February 19, 2026

The Download: autonomous narco submarines, and virtue signaling chatbots

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. How uncrewed narco subs could transform the Colombian drug trade For decades, handmade narco subs have been some of the cocaine trade’s most elusive and productive workhorses, ferrying multi-ton loads of illicit drugs…

How founders raised money so far in 2023

August 25, 2023
Welcome to Startups Weekly. Sign up here to get it in your inbox every Friday. This week, DocSend dropped a big load of statistics about the VC activity over the past half year or so. For TC+, I did a deep dive into the trends that are starting to show up. Subscribe for the full […]

VFX artists show that Hollywood can use AI to create, not exploit

August 25, 2023
Hollywood may be embroiled in ongoing labor disputes that involve AI, but the technology infiltrated film and TV long, long ago. At SIGGRAPH in LA, algorithmic and generative tools were on display in countless talks and announcements. We may not know where the likes of GPT-4 and Stable Diffusion fit in yet, but the creative […]

WhatsApp rolls out support for HD video

August 25, 2023
Last week, WhatsApp announced it was adding support for HD photos, allowing the messaging app users the option to preserve the high-def resolution of the phones they wanted to share with friends and family. At the time, the company said support for HD videos was coming soon. Today, the company confirmed with TechCrunch that HD […]

Tesla investors might get payout from SEC settlement

August 25, 2023
Tesla shareholders who claimed to face financial losses after CEO Elon Musk tweeted about taking the company private might be on the verge of receiving compensation from a $42.3 million fund established as part of Musk’s federal securities fraud settlement. The United States Securities and Exchange Commission said 3,350 eligible claimants will share in the […]