The world generates tons of electronic waste every year, leaving a profound impact on the environment. For tech enthusiasts, unused or broken electronics might be piling up in your garage or storage, but there’s hope.
Transforming old electronic projects into green solutions is good for the planet and offers an opportunity for you to get creative and make the most out of the technology you love. Here are some clever ways to reduce your e-waste and put those old devices to use.
1. Donate Working Electronics
If you have working electronics that you no longer need or use, donating them makes a world of difference to the right organization. Schools, low-income households, and community centers often lack functioning devices, such as laptops, tablets, or cameras, to support education and digital literacy. Research local nonprofits or charities in your area that directly benefit people with your items.
However, before donating, wipe any personal data from the devices and test them to confirm they function properly. Your donation extends the life of electronics and provides others with opportunities they might not otherwise have.
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2. Repurpose Components
Have you considered disassembling old electronics and using their components for new DIY projects? Motors, capacitors, resistors, and LED lights from old devices are useful components for other creative or functional builds. For instance, taking apart an outdated remote-control toy car provides working motors for a robotics project.
If you’re hesitant about where to start your deconstruction project, look for online tutorials or communities that specialize in DIY electronics and tinkering. This approach fosters innovation while preventing usable materials from going to waste.
3. Recycle Responsibly
Recycling outdated or broken electronics responsibly is essential for reducing the environmental impact. Look for certified e-waste recycling centers in your area, as they have the expertise to safely extract valuable materials, such as metals, plastics, and glass.
These professionals also understand more niche topics like the packaging requirements for battery disposal and its importance. Many of these centers ensure proper disposal of harmful components, such as lithium-ion batteries or toxic chemicals.
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Some tech companies, like Apple or Best Buy, run recycling programs that collect used electronics at no charge to make the process easier. Always check that the battery compartment is empty before recycling and look for separate battery drop-off locations nearby.
4. Sell Usable Parts
Old tech often holds more value than you think, especially when you break it down into parts. Sell components like graphics cards, memory sticks, and processors individually via online marketplaces to other people who are working on repairs or upgrades.
Selling these usable pieces allows other tech enthusiasts to extend the lifespan of their devices with affordable options. Before listing anything for sale, test component functionality and provide detailed descriptions for potential buyers.
5. Upcycle Into Art
Turn outdated circuit boards, wires, and other electronic components into unique art pieces that add character to your home or office. Circuit boards, with their intricate designs, look great as the foundation for creative sculptures. You might also fashion jewelry, such as earrings or pendants, from compact mechanical parts.
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Upcycling is an excellent way to showcase your love for technology while turning old electronics into greener solutions. Online platforms like Pinterest or Etsy have a wealth of inspiration for creating tech-inspired art.
6. Refurbish and Reuse
Refurbishing old devices gives them a second life and keeps them out of landfills. Whether it’s a forgotten smartphone or a dusty tablet, replacing damaged screens, upgrading components, or repairing ports makes them useful again. Many online repair guides and tools are available to help you get started. You can also consult local repair services if you’re not confident handling electronics yourself.
7. Compost Bio-Plastics
Certain biodegradable electronics are now available on the market, and if you’ve been a part of such innovative projects, consider composting them correctly. Bio-plastics offer an environmentally-friendly alternative to traditional, toxic materials used in items like device casings.
After removing and recycling the electronic components, check the manufacturer’s guidance on how to safely compost the biodegradable parts. Composting allows these materials to break down naturally, which reduces their impact on the environment and enriches the soil.
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8. Convert to Smart Devices
When you’re not ready to let go of your older tech, repurpose and upgrade it to serve modern smart functions. For example, an old Android phone can become a home security camera using apps specialized for that purpose. Similarly, you could repurpose a tablet as a digital cookbook or an extra monitor for your workstation.
Many tutorials are available online to guide you through these transformations, which require minimal hassle and tools. This approach creates value without needing to purchase an entirely new device.
