Hiya, ghouls and goblins, and welcome to this Halloween Weekend version of Week in Evaluation (WiR), TechCrunch’s weekly tech recap in e-newsletter 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 selecting. Might all of us benefit from it.

On this problem of WiR, we cowl the California DMV suspending Cruise’s robotaxi allow, doing bills in VR, the Apple Watch’s greatest new function going dwell and an e-commerce startup based by an ex-PayPal exec that goals to present prospects extra management over their buying information. Elsewhere, we highlight the victims of Okta’s newest hack, Carta’s CEO making an attempt to move off dangerous press, the newest from the FTX trial and Rivian profitable the longest off-road competitors within the U.S.

It’s lots to get by, so let’s not delay. However first, a reminder to enroll right here to obtain WiR in your inbox each Saturday in the event you haven’t already accomplished so.

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Cruising no extra: The California Division of Motor Autos on Tuesday suspended Cruise’s deployment and driverless testing permits, ending the GM self-driving automobile subsidiary’s robotaxi operations in San Francisco. Subsequently, Cruise introduced that it will pause all of its robotaxi operations, together with in Austin, Houston, Phoenix and Miami, to “rebuild public belief.”

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 “nonetheless sucks tremendous laborious in VR,” Darrell writes — however surprisingly, Concur didn’t suck any greater than it does in additional standard computing environments, and he truly loved doing many of the associated, “regular laptop” issues on Quest 3.

Double faucet that: With this week’s watchOS 10.1 drop, Apple Watch Sequence 9 and Apple Watch Extremely 2 homeowners now have entry to one of many smartwatches’ extra thrilling options. Double Faucet, which provides gesture-based interactions by tapping one’s index finger and thumb collectively twice, is a intelligent new technique to work together with the wearable when your different hand is full, Brian writes.

Retail your means: Mary Ann writes about I Personal My Information (IOMD), a startup based by an ex-PayPal exec aiming to get rid of 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 personal data, akin to previous purchases, playing cards, addresses and preferences, are saved on their very own gadget — so transactions could be accomplished immediately with a click on, faucet or contact wherever on the net.

Okta hack fallout: Community and safety large Cloudflare and password supervisor maker 1Password stated hackers briefly focused their programs following a current breach of Okta’s help unit. Each Cloudflare and 1Password stated their intrusions had been linked to the hack of Okta, the id and entry administration platform, however that the incidents didn’t have an effect on buyer programs 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 prospects, telling them that in the event that they’re involved about “unfavourable press” tied to the outfit, they need to learn a current Medium publish of his. Within the publish, Ward outlines conversations he’s had with Carta staff about quite a few tales surrounding the corporate, together with tales about lawsuits round allegations of sexual abuse on the a part of executives, a poisonous “boy’s membership tradition” and indecent publicity, amongst different issues.

FTX execs probably escape jail: Gary Wang, co-founder and CTO of failed crypto change 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 change and Alameda’s dramatic downfall in November 2022. However an ex-Southern District of New York (SDNY) prosecutor, talking to TechCrunch’s blockchain reporter Jacquelyn Melinek, says that Ellison, Wang and Singh in all probability received’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 primary EV to win the longest off-road competitors within the U.S., the Rebelle Rally. The race — now in its eighth yr — requires groups to finish a 2,120-kilometer course utilizing solely paper maps, compasses and plotters, Kirsten writes.

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On the lookout for background listening materials as you make costume alterations, paint pumpkins and restock the sweet jar? TechCrunch has you lined — as at all times.

On Fairness, the crew lined just a few offers of the week, together with information from I Personal My Information and AgentSync. Different big-ticket gadgets included Carta’s comms snafu, the current roadblock for Cruise driverless taxis (and why Waymo seems to be profitable) and notes on Alphabet’s and Microsoft’s current earnings.

Discovered spoke with Jonas Torland from 7Analytics, a Norwegian firm that’s constructed a knowledge platform that powers instruments and merchandise for sustainable danger administration. Their fashions predict the paths of floodwaters, which permit them to foretell and map the injury that outcomes.

And Chain Response interviewed Josh Naftalis, companion at regulation agency Pallas Companions. Naftalis is a longtime lawyer who represents firms, boards and executives in instances for white-collar prison protection, regulatory enforcement issues, inside investigations, disaster administration and extra.

TechCrunch+

TC+ subscribers get entry to in-depth commentary, evaluation and surveys — which you already know in the event you’re already a subscriber. For those who’re not, take into account signing up. Listed below are just a few highlights from this week:

Spam will get 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 an image of what is perhaps occurring of their targets’ lives.

AI-boosted advertisements: Alex and Anna write that Huge Tech corporations with massive attain have been raking in massive advert bucks, these days — notably these with AI chops, which has made their means to drag in promoting {dollars} even stronger.

Seed offers grow to be expensive: Why are seed offers so costly lately? Alex writes that fast progress is guilty; late-stage offers have gotten rarer and smaller and cheaper right now, conversely.