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Emirates Airline To Launch Its Own NFT Collection
As the first step on its journey to the virtual realm, the main purpose of the NFT collection is to increase the digital appeal of Emirates Airline.
Emirates Airline has announced its intention to take its customers into the virtual realm by offering its own NFT collection.
NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, have exploded in popularity since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the most successful collections selling for millions of dollars.
By providing immutable proof of ownership, NFTs have transformed the digital art scene, and they’re expected to form a crucial part of the metaverse, a network of 3D virtual worlds that some of the world’s largest tech companies are trying to create.
“Emirates has always embraced advanced technologies to improve our business processes, enhance our customer offering, and enrich our employees’ skills and experiences,” said Emirates CEO HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
As the first step on its journey to the virtual realm, the main purpose of the NFT collection is to increase the digital appeal of Emirates Airline. The collection includes virtual replicas of collectibles, so its utility is limited. It can, however, generate profit for those who purchase it if it becomes popular.
“We are excited about the opportunities in the digital space of the future and are committing a significant investment in financial and resourcing terms, to develop products and services using advanced technologies that will deliver on revenue, brand experience, and business efficiencies,” added Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum.
Also Read: A Beginner’s Guide To Getting Started With NFTs
In addition to the NFT collection, Emirates Airline is also repurposing its Emirates Pavillion at the Dubai Expo 2020 site to create a center for innovation, where it wants to work on various future-focused projects related to NFTs, the metaverse, and Web3.
Other airlines have used NFTs for similar purposes as well. For example, Air Europa has recently released the first NFT flight ticket series in collaboration with the blockchain firm TravelX, fusing travel with technology and art.
If these and other applications of NFT technology gain traction, we can expect other companies in the travel industry and beyond to experiment with the technology as well.
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At I/O 2026, Sundar Pichai Concedes AI Must Deliver Real Value
Gemini 3.5, a personal agent called Spark, agentic shopping, and Android XR eyewear are all aimed at making AI feel useful, not just impressive.
Google’s annual I/O developer conference (I/O 2026) has recently become a status update on the same question: can the company turn its AI spending into products people use every day? This year, chief executive Sundar Pichai described Google as being in a phase of hyper progress, while conceding this is the part of the cycle where people want to see real value in the products they use on a day-to-day basis.
The strategy on display was to push agents — AI systems that act on a user’s behalf — into nearly every Google product at once. Search now has an “intelligent search box” that returns generated explainer videos alongside links. Gmail, Docs, YouTube and Maps are gaining their own agent layers, including a Docs Live feature that turns spoken instructions into drafted text with citations.
Two new models, Gemini 3.5 and a cheaper Gemini 3.5 Flash, arrived the same day. Google says 900 million people now use Gemini, and that more than 50 billion images have been generated with it. The pricing tier names are likely to confuse buyers: a new AI Ultra plan launches at $100 a month, while the older Gemini AI Ultra drops from $250 to $200.
The flashier announcements were Gemini Omni, a video generator pitched as a more realistic answer to OpenAI’s discontinued Sora 2, and Gemini Spark, a personal agent that handles recurring tasks across a user’s Google account. A new universal shopping cart lets agents complete purchases across multiple retailers from inside Google itself, placing the company between the merchant and the buyer, and also owning the checkout.
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Google also confirmed its Android XR eyewear, built with Samsung and frames from Warby Parker and Gentle Monster. Audio-only glasses ship this autumn; a display-equipped version, which would superimpose live translations into the wearer’s field of view, is still in development. Both sets translate, however only the display version shows you the result.
What Pichai did not resolve is the bargain underneath all this. An agent is only useful to the degree it knows your calendar, your inbox, your shopping history and your physical surroundings. Google has now confirmed that, in time, the same context may carry advertising.
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