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Instead, the company removed base Surface models from Microsoft.com
Microsoft hasn’t secretly raised Surface prices, as earlier reports claimed. Instead, it has removed the base models of the Surface Pro 13-inch and Surface Laptop 13.8-inch from Microsoft.com, according to a statement by Nancie Gaskill, GM of the Surface group. “Customers can purchase base models of Pro and Laptop at the starting price of $999 at other key retailers,” she added.
Currently, you can still find those models atAmazonandBest Buy, where they’re discounted to $800. That’s the same price as the smaller (and slower) Surface Pro 12-inch, so potential buyers have to think hard about balancing portability versus power. It’s also unclear if those base models are still being produced by Microsoft, the company could be trying to sell through it’s existing stock so future customers canonlyorder the more expensive models.
Earlier this week,XDAfirstnoticeda potential Surface price change at Microsoft.com. The starting prices of the13.8-inch Surface Laptopand13-inch Surface Proappeared to jump from $1,000 to $1,200 — but it turns out those are just higher-specced models.
And despite the confusion around actual Surface pricing, Microsoft has definitely made its accessories more expensive. The 65W Surface power supply shot up from $90 to $120 this week, and the 127W variant went from $125 to $175. (Perhaps consider themany cheaper options from Anker and other companiesin our fast charging guide.)
Microsoft also increasedXbox prices last week increases. The Xbox Series X is now $80 more expensive, while an Xbox Series X costs an extra $100.
Updated 5/8/2025 6:00PM:Added Microsoft’s statement about not increasing Surface pricing.
A few weeks ago, Google announced a bunch of new features targeted at digital travel planning, such as hotel price tracking and deploying AI as a personal guide. Among them was also aneat trick that could extract address details from screenshotsand save them to Google Maps.
That feature has now started to roll out slowly. Users started receiving it this week, it seems, and earlier today, Google also released a blogupdateinstructing users on how to enable it. For now, it is focused on iOS, but the facility will soon land on Android, as well.
I often save Google Search listings, social media ads, and blog posts about a certain place, restaurant, monument, or stuff related to my travel plans as screenshots. It’s the quickest way to save such information, especially for scenarios where you don’t have the time to type it all as a note.
Woah this new Google map feature where it can scan screenshot and save the place. Genius! Something I’ve needed for a long time bc I have so many random screenshots— coleen 🌴🐺 (@fluffybbom)May 4, 2025
When I eventually return to them, I mostly use Google Lens to extract the text details from those screenshots, and accordingly save them either in my planner notes, or custom lists in Google Maps’ “You” section.
Now, thanks to Gemini, the AI assistant will automatically look for such information in screenshots saved on your phone, and add them to a dedicated list in the Google Maps app. “Places you save will show up on the map, and you can easily share the list with your travel buddies,” Google said back in March.
The new feature is somewhat similar toGemini’s file analysis capabilities. When you open a document, let’s say a PDF, in the Files app, you will see a Gemini chip at the top that lets you ask Gemini questions about the contents of the file. It works quite well, actually.
In order to let Gemini scan your screenshots and automatically add them to a dedicated list in Google Maps, follow these steps:
1. Make sure that you are running the latest version of the Google Maps app on your iPhone.
2. Open the Google Maps app and tap on the “You” option in the bottom row. Google
3. On the next page, you will see a new list named Screenshots, with a “Try it out!” badge attached to it.
4. When you tap on it, the app will show a brief tutorial video on how it works. At this point, you will need to grant the app permission to access the media files stored locally on your iPhone.
5. The next time you take a screenshot with address-related information mentioned in it, it will be scanned in the background. When you open the Google Maps app afterward, it will inform you that there are new location details ready for review.
6. Approve the addresses that you want to save, and they will automatically be added to the list. Users will also be able to do a manual screenshot scan from within the “You” tab in the app.
