Who doesn’t love a good round of FOMO? From dot-com to Web 2.0, virtual reality to blockchain, the tech industry has had its share of being too afraid to miss out on a trend.

The AI bubble is the big daddy of them all. Its first offspring — the rush to lock down power for data centers — is now begetting a mad dash to secure natural gas supplies and equipment. If FOMOs could have babies, then the AI bubble is already having grandkids.

Microsoft said on Tuesday that it’s working with Chevron and Engine No. 1 to build a natural gas power plant in West Texas that could grow to produce 5 gigawatts of electricity. This week Google confirmed that it’s working with Crusoe to build a 933 MW natural gas power plant in North Texas. And last week, Meta announced that it was adding another seven natural gas power plants to its Hyperion data center in Louisiana, bringing the site to 7.46 GW of capacity — enough to power the entire state of South Dakota.

Are we missing anyone?

The recent investments are concentrated in the southern U.S., home to some of the largest natural gas deposits in the world. Recently, the U.S. Geological Survey estimated that there’s enough in one region to supply energy to the entire United States for 10 months by itself. Every data center operator seems to want a part of it.

The scramble for natural gas has led to a shortage of turbines for the power plants, with prices likely to rise 195% by the end of this year relative to 2019 prices, according to Wood Mackenzie. The equipment contributes 20% to 30% of the cost of a power plant. Companies won’t be able to place new orders until 2028, and it’s taking six years to get turbines delivered, the consultancy notes.

That means tech companies are betting that the AI fever won’t break, that AI will continue to need exponential amounts of power, and that natural gas generation will be necessary for success in the AI era.

They may come to regret that third assumption.

Though natural gas supplies in the U.S. are plentiful, and because shipping the fuel isn’t cheap, the country remains somewhat insulated from the turmoil in the Middle East. But supplies aren’t unlimited, and recently, growth in production in the big three regions — responsible for three-quarters of all U.S. shale gas production — has slowed considerably. 

It’s not clear how insulated tech companies are from price swings since none of them have disclosed specific terms of their agreements. A lot will depend on how firm the price is in those contracts. 

Even if the contracted prices are as firm as can be, the companies could still face repercussions.

Because natural gas generates about 40% of the electricity in the U.S., according to the Energy Information Administration, electricity prices are closely tied to natural gas prices. Tech companies might be able to shield themselves from scrutiny for a bit by moving their gas power plants behind the meter — by skipping the grid and connecting them directly to their data centers. But natural gas isn’t an unlimited resource, and if their ambitions grow too big, even the behind-the-meter operations could drive up power prices for everyone. We’ve all seen how that’s played out.

It won’t just be regular households getting upset either. Other industries, including those that remain much more dependent on natural gas and can’t yet turn to renewables, might balk at data centers grabbing so much of the resource. Powering a data center with wind, solar, and batteries is easy. Running a petrochemical plant? Not so much.

Then there’s the weather. One cold winter could change the calculus by driving up demand among households. Wellheads might freeze off, crimping supplies dramatically, as happened in Texas in 2021. When gas runs short, suppliers will face a choice: keep the AI data centers running or let people heat their homes?

By snapping up natural gas supplies and moving behind-the-meter, tech companies can claim that they’re “bringing their own power” and not straining the electrical grid. But in reality, they’re just shifting their use from one grid to another, the natural gas grid. The AI rush has illustrated just how physically constrained the digital world remains. Does it make sense for them to bet big on a finite resource? Tech companies might regret falling for the FOMO.

The Government said that the strategy is essential to ensuring Ireland remains competitive in attracting the next wave of large-scale, high-value manufacturing investment opportunities in sectors such as semiconductors, life sciences, and renewables.

The Irish Government has signed off on a strategic approach to developing next-generation sites (NGS) that are considered central to the country’s plans to be industrially competitive in attracting future manufacturing investments.

NGS development is to be led by IDA Ireland and the Department of Enterprise, Tourism and Employment, with collaborative efforts to be made alongside other Government departments, state agencies and utility providers as needed for the preparation and development of each site.

The Government said that the strategy is essential to ensuring Ireland remains competitive in attracting the next wave of large-scale, high-value manufacturing investment opportunities in sectors such as semiconductors, life sciences and renewables.

