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February 20, 2026, 2:35 AM
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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, Business Standard, VentureBeat, The Register, Moneycontrol, Livemint, Verdict, Ars Technica, The GitHub Blog, Simon Willison's Weblog, Digit, GSMArena.com, CNET, TechCrunch, Digital Trends, SiliconANGLE, The Deep View, Android Authority, Chrome Unboxed, Rohan's Bytes, MarkTechPost, WinBuzzer, iClarified, The New Stack, eWeek, InfoWorld, Implicator.ai, Techgenyz, Wion, Mashable, ZDNET, The Decoder, iPhone in Canada, Neowin, The Economic Times, Thurrott, Crypto Briefing, Constellation Research, and TestingCatalog
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
| 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 … | 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 …
More: CNBC, Watcher Guru, The Asia Business Daily, Economic news, The Standard, Livemint, Agence France-Presse, Benzinga, Reuters, Channel NewsAsia, Techstrong.ai, Reuters, BeInCrypto, Investor's Business Daily, Proactive, Ynetnews, Bloomberg Law, ZeroHedge News, Quartz, Yahoo Finance, PYMNTS.com, Tech Funding News, and The Information. Forums: r/NVDA_Stock
| 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, Kotaku, Neowin, Gameranx, Push Square, 80 Level, Aftermath, Dexerto, Gizchina, iPhone in Canada, Game Informer, Comic Book, Destructoid, TechRaptor, TheGamer, Tech4Gamers, PlayStation LifeStyle, DayOne, GamesIndustry.biz, GamesRadar, PC Gamer, KitGuru, GamingBolt, The Verge, Game Developer, and Notebookcheck
X: @nuhre_, @stealth40k, @okami13_, @zuby_tech, @tomwarren, @domsplaying, @shpeshal_nick, @pirat_nation, @realradec, @neogamespark, and @modernvintageg
LinkedIn: Rich Vogel and Jason Schreier
Bluesky: @stealth40k and @peteskerritt.com
Forums: r/bloodborne, r/digitalfoundry, r/pcgaming, and r/TeamIco
| Dan Gallagher / Wall Street Journal: |
Uber's market cap fell to ~$150B, down ~25% in six months, as investors weigh robotaxi disruption, perceiving it as a two-horse race between Waymo and Tesla — Waymo's momentum is undeniable, but Uber's scale is being undervalued in AI-driven selloff — Uber can't seem to emerge from the shadow of what's to come.| Natalie Lung / Bloomberg: |
More: Business Insider, SiliconANGLE, ZeroHedge News, Gizmodo, New York Post, Economic news, TheTruthAboutCars, CNBC, NewsMax.com, Gothamist, Reuters, The Verge, TechCrunch, PCMag, 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, Digital Trends, GamesBeat, Kotaku, Engadget, and Business Insider
| 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.| 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.| Rafe Rosner-Uddin / Financial Times: |
Sources: Amazon's AI tools caused at least two AWS outages, including a 13-hour disruption in December after its Kiro AI deleted and recreated an environment — Tech giant blames ‘user error, not AI error’ for incident in December involving its Kiro tool — Amazon's cloud unit has suffered …
More: Reuters, The Information, and Economic news
X: @edzitron. Bluesky: @techviews, @jennifercobbe, @measuredandslow, @brunodias, @parismarx.com, @segatape, @impemboganecue, @gregpak.net, @doubleohkevin, @fack, and @edzitron.com. Forums: r/programming
| 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 … | 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: Barron's Online, Heatmap News, The Independent, and Solar Power World
X: @washingtonpost and @oilfield_rando
Bluesky: @marypcbuk, @shiraovide, @kostyack, and @justinhendrix
| 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| 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, Reuters, Digit, Politico, The Record, Fox News, Android Headlines, Washington Examiner, Fast Company, CNET, JURISTnews, The Mac Observer, PCMag, Wall Street Journal, UPI, The Hill, MacTech.com, The Verge, Engadget, CNN, 9to5Mac, MacDailyNews, and AppleInsider
X: @matthew_d_green and @westvirginiaag
| 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.| 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.| 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 — AI-enabled deception now permeates our online lives. There are the high-profile cases you may easily spot … | 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
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Bluesky: @caseynewton, @katie-drummond, @trueref, @timmarchman, @jthom.tech, and @rami.spaceaustralia.com
Forums: r/sanfrancisco, r/technology, r/bayarea, and r/neoliberal
| 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: SiliconANGLE and Joe.My.God.
Bluesky: @rulesfortitans, @schwindter, @brucedlittle, @markhurst, @makenakelly, and @lenticulus. Mastodon: @Ashedryden@xoxo.zone
Forums: r/politics, r/technology, r/LeopardsAteMyFace, r/nottheonion, r/nottheonion, and r/politics
| 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, The Next Platform, Forbes, Finimize, SiliconANGLE, and Quiet Capital
X: @davidbennett__, @quietcapital, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @kvamme, @tbpn, @michaelxbloch, @sallywf, and @taalas_inc. Forums: Hacker News
| 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
| 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.Sponsor Posts
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