Spirit AI Joins RMB 2B Financing Club
Spirit AI just closed nearly RMB 2 billion in funding, joining the Chinese unicorns club with a valuation above RMB 10 billion. Spirit AI’s two-round raise drew a heavyweight lineup that blends state-backed capital, industrial investors, and mainstream tech financiers. New backers include Yunfeng Ca
Water Systems Power Automated Manufacturing
Smart water isn’t a backdrop—it’s the bottleneck. Industrial water treatment has moved from “infrastructure footnote” to a critical line item in the automation playbook. In today’s high‑production facilities, water quality, supply reliability, and waste treatment are not just compliance concerns; th
What we’re watching next in ai-ml
A tidal shift is unfolding around how we measure AI progress: benchmarks are going open, reproducible, and owned by the community. The signals are loud across three sources. arXiv’s cs.AI submissions keep piling up with papers that foreground evaluation rigor, code accessibility, and transparent met
Apple Moves Mac Minis to Texas Factory
Mac Minis are marching home: Apple will start U.S. production in Texas this year. Apple disclosed that some Mac Mini assembly will shift to a Foxconn facility in north Houston, a move meant to satisfy the Trump-era push for domestic investment while broadening its manufacturing footprint. Later this
What we’re watching next in china
Beijing’s new subsidy isn’t for robots—it's for the gears and chips that power them. Chinese policy officials announced a shift in robotics support that prioritizes the components over the final machines, a move proponents say will deepen domestic supply chains but complicate procurement for multina
Google backs AI music tool ProducerAI
Google just folded an AI music producer into Labs. In hands-on terms, the deal means ProducerAI—the platform that lets users co-create with an AI agent to generate sounds, workshop lyrics, remix tracks, and even conjure new instruments from a prompt—will be powered by a preview of Google’s Lyria 3 m
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Chicago's Surveillance Panopticon in Action
A mass shooting on Chicago’s Blue Line lit up a city-scale surveillance engine. In the hours after the September 2, 2024 attack, authorities activated a digital dragnet that stitched together thousands of cameras across the transit system and city agencies. The chase began with a quick review of tra
Hidden labor powers humanoid robots, critics warn
The real engine behind humanoid robots isn’t silicon—it’s humans in exosuits. A Technology Review investigation pulls back the curtain on a truth many demos don’t reveal: the flashy “physical AI” we’re seeing in labs and stage demos relies on weeks of grueling, largely invisible human work. Nvidia C
Chicago’s surveillance panopticon closes the chase in 90 minutes
A city dragnet closed on a killer in 90 minutes. On September 2, 2024, a mass shooting on the CTA Blue Line jolted Chicago into a high-velocity security operation. What followed was a rapid-fire demonstration of a city-scale surveillance network: thousands of cameras across transit corridors, public
Hidden Labor Behind Humanoid Robots
Humanoid robots hit the showroom floor, powered by invisible workers who do the hard data work behind the magic. The story is getting louder in tech circles: Nvidia’s Jensen Huang has framed this as the era of physical AI, where intelligence and movement fuse in machines that can learn on the factor
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Brightpick enters auto aftermarket with NAPA alliance
Brightpick tucks into auto parts logistics with NAPA. The partnership, announced February 20, 2026, signals a notable pivot for Brightpick as it pushes beyond traditional warehousing into the automotive aftermarket. Brightpick, which builds AI-powered robotic automation for warehouses, will deploy i
What we’re watching next in industrial
Robots are finally delivering real payback in factories, not just glossy demos. A trio of trade publications are converging on a clear storyline: deployments that once lived in pilots and slideshows are now entering real production lines with measurable ROI, but only when the integration hurdle is a
Mitsubishi Goes Digital-First for Drone Logistics
Mitsubishi Electric rewired drone ops with software-first thinking. Mitsubishi Electric United States is steering its air-mobility and cargo-drones ambitions through a digital-first lens. The company is building software-as-a-service platforms, data-driven tools, and AI-powered systems that bridge t
Toyota Canada Bets on Digit Robots to Move Bins
