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Tech News
Elon Musk posted that he plans to give one SpaceX share to every child in the United States in 2027, a pledge that could be worth more than $10 billion at SpaceX's current $146 share price. He said the shares would go 'directly to the public' and called it the 'first of many' such donations, though he hasn't specified a mechanism for distribution.
With roughly two weeks left before the midterms, election-denial activists are reviving unproven claims that Maricopa County, Arizona, election processes are corrupt. The renewed scrutiny follows President Trump calling the county 'dishonest,' an FBI seizure in March of audit-related hard drives, and a viral video from the group We the People USA Alliance showing county employees working late at a ballot tabulation center.
Ahead of November's midterms, Democratic lawmakers are signaling plans to intensify oversight of AI companies if they regain control of one or both congressional chambers. Senior Democrats on key committees have pointed to data center tax credits and recent hacking incidents as areas they want to investigate, with committee control potentially letting them subpoena documents and call tech CEOs to testify.
Federal agencies are screening roughly 200 terms—including equity, climate change and gender—to review grants for alignment with the Trump administration's research priorities. The administration cut about $3 billion in grants in 2025, with roughly $1.4 billion from the NIH and NSF still frozen or cancelled, while USAID's closure eliminated about $25 billion in international research and aid funding. Scientists have responded by seeking private donations, crowdfunding, shifting research focus, or pursuing interdisciplinary collaborations to keep projects alive.
At a rally in Highland Heights, Kentucky, President Trump claimed he called Google and that the company 'kisses his ass' now, unlike during his first term. He cited this as evidence of his increased influence, referencing the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario on Google Maps.
A wilderness survival trainer named John Williams spent years secretly embedding himself inside right-wing militia groups, rising into leadership circles that included doctors and government attorneys, according to ProPublica. He covertly recorded conversations and compiled a massive trove of documents, which he eventually shared with the news organization, while keeping an emergency bag ready in case he needed to flee.
Donald Trump and Elon Musk both denied having caused a reported partial disruption to Ukraine's military satellite network this week. Neither offered an explanation for what did cause the outage, according to the report.
Dutch police confirmed seizing a server belonging to Italian internet provider Autistici/Inventati (A/I) from an Amsterdam data center on Tuesday, acting on a request from U.S. authorities. Police are making a digital copy of the server's data to hand over under the mutual legal assistance process, and the physical server will be returned to the data center afterward. The seizure follows the Trump administration's late-August designation of A/I as a terrorist organization over alleged support for antifa, a move that had already cut off A/I's banking access and domain name.
A Washington Post investigation citing an internal fundraising spreadsheet found Apple and Nvidia each committed $25 million to fund Trump's planned $600 million White House ballroom, tying them as the largest donors alongside the Adelson Family Foundation and Charlie Ergen's household and donor-advised fund. Together these four donations make up roughly 30% of the $333 million in contributions documented. Other tech firms named include Google (via a $22 million settlement-linked trust), Microsoft and Palantir ($10 million each), Amazon and Meta ($5 million each), and smaller sums from HP, Micron, Salesforce, Cisco, Coinbase, Ripple, ServiceNow and T-Mobile.
Nvidia and Cisco have confirmed making multimillion-dollar donations to the renovation of a White House ballroom championed by President Trump, joining a donor list reported by The Washington Post to exceed $330 million. Nvidia and Apple each reportedly gave $25 million, while Cisco confirmed a $5 million contribution; Amazon, Palantir, ServiceNow, Meta and Microsoft were also named as major donors, funneled through a nonprofit trust.
President Trump reversed Pentagon plans to livestream the December 3 firing-squad execution of Nidal Hasan, convicted in the 2009 Fort Hood shooting that killed 13 people. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had announced the livestream last week without Trump's prior knowledge, triggering bipartisan backlash. Hasan's execution will proceed as scheduled, with families of victims still permitted to view it, but it will not be broadcast publicly.
The Washington Post obtained a donor list showing tech, telecom and crypto companies as the largest contributors to President Trump's White House ballroom project, totaling more than $183 million. NVIDIA, Apple and Dish Network co-founder Charles Ergen each gave $25 million, with Microsoft, Meta, Palantir, Google, Amazon, Cisco, Blackrock, Lockheed Martin, Gemini and Coinbase among other donors. About $77 million of the funds remain unaccounted for since the donations aren't subject to public disclosure or campaign finance rules.