The New York Times
David J. Farber, an ACM Fellow known as the "grandfather of the Internet," passed away Feb. 7 at the age of 91. A professor at Japan's Keio University since 2019, Farber began his career at Bell Laboratories in the mid-1950s, where he created the SNOBOL language for text processing. He later worked on Internet-precursor Arpanet, and served as a federal policy advisor, including as chief technologist for the U.S. Federal Communications Commission from 2000 to 2001.
From "David J. Farber, 'Grandfather of the Internet,' Dies at 91"
The New York Times (02/14/26) Peter Wayner
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CBS News
In disclosures to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Tesla said 14 crashes involving its robotaxis have been reported in Austin, TX, since the service's June 2025 rollout in that city. NHTSA said it was investigating Tesla's robotaxis in Austin for erratic driving, including sudden braking and driving down the wrong side of the road, starting just weeks after they began operating in the city.
From "Tesla Robotaxis in 14 Crashes Since Launch in Austin"
CBS News (02/17/26) Mary Cunningham
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NBC News
A bipartisan bill introduced by U.S. Senators Josh Hawley and Richard Blumenthal would protect consumer utility bills from spikes due to growing datacenter power usage. The bill, the Guaranteeing Rate Insulation (GRID) Act, would ensure everyday electricity users have first priority for grid access, and would require new datacenters to use off-grid power sources and give existing datacenters 10 years to transition to them. The bill also would require datacenter operators to publicly disclose their current and projected future power usage.
From "First Bipartisan Effort to Curb Utility Bill Hikes Related to Datacenters"
NBC News (02/11/26) Allan Smith
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MLive.com
Jerome Green STEM Preschool in Saginaw, MI, is the state's first early childhood program to complete the Strategic CSforALL Resource and Implementation Planning framework, integrating developmentally appropriate computer science and coding lessons into daily learning. Through play-based robotics, sequencing activities, pattern recognition, problem-solving challenges, and collaborative projects, the program aims to provide four- and five-year-old students in the school's Early Head Start, Head Start, and Great Start Readiness Program classrooms the basis for developing foundational coding skills.
From "Michigan Preschool Makes History with CS Curriculum"
MLive.com (02/16/26)
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Bloomberg
Tech industry leaders are expressing concerns about the impact of dynamic random access memory (DRAM) shortages on their corporate plans, profits, and product prices. The DRAM shortage is being attributed to Alphabet, OpenAI, and other tech giants buying millions of Nvidia's AI accelerators for their datacenters, leaving a limited supply of chips from other suppliers for consumer electronics producers. The resulting price hikes and dwindling supplies are alarming to some whose datacenter construction plans are not yet fully underway.
From "Rampant AI Demand for Memory Is Fueling a Growing Chip Crisis"
Bloomberg (02/15/26) Debby Wu; Takashi Mochizuki; Yoolim Lee; et al.
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Reuters
In response to a cease-and-desist letter from Disney and other U.S. studios, China's ByteDance said it is "taking steps to strengthen current safeguards" to prevent unauthorized use of intellectual property on its AI video generator Seedance 2.0. Disney has accused the company of pre-packaging the product with a pirated library of Star Wars, Marvel, and other copyrighted characters and reproducing, distributing, and creating derivative works featuring these characters. ByteDance did not specify the steps it was taking.
From "ByteDance Pledges to Prevent Unauthorized IP Use on AI Video Tool After Disney Threat"
Reuters (02/15/26) Rajveer Singh Pardesi; Clare Jim; Eduardo Baptista
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