Emerging Tech analyzes foundational shifts in artificial intelligence, data center economics, next-generation wireless standards, and ambient computing hardware. Rather than covering short-lived product announcements, this section examines how new hardware architectures, AI agents, and infrastructure trends reshape modern computing.
The Permission Problem Is Becoming the Main AI Problem AI agents are moving from systems that generate information to systems that can take actions. In September 2026, that distinction became harder to ignore as Meta rolled out Muse, a consumer-facing personal agent that can browse websites, fill forms, send messages, book services, and make purchases. … Read more
The rise of generative artificial intelligence has permanently altered the economics of global computing. For decades, the technology industry operated on a predictable trajectory: businesses bought or rented general-purpose infrastructure (primarily CPUs) that gradually became cheaper, smaller, and more energy-efficient every year. However, the unique, massive mathematical demands of modern AI have forced a sudden, … Read more
Smart glasses are moving beyond the role of hands-free cameras and wireless earbuds. In September 2026, the category is increasingly being built around AI systems that can interpret what the wearer sees and hears, answer questions about the surrounding environment, translate speech, provide navigation, summarize information, and eventually act on the wearer’s behalf. The change … Read more
For the opening acts of the artificial intelligence boom, our interactions with machine intelligence remained flat. We accessed intelligence through text boxes, dashboard summaries, chat windows, code editors, and pixel generators. It took in tokens, ingested images, and spat out tokens in return. Regardless of how capable large language models became, their world ended at … Read more
For years, the most visible infrastructure challenge in artificial intelligence was training. Companies built enormous clusters to train increasingly large models, competed for advanced accelerators, and invested heavily in data centers capable of supplying those systems with enough power and cooling. That picture is changing. The harder infrastructure question is increasingly what happens after the … Read more
For years, the password was treated as the basic proof that an online account belonged to a particular person. That model is now being replaced by something fundamentally different: cryptographic credentials stored on devices, security keys, or credential managers, unlocked through a local gesture such as a fingerprint, face scan, or PIN. The shift is … Read more
For over two decades, the transaction at the heart of the internet remained largely unchanged: a user entered a query into a search engine, the engine provided a ranked list of relevant hyperlinks, and the user clicked through to a website to find their answer. This exchange of intent for traffic built the modern digital … Read more