GoKawiil
Tech News
Pew Research Center published a statement outlining how it does and does not use artificial intelligence in its research. The organization says real people, not AI-generated or modeled synthetic opinion, answer its surveys, and that its roughly 10,000-person U.S. panel is selected at random. It also states that humans choose research topics, write and review reports, and retain ultimate responsibility for accuracy.
Google confirmed via a Help Center post that many of its newest Chromebook models will be eligible to transition to Googlebook OS, the new Android-based laptop operating system unveiled this month. The company hasn't specified which devices qualify or when the switch will be possible, saying details on migration paths and eligibility will come later. Existing Chromebooks will keep receiving updates through their normal support window, and the first Googlebooks are set to go on sale next week.
NorthPoint Development is proposing a 1,300-acre data center near Hazle Township, Pennsylvania, and has offered $10,000 checks to roughly 4,500 households to build local support, according to the Wall Street Journal. Residents interviewed by the WSJ were largely unenthusiastic, citing worries about noise, water and energy costs, property values, and distrust of both AI companies and local officials.
Developer NorthPoint Development sent letters to every household in Hazle, Pennsylvania offering a $10,000 grant if residents approve the first of up to 15 planned data center buildings on a 1,300-acre site. The company says the payout could total $45 million for roughly 4,500 households, plus $120 million in community support over 15 years, but many residents have rejected the offer.
Officials in Hazle Township, Pennsylvania have proposed giving every household $10,000 if a planned data center project moves forward. Despite the cash incentive, many residents in the rural town are opposing the facility's construction.
A programmer spent a summer at Recurse Center, a Brooklyn-based self-directed coding retreat, participating in peer-led study groups. Activities included an 'Agentic Adventures' group exploring LLM agents and sandboxed coding environments, a 'Practical Deep Learning' group working through Jeremy Howard's book, and a 'Math Monday' discussion group started with another attendee. Projects included building a remote sandbox for a coding agent, training a small text-prediction model on Romeo and Juliet, and experimenting with LoRA fine-tuning.
New Jersey's Department of Environmental Protection fined the DataOne data center in Vineland $1 million after inspectors found it running 62 gas-powered generators without state approval, according to Gothamist. NJDEP commissioner Ed Potosnak called it the largest enforcement action ever taken against a data center in the state. The facility, backed by Microsoft funding, is still under construction as part of a $17 billion project.
Organizers announced HomelabFest will run September 12-14, 2027 at the St. Charles Convention Center near St. Louis. Early Bird registration is priced at $125 and available until November or while supplies last, with lodging offered at the adjoining Embassy Suites. The event will feature homelab content creators, though detailed programming and hours have not yet been released.
Lars Doucet, author of the original ACX review of Henry George's Progress and Poverty and its follow-up series, revisits his arguments five years later. He notes that land value tax enablement laws have passed in two U.S. states this year, and that leaders sympathetic to LVT have been elected in the UK and South Korea. Doucet now works full-time for the Center for Land Economics and writes for the Progress & Poverty Substack.
Oracle sent a force majeure notice to lender Blue Owl Capital over a $18 billion hyperscale data center in New Mexico that is part of Trump's Stargate AI initiative, according to Bloomberg. The move shields Oracle from liability tied to missing certain development permits, as the facility, meant to run on 2.45 gigawatts of power, faces delays after Oracle scrapped a planned natural gas plant and pivoted to unproven solid oxide fuel cell technology.
New Jersey regulators fined the DataOne data center in Vineland $1.07 million after inspectors found 62 unpermitted portable generators running at the site in late July, giving the operator 45 days to shut them down or seek proper permits. The facility, which supplies compute for Nebius under a $33 billion deal with Microsoft, has drawn prior resident complaints over an unpermitted LNG tank, noise, and lack of public consultation.
Google plans to launch an experimental satellite called MVP on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base next week, part of its Project Suncatcher initiative. The satellite carries four Tensor Processing Units powered by solar panels generating one kilowatt, roughly matching a single Earth-based server, and is designed to process simple AI requests for up to a year while orbiting for as long as six years before burning up on re-entry.