7 Days is a weekly roundup of picks of what"s been happening in the world of technology - written with a dash of humor, a hint of exasperation, and an endless supply of (black) coffee.
This week"s highlights include the US ban on foreign routers, Windows 11 getting support for 1000Hz+ refresh rates, the death of the Sora app, Netflix price hikes, and shakeups in the gaming world. Let"s get started.
You can check out recent issues of the "7 Days" weekly series here.
Windows 11 gets 1000Hz+ refresh rate
Microsoft has removed the refresh rate limit on its operating system, allowing Windows 11 to support 1000Hz+ refresh rates on capable monitors. However, one thing that needs a second look is the "+." It was reported that, practically, Windows 11 might support a refresh rate of up to 5000Hz. While most general-purpose monitors still run at 60Hz or 120Hz, a higher rate can unlock impressive motion clarity for those who need it.
Why is Windows GUI such a mess?
One of the things that plagues the Windows 11 GUI is its inconsistency because some outdated interfaces still use legacy elements. Former Microsoft CTO Jeffrey Snover penned a blog post explaining how the Redmond giant"s GUI strategy has gone wayward over the past couple of decades, creating confusion and fragmentation for Windows developers.
Windows now ships with 17 GUI technologies powered by five different programming languages. Snover described the situation as a "boof-a-rama", which is a term he coined to describe "brilliant people are doing stupid things." While the technologies weren"t bad, they suffered from internal politics, premature pivots, or a confusing business strategy that orphaned developers.
If you have an appetite for Windows history, you can read about how Windows 95 prevented system chaos from external installers.
AirDrop for Samsung
What was once exclusive to iPhone, iPad, and Mac is now expanding to Android (without Apple"s help, though). After Google updated Quick Share to support Apple"s tech, Samsung is the latest to join, bringing support to the Galaxy S26 series in Korea. Samsung"s AirDrop support will further roll out to users in Europe, Hong Kong, Japan, Latin America, North America, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia.
US bans foreign routers
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has banned the import of foreign-made consumer routers in a possible bid to further isolate Chinese tech from American consumers. The decision follows a determination from the White House that foreign routers are present in about every US home, and that such routers "pose unacceptable risks to the national security of the United States or the safety and security of United States persons."
Anthropic wins against the Pentagon
An ongoing bitter dispute with the Pentagon turned in the AI company"s favor. A federal judge temporarily blocked the Trump administration and the Pentagon from blacklisting Anthropic, which was labeled a "supply chain risk" by the US DoD, and all federal agencies were directed to stop using its Claude AI. The judge called the government"s approach "classic illegal First Amendment retaliation." However, the legal battle isn"t over, and the administration has several days to appeal.
Are you a human?
While the company enjoys the benefits of AI, Reddit"s co-founder wants to save the platform from AI slop. Huffman said that "Reddit is for people," adding that the platform will soon require you to prove you"re a human using biometric tools like Apple"s Face ID, Touch ID, or device-based passkeys. AI bots can become a source of chaos for the platform, as they can mimic human conversations, sway public opinion, and farm engagement.
UK testing social media bans, guidance on 2G shut down
It appears that curbing social media is the latest trend for governments, and there are valid reasons for it. The UK government is testing new pilots to determine how different kinds of social media restrictions on children can affect their sleep, family life, and schoolwork.
For instance, one group of parents will be taught how to implement parental controls to disable/limit social apps to mimic a ban at home, another will introduce a one-hour daily cap on popular social apps for teens, and a third set of parents will have a blanket ban for their children between 9 pm and 7 am.
The UK government also issued public guidance as it prepares users and businesses to abandon 2G mobile networks, with O2 being the last holdout. While few users will notice this change, as they are already using 4G and 5G, the shutdown is expected to affect devices such as medical pendants, lift alarms, fire alarms, and other devices that still rely on the 2G network.
Is social media addictive?
Time and again, we have seen lawsuits targeting social media giants. Big tech giants such as Google and Meta have been historically viewed as neutral distributors of what"s posted on social media. A recent ruling might actually bring about changes in how platforms like Reels, Shorts, and TikTok are designed, serving as an example for future rulings.
The plaintiff"s attorneys in this lawsuit argued that the platforms themselves functioned as defective products, deliberately engineering features such as infinite scrolling, autoplaying videos, and regular push notifications to exploit human psychology and trap young and vulnerable users in an endless engagement loop. Both Meta and Google will bear the $6 million in damages awarded to the plaintiff.
EU goes after Snapchat
The EU wants to know whether Snapchat is failing to protect minors under the stringent rules of the Digital Services Act (DSA), questioning the social media platform"s age verification system, default privacy settings, and other content moderation tools as part of a new probe. The EU regulators add that Snapchat isn"t doing enough to protect minors from adults with harmful content.
