ISPs shouldn't be able to block some sorts of data and prioritize others—here's what to know about the struggle to treat information on the internet the same.
HAMPTON, Va. (WAVY) — On April 2, Japanese video game developer Nintendo announced the upcoming console Nintendo Switch 2 would be priced at $450, a $150 increase from the first Nintendo Switch released in 2017.
“Immediately after that, a lot of the discussion started to go towards, 'Oh, well, we know that a lot of tariffs are being put in place and we're essentially seeing a lot of companies or countries that Nintendo was working with are getting hit with those," said video game fan Wayne Larkin, "and that's going to lead to us having to pay more for this hardware."
Larkin said many thought the $450 price tag had tariffs baked in. Then, President Donald Trump upped the ante with sweeping tariffs following the system's announcement.
Switch 2 pre-orders were postponed, with Nintendo announcing it would "assess the potential impact of tariffs and evolving market conditions."
With Trump announcing a pause on tariffs Wednesday and preorders not re-opened, the final price is in limbo.
“I do not anticipate that Nintendo of America will raise the price if tariffs are not a factor," Larkin said. "Personally, I think we'll see that the preorders open back up. They did establish that the release date of the system is not changed, so it would release before the tariffs procedures would be revisited. There has been a lot of 'these will be implemented,' there has been a lot of 'here's this, this and this will happen' and immediately backpedaled not that long after."
The release date of the Nintendo Switch 2 is slated for June 5, a month before the end of the announced 90-day pause on tariffs.
Additionally, the pricing for Nintendo Switch 2 games have increased in comparison to previous systems, from the traditional $60 to $70, and in the case of the upcoming Mario Kart World, up to $80.
Andrew Foster, owner of OldSkool Video Games and More, said the increase, in this case, is not a result of tariffs.
“Nintendo games have been $60 for about 20 years now," said Foster. "So, I think that that's expected at this point. We've been fortunate to not have a price hike there as long as we've had.”
To offset costs for any potential price increases, Foster said people should take advantage of trade-in systems that OldSkool offers and to purchase pre-owned games or consoles.
“It's really important that people come in and do trade-ins and buy pre-owned," Foster said. "It's always going to be cheaper than a new item in most cases. So, stick to pre-owned if you can, if you don't have a problem with that. Just because it's not wrapped, it doesn't mean it doesn't work.”
“Personally, it's everything I would have wanted out of a successor to the Switch,” Larkin said.
As for the Nintendo Switch 2 system itself, both Larkin and Foster are excited for its release.
“I think it's going to be awesome," Foster said. "I am excited to see it."
A handful of gifted young tech people set out to save the world. For years, WIRED has been tracking each twist and turn of their alleged descent into mayhem and death.
Approximately 500 NIST staffers, including at least three lab directors, are expected to lose their jobs at the standards agency as part of the ongoing DOGE purge, sources tell WIRED.
Breeze Liu has been a prominent advocate for victims. But even she struggled to scrub nonconsensual intimate images and videos of herself from the web.
Meta’s Waterworth Project will provide internet connectivity on five continents, with landing points in India, the United States, Brazil, and South Africa.
President Donald Trump’s nominee for U.S. Secretary of Commerce, Howard Lutnick, passed a key procedural vote in the Senate on Thursday, clearing the path for his final confirmation vote.
The Senate’s vote this afternoon to invoke cloture ended the debate on Lutnick’s nomination and paved the way for his confirmation as Commerce secretary. Senators advanced his nomination by a 52-45 vote. Republicans control the Senate by a 53-47 majority.
Lutnick, Chairman and CEO of the investment firm Cantor Fitzgerald and a co-chair of Trump’s 2024 presidential transition team, needed a majority vote to bring his final confirmation vote to the Senate floor.
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee voted 16-12 on February 5 to advance Lutnick to the procedural vote. Lutnick testified for over three hours before the Senate Commerce Committee on January 29.
If confirmed, Lutnick will become one of the wealthiest people to serve in a presidential administration, along with Elon Musk and Trump himself. During Lutnick’s confirmation hearing, he committed to selling all of his interests and assets if confirmed.
"My plan is to only serve the American people. So I will divest — meaning I will sell all of my interests, all of my business interests, all of my assets, everything," Lutnick said. "I've worked together with the Office of Government Ethics, and we've reached agreement on how to do that, and I will be divesting within 90 days upon my confirmation."
Lutnick said selling his businesses would prevent a conflict of interest.
"Upon confirmation, my businesses will be for sale and someone else will lead them going forward," Lutnick added.
Trump announced Lutnick’s nomination two weeks after he was elected president.
"I am thrilled to announce that Howard Lutnick, Chairman & CEO of Cantor Fitzgerald, will join my Administration as the United States Secretary of Commerce. He will lead our Tariff and Trade agenda, with additional direct responsibility for the Office of the United States Trade Representative," Trump said.
Trump applauded Lutnick’s leadership during the presidential transition, saying he "created the most sophisticated process and system to assist us in creating the greatest Administration America has ever seen."
With Lutnick teed up to lead Trump’s "Tariff and Trade agenda," he faced questions during his confirmation hearing about tariff policy. Lutnick said the argument that tariffs create inflation is "nonsense."
"We are treated horribly by the global trading environment. They all have higher tariffs, non-tariff trade barriers and subsidies. They treat us poorly. We need to be treated better. We can use tariffs to create reciprocity," Lutnick said.
