News
- Guilford County, Pima County, and Charlotte are pausing new data centers, but none of the pauses currently affect projects already under construction
- Pima County, AZ, has passed a 120-day pause that does not affect existing projects, even as its legality remains disputed
- Charlotte, NC, wants to extend its 150-day pause by 11 months to October 2027, and Guilford County, NC, holds an October 15 hearing on a moratorium of up to 180 days, even though it has no pending data center applications
In less than two weeks of September 2026, three local governments in two states moved against new data centers, with one passing to date: Pima County, Arizona, adopted one on September 22 and, within a week, the Goldwater Institute said it was illegal.
Guilford County, North Carolina, voted on September 17 to hold a hearing on a moratorium on September 28, and Charlotte set a hearing on extending its own pause into October 2027, a net increase of 11 months, should it pass.
The moves come amid backlash from residents as local officials scramble to keep hyperscale campuses out of cities otherwise earmarked for large buildouts because of cheap land, electricity, lax local laws, or a desirable mix of all three.
A pause with nothing to pauseGuilford County, North Carolina, has not paused anything yet despite its Board of Commissioners voting unanimously to schedule an October 15 public hearing on a temporary moratorium of up to 180 days on new data center projects. This is for two reasons: the ordinance still needs to be drafted, heard, and potentially adopted.
The other reason, somewhat ironically, is simply because there is no actual project to stop or pause to begin with. Planning Director Leslie Bell told the board the county has no pending building permits or other requests for a new data center in its unincorporated areas, the Rhino Times reported. It seems to be laying the groundwork to prevent future legal challenges. This, however, comes as more North Carolina cities and towns push data center moratoriums, with Bell putting the number at over 18.
Pine County, Arizona, has taken a more nuanced, albeit somewhat underwhelming, approach. As the only of the three counties we are covering with an active moratorium in place, it also has one that does not address the projects residents have raised as an issue at meetings.
The moratorium passed on September 22, when its Board of Supervisors voted 3-2 to pause new data center development in unincorporated areas for 120 days, fails to cover two key projects already underway: Project Blue and Project Gravel. The county's proposal still faces a potential legal challenge, as the Goldwater Institute sent a demand letter asking the county to rescind the pause altogether.
Charlotte, North Carolina, whose council voted 11-0 on June 8 to pause new data centers for 150 days, is considering buying even more time to make a final decision beyond the four months it has already spent.
On September 28, the council set an October 12 public hearing on extending the pause by 11 months, through October 11, 2027, the Charlotte Observer reported. At-large Council member Dimple Ajmera called it "one of the consequential policy decisions that we will be making."
The problem is more complex: data centers are allowed by right in eight of Charlotte's zoning districts, so they need no council approval there, and council members have raised concerns about that gap since at least 2023, but a policy review has yet to address it. As Deputy City Manager Alyson Craig told a council committee in September, there was no clear path for ordinance changes.
The problems of each county are different, but one could argue that they are considerably similar in the way that all of them are looking to address a gap in the rulebook rather than a wave of upcoming projects at a time when there is increased interest by hyperscalers to find cheap land with cheaper, readily available access to water and power.
While rulebooks can be updated, local governments have to wrestle with the tradeoff: data centers will create few long-term jobs, but they can offer high taxable value in some cases through local taxation, in addition to the power and water bills they will inevitably generate.
At the same time, residents who voted said councils in are concerned about potentially higher power bills and limited access to water, resulting in a perfect storm where legal challenges like the one from the Goldwater Institute only add to the chaos for counties that have never had the legislature to handle such issues in the past.
Anybody looking to get their steps in and continue their fitness goals over fall and winter — but doesn't like the idea of walking in the cold and dark, be it for comfort or safety reasons — should give under-desk treadmills or walking pads a look.