7. The saved addresses will appear in the “Screenshots” list and the map view.
If you, like most people, have a drawer full of USB cables for all your different devices, then you know how quickly those cables can get out of hand. However you organize your cables, keeping track of the different types can require a course in tech jargon just to make sense of it all. Two of the terms you’ve likely come across are USB-C and USB4, especially if you’ve been out shopping for new tech recently. Most of us are at least somewhat familiar with USB-C and what it can do, but if we throw USB4 in the mix, things can start to get confusing, especially since they share the same connector.
While you’ll often see USB-C and USB4 listed side by side on packaging and spec sheets, they’re not interchangeable. USB4 refers to the technology standard, while USB-C describes the physical shape of the connector. In other words, when we talk about USB-C, we’re referring to the design of the connector itself: the small, reversible plug that you see at the end of the cables you use for everything from charging your phone to connecting accessories like external drives and monitors. However, just because two cables share the same connector doesn’t mean they deliver the same performance; that’s where USB4 comes in. USB4 is a technology standard that uses the USB-C connector to deliver faster speeds, better power delivery, and more advanced features.
USB-C is just the connector, but performance varies widely
Whether you’re charging the brand new MacBook Air M4 or the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra, you’re plugging your device into a USB-C port. Over the past few years, the compact, rectangular-shaped reversible connector has become the standard across modern tech, replacing older USB-A and USB-B ports. From laptops and tablets to smartphones and wireless earbuds, if you bought a new device in the last couple of years, there’s a good chance it has a USB-C port. And that’s what makes the USB-C connector so special: it has a universal port shape that’s easy to plug in and supports a wide variety of devices and functions, including charging, data transfer, and even video output.
As convenient as this universal connector is, there’s a catch: USB-C only describes the shape of the connector; it says nothing about its speed, charging capability, or features. For example, that USB-C cable you’re using to charge your device may only support slow USB 2.0 speeds, or it may support much faster USB 3.2 or USB4 speeds; it all depends on the cable’s specifications and the standards it supports.
Some USB-C cables are even charge-only, meaning they don’t support data transfer at all. In other words, the USB-C cable you’re using could be limited to basic power delivery or support high-wattage charging for laptops. It’s this variation that makes USB-C so confusing for many people. You can be staring at two seemingly identical cables, and one charges your device rapidly while the other moves at a snail’s pace and doesn’t even support data transfer.
How USB4 improves performance over older USB-C standards
While USB-C describes the physical connector, USB4 refers to the technology standard that uses it. Introduced in 2019, USB4 is a major upgrade over previous USB technology, offering faster speeds, better power delivery, and built-in support for Thunderbolt features. That said, just because a device uses a USB-C connector doesn’t guarantee it supports USB4; you’ll need to check the specs carefully. If you’re using a USB-C connector that supports USB4, you’ll get data transfer rates of up to 40 Gbps, which is almost double what USB 3.2 Gen 2 can provide. That means you’ll be able to move your large files a lot faster, stream high-resolution video, or connect multiple monitors through a single port and not worry about lag.
USB4’s capabilities go beyond just delivering faster speeds; it also improves power delivery, supporting up to 100 watts, which is something you’ll find especially useful if you have large devices like laptops that need to be charged. Another important feature is its compatibility with Thunderbolt 3 or later, which makes it possible to use high-speed accessories like external monitors, docks, and storage drives through the same USB-C port. Getting to know the difference between Thunderbolt and USB-C can be helpful in making sure you get the right cable or accessory for your device, as well.
Alongside the rollout of cheaper Surfaces, Microsoft also increased prices on previous-gen laptops by around 20%.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch
Microsoft announced twonew Surface laptopson Tuesday, and it appears the company used the announcement to increase prices on some of the previous models by around 20%.
Spotted byXDA, Microsoft has yet to officially announce the price changes, but they’re active on the company’s online store. For example, the13-inch Surface Prolaunched at $999.99 but now costs $1,199.99 if you try and buy one in its cheapest configuration.
