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February 18, 2026, 4:55 AM
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WeSmirchTop News
| Anthropic: |
Anthropic launches Claude Sonnet 4.6 with improvements in coding, computer use, instruction following, and more; it features a 1M token context window in beta — Claude Sonnet 4.6 is our most capable Sonnet model yet. It's a full upgrade of the model's skills across coding, computer use …
More: Silicon Republic, Business Standard, XDA Developers, Help Net Security, 9to5Mac, TechCrunch, Digit, Neowin, Latent.Space, VentureBeat, Moneycontrol, Axios, InfoWorld, Simon Willison's Weblog, Android Headlines, iClarified, The Indian Express, The Deep View, The Economic Times, WinBuzzer, crypto.news, MacRumors, Runtime, The Register, Mashable, TestingCatalog, Implicator.ai, The Verge, Forbes, TechRepublic, Tom's Guide, CNET, CNBC, ZDNET, The New Stack, SiliconANGLE, ITPro, Claude, Claude, and About Amazon
X: @clairevo, @zck, @levie, @artificialanlys, @claudeai, @scaling01, @sleepinyourhat, @therundownai, @felixrieseberg, @claudeai, @alexalbert__, @kimmonismus, @scaling01, @alexalbert__, @artificialanlys, @alexalbert__, @scaling01, @scaling01, @benbajarin, @cnbc, @dejavucoder, @aakashgupta, @daniellefong, @iruletheworldmo, @adocomplete, @kimmonismus, @awscloud, @andonlabs, @bcherny, @zapier, @llmjunky, @mweinbach, @chatgpt21, @chatgpt21, @felixrieseberg, @arcprize, @claudeai, @isidoremiller, @inductionheads, @claudeai, @birdyword, @daniel_mac8, @sean_t_strong, @wadefoster, @jack_raines, @boringbiz_, @abcampbell, @artificialanlys, @danshipper, @scaling01, @davidondrej1, @claudeai, @willccbb, @box, @thezachmueller, @jkeatn, @chongdashu, @github, @juanpa, @blondesnmoney, @trungtphan, @lexnlin, @alexpalcuie, @aibattle_, @gregkamradt, @openrouter, @andrewcurran_, @alexfinn, @scaling01, @andonlabs, @danshipper, and @lentils80
LinkedIn: Thomas Li, Artificial Analysis, Cal Rueb, and Claude
Bluesky: @timkellogg.me, @mergesort.me, and @pekka
Forums: Hacker News, r/MyBoyfriendIsAI, r/singularity, r/ClaudeAI, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
| Abu Sultan / Reuters: |
Microsoft says it is on pace to invest $50B by 2030 to help expand AI across the “Global South”, after unveiling $17.5B in AI investments in India in 2025 — Microsoft (MSFT.O) on Wednesday said it is on pace to invest $50 billion by the end of the decade to help expand AI to countries across the ‘Global South’.| Saritha Rai / Bloomberg: |
Bengaluru-based AI startup Sarvam AI announces two models at the AI Impact Summit that it says are tailored to Indian languages and cultures — An Indian startup called Sarvam AI is making a push to create a viable competitor for the domestic market, unveiling an artificial-intelligence model …
More: The Economic Times, Tech in Asia, Fortune India, and Moneycontrol
| Shruti Rajagopalan / Get Down and Shruti: |
As the AI Impact Summit in New Delhi draws attention, a look at India's AI opportunities and the political economy gridlock that threatens its ambitions — India's AI Summit promises a revolution. The electricity grid, the tax code, and the literal ground beneath the chip fab have other plans.
