Democrats to introduce bill aimed at resurrecting IRS Direct File
Dozens of Democratic lawmakers will soon introduce a bill that would revive IRS Direct File, a service that allows taxpayers to file their taxes directly with the government for free.
Software & security
1,689 stories
Amazon will pay $2.5 billion to settle the FTC’s Prime lawsuit
Amazon will pay $2.5 billion to settle a lawsuit from the FTC that claimed the company tricked people into signing up for Prime and made it difficult to cancel.
“Big Balls” is still here.
Edward “Big Balls” Coristine’s latest career moves have been shrouded in “internal miscommunication.” It appears that instead of fully resigning from the government, the DOGE-installed minion has moved on to help continue wreaking havoc at the Social Security Administration. The “special government employee” will be “focused on improving the functionality of the Social Security website,” according to a SSA spokesperson. Sources tell Wired “Big Balls” was on site at the SSA Monday, looking “nervous, almost embarrassed.” Around 70 million people receive Social Security benefits. [Link: Key Member of Musk’s DOGE Moves to Social Security | https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/24/us/politics/big-balls-edward-coristine-musk-doge.html | nytimes.com]
Intuit asked us to delete part of this Decoder episode
Intuit CEO Sasan Goodarzi on TurboTax, acquisitions, and what AI can really do.
Arrested Huawei executive hit with new US charges ahead of extradition
The US Justice Department indicted both Huawei and its chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou for racketeering and conspiring to steal American trade secrets.
NOAA releases weather predictions for the rest of 2026
The country is divided. Not over politics this time, but over weather.
Judge orders Google to make its ad tech work with rivals and share ad data with customers.
US District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema said in her unsealed ruling on Google’s ad tech trial that measures to break it up were “neither realistic nor needed,” the New York Times reports. Brinkema also called for Google to appoint a monitor to make sure it complies with the order. [Link: Judge Orders Data Sharing and Other Fixes to Solve Google’s Ad Tech Monopoly | https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/16/technology/google-ad-tech-remedies.html | New York Times]
The Year Her Husband Died, She Converted $300,000 to a Roth. It Was the Last Return She’d Ever File as Married, and the Cheapest Tax Bill of Her Life
The year a spouse dies, one tax door opens that closes permanently on December 31, and most surviving retirees never hear about it until it is already too la...
Greene: $6.20 gas ‘is Trump’s fault’
Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) blamed President Trump for rising gas prices amid the Iran war, calling high fuel costs “ridiculous.” In a video she posted Tuesday to Instagram, Greene stood outside a California gas station and referenced the posted prices: $6.19 per gallon for regular gas, $6.47 for plus gas, $6.75 for supreme…
New York launches tracker as measles cases hit 57
The New York State Department of Health launched an online dashboard on Tuesday to track a measles outbreak that has infected at least 57 people in the state so far in 2026.
Alexander Ovechkin faces backlash over Putin campaign ad
NHL star Alexander Ovechkin is facing criticism for an appearance in a campaign advertisement promoting Russian President Vladimir Putin ahead of the country’s elections this weekend. The episode is just the latest in Ovechkin’s longstanding support for the Russian leader, who has earned widespread condemnation from the international community for crimes against humanity going back…
Washington balks at giving AI firms waiver to create safety standard
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s call for an antitrust waiver for AI firms to work together on a safety standard is being met with skepticism in Washington, where policymakers are questioning tech leaders’ intentions. Congress has failed repeatedly to pass AI regulations for years, but some lawmakers are balking at the idea of technology companies taking…
Why your cell phone bill is getting so expensive — and how that helped convince the Fed to raise rates
The cost of wireless phone service jumped 5.9% in August after T-Mobile and AT&T hiked rates on some plans.
Scammers are coming for your money. Here’s the one thing you must never do
Phone spoofing lets scammers impersonate your bank with the correct caller ID and account details. These critical steps can help prevent identity theft.
Most stocks rise as Fed hikes and indicates drive to curb inflation
Most equities rose Thursday after the Federal Reserve hiked interest rates for the first time in three years and boss Kevin Warsh sounded a hawkish note that...
Tim Cook and Sam Altman are also having dinner with China’s president.
They’ll be joining Nvidia’s Jensen Huang next week at a White House state dinner for Xi Jinping. It’s the first chance for Tim Cook to earn that $47 million pay package in his new role as Apple’s dedicated Trump whisperer: You is smart, you is strong, you is important. [Link: Apple’s Cook, OpenAI CEO to Attend Trump Dinner With Xi | https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-09-16/openai-s-altman-to-attend-trump-dinner-with-chinese-president | Bloomberg]
What smart people in business and economics are saying about the Fed interest rate hike
The Fed raised rates for the first time in three years, and smart voices in finance are weighing in on whether more hikes are coming.
The Fed was bullied into hiking rates. Now it hopes it didn’t royally screw up
The bond market gave the Federal Reserve an ultimatum: Raise rates, or we will.