Most enterprise AI projects fail not because companies lack the technology, but because the models they’re using don’t understand their business. The models are often trained on the internet, rather than decades of internal documents, workflows, and institutional knowledge. 

That gap is where Mistral, the French AI startup, sees opportunity. On Tuesday, the company announced Mistral Forge, a platform that lets enterprises build custom models trained on their own data. Mistral announced the platform at Nvidia GTC, Nvidia’s annual technology conference, which this year is focused heavily on AI and agentic models for enterprise.

It’s a pointed move for Mistral, a company that has built its business on corporate clients while rivals OpenAI and Anthropic have soared ahead in terms of consumer adoption. CEO Arthur Mensch says Mistral’s laser focus on the enterprise is working: the company is on track to surpass $1 billion in annual recurring revenue this year.

A big part of doubling down on enterprise is giving companies more control over their data and their AI systems, Mistral says. 

“What Forge does is it lets enterprises and governments customize AI models for their specific needs,” Elisa Salamanca, Mistral’s head of product, told TechCrunch. 

Several companies in the enterprise AI space already claim to offer similar capabilities, but most focus on fine-tuning existing models or layering proprietary data on top through techniques like retrieval augmented generation (RAG). These approaches don’t fundamentally retrain models; instead, they adapt or query them at runtime using company data.

Mistral, by contrast, says it is enabling companies to train models from scratch. In theory, this could address some of the limitations of more common approaches — for example, better handling of non-English or highly domain-specific data, and greater control over model behavior. It could also allow companies to train agentic systems using reinforcement learning and reduce reliance on third-party model providers, avoiding risks like model changes or deprecation. 

Forge customers can build their custom models using Mistral’s wide library of open-weight AI models, which includes small models such as the recently introduced Mistral Small 4. According to Mistral co-founder and chief technologist, Timothée Lacroix, Forge can help unlock more value out of its existing models. 

“The trade-offs that we make when we build smaller models is that they just cannot be as good on every topic as their larger counterparts, and so the ability to customize them lets us pick what we emphasize and what we drop,” Lacroix said. 

Mistral advises on which models and infrastructure to use, but both decisions stay with the customer, Lacroix said. And for teams that need more than guidance, Forge comes with Mistral’s team of forward-deployed engineers who embed directly with customers to surface the right data and adapt to their needs — a model borrowed from the likes of IBM and Palantir. 

“As a product, Forge already comes with all the tooling and infrastructure so you can generate synthetic data pipelines,” Salamanca said. “But understanding how to build the right evals and making sure that you have the right amount of data is something that enterprises usually don’t have the right expertise for, and that’s what the FDEs bring to the table.” 

Mistral has already made Forge available to partners including Ericsson, the European Space Agency, Italian consulting company Reply, and Singapore’s DSO and HTX. Early adopters also include ASML, the Dutch chipmaker that led Mistral’s Series C round last September at a €11.7 billion valuation (approximately $13.8 billion at the time).

These partnerships are emblematic of what Mistral expects Forge’s main use cases to be. According to Mistral’s chief revenue officer Marjorie Janiewicz, these include governments who need to tailor models for their language and culture; financial players with high compliance requirements; manufacturers with customization needs; and tech companies that need to tune models to their code base.

Kit, Firefox’s first mascot, has just made his debut, thanks to Mozilla, who combined fox and red panda features with some searing flame elements to create a one-of-a-kind creature that sticks out. Kit’s tail constantly seems like it’s on the move, even when he’s just relaxing, since his body language, posture, and eyes all appear to be working together to nail the mood.

Illustrator Marco Palmieri created the final design, starting with some pencil drawings to get a feel for the ideas and ensure they were strong before going on to other tools. Design agency JKR then stepped in and collaborated with Mozilla to take the project to the next level by delving into what makes Firefox tick, including the logo colors and the fox itself.

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According to Amy Bebbington of Mozilla, Kit is the browser’s BFF for the internet era, as it serves as a gentle reminder to users that Firefox has their back. This comes at a time when the web is undergoing significant changes and people are becoming increasingly concerned about what is happening with their data and trust. Firefox is responding by not disclosing users’ personal information and allowing them to opt in or out of artificial intelligence.

