Waymo robotaxi hits a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica
The child, whose age is not known, sustained minor injuries according to Waymo. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is investigating.
Making AI operational in constrained public sector environments
The AI boom has hit across industries, and public sector organizations are facing pressure to accelerate adoption. At the same time, government institutions face distinct constraints around security, governance, and operations that set them apart from their business counterparts. For this reason, purpose-built small language models (SLMs) offer a promising path to operationalize AI in…
January 2026
Upwind raises $250M at $1.5B valuation to continue building ‘runtime’ cloud security
The $250 million Series B was led by Bessemer Venture Partners, with participation from Salesforce Ventures and Picture Capital.
Apple hires iPhone camera app Halide’s co-founder for its design team
Halide also released a public preview of its up coming app Halide Mark III.
How the grid can ride out winter storms
The eastern half of the US saw a monster snowstorm over the weekend. The good news is the grid has largely been able to keep up with the freezing temperatures and increased demand. But there were some signs of strain, particularly for fossil-fuel plants. One analysis found that PJM, the nation’s largest grid operator, saw…
Meet the Vitalists: the hardcore longevity enthusiasts who believe death is “wrong”
“Who here believes involuntary death is a good thing?” Nathan Cheng has been delivering similar versions of this speech over the last couple of years, so I knew what was coming. He was about to try to convince the 80 or so people in the audience that death is bad. And that defeating it should…
Deezer makes it easier for rival platforms to take a stance against AI-generated music
Last year, Deezer introduced an AI detection tool that automatically tags fully AI-generated music for listeners and removes it from algorithmic and editorial recommendations. The company announced on Thursday that it’s now making the tool available to other streaming platforms in an effort to help address the rise of AI and fraudulent streams, as well […]
Meta burned $19 billion on VR last year, and 2026 won’t be any better
The reported financial losses follow a series of layoffs at the VR unit.
Zuckerberg teases agentic commerce tools and major AI rollout in 2026
Mark Zuckerberg says 2026 will be “a big year for delivering personal super intelligence.”
Roundtables: Why AI Companies Are Betting on Next-Gen Nuclear
AI is driving unprecedented investment for massive data centers and an energy supply that can support its huge computational appetite. One potential source of electricity for these facilities is next-generation nuclear power plants, which could be cheaper to construct and safer to operate than their predecessors. Watch a discussion with our editors and reporters on…
Trump energy department loosens rules on nuclear safety
The new rules apply to nuclear reactors built on Department of Energy property, which includes several currently being developed by startups.