Techmeme: Code Metal, which uses AI to let engineers translate legacy code into modern languages, raised a $125M Series B led by Salesforce Ventures at a $1.25B valuation (Lauren Goode/Wired)

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February 20, 2026, 3:45 PM

Top News

Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times:

Sources: Amazon's AI tools have caused at least two AWS outages, including a 13-hour disruption in December; Amazon says it was “user error, not AI error” — Tech giant blames ‘user error, not AI error’ for incident in December involving its Kiro tool

More: Reuters, The Register, Tom's Hardware, The Guardian, Gizmodo, PCMag, Engadget, CRN, The Verge, TechRadar, India Today, Neowin, Cord Cutters News, MarketWatch, The Decoder, Mashable, Tom's Guide, Capacity, Beyond Search, Techstrong IT, Tech in Asia, Proactive, Economic news, and Sherwood News

X: @shakoistslog, @jamiecooperatl, @boppinwtboyz, @the_ceo_guy, @heymynameisrob, @mikeisaac, @samlambert, and @edzitron. LinkedIn: Chris Redmond

Forums: r/programming, r/webdev, Slashdot, and Ars OpenForum

The Information:

Sources: OpenAI has 200+ people working on a family of AI devices, including a smart speaker priced from $200 to $300, possibly smart glasses and a smart lamp — OpenAI has more than 200 people working on a family of AI-powered devices that will include a smart speaker and possibly smart glasses …

More: Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, PYMNTS.com, Gizmodo, 9to5Google, PCWorld, Reuters, 9to5Mac, iPhone in Canada, Digital Trends, MacDailyNews, Tom's Guide, The Decoder, Mobile World Live, and Crypto Briefing

X: @steph_palazzolo. Bluesky: @leyawn, @weshould.killice.baby, @thewanderingjew, @stemthebleeding, @grantbrisbee, @ferniecommaalex, @proptermalone, @baseballfrank, @nnoahh, @edzitron.com, and @alexhanna. Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to

Jordan Novet / CNBC:

Phil Spencer will retire after 38 years at Microsoft; Asha Sharma, the president of product in Microsoft's Core AI business, will become the CEO of gaming — Microsoft's head of gaming, Phil Spencer, is leaving the software maker following a 38-year tenure, as the company faces increased challenges in its Xbox business.

More: IGN, The Verge, Bloomberg, The Information, Windows Central, The Verge, The Verge, Variety, Game File, Kotaku, and Video Games Chronicle

X: @stephentotilo. Bluesky: @benalterman.com

Ryan Vlastelica / Bloomberg:

Anthropic launches Claude Code Security, which “scans codebases for security vulnerabilities and suggests targeted software patches”; cybersecurity stocks fall — Shares of cybersecurity software companies tumbled Friday after Anthropic PBC introduced a new security feature into its Claude AI model.

More: Anthropic and Fortune

X: @trq212, @trq212, @trq212, and @claudeai

Bluesky: @heidykhlaaf, @hmans.dev, and @tyleraking.com

Forums: Hacker News and r/ClaudeCode

Adam Levine / Barron's Online:

Tech stocks rise slightly from their morning lows after the Supreme Court ruled that President Trump lacked the authority to impose sweeping global tariffs — Shares of tech goods makers rose off their morning lows on news of the high court's ruling. Tech goods have been some of the least …

More: NBC News, AppleInsider, Benzinga, AppleInsider, PCMag, Benzinga, Cointelegraph, CNBC, Mashable, Yahoo Finance, Blockonomi, Avalara, Inc., Cult of Mac, Kotaku, BeInCrypto, Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Financial Post, Taipei Times, Slate, Council on Foreign Relations, Reuters, CBS News, Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion, The Straits Times, Mirror, NewsNation, Ars Technica, MacDailyNews, and Washington Examiner

X: @benbrodydc, @typesfast, @benbajarin, and @mweinbach. LinkedIn: Tyler Mayoras

Alex Heath / Sources:

Scott Myers, the head of Snap's AR glasses subsidiary Specs, leaves after six years; sources say Myers left after a “blow-up” with Evan Spiegel over strategy — My chat with CEO Dylan Field ahead of today's earnings call. Also: Snap loses its head of Specs right before the big launch …

More: TechCrunch, Road to VR, and SFGATE

X: @alexeheath. LinkedIn: Alex Heath. Bluesky: @carnage4life

Chris Lattner / Modular Blog:

Claude's C Compiler shows AI elevates the role of human judgment and vision; it's a milestone, but closely mirrors LLVM/GCC, and hard codes things to pass tests — Compilers occupy a special place in computer science. They're a canonical course in computer science education. Building one is a rite of passage.

X: @pushpendre89, @clattner_llvm, @machinamentum, @perrymetzger, @clattner_llvm, @preshing, @pdrmnvd, @koenbok, @jaykreps, @marksaroufim, @tetsuo_cpp, @arter97, @clattner_llvm, @tmikov, @joel_bkr, @lukashozda, and @watthedoodle. LinkedIn: Lukas Mosser. Bluesky: @johnspurlock.com

Mastodon: @pheras@fosstodon.org and @nolan@toot.cafe

Forums: r/Compilers and Lobsters

Fred Lambert / Electrek:

A US judge rejects Tesla's bid to overturn a $243M jury verdict over a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash, a blow for Tesla as it faces a growing wave of lawsuits — A federal judge has rejected Tesla's bid to overturn a $243 million jury verdict over a fatal 2019 Autopilot crash in Florida …

More: CNBC, TechCrunch, Fast Company, Carscoops, Sherwood News, Reuters, Jalopnik, EV, Automotive World, and Raw Story

Bluesky: @brunojnavarro and @dr-pete

Forums: Hacker News and r/electricvehicles

Lauren Goode / Wired:

Code Metal, which uses AI to let engineers translate legacy code into modern languages, raised a $125M Series B led by Salesforce Ventures at a $1.25B valuation — The Boston startup uses AI to translate and verify legacy software for defense contractors, arguing modernization can't come at the cost of new bugs.

