Amazon is formalizing its performance review process around a simple, pointed question for corporate staff: what did you accomplish? This marks a significant cultural shift under CEO Andy Jassy, moving from vague self-reflection to demanding concrete results.
CES 2026 delivered its usual dose of flashy tech, but the real story was in the curveballs. The show revealed a major shift away from cars, a push for unproven Wi-Fi 8 hardware, and some truly bizarre robot evolution.
Ventiva is pitching a new “zoned” ionic cooling system for AI hardware, from data centers to laptops. The tech uses electrostatic fields to create airflow without moving parts. It’s a clever idea, but plasma cooling has a long road to prove itself at scale.
Amazon has begun issuing $1.5 billion in refunds to Prime subscribers following an FTC lawsuit. The settlement alleges the company used “manipulative” designs to enroll users and made cancellation difficult. Millions of customers could get around $51 back.
A 5-line bash script named after a hapless Simpsons character has evolved into Anthropic’s official Ralph Wiggum plugin. It lets Claude Code run in relentless, autonomous loops to fix code overnight. The developer community is calling it the closest thing to AGI they’ve seen.
Bell Canada and Ontario’s Queen’s University have signed a Memorandum of Understanding to build and operate a sovereign AI supercomputing facility. The project aims to support Canadian research and business while safeguarding data from foreign oversight, though key details like compute power remain
Tombot’s emotional support robot dog, Jennie, was a surprise hit at CES, leading to over 5,000 pre-orders. That success directly fueled a $6.1 million Series A round and has the company planning for a massive $100 million raise in 2027.
Commonwealth Fusion Systems has installed the first of 18 massive magnets for its Sparc reactor, aiming for a 2027 start. The company also announced a partnership with Nvidia and Siemens to build a digital twin, hoping AI will accelerate the path to fusion power.
The high cost of EV batteries is the biggest barrier to mass adoption. Now, a shift away from energy-hungry “wet-coating” to new dry electrode manufacturing promises to dramatically cut costs and factory footprints, potentially reshaping the entire auto industry.
Accenture is acquiring UK-based AI startup Faculty in an undisclosed deal. Meanwhile, a new demo shows developers running multiple AI coding agents from just a smartphone, hinting at a major shift in how software gets built.
