AI is transforming industries, but the data centers powering it require more energy and water than ever.

At the break, join Christoph Beck, chairman and CEO of EcoLab, for insights on using water effectively

while safeguarding this critical resource for future generations.

Here's your afternoon, TNB Tech Minute, for Wednesday, January 28th. I'm Julie Chang for the

Wall Street Journal. Google will pay $135 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged the company

programmed its Android operating system to illegally collect consumers' cellular data.

Under the proposed settlement, filed in a federal court yesterday, class members

will receive monetary payments. The company would also be required to change its Google Play

Terms of Service and the set-up screens for new Android mobile devices in order to disclose its

data practices and get users consent to use their data. Google said the case misrepresents industry practices.

Fidelity Investments has announced it will launch a stable coin, becoming one of the nation's first

mainstream investment companies to issue its own crypto dollar. The company said today its

Fidelity Digital Dollar will be available to both individual investors

and institutions in the coming weeks. Last summer, Congress passed legislation paving the way to bring

stable coins into the financial mainstream. In earnings, META reported record sales in the fourth quarter

and a massive increase in projected 2026 spending,

a sign the company has no plans to slow down its ambitious AI expansion.

The company said capital spending would reach up to $135 billion this year,

about 20% higher than Wall Street expectations.

Meanwhile, Microsoft posted revenue of over $81 billion for its

second fiscal quarter and blew past net income expectations, making $38.5 billion. Operating income

increased by $21 to more than $38 billion, and the companies closely watched Azure Cloud business

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