Category: Technology

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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/new-jersey-has-no-right-to-ban-kalshis-prediction-market-us-appeals-court-rules-214448284.html?src=rss 

The legal battle between Epic Games and Apple is escalating once again. For a second time, the warring factions are going straight to the top of the judicial system. Apple is asking for the Supreme Court to review when and how it can charge commissions on mobile purchases made via third-party payment systems. The business has requested a motion to stay on a lower court ruling regarding the fees Apple charges to software developers using those external financial systems rather than the App Store. 

The last time Apple petitioned for an appeal at the top of the judicial branch, it was about a lower court requiring it to allow developers to use third-party payment options. The Supreme Court declined to hear that case. It’s possible that the tech company will once again be denied, although this effort regards specifically limits on commission rates rather than the basic premise of allowing in-app payments to be processed outside the App Store. 

Epic Games has been pushing both Apple and Google on the subject of their app store commission fees for years. Recently, the gaming company did appear to reach an accord with Google that saw the company’s popular game Fortnite globally return to the Google Play Store in March. That ruling reportedly requires Epic’s notoriously opinionated CEO to keep quiet on the subject of Google’s app store fees until 2032. Epic Games recently made substantial job cuts, laying off more than 1,000 workers last month.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/apple-will-again-appeal-to-the-supreme-court-in-battle-with-epic-games-193551758.html?src=rss 

NASA’s Artemis II crew just set a new distance record in miles traveled away from Earth. The team of four astronauts are in the process of circling the Moon, reaching 5,000 miles beyond the natural satellite. That brings the total distance traveled away from our home to over 250,000 miles. Gene Roddenberry would be proud.

This broke the previous 1970 record set by Apollo 13’s crew by around 4,000 miles. The four astronauts – Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover and Christina Koch of NASA and Jeremy Hansen of the Canadian Space Agency – are the first humans to cross the lunar threshold since 1972’s Apollo 17 mission.

“We challenge this generation and the next to make sure this record is not long-lived,” Commander Reid Wiseman said upon crossing the distance threshold. He also suggested that NASA name a lunar crater after the craft itself. 

The astronauts aren’t landing on the lunar surface, but are conducting a lengthy flyby that should provide clear images of the Moon’s far side “that have never been seen” by humans. These areas were too difficult to clearly see by the various Apollo crew members. They’ll also get a peek at a solar eclipse, though the crew will be out of contact with mission control for around 40 minutes.

“We’ll get eyes on the moon, kind of map it out and then continue to go back in force,” NASA flight director, Judd Frieling, said. Astronaut Christina Koch has called today’s record an important milestone “that people can understand and wrap their heads around.”

As for that mapping, the crew “has a series of different cameras, and they’re going to get data from that.” This is according to NASA administrator Jared Isaacman who also said the astronauts have been training for this moment for almost four years. This mapping data will be used to plan future crewed missions to the lunar surface.

The Orion capsule is now on its crawl back to Earth. It’ll drop down in around four days. NASA is planning for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean near San Diego on April 10, which is nine days after the launch.

Astronaut Victor Glover delivered an Easter message over the weekend in which he called Earth an “oasis” and said that humanity is “special in all of this emptiness.” This is a marked contrast from the Easter message delivered by President Trump.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/nasas-artemis-ii-crew-just-flew-farther-away-from-earth-than-anyone-ever-has-before-180259867.html?src=rss 

Three YouTube channels have banded together and filed a class action lawsuit against Apple, as first spotted by MacRumors. According to the lawsuit, the creators behind h3h3 Productions, MrShortGameGolf and Golfholics have accused Apple of violating the Digital Millennium Copyright Act by scraping copyrighted videos on YouTube to train its AI models.

While the YouTubers’ videos are available to watch on the platform, the lawsuit alleged that Apple illegally circumvented the “controlled streaming architecture” that regular users are limited to. The creators claimed that Apple’s video scraping was used to train its generative AI products, adding that the tech giant’s “massive financial success would not have been possible without the video content created” by the YouTubers. MacRumors noted that these YouTube channels have also filed similar lawsuits against other tech companies, including Meta, Nvidia, ByteDance and Snap.

