TechCrunch Top 3

FBI is buying location data to track US citizens, director confirms: FBI director Kash Patel told lawmakers that the agency is actively purchasing commercially available location data, which can track Americans without needing a warrant. Read More

The Gemini-powered features in Google Workspace that are worth using: From summarizing emails, drafting content, organizing data, and tracking meetings, here are all the best Gemini features in Google Workspace. Read More

Nvidia is quietly building a multibillion-dollar behemoth to rival its chips business: Nvidia's networking business raked in $11 billion last quarter despite getting significantly less fanfare than chips and gaming. Read More

Disrupt 2026: Where deals and ideas ignite

Oct 13–15 at San Francisco's Moscone West, 10,000 founders, investors, and operators gather for high-signal insights, curated connections, and real momentum.

A message from UK Office for Investment

UK Quantum – Enhancing trading data

Quantum computing has the potential to reshape financial services, from risk management to data analysis. HSBC and IBM have demonstrated this through a hybrid-quantum approach to European corporate bond trading. This revealed complex patterns in noisy financial data, and a 34% improvement in predicting winning customer trade inquiries.

Learn More

Afternoon Must-Reads

Nothing CEO Carl Pei says smartphone apps will disappear as AI agents take their place: Nothing CEO Carl Pei says AI agents will eventually replace apps, shifting smartphones toward systems that understand intent and act on a user's behalf. Read More

DOD says Anthropic's 'red lines' make it an 'unacceptable risk to national security': The Defense Department said concerns that Anthropic might "attempt to disable its technology" during "warfighting operations" validate its decision to label the AI firm a supply-chain risk. Read More

Patreon CEO calls AI companies' fair use argument 'bogus,' says creators should be paid: Patreon CEO Jack Conte says AI companies should pay creators for training data, arguing their fair use defense falls apart when they license content from major publishers. Read More

Apps to distract you from the endless cycle of doomscrolling: It's hard to break the cycle of doomscrolling, but there are plenty of apps that can help you spend more time on content that's engaging and productive. Read More

Facebook launches a new monetization program to attract popular creators from TikTok, YouTube: Facebook says it paid creators nearly $3 billion through its monetization programs in 2025, a 35% increase from the previous year and its highest annual total to date. Read More

A message from Fidelity

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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

Pardoned Nikola founder Trevor Milton is trying to raise $1B for AI-powered planes: He told the Wall Street Journal he thinks autonomous planes will be "10 times harder than Nikola ever was." Read More