Monthly Archives: April 2025

EU regulators reportedly delayed Apple and Meta penalty announcements ahead of US trade talks

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The European Commission (EC) reportedly delayed regulatory penalty announcements against Apple and Meta this week as it accelerates its push for a trade deal with the US. On Friday, the Wall Street Journal said the move led to concern from European Parliament lawmakers that political factors are influencing the body’s regulatory decisions.

The EU is said to have initially planned to announce cease-and-desist orders against Apple and Meta on Tuesday and reportedly told at least one of the companies about the timing in advance. The WSJ says the decision to postpone the announcement came shortly before EU Trade Commissioner Maroš Šefčovič met with US officials in Washington on Monday, the official’s first in-person talks with the US since President Donald Trump’s 90-day tariff pause.

On Tuesday, an EC spokesperson said technical work had been completed on the cases, but no dates had been announced. “We’re currently working on the adoption of final decisions in the short term,” the spokesman reportedly said.

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 20: Apple CEO Tim Cook (C) sits next to Donald Trump Jr at the inaugural luncheon on January 20, 2025 in Washington, DC. Donald Trump takes office for his second term as the 47th president of the United States. (Photo by Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Kevin Dietsch via Getty Images

The European Commission’s penalties stem from the Digital Markets Act (DMA), which aims to level the playing field for smaller companies competing with Big Tech behemoths. The EC probed Meta for its scheme that lets users opt out of personalized ads, for a price. Meanwhile, Apple’s case relates to the company’s rules that limit developers’ ability to steer consumers to transactions outside the App Store. The EC opened the probes in March 2024.

Under the DMA, companies could be fined up to 10 percent of their global annual revenue. However, the WSJ reports that the financial penalties would be much lower than that, and the cease-and-desist orders would be much more impactful.

Earlier this month, EU antitrust chief Teresa Ribera told lawmakers that the EC wouldn’t meet her March deadline to issue a decision on Apple and Meta. That statement was on April 8, a day before Trump officials announced a pause on the “Liberation Day” tariffs.

The WSJ reports that the regulatory decisions are still expected to advance, but it isn’t clear how long their announcement will be delayed. The European Commission has previously claimed it would fight to defend its “regulatory autonomy” despite pressure from Trump and his Big Tech backers to neuter the bloc’s restrictions on American businesses.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/eu-regulators-reportedly-delayed-apple-and-meta-penalty-announcements-ahead-of-us-trade-talks-164644661.html?src=rss

My Favorite Amazon Deal of the Day: The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7

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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.

Apple users have Apple Watches, but it’s not so simple for Android users. Depending if you have a Pixel or a Samsung phone, there’s a smartwatch that will work seamlessly better with your phone. If you have a Samsung, there’s no doubt that a Samsung Galaxy Watch is the option. For most people, that watch is the Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 (and yes, it works with any Android phone). Right now, you can get it for $289.99 (originally $379.99), the lowest price it has been according to price tracking tools.

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 7 came out in 2024 to an “excellent” review from PCMag for its incredibly accurate heart rate measurement, detailed sleep monitoring data tracking, AI health insights, and overall smooth user experience.

You get a Super AMOLED screen of 44 mm or 40mm, the latter running for $259.99 (originally $349.99) right now. This LTE version means you’re not dependent on wifi to use the internet and can receive calls or listen to music without depending on your phone.

The main downside you’ll see with this smartwatch (and most Galaxy watches) is the short battery life. It lasts about 22 hours, depending on use, according to PCMag’s tests (it can last up to 28 hours if you don’t use the GPS). This means you’ll likely need to charge it overnight or during the day, making the sleep tracking hard to use. However, the watch does charge pretty quickly, reaching max battery in 88 minutes.

If you care about fitness and sleep tracking, it’s hard to beat the Wear OS, especially at its current price. You can have metrics from its Heart Rate Monitor, Blood Oxygen Monitor, Pedometer, Barometer, Temperature Sensor, Gyroscope, and others, and they’re accurate. However, if you can’t get over the short battery, consider the ONEPLUS Watch 2 for $245.34.

EU OS: A European Proposal for a Public Sector Linux Desktop (The New Stack)

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The New Stack looks
at EU OS, an attempt to create a desktop system for the European public
sector.

EU OS is not a brand-new Linux distribution in the traditional
sense. Instead, it is a proof-of-concept built atop Fedora’s
immutable KDE Plasma spin (Kinoite). EU OS takes a layered approach
to customization. The project’s vision is to provide a standard,
adaptable Linux base that can be extended with national, regional
or sector-specific customizations, making it suitable for a wide
range of European public sector needs.

Score An Apple Watch 10 For Up To $100 Off With These Timely Deals

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Score An Apple Watch 10 For Up To $100 Off With These Timely Deals
As a father, I can confirm that whenever a kid asks, ‘What time is it?’, the correct response is ‘Time to get a new watch!’. Look, I don’t make the rules, I’m just citing the “Dad Joke Manual” that is mandatory reading for dads when they have a kid. And if your kid is asking the same question, you can surprise them this Easter with not just

Hennessey Venom F5 Evolution Flexes 2031 HP Of Ripped Petrol Power

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Hennessey Venom F5 Evolution Flexes 2031 HP Of Ripped Petrol Power
Texas-based specialty automaker and tuner Hennessey has just mic-dropped the competition and yelled ‘Bite me!’ to EVs with its beastly, gas-powered Venom F5 Evolution. Thanks to a 6.6-liter twin-turbo fossil-suckin’ V8 motor, the F5 Evolution produces 2,031 horses, thus making it the most powerful ICE production car in history. And don’t worry

Those From Below Explores A Tragic Mining Disaster With VR

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Those from Below is an interactive VR documentary-style game that explores a tragic mining disaster.

