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

Plus more of TechCrunch's top stories this afternoon

View this email online in your browser  January 08, 2026 TechCrunch Top 3 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 Be the first to know when news breaks Subscribe to our News Alerts, and you won't miss a thing. Breaking news, exclusives, and special reports—straight to your inbox. Sign up for News Alerts! A message from Fidelity Don't let a spreadsheet cost you your next round. Managing your equity in a spreadsheet might work, until you're raising your next round, onboarding new hires, or navigating your first SAFE. Fidelity Private Shares' free cap table template can provide you with a clean start. And when you're ready to ditch the manual updates, we'll help you scale with confidence. Download Now Afternoon Must-Reads 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 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 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 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. Watch on Cheddar.com Watch on Streaming Last but Not Least Elon Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI will face a jury in March: District Judge Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers said there was evidence suggesting OpenAI's leaders made assurances that its original nonprofit structure would be maintained. The case will go to trial in March. 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