Trump and GOP's tax bill would sell off USPS's brand-new EVs
A little-noticed provision of President Donald Trump and Republicans' massive tax and immigration legislation would force the government to undo billions of dollars in electric vehicle investments made by the U.S. Postal Service, undoing much of the Biden administration's climate push at the mail agency while dealing it a sharp financial setback.
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Forbes
13 minutes ago
- Forbes
Samsung Makes New Free Offer To Millions Of Galaxy Phones And Tablets
Samsung Galaxy S25 (left) and Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra (right) are included in the Perplexity offer. ... More (Photo by Firdous Nazir/NurPhoto via Getty Images) Samsung Galaxy device users are eating well at the moment. After giving free access to streaming services and photo editing software, the company has a new free subscription offer for millions of existing Galaxy phone and tablet owners. The Korean company is giving away 12 months of chatbot Perplexity AI Pro, which is worth $200, to Galaxy phone and tablet owners in the U.S. To get the deal, head to the Galaxy Store, download the Perplexity AI app and create an account. That's it, you should now have a full year of the Pro tier of Perplexity AI. If you have used Gemini, ChatGPT, Copilot—or any other chatbot—you will be familiar with Perplexity. It claims to focus on accuracy by always providing citations for its answers. The Pro version gives users more options for tailoring their output results from AI models, including GPT-4 Omni, Claude 3, and Google's Gemini. Other Pro features allow text-to-image generation, file uploads, and an increased amount of daily searches, which uses more sources for more detailed answers. This is one of Samsung's more generous software giveaways this year. The last year-long subscription Samsung gifted to Galaxy users was for Disney Plus via its now-defunct 'Boost' program. Two years on, a similar, more 2025-inspired, freebie has been made exclusively to U.S. Galaxy phone owners. None of the current lineup of bundled subscription services, that come with Galaxy S25 purchases, extend beyond one month—the only exception being six months of Gemini Advanced. It isn't worth buying a Samsung phone for any of those software freebies (it is, however, for the free tablet and trade-in deals). But the good thing about the Perplexity offer is that it doesn't require the purchase of a new phone. Have a look around for an old Samsung phone and see if you can still claim the subscription. Let me know me know if that works. Samsung's Big Freebie Gamble Samsung's free Galaxy Buds 3 Pro and £200 trade in deal. So far this year, Samsung has bundled a free tablet and a free pair of Galaxy Buds with Galaxy S25 purchases, given away a Galaxy S25 with select TVs and massively raised trade-in prices to unprecedented levels. The best offers and freebies have been bundled with the Galaxy S25 Edge, which could be related to a recent report that claimed the device may not be selling well. The fact that Samsung has launched some of its most aggressive trade-in pricing I have seen, for the Edge, hints that may be the case. It also shows what lengths the Korean company will go to to shift smartphones—so there may be more deals on the way for the Edge and other Galaxy phones. Don't miss out, hit the follow button below for the latest tech news and deals stories.
Newsweek
23 minutes ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Moans He Won't Get Nobel Peace Prize
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump has renewed his long-standing grievance over not being awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Posting on Truth Social on Friday night, Trump cited a peace deal he said his administration helped broker between the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda as evidence of his worthiness, before declaring that he would be overlooked for the honor "no matter what" he accomplishes. Why It Matters The Nobel committee does not publicly acknowledge nominees and Trump's past nominations have not resulted in a win. However, with global conflicts escalating, any recognition of peace efforts—whether symbolic or substantive—could influence international discourse and Trump's political standing. What To Know The Trump administration was invited by DRC President Félix Tshisekedi to help mediate an end to the conflict in eastern Congo between government forces and rebels allegedly backed by Rwanda. A preliminary peace deal was reached on Wednesday, with a formal signing expected next week in Washington. The agreement will be signed by the leaders of both countries and witnessed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, according to the State Department. "This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World," Trump wrote. "I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for this," Trump added, He then went on to list other negotiations he claimed his administration led, including "stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo" and "keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia." "No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me," the president wrote. President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, June 20, 2025. President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, June 20, 2025. Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP Earlier on Friday, the Pakistani government said it intended to nominate Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, which is awarded to those who have done "the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses." "The Government of Pakistan has decided to formally recommend President Donald J. Trump for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize, in recognition of his decisive diplomatic intervention and pivotal leadership during the recent India-Pakistan crisis," the Pakistani government's official X, formerly Twitter, account wrote in a post Friday. Trump has claimed he played a key role in last month's ceasefire agreement between the two nations. But Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has pushed back on that claim. According to Indian Foreign Secretary Vikram Misri, Modi "clearly conveyed" in a recent phone call with Trump that the ceasefire resulted from direct negotiations between India and Pakistan, not U.S. involvement. This is not the first time Trump has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. In 2023, New York Republican Representative Claudia Tenney nominated