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Microsoft’s Next Power Source for AI Data Centers Is Nuclear
Three Mile Island, the three-mile nuclear station near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, has been closed since 2019. Now the island is set to reopen by 2028 to power Microsoft’s data centers, which are foundational to the tech giant’s AI and cloud computing businesses.
Constellation Energy, the owner of the power unit, announced the 20-year deal on Friday, which involves Microsoft buying energy from the restored plant. Restarting the plant means a $1.6 billion investment to revive it, ensure everything is up to date, and obtain the necessary permits and licenses. The payoff is significant though — the plant could create 3,400 new jobs directly and indirectly, and add $16 billion to Pennsylvania’s GDP.
Microsoft’s decision to turn to nuclear power is a sign of the high amounts of power required for the AI boom. According to Bloomberg, AI has increased demand for carbon-free electricity — and Microsoft’s move to purchase nuclear energy for 20 years, the first agreement the tech giant has signed of its kind, is the latest move to meet that need.
Three Mile Island. Credit: Getty Images
Since the agreement was announced, opinions have been mixed about how to proceed. Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro supports the deal and wants it “fast-tracked.” Residents of Perry County, Pennsylvania, however, are writing letters to the newspaper noting that the problem of nuclear waste or by-products should be addressed before the plant opens.
Related: How Much Does It Cost to Develop and Train AI? Too Much.
Dr. Michael Goff, acting assistant secretary of the Department of Energy’s Office of Nuclear Energy, stated that the restart was “an important milestone.”
“Always-on, carbon-free nuclear energy plays an important role in the fight against climate change and meeting the country’s growing energy demands,” Goff said.
Three Mile Island was once known as the site of the most serious accident in U.S. commercial operating history. In March 1979, part of the power plant melted down and released small amounts of radioactivity. The incident inspired greater regulations and led to less public confidence in nuclear power in the following decades, though there were no injuries, deaths, or long-term health effects observed from the accident.
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This 2TB Data Storage Offer Is a Can’t-Miss at $89.97
Disclosure: Our goal is to feature products and services that we think you’ll find interesting and useful. If you purchase them, Entrepreneur may get a small share of the revenue from the sale from our commerce partners.
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X Rival Bluesky Gains 1.2 Million New Users in 2 Days
X users may be migrating to bluer skies after a major change.
Bluesky is an open, ad-free social network that grew out of Twitter, now X, in 2019. The platform announced on Thursday that half a million new users signed up within a day of X announcing that it would be changing up its blocking feature “soon.” Blocked users on X will be able to see public posts but not like, reply or engage with them in any other way.
Although X said the change was to prevent people blocking others from sharing sensitive information about people they have blocked, X users stated that the move would support stalking, render the Block function useless and violate Google Play Store and Apple App Store requirements.
Related: Jack Dorsey Explains Bluesky Exit: ‘Literally Repeating All the Mistakes We Made’ at Twitter
Bluesky stated on Friday that more than 1.2 million people have signed up to use the platform since Wednesday.
congratulations everyone, we have now passed 12 million people total on bluesky!!! ?
over 1.2M new people have joined bluesky in the last two days — welcome!! ???
— Bluesky (@bsky.app) October 18, 2024 at 1:42 PM
Soon we’ll be launching a change to how the block function works.
If your posts are set to public, accounts you have blocked will be able to view them, but they will not be able to engage (like, reply, repost, etc.).
— Engineering (@XEng) October 16, 2024
Bluesky also experienced a surge in users last month after X shut down operations in Brazil on August 30. Within a week of the ban, Bluesky added 3 million new users, 85% of whom were from Brazil. X resumed operations on October 9, but not before Bluesky surged to 10 million users in September.
The platform now has 12 million users total, per a Friday announcement.
Meta’s Threads also appears to be experiencing a surge in users; it is currently first under the top free apps for iPhone list, with Bluesky coming in fifth. Threads surpassed 175 million users in July.
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Netflix Adds 5 Million Users, Analysts Predict Price Hike
Netflix posted its third-quarter earnings on Thursday and beat Wall Street predictions for both subscribers added and overall revenue. Meanwhile, analysts forecast that the streaming giant will soon raise its prices.
Netflix’s revenue for the third quarter was $9.825 billion, slightly more than the $9.769 billion analysts had predicted. The company also added 5.1 million subscribers, well over the 4 million additional users investors expected.
“Engagement, our best proxy for member happiness, remains healthy,” the report noted. “Through the first three quarters of 2024, view hours per member amongst owner households (the clearest view of engagement trends post the introduction of paid sharing) increased year over year.”
Related: Netflix Updated Its Famous Employee ‘Keeper Test’ in a New Culture Memo — Here’s What’s Changed
Netflix currently has over 600 million users with each one spending about two hours per day on the platform, per the report.
Will Netflix Raise Prices in the U.S.?
Thursday’s earnings report may not mean subscribers will avoid a price hike. The streaming company is increasing prices in Spain and Italy on Friday, and analysts from investment firms including Oppenheimer & Co. stated before the earnings release that a price hike may be on the way for U.S. users, too.
Netflix currently costs $6.99 per month for a standard plan with ads, $15.49 per month for a standard plan with up to two devices watching at the same time, and $22.99 per month for a premium plan with up to four devices supported.
Related: How to Hire Like Netflix — ‘This Is a Completely Different Way of Thinking About Human Capital’
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