Earlier this year, Amazon threatened to cut US Postal Service deliveries by as much as two thirds. Now, the parties have reached tentative a deal that will see USPS deliveries reduced by 20 percent, The Wall Street Journal reported. While not as drastic as first menaced, the reduced volume will still deal a financial blow to the USPS.
“We’re pleased to have reached a new agreement with USPS that furthers our longstanding partnership and will let us continue supporting our customers and communities together,” an Amazon spokesperson told the WSJ.
Amazon is the USPS’s largest customer, accounting for 15 percent of its volume and $6 billion in revenue. A two-thirds cut would have been a disaster for the USPS, but a 20 percent reduction could result in more than $1 billion in lost revenue nonetheless. Amazon would have needed to scramble as well, as it relies heavily on the post office for rural and last-mile deliveries.
Amazon’s contract with the USPS was set to expire in September 2026, and in October Amazon said it wanted to strike a deal by December 2025. However, the USPS abruptly pulled out of negotiations, according to Amazon, and implemented a new bidding process for last-mile deliveries. “Our goal was to increase our volumes with USPS, not reduce them — until USPS abruptly walked away at the eleventh hour in December,” Amazon said at the time.
Amazon was reportedly considering expanding its own delivery network if the USPS deal fell through, though the company may have started those rumors itself to prod negotiations. The Postal Service decided to re-engage with Amazon after bids from several Amazon rivals fell short of its volume and revenue expectations, according to the WSJ‘s sources. The new agreement is still subject to approval by the federal Postal Regulatory Commission.
Kalshi can’t be stopped in New Jersey. A 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals panel ruled on Monday that New Jersey has no authority to regulate Kalshi’s prediction market allowing people to bet on the outcome of sports events. That power rests with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the panel ruled 2-1.
The CFTC is headed by President Donald Trump appointee Michael Selig, who vocally and actively supports prediction markets like Kalshi and Polymarket, calling them “exciting products.” The Trump family agrees: Donald Trump Jr. is a paid adviser to Kalshi and an unpaid adviser to Polymarket, and Truth Social, which is run by the Trump Media and Technology Group, is set to start a prediction market of its own.
Online prediction markets are an emerging phenomenon that allow users to bet on the outcome of basically anything, from local athletic competitions to lethal military invasions. Though they’re new, these marketplaces have already shown evidence of insider trading on an extreme scale, with suspicious bets and big payouts tied to the US and Israel’s military strikes in Iran, and also the US’ brief invasion in Venezuela. According to blockchain analyst DeFi Oasis, fewer than 0.04 percent of Polymarket accounts captured more than 70 percent of profits, totaling $3.7 billion.
Multiple state gaming regulators have filed legal challenges against Kalshi and Polymarket in recent months, and just last week the CFTC sued Arizona, Connecticut and Illinois over their attempts to regulate prediction markets. While each state has its own angle of attack, from election issues to underage betting, they’re all broadly claiming that prediction markets are just illegal gambling businesses. Today’s ruling marks the first federal-level decision in one of these cases and it’s in favor of the prediction markets.
New Jersey sent Kalshi a cease and desist letter in 2025, claiming the service violated the state’s ban on collegiate sports betting. Kalshi escalated the situation and sued New Jersey, arguing that its sports contracts are actually swaps, a type of financial investment that’s (conveniently) regulated by the CFTC. A lower-court judge previously sided with Kalshi, prompting New Jersey to appeal. Two of the three judges in that appeal ruled that Kalshi’s sports-related event contracts were indeed swaps. Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour called Monday’s ruling “a big win for the industry.”
US Circuit Judge Jane Richards Roth dissented, writing that Kalshi’s “offerings were virtually indistinguishable from the betting products available on online sportsbooks, such as DraftKings and FanDuel.”
New Jersey Attorney General Jennifer Davenport has the option to ask the full 3rd Circuit to rehear the case, and the issue is also pending in several other courts.
Disney has inked a deal with the Korea Esports Association that will bring several gaming tournaments to the its streaming platform. Disney+ will be the global live streaming home for Esports Champions Asia Jinju 2026, the 2026 League of Legends KeSPA CUP and some preliminary events ahead of the 20th Asian Games Aichi-Nagoya 2026. This agreement expands KeSPA’s arrangement with Disney, which only streamed its esports events to viewers in Asia last year.
