The 2024 Paris Olympic games hosted some big victories: American swimmer Katie Ledecky won her ninth gold medal, and gymnast Stephen Nedoroscik won the first men’s individual medal for Team USA in the last eight years.

And there was another big win, too—one that wasn’t revealed until last month: The 2024 summer games had a more than 50% smaller carbon footprint than the London 2012 and Rio 2016 summer games.

Contributing to that feat were the sustainability initiatives of the Paris games, which included repurposing the wi-fi terminals and network switches provided for the games by French telecom company Orange so they can be used by La Poste, France’s national postal service. Orange was the exclusive network provider for the Olympics and managed all 120 sites out of which the events operated.

Jerome Goulard, the chief sustainability officer for Orange Business, told Tech Brew that the Paris games were a huge undertaking for Orange and that during the opening ceremony along the Seine, the company operated boats with 5G private networks on board to make sure there was adequate coverage. And once the games ended, the Orange team rushed in to deinstall and collect as many of their wi-fi terminals and network switches as possible to refurbish them for their next act.

Keep reading here.—TC

Autonomous vehicles appear to be at the forefront of the auto industry’s agenda––but US consumers remain unconvinced about the technology.

That’s according to Deloitte’s 2025 Global Automotive Consumer Study, released earlier this month, which homes in on “the consumer trends and issues shaping the global automotive sector,” per a news release. The findings are based on surveys of more than 31,000 consumers from 30 countries.

Ryan Robinson, automotive research leader at Deloitte, walked Tech Brew through the report’s main findings, including stagnant EV adoption and the growing popularity of hybrid vehicles. And 52% of US respondents reported having concerns about fully autonomous robotaxis “operating where they live.”

Robinson said safety concerns around AVs “need to be addressed, even though we see in some markets there are signals right now that the regulatory environment may be evolving, that would allow for, or maybe ease the development and deployment of some of these self-driving fleets in the not-too-distant future.”

Keep reading here.—JG

As the tech world continues to make progress on exciting advancements like supercomputers, AI data centers, and self-driving cars, some Black communities in the rural South don’t even have internet access.

Color of Change’s latest Black Tech Agenda details the crisis of some Black communities lacking internet access—“38% of Black people in the rural South still don’t have internet at home, compared to 23% of white residents,” the report notes—while facing the consequences of “the toxic burden of the tech industry’s waste” in their neighborhoods. The report states that both issues are caused by “neglect and corporate exploitation.”

“There’s been a lack of investment in Black neighborhoods,” Michael Huggins, Color of Change’s deputy senior director of government affairs, told Tech Brew. And that lack of investment results in a lack of internet access, which affects Black communities’ ability to access telehealth appointments, apply for jobs, and do schoolwork, he said.

And those same communities are dealing with strained resources—like electricity and water, which help power data centers—and pollution.

“Environmental racism has always treated Black neighborhoods as a sort of sacrificial lamb,” Huggins said. “T​​hese practices have strained local resources. They’ve caused additional health problems. They cause economic problems.”

Keep reading here.—TC

Google’s new AI ‘Gems’ promise personalized assistants for any task—are they actually worth it? We put them to the test.