Hey folks, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter that recaps the biggest tech — and tech-related — news over the past few days. With the holidays approaching, this reporter expected a quieter week. But the opposite happened: there was no shortage of stories to write about.
In this edition of WiR, we cover the theft of Comcast and Mr. Cooper, electric scooter company Bird filing for bankruptcy, Adobe ending plans to acquire Figma, and Apple being forced by the International Trade Commission (ITC) to halt sales of the Apple Watch. We also highlight Nikola founder Trevor Milton being sentenced for securities fraud, Microsoft’s Copilot chatbot getting a music creation feature and Consumer Reports’ impression of Tesla’s Autopilot recall fix (spoiler: it’s not good).
There’s a lot to get through, so we’ll jump into it. But first, a reminder to sign up here to receive WiR in your inbox every Saturday if you haven’t already.
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Hackers target Comcast: Comcast has confirmed that hackers who exploited a critical vulnerability accessed the sensitive information of nearly 36 million Xfinity customers. The vulnerability, known as “CitrixBleed,” was found in Citrix networking devices often used by major enterprises, and has been widely exploited by malicious actors since August, Carly reports.
Mr. Cooper under fire: In related news, hackers stole the sensitive personal information of more than 14.6 million Mr. Cooper customers, Zack wrote. The mortgage and loan giant confirmed that the criminals stole customers’ names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers, as well as social security numbers and bank account numbers.
Adobe is giving up: Adobe’s massive $20 billion bid to buy rival Figma is now live Officially dead After the companies said this week that regulatory pressures in Europe had caused them to end their acquisition plans. The deal was first announced in September last year, and was always going to attract regulatory scrutiny given the size of the deal and the fact that it took one of Adobe’s main competitors out of the picture, Paul notes.
Apple stops Apple Watch sales: Apple has halted sales of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches following a ruling by the International Trade Commission in October over a patent dispute with California-based medical technology company Masimo. The controversy revolves around the blood sensor in Apple’s latest flagship watches; Apple is appealing the ITC ruling.
Judgment on Nikola’s founder: Trevor Milton, the disgraced founder and former CEO of electric truck startup Nikola, was sentenced Monday to four years in prison for securities fraud. Rebecca writes that the ruling culminates a multi-year saga that at one point sent Nikola’s shares soaring 83% only to collapse months later due to accusations of fraud and contract cancellations.
The co-pilot gets music writing skills: Microsoft’s AI-powered chatbot, Microsoft Copilot, can now compose songs thanks to an integration with GenAI music app Suno. Users can enter prompts into Copilot such as “Create a pop song about adventures with your family” and have Suno, via a plug-in, bring their musical ideas to life.
Tesla repair ‘inadequate’: After the tests, Consumer Reports He says Tesla’s fix to recall Autopilot for more than 2 million vehicles is “inadequate.” Although the testing is not exhaustive, as Sean points out, it shows that there are still unanswered questions about Tesla’s approach to driver monitoring — the technology that is at the heart of the recall.
Bird files for bankruptcy: bird foot For Chapter 11 bankruptcy, at the end of a turbulent year for the electric scooter company. in press releaseBird confirmed that it has entered into a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet,” with the company continuing to operate as usual in pursuit of “long-term sustainable growth.”
My voice
Need some audio while preparing a holiday dish — or to ignore particularly annoying relatives? You’re in luck – TechCrunch’s podcasts will fit the bill.
In this week justicethe second part of a two-part series looking ahead to 2023, the crew recaps the downfall of a Silicon Valley bank, the long and tedious trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and the wild internal politics of OpenAI.
while, is found Focused on Charlie Hernandez and his journey in building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform that aims to democratize access to legal advice and guidance for those who may not be able to afford a lawyer. Hernandez talked about why he decided to use his law degree to address this issue.
And Chain reaction Featured by Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the layer-one Algorand blockchain. Algorand is a Singapore-based blockchain that aims to be fast, secure, decentralized, and the “greenest” through its carbon-negative network.
TechCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and polls – which you know about if you’re already a subscriber. If not, consider subscribing. Here are some highlights from this week:
Layoffs at Etsy: Etsy recently announced it was laying off 11% of its workforce, which came as no surprise to those who follow the e-commerce sector closely, Anna writes. She predicts that “negligence” and fierce competition chart a difficult road ahead.
Backlash from DEI: Dom writes about the frustrating backlash against DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion), a framework to help create more conscious initiatives in the workplace to help marginalized communities in the tech sector.
Figma pink look: Anna writes about how, even without Adobe, things don’t look so bad for Figma. CB Insights estimates the startup is still worth between $8.3 billion and $9 billion.