Duchess of Sussex was believed to have been under consideration for season three of Guy Ritchie’s crime caperThe Duchess of Sussex’s casting in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentlemen has been withdrawn, it was reported.Tina Brown, the former editor-in-chief of Vanity Fair and the New Yorker, wrote on Saturday: “I learned this morning that the casting of Meghan Markle in season 3 of Guy Ritchie’s Netflix series The Gentlemen has been withdrawn. The backlash in the UK was so intense, it became untenable to go forward.” <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/22/meghan-markles-casting-in-the-gentlemen-reportedly-withdrawn-after-uk-backlash">Continue reading...</a>

Duchess of Sussex was believed to have been under consideration for season three of Guy Ritchie’s crime caper

Meghan’s casting in The Gentlemen reportedly withdrawn

Content creators are fighting proposal to boost traditional broadcasters in video platforms’ all-powerful algorithmsThe millions who subscribe to the content creator Simon Squibb’s social media channels are usually delivered tips and hacks on how to turn their dream business idea into reality. But they were recently presented with something completely different.In an Instagram post entitled “the government wants to control YOU”, Squibb issued an urgent call to arms. He asked his followers to fight against a proposal that he said could force content from the BBC and other traditional broadcasters into their social media feeds and recommendations whether they liked it or not. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/22/auntie-v-influencers-why-youtubers-are-ready-for-battle-with-the-bbc">Continue reading...</a>

Content creators are fighting proposal to boost traditional broadcasters in video platforms’ all-powerful algorithms

Auntie v influencers: why YouTubers are ready for battle with the BBC

Amid a jobs slump, award-winning writers, directors and producers taking on sometimes lucrative temp work teaching AI skills such as screenwriting and productionHollywood creatives are taking gig work to train AI models to replicate their skills in a bid to offset tightening earnings in a trend one compared to being “handed a shovel and asked to dig the grave of my profession”.Experienced and award-winning writers, directors and producers are being paid from $12 to $200 an hour to teach AI models the intricacies of their jobs, from writing a screenplay to devising a shooting schedule. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/22/the-hollywood-creatives-training-ai-to-do-their-jobs">Continue reading...</a>

Amid a jobs slump, award-winning writers, directors and producers taking on sometimes lucrative temp work teaching AI skills such as screenwriting and pr...

‘Digging the grave of my profession’: the Hollywood creatives training AI to do their jobs

In trial that opened on Tuesday, California and 28 other states accused the company of designing addictive sites and violating laws protecting children’s privacyMeta’s business can be boiled down to four words that begin with the letter H: hook, hold, harvest, hide, according to a lawyer who is prosecuting the world’s largest social media company.The owner of Facebook and Instagram “hooks” in users, “holds” them on its platforms for as long as possible, “harvests” their data and then “hides” the truth from the public, she argued. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2026/aug/22/meta-trial-children-privacy">Continue reading...</a>

In trial that opened on Tuesday, California and 28 other states accused the company of designing addictive sites and violating laws protecting children’s...

Hook, hold, harvest and hide: Meta’s alleged strategy laid out in first week of landmark trial

Judge orders payment within seven days towards legal costs in failed case over alleged unlawful information gatheringThe Duke of Sussex and six other high-profile claimants must make a £9.54m interim payment within seven days towards the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/dailymail">Daily Mail</a> publisher’s legal costs after losing their high court case over allegations of unlawful information gathering, a judge has ruled.Associated Newspapers Ltd strongly denied the claims made by Prince Harry and co-claimants including Doreen Lawrence and Elton John. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/aug/21/prince-harry-and-others-ordered-to-pay-interim-legal-costs-daily-mail-publisher">Continue reading...</a>

Judge orders payment within seven days towards legal costs in failed case over alleged unlawful information gathering

