The Trump administration is throwing various hobbies enjoyed by Americans into chaos and is harming small businesses domestically and abroad with its ever-changing tariff structure that is turning the United States into a hermit kingdom. It has made buying and selling things on eBay particularly annoying, and is making it harder and more expensive to, for example, buy vintage film cameras, retro video games, or vintage clothes from Japan, where many of the top eBay sellers are based. 

“Trying to figure out what the future of this hobby is going to look like for those of us in the USA (other than insanely expensive),” a post on r/analogcommunity, the most popular film photography subreddit, reads. “All of my lenses and my camera body came from Japan, they would have been prohibitively expensive [now], paying an extra $80 per item. I feel like entry level to this hobby is going to get hit especially hard.” Another meme posted to the community under the title “Shopping on eBay be like this now” reads “The age of the Canon Mint++ is over. The time of the Argus C3 has come,” referring to a common way that Japanese eBay sellers list Japanese-made Canon cameras. The Argus C3 was a budget mass-produced, American-made camera that was not popular in Japan, and so most of the people selling them are in the United States. Some people like them, but it has been nicknamed “the brick” because it “could serve as a deadly weapon in a street fight.” It remains very inexpensive to this day.

The photography hobby is a microcosm of what anyone who wants to buy anything from another country is currently experiencing. The de-minimis exemption, which allowed people to buy things internationally without paying tariffs if the items cost less than $800, made it very easy and less expensive to get into hobbies like film photography, retro video games, and vintage fashion, to name a few. The Trump administration is ending that exemption Friday and it will quickly become a financial and/or logistical mess for anyone who wants to buy or sell anything from another country. Communities and companies focused on electronics, board games, action figures, skincare, flashlights, sex toys, watches, and general ecommerce are also freaking out, stopping service to the United States, or telling U.S. customers to expect higher prices, higher fees, longer shipping times, more paperwork, more headache, and unpredictable delays. 

In recent days, national mail carriers in the European Union (including DHL, which is widely used internationally), Australia, India, New Zealand, Norway, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland, Taiwan, Thailand, the United Kingdom, and, crucially, Japan, have started restricting many shipments to the United States. Some of the few remaining ways to send shipments internationally to the United States is through UPS and FedEx, which have warned customers that the end of de-minimis means more paperwork, higher shipping prices (both have increased their international processing fees), and also means that either the shipper or the receiver will have to pay tariffs on whatever is being sent, which of course adds both costs and processing time. This is on top of the fact that FedEx and UPS are often more expensive services in the first place.

Ever wished your phone skin could do more than just cover your phone?? Dbrand has the answer with its Circuit Board lineup – skins and cases that not only look like they were pulled out of a sci-fi lab but also literally glow in the dark. Yep, your phone just got an after-hours personality.

This isn’t just a slapped-on pattern either. Dbrand teamed up with the internet’s favorite tech YouTube channel, Linus Tech Tips, to bring the idea to life. Instead of printing the designs with your run-of-the-mill methods, they went the extra mile with UV printing, giving the skins a texture and look that’s eerily close to real circuit boards. To make things even cooler, actual circuit board engineers lent their expertise to ensure the lines, traces, and little details look authentic enough to fool your inner techie.

There are three different variants of the Circuit Board skins to pick from: Glow-in-the-Dark Circuit Board – the star of the show, ready to light up your nightstand like a nerdy nightlight; Dark Circuit – a sleek, blacked-out version that screams stealth mode; and Short Circuit – a bold orange-and-white combo that feels like your phone just had a stylish power surge.

Now, before you ask: no, the skins don’t exactly replicate the circuitry inside your iPhone or Pixel. But if accuracy is your thing, Dbrand already has you covered with its X-Ray collection, which is literally based on X-ray scans of actual devices.

Beyond the sci-fi vibes, the Circuit Board skins do what skins do best: add a layer of scratch protection without turning your tech device into a brick. No, they won’t save your screen if gravity decides to ruin your day, but they’ll keep the back of your phone looking sharp.

And Dbrand didn’t stop at phones. The Circuit Board series is available for a jaw-dropping 741 devices – we’re talking laptops, tablets, and even gaming consoles. Prices vary depending on what device you have, but no matter your gadget of choice, chances are Dbrand’s got you covered.

If you’ve ever wanted your tech to glow like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie, head to dbrand.com to purchase.

Photography courtesy of Dbrand.

When a couple discovered Ray Kappe’s 1973 modernist structure, neglected for three decades, they recognized something beyond mere architectural potential. The house had grown into its landscape, trees and structure finding unity over time. This natural integration spoke directly to OWIU Design’s sensibility – one that emerged from years of movement between Singapore, various Asian cities, and their adopted Los Angeles home.

