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The car looked like nothing else on the road. Its sharp lines, flat planes, and pointy edges made it a head-turning sight, but also a head-scratching business decision. Would anyone actually buy such a weird geometric car? If this sounds like the kind of question one might ask when seeing a Tesla Cybertruck for the first time, it’s actually just a rhyme of history. That head-turner/head-scratcher was the 1968 Alfa Romeo Carabo, an outrageously pointy concept car that radically diverged from the teardrop designs of the day. It was arguably the start of a bold, if short-lived, new chapter in the history of car design: the wedge. The Bertone-designed Alfa Romeo Carabo debuted at the 1968 Paris Motor Show. [Photo: LAT Images/Getty Images] The Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles explores this wildly experimental era in car design with The Wedge Revolution: Cars on the Cutting Edge, a new exhibition now on display. The exhibition features dozens of cars designed between the late 1960s and mid-80s that used a blocky wedge shape as their defining form factor. They were oddball designs at the time, and most didn’t make it past the concept stage, but they heralded a rebellious era in car design that may just be underway once more. 1977 UrbaCar [Photo: courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum] Case in point: the Cybertruck. “That’s why Franz was involved in the show,” says Jonathan Eisen, a curator at the Petersen museum. The Franz he’s talking about is Tesla’s chief designer, Franz von Holzhausen, creator of the Cybertruck, who was called in to cocurate the exhibition. “He’s very enthusiastic about the classic wedge cars.” Like his own design, the wedge cars of the mid-20th century seemed to have come out of nowhere. Eisen says the dominant design approach at the time was either the teardrop-shaped coupes made in France or the bulbous, chrome-laden sedans from American carmakers. But as the main designers behind these cars retired, a new generation came in ready to try something completely different. “They went the opposite way, Eisen says. They did away with all the ornamentation. And instead of smooth, flowing lines they decided that they were going to use sharp edges and flat planes and base the look of the car on the wedge. 1976 Honda Civic Lady concept car [Photo: courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum] Carmakers including Chevrolet, Honda, BMW, Aston Martin, Lamborghini, and Bertoni all dabbled in wedge-shaped car design. One concept car featured in the exhibition, the 1976 Honda Civic Lady, was an angular version of the Civic, one of the most popular compact cars of the era. With a wedge nose and a station wagon tail, it showed off a combination of design and sensibility. Though never intended for production, its DNA lived on for decades. “If you then look at Hondas from the 1980s and even into the 1990s, you could absolutely see that they go back to this one car,” Eisen says. 1979 Aston Martin Bulldog concept car [Photo: courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum] Other cars in the show are far less sensible, like the batwinged 1979 Aston Martin Bulldog concept car and the 1977 UrbaCar, a dune buggy meets bumper car. On the extreme end, the 1971 Lamborghini Countach concept car came to define the sharp and wedgy shape of Lamborghinis for decades. 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 [Photo: courtesy Petersen Automotive Museum] These car companies “weren’t afraid to put something out there that maybe isn’t traditionally beautiful, but it’s still unlike anything else on the road and will absolutely draw your attention to it,” Eisen says. “A car doesn’t necessarily have to be pretty to be successful. Te way that SUVs are so popular is proof of that. “ The Cybertruck, on the other hand? Eisen calls it the only true wedge car on the road today, and possibly the start of a more adventurous era in car design, even if its success is questionable. “That car obviously has a very controversial design, and you could even say that it’s been thoroughly rejected by the mass public,” he says. “Maybe people aren’t ready for it yet. But eventually, I think we will see more creativity.” In recent decades, car design has been very safe, and guided by aerodynamics, efficiency, and, above all, marketing, according to Eisen. The heyday of the wedge was less constrained and, arguably, more interesting. “I think it’s worth celebrating the fact that it’s okay to take chances,” Eisen says. The Wedge Revolution is on display through September 2026.
