Latest news with #WarrenG
The Verge
12-08-2025
- Automotive
- The Verge
Trump screwed over Nvidia's Chinese sales, then let them happen
Hello there, world! Welcome to the first issue of Regulator, a newsletter about the collision between Big Tech and Washington. If you enjoy this, consider subscribing to get this newsletter weekly and everything The Verge has to offer. For anyone who subscribed via our Instagram announcement: I am so, so sorry that I didn't use the proper song to announce the launch of Regulator, which is, of course, Warren G's 'Regulate.' But I never thought that a track that samples one of my favorite Michael McDonald songs would be so perfectly applicable to the topic of this newsletter: a gun-wielding gang jumping a group of rich dudes and demanding they hand over their rings and Rolexes, or else they get popped. On a related note: The New York Times reported this weekend that Nvidia and AMD had reached an unprecedented agreement with the Trump administration that they would pay it 15 percent of their revenue from selling microchips in China — a deal that would net the government approximately $2 billion, and is widely suspected to be the price of keeping their businesses afloat. Back in April, after the first tariffs were announced, I worked on a Verge story with Kylie Robinson about the growing panic in the AI industry. No one could say for sure if GPUs assembled in Taiwan, the world capital of microchip production, would be slammed with a massive tariff once they arrived in the US. There were several obvious reasons that this would be disastrous for chipmakers like Nvidia and AMD, which saw their respective stock prices drop precipitously that weekend: the cost of materials would rise, the price of the chip itself would go up, and there was no realistic way to move manufacturing to American shores fast enough to meet the growing and immediate demand for their GPUs. Sure, Nvidia and TSMC were planning on opening a fabricator in Arizona that would be operational later this year — but it was only one factory, and no one knows right now when it will actually begin production. But what shocked me the most was the apparent and immediate disconnect between our sources. Silicon Valley seemed positive that President Donald Trump was going to grant them exemptions no matter what, but the lobbyists they'd hired in Washington were all melting down over the lack of clarity: semiconductors were exempt, complete mechanical assemblies were not, and which category did a GPU fall into? (The White House got back to me days after our story was published, unhelpfully stating that the executive order listed what was exempt.) At the time, the Trump administration seemed to have no idea what it had just done to the AI industry, but it may have learned its lesson — and made it more painful to avoid compliance. Last week, during a meeting with Apple CEO Tim Cook at the White House, Trump announced that any microchip or semiconductor imported into the US would face a staggering 100 percent tariff — unless the company importing it committed to move fabrication to the US. Trump added that there would be a severe penalty for those who didn't stick to the commitment: 'If, for some reason, you say you're building and you don't build, then we go back and we add it up, it accumulates, and we charge you at a later date, you have to pay, and that's a guarantee.' Apple, he added, would not be affected, thanks to their $100 billion commitment to move manufacturing to America. (The gold statue Cook brought Trump sure didn't hurt, either.) It's already chaotic and confusing just from a first glance: no one knows exactly what microchips are being tariffed, whether electronics that contain microchips will be tariffed, whether small businesses that can't feasibly make microchips will be hit. But it also raises more concerning questions. If the Trump administration is really concerned about China beating the US in the AI race, why would it allow Nvidia and AMD to sell their industry-leading GPUs to China? If Nvidia and AMD are arguing that they need access to the Chinese market, why then pay 15 percent of the gross revenue of those sales to the US government? The answer may be very simple. This is the way that Trump historically negotiates, even back in his early days as a businessman: back out of promises, leave the other party screwed, and only return to the table if the other person gives up even more than their original offer, preferably with some groveling and debasement involved. Nvidia and AMD seem to have learned this the hard and expensive way. These kinds of dealings don't just affect stock market darlings. The other shady Trump money-making tactic is fleecing the middle and lower-class people who've bought into his promises, from Trump University to the Trump Foundation — and now, the makers of Trump merch. The Verge's very own Mia Sato has been following the Trump Organization's recent filing of a Schedule A lawsuit against makers of unauthorized Trump merchandise, which stands out to her for three reasons: first, bootleg Trump merch is a market and culture that's 'very much part of the Trump ecosystem,' and the Trump Org has let it thrive for nearly a decade. Second, the Schedule A lawsuit is a 'niche legal trend,' and it's unclear why the Trump Org is adopting it now. Third: the beauty of a Schedule A lawsuit is that the people being sued don't know that they're being sued, until the money suddenly disappears from their bank accounts. My chat with Mia is below; but first, the best of our most recent policy and political coverage... 