NPR’s Ayesha Rascoe looks back at the life of video game and LGBTQ pioneer Rebecca Heineman.
Waymo gets regulatory approval to expand across Bay Area and Southern California
Waymo continues to expand its reach, with the robotaxi company posting Friday that it’s now “officially authorized to drive fully autonomously across more of the Golden State.”
Waymo already operates in San Francisco, Silicon Valley, and Los Angeles (and outside California as well, in Atlanta, Austin, and Phoenix). But maps published by California’s Department of Motor Vehicles showed that the company can now test and deploy its autonomous vehicles across a much larger area in both the Bay Area and Southern California.
In the Bay Area, Waymo’s approved areas of operation now include most of the East Bay and North Bay (including Napa/Wine Country), as well as Sacramento. In Southern California, the company’s approved territory now stretches from Santa Clarita (north of Los Angeles) to San Diego.
The company will need additional regulatory approval before it can carry paying passengers in some of these regions, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Although Waymo’s post doesn’t offer many details about when it plans to actually start offering rides in all these new areas, the company wrote, “Next stop: welcoming riders in San Diego in mid-2026!”
The company had previously announced its intention to launch in San Diego next year, along with Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, Orlando, San Antonio, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
There’s been plenty of Waymo expansion news in the past couple weeks, as the company announced that it will be entering Minneapolis, New Orleans, and Tampa; is removing safety drivers ahead of its commercial launch in Miami; and will start offering rides that use freeways in Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix.
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We discussed the growth of Waymo and other robotaxi companies on the latest episode of the Equity podcast. My co-host Sean O’Kane noted that as Waymo begins to provide more unfettered access across the Bay Area, people could be spending a lot more time in their robotaxis — so we might see them using the service in new, weird, or even dangerous ways.
Save up to $600 on robot vacuums, cordless vacuums and more
Dyson is holding its Black Friday sale on vacuums and related products. To that end, the Dyson 360 Vis Nav robot vacuum is a whopping $600 off and down to $400 right now. That’s $100 less than its previous all-time low and the cheapest we’ve seen it.
Valentina Palladino for Engadget
Pick up one of the strongest robot vacuums we’ve tested for more than half off.
Dyson was pretty late to the robot-vacuum party, but its entry was (and remains) one of the strongest in the category. It doesn’t have a lot of bells and whistles like a self-emptying base or mopping capabilities, but it makes up for that by having probably the best suction power of any robovac we’ve tested. All kinds of debris will fall in its path: dirt, dust, food crumbs, pet hair and more. It also has excellent obstacle avoidance, so you’ll rarely — if ever — have to dislodge it from getting stuck on the edge of a carpet or wedged in between furniture. Dyson’s mobile app is easy to use as well, so if you’re looking for a robot vacuum that does its main job incredibly well and you don’t mind skipping on some extras, the 360 Vis Nav is a great option.
Cordless vacuums are also a part of the sale. Take the Dyson V9 Motorbar cordless vacuum on sale for just $270 at both Dyson and Amazon, which is a discount of $330. That’s more than half off. Dyson devices are all over our list of the best cordless vacuums, and for good reason. The company makes effective products. The V9 Motorbar has been designed to clean all floor types, in addition to upholstery. It’s also been engineered to squeeze into tight spots, which is great for hitting those oft-neglected parts of the home.
The suction power is on point and the battery lasts for 40 minutes before requiring a charge. That’s just enough time to vacuum a standard-sized home if you don’t stop for too many breaks. The V9 is getting a bit long-in-the-tooth. If you want a newer model, the V11 Extra is on sale for $400, which is a discount of $260. This one boosts the suction power and increases the battery life to 60 minutes.
More Dyson Black Friday deals
Google redesigns menus for Material 3 Expressive
Following the initial wave of Material 3 Expressive, Google is working to redesign the remaining components to the latest design language, and menus are up this month.
M3 Expressive introduces “vertical menus” that have “new shapes, color styles, selection states, and refined submenu motion.”
Compared to the previous “baseline menu” (which is still available to use), corners have been rounded, while dividers and the current selection no longer span the full width of the container.