9. Create Educational Displays
Old electronic devices teach others about technology, especially young learners who are curious about how things work. Carefully dismantling items like computers or gaming consoles provides the components to create displays showcasing their inner workings.
Label each part to explain its role in the device to provide a hands-on learning experience. Through education, older electronics continue to serve a vital purpose. Set up these displays in classrooms, community libraries, or science fairs to spark curiosity and inspire creativity in future tech enthusiasts.
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10. Transform Into Furniture
For larger pieces of electronics, such as CRT TVs or bulky desktop computers, consider turning them into one-of-a-kind furniture. Hollow out an old TV and convert it into a fish tank or shelf. Similarly, a CPU tower might make a great base for a table or storage unit.
These projects require minimal additional materials but do call for a touch of creativity and craftsmanship. By upcycling into tech furniture, you keep larger items from becoming waste while adding quirky, functional pieces to your space.
Technology evolves quickly, and it’s easy for electronic projects to fall by the wayside. By thinking creatively and sustainably, old devices find new life, reduce waste, and even educate or inspire other learners and enthusiasts. Begin giving a second life to your retired projects today and make a meaningful difference.
It happens in every emerging industry: founders and investors push toward a common goal, until the money starts to roll in and that shared vision begins to diverge.
Cracks are emerging in the fusion power world, which I saw firsthand at The Economist’s Fusion Fest in London last week. It didn’t dampen the overall buoyant mood, lifted by fusion startups’ fundraising haul of $1.6 billion in the last 12 months. But people had differing opinions on two key questions: When should fusion startups go public? And are side businesses a distraction?
Going public was at the top of everyone’s minds. In the last four months, TAE Technologies and General Fusion have announced plans to merge with publicly traded companies. Both stand to receive hundreds of millions of dollars to keep their R&D efforts alive, and investors, some of whom have kept the faith for 20 years, finally see an opportunity to cash out.
Not everyone is in agreement. Most of those who I spoke to were worried these companies were going public far too early and that they hadn’t achieved key milestones that many view as vital in judging the progress of a fusion company.
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First, a recap: TAE announced its merger with Trump Media & Technology Group in December. Though the deal isn’t yet completed, the fusion side of the business has already received $200 million of a potential $300 million in cash from the deal, giving it some runway to continue planning its power plant. (The remainder will reportedly land in its bank account once it files the S-4 form with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.)
General Fusion said in January that it would go public via a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company. The deal could net the company $335 million and value the combined entity at $1 billion.
Both companies could use the cash.
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Before the merger announcement, General Fusion was struggling to raise funds, and around this time last year it laid off 25% of its staff as CEO Greg Twinney posted a public letter pleading for investment. It received a brief reprieve in August when investors threw it a $22 million lifeline, but that sort of money doesn’t last long in the fusion world, where equipment, experiments, and employees don’t come cheap.
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TAE’s position wasn’t quite as dire, but it still required some funds. Pre-merger, the company raised nearly $2 billion, which sounds like a lot, but keep in mind the company is nearly 30 years old. What’s more, its valuation pre-merger was $2 billion, according to PitchBook. Investors were breaking even at best.
Neither company has hit scientific breakeven, a key milestone that shows a reactor design has power plant potential. Many observers doubt they’ll hit that mark before other privately held startups do. One executive told me, if they were in those shoes, they’re not sure how they would fill time on quarterly earnings calls if the companies didn’t hit scientific breakeven soon.
If TAE or General Fusion doesn’t deliver results, several people feared the public markets would sour on the entire fusion industry.
Now, not all may be lost. TAE has already started marketing other products, including power electronics and radiation therapy for cancer. That could give the company some near-term revenue to placate shareholders. General Fusion, though, hasn’t revealed any such plans.
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And therein lies another divide: fusion companies remain split on whether they should pursue revenue now or wait until they have a working power plant.
Some companies are embracing the opportunity to make money along the way. Not a bad strategy! Fusion is a long game, so why not improve your odds? Both Commonwealth Fusion Systems and Tokamak Energy have said they’ll be selling magnets. TAE and Shine Technologies are both in nuclear medicine.
