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Tech

How Melbourne AI Energy Systems Tackle Demand

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This article is brought to you by Melbourne Convention Bureau (MCB) supported by Business Events Australia.

As artificial intelligence accelerates global demand for compute, a parallel constraint is emerging with equal urgency: energy.

From hyperscale data centers to electrified industries, AI is driving a step change in electricity demand. This is not a future challenge, it is a present, system-level issue requiring coordinated action across energy, infrastructure, and engineering disciplines.

Around the world, the question is no longer whether AI will scale, but whether energy systems can scale with it.

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Melbourne, Australia is moving beyond participation to become a globally connected leader helping define how these challenges are addressed.

A national challenge with global implications

Australia’s ambition to lead in artificial intelligence is sharpening focus on the infrastructure required to support it. Data centers are projected to account for up to 11 percent of the nation’s electricity consumption by 2035, placing increasing pressure on generation, transmission, and system reliability.

At the same time, insight from the IEEE Power and Energy Society (PES) highlights that meeting energy demand from AI and digital infrastructure is one of the most significant challenges facing engineers over the next decade.

The implications are clear. In addition to computing challenges, AI poses major energy systems challenges.

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“As artificial intelligence continues to scale globally, the challenge is no longer just computational power, it is the energy systems required to support it” —Professor Thas (Ampalavanapillai) Nirmalathas, University of Melbourne

Why Melbourne is leading on the global stage

Victoria has developed one of the most advanced and integrated energy ecosystems in Australia and globally, spanning renewable generation, battery storage, grid modernization, and advanced materials.

What distinguishes Melbourne globally is how these capabilities are connected and applied at system scale.

The city brings together world class engineering research, a rapidly evolving clean energy sector, advanced digital infrastructure, and strong alignment between government, industry, and academia. This convergence is critical in the AI era, where energy, networks and computing systems must be designed together.

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Victoria’s coordinated investment across these areas is positioning Melbourne not only as a national leader, but also as a reference point in the global energy system transformation.

Engineering the systems behind the AI economy

The challenge ahead is that generating more power won’t be enough, as engineers need to design systems that respond dynamically to new patterns of demand.

Three priorities are emerging globally:

  • Aligning data center development with grid capacity and renewable supply
  • Embedding flexibility through storage, demand response, and system optimization
  • Balancing digital growth with decarbonization and long-term reliability

Addressing these priorities requires engineering expertise to be embedded earlier in planning ensuring energy systems, digital infrastructure, and policy are designed in parallel.

Melbourne’s strength lies in its ability to integrate this expertise across research, infrastructure, and real-world application.

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Crowd mingling in a modern glass courtyard during an outdoor social event Melbourne Connect is a University of Melbourne–led innovation precinct, supported by government and industry, designed to bring together research, business and policy to deliver real-world solutions.Atlantic Group

Research leadership shaping global solutions

At the centre of this capability is the University of Melbourne, where interdisciplinary research is advancing the systems required to support AI driven energy demand.

Through the Melbourne Energy Institute, for example, researchers are examining how energy technologies interact across entire systems from generation and networks through to end use.

“As artificial intelligence continues to scale globally, the challenge is no longer just computational power, it is the energy systems required to support it,” says Professor Thas (Ampalavanapillai) Nirmalathas, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Melbourne.

“This is driving a new level of convergence between digital infrastructure and power systems engineering, where integrated, system level thinking is essential.”

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Converging energy, networks and AI

Melbourne’s leadership is further strengthened by world-class interdisciplinary facilities such as the Smart Grid Lab in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, which enables real-time simulation of power systems, allowing engineers to test how solar, batteries, electric vehicles and other distributed resources interact within future grids. This supports the design of more resilient, efficient energy systems before they are deployed at scale.

Control room with server racks, workstations, and a large grid monitoring display. Melbourne’s Smart Grid Lab in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering enables real-time simulation of power systems. University of Melbourne

These capabilities will become increasingly important as data centers are integrated into the grid.

“AI driven demand is not only increasing computing requirements, but also placing new pressures on underlying energy systems,” says Glen Farivar, Senior Lecturer in Power Electronics at the University of Melbourne. “Designing these systems together is essential to achieving both performance and sustainability outcomes.”

