Daily digest · Tuesday, September 1, 2026
From a reported $3.2B valuation for AfterQuery to new iPhone 18 Pro color rumors, tech news ranged across products and markets. Several stories also hit AI creation tools, space telecom for Mars, and a Sony case about whether digital downloads are owned—as well as Apple’s claims in an OpenAI data-stealing dispute.
1 · TechCrunch
AfterQuery reportedly became a Y Combinator fastest-ever unicorn at a $3.2B valuation, after raising a round valued at $3.2B just five months after its April $30M Series A at a $300M valuation.
2 · CNET
iPhone 18 Pro models are rumored to be in sky blue, pure black, and burgundy, with silver/gray not expected this year.
3 · Engadget
NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract worth potentially $700 million to develop a Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter for delivery by December 31, 2028.
4 · Yahoo Finance
The Lowe's Foundation launched the Building Futures Skilled Trades Coalition to train and develop 1 million people for skilled trades jobs by 2035, supported by more than 75 corporate members and workforce organizations.
5 · Engadget
Sony told a California court that no “reasonable” consumer would believe buying a PlayStation Store digital game means owning it, saying digital transactions convey only a revocable license rather than a sale.
6 · TechCrunch
Google Pics is a prompt-based AI image creation and editing tool that Google will roll out to most Google Workspace customers and Google AI Pro/Ultra subscribers over the coming weeks, starting with Docs and Slides rollout today.
7 · Ars Technica
Bentley built 18 “Super Sports” cars between 1925 and 1927, shortening the standard 3 Litre model’s wheelbase by 9.5 inches (241 mm) and tuning the 3.0 L engine to exceed 100 mph (160 km/h).
8 · Engadget
Android launched in 2008 on the HTC Dream / T-Mobile G1 with Android 1.0 “Cupcake,” and it has since become the most popular operating system in the world, now powering more devices than any other.
9 · TechCrunch
Apple says a preliminary investigation of former Apple employee Chang Liu’s old Apple work laptop shows Liu used an Apple confidential circuit schematic and an internal-named tool while working at OpenAI, and Apple alleges OpenAI was “well-aware” of Liu’s access to Apple data and that Liu enlisted Yu-Ting Peng to help destroy evidence in June after learning Apple was investigating him.
10 · TechCrunch
Pivotal’s CEO Ken Karklin left the role this week after more than four years, and Mike Ross will replace him on an interim basis.
