Howdy, ghouls and goblins, and welcome to this Halloween Weekend version of Week in Overview (WiR), TechCrunch’s weekly tech recap in e-newsletter kind. For our U.S.-based readers (and this reporter), ’tis the time for mid-autumn merrymaking — time-tested traditions like jack-o’-lantern carving, costuming and apple choosing. Might all of us profit from it.
On this challenge of WiR, we cowl the California DMV suspending Cruise’s robotaxi allow, doing bills in VR, the Apple Watch’s finest new function going stay and an e-commerce startup based by an ex-PayPal exec that goals to offer prospects extra management over their buying information. Elsewhere, we highlight the victims of Okta’s newest hack, Carta’s CEO attempting to move off dangerous press, the newest from the FTX trial and Rivian profitable the longest off-road competitors within the U.S.
It’s loads to get via, so let’s not delay. However first, a reminder to enroll right here to obtain WiR in your inbox each Saturday should you haven’t already achieved so.
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Cruising no extra: The California Division of Motor Automobiles on Tuesday suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits, ending the GM self-driving automobile subsidiary’s robotaxi operations in San Francisco. Subsequently, Cruise introduced that it will pause all of its robotaxi operations, together with in Austin, Houston, Phoenix and Miami, to “rebuild public belief.”
Expensing meets VR: Intrepid TC editor Darrell Etherington did his expensing in Concur utilizing Meta’s newest headset, the Quest 3. So how’d it go? Concur “nonetheless sucks tremendous laborious in VR,” Darrell writes — however surprisingly, Concur didn’t suck any greater than it does in additional standard computing environments, and he really loved doing many of the associated, “regular laptop” issues on Quest 3.
Double faucet that: With this week’s watchOS 10.1 drop, Apple Watch Collection 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2 homeowners now have entry to one of many smartwatches’ extra thrilling options. Double Faucet, which provides gesture-based interactions via tapping one’s index finger and thumb collectively twice, is a intelligent new method to work together with the wearable when your different hand is full, Brian writes.
Retail your manner: Mary Ann writes about I Personal My Knowledge (IOMD), a startup based by an ex-PayPal exec aiming to remove a tedious step for patrons: creating an account each time you buy one thing from an internet retailer. With IOMD, all of a person’s non-public data, similar to previous purchases, playing cards, addresses and preferences, are saved on their very own machine — so transactions will be accomplished immediately with a click on, faucet or contact anyplace on the internet.
Okta hack fallout: Community and safety large Cloudflare and password supervisor maker 1Password stated hackers briefly focused their programs following a current breach of Okta’s assist unit. Each Cloudflare and 1Password stated their intrusions had been linked to the hack of Okta, the identification and entry administration platform, however that the incidents didn’t have an effect on buyer programs or person information.
Carta fights again: In an try at harm management, Henry Ward, the CEO of the fairness administration startup Carta, this week emailed prospects, telling them that in the event that they’re involved about “destructive press” tied to the outfit, they need to learn a current Medium put up of his. Within the put up, Ward outlines conversations he’s had with Carta staff about quite a few tales surrounding the corporate, together with tales about lawsuits round allegations of sexual abuse on the a part of executives, a poisonous “boy’s membership tradition” and indecent publicity, amongst different issues.
FTX execs probably escape jail: Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of failed crypto change FTX; Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda, FTX’s sister firm; and Nishad Singh, FTX head of engineering, have all pleaded responsible to fees after the change and Alameda’s dramatic downfall in November 2022. However an ex-Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor, talking to TechCrunch’s blockchain reporter Jacquelyn Melinek, says that Ellison, Wang and Singh most likely received’t get jail time, as they’ve been cooperating witnesses.
Rivian comes out forward: In a win for Rivian, the Amazon-backed startup’s R1T is the primary EV to win the longest off-road competitors within the U.S., the Rebelle Rally. The race — now in its eighth 12 months — requires groups to finish a 2,120-kilometer course utilizing solely paper maps, compasses and plotters, Kirsten writes.
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In search of background listening materials as you make costume alterations, paint pumpkins and restock the sweet jar? TechCrunch has you coated — as all the time.
On Fairness, the crew coated just a few offers of the week, together with information from I Personal My Knowledge and AgentSync. Different big-ticket gadgets included Carta’s comms snafu, the current roadblock for Cruise driverless taxis (and why Waymo seems to be profitable) and notes on Alphabet’s and Microsoft’s current earnings.
Discovered spoke with Jonas Torland from 7Analytics, a Norwegian firm that’s constructed a knowledge platform that powers instruments and merchandise for sustainable danger administration. Their fashions predict the paths of floodwaters, which permit them to foretell and map the harm that outcomes.
And Chain Response interviewed Josh Naftalis, associate at legislation agency Pallas Companions. Naftalis is a longtime legal professional who represents corporations, boards and executives in instances for white-collar legal protection, regulatory enforcement issues, inside investigations, disaster administration and extra.
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TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you realize should you’re already a subscriber. In case you’re not, contemplate signing up. Listed here are just a few highlights from this week:
Spam will get worse: Haje writes about how AI-powered instruments are making gross sales emails, phishing and spam worse for all of us — notably instruments that plug into social media to construct an image of what could be occurring of their targets’ lives.
AI-boosted adverts: Alex and Anna write that Huge Tech companies with huge attain have been raking in huge advert bucks, these days — notably these with AI chops, which has made their potential to drag in promoting {dollars} even stronger.
Seed offers develop into expensive: Why are seed offers so costly lately? Alex writes that speedy progress is accountable; late-stage offers have gotten rarer and smaller and cheaper as we speak, conversely.
