Shein, the one-time cheap clothing colossus, has announced its plans for an IPO. If you could look at it from the vantage point of a few years ago, the valuation Shein is currently shooting for is, well, not great.
The Wall Street Journal wrote in 2022, back when Shein was on top of the world, that it had just received a funding round of $1-2 billion that placed its value at $100 billion. According to Reuters yesterday, its latest plans value it at a little over a quarter of that: $27 billion.
But then Trump’s trade policies came along, in particular the 2025 abolition of the de minimis tariff exemption that took Shein’s prices from cheap to so-cheap-you-can’t-resist.
Reuters says Shein pursued public listings on the NYSE and the London Stock Exchange, before finally settling on Hong Kong, where trading will debut at the start of next month.
Talk about sticker shock. Amazon just raised the prices of some of its most popular electronics — including Kindles, Echos, Fire TVs and more — by up to 60%.
You can thank the so-called RAMageddon for the across-the-board hikes, according to a company spokesperson, who blamed the rising prices on “significant increases in memory and storage component costs.”
Now the buck is being passed to consumers buying e-readers, smart home products and more. Amazon’s largest price hikes affected its most inexpensive electronics, making entry-level products less affordable. The Echo Dot smart speaker jumped from $50 to $80, representing a startling 60% price increase. Other base-level products, such as the starter Kindle and Fire TV Stick HD, saw price hikes of 36% and 14%, respectively.
An Amazon spokesperson told CNET that the company is still trying to figure out more accessible pricing, but that increases were needed to account for hardware costs. “After absorbing these increases for as long as we could, we recently adjusted pricing across our product lines,” the spokesperson said.
Conspicuously missing from the recent round of price hikes were Amazon’s Ring doorbell cameras. The $220 Echo Studio smart speaker was also spared from a price increase, though almost every other Echo product saw a hike of between 10% and 60%.
Other smart home companies have struggled to keep up with rising component costs, too — which means consumers are besieged on all sides by rising consumer tech prices. Roku, a direct competitor to Amazon’s Fire TV streaming products, raised its prices by up to 60% just last month. Apple recently raised the price of its HomePod Mini smart speaker by 30%, and there are likely more price hikes on the way.
Here’s a full list of Amazon’s recent electronics price increases, by product type:
Product name
Former price
New price
Echo Dot (5th Gen)
$50
$80
Echo Spot
$80
$110
Echo Dot Max
$100
$120
Echo Show 8
$180
$200
Echo Show 11
$220
$250
Echo Show 15
$300
$350
Echo Show 21
$400
$500
Fire TV Stick HD
$35
$40
Fire TV Stick 4K Max
$60
$85
Kindle (16 GB)
$110
$150
Kindle Paperwhite (16GB)
$160
$200
Eero 7 (3-pack)
$350
$400
Eero Pro 7 (3-pack)
$700
$800
Tyler is a writer for CNET covering laptops and video games. He’s previously covered mobile devices, home energy products and broadband. He came to CNET straight out of college, where he graduated from Seton Hall with a bachelor’s degree in journalism. When Tyler’s not asking questions or doing research for his next assignment, you can find him in his home state of New Jersey, kicking back with a bagel and watching an action flick or playing a new video game.
The nine individuals are accused of ‘severely damaged our nation’s image,’ prosecutors said.
shihabsarkar/Shutterstock
Although the US has relaxed its restrictions on NVIDIA AI chip exports to China, illegal exports apparently still take place. Prosecutors in Taiwan just indicted nine individuals, including NVIDIA and Super Micro employees, for illegally bringing AI servers into China, Reuters reported.
The defendants “colluded with one another at various levels for enormous profit, illegally exporting high-end servers, increasing corporate compliance costs, and severely damaging our nation’s international image,” prosecutors from the northern city of Keelung said in a statement. They did this, the team added, despite being “fully aware” of NVIDIA and Super Micro’s “rigorous” export control procedures.
Although NVIDIA is an American company, most of its chips are manufactured by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the world’s largest chip maker by far. TSMC’s latest Blackwell AI chips are manufactured in Phoenix, Arizona, but are still shipped to Taiwan for advanced packaging prior to final assembly.
