A senior official at Elon MusksDepartment of Government Efficiencyis taking a leadership role at theU.S. Agency for International Development, giving DOGE direct authority over an agency that it has worked to dismantle, according to an email obtained by The Associated Press.Pete Marocco, a Trump administration political appointee who was serving as deputy head of USAID, disclosed the change in the email to State Department staff. It comes after Marocco and DOGE oversaw the gutting of 83% of USAID contracts, shifting the remaining programs under the State Department.Marocco said in his email that he will serve as the State Departments head of foreign assistance.Marocco wrote that Secretary of State Marco Rubio will effective immediately designate Jeremy Lewin as deputy administrator for policy and programs at USAID and as chief operating officer.Lewin is a DOGE official who has worked with Musks government-cutting efforts at USAID and other federal agencies.Rubio also designated Kenneth Jackson as administrator for management and resources who will also serve as the agencys chief financial officer. President Donald Trump also appointed Jackson as acting president of the U.S. Institute for Peace, a government think tank meant to promote conflict resolution.The email outlining the DOGE team members appointment came the same day a federal judge ruled that Musk and DOGE appeared to have no constitutional authority for their two-month effort helping the Trump administration shut down State and USAID foreign assistance funding, fire staffers and terminate humanitarian and development contracts.U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang in Maryland,in a ruling Tuesday, indefinitely blocked DOGE from making further cuts to the agency.The ruling came in a lawsuit filed by USAID employees and contractors, who argued that Musk and DOGE are wielding power that the Constitution reserves only for those who win elections or are confirmed by the Senate. Their lawyers said the ruling effectively halts or reverses many of the steps taken to dismantle the agency.Matt Brown and Ellen Knickmeyer, Associated Press

MANDAN, N.D. (AP) A North Dakota jury on Wednesdayfound Greenpeace liablefor defamation and other claims brought by a pipeline company in connection with protests against the Dakota Access oil pipeline.The nine-person jury awarded Dallas-based Energy Transfer and its subsidiary Dakota Access hundreds of millions of dollars in damages.Thelawsuit had accusedNetherlands-based Greenpeace International, Greenpeace USA, and funding arm Greenpeace Fund Inc. of defamation, trespass, nuisance, civil conspiracy, and other acts.When asked if Greenpeace plans to appeal, Senior Legal Adviser Deepa Padmanabha said, We know that this fight is not over and said the organizations work is never going stop.Thats the really important message today, and were just walking out and were going to get together and figure out what our next steps are, Padmanabha said.The organization said it plans to appeal the decision.Energy Transfer called the verdict a win for residents of Mandan, North Dakota, and across the state.While we are pleased that Greenpeace has been held accountable for their actions against us, this win is really for the people of Mandan and throughout North Dakota who had to live through the daily harassment and disruptions caused by the protesters who were funded and trained by Greenpeace, the company said in a statement to The Associated Press.The company, who previously said the lawsuit was about Greenpeace not following the law and not free speech, also called the verdict a win for Americans who understand the difference between the right to free speech and breaking the law.The case reaches back to protests in 2016 and 2017 against theDakota Access oil pipelineand its Missouri River crossing upstream of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribes reservation. For years the tribe has opposed the line as a risk to its water supply. The multistate pipeline has been transporting oil since mid-2017.Plaintiffs attorney Trey Cox has said Greenpeace carried out a scheme to stop the pipelines construction. During opening statements, he alleged Greenpeace paid outsiders to come into the area and protest, sent blockade supplies, organized or led protester trainings, and made untrue statements about the project to stop it.Attorneys for the Greenpeace entities said there is no evidence to the claims, that Greenpeace employees had little or no involvement in the protests and the organizations had nothing to do with Energy Transfers delays in construction or refinancing.Greenpeace representatives have said the lawsuit is a critical test of First Amendment free speech and protest rights and could threaten the organizations future.Jack Dura, Associated Press

