Donald Trump signed a presidential memorandum Friday afternoon directing the Department of Energy to “consider using all lawful authority to rescind” or weaken regulations for water and energy efficiency for dishwashers and washing machines. The action also includes water use standards for showers, faucets, toilets, and urinals.

It closes out a week of attacks on policies meant to save Americans money by incentivizing manufacturers to make products that save water and energy. Earlier in the week, CNN and E&E News reported that the Trump administration would shutter the Energy Star program as part of a “reorganization” planned at the Environmental Protection Agency.

Energy Star certifies products for energy efficiency, allowing consumers to choose the most energy-efficient home appliances by spotting the recognizable blue Energy Star label. The rules President Trump is targeting now are actually consumer protections, meant to ensure that any customer can purchase something that meets reasonable efficiency standards.

“Congress enacted these laws, the president can’t just decide that they’re going to go away.”

A White House fact sheet says the Secretary of Energy should work with the Office of Legislative Affairs to make recommendations to Congress on any water pressure “or related energy efficiency laws” that ought to change or be repealed altogether.

It also says the Secretary of Energy should pause enforcement of the rules mentioned in the memorandum until they’re rescinded or revised. “The Federal Government should not impose or enforce regulations that make taxpayers’ lives worse,” the presidential memorandum says.

“It’ll only raise costs for consumers to get rid of these standards, if they get rid of these standards,” says Andrew deLaski, executive director of the Appliance Standards Awareness Project. “Congress enacted these laws, the president can’t just decide that they’re going to go away.”

Trump also signed four bills approved through the Congressional Review Act undoing Biden-era efficiency standards for water heaters, refrigerators, walk-in coolers, and more. In April, the president signed an executive order to purportedly make “America’s showers great again” by rescinding an Obama-era definition of showerheads that raised efficiency standards.  

He started his Denver career in 1982 after working at ESPN in Bristol, Connecticut.

They are among 400 artists appealing to Sir Keir Starmer, saying creative industries are threatened.

It says the 2024 summer riots showed the regulator does not have the tools to stop the spread of viral misinformation.

Google is set to pay $1.375 billion to settle claims of data privacy violations brought by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, according to a press release.

Texas filed two lawsuits in 2022 against Google for “unlawfully tracking and collecting users’ private data regarding geolocation, incognito searches, and biometric data,” the release says. Before now, no single state has “attained a settlement against Google for similar data-privacy violations greater than $93 million.”

“This settles a raft of old claims, many of which have already been resolved elsewhere, concerning product policies we have long since changed,” Google spokesperson José Castañeda tells The Verge. “We are pleased to put them behind us, and we will continue to build robust privacy controls into our services.”

In 2022, Google agreed to pay $391.5 million to 40 states over allegations of location tracking without user consent. Last year, Meta agreed to a $1.4 billion settlement with Texas over facial recognition and photo tags.

It's not often there are security guards on the door and hundreds queuing to get into a local council planning meeting - but such is the strength of feeling here in North Devon, that was exactly the case this week.

The opening of Epic Universe and Disneyland's 70th anniversary festivities are nearly here—get all the updates in this week's theme park news.

Following a significant defeat in the U.S. on its case against Epic Games, Apple was just dealt another blow, this time in Brazil. Last March, the company successfully reversed a decision that would have compelled it to enable sideloading for users in Brazil within 90 days. The decision stemmed from an antitrust ruling that declared the App Store’s anti-steering rules illegal.

Today, the decision was reversed once again.

more…

Four hundred creatives and media executives seek PM’s support in battle to limit Big Tech’s use of their work

"Google secretly tracked people's movements, private searches, and even their voiceprints and facial geometry," Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

The paid release of Deltarune, Toby Fox’s episodic Undertale spinoff, will be available for most people at the same time the Nintendo Switch 2 launches in Japan, Fox says in the Deltarune newsletter for May 2025. Deltarune’s first two chapters, released in 2018 and 2021 respectively, were free, but this new release, which adds chapters 3 and 4, will be a paid version that costs $24.99. 

How the release timing will work is a little confusing, but let me explain. For PS4, PS5, Steam, and the original Switch, Deltarune will launch on June 5th at 12AM in Japan, which translates to June 4th at 11AM ET / 8AM PT for people in the US.

The Nintendo Switch 2 version of Deltarune, on the other hand, will launch at midnight local time in most regions on June 5th. This decision actually means that people in New Zealand or Australia who get a Switch 2 at midnight have a slight head start. “But, for convenience’s sake, we’re just going to ignore you guys and pretend that the game is not out… Meanwhile, don’t say anything about it please,” Fox says.

Future updates to Deltarune will be added for free, Fox said in a newsletter last month, and the Switch 2 version will have a special room that takes advantage of the console’s mouse controls.

PS5 users can now buy games in the PlayStation Store using a new payment method: Apple Pay. You could use Apple Pay in the browser or via the mobile app already, but now the method joins other on-console options like using a saved credit or debit card, and PayPal.

