January, 2026 - Top Tech Trends

From invisibility cloaks to AI chips: Neurophos raises $110M to build tiny optical processors for inferencing

January 22, 2026

Neurophos is taking a crack at solving the AI industry’s power efficiency problem with an optical chip that uses a composite material to do the math required in AI inferencing tasks.

Anthropic has to keep revising its technical interview test so you can’t cheat on it with Claude

January 22, 2026

Since 2024, Anthropic’s performance optimization team has given job seekers a take-home test to make sure they know their stuff — but as AI coding tools have gotten better, the test has had to change a lot to stay ahead of AI-assisted cheating.

Blue Origin schedules third New Glenn launch for late February, but not to the moon

January 22, 2026

Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin had previously suggested that the third launch of the mega-rocket would take the space company’s robotic lunar lander to the moon.

Build a Faster Content Engine With This $20 ChatGPT Skills Bundle

January 22, 2026

Five short courses designed to help keep entrepreneurs from burning out.

Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.S. and Canada

January 22, 2026

Now available in the US and Canada, Spotify’s AI-powered Prompted Playlists let users describe what they want to hear using natural language commands.

The Download: Yann LeCun’s new venture, and lithium’s on the rise

January 22, 2026

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. Yann LeCun’s new venture is a contrarian bet against large language models Yann LeCun is a Turing Award recipient and a top AI researcher, but he has long been a contrarian figure in…

Snapchat gives parents new insights into teens’ screen time and friends

January 22, 2026

With these new features, Snap is likely looking to appease regulators and parents over concerns about safety and screen time on its platform.

Quadric rides the shift from cloud AI to on-device inference — and it’s paying off

January 22, 2026

Quadric aims to help companies and governments build programmable on-device AI chips that can run fast-changing models locally.

Why 2026 is a hot year for lithium

January 22, 2026

In 2026, I’m going to be closely watching the price of lithium. If you’re not in the habit of obsessively tracking commodity markets, I certainly don’t blame you. (Though the news lately definitely makes the case that minerals can have major implications for global politics and the economy.) But lithium is worthy of a close…

Tiger Global, Microsoft to fully exit Walmart-backed PhonePe via its IPO

January 22, 2026

Tiger Global and Microsoft are offering up their full stakes in the company, while Walmart is choosing to retain its majority stake, and selling up to 45.9 million shares.

The Download: Yann LeCun’s new venture, and lithium’s on the rise

January 2026

From invisibility cloaks to AI chips: Neurophos raises $110M to build tiny optical processors for inferencing

Anthropic has to keep revising its technical interview test so you can’t cheat on it with Claude

Blue Origin schedules third New Glenn launch for late February, but not to the moon

Build a Faster Content Engine With This $20 ChatGPT Skills Bundle

Spotify brings AI-powered Prompted Playlists to the U.S. and Canada

The Download: Yann LeCun’s new venture, and lithium’s on the rise

Snapchat gives parents new insights into teens’ screen time and friends

Quadric rides the shift from cloud AI to on-device inference — and it’s paying off

Why 2026 is a hot year for lithium

Tiger Global, Microsoft to fully exit Walmart-backed PhonePe via its IPO

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