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February 18, 2026, 11:00 PM
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| Reuters: |
Sources: the US State Department is developing an online portal at “freedom.gov” to let users in Europe and elsewhere view content banned by their governments — The U.S. State Department is developing an online portal that will enable people in Europe and elsewhere to see content banned …
More: Reclaim The Net, GB News, and The Post Millennial
X: @florian4gamers. Bluesky: @marypcbuk, @tyleraking.com, @carnage4life, @parismarx.com, @abeardedpanda, @caseynewton, @paleofuture, @waldo.net, @davidcorn, @markjacob, @lepetitereboot, @mbkplus, @bcmerchant, @ndrew, @originalsp.in, @kendrawrites.com, @davidakaye, @realjuicyjay.blacksky.app, @fritzbischoff, @alexanotherone, @lottelydia, @froomkin, @explaintrade.com, @tjmcintyre.com, @brainnotonyet, @5-2blue, @noupside, and @lukesteuber.com
Mastodon: @kevinrothrock@infosec … and @evacide@hachyderm.io
Forums: r/worldnews, r/europeanunion, r/europe, r/politics, and r/eutech
| CNBC: |
Social media addiction trial: Mark Zuckerberg says increasing engagement on Instagram is not a company goal and that Meta removes underage users it identifies — Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg pushed back against the notion that the social media company made increasing time spent on Instagram a company goal.
More: The Guardian, NBC News, Information Age, Moneycontrol, Reuters, The Information, SFGATE, New York Times, Business Insider, Los Angeles Times, BBC, Associated Press, NPR, Deadline, Engadget, Bloomberg, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, BMI, Wired, NewsNation, Tech Oversight Project, Courthouse News Service, CBS News, Rolling Stone, RTHK, Newser, Gizmodo, Implicator.ai, CBS News, Washington Examiner, The Independent, Livemint, New York Post, Al Jazeera, CNN, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, Overturned, Bloomberg, Digital CxO, The American Bazaar, CNN, International Business Times, Forbes Australia, New York Post, Mashable, YouTube, Sky News, Android Headlines, Breitbart, Le Monde, One America News Network, Straight Arrow News, GMA News Online, Axios, The Sun, Honolulu Star-Advertiser, The Wrap, Deseret News, Semafor, The National, LAW.com, Sydney Morning Herald, ABC, MS NOW, Quartz, and FOX 13 Seattle
X: @tech_oversight, @senblumenthal, @philthatremains, @amy_siskind, @kyle_a_morse, @sachalouise, @barnes_law, @matthewstoller, @tech_oversight, and @thewarmonitor
LinkedIn: Kelly Stonelake and Nicki Petrossi
Bluesky: @karlbode.com, @theresistanceco, @davelee.me, and @alexlaughs
Forums: r/politics, r/politics, r/NPR, r/technology, and r/LegalNews
| Ece Yildirim / Gizmodo: |
An experiment finds X's feed algorithm favored conservative content, and switching to the “For you” feed shifted users' views toward more conservative positions — The algorithm also doesn't like posts by traditional news media, the researchers found.
More: Nature, Ben Werdmuller, and Forbes
X: @razarumi, @ezhuravskaya, @mortenstostad, @hanaatameez, @phinifa, and @dwallacewells. Forums: r/NoShitSherlock
| The Keyword: |
Google rolls out Lyria 3, a generative music model that can make 30-second tracks with Nano Banana-made cover art, in beta in the Gemini app in eight languages — The Gemini app now features our most advanced music generation model Lyria 3, empowering anyone to make 30-second tracks using text or images in beta.
