In a nutshell: Iconic video game publisher Acclaim Entertainment is making a comeback. The company was founded in 1987 and evolved into a publishing powerhouse in the 90s. Several of the decade's biggest franchises including NBA Jam, Mortal Kombat, NFL Quarterback Club, The Simpsons, and numerous WWF pro wrestling games from Rare, Iguana Entertainment, and others all went through Acclaim. The tides eventually turned, however, and Acclaim ended up filing bankruptcy in 2004. The relaunched company will be led by industry veteran Alex Josef and focus on reviving classic franchises as well as supporting indie developers through funding, marketing, and PR assistance. Josef has more than two decades of experience in the industry and has helped market and publish hundreds of games across PC, console, and mobile.The new CEO said Acclaim has already signed some "incredible" indie titles that will be revealed soon.An advisory board comprised of gaming and entertainment veterans including Jeff Jarrett will provide guidance and help shape the company's future.Jarrett, a professional wrestler and two-time hall of famer, said his early involvement in the publisher's hit 16-bit WWF titles demonstrated firsthand the type of impact great games can have on players and fans. "I'm thrilled to now be a partner in the revival of Acclaim," Jarrett added.Acclaim-published wrestling games were led by WWF Royal Rumble for the SNES and Genesis, WWF Rage in the Cage for Sega CD, WWF WrestleMania: The Arcade Game, and WWF Raw for consoles and handhelds. // Related StoriesOther advisory board members include Mark Caplan with Ridge Partners and Russell Binder at Striker Entertainment. Eric Vogel at JET Management and Phil Toronto with VaynerFund, meanwhile, will help with Acclaim's long-term growth strategy.Acclaim said it wants to reignite classic franchises but didn't cite any specific examples. It is unclear which games the company still has the rights to as many of its assets were auctioned off years ago and have changed hands multiple times since. In 2018, for example, Liquid Media acquired 65 Acclaim games for $1 million including multiple entries in the NBA Jam franchise.

Table of ContentsTable of ContentsM3, not M4The timingIs that all?Whats up with battery life?Generally underwhelmedWhat about the regular iPad?On Tuesday, Apple unveiled the iPad Air (2025). While a new tablet from Apple was anticipated, the actual release differed significantly from the rumors. Here are some unexpected details and observations about Cupertinos latest tablet.AppleThe most surprising aspect of the iPad Air (2025) is that it features an M3 chipset. For months, rumors indicated that Apple would transition directly from the M2 chip used in the iPad Air (2024) to the M4. This expectation was supported by the fact that other Apple devices have been moving towards the M4 chip. For instance, the MacBook Pro (2024) and the iMac (2024) have both made the switch to this chipset, and the upcoming MacBook Air (2025) is also expected to skip the M3 in favor of the M4.Recommended VideosThe only thing that didnt make sense about this rumor was how it relates to the iPad Pro (2024). That tablet series, which was revealed alongside the iPad Air (2024) last year, features the M4, and rumors have suggested there wouldnt be a new Pro model until 2026.RelatedWould Apple release an iPad Air with the same chip as the more expensive and feature-rich iPad Pro? Apparently it would not, as the iPad Air (2025) comes with the M3.AppleOn Monday, Tim Cook hinted at a new Air device, leading many to speculate that he was referring to the anticipated MacBook Air (2025) rather than a new iPad Air. While the new Air laptop may be launched this week, this could create a unique challenge for Apple.The upcoming MacBook Air is expected to feature an M4 chip, which represents a natural progression from the M3 chip found in the current model. To effectively market this new model, Apple must provide compelling reasons why the M4 is superior to the M3. This comparison may inadvertently make the new iPad Air (2025) seem less impressive.In the past, it was generally accepted that tablets and laptops served different purposes. However, many potential buyers may be confused about why they should purchase a $599 iPad Air with an M3 chip when they could opt for an entry-level MacBook Air with an M4 chip for just $400 more.While I fully expect Apple to reveal the new MacBook Air this week, it might be wiser for the company to wait and release the new laptop closer to the June Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC). Announcing both devices this week could be seen as an unnecessary error.AppleWhen the iPad Air (2024) was released last year, it introduced several features that distinguished it from the iPad Air (2022) it replaced. Notable upgrades included a new chip, a better display, a Center Stage front-facing camera, and additional storage options. These enhancements likely encouraged many iPad Air (2022) owners to upgrade. In contrast, the iPad Air (2025) is remarkably similar to the iPad Air (2024), making it hard to justify an upgrade for those who purchased last years model.In fact, I dont see a compelling reason for even iPad Air (2022) owners to consider upgrading.For starters, why buy the iPad Air (2025) at full price when you might soon find a similar iPad Air (2024) at a discount? Moreover, given the close resemblance between the last two models, it seems likely that the next versionperhaps the iPad Air (2026)will feature significant updates, such as a new design, an improved camera system, and possibly Face ID.I mean, Apple