Slimmer and cheaper than normal treadmills, they can slide under a sofa or bed when not in use, so they're easy to store. They're not fast because they lack guardrails, but they're perfect for getting you moving while watching TV or working (alongside a standing desk). Having this kind of low-impact cardio fitness equipment at home makes it easy to hit step goals and keep moving, even during winter, helping you to stay healthy.
My pick of the deals so far is the Urevo Spacewalk E1L, now available at Best Buy for just $129.99 (was $189.99), saving you $60. Check out the deal in full below:
The Urevo Spacewalk E1L is portable, features five layers of shock absorbers in the belt, and supports up to 265lbs of user weight. It comes with a remote control to manage speed, and features an LED display at the head of the treadmill. No fuss, no frills, and it's usable right out the box. View Deal
While we haven't reviewed this model, we have reviewed its sibling treadmill, the Urevo Spacewalk E4w, which shot right to the top of our best under-desk treadmills buying guide. It has a similar weight, top speed, and power, so I feel comfortable recommending the E1L with the deal on, based on the quality of the E4w.
Not in the US? You can check out this UK deal from Amazon on another Urevo treadmill, the 2-in-1.
2-in-1 under desk treadmill: was £139.99 now £99.99
Save £40 on the 2-in-1 treadmill. With a similar 2.5HP motor and profile as the treadmill above, the main difference here is the treadmill's incline capability, with the capacity to go up to 9% to simulate more challenging hill walks. View Deal
Whether you're looking to work on a standing desk or you're interested in getting your step count goals smashed while staying cozy at home, an under-desk treadmill is a smart health purchase, especially for exercisers who may not enjoy or be able to take part in higher-impact training. I've reviewed quite a few walking pads during my stint as TechRadar's fitness editor, and asked writers to review others for me.
They're useful gadgets. Research found that for people unable to tolerate moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, lower-intensity walking was still beneficial for improving health. If you loathe running or cycling, sticking to one of the best streaming services and settling in for a binge-watch while walking on a treadmill might be just the thing to get you exercising.
- US financial services faced nearly 40,000 phishing URLs during H1 2026
- Attackers used 645 hosting providers to distribute financial phishing campaigns
- Free hosting carried 12.6% of phishing URLs targeting financial services
Phishing campaigns targeting American financial institutions are spreading across a fragmented web of hosting services, making fraudulent infrastructure difficult to contain.
New research from Netcraft has uncovered almost 40,000 unique phishing URLs connected to US financial services were discovered in the first half of 2026.
Behind those URLs were 645 hosting providers and 576 registrars, while newer services and automated AI tools helped attackers move quickly between platforms.
Cheap infrastructure is helping campaigns multiplyThe scale of the activity becomes clearer when the services carrying these attacks are examined rather than the fraudulent websites alone.
Free developer and application hosting accounted for 12.6% of phishing URLs recorded against US financial services during H1 2026.
That means approximately one in eight observed attacks relied upon infrastructure that attackers could access without paying conventional hosting fees.
Netcraft observed significant changes in infrastructure use between Q1 and Q2, suggesting criminals were switching services as infrastructure became unavailable or less useful.
AI is making that movement easier by helping users create websites, reproduce legitimate pages and deploy malicious infrastructure with less technical effort.
Netcraft said generative AI website builders and cloning tools increasingly include free web hosting options, further reducing the work required to establish campaigns.
The financial brands being impersonated also show where attackers are concentrating their efforts across the sector during the reporting period.
Payment service providers accounted for 37.2% of observed phishing activity, with PayPal representing 80.6% of attacks within that subsector.
American Express accounted for 72.8% of observed activity involving card networks, showing how heavily campaigns can focus on recognizable financial brands.
Omegatech emerges as another source of attack infrastructureThe infrastructure picture changed further with the emergence of Omegatech, a paid hosting provider based in the Seychelles, which started operations in January 2026.
By June, Netcraft attributed roughly 3% of observed phishing attacks against US financial services to infrastructure hosted through Omegatech.