More: Project Syndicate and Marginal Revolution
X: @mafernando, @srajagopalan, @seemasirohi, @apurvasanghi, @pramodbiligiri, @mattooshashank, and @pranaykotas
LinkedIn: Vasu Eda, Shruti Rajagopalan, and Viren Mahurkar
| Dylan Butts / CNBC: |
| Financial Times: |
Meta commits to buy millions of Nvidia Blackwell and Rubin GPUs in a multiyear deal; a source says Meta's in-house AI chip strategy suffer technical challenges — Social media group will purchase millions of chips even as it tries to develop its own AI hardware
More: Nvidia Newsroom, The Verge, Axios, Meta Newsroom, Barron's Online, CNBC, Digit, DigiTimes, The Information, SiliconANGLE, Livemint, Benzinga, iPhone in Canada, Investor's Business Daily, Constellation Research, Yahoo Finance, and Reuters
X: @ianandrewsdc, @amitisinvesting, @davealtavilla, @nvidianetworkng, @jimcramer, @patrickmoorhead, @nvidianewsroom, @mattrosoff, @theaustinlyons, @firstadopter, and @kakashiii111. Bluesky: @marypcbuk
Forums: r/stocks and r/wallstreetbets
| Abner Li / 9to5Google: |
Google schedules I/O 2026 for May 19 to 20 in Mountain View, teasing the “latest AI breakthroughs and updates” in Gemini, Android, and more — Following the puzzle this morning, Google has announced that I/O 2026 is taking place May 19-20. — I/O 2026 will feature …
More: Google I/O, The Keyword, Livemint, 9to5Google, Business Standard, Ghacks, SamMobile, Mashable, Moneycontrol, Digit, Tom's Guide, CNBC, and Android Headlines
| Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Apple ramps up work on AI wearables with cameras and Siri, including smart glasses, AirPods, and a pendant that can be worn as a necklace or pinned — Apple Inc. is accelerating development of three new wearable devices as part of a shift toward artificial intelligence-powered hardware …
More: Moneycontrol, AppleInsider, The Verge, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Thurrott, Digit, 9to5Mac, Tech in Asia, PYMNTS.com, BGR, CNET, Barchart.com, Gizmodo, Gizchina, iPhone in Canada, and The Mac Observer
X: @brandonbutch, @sawyermerritt, @aaronp613, @markgurman, @marcportermagee, @heysaik, @vadimyuryev, @preshdkumar, @cryptopunk7213, and @andrea_fanelli. Bluesky: @wavesblog. Mastodon: @zackwhittaker@mastodon.social
Forums: r/MVIS, r/apple, Slashdot, and MacRumors Forums
| Cristina Criddle / Financial Times: |
Perplexity says it has no plans to further pursue ads, which it introduced in 2024, after phasing them out in late 2025 over fears they would erode user trust — Leading start-ups have recently embraced sponsors as they search for revenue — AI start-up Perplexity has abandoned advertising …
More: Business Insider. X: @homemadehooplah and @cszabla. Bluesky: @charlesmok. Forums: r/BetterOffline
| Bloomberg: |
Battery Ventures raised $3.25B for its XV fund, roughly matching its 2022 raise, to back software and industrial tech firms amid AI disruption concerns — Global investment firm Battery Ventures has raised $3.25 billion to fund new tech deals, including investments in software companies …
More: VCWire and Tech in Asia
| George Hammond / Financial Times: |
Sources: Ineffable Intelligence, founded by Google DeepMind's ex-Principal Scientist David Silver, is raising a $1B seed led by Sequoia at a $4B valuation — Sequoia Capital leading funding deal for David Silver's start-up Ineffable Intelligence at $4bn valuation
More: David SIlver
| The Information: |
Benchmark hires Jack Altman, the founder of Alt Capital and Lattice, as its fifth general partner; three Alt Capital team members will join him at Benchmark — Benchmark on Tuesday said it had hired Jack Altman, the founder of early-stage firm Alt Capital and HR software company Lattice, as its fifth general partner.
More: TechCrunch. X: @jaltma, @benchmark, @corinnemriley, @ericnewcomer, @wesleyytian, @everettrandle, @corinnemriley, @bryce, @pitdesi, @seanwdoolan, @eladgil, @mark_goldberg_, @harjtaggar, @chrisfralic, @maxaltman, @spatialjlo, @dylan_reider, @grosen, @jaltma, @sama, @dropalltables, @arnavsahu341, @everettrandle, @brettberson, @saammotamedi, @atkurland, @sajithw, @chrisfhoward, and @max
| Annie Palmer / CNBC: |
Amazon shares close up 1.2%, snapping a nine-day slide that wiped out $450B+ in market valuation over concerns about Amazon's plan to spend $200B in 2026 capex — Amazon shares closed up more than 1% on Tuesday, snapping a nine-day slide that shaved billions off of its market cap.
More: Crypto Briefing, The Register, and Motley Fool
Forums: r/StockMarket, r/amzn, r/EatTheRich, r/amazonemployees, r/BetterOffline, and r/technology
| Ben Schoon / 9to5Google: |
YouTube fully restores its services after resolving a brief outage starting at around 7:45pm ET due to a recommendations system issue — If you're trying to access YouTube right now and running into problems, you're not alone, as a widespread outage appears to be affecting YouTube and, to a lesser extent, YouTube TV.
More: Economic news, TechRadar, Jakarta Globe, Tom's Guide, Neowin, PhoneArena, Cord Cutters News, Engadget, Digit, CNET, SmartCompany, PCMag, Mashable, and Livemint
| Cheeky Pint: |
Q&A with Ramp CEO Eric Glyman on scaling the expense management company to over $1B revenue, the “SaaS apocalypse”, using AI agents to review expenses, and more — Eric Glyman is the cofounder and CEO of Ramp, the finance automation platform that now powers over 2% of all corporate spend in the US.| Gene Maddaus / Variety: |
WBD joins Disney and Paramount in claiming infringement on ByteDance's AI video tool Seedance and demands ByteDance cease training AI on Warner Bros. characters — The studio's legal counsel fired off a letter on Tuesday to John Rogovin, the general counsel of ByteDance who happens … | The Economic Times: |
Bengaluru-based Stable Money, whose app lets users invest in fixed deposits and corporate bonds, raised $25M at a $175M valuation, taking total funding to $65M — The startup plans to grow its overall business five times by the end of this year, enter new cities through physical expansion … | Bloomberg: |
A look at MGX, Abu Dhabi's AI investment vehicle with stakes in Anthropic, xAI, and OpenAI; the firm plans to spend up to $10B annually over the next few years — Government-backed AI investor MGX has a bullish plan to spend up to $10 billion annually over the next few years.| Eleanor Olcott / Financial Times: |
A look at China's push to become a world leader in brain-computer interfaces, as Shanghai-based startup NeuroXess moves to human trials with Beijing's backing — Looser regulation and new investment are helping groups such as NeuroXess accelerate trials of ‘brain-computer interfaces’| David Singleton / flurries of latent creativity: |
Dreamer, founded by former Stripe CTO David Singleton, Hugo Barra, and others, launches in beta to let technical and non-technical users build agentic AI apps — Dreamer is the name of the platform and company I started with Hugo, Nicholas and others a little over a year ago.