couldnt even release the always-colorful iPad Air in a new color this time around, so you know at least one of those is coming with the next release, right?One benefit of buying a new iPhone each year is the improved battery life. Apple devices have consistently offered better battery life with each new generation, except for iPads.Consider this: iPad Air (2024) and iPad Air (2025) offer up to 10 hours of battery life between charges. Can you guess how many hours between charges you could expect from the 2014 iPad Air 2? Its also 10 hours. One would think that after a decade, Apple would have found some way to add at least another hour of battery life to the iPad Air.Is asking for a tablet that lasts at least a day between charges too much?AppleI believe the iPad Air (2025) will be considered a great product, just like the iPad Air (2024) before it. However, I feel that more time could have been spent on its development to introduce a few new features. With the iPhone 17 Air expected to launch in the coming months, Apple missed the opportunity to market 2025 as a breath of fresh air or something like that.In 2012, Apple launched the iPad 3, and just six months later, it announced the iPad 4. The motive behind releasing a new iPad so soon after the previous model was Apples transition from the 30-pin connector to the then-new Lightning connector. At that time, I felt sympathy for anyone who had bought the iPad 3 but only saw it discontinued shortly afterward.I have similar feelings now. Even thoughthere are no visible differences between the iPad Air (2024) and the iPad Air (2025), its important to remember that some people spent at least $600 on a new tablet less than a year ago. Now, that device is no longer considered the best Apple has to offer, at least for an iPad Air.This sounds a lot like Apple had a lot of M3 chips lying around in warehouses that they needed to unload. Rather than keeping the M3 MacBook Air around for another year, Apple decided to refresh the iPad Air, which is one of the companys most popular tablets.Digital TrendsOne final point is worth noting: the regular iPad was last updated nearly two and a half years ago. The current model, the 10th generation iPad, does not even include an M chip. With the iPad Air upgrading to an M3 chip, it seems likely that the next standard iPad will be launched with an M2 chip. If that is Apples long game for 2025, it will make sense, at least in time.The iPad Air (2025) is currently available for pre-order. The tablet officially arrives on March 12.Editors Recommendations

When youre throwing a party, hosting karaoke, or doing anything else that requires a big loudspeaker, youll know that lugging around a PA system isnt exactly fun. Fortunately, some of the best Bluetooth speakers of 2025 are designed with portability in mind. Some of these products can be pretty expensive, though, which is why were glad to draw attention to this fantastic Onn product:For a limited time, when you purchase the Onn Large Party Speaker (Gen 2) at Walmart, youll only wind up paying $120. The full MSRP on this model is $150. Its one of the best Bluetooth speaker deals weve seen so far today, so act fast!Measuring 22.48 inches tall, 11.61 inches wide, 11.81 inches from front to back, and weighing 20.88 pounds, the Onn Large Party Gen 2 delivers up to 160 watts of RMS power, handles up to 640 watts at peak power, and is lightweight enough to go just about anywhere. Its convenient smooth-glide wheels and telescopic handle make it easy to pull the speaker when its time to rock the block, and a full charge should get you up to 12 hours of playback. While the speaker is mainly a Bluetooth product, the Onn Large Party also contains a 3.5mm auxiliary input, two 1.25-inch inputs for a microphone or guitar, and a USB-A port (for charging only).RelatedThe Onn Large Party has an IPX4 rating for water resistance, so getting doused by a light rain shower or accidental garden hose blast shouldnt send the speaker to an early grave. Other noteworthy features include six multicolor LED light settings, a built-in FM tuner, and a Bass Boost setting for enhanced low-end.Purchase today to get the Onn Large Party Speaker (Gen 2) at Walmart while this deal lasts. You may also want to take a look at our lists of the best soundbar deals and best Walmart deals for additional savings on top audio devices!Editors Recommendations

Me, but Better Review: Personalitys ProgressTo combat social anxiety and overcome her introversion, the author tries improvisational comedy and forces herself to throw parties. By Meghan Cox Gurdon According to an old wives tale, you should be careful about allowing your face to remain in an ugly expression, lest the winds change direction and your countenance set in place, leaving you stuck looking and feeling bad forever.The old wives, whoever they were, may have been right.It seems that the attitudes we hold and how we comport ourselvesthe features we present to othershave a great deal to do with who we become on the inside. Grab a Copy Me, But Better: The Science and Promise of Personality Change By Olga Khazan S&S/Simon Element 288 pages We may earn a commission when you buy products through the links on our site. Buy Book Olga Khazan, a staff writer at the Atlantic magazine, contends that what we think of as our personality is not something fixed or innate but rather an agglomeration of habitual behaviors and attitudes. In this understanding, personality can fluctuate and is subject to reshaping by the will.InMe, but Better, Ms. Khazan chronicles her attempts to modify elements of her own personality by tinkering with