The Trump administration is moving to shut down the Energy Star program, which saves homeowners an average of $450 a year. “If you wanted to raise families’ energy bills, getting rid of the Energy Star label would be a pretty good way,” says Steven Nadel of the American Council for Energy Efficiency. The program, which started in 1992, provides basic information about how much energy an appliance uses. Without it, your next large appliance purchase could end up costing you more money than you bargained for. Buying Energy Star-rated products can also qualify you for rebates on appliances as well as tax credits of up to $3,200 annually.Sources in the Environmental Protection Agency, which oversees Energy Star, say that Trump administration officials told them the program will be shuttered, according to reports from CNN and The Washington Post.Molly Vaseliou, EPA Associate Administrator for Public Affairs, confirmed to The Verge via email that the agency is going through the “next phase of organizational improvements” to “better provide clean air, water, and land for all Americans.”Vaseliou shared a PDF showing a future organizational chart with the Office of Transportation & Air Quality and the Office of Radiation & Indoor Air Quality eliminated. Vaseliou did not respond to questions about Energy Star specifically, but the program falls under these departments.Energy Star is a private-public partnership set up by the first Bush administration in 1992 to help consumers and businesses save money by reducing their energy use, while conserving natural resources. Over that time, it’s saved more than $500 billion in energy costs.“For just $32 million a year, Energy Star helps American families save over $40 billion in annual energy costs,” Paula Glover, president of the nonprofit Alliance to Save Energy, told CNN. “That’s a return of $350 for every federal dollar invested.” 

With Windows 10 losing support in October, people are looking for a way to protect their PCs from threats. If you ask Microsoft for a solution, it'll be very pleased to tell you that you should just get rid of all that hardware and buy a new Windows 11 PC. However, it's not the only thing you can do by a long shot; in fact, one can easily argue that this route is the most wasteful. If your PC runs just fine, why throw it out just because Microsoft wants you to?

I am not always the biggest puzzle game fanatic, but I must admit, some have caught my eye over the years. If you are in the mood to get your brain tested, there are a lot of puzzle games for you to jump into, especially if you have Steam. Tons of creators like to test the minds of players, so there is no shortage of different game types for you to try out if you have access to a PC. Whenever I am in the mood for a puzzle game, these are the ones I turn to, which I think are the best Steam has to offer.

It isn't all that hard to imagine a monitor pulling double-duty as our work display and smart TV, which is why brands like LG have the solutions ready to go, like this 32-inch monitor that combines the best of both worlds. Not only do you get a powerful monitor that's great for business, but it's also a smart TV that delivers all the features needed to make it an entertainment powerhouse.

