What just happened? One of the world's largest PC makers has warned that prices for laptops sold in the US will soon be going up in response to Trump administration tariffs. Longtime Acer CE Jason Chen told The Telegraph that his company would have to adjust the end-user price of laptops likely by 10 percent. The "default price increase" is directly related to the import tax, he said, adding that it's "very straightforward." Acer's higher prices will go into effect starting in March, Chen noted.A 10 percent price hike may not sound like much, but it could drive up the cost of a laptop by several hundred dollars depending on the base price. The most expensive laptop on Acer's online store right now, the Predator Helios 18 gaming laptop, has a list price of $3,099. A 10 percent increase would push your total out of pocket to over $3,400.The 10 percent figure is just a baseline. According to Chen, however, some companies could very well use the tariffs as an excuse to raise their prices beyond what is needed to cover the fee and pocket the rest.Chen said Acer would consider moving laptop manufacturing out of China and perhaps to the US in response to the tariffs. The company did something similar with desktop manufacturing after Trump imposed a 25 percent tariff during his first term in office.The Consumer Technology Association believes Trump tariffs wills have a significant impact on electronics sold in the US. Consumer purchasing power could decline by $90-143 billion, the CTA warned. Sales of laptops and tablets could dip by 68 percent, game console sales could drop by 58 percent, and smartphone sales could decline by 38 percent. // Related StoriesCTA VP of trade, Ed Brzytwa, said retaliation against trading partners raises costs, disrupts supply chains, and hurts the competitiveness of US industries. CTA CEO Gary Shapiro agreed, adding that tariffs are a tax on American businesses and consumers.Image credit: Raphael Brasileiro, Andrew Neel

This gorgeous new image from the Hubble Space Telescope shows something once considered little more than an annoyance: cosmic dust. For many years, astronomers thought of dust as a problem which blocked out important objects from view, but in recent decades they have learned about dusts importance in forming stars and planets, and even making new molecules in space.The image shows clouds of dust and gas located near the Tarantula Nebula, a place also renowned for its beauty. It is part of a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way called the Large Magellanic Cloud, located 160,000 light-years away and a hotbed of star formation.You can see the full image below:This NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope reveals clouds of gas and dust near the Tarantula Nebula, located in the Large Magellanic Cloud about 160,000 light-years away. ESA/Hubble & NASA, C. MurrayThe star formation in this region is spurred on by the presence of dust, which clumps together and attracts more particles due to gravity, eventually building up the cores which go on to form planets or stars. The dust also acts as a cooling mechanism, helping gas to condense and add to the mixture.Recommended VideosThe nebulas colorful gas clouds hold wispy tendrils and dark clumps of dust, Hubble scientists explain. This dust is different from ordinary household dust, which may include of bits of soil, skin cells, hair, and even plastic. Cosmic dust is often comprised of carbon or of molecules called silicates, which contain silicon and oxygen.Please enable Javascript to view this contentDust can still be a problem for astronomers though thats why instruments like the James Webb Space Telescope operate in the infrared portion of the spectrum, as this allows them to peer through the dust to see structures that would otherwise be hidden. This works because although dust is opaque in the visible light portion of the spectrum, which is the wavelength that our eyes can see and at which Hubbles instruments primarily operate, the same dust allows infrared radiation to pass through it.By combining data from visible light telescopes like Hubble and infrared telescopes like Webb, scientists are able to see both the dusty objects which exist throughout our galaxy and beyond, and the interior structures which would otherwise be blocked from view by the dust.Editors Recommendations

