Technology

Sydney Towle, content creator who documented life with cancer, dies at 26

Sydney Towle, a social media content creator who projected enduring optimism as she chronicled her life with a rare form of cancer, has died, according to her family. She was 26. Towle was diagnosed with cholangiocarcinoma, an aggressive form of cancer in the bile ducts, in August 2023. Her mother, Elizabeth Morrow, and brother, Austin […]
2 months ago

Court orders Meta to pay $567 million to address kids’ mental health and safety on its platforms

SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A New Mexico court on Thursday ordered Meta to pay $567 million for mental health harm to kids from its platforms. The Associated Press has reached out to New Mexico’s Department of Justice and Meta for comment on the decision.
2 months ago
FILE - An ad for the prediction market app Kalshi is displayed on a mobile phone Thursday, April 16...

Federal judge lets Utah enforce its anti-gambling laws on the prediction market Kalshi

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah can enforce its strict anti-gambling laws on prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket, a federal judge ruled in a win for states seeking to rein in the popular betting platforms. Utah has been on the front lines of a battle between states and the federal government over who […]
2 months ago
FILE - A worker reacts near a line of humanoid robots displayed at the World AI Conference in Shang...

China announces countermeasures against Washington, including controls on drones exports to the US

BANGKOK (AP) — China announced a series of economic measures Wednesday against the United States, including controls on exports of drones to the U.S. and a ban on dealings with six American entities, in response to recent restrictions imposed by Washington. Tensions are simmering between the world’s two biggest economies ahead of an expected visit […]
2 months ago
Karen Mikesell, owner of the home that Neil Armstrong once lived in, poses for a photo in the forme...

Home where astronaut Neil Armstrong’s boyhood dreams of flying took off is for sale

WAPAKONETA, Ohio (AP) — Inside Neil Armstrong’s boyhood home, at the top of a creaky stairway, sits his bedroom where he launched model airplanes out of the rear window to measure how far they’d fly. Hanging in the room now are autographed photos of astronauts who’ve visited the privately kept house to see where Armstrong’s […]
2 months ago
A worker drives a forklift at the Phoenix Tailings refinery Wednesday, July 22, 2026, in Exeter, N....

US faces new pressure to build weapons without China’s rare earth magnets

EXETER, N.H. (AP) — A giant American flag hanging on the wall of a warehouse in New Hampshire hints at the national importance of the elements bound inside the mining waste stored in 1-ton bags. The company uses electrolysis to separate the key critical elements President Donald Trump’s administration desperately wants to produce domestically from […]
2 months ago
Faith Maeba, a student at Virginia Commonwealth University, poses for a portrait with her tablet at...

At colleges, the AI boom means everyone wants to dabble in computer science

With no background in coding, Faith Maeba, a psychology major, was reluctant when her mother first suggested she enroll in classes on artificial intelligence. But the senior at Virginia Commonwealth University began to see it differently as she looked into graduate psychology programs that explore human behavior in the workplace, which is quickly being upended […]
2 months ago
A water tower is seen Thursday, July 30, 2026, in Plymouth, Minn. A cyberattack targeted the operat...

FBI investigates as Michigan joins Minnesota in reporting cyberattacks on its water systems

Michigan on Saturday joined Minnesota in reporting cyberattacks on nine of the state’s water systems but an official said all systems were operating “safely.” Earlier this week, authorities said cyberattacks targeted over 30 water systems in Minnesota. The source of the attacks is being investigated, but they came amid warnings that Iranian hackers have been […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump, center, walks from Air Force One at Morristown Municipal Airport in Morrist...

Zelenskyy asks Trump to help him get Elon Musk’s OK to use Starlink to help with strikes on Russia

WASHINGTON (AP) — Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pitched President Donald Trump and other American officials on helping Ukraine win permission from tech titan Elon Musk to use his Starlink satellite communications system to guide strikes inside Russia. The push for expanded use of Starlink comes as Zelenskyy looks for alternate ways to mitigate the […]
2 months ago
FILE - This combination of 2017-2022 photos shows the logos of Facebook, YouTube, TikTok and Snapch...

Social media companies sued over deaths of four teens as pressure, lawsuits over child safety mount

The families of four teenagers who died by suicide are suing Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube over what they describe as “years of escalating harms” from using their platforms that eventually resulted in their deaths. The lawsuit, filed Thursday in the Superior Court of Delaware, is the latest in a flurry of suits filed against […]
2 months ago
FILE - A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifts off from pad 39A with a payload of a pair of lunar landers at...

A discarded SpaceX rocket is on a high-speed collision course with the moon

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — A drifting SpaceX rocket is on a collision course with the moon after launching a pair of lunar landers more than a year ago. The rocket’s upper stage will unintentionally slam into the moon on Wednesday, carving out a crater and sending up a plume of dust and rubble that […]
2 months ago
FILE - The Apple logo is illuminated at a store in Munich, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Matthias Schrad...

