Skip to main content

Today’s Storystream

Feed refreshed 7:15 PM UTC

Qu-AI-ke.

W
Wes Davis
Get your screwdrivers ready.

US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick insisted in a Face the Nation appearance today that President Trump’s tariffs will “stay in place” and will result in things like “the army of millions and millions of human beings screwing in little screws to make iPhones” coming to the US.

He acknowledged that “it’s gonna be automated,” which is just one of the reasons more manufacturing may not mean more jobs.

W
External Link
Wes Davis
The US told Apple to keep TikTok in the App Store.

Attorney General Pam Bondi sent Apple a letter “telling the company it should follow President Donald Trump’s executive order” extending ByteDance’s deadline to sell TikTok by 75 more days, reports Bloomberg. The outlet had reported a similar letter sent to both Google and Apple prior to their decision to restore the app to their online marketplaces in February, too.

Nintendo Switch 2 hands-on: it’s all in the games

The console may seem familiar, but the initial lineup does a strong job of showing what’s new.

Andrew WebsterCommentsComment Icon Bubble
Spec-tacular weekSpec-tacular week
Tech
Tech
Verge Staff
W
External Link
Wes Davis
AT&T is ending its email-to-text service.

The ability to text an AT&T subscriber from an email address is going away on June 17th, the company has announced.

If you’ve never done that and want to try before it goes away, just enter your favorite AT&T customer’s area code and phone number, sans punctuation, followed by “@txt.att.net” or “@mms.att.net.”

W
External Link
Wes Davis
Elon Musk wants a “zero-tariff” zone with Europe.

Just days after President Trump initiated broad tariffs that could raise the prices of most goods that Americans buy, Musk told Italian Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini yesterday that he thinks there should “effectively” be a “free-trade zone between Europe and North America,” writes Bloomberg.

In posts on X early Saturday morning, Musk insulted White House trade adviser Peter Navarro, who has pushed for “maximalist” tariff approach, as Bloomberg notes.

Just For You

Just For You
    ‘Views’ are lies

    Consider this a reminder or a PSA: a “view” on the internet means even less than you think.

    T
    Instagram
    Tom Warren
    Microsoft’s 50th birthday got interrupted by employees protesting.

    Microsoft held a special 50th anniversary event at its headquarters earlier today. During Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman’s presentation, a Microsoft employee interrupted the event to protest the use of Microsoft’s technologies in Israel’s war against Hamas. A second employee interrupted the event later on, while CEO Satya Nadella, co-founder Bill Gates, and former CEO Steve Ballmer were discussing 50 years of Microsoft.

    C
    The Verge
    Charles Pulliam-Moore
    It’s almost Lazarus time.

    With Lazarus set to debut on Adult Swim this Saturday, now’s a good time to check out our interview with series creator Shinichirō Watanabe.

    E
    External Link
    Emma Roth
    A YouTuber was arrested for allegedly trying to contact an isolated tribe.

    24-year-old Mykhailo Viktorovych Polyakov took an inflatable boat to North Sentinel Island located in the Bay of Bengal. There, he left an “offering” of Diet Coke and a coconut to the remote Sentinelese tribe, which has resisted outsiders in the past, The New York Times reports.

    Police arrested Polyakov when he returned to India’s Port Blair, as it’s illegal to attempt to contact the tribe to “protect their Indigenous way of life,” according to a police statement.

    U
    External Link
    Umar Shakir
    YouTube is the latest platform to cave to anti-LGBTQ rhetoric.

    YouTube’s policy page that lists groups the company protects against hate speech recently removed the phrase “gender identity,” reports Taylor Lorenz in User Mag. It’s similar to recent changes made by Meta that could leave LGBTQ members more vulnerable on social platforms like Instagram and Facebook, and appear to align with Trump administration directives against “wokeness” and diversity, equity, and inclusion.

    In replies on X, YouTube said, “...our hate speech policies haven’t changed and these were routine copy edits to our Help Center.”

    Under the list of examples of hate speech provided on YouTube’s policy site, the line “[Protected group status] is just a form of mental illness that needs to be cured,” was also removed.

    V
    TikTok
    Victoria Song
    The reality of manufacturing in the US.

    This is a wild story from Charlotte Palermino, a small business owner, about what went wrong when she tried to manufacture her skin care brand’s packaging in the US. It illustrates how global our economy is — and why the simple tagline of tariffs reviving US manufacturing isn’t as simple as it might seem. (Full disclosure: I’ve bought Palermino’s Dieux products before and they’re great.)

    T
    Instagram
    Tom Warren
    A first look at Microsoft’s 50th anniversary Surface.

    This is a laptop you might want to buy, but you won’t be able to. Microsoft has created a limited edition 50th anniversary version of its Surface Laptop 7. It has the retro 1975 Microsoft logo etched into the palm rest area, a golden accent color on the Surface logo, and there’s even a golden Windows 11 wallpaper. Microsoft is giving away 50 of these special edition laptops in competitions to mark its 50-year milestone.

    J
    External Link
    Jay Peters
    Netflix Stories are over.

    Netflix has canceled the Netflix Stories interactive fiction IP, the company confirmed to PocketGamer.biz. The mobile app lets you play games based on Netflix shows like Emily in Paris, Selling Sunset, and Perfect Match.

    Narrative games are one of Netflix’s four categories it’s focusing on for games, but it appears that Netflix Stories aren’t part of the equation anymore.

    The best robot vacuumsThe best robot vacuums
    Buying Guide
    Buying Guide
    Jennifer Pattison TuohyCommentsComment Icon Bubble
    T
    Tina Nguyen
    The weather forecast still works, for now.

    In a last-minute reprieve, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) announced that they were able to save their contract with Amazon Web Services, keeping their websites alive on AWS’s cloud servers. The contract had been caught in widespread federal IT budget cuts, and had it not been for massive public outcry, NOAA’s research and online datasets – used for critical services like weather forecasting and storm tracking – would have become inaccessible to the public.

    T
    Instagram
    Tom Warren
    Developers, developers, developers!

    Microsoft’s 50th anniversary event has been overshadowed by two employee protestors, but that didn’t stop former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer from doing his famous developers, developers, developers chant.

    A
    Allison Johnson
    A little giant tech, as a treat.

    Here, have a tiny break from an intense news cycle that’s threatening to last the rest of our lives and gaze upon some delightful giant tech. These creations are the work of Pablo Rochat, who heads a creative studio bearing his name, and if you’ve ever lost track of a dongle then boy does he have a solution for you.