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(Bonus) The Fate (And Legacy) Of Yahoo, With Harry McCracken Oct 26, 2019

Show notes

The news that Yahoo was shutting down Yahoo Groups, as I said, was another gut punch when you realize how much of the web’s history is so ephemeral. It also got me thinking that Yahoo as a company might be about to go down the memory hole, and that got me thinking about Yahoo’s legacy as perhaps the first great Internet company, and that got me talking to one of the deans of tech journalism, Harry McCracken. What IS Yahoo’s legacy? Why has it ended up the way it has? And also, why do we feel nostalgic for the sort of web Yahoo Groups represents? What has changed on the Internet from the Yahoo Groups glory days until now?

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Fri. 10/25 - Introducing Facebook News Oct 25, 2019

Show notes

Introducing Facebook News. Did the major US Carriers do an end-run around Google out of spite? Amazon is back to making as little profit as it possibly can, HBO Max makes its aggressive pricing move, and, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

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Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The 2010s Broke Our Sense Of Time (Buzzfeed)
Inside R/Relationships, the Unbearably Human Corner of Reddit (The Atlantic)
He revolutionized how millions of people spend money in India. His next target: America (CNN Business)
Now the Machines Are Learning How to Smell (Wired)
Pentagon, With an Eye on China, Pushes for Help From American Tech (NYTimes)
Google CEO Sundar Pichai on achieving quantum supremacy (MIT Technology Review)
How Do You Like We Now (Bloomberg Opinion)

Thu. 10/24 - Is TikTok A “National Security Risk?” Oct 24, 2019

Show notes

Is TikTok a national security risk? Inquiring Senators want to know. Earnings running the gamut from bad to surprisingly good from Twitter, Amazon and Tesla. And to paraphrase an old saw: if a voicemail system goes down how would anyone even notice?

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Links:

TikTok raises national security concerns in Congress as Schumer, Cotton ask for federal review (The Washington Post)
Music Video Upstart ‘Triller’ Says It’s Taking On TikTok Amid $28 Million Series B (TubeFilter)
Twitter Q3 misses bi on revenues of $824M and EPS of $0.05 on the back of adtech glitches (TechCrunch)
Twitter’s Growth Sags, But That Wasn’t the Worst Part (Bloomberg)
Microsoft Sales, Profit Top Estimates on Cloud; Azure Slows (Bloomberg)
Tesla Shares Soar as Elon Musk Packs Profit Report With Positives (Bloomberg)
AT&T claims a weeks-long voicemail outage will be fixed with a single device update (The Verge)
Apple TV app launches on Amazon Fire TV devices (9to5Mac)
40 Major Music Festivals Have Pledged Not to Use Facial Recognition Technology (Vice)
BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror (BBC News)
Behold the massive social media explosion from Fortnite’s Season 10 finale (The Washington Post)
Last week's Fortnite update helped Akamai set a new CDN traffic record (ZDNet)

Wed. 10/23 - Google Says We've Achieved Quantum Supremacy! Oct 23, 2019

Show notes

Mr. Zuckerberg went back to Washington, Google claims “Quantum Supremacy,” Apple overtakes Starbucks, HireVue is a controversial AI hiring tool and is the influencer bubble on the wane?

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Links:

Zuckerberg, in Washington to Talk Cryptocurrency, Gets Grilled on Everything (NYTimes)
Snapchat beats in Q3, adding 7M users & revenue up 50% (TechCrunch)
Apple Pay Overtakes Starbucks as Top Mobile Payment App in the US (eMarketer)
Google Claims a Quantum Breakthrough That Could Change Computing (NYTimes)
On “Quantum Supremacy” (IBM Research Blog)
A face-scanning algorithm increasingly decides whether you deserve the job (The Washington Post)
Online Influencers Tell You What to Buy, Advertisers Wonder Who’s Listening (WSJ)

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Tue. 10/22 - How Much Can Dark Mode Save Your Battery? Oct 22, 2019

Show notes

SoftBank is taking over WeWork in order to save it, Verizon will give you Disney+ for free, Surprise! Comcast’s “free” streaming box really isn’t, and how much does Dark Mode save in battery life? Quite a bit, it turns out…

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Links:

