February 17, 2026

The Download: the rise of luxury car theft, and fighting antimicrobial resistance

This is today’s edition of The Download, our weekday newsletter that provides a daily dose of what’s going on in the world of technology. The curious case of the disappearing Lamborghinis Across the world, unsuspecting people are unwittingly becoming caught up in a new and growing type of organized criminal enterprise: vehicle transport fraud and theft. Crooks…

Zopa, the UK neobank, hits 1M customers and raises another $93M

September 7, 2023
In 2021, UK neobank Zopa, which has been around since 2004, leapt to a $1 billion valuation on the back of a big investment from SoftBank and a plan to go public by 2022. Now it’s 2023, and Zopa is today announcing another fundraise of a different kind as it continues to wait for the […]

BMW feels the heat, stops charging for warming cheeks

September 7, 2023
When BMW started charging an $18 per month subscription for heated seats in 2022, the backlash was swift and brutal. Customers banded together, urging others not to encourage this type of behavior from automakers, lest it open the door to more perceived avariciousness. “You’ve already paid for it!” cried one Reddit user. “The fucking hardware […]

Relativity Space leases historic test stand from NASA to boost Terran R development

September 7, 2023
Relativity Space is amping up its investment at NASA’s Stennis Space Center, with the company announcing today that it would lease a historic first stage test stand to advance the development of the Terran R launch vehicle. Per the new agreement, Relativity will lease the A-2 Test Stand from NASA for a seven-year period, at […]

Cruise nears approval to mass-produce robotaxis with no steering wheel, pedals

September 7, 2023
Cruise CEO Kyle Vogt said Thursday at an investor conference that the company is “just days away” from getting the green light to begin mass production of its purpose-built autonomous vehicle without a steering wheel or pedals. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) told TechCrunch that no decision to grant or deny GM’s petition […]

Artists sign open letter saying generative AI is good, actually

September 7, 2023
Artists are among the many groups who will feel the effects of AI over the next few years, but it’s not doom and gloom for everyone. A group of artists have organized an open letter to Congress, arguing that generative AI isn’t so bad and, more importantly, the creative community should be included in talks […]

Apple fixes zero-day bugs used to plant Pegasus spyware

September 7, 2023
Apple released security updates on Thursday that patch two zero-day exploits — meaning hacking techniques that were unknown at the time Apple found out about them — used against a member of a civil society organization in Washington D.C., according to the researchers who found the vulnerabilities. Citizen Lab, an internet watchdog group that investigates […]

FCC finally gets its 5th Commissioner in Anna Gomez

September 7, 2023
The FCC is whole again with the Senate’s confirmation of Anna Gomez as the agency’s 5th Commissioner, empowering it to take more and faster action regarding all matters regulatory in communication and, increasingly, space. Gomez was nominated to the seat in June after a year and half of Republican resistance to the previous candidate, Gigi […]