The goal of the NGS approach is to provide pre-permitted, master-planned landbanks with clear pathways to delivery of required utilities and transport, including public transport, to enable swift development and certainty for investors.

Minister for Enterprise, Tourism and Employment Peter Burke, TD said that the “plan-led” approach to NGS development would help Ireland win “high-value, employment-rich projects in future-focused sectors”, with three sites anticipated for creation in the next 15 years.

Each site is forecast to be between 500 and 1,000 acres, with one each in the west, east and south of the country, although potential locations will not be publicly disclosed to protect the integrity of negotiations and future acquisitions.

The Government said preparing sites in advance would reduce risk and accelerate decision-making for investors, “crucial to competing for large-scale investments in today’s fast moving international environment”.

It said that each site would be chosen by IDA Ireland for its ability to connect efficiently to energy, transport and water networks, and for its proximity to talent, third-level institutions and supply chains.

“The sectors targeted by NGS – semiconductors, life sciences and green energy, in particular – provide quality and skilled employment, pay high salaries and contribute to Ireland’s tax receipts,” said Burke.

He added that “many global companies in the semiconductor and life science sectors located and expanded in Ireland over several decades”, and are now employing tens of thousands in “well-paid jobs, with several now operating across multiple sites”.

The NGS sign-off is in line with the Government’s ‘Silicon Island’ national strategy on semiconductors, which was unveiled last May.

The strategy is a part of the Programme for Government, is aligned with the European Chips Act and the EU Digital Decade, and aims to supercharge the country’s semiconductor industry through skills development, boosting R&D, the development of the domestic semiconductor ecosystem and attracting foreign investment.

The plan also commits to developing large-scale manufacturing sites with the necessary infrastructure, enhance R&D capacity and support businesses working in the semiconductor industry with commercialisation support and access to finance.

Don’t miss out on the knowledge you need to succeed. Sign up for the Daily Brief, Silicon Republic’s digest of need-to-know sci-tech news.

Watching the wildly popular television series Love Story took me back to a strange week in my past. One day in April 1994, I was working in a studio apartment that I used as an office. I split the cost with Cynthia Horner, a psychiatrist who’d recently moved out to live with her boyfriend, the songwriter and cyberspace philosopher John Perry Barlow, who was a friend of mine. Late in the afternoon my wife called me with the shocking news that Cynthia, just shy of her 30th birthday, was dead. I called Barlow, who told me that Cymthia had passed away suddenly on a plane. Both of them had suffered from a bad flu the previous week, and the virus had been silently attacking her heart. I dropped everything and headed to Barlow’s place. For the next six hours, Barlow and I cried, drank, and head-banged in the wake of the inexplicable, along with another friend. That friend was no stranger to tragedy. He was John F. Kennedy Jr.

Barlow, who died in 2018 at age 70, was known for many things. He was the self-described junior lyricist of the Grateful Dead, a proselytizer of the Internet, cofounder of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and a networker nonpareil. Not to mention a key figure in WIRED’s early days. He was also among the closest friends of the so-called American prince, the son of our martyred president. The friendship was no secret—Barlow was an inveterate name-dropper. Still, the pairing was fascinating and said something about both parties.

The connection began in the summer of 1977. Barlow was tending his family ranch in Pinedale, Wyoming, when Jackie Kennedy called at the suggestion of a mutual friend. As Barlow wrote in his posthumously published autobiography, Mother American Night, Jackie wanted her 17-year-old son, JFK Jr., to get a taste of rugged ranch life. Barlow, in his retelling, said yes, and augmented the teen’s ranch chores with LSD. Things they did while dosing included long drives in Barlow’s truck and dropping explosives down gas wells. They became close, and over the years Barlow moved from a reprobate father figure to more of a friend.

It was a lifelong connection. Barlow writes of attending a 1993 Prince concert with Kennedy where both were once again tripping. Kennedy felt that the audience was too restrained, and he urged Barlow to get up and dance. As Barlow writes, all of Radio City Music Hall joined in. Later, after Barlow met Cynthia, the two would double-date with Kennedy and his then-girlfriend, Daryl Hannah. After the night I spent with Barlow and Kennedy, Hannah flew to New York and helped in the postmortem planning for a memorial service. She seemed to be a lovely person.