As reported by 9to5Mac, you may now see a new option for Apple Pay available at checkout. It’s using the QR code-style method that Apple introduced on iOS 18 last year, and also lets you buy things on third-party browsers like Chrome. The PlayStation support page for using Apple Pay has more information on which regions this works in, which includes the US.

Once you select the game you want on your PS5, choose Apple Pay, then scan the code on your TV screen with your iPhone. iOS will then pull up a checkout screen that lets you confirm the transaction. And if you’re an Apple Card user, that means your PS5 purchases are good for 2 percent cash back as well. 9to5Mac also says Apple Pay may come to PS4 consoles as well after a future software update.

Omada Health filed for an IPO on Friday, the latest digital health company to announce its intent to test the public market.

Fox News was the most-watched network during the papal announcement, followed by CNN and MSNBC.

Tech event season is in full swing. This week, Stripe and Figma gathered thousands of people in downtown San Francisco for their respective conferences. I caught up with Figma CEO Dylan Field after his opening keynote at Config, where he announced the most significant product expansion in the company's history.

Below, you'll find our chat about how he sees AI fitting into Figma after a rough start to integrating the technology last year, the new areas he's targeting to grow the platform, and more. And keep reading for how Meta is turning up the heat on its AI team, my thoughts about this week's OpenAI news, and more…

---

"Design and craft are the differentiator"

These days, it seems like Figma has the entire creative software industry in its sights.

On Wednesday, CEO Dylan Field walked onstage in front of about 8,000 people at the Moscone Center in San Francisco to announce four new products: a ChatGPT-like prototyping tool, a website builder and hosting platform, an AI-branded ad tool that's similar to Canva, and an Adobe Illustrator competitor.

The last time I interviewed Field, he was resetting Figma's internal culture after its $20 billion sale to Adobe was blocked. When w …

Read the full story at The Verge.

Smartwatches have come along way since the first Apple Watch arrived on the scene more than a decade ago. However, despite how ubiquitous they’ve become, they’re still nowhere near as discrete — or long-lasting — as a smart ring like the Samsung Galaxy Ring. Thankfully, if you’re looking to ditch the watch, Samsung’s first-gen smart ring is available with a $100 gift card at Best Buy and Amazon, where you can pick it up in a variety of sizes starting at $299.99 ($100 off), an all-time low.

In many ways, the Android-only Galaxy Ring is more of an accessory for existing Samsung users than it is a standalone device. It’s not as a capable as the Oura Ring 4, our No. 1 pick for the best smart ring, though it does showcase excellent hardware and comes in wide ranges of sizes, from 5 to 15. Plus, unlike the Oura, the Galaxy Ring provides standard activity and sleep tracking without requiring you to pay a monthly fee. That’s a boon for anyone with subscription fatigue.

In terms of basics, Samsung’s IP68 water-resistant ring can measure your blood oxygen level, skin temperature, heart rate, and track your steps and workouts. That being said, you’ll need a Galaxy phone to leverage all of Samsung’s ecosystem-centric tricks, including the ability to access insights about your quality of sleep and Samsung’s Energy Score feature, which attempts to quantify your fatigue levels. If you own a Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 or Ultra, you’ll even get several additional days of battery life, thanks in part to the way Samsung’s Health app prioritizes which device’s sensors to pull from.

All that is to say that the Galaxy Ring remains best suited for existing Samsung users, rather than those tapped into other ecosystems. But if that’s you, the current promo is the best deal we’ve seen.

Read our full Samsung Galaxy Ring review.

---

More deals and discounts

• The holidays might be a ways off, but that also means it’s the best time of the year to load up on discounted decorations. Right now, for instance, Govee’s 50-foot Outdoor Dots String Lights are on sale at Amazon for an all-time low of $89.99 ($90 off) — the lowest price we’ve seen on the Matter-compatible, smart LED string.
• I’m a firm believer in bone conduction headphones like the Shokz OpenRun Pro 2, which leave your ears more exposed while working out. Thankfully, if you haven’t tried them before, they’re available at Amazon, Walmart, and Best Buy for $139.95 ($40 off), matching their all-time low. The latest open-ear Shokz still offer big sound and plenty of bass, only this time around, they now support USB-C charging and AI noise cancellation. Read our review.
• The Xbox Series X version of Metaphor: ReFantazio, a game that deftly build upon a winning RPG formula with a powerful narrative and harrowing turn-based combat, is going for $24.99 ($45 off) at Woot this weekend. It was easily one of our favorite games of 2024, even if it does feel like a remixed Persona title. Read our review.

Following the Android widget redesign, the next big Google Keep update adds rich text formatting to the web app.

more…

Scientists are continuing to find evidence that GLP-1 medications can temper cravings for alcohol and other drugs.

From cybersecurity and aerospace to generative 3D, startup leaders are scaling ambitious companies from European soil and taking on global markets. In this conversation at the StrictlyVC event in Athens, we talked to three founders about what it takes to go from idea to impact while navigating the continent’s unique challenges — and why building […]

Especially not with some kind of pocketable AI.