In other news, Snapchat launched a new Lens format called AI Clips, which is currently available to Lens+ subscribers. It can turn a regular image into a five-second video based on your text prompts. One way it differs from other text-to-video tools is that it offers a close-prompt approach, meaning developers set the "instructions" for the AI in advance.
A room of science and tech influencers
The latest iteration of the US President"s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST) has invited several high-profile names to one room, with a goal of shaping the AI policy and other tech advancements. The list includes Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Oracle founder Larry Ellison, AMD CEO Lisa Su, and Dell CEO Michael Dell.
Netflix hikes prices....again!
Netflix was among the earliest streaming services, but it seems it"s also the earliest to hike prices at short intervals. The streaming giant has hiked prices in the US once again, just months after its last increase in 2025. While all plans are affected, the ad-supported tier now costs cost $8.99/month instead of $7.99/month. Netflix is justifying the hike by saying that it continues to offer added value.
New features for web browsers
Mozilla Firefox received a major update this week, which ships previously announced features, including a built-in VPN, Split View, and other improvements. Vivaldi 7.9 update added double-decker tab stacking for iOS, daily wallpapers for mobile, and enhanced Desktop Mode for power users on Android. Meanwhile, Samsung has also launched its web browser for Windows, bringing virtually everything you"d expect from a desktop browser. Its beta version is currently available for testing in the US and South Korea.
The world of words
Google announced that its Gemini-powered Live Translate feature is now available on iOS. It"s also expanding to additional countries, including France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Thailand, and the United Kingdom. Live Translate builds on "Conversations" mode to identify a speaker"s unique accent, intonations, and natural pauses as they speak.
In other news, the grammar-checker extension LanguageTool has changed its mind and announced it"s pulling the plug on its free tier. While six million users will have to loosen their pockets to use the browser extension, the company said its website remains free for everyone.
Strengthening the digital fortress
The world is moving towards quantum computers, and it"s said that current cryptographic technologies could be broken as the technology advances. Google announced a 2029 timeline to prepare Android for the post-quantum era by migrating to post-quantum cryptography (PQC). Android 17 beta will include some operating system-level PQC enhancements, including upgrades to Android Verified Boot and a migration to Remote Attestation.
Jump over from ChatGPT, Lyra 3 Pro, Google Meet
ChatGPT is a market leader, and Google (the maker of Gemini) knows it. The search giant announced new switching tools to migrate memories, context, and chat history from other AI apps, including ChatGPT, directly into Gemini.
Google also launched its generative music model, Lyria 3 Pro, which brings considerable upgrades over Lyria 3. The new model can generate up to three minutes long with more creative control and customization options. Meanwhile, its video conferencing app, Google Meet, is taking action against the bots trying to join meetings. Meet now flags join requests by risk level to separate potentially risky participants from safe ones.
Apple announces WWDC 2026
The global developer event is returning this year on June 8 with a focus on AI advancements, what"s in store for iOS 27, and whether we will see ads on Apple Maps soon. WWDC 2026 will again be an online event livestreamed on Apple"s website, YouTube channel, and other platforms. Meanwhile, the iOS 26.4 update is out for supported iPhones with Apple Music improvements, new emojis, and more.
Buying an external drive from Apple might cost you a fortune as AI data centers eat up all the reserves. Models from brands like SanDisk have doubled in price compared to recent months, and external drives have become harder to find on Apple"s website.
More Made in America, App Store Connect
The Cupertino giant is putting another $400 million into boosting domestic manufacturing in the US. It will partner with Bosch, Cirrus Logic, TDK, and Qnity Electronics to bring production to the US as part of its American Manufacturing Program (AMP).
One of the largest updates to App Store Connect since its launch brings over 100 monetization-focused metrics, reducing dependence on third-party tools to gauge how well offers convert. For instance, App developers can leverage "cohort capabilities" to group users by initial download rate, download source, trial offer, and other attributes.
PSA for Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 users and silicon promises
Intel"s latest drivers for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth bring some performance improvement for connectivity. However, an important update for the users is that Intel has dropped support for the discontinued Wi-Fi 6 AX200 adapter, and the latest package doesn"t include drivers for it.
The chipmaker has promised significant performance gains for office PCs with its new Core Ultra Series 3 CPUs featuring Intel vPro technology. Overall, Intel promises a 30% better CPU performance, 80% better graphics, and up to 4x AI performance.
Intel also shared performance numbers for its discrete graphics cards, Arc Pro B70 and Arc Pro B65, put against NVIDIA RTX Pro 4000. Meanwhile, AMD also launched the Ryzen 9 9950X3D2 flagship processor, featuring a massive 208MB of stacked L3 cache and a 200W TDP for improved gaming performance.