The AirPods 4 are down to an all-time low price.Running out of time but still want to impress Mom this Mother’s Day? Don’t panic – there’s still time to grab a gift that ships fast and won’t scream “last-minute.” Whether you’re after something to make her life easier or something to help her unwind, we’ve rounded up the best gadgets and goodies to do just that. Even better, most are on sale, so you can treat yourself to some savings, too.One final note: non-Prime members may have to pay extra to get their presents in time from Amazon. Fortunately, retailers like Best Buy and Target often offer free shipping that still ensures your gift arrives by Mother’s Day — so there are options for everyone.The best last-minute gifts under $50You can gift the Dash Rapid Egg Cooker in time for the holiday when you buy it at its full price of $16.99 at Amazon and Target. The Dash Rapid Egg Cooker makes it easy for moms to grab a quick, nutritious breakfast on the go. The dishwasher-safe egg cooker can boil seven eggs in less than 15 minutes with few steps required, and can even be used to quickly whip up an omelette. If you’re looking for a location tracker that works well with both Android and iOS devices, the latest Tile Pro is $29.99 ($5 off) at Target while the Pebblebee Card Universal is available for $29.74 ($5 off) at Amazon. Both are excellent Bluetooth trackers that will help mom keep tabs on her valuables, but the thinner Pebblebee is more wallet-friendly and is compatible with both Apple and Google Find My networks.You can pick up a single Tapo Smart WiFi Light Bulb for $10.78 ($7 off) at Amazon. Best Buy will also ship it in time for the holiday, though you’ll have to pay $59.99 for a pack of five. The 1,100-lumen light bulb can display 16 million colors and supports Matter, so it’ll work with all major smart home platforms with no hub required.Amazon’s latest Fire TV Stick 4K Max is available for $39.99 ($20 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. The 4K-capable streaming device is faster than its predecessor, offering twice the storage (16GB vs. 8GB) and support for Wi-Fi 6E. It also functions as an Echo Show when idle, displaying widgets and artwork while offering impressive integration with Amazon Alexa.The best last-minute gifts between $51 and $200If mom’s into fitness, the Fitbit Charge 6 is on sale for $119.95 ($40 off) at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target, which is $20 shy of its all-time low price. The Fitbit Charge 6 will help mom keep tabs of essential health and fitness metrics like irregular heart alerts and sleep tracking, while offering built-in GPS and turn-by-turn navigation via Google Maps. It can also sync with compatible gym equipment via Bluetooth and comes with Google Wallet support, so mom can leave her wallet at home on runs.  Read our Fitbit Charge 6 review.The iRobot Roomba Combo i5 is a robot vacuum/mop hybrid that is down to an all-time low of $199 ($150 off) at Amazon, or for $279.99 ($70 off) at Best Buy.  Target will also ship it on time for the holiday, albeit at its full price of $349.99.  One of our favorite budget-friendly robot vacuums, the Combo i5’s dual roller rubber brushes do an excellent job of cleaning up dirt. It lacks virtual keep-out zones, but it does a good job of  mapping out your home and cleaning up designated areas.The Aura Carver digital picture frame isn’t on sale, but it can still arrive in time for Mother’s Day when you buy it for $149 at Amazon and Best Buy. The 10.1-inch cloud-connected frame lets Mom upload and showcase her favorite memories from an Android or iOS device, beautifully displaying each photo in either landscape or portrait mode.The latest Kindle also isn’t on sale, but you can still gift the e-reader in time for Mother’s Day when you buy it with ads and 16GB of storage for $109.99 at Amazon, Best Buy, and Target. Amazon’s entry-level e-reader is not waterproof like the pricier Kindle Paperwhite, but the Kindle is still our favorite budget-friendly option thanks to its sharp 300ppi screen, pocketable six-inch size, and USB-C support. Fujifilm’s Instax Mini 12 is on sale for $69.99 ($10 off) at Target and Best Buy, which is $10 shy of its best price yet.  The Instax Mini 12 is our favorite pick for most people, as all you need is point and shoot to quickly generate high-quality snaps. It also comes in a range of fun colors and features handy extras like a built-in selfie mirror.The best last-minute gifts over $200If mom’s got a sweet tooth, she’ll enjoy the Ninja Swirl, an ice cream maker that will ship in time for the holiday when you purchase it at its full price of $348 at Amazon and $349.99 at Best Buy. In just a few simple steps, the versatile 2-in-1 appliance makes everything from soft serve and hard ice cream to milkshakes, gelato, and frozen yogurt.If you’ve got the money to splurge, the 55-inch version of Samsung’s previous generation The Frame is on sale for $999.99 ($500 off) at Best Buy. If you prefer to buy a similar sized model from Amazon, the 50-inch model is on sale and will arrive in time for the holiday when you buy it for $867.99 ($430 off).  The 4K QLED TV displays artwork when idle while offering a smooth 120Hz refresh rate and HDMI 2.1 support. However, it lacks the 2025 model’s faster 144Hz refresh rate, Neo QLED Mini-LED panel, and Wireless One Connect Box.The Oura Ring 4 is a smart ring that offers mom a stylish way to keep track of her health, and will arrive in time when you buy it for $349 at Amazon and Best Buy. The ring accurately tracks many of the standard metrics you’d expect like your heart rate, though it particularly excels as a sleep and recovery tracker. Read our review.

