The opposition to datacenters has crossed party lines. The opposition to datacenters has crossed party lines. Tue 1 Sep 2026 08.19 EDTLast modified on Tue 1 Sep 2026 09.08 EDT I was lucky enough to see her in concert a decade ago in California, in the same arena where Google now hosts its annual I/O conference. It's been a long time, and all my iPhone 4 photos are so blurry you can barely tell it's a musical performance, but my memory is clear enough to compensate. She told many stories about her childhood, which led into a trio of fabulous songs: My Tennessee Mountain Home, Applejack and Dr Robert F Thomas.

Long-term government borrowing costs have risen to a 28-year high, putting further pressure on Prime Minister Andy Burnham ahead of his first Budget next month. The yield on a 30-year gilt -- a loan to the British government -- rose to 5.89%, the highest since 1998. The effective cost of borrowing for governments across the globe has continued to rise this morning with new multi-decade highs in market interest rates. The moves reflect concerns about inflation arising from the ongoing Iran war, competition from major tech firms for long-term borrowing, and concerns about state borrowing levels. All of those factors will make the Budget process trickier for Burnham, who will face MPs on Tuesday for the first time as prime minister, and his Chancellor John Healey. Higher borrowing costs will reduce the amount of headroom the government has against its self-imposed fiscal rules, limiting the amount Healey can spend on consumer-friendly measures to ease the cost of living.

The Download: engineered microbes for crops, and OpenAI's culture problem Plus: reports of AI escaping users' control nearly doubled in a month. How engineered microbes could help feed the world's crops Fertilizer is crucial for the global food supply, but making it uses a lot of energy and produces a lot of emissions. Some companies hope microbes can help, by providing crucial nitrogen to help plants grow, potentially reducing the need for chemical fertilizer. Startup Switch Bioworks is taking a new approach: using a genetic switch that allows microbes to establish themselves and grow before shifting into nitrogen-producing mode. The company is currently trialing its product in six US states. And, although it's too early to say exactly how well the approach works in the field, its modeling suggests microbes could eventually replace about 50% of synthetic fertilizer.

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The US Army's laser system is part of a new generation of directed-energy weapons capable of detecting, tracking, and destroying drones with a concentrated beam of light. The Locust system, designed to be mounted onto military vehicles, targets drones with high-power lasers. This week, the US Army used a high-energy multipurpose laser to shoot down three drones near the US-Mexico border, which official reports claimed were "posing a physical threat to US military personnel and CBP partners," referring to Customs and Border Patrol. The operation took place between the night of August 25 and the early morning of August 26 in the vicinity of the Rio Grande Valley in Texas and was led by the Joint Task Force Southern Border (JTF-SB), which operates under US Northern Command. Authorities confirmed that, during the operation, agents used technology derived from the Army's High-Energy Multipurpose Laser (AMP-HEL) system, a military program focused on implementing high-energy lasers for new defense capabilities.

When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. My standing desk has a lot of room on the bottom that's not being used, so I put a bunch of little doodads under it to make my work and play more comfy. As someone who works from home, talks about computers professionally, and plays a lot of computer games, I spend a lot of time at my desk. I've spent literally years improving it and making it more comfortable and efficient. In this week's Boost Mode, I'll show you five easy and cheap tools I screwed to the bottom for this purpose.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series It comes with everything you need. Lois Mackenzie is a freelance reporter at Mashable. Over the years she has written for many publications, covering everything from the local news to the best pair of running shoes. You can find bylines in publications including Fit&Well, Metro, and Coach magazine, usually covering deals on everything from earbuds to TVs, or guides on how to beat your half marathon time. All products featured here are independently selected by our editors and writers.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series I expected the new Bose QuietComfort headphones to be great. Comfort and value can't be beat with these Bose headphones. Bethany Allard is a Los Angeles-based shopping reporter at Mashable covering beauty tech, dating, sex and relationships, and headphones. That basically means she puts her hair through a lot, scrolls through a lot of dating apps, and rotates through a lot of different headphones. In addition to testing out and rounding up the best products, she also covers deals for Mashable, paying an especially obsessive amount of attention to Apple deals and prices.

Trending Now Say More Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Switch Off Creator Playbook Mashable Voices Mashable Selects Safety Net Versus Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List In My Bag All Series Rizwana Zafer is a freelance journalist at Mashable, where she covers digital culture and entertainment. She holds a master's degree in journalism from the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism and a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and Psychology from Binghamton University. When she's not binge-watching TV, you can find her hanging out with her four cats or trying to catch a Letterboxd showing somewhere in New York City. The Season 8 Islanders were joined by hosts Ariana Madix and Andy Cohen, who got into the nitty gritty post-villa details, recapped some of the season's messiest moments (like Casa Amor and Movie Night), inspired healing conversations between old friends (like Kenzie and Melanie), and revealed which of the couples are still together. Let's get into the best moments from the Season 8 reunion.

Skilled trades jobs in aerospace and defense manufacturing pay up to $100,000 in California, but the state's affordability crisis is pricing workers out.