The US has banned the sale of cutting-edge AI tech from NVIDIA and others to China since 2022. Recently, it has allowed sales to China of previous-generation products like H200 chips that are several years old. Taiwan is ultra-strict about exports of newer technology, lest it displease US regulators and, in particular, the Trump administration.
Despite Taiwan’s clampdown, bad actors have found ways to get such chips into China. In one instance, $1 billion worth of server racks may have been shipped through Southeast Asian countries like Thailand or Malaysia to circumvent US export controls. In another case, the US charged three people with allegedly exporting $3.5 billion worth of AI servers to China, again by routing them through third-party countries.
Computer monitors can come with some pretty steep price tags, especially if you’re in the market for a specialized screen for PC gaming or creative work like animation or video editing. This is doubly true if you want a high-end OLED display, a 4K monitor, or a super-sized screen.
There’s a way around this, however. If you’re looking for a cheap solution, you can easily connect your TV to a laptop or PC to use as your main screen, a part of your current multi-monitor setup, or as an emergency backup monitor. Depending on how you want to connect your TV to your computer, you might not have to spend any money at all.
I’ve put together a short walkthrough for setting up your TV as a monitor on Windows, Mac, ChromeOS, or Linux as either a temporary solution or a more permanent addition to your setup.
Sony/Taylor Clemons/ZDNet
How to use your TV as a monitor
The quickest and simplest way to connect your PC to your TV is by connecting them with a regular HDMI cable and selecting the correct input in your menu settings. Once everything is set up and powered on, you’ll have an almost perfect mirror of your desktop on your TV.
If your PC or laptop uses Thunderbolt or DisplayPort for connecting external displays, you’ll have to pick up a USB-C-to-HDMI or a DisplayPort-to-HDMI adapter. They’re around $10-15, but keep in mind that since the TV still relies on HDMI, you won’t get the same high-speed data transfers as you would with a monitor that has a DisplayPort or Thunderbolt connection.
You can also go wireless. Almost all new smart TVs also support either Apple’s AirPlay or Googlecast screen mirroring for wireless casting from your devices to your screen. If you use this option, however, you might experience significant input lag or resolution issues as both your TV and computer compress, transmit, and then display information. If you have a newer Samsung or LG TV, you can set up remote PC access by toggling on the setting on your laptop or desktop, and setting up the dedicated remote access app with your device’s IP address.
Here’s how to find your IP address:
Windows
Windows key > Type cmd > Open Command Prompt > Type ipconfig and press Enter > Locate IPv4 address
OR
Start > Settings > Network & Internet > Wi-Fi/Ethernet > Select network > Scroll to see IP address
Mac
Apple menu > System settings > Network > Wi-Fi/Ethernet > Details > Locate IP address
ChromeOS
Clock > Wi-Fi/Ethernet > Information > Locate IP address
Linux
GUI option
Settings > Wi-Fi OR Network > Click gear icon > view IP address
Terminal option
Run hostname -I > Print internal IP address
OR
Run ip addr > Locate active network (eth0 for hardwired or wlan0 for Wi-Fi) > Locate inet
FOR LEGACY DISTROS
Run iconfig to view network details
Display settings
If you want to use your TV as a second (or third, or fourth) screen for your PC setup, you’ll have to locate your display settings and reconfigure your monitor arrangement.
Type xrandr > Confirm –output <display_name> > Confirm –mode <resolution> (e.g. 1920 x 1080 or 3840 x 2160) > Confirm –rate <hz> > Arrange monitors –output <secondary_display) –<direction> of <primary_display>
Getting the best picture
Kerry Wan/ZDNET
The most important factor is to match the resolution output between the computer and TV. If you’re lucky enough to own a computer capable of native 4K resolution, you can skip this step and move on to the next process. But if your laptop or desktop is only capable of 1080p or lower, you’ll have to change your TV’s output to match to avoid blurry text or pixelated images. You can do this by navigating to:
Settings > Display OR Picture > Device preferences > Resolution OR Output Resolution > Select 1080p or Auto
If your TV has a PC picture mode, it will be your best option for reducing input lag and getting a consistent refresh rate, whether you’re using a hardwired HDMI connection, screen mirroring, or using remote access.
