Apple Pre-Shipped High End Devices to Beat Tariffs; Google Messages Makes Clearing Spam Texts Easier; Samsung Ballie Robot Out This Summer; Instagram Improves Search to Compete with TikTok 

Apple took extra pains to avoid the pain of the new Trump tariffs. Macrumors.com reports that Cupertino urgently requested suppliers to ship as many premium devices as possible to the United States by air freight, especially those priced above $3,000. Besides Apple, Dell, Microsoft, and Lenovo rushed to accelerate shipments before the tax went into effect today. Trump has now put a total US tariff on Chinese exports of 104%**…that’s the 20% existing tariff, plus the 34% he added last week, and the 50% tacked on after Beijing refused to withdraw a retaliatory tariff on US goods. For its part, Apple will be sourcing more iPhones from India now…maybe accounting for as much as 50% of US iPhone demand this year. **Minutes after recording this, Trump paused all tariffs for 90 days, EXCEPT on China, which he has now jacked up to 125%!

Google Messages is now making it much easier to get rid of automated spam texts. According to androidcentral.com, they have added an ‘Unsubscribe’ button. A new prompt shows up at the end of spammy messages, letting you unsubscribe with a tap. You can then pick a reason for opting out. Afterwards, you will see a ‘request sent’ notice and a ‘start’ button…should you change your mind…yeah, go ahead and laugh…like any of us will change our mind and want spam texts back from some sender. By the way, the opt-out reasons include:  “not signed up,” “too many messages,” “no longer interested,” “spam,” or “other.”

Did you love BB-8, the cute little ball-shaped robot from Star Wars? Boy has Samsung got a deal for you! Engadget.com says Samsung will be rolling out…sorry…a cute little robot called Ballie the summer. Not only is it cute and round, but Ballie will come with Google’s Gemini AI model. Samsung claims the robot has multimodal abilities, which means it can process voice, audio, and visual data from its sensors. It can manage your smart home devices, and even offer health and styling recommendations. Samsung isn’t pricing the little roll-bot yet..what with the Trump tariffs now in effect, but will need to do so before the device hits shelves this summer. 

Instagram is putting more into bulking up their search function, after admitting that they were not competing with TikTok well on this. Techcrunch.com reports that Instagram head Adam Mosseri and his team realize that younger Generation Z users frequently turn to apps like TikTok for answers, in lieu of using actual search engines. Instagram is focusing on content search, not account search. Even mighty Google, the 800 lb. gorilla of search, noticed in 2022 that social apps like TikTok and instagram were getting into their metaphorical drawers when it comes to Search and Maps. Even playing catch up with TikTok, Instagram tops Google Search and other rivals as Gen Z’s preferred search engine. HerCampus research found last year that 51% of Zoomers used TikTok over Google Search.

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.