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PlayStation prices rise as US tariffs bite

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PlayStation prices rise as US tariffs bite


US tariffs have left companies like PlayStation-maker Sony to choose whether to pass higher costs on to consumers or take a hit to their profit.

Sony on Wednesday said it is bumping up the price of PlayStation 5 video game consoles by $50 in the United States due to a “challenging economic environment.”

Tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump hike the cost of goods brought into the US, leaving companies like Japan’s Sony to decide whether to pass that on to consumers.

“Similar to many global businesses, we continue to navigate a challenging economic environment,” Sony Interactive Entertainment vice president of global marketing Isabelle Tomatis said in a post.

After initially being threatened with a 25% hike, Japan negotiated a 15% tariff with the Trump administration.

“As a result, we’ve made the difficult decision to increase the recommended retail price for PlayStation 5 consoles in the US.”

The new price for PS5 will be $550, with a “Digital Edition” priced at $500 and a Pro version for $750, according to Tomatis.

In May, Sony warned it was considering tweaking prices in the US, estimating that tariffs could wind up costing the company about $680 million in the fiscal year.

American companies are feeling the crunch, too.

New York-based cosmetics giant Estée Lauder recently estimated the impact of the new tariffs at around $100 million for the 2026 financial year and plans to adjust its prices to offset the additional cost.

US snack giant PepsiCo could increase prices of its soft drinks about 10% to mitigate effects of US tariffs, particularly those on imported aluminum used to make soda cans, according to trade magazine Beverage Digest.

Meanwhile, California-based energy drink maker Monster Beverages is considering raising prices due to a “complex and dynamic customs landscape,” according to chief executive Hilton Schlosberg.

The Commerce Department this week said the US broadened its steel and aluminum tariffs, impacting hundreds more products that contain both metals such as child seats, tableware and heavy equipment.

Since returning to the presidency, Trump has imposed tariffs on almost all US trading partners.

Though the impact of Trump’s tariffs on consumer prices has been limited so far, economists warn that their full effects are yet to be seen.

Some businesses have coped by bringing forward purchases of products they expected will encounter tariffs. Others have passed on additional costs to their consumers, or absorbed a part of the fresh tariff burden.

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Adidas Promo Codes: Up to 40% Off in January 2026

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Adidas Promo Codes: Up to 40% Off in January 2026


No matter how my style may change, I always consider Adidas the ultimate shoes for effortlessly cool people. With celebrity endorsements from pro athletes like David Beckham to music icons like Pharrell and Bad Bunny, Adidas has cemented itself firmly in the current zeitgeist. Although most known for classic sneaker styles like Sambas (beloved by skaters and boys I had crushes on in high school), Adidas also has always-stylish apparel, slides, running shoes, and more. WIRED has Adidas promo codes so you too can be cool—but on a budget.

Unlock 15% Adidas Promo Codes With Sign Up

Become a member of the cool kids club with Adidas membership program, adiClub. adiClub gives you free shipping, discount vouchers, and members-only exclusives. When you join, you’ll get instant benefits, points on purchases, and you can get rewards, exclusive experiences, products, vouchers, and more. Right now, when you sign up to be an adiClub member you’ll get a 15% Adidas promo code to save on a fresh pair of sneaks or athleisurewear fit.

There is more than one way to save. You can get 15% off by signing up for adiClub, either with your email, or by downloading the adidas or CONFIRMED app on your phone. After, you’ll find the 15% off welcome offer in your account ​​under “Vouchers and Gift Cards.” Then, you’ll just need to paste it in the promo code step at checkout to save. You’ll instantly get 100 adiClub points, plus an additional 100 when you create a profile. Plus, when you sign up for the brand email newsletter, a unique promo code will be sent to your inbox to use for more savings.

Explore Adidas Coupons and 2026 Sale Deals For 60% Off Trending Shoes

As aforementioned, I think the Samba OG shoes are the most classic style you can get—I mean OG is in the name. The style gives an effortless cool vibe that’s stood the test of time. The classic Samba is now 20% off. Always-popular Campus 00s blend the skater aesthetic with contemporary tastes, making them another modern classic, starting at $66, now 40% off. The Gazelle Bold shoe comes in a bunch of fun colorways, making them a versatile choice for any stylish shoe-wearer, now on sale. Plus, you can get 40% off Handball Spezial shoes (starting at $66) and 30% off the Superstar II shoes (starting at $70).

Some of the best ways to save big are just through navigating the Adidas website—make sure you’re browsing styles under $80, and check the final clearance sale styles for up to 60% off. Plus, there are always discounts on certain colorways or materials of the same type of shoe.

Students, Military Members, and Healthcare Workers Can Unlock 30% Off at Adidas

Adidas doesn’t want your kid going back to school after holiday break with the same ol’ same ol’ and that’s why Adidas student discount gets your kid (or you, lifelong learner) 30% off full-price items with UNiDAYS online and a 15% discount in-store. Join now and verify your status with UNiDAYS. All you’ll need to do is enter the code provided from UNiDAYS during checkout, and you can get discounts of up to $1,000.

