Friday, May 8, 2026
Welcome to another Friday edition of the Tech:NYC Digest, featuring our favorite five highlights in New York and tech this week.
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Meet NYC techie behind Janelle Monáe’s Met Gala gown with mesmerizing robo-butterflies (NY Post)
When tech met gala: A Manhattan-based animatronics designer helped bring Janelle Monáe’s Met Gala look to life with robotic butterflies you could actually control. 🦋
Cameron Hughes built moving insects using tiny motors, 3D printing, and even an iPhone app, letting the wings flutter in real time on the red carpet.
The project was assembled in just a few weeks from his apartment studio, and rumor has it C-3PO is in line to wear the ’fit next.
Cardboard, duct tape, and a dream: Welcome to NY’s most ridiculous undergraduate boat race (Gothamist)
From high tech to low(er) tech: A beloved campus tradition on Long Island has students building boats out of cardboard and duct tape… with predictably chaotic results. 🌊
At Stony Brook University’s annual Roth Regatta, teams try to paddle 200 yards across a pond, though many boats capsize before making it halfway.
The event has grown from a scrappy 10-boat race in 1989 into a massive, crowd-drawing spectacle, where engineering and biochem majors are the skippers.
Bronx to receive major expansion of free high‑speed internet under new $2 million initiative (News 12)
The Bronx is getting a major boost in free high-speed internet. A new $2 million investment will expand no-cost broadband access to thousands of residents, part of a broader push to close the digital divide. 📡
The funding will connect about 2,000 additional apartments across 50 buildings, targeting neighborhoods where roughly one in five residents still lack reliable internet.
Meet the ‘unofficial Knicks artist’ whose work is all over NYC (Spectrum News)
Talk about going hard in the paint: A Harlem-based painter has become the “unofficial Knicks artist,” with his work popping up everywhere from social media to City Hall. 🏀
Tom Sanford has spent decades creating Knicks-inspired art, from portraits of legends like Patrick Ewing to viral pieces like his cereal-box-style “Captain Clutch” tribute to Jalen Brunson.
10 NYC art exhibitions we’re most excited about in spring 2026 (Time Out New York)
Spring in NYC = a stacked lineup of must-see art shows. Museums across the city are rolling out major exhibitions this season, from Renaissance masters to cutting-edge contemporary work. 🖼️
Highlights include a sweeping Raphael: Sublime Poetry exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and a massive Marcel Duchamp retrospective exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art.
The season also leans into modern themes, with shows exploring AI (!), fashion, and sports culture.
Manhattan’s offices are among the most in-demand in the nation:
But time to step out of the office, New York. Have a great weekend! 🗽
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