Etched's valuation doubles to $21B in a month

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  August 18, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Etched's valuation doubles to $21B in a month: Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says. Read More Comcast adds motion sensing to millions of its newer routers, with a privacy catch: A new feature added to Comcast's newest routers can detect if there is motion inside your home without needing traditional motion sensors. Read More Why Apple's camera-equipped AirPods may not be the 'pervert pods' consumers fear: Apple’s leaked camera-equipped AirPods might avoid the privacy pitfalls of other AI wearables by preventing users from recording photos and videos. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads Peacock is raising prices across all of its streaming plans: "These price changes allow Peacock to continue to create the best experience for its viewers, remain competitive in the marketplace, and deliver unique content across all genres," the company wrote on a support page. Read More Bluesky says its recent outage was caused by another DDoS attack: This is the latest large-scale DDoS attack to hit the social networking site this year. Read More Apple's new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera: A video in a macOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri. Read More Einride strikes deal to add 500 Tesla Semis to its fleet: The deal will triple the size of Einride's fleet while sweetening the company's sales pitch for its Saga AI software. The Tesla Semis will be available to customers across North America. Read More DOJ's probe into Andreessen Horowitz over board seats baffles VCs: Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms. Read More Last but Not Least OpenAI institutes new safeguards after Hugging Face breach: The new safeguards include more detailed monitoring of models during the development process, as well as greater emphasis on alignment and security during the post-training process. 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

‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators

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

View this email online in your browser  August 18, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 ‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators: Cybersecurity experts who investigate spyware attacks say the number of people who received a recent threat notification from Apple is unusually high. Read More Einride strikes deal to add 500 Tesla Semis to its fleet: Einride will buy the Tesla Semis, which will be made to Amazon and other customers. Read More Apple's new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera: A video in a MacOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri. Read More Morning Must-Reads AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google's Chrome team: "We have some really ambitious plans to help you work with AI in Chrome to get things done, and I’ll have more to share soon," Jacob Bank, Relay founder and CEO, said. Read More Anthropic's annualized revenue surges to $65B: The model maker added $18 billion in annualized revenue in two months. Read More Warp's new system is an out-of-the-box software factory for AI development: On Tuesday, Warp introduced Warp Factories, a new infrastrructure system designed to make building AI software factories as easy as possible. Read More Reach Capital raises $265M Fund V to back AI founders building to 'expand human potential': Reach Capital announced Tuesday an oversubscribed $265M Fund V. Read More Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India: Perplexity's India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined. Read More Last but Not Least Anthro Energy breaks ground on factory that could pave the road to solid-state batteries: Battery materials startup Anthro Energy has broken ground on a Louisville factory to make electrolytes, including those for solid-state batteries. 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