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Tech World Sees Setbacks for Adobe, Notepad++, and Crunchyroll Amidst AI Advancements
The tech landscape experienced a series of notable events this week, ranging from software shutdowns and security breaches to price hikes and the rise of AI-powered coding tools. Adobe announced it would discontinue sales of its 2D animation software, Adobe Animate, on March 1st, 2026, giving existing users one year to download their files, according to a FAQ posted on Adobe's website. Meanwhile, users of the text and code editor Notepad++ may have unknowingly downloaded a malicious update after the app's shared hosting servers were compromised between June and December 2025, according to the app's developer, Don Ho. In other news, the streaming service Crunchyroll raised its monthly subscription prices by up to 20 percent, weeks after eliminating its free tier.
The decision to discontinue Adobe Animate was attributed to the emergence of newer platforms that better serve user needs, according to Adobe. Emma Roth of The Verge reported that the software will no longer be available for purchase after the specified date.
In a separate incident, Notepad++ developer Don Ho revealed that the app's servers were hijacked for several months last year. Ho indicated that the hackers were likely a Chinese state-sponsored group, according to a post he made online. Stevie Bonifield of The Verge reported that users may have unknowingly downloaded a malicious update during the period of compromise.
Crunchyroll, a popular streaming platform for anime, increased its subscription prices after Sony's acquisition of the company from AT&T in 2020. Ars Technica reported that the price hike came shortly after the service eliminated its free tier, which allowed users to watch a limited number of titles with commercials. At the time of the acquisition, Crunchyroll had 3 million paid subscribers and 197 million users with free accounts.
On a more positive note, OpenAI launched a new desktop application for macOS called Codex, designed to run multiple AI coding agents in parallel. VentureBeat reported that the Codex app functions as a "command center for agents," allowing developers to delegate multiple coding tasks simultaneously, automate repetitive work, and supervise AI systems that can run independently for up to 30 minutes before returning completed code. Sam Altman, OpenAI's chief executive, told VentureBeat that Codex is "the most loved internal product we've ever had."
Meanwhile, MIT Technology Review reported on the existence of a civilian online marketplace where users can buy custom instruction files for generating celebrity deepfakes. A study from researchers at Stanford and Indiana University found that a significant portion of requests on the site, called bounties, were for animated content.
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