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Welcome, folks, to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch\u2019s regular newsletter covering this week\u2019s noteworthy happenings in tech.<\/p>\n
TikTok\u2019s fate in the U.S. looks uncertain<\/a> after President Joe Biden signed a bill that included a deadline for ByteDance, TikTok\u2019s parent company, to divest itself of TikTok within nine months or face a ban on distributing it in the U.S. Ivan writes about how the impact of TikTok bans in other countries<\/a> could signal what\u2019s to come stateside.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, fallout from the Change Healthcare hack continues. Change, a subsidiary of health insurance giant UnitedHealth, confirmed<\/a> this week that the ransomware attack targeting it earlier this year resulted in a huge theft of Americans\u2019 private health info, possibly covering \u201ca substantial proportion\u201d of Americans.<\/p>\n And Tesla profits dropped 55% as the EV company contends with increased pressure from hybrid carmakers. The automaker\u2019s growth plan is centered around mysterious cheaper EVs<\/a> scheduled to launch next year \u2014 as well as perhaps a robotaxi<\/a>. But a recall on the Cybertruck<\/a> for faulty accelerator pedals certainly won\u2019t help in the interim.<\/p>\n Lots else happened. We recap it all in this edition of WiR \u2014 but first, a reminder to\u00a0sign up<\/a>\u00a0to receive the WiR newsletter in your inbox every Saturday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Amazon grocery plan: <\/strong><\/a>Amazon launched a new unlimited grocery delivery subscription in the U.S. The plan, which costs $9.99 per month for Amazon Prime users, comes with free deliveries for grocery orders over $35 across Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and other local grocery retailers.<\/p>\n California drones grounded:<\/strong><\/a> In more Amazon news, the tech giant confirmed that it\u2019s ending Prime Air drone delivery operations in Lockeford, California. The Central California town of 3,500 was the company\u2019s second U.S. drone delivery site after College Station, Texas; Amazon didn\u2019t offer any details around the setback.<\/p>\n Fisker plans layoffs:<\/strong><\/a> Fisker says it\u2019s planning more layoffs less than two months after\u00a0cutting 15% of its workforce<\/a>, as the EV startup scrambles to raise cash to stay alive. Fisker expects to seek bankruptcy protection within the next 30 days if it can\u2019t come up with the money.<\/p>\n Stripe expansion:<\/strong><\/a> Among a slew of other announcements at its Sessions conference in San Francisco, Stripe said that it\u2019ll be de-coupling payments from the rest of its financial services stack. Given that Stripe previously required businesses to be payments customers in order to use any of its other products, that\u2019s a big change.<\/p>\n Rabbit hands on<\/a>:\u00a0<\/strong>Brian writes about the R1, the first gizmo from AI startup R1. The $199 price point, touchscreen and funky aesthetic from storied design firm Teenage Engineering make the R1 far more accessible than Humane\u2019s Ai Pin<\/a>, he concludes.<\/p>\n Lab-grown diamonds:<\/strong><\/a> Pascal, an Andreessen Horowitz-backed startup, claims it can make high-end jewelry accessible by using lab-grown diamonds chemically and physically akin to natural diamonds but that cost one-twentieth of the price.<\/p>\n AI poetry: <\/strong><\/a>An experiment called the Poetry Camera<\/a> \u2014 an actual, physical camera \u2014 combines open source technology with playful design and artistic vision. Instead of merely capturing images, the Poetry Camera arranges thought-provoking, AI-generated stanzas based on the visuals it encounters.<\/p>\nNews<\/h2>\n
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