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 Apple today released new 7E101 firmware for the AirPods Max with USB-C, addressing an issue that made the previously released firmware unable to be downloaded.
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Nintendo's best franchises pushed the Switch to its limits. Switch 2 editions will give these games a new chance in the sun, with better graphics and improved frame rates.
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 Apple today provided developers with the first beta of an upcoming iOS 18.5 update for testing purposes. Work on iOS 18 is starting to wind down with iOS 19 set to be introduced in a couple of months, so iOS 18.5 has just a handful of minor new features.
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Microsoft's artificial intelligence can provide some much-needed "too long, didn't read" relief by creating quick notes on long emails, PDFs and more.
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We've also included some helpful answers to common questions about buying a computer at the bottom of this article. If you're considering a laptop instead, be sure to check out our best laptop deals, updated daily.
Note: Tech deals come and go quickly, so it's possible some of these computer discounts will have expired before this article's next update.
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Amazon has reportedly joined the growing list of suitors angling to acquire TikTok as a new ban deadline approaches. According to The New York Times, the retailer has made a "last-minute bid" to buy the app, and has approached Vice President JD Vance and Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick about the offer.
It's not clear why Amazon is making an offer this late in the process. TikTok is currently facing an April 5 deadline to strike a deal, though President Donald Trump has said he would likely extend it if necessary. The Times reports that White House officials don't seem to be "seriously" considering the longshot bid. Amazon declined to comment.
Amazon joins several other companies and investors that have proposed bids. The group includes YouTuber MrBeast (with backing from a group that includes Roblox CEO David Baszucki), Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian (who joined a group of investors known as "Project Liberty") and Perplexity AI, which has proposed integrating the shortform video into its search engine.
Even with the deadline just days
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The White House has examined a menu of options to avert a TikTok ban deadline set for Saturday. One proposal — letting TikTok's Chinese owner lease the algorithm to a TikTok spinoff in the U.S. — would probably face resistance from China hawks in Trump's party.
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 Retail giant Amazon today made an offer to acquire TikTok just days ahead of when TikTok must be sold off or face a ban, reports The New York Times. Unspecified participants involved in the TikTok talks "do not appear to be taking Amazon's bid seriously," and multiple interested parties are scrambling to plead their cases for a TikTok purchase.
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Are broadband options limited at your address? Perhaps you're just tired of your current internet provider? Here's what 5G home internet has to offer.
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Nintendo just dropped a boatload of Switch 2 news, including the release date, price and a launch title or two. It also announced a bevy of accessories that'll be available for the console on June 5. Let's go over the most notable of these doodads.
For my money, the Nintendo Switch 2 Camera is the highlight here. This was featured heavily in the company's livestream, as the Switch 2 will allow for in-game video chat. This is thanks to the magical "C" button on the right Joy-Con controller. The camera will also shrink down your head to use as a live avatar in certain games. It costs $50.
It wouldn't be a Nintendo console without a pro controller. The Nintendo Switch 2 Pro Controller will cost $80, but it includes the aforementioned "C" button, a screen capture button, an audio jack and HD rumble 2. It also allows for motion controls and Amiibo functionality. The GL/GR buttons can be mapped to suit different playstyles.
The company also announced a dedicated GameCube controller for use with Nintendo Online. It comes in iconic purple and also includes a "C" button. It charges via USB-C so you won't burn through AA batteries like Wall-E or something. We don't have a price on this yet, but Nintendo did say it's launching with the console. We do
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To do this, open Outlook and click on the gear icon in the title bar at the top to call up the Settings.
Select General on the left-hand side and click on Offline in the column to the right. Make sure that the Activate offline emails, calendars and people switch is set to On.
In the menu under Folders to be saved, you can then specify which mail folders should be saved locally. The default setting is Default and favorites. Default includes the folders Inbox, Sent, Drafts, Archive, Deleted, and Snooze.
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Windows 11 Pro
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I'm sidestepping the desperate attempts at April 1 shenanigans and focusing on the imminent Nintendo Direct broadcast, which is likely to confirm rumors and sink others.
The last few Switch 1 games have been revealed, meaning tomorrow's Nintendo Direct: Switch 2 presentation, kicking off at 9AM ET / 6AM PT will be all about the new console — no distractions. (Although, I'd be cool with a Silksong release date, finally.)
We already know the Switch 2 will be a bigger console, with a bigger screen and Joy-Cons. There also may be some sort-of-mouse functionality baked into the controllers this time, but Nintendo's focus is on tech specs — and the games. What does the company have cooking?
— Mat Smith
The biggest tech stories you missed
Google's new experimental AI model, Gemini 2.5 Pro, is now available to free users too
The best midrange smartphones
Apple is reportedly on track to launch the M5 iPad Pro and MacBook Pro later this year
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Tourists to Antarctica are fueling research on some of the tiniest, most influential organisms on Earth: phytoplankton. These itty bitty critters make their own food and are the base of the food web in most of the ocean, but tracking how well they're doing is historically tricky. So, researchers with the program FjordPhyto are using samples collected by these tourists to understand how the balance of power in the Antarctic food web could be shifting — could ripple across the food web of the entire ocean.
Want to hear more community science at work or about polar ecosystems? Let us know by emailing shortwave@npr.org! We're also always open to other story ideas you have.
Listen to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave at plus.npr.org/shortwave.
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