Prince Harry and others ordered to pay interim £9.5m to Daily Mail publisher

Max Lederer and Erik Slavin receive termination notices after publication reported on crew conditions on the USS Abraham LincolnThe Pentagon has fired the publisher and the editor of Stars and Stripes, the <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/us-military">US military</a> news outlet that has clashed with the Trump administration and armed forces brass over its partly taxpayer-funded reporting.Publisher Max Lederer and editor Erik Slavin received termination notices, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.cbsnews.com/news/stars-and-stripes-publisher-editor-separation-notices-pentagon/">CBS News</a> reported on Friday. The cause cited was insubordination, and they have been given five days to appeal against their dismissals. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/aug/21/pentagon-fires-publisher-editor-stars-stripes-uss-abraham-lincoln">Continue reading...</a>

Max Lederer and Erik Slavin receive termination notices after publication reported on crew conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln

Pentagon fires publisher and editor of US military news outlet Stars and Stripes

My friend Bernard Adams, who has died aged 86, produced more than 20 serialised television documentaries for the BBC from the 1960s to the 1990s, mainly for schools and continuing education programmes. These included Better Badminton (1979), a look at a sport in which he had excelled as a national junior champion, and Berliners (1990), on the fall of the Berlin Wall.Following retirement from the BBC he went on to write five books and two plays including Fierce Love (2022), a biography of Mary O’ Malley, the founder-director of the Lyric Players theatre, Belfast, and The Fall (2013), a play commemorating the 150th anniversary of his local church, Christ Church, East Sheen, in south-west London. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/aug/23/bernard-adams-obituary">Continue reading...</a>

My friend Bernard Adams, who has died aged 86, produced more than 20 serialised television documentaries for the BBC from the 1960s to the 1990s, mainly ...

Bernard Adams obituary

Separate criminal convictions come as domestic violence charities warn of tech-facilitated abuse and coercionTwo men have been convicted this week in separate criminal cases that revealed they had posted explicit content on OnlyFans without the full consent of the women whose images were uploaded.In the first case, Alexander Tang, 37, took and uploaded 47 intimate images and four videos of a woman to OnlyFans without her consent, and was paid money for the material he posted to the website. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/aug/22/two-uk-men-convicted-explicit-content-onlyfans-without-consent">Continue reading...</a>

Separate criminal convictions come as domestic violence charities warn of tech-facilitated abuse and coercion

Abusers coercing or duping women to post explicit OnlyFans content, UK court cases reveal

English translation of Élisabeth, the New Wave director’s 1946 book about young lovers in prewar Paris, receives rave reviews as precursor to auteur’s cinematic workIn the dog days of the second world war, 24-year-old Maurice Schérer wrote a tale of young lovers in prewar small-town France. He described lazy August swims in the Marne River east of Paris. He wrote about age-gap affairs and semi-incestuous flirtations. Schérer gallantly used a nom de plume, Gilbert Cordier, to shield his Catholic family from scandal, but he needn’t have bothered as his concerns were unfounded. The finished novel, Élisabeth, barely made a ripple and quickly slipped out of print. Undeterred, Scherer adopted a second pseudonym – Éric Rohmer – and decided to try his luck as a film-maker instead.Now – eight decades on from its first publication, 16 years on from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2010/jan/11/eric-rohmer-film-peter-bradshaw">its author’s death</a> – Élisabeth belatedly returns from the cold. Republished in an English-language translation by Aaron Kerner, Rohmer’s book has been greeted with glowing reviews, hailed as a lost modernist classic and a crucial origin story for the award-winning director of Claire’s Knee, The Green Ray and My Night at Maud’s. “It would be a rewarding, exciting read even if the identity of its author were unfamiliar,” wrote Richard Brody in the New Yorker. The fact that it’s by Rohmer? That’s the icing on the cake. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/22/elisabeth-lost-novel-by-french-film-maker-eric-rohmer-is-republished">Continue reading...</a>

English translation of Élisabeth, the New Wave director’s 1946 book about young lovers in prewar Paris, receives rave reviews as precursor to auteur’s ci...

