Microsoft Backs Direct Air Capture Player Climeworks

Microsoft this morning disclosed investments in more climate-related companies as part of efforts to make good on its year-old pledge to become “carbon negative” by 2030. From a report: One company the tech behemoth is staking is Climeworks, a firm looking to scale up deployment of direct air capture technology that removes CO2 already in the atmosphere. The size of the…

Silicon Valley Tech Workers Angered By Proposal to Make Some Mandatory Telecommuting Permanent

“The Metropolitan Transportation Commission, a regional government agency in the San Francisco Bay Area, voted Wednesday to move forward with a proposal to require people at large, office-based companies to work from home three days a week as a way to slash greenhouse gas emissions from car commutes,” reports NBC News: It’s a radical suggestion that likely would have been a…

Google Says It Will Not Build Custom AI for Oil and Gas Extraction

After a year of weathering criticism from tech workers, politicians, and activists over its oil industry contracts, Google has stated that it will not create new custom A.I. or machine learning algorithms that would help the oil and gas industry enhance its ability to extract fossil fuels. From a report: “We will not … build custom A.I./ML algorithms to facilitate upstream…

US Space Force Successfully Launches First Mission

schwit1 shares a report from UPI: The first official mission for the new U.S. Space Force lifted off from Florida at 4:18 p.m. EDT on Thursday into a virtually cloudless sky with a military communications satellite aboard. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket emblazoned with the Space Force chevron logo carried the satellite toward orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force…

Anatomy of a Rental Phishing Scam

Jeffrey Ladish writes: I was recently the (unsuccessful) target of a very well-crafted phishing scam. As part of a housing search a few weeks ago, I was trawling craigslist and zillow for rental opportunities in the SF bay area. I reached out to a beautiful looking rental place to inquire about a tour. Despite my experience as a security professional, I…

Now Googlers Are Protesting Company’s Cloud Deals With Big Oil

Activists inside Google are calling on management to ditch deals with oil and gas companies, the latest flare-up inside the technology giant. Bloomberg reports: In a letter published on Monday, more than 1,100 workers asked Google Chief Financial Officer Ruth Porat to release a “company-wide climate plan” that commits to cutting carbon emissions entirely. The letter also asks Google to drop…