But if it doesn’t, you can use the dedicated Game Mode, which often have specialized features like automatic low latency, very low response times, boosted refresh rates, and even VRR support via AMD FreeSync or Nvidia G-Sync. Though you’ll have to keep in mind that it won’t be a perfect solution, and you may see a few hiccups now and again as both your computer and TV process data signals sent between them.
With a little patience (and some grace), your smart TV can be a great temporary solution for certain projects or even as a permanent addition to your multi-monitor setup as a dedicated gaming or streaming screen.
The bottom line
Kayla Solino/ZDNET
Two of the biggest reasons to use a TV rather than a purpose-made PC monitor is that you can get a lot more screen real estate for a lot cheaper. If you want an ultra-widescreen monitor with 4K resolution, a high refresh rate, and maybe even an OLED or QLED panel, you’re looking at the possibility of spending a decent chunk of change.
The Alienware 34-inch QD-OLED gaming monitor will cost you around $750, and, granted, that gets you a 240Hz refresh rate, a 0.03ms response time, and multiple connection options, but it falls a bit short with resolution, topping out at just 1440p. And it doesn’t have built-in speakers, or even a 3.5mm connection for headphones.
Compare that to the 32-inch Hisense A4 which costs around $110, gives you 4K resolution, and DTS Virtual:X audio via the dual integrated speakers. But you’ll have to sacrifice refresh rate, since it tops out at 60Hz. Which is fine for streaming, but may cause frame rate issues in demanding games.
Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly return for season 2 of Blake Crouch’s hit sci-fi series, Dark Matter. Following the events of season 1, Dark Matter follows physicist Jason (Edgerton), his wife Daniela (Connelly), and their son Charlie (Oakes Fegley) as they travel the Multiverse in search of a new world to live in.
In an interview with Digital Trends, Edgerton and Connelly discussed working together again on Dark Matter. They also broke down what fans can expect for the show’s second season and what new challenges their characters will face.
This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.
Digital Trends: What was it like returning to the series for season 2 and working together again?
Connelly: Fantastic. It was great. I was very happy to come back and work with Joel and have more time actually with the couple. The original version of the couple who, in season one, you meet them, and they have a couple scenes together, and then they’re apart until the very end, where they have this very fraught reunion. So it was really fun to have time with that couple of them [and to] get to know who they were and who they’d become.
Digital Trends: Yeah, they go through a lot together, and there’s a new season, and it looks like that their relationship has a lot of challenges. They’re traveling the multiverse together, and they’re trying to hide from all these different forces closing in on them. Do you ever expect Jason and Daniela to find happiness somewhere in some other universe?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: You know, it’s funny, I look at them and go, “I think you guys just get to Chicago, try and get on an airplane. Go to Tahiti. Greece. So I would like to shoot that episode. Look, I think they’re going to find a place.
What’s great about the challenge for Blake of writing the episodes is every time they go to a new world, there’s like a checklist for things [they] are going to do.
It’s like: Find out not only is there’s another version of Jason, [if] there’s another version of Daniela there or Charlie. Can they avoid that? How do they get into that world with identification, and how do they find money? All these complications. How do they find work? How [do] they find a house?
So there’s sort of these hoops [that] they got to jump through. And all the while they’re going to be kind to each other. I feel like Jason is constantly dealing with his guilt. He’s like, “I got us into this mess, sort of.” So I have hope that they’ll find that.
There’s a place we find in season 2 that’s kind of cool, and I don’t give spoilers away that there’s a couple of worlds they find. Some are not good, but one of them particularly seems to be okay. I’m not going to spoil it.
Digital Trends: All right. So what was the most exciting part about filming this season? Was there anything particularly challenging about it as well?
Connelly: There are things that are more challenging, practically, or more uncomfortable, like that tornado world we went to. Rain machines and wind machines. And then there are things like, I had the experience of the season of working with myself, which is super peculiar. That’s something I’d never done before. Nothing unexpected happens. It’s so weird.
