‘Hey, we think our shares are undervalued,'” said Fullenkamp.

Canceling shares kind of solves that problem, said Ari Shwayder, who teaches economics at the University of Michigan’s business school.

“The overall value of Samsung is still what it was, but the number of shares that exist in the world is less, and so the value per share will go up if the number of shares goes down,” said Shwayder.

And investors have a reason to prefer share cancellations to, say, offering a dividend, said Paul Shea, who teaches economics at Bates College.

“You don’t pay a dividend tax rate on it,” said Shea. “You pay a capital gains tax rate, which is lower for most people.”

But, Shea said, the billions of dollars that Samsung spent to buy the shares it’s canceling is billions it did not spend on acquiring other companies or building new plants. 

“So that could be a negative signal, but it could also just be that this is not a time where there’s great opportunity for expansion,” said Shea.

Shea said the cancellations would make him more nervous for a younger company that’s never turned a profit. With an older, more stable company like Samsung, he said there’s nothing wrong with returning money to shareholders this way.

The last few years have been rocky for the live-streaming platform Twitch. Despite enjoying an uptick in viewership during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns, a report from The Wall Street Journal last year suggested the company has yet to turn a profit for Amazon, which purchased Twitch in 2014.

Yet Twitch remains a big deal for the millions of people who stream on it, which the website TwitchTracker estimates at over 7 million users last month. Making it as a streamer can be exceedingly difficult; an analysis of a 2021 data leak of creator payouts suggested that fewer than 1% of streamers actually make minimum wage.

“Being there every day, streaming during the same time segment, there’s always the thought of, ‘If I stop or if I take a sustained break, then everyone will leave,'” said journalist Nathan Grayson, co-founder of the website Aftermath. “They’ll find somebody else to either follow or watch or, crucially, give their money to.”

In his new book, “Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen,” Grayson chronicles both the platform and the streamers who made it what it is today. The following is an excerpt looking at the experience of one streamer who attempted to capitalize on a moment of virality.

Breaking points are strange. Sometimes they take months or years of reflection, meditation, therapy. But other breaking points happen instantly, with the viciousness of a thunderclap. Emme “Negaoryx” Montgomery learned this the hard way.

On the wings of a viral moment in 2019, Montgomery’s star had finally begun to rise. To pursue her dreams of Twitch fame — or even just a middle of-the-road Twitch career — she’d given up a college education and a career in the entertainment industry. She’d endured countless long days and sleepless nights to get her numbers up.

All of that — years of unglamorous toil — built to a single, thirteen-second stream moment. In it, Montgomery, light brown hair swooped to the side and clad in a plain white tank top, playing the popular PlayStation action-horror game The Last of Us, gets taken by surprise when an arrow impales an innocent rabbit, splattering virtual snow with disarmingly realistic bunny blood. Already in a heightened state of emotion from a previous story scene in the game, Montgomery immediately covers her face with her hands and yelps in authentic sorrow. That’s it. That’s the entire clip.

Much like her dearly departed lagomorphic friend, Montgomery never could have predicted what happened next. Nobody could’ve. The internet builds its ever-evolving zeitgeist like a free-form jazz player: It selects pieces in an almost gleefully haphazard fashion, and somehow they fall into place without bringing the whole house down. In 2019, it was suddenly Montgomery’s turn to be at the center of it all. Her thirteen-second livestream moment had everything: tragedy, comedy, and spontaneity that simply couldn’t be scripted. Millions of people shared hundreds of versions of the “Last of Us dying rabbit meme girl” clip. Literally overnight, she went from having a regular Twitch viewership of a couple hundred to thousands, all waiting expectantly to meet the woman behind the meme.

