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February 19, 2026, 3:25 PM
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| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google rolls out Gemini 3.1 Pro, which it says is “a step forward in core reasoning”, for all users in the Gemini app; the .1 increment is a first for Google — In November, Google introduced Gemini 3 Pro in preview, with Gemini 3 Flash following a month later.
More: The Keyword, Google DeepMind, The Register, The New Stack, eWeek, Ars Technica, ZDNET, Simon Willison's Weblog, VentureBeat, The Economic Times, Thurrott, The GitHub Blog, Implicator.ai, The Decoder, Techgenyz, Wion, Mashable, iPhone in Canada, Neowin, iClarified, Constellation Research, TestingCatalog, and Crypto Briefing
X: @artificialanlys, @yuchenj_uw, @jeffdean, @brendanfoody, @harrisonfjobe, @misilo_jakub, @priyaaryav, @sundarpichai, @noamshazeer, @kat_kampf, @srkdan, @oriolvinyalsml, @_mohansolo, @scaling01, @mweinbach, @googledeepmind, @geminiapp, @scaling01, @advaitonline, @google, @kimmonismus, @scaling01, @google, @ai_for_success, @geminiapp, @jmsvid, @arcprize, @officiallogank, @triswarkentin, @joshwoodward, @demishassabis, @koraykv, @officiallogank, @_philschmid, and @shresbm
LinkedIn: Carlos Udina Martin, Maor Shlomo, and Philipp Schmid
Forums: r/singularity, r/Bard, and r/GeminiAI
| Cherylann Mollan / BBC: |
The Gates Foundation says Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote at India's AI Summit after “careful consideration”, amid controversy over his Epstein ties — Bill Gates will not deliver his keynote address at the India AI Impact Summit in Delhi, his philanthropic organisation …
More: The Register, TechCrunch, The Economic Times, Financial Times, Daily Sabah, NewsMax.com, UPI, ZeroHedge News, ComputerWeekly.com, Times of India, Wall Street Journal, The Indian Express, NDTV, Al Jazeera, CNBC, Telegraph, Bloomberg, Business Standard, CNN, Digit, Press Trust of India, TechCrunch, and Storyboard18
Forums: r/goodnews, r/news, and r/Epstein
| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
More: CNBC, Fortune, Associated Press, Tom's Guide, TechCrunch, Inc.com, Business Insider, Digit, The Indian Express, Business Standard, The Economic Times, Business Today, Forbes, BMI, Hindustan Times, and Livemint
X: @siddharthb_, @prathamgrv, @ns123abc, @pitdesi, @indianidle, @hopes_revenge, @autismcapital, @trendulkar, @ani, @sidhant, @himanshustwts, and @yuchenj_uw. Bluesky: @shona
| Bloomberg: |
More: Oman Observer, Total Telecom, TechCrunch, The Indian Express, Nikkei Asia, MediaNews4U, Tech in Asia, Inc42, Dow Jones Newswires, Variety, Times of India, Fortune India, Business Standard, Business Today, Hindustan Times, Bloomberg, Reuters, The Economic Times, Nikkei Asia, BMI, and Press Trust of India. X: @himanshiet
| Reuters: |
Sources: the US State Department is building an online portal at freedom.gov that will let users in Europe and elsewhere see 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: freedom.gov, Gizmodo, The Guardian, Digital CxO, Android Headlines, DataBreachToday.com, TechRadar, The European Conservative, The Independent, Benzinga, and Reclaim The Net
X: @ambdanfried, @danielbshapiro, @as400495, @realjartaylor, @kirlant, @jamestitcomb, @nickkristof, @thorstenbenner, @emptywheel, @jimstewartson, @ryangrim, @trbrtc, @joshrogin, @jayinkyiv, @malinowski, @prestonjbyrne, @mikercarpenter, @elonmusk, @g_slattery, @developerharris, @alx, @agraybee, @jurgen_nauditt, @humeyra_pamuk, @nickadobos, @ordinarygamers, and @florian4gamers
Bluesky: @daphnek, @emptywheel, @jillian, @benfenton, @petertl, @marypcbuk, @tyleraking.com, @carnage4life, @parismarx.com, @bcmerchant, @kendrawrites.com, @abeardedpanda, @realjuicyjay.blacksky.app, @noupside, @alexanotherone, @caseynewton, @originalsp.in, @markjacob, @lottelydia, @davidcorn, @lepetitereboot, @brainnotonyet, @5-2blue, @ndrew, @explaintrade.com, @froomkin, @davidakaye, @tjmcintyre.com, @mbkplus, @waldo.net, @fritzbischoff, @paleofuture, and @lukesteuber.com
Mastodon: @evacide@hachyderm.io and @kevinrothrock@infosec …
Forums: r/privacy, r/politics, r/worldnews, r/eutech, r/europeanunion, and r/europe
| Zoë Bernard / Wired: |
Inside the “gay tech mafia” that mixes social and professional lives, as investors, entrepreneurs, and executives detail gay influence in Silicon Valley — Gay men have long been rumored to run Silicon Valley. WIRED investigates. — No one can say exactly when, or if, gay men started running Silicon Valley.
