The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center
The mayor of Shelbyville, Indiana, says only people who live in ‘shitty houses’ oppose data center

A proposed $2 billion data center has become a political flashpoint in the small city of Shelbyville, Indiana. And the controversy has only grown more intense after the mayor, Scott Furgeson, was caught on camera saying of the “No Data Center” signs going up that, “I’ve seen a lot of these all over town, but […]

Congress still can’t decide what to do about warrantless surveillance
Congress still can’t decide what to do about warrantless surveillance

The deadline to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act is coming up a week from now on June 12th, and legislators seem no closer to reaching a deal. If this sounds like deja vu, it’s because we’ve been here before. Congress reauthorized Section 702 in late April – but only for 45 […]

What happens when your phone is confiscated at the airport
What happens when your phone is confiscated at the airport

Even if you’ve done nothing wrong, it’s never a good idea to hand your phone to the cops. But international travelers at American airports often have no choice – even if they’re US citizens. When Minnesota labor organizer Janette Zahia Corcelius returned home from a three-week trip to Europe in late April, she was detained […]

New York lawmakers pass one-year ban on new data centers
New York lawmakers pass one-year ban on new data centers

The New York State legislature passed a one-year moratorium on new large data centers, the first statewide ban of its kind if Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul signs it into law. Lawmakers behind the bill say it’s meant to give policymakers time to understand the impact of large data centers on the environment and energy prices. […]

MAHA wants to make cotton the new beef tallow
MAHA wants to make cotton the new beef tallow

In between beef tallow fries, raw milk, and vaccine denialism, Make America Healthy Again figureheads have set their sights on another slice of life: our clothing. “The MAHA movement doesn’t stop with what we EAT – It’s also about what we WEAR,” Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins said in a post on X in late […]

Why isn’t the Trump phone made in the USA?
Why isn’t the Trump phone made in the USA?

Where’s the Trump phone? We’re going to keep talking about it every week. We’ve reached out, as usual, to ask about the Trump phone’s whereabouts. This week, I’m investigating where it might have been built – and why it definitely wasn’t the US. Almost a year after its announcement, the Trump phone has “launched.” A […]

Kevin O’Leary agrees to downsize massive Utah data center
Kevin O’Leary agrees to downsize massive Utah data center

Kevin O’Leary agreed to halve the size of his planned 40,000-acre data center in Utah amid mounting pressure from residents and activists, as reported earlier by local affiliate ABC4. The Shark Tank star sent a letter to Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams on Thursday, saying that he will remove 19,430 acres from the project, […]

Nintendo confirms it will sell a new Switch 2 with replaceable battery in the EU
Nintendo confirms it will sell a new Switch 2 with replaceable battery in the EU

Nintendo is planning to launch versions of Switch 2 hardware in the EU that will let users easily replace the battery. To meet its obligations from a new EU regulation that’s set to go into effect on February 18th, 2027, Nintendo says on its website that it is “implementing measures to comply with these requirements […]

Apple is bringing age verification to Texas this week
Apple is bringing age verification to Texas this week

Apple will introduce age verification in the App Store for users in Texas starting on Thursday, June 4th. The move, as spotted by MacRumors, comes just days after a federal appeals court allowed Texas’ App Store Accountability Act to go into effect while a lawsuit against it proceeds. People in Texas who are creating a […]

AI has a water problem — Google thinks it has a fix
AI has a water problem — Google thinks it has a fix

In the face of widespread backlash to the AI data center buildout throughout the US, Google is touting its efforts to minimize the environmental impact by actually increasing water for local communities. The company laid out five commitments around water use in a new blog post published Wednesday, including a goal to replenish more water […]