Techmeme
December 19, 2018, 8:30 PM

Top News

Konstantinos Papamiltiadis / Facebook:
Facebook says it shared data with integration partners only when users signed in with their Facebook accounts to access features on other platforms and devices  —  Today, we're facing questions about whether Facebook gave large tech companies access to people's information and, if so, why we did this.
New York Times:
Internal docs show Facebook gave ~150 companies access to more user data than disclosed; some could read private DMs; Facebook says it didn't violate FTC decree  —  Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people's data than it has disclosed.
Charlie Warzel / BuzzFeed News:
Report: some apps using Facebook's SDK, like Grindr and Bible+, send user info to Facebook, including location, where users click, and how long the app is used  —  Facebook provided developers with tools to build Facebook-compatible apps like Tinder, Grindr and Pregnancy+.
Washington Post:
The AG for the District of Columbia files lawsuit against Facebook over allowing Cambridge Analytica access to users' information  —  The attorney general for the District of Columbia filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against Facebook for allowing Cambridge Analytica, a political consultancy …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Apple says some 2018 iPad Pros ship with a very slight bend in the aluminum chassis due to their manufacturing process but doesn't consider it to be a defect  —  Apple has confirmed to The Verge that some of its 2018 iPad Pros are shipping with a very slight bend in the aluminum chassis.
Windows Experience Blog:
Microsoft debuts new test build of Windows 10 with a simplified Start layout, new Office launcher and hub for recent docs, kaomoji support, and more  —  Hello Windows Insiders, today we are releasing Windows 10 Insider Preview Build 18305 (19H1) to Windows Insiders in the Fast ring.
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple rolls out iOS 12.1.2 for iPhone with eSIM bug fixes and China-specific changes to address Qualcomm injunction, including a new app closing animation  —  Apple on Monday released iOS 12.1.2 exclusively for iPhones.  The software update fixes bugs related to eSIM activation on the iPhone XR …
Peter Bright / Ars Technica:
Google repeatedly pushes the web in a proprietary direction to improve its services on Chrome, making Microsoft's adoption of Chromium a loss for the open web  —  Analysis: Microsoft adopting Chromium puts the Web in a perilous place.  —  With Microsoft's decision to end development …
New York Times:
Researchers discover years-long breach at the EU's diplomatic communications network, compromising thousands of cables; 100+ other organizations also targeted  —  WASHINGTON — Hackers infiltrated the European Union's diplomatic communications network for years, downloading thousands of cables …
Ian Hamilton / UploadVR:
Facebook open sources its DeepFocus VR research, which aims to create ultra-realistic visuals for eye-tracking headsets  —  Facebook is releasing public code and formally open sourcing its DeepFocus research into ultra-realistic visuals for VR headsets.  —  The DeepFocus approach …
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Microsoft releases out-of-band security update for Internet Explorer that fixes a remote code execution vulnerability allowing attackers to hijack computers  —  Microsoft has released an out-of-band security update that fixes an actively exploited vulnerability in Internet Explorer.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
An overview of how deep convolutional neural networks have gotten good at recognizing images, after a landmark 2012 paper called AlexNet transformed the field  —  A landmark 2012 paper transformed how software recognizes images.  —  Right now, I can open up Google Photos, type “beach,” …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Equals:
Stop vibe coding analytics  —  Equals AI turns questions about your business into auditable spreadsheet models and dashboards.  Build once, iterate for years.
Zoho:
Agentic AI in data & analytics: The next evolution of business intelligence  —  In a recent conversation, Clarence Rozario, Business Head - Zoho BI Suite, joined Ravit Jain on The Ravit Show to discuss how Agentic AI …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Kimi K3 & AI's Price War, What Happened To Google?, OpenAI's Partner Trouble
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
Never follow your heroes (on X)
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Hard Fork:
The A.I. Trade Secrets War + Economists Say 'We Must Act Now' + HatGPT
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.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Pigment's Eléonore Crespo: Building France's Next Unicorn With AI Agents And Tom Cruise
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Access:
This AI will push back if you're rude to it
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:30 PM ET, December 19, 2018.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Kashmir Hill / Gizmodo: