President Donald Trump on Monday suggested that he might temporarily exempt the auto industry from tariffs he previously imposed on the sector, to give carmakers time to adjust their supply chains. “I’m looking at something to help some of the car companies with it,” Trump told reporters gathered in the Oval Office. The Republican president said automakers needed time to relocate production from Canada, Mexico and other places. “And they need a little bit of time because they’re going to make them here, but they need a little bit of time. So I’m talking about things like that.” The statement hinted at yet another round of reversals on tariffs as Trump’s onslaught of import taxes has panicked financial markets and raised deep concerns from Wall Street economists about a possible recession. When Trump announced the 25% auto tariffs on March 27, he described them as “permanent.” His hard lines on trade have become increasingly blurred as he has sought to limit the possible economic and political blowback from his policies. Last week, after a bond market sell-off pushed up interest rates on U.S. debt, Trump announced that for 90 days his broader tariffs against dozens of countries would instead be set at a baseline 10% to give time for negotiations. At the same time, Trump increased the import taxes on China to 145%, only to temporarily exempt electronics from some of those tariffs by having those goods charged at a 20% rate. “I don’t change my mind, but I’m flexible,” Trump said Monday. Trump’s flexibility has also fueled a sense of uncertainty and confusion about his intentions and end goals. The S&P 500 stock index was up slightly in Monday afternoon trading, but it’s still down nearly 9% this year. Interest rates on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes were also elevated at roughly 4.4%. Carl Tannenbaum, chief economist for the Northern Trust global financial firm, said the whiplash had been so great that he might have to “get fitted for a neck brace.” Tannenbaum warned in an analysis: “Damage to consumer, business, and market confidence may already be irreversible.” Maroš Šefčovič, the European commissioner for trade and economic security, posted on X on Monday that on behalf of the European Union he engaged in trade negotiations with Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick and U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer. “The EU remains constructive and ready for a fair deal — including reciprocity through our 0-for-0 tariff offer on industrial goods and the work on non-tariff barriers,” Šefčovič said. The U.S. president also said that he spoke with Apple CEO Tim Cook and “helped” him recently. Many Apple products, including its popular iPhone, are assembled in China. Apple didn’t respond to a Monday request for comment about the latest swings in the Trump administration’s tariff pendulum. Even if the exemptions granted on electronics last week turn out to be short-lived, the temporary reprieve gives Apple some breathing room to figure out ways to minimize the trade war’s impact on its iPhone sales in the U.S. That prospect helped lift Apple’s stock price by about 3% during Monday’s afternoon trading. Still, the stock gave up some of its earlier 7% increase as investors processed the possibility that the iPhone could still be jolted by more tariffs on Chinese-made products in the weeks ahead. Wedbush Securities analyst Dan Ives said Apple is clearly in a far better position than it was a week ago, but he warned there’s still “mass uncertainty, chaos, and confusion about the next steps ahead.” One possible workaround Apple may be examining during the current tariff reprieve is how to shift even more of its iPhone production from its longtime hubs in China to India, where it began expanding its manufacturing while Trump waged a trade war during his first term as president. The Trump administration has suggested that its tariffs had isolated China as the U.S. engaged in talks with other countries. But China is also seeking to build tighter relationships in Asia with nations stung by Trump’s tariffs. China’s leader, Xi Jinping, on Monday met in Hanoi with Vietnam’s Communist Party General Secretary To Lam with the message that no one wins in trade wars. Asked about the meeting, Trump suggested the two nations were conspiring to do economic harm to the U.S. by “trying to figure out how do we screw the United States of America.” —Josh Boak and Michael Liedtke, Associated Press