Heroic and stylish? That’s hot. The Adidas heroes discount gives thanks by giving verified medical professionals, first responders, nurses, military members, and teachers 30% off online and in-store (and 15% off at factory outlets). To redeem the heroes discount, you must complete verification through ID.me, then you’ll apply your unique discount code that will be sent to your inbox. A fireman in a pair of Sambas? Come rescue me, it’s burning up in here.

Be sure to check back regularly as we check back for more Adidas promo codes and other discounts, especially as the holiday (and shopping) season approaches oh-too-quickly.

Adidas Free Shipping Deals for adiClub and Prime Members

I’ve talked to you about all of the perks adiClub members get, but they also get free standard shipping on every order, which usually ships in 3-5 business days. With the membership, you’ll also get free returns or exchanges on any order!

Plus, if you’re already a Prime member, you’ll get 2-3 day free shipping without needing to join adiClub. Through this, you can conveniently track order in your Amazon Prime account; it will even show your delivery date info once you select your size.

Pay Less Now With These Adidas Financing Options

Adidas makes it easy for anyone to get the gift of great style. Adidas offers Klarna, the financing service on purchases, which allows you to pay later (in 30 days), or in 4 interest-free installments. Plus, with Klarna, you can try your order before you buy it).

There’s also the Afterpay buy option, which allows you to buy shoes now, and pay for them in four payments made every 2 weeks without any interest! This Afterpay option is eligible on any order above $50. If you’d rather pay with PayPal Pay, you can pay in 4 installments (eligible on purchases from $30 to $1,500). You can also pay over 6 weeks, starting with paying for only 25% of your order today, then the rest will be split into 3 additional payments.



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Meta’s Layoffs Leave Supernatural Fitness Users in Mourning

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Meta’s Layoffs Leave Supernatural Fitness Users in Mourning


Tencia Benavidez, a Supernatural user who lives in New Mexico, started her VR workouts during the Covid pandemic. She has been a regular user in the five years since, calling the ability to workout in VR ideal, given that she lives in a rural area where it’s hard to get to a gym or workout outside during a brutal winter. She stuck with Supernatural because of the community and the eagerness of Supernatural’s coaches.

“They seem like really authentic individuals that were not talking down to you,” Benavidez says. “There’s just something really special about those coaches.”

Meta bought Supernatural in 2022, folding it into its then-heavily invested in metaverse efforts. The purchase was not a smooth process, as it triggered a lengthy legal battle in which the US Federal Trade Commission tried to block Meta from purchasing the service due to antitrust concerns about Meta “trying to buy its way to the top” of the VR market. Meta ultimately prevailed. At the time, some Supernatural users were cautiously optimistic, hoping that big bag of Zuckerbucks could keep its workout juggernaut afloat.

“Meta fought the government to buy this thing,” Benavidez says. “All that just for them to shut it down? What was the point?”

I reached out to Meta and Supernatural, and neither responded to my requests for comment.

Waking Up to Ash and Dust

On Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Meta has laid off more than 1,000 people across its VR and metaverse efforts. The move comes after years of the company hemorrhaging billions of dollars on its metaverse products. In addition to laying off most of the staff at Supernatural, Meta has shut down three internal VR studios that made games like Resident Evil 4 and Deadpool VR.

“If it was a bottom line thing, I think they could have charged more money,” Goff Johnson says about Supernatural. “I think people would have paid for it. This just seems unnecessarily heartless.”

There is a split in the community about who will stay and continue to pay the subscription fee, and who will leave. Supernatural still has more than 3,000 lessons available in the service, so while new content won’t be added, some feel there is plenty of content left in the library. Other users worry about how Supernatural will continue to license music from big-name bands.

“Supernatural is amazing, but I am canceling it because of this,” Chip told me. “The library is large, so there’s enough to keep you busy, but not for the same price.”

There are other VR workout experiences like FitXR or even the VR staple Beat Saber, which Supernatural cribs a lot of design concepts from. Still, they don’t hit the same bar for many of the Supernatural faithful.

“I’m going to stick it out until they turn the lights out on us,” says Stefanie Wong, a Bay Area accountant who has used Supernatural since shortly after the pandemic and has organized and attended meetup events. “It’s not the app. It’s the community and it’s the coaches that we really, really care about.”

Welcome to the New Age

I tried out Supernatural’s Together feature on Wednesday, the day after the layoffs. It’s where I met Chip and Alisa. When we could stop to catch our breath, we talked about the changes coming to the service. They had played through previous sessions hosted by Jane Fonda or playlists with a mix of music that would change regularly. It seems the final collaboration in Supernatural’s multiplayer mode will be what we played now, an artist series featuring entirely Imagine Dragons songs.

In the session, as we punched blocks while being serenaded by this shirtless dude crooning, recorded narrations from Supernatural coach Dwana Olsen chimed in to hype us up.

“Take advantage of these moments,” Olsen said as we punched away. “Use these movements to remind you of how much awesome life you have yet to live.”

Frankly, it was downright invigorating. And bittersweet. We ended another round, sweaty, huffing and puffing. Chip, Alisa, and I high-fived like crazy and readied for another round.

