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Mon. 06/15 – People Are Actually MORE Honest On Their Cellphones Jun 15, 2020

Show notes

The zero interest Mac financing is here. Shopify and Walmart team up, as they probably should. Is Mr. Bezos about to go to Washington? Interesting checkins with Quibi and Softbank. And why researchers think people are more honest when responding on their smartphones than on their PCs.

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Apple launches new 0% Apple Card financing for iPad, Mac, AirPods, and more (9to5Mac)
Shopify Advances After Deal With Walmart Expands Its Reach (Bloomberg)
Amazon Says Jeff Bezos Is Willing to Testify Before Congress (NYTimes)
Why People Are More Honest When Writing on Their Smartphones (WSJ)
Coronavirus contact tracing apps were tech's chance to step up. They haven't. (NBC News)
Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman Struggle With Their Startup—and Each Other (WSJ)
SoftBank invests in Credit Suisse funds that finance its technology bets (Financial Times)

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Fri. 06/12 – Why Chris Cox Returning to Facebook is Such A Big Deal Jun 12, 2020

Show notes

Twitter takes down a bunch of accounts it says are government propaganda. UK regulators are gonna take a hard look at Facebook’s Giphy acquisition. I explain, in depth, why Chris Cox returning to Facebook is such a big deal. The big PlayStation 5 reveal, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Twitter deletes China-linked accounts that spread false information about Hong Kong and Covid-19 (CNN Business)
UK competition watchdog launches investigation into Facebook's $400M acquisition of Giphy (TechCrunch)
Chris Cox is returning to Facebook as chief product officer (The Verge)
Zuckerberg Lieutenant Returns to Facebook, a Year After Departure (WSJ)
This is the PlayStation 5 (The Verge)

The Weekend Longread Suggestions:

With Real-Life Games Halted, Betting World Puts Action on E-Sports (NYTimes)
Advertisers eye in-game ads as audiences swell in lockdown (Digiday)
This Is How Much More Money Artists Earn From Bandcamp Compared to Streaming Services (Pitchfork)
The most interesting man at Microsoft (Protocol)

Thu. 06/11 – Regulation News Thursday Jun 11, 2020

Show notes

It’s regulation news day. The EU might be about to file antitrust charges against Amazon and California officially labeled Uber and Lyft workers as employees. Amazon also hit pause on its facial recognition tech as it waits for Congress to set some ground rules. Photoshop Camera is an interesting app, and Postman is an interesting raise.

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Wed. 06/10 – Robocallers Face The Music Jun 10, 2020

Show notes

Another day, another flaw in Intel chips discovered. More analysis of Apple’s presumed move away from Intel chips for Macs. Is Just Eat Takeaway about to swallow up Grubhub? What happened to Zynn on the Play Store? And an interesting new interactive story startup.

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Plundering of crypto keys from ultrasecure SGX sends Intel scrambling again (Ars Technica)
TSMC on schedule for 3nm Apple 'A16' iPhone and iPad chip in 2022 (Apple Insider)
On Apple Announcing the ARM Mac Transition at WWDC This Month (Daring Fireball)
Robocallers face $225M fine from FCC and lawsuits from multiple states (TechCrunch)
Reddit names Y Combinator CEO Michael Seibel as Alexis Ohanian’s replacement (The Verge)
Just Eat Takeaway.com Nears All-Stock Deal for Grubhub (WSJ)
Zynn, the Hot New Video App, Is Full of Stolen Content (Wired)
Interactive Storytelling App Whatifi Launches With $10 Million in Funding (The Hollywood Reporter)

Tue. 06/09 – Apple Could Announce Arm Chips For Macs at WWDC In A Matter Of Days Jun 09, 2020

Show notes

The shift to Arm-based chips for Macs might be announced in a matter of days. IBM says it is straight out exiting the facial recognition business. Google Maps will help you avoid Covid-crowding. A deep dive into Nextdoor’s “Karen” problem. And the issue of non-competes in tech rears its head once again.

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Harrys.com/techmeme

Links:

Apple Plans to Announce Move to Its Own Mac Chips at WWDC (Bloomberg)
IBM is exiting the face recognition business (Axios)
New York-Based Wahed Raises $25M For Islamic Investment Platform (Crunchbase News)
Didi Chuxing CEO says ride sharing orders recover to pre-pandemic levels (Reuters)
Get around safely with these new Google Maps features (The Keyword)
INSIDE NEXTDOOR’S ‘KAREN PROBLEM’ (The Verge)
Amazon sues former AWS marketing VP Brian Hall after he takes Google Cloud job (GeekWire)

Mon. 06/08 – Airbnb Is Suddenly Seeing More Travel Bookings Than It Did This Time Last Year Jun 08, 2020

Show notes

Might we see a V-shaped recovery after all? Airbnb says there IS a lot of pent-up demand out there. Brave got caught doing basically the shadiest thing a web browser can do. Proof that YouTube owns the kids. And soon you might be able to buy anything you want from Apple, interest-free, on the Apple Card.

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Wipers123.com promocode "ride" at checkout

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Airbnb Joins Vacation-Rental Sites Seeing Surge in Demand (Bloomberg)
Privacy browser Brave under fire for violating users’ trust (Decrypt)
Kids now spend nearly as much time watching TikTok as YouTube in US, UK and Spain (TechCrunch)
Apple Preparing Monthly iPad, Mac Payment Plans for Apple Card (Bloomberg)
Scientists funded by Zuckerberg sent him a letter calling Facebook’s practices ‘antithetical’ to his philanthropic mission (Washington Post)

Fri. 06/05 - What If Self-Driving Cars Won’t Prevent As Many Accidents As We Hoped? Jun 05, 2020

Show notes

Amazon and Slack form an interesting alliance. Google outlines evidence hackers are already attacking the Presidential campaigns. What if self-driving cars won’t prevent as many accidents as we hoped? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Amazon licenses Slack for all employees, while Slack adopts AWS video-calling tech (CNBC)
Google says Iranian, Chinese hackers targeted Trump, Biden campaigns (TechCrunch)
Twitter has a record-breaking week as users looked for news of protests and COVID-19 (TechCrunch)
Study: Autonomous vehicles won’t make roads completely safe (Associated Press)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

Worst. Deal. Ever. (Forbes)
The Font That Solves The Big Problem With Dark Mode (Forbes)
Indie history: How shareware helped build Epic Games (Engadget)
Charli D’Amelio is TikTok’s biggest star. She has no idea why. (Washington Post)
From RealPlayer to Toshiba, Tech Companies Cash in on the Facial Recognition Gold Rush (OneZero)
Why Is the Human Brain So Efficient? (Nautilus)

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Thu. 06/04 – A Class-Action Lawsuit Around Incognito Mode Jun 04, 2020

Show notes

The whole land-grab in the Indian telecom market continues to blow my hair back. A class-action lawsuit around Incognito Mode. More hints at an Apple Prime subscription. CES refuses to give up the ghost, while Kitty Hawk seems to have given up on its Flyer.

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Speaking up on racism (Tim Cook/Apple.com)
Early Facebook Employees Disavow Zuckerberg’s Stance on Trump Posts (NYTimes)
Snap will stop promoting Trump’s account after concluding his tweets incited violence (The Verge)
Exclusive: Amazon in talks to buy $2 billion stake in Indian telco Bharti Airtel - sources (Reuters)
Google faces $5 billion lawsuit in U.S. for tracking 'private' internet use (Reuters)
Suit Claims Google’s Tracking Violates Federal Wiretap Law (NYTimes)
iOS 13.5.5 code provides evidence of future Apple services bundle in development (9to5Mac)
CES will be held in-person in Las Vegas next year (The Verge)
ZoomInfo aiming to price IPO $1 above revised price range (CNBC)
Gaming Startup Unity Is Said to Prepare for IPO This Year (Bloomberg)
Kitty Hawk ends Flyer program, shifts focus to once-secret autonomous aircraft (TechCrunch)

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Wed. 06/03 - Is On-Device Translation Coming to iOS? Jun 03, 2020

Show notes

Zoom is the new tech earnings report worth covering. Is on-device translation coming to iOS? Google is blocking a Remove China Apps app. The Brave browser is growing. Zuckerberg tries to calm his restless troops. And is FC Barcelona again leading the way for modern sports teams?

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Tue. 06/02 – Everything is Postponed Jun 02, 2020

Show notes

Facebook finally lets you clean out your old crap from your basement (I mean, past). AT&T won’t count HBO Max against your mobile data cap. Every tech event is postponed again. A whole bunch of OS update news, and a time capsule from another era.

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Facebook finally makes it way easier to trash your old posts (TechCrunch)
HBO Max won’t hit AT&T data caps, but Netflix and Disney Plus will (The Verge)
White nationalist group posing as antifa called for violence on Twitter (NBC News)
Twitter takes action against Rep. Matt Gaetz for glorifying violence (The Verge)
Cisco, Sony postpone events amid continued protests (Axios)
Third Pixel feature drop improves AI-powered Adaptive Battery, integrates Recorder and Google Assistant (VentureBeat)
Android update delivers new 'Bedtime' features focused on improving sleep (TechCrunch)
Apple releases iOS 13.5.1 and watchOS 6.2.6 with ‘important security updates’ (9to5Mac)
YouTube’s Chase for Streaming-TV Ad Dollars Faces Hurdles (WSJ)
Samsung’s rotating mobile-friendly TV goes on sale for $1,999 (The Verge)

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