Hello friends, welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch's regular newsletter that rounds up the top tech (and tech-related) stories from the past few days. With the holiday just around the corner, this journalist was hoping for a quieter week. But the opposite happened: there has been no shortage of stories to write about.
In this edition of WiR, we cover the theft of customer data from Comcast and Mr. Cooper, electric scooter company Bird filing for bankruptcy, Adobe ending its Figma acquisition plans, and Apple being forced by the International Trade Commission (ITC) to stop sales of the Apple Watch. We also highlighted Nikola founder Trevor Milton's securities fraud sentencing, Microsoft's Copilot chatbot getting a music-generating feature, and Consumer Reports' impression of Tesla's Autopilot recall fix (spoiler: no it's good).
There is a lot to overcome, so we will do 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 security vulnerability accessed the confidential information of nearly 36 million Xfinity customers. The vulnerability, known as “CitrixBleed,” is found in Citrix network devices typically used by large corporations and has been under massive exploitation by malicious actors since August, Carly reports.
Mr. Cooper under fire: In related news, hackers stole sensitive personal information from more than 14.6 million Cooper customers, Zack writes. The mortgage and lending giant confirmed that criminals stole customer names, addresses, dates of birth and phone numbers, as well as Social Security numbers and bank account numbers.
Adobe gives up: Adobe's $20 billion mega-deal to buy rival Figma is now available officially dead after the companies said this week that regulatory pushback in Europe caused them to end their acquisition plans. First announced in September last year, the deal was always going to attract regulatory scrutiny due to the size of the transaction and the fact that it took one of Adobe's main rivals out of the picture, Paul notes.
Apple stops sales of Apple Watch: Apple halted sales of its Series 9 and Ultra 2 smartwatches following an ITC ruling in October over a patent dispute with California-based medical technology firm Masimo. The dispute is over the blood sensor monitor on Apple's latest flagship watches; Apple is appealing the ITC ruling.
The founder of Nikola stated: 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 caps a multi-year saga that at one point sent Nikola's stock soaring 83% only to crash months later over fraud allegations and canceled contracts.
Copilot acquires music writing skills: Microsoft's ai-powered chatbot, Microsoft Copilot, can now compose songs thanks to an integration with generative ai (GenAI) music app Suno. Users can enter prompts into Copilot such as “Create a pop song about adventures with your family” and have Suno, through a plug-in, bring their musical ideas to life.
Tesla's solution is “insufficient”: After testing, Consumer Reports says Tesla's solution to Autopilot recall of more than 2 million vehicles is “insufficient.” While the tests are not exhaustive, Sean notes, they show that there remain unanswered questions about Tesla's approach to driver monitoring, the technology at the center of the recall.
Bird files for bankruptcy: Bird has presented for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, ending a turbulent year for the electric scooter company. in a Press releaseBird confirmed that it had begun a “financial restructuring process aimed at strengthening its balance sheet”, and that the company would continue to operate normally in pursuit of “long-term sustainable growth”.
Audio
Do you need material to listen to while preparing a festive dish, or to tune out especially annoying relatives? You're in luck: TechCrunch podcasts will fit the bill.
this week EquityThe second in a two-part series looking ahead to 2023, the team recapped the fall of Silicon Valley Bank, the long and tedious trial of FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried, and the wild internal politicking of OpenAI.
Meanwhile, Found focused on Charlie Hernandez and his journey to building My Pocket Lawyer, an online platform aimed at democratizing access to legal advice and guidance for those who cannot afford a lawyer. Hernandez talked about why he decided to use his law degree to address this issue.
AND Chain reaction introduced Staci Warden, CEO of the Algorand Foundation, the organization behind the Algorand layer 1 blockchain. Algorand is a Singapore-based blockchain that claims to be fast, secure, decentralized, and “the greenest” with its carbon-negative network.
TechnologyCrunch+
TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis and surveys, which you'll find out if you're already a subscriber. If not, consider registering. Here are some highlights from this week:
Etsy Layoffs: Etsy recently announced that it would be laying off 11% of its workforce, which comes as no surprise to those who follow the e-commerce segment closely, Anna writes. “Junkification” and fierce competition paint a difficult road ahead, she predicts.
ABOUT violent reactions: Dom writes about the disheartening backlash against DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion), a framework to help create more conscious workplace initiatives to help marginalized communities, in the tech sector.
Figma's optimistic outlook: Anna writes about how, even without Adobe, things aren't looking too bad for Figma. CB Insights estimates the startup is still worth between $8.3 billion and $9 billion.