More: Moneycontrol, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Los Angeles Times, GSMArena.com, Communicate Online, The Deep View, Thurrott, Android Police, Engadget, Music Business Worldwide, The Register, Mix 1049, Android Central, Mashable, SQ Magazine, CNBC, Digital Music News, Gizmodo, MarkTechPost, Digital Trends, iPhone in Canada, PCMag, Android Authority, MobileSyrup, Ars Technica, Campaign Middle East, Neowin, TechCrunch, Tom's Guide, 9to5Google, Music Ally, EFTM, and Android Headlines
X: @allan_d_clive, @jasonbaldridge, @googleai, @stocksavvyshay, @google, @rpnickson, @marcelocaporale, @710_eth, @_philschmid, @iamemily2050, @slow_developer, @natlungfy, @joshwoodward, @officiallogank, @pyvrma, @kimmonismus, @google, @synthwavedd, and @ammaar
LinkedIn: Jeff Chang and Debbie W.
Forums: r/singularity and Slashdot
| Alicia Tang / Bloomberg: |
Fei-Fei Li's World Labs raised $1B from Autodesk, a16z, Nvidia, AMD, Sea, and others to build its world models for robotics, scientific discovery, and more — World Labs, a startup from artificial intelligence pioneer Fei-Fei Li, raised $1 billion in a new round of funding to pursue a novel approach to AI development.
More: World Labs, SiliconANGLE, PYMNTS.com, and The Deep View
| Juli Clover / MacRumors: |
Apple adds support for third-party voice-based conversational apps in CarPlay starting with iOS 26.4, letting CarPlay users access apps like AI chatbots — With iOS 26.4, CarPlay users will be able to use third-party chatbots with CarPlay. AI services like Claude, Gemini …
More: Apple, 9to5Mac, CNET, NERDBOT, 9to5Mac, iClarified, iPhone in Canada, AppleInsider, Mashable, heise online News, iDrop News, The Olympian, and BGR
| New York Times: |
Meta plans to spend $65M in 2026 to boost state politicians friendly to AI; filings: Meta started two super PACs, one backing the GOP and another for Democrats — Meta's biggest election investment aims to prevent state legislation that it fears could inhibit artificial intelligence development.
More: Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Tech Oversight Project, Originally Reported …, and Political Wire
X: @teddyschleifer, @melatkirosco, @likebutterfield, @cernovich, @mattplatkin, @rhymewithocean, @jdcocchiarella, @teddyschleifer, @thegreenebj, @nathantbernard, @leehepner, @ryangrim, @hbendaas, and @reed_showalter
Bluesky: @vortexegg.com, @sachalouise, and @mattheweadie
Forums: r/technology, r/politics, and Slashdot
| Niko Gallogly / New York Times: |
eBay agrees to acquire secondhand clothing app Depop from Etsy for ~$1.2B in cash; Etsy bought Depop in 2021 for $1.6B; ETSY jumps 17%+ after hours — The $1.2 billion deal comes as eBay looks to expand its appeal among younger users. — Secondhand clothing apps hit a stride during …
More: Etsy, Inc., SmartCompany, Associated Press, The Information, Silicon Valley Business …, TechCrunch, BBC, Dow Jones Newswires, WWD, Vogue, Barron's Online, Wall Street Journal, Value Added Resource, Oktopost, CNBC, The Business of Fashion, and Benzinga
X: @bjornjeffery, @mikeisaac, @jimcramer, and @mikeisaac
| The Record: |
Texas AG Ken Paxton sues TP-Link, alleging it deceptively markets its products as secure while allowing the CCP to hack into consumers' devices — Texas is suing networking equipment company TP-Link Systems for allegedly allowing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to hack into consumers' devices … | Todd Haselton / The Verge: |
Google unveils the $499 Pixel 10a, with a Tensor G4 and 8GB of RAM like the Pixel 9a, Satellite SOS, an 11% brighter screen, but no Pixelsnap, shipping March 4 — Google's midrange Pixels have been our top pick for budget Android phones for a while. They offer good cameras and most of what you need at a budget-friendly price.