One cluster contained 16 .es domains that generated 585 unique attack URLs between March 25 and April 21 2026.
Those domains were used to impersonate 41 financial brands through subdomains, allowing one cluster to support campaigns against numerous institutions.
Registration data for many of those domains was unavailable, limiting visibility into the companies responsible for registering the infrastructure.
Omegatech's emergence came as another major campaign was winding down after targeting Fidelity Investments through the Darcula phishing platform.
That operation fell sevenfold from Q1 to Q2, after previously accounting for more than half of phishing infrastructure impersonating Fidelity.
Meanwhile, financially motivated North Korean groups and organized criminal operators continued pursuing banks, cryptocurrency services and compromised accounts.
The changing mix suggests that attackers are not relying on one platform, campaign or technique to reach financial customers.
Financial companies are advised to closely monitor newly registered domains, restrict suspicious links and strengthen employee verification procedures against impersonation attempts.
- 16-year-old bug hunter gained admin access to Microsoft's internal Titan analytics service through an unsigned login token that the service never checked
- From there, an estimated 17.3 trillion stored rows and a metadata table of about 25,000 accounts were reachable, though Faav says he only sampled data, avoiding dumping records or touching customer data
- Microsoft has hardened the service's security since and paid a $5,000 bounty, downplaying the trillion-row figure as a theoretical storage estimate rather than actual exposed customer information
A 16-year-old bug hunter who goes by 'Faav' logged into Microsoft's internal Titan analytics platform using a token that no real credentials should have produced, and from an administrator's seat, he could see an estimated 17.3 trillion stored rows and a metadata table listing roughly 25,000 accounts.
Microsoft paid him $5,000 and has since closed the hole, prompting him to detail his findings online even as he describes the impact as hypothetical rather than a consequential breach.
He said the way in was a single missed check, which let him access a system that should otherwise have been locked to Microsoft staff behind a VPN.
A simple mistake that could have catastrophic in the wrong handsMicrosoft's Titan sits behind a "VPN required" page meant to keep its web interface to Microsoft staff, but its API was still reachable through an Azure Cloud Services host, and the Swagger file describing that API listed four access routes.
Three demanded Azure AD authentication. One, "/v2/Query", did not, and it accepted raw SQL, giving Faav a way in. He wasn't moving blind either; to learn what tables to ask for, Faav pulled 2023 snapshots of Titan's pages from the Wayback Machine and recovered an archived Apache Superset configuration listing 56 table definitions.
The deeper flaw was in how the service read login tokens. As Faav explained, Titan validated the contents of a JSON Web Token- the tenant, audience, application ID, and user- but never verified the cryptographic signature that is supposed to prove the token is genuine, offering the analogy of a hotel where every door has a working keycard reader but any keycard opens any room, making it essentially an ineffective check at best.
He submitted an unsigned token, and then, after ten days of failed logins, stopped treating the "upn" field as a real email identity and set it to the plain string admin. Titan resolved that to local user ID 1, which carried the admin role, and ran his query.
The saga has an interesting AI subplot: Faav hunts with an orchestration bot he built called Antares, which he says was running OpenAI's Codex and Anthropic's Claude. Antares did the grunt work, enumerating subdomains, mapping the attack surface, and pushing the forged token through four layers of validation, one error message at a time.
It did get stumped, however, when it tried to find a UPN; it got stuck attempting only email addresses. That is not a problem per se for what was essentially a brute-force-style approach using the most probable email addresses, but it took manual intervention from the hacker to try 'admin' instead as an alternative to finally get access.
Admin access opened Titan's platform metadata database, which, according to his tally, held about 25,000 account and email records, roughly 18,000 employee email records, 15,000 organization records, and tens of thousands of dashboards, charts, and dataset definitions.
The disclosure moved quickly once he reported it on September 5 2026 as case 144051. Microsoft asked him to stop testing and hand over his IP address between September 6 and 8, locked the endpoint on September 9, and paid out on September 17.