the so-called big-five traits: openness, conscientiousness, extroversion, agreeableness and neuroticism.The author is breezy about the origins of the psychological thinking behind these attributes, as well as the notion that together, in varying amounts, they explain the spectrum of human personality.She notes that, well into the 20th century, psychologists had competing theories and lists of different personality traits.She does not discuss the question of temperament, which is a whole other ball of philosophical wax.But for the purposes of her experiment, she accepts what has come to be the prevailing secular view.For the sake of enjoying this buoyant and entertaining account, the reader will be inclined to join her.Ms. Khazans goal is to transform herself, over the course of one year, from a disagreeable introvert into a sunnier, livelier, more amenable extrovert.She tells us that she was drawn to the project by the prospect of becoming happier, more successful and more fulfilled.Her investigation showed, she writes, that a slight improvement in the balance of ones personality can help a person enjoy life, rather than just endure it.Copyright 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved. 87990cbe856818d5eddac44c7b1cdeb8VideosMost Popular NewsMost PopularOPINIONFurther ReadingAdvertisement

AI everywhere Googles AI-powered Pixel Sense app could gobble up all your Pixel 10 data The app will reportedly offer contextual suggestions as you use the phone. Ryan Whitwam Mar 4, 2025 3:31 pm | 3 The backs of the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Credit: Kevin Purdy The backs of the Pixel 9 and the Pixel 9 Pro XL. Credit: Kevin Purdy Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreGoogle's AI ambitions know no bounds. A new report claims Google's next phones will herald the arrival of a feature called Pixel Sense that will ingest data from virtually every Google app on your phone, fueling a new personalized experience. This app could be the premiere feature of the Pixel 10 series expected out late this year.According to a report from Android Authority, Pixel Sense is the new name for Pixie, an AI that was supposed to integrate with Google Assistant before Gemini became the center of Google's universe. In late 2023, it looked as though Pixie would be launched on the Pixel 9 series, but that never happened. Now, it's allegedly coming back as Pixel Sense, and we have more details on how it might work.Pixel Sense will apparently be able to leverage data you create in apps like Calendar, Gmail, Docs, Maps, Keep Notes, Recorder, Wallet, and almost every other Google app. It can also process media files like screenshots in the same way the Pixel Screenshots app currently does. The goal of collecting all this data is to help you complete tasks faster by suggesting content, products, and names by understanding the context of how you use the phone. Pixel Sense will essentially try to predict what you need without being prompted.Samsung is pursuing a goal that is ostensibly similar with Now Brief, a new AI feature available on the Galaxy S25 series. Now Brief collects data from a handful of apps like Samsung Health, Samsung Calendar, and YouTube to distill your important data with AI. However, it rarely offers anything of use with its morning, noon, and night "Now Bar" updates.Pixel Sense sounds like a more expansive version of this same approach to processing user dataand perhaps the fulfillment of Google Now's decade-old promise. The supposed list of supported apps is much larger, and they're apps people actually use. If pouring more and more data into a large language model leads to better insights into your activities, Pixel Sense should be better at guessing what you'll need. Admittedly, that's a big "if."In a separate leak, images purported to be from a test version of Pixel Sense were posted to a Telegram chat. They show several pages of text that emphasize the app's ability to "help you complete tasks faster."Gemini evolutionPreviously, Pixel Sense (ne Pixie) was shaping up to be an enhanced version of Assistant exclusively for Pixel phonesthis was before Google aggressively pushed Assistant to the side in order to make Gemini the default assistant across its portfolio. The Gemini brand didn't even exist the last time Pixie was in the news, but now it sounds like another application for Google's rapidly evolving on-device AI capabilities. A person known only as Mystic Leaks claims these screenshots are from an early version of Pixel Sense. A person known only as Mystic Leaks claims these screenshots are from an early version of Pixel Sense. The idea of Google's AI snooping through all your app data probably makes your skin crawlfair. There are reasons to be skeptical of this level of access, but the report claims Pixel Sense will rely on local AI processing just like Samsung's Now Brief. So, instead of piping all your app data into a black box cloud server, the content remains on your phone to be processed by the Gemini Nano model in a more secure manner. It would also work offline.The reappearance of Pixel Sense suggests Google is planning to vastly expand the AI processing that happens in your pocket. Google's mobile AI journey began modestly, with features like Recorder summaries and Magic Compose (AI text rewriting) plugged into the Gemini Nano model. With each phone release and Pixel Drop, Google adds a few more features and apps powered by on-device AI. In fact, the latest Pixel Drop just added scam detection to the list of features that plug into Gemini and the Tensor chip in Google's latest phones. However, it's impossible