August 17, 2026

TechCrunch Top 3

YouTube will now count a view as soon as a video starts playing: The change comes a year after YouTube applied the same approach to counting views on Shorts videos. Read More

Feedly attributes weeklong slowdown to bug, not its AI pivot: Feedly says a bug is behind the performance issues that have made its web app nearly "unusable" for some users, while complaints about its mobile apps and customer support are adding to frustrations. Read More

Reddit begins testing a new audio and video experience, similar to popular TikTok videos: Reddit is beginning to test video and audio versions of popular posts, allowing users to watch or listen to Reddit stories instead of just reading them. Read More

Afternoon Must-Reads

AI automation startup Relay shuts down, staff joins Google's Chrome team: "We have some really ambitious plans to help you work with AI in Chrome to get things done, and I’ll have more to share soon," Jacob Bank, Relay founder and CEO, said. Read More

Wispr raises $280M at $2B valuation as it looks beyond dictation: The funds will allow Wispr to increase its footprint as it ventures into new areas, such as meetings, with its newly released note-taker tool. Read More

‘Unprecedented’ number of Apple users received recent spyware alert, say investigators: Cybersecurity experts who investigate spyware attacks say the number of people who received a recent threat notification from Apple is unusually high. Read More

Amazon, which started off selling books, is destroying rare texts to train AI: Rare books are incredibly valuable for training LLMs, since these models have already trained on whatever's available online. Read More

Uber adds Zipline drones to its Eats delivery network: Uber is also making investing in Zipline a part of the tie-up. Read More

Last but Not Least

Higgsfield raises $400M Series B, quadrupling its valuation in 8 months to $5.4B: Higgsfield, founded by former Snap exec Alex Mashrabov, lets users create AI images and videos. Read More

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