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Vogue just gave another nod of approval to the tech world

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Vogue World is coming to San Francisco next year — perhaps another indication that tech billionaires have become leaders in the fashion zeitgeist.

Of course, the announcement of the enormous fashion/art/music event doesn’t say that. Instead, Anna Wintour wrote that Vogue believes in celebrating cities and “San Francisco is a city like none other.” 

“It’s a place of diverse communities living side by side, a place that loves the arts, loves creativity, and isn’t afraid of change.” She also noted the city’s history of rebelliousness and innovation.

“I love that San Francisco has always stood up for values and the things it believes in,” Wintour wrote. “Vogue World will support San Francisco’s creative minds and strengthen the entire ecosystem — and it will offer another opportunity to show San Francisco is on the rise.”

There were rumors that Vogue World would head to San Francisco after Winter was seen having meetings with the city’s mayor, Daniel Lurie.

Plus, in the past year, Wintour has cozied up to the most powerful names in tech, culminating in this year’s Met Gala, which saw Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren Sanchez, serve as lead sponsors for the event. Google’s Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg were also spotted at the event (the latter’s first, that is). In fact, OpenAI bought a table, as did Meta and Snap (for $350,000 a pop). It’s true that TikTok, Apple, and Instagram previously sponsored the event, but the presence of the tech crowd this year was so much that the Met Gala this year was dubbed the “tech gala” in some places.

Last year, Vogue put Lauren Sanchez on the cover of the magazine after her wedding to the Amazon founder. To the fashion world, this was Wintour’s stamp of approval — not just for Sanchez’s ascent into the fashion world, but that tech and its leaders were worthy of cultural recognition.

Though Bezos and Sanchez reportedly live in Florida (and Amazon is, of course, headquartered in the Seattle area), there is no city more associated with tech than San Francisco. By locating Vogue World there, this is another indication of Wintour’s approval.

Vogue, as a media publication, is always following the money, and as a cultural bible, is always looking for ways to stay relevant. Turning toward the worldwide headquarters of AI, good or bad, is brilliant for business (and Wintour is nothing if not brilliant). 

But Vogue World was previously held in New York, London, Paris, and this year, Milan. Maybe because I live in an East Coast bubble, but I’ve not heard anyone in recent years refer to San Francisco as a beacon of style to rank alongside these other cities.  

While the city has a reputation as the land of the free-spirited bohemian, tech and its workers have a reputation for hoodies, Patagonia vests, and expensive athletic shoes, if they even dress up that much.

For instance, billionaire Alexandr Wang, who is now running Meta’s all-important Superintelligence Labs, just did an interview with Y Combinator’s Garry Tan in front of a packed stadium wearing a faded Nintendo T-shirt and what looked like a pair of Crocs. Comfy? Yes. High fashion? Decidedly no.

But maybe that’s changing. Wang’s boss, Mark Zuckerberg, who once always appeared in a plain gray T-shirt and jeans, has made efforts in recent years to become more fashionable. Zuck and his wife Priscilla Chan were spotted front row at a Prada show this season. The new campaign for Meta Glasses has a slew of celeb ambassadors and looks like it could be a Saint Laurent or Balenciaga ad.

OpenAI and Palantir have recently released merch collabs, playing on the minimalist style of tech workers (the merch line of the latter, I would argue, looks inspired by Virgil Abloh’s Off-White).

I concede that creatively there is much to be done with the understated, Northern California style. Surrounded by beautiful nature and cooler temperatures, plenty of fashion designers could be motivated by San Francisco’s tech industry. I look forward to seeing Claude-inspired terra cotta-colored gowns and Vogue-emblazoned quarter-zips soon.

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OpenAI’s new AI smart speaker will reportedly sell for between $300 and $400

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More details continue to trickle out about OpenAI’s mysterious new hardware device — described previously as an AI-fueled smart speaker that will be the “physical manifestation” of ChatGPT.

Bloomberg now reports that the device will be “donut-shaped,” designed thusly to allow users to carry it around their home and place it in different locations, like a bedside table or a kitchen counter.

It will be constructed from “high-quality metal,” have a “premium look,” and (in a detail that mystifies) will have distinct “moving parts,” sources told Bloomberg.

It also could be slightly more expensive than your average smart speaker, perhaps $300 to $400 per unit, according to this report. For comparison, most of Amazon’s smart home speakers range in price from $40 on the low end to $240 on the high end.

So, to sum up: an expensive talking AI donut that has … moving parts? OpenAI releasing a smart home device has a certain logic to it, in that it would further integrate ChatGPT into users’ lives. However, historically speaking, smart speakers have not always been profitable and may prove a difficult market to break into. The potentially high price point also might not help.