Montgomery could not let this moment go to waste. She knew what was at stake. On Twitch, chances to “make it” are few, far between, and most importantly, fleeting. There are around 7 million streamers on the platform. After analyzing data from a 2021 leak that revealed payment information for everybody on Twitch, observers found that fewer than ten thousand — less than 0.1 percent — of streamers make minimum wage or better, let alone get rich. And things were likely better by then, compared to the timing of Montgomery’s big moment in 2019. But it’s always been a mighty exclusive club, and one that features a revolving door; back in 2018, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, then Twitch’s most popular streamer, took a two-day break from streaming. He lost forty thousand paying subscribers, totaling out to over $100,000. Much like livestreaming as a medium, even success on Twitch is ephemeral. For every Ben “CohhCarnage” Cassell — every pillar of consistency who has managed to stick it out for over a decade — there are countless big names and no names who’ve burnt out and fallen off almost overnight. This weighed on Montgomery, just as it weighs on every person who hopes to turn the pipe dream of playing video games for a living into a career.

“I just said ‘yes’ to everything because I thought I was never gonna get opportunities again,” Montgomery explained.

So, in the first half of 2019, she streamed and participated in events as much as humanly possible. During one event, a live charity drive for Red Nose Day, a campaign to end child poverty, she rubbed elbows with megastars like fellow streamers Imane “Pokimane” Anys and Rachell “Valkyrae” Hofstetter as well as movie star (who moonlights as a YouTuber) Jack Black. But she also picked up a cough she just couldn’t shake. Fortunately, she wasn’t sick. Her voice was just struggling after endless amounts of talking on-stream and off. But then, midway through the event, one of her coughs hit different.

“I coughed and felt something in my side,” Montgomery said. “I tried to inhale and wanted to scream. It was like somebody shoving the world’s sharpest sword directly inside me anytime I tried to breathe. I was like, ‘I’m on camera. We’re smiling and at a charity event, and I’m fucking dying. What is happening to me?’”

Montgomery had coughed so hard that she broke a rib. But she couldn’t stop. By this point it was the beginning of summer, and she had too many events on the calendar. Famous streamers were just about to host a reality TV−style broadcast called Streamer Camp, and she’d been invited to compete. It was an enormous opportunity to grow her audience and network with some of the biggest names in the business. How could she say no? On top of that, E3, an LA-based convention that functions as the nexus of all video game announcements, was set to take place immediately after in June, and Montgomery had landed a hosting gig. She couldn’t pass that up, either. So she decided to soldier on, broken rib and all. She’d just smile her way through the pain, she figured. She’d already done it once, after all. How hard could it be to keep doing it . . . indefinitely?

Then, while Montgomery was sitting on a couch and catching up with some friends, that nasty cough decided to rattle her rib cage again. Cough, cough, pop. Just like that, she’d broken another rib. The pain was so intense that her friends had to carry her to bed. The next day, a doctor told her there was really only one thing she could do to expedite her recovery: rest for a couple weeks. He asked her if she could take that much time off work. She said she could but she wasn’t going to.

“He literally laughed in my face and said, ‘Good luck,’” Montgomery recalled.

The day after, she was off to a premiere of the movie X-Men: Dark Phoenix for a stream sponsored by Fox. Mere hours after that event wrapped, she took a Lyft to the house in LA where Streamer Camp was being filmed and spent a week hardly sleeping and competing in livestreamed challenges alongside other streamers. She ended up leaving before everyone else, not because she had two broken ribs, which had not, you will be surprised to learn, miraculously healed, but because it was time to rush over to the LA Convention Center for the days-long, appointment-packed frenzy that is E3. Even once that ended, there was no finish line in sight. Next, Montgomery flew out to a charity summit in Memphis, Tennessee, and then to an event hosted by one of gaming’s biggest publishers, EA, in Germany, followed shortly by TwitchCon—an official Twitch convention—in Europe.

“All of my viewers were like, ‘What the fuck are you doing? Take care of yourself,’” Montgomery said. “I probably sounded like a crazy person to everyone, because I was like, ‘I can’t stop.’”

In the end, the physical toll was great. Montgomery said her body — already prone to pain from a spinal injury — remained “messed up” long after. But the mental toll was greater. There’s a price when you push yourself past your breaking point. You can only put so many cracks in your resolve before its foundation starts to crumble. Going into her nonstop summer, Montgomery was already in rough shape. Just before the Last of Us bunny kicked off a new chapter in her Twitch career, her stepfather had lost his battle with cancer.

