This 2-in-1 Samsung Laptop/Tablet Is $500 Off Ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale

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Amazon’s Big Spring Sale is a few days away, but the early deals are already popping off, making it a good time to score discounts on big-ticket items like laptops and tablets. Can’t decide between the two? Got both in one—and one of your best options is the Samsung 16” Galaxy Book5 Pro 360, a highly portable laptop/tablet combo with a screen that flips back 360 degrees. Ahead of the Amazon Big Spring Sale, it’s down to $1,199.99, $500 off the original $1,699.99 and its lowest price ever, according to price trackers.

An upgrade from the original Galaxy Book Pro 360, the Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 is designed to be more efficient, longer-lasting, and better at multitasking. It has an Intel Core Ultra 7 Processor, 1 TB of storage, 18 GB of RAM, and a 16-inch 3K AMOLED touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rate and a peak brightness of 500 nits. Despite its large footprint, it’s surprisingly slim at 12.8 mm, making it a solid option if you want more screen real estate without a lot of bulk. 

One of the best selling points in the battery life—you’ll get up to 25 hours. It can be used in laptop, tent, and tablet modes, and comes with an S-Pen to help out with creative work, editing, and note-taking.  Compared to cheaper combo devices, it has a good port selection, including Thunderbolt 4, HDMI, USB-A, and microSD. On the performance side, it’s best for everyday use and light gaming, as more demanding multitasking or intensive video editing might slow it down. 

All in all, the sturdy Samsung 16” Galaxy Book5 Pro 360 was already a great premium 2-in-1 laptop/tablet option, and at $500 off ahead of Amazon’s Big Spring Sale, it’s a much easier sell.

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After hackers hit an Iowa company, cars around the country failed to start

Driving after a DUI conviction can be a dicey experience. Many states require drivers, if they want to keep using their cars, to install ignition interlock devices that measure alcohol levels before allowing the vehicle to start.

One of the most common is from Des Moines, Iowa-based Intoxalock, which takes the form of a small box with a plastic tube into which the driver blows. The box then measures the level of alcohol in the breath. You must be below your state’s legal limit to start the vehicle. (In some states, the system will also log your location using GPS and/or take a photo of you every time you blow in the tube.)

The interlock device can only be leased, and it costs around $70–$120 per month.

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The Best Books, Movies, Video Games and Podcasts to Check Out After Watching ‘Euphoria’

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Euphoria might be the messiest show in existence—not only are its teenage characters dealing with epic levels of drama, trauma, and variously illegal activities, but the show’s production has been off the rails (season three was announced four years ago) even as the cast is beefing. Add in a chaotic approach to storytelling, and you have a show that seems to have been designed for our very online times.

Season three finally arrives on April 12, and if that seems like a miracle to you, you might wonder how you’ll get your Euphoria fix after you’ve run out of new episodes. We’ve already suggested a bunch of streamalike shows with the same vibes, but Euphoria‘s dramatic, inebriated, way-too-much aesthetic of the show can be found in other media, too—books, video games, movies, and even podcasts. Stream Euphoria on HBO Max.


The best books like ‘Euphoria’

There’s a novelistic aspect to Rue’s narration—you could totally see the series as the adaptation of a postmodern novel series. If you’re feeling bookish and you want to get the same jittery fix offered by the show, here are some books that are perfect for you.

Heroine, by Mindy McGinnis

If you love Rue’s story above all else, Heroine is the book for you. When high school softball star Mickey suffers an injury, she relies on the painkillers she’s prescribed to stay in the game—and you probably know exactly where this is going. It’s a powerful look at teenage addiction and mental health.

Fuccboi, by Sean Thor Conroe

Drugs, emotional devastation, social stagnation—Fuccboi’s searing story at a feckless young man who is slowly realizing that his poor decisions and general cowardice have put him in a cycle of misery is a perfect fit for fans of Rue, Cassie, and Jules.

Hello Girls, by Brittany Cavallaro & Emily Henry

If Rue and Jules’ doomed relationship was the fuel that powered you through the first two seasons of Euphoria, pick up Hello Girls. Winona and Lucille do the one thing Rue and Jules couldn’t: They run away together to escape their suffocating lives and terrible families.

