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Mon, Feb 23, 2026, 5:19 PM EST

Tech

AI Summary

  • AI is still absolutely everywhere, with OpenAI dropping the impressive GPT-4o and Google pushing Gemini deep into its ecosystem, sparking a lot of talk about job impacts and the future of work.
  • Nvidia continues its insane market cap climb, solidifying its role as the backbone of the AI boom, while Apple is finally trying to catch up with a more aggressive AI strategy, though some critics say they're playing from behind.
  • Regulatory heat is definitely picking up, with the US Justice Department taking on Apple and the EU's Digital Markets Act really starting to bite, signaling a tougher environment for Big Tech's once-unfettered growth.
  • Startup funding is a total split right now: AI companies are still raking in billions, but pretty much everyone else is finding VCs way more cautious and selective, making it a challenging market for non-AI ventures.
  • Cybersecurity concerns are still through the roof, with a steady stream of data breaches and ransomware attacks keeping everyone on edge, pushing companies to constantly reassess their defenses against increasingly sophisticated threats.

TechCrunch


Hacker News


Engadget

  • Anthropic accuses three Chinese AI labs of abusing Claude to improve their own models 2 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Internet & Networking Technology, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    Anthropic is issuing a call to action against AI "distillation attacks," after accusing three AI companies of misusing its Claude chatbot. On its website, Anthropic claimed that DeepSeek, Moonshot and MiniMax have been conducting "industrial-scale campaigns…to illicitly extract Claude’s capabilities to improve their own models." Distillation in the AI world refers to when less capable models lean on the responses of more powerful ones to train themselves. While distillation isn't a bad thing across the board, Anthropic said that these types of attacks can be used in a more nefarious way. According to Anthropic, these three Chinese AI firms were responsible

  • Summer Game Fest runs from June 5-8 3 hours ago by Lawrence Bonk
    Media, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Lawrence Bonk

    It's getting to be that time of year again. Summer Game Fest officially kicks off on June 5 and will go until June 8. The Live Kickoff show will once again be hosted by Geoff Keighley and takes place on June 5 at 5PM ET. This is where we'll see all of those juicy reveals and trailers. The opening event will be streamed globally on just about every digital platform, including YouTube, Twitch, X and even Steam. Those in the Los Angeles area will be able to pick up tickets for the live show sometime in the Spring. The kickoff event is

  • Bungie says 'no second chances' if you're caught cheating in Marathon 3 hours ago by Jackson Chen
    Sports & Recreation, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Jackson Chen

    Bungie isn't taking any prisoners when it comes to cheating on its upcoming extraction shooter, Marathon. In a detailed blog post explaining its anti-cheat measures, Bungie took a very declarative position against those caught trying to gain an unfair advantage. "We are taking a strong stance against cheating and anyone found to be cheating or developing cheats will be permanently banned from playing Marathon forever, no second chances," the blog post read, adding that there will be an appeals system in place. However, Bungie's anti-cheat standards go beyond punishment. In the blog post, Bungie detailed that Marathon's dedicated servers have full authority

  • Falcon Northwest FragBox review: A compact gaming rig that does everything right 4 hours ago by Devindra Hardawar
    Computing, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Devindra Hardawar

    Mafia: The Old Country demands to be played on an enormous screen. As much as I love my 32-inch Alienware OLED gaming monitor, it doesn't do justice to Mafia's cinematic vistas of Sicily. But, I also wanted to play that game in its full 4K glory, with none of the compromises of today's game consoles. So why not just shove a tiny gaming desktop under my home theater? Enter the Fragbox, Falcon Northwest's revamped small form factor gaming PC. While it's very expensive, starting at $3,997, it's incredibly powerful and gives you the freedom to easily upgrade the hardware down

  • Nothing reveals the Phone 4a ahead of schedule 4 hours ago by Lawrence Bonk
    Technology & Electronics, site|engadget, provider_name|Engadget, region|US, language|en-US, author_name|Lawrence Bonk