This reflects a critical shift. Future infrastructure must be co designed across energy and digital systems, not developed in isolation.

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A living ecosystem delivering real-world outcomes

Victoria’s broader energy ecosystem is translating these insights into practice.

Investment in renewable energy, grid infrastructure and storage is enabling higher levels of clean energy while maintaining reliability. Battery deployment is supporting the flexibility needed to manage both renewable variability and growing AI-driven demand.

At its core, Melbourne offers an integrated environment where research, industry and government collaborate to solve complex system challenges.

Why engineering collaboration matters

Solving the energy demands of the AI era cannot be achieved in isolation.

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It requires engineers, researchers, utilities, and policymakers to work together earlier and more often. More than ever, engineering collaboration is a critical enabler of future energy systems.

Environments that bring together global expertise are becoming essential to how solutions are designed and delivered.

“Developing future energy systems that are affordable, sustainable, and resilient is a truly grand challenge” —Professor Pierluigi Mancarella, University of Melbourne

In this context, the University of Melbourne is co-leading, alongside Johns Hopkins University and Imperial College London, one of only seven Global Centres in Climate Change and Clean Energy. Through the Electric Power Innovation for a Carbon Free Society (EPICS) Centre, the University is also the Australian technical lead in advancing future energy systems, with EPICS the only Global Centre focused on future energy infrastructure.

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Large solar farm in green fields with wind turbines on the horizon under blue sky The new Electric Power Innovation for a Carbon-Free Society (EPICS) Centre will address challenges in clean energy production and storage.University of Melbourne

“Developing future energy systems that are affordable, sustainable, and resilient is a truly grand challenge,” says Professor Pierluigi Mancarella, Chair Professor of Electrical Power Systems at the University of Melbourne and Australian director and international co-director of EPICS.

“As electricity grids are increasingly becoming the backbone of future energy systems, optimizing their interactions with other sectors, including AI and digitalization, and fostering interdisciplinary and international collaborations are essential,” he adds.

Global conferences as part of the solution

International conferences are increasingly recognized as critical platforms for advancing engineering solutions at scale. Melbourne’s ability to convene global expertise is central to its leadership.

In 2027, the city will host the IEEE PES Generation Transmission and Distribution (GTD) Asia 2027 Conference and Exposition, bringing together engineers, utilities, researchers and policymakers from across the world to address the challenges shaping the future of power systems.

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Four men pose at a 2025 GTD conference booth with energy-themed backdrop. IEEE PES GTD Asia 2027 Melbourne Committee (left to right): Dr. Mehdi Ghazavi Dozein (Monash University), Dr. Glen Farivar & Professor Pierluigi Mancarella (University of Melbourne) , Dr. Mohammad Mohammadi (Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)).MCB

“Melbourne offers a unique environment where world-class research, industry capability and policy leadership come together,” notes the IEEE PES GTD Asia 2027 Local Organising Committee, which includes Professor Pierluigi Mancarella and Dr. Glen Farivar from the University of Melbourne, as well as Dr. Mehdi Ghazavi Dozein of Monash University and Dr. Mohammad Mohammadi of the Australian Energy Market Operator.

“Hosting this event creates an opportunity to advance global collaboration on the systems and technologies required to deliver the energy transition at scale.”

These forums enable knowledge exchange, standards development and interdisciplinary collaboration, accelerating progress on complex engineering challenges.

Two people view a circular digital art installation of glowing screens and green light. Attendees view a digital installation at AIME 2025 at Melbourne Connect.MCB

Why Melbourne, and why now

As AI, electrification and digital infrastructure converge, the future of global energy systems will depend on the ability of engineers to collaborate and innovate at scale.

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Melbourne provides a proven platform for that collaboration, combining world-class research, a rapidly evolving energy ecosystem, and the infrastructure to connect global expertise.

Group standing with award outside historic brick building and garden walkway Melbourne Convention Bureau, IEEE Communications Society, and University of Melbourne Representatives.University of Melbourne

For IEEE members, hosting a conference in Melbourne is more than an event decision.

It is an opportunity to engage with a globally connected engineering community and contribute directly to solving one of the most significant challenges facing the profession today.

Through the support of the Melbourne Convention Bureau, professionals can access tailored, free support to bid for and deliver international conferences, bringing global expertise together in a city actively shaping the future of energy systems.