The Revolution of Birdie Randolph, by Brandy Colbert

If Euphoria‘s depiction the invisible pressure that kids live under in the modern age felt way too real to you, The Revolution of Birdie Randolph is a good chaser. Dove “Birdie” Randolph is working tirelessly to be the perfect daughter her parents want—until a beautiful boy who’s obviously a bad idea and a reckless relative conspire to derail her controlled existence.

More Happy Than Not, by Adam Silvera

Do you feel all the emotions when watching Euphoria? Dive into Silvera’s emotional rollercoaster of a book. In More Happy Than Not, Aaron Soto is navigating life after his father’s suicide. But as life gets more and more confusing and he has fewer people he can trust to talk about it, he considers an experimental procedure that might bring him peace—at the cost of everything else.


The best movies like Euphoria

If you want a deeper dive into the frenetic, dramatic experience that Euphoria offers, these films will scratch the itch.

Thirteen (2003)

Thirteen is a film that speaks the same language as Euphoria. Straight-laced honor student Tracy (Evan Rachel Wood) meets new girl Evie (Nikki Reed), who shows her a world of drugs, sex, and really terrible decisions that is initially exciting, with a range of realistically bleak consequences. Rent Thirteen from Prime Video.

Kids (1995)

Less stylized and a lot more upsetting, Kids is what unsupervised teens with access to drugs and each other’s bodies look like without flashy editing or actors who look like Zendaya. Following a gang of young teens in New York as they drink, smoke, and have unprotected sex, it’s a car crash you can’t look away from—and so controversial, it’s long been tough to see (it’s not streaming anywhere, but you can buy it on Blu-ray). Buy Kids on Blu-ray from Amazon.

The Rules of Attraction (2002)

If you’ve ever wondered what the kids of Euphoria will face when they get to college, The Rules of Attraction is the movie for you—in fact, Euphoria was very likely influenced by this film (and the Bret Easton Ellis novel on which it is based). The main character is Sean Bateman, younger brother of American Psycho’s Patrick Bateman, and his antics are based on Ellis’ own drug-soaked experiences at Bennington College in Vermont. It’s a delirious spiral into drugs, sex, and madness that fans of HBO’s show will love. Stream The Rules of Attraction on Prime Video.

Assassination Nation (2018)

Sam Levinson is the driving creative force behind Euphoria, and his 2018 film Assassination Nation is basically a dry run for the series. This tale of high school kids exploring their gender identities, sexual orientation, and taste in illegal substances (while a social media bomb detonates into pure chaos in their small town) isn’t as grounded as Euphoria, but it adopts the same neon and glitter sensibility as it explores similar themes in a much more heightened manner. Stream Assassination Nation on Paramount+ or rent it from Prime Video.

Beautiful Boy (2018)

At its core, Euphoria is about relationships tested by mental health issues, substance abuse issues, and emotional betrayals. Beautiful Boy is the story of a father and son navigating the son’s addiction to meth, and is based on a true story. It doesn’t shy away from depicting the brutal impact addiction can have on even the most loving and well-intentioned relationship. Stream Beautiful Boy on Prime Video.


The best video games like Euphoria

Video games offer a more immersive experience and a sense of involvement in the story that a TV show can’t match. Here are some games that swim in the same space as Euphoria.

Life is Strange

If you find yourself yelling at the screen when characters make terrible decisions on Euphoria, Life is Strange will be cathartic. Dealing with issues like bullying and mental health, the game’s mechanic offers the ability to rewind time in order to change the course of events as you navigate teenage social hierarchies and the dark mysteries hidden under the surface of your hometown.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, macOS, Nintendo Switch, Steam

The Quarry

Although it’s a horror game where you control nine teenagers so they can survive a night filled with monsters and murderous humans, the depth of the character development and relationships makes The Quarry a perfect play-along for Euphoria. Every decision you make for the kids impacts the story (there are close to 200 distinct possible endings), offering a richly-detailed universe that will remind you of the HBO show’s vibe.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Steam

Tell Me Why

This emotionally rich game examines how we lie to ourselves, and how our memories trick us. Tell Me Why follows two telepathic siblings when they return to their home in Alaska to deal with their mother’s death and her messy legacy, the game deals with gender, sexuality, trauma, and an intense personal relationship tying it all together.