Digital Trends: Overall, what can fans of this show expect from season 2? And in your opinion, how is it compared to season 1?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: There’s a sort of a beautiful chaos to season 2. Sort of this world and endless possibilities, with a number of characters, and kind of following these journeys of different characters, and literally this multitude of possibilities for each of them.
So there’s a certain chaos that is harnessed in season 2 that makes sense of the technology. And in a way, the whole purpose of season 2 is to also underline that, on one hand, the new technology creates a sense of chaos and demands that human beings really intentionally choose how they will use something.
And in the case of us, as a family…do we use it to escape? Do we use it to find it a home and then shut it down? So, I think fans can hope for a real deeper explanation, exploration, rather, of the characters that they met in season 1. The same wild spectacle, but a pinch of extra madness and chaos.
Connelly: Yeah, I always said the same. I think things are just amplified. All the elements that were in the show in season 1 are amplified here. So I think that the world exploration is even more spectacular.
I think that the show always had really entertaining, playful elements, and I think there’s even more playfulness in those aspects. And then there was also always this sort of domestic drama. I think that aspect goes even deeper here in season 2. So, yeah, I think everything’s just a little extra.
Digital Trends: Yeah, I’ll say. So do you see yourself working together on a third season of this series?
Apple TV / Apple TV
Edgerton: No, not there anymore, man.
Digital Trends: Really?
Edgerton: Well, look, you know, the thing about television is…the fans love it, then there’ll be more, and it means that we feel appreciated. We certainly all enjoy working with each other. It’s a really great atmosphere, and…I don’t feel like there’s squeaky wheels on Dark Matter too.
Everybody rolls this, leaves up, and pitches in and works really hard and appreciates and looks after each other. So the feeling amongst the group is that we’re a big family and we enjoy that work experience. Then it’s over to you guys. It’s over to the fans, and if the fans love it and they call for more, then we’ll probably deliver it.
Digital Trends: Amazing. So is there anything else that you’d like to say to the fans?
Connelly: I hope that fans enjoy it and have a great time. Yeah, we love making the show, and I had a great time working on it and collaborating with everyone, and we hope that the fans enjoy it. It’s always good to know. I think some of the feedback from fans in season 1 was really special, and I know Blake is very smart to be receptive to the response.
Edgerton: And sometimes that means fans…they’ll let you know what they expect of certain characters. And I think it’s Blake’s job to kind of help deliver the expectations, but also surprise an audience. So these prize fans can often help activate the shaping of a show themselves with their own feedback.
Dark Matter season 2 premieres on Apple TV on August 28.
This week, Best Buy kicked off its big 60th anniversary sale that includes great deals on AirPods, TVs, computers, and much more. Alongside this event, we’re tracking solid markdowns on portable power stations from Anker and Jackery, plus the best prices of the summer on M4 iPad Air.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
Best Buy Anniversary
What’s the deal? Save sitewide during Best Buy’s 60th Anniversary Sale
Best Buy is hosting its big 60th Anniversary sale this week, with notable markdowns on Apple devices, TVs, headphones, monitors, and much more. This event is set to last for the rest of this week, and you don’t need to be a My Best Buy Plus or Total member to see most of the deals.
Portable Power Stations
What’s the deal? Take up to $1,500 off Anker and Jackery portable power stations
Anker and Jackery have introduced big discounts across their most popular portable power stations this week, including up to $1,500 off select models from each company. We’re tracking Anker’s best deals over at Amazon, while Jackery’s discounts can be found on the retailer’s own website.
AirPods
What’s the deal? Take $120 off AirPods Max 2, $59 off AirPods Pro 3, and more
Amazon this week had a big collection of discounts across the AirPods lineup, highlighted by the AirPods Max 2 for $429.00, down from $549.00. This is now the best price we’ve seen on the AirPods Max 2 since Prime Day, and one of the overall best prices we’ve tracked so far in 2026, and it’s accompanied by a solid deal on the AirPods Pro 3.
Amazon and Best Buy this week have multiple discounts on the M4 iPad Air, providing $100 off these 2026 models. These are the best prices we’ve seen in the wake of Apple’s summer price hikes.