In 1994, Kennedy moved on from Hannah and wooed the charismatic Carolyn Bessette. Barlow became a confidant of his friend’s new sweetheart—even becoming part of the ceremony at their intimate wedding in 1996. One picture shows Barlow preparing for the formalities with JFK Jr., Ted Kennedy, and the priest. I don’t know what Barlow said to honor the couple, but I’d imagine the lyricist who wrote “Estimated Prophet” delivered trenchant words blending comedy and insight.

In Mother American Night, Barlow provides an alternate explanation for why Kennedy’s Cessna took off at sunset, resulting in a night flight that culminated in the man’s death, along with the deaths of his wife and her sister. Barlow says that he had just sent his 2,500 closest friends the news that his mother had died. Kennedy, he says, was late to the airport because he was composing a long condolence email to Barlow. Reasons for the late takeoff aside, Barlow claims that he had previously given Kennedy a warning that was ultimately ignored: “When you lose sight of the horizon don’t look for it. Just put your eyes on the instrument and believe it.”

Video Friday is your weekly selection of awesome robotics videos, collected by your friends at IEEE Spectrum robotics. We also post a weekly calendar of upcoming robotics events for the next few months. Please send us your events for inclusion.

ICRA 2026: 1–5 June 2026, VIENNA

RSS 2026: 13–17 July 2026, SYDNEY

Summer School on Multi-Robot Systems: 29 July–4 August 2026, PRAGUE

Enjoy today’s videos!

Getting Digit to dance takes more than putting on some fancy shoes–our AI Team can teach Digit new whole-body control capabilities overnight. Using raw motion data from mocap, animation, and teleop methods, Digit gets new skills through sim-to-real reinforcement training.

[ Agility ]

[ Generalist ]

Unitree open-sources UnifoLM-WBT-Dataset—high-quality real-world humanoid robot whole-body teleoperation (WBT) dataset for open environments. Publicly available since March 5, 2026, the dataset will continue to receive high-frequency rolling updates. It aims to establish the most comprehensive real-world humanoid robot dataset in terms of scenario coverage, task complexity, and manipulation diversity.

[ Hugging Face ]

Autonomous mobile robots operating in human-shared indoor environments often require paths that reflect human spatial intentions, such as avoiding interference with pedestrian flow or maintaining comfortable clearance. This paper presents MRReP, a Mixed Reality-based interface that enables users to draw a Hand-drawn Reference Path (HRP) directly on the physical floor using hand gestures.

[ MRReP ]

Thanks, Masato!

Eye contact, even momentarily between strangers, plays a pivotal role in fostering human connection, promoting happiness, and enhancing belonging. Through autonomous navigation and adaptive mirror control, Mirrorbot facilitates serendipitous, non-verbal interactions by dynamically transitioning reflections from self-focused to mutual recognition, sparking eye contact, shared awareness, and playful engagement.

[ ARL ] via [ Cornell University ]

Experience PAL Robotics’ new teleoperation system for TIAGo Pro, the AI-ready mobile manipulator designed for advanced research. This real-time VR teleoperation setup allows precise control of TIAGo Pro’s dual arms in Cartesian space, ideal for remote manipulation, AI data collection, and robot learning.

[ PAL Robotics ]

Utter brilliance from Robust AI. No notes.

[ Robust AI ]

Come along with our Senior Test Engineer, Nick L., as he takes us on a tour of the Home Test Labs inside the iRobot HQ.

[ iRobot ]

By automating the final “magic 5%” of production—the precise trimming of swim goggles’ silicone gaskets based on individual face scans—UR cobots allow THEMAGIC5 to deliver affordable, custom-fit goggles, enabling the company to scale from a Kickstarter sensation to selling over 400,000 goggles worldwide.

[ Universal Robots ]

Sanctuary AI has once again demonstrated its industry-leading approach to training dexterous manipulation policies for its advanced hydraulic hands. In this video, their proprietary hydraulic hand autonomously manipulates a lettered cube, continuously reorienting it to match a specified goal (displayed in the bottom-left corner of the video).