It’s not the first time a company’s alleged AI training methods have gotten them in legal trouble. OpenAI and Microsoft were both accused of using copyrighted articles from the NYTimes to train its AI chatbots. Similarly, Perplexity was recently sued by Reddit and Encyclopedia Britannica for alleged copyright and trademark infringements. Last year, Apple was also named in a separate class action lawsuit from two neuroscience professors who claimed their copyrighted works were used without permission. We reached out to Apple for comment and will update the story when we hear back.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/three-youtubers-accuse-apple-of-illegal-scraping-to-train-its-ai-models-181028745.html?src=rss 

Netflix just released a free app called Playground for smartphones and tablets. This is a gaming app for kids, aged eight and under. It’s available to all Netflix members on any tier, and the company promises it doesn’t have ads or in-app purchases.

It also works without a mobile or Wi-Fi connection. Netflix says this makes it the “perfect companion for long airplane rides or grocery trips.” Kids do love their screens.

The company promises an “ever-growing library of games” for children. The platform launches with titles based on some massively popular franchises. There’s something called Playtime with Peppa Pig, which is a collection of minigames starring the titular Peppa and friends.

There’s also a game set on Sesame Street, in which kids get to “hang out with Elmo, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, Oscar and more beloved puppet pals.” This is another minigame collection, with a memory card game, a connect-the-dots game and more.

The catalog also includes a couple of games based on Dr. Seuss properties and a racing title based on the show Bad Dinosaurs. There are other things on the platform, like a sticker book collection and jigsaw puzzles. Again, every title here is intended for young children.

Netflix Playground is available now in the US and many other parts of the world. It launches globally on April 28. The regular Netflix app still offers access to traditional video games, though the streamer’s interactive division has been struggling lately. It closed its AAA gaming studio back in 2024 and has since removed many titles from the platform.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/netflix-just-released-a-standalone-gaming-app-for-kids-170030884.html?src=rss 

Finding the right app on the Google Play Store just got a lot easier. Google is rolling out a new search function for an app’s reviews when navigating its Play Store, as first spotted by Android Authority. The new feature only currently searches for exact matches of at least two words, but it should still help users identify if certain apps and games have specific features or gameplay elements.

You can find the search function after hitting the “See all reviews” button on the Play Store, and it will also offer some popular search terms next to the feature. It’s similar to Amazon’s “Search customer reviews” feature and will bold the search phrase in the reviews.

The ability to search reviews is a welcome addition to the Play Store, especially when compared to the App Store that can only sort an app’s reviews. Google has also been cracking down on bad apps that violate its policies in recent years, but giving users the ability to search through reviews could offer another layer of scrutiny for any apps that slip through the cracks.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/apps/you-can-now-search-through-app-reviews-on-the-google-play-store-170459063.html?src=rss 

NASA’s Artemis II mission is about to make history. After a successful April 1 launch, and a trip of 39,000 miles through space, astronauts Reid Wiseman, Christina Koch, Victor Glover and Jeremy Hansen are about to travel farther from Earth than any human beings have before, and you can watch the entire thing unfold online. NASA will stream the entire flyby on YouTube and its own NASA+ website, with coverage beginning at 1PM ET.  You can also watch NASA+ through Netflix.

It’s going to take some time for things to get underway, so if you’re working or have plans this evening but don’t want to miss seeing history being made, your best bet is to try and catch a handful of key moments. At approximately 1:56PM ET, Artemis II will fly farther than any crewed mission has before, breaking the previous record set by Apollo 13 in 1970. Then, the Orion spacecraft will begin its flyby of the Moon at 2:45PM ET, with the craft expected to make its closest approach to the lunar surface at approximately 7:02PM ET. A few short minutes later, the spacecraft will reach its maximum distance from Earth at about 7:07PM ET. 

A little more than an hour later at 8:35PM, the Artemis II crew will get a chance to see a total solar eclipse from the far side of the Moon. This is something that won’t be visible from Earth. So if you can only catch one part of the broadcast, this is the one to watch.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/science/space/how-to-watch-the-historic-artemis-ii-lunar-flyby-155114417.html?src=rss 

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.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/mercedes-benz-recalls-some-g-wagon-evs-due-to-risk-of-wheels-falling-off-150939361.html?src=rss