T-Mobile 'chopped a cable' to expel Chinese hackers from its network

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  August 19, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 T-Mobile 'chopped a cable' to expel Chinese hackers from its network: The U.S. phone provider escaped a large-scale breach of its network after identifying Chinese-backed hackers early on. Read More AI was supposed to win people over by now -- it hasn't: As AI becomes harder to avoid, consumers are growing more wary of the technology — and Silicon Valley is discovering that widespread adoption doesn’t necessarily lead to acceptance. Read More Google packs Search and Gemini with new AI study tools: The launch of the new study features marks Google's latest effort to make Gemini the AI assistant that students turn to when learning and studying, as it continues to compete with companies like OpenAI. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads Gambling on the Little League World Series? Sports bettors have gone too far: Have we tried turning off society and turning it back on again? Read More Home batteries are suddenly cheap and everywhere. Here’s why.: Companies including Tesla and Base Power are vying for a piece of the rapidly growing market for home batteries. One technology has made it all possible. Read More Cognition CEO denies report that SpaceX tried to acquire the startup: SpaceX was reportedly in talks to buy AI coding startup Cognition. SpaceX has already acquired Cursor as it races to catch up to rivals like OpenAI and Anthropic in enterprise AI. Read More Amazon makes its AI-powered Alexa+ free on Fire TV, no Prime required: Amazon is making its AI-powered Alexa+ assistant free on all compatible Fire TV devices in the U.S., automatically upgrading users whether or not they subscribe to Prime. Read More Gwyneth Paltrow allegedly set to throw dinner in honor of Sam Altman: The actress' firm Kinship Ventures is an investor in the company. Read More Last but Not Least Rillet raises $100M Series C at $1B valuation — 2 years after emerging from stealth: AI-native account startup Rillet became a unicorn, led by Iconiq, after it doubled its ARR in the past three months, it said. 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

Home batteries are suddenly cheap and everywhere. Here’s why.

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories to start your morning

View this email online in your browser  August 19, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Home batteries are suddenly cheap and everywhere. Here’s why.: Companies including Tesla and Base Power are vying for a piece of the rapidly growing market for home batteries. One technology has made it all possible. Read More Cursor capitalizes on GitHub frustration, launches rival hosting platform: Cursor, known for its AI Code Editor, is launching a new code-hosting platform to rival developers' long preferred favorite, GitHub. Read More Etched's valuation doubles to $21B in a month: Jane Street has installed Etched's first shipped AI cluster system, and was so impressed, it led another massive round, the startup says. Read More The Best Disrupt 2026 Discount Ends Soon AI has made it faster than ever to bring an idea from concept to launch.   But it hasn't made it easier to build something durable.     Disrupt 2026's programming is built around that challenge, delivering practical sessions on what actually holds up and how to build it. Ticket prices increase at midnight PT Friday, so grab yours before then!  Register Now Morning Must-Reads CareCloud confirms 3.7M patients had their medical records stolen in data breach: The cyberattack at CareCloud resulted in one of the largest reported data breaches in the U.S. healthcare industry this year. Read More AI isn't close to curing cancer. This startup says it knows what it will take.: It's the data, stupid. Read More OpenAI institutes new safeguards after Hugging Face breach: The new safeguards include more detailed monitoring of models during the development process, as well as greater emphasis on alignment and security during the post-training process. Read More Calendly throws its hat into meeting note-taker circus: Calendly is also releasing a meeting scheduling assistant called Callie. Read More DOJ's probe into Andreessen Horowitz over board seats baffles VCs: Since portfolio companies often pivot and expand into competing markets, investors view occasional conflicts of interest as unavoidable for large VC firms. Read More Get Your Startup in Front of the Disrupt Crowds Not everyone needs a keynote slot to make noise at Disrupt 2026. Sometimes the best way to meet investors, customers, and partners is by exhibiting directly in the Expo Hall. And by exhibiting, you get 10 passes to Disrupt to share with your team! Learn More Last but Not Least Relativity Networks raises $22 million to bring a faster kind of fiber to data centers: Relativity Networks deals in hollow-core fiber, a rarely deployed technology that allows data to be transmitted 30% faster than conventional fiber. 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