More: Business Wire, eWeek, Tech Funding News, Tectonic Defense, VC News Daily, and Ventureburn

LinkedIn: Lorenzo Salazar. Bluesky: @laurengoode

Robert Burnson / Bloomberg:

A US grand jury indicted two former Google engineers and one of their husbands for allegedly stealing trade secrets relating to the Tensor chip for Pixel phones — 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.

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: Google may invest $100M in Fluidstack at a $7.5B valuation and has backstopped crypto miners that are building datacenters, seeking to expand TPU use — As more AI companies consider Google's chips, the company wants to use deals with external partners to expand the potential market

More: Business Insider and Economic news. X: @firstadopter

Nikkei Asia:

Sources: SoftBank plans to form a consortium to build a $33B power plant in Ohio, set to produce 9.2 GW for AI data centers, as part of the US-Japan trade deal — TOKYO — SoftBank Group will form a consortium to carry out a $33 billion gas-fired power plant project in the U.S. …

More: Bloomberg. Forums: r/technology

Minh Le / Tech in Asia:

Avantos, which makes an AI-native client management system for financial institutions, raised a $25M Series A led by Bessemer, taking its total funding to $35M — Avantos, a company developing an AI-native system for financial institutions, announced the completion of a US$25 million series …

More: Bessemer Venture Partners, FinTech Global, and Avantos

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Google rejected 1.75M policy-violating Android apps and blocked 80K+ developer accounts from Google Play in 2025, down from 2.36M apps and 158K accounts in 2024 — Fewer bad actors are targeting Google Play with malicious apps, the company says, a shift that the tech giant credits …

More: Google Online Security Blog, HotHardware, Engadget, Android Headlines, Infosecurity, TechRadar, Help Net Security, Moneycontrol, Tech in Asia, BleepingComputer, and Android Central. Forums: r/technews

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:45 PM ET, February 20, 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

Lucas Manfredi / The Wrap:

Paramount launches Global Publishing, a new imprint tasked with developing original IP and content based on existing franchises like Star Trek and Yellowstone

Dominic Patten / Deadline:

Source: Jeff Shell is ousted as Paramount president even as a report from a law firm cleared Shell of claims that he shared confidential information

Charlotte Tobitt / Press Gazette:

WSJ's head of video Maral Usefi explains its strategy focusing on original journalism, breaking news, explainers, live video, franchises, and IP-based projects

More News

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

Peak XV, which split from Sequoia in 2023, raised $1.3B across new India- and Asia-focused funds, bringing its total assets under management to over $10B

More: DealStreetAsia, Times of India, Entrackr, The Economic Times, Bloomberg, and VCCircle

Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch:

OpenAI says users aged 18 to 24 account for nearly 50% and under-30s represent 80% of ChatGPT messages in India; 35% of chats are related to professional tasks

More: Business Standard, Livemint, The Indian Express, and Moneycontrol

Chris Metinko / Axios:

Pepper, which offers a digital storefront for independent food distributors, raised a $50M Series C led by Lead Edge Capital, taking its total funding to $100M

More: VC News Daily

Jagmeet Singh / TechCrunch:

General Catalyst plans to invest $5B in India over five years, an increase from the $500M to $1B it previously announced, after merging with a local VC in 2024

More: The Economic Times, Entrackr, VCCircle, Tech in Asia, Inc42, and Moneycontrol

James O'Donnell / MIT Technology Review:

Microsoft's AI safety team proposed technical standards for detecting AI-generated content, but its CSO declined to commit to using them across its platforms

More: Wall Street Journal, The Decoder, NextBigWhat, Microsoft Research, Microsoft, and Microsoft Research

LinkedIn: Heba Chehade. Forums: r/technews

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

More: Oklahoma Watch. LinkedIn: Dr. Alicia M. Johnson. Bluesky: @amandalitman and @enjohnston. Forums: r/technology

Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal:

Uber's market cap fell to ~$150B, down ~25% in six months, as investors weigh robotaxi disruption and see the market as a two-horse race between Waymo and Tesla

More: Silicon Valley Business …, Semafor, The Driverless Digest, CleanTechnica, Techpinions, electrive.com, Fortune, Benzinga, Business Insider, The Verge, SiliconANGLE, Automotive World, CNBC, and ZeroHedge News. Bluesky: @prietschka

Evan Halper / Washington Post:

Tech companies are increasingly building private power plants to fuel off-grid data centers, a move some warn has reliability challenges and hurts climate goals

More: Fortune, This is Not Cool, Barron's Online, The Independent, and Heatmap News

X: @oilfield_rando and @washingtonpost

Bluesky: @marypcbuk, @shiraovide, @kostyack, and @justinhendrix

Earlier Picks

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

More: Core Memory, Futurism, AdExchanger, NextBigWhat, and Android Headlines. X: @zeffmax