Neumann to Get Up to $1.7 Billion to Exit WeWork as SoftBank Takes Control (WSJ)
Verizon Will Give One Year of Disney Plus for Free to All Unlimited Wireless Customers (Variety)
Roku is buying ad tech company Dataxu in $150 million deal (CNBC)
Comcast’s ‘free’ streaming box actually requires an additional $13 / month fee (The Verge)
Forty-six attorneys general have joined a New York-led antitrust investigation of Facebook (The Washington Post)
The Pixel 4 supports fast wireless charging on any Qi charger [Updated] (AndroidCentral)
Dark Mode in iOS 13 significantly helps iPhone battery life, robotic test shows [Video] (9to5Mac)

Mon. 10/21 - Review-A-Palooza Oct 21, 2019

Show notes

It’s review-a-palooza day with Surface reviews and Pixel 4 reviews. Also, Facebook announces new disinformation initiatives, and Microsoft announces a Secured-core PC initiative and Twitch wants in on the Watch Party action.

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Facebook disables Russian, Iranian networks, illustrating continued 2020 election threat (Washington Post)
Helping to Protect the 2020 US Elections (Facebook Newsroom)
Microsoft announces Secured-core PCs to counter firmware attacks (VentureBeat)
Twitch’s new Watch Parties test taps Prime Video for movie night (SlashGear)
MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO 7 REVIEW: I WISH THIS LOOKED LIKE A SURFACE PRO X (The Verge)
MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 3 15-INCH REVIEW: IT’S A BIGGER SURFACE LAPTOP (The Verge)
Google Pixel 4 XL review: A night vision camera that's dead by sunset (Android Central)
GOOGLE PIXEL 4 AND 4 XL REVIEW: MORE THAN THE SUM OF ITS SENSORS (The Verge)

Fri. 10/18 - Zuckerberg Says Free Speech Is Good! (Facebook, Also Good!) Oct 18, 2019

Show notes

Zuckerberg defends Facebook as a champion of free speech, will iPhone users have unlimited photo uploads to Google Photos while Pixel 4 owners will not, dial back your expectations for the Photoshop iPad app, the Vatican has a wearable prayer gadget, and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Links:

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The Apple, iPhone 11, 11 Pro & 11 Pro Max Review (AnAndTech)
The Creators Of Pokémon Go Mapped The World. Now They're Mapping You (Kotaku)
The Young Firms Rethinking Social Media (The Information)
Inside Apple's Long, Bumpy Road to Hollywood (The Hollywood Reporter)
How Pinterest Built One of Silicon Valley’s Most Successful Algorithms (OneZero)
Inside TurboTax’s 20-Year Fight to Stop Americans From Filing Their Taxes for Free (ProPublica)

Thu. 10/17 - Unlocking Tech on Phones Is Broken Oct 17, 2019

Show notes

Fingerprint sensors on the Galaxy S10 can be tricked by a phone case, the Pixel 4 face recognition system unlocks your phone even when you’re asleep, Netflix kicks off tech earnings season, Airbnb’s losses double, and Travis Kalanick is getting the Billion’s treatment. Paging Bobby Axelrod...

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Wed. 10/16 - Twitter Gonna Twitter Oct 16, 2019

Show notes

Twitter explains how world leaders can break its rules but they’ll kinda, sorta crack down on them. LinkedIn launches Events, Giphy launches Giphy arcade, DoNotPay fascinates me, and a debrief on yesterday’s Google event.

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Links:

Twitter says it will restrict users from retweeting world leaders who break its rules (TechCrunch)
Huawei Reports Stronger Sales Growth (NYTimes)
LinkedIn gets physical, debuts Events hub for people to plan in-person networking events (TechCrunch)
Giphy Arcade lets you play, create, and share mini-games on the web as if they were GIFs (The Verge)
This brilliant app waits on hold for you (The Verge)
Go inside Pixel 4's new camera features with Google's photo technology experts (CNET)

Tue. 10/15 - The #MadeByGoogle Event Oct 15, 2019

Show notes

All the headlines from the Google hardware event, Apple butts in with new Beats, Libra loses another one, your movie theater wants to rent you movies, and Fortnite is back from the “black hole.”

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Links:

PIXELBOOK GO: GOOGLE FINALLY MADE A REASONABLY PRICED CHROMEBOOK (The Verge)
Google announces Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL (The Verge)
BEATS ANNOUNCES SOLO PRO ON-EAR HEADPHONES WITH NOISE CANCELLATION (The Verge)
Facebook's Libra announces board as support shrinks further (Reuters)
AMC Theater Chain Gets Into Streaming With On-Demand Movies (NYTimes)
Fortnite’s black hole has closed, and Chapter 2 is finally here (The Verge)

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