NanoleafNanoleaf is permanently lowering the prices for its most popular products, including the best-selling Shapes, Lines, Elements, and Blocks smart lights. According to the company, it has been working with both the manufacturing and supply chain teams for the past two years on this initiative and the result is a 36% price reduction for select items.Officially known as the SmarterLife Pricing Initiative, a variety of Nanoleaf products are now permanently listed at a lower price. For example, the Blocks Combo XL Smarter Kit is $200 (was $250), the Shapes Hexagons Expansion Pack is $50 (was $70), and the Shapes Triangles & Mini Triangles Smarter Kit is $160 (was $250).Recommended VideosThe full list of price cuts is staggering, comprising over 50 different products and kits. Its a consumer-friendly move thats a bit of a surprise given the current economic climate, but one that should help Nanoleaf compete with other, more affordable brands like Govee.Please enable Javascript to view this contentThe economic climate has made affordability a key concern for many consumers, said Gimmy Chu, Nanoleaf CEO & Co-Founder. At Nanoleaf, we believe that lighting should be an extraordinary everyday experience, not just a luxury. Innovation and technology has always been at the heart of what we do, so we knew it was imperative that lower prices did not mean lower quality. Weve had to completely reoptimize our company structures as a whole the past two years, but with our teams dedication and commitment to achieving this goal, were proud to introduce SmarterLife Pricing making Nanoleaf products more accessible for everyone in our community.Pricing for all the eligible items is now live on the Nanoleaf Shop, and should be rolling out to third-party retailers like Amazon and Best Buy in the coming days. The discounts are available in North America and EU/UK, with other regions to be announced soon.Looking for more ways to illuminate your home? Check out our roundup of the best smart light bulbs, which are an excellent companion to the shapes offered by Nanoleaf.Editors Recommendations

Buying Intel would show just how far Broadcoms superpower in managing chip acquisitions reaches.

OpenAI vs. Elon OpenAI board considers special voting powers to prevent Elon Musk takeover Report: "Outsized voting power" could let nonprofit board retain control. Jon Brodkin Feb 18, 2025 12:31 pm | 32 OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle, Washington on May 21, 2024. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) Credit: Getty Images | Jason Redmond/AFP OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during the Microsoft Build conference at the Seattle Convention Center Summit Building in Seattle, Washington on May 21, 2024. (Photo by Jason Redmond / AFP) Credit: Getty Images | Jason Redmond/AFP Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreOpenAI is considering granting new voting rights to its nonprofit board in a move that could help it fight an unsolicited takeover bid from Elon Musk, the Financial Times reported last night. Citing people familiar with the discussions, the FT wrote that CEO "Sam Altman and other board members are weighing a range of new governance mechanisms after OpenAI converts into a more conventional for-profit company.""Giving the nonprofit's board outsized voting power would ensure it retain[s] control of the restructured company and [is] able to over-rule other investors including existing backers such as Microsoft and SoftBank," the FT wrote. "While no firm decisions have been made, special voting rights would also ensure OpenAI can fight off hostile bids from outsiders such as Musk."We contacted OpenAI about the report and will update this article if it provides any comment.Musk and a consortium of investors made a $97.4 billion offer for OpenAI last week. Altman responded that "OpenAI is not for sale" and described Musk as "a competitor who is not able to beat us in the market" and who has "total disregard for [OpenAI's] mission."Altman also wrote a post on the social network now called X that said, "no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want." The OpenAI board followed up with a vote unanimously rejecting Musk's offer.Poison pill another optionOpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and created an additional "capped profit" entity in 2019. Any profit beyond the cap is returned to the nonprofit, OpenAI says.That would change with OpenAI's planned shift to a for-profit public benefit corporation this year. The nonprofit arm would retain shares in the for-profit arm and "pursue charitable initiatives in sectors such as health care, education, and science."Before making his offer, Musk asked a federal court to block OpenAI's conversion from nonprofit to for-profit. The Financial Times article suggests that new voting rights for the nonprofit arm could address the concerns raised by Musk about the for-profit shift."Special voting rights could keep power in the hands of its nonprofit arm in future and so address the Tesla chief's criticisms that Altman and OpenAI have moved away from their original mission of creating powerful AI for the benefit of humanity," the FT wrote.OpenAI could also consider a poison pill or a shareholder rights plan that would let shareholders "buy up additional shares at a discount in order to fend off hostile takeovers," the FT article said. But it's not clear whether this is a likely option, as the article said it's just one that "could be considered by OpenAI's board."In April 2022, Twitter's board approved a poison pill to prevent a hostile takeover after Musk offered to buy Twitter for $43 billion. But Twitter's board changed course 10 days later when it agreed to a $44 billion deal with Musk.Jon BrodkinSenior IT ReporterJon BrodkinSenior IT Reporter Jon is a Senior IT Reporter for Ars Technica. He covers the telecom industry, Federal Communications Commission rulemakings, broadband consumer affairs, court cases, and government regulation of the tech industry. 32 Comments