More: The Keyword, Engadget, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Droid Life, Android Headlines, Android Police, Pocketables, Livemint, Tech Advisor, Business Standard, iPhone in Canada, T3, Thurrott, Android Authority, Ars Technica, MobileSyrup, XDA Developers, The Shortcut, Android Central, PhoneArena, Engadget, and Wired
| OpenAI: |
OpenAI and Paradigm announce EVMbench, a benchmark that measures how well AI agents can detect, exploit, and patch high-severity smart contract vulnerabilities — Making smart contracts safer by evaluating AI agents' ability to detect, patch, and exploit vulnerabilities in blockchain environments.
More: DL News, Cyber Security News, Cointelegraph, Paradigm, The Crypto Times, The Block, Rohan's Bytes, CoinDesk, CoinGape, and Decrypt
| Leo Schwartz / Fortune: |
Sports-focused prediction market Novig raised a $75M Series B led by Pantera Capital at a $500M valuation; Novig is commission-free for retail traders — As the prediction markets Kalshi and Polymarket dominate the attention of investors and regulators, a sports-focused challenger called Novig … | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Audible launches an “immersion reading” feature that lets readers switch between ebook and audiobook versions of a title in their Audible and Kindle libraries — Only days after Spotify announced its foray into physical book sales, which included an audiobook feature that lets … | Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: |
Microsoft confirms a bug that let Microsoft 365 Copilot summarize confidential emails from Sent Items and Drafts folders, and deployed a fix in early February — Microsoft says a Microsoft 365 Copilot bug has been causing the AI assistant to summarize confidential emails since late January …
More: TechCrunch, The Register, Digit, Inc.com, Cyber Security News, Neowin, Windows Latest, Mashable, and PCWorld
Bluesky: @hypervisible.blacksky.app. Mastodon: @briankrebs@infosec.exchange. Forums: Hacker News, r/technology, r/BetterOffline, r/privacy, and Slashdot
| Jyoti Mann / The Information: |
Sources: Meta has revived a previously shelved smartwatch project, now code-named Malibu 2, and plans to release it in 2026 with health features and Meta AI — Meta Platforms plans to release its first smartwatch in 2026, according to two people familiar with the matter.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Bluesky integrates Germ DM, an E2E encrypted messaging app built on AT Protocol, making it the first private messenger natively available in the Bluesky app — Here's something that you've never seen on Big Tech social platforms: The decentralized open social network Bluesky has integrated …
Bluesky: @alexbenzer.com, @germnetwork.com, @germnetwork.com, and @evacide
| Maria Deutscher / SiliconANGLE: |
Selector, which offers an AI platform that promises to simplify network monitoring, raised a $32M Series B led by AVP at a $375M valuation — Network observability provider Selector Software Inc. today announced that it has raised a $32 million funding round at a $375 million valuation.
More: FinSMEs, APMdigest, and Ventureburn
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of its $100B round; its overall valuation, including the eventual funding, could exceed $850B — OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of a new funding round that is likely to bring in more than $100 billion … | Karoline Leonard / Austin American-Statesman: |
Austin-based Circuit, which is building an AI platform for manufacturing and service enterprises, raised $30M from a group of angel investors — Austin-based Circuit raises $30 million to tackle a growing manufacturing labor shortage — An Austin startup co-founded by former Silicon Labs CEO Tyson Tuttle …
More: Austin Business Journal, Circuit, circuit.ai, Pulse 2.0, and FinSMEs
| Meir Orbach / CTech: |
Venice, which develops identity security software, emerges from stealth after raising a $25M Series A led by IVP, following an $8M seed round — The Israeli company replaces static enterprise permissions with dynamic access control. — Startup Venice (formerly Valkyrie) has raised $25 million in a Series A funding round.
More: TechCrunch, Venice, IVP Perspectives, FinSMEs, and Index Ventures
| Jordan Novet / CNBC: |
Figma reports Q4 revenue up 40% YoY to $303.8M, vs. $293.15M est., and forecasts Q1 revenue above estimates; FIG jumps 15%+ after hours — Figma shares surged 15% in extended trading on Wednesday after the design software maker reported robust results and quarterly guidance than Wall Street had predicted.