Baseline vs. vertical menus
Google introduced a new “with gap” option to join “with divider” for a “more flexible layout on Android” and distinct separation. They can be used to “bundle similar actions together,” and “are more expressive than dividers and make the relationship between items clear.” Usage guidelines include:
- Avoid changing the size of the gap
- Limit the number of gaps in a menu to one or two
- Don’t use gaps in scrollable menus
On the color style front, a “vibrant” menu stands out a great deal more than “standard,” though Google recommends they “should be used sparingly.”
- Standard: Surface-based, lower visual emphasis
- Vibrant: Tertiary-based, higher visual emphasis
Menus work nicely with the new split button, while ME3’s shape morphing can be used to have the “corners of the focused submenu become more rounded, while the unfocused submenu becomes less rounded.” As seen below, this “adds a dynamic quality to menu interactions.”
Back at I/O 2025, Google introduced five new expressive components: button groups, FAB menu, loading indicator, split button, and toolbars. A slew of existing components were also updated: buttons, extended FAB, FAB, icon buttons, progress indicators, navigation bar, navigation rail, app bars, menus, sliders, and toolbars.
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His mother’s tears ‘shattered’ him, but her words changed his life in prison forever
The first time a Massachusetts man saw his mother cry was when he returned to the state to face the consequences for killing a cab driver.
“It shattered me,” Allen Alston said.
Despite being sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, his mother encouraged him to better his life.
So, he did.
He got his GED, has read countless books, joined groups in the correctional facility, continues to work out, has had jobs in the facility and has never been part of a fight or displayed any acts of aggression in prison.
“I wasn’t going to let my one mistake define who I was,” he told the Massachusetts Parole Board on July 2.
Now, his hard work is paying off as he’s getting a second chance outside prison walls.
Alston, 47, appeared in front of the Massachusetts Parole Board in Natick for the first time since he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibly of parole for first-degree murder more than 25 years ago.
Alston, who is incarcerated at MCI-Shirley, has been fighting for his chance to go in front of the parole board for months.
He was part of a group of seven men who sued the Massachusetts Parole Board, Gov. Maura Healey and others over a delay in conducting parole hearings for people who were unconstitutionally sentenced to life in prison without the possibly of parole.
- Read more: He was exposed to crime as a toddler and killed 2 people by 16 — now he’s getting out of prison
In a 4-3 Supreme Judicial Court decision issued Jan. 11, 2024, emerging adults between the ages of 18-20 cannot be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole in Massachusetts.
The high court ruled that life sentences for defendants within that age group are unconstitutional and amount to “cruel and unusual punishment.”
Due to the decision, Alston, who was 19 when he murdered 56-year-old Ismael “Ish” Lopez Rivera in 1997, was allowed to go in front of the parole board for the first time.
But he was forced to continue waiting as the parole board worked to schedule hearings for about 127 people who became parole-eligible as a matter of law.
Months after the decision, the parole board sent a letter stating it had planned “to start scheduling hearings in September as time permits.”
“We hope you will be understanding and patient as this is an unprecedented amount of additional cases to add to the Parole Board’s calendar,” the board stated.
For Alston, the wait had devastating consequences.
Seven months after the decision, his mother, 79, who he said always kept him together, died.
He was allowed to attend the wake but otherwise has had difficulty grieving while remaining in prison. He said other inmates have tried to help him through this difficult time.
One man pointed out to Alston that he still has good memories of his mother.
“He’s like, ‘I don’t have that at all. I don’t know my mother. I never had that,’” Alston recalled. “So that made me have empathy for him and showed me that I can be here mourning, but I had something he didn’t have … I grieve my mother still, but I definitely celebrate her, too.”
What happened
Alston had recently lost his job, had a child he was helping care for and was just told another child was on their way. He felt hopeless and turned to drugs and alcohol.
Alston didn’t have the money to take the taxi from his mother’s house to his brother’s. He originally planned on simply stiffing the driver. But he was already carrying a gun for protection after recently getting jumped, so why not use it to rob the taxi driver?
What Alston said he didn’t plan for was the taxi driver fighting back.
- Read more: Basketball star with a ‘heart like a gladiator’ killed in 1993 — now killers have a second chance
Rivera attempted to grab the gun from Alston and the two began fighting for control. That’s when Alston fired the first two shots, he recalled to the parole board.
Although they continued fighting over it, Alston said he had control over the gun when he fired it three more times. This time, hitting Rivera.
He recalled hearing Rivera say “help.” But Alston was already running out of the cab.
“My adrenaline was going,” he recalled. “I fled.”