Excerpted from “Stream Big: The Triumphs and Turmoils of Twitch and the Stars Behind the Screen” by Nathan Grayson. Copyright 2025 © by Nathan Grayson. Reprinted by permission of Atria Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster LLC.

We start this story with a question: How low can unemployment go in this country?

It was 3.5% in February 2020, heading into the pandemic. In the pandemic recovery it fell as low as 3.4% (in April 2023) — a more than 50-year low. As of January 2025, the latest month for which we have data, it sits at 4% — still very low in historic terms. (The Bureau of Labor Statistics has been publishing modern unemployment statistics since 1948).

But could unemployment fall even lower than it’s been in recent years? To 2% ? Or 1.5%?

The question is prompted by a story I reported recently, in which I explained why unemployment couldn’t keep falling as rapidly in this most recent five-year period (2020 to 2025) as it had in the comparable period before the pandemic (2015 to 2025 — when it fell from 5.5% to 3.5%). I wrote that that would have meant unemployment falling to 1.5% — which I said “economists will tell you, pretty much can’t happen.”

And then I heard from fellow Marketplace reporter Stephanie Hughes, who asked a simple but probing question: “I know that below 4% is really good. But why can’t we get to 1.5%?”

And right off the bat, I found an economist — Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter — who said that it’s not unthinkable.

“We know from some states and cities in America that very low unemployment rates are possible,” said Pollak. “In 2024, South Dakota had an unemployment rate of just 1.9%.”

But at the national level, unemployment’s only ever fallen as low as 2.5%, for two months in 1953. (The unemployment rate referred to here is the “official” rate, U-3, with unemployed workers defined as those who do not currently have a job and have actively looked for work in the past four weeks.)

One reason the unemployment rate hasn’t gone lower, said former Federal Reserve economist Claudia Sahm, author of the Sahm Rule, now at New Century Advisors, is that certain demographic groups face barriers to full employment, including lack of education and training, and discrimination.

Black unemployment has historically been about twice as high as white unemployment. In South Dakota, unemployment on some Native American reservations is 80% or higher.

“There are mismatches of the skills that workers have, and the geographies of where they are,” said Sahm. “And that is the limit on the national unemployment rate, these pockets of structurally much higher unemployment.”

There is another kind of unemployment that keeps the rate well above 1.5%, said Betsey Stevenson at the University of Michigan: “Something that economists call ‘frictional unemployment.’ The flies in the ointment that prevent workers and jobs from finding each other right away.”

This is the unavoidable churn — in good times and bad — as workers leave one job to find another, or graduate from school and start looking. And we actually want some frictional unemployment. It’s a sign of a healthy labor market, said economist Michael Strain at the American Enterprise Institute.

“Being unemployed for a few weeks and finding the best match you can — you’re more productive, you’re contributing more to the firm, to the economy, it means that you’re earning a higher wage,” said Strain.

“If the unemployment rate got down to 1.5% or something like that,” Strain continued, “I’d be worried that for some reason workers were just scrambling to take the first job they could find. Or, has something happened that has led workers that are relatively harder to employ to exit the workforce entirely, such that only the most employable workers are left.”

We might over time develop better technology to match workers and employers faster, said Strain, which could reduce frictional unemployment a bit.

And that would be a good thing, said economist Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute. “When unemployment is low, that’s great for workers and the economy. But it actually can get too low.”

Economists tend to agree that anything lower than 2.5% to 3% risks extreme labor shortages developing in the economy.

“Firms who have job openings, they’re just basically poaching workers from other companies, because there’s hardly any unemployed people to hire,” said Shierholz. “That requires big wage increases, and then that translates into big price increases.”

In other words, inflation. The Fed would raise interest rates to fight it, driving unemployment back up again.

And it’s not only a hot labor market that can lead to super-low unemployment, said Betsey Stevenson: “A low unemployment rate could be associated with a very stagnant labor market, where there are no jobs, so there’s no point in looking,” she said.