Surface Pro price on May 5 (Credit: Wayback Machine/Microsoft)
Surface Pro price on May 7 (Credit: Microsoft)
Other retailers, like Amazon and Best Buy, have yet to reflect the price increases, so if you’re looking to buy one of these products, it may be cheaper on a third-party site. Price hikes spotted so far include:
Surface Laptop, 13.8-inch— now $1,199.99, up from $999.99
Surface Pro, 13-inch— now $1,199.99, up from $999.99
Surface 65W Power Supply— now $119.99, up from $89.99
Surface 127W Power Supply— now $174.99, up from $124.99
TheSurface Laptop Studio 2also got more expensive in recent weeks, moving from a base of $1,999.99 to $2,379.99, XDA notes. There’s currently a deal on the product that keeps it at the $1,999.99 mark, but Microsoft says it’s a time-sensitive discount rather than the base price. Meanwhile, the 15-inchSurface Laptopremains at $1,299.99.
The reasoning for the price change is unclear, but the company alsosignificantly increased the prices of its Xbox products last week, citing “market conditions and the rising cost of development.” That saw the price of an Xbox Series X rise $100 and an Xbox Series S increase by $80, alongside various accessories. The brand also warned customers to expect its first-party games to rise to $80 at some point later this year.The brand’s two new Surface products are a 12-inch version of the Pro that starts at $799.99 and a 13-inch Surface Laptop that starts at $899.99. Both are more affordable than recent Surface products, giving customers a new entry-level option.
For many in the tech arena, the iPhone has been, and likely always will be, the gold standard for handheld mobile devices. The smartphones were the very definition of “game changer” when they debuted in 2007, and they have continued to evolve into some of the most technologically advanced devices on the consumer electronics scene in the years since.
These days, the iPhone has become such an advanced piece of tech that it tends to have lots of features and functions installed that many users don’t even know about. With the list of hidden iPhone features only seeming to get longer with every new iteration of IOS, it’s likely that some users will never fully grasp what their devices are actually capable of. Even as Apple continues to build new functions into the iPhone, a few have been around for a while now, though you still may not know about them.
For example, did you know that your iPhone has a barometer built into it? Apple’s iPhones have boasted a built-in barometer since the device’s sixth generation. As for why the Apple design team began incorporating barometers into the smartphones, it’s likely because a barometer can help provide the device with better readings for vertical location, which greatly improves the iPhone’s GPS capabilities. So, how exactly does a barometer aid in that particular endeavor?
If you are wholly unfamiliar with what a barometer does, the devices are designed to measure atmospheric pressure, which is sometimes called barometric pressure, hence the name. The devices have long been utilized by scientists and meteorologists, as changes in atmospheric pressure tend to coincide with changes in the weather. Historically, those devices have functioned with the aid of mercury, as the metal fluid is directly impacted by the amount of pressure in the air, though fluid-less aneroid barometers have also been utilized regularly.
Don’t worry, you don’t have a tube of mercury or an aneroid chamber built into your iPhone. Barometers went digital long ago, and the readings taken from digital sensors built into your iPhone are far more accurate and immediate than those taken by the old school instruments. If you’re curious how they take readings, the barometer is one of the reasons there are vents in the bottom of your iPhone, as the design feature allows air to enter the device for readings.
As for what the barometer in your iPhone is measuring, it, in part, uses the change in pressure to chart the device’s change in elevation, since air pressure can shift dramatically the higher or lower you are in the world. The barometer in your iPhone may be so sensitive that the readings shift by moving from the first floor of a home to the second. Readings from the barometer can also be used by certain weather and health-monitoring apps if you give permission for them to access that information.
Now that you know your iPhone has a barometer and is regularly charting the changes in atmospheric pressure depending on where you are in the world, you might be wondering how you can access this information. Unfortunately, it does not appear that you can directly access the information on your iPhone yourself. In fact, searching “barometer” on your device will produce exactly zero results.
That means you’ll need to visit ye old App Store and download a third-party feature if you want to tap into the barometric potential of your iPhone. As a reminder, the barometer did not debut in the iPhone until the sixth generation models made it to market. So, if you’re using an iPhone 5 or earlier, you will not be able to access the info because, well, there just won’t be any info to access. The good news is that, assuming you are using a barometer-equipped iPhone, there are several third-party apps to choose from in the App Store.