HumansThe more we discover about our species' family tree, the harder it becomes to pinpoint when exactly Homo sapiens emerged, raising questions over what it really means to be human 18 February 2025 John Bavaro Fine Art/Science Photo LibraryFor the vast majority of our planets history, there were no humans. Today, there are more than eight billion of us. Logically, then, there must have been a moment when Homo sapiens became a distinct species. Yet that moment is surprisingly hard to pin down. The problem, for once, isnt a lack of fossils. Instead, disagreement about when to mark the origin of humanity comes down to the speciation process itself.We often imagine the human evolutionary tree as a grander version of a personal family tree indeed, researchers tend to talk about parent, daughter and sister species. In this picture, our parent species is equivalent to our biological parents, and the birth of H. sapiens becomes an event that is as easy to define as our own birth. But speciation isnt really like that.For evidence of this, look no further than a study posted online last year. Trevor Cousins and his colleagues at the University of Cambridge suggest our supposed parent species, Homo antecessor, split away from its parent, Homo heidelbergensis, more than a million years ago. About 600,000 years ago, H. antecessor gave rise to two branches: one led to the Neanderthals and Denisovans another kind of hominin the other to H. sapiens. Then comes the twist. Our evolutionary grandparents, H. heidelbergensis, stuck around to see the birth of the H. sapiens lineage and about 300,000 years ago, the two interbred in a big way. In fact, the researchers model indicates that about 20 per cent of our

Trump's NIH director nominee, Jay Bhattacharya, made $11,995 from posting on X last year.It's a relatively unique income source for a nominee for a top government job.He also made $457,743 as a Stanford professor and $25,772 from paid speeches.One of President Donald Trump's top health-related nominees has had a unique income source over the last two years: posting on social media.Jay Bhattacharya, Trump's nominee for Director of the National Institutes of Health, made $11,995 last year as part of X's content creator revenue program, according to a financial disclosure filed earlier this month.Under that program, instituted by Elon Musk after he took over the social media platform and renamed it from Twitter, users with a premium account can receive payouts based on engagement from other premium users.Prior to Trump announcing his nomination in late November, Bhattacharya was a frequent poster on X, where he boasts more than 680,000 followers, and he joined the creator revenue program in 2023. According to his ethics agreement, Bhattacharya has "ceased creating content for compensation" and has "ceased sharing in revenue for content creation for X."Bhattacharya rose to prominence in 2020 as a critic of COVID-related lockdowns and was a coauthor of the "Great Barrington Declaration," which promoted a "herd immunity" strategy against the virus. In a statement for this story, White House spokesman Kush Desai said that Americans have "lost confidence in the medical apparatus that let us down during the COVID pandemic" and touted Bhattacharya as the "perfect pick" for the role."Dr. Jay Bhattacharya has been a leading voice in support of greater transparency and efficacy in our healthcare bodies, and that's exactly why he is the perfect pick to lead the NIH and help deliver on President Trump's resounding mandate to Make America Healthy Again by restoring confidence, competence, and accountability in health care," Desai said. "We look forward to his swift confirmation by the Senate."Bhattacharya's main occupation isn't posting on X: He also earned $457,743 last year as a professor at Stanford University.He also made thousands of dollars from paid speeches, including $20,000 from the conservative Bradley Impact Fund in October, $3,500 from the Global Liberty Institute in July, and $2,272 from Hillsdale College in October.Bhattacharya also owns thousands of dollars in stock in Walmart, NVIDIA, and Taiwan Semiconductor, which he has agreed to divest if confirmed.Bhattacharya did not respond to a request for comment.All of Trump's nominees are required to file public financial disclosures, with recent filings revealing how Attorney General Pam Bondi, FBI Director nominee Kash Patel, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made their money in recent years.

