GoKawiil
Tech News
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.
Venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is investing $35 million into a two-year academy positioned as an alternative to traditional college education. Several other Bay Area tech companies and figures are also supporting the effort, signaling broad industry interest in reshaping how young talent is trained for tech careers.
Even as OpenAI and Anthropic employees anticipate windfalls from potential IPOs, Bay Area tech layoffs hit over 14,500 workers in the year ending June, nearly double the prior year. Former Google employee Basem Istanbouli started un(PTO) in December to support unemployed tech workers, and the group has grown from three founding members to more than 1,700, with weekly hikes now drawing crowds of 80 or more.
Petivity, a Purina-owned brand, has released a $150 smart pet feeder built specifically for cats that uses facial recognition and onboard cameras to identify which cat is eating and log portion sizes, frequency and timing. The system can distinguish up to five cats in one household, letting owners spot if one animal is stealing another's food, though it only dispenses dry kibble rather than wet food. Data on feeding patterns is delivered through a companion app, with the AI trained on tens of thousands of real feeding sessions and cat images.
WIRED polled 634 women working in the technology industry about their daily experiences, gathering candid feedback on workplace culture and emerging tools. Respondents described ongoing friction with male-dominated office dynamics even as executives increasingly integrate AI into their routines.
A longtime WIRED writer and editor published a personal essay recounting a 17-year career marked by repeated instances of sexism, including being paid less than a male predecessor, having her parenting fitness questioned by bosses, and working at a publication where men appeared on 70 covers versus four for women. She traces her discomfort with some men in the industry back to her early days interning at WIRED in 2009, when the newsroom lacked female editors and reinforced narratives crediting men as the primary innovators in tech.
Certified refurbished electronics, ranging from laptops to networking gear, can offer substantial savings for professionals building out a workspace, often at 40% to 60% below retail prices. The savings come without meaningfully sacrificing performance, provided buyers know which categories of hardware hold up well after refurbishment and which don't.
A commentary argues that leading AI companies are exaggerating existential risk narratives before Congress to secure favorable regulation and entrench their market position. The piece points to summer 2026 incidents involving AI agents allegedly behaving erratically as examples of security failures being reframed as signs of near-godlike AI capability rather than basic engineering flaws. The author contends lawmakers, flattered by apocalyptic framing, are granting industry-friendly rules instead of scrutinizing mundane technical failures.
An engineering leader recounts advising a friend who took a demanding new senior role and felt pressure to prove himself by working 60-80 hour weeks. He describes a recurring pattern he calls the 'senior engineer death spiral,' where engineers overcommit to ambitious projects, go silent for weeks, give vague positive updates, and quietly fall behind while trying to compensate by working even harder in secret.
A Kremlin-released clip of Vladimir Putin casting an online ballot in Russia's State Duma elections shows an 'Activate Windows' watermark on his screen, indicating unlicensed software running on what appears to be a Dell computer. The footage has spread widely online, with observers noting both the software issue and Putin's apparent unfamiliarity with the mouse. State media confirmed the vote covered the 9th State Duma, including newly annexed Ukrainian territories.
Flock Safety, a surveillance camera and license-plate reader company, is offering employees voluntary buyout packages instead of conducting layoffs as it faces a decline in customers. The move suggests the company is trying to cut costs while avoiding the reputational and morale hit of forced job cuts.
Justin Fanelli, the Department of Navy's chief technology officer, spoke with reporters even as he was rushed onto an unannounced flight, underscoring the pace of his current work. He revealed the Navy is preparing an updated list of its longer-term technology priorities, this time reviewed by several venture investors before publication, following investor feedback that last year's list reshaped how they viewed the Navy's purchasing plans.