|
February 16, 2026, 5:35 PM
|
Mediagazer
memeorandum
WeSmirchTop News
| Axios: |
A senior official says Pentagon is “close” to designating Anthropic a “supply chain risk”, requiring all US military contractors to sever ties with the company — Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is “close” to cutting business ties with Anthropic and designating the AI company a …
More: PYMNTS.com, The Verge, Capital Brief, Bloomberg, The Deep View, Fox News, SFist, The Hill, New York Post, Straight Arrow News, International Business Times, ZeroHedge News, The American Bazaar, Newser, Semafor, Mock Paper Scissors, NewsMax.com, and Dow Jones Newswires
X: @calebwithersdc, @palmerluckey, @growing_daniel, @brendannyhan, @tallinzen, @palmerluckey, @admcrlsn, @miles_brundage, @f4micom, @kimmonismus, @mikeisaac, @terronk, @davidlawler10, @hamandcheese, @0xkrma, @kevinbankston, @dannycrichton, @michaeljburry, @hamandcheese, @emeriticus, @j_g_allen, @alex, and @hamzamsyed
| Katrina Manson / Bloomberg: |
Sources: SpaceX and xAI are competing in a $100M DoD contest to make voice-controlled, autonomous drone swarms; OpenAI is helping Applied Intuition's submission — Elon Musk's SpaceX and wholly owned subsidiary xAI are competing in a secretive new Pentagon contest to produce voice-controlled … | Eduardo Baptista / Reuters: |
Alibaba debuts Qwen3.5, a 397B-parameter open-weight multimodal AI model that it says is 60% cheaper to use and 8x better at large workloads than Qwen3 — Alibaba on Monday unveiled a new artificial intelligence model Qwen 3.5 designed to execute complex tasks independently … | Todd Spangler / Variety: |
Apple says it will bring “advanced video capabilities” to Apple Podcasts this spring, including allowing users to switch between watching and listening to shows — Apple Podcasts is finally giving video a full embrace. — The tech giant, which pioneered the podcast audio format …
More: Apple, Thurrott, 9to5Mac, The Wrap, The Verge, AppleInsider, MacRumors, Engadget, Engadget, Business Insider, MacTech.com, Neowin, Digital Music News, The Hollywood Reporter, iClarified, The Hollywood Reporter, Deadline, CNBC, MacStories, The Mac Observer, iPhone in Canada, Barrett Media, and Bloomberg
Forums: r/overcast and r/apple
| Tripti Lahiri / Wall Street Journal: |
As India prepares to host its AI Impact Summit in New Delhi this week, the country is set to promote a frugal AI strategy focused on solving local issues — The world's most populous country is looking at how it can become an artificial-intelligence power without breaking the bank
More: Tech Policy Press, The Economic Times, TechCrunch, Nikkei Asia, Reuters, The Indian Express, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, and Bloomberg
X: @ashwinivaishnaw, @imdhananjay, @artijourno, @akm1410, @narendramodi, @ukinindia, @maitreya_wagh, @kmr_dilip, @mohfw_india, @aiatmeta, @kritikaaaa_10, @zoho, @mopr_goi, and @goi_meity. Bluesky: @justinhendrix
| Anthropic: |
More: PYMNTS.com, The American Bazaar, Bloomberg, Digit, Blockonomi, Claude, Inc42, The Decoder, The Hans India, Reuters, Capacity, and TechCrunch
| Osmond Chia / BBC: |
ByteDance says it “respects IP rights and we have heard the concerns regarding Seedance” and it plans to “strengthen” safeguards, after Disney's legal threats — Chinese technology giant ByteDance has pledged to curb a controversial artificial intelligence (AI) …
More: New York Times, Associated Press, The Guardian, Reuters, Neowin, PCMag, WinBuzzer, Spyglass, UPI, Dexerto, Notebookcheck, The Wrap, and Business Insider. Forums: r/BetterOffline
| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
More: Ars Technica, CNBC, The American Bazaar, The Information, Deadline, and The Wrap
| Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: |
Apple debuts iOS 26.4 beta 1 for developers, adding limited support for encrypted RCS messages, enhancements to Apple Music, a Smart List for Reminders, more — iOS 26.4 beta 1 is now available in beta for developers. The update includes a ton of new features and changes for iPhone users.