[ Sanctuary AI ]

China’s Yuxing 3-06 commercial experimental satellite, the first of its kind to be equipped with a flexible robotic arm, has recently completed an in-orbit refueling test and verification of key technologies. The test paves the way for Yuxing 3-06, dubbed a “space refueling station,” to refuel other satellites in orbit, manage space debris, and provide other in-orbit services.

[ Sanyuan Aerospace ] via [ Space News ]

This is a demonstration of natural walking, whole-body teleoperation, and motion tracking with our custom-built humanoid robot. The control policies are trained using large-scale parallel reinforcement learning (RL). By deploying robust policies learned in a physics simulator onto the real hardware, we achieve dynamic and stable whole-body motions.

[ Tokyo Robotics ]

Faced with aging railway infrastructure, a shrinking workforce and rising construction costs, Japan Railway West asked construction innovator Serendix to replace an old wooden building at its Hatsushima railway station using its 3D printing technology. An ABB robot enabled the company to assemble the new building in a single night ready for the first train service the next day.

[ ABB ]

Humanoid, SAP, and Martur Fompak team up to test humanoid robots in automotive manufacturing logistics. This joint proof of concept explores how robots can streamline operations, improve efficiency, and shape the future of smart factories.

[ Humanoid ]

This MIT Robotics Seminar is from Dario Floreano at EPFL, on “Avian Inspired Drones.”

[ MIT ]

This MIT Robotics Seminar is from Ken Goldberg at UC Berkeley, on “Good Old-Fashioned Engineering Can Close the 100,000 Year “Data Gap” in Robotics.”

[ MIT ]

Infinix has quietly but surely been doing some good work in 2026, especially when every other brand has been hiking prices thanks to RAM shortages. After introducing the super pretty Pininfarina-designed Note 60 Ultra, Infinix is ready to double down on gaming with its next GT-series smartphone. A new leak has revealed details about the upcoming Infinix GT 50 Pro, which is set to feature a redesigned “hypercar-inspired” look and some serious thermal engineering upgrades. Here’s everything we know so far.

All New Design

The GT 50 Pro reportedly builds on Infinix’s signature hypercar aesthetic but refines it with cleaner lines and a more premium finish. Leaked images reveal a new Kevlar-like texture and aerodynamic detailing that give it a more polished look.

However, the real star here is what Infinix calls the “Pipeline Window Display.” It’s essentially a transparent section on the back that visually exposes the cooling system underneath. According to the leak, this creates a live, almost mechanical effect in which the cooling channels appear to be actively flowing, making the phone feel like it’s “breathing” during use.

For all the eSports aficionados, the GT 50 Pro will introduce dual-pressure shoulder triggers. These triggers support pressure sensitivity, multiple mapping points, and even sliding gestures. Latency is kept to just 20ms, and they can also be configured to work with the camera to help zoom in.

Redesigned Thermals

Thermal efficiency is super important for gamers. After all, no one wants their frames dropping as the phone heats up. To tackle this exact problem, the GT 50 Pro will feature what’s being described as the industry’s largest micro-pump HydroFlow liquid-cooling system, with a massive 6437 mm² diaphragm area. With a 100% coverage of the core heat area, the goal is simple: better heat dissipation and more stable performance during long gaming sessions.

Another nice-to-have is the MagCharge Cooler 2.0 (bypass charging). This means the phone can be powered directly without routing energy through the battery, reducing heat buildup during gaming. At the same time, it delivers active cooling using TEC refrigeration, allowing users to charge and cool the device simultaneously.

While there’s no confirmation of the CPU, early reports indicate the MediaTek Dimensity 8400 Ultimate. An India launch is coming soon, so stay tuned for more information.

from the unfun-twist-on-an-old-story dept

This may not be an actual “Wyden siren,” but it still has his name attached to it. What’s being said here isn’t nearly as ominous as this single sentence he sent to CIA leadership earlier this year:

I write to alert you to a classified letter I sent you earlier today in which I express deep concerns about CIA activities.