The coffee lifestyle is always one of excess. You buy a French press and you realize you want a Moka pot. You buy a Moka pot and you feel like owning a Chemex. Buy the Chemex and youre a hop skip and jump away from actually owning a full-blown espresso machine. After months of being a true-blue coffee addict, you realize you just want a Nespresso machine that brews your coffee in seconds. But now that youve settled on your machine of choice youre presented with another instance of excesses coffee pods. You want to try them all, like a caffeinated Pokmon trainer wanting to catch them all but after buying multiple machines and contraptions, youre out of shelf space. WhoopsThats where the folks at Joseph Joseph come in with their genius under-shelf coffee drawer a kitchen accessory that attaches to your existing shelf system, giving you yet one more drawer for your precious pod collection. Attaching to the shelf itself, the CupboardStore presents you with 6 rows of pod storage, letting you stash 30 pods in an organized manner so you have your months coffee haul sorted without cluttering your kitchen space.Designer: Joseph JosephClick Here to Buy NowThe CupboardStore coffee pod drawer is a nifty retrofittable drawer that fixes to the bottom of any shelf over 11 inches (28cm) wide with a maximum thickness of 0.75 inches or 2cm. 3M sticky tape holds the drawer in place, ensuring it doesnt pop off while youre opening or closing the thing, and 6 columns let you neatly organize all your pods perfectly.Its worth noting that the drawer is only optimized to store Nespresso Original pods, so it wont work with the larger Vertuo or Dolce Gusto line of pods. Keurig pods wont fit too, so youre sort of limited in your options. However, given that Nespressos Original line is one of the most popular pods out there, the Joseph Joseph CupboardStore will likely have a pretty large target audience.The CupboardStore isnt a one-off product, Joseph Josephs actually turned it into a series of different under-shelf storage solutions that do everything from hold cleaning supplies to coffee pods to even a dedicated spice rack for all the extra spice blends you inevitably pick up at Trader Joes out of sheer temptation (how many Taco seasonings is too many??)Click Here to Buy NowThe post Too Many Coffee Pods? This Sleek Under-Shelf Pod Drawer Is The Perfect Solution first appeared on Yanko Design.

Im obviously obligated to tell you that spying on people is wrong and that you shouldnt use such a device to violate peoples privacy. However this device demonstrates an incredibly cool (and potentially dangerous) use of laser tech that can even be used in novel ways. More on that in a bit!If youve ever used a laser measuring device, you know exactly how precise it is. The gadget works by shooting a laser beam and calculating th exact number of microseconds it takes to hit an obstacle, bounce back, and get received by the laser shooter. That fragment of time is then computed as distance but fine-tune it just a bit more and it can be used to track how much a glass window vibrates when people inside a room are having a conversation. Its a negligible amount, but a laser can catch enough of the resonance to then create a fairly clear audio signal. Scary, right? Well, youll be surprised to know that this device was used extensively by the CIA and the KGB during the Cold War!Designer: Something About ScienceThat same tech, once the domain of intelligence agencies, is now a DIY project for the modern tinkerer. Thanks to [SomethingAbtScience], anyone with a laser pointer, a photodiode, and a bit of soldering know-how can build their own laser microphone and feel like a spyminus the government paycheck or the looming threat of a counterintelligence unit knocking at the door.The concept is deceptively simple: shine a laser on a window, and as people talk inside, their voices cause tiny vibrations on the glass. That vibration modulates the reflected laser light, which a sensor picks up and converts back into an audio signal. In other words, the window becomes a microphone, and with a bit of electronic wizardry, conversations can be reconstructed from afar. The version cooked up here is less Bond-villain-grade, but still an impressive feat of hacking ingenuity.At the heart of the build is a red laservisible, because invisible lasers arent that impactful on videoand a simple amplifier circuit pulled from an old microphone. Instead of a traditional mic capsule, the system uses a photodiode to detect the modulated light bouncing off the target window. A polarizing filter helps cut down on noise, and a 3D-printed sensor mount adds stability to the setup. The result is functional, if not quite Hollywood-level crisp. The output still has its fair share of interference, but the design leaves room for improvement. With better filtering, a second sensor for differential analysis, or some clever signal processing, this DIY laser eavesdropper could get frighteningly effective.Of course, there are limits. A gust of wind, a passing car, or a fly landing on the glass can all introduce noise into the signal. Unlike the versions used by intelligence agencies, this one doesnt have military-grade stabilization or advanced real-time noise cancellation. But as a proof of concept, its brilliant. It showcases how much can be accomplished with everyday electronics, an understanding of optics, and a healthy dose of curiosity.While this project is undeniably cool, it also raises some ethical questions. The same technology that can be used for scientific curiosity and hobbyist experimentation can easily cross into the realm of privacy invasion. In a world already filled with data leaks, smartphone spyware, and government surveillance, the idea of someone rigging up a laser microphone in their backyard might make even the most tech-savvy person a little uneasy. The good news? Most modern buildings have double-glazed windows, which drastically reduces the effectiveness of this technique. So unless youre dealing with a particularly nosy neighbor who also happens to be a physics genius, youre probably safe. Then again, most states have very strict laws against non-consensual recording, so you may want to make sure youre operating within the laws of wherever you live.This DIY laser eavesdropper is a perfect example of the hacker ethos at worktaking old spy tech, stripping it down to its essentials, and rebuilding it with accessible components. Its a history lesson, a physics experiment, and a slightly unsettling demonstration of how fragile privacy can be. Whether you see it as a technical marvel or a cautionary tale depends on how comfortable you are with the idea that even your windows might be listening.The post DIY Laser Spy Device Lets You Listen To Conversations Through Walls Like The CIA first appeared on Yanko Design.