This is Stevenson’s tech-driven nightmare scenario, where artificial intelligence and robots are able to do the work of most humans — cheaper than we can do it ourselves.

“Human wages are pushed so low that maybe people don’t even want to work,” said Stevenson. “Maybe they can’t even survive while working.”

So, bottom line: Unemployment could fall lower than it has in the last 70 years, maybe as low as 1.5%. But if it ever does, we should be worried that something is seriously wrong with the U.S. economy.

Annapurna Interactive is holding a games showcase on February 24. It streams live at 12PM ET via the company’s YouTube page. The publisher has released a short teaser video to hold us over until Monday.

This is the first event Annapurna Interactive has held since the entire staff, including the executives, resigned from the company last year. That mass walkout occurred after a failed attempt to spin off the games division from the remainder of the company.

"All 25 members of the Annapurna Interactive team collectively resigned," the team said in a joint statement. "This was one of the hardest decisions we have ever had to make and we did not take this action lightly."

Annapurna hired new people to replace those who left, which was pretty much everyone. This is the first time we’ll get to see what the revamped publishing house has been working on.

So what can we expect? The company says the showcase will be 30 minutes long and will focus on its 2025 lineup of releases. These include titles like Wanderstop, Skin Deep, Wheel World, Faraway, Lushfoil, To a T and Morsels, among others. We are especially excited for Wheel World, which was formerly called Ghost Bike. Faraway also looks pretty cool. Annapurna promises “a few more surprises” in addition to the aforementioned games.

The publisher is primarily known for games like Stray, which recently launched for Nintendo Switch, and What Remains of Edith Finch. It also published Cocoon, Outer Wilds and the absolutely fantastic Lorelei and the Laser Eyes.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/how-to-watch-annapurnas-publisher-showcase-on-february-24-193539718.html?src=rss

Meta just announced its first-ever LlamaCon, a dev conference dedicated to generative AI. It’s scheduled for April 29. Why the llama-based naming convention? The company titled the event after its family of generative AI models.

Meta promises to “share the latest on our open source AI developments to help developers do what they do best: build amazing apps and products.” Beyond that vague description, we don’t know much. There’s no information regarding speakers or potential products being shown. We know that the company’s working on Llama 4, with an early 2025 release window, so we’ll most likely get a sizzle reel of some kind.

The company notes it’ll have more to share about LlamaCon “in the coming weeks.” Meta also says that “2025 is shaping up to be another banger” of a year. To that end, it has scheduled the next major Connect event for September 17. It promises plenty of reveals that should please “virtual and mixed reality developers, content creators, metaverse mavens and AI glasses enthusiasts.” Meta Connect 2024 gave us the Quest 3S and the fancy-pants Orion prototype AR glasses.

According to TechCrunch, Meta has been scrambling to figure out how AI rival DeepSeek has managed to create tech that rivals its own at a fraction of the development cost. The report suggests that DeepSeek’s upcoming models could outperform the aforementioned Llama 4. The company’s also currently embroiled in a lawsuit that accuses it of training Llama models on copyrighted book materials without permission.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/meta-just-scheduled-a-generative-ai-conference-called-llamacon-for-april-29-181351134.html?src=rss

Acer laptops are getting a price hike in the US come March. In an interview with The Telegraph, Acer's chief executive and chairman Jason Chen announced a 10 percent increased cost for all products due to President Trump's tariffs on China. 

His straightforward statement is one of the first clear cause and effects of Trump's import taxes. "We will have to adjust the end user price to reflect the tariff," Chen stated. "We think 10 percent probably will be the default price increase because of the import tax. It’s very straightforward." Acer's most expensive laptop, the 17-inch Acer Predator Triton gaming laptop, could go up to $4,178 from $3,799. 

Trump introduced a ten percent tariff to China this month, the country responsible for about 80 percent of laptop imports to the US. While he had claimed tariffs wouldn't impact consumer prices, he changed his tune last week, admitting that, surprise, surprise, they could. 