    Nothing has been slow-dripping news about the upcoming Phone 4a for a few days now, with a promise to reveal the handset on March 5. However, the company jumped the gun a bit and just posted an actual photo of the hardware. It looks pretty nifty, even if we don't have any real-deal specs just yet. The image shows the handset from behind, displaying the company's trademark transparent design. The picture also features the redesigned Glyph Bar, which was first teased last week. This is a light-based notification system that features individually controlled mini-LEDs that light up in various ways to


The Verge

  • Will Trump’s DOJ actually take on Ticketmaster? 2 hours ago by Lauren Feiner
    Antitrust, Entertainment, Policy, Politics, Report

    In mid-February, the Department of Justice lost its head antitrust enforcer - just weeks before it was scheduled to argue one of the year's biggest anti-monopoly cases in court. Antitrust Division chief Gail Slater announced her departure suddenly, via a post on her personal X account. But to those who follow the agency closely, it was far from surprising. For months, leaks about the division described tensions between Slater and her team with DOJ leadership, and President Donald Trump's penchant for personal dealmaking raised questions about who would really call the antitrust shots. Over the summer, two of Slater's top deputies were

  • Billions of dollars later and still nobody knows what an Xbox is 2 hours ago by Andrew Webster
    Analysis, Entertainment, Gaming, Report, Xbox

    The last few years of Xbox have been expensive. Under Phil Spencer's leadership, Microsoft has spent billions of dollars in an attempt to build an ambitious future for gaming that looks a lot like Netflix. And while its subscription service Game Pass started out as a good deal for gamers (although now not so much), that spending spree has led to catastrophic layoffs, studio closures, and confused and inconsistent messaging about what Xbox actually stands for. And with Spencer set to retire as new leadership takes charge, the future of Microsoft's gaming efforts looks increasingly unclear. Spencer announced his retirement last

  • Anthropic accuses DeepSeek and other Chinese firms of using Claude to train their AI 2 hours ago by Emma Roth
    AI, Anthropic, News

    Anthropic claims DeepSeek and two other Chinese AI companies misused its Claude AI model in an attempt to improve their own products. In an announcement on Monday, Anthropic says the "industrial-scale campaigns" involved the creation of around 24,000 fraudulent accounts and more than 16 million exchanges with Claude, as reported earlier by The Wall Street Journal. The three companies - DeepSeek, MiniMax, and Moonshot - are accused of "distilling" Claude, or training a smaller AI model based on a more advanced one. Though Anthropic says that distillation is a "legitimate training method," it adds that it can "also be used for

  • Apple’s newest AirTags are already on sale if you’re looking to upgrade 4 hours ago by Sheena Vasani
    Apple, Deals, Gadgets, Tech, Verge Shopping

    The second-gen trackers look similar to the originals but come with a few welcome upgrades. | Photo by Amelia Holowaty Krales / The Verge Less than a month after making their debut, Apple’s second-gen AirTags are already receiving their first discount. Right now, Costco members can buy five location trackers for $99.99 ($29 off) either online or in-store, bringing the price of each tracker down to about $20 a pop. If you don’t already belong to Costco, you can still take advantage of the discount if you’re willing to pay a $5 surcharge or sign up for an annual membership, which

  • The creators of Dark Sky have a new weather app that shares multiple predictions 5 hours ago by Andrew Liszewski
    Apple, Apps, iOS, News, Tech

    Acme Weather is currently only available for iOS. | Image: Acme Weather Corporation After selling their popular weather app to Apple in March 2020, where some of its core features were incorporated into Apple Weather, the creators of Dark Sky have left Apple to create yet another alternative. Their new app, called Acme Weather, embraces the fact that forecasts will never be entirely accurate by providing both a main prediction of the day's conditions and several alternate predictions. Acme Weather is currently only available for iOS. An Android version is planned, but there's no release timeline yet. You can try it out


Wired


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