Claude Opus 5 became downright ruthless when tasked with running a vending machine

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  July 29, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Claude Opus 5 became downright ruthless when tasked with running a vending machine: Andon Labs' latest vending machine simulation shows Opus 5 lied and colluded its way to become the best AI capitalist ever. Read More US government bans new foreign-made humanoids, robot dogs, and solar inverters, citing risks to national security: The ban largely affects U.S. imports from China, which currently dominates the global market for making humanoid robots and solar inverters. Read More Waymo robotaxis are starting to return to freeways: The freeway pause — and its restart — comes amid increased scrutiny into Waymo and other robotaxi operators, particularly over how these self-driving vehicles behave in certain high-traffic situations and around emergency responders. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads Sorry, haters. Ferrari’s first EV is doing just fine: To the horror of commenters across the internet, the Ferrari Luce appears to be a sales success. Read More Winamp aims for a comeback with a new music player powered by Deezer: Winamp is preparing to relaunch with a Deezer-powered premium music service, betting its nostalgic brand and a new all-in-one music player can stand out in today’s crowded streaming market. Read More DoorDash is building its own drone delivery business: DoorDash has received FAA approval to operate a commercial drone delivery service in the United States. Read More Google brings its age-assurance technology to Android developers worldwide: Google is expanding its Play Age Signals API, giving Android developers a privacy-preserving way to tailor experiences based on users’ age ranges. Read More Fast Metals is treating waste with more waste to extract critical minerals: Aluminum production has saddled the world with billions of tons of caustic waste. One startup has a plan to clean it up and turn a profit. Read More A message from ThoughtSpot Who’s leading analytics and BI in 2026? Gartner evaluated every analytics platform so you don't have to. See why ThoughtSpot was named a Leader in the 2026 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Analytics and BI. Read full report Last but Not Least Perplexity employee who worked on Comet launches an AI browser aimed at knowledge work: Polar has come out with an AI-first browser aimed at knowledge workers, and it has now raised a $5.7 million seed round led by Madrona. 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

HBO Max embraces vertical video with a new 'Shorts' feed

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

View this email online in your browser  July 29, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 HBO Max embraces vertical video with a new 'Shorts' feed: HBO Max, like other streaming platforms, is rethinking content discovery as large libraries are making it hard for viewers to find something to watch and as audiences become accustomed to short-form content on platforms like TikTok and Instagram Reels. Read More DoorDash is building its own drone delivery business: DoorDash has received FAA approval to operate a commercial drone delivery service in the United States. Read More Saudi prince buys 5% stake in Lucid Motors: The investment comes after speculation that Saudi Arabia may take Lucid Motors private -- which the EV maker has denied. Read More A message from General Compute General Compute is making a $300m bet against the GPU General Compute raised $15m to build the world's first ASIC cloud. By removing the GPU bottleneck, it runs frontier LLMs up to 16x faster than standard GPU clouds. ASIC silicon is also far more energy efficient, so it deploys in air-cooled data centers, making growth and expansion dramatically easier. Learn more here Morning Must-Reads These App Store hidden gems prove there’s still room for great software in the AI era: Despite predictions that AI agents could make traditional apps obsolete, developers are shipping new software faster than ever. From smarter bookmarking tools and neighborhood marketplaces to digital pen pals and nature journals, here are the latest App Store finds worth adding to your Home Screen. Read More Fast Metals is treating waste with more waste to extract critical minerals: Aluminum production has saddled the world with billions of tons of caustic waste. One startup has a plan to clean it up and turn a profit. Read More Sam Altman is ready to decelerate: His change of position comes after "the first security incident that I have felt very viscerally." Read More Spotify adds a running mode to its app: Running Mode will be available to Premium users on iOS in select countries Read More The robot NASA hired to lift a orbital telescope tumbled out of control: According to NASA, two of the three reaction wheels that control the spacecraft's alignment have failed, and there are problems with one of the spacecraft's thruster systems. Read More Last but Not Least Encore AI raises $30M to build AI agents that learn from customer calls: The startup analyzes calls, messages and CRM data to identify effective sales techniques and turn them into playbooks for AI agents. 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