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To explore hosting your next conference in Melbourne, contact the Melbourne Convention Bureau at info@melbournecb.com.

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The 5 best fitness trackers we’ve seen so far this year, from Google and Garmin to sleeper hits from Amazfit

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5 July 2026

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I’ve been writing about fitness tech for years, and we’re finally at a point where more affordable fitness trackers are now every bit as capable as models that would have cost hundreds of dollars or pounds, little more just a few years ago. That’s not to say premium options don’t have their place too, but many of the standouts this year have certainly been on the cheaper end.

Whether it’s screenless devices showing less can be more, the latest iteration of the popular Oura Ring, or a pair of Amazfit options that can cut it with much more expensive models, here are the best fitness trackers in 2026 so far, in no particular order.

1. Google Fitbit Air

Google Fitbit Air

(Image credit: Peter Hoffmann)
  • Release date: May 26
  • Rating: 4/5

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Google is testing a webcam CAPTCHA that scans your hand, but it's already been bypassed using a photo

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5 July 2026

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Google is working on a new kind of challenge to improve its reCAPTCHA system, using biometric identification to confirm that the user is indeed human. The new method is officially named “hand gesture verification” (HGV), and, according to early testing, is mostly useless. Even worse, HGV might pose a significant…
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2026 Frikkin Lasers Challenge: A 3D-Printed Raman Spectrometer

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29 minutes ago

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5 July 2026

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When light reflects off a surface, not all of it reflects off at the same wavelength; some photons impart a portion of their energy to raising the vibrational energy of the surface’s molecules, and are thus scattered away at a lower energy and longer wavelength. This is called Raman scattering, and the precise wavelength shifts are characteristic of the particular molecule being illuminated. It can therefore be used in Raman spectroscopy to identify molecules; these spectrometers are normally elaborate, expensive instruments, but [Allegedly Science] was able to build a simple system with surprising sensitivity.

The system is named the CubeRaman, after the cube-shaped body containing the main optical path. It uses a cheap 532-nm laser module as a monochromatic light source, with a bandpass filter to eliminate stray infrared light. The beam then reflects off a 45-degree dichroic mirror and passes through a microscope objective onto the sample. Raman-shifted light then scatters back through the objective, passes through the dichroic mirror and a long-pass optical filter, and is focused by an achromatic lens onto the slit of a spectrometer. The entire housing is 3D-printed, as are most parts of the kinematic mounts; the kinematic mounts use adjustment screws running through inserts in the mount, with the tips of the screws held in place by magnets.

[Allegedly Science]’s first test was with a raw diamond, which clearly showed the expected Raman shift. When trying to test a chemical inside a glass bottle, it mainly returned the signature of silica, making thin-walled cuvettes essential. Ethanol inside a plastic bottle was similarly interesting; varying the focal distance changed whether it detected the characteristic shift of ethanol or polypropylene. Nevertheless, [Allegedly Science] thinks there’s still room for improvement, particularly by eliminating stray light and using a narrower slit in the spectrometer.

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Although we’ve seen an open-source Raman spectrometer before, this design is significantly more accessible. It does still require a separate spectrometer, though, so it might be worth considering some other spectrometer options.

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A Brief History of Fireworks

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5 July 2026

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In the 1970s, American Fireworks, a family-run pyrotechnics company in Hudson, Ohio, used a “home run box” to offer quick and easy fireworks displays for the Cleveland Indians (now the Cleveland Guardians) baseball games.

The red wooden crate had metal silos to store the rockets. Each switch on the control panel allowed the operator to set off a different firing sequence. This setup instantly triggered the display whenever a Cleveland batter hit a home run. Before computerized firing systems became common, panels like this represented the state of the art. But they did not eliminate human error. On 15 September 2015, the technician in charge of the Indians’ pyrotechnics accidentally set off the fireworks when the opposing team hit a home run. The embarrassed technician was caught on camera holding his head in his hands.