Developed by Causa Creations, Those from Below is the working title for a new part of the MEMENTOES project, which aims to educate about historical injustices using VR by partnering with museums. The project intends to “create immersive experiences that cultivate empathy and foster understanding of the past,” working with independent developers.

Those from Below specifically focuses on the Marcinelle mining disaster in 1956 at the Bois du Cazier coal mine, where an electrical fire occurred after a coal wagon had been incorrectly loaded into a lift. It’s an event widely cited as one of Belgium’s most notable mining disasters and led to the deaths of 262 miners, many of whom were Italian migrant workers.

We briefly went hands-on with the project during Reboot Develop 2025 on Quest 3, and this journey sees you descend into the mines before the incident. Diving into the poor working and living conditions these miners were subjected to before the explosion, Those from Below uses hand tracking controls and gaze detection for movement.

Though my time was limited with this experience, it’s an interesting approach to exploring real-life history across fully immersive environments. It follows previous efforts like JFK Memento and MLK: Now is the Time, both of which addressed more US-centered topics instead.

A release date and other platforms are currently unconfirmed for Those from Below, and we’ll update this article if we learn more.

This Free ‘GTA’ Mod Brings ‘San Andreas – Definitive Edition’ to PC VR Headsets

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Many of Rockstar’s most beloved titles have never gotten proper VR support, however modder ‘Holydh’ has now released a modified UEVR plugin for the PC version of GTA: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition (2021) that brings the updated 2004 classic to PC VR headsets.

The mod, called the ‘GTA San Andreas Definitive Edition – 6DoF UEVR Plugin’ brings full first-person VR along with 6DOF motion controls to the Steam version of the game. Holydh notes it doesn’t however work with the Epic Games Store or Rockstar launcher versions.

Based on the Unreal Engine VR (UEVR) plugin by ‘praydog’, the mod includes a number of new features that UEVR alone doesn’t. Without Holydh’s plugin, the game’s camera rotates by itself to follow CJ’s moves.

It also includes all on foot movements (crouch included), all vehicle driving (yes, also the jetpack), various camera comfort tweaks, auto-handling of UEVR camera settings for cutscenes, as well as motion controller-supported weapons. Sniper scopes also work, all of which allows the game to be played from start to finish in VR.

Check out the mod in action below, courtesy Holydh:

You can get Holydh’s mod over on Nexus Mods for free, which only requires a few hoops to jump through to make it work with the Steam version of the game. Outside of owning a copy of the Steam version, you’ll also need to Praydog’s UEVR Nightly 01042 build, which is conveniently linked in the Nexus Mods page.

As for required specs, some users report NVIDIA RTX 2080s working well with the mod, although it does come with several graphical settings to adjust too if you’re running an older GPU.

While the project is open-source, and available for copy and/or modify via GitHub, Rockstar Games’ parent company Take-Two is known for having been fairly litigious with similar mods in the past. In 2022, Take-Two took down a slate of Luke Ross’ most popular Rockstar mods, including VR mods for GTA 5, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Mafia Definitive Edition.

Admittedly, the DMCA takedown wasn’t issued to Ross himself, but rather to Patreon, as the prolific modder was effectively releasing early access to the mods behind paid support tiers. That’s not the case with UEVR or Holydh’s plugin since it’s free, so it’s likely your best bet for long-term enjoyment of GTA: San Andreas on PC VR headsets.

Meanwhile, GTA: San Andreas has been delayed “indefinitely” on Quest, so don’t count on an official version coming to the standalone platform anytime soon.

The post This Free ‘GTA’ Mod Brings ‘San Andreas – Definitive Edition’ to PC VR Headsets appeared first on Road to VR.

GeForce RTX 5090 With An Old School Blower-Style Cooler Breaks Cover

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GeForce RTX 5090 With An Old School Blower-Style Cooler Breaks Cover
The GeForce RTX 5090 has been rare to spot at retail (leading to things like NVIDIA’s Priority Access Program), which makes the sighting of a version with an old school blower-style cooler design even more of a rarity. If you asked any gamer if they’d like a GPU with a noisier blower-style cooler and no aesthetics, they’d probably say no.

Initial Linux Gaming/Graphics Performance For The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti

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Earlier this week the NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti launched and there were launch-day Linux CUDA/OpenCL compute benchmarks on Phoronix. But for the Linux gaming performance tests we were waiting on a new supported driver release, which happened to be on launch day with the NVIDIA 575.51.02 Linux beta. Now that the gaming-ready Linux driver is available for the GeForce RTX 5060 series, here are some initial benchmarks of the PNY GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB up against other NVIDIA GeForce and AMD Radeon graphics cards using the newly-released Ubuntu 25.04.

Genetic Data Under Threat? Scientists Highlight Alarming DNA Hacking Threat

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Genetic Data Under Threat? Scientists Highlight Alarming DNA Hacking Threat
In a recent study, scientists sounded the alarm on the vulnerability of DNA data, particularly those obtained through next-generation DNA sequencing (NGS), against nefarious hackers. While no known bio-data breach has occurred in the real world yet, the study set out to identify new and emerging hacking methods that can compromise personal

[$] The problem of unnecessary readahead

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The final session in the memory-management track of the 2025 Linux Storage,
Filesystem, Memory-Management, and BPF Summit was a brief, last-minute
addition run by Kalesh Singh. The kernel’s readahead mechanism is
generally good for performance; it ensures that data is present by the time
an application gets around to asking for it. Sometimes, though, readahead
can go a little too far.