GoKawiil
Tech News
Data Center Watch, a research initiative from 10a Labs, reports that 45 large-scale data center projects worth $68 billion were blocked or delayed in the second quarter due to community pushback. The group tracked 843 opposition groups across 49 states, with only Hawaii lacking any organized resistance, and noted 30 state legislatures have introduced or passed measures on data center siting, power and water use.
Meta's new personal AI agent app, Muse, has become the top free iOS app in the U.S. with over 2.5 million downloads in under two weeks, surpassing ChatGPT and other rivals. Amazon began blocking Muse from browsing its site over the weekend, saying Meta never disclosed that the agent would access Amazon's platform or that it captures and stores customer login credentials.
Amazon began showing an error message to Meta's AI assistant Muse over the weekend, stating that unauthorized AI agents violate its Conditions of Use. As a result, Muse can no longer complete purchases on Amazon, forcing users to shop elsewhere.
Data Center Watch reports that local resistance blocked or delayed $68 billion worth of data center construction between April and June 2026, driven by concerns over water use, electricity demand, land, and noise. Despite this pushback, hyperscalers have poured over $1 trillion into data infrastructure since 2023, with $745 billion more expected this year alone, and total data center investment is still projected to reach $32 trillion by 2050.
The Supreme Court voted 7-2 to uphold a lower court injunction blocking a new Postal Service rule that would have required states to submit lists of eligible voters so USPS could verify ballot recipients. Justices Alito and Thomas dissented, while Kavanaugh and Jackson noted the rule could be legally sound but was impractical to apply so close to the 2026 elections, since mail voting had already begun in several states.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols issued a preliminary injunction stopping the Postal Service from implementing new mail-voting regulations tied to Trump's executive order, mirroring an earlier block by a Boston judge. Nichols ruled that without the injunction, many valid absentee ballots could go uncounted in the midterms. The case comes as the Supreme Court is already reviewing a similar injunction from a separate lawsuit.
Anthropic reports identifying roughly 35 attempts between November 2025 and September 2026 by suspected state-sponsored actors trying to misuse Claude for bioweapons-related research, including queries on chikungunya gain-of-function work, bird flu adaptation for mammals, and orthopoxviruses like smallpox and mpox. At least five cases showed users evading regional access blocks through anonymizing techniques, prompting Anthropic to ban the accounts and tighten its safety systems.
Anthropic disclosed that it disrupted multiple cases this year where users attempted to leverage its Claude AI models for biological research that could potentially support bioweapons development. The company said it couldn't always distinguish legitimate scientific inquiry from malicious intent, since research into pathogens can serve both vaccine development and weapons creation, but chose to act cautiously given the high stakes. Anthropic's broader misuse report also flagged state-linked actors from China, Iran, and Russia using its models for surveillance, propaganda, and now conventional weapons design assistance.
US district judge Rita Lin ruled that the Pentagon's February designation of Anthropic as a national security risk was unconstitutional retaliation, vacating defense secretary Pete Hegseth's order and lifting sanctions imposed by nine federal agencies. The ruling does not force the Pentagon to use Anthropic's Claude models, but it removes the legal barriers that had blocked contractors from doing business with the company.
A developer released a Claude Code plugin skill that pulls every highlight from a Kindle book's notebook page, including ones Amazon's export feature truncates or hides entirely due to an undocumented export cap. It reconstructs the missing text by cross-referencing the Mac Kindle app's synced annotation positions and the Cloud Reader's rendered pages, producing one combined, verbatim Markdown file with location citations.