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Tech Beat · 5 PM Update

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Manus, the AI startup that saw its merger with Meta fall apart earlier this year, is pushing forward on its own. The company is in talks to raise five hundred million dollars at a four billion dollar valuation, a signal that investors still see independent potential in the platform despite the turbulence of that collapsed deal.

Shifting now to a story that touches regulation and geopolitics in equal measure, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission isn't waiting on Congress anymore. With the Clarity Act stalled, the agency has sent a prerule on crypto asset markets to the White House, choosing to build its own derivatives framework rather than sit idle while legislative gridlock drags on.

And on a story worth watching carefully, a new report warns that Venezuela's surveillance infrastructure, built on Chinese artificial intelligence and hardware that was banned under international pressure, may not be going anywhere. Despite the United States ousting former President Nicolás Maduro, analysts say there has been no meaningful shift in the underlying surveillance architecture, and they're calling on Washington to act before those systems become a permanent fixture.

That's the pulse of the day in technology and policy. Keep surfing. Tech Beat out.

Sources

  1. https://techcrunch.com/2026/09/18/manus-seeks-4b-valuation-in-new-500m-fundraise-as-it-resumes-independent-ops/
  2. https://www.techradar.com/televisions/home-theater/hi-fi-and-home-theater-legend-wharfedale-announces-four-new-subwoofers-and-if-that-seems-like-overkill-wait-until-you-see-how-big-the-largest-one-is
  3. https://www.techradar.com/phones/iphone/this-is-what-its-like-to-be-the-first-person-on-the-new-iphone-18-pro-line-at-the-apple-store
  4. https://github.com/onza/DropSlim
  5. https://netflixtechblog.com/leave-the-class-path-in-the-rearview-mirror-67a85b15b6be
  6. https://decrypt.co/378638/cftc-crypto-rules-white-house-congress-clarity-act
  7. https://tobi.knaup.me/2026-09-18-ai-safety-systems-engineering/
  8. https://www.techradar.com/pro/security/us-inherits-venezuelan-surveillance-state-built-on-banned-chinese-tech-and-ai-and-it-shows-no-signs-of-switching
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