All posts tagged: power

The Download: Power in Puerto Rico, and the pitfalls of AI agents

The Download: Power in Puerto Rico, and the pitfalls of AI agents

Published by skeptic

On the southeastern coast of Puerto Rico lies the country’s only coal-fired power station, flanked by a mountain of toxic ash. The plant, owned by the utility giant AES, has long plagued this part of Puerto Rico with air and water pollution. Before the coal plant opened Guayama had on average just over 103 cancer cases per year. In 2003, the year after the plant opened, the number of cancer cases in the municipality surged by 50%, to 167. In 2022, the most recent year with available data, cases hit a new high of 209. The question is: How did it get this bad? Read the full story. —Alexander C. Kaufman This story is from the next print edition of MIT Technology Review, which explores power—who has it, and who wants it. It’s set to go live on Wednesday June 25, so subscribe & save 25% to read it and get a copy of the issue when it lands! When AIs bargain, a less advanced agent could cost you The race to build ever larger …

Social Media Replaced Zines. Now Zines Are Taking the Power Back

Social Media Replaced Zines. Now Zines Are Taking the Power Back

Published by skeptic

But within a decade of Spooner’s discovery, the internet reached the mainstream, and zines were drowned out by digital culture. Diehards kept making paper handouts, but most people with ideas or messages to share went on social media. The prospect of a digital public square where anyone could broadcast their thoughts to the world was new and exciting. Since then, however, Americans’ perceptions of social media have darkened. Zines, meanwhile, are seeing a resurgence, popping up in museum collections and, in at least one instance, online comics. They are taking on new forms, modified by a generation seeking to make something that won’t go the way of Tumblr. “By producing physical, tangible objects that don’t exist on the internet, you can circumvent or avoid feeding into that machine,” says Kyle Myles, a photographer who sells zines out of his Baltimore shop. “I think a lot of people worry that when they share things on, say, Instagram, suddenly it’s the property of Mark Zuckerberg or Meta.” “For folks who are on the left, we better figure …

Apple Launches 2023 Mac Mini Repair Program Due to Power Issue

Apple Launches 2023 Mac Mini Repair Program Due to Power Issue

Published by skeptic

Apple today launched a repair program for Mac mini models with the M2 chip, after it determined that a “very small percentage” of these computers may no longer power on. No other Mac mini models are part of this program. If your Mac mini has exhibited this issue, you can enter its serial number on Apple’s website to see if it is eligible for this program. If it is, Apple or an Apple Authorized Service Provider will provide service, free of charge. Mac mini models with the M2 chip were first released in 2023, but Apple says that affected units were manufactured between June 16 and November 23 of 2024. The worldwide program covers an eligible Mac mini for up to three years after it was purchased. Apple did not provide a reason for the power issue. Popular Stories 17 Reasons to Wait for the iPhone 17 Apple’s iPhone development roadmap runs several years into the future and the company is continually working with suppliers on several successive iPhone models simultaneously, which is why we …

UK commits £2.5bn to develop STEP fusion power plant

UK commits £2.5bn to develop STEP fusion power plant

Published by skeptic

The UK Government has unveiled a record-breaking £2.5bn investment to build a world-first prototype fusion power plant – a project that could transform the global energy landscape and position Britain as a leader in next-generation power. This landmark investment, announced by Chancellor Rachel Reeves, will see the construction of a cutting-edge fusion facility known as STEP (Spherical Tokamak for Energy Production) on the site of a former coal plant in Nottinghamshire. With the potential to generate virtually limitless clean energy, STEP marks a historic turning point in the UK’s transition from fossil fuels to sustainable power, paving the way for a global fusion-powered future. West Burton to lead global fusion energy efforts STEP will rise from the site of the former West Burton A coal power station in Nottinghamshire, near Retford and Gainsborough. The government selected this historic location in 2022, and the redevelopment marks a symbolic transformation from fossil fuels to future-proof energy solutions. Expected to create more than 10,000 high-skilled jobs across construction, engineering, and operations, STEP will be a cornerstone of regional …

Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Is About to Make Your iPhone Much Smarter About Charging

Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Is About to Make Your iPhone Much Smarter About Charging

Published by skeptic

Usually, I’m the one adapting my behavior based on the power remaining in my iPhone, but starting this fall, I can ask my iPhone to do more of the adapting. A new Adaptive Power setting in iOS 26 can extend battery power by intelligently trimming energy usage in small ways that add up to extend the time before you need to recharge. See also: Adaptive Power in iOS 26 Could Save the iPhone 17 Air From This Major Pitfall Currently, the iPhone uses as much power as it needs to perform its tasks. You can extend the battery life by doing a number of things such as decreasing screen brightness and turning off the always-on display. Or, if your battery level is starting to get dire, you can activate Low Power Mode, which reduces background activity like fetching mail and downloading data in addition to those screen adjustments. Low Power Mode also kicks in automatically when the battery level reaches 20%. If Low Power Mode is the hammer that knocks down power consumption, Adaptive Power …