Esports Champions Asia is the first event on the calendar, occurring April 24-26 with professional teams from across the continent squaring up in tournaments for games including Street Fighter 6, The King of Fighters XV, TEKKEN 8 and the eFootball series. Disney+ will also be an official streamer for the PUBG Mobile and Eternal Return competitions during that weekend.
It could be helpful for western esports fans to have a single location for watching the major events happening in Asia. However, many tournaments are currently free to watch on Twitch or YouTube, so now needing a Disney+ subscription to catch some of these international competitions might feel onerous. Esports might run the risk of turning into the fragmented set of rights deals that plagues traditional sports leagues, where a game could be on one of a half dozen different paid services each night. It’s also likely going to mean co-streamers take a hit to their viewership, since Disney seems unlikely to offer the same sort of broadcast access that has made the practice popular on Twitch.
Back at CES, Samsung showed off a new line of speakers and two of its 2026 soundbars. Today, the company announced pricing for the entire suite of new products, including two soundbars that weren’t inside its showroom in Vegas. All but two of the new devices are available to order now, so you might not have to wait to get your hands on some new Samsung audio gear.
Let’s start with the Music Studio 7 and Music Studio 5 speakers. The Music Studio 7 is the more rectangular model in the duo. It’s a 3.1.1-channel unit with left, right and center speakers alongside one woofer and one up-firing driver. This $500 device is also equipped with Pattern Control tech to direct the sound evenly through the room while keeping distortion to a minimum. The more circular Music Studio 5 has a 2.1-channel configuration composed of two tweeters and a single woofer. It has waveguide technology to evenly disperse the sound and costs $300.
Both the Music Studio 7 and Music Studio 5 use AI processing to customize the sound based on the room and the content. Those capabilities come in the form of Samsung’s Dynamic Bass Control and SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration features. Both speakers also use Active Voice Amplifier Pro to boost dialogue.
Two Music Studio 7 speakers being used with a TV (Samsung)
Yes, this means you can use a pair of either model as your living room setup. In fact, they can work with a compatible TV or soundbar to employ Samsung’s Q-Symphony feature that uses all of your speakers as an immersive group. Samsung is also expanding Q-Symphony to work with up to five of its audio devices and the feature will automatically adjust the sound based on speaker locations. Those upgrades seem an awful lot like LG’s Sound Suite and Dolby Atmos FlexConnect, if you ask me.
Samsung revealed its flagship soundbar, the Q990H, at CES. Unfortunately, the company is keeping the same overall design it’s been using for about years now, so I think it’s time for a change. This is the company’s 11.1.4-channel Dolby Atmos option that comes with rear satellite speakers and a subwoofer for $2,000. Samsung’s home theater features like Dynamic Bass Control, SpaceFit Sound Pro and Adaptive Sound are all here, but there are also two new features on the Q990H for 2026.
First, Samsung promises that Sound Elevation will improve the audio by making dialogue sound like its coming from where characters are on the screen rather than the position of your soundbar. There’s also Auto Volume, which will supposedly nix sudden volume jumps as you switch channels or streaming services.
The QS90H is the member of Samsung’s 2026 soundbar lineup that really impressed me at CES. The company says this is its first “all-in-one” soundbar, which means you shouldn’t have to use a subwoofer for adequate bass. Other companies have made that claim, and it’s almost never true, but the $1,000 QS90H pumped out some great low-end tone back in Vegas. That’s thanks to four built-in woofers and an overall 7.1.2-channel setup.
The QS90H has a similar design to the existing QS700 soundbar (Samsung)
Like the QS700F, the QS90H has a gyro sensor that automatically detects if it’s sitting flat on a shelf or mounted on a wall. This allows the soundbar to automatically adjust the sound based on its position so you don’t sacrifice performance for what looks best in your home. The QS90H also offers Q-Symphony, SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration, Adaptive Sound, Active Voice Amplifier Pro and Dynamic Bass Control — plus the new Sound Elevation and Auto Volume from the Q990H.