Two photos, one showing a rusted metal box with labeled buttons propped against a painted red wooden box, the other showing a person placing round cylinders into a tall rectangular box that\u2019s resting in bleachers. This home run box and control panel [left] were used to launch fireworks during Cleveland Indians games. The rockets were housed in metal silos within the box.Left: Jahna Auerbach/Science History Institute; Right: American Fireworks

The Early History of Fireworks

Fireworks are one of the many Song Dynasty inventions that migrated from China through the Middle East and into Europe by way of trade routes. Around 200 B.C.E, the Chinese invented small firecrackers by simply tossing pieces of bamboo into a fire. The air inside the bamboo would expand and crack the wood, and the pop supposedly scared away evil spirits. After the invention of gunpowder—a mixture of sulfur, charcoal, and potassium nitrate—about a thousand years later, some clever person thought to pack the powder into the bamboo tubes and ignite them, launching the first fireworks—and the first rockets—into the sky.

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Two illustrations of historic fireworks, one showing wheel-shaped fireworks on a pole and the other showing a dragon figure attached to a rocket on a rope strung between two buildings. John Bate’s popular 1634 book on fireworks described fire wheels [left] and a flying dragon [right], consisting of a dragon-shaped rocket that sped along a rope. SSPL/Getty Images

By the Renaissance, specialized schools for pyrotechnics had emerged across Italian city-states, and European craftsmen began creating large spectacles for royal occasions and religious celebrations. In 1634, John Bate published the four-volume series The Mysteries of Nature and Art, the second of which described how to create all manner of fireworks. Woodcut illustrations showed fire wheels (now called pinwheels or Catherine wheels), as well as the more ambitious flying dragon—a rocket shaped like a dragon that emitted sparks while speeding across a rope strung between two buildings.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, chemists and alchemists discovered new chemical compounds and isolated new elements that expanded the palette for fireworks. Adding barium nitrate produced green, for example, and strontium nitrate produced red. Chemists also mixed in metal particles to create sparkles.

The 1880s saw the introduction of the loud screech or whistle that precedes the exploding boom. Amédée Denisse, a graphic artist by trade and a fireworks hobbyist, discovered that a cardboard tube containing potassium picrate added that satisfying auditory effect to his fireworks display.

How Did Fireworks Become a 4th of July Tradition?

British colonists brought fireworks to the Americas. In 1608, Captain John Smith set them off to celebrate the founding of Jamestown, Virginia, the first permanent English settlement in what would become the United States. More than a century and a half later, while the Continental Congress was meeting in Philadelphia in July 1776, future U.S. president John Adams speculated in a letter to his wife that Independence Day would be celebrated “with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other.”

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Although Adams got the day wrong—he mistakenly thought the committee would complete the revisions to the Declaration of Independence by the 2nd of July—he was correct in foreseeing that Independence Day would be celebrated with lots and lots of fireworks. Just a year later, on 5 July 1777, the Pennsylvania Evening Post reported on the grand exhibition of fireworks the previous night, which began and concluded with 13 rockets representing the 13 colonies.

It’s safe to say that the United States is still obsessed with fireworks. According to the American Pyrotechnics Association, the country spends about US $3 billion on fireworks each year; it’s also the leading importer of fireworks. As the U.S. gears up to celebrate its 250th birthday this 4th of July, expect to see fireworks displays everywhere, from kids with sparklers running in backyards to ambitious professional displays for huge crowds.

Color photo of spectators watching an elaborate fireworks display against a city skyline. Modern fireworks displays like the Macy’s 4th of July celebration in New York City are computer choreographed and controlled. Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Fireworks today are an engineering marvel. State-of-the-art displays are computer controlled with precise digital timing, often tied to musical accompaniment. Designers can spend weeks choreographing complicated patterns and assigning launch times, shell types, and colors. The completed script is uploaded to an electronic firing system, which consists of the control panel and hundreds or thousands of firing modules that connect to the rockets. It can take days to set up the launch site for a large-scale display that lasts just minutes.

For example, last year more than 60 licensed pyrotechnicians worked for 12 days to arrange more than 80,000 shells for the Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks in New York City. Each of the firework shells measured up to 25 centimeters in diameter and weighed more than 13 kilograms—a far cry from their bamboo ancestors. More than 120 kilometers of wire connected the bundles of explosives to twelve computers. All that for a 25-minute display.

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As much as I unabashedly love fireworks, they’re not for everyone and they do have a downside. The explosions can trigger PTSD for military veterans, and they can also upset animals. Every year, thousands of people are injured by mishandled or damaged fireworks. Known to set off wildfires, fireworks are often banned during droughts. Scientists who’ve studied the environmental impact of fireworks displays have noted their tendency to disperse airborne metallic particles and other harmful particulates.