Kit is also present in quiet moments, such as when you first log in, try something new, or do something nice while browsing, and you can even use him as a wallpaper for new browser tabs under the customization menu. You may also see him on the official website, social media, and during meetups. Overall, these subtle touches make the sign-in process feel like reconnecting with an old friend. Kit is quite understated, but he provides just the right amount of personality to remind you that the browser is only there to help (not get in the way).

Anker earbuds and headphones may not have the premium status of Apple, Bose and Sony, but the brand’s value-priced products have a loyal following. Anker aficionados have been waiting for the company to release the Pro version of its $100 Soundcore Liberty 5 earbuds. 

According to NotebookCheck, via leaker AnkerInsider, whose X account appears suspended, the release is near. Two versions of Anker’s new flagship earbuds are due to arrive in the coming months: The Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty 5 Pro Max. Both will feature a new AI chip called the Anker Thus to power the buds.

Read more: Best wireless earbuds of 2026

The new models don’t look anything like the current Liberty 5 buds, which have a traditional stem design. Both new Pro models will feature upgraded noise canceling (Anker’s new Adaptive ANC 4.0), Bluetooth 6.1, an IP55 dust- and water-resistant rating, Dolby Atmos spatial audio, Bluetooth multipoint and an AI-powered audio upscaling feature.

While both the Liberty 5 Pro and Liberty Pro Max have a touchscreen built into their cases, the Max’s case also doubles as a voice recorder with built-in microphones. The recorder will reportedly be able to recognize your voice thanks to voiceprint recognition.

The upcoming buds are expected to be officially announced in late May, with the Liberty 5 Pro to be priced at $170, and the Liberty 5 Pro Max retailing for $230 (the Max already have a shell of listing on Best Buy that notes the voice recorder). Both have a battery life of around 6.5 hours with noise cancellation turned on.

AI voice recorders have been proliferating in recent months (you might have seen an ad for one on Facebook or Instagram). Anker is shipping its Soundcore Work coin-sized wearable Al note take/voice recorder for $129 with a $39-off coupon code. Presumably, some of the same technology found in the wearable recorder will make its way over to the Liberty 5 Pro Max.

The Liberty 5 Pro Max won’t be the first pair of earbuds to have a microphone in their case. Nothing’s Ear (3) flagship earbuds have a Super Mic in their case, which had me talking to my hand when making calls. It’s a clear sign that as earbud performance plateaus, brands are getting creative with extra features to help their products stand out from the pack. 

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It’s only been two years since Dune: Part Two but we already have a trailer for the third installment. The appropriately-named Dune: Part Three is an adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune Messiah book from 1969.

Just like the book, the latest film takes place a number of years after Dune: Part Two. “If the first movie was contemplation, a boy exploring a new world, and the second one is a war movie, this one is a thriller,” . “It is action-packed and tense. More muscular.”

Despite the time jump, most primary actors are returning. This includes Timothée Chalamet, Zendaya and Javier Bardem. Anya Taylor-Joy, who briefly appeared in the second film, is also coming back. The same goes for Jason Momoa, despite his Duncan Idaho character dying in the first film. Book readers will likely understand what that means.

The trailer also highlights the antagonist Scytale, as portrayed by Robert Pattinson. He should be a more nuanced villain than Baron Harkonnen, though that’s not exactly a high bar.

The release date is coming up fast. Dune: Part Three hits theaters on December 18. That’s this year. Villeneuve had intended to take a break after making the second one to focus on a smaller and more personal film, but said that he kept “waking in the middle of the night” with potential images from the third installment.

OpenClaw took the tech industry by surprise earlier this year when an Austrian engineer created the first version in roughly an hour. This small project swept through the community like wildfire as the most open-source endeavor on record, allowing anyone to set up a personal AI agent to operate directly on their own PC and accomplish tasks like organizing files or pounding out code without sending any data off to who knows where. At GTC, NVIDIA introduced NemoClaw, a software add-on for OpenClaw that can be installed with a single command. This new layer includes the security features and privacy controls that transform these agents from fun little experiments to useful business solutions.

