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Today’s Slate

• Perplexity Labs turns plain text into working apps and dashboards if your prompt is sharp enough

• Microsoft added text-to-video powered by OpenAI Sora to Bing as a search feature for free

• Apple’s iOS 26 redesign channels the spirit of visionOS showing off floating menus, frosted glass, and a future-ready interface

• Palmer Luckey and Meta team up for military-grade XR, turning soldiers into “technomancers” and laying the groundwork for the future of consumer AR

• Meta is quietly building an Apple-style retail playbook with more stores coming to help people finally get VR

• Tesla’s robotaxis are already cruising Austin without drivers days before the official launch — bold innovation or a crash course in chaos?

• Japan just achieved a mind-blowing internet milestone sending 1 million GB per second over 1,100 miles. Say hello to the data highways of our AI-driven tomorrow

• Japan just began human trials for artificial blood that works for all types, lasts 2 years, and could save millions of lives

• The. Future. Is. Here.

Artificial Intelligence

At a glance

• All-in-one AI builder: Perplexity Labs allows users to create web apps, dashboards, and reports using just natural language prompts with no coding expertise required.

• Five real-world tests: Projects included a climate data map, a football club dashboard, an AI startup tracker, a global conflict visualizer, and a custom event calendar showing functional UIs and rapid deployment in under 30 minutes.

• Prompt quality matters: Well-structured prompts produced impressive results, while vague or overly complex instructions led to bugs or reduced accuracy.

Our vision

Perplexity Labs is part of a growing wave of AI platforms collapsing the barrier between idea and execution. By enabling users to generate functional web applications from simple instructions, it blurs the lines between developer, researcher, and designer. This shift will impact sectors from journalism and education to product development and NGO analytics.

Making rapid prototyping, personalized dashboards, and domain-specific tools accessible to anyone with a question and a prompt. While not flawless, Labs signals how AI can serve as a solo collaborator for complex, cross-disciplinary work in a world moving at digital speed.

At a glance:

• Sora joins Bing: Microsoft is integrating OpenAI’s Sora video generator into Bing, starting with the mobile app and coming soon to desktop and Copilot Search.

• Text-to-video tool: Sora allows users to create short videos from simple text prompts, building on Microsoft’s earlier DALL·E integration.

• Competitive landscape: Despite early controversy and YouTube’s pushback, Sora now faces pressure from rivals like Google’s Veo 3, which offers more advanced capabilities.

Our vision:

Microsoft’s move signals the growing expectation that AI video tools will become as mainstream as image generators. By baking Sora into Bing, Microsoft is pushing AI creativity directly into everyday search—turning your queries into shareable, animated answers.

Spatial Computing

At a glance

• Translucency everywhere: iOS 26 adopts visionOS-inspired glassy layers, allowing background colors and light to subtly show through menus and windows.

• Floating UI elements: Navigation bars and menus now appear suspended with soft shadows and depth, creating a more spatial, airy interface.

• Rounded shapes rule: From pill-shaped buttons to fully round app icons (rumored), iOS continues the move toward softer, more organic design.

• Frosted glass look: A new “glass” material mimics the frosted visuals of visionOS, blending digital elements with real-world hues and lighting.

• Subtle lighting and shadows: Expect glints and movement-responsive highlights, making interactions feel dynamic and alive.

• Simplified layout: Cleaner fonts, streamlined menus, and increased spacing aim to make iOS 26 easier to use, learn, and navigate.

Our vision

Apple is bringing spatial computing aesthetics to the palm of your hand. The upcoming iOS 26 reimagines mobile UX with visionOS-inspired translucency, floaty depth, and elegant minimalism—transforming the iPhone into something more immersive, intuitive, and aligned with its headset future.

By unifying design across devices, Apple is laying the foundation for a more cohesive digital ecosystem that anticipates interaction beyond the screen.

At a glance:

• Meta and Anduril join forces: Palmer Luckey's defense firm is partnering with Meta to build advanced military XR gear, starting with the EagleEye AR/VR helmet.

• Next-gen battlefield tech: EagleEye offers modular display systems, enhanced battlefield perception, and intuitive control of autonomous platforms.