More: /dev/agents and Dreamer
X: @dps, @hbarra, @dps, @mikeyk, @bentossell, @paraga, @joannastern, @dps, @dreamer, and @dreamer
Bluesky: @martinsfp and @edzitron.com
| Krisztian Sandor / CoinDesk: |
Stripe's stablecoin firm Bridge wins conditional approval from the US OCC to form a national trust bank, which would allow it to issue and manage stablecoins — What to know: … Bridge, a stablecoin infrastructure firm owned by Stripe, said Tuesday it has received conditional approval …
More: Bridge, The Crypto Times, crypto.news, Cointelegraph, PYMNTS.com, Yahoo Finance, and Decrypt
X: @stablecoin, @conmanfitz, @gregreveret, @amamujee, @sternhenri, @defyneric, @kidponga, @storaker, @zcabrams, and @segall_max. LinkedIn: Zach Abrams
| Rachel Swan / San Francisco Chronicle: |
Tesla agrees to stop using the term “autopilot” to market its electric vehicles in California to avoid a 30-day suspension by the state's DMV — Tesla has stopped using the term “autopilot” to market its electric vehicles in California in order to avoid a 30-day suspension by the Department of Motor Vehicles.
More: Benzinga, California DMV, Gizmodo, Austin American-Statesman, Reuters, TechCrunch, and Bloomberg
| TechCrunch: |
Emergent, which offers an AI-powered software development service, says it is generating annual run-rate revenue of $100M+, just eight months after launch — Indian vibe-coding platform Emergent was launched just eight months ago, and it now says it's generating annual run-rate revenue …
More: The Economic Times. X: @dchaplot, @dessaigne, @minimax_ai, @vkhosla, @rjvir, @mohapatrahemant, @mukundjha, @mukundjha, @vkhosla, @mukundjha, and @mukundjha
| Anthony Hughes / Bloomberg: |
Sources: Western Digital plans to raise $3.09B by selling a Sandisk stake at $535-$555/share, a 9.4% discount to Tuesday's close; the offering is oversubscribed — Western Digital Corp. is seeking to raise $3.09 billion from the sale of a stake in Sandisk Corp., after the digital storage company spun off …
More: Reuters, MarketWatch, Economic news, and ZeroHedge News
| Nathan Bomey / Axios: |
CFTC Chair Mike Selig says the commission will file friend-of-the-court briefs to defend its exclusive jurisdiction over prediction markets amid state lawsuits — The Commodity Futures Trading Commission is launching a legal campaign to defend its regulatory turf on prediction markets …
More: Decrypt, cftc.gov, Wall Street Journal, Bitcoinist.com, crypto.news, Wall Street Journal, DL News, Associated Press, Cointelegraph, Front Office Sports, NOTUS, Raw Story, and The Block
X: @chairmanselig, @govcox, @berniemoreno, @brian_armstrong, @dhtoomey, @nancyscola, @jbsdc, @demandprogress, @joonlee, @senwarren, @joepompliano, @mattyglesias, @katienotopoulos, @chairmanselig, @knibbs, @coffeebreak_yt, @tysonbrody, @coffeebreak_yt, @hshaban, @chairmanselig, @danprimack, @govchristie, @dannunezcohen, @hshaban, @metzgov, @tyler, @predictaction, @alexh_johnson, @knibbs, @kylascan, @chairmanselig, @adamscochran, @faryarshirzad, @mattzeitlin, @dedsec, @shanegoldmacher, @zackrosenblatt_, @moreperfectus, @jerlevine, @iampaulgrewal, @steveruddock, @benhorney, @jesswelman, @chairmanselig, @chairmanselig, @knibbs, @declanharty, and @rvangrack. Bluesky: @knibbs
| Ivan Mehta / TechCrunch: |
A US federal judge orders OpenAI to stop using the word “Cameo” for its Sora products and features, in a trademark lawsuit filed by celebrity video app Cameo — A federal district court in Northern California ruled in favor of Cameo, a platform that allows users …
More: Tech in Asia and Reuters
| Forbes: |
Sources: AI legal software startup Legora is in talks to raise $400M at a $5B+ valuation, after raising $150M in October 2025 at a $1.8B valuation — As investors double down on the promise of automating legal work, the company is in talks to raise $400 million following two rounds in late 2025.
LinkedIn: Iain Martin
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