Block's new voice model sounds eerily human

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this weekend

View this email online in your browser  October 25, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Block's new voice model sounds eerily human: Block said that the voice model can run locally on a MacBook M4 Max Read More The AI graveyard: a running list of projects and startups that didn't make it: From Apple's repeatedly delayed Siri AI to OpenAI's messy "super app" launch, here's a look at the AI projects that shut down or missed expectations. Read More Hottest toy for Christmas? Nvidia CEO plays with adorable Microduck robots, 20,000 sell: The robots, stomping their little feet and making tiny R2-D2 noises, sat, fell down dead for a "nap," and summersaulted on voice command. Read More A message from Go Beyond the Bay Area, Join Us at Founder Summit At TechCrunch Founder Summit on November 4 in Boston, you can deepen your expertise on hiring, product market fit, pitching, founder leadership, and much more in a dynamic, intimate environment. Get ahead of the competition and show the world what the East Coast can build with a 25% discount using the code Daily25. Register Now Sunday Must-Reads PHP-ocalypse: How two critical web bugs almost broke the internet: Two critical bugs in the PHP web programming language, used by the majority of the internet, threatened to upend the internet — and it's unlikely to be the last major software scare. Read More Forced to pick, Grok’s AI model chooses Republicans. OpenAI’s picks Democrats. : A new study found Grok's AI overwhelmingly recommends Republican candidates while OpenAI's GPT favors Democrats, with the two AI models disagreeing in more than 90% of nearly 500 election races. Read More The hottest AI wearables and gadgets you should know about: We compiled a list of all the hottest AI wearables, including Muse Charm, Bee, Friend, Plaud, and more. Read More OpenAI says it will no longer train its AI models on the live internet, citing “significant risks”: OpenAI will cut frontier models off from the internet weeks after one of its engineers said that solution wouldn't work. Read More These clever apps show off the iPhone Duo's potential: From retro cassette players and virtual notebooks to flight trackers and even a digital toaster, developers are finding creative ways to take advantage of Apple's first foldable iPhone. Read More Last but Not Least Starlink seems to be working normally again in Ukraine: Elon Musk reportedly ordered SpaceX to throttle Ukraine's Starlink access. 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

Carta and NewView partner, hoping to entice more startups to let employees sell shares early

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  October 23, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Carta and NewView partner, hoping to entice more startups to let employees sell shares early: A new program wants to encourage more startups to allow workers to cash out early by making it easier to transact tender offers. Read More VCs, Superhuman Mail founder share red flags about product-market fit: Top investors from Iconiq and Sapphire Ventures, along with Rahul Vohra, the founder of Superhuman Mail, share the do's and don'ts for building hit products. Read More What some of Anthropic’s backers are reportedly worth before its IPO: Early-stage and follow-on investors in the AI lab are already sitting on major paper returns. Read More A message from Fidelity Your equity data deserves a system you don’t have to second-guess. Does your equity management platform keep raising renewal costs and waving red flags around data practices? Switching to a new solution might seem overwhelming, but it doesn't have to be. With Fidelity Private Shares, transitioning is simple and fast. Our expert team guides you through every step, helping to ensure your equity data is migrated seamlessly and securely. Learn More Go Beyond the Bay Area, Join Us at Founder Summit At TechCrunch Founder Summit on November 4 in Boston, you can deepen your expertise on hiring, product market fit, pitching, founder leadership, and much more in a dynamic, intimate environment. Get ahead of the competition and show the world what the East Coast can build with a 25% discount using the code Daily25. Register Now Afternoon Must-Reads Warhound raises $200M to engineer war dogs and arm them with Anduril gear: Warhound, the brainchild of Ben Lamm and Palmer Luckey, emerges from stealth to genetically engineer dogs for military and law enforcement. Read More TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 roundtables: Go deeper on the challenges founders are solving right now : TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 is coming to SoWa Power Station in Boston on November 4, bringing founders, investors, and operators together for a full day of candid conversations, practical sessions, live pitching, networking, and smaller roundtables built for deeper discussion.  Read More Lab testing giant Quest Diagnostics confirms patients' personal and health data was compromised during breach: Quest is the latest in a series of healthcare technology companies that have been hacked in recent months. Read More Left alone with nothing to do, AI agents started playing: MIT researchers marooned 13 AIs on a virtual island, and they responded by inventing games, mourning a lost ring and, eventually, getting better at their jobs. Read More Mark Zuckerberg's creative plan to pay California’s proposed billionaire tax without losing control of Meta: A newly launched stock class being offered was partially engineered to help Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg pay the "billionaire's tax," should the measure be voted into law. Read More Last but Not Least Uber rival inDrive eyes 2027 robotaxi tests in Central Asia with Pony AI and Nvidia: The company plans to begin testing Pony.ai's robotaxis in Kazakhstan's capital in the first half of 2027. 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