to know how good or useful this feature will be. Samsung's Now Brief, for example, was largely disappointing, and that phone runs a version of Gemini Nano for on-device processing.Google regularly makes vague claims about how capable Gemini Nano is, but we only have Google's word to go on here. Third-party support for Gemini and NPU hardware is still lacking, with most parts of Google's AI Edge SDK still at the preview level only. That leaves OEMs like Google and Samsung to show us what on-device AI can do. So far, it hasn't been very impressive.Ryan WhitwamSenior Technology ReporterRyan WhitwamSenior Technology Reporter Ryan Whitwam is a senior technology reporter at Ars Technica, covering the ways Google, AI, and mobile technology continue to change the world. Over his 20-year career, he's written for Android Police, ExtremeTech, Wirecutter, NY Times, and more. He has reviewed more phones than most people will ever own. You can follow him on Bluesky, where you will see photos of his dozens of mechanical keyboards. 3 Comments

Butch and Suni from space Butch Wilmore says Elon Musk is absolutely factual on Dragons delayed return "We came up prepared to stay long, even though we plan to stay short." Eric Berger Mar 4, 2025 2:20 pm | 86 NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, pilot and commander of Starliner's Crew Flight Test, pose with the spacecraft they will ride into orbit Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore, pilot and commander of Starliner's Crew Flight Test, pose with the spacecraft they will ride into orbit Credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett Story textSizeSmallStandardLargeWidth *StandardWideLinksStandardOrange* Subscribers only Learn moreThree NASA astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut are due to return home on a Crew Dragon spacecraft in a couple of weeks. For two of the crew members, Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, it has been a long, strange trip.To recap:Wilmore and Williams launch on the first crewed flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on June 5, 2024During Starliner's flight to the International Space Station, the vehicle has thruster issues and helium leaksIn August, NASA announces Starliner will return to Earth uncrewed due to unresolved technical issuesCrew 9 mission launches with just two astronauts, NASA's Nick Hague and Russia's Aleksandr Gorbunov, in late SeptemberWilmore and Williams join Crew 9, extending their flight from eight days to more than eight monthsAfter SpaceX experiences a development issue with a Crew Dragon, Crew 9's return is delayed a month more, to MarchIn February 2025,Elon Musk and Donald Trump politicize Wilmore and Williams' long-duration stayWhen a European astronaut calls Musk out for his "lie" about this, Musk replies, "You are fully retarded."Musk recommends space station be deorbited as soon as 2027, three years ahead of schedule.On Tuesday Wilmore, Williams, and Hague participated from orbit in a news conference with reporters. What is notable about the news conference is that it marks the first time any NASA officiala handful of previously scheduled media availabilities have been canceledhas been on the record with media since the politicization of Crew 9's return and Musk's call to deorbit the space station early.What follows are responses to some key questions during the press conference. The answers have been lightly edited for clarity. Unfortunately, the answers themselves did not provide too much clarity. On one hand, Wilmore says "politics is not playing into this at all" in reference to his extended stay in space. On the other hand, he says he believes Musk, after the founder of SpaceX said he offered to bring NASA astronauts back in 2024, but that this option was rebuffed by the White House for political reasons.For what it is worth, all of the reporting done by Ars over the last nine months suggests the decision to return Wilmore and Williams this spring was driven by technical reasons and NASA's needs on board the International Space Station, rather than because of politics.Q. How do you feel about waking up and finding yourself in a political storm?Wilmore:I can tell you at the outset, all of us have the utmost respect for Mr. Musk, and obviously, respect and admiration for our president of the United States, Donald Trump. We appreciate them. We appreciate all that they do for us, for human space flight, for our nation. The words they said, politics, I mean, that's part of life. We understand that. And there's an important reason why we have a political system, a political system that we do have, and we're behind it 100 percent. We know what we've lived up here, the ins and outs, and the specifics that they may not be privy to. And I'm sure that they have some issues that they are dealing with, information that they have, that we are not privy to. So when I think about your question, that's part of life, we are on board with it.Q. Did politics influence NASA's decision for you to stay longer in space?Wilmore: From my standpoint, politics is not playing into this at all. From our standpoint, I think that they would agree, we came up prepared to stay long, even though we plan to stay short. That's what we do in human spaceflight. That's what your nation's human space flight program is all about, planning for unknown, unexpected contingencies. And we did that, and that's why we flowed right into Crew 9, into Expedition 72 as we did. And it was somewhat of a seamless transition, because we had planned ahead for it, and we were prepared.Q. Elon Musk suggested that it might be time