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California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed a slate of bills on Monday that could finally give communities better data - and more say - on how data centers impact their electricity bills and water supply. As data centers invade a growing number of communities across the US, they've triggered protests over how the infrastructure underpinning AI might stress power grids and local water systems. That's fueled partly by concerns about how difficult it is to see just how much electricity or water they're actually gobbling up. California's new disclosure rules won't offer a full picture, but starting next year, data center operators will have to start s … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/EbodHyt

The 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 and 8 Elite Gen 6 share most of their specs in common. | Image: Qualcomm Qualcomm has announced the Snapdragon 8 Elite Gen 6, this year joined by the 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 too. The company describes both new phone chips as flagships, and the spec differences are relatively minor, mostly limited to improved AI processing, video capture, and gaming performance on the Extreme model. Both Gen 6 chips are built on a 2nm process, and share much in common, including their modems, display specs, security features, GPS, and memory and storage support. Qualcomm no longer publishes detailed breakdowns of the cores across its silicon, but the CPU details given are identical, with two big cores at up to 5GHz and six performa … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/OM4Exzc

You couldn’t accuse Motorola of designing a boring phone. | Image: Motorola Motorola is the first company to announce a phone running Qualcomm's top-end Snapdragon 8 Elite Extreme Gen 6 chip . The Signature 27 looks set to be Motorola's most advanced flagship in some years, though we're still waiting for the full specs, price, and release date. Any prospective buyers will first have to get over the design, which seems guaranteed to earn mixed reception. The aluminum phone has a thin body, available in either black (sorry, "Pantone coal smoke") or green ("Pantone capulet olive"), with a woven tactical texture on one and a "feather-inspired" finish on the other. Either way, it slopes upwards into what Motorola calls a … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/QPTnJrY

Apple's new texture and grain controls for stylizing photos will be more limited on older phones than initially expected. A confusingly worded press release from Apple indicated that the new features, announced alongside the iPhone 18 and 18 Pro earlier this month, would be "available" on older devices like the iPhone 16 and iPhone Air that "support the latest generation of Photographic Styles." But it turns out that "available" didn't mean that older iPhone models would have full access to those new features. Making texture adjustments to enhance or smooth a subject's skin and adding film grain will only be an option when those phones … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/vfXkmlN

An early look at the first set of Googlebooks The Android-powered Googlebooks are coming soon, with familiar brands and specs that rival Windows Copilot machines. For anyone eager to get their hands on any the new laptops, there’s a preorder perk you may want to know about lasting until October 25th, 2026. When you add a Googlebook to your cart at Best Buy , a pair of Pixel Buds 2A in hazel will be added for free. You can preorder now, with some systems shipping as early as October 5th, 2026. If you’re curious about the new machines, my colleague Antonio G. Di Benedetto got to spend some time with the laptops and shared his thoughts . There are a number of qualifying Googlebooks available at the retailer, including options from Acer, Lenovo, Asus, HP, and Dell. There’s a dedicated category page for the new genre of laptop in case you want to peruse the lineup. The least expensive model is the Acer Googlebook 14 , which starts at $899 and features an...

The venue is opening below Battersea Power Station, also well recognized for featuring on the cover of Pink Floyd’s Animals album. | Image: Apple Apple is preparing to open a new "state-of-the-art" live music venue in the UK, a 600-capacity space for hosting performances, recording sessions, and video broadcasts. The venue, called Apple Music Hall , is located underneath Apple's European headquarters in London's iconic Battersea Power Station, and is set to open next week on September 28th . Details about the opening show have yet to be announced. "Apple's deep love for music dates all the way back to the very beginning, from the launch of the iPod to the long-running iTunes Music Festival to the debut of Apple Music," said Oliver Schusser, Apple's vice president of Apple Music and Int … Read the full story at The Verge. from The Verge https://ift.tt/TfX7plm