Techtonic

The U.S. Air Force will buy data collected by WindBorne Systems‘ fleet of autonomous weather balloons under a new contract that could be worth nearly $50 million to the startup. WindBorne currently has about 700 weather balloons flying around the globe, collecting atmospheric sensor readings that the company sells to customers and also feeds into […] More

Meta’s Superintelligence Lab released a pair of new state-of-the-art models on Monday, Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full, representing the company’s first attempt at a frontier model. Where Muse Spark aimed to be a lightweight model that could perform at low latency, the Wonder models are larger and said to be more capable, with higher […] More

Autonomy will be there right from the start. NASA’s new version of the moon buggy, its Lunar Terrain Vehicle, can be driven by the astronauts riding in it but can also be piloted remotely from Earth (or from elsewhere on the moon). There are visions, too, of adding modular robotic arms, towing vehicles, and cargo […] More

One of the core promises of AI is that the more it knows about a person, the better it will be able to assist them with tasks and make appropriate suggestions, which, if you’ll believe the tech companies, requires apps and devices to listen, watch or record users’ activity all the time and gather all […] More

The must-reads I’ve combed the internet to find you today’s most fun/important/scary/fascinating stories about technology. 1 An Anthropic AI model submitted a fake tip about an unsolved murderThe tip was in a new group of rogue actions Anthropic disclosed. (NYT $)+ Police criticised the company for waiting nine days to report it after finding it. […] More

In less than 48 hours, the doors open for TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 at San Francisco’s Moscone West. Save up to $100 on your ticket before prices increase at the door. Don’t forget to get a second pass at 50% off. Register now. On October 13-15, more than 10,000 founders, investors, and tech leaders will be […] More

For example, previous research had shown that fast-growing “pioneer trees,” the first to thrive in the damaged land, are eventually overtaken by larger carbon-storing trees. Dent’s research helped fill in gaps about the mechanics of how this happens—or doesn’t happen—in individual cases. In the Gustavia-dominated patch, for instance, stubborn grasses planted by cattle ranchers smothered […] More

“The Social Reckoning,” Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to “The Social Network,” is on-track to make only $5.5 million at the domestic box office this weekend, according to Sunday estimates. That’s below the already underwhelming $7 million to $8 million the studio had projected, and it means Sorkin’s new movie is unlikely to become a “Social Network”-sized […] More

TechCrunch Disrupt 2026 is built around one question: How do you build an enduring company in the AI era? Our programming and speaker lineup reflect that, based on the feedback we’ve gotten from the community and the reality on the ground. And everything kicks off in just a few days, act now before your chance […] More