Platforms: Xbox, GeForce Now, PC, Steam

Lost Records: Bloom and Rage

Perfect for Euphoria fans, Lost Records: Bloom and Rage follows four high school friends who record their summer vacation on a camcorder in the 1990s, then reunite 27 years later to deal with the secret that drove them apart. With realistic interactions with the characters that react to your actions (or inactions), it replicates and enhances Euphoria’s ensemble experience with all the drama.

Platforms: PlayStation, Xbox, PC, GeForce Now, Steam


The best podcasts to listen to after watching Euphoria

The long gap between seasons two and three means that a lot of Euphoria-centric podcasts have either moved on or given up, but with the show roaring back into the zeitgeist, there are some key podcasts planning to produce new episodes.

The Watch (The Ringer)

Hosts Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald will be recapping and commenting on season three of Euphoria at The Watch—they’ve already devoted a whole episode to thinking way too hard about the trailer, so you know it’s going to be a fun deep dive.

That’s So Euphoric

This was one of the more energized and interesting podcasts about the show, so it seems hopeful that hosts Paige Blaser and Alex Miller will start it up again for season three.

Previously On with Jillian Bonanne

Previously On has been re-watching the first two seasons of the show in preparation for its return, so this is a perfect way to remind yourself why you fell for these messy kids in the first place.

Claude Code and Cowork can now use your computer

Anthropic announced today that its Claude Code and Claude Cowork tools are being updated to accomplish tasks using your computer. The latest update will see these AI resources become capable of opening files, using the browser and running dev tools. 

When enabled, the Claude AI chatbot will first prioritize connectors to supported services such as the Google workplace suite or Slack, but if a connector isn’t available, it will be able to still execute an assigned task. Claude should ask for permission before taking these actions, but Anthropic still recommended not using this feature to handle sensitive information as a precaution.

Claude computer use will initially be available to Claude Pro and Claude Max subscribers on macOS. This feature is still in a research preview, so will continue to be adjusted based on Anthropic’s user feedback. It will also support use with Anthropic’s Dispatch feature, which allows a person to message the chatbot in a single continuous conversation across phone and desktop. 

Claude Cowork was introduced in January. It’s an iteration of the Claude Code AI agent for programmers that is designed for more casual users.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/claude-code-and-cowork-can-now-use-your-computer-210000126.html?src=rss

Google Is Using AI to Mess With Headlines (Again)

Back in December, news outlets spotted Google messing with headlines on articles that appeared in Discover. As it happens, this was Google experimenting with AI-generated headlines; rather than show readers the headlines the outlets wrote themselves, Google’s AI would take it upon itself to rewrite them. Why? According to Google, it was a “small UI experiment for a subset of Discover users” that “changes the placement of existing headlines to make topic details easier to digest.” While those of us that actually write headlines would argue such an experiment isn’t really necessary, Google apparently disagrees, as the experiment is now a feature.

Articles in Google Search may be impacted by AI

The thing is, Google isn’t content with keeping AI-generated headlines exclusive to Discover. As spotted by The Verge, the company is now expanding its AI rewrites to Google Search as well. That means if you click an article on a Google Search page, it might have had a headline that the publication had no input on. Of course, when you click through to the actual article, you’ll see the real headline. Once again, Google says this is an experiment—a “small” and “narrow” one at that, and that, in its current state, the feature isn’t ready for a full rollout. But The Verge says it has spotted multiple examples of Google taking its articles and changing the headlines for Search.

For example, the AI turned the headline “I used the ‘cheat on everything’ AI tool and it didn’t help me cheat on anything” into “‘Cheat on everything’ AI tool.” Sure, the article is about the “Chat on everything” tool, but the AI version leaves out some serious context: The Verge isn’t just spotlighting this tool, or, worse yet, endorsing it; it’s heavily criticizing it—something the original headline was designed to advertise to readers. In another example, “You can’t replace the battery in Lego’s Smart Bricks — and many of its sensors aren’t active yet” was changed to “You can’t replace the battery in Lego’s Smart Bricks.” At least this one doesn’t reframe the story, but it does leave out part of the story entirely. Finally, there’s “I met Olaf — the Frozen robot who might be the future of Disney Parks,” which Google’s AI awkwardly truncated to “the Frozen robot who might be the future of Disney Parks.” Yes, the “the” is lowercase in Search, for some reason.

