Hello, everyone, and welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter recapping the week in tech. Normally, the period between Christmas and New Year tends to make people sleepy, but that’s not the case in 2023. Fortunately, TC staff were on hand to document what happened.
This issue of WiR highlights Brian’s review of the new Amazon Echo Frames, MrBeast’s bizarre TV-like game show, the Apple Watch US ban, and the expected release date of the Apple Vision Pro. We’ve also reported on the reported closure of the Hyperloop, Xiaomi’s first electric car, the New York Times suing OpenAI, and the hacks of CBS and Paramount parent companies.
There’s a lot to do, so we’ll jump through 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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New echo framework: Brian tested Amazon’s new and improved Echo Frame, which features upgraded sound and a 14-hour battery. He found the AR sunglasses to be lacking compared to the Ray-Ban Metas, especially considering the $270 price tag (currently discounted to $200).
Mr. Beast jumps over the shark: Amanda writes MrBeast, the bizarre new reality show in which two contestants agree to live together in a bright, asylum-like room for 100 days in exchange for $185,000 each bonus. What’s interesting about this experience, she says, is that it’s emblematic of the trade-off that has become the norm on social media: If you endure pain for the sake of content, you might be able to pay off your debt.
Apple Watch Banned — And Then Not: The latest U.S. import ban on the Apple Watch, which focuses on a pair of pulse oximeter sensor trademarks held by health tech company Masimo, remains mostly unchanged after the Biden administration refused to overturn an earlier ruling by the International Trade Commission. . But then an appeals court issued a stay, allowing Apple to resume sales of Apple Watch Series 9 and Ultra 2 — at least temporarily.
Vision Pro, coming soon: In more Apple news, prominent analyst Ming-Chi Kuo has narrowed down the date he believes the Vision Pro, Apple’s highly anticipated AR head-up display, will be released in late January or early February. Kuo Ming-chi said that the first batch of Vision Pro will be shipped to Apple in about a month, with total shipments for the year being about 500,000 units.
Hyperloop One crashes and burns: One of the longest-running hyperloop startups is reportedly closing its doors. Sean writes that Hyperloop One, once backed by Richard Branson’s Virgin Group, will cease operations on December 31. It’s the tech industry’s latest attempt to bring to life an idea first proposed by Elon Musk in a white paper in 2013, after Hyperloop One raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars since its founding in 2014.
Xiaomi releases cars: Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi has unveiled its first electric car: a sharp-looking sedan called the SU7. It’s expected to launch in China next year, another entry into an increasingly crowded market for electric vehicles and an attempt in a software-obsessed world to match the technology people find in their phones with what’s inside their cars.
The New York Times reports on OpenAI: The New York Times is suing OpenAI and its close collaborator (and investor) Microsoft, accusing it of violating copyright law by training an artificial intelligence model based on content from The New York Times. Whether the lawsuit will succeed is an open question, but it highlights a growing conflict between content creators and vendors who use their work to train and commercialize the technology that generates artificial intelligence.
National Entertainment Corporation was hacked: National Amusements, the parent company of theater chain, media giant Paramount and CBS, confirmed that it experienced a data breach in December in which hackers stole the personal information of tens of thousands of people. Details of the breach only came to light a year after the incident; the company began notifying those affected earlier this month.
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Need listening materials as you prepare for a wonderful new year? TC is here for you as always.
this fair “Crew” bids farewell to 2023 with its annual prediction show. As they try to do every year, the hosts invited a number of voices to talk about startup trends, media, proptech, artificial intelligence, and transportation—and reviewed their predictions from last year.
In Found, Dom and Becca analyze startups in 2023 by looking back at some of their favorite conversations and looking ahead to some startup trends in 2024. They talk about innovative climate tech companies, AI ethics and funding, building great founder relationships, and what will startups look like next year?
On Chain Reaction , Jacqueline remixes an episode from earlier this year — which included an interview with Boys Club co-founders Deanna Burke and Natasha Hoskins. Boys Club is a social decentralized autonomous organization for “crypto-curious people” that was originally designed to bring women and non-binary people into the web3 world, but now aims to be open to anyone who wants to enter the industry space.
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TC+ subscribers get access to in-depth commentary, analysis, and investigations—if you’re already a subscriber, you know this. If you’re not, consider signing up. Here are some highlights from the week:
Investors share their predictions: Rebecca asked more than 40 venture capital firms when they expect the next venture bubble to burst next year, which new startups will IPO first, and whether they expect to see more new startups in 2024 than in the past few years. Companies fail—and so on.
Diversity Commitment: Dom examines venture capital firms that have made diversity, equity, and inclusion commitments in the wake of the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests. So who delivers on that promise? Please read carefully to find out.
Investor Survey Summary: Callan has compiled a curated list of this year’s timely TC Investor Surveys. They cover topics including alternative proteins, the robotics revolution, the collapse of Silicon Valley banks and the future of electricity.