The Department of Government Efficiency aiming to make sweeping changes to the federal workforce.Several top government officials have left their roles after pushing back against DOGE.The task force's work to reshape Washington is causing major disruptions.The Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, was envisioned by President Donald Trump and Elon Musk as a way to streamline government operations and reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy.As the hard-charging task force has made its imprint on the government, several high-profile officials have either stepped down from their roles or have been dismissed from their positions.Here's a look at some of the major departures that have come as a result of DOGE's work.Michelle King, Social Security Administration headKing, the acting commissioner of the Social Security Administration, stepped down from her post at the agency on Sunday following a dispute with the Department of Government Efficiency, people familiar with the matter told The Washington Post.After serving more than 30 years at the SSA which manages programs related to retirement, survivors, and disability benefits for millions of Americans King became its acting commissioner last month, according to her LinkedIn.Nancy Altman, the president of political advocacy group Social Security Works, told NBC News that several SSA officials informed her of King's departure. Altman told the outlet that King had refused to provide sensitive data including bank information, Social Security numbers, and medical records to the DOGE team.In a statement shared with Business Insider, White House spokesperson Harrison Fields said that the agency will be led by "a career Social Security anti-fraud expert" until Trump's pick to lead the SSA, Frank Bisignano, is confirmed."President Trump is committed to appointing the best and most qualified individuals who are dedicated to working on behalf of the American people, not to appease the bureaucracy that has failed them for far too long," Fields said in the statement.The SSA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, nor did King.Jim Jones, head of the FDA's food divisionJones, the head of the US Food and Drug Administration's food division quit his role on Monday, according to a resignation letter obtained by Bloomberg.Jones said in the letter that he was leaving his post because the cuts DOGE has made to the FDA will make it too difficult to do his job. Combined with the Trump administration's "disdain for the very people" needed to implement the changes it wants to see, Jones wrote that it would be "fruitless" for him to continue in his role.When asked to confirm Jones' departure, the White House shared a statement from Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt saying "there are a number of bureaucrats who are resistant to the democratic process and mandate delivered by the American people.""President Trump is only interested in the best and most qualified people who are also willing to implement his America First agenda on behalf of the American people," Leavitt continued in the statement. "It's not for everyone and that's okay."The FDA did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.David Lebryk, top US Treasury officialLebryk for years was the top civil servant at the Treasury Department and he briefly served as acting Treasury secretary. In those roles, he oversaw over a billion payments made by the government annually before he announced his retirement in late January.Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent gave approval for DOGE to access the system, which had generally been operated by career civil service employees.Lebryk was put on administrative leave after pushing back against DOGE's attempts to access the expansive federal payment system, according to The Washington Post.Lebryk joined the Treasury Department in 1989 as a presidential management intern and served as the fiscal assistant treasury secretary from 2014 until January 2025. From the start of Trump's second term until Bessent was confirmed as Treasury secretary days later, Lebryk served as the acting Treasury secretary.Business Insider reached out to the Treasury Department for comment.Paul Martin, USAID inspector generalMartin, the inspector general at the US Agency for International Development, was fired in February after his office issued a report describing what they saw as the downfalls of the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the agency.The dismissal of Martin who had served as USAID's inspector general since 2023 came in the form of an email from the White House Office of Presidential Personnel, per NBC News."On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as Inspector General of the United States Agency for International Development is terminated, effective immediately," deputy director of the Office of Presidential Personnel Trent Morse wrote in the email. "Thank you for your service."Business Insider has reached out to the USAID Inspector General's office for comment.