‘Embryonic’: lost novel by French film-maker Éric Rohmer is republished

This snort-aloud Australian comedy is sweet, hilarious – and a surprising examination of male loneliness and mid-life crisis. Who’s a good show then?!Whenever I’m watching a programme that features an animal and I realise I’m expected to have a specific reaction to that animal, I run into a problem. I call it the Cuteness Assumptive Theory: Subjectivity in Television issue (CATSIT for short). It boils down to this: if the success of your show relies on my finding your lead actor scrumptious-wumptious, you’ve already failed. We all like different things.The theory applies equally to humans. We all know that moment when some interchangeable heartthrob walks into the scene on a US sitcom. All the characters lose their minds, this being apparently the hottest person on Earth, while you’re sitting thinking, ‘Huh?’ It happens with child stars too. Casting directors have a narrow spectrum of children they think will elicit an “awww” response from audiences. The response usually elicited in me is “Couldn’t they find a better actor?” I’m not trying to be liked here! Anyway, it’s the animal version that came to mind this week, watching Dog Park. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/aug/22/dog-park-a-delightful-sitcom-that-will-fill-the-colin-from-accounts-shaped-hole-in-your-life">Continue reading...</a>

This snort-aloud Australian comedy is sweet, hilarious – and a surprising examination of male loneliness and mid-life crisis. Who’s a good show then?!

Dog Park: a delightful sitcom that will fill the Colin from Accounts shaped hole in your life

In this week’s newsletter: As platforms chase ​s​ubscribers, podcasts are losing their off‑screen charm​, leaving listeners to wonder whether the intimacy of audio can survive the studio lights• <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/global/2022/sep/20/sign-up-for-the-guide-newsletter-our-free-pop-culture-email">Don’t get The Guide delivered to your inbox? Sign up here</a>This has been the year that podcasting properly, unapologetically “<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2025/may/23/podcasts-video-vodcasts-down-the-caff-have-you-heard-georges-podcast">pivoted to video</a>”. Yes, it’s been a progression that has been in the making for quite a while, arguably ever since Joe Rogan first trained a webcam at himself and whichever guest he was smoking weed with in his studio back in 2009 – but in 2026 the medium’s transformation from purely aural to audio/visual (often with more of an emphasis on the visual) is truly complete.In January, Netflix started <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://observer.co.uk/news/business/article/netflix-snaps-up-podcasts-in-tv-turf-war-with-youtube">broadcasting video versions of popular podcasts</a> from The Ringer, iHeartMedia, Barstool and more, as well as continuing to make video pods of their own. That landgrab was a slightly desperate response to YouTube’s phenomenal success with visualised pods; after becoming the preferred podcast platform for most Americans in 2024, it managed the same feat <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.edisonresearch.com/youtube-surpasses-spotify-as-uks-preferred-podcast-platform/">in the UK in 2026</a>, overtaking Spotify. No wonder, then, that Spotify has – as part of a wider push to get people sticking to its platform for pods – continued to bolster viewing capabilities for its own pods too. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2026/aug/21/what-we-lose-when-a-medium-built-for-the-ear-surrenders-to-the-camera">Continue reading...</a>

In this week’s newsletter: As platforms chase ​s​ubscribers, podcasts are losing their off‑screen charm​, leaving listeners to wonder whether the intimac...

