Mozilla acquires Pulse, which made an automated status updater for Slack before shuttering, and plans to use its ML tech to improve personalization in Pocket (Paul Sawers/TechCrunch)

Carly Page / TechCrunch:
Google says Barcelona-based spyware vendor Variston planted spyware by exploiting zero-day flaws in Chrome, Firefox, and Windows between 2018 and 2022  —  A Barcelona-based company that bills itself as a custom security solutions provider exploited several zero-day vulnerabilities in Windows …

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google announces new shopping features in the US, including a display of products with complementary pieces, 3D images, trending items, and more personalization  —  At its Search On event this afternoon, Google announced a number of shopping-related changes and new features across areas …

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
Podcast app Pocket Casts, which WordPress parent company Automattic acquired in July 2021, releases its mobile clients on GitHub under an open-source license  —  Popular podcast platform Pocket Casts has released its mobile clients under an open source license.

Joseph Menn / Washington Post:
Mozilla’s Firefox and Microsoft’s Edge plan to stop trusting new certificates from TrustCor, after a report revealed TrustCor’s ties to a US defense contractor  —  TrustCor Systems is what’s known as a root certifcate authority, a key position in the internet infrastructure that guarantees a website is genuine

Amir Shevat / TechCrunch:
Former product head of Twitter’s developer platform details plans abandoned post-acquisition, like discovery tools and custom timelines, eroding developer trust  —  Twitter is where the world shares its opinions and aspirations; it’s where brands, celebrities, and politicians interact with people, live and in the open.

Paul Sawers / TechCrunch:
London-based private equity firm Cinven plans to buy Iowa-based TaxAct, which makes online tax software, for ~$720M; Cinven has made five acquisitions in 2022  —  London-based private equity firm Cinven has announced plans to acquire online tax preparation software provider TaxAct in an all-cash deal worth around $720 million.