Epic Games just went above and beyond to tackle a cheater on Fortnite, leading to an awkward apology video and a hefty charity donation as everyone else wins but himTech12:18, 18 Feb 2025Best behave yourself, folksFortnite Chapter 6 will give way to Season 2 later this week, and while the battle royale may seem a pretty chill place given its huge number of pop culture crossovers, its competitive scene is a big deal.With big cash prizes, there will always be those looking to bend the rules or outright break them, but Epic Games may have just given them pause to do so.The developer banned a player caught cheating in the 2023 Fortnite Championship Series (FCS), but that wasn't all, essentially 'tarring and feathering' them for the entire world to see. Brutal, yes, but it should make some think twice.Content cannot be displayed without consentPosting on X (formerly Twitter), the Fortnite Competitive account said "Cheating is never a winning strat."We took legal action against a player who shared their account to unfairly qualify for FNCS. Now theyre banned from Fortnite tournaments forever and their undeserved prize money was donated to charity."The post includes a link to Repulse, the player in question, delivering an awkward apology via YouTube in a video with no sound (you can see it below).It confirms the prize money will be donated to charity, while Repulse is now banned from any further Fortnite tournaments due to sharing their account."Epic took legal action against me and now Im banned from participating in Fortnite tournaments forever," the video says."I also have to pay a monetary settlement, which includes the prize money I received but did not fairly win, which Epic will donate to charity. Cheating in tournaments ruins the fun for the players who earned their spot in tournaments and I apologise to the Fortnite community for my actions. I wont ever cheat in Fortnite again.Naturally, the Fortnite Competitive account sharing the video means it's about to break 200,000 views at the time of writing, with more than 1,500 comments."Good boy", one jokes, while another said "Getting put on a collar and leash by Fortnite is crazy".Some users branded it "total humiliation", while another suggested Epic use it for a loading screen in the game.Article continues belowAs you can imagine, the community is pleased to seeing tough action taken, which is in contrast to Call of Duty. Activision's RICOCHET team has been playing 'whack-a-mole' with cheaters for years, but they keep creating new accounts and getting right back to it.For the latest breaking news and stories from across the globe from the Daily Star, sign up for our newsletters.

Birdman flies again? (Activision)A pro skateboarder seems to have let slip that hell appear in an unannounced Tony Hawk game; something the Birdman himself has also hinted at.When Activisions Tony Hawks Pro Skater 1 + 2 (a combined remake of the first two Pro Skater games) proved to be a financial and critical hit, fans fully expected the series would see a full revival. At the very least, it was imagined remakes of Pro Skater 3 and 4 would follow.Instead, developer Vicarious Visions was rewarded by being absorbed into Blizzard and stuck on support duty and, according to Tony Hawk himself, plans for Pro Skater 3 and 4 remakes were abandoned.The series may not be as dead as once feared though. There have been hints that Activision is planning something new for a while and now a different professional skateboarder has offered the best hope yet.The skateboarder in question is Tyshawn Jones, who claimed to be starring in a new Tony Hawk game during his appearance on the recent episode of the Breakfast Club podcast.While discussing skateboarding video games, Jones casually said, Im in a Tony Hawk coming out, thats cool. They got a new one they remastering, so thats about to come out.Jones was included as a playable skater in Pro Skater 1 + 2, so its easy to imagine Activision bringing him back for another game. The fact he refers to it as a remaster points to it not being a new sequel, but beyond that its hard to guess what it might be.The terms remaster and remake are often conflated, even by publishers, and while Pro Skater 1 + 2 was marketed as a pair of remasters by Activision they were really remakes, rebuilt from the ground up with new assets and content.As for what the game could be, the obvious theory is a collection of Pro Skater 3 and 4, but weve seen some fans express hope for remakes of the two Tony Hawks Underground games instead.More TrendingTheories of something related to the Tony Hawk games popped up last September when the official Pro Skater social media accounts updated their banners with new artwork for the series 25th anniversary.No game announcement ever came out of it, but Hawk did reveal in an interview that he was in talks with Activision and they were working on something that the fans will truly appreciate.Whatever it is, the other question is who Activision has tapped to make it. Its unlikely to be Vicarious Visions, or Blizzard Albany as its now called, and all of Activisions other studios are thought to be caught up with Call Of Duty.Activision is owned by Microsoft nowadays though, so perhaps another Xbox studio will be assisting development. Whatever the case, despite its new ownership, any Tony Hawk game will almost certainly be a multiplatform title, given Microsofts interest in bringing its properties to PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch. Which studio would you want to see make the next Tony Hawk game? (Activision)Emailgamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below,follow us on Twitter, andsign-up to our newsletter.To submit Inbox letters and Readers Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use ourSubmit Stuff page here.For more stories like this,check our Gaming page.GameCentralSign up for exclusive analysis, latest releases, and bonus community content.This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. Your information will be used in line with our Privacy Policy