Other startups are worried that side hustles could become a distraction. Inertia Enterprises, for example, told me that they’re laser-focused on their power plant. That jibes with what another investor told me months ago: — they were worried that fusion startups could get distracted by profitable, but tangential businesses and fall off the lead.
There wasn’t consensus on the right time to go public either. I heard a few proposed milestones. Some believe startups should first reach that scientific breakeven milestone, in which a fusion reaction generates more energy than it needs to ignite. No startup has achieved that yet. The other possibilities are facility breakeven — when the reactor makes more energy than the entire site needs to operate — and commercial viability — when a reactor makes enough electrons to sell a meaningful amount to the grid.
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We may have an answer to that question sooner than later. Commonwealth Fusion Systems expects it will hit scientific breakeven sometime next year, and some think the company might use that as an opportunity to go public.
Lua can ‘build AI agents that solve real problems’ through collaboration with people, regardless of a team or organisation’s technical depth or skill.
Irish co-founded and London-based agentic workforce AI start-up Lua raised $5.8m in funding last week (16 April) in a round led by Norrsken22.
Lua offers customers the opportunity to “build AI agents that solve real problems” through collaboration with people, it claims, regardless of a team or organisation’s technical depth or skill.
The company said it will use the new funding to continue to build out its developer community and the ‘Lua Implementation Network’, which it said is a growing community of independent partners deploying Lua agentic workforces in their own markets around the world.
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Other investors included Flourish Ventures, 20VC, P1 Ventures, Phosphor Capital and Y Combinator, along with angels such as Henri Stern, the CEO of Privy; Kaz Nejatian, the CEO of Opendoor; and Med Benmansour, the CEO of Nuitee.
“The companies that will win over the next few years are the ones that build their agent workforce with the same intentionality they bring to their human workforce,” said CEO and co-founder Lorcan O’Cathain.
“Most businesses are either blocked by technical complexity or locked into rigid tools that don’t reflect how their teams actually work.
“Lua is built on the opposite principle: teams own their agents, own their outcomes and build compounding efficiency over time.”
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The platform is described as offering “an opinionated, full-stack agent” that is suitable for both technical and non-technical users, to run inside existing systems while “coordinating handoffs between agents and humans”.
In a LinkedIn post regarding the funding announcement, Lua said the number of agents on its platform had grown by 10 times during Q1.
Lua was founded in 2024 by O’Cathain and Stefan Kruger, who is the company’s CTO. The company said it “ has been global since day one, deployed across emerging markets in Africa and Asia alongside customers in the US and Europe”.
The founders of Lua “fundamentally understand how agent and human workforces need to collaborate to get work done”, said Lexi Novitske, a general partner at Norrsken22.
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Lua proposes solution for customers in healthcare, financial services, retail, manufacturing and real estate. The integration of AI into the workforce and workplace is a topical issue for a variety of reasons.
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Microsoft has released out-of-band (OOB) updates to fix issues affecting Windows Server systems after installing the April 2026 security updates.
As Microsoft confirmed last week, some admins may experience failures when installing the KB5082063 security update on Windows Server 2025 devices.
Additionally, this month’s Patch Tuesday cumulative updates are causing some Windows servers with domain controller roles to enter a restart loop due to crashes of the Local Security Authority Subsystem Service (LSASS).
Microsoft also warned that this issue may also occur when setting up new domain controllers (or even on existing ones) if the server processes authentication requests very early during startup.
To address these two known issues, Microsoft has released emergency updates for the following affected Windows Server versions:
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“The Windows Server 2025 OOB update (KB5091157) addresses both the installation failure issue and the domain controller restart issue,” Microsoft explained. “OOB updates released for other supported Windows Server versions address only the domain controller restart issue.”
On Wednesday, Microsoft also warned admins that some Windows Server 2025 devices will boot into BitLocker recovery and prompt users to enter a BitLocker key after installing the KB5082063 Windows security update.