Why is Google doing this?

The Verge acknowledges that Google has changed far fewer headlines in Search than it has in Discover, which means the chances are much lower that you’ll encounter an AI headline in a Google Search than scrolling through the Discover feed. But if the feature’s journey in Discover is any indication, Google will only ramp up AI-generated headlines in Search in the near future.

Google told The Verge that the goal is to “identify content on a page that would be a useful and relevant title to a users’ query,” and apply “better matching titles to users’ queries and facilitating engagement with web content.” This experiment is apparently not specific to news articles, and that, if Google were to launch such a feature, it wouldn’t use generative AI to rewrite the headlines. So, why use generative AI to rewrite the headlines in the experiment? To that point, The Verge says that sometimes, Google’s AI uses its headline, but the wrong version. Outlets like The Verge will sometimes produce two versions of a headline: one for the website, and one that appears on Search. Google’s AI will reportedly swap the headlines, choosing the site headline for Search when The Verge wrote an entire headline designed for Search.

Google Search belongs to Google, of course, and we’re all at the company’s mercy when it comes to what appears in those results. But it seems a bit beyond the pale to change a website’s headline when ranking it in Search, whether that be cutting off half the angle, or changing the angle entirely. If readers click through thinking they’re getting one thing, and find another, who’s that good for? I guess Google thinks it’s good for them, but, like many of the changes the company has made in recent years, it isn’t really good for anyone else.

LG Display starts mass-producing LTPO-like 1 Hz LCD displays for laptops

LG Display is mass-producing laptop screens that automatically change their refresh rate from 1 Hz to up to 120 Hz, based on what’s on-screen, it announced this week. The display supplier said that it’s the first company to mass-produce these 1–120 Hz screens, which are supposed to boost battery life.

According to LG’s announcement, the LCD screens, which it’s calling Oxide 1Hz, will automatically use a 1 Hz refresh rate when detecting a static image on-screen and switch to up to 120 Hz when needed. Without providing more detail, LG said it created proprietary “circuit algorithms and panel design technology” and discovered “new materials and [applies] the oxide with the lowest power leakage during low-refresh-rate mode to the display’s thin-film transistor.”

In its announcement this week, LG said that “when performing tasks involving primarily still images—such as checking emails or reading e-books and research papers—the panel operates at the lowest refresh rate of 1 Hz. Conversely, it runs in high-refresh-rate mode at up to 120 Hz when streaming content such as movies or sports as well as playing games with frequent screen changes.

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Apple Prepares To Add Search Ads To Apple Maps

Apple is reportedly preparing to add search ads to Apple Maps, “and it could start to roll out to users by the summer,” reports AppleInsider, citing sources from Bloomberg (paywalled). From the report: Apple will make an announcement as soon as March. This will bring ads to search queries within the navigation app, which will operate similar to Google’s advertising system. Retailers and brands will be able to bid for ad spots located against search queries for specific terms, such as types of food or services. The winning bid will be able to show an ad at the top of the results, pointing to a related location for that business. Apple also announced in January that it would add more ads within the App Store, starting March in the UK and Japan.


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EA is nuking Battlefield Hardline on consoles

EA has put another game on the chopping block, or at least the console versions of it. The company says it will delist the PS4 and Xbox One versions of Battlefield Hardline from digital storefronts on May 22, and shut down the online services on June 22. The single-player campaign will remain playable for those who own the game. The PC version of Battlefield Hardline isn’t affected by these changes.

In its announcement on X, EA didn’t explain exactly why it’s ceasing support for the game on PS4 and Xbox One. It pointed readers to a FAQ on its website that lays out some of the typical reasons why it ends online support for its games. These include factors like declining player bases. 

Battlefield Hardline, which was released in 2015, will still be available on Steam as well as EA’s own PC app. The Steam version has a peak concurrent player count of 41 so far this year.  