Nighttime photo showing a young man's face displayed in the sky over a city. A drone light show over Busan, South Korea, shows a member of the K-pop band BTS.Hwawon Ceci Lee/Anadolu/Getty Images

Perhaps to counter those drawbacks, or maybe it’s just the next technological evolution in aerial display, companies are now offering drone light shows. Fleets of hundreds or thousands of LED-toting drones can be programmed to hover in the air and fly in formation, forming logos and other designs that are more stable than exploding fireworks.

These exquisitely choreographed light shows are truly impressive. And yet I relish the full sensory experience of fireworks, including the booms, the smoke, and the smell. So whether you’re celebrating your country’s birth, Guy Fawkes Day, Saint Sylvester’s Night, New Year’s, Diwali, or simply cheering a home run from your favorite team, I hope you get to enjoy this millennia-old technological marvel.

Part of a continuing series looking at historical artifacts that embrace the boundless potential of technology.

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An abridged version of this article appears in the July 2026 print issue as “Rooting for the Home Team.”

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Did Microsoft Shift Its Profits to Low-Tax Countries?

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5 July 2026

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Microsoft is apparently shifting its profits to countries with low taxes — and out of countries where they have many more employees and significant sales. Back in 2005 Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer even said that a low corporate tax rate “is part of the overall advantage of doing business in Ireland,” remembers long-time Slashdot reader theodp. (Ballmer added “It would be disingenuous to say otherwise.”)

But in 2026 the EU now requires a country-by-country compliance report, and the New York Times notes that Microsoft “was most likely the first major U.S. technology company to make a so-called country by country report of its finances to comply…”

Like other big companies, Microsoft uses transactions between subsidiaries to shift profits around to reduce its tax bill. The report revealed a consistent pattern: high returns in low-tax jurisdictions and slim margins in higher-tax ones. The report showed the sometimes absurd results. Microsoft said it had generated almost 40 percent of its pretax income in tax-friendly Ireland, where it employed about 3 percent of its global work force. In higher-tax Germany, the largest economy in Europe, Microsoft earned barely half of 1 percent of its global profits, it said.

Excluding Ireland, the company said, it generated less than 2 percent of its worldwide pretax earnings in Europe… [In Luxembourg Microsoft said it had $283 million in pretax income with only 34 employees.]

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[America’s] Internal Revenue Service is challenging profit-shifting transactions used by Microsoft, and is seeking back taxes of nearly $29 billion4. The company has said it disagrees with the I.R.S. and said in a securities filing that it “will vigorously contest” the proposed tax bills.

This week a Microsoft blog post offered their own “context,” arguing that tax is “one important measure of contribution, but it is not the only one.

“Our investments, partnerships, infrastructure, and long-term presence in countries around the world also reflect a commitment to helping strengthen the economies and communities where we operate, today and for the future.”

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EV Batteries Defy Expectations, Last Hundreds of Thousands of Miles

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5 July 2026

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247,000 miles on an EV battery? So says the owner of a U.K.-based used-car sales company that specializes in Evs, who tells the Wall Street Journal EV batteries keep performing well even after several hundred thousand miles. “They are proving themselves to be exceptionally reliable.”

After five years on the road, the average EV will still be able to drive up to 95% of its original range, according to Recurrent, a data-science company that provides a battery-monitoring tool for EVs — better than many in the auto industry expected…

Potential new car buyers’ fear of having to pay for a battery replacement is the number one reason they choose to steer clear of EVs, according to a 2025 survey from industry research firm AutoPacific. When early EVs hit the market, buyers’ concerns were well-founded. Roughly one in 12 EVs built from 2011 to 2016 have had to have battery replacements. But new data shows that more modern EVs are doing better so far. Among EVs built from 2022 on, 0.3% have had battery replacements, according to a 2025 study from Recurrent. As battery technology has advanced, EVs have avoided problems like the ones that plagued the original Nissan Leaf when it hit the market in 2010, for example. Those cars lacked the battery-cooling technology that is in newer EVs, and they made headlines for wearing down quickly. Buyer perception hasn’t quite caught up, according to Scott Case, co-founder and chief executive of Recurrent…

