High Technology

Amazon cancels planned HQ2 in Queens NY after massive protest by locals In November, Amazon stunned folks across the country by announcing plans to build an HQ2 facility in Queens NY, and another HQ2 facility in Arlington VA. The Queens location became controversial almost immediately, and today Amazon announced cancellation of the Queens HQ2 project. In canceling the project, Amazon said they would not reopen the HQ2 search at this time, meaning Amazon is missing out yet again on the opportunity to expand in the Midwest.

Amazon uses dirty energy, failing at clean energy promise, says Greenpeace Despite a promise to use clean renewable energy, Amazon's largest data center in North Virginia is wholly dependent on dirty electricity from coal and natural gas. Loudoun County Virginia, colloquially known as Data Center Alley, thanks to the many Internet hubs in the Reston/Herndon/Ashburn area, and is served by a utility, Dominion Energy, that relies heavily on coal and natural gas. One of Amazon's biggest AWS hubs is located there, as are data centers owned by many tech giants.

Amazon's missed opportunity with HQ2 choice - Midwest USA versus NYC and Washington DC After several months of looking for "HQ2", it's new headquarters for the USA, Amazon has chosen two locations - Queens NY and Arlington VA. Each location will house about 25,000 employees and there are hopes of rehabilitating or diversifying the economies of each area. But, while this choice is good for those two locations, it represents a missed opportunity. Plenty of locations in other parts of the country could use the sort of economic injection Amazon HQ2 represents, at a lower cost to Amazon for office space.

Congressman Ro Khanna calls for USA Universities to be innovation hubs serving the modern technology era Machine learning and artificial intelligence are not just the new hotness in software development, they represent a whole new model of computing. The old style of training software engineers does not work because the new model is so different. Generally speaking "Technology Breakthroughs" are showing no signs of slowing down, and therefore any country desiring to have a global leading role must have a smart educated workforce. Since it was the USA which invented most of these technologies you might think the USA would be doubling down on educating its children to ensure it maintains a leadership role in technology development. The current climate of USA politics is, however, not driven by wisdom. Silicon Valley's Congressman, Ro Khanna, has a different vision than what is currently driving American Politics.

Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan calls for Amazon HQ2 in Youngstown Ohio area With Amazon's decision to cancel plans for Amazon HQ2 in Queens NY, other locales could be jockeying for attention. In this interview, Ohio Rep. Tim Ryan (D) makes the case for Ohio as the best location for Amazon HQ2. There are many locales around the country with airports and universities where America's high-tech industry could locate their operations.

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