NemoClaw is simple to integrate into your existing setup since it introduces OpenShell, a runtime that isolates each agent in its own small bubble. Then you can create rules in plain text files that specify which folders the agent may browse, which networks it can connect to, and which external services it can access. Everything else, and we mean everything, is off limits, and every step they make leaves a clear paper trail for you to follow.

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NVIDIA is marrying this with some of their own open models known as Nemotron, which run locally on whatever hardware is available. You’re talking everything from RTX-powered laptops to entire workstations and dedicated AI systems. When you need a little more horsepower, you can utilize a privacy router to connect to more powerful cloud models while keeping all of your sensitive information in-house. The end result is a framework that allows your agents to work in a mix of local and remote resources while maintaining tight boundaries.

Companies are already putting these components to use in real-world situations. Cisco runs agents that detect security flaws, verify databases, map affected devices, and create a thorough remediation plan, all of which must be checked against the rules in real time. Box uses the same framework to handle invoices and contracts, using abilities that work well with existing access levels. NVIDIA has also partnered with Salesforce, CrowdStrike, and a few more large brands to achieve the same level of control across all of their technologies. OpenClaw agents run 24 hours a day, seven days a week on personal computers, professional workstations, and servers without interfering with anything else. If you have dedicated hardware, you can keep them up and running for hours, if not days, while they work.

It is currently available as an early preview through official sources, such as on Github. Users can begin testing right away, although NVIDIA says some rough edges must be ironed out before they are formally put into production. Developers have complete access to the toolkit, which includes sample models, runtimes, and guidance for creating their own agents. Jensen Huang referred to OpenClaw as the operating system for personal AI, indicating a trend toward software that can be instructed to do things. Peter Steinberger, the original creator of OpenClaw, sees this combination as a method for users to design and run their own secure assistants.

As electronics demand higher energy density, one component has proved challenging to shrink: the capacitor. Making a smaller capacitor usually requires thinning the dielectric layer or electrode surface area, which has often resulted in a reduction of power. A new polymer material could help change that.

In a study published 18 February in Nature, a Pennsylvania State University-led team reported a capacitor crafted from a polymer blend that can operate at temperatures up to 250 °C while storing roughly four times as much energy as conventional polymer capacitors. Today’s advanced polymer capacitors typically function only up to about 100 °C, meaning engineers often rely on bulky cooling systems in high-power electronics. The research team has filed a patent for the polymer capacitors and plans to bring them to market.

Capacitors deliver rapid bursts of energy and stabilize voltage in circuits, making them essential in applications ranging from electric vehicles and aerospace electronics to power-grid infrastructure and AI data centers. Yet while transistors have steadily shrunk with advances in semiconductor manufacturing, passive components such as capacitors and inductors have not scaled at the same pace.

“Capacitors can account for 30 to 40 percent of the volume in some power electronics systems,” says Qiming Zhang, an electrical engineering researcher at Penn State and study author, explaining why it’s important to make smaller capacitors.

A plastics blend more powerful than its parts

The research team combined two commercially available engineered plastics: polyetherimide (PEI), originally developed by General Electric and widely used in industrial equipment, and PBPDA, known for strong heat resistance and electrical insulation. When processed together under controlled conditions, the polymers self-assemble into nanoscale structures that form thin dielectric films inside capacitors. Those structures help suppress electrical leakage while allowing the material to polarize strongly in an electric field, allowing greater energy storage.

The resulting material exhibits an unusually high dielectric constant—a measure of how much electrical energy a material can store. Most polymer dielectrics have values around four, but the blended polymer dielectric in the new work had a value of 13.5.

“If you look at the literature up to now, no one has reached this level of dielectric constant in this type of polymer system,” Zhang says. “Putting two commonly used polymers together and seeing this kind of performance was a surprise to many people.”

Because the material can remain operational even at elevated temperatures—such as those from extreme environmental heat or hot spots in densely built components—capacitors built from this polymer could potentially store the same amount of energy in a smaller package.