Category:
E-Commerce
Last week, Punchbowl News published an internal memo the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) sent to its members, warning that Apple’s upcoming iOS 26 operating system for the iPhone could cost the organization $25 million in donations. The NRSC is the Republicans primary Senatorial fundraising arm. The memo further said the changes could cost the greater GOP half a billion dollars in lost political donations.The change? A new aggressive message filtering feature, according to the NRSC memo, that Apple is introducing in iOS 26s Messages app, which handles both iMessages and regular SMS text messages. This feature will filter texts from unknown senderslike the kind the NRSC sends out to phones across the country to raise political donationsinto a siloed inbox where the iPhone user wont see or be notified of the message.The thing is, this aggressive message filtering feature is nothing new in iOS, and the changes Apple is making to it in iOS 26 actually benefit both the iPhone user and, potentially, the sender of the message themself. Still, given the confusion surrounding it, I decided to go to the sourceAppleto see how the feature in iOS 26 actually works.The ‘new’ iOS 26 ‘unknown senders’ filter has existed since iOS 13The supposedly new unknown senders filter in iOS 26, which has the NRSC so concerned, actually exists on all iPhones running iOS 18 today. Apple confirmed to me that the feature has existed in a similar form on all iPhones going back to iOS 13, which first shipped in 2019.In iOS 18 and earlier, that feature is called Filter Unknown Senders and is off by default, meaning you have to opt into it, which is why so few people realize it currently exists. You can check it out on your iPhone running iOS 18 right now by going to the Settings app, then tapping Apps, and then Messages. Youll find the toggle, which is off by default, under the Message Filtering header.If you toggle Filter Unknown Senders on in iOS 13 through iOS 18, your iPhone will move any message that it thinks is from an unknown sender to a dedicated Unknown Senders inbox in the Messages app. Texts filtered into this inbox wont show up in your main Known messages thread.So, how does your iPhone currently decide what an unknown sender is? Apple told me it uses two criteria only: if the text is from someone who is not saved in your Contacts app and is also from a sender that you have not replied to before, the message will be siloed into the Unknown Senders inbox.In iOS 26, this feature is getting an updatebut it will give iPhone users increased notification of, and easier access to, their filtered messages. At the same time, it will increase the chances of the unknown sender getting their message read.How iOS 26s ‘unknown senders’ text message filter actually worksIn iOS 26, the unknown senders text message filter is getting an update, but its unlikely to cost the NRSC or any other political fundraising groups any donations.Apple told me that in iOS 26, the Filter Unknown Senders toggle is being renamed to Screen Unknown Senders. The company also confirmed that the two criteria your iPhone uses to determine if a text is from an unknown sender (the sender is not in your contacts and you havent replied to the sender before) are not changing.What is changing is the visibility of the Unknown Senders inbox and the messages it contains. Apple confirmed to me that the idea behind the changes is to make sure that an iPhone user can more easily access filtered messages from unknown senders and also more easily see when they have received a text that has been filtered into the Unknown Senders inbox.iOS 26 is actually making it easier for iPhone users to see when they have a text from an unknown sender. [Animation: Apple]In iOS 26, users can quickly access the Unknown Senders inbox by tapping a new filters button, always visible in the top-right corner of the iOS 26 Messages app. Tapping this button brings up a menu that lets them quickly access their Unknown Senders inbox.Apple is taking it a step further to make it easier for users to access the Unknown Senders inbox while still retaining its core feature of keeping your primary inbox tidy. Now in iOS 26, when you get a new text from an unknown sender that is filtered into the Unknown Senders inbox, the filter button at the top of the Messages app will display a blue badge with the total number of new texts you’ve received from unknown senders.This means that in iOS 26, Apple is making it even easier for a user to tell they have new texts from an unknown sender, which means senders of those texts have a better chance of the iPhone user seeing them than they did in iOS 18.Apple knows texts from all unknown senders arent always unwantedApple recognizes that not all texts from unknown senders are malicious, and these changes in iOS 26 are the companys efforts to make it easier for users to notice and access them while still ensuring a barrage of unknown texts doesnt overwhelm the users primary messages inbox.Its also important to note that Apple confirmed to me that the revamped Screen Unknown Senders feature in iOS 26 remains off by default. Users still need to opt-in to it (if they havent already in iOS 18). In other words, just because someone installs iOS 26 on their iPhone, texts from the NRSC or other political fundraising groups won’t be automatically filtered out.What this means is that Apples iOS 26 changes this fall wont suddenly cost political fundraising organizations millions in donations, just as iOS 18s filtering features dont today. The only thing Apple is guilty of is not spending enough time during its WWDC keynote on the iOS 26 Screen Unknown Senders feature modification to explain what is actually changingand what is staying the same.
