I spend most of my time editing other people, but I’m still reporting and writing a newsletter, too.
Find samples of my work at Technical.ly, Engadget, Insider, CIO Dive, Cybersecurity Dive, MeriTalk, and more. If you’re looking for clips about a specific topic or subject area, just let me know.
Innovation Wire newsletter: Where data centers are banned
The explosive growth of data center development has everyone talking about it, and elected officials who once championed these complexes are recalibrating as the 2026 midterms near.
Roughly 150 state and local legislatures have approved, considered or rejected a moratorium on data centers in some form.
It was already a hot topic in last fall’s Virginia governor’s race. It’s becoming a flashpoint in in Georgia and North Carolina. What was once a near-uniform message about jobs, tax base expansion and innovation has become far more cautious. Residents in regions across the country are pressuring city councils, county commissions and state legislatures to slow down or stop new data center development.
Local officials are responding. And the tool of choice, more often than not, is the moratorium.
Every time I scan headlines for the last section of this newsletter, another pause or ban on new developments appears. So I mapped them. All of them. continue reading
Skild AI finally reveals its futuristic robot ‘brain’ — but SEC filings still don’t add up
Unicorn startup Skild AI has finally unveiled the robot “brain” it’s been quietly working on since 2023.
Skild Brain is the startup’s new general-purpose AI model, designed to power a wide range of robots and tasks with a single system. The company recently released footage of its AI model being used in humanoid, dog and table-top arm robots completing various tasks, after months of staying quiet about its most recent high-profile raise.
The reveal is another step toward the company’s goal of building a “unified, omni-bodied brain to control any robot for any task,” according to its website. But despite those lofty goals, we still don’t know much about the financials behind the startup. Its recent raises aren’t backed up by Form Ds, which startups are required to file with the Securities and Exchange Commission — at least not under the name Skild, according to a Technical.ly analysis. continue reading
SEPTA riders complain of more bus cancellations. Here’s why that’s a good thing for Philly transit.
To their dismay, Philly bus riders recently noticed more cancellations and missed trips on their transit apps.
Before you gripe: That may actually be a sign of positive upgrades at SEPTA.
So-called ghost buses, or rides that say they’re scheduled to come but never show up, are usually caused by early-morning callouts from operators, SEPTA technologists told Technical.ly. These callouts used to easily get lost in the shuffle, so the related buses were never removed from the system — causing transit apps to show riders a scheduled bus that just never arrives.
A simple form now means you’ll know about cancellations sooner. That’s thanks to the “Ghostbus-ters,” an affectionate name for a multi-department coalition of workers tasked with finding a solution. continue reading
It took a TikToker barely 30 minutes to doxx me
In 30 minutes or less, TikToker and Chicago-based server Kristen Sotakoun can probably find your birth date. She’s not a cybersecurity expert, despite what some of her followers suspect, but has found a hobby in what she calls “consensual doxxing.”
“My first thing is to be entertaining. My second thing is to show you cracks in your social media, which was the totally accidental thing that I became on TikTok,” Sotakoun, who goes by @notkahnjunior, told me.
It’s not quite doxxing, which usually refers to making private information publicly available with malicious intent. Instead, it’s known in the cybersecurity field as open-source intelligence, or OSINT. continue reading
Apple is convinced my dog is stalking me
As far as I know, no one is using an Apple AirTag to stalk me. But if that were to change, I’m not even sure I’d notice Apple’s attempts to warn me. The “AirTag Found Moving With You” notification near-constantly sits on my homescreen, and I’ve gotten used to quickly swiping it away.
But I’m getting ahead of myself – let me tell you about my dog, Rosie. She’s a sweet tempered, mild mannered rescue. Still, there was one catch when we adopted her: She’s a flight risk.
We’ve seen this firsthand when the sound of fireworks or a strong wind causes her to enter a full-blown panic. Rosie shuts down, shakes and, when it’s really bad, tries to run away. We’re working on it, but, in the meantime, we’ve turned to Apple AirTags as an extra reassurance.
The $29 quarter-sized AirTag attached to her collar keeps track of her location so that we can quickly find her if she ever got away. It’s mostly for peace of mind — we’ve only had to use it once — but it’s also quickly become an annoying part of my daily routine. continue reading
Katie Malone 