IEEE Spectrum
Cash in on the AI Boom by Renting Out Your Spare Compute
If you own an at-home server, a gaming computer, or just a laptop that doesn’t get much love, listen...
2 weeks ago
If you own an at-home server, a gaming computer, or just a laptop that doesn’t get much love, listen up. You can now put that spare computing power to use and earn some passive income in the process. AI companies are hungry for more compute to run AI inference—the process of...
IEEE Spectrum
Fridays With Bob
When I started at Spectrum 25 years ago, a senior editor suggested that I find a “rabbi,” by which...
1st Aug 2026
When I started at Spectrum 25 years ago, a senior editor suggested that I find a “rabbi,” by which he meant someone who could mentor me in how EEs approach problems and evaluate potential solutions.
I didn’t find one right away. Then in 2005 we decided to do a special report,...
IEEE Spectrum
The Orbital Data Center Hype Machine Is Already in Orbit
“The lowest-cost place to put AI will be in space, and that will be true within two years, maybe...
1st Jul 2026
“The lowest-cost place to put AI will be in space, and that will be true within two years, maybe three at the latest,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk told the World Economic Forum in Davos this past January, as his company was preparing to go public.
Later that month, SpaceX filed an...
IEEE Spectrum
IEEE President’s Note: Designing a Safer Digital World for Kids
Children born after 2013 are the first generation to grow up fully immersed in digital systems,...
1st Jun 2026
Children born after 2013 are the first generation to grow up fully immersed in digital systems, which weren’t designed with them in mind. One‑third of the world’s Internet users are younger than 18, according to UNICEF, yet these systems shaping their daily lives were built for...
IEEE Spectrum
What Exoskeletons Learned From One Relentless User
It’s easy to assume that Robert Woo was defined by the accident that took away his ability to...
1st Apr 2026
It’s easy to assume that Robert Woo was defined by the accident that took away his ability to walk.
Certainly, the day of his accident—14 December 2007—was a turning point. Woo, an architect working on the new Goldman Sachs headquarters in New York City, hadn’t attended his...
IEEE Spectrum
IEEE President’s Note: Engineering a Modern Renaissance
Consider a powerful parallel between the advancements made during the Renaissance and the...
1st Mar 2026
Consider a powerful parallel between the advancements made during the Renaissance and the developments made by today’s engineers.
The Renaissance was a uniquely fertile era. Its ethos of curiosity and creativity fostered unprecedented collaboration across disciplines. Artists,...
IEEE Spectrum
LuSEE-Night: See You on the Far Side of the Moon
As a kid in the 1970s, I watched the Apollo moon missions on TV, drawn like a curious moth to the...
1st Feb 2026
As a kid in the 1970s, I watched the Apollo moon missions on TV, drawn like a curious moth to the cathode-ray tube’s glow. The English band Pink Floyd blared through the speakers of my mom’s Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme, beckoning us to the dark side of the moon.
The far side of...
IEEE Spectrum
11 Amazing Engineering Events in 2026
This article is part of our special report Top Tech 2026.
Brain Chip Helps Blind People See
Elon...
1st Jan 2026
This article is part of our special report Top Tech 2026.
Brain Chip Helps Blind People See
Elon Musk says his company Neuralink is aiming to restore partial sight to fully blind patients in 2026. The company plans to test its newest and most powerful implant, Blindsight, in...
IEEE Spectrum
The Next Frontier in AI Isn’t More Data
For the past decade, progress in artificial intelligence has been measured by scale: bigger models,...
1st Dec 2025
For the past decade, progress in artificial intelligence has been measured by scale: bigger models, larger datasets, and more compute. That approach delivered astonishing breakthroughs in large language models (LLMs); in just five years, AI has leapt from models like GPT-2, which...
IEEE Spectrum
Chips Need to Chill Out
Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep...
1st Nov 2025
Diamonds, lasers, and oil aren’t the first things you may think of when considering ways to keep chips and computers cool. But as modern chip designs pack and stack more transistors into ever smaller spaces, heat has emerged as a critical problem.
To solve it, the semiconductor...
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