Tech

The FTC has announced a landmark settlement with agricultural equipment giant John Deere resolving a 2025 lawsuit that accused the company of monopolistic practices in the repair services market for farm equipment. The settlement, which lets farmers and other John Deere customers the repair their own equipment, is a major win for the “right to repair” movement.

Portland General Electric has implemented a nearly 30 percent rate increase for large power consumers including data centers and industrial facilities, while simultaneously reducing electricity costs for residential customers by about 1.3 percent.

A longtime social studies teacher in the Chicago suburb of Libertyville has been ordered held in jail after prosecutors allege he secretly recorded students and used AI to create sexually explicit images of them.

The Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, selected Bernadette Meehan, a former Obama Foundation executive and Ambassador to Chile for Joe Biden, as its new CEO last year. Shortly after her selection, editors found the Wikipedia article on Meehan was created in early 2015 by an account later banned on suspicion of undisclosed paid editing, a violation of the site’s Terms of Use. In an interview with an in-house newsletter, Meehan denied knowledge of the account.

Prince George’s County, Maryland, has enacted a two-year moratorium on new data center construction, marking one of the strictest restrictions on AI data centers in the Mid-Atlantic region.

Chinese state media highlighted this week the rise of “children influencers” on regime-controlled social media, children producing short video content in which they appear to be subject to a variety of abusive actions such as force-feeding and fighting each other.

The family of slain conservative icon Charlie Kirk came face to face with Tyler Robinson — the accused assassin of the Turning Point USA founder — for the first time on Monday.

The city of Cheyenne, Wyoming, has announced a suspension of wastewater acceptance from data center operations after a building contractor for Mark Zuckerberg’s Meta contaminated the municipal wastewater system with a rare bacteria.

The United States Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) is utilizing Anthropic’s AI model Mythos to conduct security audits of government software repositories, according to three sources familiar with the initiative. Anthropic has a stormy relationship with the federal government, including a contentious lawsuit with the Pentagon.

Microsoft will cut about 4,800 jobs from its Xbox gaming division as it restructures the struggling business. The software giant recently put a young Indian executive in charge of Xbox who has no experience with the video game industry.

Leading technology executives have begun adopting a more optimistic narrative about artificial intelligence and employment after a year of stark predictions about workforce displacement. Even Dario Amodei, the Anthropic CEO criticized as a “prophet of doom,” is attempting to walk back his stark warnings.

An investigation by a consumer campaign organization has revealed that Tripadvisor’s AI-generated hotel review summaries are glossing over serious guest complaints, including allegations of sexual harassment, raw chicken served to guests, and severe hygiene issues.

American voters are increasingly using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to help them make decisions about candidates and ballot measures, marking what may be the first election cycle where AI plays a significant role in voter research. The leftist bias researchers have revealed in practically every major AI tool makes this a concerning trend as the midterm elections draw close.

American video-sharing platform YouTube told users in Britain that, under pressure from the left-wing Labour Party government, independent creators will likely see their content suppressed.

Wikipedia’s article about the tribute song “We Are Charlie Kirk” was included in the front page’s “Did you know” section in mid-May after receiving “Good article” status, one of the site’s highest quality rankings. Its front page entry noted an outlet calling it the “worst song” of 2025. The Wikipedia article about the song memorializing Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk following his assassination last year denigrates conservatives who appreciated the song’s tribute to Kirk with particular focus on its suspected AI origins.

Technology, banking, and entertainment companies are significantly restricting employee access to AI tools as monthly costs skyrocket into tens of millions of dollars, according to internal documents and communications obtained from multiple organizations.

Spotify has taken down approximately 500,000 streams from Malcolm Todd’s popular song “Earrings” following concerns that the track’s chart performance was artificially manipulated by gamblers on prediction market platform Kalshi.

A Tesla Semi truck struck two passenger vehicles at a highway intersection in western Nevada on Sunday, killing a married couple and critically injuring another person in what authorities are considering the first known fatal crash involving Elon Musk’s new EV commercial truck.

Ford  announced a 10 percent decrease in U.S. vehicle sales for the second quarter with the automaker citing ongoing supplier issues affecting its F-Series trucks as a major cause of the shortfall. However, Ford’s EV sales dropped an astonishing 40 percent during the same time period.

Billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel launched a series of controversial criticisms and predictions about AI and Western democracy during remarks at the Aspen Ideas Festival in Colorado on Tuesday. In his most provocative statement, Thiel accused Pope Leo of serving the interests of China with his stance on AI.

Google has lost its lengthy legal battle to overturn a $4.69 billion fine imposed by the EU over requirements the tech giant forces on device manufacturers deploying its Android operating system.

Following Wikipedia co-founder Larry Sanger’s ban from the site he helped establish and sought to reform, site editors took to maligning him on his personal discussion page in what is commonly called “grave-dancing” on Wikipedia. Some editors argued Sanger’s proposed reforms should be discarded with his ban. Other editors expressing support for Sanger received mocking responses, including comments related to Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s assassination last year.

In New York City’s East Village, a weeklong festival dubbed the “Summer of Ludd” is bringing hundreds of young people together to learn how to live without constant digital connectivity and to resist the omnipresence of technology companies.

The seven largest technology companies, collectively known as the Magnificent 7, had about $2.3 trillion erased from their combined market value in June as investors question their massive spending on AI infrastructure.

Elton John sold his entire image for millions of dollars so he can live on forever playing in Las Vegas.

The gaming console Playstation announced that it will no longer produce physical disc games come January 2028. 

Weird Al Yankovic has his limits and music generated by artificial intelligence (AI) is one of them. He wants nothing to do with it.

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced on Wednesday it is advancing the freedom to fix all vehicles and equipment to ensure that Americans do not have to pay higher costs for repairs.

The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) in July will vote on an order that would streamline satellite and earth station licensing processing to remove “outdate regulations” that hamper “America’s growing commercial space economy.”