Glass Ridge House is a renovation that unfolds through a series of thoughtful interventions that honor both Eastern philosophy and California’s relationship with landscape. The reimagined pool flows seamlessly into the hillside views, while a koi pond wraps around the entry, punctuated by a minimalist Japanese rock garden. Every window frames either water, trees, or hills, making the existing nature as integral to the interior experience as any piece of furniture or lighting fixture.

The tea bar represents another careful balance of tradition and innovation. Framed by textured marble, it features custom ceramic tiles by Japanese artist Tomonari Hashimoto, whose work incorporates rice and millet into iridescent glazed surfaces. This dedicated space acknowledges tea’s ceremonial importance while maintaining separation from the kitchen’s more utilitarian functions – a spatial hierarchy that reflects cultural priorities.

An important highlight is their collaboration with Kuboki Tatami, a family workshop operating from Fukushima Prefecture since 1740. Rather than treating tatami as a museum piece, OWIU integrates this traditional craft into a contemporary setting, with the sunken living room utilizing the lining to provide both warmth and flexible seating. This is further extended to the bedroom where a custom black tatami treatment lines their bed frame.

View more information on Glass Ridge House on OWIU’s website.

Photography by Pablo Veiga.

This is the first edition of my new monthly newsletter, M31, that was sent out on Wednesday, August 27 — you can subscribe here.

Hi, I’m Jean Snow, and I’d like to welcome you to the first edition of my monthly M31 newsletter, in which I plan on sharing the latest updates in regards to all of my events and initiatives I currently run in Shanghai. This will include my bi-monthly PauseTalk talk series, the PechaKucha Night series I organize with George Lobo, my FOTO5 photo club, and the Shanghai Design Pins group — and whatever else I end up cooking up.

What’s M31? It’s a name I used decades ago as my sort of publishing imprint/company label for the activities I was doing while I lived in Tokyo, and I’ve decided to revive it. It’s simply inspired by my birthday of May 31.

All of the activities mentioned above have dedicated groups in WeChat, where you’ll get the latest updates, and so please contact me to be added to any of them.

PauseTalk

PauseTalk is a talk event I’ve been running for what is coming up on 20 years now, first in Tokyo, and now in Shanghai. It’s an event open to everyone, where I, as the MC, moderate a discussion that is based on who shows up, but generally touches on the idea of being creatives in the city. The next one, Vol. 98, will be held on Thursday, August 28, at Bananafish Books (7 Hongbaoshi Road). We start at 19:30, there is no entry charge, and you are free to bring drinks and snacks — I usually bring a bottle of wine. The “official” moderated session usually lasts around 90 minutes to 2 hours, and some tend to stay to chat more. Right now I’m looking at holding Vol. 100 in December, to mark the end of the year and celebrate the milestone.

You’ll find archives of past events on the PauseTalk website, which includes recaps for each session.

PechaKucha Night

I’ve been involved with the PechaKucha organization since 2009, and for years worked closely with founders Astrid Klein and Mark Astrid on running the worldwide organization, as well as producing the Tokyo series, and special one-off editions. Since 2023, I’ve been organizing the series in Shanghai with George Lobo, starting with Vol. 30. We currently produce events mostly on a bi-monthly basis, with extra volumes here and there. Although not yet announced publicly, our next event, Vol. 46, will be held on September 11. You can always check our Shanghai page on the official PechaKucha website to see the listings for the latest events.

FOTO5

FOTO5 is a photo club I launched earlier this year, with the idea of sharing 5 photos on a particular theme each week. The reason to start it was that I felt like I was no longer being creative with photography anymore, and so wanted to give myself some sort of weekly goal — and I figured it would be even more fun to create a community around it, to see what others would share on the theme. We’ve done 20+ themes so far, and the example you see here is taken from a presentation I did about FOTO5 at a recent PechaKucha Night (the FOTO5 I did for the theme “movement”).

If you’re interested in participating, contact me so I can add you to the group on WeChat.

Shanghai Design Pins 

Shanghai Design Pins is a group I also created on WeChat earlier this year as a place to share design-related spots (and events) in Shanghai. The idea is for everyone to share spots (or pins) they uncover, and so it makes for a growing collection of city highlights that I began sharing on this page on my personal website (although I haven’t updated it in a while). Now that I have this newsletter, I’ll start sharing a few recent spots each month here as well.

Shanghai Design Pins  is a group on WeChat — contact me to be added.

One More Thing

I’ll use this section in each newsletter to share something I’m particularly interested at the moment, or that I happily experienced recently. For this edition, I’d like to highlight some shots taken with the mood.camera app, which I’ve been experimenting with — it replicates old film stocks, but in a way where there’s no post-processing of shots, so you first decide the stock, and then snap away.

The following photos were taking during a random walk at night with my dog, and I really like the warmth.

And that’s it for this month, and the inaugural edition of this newsletter. It may evolve over time, as I come up with things I think would be interesting to share in this format — but it should continue to be focused on the activities and initiatives that I’m currently doing in Shanghai, where I live. For more on me, you can alway have a look at personal website — I’ve been blogging since 1998 — or for lighter stuff (and lots of movie reviews) you can follow me on Bluesky.

