GoKawiil
Tech News
Amazon Web Services CEO Matt Garman announced a five-year, $1 billion-plus initiative called Built Together to fund local priorities—education, job training, energy affordability, and water conservation—in towns hosting its data centers. Garman said Amazon will also stop using nondisclosure agreements with government partners and will hold open houses to increase transparency about its facilities.
The US Senate voted 57-43 on September 30, falling three votes short of the 60 needed to advance the Ratepayer Protection Act, killing the bill after it had already passed the House. The legislation, introduced by Senator Jon Husted, would have directed state regulators to consider requiring data centers and other large power consumers to cover the infrastructure costs tied to their energy use.
Microsoft is designing landscaping around some of its data centers that includes public hiking trails and restored waterways, aiming to offset the facilities' environmental footprint. The move comes amid growing local opposition to data centers over their heavy land, energy, and water use, as well as noise complaints that have prompted lawsuits in some communities.
Apple's foldable-style iPhone Duo can be tented to use its 48-megapixel rear cameras for selfies, paired with new software features called Smart Take and Duo Preview. Smart Take automatically captures a photo when it detects everyone has paused after movement, removing the need for a timer, while Duo Preview shows subjects a live front-screen feed so they can check their pose. Both features are accessible via the Camera app's customizable controls introduced in iOS 27.
Apple's iOS includes a Voice Isolation mode, available on iPhone XR/XS and newer running iOS 16.4 or later, that uses machine learning to filter out background noise during phone calls. Users can activate it mid-call via Control Center's Phone Controls banner, selecting Voice Isolation or Automatic under the Mic Mode section. Other fixes for poor call quality include checking volume and speaker settings and moving to an area with stronger signal.
AWS chief Matt Garman published a roughly 3,000-word blog post asking local communities not to block new AI data center projects, comparing the buildout to the post-WWII national highway system. He said over 100 data center moratoriums are under consideration nationwide and argued blocking them would hurt US economic and national security interests, while dismissing concerns about electricity costs and pollution as misinformation, some of it allegedly spread by foreign adversaries.
Google's Nebraska data centers marked their electricity and water consumption figures as trade secrets in annual reports filed with the state's Department of Water, Energy, and Environment. But the redactions could be bypassed by highlighting and copying the blacked-out text, revealing that the Lincoln facility (Agate LLC) used 52.65 megawatts at peak demand and about 13 million gallons of water last year, while the Papillion facility (Fireball Group LLC) used nearly 548 million gallons. Across six reporting Nebraska data centers, total water use reached 765 million gallons.
Microsoft has rolled out a 'biomimicry' landscaping program at more than 20 data center sites in the US and Germany, restoring wetlands, planting native gardens and using plant buffers to muffle noise and reduce visual impact. The company says it uses an internal tool called Ecosystem Intelligence, built on Azure, to score sites on water quality, biodiversity and noise, and has made the approach standard for new US projects.
A growing group of companies, including Google, SpaceX and Nvidia alongside several startups, are exploring placing AI data centers in space. The idea relies on continuous solar power and the vacuum of space for cooling, potentially easing the energy demands of AI computing on Earth.
Starting January 1, data center projects built on qualifying rural land tracts will become eligible for corporate tax incentives under an expanded federal opportunity zone program created by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Ways and Means Committee chair Jason Smith said the changes could lower financial barriers for large, capital-intensive projects including hyperscale data centers. The opportunity zone program, first created during the first Trump administration, was broadened last year specifically to draw more investment into rural communities.
AWS CEO Matt Garman wrote in a blog post that Amazon no longer uses nondisclosure agreements when working with government agencies to secure approval for new data centers. The statement comes amid a broader backlash over secrecy in data center development, including activist Erin Brockovich's complaints about officials signing NDAs before communities are informed. Garman also disputed claims that data centers consume excessive water, raise electricity costs, pollute heavily, or fail to benefit local communities.
Amazon unveiled a program called Built Together, committing over $1 billion over five years to communities hosting its data centers. AWS CEO Matt Garman said the funds will target education and job training, energy affordability and water solutions, and flexible local priorities, with residents deciding how money is spent. Amazon says it has already arranged free associate's degree access with community colleges for up to 300,000 students and plans to fund trade certifications for up to 100,000 workers annually.