Trump teases tariffs on microchips and cars
President Trump has threatened to escalate his trade war by introducing further tariffs, this time taking aim at imports of foreign-made cars and semiconductor chips vital to the tech industry.
Trump’s semiconductor tariffs could be introduced “within weeks”, while imported cars and drugs are also set to face higher duties, the President told reporters at a news conference on Tuesday.
Trump has announced a range of tariffs since taking office last month, although most have yet to be introduced, with economists and enterprises arguing the extra import costs could lead to higher prices.
Duties on imports from Canada and Mexico have been repeatedly delayed; modified levies on steel and aluminium, announced last week, will not be enforced until next month; and a wave of so-called “reciprocal” tariffs, also trailed last week, will not kick in before April.
On the possibility of introducing tariffs for semiconductors, Trump said: “It’ll be 25% and higher, and it’ll go very substantially higher over the course of a year.”
Facebook to delete live videos after 30 days
Facebook has announced that live videos will now only be stored on the social network for 30 days, after which they will be deleted.
Prior to the announcement, the Meta-owned social media platform stored the videos indefinitely, but it said that from Wednesday, live videos older than 30 days will be removed.
Users are set to receive a notification before videos are deleted and will be given up to 90 days to choose what to do with existing live content. Options will include downloading the video to their devices, transferring them to the cloud, or converting the content into a new reel.
In a blog post, Facebook states that “these changes will align our storage policies with industry standards and help ensure we are providing the most up-to-date live video experiences for everyone on Facebook.” No further explanation was offered.
HP buys Humane but ditches AI Pin
HP has agreed to buy the AI assets of US consumer electronics firm Humane, but the firm’s AI Pin device business is facing closure.
HP will pay $116 million to acquire Humane, including the majority of the firm’s employees, software platform, and intellectual property.
However, the deal excludes Humane’s core device, the AI Pin, a badge-like device launched in 2024 that included an AI voice assistant, camera and projector.
The device began shipping in April 2024, but by August, the firm had only sold around 10,000 Pins, against a target of over 100,000, leading it to cancel sales of the device earlier this month.
Humane had a number of high-profile backers, including Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, OpenAI boss Sam Altman, Softbank, Qualcomm, and Microsoft, but by May 2024, the company was reportedly seeking a buyer, with HP entering talks soon after.
The $116 million deal – well short of the $750 million price tag that was originally touted – will also see Humane founders Imran Chaudhri and Bethany Bongiorno help with the integration.
EU kicks off AI sandbox project
A major European Union project around the implementation of the AI Act has kicked off in Bologna, Italy.
The EUSAiR project aims to support the implementation of Regulatory Sandboxes for Artificial Intelligence in EU countries, creating controlled environments to test and validate innovative AI systems before they are placed on the market.
The two-year scheme, funded by the European Commission, is led by the Italian Research Center on High Performance Computing, Big Data and Quantum Computing and involves academic institutions, including the Universities of Bologna and Florence, University of Turku, and Haaga-Helia.