'Trump's endless new tariffs are threatening businesses — and you': No one knows exactly how the new wave of tariffs will affect consumers — but Lauren Feiner's reporting should give you a general idea of what to expect. 'Sex is getting scrubbed from the internet, but a billionaire can sell you AI nudes': Adi Robinson's lede about Elon Musk's new 'spicy' mode on Grok xAI is just too good. 'In the fascinating new reality of the internet, teen girls can't learn about periods on Reddit and indie artists can't sell smutty games on but a military contractor will make you nonconsensual deepfakes of Taylor Swift taking her top off for $30 a month.' 'The lawyer who beat Tesla is ready for 'round two'': After winning an unprecedented wrongful death lawsuit against Tesla — something that has never happened in the company's history — attorney Brett Schreiber talks to Andrew Hawkins about his next move to hold the company accountable. 'Why Donald Trump's environmental data purge is so much worse this time': Justine Calma tabulates exactly how many times government websites have been edited since Trump took office — and how much data about climate change has disappeared into the administration's memory hole. 'What is Laura Loomer?' Many MAGA influencers have tried to sway Trump. Only Laura Loomer has succeeded, getting at least a dozen officials fired. After nearly a decade of covering her and the rest of the MAGA internet, I do my best to explain. Last week, Mia Sato published an incredible feature story about the difficulties regulating the world of dupe products: protecting rightsholders' intellectual property, preventing companies from ripping off creators, and giving merch sellers some amount of due process. She went particularly deep into the world of Schedule A lawsuits: an effective but shady way for rightsholders to enforce their designs and patents all at once, without even notifying the infringers that they are being sued. (If you prefer your longform as a podcast, here's Mia's Vergecast episode about it; and if you prefer video, here it is on YouTube.) Mia's timing could not have been better: shortly after it was published, the Trump Organization filed a Schedule A lawsuit against several companies that manufactured bootleg and dupe Trump merchandise. However, no one knows what companies are being sued — the Schedule A list of offenders are always under seal — and no one knows why the Trump Org is doing this now, 10 years after the first knockoff MAGA hats hit the market. Below, Mia and I try to figure it out. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Could you explain how Schedule A lawsuits are overlapping with the dupe economy and how the Trump Organization is involved? I keep describing Schedule A as like, this one weird trick to get things taken offline. It's basically a way for a rightsholder to go after a ton of online storefronts all at once. They can file one federal lawsuit, and it gets its name because there's a separate form that is filed to the court called the Schedule A sheet. And on that sheet is a list of dozens, hundreds, or even up to a thousand storefront names. It's unique in a couple different ways. One, you don't need to find out people's legal names, like you would have to if you're filing any other lawsuit. You can just say SmileyGirl123 or whatever someone's eBay username is, and go after them that way. Often, the people being sued have no idea they are being named in a lawsuit at all, until they get an email from Amazon being like, we've frozen all the money in your account because there's an issue with one of your listings. Also, they get this thing called a temporary restraining order, which is supposed to only be for extraordinary circumstances, but it's a way for sellers' assets to be frozen, even before they've been found liable for infringement. So it's a very effective way to get something for sale taken offline. It is being used by big brands like Nike. I think Roblox has done Schedule A lawsuits, and now, there's this Trump Organization Schedule A suit. For dupes, it's very efficient to do a reverse-image search and find stuff that kind of looks like your product, or find your logo or your artwork, and then you just throw them all in one suit. And more often than not, the people who are being accused of infringement and being named as defendants do not get legal representation and don't fight back. What are the ways these are settled? It kind of depends. I'm gonna try not to generalize because another thing is that the Schedule A suits are really, really hard to track… I spoke with an attorney in the Chicago area named Timothy A. Duffy, who has worked on, like, 50 of these cases. And he said that there can be hundreds of defendants named, you go to court, and there's not a single representative for any of them. It is just the plaintiff and the judge talking. So often, it ends up being some sort of default judgment, which can be hundreds of thousands of dollars, and then maybe someone who's being accused realizes what's happening. There was a case with the rightsholder for Grumpy Cat, who is very litigious and had filed a Schedule A suit, and the woman who was named as a defendant realized that $600 or something was missing out of her PayPal account. One question I have is if this is connected at all to a broader Trump crackdown on IP. Within a few days of this suit being filed, there was also the Trump MAGA Instant Pot IP story. All of a sudden, the Trump Organization was not cool with that, even though plans for this slew