“Beautiful,” Alisa said. “It’s just beautiful, isn’t it?”



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PSNI resorted to pen and paper after issues with ControlWorks command and control software | Computer Weekly

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PSNI resorted to pen and paper after issues with ControlWorks command and control software | Computer Weekly


Unexpected problems in the Police Service of Northern Ireland’s (PSNI’s) ControlWorks software led to police having to resort to manual forms to record calls from the public soon after the software’s introduction in 2019, Computer Weekly has learned.

The force has not reported the incidents to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, which oversees the PSNI, and has not mentioned any incidents with ControlWorks in its annual reports.

While there is no legal duty to report failures with ControlWorks to the Northern Ireland Policing Board, the Policing Board has told Computer Weekly it would expect any serious incidents with ControlWorks to be reported to it.

The PSNI uses ControlWorks as part of its command and control system, for managing, logging and categorising calls received by the emergency services from the public and for dispatching police officers to incidents.

Computer Weekly has learned that the PNSI’s ControlWorks system had technical issues after it first went live in May 2019.

These included slow-downs of the system that required computer systems to be restarted or software to be patched.

On some occasions, police were forced to return to using paper forms to record incidents reported by the public after ControlWorks became unavailable. Information on the forms had to be typed back into the system when the service resumed.

ControlWorks aimed to improve response times

The PSNI announced it was using Capita Communications and Control Solutions’ ControlWorks software in 2018, replacing its 20-year-old Capita Atlas Command and Control System, which had reached the end of its life.

From February 2018, ControlWorks was installed across the PSNI’s three regional contact management centres, before going live in May 2019, but is understood to have had a series of issues during its first few months of operation.

Critical incidents, which affect force-wide availability of ControlWorks, are categorised as P1 or P2. Less serious incidents that do not require urgent remediation are categorised as P3 and P4, Computer Weekly has previously reported.

Computer Weekly understands that the PSNI runs a 24-hour help desk to deal with IT issues, and that it has the ability to escalate incidents with ControlWorks to its IT supplier.

Missing persons search

Computer Weekly understands that a “major issue” with ControlWorks may have delayed information being passed to police officers searching for missing teenager Noah Donohoe, who disappeared from his home in Belfast on 21 June 2020.

Donohoe’s disappearance sparked a massive search operation, as police reviewed hours of CCTV, and hundreds of volunteers joined the search for the vulnerable 14-year-old.

Computer Weekly has learned that on the evening of 23 June 2020, police recorded a “major issue” with ControlWorks that could have led to delays in information being passed to investigators.

Computer Weekly further understands that on the evening of 24 June, a member of the public called police to say they had seen an individual attempting to sell Donohoe’s missing laptop.

This potentially critical information was delayed in being brought to the attention of police officers investigating Donohoe’s disappearance  because of a problem with ControlWorks, Computer Weekly has been told.

It is unclear exactly how long the information was delayed by and what its impact on the search for the missing teenager was. But it is understood that detectives on the case reported and noted the delay during the investigation.

The issue with ControlWorks was understood to have been reported during the live investigation at a critical time when Donohoe was missing – two days after he had gone missing, and four days before he was found dead in a Belfast storm drain.

Manchester had serious IT issues

Greater Manchester Police experienced problems when it went live with its Integrated Operational Policing System (iOPS), which included ControlWorks, in July 2019. iOps attempted to integrate Capita’s ControlWorks software with Capita’s PoliceWorks record management software used by police officers for managing day-to-day investigations and intelligence records.

An independent review found serious issues with the project. At one point, police were forced to revert to pen and paper for 72 hours while records were migrated to the new system.

“This consumed considerable time and capacity, causing a duplication of work,” the report found. “In addition, some legacy demand, which included ongoing investigations, did not successfully transfer from the old systems, so could no longer be worked on.”

Greater Manchester Police subsequently announced plans to replace PoliceWorks after concluding it could not be adapted or fixed, but it has continued to use ControlWorks.

The PSNI uses a different record management system to Manchester’s troubled PoliceWorks system. The PSNI signed a £9m contract with the Canadian company NicheRMS to deploy its Records Management System, which records information about people, locations, vehicles, incidents and evidence, in 2006.

NicheRMS keeps duplicate records of reports from the public that are recorded on ControlWorks when they are escalated as an “incident”. This means that should data be lost because of problems with ControlWorks, the PSNI would still have access to duplicate records reported by the public on NicheRMS if they have been escalated as an “incident”.

Policing Board seeks clarification from PSNI

The Northern Ireland Policing Board has confirmed that if a major system disruption or significant information or data loss occurred, the board would expect to be informed.

A spokesperson told Computer Weekly that the board’s Resources Committee, which has oversight responsibility for matters including the PSNI’s technology systems, has asked the PSNI for clarification about the issues raised by Computer Weekly.

A coroner’s inquest into the circumstances of Noah Donohoe’s death is due to begin on 19 January.

The PSNI said it would “not comment on investigative matters while legal proceedings are ongoing”.

“With regards to questions relating to ControlWorks, police can confirm that, to date, there has been no instance of major disruption which has led to data loss,” a spokesperson said.

Capita declined to comment.



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