The device, which is being developed in partnership with LoveFrom, the design studio founded by famous former Apple developer Jony Ive, will likely be released at some point in 2027, Bloomberg writes.

The company’s attempt to enter the hardware market has not gone off without a hitch. OpenAI is being sued by the current king of hardware, Apple, which has accused the AI lab of stealing trade secrets. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing.

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Vietnam’s FPT Says It Joined OpenAI Partner Network to Expand Enterprise AI in APAC

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Vietnam’s FPT is seeking a larger role in Asia-Pacific’s enterprise AI market through a newly announced relationship with OpenAI. The technology services company says it has joined the OpenAI Partner Network as a Select Partner.

FPT plans to bring OpenAI technology into its FleziPT enterprise AI ecosystem and Patch the Enterprise cybersecurity initiative. The proposed services would automate business workflows and help security teams identify, prioritize and remediate software vulnerabilities.

FPT announced the designation on Aug. 6, 2026, but OpenAI had not included the company in its public partner directory when checked that day. Neither company disclosed commercial terms, named customers, pricing or a deployment schedule.

FPT targets security and workflow automation

OpenAI launched its Partner Network on June 14, 2026, for consulting, technology and systems integration companies that build, sell and deploy services using its products. The network has three tiers: Select, Advanced and Elite.

OpenAI said it considers sales performance, technical capabilities, deployment experience and participation in joint sales efforts. It committed $150 million to the program and aims to train 300,000 certified consultants by the end of 2026.

Partner status provides access to training, technical resources and support, but it does not certify the security, performance or regulatory compliance of a partner’s products. Customers still need to evaluate each deployment independently.

FPT intends to incorporate OpenAI technology into Patch the Enterprise, its AI-assisted vulnerability-management initiative. FPT previously described Patch the Enterprise as a program that uses AI to analyze code and recommend fixes.

Other AI models for vulnerability triage can narrow searches for potentially affected code, but analysts must still validate their findings. FPT has not released performance tests or customer case studies for its proposed integrations.

The company also plans to develop AI agents and automated workflows through FleziPT. ChatGPT’s expansion into workplace tasks shows the controls organizations may need when agents can access files, applications and internal systems.

APAC deployments still require scrutiny

The announcement follows an FPT-commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting and published on July 8, 2026. The research surveyed 397 business and technology decision-makers.

Forty-one percent identified integration complexity as a barrier to operationalizing AI, while 38% cited data silos. The findings align with the implementation problems FPT is positioning its services to address, although the company funded the study.

Organizations evaluating the proposed services should establish where their data will be processed, who controls it and how long it will be retained. Source code, vulnerability findings, prompts, outputs and agent logs may be subject to privacy, security and cross-border transfer requirements that vary across APAC markets.

Customers should also restrict agent permissions and require human approval for consequential actions. Recent research has identified security gaps caused by excessive agent access across enterprise systems.

Procurement teams should request detection accuracy, false-positive rates, remediation results and compatibility details. Contracts should clearly assign responsibility among FPT, OpenAI and the customer.

FPT’s announcement offers APAC organizations another possible route to OpenAI deployment, but the first named customers, production results and OpenAI’s public confirmation will determine the partnership’s significance.

Read more: Organizations weighing regional hosting options can also examine how air-gapped Gemini deployments in India address data residency while leaving access controls, updates and auditability subject to customer review.

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OpenAI’s new AI smart speaker will reportedly sell for between $300-$400

Published

on

More details continue to trickle out about OpenAI’s mysterious new hardware device — described previously as an AI-fueled smart speaker that will be the “physical manifestation” of ChatGPT.

Bloomberg now reports that the device will be “donut-shaped,” designed thusly to allow users to carry it around their home and place it in different locations, like a bedside table or a kitchen counter.

It will be constructed from “high-quality metal,” have a “premium look,” and (in a detail that mystifies) will have distinct “moving parts,” sources told Bloomberg.

It also could be slightly more expensive than your average smart speaker, perhaps $300 to $400 per unit, according to this report. For comparison, most of Amazon’s smart home speakers range in price from $40 on the low end to $240 on the high end.

So, to sum up: an expensive talking AI donut that has … moving parts? OpenAI releasing a smart home device has a certain logic to it, in that it would further integrate ChatGPT into users’ lives. However, historically speaking, smart speakers have not always been profitable and may prove a difficult market to break into. The potentially high price point also might not help.

The device, which is being developed in partnership with LoveFrom, the design studio founded by famous former Apple developer Jony Ive, will likely be released at some point in 2027, Bloomberg writes.

The company’s attempt to enter the hardware market has not gone off without a hitch. OpenAI is being sued by the current king of hardware, Apple, which has accused the AI lab of stealing trade secrets. OpenAI has denied wrongdoing.

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