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February 19, 2026, 10:40 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, TechCrunch, CNET, Ars Technica, SiliconANGLE, InfoWorld, The GitHub Blog, Simon Willison's Weblog, VentureBeat, VentureBeat, iClarified, The Deep View, Wion, GSMArena.com, TestingCatalog, The Economic Times, The Decoder, The New Stack, Neowin, ZDNET, Digital Trends, Mashable, eWeek, Constellation Research, Implicator.ai, iPhone in Canada, Crypto Briefing, Techgenyz, Android Authority, Thurrott, Chrome Unboxed, Rohan's Bytes, MarkTechPost, and WinBuzzer
X: @artificialanlys, @brendanfoody, @jeffdean, @sundarpichai, @harrisonfjobe, @misilo_jakub, @priyaaryav, @noamshazeer, @kat_kampf, @srkdan, @oriolvinyalsml, @_mohansolo, @scaling01, @mweinbach, @googledeepmind, @geminiapp, @scaling01, @advaitonline, @simonw, @google, @yuchenj_uw, @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/Bard, r/GeminiAI, r/singularity, and Slashdot
| 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 …
More: SiliconANGLE, The Verge, Reuters, TheTruthAboutCars, Gothamist, ZeroHedge News, Gizmodo, Business Insider, New York Post, PCMag, NewsMax.com, Economic news, CNBC, TechCrunch, and New York Times
Forums: r/SelfDrivingCars and r/waymo
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
Meta says it is “explicitly separating” Quest VR from its Worlds platform, making Worlds “almost exclusively mobile”, letting it better compete with Roblox — Horizon Worlds is now going to be a platform that's ‘almost exclusively mobile.’
More: Meta, UploadVR, GamesBeat, Engadget, Business Insider, Digital Trends, and Kotaku
| Financial Times: |
Sources: Nvidia nears an equity investment of up to $30B in OpenAI, replacing last year's long-term $100B commitment; the deal could be concluded this weekend — Chipmaker swaps last year's complex framework with AI start-up in favour of equity cheque — Nvidia is close to finalising … | 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 …, Reuters, CNBC, MacRumors, Washington Examiner, Politico, JURISTnews, The Mac Observer, The Hill, The Record, Fox News, UPI, Engadget, PCMag, Android Headlines, The Verge, CNN, Fast Company, CNET, Wall Street Journal, 9to5Mac, MacTech.com, and AppleInsider
X: @matthew_d_green and @westvirginiaag
| Jason Schreier / Bloomberg: |
Sony shuts down Bluepoint Games, the PlayStation subsidiary behind remakes of older games like Demon's Souls and Uncharted; ~70 employees will lose their jobs — The PlayStation subsidiary previously made remakes of games like 'Demon's Souls' — Sony Group Corp. is shutting down Bluepoint Games …
More: Video Games Chronicle, Engadget, Gizchina, Kotaku, Aftermath, Dexerto, KitGuru, TheGamer, Destructoid, TechRaptor, Comic Book, DayOne, Game Informer, Push Square, Tech4Gamers, iPhone in Canada, Notebookcheck, PlayStation LifeStyle, GamesIndustry.biz, GamesRadar, PC Gamer, The Verge, Game Developer, and GamingBolt
X: @nuhre_, @stealth40k, @okami13_, @zuby_tech, @tomwarren, @domsplaying, @shpeshal_nick, @pirat_nation, @realradec, @neogamespark, and @modernvintageg. LinkedIn: Jason Schreier
Bluesky: @peteskerritt.com and @stealth40k
Forums: r/bloodborne, r/pcgaming, and r/TeamIco
| Maxwell Zeff / Wired: |
Perplexity's retreat from ads signals a strategic shift as it recognizes its product is not for a mass audience and expects growth to come from enterprise sales — The AI search startup once predicted advertising would be a massive business. Now it's betting on a smaller, more valuable audience.| 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: Sources, Queerty, and TechCrunch
X: @micsolana, @finnmurphy12, @thdxr, @iamjasonlevin, @edels0n, @gjmcgowan, @rkktweets, @uwukko, @terronk, @dodgeblake, @jackrandalll, @jorcru, @homonotqueer, @peer_rich, @emilydreyfuss, @daithaigilbert, @jovvvian, @petertwinklage, @credenzaclear2, @growing_daniel, @mr_considerate, @builtbyvibes, and @kazanjy
Bluesky: @caseynewton, @katie-drummond, @trueref, @timmarchman, @jthom.tech, and @rami.spaceaustralia.com
Forums: r/sanfrancisco, r/technology, r/bayarea, and r/neoliberal
| 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.| Evan Halper / Washington Post: |
Tech companies are increasingly building private power plants to fuel off-grid data centers, a move experts warn face reliability challenges and climate risks — Tech companies are building data centers with their own private power plants, a risky bet that will increase carbon emissions and other pollution.