More: MarketWatch, Figma, Benzinga, SiliconANGLE, Bloomberg, Fortune, The Information, The Asia Business Daily, and Sherwood News
| Bloomberg: |
Saudi-backed AI startup Humain invested $3B in xAI, becoming a “significant minority shareholder” in a deal that completed just before SpaceX's xAI acquisition — Saudi Arabian artificial intelligence company Humain has invested $3 billion into Elon Musk's xAI … | Bloomberg: |
Crypto lending firm Ledn sold $188M in securitized bonds backed by bitcoin loans, making it the first deal of its kind in the market for asset-backed debt — Crypto lending firm Ledn Inc. has sold $188 million of securitized bonds backed by Bitcoin, making it the first ever deal of its kind in the market for asset-backed debt.
More: Bitcoin Magazine
| The Information: |
Sources: Dylan Patel's SemiAnalysis is in early talks to raise hundreds of millions for a VC fund; Patel raised a $50M SPV toward Fluidstack's $700M fundraising — SemiAnalysis, the top chip and infrastructure research firm founded by Dylan Patel, is considering raising money to invest in startups …
| The Guardian: |
The UK proposes new rules requiring tech firms to remove nonconsensual abusive content within 48 hours or risk blocking and fines of up to 10% of global revenue — PM says measure, also applied to deepfake nudes, is needed owing to a ‘national emergency’ of online misogyny| Krystal Hur / Wall Street Journal: |
A Las Vegas federal appeals court rejects Kalshi's emergency bid for an administrative stay on Nevada's push to block the platform, a major setback for Kalshi — A federal appeals court rejected Kalshi's bid, setting the stage for Nevada's civil-enforcement proceedings
More: The Verge, Reuters, CoinDesk, The Coin Republic, Barron's Online, Engadget, cftc.gov, and Business Insider
X: @govcox and @conorfkenny
| Mike Wheatley / SiliconANGLE: |
Efficient Computer, which is developing AI chips with a “spatial dataflow” architecture to minimize energy consumption, raised a $60M Series A — Efficient Computer Co. says it's going to make the dream of low-energy artificial intelligence computing a reality after raising $60 million in early-stage funding today.Sponsor Posts
ElevenLabs:
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
ElevenAgents by ElevenLabs — You know us for voice. Now meet ElevenAgents — featuring Expressive Mode, our most human-sounding AI voice technology in 70+ languages with ultra-low latency. Hear it for yourself.
Niantic Spatial:
World models need real-world data — Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics. Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
World models need real-world data — Scaniverse is the gateway to spatial services — self-serve and built for AI and robotics. Large-area 3D reconstruction from 360° cameras and precise localization, anywhere machines operate.
Zoho:
Introducing the sandbox environment: Safely test and optimize e-signature workflows — Changes are an inevitable part of any workflow. The average agreement workflow involves recipients across organizations …
Introducing the sandbox environment: Safely test and optimize e-signature workflows — Changes are an inevitable part of any workflow. The average agreement workflow involves recipients across organizations …
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.Featured Podcasts
Big Technology Podcast:
Anthropic's Mythos Dilemma, Violence Against AI, Tokenmaxxing at Meta
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Hard Fork:
Anthropic's Cybersecurity Shock Wave + Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz on Their Sam Altman Investigation + One Good Thing
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Decagon's Jesse Zhang: Closing Customer Service Doom Loops With AI Concierges
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
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Access:
OpenClaw for normies is here
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
When AI Kills
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
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Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ryan Roslansky: Turning AI Anxiety into Skills for the Future of Work
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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X: @joemillerjr. Bluesky: @malwarejake, @henrymance.ft.com, @henrymance.ft.com, and @justinhendrix. Forums: r/politics
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X: @joannastern, @dps, @bentossell, @hbarra, @mikeyk, @dps, @paraga, @dps, @dreamer, and @dreamer
Bluesky: @martinsfp and @edzitron.com