Few people are capable of saying so much with so little. This one runs a bit longer, but it has implications that likely run deeper than the surface level issue raised by Wyden and others in a recent letter to Trump’s (satire is dead) Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. Here are the details, as reported by Dell Cameron for Wired:

In a letter sent Thursday to Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the lawmakers say that because VPNs obscure a user’s true location, and because intelligence agencies presume that communications of unknown origin are foreign, Americans may be inadvertently waiving the privacy protections they’re entitled to under the law.

Several federal agencies, including the FBI, the National Security Agency, and the Federal Trade Commission, have recommended that consumers use VPNs to protect their privacy. But following that advice may inadvertently cost Americans the very protections they’re seeking.

The letter was signed by members of the Democratic Party’s progressive flank: Senators Ron Wyden, Elizabeth Warren, Edward Markey, and Alex Padilla, along with Representatives Pramila Jayapal and Sara Jacobs.

Advertisement

That’s alarming. It’s also a conundrum. VPN use (often required for remote logins to corporate systems) is a great way to secure connections that are otherwise insecure, like those made originating from people’s homes (to log into their work stuff) or utilizing public Wi-Fi. There are also more off-the-book uses, like circumventing regional content limitations or just ensuring your internet activity can’t be tied to your physical location.

The trade-off depends on the threat you’re trying to mitigate. It’s kind of like the trade-off in cell phone security. Using biometrics markers to unlock your phone might be the best option if what you’re mainly concerned with is theft of your device. A thief might be able to guess a password, but they won’t be able to duplicate an iris or a fingerprint.

But if the threat you’re more worried about is this government, you’ll want the passcode. Courts have generally found that fingerprints and eyeballs aren’t “testimonial,” so if you’re worried about being compelled to unlock your device, the Fifth Amendment tends to favor passwords, at least as far as the courts are concerned.

It’s almost the same thing here. VPNs might protect you against garden-variety criminals, but the intentional commingling of origin/destination points by VPNs could turn purely domestic communications into “foreign” communications the NSA can legally intercept (and the FBI, somewhat less-legally can dip into at will).

That’s the substance of the letter sent to Gabbard, in which the legislators ask the DNI to issue public guidance on VPN usage that makes it clear that doing so might subject users to (somewhat inadvertent) domestic surveillance:

Americans reportedly spend billions of dollars each year on commercial VPN services, many of which are offered by foreign-headquartered companies using servers located overseas. According to the Department of Homeland Security’s Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, VPNs have the potential to be vulnerable to surveillance by foreign adversaries. While Americans should be warned of these risks, they should also be told if these VPN services, which are advertised as a privacy protection, including by elements of the federal government, could, in fact, negatively impact their rights against U.S. government surveillance. To that end, we urge you to be more transparent with the American public about whether the use of VPNs can impact their privacy with regard to U.S. government surveillance, and clarify what, if anything, American consumers can do to ensure they receive the privacy protections they are entitled to under the law and Constitution.

I wouldn’t expect a response from ODNI. I mean, I wouldn’t expect one in any case, but I especially don’t expect Tulsi Gabbard to respond to a letter sent by a handful of Democratic Party members.

A warning would be nice, but even an Intelligence Community overseen by competent professionals, rather than loyalists and Fox News commentators would be hard-pressed to present a solution. To be fair, this letter isn’t asking for a fix, but rather telling the Director of National Intelligence to inform the public of the risks of VPN usage, including increasing their odds of being swept up in NSA dragnets.

Certainly the NSA isn’t concerned about “incidental collection.” It’s never been too concerned about its consistent “incidental” collection of US persons’ communications and data in the past and this isn’t going to budge the needle, especially since it means the NSA would have to do more work to filter out domestic communications and the FBI would be less than thrilled with any efforts made to deny it access to communications it doesn’t have the legal right to obtain on its own.

Since the government won’t do this, it’s up to the general public, starting with everyone sharing the contents of this letter with others. VPNs can still offer considerable security benefits. But everyone needs to know that domestic surveillance is one of the possible side effects of utilizing this tech.

Filed Under: alex padilla, domestic surveillance, ed markey, elizabeth warren, executive order 12333, fbi, national security, nsa, odni, pramila jayapal, ron wyden, sara jacobs, section 702, surveillance state, tulsi gabbard, vpn