Click here to go see the bonus panel!

Hovertext:
Technically, a piece of elastic is a 2-sided fitted sheet.

OpenAI really, really needs $40 billion. OpenAI arranged a deal with SoftBank where SoftBank would run a funding round to get $10 billion from other investors, and SoftBank would throw in $30 billion of its own on top!

But of that $30 billion from SoftBank, $10 billion would only be released if OpenAI successfully converted from a weird top-heavy charity into an ordinary for-profit company. By the end of 2025.

OpenAI and SoftBank did that deal in April. There’s plenty of time, right?

Unfortunately, there have been some speed bumps along the way. Particularly Microsoft, who have a huge investment in OpenAI and were not convinced to let the change go forward. OpenAI even tried blackmailing Microsoft that they’d file anti-competitive behaviour complaints,

Remember that Microsoft has rights to all OpenAI’s software. They could just take the whole GPT series and leave OpenAI to hang. I think the GPT-5 announcement was timed to try to convince Microsoft they’d do better to keep OpenAI alive, and not just break it up for parts.

The sticking points are the same as they were a few months ago: [FT]

• Microsoft still wants exclusive rights to resell OpenAI models — Azure Cloud only. But OpenAI wants to sell through Google Cloud and Amazon as well — because they need the revenue.
• OpenAI wants to cut off Microsoft’s rights to the software when OpenAI finally achieves AGI — Artificial General Intelligence. But the deal defines “AGI” as OpenAI making $100 billion in profit. So “AGI” means “actually generates income”. Microsoft wants to remove that clause and have ongoing rights to the software.

Microsoft and OpenAI are also negotiating just how big a share of the new for-profit OpenAI goes to Microsoft in the deal.

There’s one other tiny detail blocking the deal — you can’t just turn a charity into a for-profit company. You really can’t. So any deal has to pass muster with the states of Delaware and California. Here’s the Financial Times:

Even with a swifter resolution of its contract with Microsoft, discussions with other shareholders and the attorneys-general in California and Delaware — where OpenAI operates and is incorporated — could well extend into next year.

The FT gives the state approval problem one sentence in passing — but it’s a critical blocker that was already in place. Neither state is very keen to let this deal happen just because Sam Altman really, really wants it. OpenAI will need to be extremely convincing.

I thought this risked being fatal for OpenAI. But the good news for OpenAI is that venture capital runs on imaginary dollars now — and they actually beat real dollars.

OpenAI is doing a secondary sale where employees can dump their shares for actual money. They’re only selling a small number of shares — but the price for those shares would mean OpenAI was worth $500 billion total. If you just said every share was now worth that much.

SoftBank has dumped $9.7 billion, in actual dollars, into OpenAI — but this new valuation would value that holding at almost double what SoftBank paid for it.

And those imaginary dollars make up for a lot of losses in SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2! [The Information, paywalled]

Better yet, SoftBank’s going to put in another $22.5 billion of actual money — but at the old valuation! So it’s immediately worth $43 billion in made-up imaginary dollars on paper.

And that’s enough to pull Vision Fund 2 out of the red completely! On paper.

OpenAI is draining SoftBank of actual dollars. But SoftBank still look like geniuses because OpenAI’s made-up valuations are going up — so SoftBank can write down some really big imaginary numbers.

To repeat: $43 billion in imaginary dollars beats $22.5 billion in real, actual dollars in your hands.

Now, you might think all of this is ridiculous nonsense and SoftBank is shuffling around obviously fake numbers, based solely on one tiny secondary sale.

And you’re correct! It’s about keeping up the kayfabe. Imaginary dollars on paper are just how Wall Street does business now.

SoftBank’s stock price is going up! So the market loves it. Even as OpenAI makes up 34% of Vision Fund 2, at a massive risk. You can keep the line going up with big imaginary valuations.

This means SoftBank has all the incentive to make sure OpenAI does not die.

So I think there’s a fair chance SoftBank extends OpenAI’s deadline. And might even suck in other investors. As long as SoftBank thinks OpenAI can in fact achieve the for-profit conversion.

If OpenAI doesn’t convert — well, Sam. There’s always a job for you at Microsoft.

There’s one other OpenAI matter I can’t avoid mentioning — the lawsuit that dropped yesterday about the teenage boy that ChatGPT allegedly drove to suicide. [BBC]

Obviously, I’m going to take my time and do that properly, and with an eye to the standard media guidance. [Samaritans, PDF]

But so far, this lawsuit is horrifying, and Sam Altman should be in jail. That’s something I think people should be saying a lot more.

I will be emailing my MP that ChatGPT needs to be barred from schools in the UK, because the government’s trying so hard to push it into them. I think that’s a reasonably practical first move. If you’re in the UK, you should contact your MP too.

• Video version