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Global Energy Monitor's updated tracking shows gas-fired power capacity in development specifically for data centers reached over 189 gigawatts by mid-2026, up from 97 gigawatts at the end of 2025 and just 4 gigawatts in early 2024. The surge reflects tech companies building private 'behind-the-meter' gas plants to power AI data centers rather than waiting for grid connections.
NASA's Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is scheduled to launch atop a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket from Kennedy Space Center no earlier than 7:26AM Eastern on August 30, with live coverage starting at 6:20AM. If weather or technical issues delay the flight, a backup attempt is planned for August 31 at 7:22AM Eastern. NASA will also host a science briefing and prelaunch news conference on August 29.
Copernicus data shows average ocean surface temperatures reached 21.1C on Saturday, surpassing the previous record of 21.09C set in March 2024. Scientists note the timing is unusual since oceans typically peak in March or April, not August, and this record was set even before El Nino reached its expected peak.
According to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman, Apple is preparing to unveil the AirPods 5 as soon as its expected September 9 event, alongside a foldable iPhone, iPhone 18 Pro models, and updated Apple Watches. The new earbuds will reportedly come in two versions—a standard model and one with active noise cancellation—replacing the entry-level AirPods last updated in 2024.
Bloomberg's Mark Gurman reports Apple may release an updated Mac mini within days, ahead of the anticipated September event for the iPhone 18 Pro and iPhone Ultra. The refresh follows persistent supply shortages and rising demand tied to users running AI models locally, with Apple said to have tested both M5 and M6 chip variants.
OpenAI will restore a five-hour usage limit for Codex and ChatGPT Work on Plus subscriptions starting tomorrow, according to engineering lead Thibault Sottiaux. The cap had been temporarily suspended for several weeks, leaving only a weekly limit in place, but is now returning alongside that weekly cap. Pro subscribers on the $100 and $200 tiers will remain exempt from the five-hour restriction for the coming months.
In a new essay, Paul Graham says Y Combinator's decades of experience selecting founders show that the best preparation for startup success is deep technical or creative skill, not a formal entrepreneurship curriculum. He argues universities should keep teaching subjects like computer science, engineering and molecular biology, since founders succeed by building products customers want, not by studying management or finance.
During and after World War II, the Museum of Modern Art worked closely with U.S. government agencies to spread American modern art abroad, framing it as proof of Western creative freedom against fascism and communism. Nelson Rockefeller, who led MoMA while also serving in Roosevelt's administration, helped direct dozens of government-funded exhibitions across Latin America, and later CIA officer Thomas Braden oversaw covert cultural funding that supported showcasing artists like Jackson Pollock internationally.
Deadline reports that Tom Selleck has signed on as a guest star for Apple TV's still-untitled comedy series led by Elizabeth Banks, though his role hasn't been disclosed. The show, created by Liz Heldens and Matt Ward and produced by 20th Television, already features Ted Danson, Hamish Linklater, Rob Delaney, Michelle Buteau, Simu Liu, Jared Goldstein and Spencer Moss. The plot follows Banks' character Heidi as she navigates a post-divorce life while getting entangled in her father's retirement-community romance.
Flock Safety's network of AI-powered surveillance cameras has expanded rapidly across US cities and towns, but communities from both political sides are now organizing against it. Critics cite privacy concerns, lack of oversight, and fears about how police and other agencies use the collected data.
At Hot Chips 2026, IBM unveiled an early look at a future mainframe processor featuring 11 IBM Z cores on a 2-nanometer process, clocked above 5.7 GHz, capable of natively executing both z/Architecture and AArch64 instructions on the same cores without emulation. The chip will include specialized accelerators for AI fraud detection, I/O, compression, cryptography and sorting, plus a large cache hierarchy topping out near 3.5 GB of virtual L4 cache. IBM hasn't named the chip or its host system but expects it around 2028, likely powering a future z18-class mainframe.
Northwestern University researcher Reese Richardson expanded his earlier investigation into Thermo Fisher's antibody catalogue and found over 18,000 questionable validation images spanning 15 supply companies, publishing the findings in a public database on August 25. Many of the western blot images used to prove antibody quality show signs of digital manipulation, according to his analysis.