Technology
Google is laying off employees, Tesla is canning its Supercharger team, and UnitedHealthcare is revealing security vulnerabilities

Welcome to Week in Review (WiR), TechCrunch’s regular newsletter summarizing the week in technology. This release is a bit bittersweet for me – it would be my last (a minimum of for some time). I’ll soon be shifting my focus to a brand new AI newsletter that I’m very enthusiastic about. Stay tuned for further information!
Now, let’s get to the news: This week, Google laid off employees from its Flutter, Dart, and Python teams just weeks before its annual I/O developer conference. In total, 200 people from Google’s “core” teams were laid off, including people working on application platforms and other engineering roles.
Elsewhere, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has gutted the corporate’s team answerable for overseeing its supercharger station network in a brand new round of layoffs – despite recently bringing in major automakers like Ford and General Motors. The cuts are so complete that Musk suggested in an email that they might force Tesla to slow the rollout of its Supercharger network.
UnitedHealthcare CEO Andrew Witty told a House subcommittee that the ransomware gang that breached US health tech giant Change Healthcare – a subsidiary of UnitedHealthcare – used a set of stolen credentials to realize access to Change Healthcare systems that didn’t were protected by multi-factor authentication. Last week, UnitedHealthcare reported that hackers had stolen health data for “a significant portion of people in America.”
Many other things happened. We sum all of it up on this issue of WiR – but first, let’s remind you to enroll in the WiR newsletter every Saturday.
News
Hallucinations, hallucinations: OpenAI faces one other privacy grievance within the EU. This one – filed by a nonprofit privacy rights organization night on behalf of a person complainant – targets the shortcoming of the AI-powered ChatGPT chatbot to correct misinformation about individuals that it generates.
Just get out… of Sam’s Club: Sam’s Club customers who pay on the register or via the Scan & Go mobile app can now leave the shop without having to double-check their purchases. Technology, exposed at January’s Consumer Electronics Show, it has already been implemented in 20% of Sam’s Club locations.
TikTok bypasses Apple’s rules: TikTok provides some users with a link to a web site where they should purchase coins used to tip digital creators on the platform. Typically, these coins have to be purchased via an in-app purchase – which requires a 30% commission paid to Apple – suggesting that TikTok could also be attempting to bypass Apple’s App Store rules.
NIST’s GenAI Platform: The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), an agency of the U.S. Department of Commerce that develops and tests technologies for the U.S. government, businesses and most people, has launched NIST GenAI, a brand new program to judge generative artificial intelligence technologies, including text-based technologies and artificial image generating intelligence.
Getir draws out: Getir, the fast-trading giant, has withdrawn from the US, UK and Europe to deal with Turkey, its home country. The company – once valued at nearly $12 billion – said the move would impact hundreds of salaried and full-time employees.
Analysis
About Techstars’ Cold War: Dom’s stellar reporting pulls back the curtain on a 12 months of monetary losses and staff cuts at startup accelerator Techstars, whose CEO, Maëlle Gavet, has been a controversial force for change.
AI-based coding: Yours is really taking a look at Copilot Workspace, which is kind of an evolution of GitHub’s AI-powered coding assistant Copilot right into a more general tool — constructing on recently introduced features like Copilot Chat, which allows developers to ask questions on their code in natural language.
Technology
Lime scooter and Ebike batteries will be recycled by Redwood Materials

The joint company Micromobility Lime has reached an agreement on sending batteries utilized in scooters and electronic bikes to Sewoi materials that extract and recycle critical minerals, comparable to lithium, cobalt, nickel and copper.
The agreement announced on Monday makes Redwood Materials the only real battery recycling partner for common scooters and e-bike bikes situated in cities within the United States, Germany and the Netherlands. The contract doesn’t cover every region where lime worksAn inventory covering cities throughout Europe, Asia and Australia.
In Lime up to now he had other recycling partnerships, especially with Sprout through his suppliers. However, for the primary time, the joint company Micromobility had direct relations with battery recycling in North America, which might directly process the fabric for recovery and returns it to the availability chain.
Redwood Materials, The Carson City, Startup from Nevada founded by the previous CFO Tesla JB Straubel, will get better battery materials when they can’t be used. After recovering and recycling, the materials will be re -introduced within the battery production process. This production system of a closed loop-which can reduce the demand for extraction and refining of minerals-is on the Redwood Materials business center.
The effort can also be consistent with its own goals of limestone sustainable development. Lime is geared toward decarbonization of operations by 2030. The company has made progress in reducing the range 1, 2 and 3 of emissions by 59.5% in five years of basic years 2019. Wapno plans to report the outcomes of carbon dioxide emissions 2024 in May.
“This cooperation means significant progress in the establishment of a more round supply chain, helping our batteries not only to recycled responsibly after reaching the end of their lives, but that their materials are returned to the battery supply chain,” said Andrew Savage, vice chairman for balanced development in Lime.
Lime also has partnerships from Gomi in Great Britain and Voltr in France and other European countries to gather these live battery cells for “Second Life” applications, including, amongst others, in the sphere of consumer electronics, comparable to portable speakers and battery packages.
Redwood Materials has contracts with other micromobility corporations, including Lyft, RAD Power Bikes and bicycle batteries and scooters specialized in recycling. Redwood, which collected over $ 2 billion in private funds, announced at first of this month, opened the research and development center in San Francisco.
(Tagstranslat) ebikes
Technology
The Legal Defense Fund withdraws from the META civil law advisory group over Dei Rolback