Two other soundbars that Samsung didn’t discuss at CES are the Q930H ($1,500) and the Q800H ($1,100). As you might expect based on the numbers, these two models sit below the Q990H in the company’s lineup. The Q930H is a 9.1.4-channel option that comes with rear speakers and a subwoofer in the box. In terms of features, Q-Symphony, SpaceFit Sound Pro room calibration, Adaptive Sound, Voice Amplifier Pro and Sound Elevation are all here. Step down to the Q800H and you’ll get all of those features in a 5.1.2-channel arrangement. This soundbar only comes with a subwoofer though. It’s also worth noting that both the Q930H and Q800H have a similar angular design to the Q900H.
Before you take your electric G-Wagon for its next off-roading excursion, you may want to stop by an authorized dealer. The German automaker issued a recall for every Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ technology with the 2025 model year, as first spotted by InsideEVs. According to the recall on the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s website, the current wheel bolts could “allow a wheel to loosen or detach from the vehicle,” potentially affecting 3,734 models on the road.
The recall report explained that the electric G580’s wheel bolts were “not adapted to the increased vehicle mass and higher torque loads associated with the electric variant.” According to the NHTSA report, Mercedes-Benz used the same wheel assembly and bolts as its other G-Class vehicles for the electric model, but conducted an analysis from September 2024 to January 2025 that confirmed these wheel bolts could loosen from repeated rough driving and wheel changes, specifically with the 2025 Mercedes-Benz G580 with EQ technology models. In the end, Mercedes-Benz concluded in the report that it couldn’t rule out the risk, even though the wheel bolt loosening was “unlikely to occur under real-world operating scenarios.”
To get it fixed, owners have to bring their affected G580s to a Mercedes-Benz authorized dealer, who will replace the bolts for free. Owners of the electric G580s, whose 2025 model year started at around $160,000, will get mail notices starting in late May. Besides this luxury SUV model, Mercedes-Benz had to issue another recall for another EV in 2021. The automaker recalled a couple hundred EQS EV and S-Class sedans that allowed for video playback on the dashboard even while the car was moving.
Artemis II and its four-person crew have entered the Moon’s “sphere of influence,” meaning the spacecraft is more affected by lunar gravity than the Earth’s pull. The transition occurred at a distance of 39,000 miles from the Moon, four days, six hours and two minutes into the mission. The next and most important phase will happen tomorrow when the craft loops around the Moon’s far side, taking humans deeper into space than they’ve ever been before.
At their apogee, Astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Canada’s Jeremy Hansen will be 252,757 miles from Earth. That will break the previous record held by the Apollo 13 crew by just over 4,000 miles. They’re the first humans to cross the lunar threshold since 1972’s Apollo 17 moon landing mission.
The crew spent this weekend carrying out preparations for their lunar flyby. That included manual piloting demonstrations, reviewing their science objectives for the six-hour observation period and evaluating their space suits, which are there for life support in the event of an emergency and for their return home. But, they’ve had plenty of time to take in the views, too — and those views sure are spectacular. In the latest series of images shared by the space agency, the astronauts are seen gazing at Earth through the windows of the Orion spacecraft.
Orion will reach the moon’s vicinity shortly after midnight on Monday, April 6. Later that day, the crew is expected to reach a point farther than any humans have traveled from Earth, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles from Earth set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.
Mission specialist Christina Koch takes in the view. (NASA)
The lunar observation period will start at 2:45PM ET, and a few hours later, they’ll be behind the moon and briefly drop out of communication. The spacecraft’s closest approach to the moon is expected to occur at 7:02PM, when it will be 4,066 miles from the surface. “From that distance, the crew will see the entire disk of the Moon at once, including regions near the north and south poles,” according to NASA. The crew will later get a chance to see a solar eclipse “as Orion, the Moon, and the Sun align in such a way that the astronauts will see our star disappear behind the Moon for about an hour.” NASA will have coverage of the flyby starting at 1PM ET.
Update April 7 at 1:40 AM ET: The post has been updated with news that Artemis II has entered the Moon’s sphere of influence.