Additionally, last week, it finally addressed a bug that has been plaguing Windows servers since September 2024, causing devices running Windows Server 2019 and Windows Server 2022 to upgrade to Windows Server 2025 “unexpectedly.”
Since the start of the year, Microsoft has also released emergency updates to resolve a Bluetooth device visibility bug and patch security vulnerabilities in the Routing and Remote Access Service (RRAS) management tool that affect hotpatch-enabled Windows 11 Enterprise devices.
AI chained four zero-days into one exploit that bypassed both renderer and OS sandboxes. A wave of new exploits is coming.
At the Autonomous Validation Summit (May 12 & 14), see how autonomous, context-rich validation finds what’s exploitable, proves controls hold, and closes the remediation loop.
Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility, your hub for the future of transportation and now, more than ever, how AI is playing a part. To get this in your inbox, sign up here for free — just click TechCrunch Mobility!
A few weeks ago, I wrote about how Uber seemed to be everywhere, all at once in the emerging autonomous vehicle technology sector. The Financial Times has now put a number on it. The FT calculated that Uber has committed more than $10 billion to buying autonomous vehicles and taking equity stakes in the companies developing the tech, according to public records and discussions with folks behind the scenes. About $2.5 billion of that is in direct investments, with the remaining $7.5 billion to be spent on buying robotaxis over the next few years, the outlet reported.
We’ve reported on Uber’s numerous investments and deals with autonomous vehicle companies across drones, robotaxis, and freight. Some of its investments include WeRide, Lucid and Nuro, Rivian, and Wayve.
This rather large number (and particularly that $7.5 billion) got me thinking about another transformative era in Uber’s history and how it has visited these asset-heavy shores before. Uber might have started with a plan to be asset light, but for a brief period it did quite the opposite.
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Uber went on a moonshot spree between 2015 and 2018. It launched electric air taxi developer Uber Elevate and the in-house autonomous vehicle unit Uber ATG, which would be boosted by its acquisition of Otto in 2016. It also snapped up micromobility startup Jump in 2018.
And then in 2020, Uber pulled the asset-heavy rip cord, ostensibly leaving all of those moonshots behind. Uber sold Uber ATG to Aurora, Jump to Lime, and Elevate to Joby Aviation. But it didn’t completely divest; it kept equity stakes in all of them.
Uber is now entering into a new and different asset-heavy era. It’s not plunking down millions, or even billions, to develop the technology in-house, although I’m sure folks there would be quick to pipe up that there is always R&D happening over at Uber. Instead, it appears to be focused on owning (or perhaps leasing) the physical assets.
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That could mean interesting line items on Uber’s balance sheet in the future.
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Owning fleets of robotaxis built by other companies might not have been the original vision of Uber, or its former CEO Travis Kalanick, who has said the company made a mistake when it abandoned its AV development program. But this new approach could still get it to the same end point.
A little bird
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Earlier this month, I interviewed Eclipse partner Jiten Behl about the venture firm’s new $1.3 billion fund and where that money might be headed. The firm, as I wrote, intends to incubate more startups (e.g., it was behind the Rivian spinout Also). Behl wouldn’t give me details, only stating, “We’re definitely working on a couple of really cool ideas.” He also said Eclipse is particularly interested in startups that work across enterprises.
Thanks to one little bird and some document diving by senior reporter Sean O’Kane, it looks like a seed round announcement is imminent for a San Francisco-based startup working on an autonomous hauler that I’ve been told doesn’t have a driver cab. This sounds similar to what Einride has built, but since we haven’t seen it, we’ll have to wait.
The company’s roster isn’t big, but it is chock-full of Silicon Valley tech elite, including a founder who was at Uber ATG, Pronto, and Waabi. Stay tuned for more.
Slate is back with more capital as it prepares to put its first affordable pickup trucks into production by the end of 2026.
The electric vehicle startup, which got its start with backing from Jeff Bezos, raised another $650 million in a Series C funding round led by TWG Global. Keep your eye on TWG. This is the firm run by Guggenheim Partners chief executive (and Los Angeles Dodgers owner) Mark Walter and investor Thomas Tull.