Lutnick testified that he shares Trump’s stance on tariffs, adding he prefers an "across-the-board" strategy to "country-by-country" tariffs.
Trump on Monday announced a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports from all countries, adding up to a 35% tariff for Chinese steel and aluminum imports. The tariffs are set to go into effect on March 12.
WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal judge on Wednesday removed a key legal hurdle stalling President Donald Trump ’s plan to downsize the federal workforce with a deferred resignation program.
The Boston-based judge's order in the challenge filed by a group of labor unions was a significant legal victory for the Republican president after a string of courtroom setbacks.
“This goes to show that lawfare will not ultimately prevail over the will of 77 million Americans who supported President Trump and his priorities,” said White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
Another group of unions filed a lawsuit in Washington, D.C. late Wednesday, though its potential impacts were not immediately clear.
About 75,000 federal workers accepted the offer to quit in return for being paid until Sept. 30, according to McLaurine Pinover, a spokesperson for the Office of Personnel Management. She said the deferred resignation program “provides generous benefits so federal workers can plan for their futures," and it was now closed to additional workers.
American Federation of Government Employees National President Everett Kelley said in a statement that the union's lawyers are assessing the next steps.
“Today’s ruling is a setback in the fight for dignity and fairness for public servants," Kelley said. “But it’s not the end of that fight. Importantly, this decision did not address the underlying lawfulness of the program.”
The union continues to maintain that it's illegal to force American citizens to make a decision, in a few short days, without adequate information, about “whether to uproot their families and leave their careers for what amounts to an unfunded IOU from Elon Musk,” the statement said.
U.S. District Judge George O’Toole Jr. in Boston found that the unions weren’t directly affected, so they didn't have legal standing to challenge the program, commonly described as a buyout. O'Toole was nominated by former President Bill Clinton, a Democrat.
The deferred resignation program has been spearheaded by Elon Musk, who is serving as Trump’s top adviser for reducing federal spending. Under the plan, employees can stop working and get paid until Sept. 30.
Labor unions argued the plan is illegal and asked for O’Toole to keep it on hold and prevent the Office of Personnel Management, or OPM, from soliciting more workers to sign up.
A Justice Department lawyer has called the plan a “humane off ramp” for federal employees who may have structured their lives around working remotely and have been ordered to return to government offices.
Federal Communication Commission (FCC) chairman Brendan Carr has opened an investigation into diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices at Comcast and NBCUniversal.
Carr wants to ensure that Comcast, which owns multiple assets including NBCUniversal, is not promoting unfair forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws. Carr, who was selected to serve as FCC chairman by President Trump, said the administration has already taken quick and decisive actions to root out the scourge of DEI.
"President Trump is leading America away from the scourge of invidious DEI discrimination and ensuring that everyone in this country has a fair shot at succeeding. Discriminatory DEI programs cannot be squared with this country’s civil rights laws and following President Trump’s leadership the FCC will ensure that every company we regulate ends illegal DEI programs," Carr told Fox News Digital.
Carr sent a lengthy letter to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts on Tuesday, informing the Philadelphia-based company’s top executive of the probe.
"I am writing to inform you that I have asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal. In particular, I want to ensure that your companies are not promoting invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws," Carr wrote in the letter obtained by Fox News Digital.
"As you know, the Communications Act and Commission rules prohibit regulated entities—like Comcast and NBCUniversal—from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, or gender. Indeed, the FCC’s longstanding Equal Employment Opportunity or EEO rules set forth specific requirements that both Comcast and NBCUniversal must adhere to," the letter continued. "Nonetheless, I am concerned that Comcast and NBCUniversal may be promoting invidious forms of DEI in a manner that does not comply with FCC regulations."
Carr then noted that Comcast promotes DEI as "a core value of our business" online and public reports state that the company has an entire "DEI infrastructure" that includes annual "DEI day[s]," "DEI training for company leaders" and other similar initiatives.
"NBCUniversal has similar DEI initiatives, including executives specifically dedicated to promoting DEI across the TV and programming side of the business," Carr wrote.
"But promoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law. It can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law," he continued. "Despite the emergence of DEI initiatives in recent years, these forms of discrimination have long been condemned by America’s civil rights laws."
Carr noted that the Supreme Court has stated "distinctions between citizens solely because of their ancestry are by their very nature odious to a free people whose institutions are founded upon the doctrine of equality" and has written that racial classifications "threaten to stigmatize individuals by reason of their membership in a racial group and to incite racial hostility."
Carr added that Trump has already "issued an Executive Order that will end the radical and wasteful DEI programs that have spread across the federal government" and issued another executive order to "end illegal discrimination and restore merit-based opportunity across the private sector."
"At my direction, the FCC has already taken action to end its own promotion of DEI. As a next step, the FCC will be taking fresh action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act and the agency’s EEO rules, including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination," Carr wrote.
"I am starting this broader effort with Comcast and NBCUniversal for two reasons. First, as noted above, there is substantial evidence that your companies are still engaging in the promotion of DEI. Second, your companies cover a range of sectors regulated by the FCC—from cable to high-speed Internet and from broadcast TV stations to MVNO wireless offerings," Carr continued. "Therefore, I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the Commission’s broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates."
Comcast provided Fox News Digital with the following statement: "We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions. For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers."
Carr was previously the senior Republican member of the FCC, first nominated to the commission by Trump in 2017.
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