Final 2 days to save up to $500 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket

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

View this email online in your browser  April 09, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Final 2 days to save up to $500 on your TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 ticket: Ticket discounts of up to $500 will end tomorrow, April 10, at 11:59 p.m. PT. After that, prices for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 go up again. Miss this, and you’ll be paying more for the same access to one of the most anticipated tech epicenters of the year. Register now to lock in these savings. Read More WireGuard VPN developer can't ship software updates after Microsoft locks account: The popular open source VPN maker is the second high-profile developer to say Microsoft locked his account without notifying him and is blocking their ability to send software updates to users. Read More Amazon CEO takes aim at Nvidia, Intel, Starlink, more in annual shareholder letter: Andy Jassy's annual shareholder letter reads something like a diss track to a wide range of competitors as he defends spending $200 billion in capex. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Register Now! A message from Framer Launch your company's website in minutes Framer helps teams design, build, and launch their marketing sites lightning fast. With the ability to publish hundreds of CMS pages in a single click, operate at a global scale with seamless localization, and even host unified content across multiple domains, teams have never been able to ship faster. Trusted by companies like Miro, Bilt, and Zapier. Join Framer Today Morning Must-Reads Poke makes using AI agents as easy as sending a text: Poke brings AI agents to everyday users via text message by handling tasks and automations without complex setup, apps, or technical know-how. Read More AWS boss explains why investing billions in both Anthropic and OpenAI is an OK conflict: AWS has an ingrained culture of handling competition, he explained, because the cloud giant also competes with its partners. Read More This founder helped build SpaceX's most powerful rocket engine. Now he's building a 'fighter jet for orbit': The company's novel rocket engine could be a game changer for the U.S. military. Read More Canva doubles down on AI and marketing automation with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions: Canva says the acquisitions add strengths in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and customer engagement. Read More A self-driving car in Texas hit and killed a mother duck, sparking neighborhood outrage: An Avride autonomous vehicle near Austin hit the duck, facing backlash from the community. "It didn't slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled right through," according to a witness. Read More A message from Fidelity Your Pitch Isn’t the Only Thing Investors Are Evaluating.   Investors don’t just listen to what you say - they look at how your company operates. Is ownership clear? Do your numbers match your story? Can you answer follow-up questions without digging through spreadsheets? The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips founders with the materials investors expect to see, before pressure is on. Because confidence in the room doesn’t come from slides. It comes from preparation.  Learn More Last but Not Least Spotify now lets everyone turn off videos in its app: The controls can be used to choose an audio-first experience on the app or a video-enhanced one, Spotify says. 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

Volkswagen begins testing its self-driving microbuses in Los Angeles ahead of launch with Uber

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  April 08, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Volkswagen begins testing its self-driving microbuses in Los Angeles ahead of launch with Uber: Volkswagen subsidiary MOIA America still has a long and winding regulatory road before it can launch a commercial robotaxi service. Read More Meta debuts the Muse Spark model in a 'ground-up overhaul' of its AI: This is the first model Meta has released under its Superintelligence Labs, led by former ScaleAI CEO Alexandr Wang. Read More Tubi is the first streamer to launch a native app within ChatGPT: Tubi becomes the first streaming service to offer an app integration within ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that millions of users turn to for answers. Read More Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum. Register Now! A message from Fidelity Your Pitch Isn’t the Only Thing Investors Are Evaluating.   Investors don’t just listen to what you say - they look at how your company operates. Is ownership clear? Do your numbers match your story? Can you answer follow-up questions without digging through spreadsheets? The Fundraise-Ready Startup Kit equips founders with the materials investors expect to see, before pressure is on. Because confidence in the room doesn’t come from slides. It comes from preparation.  Learn More Afternoon Must-Reads Developer of VeraCrypt encryption software says Windows users may face boot-up issues after Microsoft locked his account: The maker of the popular open source file encryption software VeraCrypt said Microsoft locked his online account, which may prevent device owners from booting up their computers. Read More These are the countries moving to ban social media for children: Australia was the first country to issue a ban in late 2025, aiming to reduce the pressures and risks that young users may face on social media, including cyberbullying, social media addiction, and exposure to predators. Read More Canva doubles down on AI and marketing automation with Simtheory, Ortto acquisitions: Canva says the acquisitions add strengths in agentic AI, data infrastructure, marketing automation, and customer engagement. Read More AWS boss explains why investing billions in both Anthropic and OpenAI is an OK conflict: AWS has an ingrained culture of handling competition, he explained, because the cloud giant also competes with its partners. Read More Hackers steal and leak sensitive LAPD police documents: The LAPD said the breach affected “a digital storage system” belonging to the city’s Attorney's Office. The World Leaks extortion gang was reported to be behind the attack. Read More A message from Deck Computer use agents built for enterprise Enterprise software is messy — legacy systems, SSO, MFA, tools that will never have an API. Deck's computer use agents handle all of it at scale, automating tasks across your stack without touching a single integration. Built for how enterprises actually run. Try It Free Last but Not Least How nuclear batteries could speed the race to fusion power: Avalanche Energy is working on a DARPA project to build a new class of materials capable of turning damaging radiation into electricity. 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