Do you leave a trail of orange fingerprints on your phone screen when scrolling mid-snack, or have to deliberately turn book pages with the Pinky, avoiding Cheetos-dusted fingers from leaving that orange patch on paper? Cheetos Pants could be the answer to the problem you never thought existed, because washing your hands is so last season. Just wipe your hands on the trousers and get going. The idea is a massive hit, proven by the fact that the pants sold out faster than you can finish a packet of Cheetos. Designed to enhance your snackability, the orange Cheetos pants are made with a special towel-like patch over the pockets on either side, where you can wipe your fingertips without leaving a trace. The pant is so truly matched with the color of these corn-cheese puffs that you can easily dunk your fingers in the bag of Cheetos, eat, wipe the dust on your thighs, and continue binge-watching the reels – all without leaving an orange trail on the phone. If you have some left over in the bag, you can fold and deposit it into a special side pocket made especially for it. Designer: Cheetos Launched on April 7, a week after the Fool’s Day, to avoid being mistaken for a prank, the Cheetos Pants sold out within days. But there’s still an option for you and me, if we want to take it (more on that later). Designed for Cheetos fans without easy access to tissues or a faucet (or simply lacking the urge to get up and clean their hands), the pants offer a solution: wipe those fingertips with cheesy crumbs directly on them so that you can save your couch cushions and game controllers from orange stains. As mentioned, the peculiarity is that the pant is so perfectly matched to the exact shade of iconic orange Cheetos dust that no matter how much you wipe, no one will ever know. This is possible with the towel-like material patch on a pair of cotton pants: A perfect rubaway for your Cheetle-covered fingertips. Released with the motto “Pants stand out, Cheetos blends in,” it is made by Frito-Lay in collaboration with Impact BBDO in the Middle East and New York, with pockets to accommodate small and larger bags of Cheetos so you know where to eat from when you feel the need. Cheetospants.com – from where the pants (in sizes XXS-3XL) were available – show the pants designed to wipe Cheetle-covered fingers are currently out of stock – no wonder. Fans having lost the first opportunity to scoop a pair can access a global collection of all near-exact orange pants from shoppable internet that the brand has selected and made available. Look up, find your favorite orange pants from an array of silhouettes and you have your pair – will that have the cleaning patch, we are guessing no! The post Wipe your messy Cheetos-dusted fingers on these orange pants without any guilt first appeared on Yanko Design.

An iFold could be coming in 2026.

Microsoft held off on releasing the privacy-unfriendly feature after a swell of pushback last year. Now it’s trying again, with a few improvements that skeptics say still aren't enough.

Macworld If there’s one criticism we have of the Apple Pencil–other than the confusing nature of the lineup–it’s that it only comes in one color, white. Now modification company ColorWare has a solution to that problem, but it’s going to cost you. Thanks to ColorWare’s clever customization, you can get an Apple Pencil Pro in one of seven Crayola crayon-inspired colors: black, mint (green), pink, purple, red, yellow, and white. In addition to the colors, the Pencils look exactly like Crayola crayons with a matte-painted wrapper adorned with the trademark black oval. In a nod to its inspiration, ColorWare cheekily warns, “Do not sharpen.”  However, the unique paint job will cost you. Specifically, it’ll cost you $86 more than the Apple Pencil Pro MSRP. ColorWare charges $215 for one of the new Crayon Pencils, which is something of a bargain over the non-Pro Number 2 Pencil, which also sells for $215 but is a mod of the cheaper 2nd-gen Pencil. The $215 MSRP doesn’t include shipping, which varies by location. ColorWare also sells a variety of modified Apple products, including a Mac mini Retro in Light and Dark, starting at $899, a premium of $300 over the standard Mac mini. It’s worth noting that the customization voids the standard Apple warranty, though ColorWare offers its own 1-year parts and labor warranty. If you’re interested, the Apple Crayon Pros are expected to ship at the end of April.

On Monday, Apple shared its plans to allow users to opt into on-device Apple Intelligence training using Differential Privacy techniques that are incredibly similar to its failed CSAM detection system.Apple Intelligence to be trained on anonymized user data on an opt-in basisDifferential Privacy is a concept Apple embraced openly in 2016 with iOS 10. It is a privacy-preserving method of data collection that introduces noise to sample data to prevent the data collectors from figuring out where the data came from.According to a post on Apple's machine learning blog, Apple is working to implement Differential Privacy as a method to gather user data to train Apple Intelligence. The data is provided on an opt-in basis, anonymously, and in a way that can't be traced back to an individual user. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

As Archinect has reported in depth over recent months, the new Trump Administration’s unpredictable wielding of tariffs on goods entering the United States has direct consequences for construction projects.  For architects acting as contract administrators between clients and contractors, our article from February emphasized the importance of reviewing language that addresses taxes and tariffs to determine which party is financially responsible for material price increases. To that end, just last week, we carried commentary from the Associated Builders and Contractors who noted that tariffs were driving rapid increases in construction material prices. Related on Archinect: Who foots the bill if tariffs raise a project’s construction costs? Image credit: Ricardo Gomez Angel/UnsplashLate last month, meanwhile, Archinect spoke with Phillip Ross, a partner at New York accounting firm Anchin, and leader of the company’s architecture, engineering, and construction division, for insights o...

After images and the official name leaked weeks ago, Respawn Entertainment and Bit Reactor have officially announced Star Wars Zero Company. The single-player turn-based tactics title lacks a release date or platforms, but a reveal is scheduled for Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025 on April 19th. A developer panel hosted by Bit Reactor provides the world’s first look at the title, which could include gameplay. In the meantime, the first key art is available and highlights what could be the player’s squad. There’s a Jedi, a Clone Trooper, and a Mandalorian while a man, potentially their commander, sits on a ledge, peering at a hologram of a Republican Droid Trooper. Perhaps it’s set between Episode 2: Attack of the Clones and Episode 3: Revenge of the Sith, when the Republican Army and Trade Federation waged war on multiple fronts. The leaked screenshots indicated XCOM-like gameplay, from cover-based shooting to hit chances and skills like Overwatch. It won’t be long before we receive more details, so stay tuned for official updates.

