Are AI Defense Firms About to Eat the Pentagon?

by  Patrick Tucker

Competitors are becoming collaborators in the industry's hottest segment.

In an unprecedented wave of collaboration, leading AI firms are teaming up—sometimes with rivals—to serve a Pentagon and Congress determined to put AI to military use. Their growing alignment may herald an era in which software firms seize the influence now held by old-line defense contractors.

“There's an old saying that software eats the world,” Byron Callan, managing director at Capital Alpha Partners, told Investors Business Daily on Wednesday. “It's going to eat the military too.”

Over the last week, Palantir, Anduril, Shield AI, OpenAI, Booz Allen, and Oracle announced various partnerships to develop products tailored to defense needs. Meanwhile, the House passed the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act with provisions that push the Defense Department to work more closely with tech firms on AI, and DOD announced yet another office intended to foster AI adoption.

 Read full story at Washington Technology…

The Drawbacks of Government-Owned Broadband Networks

by  Kaitlyn Levinson

As communities determine how to divvy up BEAD funding, a new report suggests deploying publicly owned broadband networks may not always be an effective use of the money.

State and local governments may want to think twice before establishing government-owned broadband networks, findings from a new report suggest.

In recent years, the U.S. has seen a “dramatic surge” of publicly owned broadband networks across communities, according to the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. Nearly 50 networks have been built by municipalities since 2021, with the total number of public networks reaching at least 447.

The increase in government-owned broadband networks comes as states continue to determine how to allocate $42.5 billion in federal funding from the Broadband Equity Access and Deployment, or BEAD, program.

 Read full story at Route Fifty…

The Potential, Pros and Cons of Atlanta's New AI Commission

by  Thad Rueter

The Georgia city is the latest local government to set up an AI study group, which could lead to municipal improvements. But before that happens, the commission might have to make it through several hurdles.

Atlanta wants to get a jump on artificial intelligence via a new commission — a move that could eventually help the city deal with its lean finances and perhaps even have an impact among suppliers of government technology.

The city, among the fastest growing in the U.S., recently set up one of the newest AI study groups in the country via a unanimous City Council vote.

The move came as New Jersey began offering free AI tools to other governments and Arizona published its own AI policy, just two examples of how the quickly growing technology is forcing officials to focus on its uses, risks and possibilities.

The creation of the commission also happens as Atlanta faces a $33 million budget deficit …

 Read full story at GovTech…

Apple Maps on the Web Now Supports Look Around Feature

by  Filipe Espósito

Apple in June introduced a beta version of Apple Maps on the web, allowing users of other platforms such as Windows PCs to access its map service directly from a web browser.

As noted by Chris Carley, it's now possible to use Look Around in the web version of Apple Maps. According to the Look Map website, which lets users check the coverage of the main map platforms, the feature was added by Apple around December 11.

For those unfamiliar, Look Around is Apple's version of Street View. The feature was introduced in 2019 with iOS 13 and lets users explore their surroundings with 360-degree panoramic views. Where available, Look Around can be accessed by tapping or clicking on the binoculars icon in Apple Maps.

Look Around is currently available in selected cities in the U.S., Canada, Australia, the U.K., the European Union and a few other countries. The full list can be found on Apple's website.

 Read full story at 9 to 5 Mac…

Best Password Managers for 2025

by  Kim Key

The best password managers we've tested create a unique and strong password for each of your online accounts and alert you to potential data leaks.

PCMag has been evaluating online privacy tools for more than 30 years. We test and analyze dozens of password managers, rating them primarily based on ease of adoption, security features, and overall value. NordPass is our Editors' Choice award winner thanks to its top-notch business and premium features, while Bitwarden is our Editors' Choice for free password managers. Read on for more of the best password managers we've tested and our reasons for recommending them, followed by what to consider when choosing the right one for you.

 Read full story at PCMag…

If Your Windows 10 PC Can't Be Upgraded, You Have 5 Options

by  Ed Bott

Microsoft will officially end support for its most popular operating system in less than a year. Here's what you should do with your Windows 10 PCs that fail Microsoft's Windows 11 compatibility tests before that day arrives.

Have you decided what to do with your Windows 10 PCs when they reach their official end-of-support date less than a year from now?

I know some people who are convinced that Microsoft will back down at the last minute and extend that deadline. Take this prediction to the bank: That's not gonna happen.

… Some of the same folks who were praying for an extension to the end-of-support date have been hoping for a last-minute reprieve from those hardware standards. For a few days, it even looked like they might be right, as a flurry of tech-focused news sites spread stories that Microsoft had unexpectedly changed its mind on those requirements. Alas, all of those stories were grounded in a comical misreading of an old support article: No, Microsoft had not reversed course on Windows 11 hardware requirements. And if someone offers to bet you that they will, you should take the other side of that bet.

If you're responsible for one or more Windows 10 PCs that fail Microsoft's Windows 11 compatibility tests, what should you do? You have five options.

 Read full story at ZDNet…

'Explosive' Demand Growth Puts More Than Half of North America at Risk of Blackouts: NERC

by  Robert Walton

“Simply put, our infrastructure is not being built fast enough to keep up with the rising demand,”said John Moura, NERC's director of reliability assessments and planning analysis.

NERC has previously warned about the pace of generator retirements and the changing resource mix, but now says the situation is becoming more urgent as demand forecasts surge and resource additions slow.

The LTRA recognizes confirmed generator retirements of 52 GW by 2029 and 78 GW over the 10-year assessment period. However, announced retirements by generators that have not begun the formal deactivation processes drive the total expected retirements to 115 GW by 2034.

Those retirements are largely being replaced by variable generation, NERC said.

 Read full story at UtilityDive…

Goodwill Mapping

by  Marc Delgado, PhD

As GISCorps celebrates two decades of voluntary map-making missions, we learn from their volunteers how sharing one's GIS skills where they are needed can be a force for good.

It was during the heyday of Afghanistan's peace-time reconstruction, after many years of destructive conflicts, that Shoreh Elhami found herself teaching GIS in Kabul in 2005. Her work there, which was part of a capacity-building mission backed by the United Nations Development Program, was to support the mapping activities of the Afghanistan Information Management Services (AIMS), a local organization. Specifically, AIMS wanted to improve its geographic information system capabilities by moving from ArcView to ArcGIS.

“AIMS had relocated from Pakistan to Afghanistan and was in need of GIS support,” says Elhami. “At that time, I was an authorized ArcGIS instructor, so I taught the AIMS team how to use ArcGIS.”

… GISCorps is a program of URISA (Urban and Regional Information Systems Association), a non-profit association made up of GIS professionals and experts in geospatial technologies. URISA provides various activities that contribute to the advancement of the GIS profession, including conferences, seminars, and trainings, and has several chapters in the U.S., Canada, and the Caribbean. Yet while URISA was incorporated way back in 1966, it was only in 2003 that a volunteer program within the organization was established.

 Read full story at xyHt…

PG&E Offered $15 Billion Loan From the Biden Administration for Climate Projects, Power Grid

by  REUTERS

The record loan would also be used toward increasing the deployment of energy storage, with PG&E currently logging 4.2 gigawatts of battery storage under contract.

The U.S. Department of Energy said on Tuesday it had offered a conditional loan of up to $15 billion to California-based electric utility PG&E to support climate resilience projects and strengthen the power grid.

President Joe Biden's administration is rushing to push out billions of dollars in financing from the Loan Programs Office, or LPO, which faces uncertainty under President-elect Donald Trump, who takes office on Jan. 20. [2025]

 Read full story at FastCompany…