Among the higher-rated free apps you’ll find are the Barometer & Altimeter & Thermo from ExaMobile S.A. and My Altitude from Dayana Networks Ltd., which each boast a 4.8 stars out of 5 rating with more than 8,000 and more than 25,000 user reviews, respectively. The apps offer many of the same free features, with each offering in-app upgrades at a cost, meaning that the differences are primarily aesthetic. But if you’re interested, My Altitude does allow users to utilize barometric readings from NOAA instead of those taken directly by your iPhone, though there’s no guarantee of which numbers will be more accurate.
Samsung Wallet is introducing a Tap to Transfer feature for peer-to-peer payments using debit cards stored in the app.
The feature allows users to send money in person by tapping their Galaxy phone against the recipient’s phone (using NFC) or even their physical tap-to-pay debit card. Remote transfers are also possible.
Tap to Transfer will be available to all Samsung Wallet users in the USA later this month.
There are more options than ever for transferring money to friends and family, but it can still be a major hassle. Whether it’s having the right app, or making sure you’re sending it to the right person. But Samsung thinks it’s found a better way with a new feature called “Tap to Transfer”.
The name is rather literal, and means you can transfer money from your debit card to another person by tapping your phones together. The NFC chips in two of thebest Samsung phoneswill register, and you’ll send the money over instantly.
Alternatively, if there are people without Samsung phones they can tap their debit card against the phone — which can be useful for getting money from someone not in your contacts list.
The feature has been done in partnership with Visa and Mastercard, and my guess is Tap to Transfer will be exclusive to those card companies for the time being. It’s also a debit card transaction, so no trying to transfer money from your credit card by mistake.
The only real downside here is that Tap to Transfer is exclusive to Samsung Wallet.
Still the idea behind this is pretty interesting. Rather than having to Venmo someone your share of the dinner bill, or the cab ride you used to get home, you can simply tap their phone just as you would with a normal credit card machine.
Samsung also confirmed that location won’t always matter. It will still be possible to send money to people you know through Samsung Wallet, all by searching for their Samsung account.
The only real downside here is that Tap to Transfer is exclusive to Samsung Wallet. So if you’re an iPhone user, or have an Android phone not made by Samsung, you’re going to miss out. You’re going to be stuck transferring money the old fashioned way unless someone in your friend group has a Samsung Galaxy — and is willing to pick up the bill.
Making purchases from your iPhone just got a whole lot easier
It’s finally getting easier to buy ebooks on theiOSKindle app after a major App Store rule change.
In response to a court order in the case ofEpic Games, Inc. v. Apple Inc.,Applehas been forced to stop charging a commission on purchases made outside of the App Store. This is good news foriPhoneusers in general, but solves an especially annoying issue with the iOS Kindle app, which has received an update to make buying ebooks on your iPhonemucheasier.
Thanks to this court order, making purchases from your iPhone just got a whole lot simpler.
iOS Kindle app gets desperately-needed update after App Store rule change
If you opened the iOS Kindle app recently days, you may have noticed you now have the option to purchase books in the app… sort of.
Prior toa major App Store rule changeon May 1, you couldn’t purchase books through the iOS Kindle app at all (or the Amazon app) and instead had to go through the entire process in your web browser. Now, you can simply tap “Get Book” and the Kindle app will take you directly to the book’s purchasing page in your browser.
This is a far more streamlined process and it’s thanks to a recent court order that forced Apple to stop charging commissions on external purchases.
So, for instance, previously an app developer couldn’t include a link in their app taking the user to their web browser to make a purchase outside of the app. That rule was used to effectively force app developers to only allow purchases through their apps, which would force them to give Apple a 30% commission on every purchase.
Now, developers are allowed to include buttons and links directing users to external purchase mechanisms, mainly web browsers, without being forced to pay a commission. As a result, buying things like ebooks on your iPhone is now much more straightforward and user-friendly.
