US utilities plot big rise in electricity rates as data centre demand booms
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Prime Day started as a one-day sale, but Amazon has expanded it to nearly a week in its pursuit of absolute ecommerce dominance. We were all sucked in by fast shipping and low prices, but if you’re weary of feeding the beast, you needn’t go without great deals on tech. Plenty of other retailers are offering discounts and bargains this week, including Walmart, REI, Target, Wayfair, Best Buy, and Home Depot. You can also snag deals on many of the best tech devices direct from the manufacturers. He
is transportation editor with 10+ years of experience who covers EVs, public transportation, and aviation. His work has appeared in The New York Daily News and City & State. Tesla CEO Elon Musk is eyeing San Francisco for his next robotaxi city — to which I say, good luck to you, sir. Musk acknowledged that the company is still waiting on “regulatory approval,” which hints at the uphill company Tesla will face in pushing this process forward. (Get it? Uphill? San Francisco?) But the permit do
In Brief French authorities have arrested a Russian professional basketball player who is accused of being a member of a ransomware gang, according to newswire Agence France-Presse (AFP). Daniil Kasatkin plays for MBA Moscow, a team that is part of the VTB United League, which comprises mostly Russian clubs as well as one team each from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Kasatkin briefly played for Penn State during the 2018-2019 season. The AFP reported that U.S. authorities believe Kasatkin moonlit as
Pharmaceutical scientists come up against a hard limitations here on Earth: gravity. Varda Space wants to change that. The company has raised a massive new round to turn space into the “ultimate high ground” for the production of critical pharmaceutical components that can be brought back to Earth and used to make finished drugs. The company’s $187 million Series C funding round announced Thursday will be used to build out a new laboratory facility that could transform Varda’s orbital manufact
Microsoft 's Outlook email service malfunctioned for several hours Wednesday and Thursday, prompting some people to post on social media about the inability to reach their virtual mailboxes. The issue began at 6:20 p.m. Eastern time on Wednesday, according to a dashboard the software company maintains. It affected Outlook.com as well as Outlook mobile apps and desktop programs. At 12:21 ET the Microsoft 365 Status account posted that it was rolling out a fix. "Our configuration changes have e
Razer just announced the pending availability of the DeathAdder V4 Pro gaming mouse , an upgrade to one of our favorite peripherals . The big news here is that this mouse ships with an optical scrolling wheel, and this is the first time Razer has used this tech. The company says the wheel has been "purpose-built for esports." Just like optical switches on keyboards, optical scrolling wheels allow for more precision and durability when compared to their mechanical counterparts. Razer says it off
zuperia/Getty Images AI search start-up Perplexity has ramped up its competition with Google by releasing Comet, its new web browser, on Wednesday. Built upon Perplexity's proprietary search engine, Comet is compatible with "all of your usual extensions, settings, and bookmarks," according to a Perplexity blog, meaning it's "a seamless switch" to make it your new default browser. It's initially being launched for Mac and Windows, with support on other platforms expected to arrive in the coming
Apple Maps gets new features nearly every year, and iOS 26 is no exception. One brand new addition in iOS 26 could make Apple Maps vital for your daily commute, even if you don’t use it for navigation: proactive commute notifications. Commute notifications are coming to Apple Maps in iOS 26 Regular commutes are one of those occasions when using a maps app might seem unnecessary. If you travel to a place often enough—including, of course, your regular work or school drives—there’s little reaso
Perplexity on Wednesday launched its first AI-powered web browser, called Comet, marking the startup’s latest effort to challenge Google Search as the primary avenue people use to find information online. At launch, Comet will be available first to subscribers of Perplexity’s $200-per-month Max plan, as well as a small group of invitees that signed up to a waitlist. Here’s what a New tab looks like for me on Comet Image Credits:Screengrab/Maxwell Zeff / Perplexity Comet’s headline feature is
The European Union is moving to force AI companies to be more transparent than ever, publishing a code of practice Thursday that will help tech giants prepare to comply with the EU's landmark AI Act. These rules—which have not yet been finalized and focus on copyright protections, transparency, and public safety—will initially be voluntary when they take effect for the biggest makers of "general purpose AI" on August 2. But the EU will begin enforcing the AI Act in August 2026, and the Commiss