The old Reddit layout sometimes looks a bit outdated, but it’s beloved by many Reddit users, including me. I’ve worried for some time that Reddit would eventually pull the plug on it in favor of the newer and more modern interface, but based on a recent post from Reddit CEO Steve Huffman, it doesn’t sound like that’s going to happen anytime soon.As part of a larger post published Monday about “Reddit’s next chapter,” which we saw via TechCrunch, Huffman, who goes by the username spez, snuck in what looked like heart-stopping news for us oldheads right at the end.“Sunsetting old.reddit: old.reddit is the version of Reddit that we built back in the mid-2000s,“ Huffman said. ”It doesn’t scale, it’s impossible to develop on, and it’s ugly af. We will be shutting it down at the end of the month.”But, apparently, that was just a joke. (A bold move, given outcry to other Reddit-related shutdowns.) “Just kidding,” he said. “I don’t know why I say stuff like this. We’ll figure out how to work around it and keep it online as long as people are using it.”The post covers many other actual planned changes to the platform, including that “core product improvements” like making it easier to make subreddits and “evolving r/popular” are in the works. Reddit also wants to shift the primary role of moderators from “policing to community cultivation,” in part with “better tools – especially more AI-driven automation,” he said.Huffman acknowledged that “unwelcome AI in communities is a serious concern” and that it’s the worry he hears most from users and mods. But he believes that “Reddit works because it’s human” and said that “our focus is, and always will be, on keeping Reddit a trusted place for human conversation.”Reddit is going to ask for a bit more identifying information from its users, too. Here’s Huffman’s description of what will happen:To keep Reddit human and to meet evolving regulatory requirements, we are going to need a little more information. Specifically, we will need to know whether you are a human, and in some locations, if you are an adult. But we never want to know your name or who you are. The way we will do this is by working with various third-party services that can provide us with the essential information and nothing else. No solution is perfect — including the status quo — but we will do our best to preserve both the humanness and anonymity of Reddit. On Wednesday, Reddit also shared details about improvements it’s making to Reddit Chat, including the ability to add users to an allowlist. The company announced in March that it would be replacing user PMs with Chat.

Google has announced a dedicated iPadOS version of the Gemini app. Previously, you could only run the iOS version of Gemini in compatibility mode on an iPad. Here’s some of the announcement, which Google spokesperson Elijah Lawal emailed to The Verge:With the new app, you can use the split view on the iPad to put Gemini side by side with other apps for multitasking. You can also effortlessly use powerful features like:• Gemini Live: Have natural, free-flowing conversations in over 45 languages.• Deep Research: Quickly generate reports and gather information, saving significant time.• Audio Overview: Easily process and understand audio files.• Canvas: Co-create and edit documents and code in an innovative space built for collaboration with AI.• Image and video generation: Bring your ideas to life by generating stunning, varied images and videos directly on your iPad.The dedicated iPad app is available today in all countries where Gemini is currently offered. You can download it directly from the App Store.Speaking of updated features, we’ve significantly expanded the availability of Audio Overview. Following great initial feedback, this feature, which initially launched in English for Gemini and Gemini Advanced subscribers, is now available in over 45 languages globally.According to the listing, Gemini can also now be added as a homescreen widget, and supports connecting to your Google Photos library. Google launched Gemini for iOS in November. And while it would’ve been nice for it to debut an iPad-native app at the time, the next best time, as they say, is now. And anyway, it’s not like Google is the worst offender there. 

When the Steam Deck launched in 2022, it took gamers by surprise, delivering an affordable, handheld PC that could run a huge chunk of your Steam library. Naturally, in 2025, fans are eagerly awaiting more details about the Steam Deck 2. But for me?