More: TechCrunch and Queerty
X: @emilydreyfuss, @finnmurphy12, @thdxr, @iamjasonlevin, @edels0n, @gjmcgowan, @rkktweets, @uwukko, @terronk, @dodgeblake, @jackrandalll, @jorcru, @homonotqueer, @peer_rich, @daithaigilbert, @jovvvian, @petertwinklage, @credenzaclear2, @growing_daniel, @mr_considerate, @builtbyvibes, and @kazanjy
Bluesky: @katie-drummond, @trueref, @timmarchman, @rami.spaceaustralia.com, and @jthom.tech
Forums: r/neoliberal, r/bayarea, and r/technology
| The Information: |
Sources: AMD agrees to backstop a $300M loan from Goldman Sachs for Crusoe to buy AMD AI chips, the first known case of AMD chips used as debt collateral — Chipmaker AMD is pursuing the same growth-driving strategy that has boosted sales at rival Nvidia: lending its financial support to upstart cloud providers buying its chips.| Jordyn Holman / New York Times: |
Ring founder Jamie Siminoff is on an apology tour to quell an outcry over privacy concerns after Ring's Super Bowl Search Party ad, calling it a “perfect storm” — Since the commercial aired, Jamie Siminoff has been trying to quell an outcry over privacy concerns with his doorbell cameras.
More: Mashable, 404 Media, The Verge, 9to5Mac, Engadget, PCWorld, AppleInsider, The Independent, Newser, and WinBuzzer
Bluesky: @mguariglia, @hypervisible.blacksky.app, @mrfahrenheit, and @athenaforall
Mastodon: @Ashedryden@xoxo.zone and @josephcox@infosec.exchange
| Financial Times: |
Sources: Accenture told executives that promotions would require “regular adoption” of AI and it is starting to track some senior staff's weekly AI tool logins — Consulting firms use ‘carrot and stick’ with some senior staff less willing to use technology than junior colleagues
More: The Information, The Guardian, Decrypt, Moneycontrol, Fortune, CNBC, TechRadar, Implicator.ai, The Decoder, and Bloomberg
| Spencer Soper / Bloomberg: |
Amazon dethrones Walmart as the world's largest company by revenue, reporting $717B in 2025 sales, compared to Walmart's $713.2B for the 12 months to January 31 — Amazon.com Inc. has officially dethroned Walmart Inc. as the biggest global company by revenue, a milestone attesting … | Kalley Huang / New York Times: |
West Virginia's AG sues Apple for allegedly violating consumer protection law by not implementing tools like PhotoDNA to detect CSAM stored and shared on iCloud — The state's attorney general said in a lawsuit filed on Thursday that the company declined to use tools that recognize the material stored on iCloud.
More: Office of the WV …, PCMag, Wall Street Journal, MacRumors, CNBC, Engadget, Reuters, The Verge, CNN, Politico, UPI, 9to5Mac, The Hill, MacTech.com, AppleInsider, Bloomberg Law, and MacDailyNews
| Gayoung Lee / Gizmodo: |
Microsoft's Project Silica team details its laser-modified glass storage tech, saying tests suggest that it can preserve large amounts of data for 10,000+ years — “This will change the way we think about keeping data and archival preservation.” — Our knowledge of the past comes from stone tablets and old parchment.