There is an interesting caveat, however: Faav discloses that Microsoft had editorial control over his write-up, cutting sections and figures and reshaping how it described the impact before he published, so the most authoritative account of this bug has already been shaped by the company it embarrasses. None of this makes the bug small, however: one unverified signature that made every other access control in Titan pointless is a potential security nightmare, nipped in the bud by a teenager who has had success with similar bugs at Amazon, Google, and Adobe, in addition to a prior disclosure at Microsoft.
It's already October, and with Amazon officially kicking off its second Prime Day — dubbed Prime Big Deal Days — of the year tomorrow, we're getting closer and closer to the start of the holiday season. And as with other shopping events, it's an excellent time to pick up some Lego sets at generally very good prices.
Prime Big Deal Days, which runs from October 6 through October 7 for Prime members, will be ripe with discounts, but the party has started a bit early. Whether you're after savings on Lego Star Wars or Botanicals, Apple's AirPods Pro 3, the new Mac mini, or TVs of varying types and sizes, discounts are already available.
Now, as TechRadar's resident Lego expert, I've been perusing Amazon's early deal section and the shopping giant at large for discounts on iconic Lego bricks. There are the expected discounts on the Botanicals theme, which are adorable flowers and plants that you won't need to water, as well as Star Wars, Technic, and even Ideas sets.
One surprise, though, is the first sizable discounts on Lego's first-run Smart Play sets, including the Star Wars one, which we found to be pretty, pretty fun. We even spoke with Mark Hamill about them.
So ahead, I am sharing my top picks for Lego deals this Prime Big Deal Days.
Today's best Lego deals under $10At just $4.89 with a fresh discount, this 65-piece Lego City Police Motorcycle Chase set is 51% off. This compact set includes two Minifigures plus a buildable motorbike.View Deal
City Go-Karts and Race Drivers: was $9.99 now $8.99
Two Lego sets are better than one, and two Lego sets certainly get the job done. For just $8.99, you'll build two Go-Karts and two Minifigures thanks to this fantastic, small build. View Deal
Whether you want a smaller Lego flower build or want to expand your Botanicals collection, you can't go wrong with this set of Lego Botanicals Daisies for just under $10 on Amazon.View Deal
These Roses will look great with any Lego Flowers set, even though these aren't part of the Botanical theme! Right now, this duo is down to $11.99.View Deal
Today's best Lego Star Wars dealsStar Wars Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter: was $69.99 now $55.95
Now, this is the cheapest an all-in-one Lego Smart Play set has ever been. Lego's Smart Play: Darth Vader’s TIE Fighter is 20% off at just $55.95 and includes everything you need to build and play, most notably a Smart Brick is in the box.View Deal
Star Wars Smart Play: Luke’s Red Five X-Wing: was $89.99 now $71.99
Ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, Amazon is discounting the Lego Star Wars Luke's Red Five X-Wing Smart Play set by 20% to just $71.99. And yes, this set includes a Smart Brick as it's an 'all-in-one' as well as several Minifigures.View Deal
Star Wars Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack: was $22.99 now $18.39
This set is perfect for display or play. At just $18.39, the Siege of Mandalore Battle Pack has four Minifigures and two compact builds. View Deal
Star Wars Brick-Built Star Wars Logo: was $59.99 now $49.99
The opening crawl of any Star Wars film might be one of the most iconic openings in any film franchise. And now, you can finally build the iconic Star Wars logo out of Lego bricks, and the design team hid some fun details in there. This fantastic set is down to $49.99 at Amazon ahead of Prime Big Deal Days.View Deal
Star Wars Grogu with Hover Pram: was $99.99 now $79.99
A Lego deal roundup wouldn't be complete without a set that lets you build Grogu, right? Well, right now you can build Grogu and the iconic Hover Pram for just $79.99 – a 20% discount.View Deal
