The cloud & infrastructure stories our desk judged worth your time, written so anyone can follow them.
Prop 45 promises faster building of housing and clean energy, but critics say data centers could use it to dodge close review and weaken public input.
Read more: California ballot measure could let data centers skip close reviewSamsung's new One UI 9 tool silenced a free game's full-screen ads that AdGuard's free setting missed, but it works by cutting the app off from the internet.
Read more: Samsung's hidden ad tool beats AdGuard at the ads people hate mostNew York paused new data center building for a year. Residents and lawmakers say it falls short, and many other states may soon face the same pressure.
Read more: New York paused new data centers. Locals say that is not enoughIn a walking test of about 8,000 steps, a $179 Fitbit Edge landed within 50 steps of a $399 Apple Watch Series 12. Step counting alone may not justify the price gap.
Read more: A $179 Fitbit nearly matches a $399 Apple Watch at counting stepsChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and Grok all had problems on Thursday. Service is back, but the day showed how much work depends on these tools.
Read more: ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and other AI chatbots went down togetherTuesday's election may show whether the White House push for AI and data centers is costing the president support among his own voters.
Read more: Tuesday's election tests whether Trump's AI push is costing him votesA federal judge refused to dismiss the NAACP's suit saying xAI ran gas turbines at its Memphis-area data center without required air permits.
Read more: Judge lets NAACP lawsuit over xAI's Memphis data center pollution proceedNorthflank, a hosting platform for developers, says customers' AI keys were used without permission. Anyone with keys stored there could face a surprise bill.
Read more: Hackers stole AI account keys from a hosting company's customersA writer paid $100 for a 2011 iMac that Apple no longer supports, installed free Linux, and ended up with a computer fine for browsing, office work and DVDs.
Read more: A $100 used iMac from 2011 became a useful computer againAndroid quietly gives Google's DNS a second route on public Wi-Fi. AdGuard, NextDNS and other ad-blocking DNS picks can leave a phone offline.
Read more: Android gives Google's DNS a backup route that ad blockers don't getChainalysis says an outside attacker using AI tools got into its systems and saw customer names and emails. Here is the risk and who should pay attention.
Read more: Chainalysis says an AI-driven attack exposed customer names and emailsResidents of both parties in Arizona are fighting new AI data centers, worried about water in a drought-stricken state, even though they welcomed TSMC's chip plants.
Read more: Arizona residents of both parties push back on new AI data centersCloudflare says it blocked 18.2 million network attacks in three months, mostly small and short ones. Any business with a website can be a target.
Read more: Cyberattacks that knock sites offline hit 18.2 million in three monthsHuge AI data centers can push up electric bills for people who live miles away, and some states are now making the companies pay more of the cost.
Read more: AI data centers can raise your electric bill even if none is nearbyAmazon says it will spend even more on AI, and its shares slipped, which matters if your savings are in stocks or a retirement fund.
Read more: Amazon joins tech rivals in spending even more on AI as shares slipNvidia is in talks to guarantee billions in loans for an Anthropic data center, a sign that AI's building boom is leaning on its suppliers for support.
Read more: Nvidia may cosign billions in loans for an Anthropic data centerSafaricom says fraud incidents fell 82 percent in its 2026 financial year, short of its 90 percent goal. Scams that rely on persuasion still lean on you.
Read more: Safaricom cut fraud by 82 percent, but missed its 90 percent goalGoogle Skills now offers free video courses on using Gemini for finance and legal work, plus a free program that gives teams 35 training credits.
Read more: Google offers free Gemini AI training for finance and legal workersBunny CDN posted a security incident notice on its status page. If your site or videos run on Bunny, it is worth checking now what it means for you.
Read more: Bunny CDN reports a security incident on its status pageAmazon says its cloud unit could grow more than 40% a year for two years, driven by AI demand. For businesses on cloud tools, that may shape prices and features.
Read more: Amazon's cloud arm expects growth above 40% a year for two yearsA top investor at Baillie Gifford says Anthropic's tech skill, efficient spending and founder control make it a fit for people who invest for the long term.
Read more: Why Some Big Investors Are Backing Anthropic for the Long HaulOpenAI's CEO says RAM is better used in data centers than in home PCs, while a memory shortage pushes up the price of laptops, phones and other gadgets.
Read more: OpenAI's Sam Altman says computer memory belongs in data centersWorldwide Express used AI agents to sort out freight billing disputes, cutting open cases 75% and freeing $10 million in cash, with people still approving.
Read more: Shipping firm uses AI to clear billing disputes and free up $10 millionA How-To Geek writer says free apps from the Linux world beat Windows' own tools for disk space, PDFs, phone linking and screenshots.
Read more: Five free apps born on Linux that fix Windows annoyances
