A Bloomberg investigation citing an unreleased Pentagon review found that overreliance on Palantir's Maven Smart System contributed to a strike that killed over 150 people, including 123 children, at an elementary school in Iran on the first day of the war. Outdated intelligence wrongly labeled the school an IRGC facility, and Maven surfaced it as a recommended target without flagging the stale data, officials said. Palantir denies responsibility, saying it does not own the underlying intelligence data, while the Pentagon retains accountability for what is fed into the system.
Vonder, a new eyewear brand from the founders of XR company Viture, has unveiled its first collection of smart glasses built around privacy rather than cameras or screens. The glasses come in six frame styles, three colors, and can be made with prescription lenses, weighing under 30 grams. Pre-orders open September 28, 2026, starting at $299, with shipping planned for November.
Viture, the San Francisco and Beijing-based maker of display-equipped smart glasses like the Viture One and Beast, announced a new product called Vonder that ditches the virtual screen and built-in cameras. Instead, the glasses use an AI assistant to observe user behavior and habits, organizing memories, ideas and goals into a digital vision board, and can proactively message users with behavioral feedback.
A new analysis argues that earbuds, already worn daily by millions, are better positioned than smart glasses to host always-available conversational AI assistants. The piece contends that audio-first wearables offer a more natural and less socially awkward way to interact with AI throughout the day.
A tech guide outlines how homeowners can assemble their own smart security systems using motion sensors, door sensors, cameras and video doorbells that store footage locally instead of in the cloud. The approach avoids recurring subscription costs charged by brands like Abode and SimpliSafe, while still letting users customize and expand their setup over time.
A Wonder Tools newsletter roundup highlights 20 Google Docs capabilities that many regular users overlook, including voice typing, instant translation, smart chips, and AI-assisted proofreading. The piece frames these as practical productivity boosts hidden within a tool most people already use daily.
EssilorLuxottica has released the Nuance Audio Plus, an upgraded version of its FDA-cleared over-the-counter hearing aid glasses that look like ordinary eyewear. The new model adds sharper voice clarity in noisy settings, extra physical controls on the frame, and up to 10 hours of battery life, and comes in three frame styles and five colors starting at $829. The original Nuance Audio glasses, priced from $699, will continue to be sold alongside the new Plus version.
Weibo leakers Smart Pikachu and Digital Chat Station claim vivo executives confirmed an X500 Ultra model is in development, pointing to a March or April 2027 release. The report follows vivo's China launch of the X500, X500 Pro, and X500 Pro Max, with the Ultra variant still unconfirmed by vivo itself. Separately, the standard X500 lineup has reportedly appeared on the EU's EPREL database, hinting at an international rollout.
Lithium-ion cells age from heat and from time spent at the extremes of charge. Most of the folklore about charging habits is either obsolete or beside the point.
MediaTek unveiled the Dimensity CX C10 Max, its debut chipset for Google's new Googlebook laptops, promising all-day battery life and Gemini Intelligence support. A spec comparison shows it is nearly identical to MediaTek's existing Kompanio Ultra Chromebook chip, sharing the same TSMC 3nm process, CPU and GPU cores, cache sizes, NPU, and wireless standards, with only a slightly higher clock speed and faster RAM support.
Morphotonics, a Netherlands-based nanoimprint lithography company that makes waveguide displays for AR glasses, has raised €40 million to scale production and expand into optical components for data centers. The round included 3M Ventures, Innovation Industries, BOM, Invest-NL, the European Innovation Council Fund, a Dutch family office, and the European Investment Bank. The funding extends a round that began in 2024 as the company rides growing demand for smart glasses displays.
Counterpoint Research reports that global AI glasses shipments grew 263% year over year in the first half of 2026, driven largely by cheaper display-less models like Ray-Ban Meta AI Glasses, which made up 96% of all shipments. Meta captured 94% of that display-less segment, while AR-enabled glasses, though still a small niche, saw shipments jump 449% year over year, led by Rokid ahead of Meta.
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