Star Wars Millennium Falcon A New Hope 25th Anniversary Edition set: was $84.99 now $67.99
Lego has produced many Millennium Falcon sets, but this smaller one, which debuted for the 25th anniversary of Star Wars: A New Hope, is an excellent model and even better with a 20% discount. It's currently available at the lowest price ever, at $67.99, and makes a superb display piece.View Deal
Star Wars: The Phantom Menace Mos ESPA Podrace set: was $79.99 now $67.87
Love a podrace? You can build a diorama of the iconic scene from Star Wars: The Phantom Menace out of Lego bricks. This set is currently 15% off at $67.87 on Amazon.View Deal
Star Wars R2-D2 Building Set: was $99.99 now $79.99
R2-D2 is the most iconic droid around, and right now you can build your own out of 1,050 Lego bricks for just $79.99. That's a 20% discount from the $99.99 MSRP, and Prime members get free fast shipping. This set comes with a mini R2-D2, a display plate, and a Darth Malak minifigure.View Deal
Star Wars Ahsoka Chopper (C1-10P) Astromech: was $99.99 now $71.99
In the world of astromech's, I really do love Chopper, and with this 1,039-piece Lego set, you can build the iconic C1-10P droid. Best of all, it's 28% off at just $71.99, and you get free shipping.View Deal
Botanicals Happy Plants: was $22.99 now $18.39
With over 7,000 sold on Amazon in the past month, it's clear Lego has a hit on its hands with the most joyful set in the Botanicals theme. Happy Plants are exactly what the name says – two plants with smiley faces in cute pots, one blue, one yellow. This set is already 20% off at $18.39 on Amazon right now.View Deal
This one is a personal favorite of mine, and it's the perfect display piece. The Botanicals Mini Orchid is a delightful set made up of 274 pieces. Right now, it's just $23.99 on Amazon.View Deal
The Lego Botanicals Chrysanthemum is back to just $23.99 from $29.99 ahead of Prime Big Deal Days. This is an especially vibrant Lego Botanical set and should be a fun, easy build with 278 pieces.View Deal
Botanicals Lucky Bamboo: was $29.99 now $23.99
Amazon has reduced the price of Lego Botanical Lucky Bamboo back to the lowest we've ever tracked. This delightful set is just $23.95 right now with free shipping for Prime members.View Deal
This is a really adorable one, and it's back to the lowest price we've tracked. Ahead of Prime Big Deal Days, the Lego Botanicals Flowering Cactus is 27% off at $25.55View Deal
If you're after colors, the Lego Botanicals Succulents is an excellent pickup on Amazon for Prime Day. Right now it's $34.99 – a 30% discount from $49.99 –and you'll build several plants out of 771 pieces. View Deal
Botanicals Magnolia Branches: was $49.99 now $39.00
Right now, Lego Botnicals Magnolia Branches is 22% off at $39 on Amazon ahead of Prime Big Deal Days.View Deal
Technic Bush Plane Toy: was $27.99 now $22.49
With this Lego Technic set, you'll get 333 pieces to build a Bush Plane complete with a propeller up front and three wheels. It even features adjustable ailerons. View Deal
Technic Ford Bronco: was $64.99 now $51.99
For $51.99 on Amazon, you can build a Ford Bronco out of Lego Technic bricks. This is a fun set that lets you build detailed parts of the vehicle, including the rear axle, engine, and suspension.View Deal
Technic Planet Earth and Moon in Orbit: was $74.99 now $61.99
While you won't build a car with this Lego Technic set, you'll still get a pretty out-of-this-world result. For $61.99 on Amazon – after a 17% discount – you'll build a working model of Earth and Moon, which you can rotate to see the orbit pattern.View Deal
Disney Moana Hei Hei: was $39.99 now $25
Hei Hei is probably one of the most iconic Disney characters, and I'd bet Moana fans agree. Right now, ahead of Prime Big Deal Days you can build Hei Hei out of 566 Lego pieces for just $25 – a 37% discount.View Deal
Disney Moana's Adventure Canoe: was $59.99 now $26.94
Don't blame us if you belt out 'How Far I'll Go' from Moana as you build the Adventure Canoe from the film. This Lego set is down to just $26.94 on Amazon after an instant 55% discount and comes with 4 figures.View Deal