Sony’s WH-1000XM5 (left) and last-gen WH-1000XM4 (right).Sony will launch a successor to its WH-1000XM5 noise cancelling headphones on May 15th, according to leaked information reported by Dealabs and Android Authority.Details of the new headphones model, called the WH-1000XM6, come from a now pulled Amazon Spain listing for the product that was first spotted by a Reddit user. The XM6 will feature an upgraded noise-canceling processor called the QN3 HD, which according to Dealabs, will be seven times faster than the QN1 chip present in Sony’s XM5. The upgrade should result in better noise cancelling and perhaps sound quality.  It also looks like it has an AI-powered six-microphone beamforming system for calls, and still comes with a headphone jack.Unfortunately the Trump administration’s tariffs seem to be affecting the price of the new XM6. Dealabs says it will launch for $449.99 in the US — $50 more expensive than the $399.99 XM5s, which our senior reviewer Chris Welch has called the best wireless headphones for most people. The XM5, however, is only slightly better at noise canceling than the XM4 that launched in 2020, so the XM6 will need a truly generational improvement to justify the higher price.

Let’s face it, the concept and thought of ‘self-hosting’ can sound intimidating. You are probably thinking it’s reserved for developers, tech wizards, and code gurus only. But what if I told you that's a myth? Over the past few years, the self-hosting scene has evolved dramatically, and with the right tools, the ability to run our own applications has become surprisingly accessible, even for those who aren’t tech-savvy.

Microsoft's Bing or DuckDuckGo probably won't disrupt Google's dominance in search, said Apple senior vice president of services Eddy Cue - but AI services easily could.Cue was returning to a courtroom in Washington, DC where he last testified in the Justice Department's trial against Google's search monopoly in September 2023. During the current remedies trial on Wednesday, Cue said that in the time since, well-funded generative AI upstarts have made such significant advancements that they could ultimately disrupt that monopoly - perhaps more effectively than the court could. Cue was also, however, there to defend a significant source of Apple's revenue: the payments Google offers for default search engine placement on Apple's Safari browser.After the 2023 trial, Judge Amit Mehta found that Google illegally monopolized the online search market, in part through agreements like the Safari deal. For the last two and a half weeks, Google and the DOJ have pitched Mehta on what he should (or shouldn't) do to fix the problem. The DOJ says Google should be forced to share valuable search data with competitors and spin off its Chrome browser, while Google (which plans to appeal the …Read the full story at The Verge.

It’s gonna be May. | Image: SamsungSamsung will formally unveil the Galaxy S25 Edge during a virtual Unpacked event on Monday, May 12th at 8PM ET. This answers at least one of our many questions about Samsung’s upcoming slim phone which the company teased back in January. A blog post published with today’s announcement reveals another tidbit or two, but for the rest of the answers we’ll have to tune in on Monday.Samsung isn’t being coy about what it’s announcing: it’s definitely the Galaxy S25 Edge. The blog post comes right out and names the device, saying it “…not only sets a new standard for what you can achieve with your smartphone, but it also unlocks a new era of growth for the mobile industry.” That would be great news for an industry that has seen slumping sales over the past few years. Also noted in the blog post: despite its slim profile, the S25 Edge will come with a 200-megapixel main camera, like the top-of-the-line Galaxy S25 Ultra does.That suggests the S25 Edge will clock in as more of a premium device than Apple’s rumored slim phone is rumored to be. The iPhone 17 Air could come with a single rear camera and a mix of high and low-end features. The S25 Edge, according to Samsung, will merge “flagship-level performance with superior portability.”So what does a flagship-level slim phone that’s supposedly going to set the ailing mobile industry on fire cost? And where will it be sold? Recent rumors pointed to a delayed US launch. It wouldn’t be too surprising to see the phone launch first in Korea, though the fact that Samsung US is offering a $50 credit to those who reserve the phone now bodes well for us. At least one thing looks certain: we won’t have to keep guessing for much longer. The virtual event will stream in plenty of places including Samsung’s YouTube channel.