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Tech News
ESPN is hiking subscription costs across its streaming lineup starting September 17. ESPN Select rises from $13 to $14 monthly, ESPN Unlimited climbs from $30 to $32, and several bundles combining ESPN with Disney Plus and Hulu will also cost more, with increases ranging from $2 to $3 per month.
An Entrepreneur contributor argues that small business owners often wait until filing season to think about taxes, when the real savings opportunities have already passed. The piece recommends forming an LLC early so owners can later elect S-Corp or other tax treatments, since such elections only apply to an entity that already exists.
In an interview with Michael Cohen, President Trump dismissed community opposition to new data centers as a mistake, arguing they bring jobs and no longer strain power grids since companies now build their own power plants under the Ratepayer Protection Pledge. He framed the buildout as essential to keeping US AI leadership ahead of China.
CNBC reported that the U.S. Treasury Department is considering tapping its roughly $950 billion General Account to help finance its bond buyback program. Senior Treasury officials did not specify how much of that fund would be used but confirmed it remains an option after Secretary Scott Bessent unexpectedly expanded the buyback effort last week. Treasury yields fell following the report.
ESPN will increase subscription costs across its standalone streaming tiers starting September 17th, with the ad-supported Select plan rising to $13.99 monthly and Unlimited climbing to $31.99. Annual plans and several Disney Plus bundles that include ESPN Select will also see price bumps, though Disney Plus bundles paired with ESPN Unlimited remain unchanged.
In a Decoder interview, GoFundMe CEO Tim Cadogan discusses how the fundraising platform, which he took over in March 2020, grew into a major cultural fixture during the pandemic and subsequent political unrest. He notes that medical expenses remain the most common fundraising category across every market the company operates in, highlighting gaps in healthcare systems worldwide.
GrapheneOS detailed plans to bring its privacy-focused Android build to Motorola hardware, starting with a standard flagship phone before expanding to Razr foldables. The rollout depends on next-generation Snapdragon chips that add hardware memory tagging and improved secure element support, features current Motorola flagships still lack. Motorola will supply firmware and drivers directly, and devices must meet GrapheneOS's seven-year update requirement.
A satellite-based analysis led by Xiao-Peng Song and Matthew Hansen at the University of Maryland found that global tree cover increased by roughly 2.24 million square kilometers, an area comparable to Texas and Alaska combined, between 1982 and 2016. The gains, concentrated in temperate, boreal, and subtropical zones, offset major losses in tropical forests caused by deforestation, fire, and drought.
A cyberattack linked to Iran-affiliated actors forced a UK power plant to halt operations for four days. Details on the attack vector, scope of damage, and recovery process were not disclosed in available reporting.
The Telegraph reported that a small UK power generator was taken offline for four days in July after being hit by a cyberattack tied to Iranian hackers. UK officials would not confirm attribution or name the affected facility, but stressed the incident was isolated and posed no threat to the broader national grid. The disclosure follows separate US warnings this year about Iran-linked actors targeting water infrastructure across several states.
DoesItPlay, a video game preservation community, is organizing a week-long PlayStation boycott from August 23 to 30, urging players to avoid logging into PSN, playing, or making purchases on Sony platforms. The protest responds to Sony's plan to phase out physical game production by 2028, though critics note the chosen week lacks major releases and overlaps with Gamescom, likely blunting its impact.
Between late 2016 and August 2026, China brought 27 new nuclear reactors online, while the United States added only two in the same period. MIT nuclear engineering professor Jacopo Buongiorno notes that China has become the global leader in building nuclear power plants, part of a broader strategy to support its shift toward a fully renewable grid.