him, citing his "historic" Middle East policies. In 2020, far-right Norwegian politician Christian Tybring-Gjedde nominated Trump for his efforts to bring reconciliation between North and South Korea. That same year, Swedish MP Magnus Jacobsson nominated him for brokering a deal to normalize relations between Serbia and Kosovo. The following year, Swedish nationalist MP Laura Huhtasaari and a group of Australian lawmakers nominated Trump for his role in negotiating the Abraham Accords. However, the prize was awarded to Filipino and Russian journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov "for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace." Meanwhile, in March 2025, California Republican Representative Darrell Issa said he intended to nominate Trump for the prize. Trump has often contrasted his lack of a Nobel win with Barack Obama's, who received the prize in 2009 for his "extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples." At a 2020 rally, Trump mocked Obama's reaction to the award, saying, "When Obama got it, he didn't even—he just said, 'What did I do?' He had no idea what he did." In 2013, Trump tweeted that Obama's prize should be rescinded. Former Norwegian Nobel Institute Director Geir Lundestad later admitted that "even many of Obama's supporters believed that the prize was a mistake." "He's obsessed with the fact that Mr. Obama got it and he didn't," a former senior White House official from Trump's first term told NBC. What People Are Saying Donald Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social: "I am very happy to report that I have arranged, along with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, a wonderful Treaty between the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the Republic of Rwanda, in their War, which was known for violent bloodshed and death, more so even than most other Wars, and has gone on for decades. Representatives from Rwanda and the Congo will be in Washington on Monday to sign Documents. "This is a Great Day for Africa and, quite frankly, a Great Day for the World! I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for this, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between India and Pakistan, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for stopping the War between Serbia and Kosovo, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for keeping Peace between Egypt and Ethiopia (A massive Ethiopian built dam, stupidly financed by the United States of America, substantially reduces the water flowing into The Nile River), and I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize for doing the Abraham Accords in the Middle East which, if all goes well, will be loaded to the brim with additional Countries signing on, and will unify the Middle East for the first time in 'The Ages!' No, I won't get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that's all that matters to me!" What Happens Next This year's Nobel Peace Prize winner will be announced in October.
CNET
29 minutes ago
- CNET
Etsy Is Clamping Down on 3D Printed Products. Here's How It Could Affect You
It feels like everyone needs a side hustle these days. If your hobby can help make you some extra income, it seems like a no-brainer to at least try and do it. 3D printing, laser engraving and using vinyl cutters like the famous Cricut machine all give you a chance to make something beautiful, unique and sellable. Etsy has been the storefront of choice for almost 20 years, and despite other options being available, it still boasts 8.13 million active sellers in 2025, according to a recent Contimod report. Recently, the company has clarified its policies surrounding the "Made by a Seller" category, specifically relating to "items produced using computerized tools." The updates are subtle but could fundamentally change the way a lot of small businesses operate moving forward. Are all of these the same dragon, or are they different enough to be unique? Etsy/Screenshot: James Bricknell/CNET If you've ever searched for 3D-printed dragons on Etsy, you will likely have seen a screen like the one above. While each dragon looks very similar -- they are all articulated with little to no painting -- no two are the exact same. Almost all of the dragons you will see have been made by a small group of designers who license their digital models out to the Etsy seller, who use small print farms, or even single 3D printers, to print the physical model for sale. Etsy's latest update to its company policy around computerized tools has removed a key component that allowed for this type of licensing, leaving many sellers confused as to where they stand. Items produced using computerized tools: Physical items that a seller produced in their personal shop or home, using computerized tools such as a laser printer, 3D printer, CNC or Cricut machine. These items must be produced based on a seller's original design and are often personalized or customized to a buyer's specification. An Etsy spokesperson told me that the above policy has always been Etsy's standard position on products that are made by sellers. The area I have added emphasis to is the part that has been edited. Originally, the Etsy guidelines included the phrase "...or using a templated design or pattern..." which seemed to allow for the use of designs from 3D modelers. By removing this section and keeping the part about the original design, it seems to say that each seller must design the digital file themselves, as well as print it out, post-process it and ship it out. Etsy has said this update in policy is to clarify its position, rather than change it. According to the creative guidelines, an item that doesn't qualify is "A commercially available base item with only superficial alteration, such as addition of a simple, mass-produced stick-on adornment." The sticking point seems to be the "commercially available" part, as a lot of 3D print sellers on Etsy use a commercial license from 3D modelers as a source to create physical models. The business of 3D printing Patreon/Screenshot: James Bricknell/CNET 3D modelers that sell commercial licenses through sites like Patreon, Thangs, and Printables have sprung up over the last few years, to much success and accolades across the 3D printing space. Christian, or CraftyKid3D, as he is known on Patreon and social media, creates 3D models based on books and reading, including beautiful dragon bookends and small book holders to help you hold your paperbacks open. His Patreon has a commercial license tier that allows you to sell physical copies of his digital models