In this week’s TechCrunch Week in Review, several major developments in the tech industry were highlighted, including significant announcements from Nvidia’s GTC, the return of NASA astronauts to Earth, Rippling’s legal actions, and Google’s acquisition of Wiz.
Google made headlines by confirming its largest acquisition ever, purchasing Wiz for $32 billion. This strategic move is intended to enhance Google’s “multicloud” offerings, ensuring Wiz remains a versatile platform. Initially, Google had proposed $23 billion to acquire Wiz last year.
Elon Musk’s company, xAI, acquired Hotshot, a startup focused on AI-powered video-generation tools. This acquisition suggests xAI’s intentions to develop its own video-generation models to rival competitors like OpenAI’s Sora and Google’s Veo 2.
At Nvidia’s prominent annual conference, several key announcements were made, including the introduction of two personal AI supercomputers, a foundational model for humanoid robots called Groot N1, and new GPUs such as Blackwell Ultra, Vera Rubin, and Feynman.
Rippling, an HR company, has filed a lawsuit against Deel, citing allegations such as racketeering, misappropriation of trade secrets, and unfair competition. Deel has denied the claims made against it.
NASA astronauts Sunita “Suni” Williams and Barry “Butch” Wilmore successfully returned to Earth, landing in the Gulf of Mexico via a SpaceX Dragon capsule after a substantial stay on the International Space Station.
Google unveiled its new Pixel 9a smartphone, priced at $499, featuring an improved display and redesigned appearance, notably removing the camera bar.
The Pennsylvania State Education Association reported a data breach, with hackers accessing the sensitive information of over 500,000 members, including account numbers and security codes.
A high school student developed a website, Minecraft Bench (MC-Bench), which compares the building capabilities of different AI models within the Minecraft game.
Google is altering its email search functionality in Gmail, employing AI to organize emails by relevance instead of a simple chronological order. Users can toggle between “Most relevant” and “Most recent” emails during searches.
Norwegian robotics firm 1X announced plans to test its humanoid robot, Neo Gamma, in numerous homes by year-end, highlighting the growing interest in home-use humanoid robots.
Nvidia assured GTC attendees and the broader audience of continued demand for its chips, despite facing challenges such as U.S. tariffs and varying priorities from AI customers.
Wayve, an autonomous vehicle startup, is preparing to license its self-driving software to automotive and fleet partners, including Uber, as shared by co-founder and CEO Alex Kendall.