Slate has raised about $1.4 billion to date, and its previous investors include General Catalyst, Jeff Bezos’ family office, VC firm Slauson & Co., and former Amazon executive Diego Piacentini, as TechCrunch first reported last year.
Other deals that got my attention …
Glydways, a San Francisco-based startup developing personal autonomous pods designed to operate on dedicated 2-meter-wide lanes in cities, raised $170 million in a Series C funding round co-led by Suzuki Motor Corporation, ACS Group, and Khosla Ventures. Existing investors Mitsui Chemicals and Gates Frontier and new investor Obayashi Corporation also participated. But wait, there’s more.
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GM and Ford are reportedly talking to the Pentagon about whether the auto industry can help the military revamp its procurement program and find cheaper, faster ways to buy vehicles, munitions, or other hardware, the New York Times reported, citing anonymous sources.
Loop, a San Francisco-based startup, raised $95 million in a Series C funding round led by Valor Equity Partners and the Valor Atreides AI Fund, and includes investments from 8VC, Founders Fund, Index Ventures, and J.P. Morgan’s late-stage fund, Growth Equity Partners.
Monarch Tractor, the startup developing electric, autonomous tractors, has moved on to (ahem) a different pasture. The startup’s assets have been acquired by Caterpillar after struggling to pivot to a software services business.
Uber is increasing its stake in Delivery Hero by 4.5%, the Financial Times reported. Uber agreed to buy about 270 million euros in shares from Prosus, the Dutch investment group and Delivery Hero’s largest shareholder.
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Notable reads and other tidbits
Image Credits:Bryce Durbin
Doug Field, the high-profile executive who shaped Ford’s electric vehicle and technology strategies over the past five years, is leaving. Notably, Ford is shaking up the organization as well, creating a “product creation and industrialization” team to be led by COO Kumar Galhotra. Any guesses where Field is headed next? Perhaps he’ll return to Silicon Valley.
Lightship, the all-electric RV startup, is expanding its Colorado-based factory by another 44,000 square feet, which will allow it to quadruple its manufacturing capacity.
Rivian and battery recycling and materials startup Redwood Materials partnered years ago. We’re now seeing the fruits of that relationship. Redwood is installing battery energy storage at Rivian’s factory in Illinois. The catch? Redwood is using 100 second-life Rivian battery packs, which will provide 10 megawatt-hours (MWh) of dispatchable energy to reduce cost and grid load during peak demand periods.
Tesla created a new self-driving app that makes it easier for owners to subscribe to its Full Self-Driving software and see statistics on how — and how often — they use it. This may not be huge news, but it did catch my eye because of the gamified qualities of these new stats.
Waymo, as per usual, has a few news items this week. The Alphabet-owned company started testing its autonomous vehicles on public roads in London. It also removed its waitlist in Miami and Orlando to scale its robotaxi services in the two cities.
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One more thing …
This newsletter isn’t my only project that is leaning more heavily into robotics. My podcast, the Autonocast, is too, as the worlds of autonomous vehicles, AI, and robotics mash together. Check out this interview with Foxglove founder Adrian MacNeil, who previously worked at Cruise.
Programmers have managed to cram the original Mac OS X onto a Nintendo Wii from 2006, a piece of hardware that is nearly 20 years old. Bryan Keller, the brains behind this, spent a year and a half developing tools to make it happen through a project called wiiMac. The result lets the Wii boot into Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah and handle basic tasks even if the experience moves slowly on such limited hardware.
To begin, owners must ensure that their Wii is functioning properly. The SD card slot is required, and the Wii must be running a soft mod with BootMii installed as the second thing to boot, or via an IOS. Unfortunately, the Wii Mini is out of the running because it lacks the essential slot. To get everything up and running, two SD cards are required: one for the BootMii files and the wiiMac bootloader, and the second for the Mac OS X system, which has to be at least 4GB in size.