After flying three missions into low-Earth orbit this year, Varda Space Industries appears to be making credible progress toward developing the nascent manufacturing-in-space industry. Investors seem to think the same, as the California-based company announced an impressive $187 million Series C round of funding on Thursday. This brings the company's total amount of money raised since its founding in 2021 to $325 million. "A decent chunk of the capital is going to go toward scaling up our prod
is The Verge’s senior AI reporter. An AI beat reporter for more than five years, her work has also appeared in CNBC, MIT Technology Review, Wired UK, and other outlets. Month after month, message after message, the AI engineer was hearing from Meta recruiters. The recruiters were pestering him to leave his employer and switch over to support the company’s AI efforts, and they were offering a sizable salary package to do so. But he wasn’t so sure. The engineer, who works for a startup that was
In Brief French authorities have arrested a Russian professional basketball player who is accused of being a member of a ransomware gang, according to newswire Agence France-Presse. Daniil Kasatkin plays for MBA Moscow, a team that is part of the VTB United League, which comprises mostly Russian clubs as well as one team from Belarus and Kazakhstan. Kasatkin briefly played for Penn State during the 2018-2019 season. The AFP reported that U.S. authorities believe Kasatkin moonlit as a ransomwa
In Brief Nvidia seems determined to find a way to sell AI chips in China despite U.S. export restrictions. The semiconductor giant is planning to launch an AI chip specifically for the Chinese market as early as September, as originally reported by the Financial Times. This AI chip would be based on Nvidia’s Blackwell RTX Pro 6000 processor, which is already modified to meet the existing AI chip restrictions, the Financial Times added. These chips wouldn’t include high-bandwidth memory or NVL
As its sales continue to crater in the US and Europe, Tesla's reliance on China — its second-largest market and biggest production hub — is growing. But thanks to a surge in far more price-competitive and lucrative offerings from Chinese EV manufacturers like BYD, Tesla's woes look poised to metastasize there as well. Its market share in China is shrinking, the Wall Street Journal reports, which could represent yet another nail in Elon Musk's carmaker's coffin. The company sold 40,000 fewer ca
If you’re in the market for premium earbuds, there’s a noteworthy deal available for the Bose QuietComfort Earbuds. For Amazon Prime Day, you can snag these earbuds at a discounted price of $129, down from the regular price of $179. That’s a substantial 28% off the recommended retail price, and the lowest price of all time, making it an opportune moment to invest in quality sound. Bose QuietComfort Earbuds for $129 (28% off) The Bose QuietComfort Earbuds come in a limited-edition Twilight Blue,
Amazon Prime Day is four days in 2025, and we're kicking off day three. The Prime Day deals started dropping last month and will end on Friday, July 11. We're working in shifts, covering 20 hours a day through the end, and are dangerously caffeinated—all to help you nab the best Prime Day deals with up-to-date recommendations. The WIRED Reviews team only recommends deals on products we’ve actually tested and approved, and which are actually discounted. If you’re looking for up-to-the-minute cov
In Brief Samsung just yesterday launched its newest slate of foldable smartphones, but that might not be the only foldable phones the company releases this year: The company is reportedly preparing to launch a triple-folding smartphone before the year’s end. Samsung’s consumer electronics head, TM Roh, told the Korea Times that the company aims to release such a device this year. “I expect we will be able to launch the tri-fold phone within this year. We are now focusing on perfecting the pro
Photo from The Samuels Public Library After being targeted by anti-LGBTQ book banners and having their funding pulled, a local library in Virginia successfully stopped a threatened takeover by a private equity group. The local community rallied around The Samuels Public Library in Front Royal, Virginia, to push back against attacks and the private equity owned Library Systems & Services withdrew their bid to run operations. But with their funding cut for the fiscal year that began this July, th
The Night at the Museum film franchise is getting another go at 20th Century Studios under Disney to mine more historical hijinks. It’s been 20 years (a shocking number, yes) since the release of the first film starring Ben Stiller (Severance) as a museum night watch guard who goes on adventures when the exhibits come to life at night. The concept spawned several sequels, which featured stars like Robin Williams, Owen Wilson, Rami Malek, and Dan Stevens as legendary figures. Deadline reports th
Non-Profit & Community-Driven White Noise is a non-profit, community-driven project. We are not funded by any corporation, and we are not beholden to any government or organization. We are a group of volunteers who are passionate about privacy and security.