Smart glasses are beating bulky VR headsets
VR headsets are cool, but they can give you headaches because of the weight. That"s why lightweight smart glasses from Meta and Xiaomi are winning the extended reality game, and traditional VR shipments plummeted in 2025, according to IDC. Interestingly, Meta is winning and losing at the same time, as its Quest headset took a hit due to supply chain challenges and lower demand outside its core gaming audience.
WhatsApp gets new AI features
Meta"s latest batch of WhatsApp features includes AI-powered photo editing tools and the ability to generate responses to incoming messages. Its updated Writing Help feature can draft a suggested response based on your conversation. According to the company. You can choose tones such as professional or funny, depending on who you"re replying to.
Goodbye, Sora app, OpenAI wants other stuff
OpenAI"s Sora app sounds like a cool party trick and was once considered a threat to Hollywood, but the AI video-generation app lost steam just months after launch. The company has decided to pull the plug on the Sora app and related APIs as it shifts focus to AI-powered coding tools. Speaking of which, OpenAI has introduced Codex Plugins, which are installable bundles that streamline and share reusable workflows.
On the flip side, Elon Musk"s xAI is jumping in to fill the void that OpenAI will leave in the market due to unsustainable compute costs. While OpenAI had to lure users to its app, xAI is integrated with X, which is already a massive social media platform with millions of users. The cherry on top is Musk"s dream of solar-powered orbiting data centers to power demanding AI processing workloads.
For ChatGPT, the AI tech giant announced a new shopping discovery feature that lets you find "what to buy" without leaving the ChatGPT interface or browsing through dozens of web pages. It"s powered by the same Agentic Commerce Protocol (ACP) from last year, which was behind the scaled-back Instant Checkout feature.
Moving towards AGI
While most of us are still figuring out chatbots, tech giants are already after what"s next for AI: Artificial General Intelligence (AGI). Meta and Arm have teamed up to design modern processors that can easily handle heavy workloads inside AI data centers, featuring high-end specs even by data center standards.
Microsoft and NVIDIA are also trying to solve one major bottleneck: the need for clean energy to power current GenAI and future AGI systems. The two companies want to utilize existing generative AI models to accelerate the development of clean energy sources, such as nuclear power plants, which often involve complex federal processes.
The "genetics" of a song
Spotify"s SongDNA feature is now rolling out globally to people who loosen up their pockets every month. The feature lets you know about virtually everyone and everything involved in making a song, including writers, producers, samples, interpolations, and even the covers the song has inspired to create a full picture of a track"s creative journey.
Amazon is assembling robots
It was last week when Amazon acquired the Swiss robotic firm Rivr to fuel its doorstep delivery technology. Another robot startup, Fauna Robotics, has come under the e-commerce giant"s roof. It"s a two-year-old startup that built a cool humanoid robot called Sprout, costing around $50,000. It"s capable of navigating around the room, detecting humans, and using its hands to interact with the environment.
Venmo"s massive expansion
If you use Venmo, the PayPal-owned mobile payment app, it has just had the biggest expansion of its addressable market since it launched in 2009. You can use Venmo to send and receive money from millions of PayPal users across 90 different countries. The move combines PayPal"s global footprint with Venmo"s loyal and young user base.
What happened at Microsoft this week
For those wondering what happened under the Redmond giant"s roof this week: Microsoft quietly blocked a performance boost hack for SSDs, is deleting SwiftKey accounts this month, and is finally ditching annoying CAPTCHA for Teams meetings.
Someone recreated the iconic Windows 10 wallpaper with the new Windows 11 logo. You can check out Taras"s freshly baked Microsoft Weekly roundup to catch up on all the interesting stories this week.
Switch 2 takes a dip and price hikes
It"s reported that Nintendo Switch 2 sales aren"t meeting expectations, which could translate into a 30% drop in production. The scaled-back production is mainly attributed to dropping sales in the US, where the 2025 year-end holiday season was reportedly weaker than expected. Nintendo has reduced its planned Switch 2 unit count from six million to four million this quarter.
Nintendo"s US wing also revealed in a post that the new exclusive Switch 2 games will have different pricing compared to their digital versions, meaning the physical copies will burn a deeper hole in your pocket than digital copies. While the change is set to apply to all new titles from May, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book is already showing the updated pricing.
Price hikes and mass layoffs in the gaming world
It"s unclear whether Nintendo will follow Sony"s lead, which recently announced a price hike affecting all markets. Sony"s new pricing puts the PlayStation 5 Pro at a whopping $900, $150 more than its previous price.