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To configure the cards, you will need a spare computer running macOS or Linux. The first card receives a copy of the most recent wiiMac files directly to the root folder, along with the BootMii files, which are almost certainly already present, and there must be a text file inside the wiiMac folder that allows you to select the appropriate video mode for your region, such as NTSC or PAL.
The second card must be partitioned into three smaller and smaller sections: a 64MB FAT32 section labeled Support, a 1GB HFS+ section labeled Install, and a larger HFS+ section labeled Macintosh HD that takes up the remainder of the space, as the commands for doing so will differ slightly depending on the computer you’re using, but the goal is the same. The Install partition is then loaded with a full copy of the Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah installer, as you’ll need an original disk image to transfer it from, which you can achieve via a block level transfer. Meanwhile, the Support partition receives a folder named wiiMac, which contains a specially patched kernel file as well as a slew of unique drivers designed specifically for Wii hardware.
Once the cards are ready, you can transfer them to the Wii. Insert the BootMii card and restart the Wii, which should bring you to the BootMii interface. From there, simply load the wiiMac bootloader and quickly switch the first card for the second, which contains all of the Mac OS X partitions. The bootloader takes over and launches the installer; at this point, you’ll need a simple USB keyboard and mouse plugged directly into the Wii ports, as connecting them via a hub is likely to cause issues. The installer next walks you through selecting the Macintosh HD partition as the location for the system files, and that’s all.
Once the installation is complete, the new operating system will boot. To get the newly loaded Mac OS X up and running, you must perform the same old card switch and bootloader dance. At this point, you’ll probably notice that the screen resolution is looking a little stretched out, so you’ll need to head directly to System Preferences and adjust it to a more reasonable 640×480 for readability. The next thing you do is run a few terminal commands to adjust the swap file size and compress the Dock down to size in order to squeeze out some more speed from the Wii’s not-so-modern 78 MB of useable RAM and 729 MHz processor. If you plug in a USB storage drive before starting the machine, it should connect OK, but don’t expect it to be reliable.
Performance is about what you’d expect: not exactly blistering speeds. The system handles the Finder and the fundamentals well, but Wi Fi, Bluetooth, the DVD drive, and any type of graphics or audio acceleration are all unsupported. The Classic environment is useful for running older Mac OS 9 software, but expect a slight lag. There is one small bright side, however: when you start the DOOM port, it runs nicely and even outperforms certain older Mac installations in certain scenarios.
The ASX-listed data centre operator is raising A$1.5 billion in a fully underwritten equity offering and expanding its hybrid securities programme by A$700 million, with La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec now committed to a total of A$1.7 billion.
The raise will fund accelerated development of the S4 Western Sydney campus, where contracted utilisation jumped 250 megawatts in a single quarter.
NEXTDC (ASX: NXT), Australia’s largest independent data centre operator, has halted trading to launch a A$2.2 billion capital plan anchored by a fully underwritten A$1.5 billion equity entitlement offer, the company announced on Monday.
The raise is a direct response to a step-change in demand: between December 2025 and 31 March 2026, NEXTDC’s pro forma contracted utilisation jumped 250 megawatts, a 60% increase in a single quarter, to reach 667MW.
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Its forward order book grew 83% over the same period to 544MW, driven by hyperscale cloud providers and AI infrastructure customers.
The equity component is structured as a 1-for-5.4 pro-rata accelerated non-renounceable entitlement offer, priced at A$12.70 per share, an 8.6% discount to the theoretical ex-rights price of A$13.90.
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New shares are expected to be issued to retail shareholders by 18 May, with the institutional bookbuild already underway at the time of the halt. Prior to the suspension, NEXTDC shares had risen approximately 25% through April, reflecting mounting investor enthusiasm for data centre infrastructure plays across Asia-Pacific.
The A$2.2 billion total capital plan combines the A$1.5 billion equity offer with a A$700 million expansion of the company’s hybrid securities programme.
NEXTDC’s hybrid securities, which are deeply subordinated instruments ranking junior to all existing debt, had previously been backed by a A$1 billion binding commitment from La Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ), Canada’s second-largest pension fund with approximately C$517 billion in assets.