More: Macworld, MacRumors, MacRumors, MacRumors, Appleosophy, AppleInsider, Appleosophy, AppleInsider, Appleosophy, 9to5Google, Appleosophy, 9to5Mac, The Verge, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Macworld, MacRumors, 9to5Mac, AppleInsider, PhoneArena, 9to5Mac, The Mac Observer, 9to5Mac, OS X Daily, iDrop News, 9to5Mac, The Mac Observer, The Mac Observer, Wccftech, iPhone in Canada, Mashable, The Mac Observer, The Apple Post, The Mac Observer, The Mac Observer, iClarified, and Redmond Pie
X: @betaprofiles, @aaronp613, @snazzylabs, @brandonbutch, @cartidise, @durreadan01, @dylanmcd8, @aaronp613, @betaprofiles, @betaprofiles, @aaronp613, and @aaronp613. Bluesky: @appleinsider.com
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: Sony is considering pushing back the debut of its next PlayStation console to 2028 or even 2029, as the AI boom fuels huge memory chip demand — A growing procession of tech industry leaders including Elon Musk and Tim Cook are warning about a global crisis in the making …
More: HotHardware, XDA Developers, The Drive, Motley Fool, GamesIndustry.biz, Neowin, Forbes, GamesRadar, Pure Xbox, Livemint, Push Square, KitGuru, Digital Trends, GamingBolt, Nintendo Life, Polygon.com, Blockonomi, iPhone in Canada, Mashable, Video Games Chronicle, Game Developer, Tech4Gamers, Screen Rant, Notebookcheck, TheGamer, GoNintendo, and The Verge
X: @sonusvarghese, @kylebrussell, @citrini7, and @tomwarren
| Mari Novik / Financial Times: |
Keir Starmer says “no platform gets a free pass”, as the UK moves to amend safety laws to include AI chatbots like Grok, which made sexualized deepfakes of kids — Keir Starmer to warn tech companies that ‘no platform gets a free pass’ after deepfake scandal involving Grok
More: GOV.UK, Politico, The Guardian, UPI, The Guardian, Sky News, Tom's Guide, PiunikaWeb, CNN, iPhone in Canada, The Economic Times, CNBC, City A.M., and BBC
X: @keir_starmer, @yougov, @alecmuffett, @togetherdec, @anglofuturist, @scitechgovuk, @karlemilnikka, @drbenspencer, @scitechgovuk, @lukejcr, @alistrathern, @clashreport, @leicesterliz, @silkiecarlo, @kathrynporter26, @douglascarswell, @beccajiggens, @drhingram, @tomdavenport, @awakenedoutlaw, @james7holland, @deandobbs, @archrose90, @joshhousden, @anglopjdst, @guidofawkes, @prestonjbyrne, and @prestonjbyrne. Bluesky: @peter4bracknell. Forums: r/ukpolitics
| Hartley Charlton / MacRumors: |
Apple sends invites for a “special Apple Experience” event on March 4 in New York City; rumors suggest an M5 MacBook Pro, entry-level iPad Air, and iPhone 17e — Apple today announced a “special Apple Experience” in New York, London, and Shanghai, taking place on March 4, 2026 at 9:00am ET.
More: Ars Technica, 9to5Mac, PYMNTS.com, The Information, 9to5Mac, Inc.com, iDownloadBlog.com, Redmond Pie, T3, AppleInsider, AppleInsider, Forbes, XDA Developers, PCMag, The Mac Observer, Digital Trends, PhoneArena, Times of India, Cord Cutters News, Moneycontrol, iDrop News, iClarified, iThinkDifferent, Phandroid, Engadget, Android Authority, Android Headlines, MacTech.com, Mashable, CNET, and The Verge
X: @markgurman, @markgurman, @vadimyuryev, @mweinbach, @vadimyuryev, @joannastern, @markgurman, @markgurman, and @markgurman
Forums: r/apple and MacRumors Forums
| Latent.Space: |
Q&A with Google Chief AI Scientist Jeff Dean about the evolution of Google Search, TPUs, coding agents, balancing model efficiency and performance, and more — From rewriting Google's search stack in the early 2000s to reviving sparse trillion-parameter models and co-designing TPUs …
More: Latent Space on YouTube. X: @jeffdean, @swyx, @swyx, @latentspacepod, @latentspacepod, @dhtikna, and @dhtikna. LinkedIn: Vincent Vanhoucke
| Politico: |
Internal email: the European Parliament has blocked AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity and data protection concerns — BRUSSELS — The European Parliament has disabled AI features on the work devices of lawmakers and their staff over cybersecurity …
More: Pureinfotech. Bluesky: @mgearsolidarity and @lareyne
Forums: r/technology, r/worldnews, r/privacy, and r/europe
| Marcus Schuler / Implicator.ai: |
In a podcast, OpenClaw creator Peter Steinberger describes his phone calls with Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman, and says he had been contacted by “every big VC” — Mark Zuckerberg needed ten minutes. He was finishing code. — Peter Steinberger had called him on WhatsApp without scheduling anything.