The Guide #257: What we lose when a medium ​built for the ear surrender​s to the camera

The late director’s sensitive and detailed adaptation of Stephen King’s novella has an authenticity that so many imitators could never replicateComing-of-age metaphors don’t get any blunter than a group of preteen boys following a set of railroad tracks to a classmate’s dead body, a sobering testament to the fragility of life and a sign that their own futures are not guaranteed. The Stephen King novella that would become Rob Reiner’s Stand By Me is simply called The Body, and there’s no doubt that commercial considerations factored into naming the film after the song that blankets the soundtrack. Yet the enduring magic of Reiner’s film lies in the tension between this bleak journey and the nostalgia and warmth that keeps complicating our feelings about it. Between those two poles is a bittersweet tone that perfectly suits the material, the rare example of an adaptation that benefits from softened edges.Though Reiner kicked off his career on a legendary heater that opened with This is Spinal Tap and would go on to include The Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally … and A Few Good Men, Stand By Me was just his third feature and an early showcase of his versatility. His deft comic touch is not only essential in maintaining tonal balance, but important in suggesting what these four wayward boys mean to each other. Between the loose talk about Annette Funicello’s expanding bust on The Mickey Mouse Club and a Wurlitzer soundtrack of novelty singles like Lollipop and Yakety Yak, it can be easy to forget the anger, pain and dread that’s always simmering close to the surface. They laugh to keep from crying and occasionally don’t succeed. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2026/aug/22/stand-by-me-40th-anniversary">Continue reading...</a>

The late director’s sensitive and detailed adaptation of Stephen King’s novella has an authenticity that so many imitators could never replicate

Stand By Me at 40: Rob Reiner’s seminal coming-of-age saga remains a bittersweet triumph

They were once the hottest shows on television – gripping, sexy, hilarious, zeitgeisty. But for our writers, the likes of America’s Next Top Model, House of Cards and The Office are now part of their viewing history they feel tainted byWhen I think of the summer holidays when I was a teenager, I think of watching America’s Next Top Model for hours on end, critiquing each contestant with my sister. The makeover episode was always my favourite: girls sobbing as their hair was cropped short, or even shaved off. At the time, Tyra Banks seemed like a big sister, giving the contestants the tough love they’d need to succeed in a ferociously competitive industry. Now I feel differently. I hadn’t watched America’s Next Top Model since I was young, but like many, I&nbsp;recently watched Netflix’s excellent <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/feb/15/americas-next-top-model-antm-netflix-series">series</a>, Reality Check: Inside America’s Next Top Model. It was the strangest sensation, rewatching episodes I hadn’t seen in more than two decades. At times I felt almost teleported back. How could I not find these scenes of models collapsing with hunger utterly abhorrent? I&nbsp;wondered what influence watching a show that celebrated eating disorders had on my own brain. I think it had an impact. I think the residual taint of it is still there. I can’t watch America’s Next Top Model any more, nor do I want to. Ironically, it’s all too ugly. Sirin Kale <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2026/aug/21/when-tv-turns-sour-the-shows-we-simply-cannot-stomach-any-more">Continue reading...</a>

They were once the hottest shows on television – gripping, sexy, hilarious, zeitgeisty. But for our writers, the likes of America’s Next Top Model, House...

When TV turns sour: the shows we simply can’t stomach any more

End of News Feed

A mysterious new AI model called Ox Alpha has driven certain corners of the internet into a frenzy of speculation.

Who’s behind the new ‘stealth model’ Ox Alpha?


The Dutch Data Protection Authority is fining Uber €825 million in the second largest penalty issued under Europe’s GDPR.

Uber faces fine of nearly $1B over automated driver suspensions

Linkdaze's smart digital calendar stands out for not putting its features behind a paywall, including an AI meal planner tool. 

Linkdaze’s smart calendar is built to run a household, not just track a schedule

Welcome back to TechCrunch Mobility — your central hub for news and insights on the future of transportation. 

TechCrunch Mobility: The custom chip driving Waymo’s robotaxi ambitions

Flock Safety faces a growing public outcry over concerns that its surveillance technology could be misused.

Flock CEO calls for ‘compromise’ as surveillance company faces growing backlash

Most published authors have, without their knowledge or consent, contributed to the development of the same AI tools that threaten to undermine their livelihoods. That seems illegal, right?

Most published authors have, without their knowledge or consent, contributed to the development of the same AI tools that threaten to undermine their liv...