The expanded commitment brings La Caisse’s total backing to A$1.7 billion, cementing what the Canadian investor described as a “promising first step toward a long-term partnership” with NEXTDC.
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The primary use of proceeds is the accelerated development of S4, NEXTDC’s data centre campus in Western Sydney, where the company intends to invest approximately A$1.5 billion through the end of financial year 2027.
A record 250MW customer commitment at S4 during the quarter is what triggered the announcement: CEO Craig Scroggie described the capital raise as a way to “materially expand NEXTDC’s contracted capacity and de-risk the company’s Western Sydney developments ahead of potential strategic partnership transactions with private capital partners from 2027.”
That last phrase signals intent to bring in joint venture partners or asset-level investors once the facility is contracted and de-risked, a common monetisation mechanism for large-scale data centre infrastructure.
The financial guidance accompanying the announcement is striking. NEXTDC raised its FY26 capital expenditure guidance by A$300 million to a range of A$2.7 billion to A$3.0 billion.
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For FY27, capex is forecast at approximately A$5.0 billion. The company is simultaneously maintaining its existing FY26 revenue and EBITDA guidance while projecting that contracted EBITDA from existing customer agreements alone will exceed A$1 billion over time, roughly four times the midpoint of current FY26 guidance of A$235 million.
Following the raise and recent funding activity, NEXTDC expects pro forma liquidity of approximately A$5.9 billion.
NEXTDC operates or is developing 20 data centres across Australia, in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Port Hedland, Canberra, Adelaide, the Sunshine Coast, and Darwin, and is evaluating sites in Tokyo, Bangkok, Johor and Kuala Lumpur in Malaysia, and Singapore.
Australia’s deployable data centre capacity stands at approximately 1,350 megawatts today, with consensus forecasts projecting 3,100 MW by 2030–31 and potentially up to 7.4 gigawatts by 2035 under AI-driven scenarios.
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NSW has endorsed A$51.9 billion worth of data centre projects through its Investment Delivery Authority, effectively concentrating approvals, and the grid connections and planning support that come with them, in a small number of qualified operators.
Nuclear batteries are pretty simple devices that are conceptually rather similar to photovoltaic (PV) solar, just using the radiation from a radioisotope rather than solar radiation. It’s also possible to make your own nuclear battery, with [Double M Innovations] putting together a version that uses standard PV cells combined with small tritium vials as radiation source.
The PV cells are the amorphous type, rated for 2.4 V, which means that they’re not too fussy about the exact wavelength at the cost of some general efficiency. You generally find these on solar-powered calculators for this reason. Meanwhile the tritium vials have an inner coating of phosphor so they glow. With a couple of these vials sandwiched in between two amorphous cells you thus have technically something that you could call a ‘nuclear battery’.
With an approximately 12 year half-life, tritium isn’t amazingly radioactive and thus the glow from the phosphor is also not really visible in daylight. With this DIY battery wrapped up in aluminium foil to cover it up fully, it does appear to generate some current in the nanoamp range, with a single-cell and series voltage of about 0.5 V.
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A 170 VAC-rated capacitor is connected to collect some current over time, with just under 3 V measured after a night of charging. In how far the power comes from the phosphor and how much from sources like thermal radiation is hard to say in this setup. However, if you can match up the PV cell’s bandgap a bit more with the radiation source, you should be able to pull at least a few mW from a DIY nuclear battery, as seen with commercial examples.
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen this particular trick. A few years ago, a similar setup was used to power a handheld game, as long as you don’t mind waiting a few months for it to charge.
Surveillance and analytics company Palantir recently posted what it called a “brief” 22-point summary of CEO Alex Karp’s book “The Technological Republic.”
Written by Karp and Palantir’s head of corporate affairs, Nicholas Zamiska, “The Technological Republic” was published last year and described by its authors as “the beginnings of the articulation of the theory” behind Palantir’s work. (One critic said it was “not a book at all, but a piece of corporate sales material.”)