The court case slowly opening iOS to third-party app stores
As one might expect,Apple is appealing the rulingthat led to this change in the App Store rules. However, I hope for the sake of iOS andiPadOSusers that the rule change stays in effect since it contributes to a much better user experience with apps like Kindle and others that allow for digital purchases.
In fact, Epic Games, the plaintiff in the case that led to last week’s App Store change, has had an ongoing dispute with Apple over its restrictions and commission system for purchases made on iOS. Epic currently doesn’t have an iOS/iPadOS app available in the U.S. due to those restrictions.
Users in the European Union can download the Epic Games Store on their iOS and iPadOS devices thanks to the Digital Markets Act, which forced Apple to allow the use of third-party app stores, but that ruling only applies to users in the EU. Luckily,that may change soonthanks to rulings in Epic’s case against Apple.
I’m hoping Epic continues to score wins in its case against Apple since this case is finally bringing more freedom to iOS, giving users more choice over the apps they download, where they download them from, and how they purchase digital items like ebooks. Although, admittedlyI still prefer my ereaderover the Kindle app.
More and more cameras have it, so what is a stacked sensor and is it something you really need?
Stacked sensors are like an evolution of back-illuminated sensors with an extra layer of circuitry designed for higher speeds processing.(Image credit: Canon)
Image sensor design has come a long way in just a few years. Some improvements have been slow, quiet and evolutionary. Others have brought a clear step forward in sensor performance. The latest innovation is ‘stacked sensors’, which have brought a big increase in continuous shooting and video performance. So what is a stacked sensor and how does it work?
Let’s start briefly withBSI, or back-side illuminated sensors. In the old days, all the associated circuitry for sensors ran in and around the light-sensitive photosites that actually captured the light values.
Then designers figured out that if you turned the sensor around, so that the circuitry was on the back instead of the front, you could make the photosites bigger and effectively use up the whole surface area of the sensor with no gaps in-between. BSI sensors typically offer better sensitivity, better dynamic range and lower noise as a result.
But where BSI sensors brought improvements in image quality, stacked sensors are designed to offer improvements in speed – specifically the ‘readout speed’ – since this is one of the bottlenecks for camera performance.
Stacked sensors are like an evolution of back-side illuminated sensors with an extra layer of circuitry designed for higher-speed processing(Image credit: Fujifilm)
A sensor with a slow readout produces more rolling shutter, or ‘Jello effects’ in video, or ‘shutter distortion’ when photographing fast subject movement with today’s high-speed electronic shutters. A faster readout speed can also help with continuous shooting speeds and autofocus performance.
Some of thebest cameras for professionalsand many of thebest cameras for sports photographyuse stacked sensors to achieve high-speed burst rates.
With conventional sensors, the electronic signals from the photosites have to travel to circuitry arranged around the outside of the sensor for processing. It doesn’t sound much of a distance, but it slows things down.
With a stacked sensor, all this circuitry is moved to the back of the sensor itself, shortening the distance for the signals to travel and speeding up the readout and processing speed.
Just when you thought everything was clear, theNikon Z6 IIIarrived with a ‘partially’ stacked sensor…(Image credit: Nikon)
Stacked sensors excel for high-speed continuous shooting, autofocus tracking performance and blackout-free viewfinders in burst mode, and for dynamic video capture with fast camera movements and rapidly moving subjects.
That’s why many cameras designed for this kind of work now have stacked sensors. That’s not to say that older cameras without them couldn’t handle these subjects, but stacked sensors tend to handle them better.
But it does depend on the kind of photography and videography you do. If you don’t shoot a lot of sports and wildlife, and tend to take single shots rather than bursts, then a stacked sensor won’t deliver any obvious benefits.
Similarly, if your video work is based around tripods and sets and choreographed action rather than fast run-and-gun style filming, then you probably won’t see much benefit here either.
The fact is that while a stacked sensor is a strong selling point, it does substantially impact the cost of a camera – and may not yield any significant benefits for the kind of shooting you do. Right now, a stacked sensor is not so much a ‘must have’ as a ‘might want’.
They can’t steal your password if you don’t have one.
