TechIn5 – Switch Sneak Attack, PS5 Déjà Vu, and the Tag That Doesn’t Take Sides

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This Week in Tech: Surprise Switch Drops, AI Privacy Acrobatics, and a Tracker That Loves Everyone

This week in tech felt like one long fever dream: Nintendo surprise-dropped preorder news like a Blue Shell from the heavens, Sony hit copy-paste on an old price hike, and Apple’s AI is sniffing your inbox (but politely, it swears). Oh, and Chipolo might’ve just solved the lost-keys Cold War.

Let’s break it all down — fast, fun, and in five minutes or less (give or take a dad joke).

🎮 Nintendo Switch 2 Preorders Just Dropped — And So Did Our Free Time

Nintendo finally opened the gates: Switch 2 preorders go live April 24, with all the fanfare of a Mario Kart shell to the face mid-victory lap. After a tariff-fueled delay, they just casually announced it over the weekend — giving us less than a week to check our wallets, sell our old Switches, and emotionally prepare.

The Numbers:

• Console: $449.99
• Mario Kart World bundle: $499.99 (still the best deal)
• Accessories? Now with inflation: Pro Controller at $84.99, Joy-Cons at $94.99, and the Camera Attachment no one asked for at $54.99

My Take:

Nintendo’s still printing hype like it’s 2017, but this rollout had the vibes of Toad reading off IRS code. A calendar heads-up would’ve been nice.

Trevor Score: 8/10 — The console looks great. The rollout? Less so.

Nintendo Switch 2 Pre-Orders Are (Finally) Happening — But the Timing’s Kinda Brutal

This is the moment we’ve been waiting for — just not quite like this. When Nintendo delayed U.S. pre-orders earlier this month due to the whole tariff shuffle (classic 2025 headline), it left a lot of us hanging. At TechInform, we’ve been tracking every whisper and waiting for

TechInformTrevor Barnes

🌀 PS5 Déjà Vu — Another Price Hike for the Digital Edition

Sony’s back with a sequel we didn’t ask for: another international price hike for the PS5 Digital Edition, just like they did in 2022. This time it’s hitting Europe, Australia, and New Zealand — and it stings.

What’s Changing:

• EU: €500
• UK: £430
• AU: $750 AUD
• NZ: $860 NZD(Disc version? Still chillin’ — go figure.)

My Take:

The PS5 Digital was supposed to be the budget-friendly option. Now it’s climbing faster than Kratos on a rock wall. At this rate, the next price update will come with DLC.

Trevor Score: 5/10 — Makes sense on paper, but it’s a hard pill for new buyers.

PS5 Tag Jumps (Again) in EU, AU, and NZ — Here’s What’s Changing and Why It Matters

🎮 I Swear This Already Happened… I swear this déjà vu is real—didn’t this already happen? Oh right, it did, back in 2022. Sony raised the PlayStation 5’s price in a bunch of countries outside the U.S., citing “global economic conditions” and all that. At the time,

TechInformTrevor Barnes

🧠 Apple’s AI Is Getting Smarter — Without Reading Your Inbox (It Promises)

Apple’s playing catch-up in AI, and their latest trick is a new privacy-preserving training method. Basically, their AI compares synthetic data to your real inbox content — but only on-device. No cloud uploads, no shady snooping.

What It Aims to Improve:

• Smarter notification summaries
• Better Writing Tools
• More accurate personalization

My Take:

It’s like Apple gave the AI a key to your inbox but told it to just look through the peephole. Cool in theory, but we’ll see how much better Siri gets before we start celebrating.

Trevor Score: 7.5/10 — Clever, careful, and hopefully a little less clunky.

Apple’s AI Catch-Up Plan Puts Your Privacy on the Line — But Says It Won’t Cross It

Apple’s Big AI Moment Comes With a Privacy Balancing Act When we started covering Apple Intelligence here at TechInform, one thing kept coming up in conversations: “It really seems far behind and kinda sucks but at least Apple’s got privacy figured out.” For years, that’s been their

TechInformTrevor Barnes

📍 Chipolo POP: The First Tracker That Doesn’t Make You Pick Sides

Say hello to Chipolo POP, the first Bluetooth tag that works with both Apple Find My and Google’s Find My Device. No more side-picking. No more guesswork.

Why It Rocks:

• 300 ft. Bluetooth range
• User-replaceable battery
• Loud ringtone, reverse phone finder, and selfie remote
• Comes in multiple colors (finally!)

My Take:

It’s like a romantic comedy where Android and iPhone users finally fall in love. If you lose stuff (and who doesn’t?), this tag finally makes sense of the chaos.

Trevor Score: 9/10 — Works with everything, no tribalism required.

Chipolo POP Works with Both Apple and Android Now — And It Might Finally Be the Tracker I Can Recommend to Everyone

When we started testing lost-item trackers at TechInform, it always felt like a weirdly tribal decision: Are you in the Apple camp or the Android one? Because depending on that, your options shifted hard. AirTags? Great for iPhone folks. Tile? A little more universal, but fading. And Google’s Find

TechInformTrevor Barnes

🎬 Google’s Veo 2 Brings AI Video to the Masses — 8 Seconds at a Time

Google’s stepping into the AI video arena with Veo 2, now part of its Gemini Advanced ($20/month). You type a prompt, and boom: 8 seconds of AI-generated motion magic.

What You Get:

• 720p resolution
• SynthID watermark baked in
• Upload directly to TikTok or YouTube
• Bonus tool: Whisk Animate to turn AI images into video

My Take:

I tested it with “a dog surfing a neon wave at sunset.” The result? Surprisingly Instagrammable. Not Pixar, but definitely post-worthy.

Trevor Score: 7.5/10 — Wild potential, but still more toy than tool.

🎥 Google’s Veo 2 Lands in Gemini — A Creative Power-Up With Some Strings Attached

A new video generator just dropped into Gemini Advanced — and yes, it’s Google’s answer to Sora. When AI Started Making Movies (Kind Of) When we took over TechInform, one of the things we kept an eye on was AI that actually creates stuff — not just code or summaries,

TechInformTrevor Barnes

⚡ Quick Hits, Lightning Round Style

Copilot Studio Can Now Use Your Computer Like a Human — And That’s a Big Deal

When we first started playing with AI agents at TechInform, the dream was always the same: give the bot a task and let it handle the busywork like a person would. No custom API, no brittle scripts — just smart automation that works on the same screens we do. Well, Microsoft

TechInformTrevor Barnes

OpenAI Might Build a Social Network — And Yeah, That’s a Whole Thing

Altman vs. Musk vs. Zuck? The AI arms race just got social. When AI Starts Posting When we took over TechInform, I didn’t expect to be writing about OpenAI launching a social network. But here we are. Because apparently, the next frontier for ChatGPT isn’t just answering your

TechInformTrevor Barnes

Bose Just Partnered With Skullcandy — What Planet Are We On?

So I haven’t used these earbuds. I don’t need to. Because the moment I read “Skullcandy partners with Bose,” I had to double-check the calendar and make sure it wasn’t April Fool’s Day. Let’s be clear: Skullcandy is the headphone brand you bought in high

TechInformTrevor Barnes

🧱 Final Word: Tech’s on Fast-Forward — and Occasionally Reverse

Big Tech gave us the Switch 2 at warp speed, raised PS5 prices like it’s a subscription, and made AI even weirder — but somehow more helpful. The vibe this week? A chaotic mix of excitement, whiplash, and finally, a tracker that doesn’t ask for a loyalty oath.

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Catch you next Friday,

— Trevor Barnes

Editor & Resident Joy-Con Drift Counselor, TechInform.us