In fact, congressional Democrats recently sent a letter to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security demanding more information about how tools built by Palantir and “a range of surveillance companies” are being used in the Trump administration’s aggressive deportation strategy.
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Palantir’s post doesn’t reference much of that context directly, simply saying that it’s providing the summary “because we get asked a lot.” It then suggests that “Silicon Valley owes a moral debt to the country that made its rise possible” and declares that “free email is not enough.”
“The decadence of a culture or civilization, and indeed its ruling class, will be forgiven only if that culture is capable of delivering economic growth and security for the public,” the company says.
The post is wide-ranging, at one point criticizing a culture that “almost snickers at [Elon] Musk’s interest in grand narrative” and at another point touching on recent debates about the use of artificial intelligence by the military.
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“The question is not whether A.I. weapons will be built; it is who will build them and for what purpose,” Palantir says. “Our adversaries will not pause to indulge in theatrical debates about the merits of developing technologies with critical military and national security applications. They will proceed.”
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Similarly, the company suggests that “the atomic age is ending,” while “a new era of deterrence built on A.I. is set to begin.”
The post also takes a moment to denounce the “postwar neutering of Germany and Japan,” adding that the “defanging of Germany was an overcorrection for which Europe is now paying a heavy price” and that “a similar and highly theatrical commitment to Japanese pacifism” could “threaten to shift the balance of power in Asia.”
The post ends by criticizing “the shallow temptation of a vacant and hollow pluralism.” In Palantir’s argument, a blind devotion to pluralism and inclusivity “glosses over the fact that certain cultures and indeed subcultures . . . have produced wonders. Others have proven middling, and worse, regressive and harmful.”
After Palantir posted this on Saturday, Eliot Higgins, the CEO of the investigative website Bellingcat, dryly remarked that it was “extremely normal and fine for a company to put this in a public statement.”
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Higgins also argued that there’s more to the post than a simple “defense of the West” — in his view, it’s an attack on what he said are key pillars of democracy that need rebuilding: verification, deliberation, and accountability.
“It’s also worth being clear about who’s doing the arguing,” Higgins wrote. “Palantir sells operational software to defense, intelligence, immigration & police agencies. These 22 points aren’t philosophy floating in space, they’re the public ideology of a company whose revenue depends on the politics it’s advocating.”
Home Depot has a launched a massive spring sale, appropriately named ‘Spring Black Friday‘, with up to 40% in savings on patio furniture, appliances, grills, lawn mowers, tools and more.
As TechRadar’s deals editor and a huge fan of Home Depot, I’ve gone through Home Depot’s sale and hand-picked the best deals. While Home Depot’s Black Friday sale is always a popular event, with impressive savings, Home Depot’s spring sale is even better, because you get to save on seasonal items.
The retailer has record-low prices on outdoor essentials like patio furniture, gardening tools and grills, as well Black Friday-like discounts on major appliances, including refrigerators, washing machines and dishwashers from brands like LG, Samsung and Whirlpool.
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You’ll find links to Home Depot’s most popular sale categories below, followed by my pick of the top deals. Keep in mind that Home Depot’s sale ends on April 29, so time is running out to score spring savings.
Zoom “has partnered with World, Sam Altman’s iris-scanning identity company (previously known as Worldcoin), ” reports Digital Trends, “to add real-time human verification inside meetings.”
Zoom is now inviting organizations to join the beta version of the rollout, which Digital Trends says “lets hosts confirm that every face on the call belongs to a real person, not an AI-generated imposter. ”
For those wondering how World’s Deep Face technology works, it includes a three-step process. It cross-references a signed image from a user’s original Orb registration, a live face scan from the device, and the frame of the video that’s visible to the other participants in the meeting. Only when the three samples match does a “Verified Human” badge appear next to the user’s name…
Hosts can also make Deep Face verification mandatory for joining meetings, preventing unverified participants from joining entirely. Mid-call, on-the-spot checks are also possible…
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