Hello, ghouls and goblins, and welcome to this Halloween Weekend version of Week in Review (WiR), Ztoog’s weekly tech recap in publication 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. May all of us make the most of it.
In this problem of WiR, we cowl the California DMV suspending Cruise’s robotaxi allow, doing bills in VR, the Apple Watch’s greatest new feature going dwell and an e-commerce startup based by an ex-PayPal exec that goals to give clients extra management over their procuring information. Elsewhere, we highlight the victims of Okta’s newest hack, Carta’s CEO attempting to head off bad press, the newest from the FTX trial and Rivian profitable the longest off-road competitors in the U.S.
It’s a lot to get by, so let’s not delay. But first, a reminder to join right here to obtain WiR in your inbox each Saturday should you haven’t already carried out so.
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Cruising no extra: The California Department of Motor Vehicles on Tuesday suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits, ending the GM self-driving automotive subsidiary’s robotaxi operations in San Francisco. Subsequently, Cruise introduced that it could pause all of its robotaxi operations, together with in Austin, Houston, Phoenix and Miami, to “rebuild public trust.”
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 “still sucks super hard in VR,” Darrell writes — however surprisingly, Concur didn’t suck any greater than it does in additional typical computing environments, and he really loved doing most of the associated, “normal computer” issues on Quest 3.
Double faucet that: With this week’s watchOS 10.1 drop, Apple Watch Series 9 and Apple Watch Ultra 2 house owners now have entry to considered one of the smartwatches’ extra thrilling options. Double Tap, which provides gesture-based interactions by tapping one’s index finger and thumb collectively twice, is a intelligent new means to work together with the wearable when your different hand is full, Brian writes.
Retail your means: Mary Ann writes about I Own My Data (IOMD), a startup based by an ex-PayPal exec aiming to eradicate a tedious step for patrons: creating an account each time you buy one thing from a web-based retailer. With IOMD, all of a consumer’s non-public data, equivalent to previous purchases, playing cards, addresses and preferences, are saved on their very own system — so transactions will be accomplished immediately with a click on, faucet or contact wherever on the internet.
Okta hack fallout: Network and safety large Cloudflare and password supervisor maker 1Password mentioned hackers briefly focused their methods following a latest breach of Okta’s help unit. Both Cloudflare and 1Password mentioned their intrusions have been linked to the hack of Okta, the id and entry administration platform, however that the incidents didn’t have an effect on buyer methods or consumer information.
Carta fights again: In an try at injury management, Henry Ward, the CEO of the fairness administration startup Carta, this week emailed clients, telling them that in the event that they’re involved about “negative press” tied to the outfit, they need to learn a latest Medium publish of his. In the publish, Ward outlines conversations he’s had with Carta staff about quite a few tales surrounding the firm, together with tales about lawsuits round allegations of sexual abuse on the a part of executives, a poisonous “boy’s club culture” and indecent publicity, amongst different issues.
FTX execs possible escape jail: Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of failed crypto trade FTX; Caroline Ellison, CEO of Alameda, FTX’s sister firm; and Nishad Singh, FTX head of engineering, have all pleaded responsible to costs after the trade and Alameda’s dramatic downfall in November 2022. But an ex-Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor, talking to Ztoog’s blockchain reporter Jacquelyn Melinek, says that Ellison, Wang and Singh most likely gained’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 first EV to win the longest off-road competitors in the U.S., the Rebelle Rally. The race — now in its eighth 12 months — requires groups to full a 2,120-kilometer course utilizing solely paper maps, compasses and plotters, Kirsten writes.
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Looking for background listening materials as you make costume alterations, paint pumpkins and restock the sweet jar? Ztoog has you lined — as at all times.
On Equity, the crew lined a few offers of the week, together with information from I Own My Data and AgentSync. Other big-ticket gadgets included Carta’s comms snafu, the latest roadblock for Cruise driverless taxis (and why Waymo seems to be profitable) and notes on Alphabet’s and Microsoft’s latest earnings.
Found spoke with Jonas Torland from 7Analytics, a Norwegian firm that’s constructed a information platform that powers instruments and merchandise for sustainable threat administration. Their fashions predict the paths of floodwaters, which permit them to predict and map the injury that outcomes.
And Chain Reaction interviewed Josh Naftalis, accomplice at legislation agency Pallas Partners. Naftalis is a longtime legal professional who represents firms, boards and executives in circumstances for white-collar prison 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 already know should you’re already a subscriber. If you’re not, take into account signing up. Here are a few highlights from this week:
Spam gets 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 a image of what may be taking place of their targets’ lives.
AI-boosted advertisements: Alex and Anna write that Big Tech corporations with huge attain have been raking in huge advert bucks, currently — notably these with AI chops, which has made their skill to pull in promoting {dollars} even stronger.
Seed offers turn out to be dear: Why are seed offers so costly nowadays? Alex writes that fast development is to blame; late-stage offers have gotten rarer and smaller and cheaper right now, conversely.