More: Nature, Microsoft Research, Ars Technica, HotHardware, Oman Observer, Microsoft Research, Computerworld, Blocks and Files, DatacenterDynamics, Hackster, Windows Central, Digital Trends, ITPro, Help Net Security, PC Gamer, New Scientist, PCWorld, The Register, GovTech, LiveScience, Science, The Guardian, and The Independent
| Bloomberg: |
Sources: OpenAI is close to finalizing the first phase of its record $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 … | Aisha Malik / TechCrunch: |
Reddit is testing an AI search feature that takes community recommendations and shows matching products from its advertisers in the results — Reddit announced on Thursday that it's testing a new AI search tool that takes community recommendations and matches them with products … | Bloomberg: |
Atlassian's founders lost ~$7.2B in wealth in 2026, behind AppLovin's three founders, amid a SaaS rout; TEAM is down 45%+ YTD, the Nasdaq 100's worst performer — Michael Cannon-Brookes became a billionaire in his 30s and one of Australia's richest tech executives with the initial public offering … | Katie Roof / The Information: |
ZaiNar, a developer of a GPS alternative that uses Wi-Fi and 5G to provide location data, raised $10M at a $1B valuation, bringing its total funding to $100M — Over the last two years, investors and researchers have flocked to startups helping bring AI into the physical world …
More: PYMNTS.com
| Joe Miller / Financial Times: |
US OPM Director Scott Kupor says tech billionaires like Elon Musk and Sam Altman will give talks to the US Tech Force, which is hiring ~1,000 software engineers — Programme aims to modernise digital infrastructure of US federal agencies — Tech billionaires such as Elon Musk and Sam Altman …
Bluesky: @metacurity.com
| Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: |
New York pulls a proposal that would have allowed for robotaxi services outside NYC, a setback for Waymo, which wants to hit 1M paid weekly US rides by 2026 end — New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pulled a proposal that would have allowed for commercial robotaxi services outside New York City … | Ashley Carman / Bloomberg: |
Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts accelerates the podcast industry's shift from an audio-centric medium to a decidedly video-focused one — Apple Podcasts' fresh leap into video podcasts refocuses the audio medium on visuals — Welcome back to Soundbite.| Reece Rogers / Wired: |
Workers describe a deteriorating culture at Jack Dorsey's Block as morale plunges amid rolling layoffs and a push to use AI tools to improve productivity — Workers describe a deteriorating culture at Block, the company behind Square and Cash App, where layoffs continue and employees are expected to use AI tools daily.| Michael Lynton / Wall Street Journal: |
Book extract: ex-Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton recounts his role in sparking North Korea's 2014 hack, one of the worst cyberattacks in corporate history — In an exclusive book excerpt, the former CEO of Sony Entertainment opens up about his role in unleashing one of the worst cyberattacks in corporate history.| Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: |
Austin-based Ownwell, which helps homeowners appeal property taxes, raised a $50M Series B, including $30M in equity, bringing its total equity funding to $54M — Ownwell, an AI-powered startup that appeals property taxes on behalf of homeowners, has secured $50 million in financing … | Max A. Cherney / Reuters: |
Toronto-based chip startup Taalas, which hardwires AI models into custom silicon to achieve faster inference, raised $169M, bringing its total funding to $219M — Toronto-based chip startup Taalas said on Thursday it had raised $169 million and has developed a chip capable …
More: Forbes, Taalas, Finimize, and Quiet Capital
X: @tbpn, @davidbennett__, @quietcapital, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @michaelxbloch, @sallywf, and @taalas_inc
| Chris Metinko / Axios: |
Cleveland-based Eagle Wireless, which makes cellular modules used in IoT devices, raised a $30M Series B as the US seeks to reduce its reliance on China — Eagle Wireless, a cellular module manufacturer, raised a $30 million Series B from Asymmetric Capital Partners and The O.H.I.O. Fund …
LinkedIn: Sam Clayman and TJ Dembinski
| Alexandra S. Levine / Bloomberg: |
ByteDance is currently hiring for nearly 100 US-based roles within its Seed AI team across San Jose, LA, and Seattle to develop LLMs, drug discovery, and more — Chinese tech giant ByteDance Ltd. is hiring in the US for nearly 100 open roles within its artificial intelligence division … | Ryan Lawler / Axios: |
Amsterdam-based Stacks, which builds AI software to automate accounting workflows, raised a $23M Series A led by Lightspeed, after a €10M seed in 2025 — Stacks, which builds AI software to automate accounting workflows, raised $23 million in Series A funding, CEO Albert Malikov tells Axios exclusively.
More: EU-Startups, Tech.eu, and UKTN
| Tim Fernholz / TechCrunch: |
FreeForm, which is building an AI native 3D printing system that uses 18 lasers to fuse metal powders into precision components, raised a $67M Series B — Tech investors haven't given up on the dream of making physical products with the same speed and ease as coding software.Sponsor Posts
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