to deorbit the International Space Station. Do you agree with that, or is there valuable work still to be done in space?Williams:You know, we've been up here since sort of the beginning. Like I mentioned before, Butch and I had been part of the construction of the space station with the shuttle flights. So, yeah, we've, we've seen it grow from just a couple of modules to this amazing laboratory that it is right now. And you know, I actually was extremely impressed coming up here and seeing how much science is going on, particularly when we have the resupply missions that bring up a lot of science. I mean, this place is ticking. It's just really amazing. So I would say we're actually in our prime right now. We've got all the power, all of the facilities up and operating. So I would think that right now is probably not the right time to say, quit, to call it quits. You know, we have probably till 2030 in our agreements. And I think that's probably really accurate, because we should make the most of this space station for our taxpayers and for all of our international partners, and hold our obligations and do that world-class science that this laboratory is capable of.Q. Elon Musk said he made an offer to bring Butch and Suni home last year, but it was denied by the White House. Is this true?Wilmore: I can only say that Mr. Musk, what he says, is absolutely factual. We have no information on that, though, whatsoever; what was offered, what was not offered; who it was offered to, how that process went. That's information that we simply don't have. So I believe him. I don't know all those details, and I don't think any of us really can give you the answer that maybe that you would be hoping for.Q. Would you be happy to fly on Starliner in the future?Wilmore: First, had our teams back home that were in meetings for three months, looking at systems, doing tests, had they said to return on Starliner, then we would have been happy to return on Starliner. That was not the case. Our roles are different in these spacecraft. Obviously, Suni and my roles are different on Dragon than what it was on Starliner. We just feel fortunate and thankful though that we have seats, and we'll be coming home riding the plasma splashing down in the ocean. So that's what we're looking forward to.Q. There have been some pretty big geopolitical shifts since you went up there. What does it look like from your point of view?Hague: Most of the time when I go over to the window, that's when I start thinking about the Earth below me. And I can tell you, in the time that I've been here, the time that I was here before six years ago, the view hasn't changed, and the thoughts that I eventually get to really haven't changed. I see Earth as a small, small orb that's in a pretty big black vastness of space. And there's a lot out there. There are more stars than you can count, but the world looks pretty small when it's in that perspective. And as you fly from continent to continent, you don't necessarily see all of those borders. And the lesson, or the realization that I always come away with is we have far more in common than we have in different, and those common things that we have bring us together. And if, if we're smart, those differences that we have are differences that we bring to teams like the International Space Station, and those differences make the team stronger.Eric BergerSenior Space EditorEric BergerSenior Space Editor Eric Berger is the senior space editor at Ars Technica, covering everything from astronomy to private space to NASA policy, and author of two books: Liftoff, about the rise of SpaceX; and Reentry, on the development of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon. A certified meteorologist, Eric lives in Houston. 86 Comments

Alamy/Ryan WillsImagine looking out over a beautiful vista. The sun glances off the snowy peaks of distant mountains, a river winds through rolling hills. There is something wonderful about beholding the contours of a majestic landscape.It might not be obvious when you look at the night sky, but the universe has a landscape of its own filaments of galaxies separated by near-empty voids. We have long known this much. But now one group of cosmologists is taking things further and proposing that the universe possesses not just a landscape, but a timescape, too. The idea is that the very flow of time varies from place to place.To say this goes against the grain would be an understatement: we have always thought that on large scales, time runs at the same speed throughout the universe. But in this picture known as timescape cosmology there are large patches of the universe where time has been ticking for billions of years longer than we usually assume.It may sound strange, but what entices some physicists is the simple elegance of this idea. There is no freaky physics involved, it springs naturally from established theory. It is part of the structure of general relativity, says its inventor David Wiltshire at the University of Canterbury in New Zealand. Its just not a part of the

A Greenland shark photographed near the seabeddotted zebra/AlamyA genomic study may have revealed how Greenland sharks live for centuries and yet rarely get cancer.These sharks (Somniosus microcephalus) are slow-moving dwellers of the deep that can reach more than 6 metres long and weigh over a tonne. We know little about their lives because they roam in dark, cold waters, but it is thought they dont reach sexual maturity until they are 150 years old and their lifespan has been estimated at about 400 years, making them the longest-living vertebrates that we know of.