Digit robots start moving bins at Toyota Canada plant. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC) has signed an agreement with Agility Robotics to deploy its Digit humanoids after a year-long pilot that included development, proof-of-technology, and onsite phases. The company says the pilot began with
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Tesollo Ships Its 20-DoF Humanoid Hand for Real-World Use
Twenty DoF in a palm-sized hand—Tesollo's DG-5F-S just went commercial. Tesollo Inc. has announced the commercial availability of its lightweight, compact humanoid hand—the DG-5F-S—bending the company’s own design philosophy toward easy integration rather than loading the hand with ever-tighter benc
Apptronik Raises $520M in Series A Extension
Apptronik just locked in another $520 million, pushing its value beyond $5 billion. Apptronik, the Austin-based humanoid robotics startup, disclosed a fresh Series A extension worth $520 million, adding to the roughly $935 million it had already raised and signaling a calendar-shaping vote of confid
Secure fingerprints on-chip: no server needed
Two chips, one fingerprint—no server required. MIT engineers have unveiled a manufacturing method that makes secure, fingerprint-based authentication possible entirely on silicon, without ever storing secret data on a remote server. The approach hinges on a design trick: split a specially crafted ch
NORD's Digital Twin Slashes Robot-Drive Development
NORD's new digital twin platform promises virtual commissioning that can cut weeks, even months, from robotics drive development. Engineering documentation shows that the platform builds digital twins directly from a myNORD configuration, delivering individually created drive system models for simul
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Acme Weather Bets on Forecast Uncertainty
Acme Weather lives in the gray area where other apps pretend certainty ends, and it’s betting that users actually want to see the next-best possibilities laid out in plain sight. The company behind Dark Sky—a name many weather app fans still associate with ultra-local forecasts—has launched a new iP
Forecast Chaos Meets Clarity: Acme Weather Unveiled
Forecast chaos meets clarity: Acme Weather reveals multiple predictions. The Dark Sky alumni behind Acme Weather are betting that users hate not knowing what “the forecast” really means, so they’re packaging forecast uncertainty as a feature. After Apple bought Dark Sky in 2020 and quietly integrate
iPhone 17: Worth the Upgrade?
The iPhone 17 finally tightens the gaps the 16 left behind. The big takeaway from hands-on tests is simple: this is not a dramatic phone reshuffle, but a meaningful leap in three everyday areas—camera, display, and battery. If you shoot a lot of photos and videos, crave a brighter, smoother screen,
Don’t Buy iPhone 16E—17E Is Coming Soon
Apple’s March 4 event could render the iPhone 16E obsolete before you even open the box. The $599 model is being touted for value, but the chatter now is all about an imminent successor—the iPhone 17E—set to debut at a live Apple media event. The 16E has appeal on price alone: a solid midrange packa
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What we’re watching next in other
A flood of AI governance just hit the Federal Register, signaling a broader push toward formal risk management, transparency, and accountability for AI systems in the United States. Policy documents show regulators are nudging toward mandatory risk assessments for high-risk AI and greater transparen
Wisconsin VPN Ban Sparks Civil Liberties Fight
Wisconsin's proposed VPN ban is drawing a privacy storm. The bill, S.B. 130 / A.B. 105, would require invasive age verification for websites that host content lawmakers designate as “sexual” and would compel those sites to block any user who connects via a VPN. The goal, supporters say, is to shield
Sovereign AI Promise, Murky Warranty
The U.S. is exporting “sovereign AI,” but the warranty isn’t clear. Policy researchers and industry insiders say Washington is pressing a new form of AI statecraft: let partners deploy American AI tech under governance that preserves national autonomy, while offering assurances that reduce the uncer
Sovereign AI Gap Stirs U.S. Statecraft Debate
America’s push for “sovereign AI” abroad just hit a new inflection point, as policymakers and researchers contest whether participation in U.S.-led AI ecosystems comes with enough assurances to quell partner uncertainty. A recent Lawfare op-ed by Pablo Chavez of the Center for Security and Emerging
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