CES 2024 preview, 23andMe victim blaming, and MIT’s anti-obesity drug

Hello, welcome to TechCrunch’s Weekly Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter, a recap of the week’s tech happenings. Hope the holidays are peaceful for those who observe them. We here at TC are preparing for next week’s CES event in Las Vegas, and as always, keeping an eye on the news cycle.

In this edition of WiR, we focus on Brian’s CES 2024 preview, 23andMe blaming victims for a data breach, GitHub making Copilot Chat generally available, and Frontdesk firing its entire staff. Other products on the agenda are spider and body butters, Fidelity lowering the X’s valuation, Meta lowering the price of the Quest 2 and an MIT scientist’s vibration diet pill.

There’s a lot to do, so we won’t procrastinate. 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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CES 2024: Brian provides a comprehensive summary of what to expect from CES 2024, including but not limited to generative artificial intelligence, robotics, TVs, cars, smartphones, and health tech. He wrote that he was optimistic about the show as a whole, especially given the consumer electronics industry’s shift toward more decentralized manufacturing and the quality of startup pitches so far.

Your fault, not ours: Facing more than 30 lawsuits filed by victims of data breaches involving some 6.9 million customers, 23andMe is now shirking responsibility and trying to absolve itself of any responsibility. The genetic testing company said in a letter that users “negligently recalled and failed to update their passwords following these past security incidents, which are unrelated to 23andMe.”

Co-pilot chat starts: GitHub has launched Copilot Chat, a programming-centric chatbot similar to ChatGPT that is open to all paying Copilot users and free for verified teachers, students, and maintainers of certain open source projects. The chatbot is powered by GPT-4, OpenAI’s flagship generative artificial intelligence model, and is fine-tuned specifically for development scenarios.

Front desk crash: Frontdesk, a startup that manages more than 1,000 furnished apartments in the United States, laid off all 200 of its employees on Tuesday after failing to raise more funding, writes Mary Ann. According to TechCrunch’s sources, Frontdesk CEO Jesse DePinto said that Frontdesk will file for state receivership as an alternative to bankruptcy.

Spider and body butter: Sol de Janeiro’s Delícia Drench body butter has gone viral on social media, with users claiming they’ve been chased, bitten and (unsuccessfully) wooed by tarantulas while using it because it allegedly contains what spiders think Chemicals that cause sexual arousal. But Sol de Janeiro and independent experts told TechCrunch that these rumors are baseless.

X’s valuation falls. . . again: Mutual fund company Fidelity has cut its investment in X Holdings, the parent company of X (formerly known as Twitter), by 71.5% from its original stock valuation, Ivan reported. Back in October 2022, Fidelity spent $19.2 million to acquire X’s shares.

Task 2 Discount: A few months after Meta launched the Quest 3, the company dropped the price of the VR headset’s predecessor, the Quest 2, by $50. The 128GB version is down from $299 to $249, the 256GB version is down from $349 to $299, and there are plenty of accessories on sale.

Vibration eliminates fat: Brian writes about the MIT team’s new anti-obesity pill-like vibrating capsules, which are designed to send signals to the brain to simulate feelings of fullness. Early tests are promising — giving animals the pill 20 minutes before eating reduces intake by about 40 percent — but the capsules are still a long way from human trials.

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Need a new podcast to fill your rotation? Don’t panic—TechCrunch has the answer for you.

in a retro plot fairMorgan spoke at TechCrunch Disrupt 2023 with Shruti Dwivedi, co-founder and CEO of health tech startup Duly, which is focused on simplifying and personalizing birth control for young women in India and beyond. The two talked about the stigma and cultural barriers around contraception. The right faces and what’s next for the startup.

at the same time, established go to australia rebecca who Interviewed Alex Zaccaria, co-founder and CEO of Linktree Australia. The two discuss how the startup is expanding its freemium model to grow its now-large social media reference landing page business.

continue chain reactionAs expectations build, Jacquelyn dives into the latest developments in U.S. spot Bitcoin ETF adoption. Fred Thiel, CEO of Marathon Digital Holdings, a digital asset technology company and the largest publicly traded Bitcoin mining company, joins the show to talk about cryptocurrency stores.

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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:

Another so-called cool superconductor: Tim tells the story of the latest team of scientists who claim to have discovered a near-room temperature superconductor. He is not convinced that the paper, which has not been peer-reviewed, will stand up to scientific scrutiny; time will tell.

Cryptocurrency losses drop: Jacquelyn wrote that while malicious actors continue to attack the crypto industry to obtain cash, the amount has dropped significantly by 51% compared to the previous year.

Upcoming Copyright Challenges: When news broke last year of a financial deal and partnership between artificial intelligence heavyweights OpenAI and Axel Springer, it seemed like a sign of harmony between the people who write words and the tech companies that use them to help create and train artificial intelligence models. Omen. But Alex thinks that maybe that’s not the case.