Latest Technology News Today: 8 November 2026

A database of 10,202 public comments from 906 meetings found 90.5% opposed data centers, with 7% in support. The American Sentiment website, operated by Prophecy Gov, found objections centered on water use, electricity costs and pollution, and crossed party lines. One project reportedly consumed 29 million gallons in May 2026, while Microsoft said newer AI facilities use about the same annual water as restaurants.

UK growth minister Dan Tomlinson said data center construction will continue as essential infrastructure as AI use spreads through the economy. The government wants projects to invest in local communities and create jobs, and says it will use better oversight after lessons from parts of the US. A UK Compute Roadmap targets at least 6GW of data center computing capacity by 2030.

Apple CEO John Ternus is pressuring Craig Federighi to accelerate Siri's roadmap and make the assistant more agentic. First party app controls, such as editing photos and organizing Safari tabs, are expected in iOS 27.3, while third party app actions could arrive in spring. Apple wants Siri to handle ongoing tasks, and Siri engineering head Mike Rockwell is considering leaving next year.

Rights holders of Elvis Presley's music and a publisher of some Eminem records are suing Suno, claiming it illegally generates music and lyrics that mimic the artists. The Presley suit says Suno violated Tennessee's ELVIS Act, which bars AI companies from cloning a singer's voice. Suno said it does not allow prompts for specific artists' names and songs and screens uploaded audio and lyrics, adding to lawsuits from Sony, UMG and others.

Google and Microsoft have joined OpenAI and Anthropic in promising to honor a shared robots.txt line that tells AI developers whether a site's content may be used for training. The mechanism comes from an unendorsed IETF draft, states a preference rather than stopping bots, and is not yet an approved standard. Anthropic says it has started, Microsoft will honor it from February 1, 2027, and Google is aiming for 2027.

Diamond Foundry announced a 200mm single crystal diamond wafer, which it says marks the material's entry into the wafer scale era. The company said the unpolished sample is aimed at semiconductor cooling, where diamond's thermal conductivity is estimated at least five times that of copper. It also said a 300mm wafer is possible before 2030.

Code in the iOS 27.3 beta includes a flag for a Conversational Apps category, suggesting Apple may add chatbot support to HomeView, its smart home hub. The beta also adds bidirectional audio routing and session management, though the features are described as not fully wired up. Apple has also added anti-spoofing protection that requires iPhone authentication after three failed attempts, with lockout waits rising from one hour to eight hours.

Arcade network operator ALL.Net said affected Bandai Namco machines will gradually resume on a trial basis, while Sega products remain under maintenance. Services were suspended after ALL.Net became aware of unauthorized access to its servers, and an apology dated November 2 said personal and billing data were not on the compromised server. A news bulletin is promised for November 10.

Amsterdam police arrested 150 to 200 people at a Microsoft data center site on suspicion of trespassing after a protest against fossil fuel generators turned violent. Authorities said tools for breaking into the site were seized, while some protesters allegedly stole items and damaged the site. The action, attributed to Fossielvrij, is part of a Stop Dirty Data Centers coalition with further protests planned in Dublin, Warsaw and Denmark.

An investigation found that two Chinese companies approved to buy Nvidia H200 chips, New Matrix and Maginfra, had addresses that led to empty offices. New Matrix's founder is linked to sanctioned Wise Road and owns New H3C Semiconductor, while Maginfra is suspected of ties to blacklisted Inspur. The findings raise concerns that the U.S. Commerce Department is not scrutinizing export licenses closely enough.

CPU-Z hardware survey data show 64GB PC memory configurations fell 18% year on year, while 32GB systems fell 2.5%. The AI rush is still absorbing global DRAM supply, pushing prices for high-capacity DDR4 and DDR5 memory higher. Lower-capacity kits rebounded, with 16GB configurations up 12.9% and 24GB systems up 19.7%.

Zoom executives in London said the company is using AI and a new Unified Context Layer to turn conversations into workflow context, aiming to become a more useful workplace assistant. The company opened a UK data center in November 2025, giving local councils, NHS trusts and financial services firms data residency choices. The plans emphasize EMEA organizations that want platforms to fit their ways of working.

The launch of World of Warcraft: Forever used 3,924 virtual machines with 70,480 CPU cores and 251,136 GB of memory, a setup praised as one of the smoothest launches in Blizzard's history. The build uses 6% fewer CPU cores than the 2009 World of Warcraft setup but 2.2 times as much memory, and estimates put it at eight to ten server racks and at least $15 million.

Culture secretary Lisa Nandy said the UK government is looking seriously at adding Vinted and eBay to the social media ban for under 16s, which is set to take effect in March next year. The move follows reports that messaging on the reselling sites could allow strangers to groom children, and similar platforms Depop and Facebook Marketplace may also be included. eBay said it wants to work with the government, while Vinted had not responded.

The ITU begins its quadrennial plenipotentiary on Monday with 278 proposals on the table, and internet governance groups fear nation-states may challenge their roles. The UN agency manages spectrum, satellite orbits and standards, while the IETF, ICANN, regional registries and W3C use a multi-stakeholder model. The meeting tests that balance after the UN made the Internet Governance Forum permanent in 2025, though it has not yet met.

Microsoft has confirmed that Windows 11 26H2 will add a checkbox to the Sticky Keys activation dialog, letting users permanently disable the prompt that appears after pressing Shift five times. The change appears in a recent Insider beta and gives users a direct option in the dialog, instead of the older settings-page route. The fix addresses a long-standing annoyance tied to an accessibility feature that has existed for more than 30 years.

The European Commission said TikTok's recommendation algorithm violates the Digital Services Act by not sufficiently addressing harms from rabbit hole feeds, including effects on young users' mental and eating disorders. ByteDance could face a fine of up to 6% of global turnover if it refuses the EU order to fix the algorithms. Regulators highlighted funneling vulnerable users toward body image and isolation content.

Amanda Peterson Corio, Google's global head of data center energy, said space data centers could cost up to 100 times as much as ground based ones. Google is testing Project Suncatcher, a satellite with four TPUs that generates about 1 kW of solar power and can run one chip for roughly 20 minutes per session. The remarks follow Google's claim that an onboard Gemma 4 model on a TPU produced an AI response from a data center class TPU in orbit.

A One UI 9.5 beta build for the Galaxy S26 Ultra has appeared on Samsung's Korean and US update servers, typically the last step before registrations open. Samsung has not announced a date, but One UI 9.5 is expected to launch with the Galaxy S27 early in 2027. Signups are expected to work through Samsung Members, with the spotted build limited to the S26 Ultra and likely to expand to other devices.

Industry analysts said Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo may need to temper next-generation performance ambitions to avoid consoles launching at $1000. They cited rising component costs from the DRAM crisis and AI boom, and suggested tiered hardware, more bundles or delayed launches. Some expect the PS5 to stick around well after the PS6 launches, with cross-generation games letting players defer upgrades.

Nintendo released a remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Thursday, after years of rumours that it would revisit the 1998 N64 classic. The remake plays very similarly to the original, while its graphics shift from the older title's realism toward a more cartoonish style. The original remains the highest rated game in history on Metacritic, and the remake faces questions over whether visuals will satisfy players who grew up with it.

Ericsson is developing an Integrated Sensing and Communication system that uses radio signals bouncing off drones to detect and track them through cellular networks. It plans limited commercial trials in 2027 and wider availability in 2028, using specialised radio equipment, computing resources and software. The approach targets unauthorised drones near airports and military sites.