Apple’s AirTag 2 is on sale for $89.00 this week on Amazon, down from $99.00. This deal is on the 4-Pack of the AirTag 2, and it’s a match of the record low price first seen during Prime Day.
If you’re on the hunt for more discounts, be sure to visit our Apple Deals roundup where we recap the best Apple-related bargains of the past week.
Deals Newsletter
Interested in hearing more about the best deals you can find in 2026? Sign up for our Deals Newsletter and we’ll keep you updated so you don’t miss the biggest deals of the season!
At the local level, the robotaxi operator has outspent both Uber and Zoox in lobbying legislators in the District of Columbia. It has pressed local regulators to allow robotaxi services in the nation’s capital, including by inviting residents earlier this year to write in support of its rollout.
In New York state, Waymo has spent more than half a million dollars so far this year—more than double Uber’s lobbying spend—as it seeks a foothold in one of the largest taxi markets.
Its lobbying in the state intensified after Governor Kathy Hochul earlier this year walked back proposals that would have allowed autonomous vehicle companies to run services across most of the state.
Waymo offered to set up a $20 million fund to support drivers affected by the technology’s deployment, according to people familiar with the matter.
In New Jersey, it has engaged lawmakers who are exploring a three-year pilot program to test deployments.
Waymo said in a statement that it was advocating for the rollout of autonomous vehicles and was not pursuing measures that would limit competitors or “prescribe” how the technology was deployed.
Uber, meanwhile, has been racing to make up lost ground in AVs after abandoning its in-house self-driving effort in 2020, committing more than $10 billion over the past year through equity stakes and robotaxi fleet agreements.
The ride-hailing group has warned several Democratic-led states against a carte blanche rollout and has instead lobbied for so-called hybrid networks that route rides to both human drivers and autonomous vehicles.
In New Jersey, Uber lobbyists have proposed that any platform offering robotaxi services also use human drivers for at least 85 percent of all rides during a three-year pilot program.
Critics have accused Uber of seeking regulatory capture by attempting to keep rides flowing through its platform as it grapples with rising competition.
Uber has said it is false that they were “anti-AV or seeking to slow AV deployment.” It said hybrid networks “get the technology to consumers sooner while giving policymakers a practical framework to manage the transition.”
Apple is cutting more than 200 jobs as it shifts resources toward a rebuilt, AI-powered Siri and other future products. Roughly 100 positions are being eliminated from the Vision Pro organization, including much of its gaming team and some immersive-video staff. Another 100 cuts are hitting the Siri and software teams. Bloomberg reports: In a statement, Apple acknowledged that it was realigning some teams “to evolve our business to deliver the best experiences for our users.” “While we will create new roles as part of this change, it will also impact a limited number of existing roles,” the company said. “We are grateful to these team members for their contributions, and we are committed to supporting them throughout their transition, including opportunities to apply for other roles at Apple.”
The Siri reshuffling is tied to an upcoming AI-infused version of the assistant, which is built on a new technical architecture. That shift requires a change in the necessary expertise, prompting the company to eliminate a small number of existing roles, reallocate resources and create new positions supporting the updated Siri.
The changes to the Intelligent Systems Experience team reflect an effort to reorganize work on AI-powered capabilities. As more groups bring AI functions to apps, features and services, Apple is realigning teams to match priorities and accelerate development. The restructuring will eliminate some existing positions while creating new roles.
Verizon recorded the biggest gap in cellular speeds between flagship and budget phones, according to a new survey.
T-Mobile had the smallest gap in speeds between high-end and cheap phones.
The survey also showed that Verizon recorded the lowest average speed for cheap phones in general.
The latest flagship Android phones are often equipped with blazing-fast cellular speeds owing to more advanced modems. But a new survey suggests that the speed gap between flagship and budget phones can also be accentuated by the carrier.
A survey by Recon Analytics (h/t: PhoneArena) yielded over 4,300 speed tests across US carriers. The survey found that flagship phones often had faster speeds than budget devices on the same network. That isn’t a surprise on its own, as high-end phones tend to get faster modems.
Have you noticed a big difference in cellular speed between budget and flagship phones?