Crows May Grasp Basic Geometry: Study Finds the Brainy Birds Can Tell the Difference Between Shapes Scientists tested crows on their ability to recognize “geometric regularity,” a skill previously assumed to be unique to humans Carrion crows (Corvus corone) can tell the difference between geometric shapes, according to new research. Pexels Crows are arguably among the smartest creatures on the planet, possessing some cognitive abilities that rival those of 5- to 7-year-old human children. Now, a new study adds basic geometry to the list of subjects these brainy birds seem to be able to master. In a paper published in the journal Science Advances last week, researchers report that carrion crows can recognize “geometric regularity,” meaning they may discern traits like length of sides, parallel lines, right angles and symmetry. In the study, they could tell the difference between shapes like stars, crescents and squares, as well as between squares and irregular figures with four sides. Researchers once thought this ability was unique to humans. But the findings suggest that’s not true—and they hint at the possibility that other species may be capable of similar feats, too. “The crows show a sort of intuitive, strictly perceptual recognition of geometric properties,” says Giorgio Vallortigara, a neuroscientist at the University of Trento in Italy who was not involved with the work, to Scientific American’s Gayoung Lee. To test the birds’ mathematical abilities, scientists in Germany placed two male carrion crows (Corvus corone) in front of a digital screen in a laboratory. They displayed six shapes on the screen, then trained the birds to peck at the outlier—the one that looked different from all the others. Whenever the birds chose correctly, researchers rewarded them with a tasty snack, either a mealworm or a bird seed pellet. At first, the researchers made the outliers obvious—such as one flower amid five crescents, reports NPR’s Nell Greenfieldboyce. But as the birds got more comfortable with the task at hand, the team made the experiment increasingly challenging. They showed the crows similar-looking squares, parallelograms and other irregular four-sided figures. Even as the game got more difficult, the crows could still pick out the outlier. They continued correctly pecking at the outlier, even after the scientists stopped giving them treats. Researchers rewarded the birds with a tasty treat—like a mealworm—when they correctly pecked at the outlier shape on a digital screen. Schmidbauer et al. / Science Advances, 2025 Why would crows need to be able to tell shapes apart? Researchers don’t know for sure. But they suspect this ability may help them with navigation and orientation as they fly around, they write in the paper. The birds may also have developed this ability to help them forage for food or identify other individual crows—including mates—based on their facial features. “All these capabilities, at the end of the day, from a biological point of view, have evolved because they provide a survival advantage or a reproductive advantage,” study senior author Andreas Nieder, a neurophysiologist at the University of Tübingen in Germany, tells Scientific American. In the future, researchers hope to investigate which areas of the birds’ brains are helping them excel at geometry. Birds don’t have a cerebral cortex—at least, not in the same way that humans do. But for us, that part of the brain is responsible for thinking and other complex functions. Crows still have these abilities, so the researchers posit there must be something else going on inside their heads. “Obviously, evolution found two different ways of giving rise to behaviorally flexible animals,” Nieder says to Scientific American. The team also hopes future research will probe the “geometric regularity” abilities of other species. In the past, researchers have run similar experiments with baboons. But even after extensive training, the primates didn’t seem to share our mathematical understanding. Still, scientists say it’s unlikely that humans and crows are the only animals with this ability. “It’s just now opening this field of investigation,” Nieder tells NPR. Crows are the whiz kids of the animal kingdom. Past research has found that they can vocally count up to four, distinguish between human voices and faces, and grasp a pattern-forming concept thought to be unique to humans. Some species can build tools for future use, while others are likely aware of their own body size. These and other examples of animals’ intelligence are upending the long-held notion that humans are the only species capable of high-level cognitive functioning. “Humans do not have a monopoly on skills such as numerical thinking, abstraction, tool manufacture and planning ahead,” Heather Williams, a biologist at Williams College, told CNN’s Scottie Andrew last year. “No one should be surprised that crows are ‘smart.’” Get the latest stories in your inbox every weekday.

