For Bitcoin Mines in Texas, the Honeymoon Is Over

Joel Khalili

The energy demands of bitcoin mining have sparked controversy in a state that once welcomed those companies with open arms.

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Google Used a Black, Deaf Worker to Highlight Its Diversity. Now She’s Suing for Discrimination

Paresh Dave

Jalon Hall was featured on Google’s corporate social media accounts “for making #LifeAtGoogle more inclusive!” She says the company discriminated against her on the basis of her disability and race.

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Google’s GenAI Bots Are Struggling. But So Are Its Humans

Michael Calore and Lauren Goode

This week on Gadget Lab, we talk about the rocky rollout of Google’s Gemini image generator, and some internal tensions recently reported by company employees.

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Makers of Popular Switch Emulator Agree to Pay $2.4 Million to Settle Nintendo Lawsuit

Kyle Orland, Ars Technica

The devs behind Yuzu have shut down the Switch emulator, which they now say is “primarily designed” to break DRM.

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Facebook, Instagram, and Threads Are Coming Back Online After a 2-Hour Outage

Amanda Hoover and Vittoria Elliott

People around the world reported that Meta’s social platforms Facebook, Instagram, and Threads suffered outages for about two hours this morning.

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5 Years After San Francisco Banned Face Recognition, Voters Ask for More Surveillance

Lauren Goode and Tom Simonite

On Tuesday the country’s techiest city backed a ballot proposition that tapped into concerns about crime, giving the police more freedom to use drones and other surveillance technology.

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