online or at craft fairs and farmers' markets. He currently has 860 Patreon subscribers, whose $10 per month subscriptions make up a significant portion of his income. Etsy's updated policy is likely to significantly reduce Christians subscribers' ability to use the models he releases on that platform, causing both his and his subscribers' ability to sustain themselves. Worse, because the policy is vague, Etsy sellers could find themselves in violation by not knowing where the line is drawn. Even Etsy's own customer service seems to be confused, offering contradicting answers to questions asked by sellers. Two different responses to the same questions. CraftyKid3D/STLFlix/Screenshot: James Bricknell/CNET My colleague and fellow 3D printing enthusiast, Russell Holly, said the vagueness may be the point of the phrasing. "I suspect the current guidance is vague on purpose to discourage these mass production groups from making one small change and moving on, but that reality is inevitable." My question in answer to this is, where is the line for making small changes, and who else does it affect? James Bricknell/Russell Holly/CNET These two prints are clearly the same model, but each of us used a different color material and a different level of effort to paint the model in the slicing software. Digital files can be "painted" in the software to assign different colors to certain areas of the print. My copy (at left) is a fairly easy two-tone change to give me a brown front of the house surrounded by green, but Russell's (right) uses different colors and has had more time spent delineating which areas are which colors. This is a digital process to be sure, and not as manual as, say, weeding a Cricut vinyl and sticking it onto a Stanley tumbler, but it still takes time and effort and changes the look and feel in a material way. The question then becomes, what is enough of a change to constitute an original piece? That'll be up to Etsy to decide on a case-by-case basis, which itself offers a lot of issues. Policing a site as big as Etsy is incredibly difficult and relies heavily on IP infringements being reported by the holders of that IP. This isn't the same scenario as the creators of the 3D models actively approve of people using them to produce physical copies, so they wouldn't report the use to Etsy. This means Etsy will have to spend resources on policing these models themselves. It has been said that Etsy uses reports from other sellers to take down IP violations, but in its handbook it states that it doesn't "...accept reports of infringement by just anybody — only from the intellectual property owner or the owner's authorized agent..." so it's unlikely it will go that route, but they will have to do something if they want anything to actually change. In conversation with me and other members of the CraftyKid3D Patreon community -- I am a member, and use his models to test the best 3D printers -- Christian expressed his concern that Etsy would have trouble enforcing this policy change. "Etsy has always been poor on moderation. It's the companies like Universal, Sony, Disney, that will contact Etsy to remove copyright products. But even Etsy can't keep that under control." He went on to say, "Unless they have new tech, I highly doubt they can enforce this...." What does this policy mean for you as a seller? The helmet on the left likely wouldn't be covered by Etsy's policy, but the one on the right would. James Bricknell/CNET If you use Etsy to sell your 3D-printed products, you're going to need to think about what products you make and how much you're willing to alter them. One of the biggest profit considerations is how long it takes to post-process a 3D-printed model. The most profit always comes from something that can be sold with some basic cleanup and not much else, so if you have to spend time and materials to alter a print significantly, your profit margin decreases. Holly said, "If you've printed a cosplay helmet designed by someone else but then gone through the work of sanding and painting and all of that, it's no longer the same thing it was when it came off the printer and would not be subject to this policy." I agree with him that this use case would almost certainly be allowed by Etsy, but we don't have a clear idea if that's true. In this picture, you can see two Mandalorian helmets that I've printed. The one on the left is the original file with no alterations except that I printed it in a soft PLA so my daughter could wear it without fear of breaking it if she dropped it. It took me a little time to remove the supports and clean it up, but I could have sold it for a good profit because it's a different way to print helmets. The one on the right took a lot of time. The steps I had to go through were: Remove the 3D printed supports Sand the whole helmet until smooth Fill any layer lines left over from the first sanding Sand the dried filler so that everything is smooth and even Spray filler/primer over the helmet to create a uniform layer Spray the helmet with a black gloss undercoat Spray the helmet with a silver paint Glue the separate ear pieces on Spray with a clear gloss to protect the silver paint Now, I can sell this second helmet on Etsy. I'm sure the policy would cover this kind of adjustment, and I could even turn a decent profit, but it would be far less than the profit from the first helmet, even though I could charge a lot more for it. I don't think the first helmet would qualify as my original design, though. If your business relies on the files of others, be it articulated dragons from Cinderwing or book nooks from CraftyKid3D, you likely already sell them in other storefronts like Facebook Marketplace or Amazon's handmade site, as well as at physical locations. If you don't, it may be worth diversifying where you sell. There are so many things that we don't know about how Etsy will police its amended policy, that having other revenue avenues is a good idea. It will be interesting to see how far this change will go. Will Cricut makers need to design their own decals instead of buying commercially available SVGs? Will laser-engraving makers need to do the same? The entire maker community uses these kinds of services, and it has empowered a huge business sector that turned hobbies into a legitimate way to make an income. According to Contimod, 34% of all sellers on Etsy cite it as their only source of income so the potential loss is considerable. Etsy isn't the only storefront out there, but it is one of the largest, and its decisions here could have a lasting impact across this sector.
