Weekly output: Google insights on timing flight bookings, Next Big Things in Tech (x2), OpenVault CEO, Paul Nakasone on cyber threats, Donut Lab, American Airlines + Starlink, passkeys explained, saving money on Apple gear
After going a whole two weeks without using a passport, I’m flying to Dublin Monday night for the International AI Summit, where I’ll be doing at least one podcast interview for Enterprise Ireland’s Next Innovation podcast (with my airfare and lodging covered by that country’s economic-development agency).
10/5/2026: Here’s What 5 Years of Google Flights Data Says About When to Book Your Holiday Travel, PCMag
Google’s data suggested that I might be able to save some money rebooking our already-booked Thanksgiving flights, but after checking fares I realized we’d have no such luck.
10/6/2026: The 4 next big things in robotics and automation for 2026, Fast Company
We picked four robotics honorees in this year’s Next Big Things in Technology list: the robotics-intelligence firm FieldAI, the sensor-development startup GelSight, the wheeled-humanoid-robot developer Hexagon AB, and the drone-guidance company Vigilant Aerospace Systems. (I use “we” not in the royal-we sense but because this entire project is a collaborative effort between judges and editors.) After publication, we revised this post to remove a comparison of FieldAI’s technology to AI large language models that the company thought misleading.
10/6/2026: These 4 innovations help solve critical issues in North America, Fast Company
In the North America category of “NBTT,” we gave our nods to the power-grid-protection firm AiDash, the road-safety analytics company Cambridge Mobile Telematics, the hardware-development platform Sift, and the critical-minerals-refinery Supra Elemental Recovery.
10/7/2026: OpenVault CEO: As uplink usage keeps rising, cable operators will be unable to rest, Light Reading
I interviewed Mark Trudeau at the SCTE TechExpo in Atlanta about what his broadband-analytics company is seeing in usage trends and how his employer’s own business has changed.
10/7/2026: Former NSA Director Has His Eye on China, Data Center Pushback, PCMag
I spent all of Tuesday in Reston at the security firm VulnCheck’s ThreatCon1 conference and came away with this recap of the opening keynote by retired Army general and former National Security Agency director and U.S. Cyber Command commander Paul Nakasone.
10/8/2026: What’s Up With Donut Lab? Lots of Tests, But No Solid-State Batteries in Production, PCMag
I owed you all this update on the battery startup that I met at CES and wrote up in January, because nine months later Donut Lab’s sales pitch looks increasingly thin.
10/8/2026: American Airlines Expands Starlink Switch to Cover All Mainline Aircraft, PCMag
I updated the piece I wrote in May about AA’s Starlink plans to cover the airline’s decision to install SpaceX’s satellite connectivity across its entire mainline fleet–and made sure to note that American’s press release doesn’t offer any estimate of when this work will get done and which aircraft types will be first in line for this upgrade.
10/9/2026: We don’t have to live with the nightmare of passwords. There is a better way., The Washington Post
My one big insight that led to this piece was realizing that while passkey authentication may not provide a meaningful upgrade in user experience over passwords alone–a point that Dan Goodin made well in a December 2024 post at Ars Technica–it represents an enormous advance over the combination of passwords and mandatory multi-factor authentication. But the entire concept here is tricky to explain, and in reading over the comments I see that many people remain confused about it–in part because they don’t know that biometric authentication on personal devices doesn’t have your fingerprint or face data ever leaving those devices.
10/9/2026: How to save money buying Apple products, The Washington Post
With yet another Apple product-launch event coming this week, I used my weekly-tip post to suggest a couple of ways you can chisel away at the cost of buying a new Apple device.
#AA #AISecurity #AmericanAirlines #broadbandUsage #buyingAppleProducts #DonutLab #Dublin #EVBatteries #FastCompanyLists #inflightStarlink #InternationalAISummit #Ireland #MacRumors #multiFactorAuthentication #NBTT #NextBigThingsInTechnology #OpenVault #passkeyAuthentication #passkeys #passwords #PaulNakasone #phishing #SCTETechExpo #shoppingPortals #solidStateBattery #ThreatCon1 #twoFactorAuthentication #UX