When authorities found him in South Carolina, he confessed to the shooting but not the attempted robbery. He was too ashamed of that part, he said.
The shooting was uncharacteristic for Alston, who was described as a “gentle spirit.” But it reflected his upbringing.
Growing up as the youngest boy of seven children in Brockton, he was around violence and drugs daily. He didn’t have a relationship with his father, and his brother often beat him to try to toughen him up.
“I never was a fighter,” he said.
He left school but tried to come back. However, the school said he owed for books he’d never taken home — books still sitting in his old locker.
He couldn’t afford the fine.
“I definitely got discouraged when they wouldn’t let me back to school,” he told the parole board.
He wanted a different way of life than what was around him. But he didn’t see a way out.
Alston was a “young man who was searching for a foothold,” Dr. Jeff Long, a board-certified neuropsychologist, said. “Some of his early experiences caused deep cracks in his foundation.”
Long described Alston as “a very empathic, nonjudgmental and peaceful man.”
But Alston said he felt alone and got a pit bull to help with protection. Still, that wasn’t enough and he was jumped twice.
He thought he was going to die.
That’s when he started carrying a gun — a gun he never intended to use.
A second chance
When Alston decided to better himself, he never imagined getting a second chance outside prison walls.
He found mentors in prison, became religious and did everything he could to still be a father to his two children.
Robert Foxworth, who spent decades in prison after being wrongfully convicted, recalled being drawn to Alston for his integrity.
“It got to a point where he was the only one I was called to help,” Foxworth said, taking his first day off of work since being released from prison in 2020 to speak at Alston’s parole board hearing.
- Read more: ‘I ended the life of 3 beautiful people’: Mass. man who killed wife, 2 children seeks parole
Now, Foxworth hopes to be there for Alston as he makes the difficult transition back into society.
Foxworth received a $1 million settlement from Massachusetts after his wrongful conviction. He said he’s willing to help Alston financially, too.
“He’s one of probably the most humble guys I’ve met since I’ve been in there,” Foxworth said. “I just think he made a mistake and I beg this parole board to give him a chance.”
Alston admitted that staying away from fights wasn’t easy. He had to learn to control his own emotions and not be petty, even as blood splattered into his food from a nearby fight.
A changed man
The Supreme Judicial Court decision isn’t just about whether the person is ready for parole. It’s also about whether the crime they committed was due to their young, impressionable and impulsive minds.
“Advancements in scientific research have confirmed what many know well through experience: the brains of emerging adults are not fully mature,” Chief Justice Kimberly Budd wrote in the decision. “Specifically, the scientific record strongly supports the contention that emerging adults have the same core neurological characteristics as juveniles have.”
The Plymouth County District Attorney’s Office is against Alston getting parole, stating they don’t believe impulse control was a factor. They also have concerns with his lack of substance abuse treatment over the years.
Alston started using alcohol when he was 11. Although he has been clean the entire time he has been in prison, the state has concerns.
But his lawyer Lisa Newman-Polk stressed that they spent the entire day talking about the crimes of a person “that is not in the room today.”
Nineteen-year-old Alston and 47-year-old Alston aren’t the same person, she said.
“I think that Alan is a perfect example of the Mattis decision,” Newman-Polk told MassLive. “And I think it is a tragedy that we would have been paying as a society to have him incarcerated for decades more until his death rather than out contributing and paying taxes and helping the next generation of youth.”
On Nov. 18, the parole board agreed.
He will be granted parole after 90 days in a minimum security facility.
Once released, he will have electronic monitoring for 6 months a curfew of 10 p.m., be supervised for drugs and alcohol and must have mental health counseling for adjustment and grief.
Alston recognizes he can’t change the past. He can’t bring back Rivera. He can’t fix the pain a child felt listening to the gunshots he caused ring out as they tried to sleep.
But, as his lawyer flips the pages of his parole board speech, his hands still shackled at his side, he continues to apologize and says he plans to keep trying to do better, forever being the man he was supposed to be, not the boy he was.
“I thought I was a man, but I was still a boy, just trying to be seen,” he wrote in a poem in 2020, reflecting on the past.
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Trump administration might not fight state AI regulations after all
The Trump administration has been targeting state-level AI regulation, with the president declaring in a social media post this week that the industry needs “one Federal Standard instead of a patchwork of 50 State Regulatory Regimes.”