2 votes
What is interesting, though, is that Verizon recorded the biggest gap between flagship and budget phone speeds. Recon Analytics reported that high-end devices averaged 124Mbps versus just 89Mbps for cheap devices. That’s a 35Mbps difference. By contrast, AT&T offered 153Mbps versus 133Mbps (a 20Mbps difference).
There’s good news for T-Mobile users, as flagship devices reportedly averaged 161Mbps compared to 156Mbps for budget phones. This was the smallest gap between flagship and budget devices.
So why is there such a huge gap on Verizon compared to T-Mobile? I can think of at least one potential explanation. Verizon makes aggressive use of mmWave 5G on its networks. However, phones require mmWave antennas and other equipment to actually use mmWave 5G. These hardware additions aren’t cheap, which means we don’t usually see many budget phones with mmWave. This could potentially explain the large gap between flagship and budget phones on Verizon’s network.
These results suggest that if you’re looking for a new carrier and you’re on a strict budget, T-Mobile might offer the best speeds on a cheap phone. But it’s worth noting that this is just one survey. So I’d advise you also check carrier coverage maps for a more complete picture.
Thank you for being part of our community. Read our Comment Policy before posting.
The Nevada Transportation Authority unanimously approved three permits Thursday that will allow Tesla, Uber, and Waymo to operate commercial robotaxi services in Clark County, home to Las Vegas. Together, these permits would deploy up to 8,000 robotaxis across the county over the next 12 months.
Tesla’s permit allows it to deploy up to 5,000 robotaxis, while Waymo is allowed operate up to 1,000 autonomous vehicles over the next year. Uber was also approved for 1,000 robotaxis, which it will operate through partnerships with Hyundai subsidiary Motional and Zoox. Zoox already holds an autonomous vehicle network company permit that allows it to operate 100 robotaxis.
Whether these companies will be able to launch that many robotaxis is an unanswered question. Testimony from Tesla representatives and the other companies suggests the answer is no.
“The 5,000 has always been a ceiling for us,” said Eric Early, Tesla’s Cybercab chief engineer, during the meeting. “I don’t think we’ll be in a position by this time next year to deploy 5,000 vehicles, and it’s not [because of] the technology. … I think we would be extremely happy and satisfied if we could get ourselves up to 2,500, maybe a bit higher than that in the next year.”
Even if these three companies roll out only half of those totals, Clark County — and Las Vegas specifically — is shaping up to be a major robotaxi battleground, with Tesla, Uber (via its autonomous vehicle partners Motional and Zoox), and Waymo all competing for the same riders.
That kind of fast, large-scale robotaxi deployment is poised to change the city — and specifically its workforce. Depending on who you ask, these companies will either deliver a whole new category of jobs designed to maintain, charge, and clean these vehicles or will wipe out an entire category of workers: human taxi and gig drivers.
Representatives from the Livery Operators Association and local taxi companies opposed the permits, arguing the approvals move too far, too fast.
“These applications raise two grave concerns,” said Kimberly Maxson-Rushton, a lawyer representing the Livery Operators Association, at the hearing. “One deals with the oversaturation of the commercial transportation industry as a whole in Nevada,” she said. “And the second one deals with the overcrowding of the roadways, and specifically the Golden Triangle.”
The Golden Triangle, an area between the airport and Las Vegas Boulevard and the surrounding area, is where most of the AV testing has occurred to date. Motional is also testing in the downtown area and in a shopping district known as Town Square.
Uber has tried to position itself as the Goldilocks option in this fight, advocating for a hybrid approach in which ride-hailing networks are made up of humans and robotaxis. The company has even lobbied for a system that would require robotaxis to operate on a ride-hailing network that also uses human drivers, a stance that puts it at odds with Waymo and doubles as a hedge against its own autonomous ambitions falling short of Tesla’s or Waymo’s.
Uber made a similar pitch during the NTA meeting, noting that a hybrid approach would allow cities to gradually integrate vehicles to meet peak demand rather than flooding the market all at once.
When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. This doesn’t affect our editorial independence.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with some of these vendors. When you click a link and make a purchase, we may receive a small payment, which helps us keep the site running.