Category:
E-Commerce
President Donald Trump began levying higher import taxes on dozens of countries Thursday, just as the economic fallout of his monthslong tariff threats has begun to create visible damage for the U.S. economy.Just after midnight, goods from more than 60 countries and the European Union became subject to tariff rates of 10% or higher. Products from the EU, Japan and South Korea are taxed at 15%, while imports from Taiwan, Vietnam and Bangladesh are taxed at 20%. Trump also expects the EU, Japan and South Korea to invest hundreds of billions of dollars in the U.S.“I think the growth is going to be unprecedented,” Trump said Wednesday afternoon. He added that the U.S. was “taking in hundreds of billions of dollars in tariffs,” but he couldn’t provide a specific figure for revenues because “we don’t even know what the final number is” regarding tariff rates.Despite the uncertainty, the Trump White House is confident that the onset of his broad tariffs will provide clarity about the path of the world’s largest economy. Now that companies understand the direction the U.S. is headed, the Republican administration believes they can ramp up new investments and jump-start hiring in ways that can rebalance the U.S. economy as a manufacturing power.But so far, there are signs of self-inflicted wounds to America as companies and consumers alike brace for the impact of new taxes. What the data has shown is a U.S. economy that changed in April with Trump’s initial rollout of tariffs, an event that led to market drama, a negotiating period and Trump’s ultimate decision to start his universal tariffs on Thursday. Risk of economic erosion Economic reports show that hiring began to stall, inflationary pressures crept upward and home values in key markets started to decline after April, said John Silvia, CEO of Dynamic Economic Strategy.“A less productive economy requires fewer workers,” Silvia said in an analysis note. “But there is more, the higher tariff prices lower workers’ real wages. The economy has become less productive, and firms cannot pay the same real wages as before. Actions have consequences.”Even then, the ultimate transformations of the tariffs are unknown and could play out over months, if not years. Many economists say the risk is that the American economy is steadily eroded rather than collapsing instantly.“We all want it to be made for television where it’s this explosion it’s not like that,” said Brad Jensen, a professor at Georgetown University. “It’s going to be fine sand in the gears and slow things down.”Trump has promoted the tariffs as a way to reduce the persistent trade deficit. But importers sought to avoid the taxes by importing more goods before the taxes went into effect. As a result, the $582.7 billion trade imbalance for the first half of the year was 38% higher than in 2024. Total construction spending has dropped 2.9% over the past year.The economic pain isn’t confined to the U.S. Germany, which sends 10% of its exports to the U.S. market, saw industrial production sag 1.9% in June as Trump’s earlier rounds of tariff hikes took hold. “The new tariffs will clearly weigh on economic growth,” said Carsten Brzeski, global chief of macro for ING bank. Dismay in India and Switzerland The lead-up to Thursday fit the slapdash nature of Trump’s tariffs, which have been variously rolled out, walked back, delayed, increased, imposed by letter and frantically renegotiated. The process has been so muddled that officials for key trade partners were unclear at the start of the week whether the tariffs would begin Thursday or Friday. The language of the July 31 order to delay the start of tariffs from Aug. 1 only said the higher tax rates would start in seven days.Trump on Wednesday announced additional 25% tariffs to be imposed on India for its buying of Russian oil, bringing its total import taxes to 50%.A top body of Indian exporters said Thursday the latest U.S. tariffs will impact nearly 55% of the country’s outbound shipments to America and force exporters to lose their long-standing clients.“Absorbing this sudden cost escalation is simply not viable. Margins are already thin,” S.C. Ralhan, president of the Federation of Indian Export Organizations, said in a statement.The Swiss executive branch, the Federal Council, was expected to hold an extraordinary meeting Thursday after President Karin Keller-Sutter and other top Swiss officials returned from a hastily arranged trip to Washington in a failed bid to avert steep 39% U.S. tariffs on Swiss goods.Import taxes are still coming on pharmaceutical drugs, and Trump announced 100% tariffs on computer chips. That could leave the U.S. economy in a place of suspended animation as it awaits the impact. Stock market remains solid The president’s use of a 1977 law to declare an economic emergency to impose the tariffs is also under challenge. The impending ruling from last week’s hearing before a U.S. appeals court could cause Trump to find other legal justifications if judges say he exceeded his authority.Even people who worked with Trump during his first term are skeptical that things will go smoothly for the economy, such as Paul Ryan, the former Republican House speaker, who has emerged as a Trump critic.“There’s no sort of rationale for this other than the president wanting to raise tariffs based upon his whims, his opinions,” Ryan told CNBC on Wednesday. “I think choppy waters are ahead because I think they’re going to have some legal challenges.”Still, the stock market has been solid during the recent tariff drama, with the S&P 500 index climbing more than 25% from its April low. The market’s rebound and the income tax cuts in Trump’s tax and spending measures signed into law on July 4 have given the White House confidence that economic growth is bound to accelerate in the coming months.Global financial markets took Thursday’s tariff adjustments in stride, with Asian and European shares and U.S. futures mostly higher.Brzeski warned: “While financial markets seem to have grown numb to tariff announcements, let’s not forget that their adverse effects on economies will gradually unfold over time.”As of now, Trump still foresees an economic boom while the rest of the world and American voters wait nervously.“There’s one person who can afford to be cavalier about the uncertainty that he’s creating, and that’s Donald Trump,” said Rachel West, a senior fellow at The Century Foundation who worked in the Biden White House on labor policy. “The rest of Americans are already paying the price for that uncertainty.” Follow the AP’s coverage of President Donald Trump at https://apnews.com/hub/donald-trump. Josh Boak, Associated Press
Category:
E-Commerce
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