Batteries are now cheaper than natural gas turbines used at many data centers

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  October 09, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Batteries are now cheaper than natural gas turbines used at many data centers: Batteries are now cheaper than natural gas turbines as the data center boom pushes prices up. Read More An Anthropic AI model sent a false homicide tip to Philadelphia police: Anthropic did not discover this behavior until over two months after its AI submitted the false tip. Read More LumenUs helps automate tedious paperwork in times of grief: "The day your loved one passes away, you also get this honorary badge of a project manager for a project you had no idea about," said founder Sara Tashakorinia. Read More A message from Virginia Tech Graduate With a Portfolio, Not Just a Transcript Shape a technical identity you design on purpose, built for a workforce that's changing faster than most degrees can adapt, with real-world partners embedded in the work you do. Learn more about M.Eng programs with Virginia Tech. See the ROI Our biggest event of the year is coming next week, and now's the time to lock in your ticket to learning how to build successfully in the AI era. You'll get expert insights from leaders from Anthropic, Nvidia, OpenAI, Google Cloud, and hundreds of other sessions across three days.  Save 50% on a second ticket, or if you've been laid off recently, get an Expo+ Pass for just $75. Register Now Afternoon Must-Reads Surveillance company Flock cuts staff as privacy backlash grows: Flock would not say if CEO Garrett Langley would take a pay cut following the reduction in workforce. Read More Remember Orkut? Its founder wants to bring it back: Orkut's founder is now taking aim at algorithms and AI-generated content. Read More Automattic interim CFO resigns just weeks after boardroom shakeup: Automattic's interim chief financial officer Jeremy Klaperman has left the company less than a month after taking the role, TechCrunch has learned. Sources say his departure followed a demotion back to his previous position, marking another executive exit amid the organization's leadership turmoil. Read More Xona's commercial GPS alternative is about to go live: Xona's precision timing and navigation service will enter beta testing after SpaceX launches six satellites designed by the company. Read More President Trump awards Big Tech donors with nation's highest science prizes: Together, the awardees have donated nearly $6 billion to efforts tied to Trump and his administration. Read More A message from RoMADE Every hospital device, its full history, one QR scan away Hospitals pay to service hundreds of devices yet can't say which were checked, where they are or who is responsible. MedTrackQR, from Romania's MedSys Innovation, puts a QR label on every device: any phone scans it, no app or account, and sees status, owner and full maintenance history. Audit registers build themselves. Meet them at Disrupt. Request a demo Last but Not Least Tesla renames 'Full Self-Driving' to 'Tesla Assisted Driving' in Europe: The name change is enough for Germany's transport minister to start advocating for Europe-wide adoption of the driver assistance software. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

Surveillance company Flock cuts staff as privacy backlash grows

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  October 09, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Surveillance company Flock cuts staff as privacy backlash grows: Flock would not say if CEO Garrett Langley would take a pay cut following the reduction in workforce. Read More Pretend you're sitting at Elizabeth Holmes' desk on this weirdly detailed website: With over a thousand emails, slides, texts, and documents from the United States v. Elizabeth Holmes trial, Extend engineer Bo Lau created a website that simulates what it might have been like to rifle through the Theranos founder's desk. Read More Ben Affleck is an AI nerd, and the internet is impressed: Ben Affleck is going viral for his deep knowledge of AI, from neural networks and transformers to open weights. The actor, who sold his AI filmmaking startup to Netflix earlier this year, is proving he's more than just a Hollywood star. Read More A message from R1 Healthcare's Revenue Black Box, Decoded The biggest opportunity for AI in healthcare isn't automation, it's observability. R1’s Payer Atlas analyzes payer behavior across millions of interactions to uncover hidden patterns and detect reimbursement risk, helping health systems move from reactive recovery to predictive action.  Discover Payer Atlas  Our biggest event of the year is coming next week, and now's the time to lock in your ticket to learning how to build successfully in the AI era. You'll get expert insights from leaders from Anthropic, Nvidia, OpenAI, Google Cloud, and hundreds of other sessions across three days.  Save 50% on a second ticket, or if you've been laid off recently, get an Expo+ Pass for just $75. Register Now Morning Must-Reads Xona's commercial GPS alternative is about to go live: Xona's precision timing and navigation service will enter beta testing after SpaceX launches six satellites designed by the company. Read More Fired OpenAI safety researchers dispute misconduct claims, warn of chilling effect: Three fired OpenAI safety researchers dispute allegations of mishandling sensitive information, warning in an open letter that their dismissals are creating a chilling effect on the company’s AI safety culture. Read More President Trump awards Big Tech donors with nation's highest science prizes: Together, the awardees have donated nearly $6 billion to efforts tied to Trump and his administration. Read More OpenAI's revenue is reportedly $20 billion less than previously projected: It had previously been reported that the AI lab's annualized revenue was some $70 billion, but a new report claims it's a whole lot less than that. Read More Beyond TechCrunch Disrupt 2026: The Side Events, Parties & Networking You Can't Miss: TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is just the beginning. From exclusive networking events and startup showcases to happy hours, dinners, and after-hours meetups, discover what’s happening across San Francisco during Disrupt Week, October 10–16. Find your next connection, your next opportunity, or your next favorite event. Read More A message from RoMADE Fall detection through the WiFi already in the room One in three UK adults over 65 falls each year, yet patients reject cameras and take off wearables. BodySense, from Fan Studio's team in Iasi, turns a room's WiFi into a fall and breathing monitor: no lens, nothing to wear, alerts straight to nurses. Built for the new WiFi sensing standard, it's raising a $2.5M seed for its first pilots. Button CTA: See BodySense See BodySense Last but Not Least Google brings agentic AI to Gemini, starting with businesses: Google is turning Gemini into an AI agent that can plan, execute tasks, and work across business apps and systems. The agent can delegate work to subagents, use multiple AI models, and even gets its own workplace identity, complete with an email address. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107