Techmeme
September 6, 2018, 3:40 PM

Top News

The Intercept:
Interviews and documents show IBM used NYPD surveillance footage in 2012 to develop object identification tech that could search by skin color and more  —  In the decade after the 9/11 attacks, the New York City Police Department moved to put millions of New Yorkers under constant watch.
Ellen Nakashima / Washington Post:
DOJ announces hacking charges against a North Korean government spy, linked to the Lazarus Group, in connection with the 2014 Sony hack  —  The Justice Department will announce computer hacking charges Thursday against a North Korean government spy in connection with the 2014 attack …
Peter Kafka / Recode:
A recap of Facebook and Twitter hearings: Republican claims of bias, Democratic claims of political manipulation, and appearances by Alex Jones and Laura Loomer  —  A capsule review of tech's visit to Washington: The Senate seemed serious, the House did not, and Republicans aren't done complaining about bias.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Washington Post:
Kris Holt / Engadget:
Mehedi Hassan / Thurrott.com:
Microsoft begins testing Cortana and Alexa support for the Xbox One, letting users power the console on and off and start games and apps  —  Microsoft's Xbox One is getting a whole lot easier to use.  The company today announced a new Xbox Skill for Cortana and Amazon Alexa …
Ben Sisario / New York Times:
Sources detail how Spotify has quietly signed direct licensing deals with some artists, a move that is worrying major record labels  —  For decades, the path to stardom in the music industry has usually gone through a major record company.  —  Almost every artist today who reaches the top of the charts …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
MasterClass, which offers online classes from well known experts for a $180 annual fee, raises $80M Series D led by IVP  —  Filmmaking taught by Martin Scorsese?  Comedy taught by Steve Martin?  Chess taught by Garry Kasparov?  Tennis taught by Serena Williams?  Cooking taught by Gordon Ramsay?
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
A look at the rise of smart home fitness equipment startups, such as Mirror, which recently raised $25M, and Tonal, which makes a weight-lifting machine  —  Paul Wright, a smiling, impeccably jacked personal trainer, stared at me from the large screen mounted to the wall.
Jonathan Shieber / TechCrunch:
Insight Venture Partners buys content management platform Episerver for $1.1B from the private equity firm Accel-KKR  —  Episerver, the Irvine, California-based company which provides services for marketers to manage content, was bought by Insight Venture Partners for a cool $1.1 billion from the private equity firm Accel-KKR.
Fathin Ungku / Reuters:
Facebook says it will invest more than $1B to build its first Asian data center in Singapore, slated to open in 2022  —  SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Facebook (FB.O) said on Thursday it will invest more than $1 billion to build its first data centre in Asia in Singapore, slated to open in 2022.

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Featured Podcasts

Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
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Hard Fork:
Why Roomba Died + Tech Predictions for 2026 + A Hard Forkin' Xmas Song
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
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Betting on reality with Kalshi CEO Tarek Mansour
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
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Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
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Earlier Picks

Guilherme Rambo / 9to5Mac:
Bryan Menegus / Gizmodo:
James Vincent / The Verge: