Amazon gets into self-driving cars… in a way, Google Assistant adds some familiar features, YouTube rolls out Stories, and WTF is happening in Crypto? Stories from: @RolfeWinkler Tweets: @CrankGameplays, @SavinTheBees Links: Amazon debuts a scale model autonomous car to teach developers machine learning (TechCrunch) New Parents Complain Amazon Baby-Registry Ads Are Deceptive (WSJ) An Amazon revolt could be brewing as the tech giant exerts more control over brands (Recode) Google Assistant gets v...
Nov 29, 2018•20 min
The biggest ad fraud ever? Amazon gets into medical records, Project Fi comes to iPhones, one of Elon’s LA tunnels is canceled, and the Big Mouth Billy Bass enters the 21st Century. Links: 8 People Are Facing Charges As A Result Of The FBI’s Biggest-Ever Ad Fraud Investigation (BuzzFeed) Big Tech Expands Footprint in Health (WSJ) Project Fi is now Google Fi, and it will work with iPhones and most Android devices (The Verge) Waymo taps former NTSB chair to oversee safety of self-driving ride-shar...
Nov 28, 2018•18 min
AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phis...
Nov 28, 2018•17 min
AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phis...
Nov 27, 2018•17 min
Apple heads to the Supreme Court over antitrust concerns about its App Store; Facebook’s internal documents are seized by the British Parliament; what’s behind the resurgence of Atari; the human story of Black Friday inside Amazon’s fulfillment centers; and Lenny—a chatbot designed to frustrate telemarketers. Links: U.S. top court leans toward allowing Apple App Store antitrust suit (Reuters) My Amicus Brief (AVC/Fred Wilson) Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers (The Guardian) Int...
Nov 26, 2018•17 min
Storm clouds everywhere! Tech stocks in bear market territory, crypto in full-on meltdown territory… but video games might help solve science’s gender problem and this one spacebar trick might make your iPhone insanely more useful. Oh, and the weekend Longreads suggestions. Links: It's Official: Once Mighty FAANG Stocks Have All Entered a Bear Market (Fortune) Silicon Valley wages have dropped for all except highest-paying jobs: report (The Mercury News) Bitcoin drops 12% to below $5,000 (CNBC) ...
Nov 20, 2018•20 min
Skype calls on Amazon Echos, Tumblr disappears from iOS, Facebook on a war footing, iPhone sales storm clouds, and the Bitcoin Cash hard fork explained. Links: Skype calling now available on Alexa (The Verge) Tweet Storm on Where Tumblr's Gone (@bluechoochoo) With Facebook at ‘War,’ Zuckerberg Adopts More Aggressive Style (WSJ) Tim Cook defends multibillion-dollar Google search deal despite Apple’s privacy focus (The Verge) Apple Suppliers Suffer With Uncertainty Around iPhone Demand (WSJ) With ...
Nov 19, 2018•17 min
Airbnb opens the kimono, a disc-less Xbox, Facebook pushes back on controversy, SpaceX gets a key go-ahead, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Airbnb booked more than $1 billion in third quarter revenue (CNBC) Microsoft’s Building a Disc-Less Xbox One for Release in 2019 (Thurrott.com) Facebook Morale Takes a Tumble Along With Stock Price (WSJ) ‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ So Say Some Computer Science Students. (NYTimes) Major SMS security lapse is a reminder to use aut...
Nov 16, 2018•20 min
That huge New York Times story behind the scenes of Facebook, Google adds business messaging to Google Maps, Uber eats is a monster business, Amazon Go has a rival and there’s a new King of YouTube. Links: Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis (NYTimes) Google Maps will let you chat with businesses (The Verge) Uber continues to lose money as it scales scooters, bikes and other newer businesses (TechCrunch) Amazon Go competitor Standard Cognition raises $40 million...
Nov 15, 2018•19 min
Why was Google’s traffic routed from Nigeria through China, Ford partners with Walmart on driverless cars, Amazon’s HQ2 stunt seems to be backfiring, and Uber gets a customer loyalty program. Links: Nigerian firm takes blame for routing Google traffic through China (Reuters) Exclusive: Snap reveals U.S. subpoenas on IPO disclosures (Reuters) Ford partners with Walmart and Postmates to test autonomous grocery delivery (TechCrunch) A STARTUP IS SETTING DRONES FREE BY TYING THEM TO THE GROUND (Wire...
Nov 14, 2018•17 min
Amazon’s HQ2 officially lands in Queens and Crystal City; Waymo is launching a driverless car service in December; Apple locks down repairs on modern Macs; get ready for cloud gaming; Pandora applies its music technology to podcasts; and a magic act that’ll make your day. Links: Amazon selects New York City and Northern Virginia for new headquarters (Amazon DayOne Blog) Amazon HQ2 decision: Amazon splits prize between Crystal City and New York (The Washington Post) Pandora brings its Genome tech...
Nov 13, 2018•16 min
SAP buys Qualtrics, the Galaxy S10 might be coming in February and the Galaxy F might be coming in March, what exactly is TikTok and why you should care, and Jony Ive has an exclusive new product design. Links: SAP to buy Qualtrics for $8 billion (Axios) How One Family Built $8 Billion Startup Far From Silicon Valley (Bloomberg) Samsung Electronics to release first foldable smartphone in March: sources (Yonhap News Agency) Snap’s former No. 2 exec Imran Khan is building an online shopping startu...
Nov 12, 2018•18 min
The great winter of tech worker discontent is definitely here, Disney’s streaming service has a name, Vine might be coming back, Github hits a major milestone and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Amazon is finally selling new iPhones after a long and complicated 'turf war' with Apple (BusinessInsider) A note to our employees (Google) #GoogleWalkout update: Collective action works, and we need to keep working. True equity depends on it. (Google Walkout For Real Change) Amazon...
Nov 09, 2018•20 min
Foldable phones are officially a thing, Tesla names a new board chair, Amazon’s mailing a physical toy catalog, Ford doesn’t want to miss out on scooters, and Comcast doesn’t want to miss out on home hubs. Stories from: @albertwenger, @dmac1, @meganrosedickey Tweets: @bryce Links: This is Samsung’s foldable smartphone (The Verge) Google says Android will natively support ‘foldables’ to limit fragmentation (The Verge) Amazon is mailing a printed holiday toy catalog to millions of customers (CNBC)...
Nov 08, 2018•17 min
Silicon Valley’s special election day vote, why robocalls have taken over your phone, Jeff Bezos’ clever HQ2 bonus, making 911 calls better and why Jake Tapper is a digital media pioneer. Links: San Francisco has passed a first-of-its-kind tax on big businesses — like Square and Stripe — to help the homeless (Recode) Scoop: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown (Axios) Why robocalls have taken over your phone (The Verge) Amazon gained a huge perk from its HQ2 contest th...
Nov 07, 2018•17 min
Facebook takes down more accounts ahead of the election, the new Chrome might block ALL ads on some websites, Macbook Air reviews, and why you might not be able to read election results in tomorrow’s newspaper. Links: Medium Post on Facebook and the Election (Jonathan Albright) Chrome will soon ad-block an entire website if it shows abusive ads (The Verge) Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities (WSJ) APPLE MACBOOK AIR (2018) REVIEW: THE PRESENT OF COMPUTING (The Verge) The 2018 Reti...
Nov 06, 2018•17 min
Has Amazon decided on the location of its new HQ? What do people think of the new iPad Pros? Why are recently IPO’d tech companies hoarding cash? And why you might want to think twice about taking a selfie in the voting booth tomorrow. Links: Amazon in Late-Stage Talks With Cities Including Crystal City, Va., Dallas, New York City for HQ2 (WSJ) Amazon waives $25 minimum spend to offer free Christmas deliveries for all U.S. customers (Venture Beat) APPLE IPAD PRO REVIEW 2018: THE FASTEST IPAD IS ...
Nov 05, 2018•19 min
Apple makes a pile of money and their stock tanks, Flickr ends its mega-free-storage plan, a classic internet cartoon gets a 4K makeover, browser extensions steal Facebook private messages, testing the latest smartphones to see how their batteries hold up, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Tweets: @neilcybart, @textfiles Links: Apple results: A record September quarter with $62.9B revenue (Six Colors) Apple’s price hike strategy is paying off (The Verge) Flickr will end 1TB of free storage ...
Nov 02, 2018•15 min
Google employees stage a walk-out protest around the globe, Vox swallows Recode, the new devices this week continue Apple’s push to increase ASP, and maybe it’s subscriptions that are eating the world. Stories from: @rustybrick, @benlovejoy Tweets: @lizthegrey, @ingridlunden Links: Google walkout: Pictures of Google workers leaving their desks in protest over sexual misconduct (Business Insider) Recode Tech and Media Website to Be Folded Into Vox.com (WSJ) New MacBook Air threatens both MacBook ...
Nov 01, 2018•19 min
Facebook earnings were not a disaster, another Alphabet employee is out because of scandal, Waymo has a permit to test real driverless cars on California roads, and if you don’t know what computational notebooks are, let me tell you about them. Links: Zuckerberg says the future is sharing via 100B messages & 1B Stories/day (TechCrunch) Scoop: Executive accused of harassment at Alphabet 'X' unit is out (Axios) Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile Won't Support eSIM Until Later This Year (MacRumors...
Oct 31, 2018•18 min
Today MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and new iPad Pros, Coinbase raises a round, the UK has a new tech tax, interesting executive musical chairs, and why reCAPTCHA’s might be a thing of the past. Links: UK chancellor announces 2% ‘digital services tax’ on tech giants’ revenues starting in April 2020 (TechCrunch) Snap CEO Picked a New Business Chief, Then Changed His Mind (Bloomberg) Google Launches reCAPTCHA v3 (Security Week) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
Oct 30, 2018•19 min
IBM buys Red Hat, museums get new ways to preserve video games, Sony announces the full list of titles for its retro PlayStation mini-console, DJI has a drone for first responders, and a look at the service Gab. Links: IBM to acquire Red Hat in deal valued at $34 billion (CNBC) Forget Watson, the Red Hat acquisition may be the thing that saves IBM (TechCrunch) IBM’s Old Playbook (Stratechery) Copyright Law Just Got Better for Video Game History (Motherboard) Exemption to Prohibition on Circumven...
Oct 29, 2018•15 min
The Tech earnings season earnings roundup, new DRM rules allow jailbreaking… for some things, China’s rival GPS system, AI “art” fetches $400,000 at auction and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Twitter Stock Soars after Strong Earnings Beat (CNBC) Tesla Shares Soar on Surprise Third-Quarter Profit That Beats Wall Street Expectations (CNBC) Microsoft Reports $29.1 Billion in Q1 2019 Revenue: Azure up 76%, Surface up 14%, and Windows up 3% (VentureBeat) Amazon Squeezes Out More Profit as ...
Oct 26, 2018•22 min
How Google paid Andy Rubin on his way out the door despite allegations of sexual misconduct, Uber Eats and the rise of virtual restaurants, Kickstarter sunsets its Drip service but plans a nice replacement, and older people are worse than younger people at telling fact from opinion. Links: How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’ (New York Times) Uber’s Secret Restaurant Empire (Bloomberg) A New Approach to Our Work on Drip (Kickstarter Blog) Kickstarter to End Drip, Fund New Pla...
Oct 25, 2018•15 min
Tim Cook attacks the “data industrial complex,” why political texts are flooding your phone, the US, China and the AI cold war, and how Facebook Messenger got its new look. Links: Apple’s Tim Cook Makes Blistering Attack On the “Data Industrial Complex” (TechCrunch) Why political text messages are flooding your phone (Axios) The AI Cold War That Could Doom Us All (Wired) Messenger redesigns to clean up Facebook’s mess (TechCrunch) How Facebook’s Messenger Got Its New Look in a New Jersey Basemen...
Oct 24, 2018•17 min
Tim Cook demands a retraction from Bloomberg, another founder flees Facebook, Repl.it gets a murder’s row of VC backers and the iPhone XR reviews are in. Links: Amazon cloud chief Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story (CNBC) Apple CEO Tim Cook Is Calling For Bloomberg To Retract Its Chinese Spy Chip Story (Buzzfeed) Supermicro CEO Joins Cook in Calling for Bloomberg to Retract Supply Chain Hack Story (MacRumors) Oculus co-founder is leaving Facebook after cancel...
Oct 23, 2018•17 min
Facebook wants to buy some cybersecurity, Washington wants to know what Silicon Valley will do for its country, Fred Wilson wants you to ask yourself if your investors are bad actors, and stealing a Tesla by hacking the entry fob. Links: Facebook on Hunt for Big Cybersecurity Acquisition (The Information) Who Are My Investors? (AVC) Thieves steal a Tesla Model S by hacking the entry fob (Engadget) A tech executive's video of his Tesla Model S being hacked and stolen is going viral (Business Insi...
Oct 22, 2018•14 min
Facebook makes a hire that makes British Twitter laugh, here’s how much Google’s going to charge for Android, Google wants China but does China want Google and the Weekend Longreads suggestions. Links: Facebook Hires Nick Clegg, Former UK Deputy Prime Minister, as Head of Global Affairs and Communications, to Succeed Elliot Schrage (Financial Times) Twitter Suspends Pro-Saudi Bots Spreading Propaganda About the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi (Gizmodo) Twitter Pulls Down Bot Network That Pushed Pro-Sa...
Oct 19, 2018•18 min
Spotify Premium gets a spit shine, Facebook think it knows who was behind that big hack, why everyone and their mother has a subscription box service, and an Apple event in Brooklyn! Links: Spotify Premium gets personalized artist radio stations and better search (The Verge) Twitter makes it easier to see enforcement taken on reported tweets (Tech Crunch) Facebook Finds Hack Was Done by Spammers, Not Foreign State (WSJ) Android Creator’s Startup Essential Products Cuts About 30% of Staff (Bloomb...
Oct 18, 2018•16 min
Google bows to the EU’s demands, the biggest thing to happen to Github since the pull request, video game cheaters are getting sued, and Facebook brings back MTV’s The Real World. Links: Google will start charging Android device makers a fee for using its apps in Europe (The Verge) GitHub launches Actions, its workflow automation tool (Github) Fortnite, GTA V hackers face legal action for online cheating (Ars Technica) It turns out that Facebook could in fact use data collected from its Portal i...
Oct 17, 2018•18 min