It"s been a month since Bluepoint was closed, and Sony shut the door on its first-party studio Dark Outlaw Games. It was only a year-old studio from Sony with former Call of Duty director Jason Blundell at the helm. It"s unclear how many staffers the studio had and what it was building, but the decision is part of a broader layoff at Sony, including 50 people from other gaming divisions.
Speaking of layoffs, Epic Games is saying goodbye to over 1,000 staff members to keep the ship afloat, apparently because players aren"t playing Fortnite enough. It"s dealing with industry-wide challenges, including slower growth, weaker spending, and tougher cost economics, according to CEO Tim Sweeney.
What else in gaming?
The latest issue of Pulasthi"s Weekend PC Game Deals curates several multiplayer games on sale this week. At the Epic Games Store this week, the latest giveaway brings Havendock and Hyper Echelon as free-to-claim titles, which you can permanently add to your library.
Xbox Free Play Days went frugal this week, offering just two titles to choose from: Rubber Bandits and Train Sim World 6: Thomas & Friends Edition. Supergiant Games" Hades II ports are officially coming to Xbox and PlayStation next month, and the game will be available on Game Pass.
That said, here are some more stories from the gaming world:
- Microsoft might be preparing a new Xbox Game Pass tier with only first-party games
- Crimson Desert will support Intel ARC GPUs after all, confirms the studio after backlash
- Playground Games reveals Forza Horizon 6 hardware requirements and cross-platform saves
- S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 Cost of Hope expansion brings parallel storyline, new regions, and more
- The Expanse: Osiris Reborn RPG is not out till 2027, but fans can play it next month
From the review corner
Steven got his hands on the PNY 5080 Slim OC and said this may be the next best thing in terms of compact size and performance if you couldn"t manage to score a 5080 Founders Edition. While it"s not a sweet spot in terms of pricing, PNY 5080 Slim OC comes with a two-slot slim card, runs very cool, and doesn"t throttle. It manages to keep its advertised max core boost clock at 2730 MHz most of the time and does a good job of maintaining temperature and efficiency compared to other general Blackwell-based cards.
The battle of silicon
Intel sent us review units of the Intel Core Ultra 5 250K Plus and Intel Core Ultra 7 270K Plus to put them on the test bed, and we also compared them against the Intel Core Ultra 9 285K and AMD Ryzen 9 9950X3D. Both Ultra 7 270K Plus and Ultra 5 250K offer compelling choices at $199 and $299, respectively. The chips are good enough to be a preferred option over AMD or over last-gen Intel Core; however, the lack of upgradability options can be a negative.
Hollyland Lyra and VenusLiv Air
Taras got a combo review pack of the Hollyland Lyra and VenusLv Air: a budget-friendly 4K webcam and a big streaming camera with a massive sensor. Typical-looking Lyra hides good tech and well-designed features under the hood, such as a good microphone, a privacy shutter, PDAF, and a clever mount. However, the device gets hotter than expected, comes with an awkward privacy shutter, and a thick cable can move the camera.
VenusLiv Air, on the other hand, is not your typical webcam with a bigger price tag. It has a 1/1.3" 50MP CMOS sensor with an equally large f/1.05 aperture, easy to set up and use, versatile connectivity, SD card slot, and cheaper than cameras with removable lenses. However, it"s on the expensive side, has no built-in microphone, and can"t charge via USB-C.
An affordable charging stand
If you"re looking for a multi-device charging dock for your Apple iPhone, AirPods, and Watch, then you should check out our hands-on review of the Mukiya 3-in-1 magnetic charger that doubles as a night lamp. Its compact design allows the charger to fold like a phone-sized brick, making it easier to carry around. With an 18W max output, the charger can deliver 15W to the iPhone, 5W to AirPods, and 2.5W to the Apple Watch. Sadly, there is no quick charging on the board, but at least you can charge three devices at once.
More price drops!
We got you covered with some hot tech deals all week. For some reason, if you missed out on a great discount, here is a summary of some recent deals while they are still alive:
- Apple AirPods Max 2 Wireless Over-Ear Headphones Starlight @ $529.99 ($20 off)
- JBL Boombox 3 Bluetooth Speaker @ $299.95 (40% off)
- Beats Solo 4 Wireless On-Ear Headphones @ $119.99 (40% off)
- Polk Audio MagniFi Max AX SR 7.1.2 Ch Sound Bar @ $769 (14% off)
- AMD Ryzen 9 9900X 12-Core, 24-Thread Unlocked Desktop Processor @ $314.99 (37% off)
- Samsung Odyssey OLED G9 Gaming Monitor @ $799.99 (38% off)
To view all of our recent deals, click here.
So, these were some of the biggest tech news and other updates from this week. There will be more issues of our 7 Days series in the coming weeks and months, so stay tuned. You can also support Neowin by registering for a free member account or subscribing to extra member benefits, along with an ad-free tier option.