A Federal Civil Court judge ruled that Apple will not be required to enable sideloading in Brazil, meaning that the iPhone maker can continue to distribute apps exclusively via the App Store.Apple won't be forced into enabling sideloading in Brazil, per a new court ruling.The decision comes a week after Apple was previously ordered to allow third-party app marketplaces in Brazil. The company was initially supposed to bring this functionality to end-users within 90 days of the ruling, or else it would face daily fines of more than $40,000.Apple fought the original ruling of the Brazilian federal court, saying that the proposed changes would outright harm the privacy and security of iPhone and iPad users. Now, a different judge has allowed the company to continue with its existing app distribution system, which effectively forces app developers to go through the iOS App Store, until a final determination is made. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

Plex has announced that it will no longer offer free remote streaming for personal media and says its subscription options will see a significant price increase effective April 29, 2025.Plex has announced price increases that will take effect on April 29.The media streaming platform revealed its planned changes through a blog post on March 19. Plex said that its price increase will allow the company to keep "investing dedicated resources in developing new features." It will also help the platform deal with "rising costs," which have seemingly been passed on to end-consumers.Both new and existing customers will have to pay more, the only exception being Lifetime Plex Pass holders. Every Plex Pass subscription option, including the monthly and yearly plans, will see a major price increase on April 29. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

The journal Construction and Building Materials has published findings of a German Universitt der Bundeswehr Mnchen investigation into the recycling of infra-lightweight concrete (ILC) into aggregates (or RLCAs) to produce a new building material called recycled ILC (RILC) that has properties comparable to the original material.Researchers manually and mechanically processed large ILC elements, categorizing the resulting RLCAs by particle size before conducting compressive strength tests after a curing period of 28 days.By this method, they found that RILC made from RLCAs demonstrated similar strength, elasticity, and thermal conductivity as the original ILC, despite a 31.6% increase in dry density. Perhaps more importantly, the RLCAs showed a "significant"CO absorption potential equaling about 30% of the greenhouse gas emissions of the original ILC.

Rick Caruso has initiated a new legal action attempting to halt the now-approved $1 billion CBS Television City redevelopment in Los Angeles' Fairfax district led by RIOS andFoster + Partners.More details from The Hollywood Reporter include the reasoning of Caruso, who is importantly the owner of The Grove shopping center next door to the site. His attorneys say the plan will violate the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Other groups have levied their own suits against the developer Hackman Capital Partners, who have decried their actions as an "unfortunate but predictable abuse of CEQA."CBS sold the William Pereira-designed property to the developer back in 2018. Support for the plan, which has been amended to include more sound stages, offices, and support areas, has mostly come from its ability to allow the film/TV production industry to keep a foothold in LA amidst years of uncertainty.

Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is an upcoming turn-based RPG by French studio Sandfall Interactive. Leading up to it April 24 release, game producer and studio co-founder Franois Meurisse spoke about some of the games that were influential in designing Clair Obscur: Expedition 33. Speaking to GamesRadar at GDC 2025, Meurisse revealed that early Final Fantasy games, along with Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice were huge sources of inspiration.While the turn-based combat of the game being inspired by some of the earlier Final Fantasy titles might be quite obvious, the Sekiro influence comes in with regards to how Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 handles the players defensive options. Players can time button presses in order to parry incoming attacks, essentially turning the game into a turn-based take on Sekiros parry-centric gameplay.Those are big childhood games for Guillaume [Broche], our game director, Meurisse said, talking about Final Fantasy 7, 8, 9, and 10. He wanted to have like kind of feeling that he imagined would have remained in modern Final Fantasy-like games, if they had kept doing turn-based stuff. But he mixed also lots of different inspirations. Definitely Final Fantasy and JRPGs are the preeminent gameplay heritage we have. The defense system is more inspired by Sekiro and From Software games. It has this kind of rhythm element and a more real-time component in it. More skill-based.Meurisse also spoke about other inspirations, including from indie deckbuilding games that make use of unique mechanics, like the strict constraints on mana that can be used to play cards in indie card-based roguelite title Slay the Spire, for example.There are also lots of different smaller inspirations, said Meurisse. For example, the idea of having action points for skills in the battles is more inspired by deckbuilding games than having the usual like magic points scores or mana in RPGs.While games by Japanese developers may have had a huge influence on Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 on the gameplay side of things, when it comes to visuals and aesthetics, Meurisse said that the studio didnt want to mimic anime or manga art styles.The gameplay is from a heritage of JRPGs, but from the very beginning, we wanted to make our own game with our own art inspiration, Meurisse explained. On the art style in particular, we didnt want to mimic Japanese games, making more stylized manga-like or anime-like graphics. We wanted to make some art direction that was based on our own influence. Thats how we came up to do this early 20th century Belle poque inspiration with art deco elements mixed with high fantasy. We had a few iteration on that to try to find our own uniqueness in the art, but it really helped us to build our own difference.Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 is coming to PC, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. PC players that are curious about the game can check out the PC requirements that were revealed back in January. In the meantime, check out the latest trailer from earlier this month that showcases one of the games characters, Gustave, who also happens to be voiced by Charlie Cox of Daredevil fame.

After having recently entered into a deal with Niantic to acquire its game development business, Scopely has seemingly no plans to bring in obstructive additions to titles like Pokmon Go to further increase revenue. Speaking to Polygon, Pokmon Go senior product director Michael Steranka said that the studio doesnt want to change what made the game a success to begin with.When asked whether games like Pokmon Go will see things like advertisements or obstructive game mechanics, like an energy bar that drains every time the game is played, with more energy being available for purchase, Steranka said no. For context, these kinds of things are present in many smartphone games, especially if theyre free-to-play.If theres one takeaway that I would love for people to have from this conversation, its that definitively no, that is not happening in Pokmon Go not now, not ever, Steranka said.Again, Scopely really recognises how unique this game is, and theyve told us themselves that they would be foolish to try to change the recipe of whats made this such a huge hit and a success. So yeah, absolutely not. We will not be building into our games any type of obtrusive ads or anything like that.I just really want to reiterate Scopely as a company, the way that they operate is they give all of their teams the agency to make the decisions thats right for their games. And that is not something that we feel would ever be right for Pokmon Go.Steranka also said that, while Scopely will be running the development team for Pokmon Go, the game will not be selling any of the data it collects from players to third parties. He reiterates that the only reason Pokmon Go needs a players location data is to make sure that the game runs properly.We do not sell player data to third parties, full stop, said Steranka. We only leverage location data to operate the game, and we store any location data needed to operate the game on US-based servers, and we follow all of the incredibly strict regulatory best practices to protect that data as best as we can.Scopelys acquisition of the development team behind Pokmon Go, along with the teams working on Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now, was announced earlier this month. Alongside the development teams, Scopely has also acquired the licenses to run these titles.As for Niantic itself, the company plans on continue running its own AR games, namely Ingress Prime and Peridot. The company plans to spin off its technology-based holdings into a new company dubbed Niantic Spatial Inc. This company will be helmed by Niantic founder and CEO John Hanke.In a statement released alongside the announcement of the acquisition, Scopely told Pokmon Go, Pikmin Bloom and Monster Hunter Now players that it admires the audience that the titles have built up, and that Scopely wants to continue supporting the developers in making the games how they want.We believe our partnership with the Niantic games team who will all join Scopely through this acquisition will further enable them to achieve their exciting long-term goals, which are designed first and foremost with you in mind, said the company.