The internet as we know it runs on clicks. Billions of them. They fuel ad revenue, shape search results, and dictate how knowledge is discovered, monetized, and, at times, manipulated. But a new wave of AI powered browsers is trying to kill the click. They’re coming for Google Chrome. On Wednesday, the AI search startup Perplexity officially launched Comet, a web browser designed to feel more like a conversation than a scroll. Think of it as ChatGPT with a browser tab, but souped up to handle y
Amazon Prime Day is four days in 2025, and we're just kicking off day two. The Prime Day deals started dropping last month and will go on through Friday. We'll be dangerously caffeinated and working in shifts, covering 20 hours a day through the end. As Prime Day enters its second day, we have totally refreshed our recommendations to highlight categories WIRED readers want most and are shopping this Prime Day. The WIRED Reviews team only recommends deals on products we’ve actually tested and a
Microsoft’s chief commercial officer Judson Althoff said during a presentation this week that AI tools are boosting productivity across sales, customer service, and software engineering, Bloomberg reports. Althoff noted AI has been so useful that Microsoft was able to save more than $500 million last year in its call center alone. The internal remarks come a week after Microsoft laid off more than 9,000 workers, the company’s third round of layoffs this year that put the total number of affecte
The Role of TCPP in Advancing Parallel Processing The Technical Community on Parallel Processing (TCPP) serves as a global platform dedicated to advancing research and education in parallel processing while also contributing to the development of technical standards in the field. It focuses on a range of topics related to the design, analysis, and implementation of parallel systems and solutions. This includes the design and analysis of parallel architectures, algorithms, and the development o
Linda Yaccarino, the chief executive of X and a top lieutenant to its owner, Elon Musk, said on Wednesday that she was leaving the company two years after joining the social media platform. In a post on X, Ms. Yaccarino, 61, said: “When @elonmusk and I first spoke of his vision for X, I knew it would be the opportunity of a lifetime to carry out the extraordinary mission of this company. I’m immensely grateful to him for entrusting me.” She did not provide a reason for her departure. Ms. Yacc
Amazon Prime Day is four days in 2025, and we're just kicking off day two. The Prime Day deals started dropping last month and will go on through Friday. We'll be dangerously caffeinated and working in shifts, covering 20 hours a day through the end. As Prime Day enters its second day, we have totally refreshed our recommendations to highlight categories WIRED readers want most and are shopping this Prime Day. The WIRED Reviews team only recommends deals on products we’ve actually tested and a
The letters AI, which stands for "artificial intelligence," stand at the Amazon Web Services booth at the Hannover Messe industrial trade fair in Hannover, Germany, on March 31, 2025. Amazon said Wednesday that its cloud division has developed hardware to cool down next-generation Nvidia graphics processing units that are used for artificial intelligence workloads. Nvidia's GPUs, which have powered the generative AI boom, require massive amounts of energy. That means companies using the proces
After a year of fighting out his case in arbitration, a Tesla owner successfully forced Elon Musk's EV maker to reimburse him the $10,000 he paid for the company's misleadingly-called "Full Self-Driving" driver assistance package, Electrek reports. For over a decade now, Musk has made yearly promises that Teslas will be capable of driving themselves. But the software, even after all these years, still requires users to be able to take over control at any time, making it no more than a middle-o