The newest battery-powered EVs have lifespans comparable to internal-combustion-engine vehicles, even when driven more miles, according to Viet Nguyen-Tien, a research officer at the London School of Economics who focuses on Evs. Improvements in car batteries’ chemical contents, battery-management systems and thermal regulation have been the difference in making batteries last longer and cost less, Nguyen-Tien said. Battery prices have fallen more than 90% since 2010, according to a BloombergNEF report from late last year. Industry analysts say battery-replacement costs are also improving as more EVs are designed for repairability in the long-haul. An out-of-warranty battery replacement can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $16,000, depending on the manufacturer, according to Recurrent. But many EV manufacturers have shifted to allow smaller components of their battery packs to be repaired, which can allow owners to avoid the full costs of a battery replacement, Case said.

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EV batteries aren’t without their challenges, though. A battery that is frequently fast-charged with high power loses its range, on average, at twice the rate of a battery charged at a lower power, according to telematics company Geotab. Frequently charging a battery to 100%, or letting it rest at 0% for extended periods, can also reduce range long-term. And EVs regularly deliver less range in extreme cold or heat.
The article also includes two new projections on EV adoption:

  • “The share of new EVs sold is expected to nearly double to 11% of new-car sales in the U.S. by 2030, according to industry consulting firm AlixPartners.”
  • “Globally, EVs already make up 15% of new-car sales and are expected to form nearly a quarter of the global market by 2030, according to AlixPartners.”

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Spotify’s streaming fraud issue runs so deep that Kalshi traders are profiting from rigged charts

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Spotify has removed more than half a million streams from Malcolm Todd’s song “Earrings” after finding suspected bot activity, according to a report by Financial Times.

The track, first released in 2024, suddenly rose to No. 1 on Spotify’s daily U.S. chart after a sharp jump in streams. At the same time, traders on prediction market Kalshi had been betting on whether Todd would land a No. 1 song on Spotify USA before the end of June. There is no suggestion Todd or his team were involved in any attempt to boost the song’s numbers. Kalshi has said it is investigating the matter.

A chart move became a payout

According to the report, U.S. streams of “Earrings” jumped almost 70% between Sunday and Monday. Spotify later removed streams it believed were initiated by bots, which are designed to play tracks repeatedly and make them appear more popular than they are.

Spotify US music charts June 25, 2026
Spotify

After the correction, “Earrings” fell to fourth place on Spotify’s U.S. chart for Monday. Kalshi, however, had already paid out traders who bet on Todd reaching No. 1 before the end of June. According to the Financial Times, traders who backed the long-shot outcome could have made roughly 20 times their initial wager.

Can Spotify keep its charts clean enough?

Spotify has dealt with fake streams for years, usually as a royalties and chart integrity issue. Now, it has another problem to worry about, since those same charts can be used to settle prediction-market bets.

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Spotify’s spam problem also goes beyond music streams. Earlier this year, the company removed tens of thousands of fake podcast episodes tied to illegal online pharmacies and scam websites. Music streaming fraud has become more sophisticated too. Prosecutors previously charged Michael Smith in an AI-assisted streaming fraud case involving bots and billions of artificial plays. He later pleaded guilty.

Spotify says it has “best-in-class” systems to detect and reduce fake streams, and does not pay royalties on manipulated plays. Kalshi says it is in touch with Spotify and is investigating, but the companies are not exactly aligned. Spotify’s legal team reportedly asked Kalshi to remove its logo from the app and website, and Kalshi has added a disclaimer saying its products are not endorsed by Spotify.

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Scientists warn Elon Musk’s orbital data centers could blind Earth’s biggest telescopes

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The race to blanket Earth with satellite internet has unlocked faster connectivity for millions. But according to the European Southern Observatory (ESO), it could also make one of humanity’s oldest hobbies, and one of its most important sciences, a whole lot harder. The organization warns that the rapid growth of satellite mega-constellations could severely disrupt observations made by some of the world’s most powerful telescopes.

Astronomers say the night sky is reaching its limit

According to the ESO, the number of satellites orbiting Earth has exploded in recent years. Starlink alone now accounts for roughly 10,400 satellites, while before 2022, humanity had launched only around 14,450 satellites into space in total. With companies planning even larger constellations, including SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s long-term vision of up to one million orbital “data center” satellites, astronomers fear the problem is only beginning.

