The fallout from HPs Humane acquisition
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Welcome back to Week in Review. This week were looking at the internal chaos surrounding HPs $116 million acquisition of AI Pin maker Humane; Mira Muratis new AI venture coming out of stealth; Duolingo killing its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck; and more! Lets get into it.Humanes AI pin is dead. The hardware startup announced that most of its assets have been acquired by HP for $116 million, less than half of the $240 million it raised in VC funding. The startup will immediately discontinue sales of its $499 AI Pins, and after February 28, the wearable will no longer connect to Humanes servers. After that, the devices wont be capable of calling, messaging, AI queries/responses, or cloud access. Customers who bought an AI Pin in the last 90 days are eligible for a refund, but anyone who bought a device before then is not.Hours after the HP acquisition was announced, several Humane employees received job offers from HP with pay increases between 30% and 70%, plus HP stock and bonus plans, according to internal documents seen by TechCrunch and two sources who requested anonymity. Meanwhile, other Humane employees especially those who worked closer to the AI Pin devices were notified they were out of a job.Apples long-awaited iPhone SE refresh has been revealed, three years after the last major update to the budget-minded smartphone. The 16e is part of an exclusive group of handsets capable of running Apple Intelligence due to the addition of an A18 processor. The iPhone 16e also ditched the Touch ID home button in favor of Face ID and swapped out the Lightning port in favor of USB-C. The iPhone 6e starts at $599 and will begin shipping February 28.This is TechCrunchs Week in Review, where we recap the weeks biggest news. Want this delivered as a newsletter to your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here.NewsImage Credits:Duolingo (opens in a new window)RIP, Duo: Duolingo killed its iconic owl mascot with a Cybertruck, and the marketing stunt is going surprisingly well. The company launched a campaign to save Duo and encourage users to do more lessons as the company says its Duo or die. Read moreOpenAI uncensors ChatGPT: OpenAI no longer wants ChatGPT to take an editorial stance, even if some users find it morally wrong or offensive. That means ChatGPT will now offer multiple perspectives on controversial subjects in an effort to be neutral. Read moreUber vs. DoorDash: Uber is suing DoorDash, accusing its delivery rival of stifling competition by intimidating restaurant owners into exclusive deals. 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Read moreNoise-canceling headphones could hurt your brain: A new BBC report considers whether noise-canceling tech might be rewiring the brains of people who use it to tune out pesky background noise and could lead to the brain forgetting how to filter sounds itself. Read moreAnalysisImage Credits:Sean O'Kane / TechCrunchAn exhaustive look at the DOGE universe: The dozens of individuals who work under, or advise, Elon Musk and DOGE are a real-life illustration of Musks weblike reach in the tech industry. TechCrunch has unveiled the major players in the DOGE universe, from Musks inner circle to senior figures, worker bees, and aides some of whom are advising and recruiting for DOGE. We highlight both the connections between them and how they entered Musks orbit. Read more
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