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Wed. 11/07 - Why Robocalls Have Taken Over Your Phone Nov 07, 2018

Show notes

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 that's worth far more than any tax break (Business Insider) Chinese ‘gait recognition’ tech IDs people by how they walk (The Associated Press) RapidSOS, an emergency response data provider, raises $30M as it grows from 10K users to 250M (TechCrunch) Newsonomics: “Digital defeats print” is the headline as Gannett steps away from printed election results (NiemanLab)

Tue. 11/06 - Schrodinger's Amazon HQ2 Nov 06, 2018

Show notes

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 Retina MacBook Air (Daring Fireball) India's Meesho, which enables social commerce via WhatsApp, raises $50M (TechCrunch) PredictHQ exits stealth with $10 million to help Uber and others forecast demand surges (VentureBeat) VMWare acquires Heptio, the startup founded by 2 co-founders of Kubernetes (TechCrunch)

Mon. 11/05 - iPad Pro Reviews Are Mixed Nov 05, 2018

Show notes

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 STILL AN IPAD (The Verge) Apple’s first 5G iPhone will arrive in 2020 (Fast Company) YOU TOO CAN BUILD YOUR OWN CHIP – FOR ONLY $30 MILLION (Digits to Dollars) Newly Public Tech Firms Race Back to Market as IPO Frenzy Continues (WSJ) Did You Vote? Now Your Friends May Know (and Nag You) (NYTimes) You can't take a 'ballot selfie' in Illinois, Florida, or 25 other states — see where it's illegal to take a photo in the voting booth (Business Insider)

Fri. 11/02 - Apple Earnings Up, Stock Down Nov 02, 2018

Show notes

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 and limit free users to 1,000 photos (The Verge) Several thoughts from your old pal Jason (Jason Scott/Twitter) The Cartoon That Invented Internet Culture Gets a High-Definition Rerelease (Intelligencer) Private messages from 81,000 hacked Facebook accounts for sale (BBC News) It’s not your imagination: Phone battery life is getting worse (Washington Post) ‘How the Internet Happened’ Review: Building a World Online (Wall Street Journal) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: The Facebook Dilemma, Part 1 (Frontline on YouTube) and The Facebook Dilemma, Part 2 (Frontline on YouTube) A Cryptocurrency Millionaire Wants to Build a Utopia in Nevada (New York Times) The Man Behind the Scooter Revolution (CityLab) A Fork in the Road for Avis (Fortune) The Encyclopedia of the Missing (Longreads)

Thu. 11/01 - The Google Employee Walkout Nov 01, 2018

Show notes

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 and MacBook Pro with Function Keys (Apple Insider) Opinion: The 2018 MacBook Air is the iPhone X’s ASP strategy all over again (9to5Mac) Apple's new T2 security chip will prevent hackers from eavesdropping on your microphone (TechCrunch) WhatsApp found a place to show you ads (The Verge) Google My Business Adds Setting For Google Assistant Calls Over Duplex (Search Engine Roundtable) Spotify is just $6.8 million away from profitability (Engadget) Liftoff: Mobile users are embracing subscription app economy (Venture Beat) Tickets for: Brian's 92Y Book Event

Wed. 10/31 - Facebook's Earnings Are Not a Disaster Oct 31, 2018

Show notes

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) Gmail for iOS now lets you view all of your accounts in a single inbox (The Verge) Waymo’s excruciatingly gradual launch process, explained (Ars Technica) How Facebook Failed To Build A Better Alexa (Or Siri) (Forbes) Google, Accel and Jay Z invest in life insurance start-up Ethos, valuing it at more than $100 million (CNBC) Why Jupyter is data scientists’ computational notebook of choice (Nature)

Tue. 10/30 - New MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and iPad Pros Oct 30, 2018

Show notes

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)

Mon. 10/29 - Big Blue Gets Red Hat Oct 29, 2018

Show notes

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 Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies (PDF - US Copyright Office, Library of Congress) Here are the 20 games shipping with the PlayStation Classic (TechCrunch) DJI's latest Mavic 2 drone is built for search and rescue (Engadget) Two more platforms have suspended Gab in the wake of Pittsburgh shooting (TechCrunch) On Gab, an Extremist-Friendly Site, Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Aired His Hatred in Full (New York Times)

Fri. 10/26 - AI “Art” Fetches $400,000 at Auction Oct 26, 2018

Show notes

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 Sales Growth Slows (New York Times) Google Stock Falls As Revenue Misses; Amazon Ad Competition To Blame? (Investor’s Business Daily) Snap Hits All-Time Low After Lackluster Earnings Report (CNBC) Copyright Office Ruling Issues Sweeping Right to Repair Reforms (iFixit) In Groundbreaking Decision, Feds Say Hacking DRM to Fix Your Electronics Is Legal (Motherboard) How China's GPS 'Rival' Beidou is Plotting to Go Global (BBC News) AI Art at Christie’s Sells for $432,500 (New York Times) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: Inside Rockstar Games' Culture Of Crunch (Kotaku) At Netflix, Radical Transparency and Blunt Firings Unsettle the Ranks (WSJ) Podcast on Netflix Culture (Planet Money Podcast) It Might Get Loud: Inside Silicon Valley’s Battle to Own Voice Tech (Fortune) How Dara Khosrowshahi’s Iranian heritage shapes how he leads Uber (Fast Company) AN ALTERNATIVE HISTORY OF SILICON VALLEY DISRUPTION (Wired) Bonus Link (from Wednesday): THE AI COLD WAR THAT COULD DOOM US ALL (Wired)

Thur. 10/25 - The Andy Rubin Scandal Oct 25, 2018

Show notes

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 Platform with XOXO Festival Creators (The Verge) The Team Behind XOXO is Taking Over Kickstarter’s Drip Crowdfunding Community (TechCrunch) Older People Are Worse Than Young People at Telling Fact from Opinion (The Atlantic) Younger Americans Are Better than Older Americans at Telling Factual News Statements from Opinions (Pew Research Center) VIDEO: Joseph Saelee vs. Jonas Neubeauer in CTWC 2018 Finals (Twitter)

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