(Image credit: Microsoft)
Microsoftnow uses passkeys by default for all new accounts, helping its users stay secure by ensuring that their passwords can’t be stolen by not having one.Microsoftwill ask you for an email address when creating an account for the first time. It will then send a verification code to confirm your identity, and once done, it will become your default credential for your new account.
After you’ve created your Microsoft account and signed in, the company will ask you to add a passkey. Once you have done so, you can use Windows Hello or your device’s biometricsecurityfeatures to access your account.
Passkeys have been around for almost a decade, with Windows 10 getting support for passwordless sign-in in July 2015. However, it took some time for the standard to gain traction, withGoogle, Apple, and Microsoft rolling it out to their respective operating systems in 2022.
Furthermore, personal Microsoft accounts only received this feature in 2024. Still, this is a welcome development, as it will make accessing your Microsoft account easier and more secure. After all, this is one less password you need to remember among the hundreds, if not thousands, of passwords you keep for your numerous accounts.
The company has updated the user experience for its login pages by detecting the best authentication method from the start instead of offering all the possible options.
“For example, if you have a password and “one-time code” set up on your account, we’ll prompt you to sign in with your one-time code instead of your password. After you’re signed in, you’ll be prompted to enroll a passkey. Then the next time you sign in, you’ll be prompted to sign in with your passkey,” said Microsoft Identity & Network Access President Joy Chik and Microsoft Security Corporate VP Vasu Jakkal. “This simplified experience gets you signed in faster and, in our experiments, has reduced password use by over 20%. As more people enroll passkeys, the number of password authentications will continue to decline until we can eventually remove password support altogether.”
Passwordless accounts will make it harder for bad actors to illicitly access accounts, as they can no longer steal credentials through phishing, keylogging, SIM swapping, and more. And even if you lose your passkey device, you’re still protected, as anyone who wants to access your data must use your biometrics to open it. Someone determined and with unlimited resources might still be able to circumvent passkey protection, but for the average person, this should be more than enough to increase their data security.
Expanding interoperability, Android supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI, allowing users to securely share digital credentials across apps.
What you need to know
Android now natively supports OpenID standards for digital credential presentation and issuance.
Users can securely store and send cryptographically verifiable digital documents across different apps.
This update enables wider use of digital credentials for various purposes, including account recovery and identity verification on different platforms.
Google recently expanded its Digital ID access through its Wallet app for residents in the U.K. And to further expand the interoperability across different apps that store digital identities, the search giant is aiming to support open standards via various identity providers and services through the Android operating system.
Last week, through anAndroid Developers blog post, the company has announced that, “Android, via Credential Manager’s DigitalCredential API, now natively supports OpenID4VP and OpenID4VCI for digital credential presentation and issuance respectively.”
As the search giant further explains, the Digital Credentials are cryptographically verifiable documents. They can include documents like driver’s licenses, passports, or national IDs. And, throughAndroid appsand with the help of the respective app developers, more can be incorporated and submitted digitally like education certifications, insurance policies, permits, for example in the near future.
Currently, the supported digital documents can be stored in “credential holders” apps like Google Wallet and Samsung Wallet. Some apps like banking or airline apps would, however, sometimes require the digital document for verification, which is not necessarily stored in the respective banking app.
Since Android supports secure sharing between devices through CTAP protocols. Users will be able to store multiple credentials across apps and choose which one to pick using OpenID4VP requests from websites or Android Credential Manager API.
The process involves verifier sending an OpenID4VP request to the Digital Credential API, prompting the user to select a credential. The user here only chooses a credential, not a digital wallet app. Android then redirects the request to the digital wallet app holding the credential to complete the action. The app can further perform additional due diligence before releasing the credential.
Per the recent Google Wallet announcement, soon users can use digital credentials to recover “Amazon accounts, access online health services with CVS and MyChart by Epic, and verify profiles or identity on platforms like Uber and Bumble.”
Next to Google Wallet, Samsung Wallet and 1Password will also be able to hold people’s digital credentials as digital wallets and support OpenID standards through Android’s Credential Manager API.
Google