It’s hardly uncommon for a publisher to end online services for games with declining player bases, but it’s an issue that’s come into greater focus over the last few years thanks in part to the Stop Killing Games movement. EA alone has sunsetted dozens of games. Its website has a full accounting of these, spread across three webpages. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/gaming/ea-is-nuking-battlefield-hardline-on-consoles-193321551.html?src=rss

US to pay TotalEnergies $1 billion to stop developing offshore wind in US

On Monday, the Trump administration announced its newest approach to its goal of blocking the development of offshore wind: pay companies to walk away from lease sites they had paid for under the Biden administration. The Department of the Interior, which arranges leases of coastal sites for the development of wind farms, would end up returning about $1 billion to France’s TotalEnergies, which has promised both to invest that money in US-based fossil fuel projects and to not do any further offshore wind development in the US.

Rumors of the deal had begun circulating last week. The deal comes in the wake of the administration’s repeated failures to block offshore wind projects after construction had started.

The deal would see TotalEnergies invest roughly $1 billion in oil and natural gas projects in the US. Once those commitments are made, the US would pay the company that amount in return for its abandonment of two areas it had leased for offshore wind. One of those areas would have hosted a relatively small project near the Carolinas. But the second project, Attentive Energy, is a large site east of New Jersey that would have the capacity to generate 3 Gigawatts of power—capacity that the nearby states would find difficult to replace with other means.

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What to Do If Your Pixel Watch Is Double Counting Your Steps or Calories

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Ever since the March Pixel feature drop, some Pixel watch users have been reporting that their step counts and calorie counts are off. An official fix isn’t out yet, but users have found a few approaches that seem to correct the numbers. 

Steps and calories are being overcounted for some Pixel Watch users

The problem, according to numerous posts on forums like r/PixelWatch and comments on the March feature drop, is that the Fitbit app is reporting far more steps than the user feels is plausible. For example, one user reports: “my watch says I’ve walked 6,688 steps today, which is impossible! I just walked to the bathroom and back, and now my watch says I’ve walked 7,025 steps! I’ve probably only walked half that!”

Calorie counts seem to be affected for some users as well. One Redditor says: “I only got in roughly 7,000 steps yesterday, yet my Pixel Watch 4/Fitbit said I burned more than 11,000 calories, which is, obviously, impossible given that I’m not literally on fire and didn’t run three or four marathons yesterday while working my desk job.”

While the issues seem to have started shortly after the March drop, the issue may not be with the Pixel Watch firmware itself but with something else, like the Fitbit app. A few of the reports are from people who haven’t gotten the feature update on their watch yet, yet still have inflated calorie or step counts. (The March drop included a firmware update for Bluetooth/wifi watches but not LTE watches, so people with LTE watches haven’t gotten the update. You can see all available firmware updates here.)

Try these steps to correct step and calorie counts on your Pixel Watch

While Google hasn’t published an official fix yet, forum users have been sharing steps that they say fix the problem. One or more of the following may help: 

  • On your phone, go to Settings, then Apps, then Fitbit, then Storage. Select Clear cache. 

  • On your Pixel Watch, go to Settings, then Apps & Notifications, then App info, System apps, Fitbit, App info (again), and then Clear cache. 

  • Restart your watch: hold in the crown until a menu pops up, then select Restart.

  • Restart your phone.

Some users said the issue was fixed after they cleared their phone’s app cache, and some said it was fixed after restarting their watch. Some recommended doing all the steps above. 

Cloudflare Details Their Upgrade To EPYC Turin For 2x Throughput, 50% Better Perf/Watt

Cloudflare’s technical blog posts about their hardware and software efforts are always a treat to read. Their latest fascinating technical content is on their newest “Gen 13” server platform based around AMD EPYC Turin where they are now achieving 2x throughput and 50% better performance-per-Watt thanks to these latest-generation AMD EPYC server processors paired with software improvements too…

3dfx Voodoo 1 Retro Reboot: FPGA Project Recreates The Legendary 1990s GPU

3dfx Voodoo 1 Retro Reboot: FPGA Project Recreates The Legendary 1990s GPU
Nostalgic console gaming aficionados have it good, man. You’ve got all kinds of options for playing retro console games, up to and including systems like the Analogue 3D that painstakingly recreate the original hardware using Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), chips that can literally be reconfigured on the fly. Old PC gamer nerds like

Intuit beats FTC in court, ending restrictions on “free” TurboTax ads

An appeals court invalidated the Biden-era Federal Trade Commission’s attempt to punish Intuit for allegedly deceptive ads that pitched TurboTax as free.