of Trump-branded products had been announced. (Note: The price of an Instant Pot had previously been threatened by a potential Trump tariff in 2019.) The Trump Organization could certainly file a bunch more. We don't know who is named on this Schedule A suit. We don't know how many defendants there are. I think those are all under seal. So, in theory, it could just endlessly file these over and over and over, scooping up new batches of online storefronts. Trumpworld is taking up this niche legal trend, and I am curious what made the Trump Organization go for this now. Oh, yeah. Trump is notorious for filing a ton of lawsuits against anyone, for any reason. They don't necessarily end with a judge, hearings, whatever. Normally, the threat's enough to shake people out of doing something or even avoid doing it altogether. When I was writing at Vanity Fair, we literally had to send anything that was written about Trump to our company lawyer to be vetted. And this was before he ran for president, too. He was just that litigious. He also would go after people for trying to make money off his name, and still does. I can only imagine that the reason he didn't crack down on the explosion of the pro-Trump merchandise economy was that he thought: oh, this is free political advertising for me, it's all homegrown and other people are making it. I think the bigger the target, though, the more litigious the group gets. So Joe MAGA with his Etsy shop is one thing, but Instant Pot is a pretty large company. What makes me so curious about this lawsuit is that it feels like the DIY, dropshipper Trump merch is very much a part of the Trump ecosystem. It goes hand in hand in my mind with MAGA, period. You go to any New York City souvenir shop, and there's Trump-themed things. So much of that culture is, like, the bedazzled Trump hats or Trump cowboy hats at events. Now that it's not an election cycle, he and his people care a little bit more about consolidating control over merchandise. Maybe they loosen up when you want people to have yard signs, hats, T-shirts, and whatnot at rallies. In the suit, the Trump Organization also specifies that it believes the sellers are all based in East Asia, which is another strange thing because these suits often go after sellers abroad. That partly explains why some of these defendants can't get legal representation. They're in a different country, they don't speak the language, they don't know an attorney in Chicago who they can hire to represent them. But the fact that the Trump Organization specified that is kind of curious. A lot of these things are manufactured in China. Other suits often end up going after China-based sellers, who, again, are not confirmed as infringing on anyone's IP rights. But, unfortunately, they get generalized as dupers or people making knockoffs. I've joked that Washington is about six years behind the rest of the world when it comes to technology. For instance, this is a product review: I would also like to rectify my Warren G mistake from earlier. Here is a proper link to his music video. If you haven't already, don't forget to subscribe to The Verge, which includes unlimited access to Regulator and all of our reporting. See you next week! Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All by Tina Nguyen Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Column Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Policy Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed. See All Regulator
New York Post
09-06-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
NY Post to judge ‘best team name' at LI's $100K-prize National BBQ Festival
We're judging the 'wordplay' at the smoke show! A New York Post boss will crown the winner of 'best team name' at the renowned National BBQ Festival on Long Island next weekend — as pitmasters compete for a sizzling $100,000 in total prize money. The high 'steaks' decision goes to Post Chief of Staff Dan Greenfield, whose merits include overseeing a paper with puns hotter than a flame-broiled brisket. Advertisement 5 The New York Post is set to judge the 'best team name' at the National BBQ Festival on Long Island next weekend. 5 The contest is set to feature legendary pitmasters like Thyron Mattews — a 16 time grand champion on Netflix Barbecue Showdown and founder of T&T BBQ. Beth Petsche 'Of course the New York Post is best suited to pick the best name,' Greenfield said. 'Puns and wordplay are our meat! We rib people all the time!' Advertisement At the renowned festival, talented barbecuers — whose team names include Phil the Grill, Meat Street USA, and I Like To Rub My Meat — will compete at Eisenhower Park in East Meadow June 13-15. The winner of best name earns a $500 prize, part of the '$100,000 purse' for categories such as tastiest wings, ribs, meatballs and more, organizers said. For the price of a $54 ticket, festival-goers can try barbecue samples, drink locally brewed beer and listen to live music in a 'family friendly' atmosphere. 5 Rapper and Sniffin Griffins BBQ founder Warren G will be competing. Sniffin Griffins BBQ x Warren G Advertisement 5 Rae Barker, a.k.a. The Lil' Gringa, will be among the competitors at Eisenhower Park. Dream Fast Media 5 Phil 'The Grill' Johnson, the owner of owner of Trap House BBQ in Phoenix, will be cooking for the $100,000 prize at the National BBQ Festival. Courtesy of Phil "The Grill" Johnson Big name competitors include Tuffy Stone, a six time World BBQ Champion and rapper Warren G., who founded Sniffin' Griffins' BBQ, which specializes in spicy sauces and rubs.
