What we know about the alleged Iranian hacks on US water utilities

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  August 14, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 What we know about the alleged Iranian hacks on US water utilities: Over the last couple of weeks, hackers have targeted and broken into the systems of several water plants in the United States. Here’s what we know and don’t know about this wave of attacks allegedly carried out by the Iranian government. Read More Apple proposes to take a 15% cut of purchases made outside the App Store: Apple is asking a federal judge to allow it to charge commissions of up to 15% on purchases made through external links in iOS apps. Read More Read-it-later app Pocket shut down — here are the best alternatives: Pocket users have until October 8, 2025, to export their saved articles and other items, including lists, archives, favorites, notes, and highlights. Read More Afternoon Must-Reads If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously: Apple now sends out push notifications to iPhone lock screens when the company identifies government spyware targeting someone's devices. Read More Self-driving trucks are officially testing on California highways: Aurora Innovation and Kodiak AI, two companies developing self-driving trucks, have received permits from the California Department of Motor Vehicles. Read More Thrive's Joshua Kushner chides Silicon Valley VCs over AI euphoria: The AI opportunity is huge, but "it would also be a grave error in our minds to let excitement weaken our investment discipline," Kushner warns in his first-ever investment letter. Read More Hyperscalers might regret embracing natural gas if new forecast proves correct: Natural gas prices could triple in some parts of the U.S., which could saddle hyperscalers with massive bills to power their AI data centers. Read More US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that it will start disclosing how many times judges authorized the use of spyware to wiretap suspected criminals. Read More Last but Not Least Google will now allow users to remove visible watermark from its AI generations: Turning off this setting won't affect invisible benchmarks used to identify an AI generated file. 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

Apple proposes to take a 15% cut of purchases made outside the App Store

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

View this email online in your browser  August 14, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 Apple proposes to take a 15% cut of purchases made outside the App Store: Apple is asking a federal judge to allow it to charge commissions of up to 15% on purchases made through external links in iOS apps. Read More If Apple sends you a push notification alerting you to a spyware attack, take it seriously: Apple now sends out push notifications to iPhone lock screens when the company identifies government spyware targeting someone's devices. Read More US courts will start publishing how often the government uses spyware: The Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts told TechCrunch that it will start disclosing how many times judges authorized the use of spyware to wiretap suspected criminals. Read More A message from Alumni Ventures Invest in High-Potential Startups Like These Alumni Ventures is giving readers early access to high-potential startup opportunities across today’s most active sectors, co-invested alongside name-brand VC firms like Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Bessemer, & Y Combinator. You Get: Curated deal flow of high-potential startups, Investing alongside name-brand vc firms, No cost to see deals, No obligation to invest. See Current Deals Morning Must-Reads Hyperscalers might regret embracing natural gas if new forecast proves correct: Natural gas prices could triple in some parts of the U.S., which could saddle hyperscalers with massive bills to power their AI data centers. Read More Uber and Pony.ai plan to bring 2,000 robotaxis to Europe: The partnership is expanding beyond the initial market of Zagreb, Croatia to four additional European cities. Read More Anthropic set AI agents loose on the same task. They started a turf war.: Anthropic researchers found AI agents can clash, collude, and coordinate in unexpected ways, raising new questions about whether today’s safety tests capture the risks of multi-agent systems. Read More OpenAI introduces 'Ultrafast,' a new mode that makes GPT-5.6 Sol work at 14x the speed: OpenAI is launching a preview of a sped up version of its latest, most powerful model, in an effort to court enterprise users. Read More Investors sue Selena Gomez alleging fraud tied to her mental health startup: The plaintiffs say they invested nearly $1.2 million in the company, and are accusing Gomez of failing to build and market the startup. Read More Last but Not Least Databricks wanted to raise $1B, investors wanted $15B. It settled on $5B at a $190B valuation.: AI is expensive, Ali Ghodsi tells TechCrunch. With so many investors wanting into his latest round, he said yes to more than planned. 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