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New year, new tone — and this time, it’s cautiously optimistic. As 2026 begins, tech feels less drunk on hype and more focused on building things that actually last. Nvidia’s backing 100+ AI startups, data centers are scaling into the tens of billions because demand is real, and AI is moving out of demos and into production. Even the signals at the edges feel grounded: profitable ag-tech serving 750,000 farmers, a $199 smartwatch that lasts two weeks, a phone that makes typing fun again.
New year, new video: Investigating OpenAI's $25B (fake?) Data Center
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Six bullets of updates
🤖 Nvidia has backed over 100 AI startups in two years, fueling the sector’s explosive innovation wave.
🌾 Investor appetite grows as Arya.ag stays profitable and serves 750K+ farmers despite falling global crop prices.
🖥️ As AI giants race to expand, soaring data center costs are pushing investment into the tens of billions.
📱 The team behind snap-on keyboards unveils a 40-key phone, letting users ditch the touchscreen and type like it's 2010.
🧐 India gives 72 hours to address "obscene" Grok AI content after IT ministry flags X for compliance.
⌚ Pebble’s latest smartwatch offers a 2-week battery life on a sleek, rounded screen for just $199.
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Why 2026 is the year AI hits production
Photo by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash
In 2026, AI moves from spectacle to infrastructure. Flashy demos give way to systems that actually work: smaller, more efficient models, agents you can trust, planning-capable world models, and physical AI that finally ships. The key question shifts from “can it?” to “does it move the P&L?”
For startups, the rules change. Inference cost and latency become real KPIs. On-device and edge deployments rise. As base models commoditize, moats move to proprietary data, rigorous evaluation, workflow design, and distribution. Agents evolve from “toy interns” into reliable copilots as tool use, memory, and guarantees improve.
Across the stack, pressure builds: cloud and chip vendors race on price-performance, open source squeezes margins, regulators push for auditability, and robotics benefits from cheaper sensors and more data.
The takeaway is simple: build for real-world reliability, not leaderboard glory.
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Investigating OpenAI's $25B (fake?) Data Center
OpenAI announced a $25B data center in Argentina — but no one can say exactly where it’s being built. In this video, we head to Patagonia to understand why a project of this scale would land in a region facing power constraints, drought, and political risk.
What we uncover is a web of vague announcements, shell companies, energy bottlenecks, and unanswered questions about water, electricity, and who actually benefits. It’s a case study in the real cost of scaling AI — and why location matters more than the hype suggests.
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Media Leaders on AI: Insights from Disney, ESPN, Forrester Research
The explosion of visual content is almost unbelievable, and creative, marketing, and ad teams are struggling to keep up. Content workflows are slowing down, and teams can't find the right assets quickly enough.
The crucial question is: How can you still win with the influx of content and keep pace with demand?
Find out on Jan 14, 2026, at 10am PT/1pm ET as industry leaders—including Phyllis Davidson, VP Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, and former media executive Oke Okaro as they draw on their deep media research and experience from ESPN, Disney, Reuters, and beyond.
In the webinar, "The Future of Content Workflows: How AI is Powering the Next Wave," you’ll learn:
The forces reshaping content operations
Where current systems are falling short
How leading organizations are using multimodal AI to extend their platforms
What deeper image and video understanding unlocks for monetization
Get clear insight and actionable perspective from the leaders who built and transformed top media and entertainment organizations.
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🛡️ In an AI-first world, values-shaped bias can be a safety net, guarding judgment from costly missteps.
🏃♀️ Fundraising is a marathon—work 3 levers: psychology, timing, story to turn interest into term sheets fast.
🎨 Time off sparks better ideas — ditch the 23-minute recovery tax and 40% focus loss with an unrelated hobby.
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Tesla: the quarter after the sugar high
Photo by Ernie Journeys on Unsplash
In 2025, Tesla vehicle deliveries fell 9% to 1.63M, marking a second straight annual decline. The unwind was inevitable: U.S. EV incentives expired, demand was pulled forward, and BYD emerged as the new global EV volume leader.
The reset hit hard in Q4. Tesla deliveries dropped 15.6% after a record, subsidy-fueled Q3 — a familiar cycle where policy accelerates demand, then leaves a gap.
Looking ahead, expect deeper discounting, tighter margins, and an even louder push into AI and robotics to defend valuation, while the car business continues to fund the P&L.