Etched's valuation doubles to $21B in a month

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  August 18, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Etched's valuation doubles to $21B in a month: Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says. Read More Comcast adds motion sensing to millions of its newer routers, with a privacy catch: A new feature added to Comcast's newest routers can detect if there is motion inside your home without needing traditional motion sensors. Read More Why Apple's camera-equipped AirPods may not be the 'pervert pods' consumers fear: Apple’s leaked camera-equipped AirPods might avoid the privacy pitfalls of other AI wearables by preventing users from recording photos and videos. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India: Perplexity's India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined. Read More Peacock is raising prices across all of its streaming plans: "These price changes allow Peacock to continue to create the best experience for its viewers, remain competitive in the marketplace, and deliver unique content across all genres," the company wrote on a support page. Read More Apple's new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera: A video in a macOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri. Read More Warp's new system is an out-of-the-box software factory for AI development: On Tuesday, Warp introduced Warp Factories, a new infrastructure system designed to make building AI software factories as easy as possible. Read More Bluesky says its recent outage was caused by another DDoS attack: This is the latest large-scale DDoS attack to hit the social networking site this year. Read More Last but Not Least DOJ's probe into Andreessen Horowitz over board seats baffles VCs: Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107

‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  August 18, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 ‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators: Cybersecurity experts who investigate spyware attacks say the number of people who received a recent threat notification from Apple is unusually high. Read More Perplexity’s free AI offer left it with millions more users in India: Perplexity's India revenue rose about 60% after the Airtel offer ended for new users, even as downloads declined. Read More AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google's Chrome team: "We have some really ambitious plans to help you work with AI in Chrome to get things done, and I’ll have more to share soon," Jacob Bank, Relay founder and CEO, said. Read More Morning Must-Reads Apple's new macOS update reportedly contains a video of AirPods with a camera: A video in a MacOS Tahoe release candidate version shows a user wearing AirPods, looking at a book, and talking to Siri. Read More Warp's new system is an out-of-the-box software factory for AI development: On Tuesday, Warp introduced Warp Factories, a new infrastrructure system designed to make building AI software factories as easy as possible. Read More Einride strikes deal to add 500 Tesla Semis to its fleet: Einride will buy the Tesla Semis, which will be made to Amazon and other customers. Read More Anthropic's annualized revenue surges to $65B: The model maker added $18 billion in annualized revenue in two months. Read More OpenAI launches a safer ChatGPT for teens — years after teens started using it: ChatGPT for Teens adds age-appropriate safety measures, parental controls, and learning tools designed to steer teens away from harmful content — and from using AI to cheat on their homework. Read More Last but Not Least Higgsfield raises $400M Series B, quadrupling its valuation in 8 months to $5.4B: Higgsfield, founded by former Snap exec Alex Mashrabov, lets users create AI images and videos. Read More Check out some of our other newsletters: StrictlyVC TechCrunch Events TechCrunch Mobility Want to adjust your daily newsletter schedule? You can do it right here Got a tip? Get in touch securely. Want to advertise on TechCrunch? advertise@techcrunch.com Has this been forwarded to you? Click here to subscribe to this newsletter. Unsubscribe Member Center Privacy Policy Copyright © 2026 TechCrunch Media LLC 501 2nd Street, Suite 650, San Francisco, CA 94107