This comes after a 10-year ban on state AI regulation was initially included in Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” before ultimately getting removed by the Senate in a 99-1 vote.
The idea then apparently took on a new form, with the administration reportedly drafting an executive order that would establish an AI Litigation Task Force with a mission to challenge state AI laws through lawsuits. States with contested AI laws would also reportedly be threatened with the loss of federal broadband funding.
Now, Reuters reports that the executive order has been put on hold. If signed, the order would probably face significant opposition, including from Republicans who previously criticized the proposed moratorium on state regulation.
AI regulation has also been a controversial topic in Silicon Valley, with some industry figures — especially those in the Trump administration — attacking companies like Anthropic for supporting AI safety bills including California’s SB 53.
Get six months of access for only $36
If you’ve been waiting to try Apple TV+, now’s the time to jump in. You can get six months of access for only $36 for Black Friday, giving you a chance to stream award-winning originals like Severance, Ted Lasso and The Morning Show. The offer is live for a limited time through December 1, so if you haven’t signed up before, it’s a great time to see what the service has to offer. The biggest caveat to the deal is that you must subscribe directly through Apple and not through a third-party service.
Apple TV+ continues to build one of the strongest lineups in streaming. Its library includes standout originals like Ted Lasso, Severance, Slow Horses, For All Mankind, Foundation and Silo, along with newer releases such as The Studio and Dope Thief. On the film side, you’ll find the 2022 Best Picture winner CODA, plus Killers of the Flower Moon, Blitz and Tetris.
Apple
Get Apple TV+ access for $6 per month for six months, which represents a discount of more than 50 percent.
Apple’s streaming service has earned plenty of recognition since launch. Apple TV+ shows picked up 10 Emmy Awards in 2024, including a win for Slow Horses for outstanding writing in a drama series.
Apple TV+ also offers a polished streaming experience. All content is ad-free and available in up to 4K HDR, with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos support where available. The app works on nearly every device, from iPhone and iPad to smart TVs, PlayStation, Xbox and Roku. You can also download episodes and movies to watch offline, which is handy for travel or long commutes.
If you’re already invested in Apple’s ecosystem, the integration is seamless. You can share your subscription with up to five other people through Family Sharing, and playback syncs across devices so you can start a show on your iPhone and finish it on your TV. Apple TV+ is also part of the Apple One bundle if you prefer to manage multiple Apple services under a single plan.
This deal is available to new and qualified returning subscribers, meaning those who haven’t had an active subscription in the past 30 days. You’ll need to sign up directly through Apple rather than a third-party service or carrier. Once the three-month period ends, the plan renews at the standard $13 per month, so be sure to cancel before the renewal date if you don’t want to continue.
With a growing slate of original series, award-winning films and a slick interface, Apple TV+ has turned into one of the best streaming services for premium content. And with this limited-time deal, you can catch up on its biggest hits without paying full price.
What Gemini features you get with Google AI Pro [Nov 2025]
![What Gemini features you get with Google AI Pro [Nov 2025]](https://eyeobserver.online/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Google-One-AI-plans-768x402.jpg "What Gemini features you get with Google AI Pro [Nov 2025]")
At I/O 2025, Google One AI Premium (and Gemini Advanced) became “Google AI Pro,” while a higher, more expensive tier was introduced with “Google AI Ultra.”
Updated 11/22 with the launch of Gemini 3 Pro and Nano Banana Pro
Free
Gemini app
- Fast with 2.5 Flash: “General access”
- Thinking with 3 Pro: Up to 5 prompts / day
- Context window: 32,000 tokens (“around 50 pages of text”)
- Audio Overviews: Up to 20 audio overviews / day
- Deep Research: Up to 5 reports / month using the Fast model
- Image generation & editing:
- Nano Banana: Up to 100 images / day
- Nano Banana Pro: Up to 3 images / day
- Dynamic view: Up to 25 prompts / day
- Slide generation: Up to 20 presentations / day
Google AI Pro
AI Pro is simply a rebrand that drops the explicit “Google One” connection, while being a bit snappier and shorter than “AI Premium.” In the US, it remains available for $19.99 per month.