New York Post
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Post
A Barbecue Revival: National BBQ Festival Finds New Life in Nassau County
Barbecue fans, mark your calendars. After more than a decade on ice, the National BBQ Festival is firing back up—this time, with Nassau County, Long Island, as its home base. From June 13 to 15, Eisenhower Park in East Meadow will host the long-awaited return of one of the country's boldest BBQ events. With dozens of competitive teams, a $100,000 purse, and enough smoked meat to satisfy an army, the revived National BBQ Festival is aiming to become Long Island's newest summertime tradition. If you've never heard of it, you're not alone. But in barbecue circles, this festival is legendary. From 2002 to 2011, it ran in Douglas and Waycross, Georgia, where it drew tens of thousands and quickly outgrew its space. Fourteen years later, it's back—new location, new format, same commitment to smoke, fire, and fierce competition. Advertisement Varunee – From Small-Town Georgia to Suburban New York The move from Georgia to Nassau County is a big shift—but a strategic one. Long Island's food scene has grown more ambitious over the past decade. There's space, proximity to the city, and a crowd that loves great food. Eisenhower Park, with over 900 acres of public space, offers a rare combo: open land, built-in infrastructure, and easy access for millions. At the heart of the festival is the competition, where top BBQ teams from across the country will go head-to-head in categories like brisket, ribs, pork, chicken, and whole hog. Adding a local twist, the event will also feature a meatball cook-off and a Long Island Iced Tea competition—two uniquely Long Island favorites. And it's not just about flavor. Judges will be scoring entries based on timing, texture, technique, and presentation. A Full-On Weekend Experience Advertisement While the competition fires up the pitmasters, the real draw for attendees is the unlimited BBQ samples included with admission. Guests can feast their way through the Live Fire Experience, sampling signature dishes from top pitmasters across the country. Beyond the bites, the weekend also features craft beer and wine tastings, live fire cooking demos, chef appearances, and family-friendly programming. And the flavor doesn't stop at the grill—live music runs all weekend, including a Saturday night performance by West Coast rap legend Warren G, who'll also be competing with his own BBQ team. Thryon Mathews Beth Petsche The Live Fire Experience will showcase bites from top pitmasters, including 'Captain' Ron Dimpflmaier and 16-time Grand Champion Thyron Mathews. Expect everything from oxtail and tomahawk steak to Texas-style brisket and 'mop sauce' ribs. What to Expect Yes, there will be smoke. Yes, there will be rows of custom smokers. And yes, you'll leave smelling like brisket. But that's the point. Between demos, tastings, and live music, this is one of the most satisfying weekends of the year. Advertisement There's also a Kids Zone with carnival games, giveaways, and family-friendly demos. Oyster Bay Brewing Company will debut a custom 'Smoke & Tide' beer on-site. General Admission and VIP ticket options are available, with perks like reserved seating and exclusive tastings. Final Thoughts In a crowded calendar of food events, the National BBQ Festival stands out for its heritage, and its heart. This is real-deal barbecue, built on craft, culture, and community. Just don't wear white.