Predicted amount of scattered light caused by Reflect Orbital’s planned 50 000 satellites
Left: A real moonless night sky above ESO’s Very Large Telescope. Right: A simulation showing how Reflect Orbital’s proposed 50,000 space mirrors could make the sky up to 3–4 times brighter, potentially affecting astronomical observations ESO / O. Hainaut

To understand the impact, ESO researchers simulated what increasingly crowded skies would mean for ground-based observatories. Their findings weren’t encouraging. Even if future satellites are dim enough to remain invisible to the naked eye, Europe’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile could lose 28% of its observable field of view. Slightly brighter satellites could have an even greater impact on the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, potentially rendering many of its images unusable for several hours every night.

The solution isn’t fewer launches, though

Importantly, the ESO isn’t calling for an end to satellite internet. Instead, it’s proposing an international cap of 100,000 faint satellites in low Earth orbit, arguing that such a limit would help balance global connectivity with the long-term needs of astronomy. Researchers also stress that satellite brightness matters just as much as the number of spacecraft, since brighter satellites scatter more sunlight and interfere with telescope images.

Starlink
Starlink

The bigger takeaway is that this debate extends well beyond any one company. Starlink simply happens to be the largest constellation today, making it the easiest example. There’s also Amazon Leo, which is expected to launch later this year. As more companies pursue massive satellite networks, the challenge will be finding a way to expand internet access without turning Earth’s night sky into one giant obstacle course for astronomers.

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I hope Apple keeps the MacBook Neo away from the AI hype and preserves its true identity

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5 July 2026

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If there’s one thing that has disrupted consumer tech economics over the last year while changing how we understand and recommend products, it’s the ever-rising cost of memory and chips. 

The desperate need to scale up AI infrastructure has pushed major manufacturers to prioritize enterprise demand, leaving everyday consumers with far fewer choices. Those available cost significantly more than they did a year ago.

Computer, Electronics, Laptop
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

RAMageddon is disrupting consumer tech economics

You could’ve dismissed the memory crisis as a theory, but if even the world’s most valuable consumer tech company is feeling the pressure, it’s safe to say that it’s become a reality today, a harsher reality than many expected. 

Apple has a reputation for arriving late and landing well: OLED displays, always-on displays, and Siri AI all followed that script. Unfortunately, I can say the same for memory-driven price hikes; it’s Apple’s steepest mid-cycle price increase.

Not every product category has been hit equally. In fact, Apple has left iPhones out of this for now. However, tablets, mini PCs, and laptops have borne the brunt of it.

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Apple MacBook Neo
Nadeem Sarwar / Digital Trends

MacBook Neo lost to RAMageddon three months after launch

The situation is so ugly that Apple had to increase the MacBook Neo’s price by $100, a double-digit jump over its launch price. 

If you’re somehow under a rock, Apple’s MacBook Neo took the entire laptop industry by surprise in March, launching it at $599 for the base model, with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage, and an iPhone-class chip that was surprisingly capable. 

The Neo sold better than Apple had initially expected; it practically flew off store shelves. Just a month after its debut, the company reportedly increased its order from “several million” units to over 10 million. 

As someone who has been monitoring the Neo’s launch quite closely, I can give you more than a couple of reasons why. 

Computer, Electronics, Laptop
Nadeem Sarwar / DigitalTrends

Why the Neo’s pricing still works

Packing an aluminum unibody into a $599 device while competitors settled for cheap-feeling plastic, bringing Apple Intelligence features previously available only on premium MacBooks and iPhones to a much lower price point, and serving as an aggressive Apple ecosystem gateway, the Neo checked almost every box that mattered; that’s its true appeal. 

Even after the $100 price hike, I’d say that the Neo still commands a unique position in the market, where it’s $400 to $500 cheaper than the entry-level M5 MacBook Air and offers better price-to-performance and value than most options in the segment. 

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And that’s exactly why I hope Apple doesn’t “fix” the MacBook Neo next year by turning it into an AI-first device.