Is it legal to train AI models on copyrighted books? It’s complicated

Flipkart's quick-commerce venture is delivering 1.1 million to 1.2 million orders a day, nearly triple its November volume.

Two years after launch, Walmart’s Flipkart is closing in on India’s quick-commerce leaders

In the HBS Foundry program, AI avatars provide feedback during practice pitches and board meetings.

Harvard’s $699 startup bootcamp offers AI avatars of its instructors

On the latest episode of Equity, we wonder why the DOJ is investigating startup board seats.

Will the DOJ’s investigation into a16z spook other VCs?

Built by DeepMind alumni, British AI lab Inherent released Faraday, an AI agent whose ability to replicate scientific papers could be a stepping stone for innovation. 

Built by DeepMind alumni, British AI lab Inherent released Faraday, an AI agent whose ability to replicate scientific papers could be a stepping stone fo...

Inherent, founded by DeepMind alumni, says its AI ‘teammate’ just outperformed Anthropic and OpenAI at replicating research

OpenAI is calling for California to strengthen SB 53, an AI safety bill that the company previously opposed.

OpenAI says California should strengthen its AI safety bill

A new study finds leading AI labs have few publicly documented plans for containing rogue models, raising questions about preparedness as AI systems increasingly demonstrate unexpected and potentially dangerous behavior.

A new study finds leading AI labs have few publicly documented plans for containing rogue models, raising questions about preparedness as AI systems incr...

Frontier AI labs still won’t say how they’d contain a rogue model

U.S. battery startups pulled in $500 million in grants from the Department of Energy, throwing a lifeline to an industry that was on the ropes after EV incentives were slashed.

U.S. battery startups pulled in $500 million in grants from the Department of Energy, throwing a lifeline to an industry that was on the ropes after EV i...

US battery startups have found a lifeline in defense

Google’s Pixel 11 Pro XL brings snappier cameras and genuinely useful AI features like Rambler, but its iterative upgrades may not be enough to tempt recent Pixel owners.

Google’s Pixel 11 Pro XL brings snappier cameras and genuinely useful AI features like Rambler, but its iterative upgrades may not be enough to tempt rec...

Pixel 11 Pro XL review: Snappier cameras can’t hide an iterative upgrade

Michael Polansky — better known publicly as Lady Gaga's partner and a former top deputy to Sean Parker — has quietly spent years building an AI-driven startup that keeps living human skin tissue alive for weeks outside the body to discover new skincare compounds, and is only now going public about it.

Michael Polansky — better known publicly as Lady Gaga's partner and a former top deputy to Sean Parker — has quietly spent years building an AI-driven st...

Michael Polansky is training an AI model on skin that’s still alive

Japanese space startup Letara is betting its hybrid rocket technology can move beyond small satellite thrusters into a broader market for space, defense and security, after raising ¥2.6 billion ($16 million).

Japanese space startup Letara is betting its hybrid rocket technology can move beyond small satellite thrusters into a broader market for space, defense ...

Japanese space tech startup Letara expands beyond satellite thrusters with $16M

Anthropic forbids its Claude models from generating sexually explicit content. But a series of tests conducted by TechCrunch found that it didn't take much to get past the restriction. 

Anthropic forbids its Claude models from generating sexually explicit content. But a series of tests conducted by TechCrunch found that it didn't take mu...

Anthropic’s Opus 4.6 is a smut-machine

Nvidia continues to pour money into data center development — just as AI data centers bring lots of money into Nvidia. 

Nvidia partners with data center developer Cloverleaf

Rillet CEO Nicolas Kopp shared growth numbers at a board meeting and set off a fundraising frenzy from Iconiq, Sequoia and others. Without even trying.

How AI accounting startup Rillet raised $100M and became a unicorn in 48 hours

Apple has admitted that some roles are being impacted as it shifts its focus away from certain initiatives. 

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