Ramaggedon affecting MacBook Air supply, a Judge refused xAI's request to stop a MN law banning 'nudify' apps, and cyberattacks targeted water facilities in seven states

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MacBook Air laptops are reportedly in short supply due to ramageddon.
A judge refused XAI's request to stop a Minnesota law banning Nudify apps.
And cyberattacks targeted water facilities in seven states across the US last week.
It's Monday, August 3rd. And here's a quick look at some of the news happening in the sphere of tech this morning from Engadget.
Not only did MacBook Air prices recently go up from $1,100 to $1,300, but you couldn't get one today even if you wanted to. Apple's popular lightweight model is currently in such short supply that if you order one today, you probably won't receive it until the end of August. That's according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Unusually, Apple is even pushing buyers toward another model. As Gurman wrote, Apple is prominently steering customers toward the base MacBook Pro instead of the Air, something that is rarely, if ever, done. In some marketing materials, it even includes a warning, MacBook Air subject to availability. Normally, Apple has no problems making enough MacBooks to feed demand, but these are not normal times. The MacBook Air shortage is linked in part to the ongoing Ramageddon memory crunch caused by the insatiable demand from new AI data centers. Apparently, Apple is also prioritizing the 14-inch MacBook Pro over the MacBook Air in order to clear stock ahead of an M6 refresh for the former lineup. Though Apple beat Wall Street expectations for its last earnings report, the company warned investors and buyers that supply constraints could impact earnings next quarter and force it to further raise prices. At the same time, the new Apple upgrade program introduced last week may drive higher demand for Apple products, including its MacBook lineup.
The new Minnesota law that would ban apps and websites that can generate non-consensual intimate imagery can take effect today after XAI's last-minute effort to stop it from being enforced failed to convince a federal judge. According to NBC News, US. District Judge Donovan Frank has refused to grant XAI's request to stop the new law from being enforced on August 1st in a complaint arguing that it violates the First Amendment. Based on the judge's order, he was not persuaded by XAI's actions that the law's enforcement would cause immediate harm. He noted that XAI filed the lawsuit on July 29th, almost three months after the law was signed, and merely three days before it was set to take effect. The judge wrote that such a delay in bringing the action and the motion suggests that harm is not immediate. While Judge Frank did not side with XAI this time around, the lawsuit will still push through. The court will hold a hearing for the case on August 19th to decide whether to grant XAI's request to put a preliminary injunction on the Minnesota law, which is the first of its kind in the country. In addition to banning apps and websites that can generate adult AI deepfakes in the state, the law would also fine developers $500,000 every time a user generates a non-consensual, intimate image using their products. Under the law, a nudified image or video is something that has been altered or generated to depict an intimate part not depicted in an original unaltered image or video of an identifiable individual. It will apply to instances wherein an altered image or video is so realistic that a reasonable person would believe that the intimate part belongs to the identifiable individual. However, XAI argued in its lawsuit that the law was an overbroad content-based ban on free speech and the tools of visual expression in a clumsy attempt to prohibit nudification. The company denied that it was contesting Minnesota's efforts to prevent the spread of artificially-generated nude images of real people, but it said the law extends far beyond that goal, exposing a wide array of protected speech to civil liability and government sanction. Grok gained infamy earlier this year for complying with people's requests to transform photos of real women and children into sexualized images. It implemented policy changes to address the situation by mid-January, but NBC News says Grok has still been undressing real people as recently as April.