Time will tell if all items increase in price next month or only recently imported devices. Chen also shared that the company is considering moving some of its manufacturing to other countries, including the US. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/computing/laptops/acer-to-raise-prices-by-10-percent-following-president-trumps-tariffs-165351758.html?src=rss

The Nokia Lumia 1020 is back, well, sort of. An enterprising tech enthusiast (and Redditor) has stuffed the innards of an Apple iPhone SE 3 into a Lumia 1020 case to create something called the “NokiApple LumiPhone 1020 SE." This is a fully-functioning smartphone that, more importantly, looks really awesome.

It's more than just an iPhone SE wrapped in a Lumia case. Redditor OceanDepth95028 kicked the project up a few notches by ensuring that the iPhone internals work with a fingerprint reader on the back of the device. They also added a custom SIM card slot and made the Lightning port look like a micro-USB port, as originally reported by 9to5Mac.

Modder fits a 2022 iPhone into a 2013 Lumia 1020 body. Everything inside the device is from the 2022 iPhone SE 3, the last iPhone with rounded edges and a physical home button. "The only aspect from the 1020 is the outer shell and display glass." https://t.co/jdMcf7LjCK pic.twitter.com/9FfPixbmsz

— Antonio Vieira Santos (@AkwyZ) February 17, 2025

Not only does this phone function, it even supports 5G. It also receives OTA updates, which makes sense considering that it’s, essentially, a working iPhone SE 3. The maker had to move some buttons around to get everything to fit and they took liberties with the camera button, which can now act as a volume key switch or a shutter button.

The iPhone SE 3 uses the A15 Bionic chip, so this frankenphone is capable of running modern apps. The gadget’s designer says, despite being a one-off project, this device could be used as an everyday smartphone. The only caveats? The Redditor couldn’t get Apple Pay or wireless charging to work. But still, look at this thing! It’s very pretty, thanks to the design of the original Lumia 1020.

after all these years, the nokia lumia 1020 remains one of the most beautifully designed phones ever pic.twitter.com/mez6eXFDbM

— keshav (@keshavchan) January 27, 2025

For the uninitiated, the Nokia Lumia 1020 came out in the latter half of 2013. It was one of the more popular phones that ran the now-defunct Windows Phone OS, thanks to its signature look and the fantastic camera system. The iPhone SE is Apple’s budget smartphone and, lo and behold, a new entry is reportedly headed our way in the near future.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/smartphones/someone-squeezed-an-iphone-se-3-into-a-nokia-lumia-1020-and-it-looks-amazing-162705983.html?src=rss

In 2018, Nintendo introduced Gold Points, which were earned when you purchased Switch games, either physical cartridges or digitally from the Nintendo eShop. While you needed many purchases to redeem something substantial, you still saved a few dollars regardless if you get a cheaper title or something more expensive. Unfortunately, Nintendo announced that you won’t be able to earn Gold Points after 9:30 PM PDT on March 24 if you buy digital copies of games.

All eShop purchases made after that time won’t earn Gold Points anymore, though pre-orders for content made before then will still earn Gold Points as long as the pre-order is put in before the deadline. The points will be awarded within the day after each processed transaction.

It’s more tricky for physical releases. If you buy a game released on or before March 24, you still earn Gold Points even after that day, but only for games bought within a year of their release dates. Naturally, physical versions of games released after March 24, 2025, won’t let you earn any Gold Points. It’s also worth noting that Nintendo awards significantly fewer Gold points for physical purchases.

Most people are likely unaware, but you can earn Gold Points by shopping at the Nintendo New York store. This will remain the case until March 24, and the rules for physical releases mentioned above apply after checkout.

Nintendo’s decision to end the Gold Points loyalty program is possibly due to the Switch 2’s upcoming announcement and release. It’s unknown whether Nintendo will have a new loyalty program, but we’ll probably find out after the April 2 Nintendo Direct where we’ll finally get more details on the long-awaited console.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/nintendo/nintendo-is-killing-its-gold-points-loyalty-program-161123232.html?src=rss