On April 11, the Legal Defense Fund announced that he was leaving the external advisory council for civil rights regarding the fear that the changes in technology company introduced diversity, own capital, inclusion and availability in January.
According to those changes that some perceived as the capitulation of meta against the upcoming Trump administration, contributed to their decision To leave the advisory council of the technology company.
In January, LDF, along with several other organizations of civil rights, which were a part of the board, sent a letter to Marek Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, outlining their fears As for a way changes would negatively affect users.
“We are shocked and disappointed that the finish has not consulted with this group or its members, considering these significant changes in its content policy. Non -compliance with even its own advisory group of experts on external civil rights shows a cynical disregard for its diverse users base and undermines the commitment of the meta in the field of freedom of speech with which he claims to” return “.
They closed the letter, hoping that the finish would recommend the ideals of freedom of speech: “If the finish really wants to recommend freedom of speech, he must commit to freedom of speech for all his services. As an advisory group from external civil rights, we offer our advice and knowledge in creating a better path.”
These fears increased only in the next months, culminating in one other list, which from the LDF director, Todd A. Cox, who indicated that the organization withdraws its membership from the META civil law advisory council.
“I am deeply disturbed and disappointed with the announcement of Medical on January 7, 2025, with irresponsible changes in content moderation policies on platforms, which are a serious risk for the health and safety of black communities and risk that they destabilize our republic,” Cox wrote.
He continued: “For almost a decade, the NACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. (LDF) has invested a lot of time and resources, working with META as part of the informal committee advising the company in matters of civil rights. However, the finish introduced these changes in the policy of the content modification without consulting this group, and many changes directly with the guidelines from the guidelines from LDF and partners. LD can no longer participate in the scope. ” Advisory Committee for Rights “
In a separate but related LDF list, it clearly resembled a finish about the actual obligations of the Citizens’ Rights Act of 1964 and other provisions regarding discrimination in the workplace, versus the false statements of the Trump administration, that diversity, justice and initiative to incorporate discriminates against white Americans.
“While the finish has modified its policy, its obligations arising from federal regulations regarding civil rights remain unchanged. The title of VII of the Act on civic rights of 1964 and other regulations on civil rights prohibit discrimination in the workplace, including disconnecting treatment, principles in the workplace which have unfair disproportionate effects, and the hostile work environment. Also when it comes to inclusion, and access programs.
In the LDF press release, announcing each letters, Cox He called attention Metal insert into growing violence and division in the country’s social climate.
“LDF worked hard and in good faith with meta leadership and its consulting group for civil rights to ensure that the company’s workforce reflects the values and racial warehouses of the United States and to increase the security priorities of many different communities that use meta platforms,” said Cox. “Now we cannot support a company in good conscience that consciously takes steps in order to introduce changes in politics that supply further division and violence in the United States. We call the meta to reverse the course with these dangerous changes.”
(Tagstranslate) TODD A. COX (T) Legal Defense Fund (T) META (T) Diversity (T) Equality (T) inclusion
Technology
Students of young, talented and black yale collect $ 3 million on a new application

Nathaneo Johnson and Sean Hargrow, juniors from Yale University, collected $ 3 million in only 14 days to finance their startup, series, social application powered by AI, designed to support significant connections and challenge platforms, similar to LinkedIn and Instagram.
A duo that’s a co -host of the podcast A series of foundersHe created the application after recognizing the gap in the way in which digital platforms help people connect. SEries focuses moderately on facilitating authentic introductions than gathering likes, observing or involvement indicators.
“Social media is great for broadcasting, but it does not necessarily help you meet the right people at the right time,” said Johnson in an interview with Entrepreneur warehouse.
The series connects users through AI “friends” who communicate via IMessage and help to introduce. Users introduce specific needs-are on the lookout for co-founders, mentors, colleagues or investors-AI makes it easier to introduce based on mutual value. The concept attracts comparisons to LinkedIn, but with more personal experience.
“You publish photos on Instagram, publish movies on Tiktok and publish work posts on LinkedIn … And that’s where you have this microinfluuncer band,” Johnson added.
The application goals to avoid the superficial character of typical social platforms. Hargrow emphasized that although aesthetics often dominates on Instagram and the content virus drives tabktok, Number It is intentional, deliberate contacts.
“We are not trying to replace relationships in the real world-we are going to make it easier for people to find the right relationships,” said Hargrow.
Parable projects carried out before the seeded (*3*)Funding roundwhich included participation with Pear VC, DGB, VC, forty seventh Street, Radicle Impact, UNCASMON Projects and several famous Angels Investors, including the General Director of Reddit Steve Huffman and the founder of GPTZERO Edward Tian. Johnson called one meeting of investors “dinner for a million dollars”, reflecting how their pitch resonated with early supporters.
Although not the principal corporations, Johnson and Hargrow based pre-coreneuring through their podcast, through which they interviews the founders and leaders of C-Suite about less known elements of constructing the company-as accounting, business law and team formation.
Since the beginning of the series, over 32,000 messages between “friends” have been mentioned within the test phases. The initial goal of the application is the entrepreneurs market. Despite this, the founders hope to develop in finance, dating, education and health – ultimately striving to construct probably the most available warm network on the earth.
(Tagstranslate) VC (T) Yale (T) Venture Capital (T) Technology (T) APP
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