Under then-Chair Lina Khan, the FTC determined in 2024 that the TurboTax maker violated US law with deceptive advertising and ordered it to stop telling consumers, without more obvious disclaimers, that TurboTax or other products are free. The FTC’s chief administrative law judge had previously found that Intuit’s ads violated prohibitions on deceptive advertising because the firm “advertised to consumers that they could file their taxes online for free using TurboTax, when in truth, for approximately two-thirds of taxpayers, the advertised claim was false.”

Intuit appealed in the conservative-leaning US Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit and got a resounding victory on Friday in a 3–0 ruling issued by a panel of judges. “Following the Supreme Court’s decision in SEC v. Jarkesy, we hold that adjudication of a deceptive advertising claim before an administrative law judge violated the constitutional separation of powers,” the 5th Circuit panel said.

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Core Ultra 7 270K Plus & Ultra 5 250K Plus Review: Intel Boosts Cores, Clocks And Gaming

Core Ultra 7 270K Plus & Ultra 5 250K Plus Review: Intel Boosts Cores, Clocks And Gaming
Intel Core Ultra 200S Plus Series:  Core Ultra 7 270K Plus ($299), Core Ultra 5 250K Plus ($199) Intel’s mid-model Arrow Lake refresh improves upon the original Core Ultra 200S processors in a number of meaningful ways to boost performance and value significantly.   Increased Performance Competitive Pricing Comprehensive Platform…

US Car Buyers Envy What They Cannot Have: Affordable Chinese EVs

Many U.S. consumers are increasingly interested in lower-cost Chinese electric vehicles but steep tariffs and political resistance are keeping them out of the market. A recent survey from Cox Automotive found that 40% of respondents support allowing Chinese auto brands into the U.S. market. Reuters reports: While Chinese autos hit the highways of Europe, Latin America and even Canada, the U.S. government has effectively banned the cars with tariffs exceeding 100%, out of concerns over data security and protecting American jobs.
In places like Europe, a number of Chinese EVs sell at prices under $30,000. Some of those cars include amenities like advanced driving assistance software, a built-in mini fridge, and the option to sing karaoke with your fellow passengers. “The technology they offer for those lower price tags was astounding,” said Clint Simone, senior features editor for car-shopping website Edmunds, who drove several Chinese vehicles while at the CES trade show earlier this year. […]

Consumers have some concerns over allowing Chinese car imports, though, including over data security and protecting U.S. businesses, survey results from The Harris Poll as well as Cox show. Rhett Ricart, an Ohio car dealer who sells several brands, including Ford, Chevrolet and Hyundai, said he has no doubt customers would snap up Chinese models if they became available. He and other dealers don’t want that to happen yet, according to a recent Cox Automotive survey, which found that just 15% of dealers supported the entry of Chinese auto brands into the U.S., and just 26% trust that they would comply with U.S. safety standards.

Not meeting U.S. safety standards is one reason Chinese EVs cannot yet be owned permanently in the U.S. But those obstacles haven’t quieted the buzz. The Cox survey polled 802 U.S. consumers who expect to buy a car in the next two years. Nearly half — 49% — rated Chinese cars as having very good or excellent value, and 40% say they support the idea of Chinese auto brands in the U.S. market. Rich Benoit, a car enthusiast whose YouTube videos reviewing Chinese models garner millions of views, said the most compelling feature is the price. “That’s what a lot of people are looking for: efficient, quiet and low cost,” he said. “They want to ‘get to work– not everyone is a car enthusiast.” He’s considering buying a BYD model in Mexico and driving it across the border. “That’s the only way to get one,” Benoit said. “They’ve been selling in Mexico for years… “I want to own a Chinese EV in America.”


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