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Data briefsOctober 22, 2026

The news, measured.

Each brief starts from a story on the wire and adds one open dataset the story did not show. 28 briefs, 44 open sources. Saved · RSS

Tec N Trend DataAIOct 11

China AI headlines jump to 139 in 7 days from 37A 14 day look at China AI coverage shows the last week far outpacing the week before. 176Last 14 daysHeadlines mentioning China per day

Tec N Trend DataMachinesOct 7

Plug-ins took 25% of global car sales in 2025, up from 0.7% in 2015IEA data shows how fast plug-ins grew, and why 'gas cars under 50%' is a narrower claim than it sounds. 16.5%Battery-electric share, 2025 (IEA)Global new-car sales by powertrain, 2015–2025

Tec N Trend DataAIOct 7

Ten open-weight models passed 1T parameters. All ten came from ChinaEpoch AI lists no open-weight model above 1T from outside China since 2025; Mistral Large 4 would break that streak once its weights ship. 1 trillionMistral Large 4 (total params)Models of 100B+ parameters by release date

Tec N Trend DataSpaceOct 7

Arctic ice's 2026 low: 4.60 M km², 11th lowest in 48 yearsStack the minimum for every year since 1979 and 2026 sits in a crowded pack of recent lows, well above the 2012 record. 4.60 million km²2026 minimum (5-day mean)Arctic sea ice annual minimum extent, 1979-2026

Tec N Trend DataAIOct 7

Bots now make up 36% of English Wikipedia pageviews, up from 28% in MayWeekly automated plus crawler share of en.wikipedia traffic since May, with the dates Wikimedia and Ars reported; the data cannot name who sent it. 28.1%Bot share, week of 4 MayAutomated and spider share of English Wikipedia pageviews, weekly

Tec N Trend DataGadgetsOct 7

Garmin Enduro 4 claims 36 days of smartwatch battery, 17x Apple Watch Ultra 4Same-mode comparison of vendor claims; Gizmodo's 320-hour headline is an activity-mode-with-solar figure, not everyday use. 36 daysEnduro 4, smartwatch modeClaimed battery life, everyday smartwatch mode

Tec N Trend DataAIOct 7

China's best open model leads the US by 46 Arena points, down from 72The best US open model on the board is Nvidia's Nemotron 3 Ultra. Reflection's Beam, billed as the top non-Chinese open model, is not yet scored. 1491Best Chinese open model, 2 Oct 2026Best open-weight text score by lab country (LMArena)

Tec N Trend DataMachinesOct 7

Median EPA range for new EVs climbed from 82 to 295 miles since 2012EPA ratings for every US all-electric model year show the typical range, not just the headline best case. 295 milesMedian EPA range, MY2026EPA-rated range of all-electric cars by model year

Tec N Trend DataEnergyOct 7

Water and sewer prices rose 41% since 2016, vs 34% for all itemsBLS consumer price data shows the national water index running ahead of inflation, though by less than the 62% in the new report. +41.3%Water & sewerage CPI, 2025 vs 2016Water and sewerage vs all-items CPI, 2016 = 100

Tec N Trend DataEnergyOct 7

Google's data centers used 42.4 TWh in 2025, 2.9x their 2020 levelSix years of Google's own reported data-center electricity, showing why a 20-year nuclear deal is part of the plan. 42.4 TWhData-center electricity, 2025Google data-center electricity consumption

Tec N Trend DataSpaceOct 7

Starlink is 64.5% of every active satellite in orbitCount CelesTrak's active payloads by name and five megaconstellations make up 73% of the sky; 92% were launched since 2019. 17,257Active payloads in orbitWho owns the active satellites in orbit (share of payloads)

Tec N Trend DataEnergyOct 7

Planned US gas capacity through 2030 rose 49% in EIA filings, to 60 GWEIA generator filings split the jump by plant type: combined-cycle plants added the most, and Texas filed a third of it. 40.4 GWPlanned gas through 2030, Dec 2025 filePlanned US gas capacity due by 2030, two EIA snapshots