[Updated] Gemini app
In the Gemini app, you get “expanded” versus “limited” (on the free tier) access to:
- Thinking with 3 Pro (100 prompts / day)
- Deep Research with Thinking with 3 Pro (20 reports / day)
- Image generation & editing:
- Nano Banana: Up to 1,000 images / day
- Nano Banana Pro: Up to 250 images / day
- Dynamic view: Up to 250 prompts / day
- Scheduled actions (10 active actions at a time)
- Veo 3.1 Fast: 3 videos / day
- Spreadsheet and code analysis
There’s also the 1 million token context window, which is equivalent to 1,500 pages of text or 30,000 lines of code.
Gemini in Google Workspace
The Gemini side panel and other inline features are available in: Gmail, Google Drive, Docs, Sheets, Slides, Meet, and Chat.
You also get access to Google Vids. This AI-powered video creation app lets you create, write, produce, edit, collaborate, and share videos. It’s catered towards more presentation-style videos in school or business contexts, but there are personal use cases. Specific capabilities include adding:
- Stock images
- GIFs
- Video clips
- Stickers
- Music
- Sound effects
- Self recording
- Screen record with narration
- Screen record with video recording
- Voiceover through the Vids recording studio
Gemini in Chrome
[Updated] Google Search AI Mode
AI Pro subscribers can access Gemini 3 Pro with “reasoning and generative layouts.” In the top-left corner, “AI Mode” is a dropdown menu, with the “Default” model providing “Fast all-around help.”
On the web, you can access the model picker before you submit a prompt. At the moment, google.com/aimode is also where you can access Deep Search, which is powered by 2.5 Pro, to “ask more sophisticated queries and get back longer, more detailed responses.” Like Gemini’s Deep Research, responses take a few minutes. Google is performing “hundreds of searches” and reason “across disparate pieces of information” to generate a “comprehensive, fully-cited report.” Google can ask you for more details before starting the process.
You also get the “Highest” level of Nano Banana image generation and editing, while there’s AI-powered calling for local business pricing.
Google Home Premium
Google Home Premium Standard was previously Nest Aware and an additional $10/month. You get:
- Gemini Live: Will be available on the Nest Mini, Nest Hub Max, Nest Audio, and 2nd-gen Nest Hub.
- 30 days of event-based video history
- Intelligent alerts: Familiar faces, garage door detection, package detection, smoke & CO alarm
- Automation creation: With Ask Home and Help me create, you can create automations using natural language prompts.
- Saved information: You can have Ask Home remember things about your household to personalize your experience.
Google Home Premium Advanced can be purchased for $10 more as an add-on.
Google Photos
From the Create tab, you get Higher remix generations and photo-to-video generations (versus Limited for free users).
NotebookLM
The paid tier for Google’s research tool was previously called NotebookLM Plus. Like in the Gemini app, you now see a “Pro” badge next to your profile image in the top-right corner. Google AI Pro provides:
- 5x more Audio Overviews: 20 per day (versus 3 on free)
- Have up to 500 notebooks (vs. 100)
- Add 300 sources per notebook (vs. 50)
- Start 500 chat queries per day (vs. 50)
- Sharing “Chat-only” notebook
- Advanced chat settings: Preferred response style, like Guide, Analyst, or custom
- Notebook analytics
2 TB of Google One storage
This can be used for Gmail, Drive, and Photos. The standalone storage cost is $9.99 per month.
Jules + Gemini Code Assist + Gemini CLI
Jules is Google’s asynchronous coding agent. AI Pro subscribers get 5x higher limits (versus free users). It’s “ideal for daily coding.” You also get higher daily model requests for Gemini Code Assist and Gemini CLI.
Whisk Animate
This Google Labs experiment was announced in 2024 where images of a subject, scene, and style are used as prompts. The Whisk Animate feature uses Veo to turn images into short videos.
Flow
At I/O 2025, Google announced Flow as an AI filmmaking suite for video creation and editing. It offers features like: Text to video, Ingredients to video, and Frames to video.
1,000 AI Credits per month
With this new plan, Google has introduced the concept of AI Credits that apply to Whisk and Flow. Refer to the following table:
The AI Credit costs below are per generation, not per request. Some product features will create multiple generations per request. For example, in Flow, a single request may generate 2 videos.]
AI Pro subscribers can now buy “top-up AI Credits” at the following rates. They are valid for 12 months, with this ability previously just for the AI Ultra tier.
| Top-up amount (USD) | AI Credits |
| $25 | 2,500 |
| $50 | 5,000 |
| $200 | 20,000 |
Google AI Ultra
AI Ultra is also available in 150+ countries. It costs $249.99 per month in the US.
