Welcome back to Week in Review. This week we bring you news of Mozilla’s latest layoffs, Perplexity’s offer to cross the picket line, and Apple warning investors it may never get past the iPhone. Let’s get into it.
The Mozilla Foundation laid off 30%. This is the Firefox browser maker’s second layoff of employees this year. Executive director Nabiha Syed confirmed that the foundation’s two main divisions – advocacy and global programs – are “no longer part of our structure”. Brandon Borrman, Mozilla’s head of communications, told TechCrunch that advocacy “is still a core tenet of the company’s work,” but did not provide specifics.
Anduril is considering building The first major manufacturing plant is a 5 million-square-foot facility known as “Arsenal-1” in Arizona, Ohio or Texas, following a $1.5 billion investment, according to a person familiar with the matter. When TechCrunch asked an Anduril spokeswoman whether the defense technology company is currently choosing one of three locations for its plant, she responded, “That’s wrong,” but didn’t specify exactly what went wrong.
Video game giant Activision fixes It said a bug in its anti-cheat system affected “a small number of legitimate player accounts” who were banned. But according to the hackers who discovered the bug and exploited it, they were able to ban “thousands” of Call of Duty players who were framed as cheaters. The hackers spoke to TechCrunch about the attack and gave their side of the story.
This is TechCrunch’s Week in Review, a recap of the week’s biggest news. Want a newsletter delivered to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.
tidings
Embarrassment crosses the picket lines. Perplexity CEO Aravind Srinivas offered to provide the AI company’s services to cushion the impact of a strike by New York Times tech workers, resulting in many X users accusing Srinivas of acting as a scab. read more
NVIDIA takes first place: Nvidia has surpassed Apple’s market capitalization and has become the world’s largest company. At market close earlier this week, Nvidia was valued at $3.43 trillion, surpassing Apple’s $3.38 trillion. read more
Can Apple surpass the iPhone? Apple is warning investors that its new and future products may never be as profitable as the iPhone. The reveal comes as the company pursues AI technology and mixed reality headsets like the Apple Vision Pro. read more
Bowery Farming is closing: An agtech unicorn known for building vertical farms capable of producing crops is shutting down. The company made several rounds of layoffs in 2023, most recently in 2021, valuing the company at $2 billion. read more
Review of ChatGPT Search: OpenAI launched its highly anticipated search product, ChatGPT Search, last week. But is this really the much-hyped ‘Google killer’? TechCrunch’s Maxwell Zeff doesn’t think that will happen just yet. read more
Invest in “AI-based parenting”: Can AI help you become a better parent? Justine Moore, partner at Andreessen Horowitz, introduced the firm’s new investment thesis for read more
BP axis 18 hydrogen projects: In a 32-page earnings report, oil and gas giant BP said it had halted 18 early-stage hydrogen projects. This is a move that could have a chilling effect on the nascent hydrogen industry. read more
Infinite Minecraft: AI company Decart has released its first playable “open world” AI model. This model, called Oasis, supports Minecraft-like games that generate frames in real time and simulate physics, rules, and graphics on the fly. read more
Canada is paying attention to TikTok. Canada has ordered the closure of ByteDance’s operations in Canada, specifically the offices of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc., citing national security risks. However, Canadians can still download and use TikTok. read more
Don’t use Instagram until you’re 16: Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced plans to ban children under 16 from social media without parental consent. If passed, it would be the strictest social media ban on teenagers globally. read more
Deleting the GPT will make things cleaner. OpenAI acquired Chat.com and now redirects to ChatGPT. Last year, HubSpot co-founder and CTO Dharmesh Shah acquired the domain for a reported $15.5 million, making it one of the top two publicly reported domain sales of all time. read more
analyze
What Trump’s victory means for Elon Musk: The billionaire CEO has tilted sharply to the right in this election to support President-elect Donald Trump, using his vast wealth, influence and megaphone to influence the outcome of the election. Many predicted there would be conflict between the two titans before Trump’s term ends, but as Rebecca Bellan and Aria Alamalhodaei write, Musk’s role in the presidency is the most important example of how a businessman helped shape Trump’s term. It can be one of: Policies and regulations that govern your own business. read more
