GoKawiil
Tech News
A commentary published in Nature argues that the world lacks a coordinated fallback system to preserve and share climate-risk intelligence if key data sources fail or become inaccessible. The piece warns that current climate monitoring and forecasting infrastructure is fragmented and vulnerable to funding cuts, political shifts, or technical disruptions.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott directed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing data center-related permits until ERCOT finishes auditing the state's grid connection waitlist. This broadens an August moratorium that had already paused new grid approvals for data centers, extending the freeze into environmental sign-offs needed for construction.
Ireland's Data Protection Commission concluded a five-year inquiry into how Google Ireland handled location data across Web & App Activity, Location History and Location Accuracy features between 2018 and 2020. The regulator found multiple GDPR violations spanning lawfulness, transparency, accountability and data retention, and has fined the company €403 million while giving it six months to fix its practices.
A financial advisor breaks down how trillions of dollars sitting in low-interest checking and savings accounts are quietly losing value. With savings accounts averaging just 0.38% APY against 3.4% inflation, that cash loses more than 2% of real purchasing power annually, even as the balance stays unchanged.
The European Commission has proposed requiring data centers with over 500 kW capacity to disclose their energy and water usage through a standardized rating system, similar to appliance energy labels. The rules would not cap power or water consumption but would require operators to report water use relative to local water stress and disclose whether they recycle waste heat back into local energy systems.
Amazon has launched a Colorado River Basin Collaborative, committing $20 million of its own money and aiming to raise $100 million total over two years for conservation projects along the drought-stricken river, which supplies water to 40 million people across seven US states and parts of Mexico. Part of the funding includes $2.2 million for leak detection in Orange County, California, projected to save 189 million gallons annually.
An Entrepreneur contributor argues that digital advertising has evolved from broad demographic targeting into precise behavioral prediction, where companies link data across devices and platforms into 'identity graphs' that can anticipate emotional responses. The piece warns that anonymized data no longer offers real privacy protection because behavior itself can reveal identity, meaning any business using modern ad platforms is effectively engaging in behavioral influence.
BigCommerce confirmed that credentials for third-party Ribon and Ribon 1.5 apps, made by Fastr's Be A Part Of, were stolen and used to inject malicious scripts into a small number of merchant storefronts between September 13 and 17. UK retailer Master of Malt was among those affected, with attackers accessing customer names, emails, phone numbers, and shipping addresses, though passwords and payment data were not exposed. BigCommerce says its core platform and systems remained secure, and it disabled the compromised apps upon discovery.
Regulators concluded that Google mishandled location tracking, gathering and storing data that could expose sensitive personal details about users without adequate safeguards. As a result, the company has been fined $462 million.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a package of seven bills that shield residential utility customers from bearing the costs of AI data center growth. The laws create a new rate category for data centers through the state's Public Utilities Commission, mandate disclosure of water and energy use to local governments, and require efficiency benchmarks before facilities can get streamlined approval.
Data Center Watch reports that local resistance blocked or delayed $68 billion worth of data center construction between April and June 2026, driven by concerns over water use, electricity demand, land, and noise. Despite this pushback, hyperscalers have poured over $1 trillion into data infrastructure since 2023, with $745 billion more expected this year alone, and total data center investment is still projected to reach $32 trillion by 2050.
President Trump said he will soon name an AI tsar and establish an 'AI Force,' framing artificial intelligence as a transformative economic force that could account for up to a quarter of US GDP. He dismissed growing warnings from industry figures about losing control over the technology, along with backlash over data centers, calling them politically motivated 'hoaxes' rather than legitimate concerns requiring regulation.