Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

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January 08, 2026

 

TechCrunch Top 3

Anduril's Palmer Luckey thinks the future of tech is in the past

Anduril's Palmer Luckey thinks the future of tech is in the past: Luckey, who initially made his fortune in VR and now runs the defense contractor Anduril, and Ohanian both seemed to agree: Stuff was better in the old days. Read More

Internet collapses in Iran amid protests over economic crisis: Internet monitoring firms and experts say Iran’s internet has almost completely shut down, as protests spread through major cities. Read More

OpenAI to acquire the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo: OpenAI is acquiring the team behind executive coaching AI tool Convogo in an all-stock deal, adding to the firm's M&A spree. Read More

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Afternoon Must-Reads

Snowflake announces its intent to buy observability platform Observe

Snowflake announces its intent to buy observability platform Observe: Snowflake is bolstering its data stack to make the platform better suited to the sheer volume of data produced by AI agents. Read More

The most bizarre tech announced so far at CES 2026: From an AI panda pet to an anime girl hologram for your desk, here are the wildest products at CES 2026. Read More

Hands-on with a prototype of Clicks' Communicator, a new BlackBerry-like smartphone: TechCrunch goes hands-on at the CES 2026 show with the new Clicks Communicator, a new Android smartphone with a physical keyboard. Read More

Former Bolt CEO Maju Kuruvilla's startup triples to $100M valuation: Spangle has raised $15 million in a Series A round to expand its AI-generated shopping experiences. Read More

Governments grapple with the flood of non-consensual nudity on X: For the past two weeks, X has been flooded with AI-manipulated nude images, created by the Grok AI chatbot — and governments around the world are promising to take action. Read More

 

You missed these chats from Disrupt:

Kindred talks home-swapping platform for travelers, Chef Robotics introduces AI into commercial kitchens, and Character.AI addresses chatbot safety with teens.

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Last but Not Least

Gmail debuts a personalized AI Inbox, AI Overviews in search, and more

Gmail debuts a personalized AI Inbox, AI Overviews in search, and more: Gmail is also bringing several AI features that were previously available only to paid users to all users. Read More

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