Welcome, guys, to TechCrunch Weekly Review (WiR), a roundup of the past few days in tech events.
As I write this, snow is falling on New York City — an increasingly rare treat thanks to our changing climate. This seems appropriate in light of the imminent launch of the Apple Vision Pro. After all, one of the promises of headphones like the Vision Pro is that they transport wearers away from the stresses of everyday life and into more optimistic realities — at least for a while.
Brian started working with Vision Pro this week. His impressions? It’s transportation, all right, but it’s expensive.
There’s a lot of news to recap this week, so let’s get to it. But first, a reminder to sign up here to receive WiR in your inbox every Saturday if you haven’t already.
News
Quiet supersonic plane: NASA and Lockheed Martin have finally unveiled the X-59, an aircraft that may shape the future of military and civilian air travel, Devine writes.
Byju’s rating downgrade: BlackRock has written down the value of its stake in Byju’s, cutting the Indian startup’s implied valuation to about $1 billion from $22 billion in early 2022.
Notion launches a calendar app: Notion, the incredibly popular note-taking and project management service, has launched a standalone calendar service. Frederick has the full story.
Samsung Galaxy S24: Samsung held a press conference this week where it announced its latest flagship phones – all powered by artificial intelligence in one form or another.
Layoffs at Google: After laying off more than 1,000 workers across multiple divisions last week and cutting 100 jobs at YouTube, Google CEO Sundar Pichai sent a memo to his employees warning to expect more layoffs this year.
analysis
CES stalks sex technology: Despite being an industry that caters to the universal human experience, sex tech has always been precariously linked to CES, Hajj writes. This year, the conference effectively succeeded in expelling the sex tech industry from the exhibition halls – for better or worse.
Podcasts
on justiceAlex and Mary Ann looked at the bumper funding rounds from Pomelo, Tandem, and Briq – and also discussed how executives in the C-suite feel about AI and the enterprise.
is found Featured Magic Spoon is co-founder and CEO Gabe Lewis. Magic Spoon creates cereal flavors that play on our nostalgia for Froot Loops and Cocoa Puffs with a protein-rich twist.
and on Chain reactionJacqueline interviewed Monica Long, President of Ripple, a blockchain-based digital payment network and protocol.
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:
Unicorn Club: Cowboy Ventures founder Eileen Lee has penned a long-awaited follow-up to her original 2013 article in which she coined the term “unicorn.”
Private equity in 2024: Alex and Anna write about how private equity firms can be a last resort for startups struggling to exit.
Reddit, IPO: Reddit could finally go public this year. Alex considers what this might mean for the company — and other companies trying to go public this year.