More: Heatmap News, The Independent, and Solar Power World
X: @washingtonpost and @oilfield_rando
Bluesky: @shiraovide, @marypcbuk, @kostyack, and @justinhendrix
| Jonathan Lloyd / NBC Los Angeles: |
Los Angeles County sues Roblox, alleging it engaged in deceptive business practices that exposed children to sexual content, exploitation, and online predators — Roblox faces a lawsuit by Los Angeles County that alleges the gaming platform engaged in unfair and deceptive business practices … | 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.| Hannah Murphy / Financial Times: |
Sources: Meta cuts its annual distribution of stock options by ~5% for most of its staff, equating to tens of thousands of employees, after a ~10% cut in 2025 — Most employees will receive 5% less in equity rewards as Mark Zuckerberg slashes costs to fund huge AI spending
More: Benzinga, Reuters, and Channel NewsAsia
| 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: Taalas, SiliconANGLE, The Next Platform, Forbes, Finimize, and Quiet Capital
X: @davidbennett__, @quietcapital, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @tbpn, @michaelxbloch, @sallywf, and @taalas_inc. Forums: Hacker News
| Makena Kelly / Wired: |
Docs: DHS has signed a five-year, $1B blanket purchase agreement with Palantir, allowing agencies like ICE to skip the competitive bidding process — “If you are interested in helping shape and deliver the next chapter of Palantir's work across DHS, please reach out,” a Palantir executive wrote …
More: Joe.My.God. and SiliconANGLE
Bluesky: @markhurst, @rulesfortitans, @schwindter, @makenakelly, @brucedlittle, and @lenticulus. Mastodon: @Ashedryden@xoxo.zone
Forums: r/politics, r/technology, r/LeopardsAteMyFace, r/nottheonion, r/nottheonion, and r/politics
| Robert Burnson / Bloomberg: |
A US grand jury indicted three people, including two former Google engineers, for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to Pixel's Tensor processor — Two former Google engineers and one of their husbands were indicted for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to the company's Tensor processor for Pixel phones.| Andrew R. Chow / Time: |
How some political candidates and activists across ideologies and professions are pushing back on the spread of data centers and AI in the US — One icy morning in February, nearly 200 people gathered in a church in downtown Richmond, Va. Most had awakened before dawn and driven in from across the state.
Forums: r/technology
| Wall Street Journal: |
CZ returned to the US for the first time since his 2024 prison release to attend a World Liberty Financial event at Mar-a-Lago with Brian Armstrong and others — Changpeng Zhao makes first return to the U.S. since his release from federal prison in 2024 — In an ornate ballroom in Palm Beach …
More: Financial Times and Barron's Online
Bluesky: @nitishpahwa.com, @emptywheel, and @carlquintanilla
| Alan Neuhauser / Axios: |
Sources: Emerald AI, which develops software to curb data center energy demand, is raising a $25M seed extension at a ~$250M post-money valuation — Emerald AI, which develops software to curb data-center energy demand, is raising $25 million in seed extension funding, two sources familiar with the offer tell Axios Pro.
More: Renew Economy
| 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: ZaiNar and PYMNTS.com
| 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 … | Laith Al-Khalaf / Financial Times: |
Klarna reports Q4 revenue up 38% YoY to $1.08B, a $26M net loss, down from a $40M net profit in Q4 2024, provision for credit losses up 59%; KLAR drops 26.9% — Swedish fintech's share price has plummeted by two-thirds since September IPO — Klarna shares slumped by more than a quarter …
More: PYMNTS.com, Motley Fool, Barchart.com, Proactive, Benzinga, City A.M., Klarna, Bloomberg, and Reuters
X: @klarnaseb, @klarnaseb, @rampcapitalllc, @jimcramer, @brewmarkets, @klarna, @klarnaseb, and @klarnaseb. Bluesky: @jessefelder
| 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 … | 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 … | Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
India's AI Summit: Modi orchestrated a photo op with tech and business leaders holding hands in a line, but Sam Altman and Dario Amodei refused to clasp hands — Once a rival, always a rival. — As Prime Minister Narendra Modi kicked off the busiest day of India's AI Summit in New Delhi …
More: CNBC, Politico, Associated Press, Observer, Fortune, Futurism, Inc.com, Business Standard, Hindustan Times, Forbes, BMI, The Economic Times, Daily Sabah, Business Today, and Bloomberg
X: @ani, @chatgptapp, @garrisonlovely, @alexeheath, @yoda, @vikhyatk, @bill_drexel, @ns123abc, @autismcapital, @sidhant, @pitdesi, @yuchenj_uw, @prathamgrv, @trendulkar, @himanshustwts, @siddharthb_, @indianidle, and @hopes_revenge. Bluesky: @shona
| Cherylann Mollan / BBC: |
More: The Register, The Register, Financial Times, Semafor, The Economic Times, NewsMax.com, Android Headlines, UPI, Daily Sabah, The Indian Express, Wall Street Journal, ZeroHedge News, CNBC, The American Bazaar, Al Jazeera, NDTV, Times of India, The Guardian, Bloomberg, Bloomberg, Reuters, Press Trust of India, New York Times, and TechCrunch
Forums: r/goodnews, r/news, and r/Epstein
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