Whisk + Flow + 12,500 AI Credits per month
[Updated] Gemini app
- Thinking with 3 Pro: 500 prompts / day
- Gemini Agent:
- 200 Agent requests per day
- 3 Agent tasks running at the same time
- Deep Research using Thinking with 3 Pro (200 reports / day)
- Deep Think (10 prompts / day with a 192,00 token context window)
- Veo 3.1 (5 videos / day)
Google Home Premium Advanced
Replacing Nest Aware Plus, you get:
- 60 days of event-based video history
- 10 days of 24/7 video history
- AI descriptions provide more detailed long descriptions of camera events.
- AI notifications provide short versions of AI descriptions within camera event notifications.
- Home Brief an overview of what happened at home each day.
- Ask Home video history search
Google Photos
From the Create tab, you get the Highest level of remix generations and photo-to-video generations.
Jules + Gemini Code Assist + Gemini CLI
Jules in Google AI Ultra gives you 20x higher limits “for intensive, multi-agent workflows at scale.” You get the highest daily model requests for Gemini Code Assist and Gemini CLI.
NotebookLM
“Later in 2025,” Google is teasing the “highest limits and best model capabilities” in NotebookLM with AI Ultra.
30 TB of Storage
This otherwise costs $149.99 per month.
YouTube Premium
The Individual plan costs $13.99 per month.
Project Mariner
This research prototype for browser agents lets you perform 10 tasks simultaneously. Example use cases include research, shopping, and booking travel.
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Mass. weather: Arctic chill drops state temperatures into the 20s overnight
Get ready for some cold air moving in. A high air pressure system is settling over Massachusetts Saturday night, meaning temperatures are expecting to drop fast, likely into the 20s in most places.
Saturday afternoon, there were some light rain showers but those are moving out to the east and are planning to linger the longest across the South Coast and Cape and Islands before clearing out in the evening.
The cold front is expected to clear out remaining cloud cover, though most areas won’t see much daylight before sunset.
Winds are dropping less than 5 mph Saturday night, with temperatures dropping into the mid-20s for most of southern New England, with mid-30s for the Cape and Islands and low 20s in the higher elevations of western Massachusetts.
Sunday will start with generally clear conditions, but clouds will increase throughout the day as a low pressure system passes through the James Bay region, bringing a cold front through southern New England.
By Sunday afternoon, scattered light rain showers are expected across the region, with some snow possible mixing in across higher elevations of northwestern Massachusetts.
High temperatures on Sunday could reach the mid-40s for most areas, the National Weather Service reports. Winds could pick up, blowing from the northwest with gusts up to 20 to 25 mph.
Sunday night temperatures will stay cool, generally in the high 20s to low 30s.
Looking further into the week of Thanksgiving, Monday is expected to be dry, but rain could return late Tuesday.
Wednesday will be the warmest day of the week, possibly reaching the 50s and maybe even the low 60s if the sun comes out.
However, there is a chance of rain showers late Wednesday into the night before a cold front moves in and clears things up.
Thanksgiving Day on Thursday will be drier but much cooler and breezy as the cold front moves out to sea.
The coldest and windiest parts of the week are supposed to be Friday and Saturday, the National Weather Service said. High temperatures will only reach the mid-30s to low 40s.
The wind will be stronger on Friday, possibly hitting advisory levels, with gusts reaching over 45 mph in the hills.
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Meta wants to get into the electricity trading business
In order to accelerate the construction of new power plants needed to provide energy for its data centers, Meta is looking to get into the business of trading electricity.
Bloomberg reports that both Meta and Microsoft are asking for federal approval to trade power (Apple has already received this approval). According to Meta, this will allow it to make long-term commitments to buy electricity from new plants, while mitigating the risk by having the ability to resell some of that power on wholesale power markets.
Meta’s head of global Urvi Parekh told Bloomberg that power plant developers “want to know that the consumers of power are willing to put skin in the game.”
“Without Meta taking a more active voice in the need to expand the amount of power that’s on the system, it’s not happening as quickly as we would like,” Parekh said.
As an example of the unprecedented energy needs underlying tech companies’ ambitious AI data center plans, Bloomberg notes that at least three new gas-powered plants will need to be built to power Meta’s Louisiana data center campus.