• Silicon carbide optics at scale: Meta’s billion-dollar optics, previously limited to its Orion prototype, could finally be deployed at scale for military use—potentially accelerating future consumer AR products.

• Full-circle reunion: The partnership marks a surprising reunion between Meta and Luckey, who was fired from Facebook in 2017 amid political controversy and later received a public apology from Meta leadership.

• Strategic synergy: Meta gains a pathway to scale its high-end AR lens tech; Anduril gains access to cutting-edge optics and software to fulfill its vision of "technomancer" soldiers.

Our vision

This alliance isn’t just a military contract it’s a realignment of two major forces in AR. Meta gets a serious path to production for its bleeding-edge lens tech, while Luckey gets to apply his signature “future soldier” philosophy at scale. The result could shape both military and consumer XR, collapsing the divide between battlefield and back pocket. If EagleEye succeeds, it might do for defense what the iPhone did for communication.

At a glance

• Meta eyes retail expansion: Business Insider reports that Meta plans to open more physical retail stores beyond its lone Burlingame, CA location.

• Hands-on demo advantage: Like Apple, Meta wants to offer in-person experiences for products like Quest headsets and Ray-Ban smart glasses to improve sales and user comfort.

• Retail as strategy: As VR remains a "try-it-to-get-it" technology, permanent stores could help overcome the barrier to adoption and boost retention and engagement.

Our vision

Meta’s push into physical retail reflects a maturing XR strategy recognizing that immersive tech isn’t just sold, it’s experienced. By meeting users where they are and letting them feel the future, Meta could finally unlock wider adoption for spatial computing. The in-store experience for these futuristic devices is an important piece of the puzzle. It will be interesting to see how Meta differentiates or leans into what Apple has done with their stores over the years.

Transportation

At a glance

• Tesla testing driverless robotaxis: Elon Musk confirmed Tesla has begun testing its robotaxi service in Austin without safety drivers—just “for the past several days.”

• Launch set for June 12: Despite minimal testing time, Tesla still plans to launch the paid service mid-June with 10–20 Model Y vehicles and “heavy teleoperation” likely involved.

• Concerns over safety & transparency: Critics note the brief test window, limited public transparency, and lack of communication with local authorities, calling the rollout rushed and potentially hazardous.

Our vision

While Waymo took a cautious 12-month path to remove safety drivers, Tesla’s approach appears dramatically faster—and riskier. If successful, it could leapfrog competition. But with only a few days of public driverless testing, critics fear the rollout could veer into “live beta test” territory. High stakes, high speed, and high skepticism.

Internet Speed

At a glance

• World record: 1.02 petabits per second: Japanese researchers achieved 1 million GB/s data transmission over 1,808 km using a new 19-core optical fiber—matching today’s fiber size but radically boosting bandwidth.

• Technical breakthrough in long-distance data: Their smart amplification and signal processing system overcame signal decay and interference issues that previously limited petabit speeds to shorter distances.

• Built for the post-5G world: This innovation lays the groundwork for AI, VR, IoT, and 6G by enabling internet infrastructure that can scale with explosive data demand.

Our vision

Imagine an internet backbone so powerful it could stream thousands of 4K movies every second—over a thousand miles. Japan’s record-breaking optical fiber tech does just that, and it’s built to support a near-future where autonomous cars, spatial computing, and ubiquitous AI demand bandwidth like never before. This isn’t science fiction—it’s the infrastructure of our hyperconnected future.

Biotech

At a glance

• Universal artificial blood enters human trials: Japan’s Nara Medical University has begun testing an artificial blood compatible with all blood types, storing safely for up to two years.

• Potential life-saving impact worldwide: This innovation could address global blood shortages, especially in low-income nations where transfusion supply mismatches and stockouts cause millions of preventable deaths.

• Breakthrough tech mimics red blood cells: The artificial blood uses hemoglobin vesicles—oxygen-carrying molecules from expired donor blood encapsulated in lipid shells—offering compatibility without immune response or virus risk.

Our vision

Artificial blood could be one of the most humanitarian breakthroughs of the decade. A future with stockpile-ready, universally compatible blood might not only revolutionize trauma care and surgery but also bring equitable health access to regions where blood shortages are a death sentence. If successful, Japan’s 2030 rollout goal could reshape modern medicine at its core.

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