Strong iPhone sales propel Apple’s fiscal Q3 results past Wall Street’s expectations

Apple posted a solid fiscal third quarter on Thursday, climbing past Wall Street’s expectations thanks to strong sales of the iPhone and MacBook computers. Apple raised the prices of its Macs and iPads last month, citing a memory-chip shortage brought on by the artificial intelligence boom. The company had called the demand spike an “unprecedented […]
2 months ago

Federal government to turn a Kentucky uranium plant into an AI data center and gas power complex

PADUCAH, Ky. (AP) — The U.S. Department of Energy is harnessing the artificial intelligence boom in its bid to convert another Cold War-era uranium enrichment site, tapping private equity to fund a $100 billion data center complex that will include its own new natural gas and battery storage power plant in Kentucky. The department selected […]
2 months ago
FILE - A Microsoft logo is seen on a screen as people listen at an event at Microsoft headquarters,...

Microsoft beats Wall Street expectations with $90B in revenue

Microsoft posted strong results for its quarterly earnings on Wednesday, beating expectations and showing strong growth in its cloud computing platform and a boost in paid AI users. The Redmond, Washington, company earned $90 billion, or $4.81 per share, in the April-June quarter. That is up 18% from the same period a year earlier. Analysts […]
2 months ago
FILE - Elon Musk attends the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Jan....

Elon Musk’s xAI sues Minnesota over its first-in-the-nation law banning ‘nudification’ technology

Elon Musk’s company xAI has sued Minnesota over the state’s first-in-the-nation law that bans “nudification” technology on websites and apps, potentially providing a test for how far states can go in constitutionally regulating the use of artificial intelligence. Musk’s company sued Monday in federal court, days before the law is set to take effect Saturday […]
2 months ago

Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism and puts him on wanted list

Russia’s main domestic security agency said Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with “aiding terrorism” and put on an international wanted list. Telegram’s administration has not removed “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate […]
2 months ago
FILE - A Realbotix humanoid robot, center, speaks with attendees at a Realbotix booth during the CE...

New York school pauses plan to deploy humanlike AI robot teacher after backlash

NEW YORK (AP) — A school district in a rural corner of upstate New York is hitting pause on plans to deploy an AI-powered, humanoid robot in the classroom after state education officials, teachers and local residents raised concerns, including the maker’s ties to a company that produces hyper realistic sex bots. The Salamanca City […]
2 months ago
FILE - The eBay app icon is seen on a smartphone, Feb. 28, 2023, in Marple Township, Pa. (AP Photo/...

eBays agreed to pay nearly $50 million to couple sent cockroaches, bloody pig mask

BOSTON (AP) — eBay Inc. agreed to pay almost $50 million to a Massachusetts couple who said former employees of the company targeted them with threats and bizarre anonymous deliveries — including live insects, a funeral wreath and a bloody pig Halloween mask, according to settlement details released Tuesday. The parties reached a tentative settlement […]
2 months ago
FILE - Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti speaks during a President Joe Biden campaign event in Scranton...

Democrat’s TV ad targets data centers in drive to oust Republican from swing Pennsylvania House seat

HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Democrat Paige Cognetti is taking a shot at artificial intelligence data centers in her challenge to freshman Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan, saying “we’re not for sale” in a new TV ad in a swing Pennsylvania congressional district where communities are fighting data center projects. The race between Cognetti, the mayor of […]
2 months ago
Visitors at the booth for Chinese AI Startup Moonshot's Kimi K3 during the World AI Conference in S...

Cheaper, open and intelligent: Chinese AI models gain ground, as they make inroads in the US

HONG KONG (AP) — China has a hot new product in the United States: artificial intelligence. San Francisco-based Raffi Krikorian, the chief technology officer at Mozilla, which runs the Firefox browser, switched to Chinese AI startup Moonshot’s Kimi K3 for many of his day-to-day activities within days of the new, powerful model’s launch more than […]
2 months ago
Hundreds of young people gather near the Griffin Museum of Science and Industry in the Hyde Park ne...

How the lighthearted social media trend of ‘teen takeovers’ took a serious turn

When Damarion Spann, 18, saw an Instagram flier calling for a massive gathering on a beach near downtown Chicago, he immediately wanted to go. Thousands of others joined him that night on the sand, blasting music and dancing. The cultural trend of so-called teen takeovers has popped up across the U.S. in recent years, influencing […]
2 months ago
FILE - Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger delivers the Democratic response to President Donald Trump'...

Virginia study on groundwater, data centers calls for tighter water regulations

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Virginia, the world’s largest data center hub, has released a long-delayed study that examined the state’s eastern region groundwater supply and the resource-hungry industry’s possible impact on it, finding declines are likely in a critical aquifer due to population growth and industrial use, and urging stricter regulations. Produced by environmental scientists, […]
2 months ago
President Donald Trump holds a championship ring during an event to honor the 2025 World Series cha...

Trump says US will investigate EU trade practices, claiming the bloc unfairly fined US tech giants

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump says Friday that the United States will open a formal investigation into the European Union’s trade practices, claiming the bloc has unfairly levied billions of dollars of fines against Google, Apple and other U.S. tech giants. The Republican president made the announcement a day after the EU hit Google […]
2 months ago
The site of a future data center being built near Abernathy, Texas, Saturday, July 18, 2026, in Hal...

Trump expands a voluntary pledge to protect consumers from high utility bills from AI data centers

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday will have governors and electricity companies join a voluntary pledge to shield U.S. consumers from higher utility bills from data centers — a sign of how the artificial intelligence build- out has become a lightning rod of controversy before the midterm elections. The president first announced the […]
2 months ago