Dell XPS 13 Anti-Reflective 2.5K Touchscreen Display in Computex 2026
Vikhyaat Vivek / Digital Trends

Dear Apple: The Neo ain’t broke, please don’t fix it

The consumer tech industry, as a whole, is obsessed with AI. 

Take Windows OEMs as an example. Even though a regular customer doesn’t care about on-device AI features powered by local LLMs or the local AI compute, most brands below the $1,000 mark are running behind Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC tags, which require at least 45 TOPS of on-device AI compute power. 

That, in turn, requires more powerful CPUs, GPUs, or integrated system-on-chips like Qualcomm’s. Those machines also need larger memory pools and faster memory, all of which inevitably push prices higher. 

That’s precisely why the MacBook Neo — with 8GB of RAM and its reportedly repurposed A18 Pro chip — made so much sense from day one.

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Apple A19 Pro in the iPhone Air
Apple

It’s built for everyday computing, not local AI workflows

It didn’t need to look good on the specifications table, simply because Apple knew exactly what customers are looking for. 

People looking for a budget laptop usually want to browse the web, manage their documents and emails, attend Google Meet or Zoom calls, view and edit a couple of photos, and watch new movies or web shows on Netflix or their favorite OTT platform.

That is the target audience the Neo is made for: Neo is not made for people running local LLMs, generating AI images (especially with on-device tools), or editing or generating videos all day long. 

Siri AI on Apple iPhone during Demo at WWDC 2026
Apple

Apple is already embracing a segmented AI strategy

Apple’s current strategy is already segmented. Older iPhones, like the iPhone 15, don’t support Apple Intelligence. While the new Siri AI experience is available on the MacBook Neo and the iPhone 17, more advanced features like on-device Siri voices and natural dictation are limited to the iPhone 17 Pro or iPhone Air. 

In other words, Apple isn’t treating AI as a uniform experience anyway. The company is comfortable drawing those lines, which means the Neo’s successor doesn’t need to chase parity. It just needs to hold its lane.

If Apple wants to improve performance, it could simply reuse the binned A19 Pro chips, much like it reportedly did with the A18 Pro chip in the Neo, without significantly increasing the price by placing fresh orders. 

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Using relatively older tech, like DDR4 memory, which Apple could source at a meaningfully lower cost and is perfectly usable on the device, is fine. 

Electronics, Mobile Phone, Phone
Shikhar Mehrotra / Digital Trends
Apple iPhone 17 Pro in Cosmic Orange next to the iPhone 17 Pro Max in Deep Blue
Nirave Gondhia / Digital Trends

Neo 2 needs “good enough” hardware, not the latest

The Neo doesn’t need to participate in the AI arms race with desktop-class NPUs, a massive GPU, 16GB of mandatory baseline memory, or even the latest DDR5-class memory chips for browsing through the web or sitting through Zoom calls, especially when the situation will allegedly get worse through the later half of 2026 and 2027.

More importantly, those are the kinds of components that can easily add $100 or $200 to the device’s price, pushing it closer to the $1,000 mark and resulting in internal cannibalization with the Air, which has a much more powerful chip. 

Once that gap starts to blur, the Neo risks losing the very identity that makes it compelling. Keep in mind that the 512GB storage variant already costs $800 in the United States.

Dell Alienware 15 gaming laptop
Dell

Apple wouldn’t be the first to take this approach. Intel is bringing back older processors for budget machines. Dell recently launched laptops powered by Nvidia’s aging RTX 3050 GPU. Neither company pretends that everyone needs the latest CPU or GPU, recognizing the value of “good enough” hardware.

Neo shouldn’t lose its real identity

The Neo worked because it knew what it wanted to be: an affordable entry-level laptop that handles all your lightweight day-to-day tasks while being light on your wallet. Its biggest strength was knowing how few AI it actually needed to succeed. 

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I’d like to say only one thing in the end: the best cheap MacBook is worth far more than the cheapest AI MacBook, which costs hundreds more.  

I hope the team in Cupertino keeps that in mind as they work on the Neo’s successor. 

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Microsoft's new EU disclosure shows exactly how tech giants separate profits from where the work happens

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Microsoft said nearly 40% of its pretax income was booked in Ireland, even though only about 3% of its global workforce is based in the country. In Germany, by contrast, the company reported less than half of 1% of its global profits. Across Europe as a whole, excluding Ireland, Microsoft…
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