Elon Musk says X’s new algorithm will be made open source next week

X may soon provide more insight into how its algorithm works. On Saturday, Elon Musk posted on the platform to say that the company “will make the new X algorithm, including all code used to determine what organic and advertising posts are recommended to users, open source in 7 days.” X’s recommendation algorithm has been … Read more

I met a lot of weird robots at CES — here are the most memorable

CES has always been a robot extravaganza, and this year’s event saw the announcement of a number of important robotics developments, including the new, production-ready debut of Atlas, the humanoid from Boston Dynamics. Then there were all the robots on the showroom floor, where bots often serve as good marketing for the companies involved. If … Read more

Anthropic cracks down on unauthorized Claude usage by third-party harnesses and rivals

Anthropic has confirmed the implementation of strict new technical safeguards preventing third-party applications from spoofing its official coding client, Claude Code, in order to access the underlying Claude AI models for more favorably pricing and limits — a move that has disrupted workflows for users of popular open source coding agent OpenCode. Simultaneously but separately, … Read more

Waymo is rebranding its Zeekr robotaxi

Waymo has spent the past three years refining and testing a minivan-like vehicle made by Chinese automaker Zeekr. And now, before this robotaxi joins Waymo’s official commercial fleet, it’s getting a new name, the company told TechCrunch. The Zeekr RT robotaxi will now be named Ojai (pronounced “oh-hi”) — after the village in the Topatopa … Read more

Dreame’s robot vacuum with an arm is back at CES 2026 and it can do more than pick up shoes

Last year at CES, Dreame showed off a robot vacuum prototype with a mechanical arm. But while we were able to see the arm extend and retract, we didn’t see the device, which was described as a prototype at the time, actually grab anything, which was a bit disappointing. This year, though, the company has … Read more

Insight Partners sued by former vice president Kate Lowry

Kate Lowry, a former vice president at Insight Partners, is suing the firm, alleging disability discrimination, gender discrimination, and wrongful termination, according to a suit filed on December 30 in San Mateo County, California, and seen by TechCrunch.   Insight Partners did not immediately respond to TechCrunch’s request for comment.  Lowry told TechCrunch she filed the suit because she believes “too many … Read more

At CES, Belkin launches a new charging case for the Switch 2 with a screen for checking battery life

Belkin just introduced the appropriately-named Charging Case Pro for Nintendo Switch 2 at CES 2026. This is a high-end charging case specifically designed for Nintendo’s latest console. The 10,000mAh power bank delivers up to 30W of fast charging, which is a decent enough metric. I’m more excited, however, about the bells and whistles. The Charging … Read more