Disney Cruella De Vil’s Car: was $49.99 now $34.99
Fans of 101 Dalmatians will likely love this Lego build, as you don't just get a Cruella De Vil Minifigure, but you'll build her iconic car and get one of the pups. Right now, this set is just $34.99 on Amazon after a 30% discount.View Deal
Ideas Disney Pixar Luxo Jr.: was $69.99 now $55.99
You'll not only build the iconic Pixar Luxor Jr. Lamp and ball, but you'll also discover the many Easter eggs and hidden details Lego packed into this 613-piece set. With Toy Story 5 streaming on Disney+ and a 20% discount, now's an excellent time to score this Lego set for just $55.99.View Deal
- Dell, Apollo and Jera plan up to 4GW of AI infrastructure within five years
- A $15bn Tokyo project will launch Japan’s biggest AI infrastructure push yet
- Jera wants gas power and AI computing facilities developed at unprecedented speed
Japan is preparing a major expansion of artificial intelligence infrastructure, with Dell, Apollo and Jera planning investments potentially reaching $140bn.
The companies intend to develop between 3GW and 4GW of AI computing facilities alongside gas-fired generation during the next five years.
Their first project is expected to cost $15bn and deliver 400MW near Tokyo, with operations scheduled to begin around 2028.
Speed and power drive the planA Jera executive said the companies are seeking faster development by linking electricity generation directly with computing facilities.
“The keyword is speed to power. If you see Asia outside China, Japan is a major data centre market,” said Yukio Kani, global chief executive of Jera.
Kani said Jera’s annual LNG trading volume of 35mn tonnes could support power plants serving computing facilities for planned sites.
The proposed Tokyo-area development would operate independently from Japan’s national electricity network.
Apollo will finance the initial $15bn facility, while Dell and Jera will contribute technology and energy infrastructure capabilities.
The estimated cost of $35bn to $45bn for each gigawatt places the potential programme near $140bn in investment.
The partners also intend to standardise construction methods for computing facilities and electricity infrastructure.
That approach could allow projects to be replicated elsewhere, with companies considering additional developments beyond Japan.
The planned capacity would give the partnership a substantial presence in Japan’s expanding market for electricity-intensive artificial intelligence services.
However, the proposed scale depends on delivering both generation assets and computing facilities within five years.
Japan seeks more AI capacityThe proposed facility near Tokyo is expected to become one of Asia’s largest artificial intelligence computing projects outside China when operations begin.
Its independent electricity supply could reduce reliance on the existing grid, although there are no details about generation capacity.
The partners have not limited their ambitions to Japan, saying facilities and power projects could be developed elsewhere across Asia.
Japan already hosts major operators including NTT Data and SoftBank, while Blackstone has announced a separate $30bn expansion programme in the coming years.
Despite those investments, Japan remains well behind the United States and China in electricity use associated with installed computing facilities.
According to the International Data Center Authority, US data centres consume 29.2GW of electricity, representing 43% of global data centre consumption.
China accounts for 8.5GW, while Japan consumes only 1.7GW, equivalent to approximately 12.5% and 2.5%, respectively.
However, Japan’s figure could rise as the government seeks ¥32.7tn, equivalent to $206bn, in public and private investment through 2035.
This investment forms part of Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s plan to support strategically important sectors.
The programme includes cloud computing and data centre infrastructure among the areas designated for strategic investment through 2035.
These planned investments therefore give Japan a larger role in the regional expansion of AI computing infrastructure and electricity supply.
Via Financial Times