Peter Kafka, Chief Correspondent covering media and technology 2025-03-04T20:33:55Z Read in app The Philadelphia Eagles celebrate during their November 14 game against the Washington Commanders the event that generated more internet traffic than anything else in the last 3 months of 2024. Cooper Neill/Getty Images This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? The internet is rapidly destroying TV because it gives people more ways to spend their time, for less money.Except! The thing that commands the most live attention on the internet is the same thing that commands the most attention on TV.Yup: NFL games.Two things can be true at the same time:The internet has atomized the way we absorb information, entertainment, and culture. Which means we all exist in our own bubbles of interest and affiliation.The internet is very good at showing lots of people the same thing lots of people used to consume before the internet existed. Which means we're all still watching the same things we used to watch on TV we're just getting it through broadband pipes.Here's evidence for the second thing: A list of the top live internet events, ranked by broadband traffic, for the last three months of 2024. If you'd like to see a non-screenshot version, download this report from AppLogic Networks, a broadband infrastructure company. AppLogic Networks As you can see, the fifth entry on the chart is Netflix's Jake Paul v Mike Tyson kinda-fight the kind of stunt programming that used to run on ABC's Wide World of Sports. (See: Knievel, Evel.) And the remaining nine events are all NFL games, streamed by Amazon, or ESPN, or Peacock.That is: NFL games basically the only thing that draws big numbers of viewers on TV anymore are also basically the only thing that draws big numbers of internet viewers. At least when it comes to live, concurrent viewing.As anyone who works in the TV business can tell you, that doesn't mean you can simply port TV shows over to the internet and get the same viewership, or money, that the traditional TV infrastructure used to deliver. It's much more complicated than that.But it does seem to mean that TV's biggest live draw is also the internet's biggest live draw.

2025-03-04T20:27:36Z Read in app Amazon data center. Amazon This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now.Have an account? Amazon and GE Vernova are partnering on power solutions for data centers.Grid operators in the US struggle to keep pace with surging data center demand.Big Tech companies are exploring alternative solutions to get power to their sites quicker.Amazon and GE Vernova have signed a strategic framework agreement to help power the cloud provider's rapid data center expansion, both companies said in a press release Tuesday.Under the agreement, GE Vernova will help Amazon connect its growing international fleet of data centers to the electric grid through major electrical equipment expansion, project management, and construction support. The companies will also partner on renewable energy projects, and Amazon will work with GE Vernova's accelerator business to explore new forms of power generation for data centers.The terms of the deal were not disclosed.Amazon, along with other Big Tech companies, is spending hundreds of billions of dollars on data center expansion to advance artificial intelligence technology. Amazon plans to allocate over $100 billion in capital expenditures this year, mostly on expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure.The development boom has caused energy demand in the US to surge for the first time in decades, and grid operators are struggling to keep up with the pace of growth.As a result, data center operators are partnering with energy companies to explore a range of alternative options for getting power to their sites quicker. Last year, Amazon signed a deal with Talen Energy to use power from its Susquehanna nuclear power station in Pennsylvania.GE Vernova builds and implements electrical power systems and equipment for energy sources such as natural gas, hydropower, wind, nuclear, and steam. The company's gas division saw significant growth in orders in 2024 for natural gas turbines, partially due to data center demand, CEO Scott Strazik said on an earnings call in January.The company's natural gas turbines are providing power at the first Stargate site in Abilene, Texas. Stargate isa $500 billion joint initiative by OpenAI, Oracle, SoftBank, and the White House to build AI infrastructure.Amazon and GE Vernova did not immediately respond to requests for comment.Do you have a story to share about data centers and energy? Contact this reporter at ethomas@businessinsider.com.