The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants

The EPA Wants to Roll Back Emissions Controls on Power Plants

Published by skeptic

The US Environmental Protection Agency moved to roll back emissions standards for power plants, the second-largest source of CO2 emissions in the country, on Wednesday, claiming that the American power sector does not “contribute significantly” to air pollution. “The bottom line is that the EPA is trying to get out of the climate change business,” says Ryan Maher, a staff attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity. The announcement comes just days after the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) quietly released record-breaking new figures showing the highest seasonal concentration of CO2 in recorded history. In a press conference on Tuesday, flanked by legislators from some of the country’s top fossil-fuel-producing states, EPA administrator Lee Zeldin accused both the Obama and Biden administrations of “seeking to suffocate our economy in order to protect the environment.” Zeldin singled out data centers as helping to drive unprecedented demand in the US power sector over the next decade. The EPA, he said, is “taking actions to end the agency’s war on so much of our US domestic energy …

Using AI to solve the power challenges caused by… AI

Using AI to solve the power challenges caused by… AI

Published by skeptic

In the face of growing concern surrounding the energy demands of Artificial intelligence (AI), Ben Croxford, Managing Director at Eclipse Power Networks, explains how the technology can be used to address the power challenges it’s accused of causing. Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a central part of the UK government’s plan to boost growth across the UK. Through its AI Opportunities Action Plan, the government intends to use AI to deliver its wide-ranging Plan for Change, including commitments to make Britain a clean energy superpower by 2030.  Elsewhere AI is being touted as a fix for everything from administrative overload in the Civil Service to the UK’s one million-plus potholes. Admirable, but not to my mind, where AI can add the most benefit. Much has been made of the increased energy demands of data centres processing AI workloads, as opposed to regular facilities more focused on data storage. In April, the International Energy Agency published a new report, projecting that data centre consumption will more than double by 2030. Yet within the energy sector, AI can …

French renewable energy is in turmoil after massive Spanish power outage

French renewable energy is in turmoil after massive Spanish power outage

Published by Sam

At an agrivoltaic site in Amance (Meurthe-et-Moselle), October 12, 2022. PATRICK HERTZOG / AFP “France is producing too much electricity, risking a financial meltdown.” In mid-April, the business daily La Tribune sounded the alarm. The headline summed up a concern that has gripped part of the French energy and political world for months: While in 2022 the country braced for potential power cuts due to nuclear fleet failures, soaring energy prices and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, a new fear has been raised – overproduction. The main culprits are solar and wind power, which are providing increasingly more energy while electricity consumption is stagnating. Their rise could threaten the grid, public finances and the nuclear fleet, prompting calls to slow – or even stop – their development. Just days before stepping down as CEO of EDF (multinational electric utility company), Luc Rémont described to lawmakers in the French Sénat on April 22 the “major challenge” posed by “the growing gap between supply and demand” for electricity. “In the coming years, we will have to ensure that …

An Introduction to George Orwell’s 1984 and How Power Manufactures Truth

An Introduction to George Orwell’s 1984 and How Power Manufactures Truth

Published by José

Soon after the first elec­tion of Don­ald Trump to the pres­i­den­cy of the Unit­ed States, George Orwell’s Nine­teen Eighty-Four became a best­seller again. Shoot­ing to the top of the Amer­i­can charts, the nov­el that inspired the term “Orwellian” passed Danielle Steel’s lat­est opus, the poet­ry of Rupi Kaur, the eleventh Diary of a Wimpy Kid book, and the mem­oir of an ambi­tious young man named J. D. Vance. But how much of its renewed pop­u­lar­i­ty owed to the rel­e­vance of a near­ly 70-year-old vision of shab­by, total­i­tar­i­an future Eng­land to twen­ty-first cen­tu­ry Amer­i­ca, and how much to the fact that, as far as influ­ence on pop­u­lar cul­ture’s image of polit­i­cal dystopia, no oth­er work of lit­er­a­ture comes close? For all the myr­i­ad ways one can crit­i­cize his two admin­is­tra­tions, Trump’s Amer­i­ca bears lit­tle super­fi­cial resem­blance to Ocea­ni­a’s Airstrip One as ruled by The Par­ty. But it can hard­ly be a coin­ci­dence that this peri­od of his­to­ry has also seen the con­cept “post-truth” become a fix­ture in the zeit­geist. There are many rea­sons not to want …