Technology

Microsoft’s AI obsession is jeopardizing its climate ambitions

Published

1 year ago

May 15, 2024

Microsoft’s AI obsession is jeopardizing its climate ambitions

Microsoft’s producing a lot more planet-heating pollution now than it did when it made a bold climate pledge back in 2020. Its greenhouse gas emissions were actually around 30 percent higher in fiscal year 2023, showing how hard it could be for the company to meet climate goals as it simultaneously races to be a leader in AI.

“In many ways the moon is five times as far away as it was in 2020”

Back in 2020, Microsoft set a target of becoming carbon negative by the end of the decade. To translate the jargon, it pledged to slash greenhouse gas emissions by more than half and then capture a greater amount of carbon dioxide emissions than it would produce. It was an audacious commitment to make at the time, considering carbon capture technologies were barely coming into existence. The company would also have to spur the deployment of way more renewable energy onto power grids where it operates.

“In 2020, we unveiled what we called our carbon moonshot. That was before the explosion in artificial intelligence,” Microsoft president Brad Smith said in an interview with Bloomberg. “So in many ways the moon is five times as far away as it was in 2020, if you just think of our own forecast for the expansion of AI and its electrical needs.”

Diving into the data in Microsoft’s sustainability report, you can see just how far it’s gone in the wrong direction. It pumped out 15.357 million metric tons of carbon dioxide over the last fiscal year, comparable to the annual carbon pollution of Haiti or Brunei.

Data centers used to train AI are even more energy-intensive than traditional data centers that already gobble up a lot of electricity to run servers and cooling systems to prevent overheating. And Microsoft has plans to build a whole lot more of those data centers now that it’s all in on AI. The company planned to spend $50 billion over the past fiscal year in order to meet its AI ambitions — a figure it’s expected to surpass in the following year, Bloomberg reports.

Technology

It’s the final day of Prime Day 2025, and the deals are still live

Published

2 hours ago

July 12, 2025

Press Room

It’s the final day of Prime Day 2025, and the deals are still live

Editor’s note: That’s a wrap, folks! As Prime Day 2025 draws to a close, we’ll no longer be updating this article with additional deals and insights. Plenty of great deals remain, however, so be sure to check out all of our Prime Day coverage for anything you may have missed.

There are mere hours left of Amazon’s extended Prime Day extravaganza. And, yeah, we’re a little exhausted, but after days of lightning deals and all-time low prices, these discounts won’t be around for much longer. So, if you’ve been hesitant to jump on these laptop deals before heading back to school, now’s your time to act. Typically, Prime Day is your last opportunity to take advantage of bottom-dollar prices until Black Friday / Cyber Monday, so it may be a while before you see prices plummet on a gadget you’re interested in buying.

Really, there’s an overwhelming amount of Prime Day deals, so to make things easier to navigate, we’ve organized all of our favorites by category below. That will allow you to quickly find exactly what you’re looking for — or even uncover a deal on something you didn’t know you wanted.

Tablet and e-reader deals

Soundbar and Bluetooth speaker deals

Verge favorites and other miscellaneous deals

Update, July 11th: Added several more deals, including those for Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, Razer’s Kishi Ultra mobile controller, and Amazon’s Fire TV Soundbar Plus.

Technology

Massive scam spreading designed to trick you and steal your money

Published

3 hours ago

July 12, 2025

Press Room

Massive scam spreading designed to trick you and steal your money

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

Look at the image. That’s not the real Omaha Steaks. It’s from a fake site designed to steal your money.

It’s happening all over the internet right now. You see a great deal on name-brand stuff, a new smartwatch, fancy cookware, maybe some designer jeans, and you click.

Everything looks real. The logos, the layout, even Apple and Google Pay are options. But it’s a scam, and now your credit card info is out there.

5-MINUTE CLEANUP FOR YOUR PHONE AND COMPUTER

A massive scam targeting you

Silent Push analysts uncovered thousands of fake websites posing as trusted stores like Apple, Michael Kors, Harbor Freight, REI, Omaha Steaks and more. There’s a massive global scam operation that uses real payment methods on fake checkout pages. Like thousands-of-sites massive.

An image of a fake “Omaha Steaks” website designed to steal your money. (Silent Push)

The twist? The criminals, likely based in China, take your payment and ghost you. No product. No refund. No customer service. Total fake-out.

I’M A TECH PRO AND THESE ARE MY SECRETS TO BETTER FLIGHTS AND LUXURY TRAVEL

They cloned sites

They’re copying everything. Logos, layouts, even the checkout process, so much so that you’d swear you were on the real REI website while buying $10 trail shoes.

But there were some sites with mismatched logos and products. A Harbor Freight clone showed Wrangler jeans.

photo illustration of person holding a credit card shopping online

FILE PHOTO: A photo illustration of a person shopping online. (iStock)

Even worse: These scam sites are popping up faster than hosting companies can take them down. Many are still up right now.

IS YOUR PHONE LISTENING TO EVERYTHING YOU SAY? IT’S COMPLICATED

Don’t fall for it

Slow down and read. Misspelled words, weird domain names like “nordstromltems.com” (that’s an L, not an I) or random products are huge red flags.
Use virtual cards or a credit card. Not a debit card. You need that fraud protection.
Stick to the real URL. Skip the sketchy ads. Always type the URL in yourself.
If the deal looks too good, it probably is a scam. Period.

FILE PHOTO: A photo illustration of a cybercriminal. (iStock)

Bottom line: If the deal looks like it crawled straight out of your dreams, it’s probably from your nightmares. Slow down before you click “buy.”

Now you know this is happening. This scam campaign is a big one, and you need to stay sharp. Help save the world and use the icons below to share this know-how with your family and friends.

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Technology

Here are 58 Prime Day deals you can still nab for $50 or less

Published

22 hours ago

July 11, 2025

Press Room

Here are 58 Prime Day deals you can still nab for or less

Amazon Prime Day is an excellent time to save on a wide range of big-ticket items, including 4K TVs, laptops, and the latest pairs of noise-canceling headphones. But if you, like me, are in the market for something more budget-friendly, rest assured that there are plenty of deals to be had for $50 or less. Thankfully, we’ve sifted through hundreds of discounts to find a host of Bluetooth speakers, charging accessories, video games, smart home devices, and other gadgets that come in under that threshold. It’s the final day of Prime Day, which means these deals aren’t going to be available for much longer.

While Prime Day 2025 runs a little longer than previous installments — the event lasts through July 11th this year — these sub-$50 deals might sell out quickly. The good news is retailers such as Walmart and Best Buy are matching Amazon’s pricing in some instances, giving you more places to shop over the next few days. We’ll continue to update this post as Prime Day progresses, but for now, feel free to browse the options below.