While the US and Anthropic are in the midst of a major dispute, the UK is trying to sway the San Francisco-based AI company to expand its presence on English soil. According to a report from The Financial Times, staffers at the UK’s Department for Science, Innovation and Technology have worked on proposals that include expanding Anthropic’s office in London, along with a potential dual stock listing.
The UK’s strategy follows a public fallout between Anthropic and the US Department of Defense earlier this year. After the AI company said it wouldn’t budge on certain AI guardrails, the Department of Defense pulled its contract and eventually designated Anthropic a supply chain risk. While the designation is currently temporarily blocked by a court-ordered injunction, the feud is far from over. In the meantime, the UK’s efforts to court Anthropic have ramped up in the recent weeks thanks to the company’s disagreements with the US, according to FT‘s sources.
With no end in sight for the debacle with the Department of Defense, Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, is expected to visit the UK in May, according to FT. However, even in London, Anthropic will have to compete against OpenAI, which already committed to expanding its footprint in the English capital in February.
The Artemis II crew is almost at the moon, and the astronauts spent this weekend carrying out preparations for their lunar flyby on Monday. That included manual piloting demonstrations, reviewing their science objectives for the six-hour observation period and evaluating their space suits, which are there for life support in the event of an emergency and for their return home. But, they’ve had plenty of time to take in the views, too — and those views sure are spectacular. In the latest series of images shared by the space agency, the astronauts are seen gazing at Earth through the windows of the Orion spacecraft.
Orion will reach the moon’s vicinity shortly after midnight on Monday, April 6. Later that day, the crew is expected to reach a point farther than any humans have traveled from Earth, surpassing the record of 248,655 miles from Earth set by the Apollo 13 astronauts in 1970.
Mission specialist Christina Koch takes in the view. (NASA)
The lunar observation period will start at 2:45PM ET, and a few hours later, they’ll be behind the moon and briefly drop out of communication. The spacecraft’s closest approach to the moon is expected to occur at 7:02PM, when it will be 4,066 miles from the surface. “From that distance, the crew will see the entire disk of the Moon at once, including regions near the north and south poles,” according to NASA. The crew will later get a chance to see a solar eclipse “as Orion, the Moon, and the Sun align in such a way that the astronauts will see our star disappear behind the Moon for about an hour.” NASA will have coverage of the flyby starting at 1PM ET.
For those who will never tire of the words of Ursula K. Le Guin, a special treat is on the way. The esteemed late author’s blog, which she started in 2010 at the age of 81, is being rereleased as a podcast, In Your Spare Time. Le Guin’s blog ran until 2017, and a book collecting a selection of those posts was published that year. But, the podcast will include everything: essays, poems and “even the ones that are mostly cat pictures,” according to the announcement. The first episode will be released April 8 on Apple Podcasts, Spotify and other platforms.
From Le Guin’s official Instagram account, which is managed by her estate:
We always wanted to hear a version of the blog that includes every single post, even the ones that are mostly cat pictures. So for the next two years and change, we’ll release an episode every Wednesday. Each episode features a different reader of Ursula’s text, and each reader adds their own thoughts—about their relationship with Ursula and her work, or about the specific topic of the post, or whatever catches their fancy.
You can listen to a trailer here ahead of the first episode’s release this week. Post zero, “A Note at the Beginning,” will be read by David Mitchell.
There’s finally a release date for the Spaceballs sequel — but before you get too excited, it’s a whole year away. As first reported by Deadline, Amazon MGM Studios announced on Friday night that the upcoming Spaceballs movie will hit theaters on April 23, 2027, right around the 40th anniversary of the first film. Several members of the original cast will be reprising their roles, according to Deadline, including Mel Brooks, Rick Moranis, Bill Pullman, George Wynder and Daphne Zuniga.
Whispers of a potential Spaceballs 2 go back a couple of years, but Brooks officially confirmed in an extremely on-brand announcement video last summer that the movie is actually happening. Following Deadline‘s latest report, Amazon MGM Studios posted a screenshot of the article on X, along with the words, “Spaceballs: The Release Date. April 23, 2027.” The movie is being directed by Josh Greenbaum and written by Josh Gad, Dan Hernandez and Benji Samit, according to Deadline. Along with the returning cast members, it will star Gad, Keke Palmer (!!), Lewis Pullman and Anthony Carrigan.