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Snoop Dogg Responds To Warren G's Claims Of Being Left Out: 'It's Pain We've Never Fully Addressed'
Hip-Hop legends Snoop Dogg and Warren G have shared a brotherhood that dates back decades — from their early days in Long Beach to their rise during the golden era of West Coast rap. But recent comments from Warren G reveal that all hasn't been smooth between the longtime collaborators and friends. Snoop Dogg responded to Warren's comments during an appearance on The Breakfast Club, where he offered insight into their complicated history. 'There have been certain situations where we have become super close behind tragedy and behind love,' Snoop said, adding that Warren is 'probably the best friend that I got that only me and him understand each other.' But Snoop also acknowledged underlying tension that dates back to the early '90s, when Warren G helped introduce him to Dr. Dre and ultimately played a role in landing him a spot at Death Row Records — a deal Warren himself never received. 'The music industry is trifling,' Snoop said. 'You think about how [Warren G] brought me to Death Row, but Death Row didn't sign him, so there's a lot of animosity and frustration and anger in him off of that. Not at me but at the situation at whole.' He continued, 'As a artist, if you're pushing for me, you want for me to do this. But as an artist, I'm feeling f**ked up because they left my homeboy. These are things that we've never had a chance to fully get a understanding on because it's pain.' Snoop also clarified the dynamic between Warren's relationship with him versus his relationship with Dr. Dre. '[Warren G's] relationship with Dr Dre is his relationship,' he said. 'His relationship with me is our relationship. When I'm working with Dr. Dre, I don't bring nobody with me. I bring myself because I'm not responsible for nobody but me.' Appearing on The Ugly Monkey podcast, Warren G opened up about feeling cast aside by both Snoop Dogg and Dr. Dre, despite his pivotal role in their early careers. While he made clear that there was no malice in his words, Warren expressed hurt over being excluded from recent events and collaborations. 'Snoop and Dre get down and they doing things and it's no diss to neither one of them or anything like that,' Warren said. 'But it's like, y'all could call Warren to come do a cameo or come hang out or something.' He emphasized that his desire to be involved isn't about money or fame. 'I don't want no money or nothing from nobody, just call me to be around,' he said, his words steeped in a desire for camaraderie and recognition. Warren also recalled a moment when he was unable to get backstage at the Super Bowl where both Snoop and Dre performed at in 2022 — a moment that stung deeply because he simply wanted to share it with his son. 'I was trying to get downstairs, to get down in the back, 'cause I had my son with me and he was home from the NFL,' he explained. 'I couldn't even get backstage. I called everybody I knew. Nobody would answer their phones. I couldn't get backstage, none of that. I didn't give a f**k about performing, I just wanted to take my son down there to see all my folks and see everybody.' Watch Snoop Dogg's The Breakfast Club interview below. More from Snoop Dogg To Host New Year's Eve Variety Special For NBC Snoop Dogg Reacts To IShowSpeed Confusing Him With Impersonator Warren G Seemingly Feels Cast Aside By Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg Amid Unanswered Phone Calls
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Warren G Seemingly Feels Cast Aside By Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg Amid Unanswered Phone Calls
Warren G is opening up about feeling distanced from two of his closest collaborators and friends, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg. During a recent appearance on the Ugly Monkey podcast, the 54-year-old rapper and producer expressed his disappointment over the lack of communication between himself and the two icons, both of whom he shares a deep history with. 'Snoop and Dre get down and they doing things and it's no diss to neither one of them or anything like that,' Warren G shared. 'But it's like, y'all could call Warren to come do a cameo or come hang out or something.' Warren G, who is Dr. Dre's stepbrother and a founding member of the group 213 alongside Dre and Snoop, played a pivotal role in launching Snoop's career by introducing him to Dre — a meeting that would lead to the creation of The Chronic, and ultimately, the rise of Death Row Records. Despite his early contributions to their success, Warren, who helped shape the sound of '90s Hip-Hop through his own work, says he now finds himself on the outside looking in. 'I don't want no money or nothing from nobody, just call me to be around,' he emphasized, underscoring that his desire is rooted in friendship and shared history, not financial gain. The 'Regulate' rapper also recalled a particularly painful moment during the 2022 Super Bowl Halftime Show, which featured Dre and Snoop in a widely acclaimed performance. Although Snoop gave Warren and his son tickets to the game, Warren says he was unable to reach either Dre or Snoop when trying to get backstage. 'I was trying to get downstairs, to get down in the back, 'cause I had my son with me and he was home from the NFL,' Warren recounted. 'I couldn't even get backstage. I called everybody I knew. Nobody would answer their phones. I couldn't get backstage, none of that. I didn't give a f**k about performing, I just wanted to take my son down there to see all my folks and see everybody.' Despite his legacy — including his 1994 debut Regulate… G Funk Era, which helped save Def Jam Recordings from financial ruin — Warren G's remarks speak to a painful truth: even pioneers can be forgotten. For someone who once stood shoulder to shoulder with two of the most influential artists in Hip-Hop history, being shut out seemingly stings not just professionally, but personally. See Warren G's interview on the Ugly Monkey podcast below. More from Suge Knight Pays $1.5M Settlement In Wrongful Death Lawsuit Related To 'Straight Outta Compton' Film AZ Chike Wants To Collect "West Coast Infinity Stones" Snoop Dogg Enters "Creative Partnership" With NBCUniversal For Death Row Pictures