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More OpenAI released GPT-4.1 this morning, directly challenging competitors Anthropic, Google and xAI.By ramping up its coding and context-handling capabilities to a whopping one-million-token window and aggressively cutting API prices, GPT-4.1 is positioning itself as the go-to generative AI model. If you’re managing budgets or crafting code at scale, this pricing shake-up might just make your quarter. Performance upgrades at Costco prices The new GPT-4.1 series boasts serious upgrades, including a 54.6% win rate on the SWE-bench coding benchmark, marking a considerable leap from prior versions. But the buzz isn’t just about better benchmarks. Real-world tests by Qodo.ai on actual GitHub pull requests showed GPT-4.1 beating Anthropic’s Claude 3.7 Sonnet in 54.9% of cases, primarily thanks to fewer false positives and more precise, relevant code suggestions.. OpenAI’s new pricing structure—openly targeting affordability—might finally tip the scales for teams wary of runaway AI expenses: ModelInput cost (per Mtok)Output cost (per Mtok)GPT-4.1$2.00$8.00GPT-4.1 mini$0.40$1.60GPT-4.1 nano$0.10$0.40 The standout here? That generous 75% caching discount, effectively incentivizing developers to optimize prompt reuse—particularly beneficial for iterative coding and conversational agents. Feeling the heat Anthropic’s Claude models have established their footing by balancing power and cost. But GPT-4.1’s bold pricing undercuts their market position significantly: ModelInput cost (per Mtok)Output cost (per Mtok)Claude 3.7 Sonnet$3.00$15.00Claude 3.5 Haiku$0.80$4.00Claude 3 Opus$15.00$75.00 Anthropic still offers compelling caching discounts (up to 90% in some scenarios), but GPT-4.1’s base pricing advantage and developer-centric caching improvements position OpenAI as a budget-friendlier choice—particularly appealing for startups and smaller teams. Gemini’s pricing complexity is becoming increasingly notorious in developer circles. According to Prompt Shield’s Gemini’s tiered structure—especially with the powerful 2.5 Pro variant—can quickly escalate into financial nightmares due to surcharges for lengthy inputs and outputs that double past certain context thresholds: ModelInput cost (per Mtok)Output cost (per Mtok)Gemini 2.5 Pro ≤200k$1.25$10.00Gemini 2.5 Pro >200k$2.50$15.00Gemini 2.0 Flash$0.10$0.40 Moreover, Gemini lacks an automatic billing shutdown, which Prompt Shield says exposes developers to Denial-of-Wallet attacks—malicious requests designed to deliberately inflate your cloud bill, which Gemini’s current safeguards don’t fully mitigate. GPT-4.1’s predictable, no-surprise pricing seems to be a strategic counter to Gemini’s complexity and hidden risks. Context is king xAI’s Grok series, championed by Elon Musk, recently unveiled its API pricing for its latest models last week: ModelInput Cost per MtokOutput (per Mtok)Grok-3$3.00$15.00Grok-3 Fast-Beta$5.00$25.00Grok-3 Mini-Fast$0.60$4.00 One complicating factor with Grok has been its context window. Musk touted that Grok 3 could handle 1 million tokens (similar to GPT-4.1’s claim), but the current API actually maxes out at 131k tokens​, well short of that promise. This discrepancy drew some criticism from users on X, pointing to a bit of overzealous marketing on xAI’s part​.  For developers evaluating Grok vs. GPT-4.1, this is notable: GPT-4.1 offers the full 1M context as advertised, whereas Grok’s API might not (at least at launch). In terms of pricing transparency, xAI’s model is straightforward on paper, but the limitations and the need to pay more for “fast” service show the trade-offs of a smaller player trying to compete with industry giants. Windsurf bets big on GPT-4.1’s developer appeal Demonstrating high confidence in GPT-4.1’s practical advantages, Windsurf—the AI-powered IDE—has offered an unprecedented free, unlimited GPT-4.1 trial for a week. This isn’t mere generosity; it’s a strategic gamble that once developers experience GPT-4.1’s capabilities and cost savings firsthand, reverting to pricier or less capable models will be a tough sell. A new era of competitive AI pricing OpenAI’s GPT-4.1 isn’t just shaking up the pricing game, it’s potentially setting new standards for the AI development community. With precise, reliable outputs verified by external benchmarks, simple pricing transparency, and built-in protections against runaway costs, GPT-4.1 makes a persuasive case for being the default choice in closed-model APIs. Developers should brace themselves—not just for cheaper AI, but for the domino effect this pricing revolution might trigger as Anthropic, Google, and xAI scramble to keep pace. For teams previously limited by cost, complexity, or both, GPT-4.1 might just be the catalyst for a new wave of AI-powered innovation. Daily insights on business use cases with VB Daily If you want to impress your boss, VB Daily has you covered. We give you the inside scoop on what companies are doing with generative AI, from regulatory shifts to practical deployments, so you can share insights for maximum ROI. Read our Privacy Policy Thanks for subscribing. Check out more VB newsletters here. An error occured.