More: PCMag, Blockonomi, Fincrypt, Cyber Security News, Business Insider, Barron's Online, and Lex Fridman
| Sam Altman / @sama: |
More: Peter Steinberger, The Next Web, TechCrunch, Gizmodo, Sourcery, Financial Times, The Verge, Bloomberg, Unite.AI, Business Insider, HealthcareInfoSecurity.com, Forbes, Help Net Security, On my Om, Cautious Optimism, Computerworld, WinBuzzer, Tom's Guide, ServeTheHome, TechRadar, Times of India, The Deep View, CNBC, SiliconANGLE, The Information, and The Information
X: @steipete, @ibab, @levie, @om, @gdb, @yuchenj_uw, @altryne, @dabit3, @emollick, @om, @austen, @dvassallo, @zackkorman, @bucknsf, @mirkogarozzo, @jquinonero, @sytaylor, @davemorin, @christyhwchoi, @alxfazio, @romainhuet, @dahongfei, @themotelman, @krausefx, @iannuttall, @hsvsphere, @steipete, @thsottiaux, @rayfernando1337, @steipete, @anothercohen, @filipe_almeida, @scottjduffy, @toddsaunders, @cofoundersnik, @theprimeagen, @edzitron, @aakashgupta, @fidjissimo, @joannastern, @raphaelschaad, @gregisenberg, @bullyesq, @bilawalsidhu, @dylanabruscato, @badlogicgames, @alexfinn, @benjamindekr, @chrismaconi, @timhaldorsson, @jessicalessin, @kareldoostrlnck, @apoorva_mehta, @romainhuet, @swyx, @steipete, and @meta_alchemist
LinkedIn: Choon Leng Chia, Romain Huet, Wei Manfredi, and Iago Maciel
Mastodon: @drahardja@sfba.social and @carnage4life@mas.to
Forums: Hacker News, r/BetterOffline, r/OpenAI, r/clawdbot, and r/openclaw
| Dominic Preston / The Verge: |
Samsung releases an ad for the Galaxy S26 series that briefly shows a “Zero-peeking privacy” toggle to black out on-screen content for onlookers at an angle — Leaker Ice Universe has shared a video of the tech in action. … Samsung has released a new advertisement … Sponsor Posts
Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning — SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds. Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Zoho:
Introducing Campus: The digital home for educational institutions — Every educational institution needs a place where students, teachers, and administrators can find one another, communicate …
Introducing Campus: The digital home for educational institutions — Every educational institution needs a place where students, teachers, and administrators can find one another, communicate …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data — Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.
Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups — Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better. We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts. Join the waitlist for early access!
Fast, affordable law for startups — Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better. We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts. Join the waitlist for early access!Featured Podcasts
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of ChatGPT: We're entering a new era of AI (again) | Tibo Sottiaux
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's IPO Leak, OpenAI's Dots vs. Meta's Muse, Visual Turing Test
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Sources:
OpenAI's Dots lead on the future of ChatGPT
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Great Chat:
What does the tech industry owe San Francisco?
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
David George from a16z
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
David Ellison's Paramount-Warner Empire & The Fight That Comes Next
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
About This Page
This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:35 PM ET, February 16, 2026.
The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.
From Mediagazer
David Ellison / @ellisonskydance:New York Times:
Kristen Hare / Poynter:
Upcoming Tech Events
More News
| Erik Brynjolfsson / Financial Times: |
More: The Decoder. X: @darioperkins, @danobrien20, @alexolegimas, @wholemars, @ai, @firstadopter, @erikbryn, @briancalbrecht, @micro2macr0, @fabioghironi, @producercities, @matthewstoller, @ft, @happyhappyhenri, and @greenplusane
LinkedIn: Anthony Battle Mrics Msc and Eric Hazan
| Shirin Ghaffary / Bloomberg: |
More: Trusted Reviews and Tom's Guide
| Dara Kerr / The Guardian: |
More: HotAir and Washington Examiner
Bluesky: @angrywaterman and @zackdavisson.com
Forums: r/California and r/technology
Earlier Picks
| Zack Abrams / The Block: |
More: Decrypt. X: @vitalikbuterin, @0xandros, @derekbrown, @jasonsomensatto, @iang_fc, @vanishree_rao, @victornotaro, @allquantor, and @kenilshahh