Techmeme
December 18, 2019, 9:15 AM

Top News

Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance form Project Connected Home over IP, a partnership to create a new smart home networking standard  —  - Amazon, Apple, Google and the Zigbee Alliance announced a new partnership.  — It's called Project Connected Home over IP …
New York Times:
The defining moments of tech in the 2010s including the Arab Spring and unveiling of the iPad, as recalled by Zuckerberg, Snowden, Phil Schiller, and others  —  An oral history of the 2010s  —  When the decade began, tech meant promise — cars that could drive themselves, social networks that could take down dictators.
CNN:
The Epilepsy Foundation files criminal complaint against 30+ unidentified Twitter users for coordinated attack of seizure-inducing videos to its feed last month  —  (CNN)Attackers sent videos of flashing and strobing lights to people on Twitter last month as part of a cyberattack which deliberately targeted people with epilepsy.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
After a cyber attack, Canadian medical lab LifeLabs paid a ransom to recover the stolen data of 15M+ customers, which included login info and test results  —  Data breach took place in early November, and hackers also gained access to 85,000 laboratory test results.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Facebook pilots a program in the US to use part-time contracted “community reviewers” to expedite the fact-checking process and aid its fact-checking partners  —  Facebook is creating a new pilot program in the U.S. that will leverage part-time contracted “community reviewers” to expedite its fact-checking process.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Alex Kantrowitz / BuzzFeed News:
Ex-Facebook staffers on how Facebook's focus on growth metrics in performance reviews prodded staff to game the system and ignore other impacts of their work  —  Facebook often uses its vast size as an excuse for its failures.  Meanwhile, it's ordering employees to make it bigger.
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Ring device testing shows it lacks safeguards that would deter credential stuffing and brute force attacks, making 2FA a key part of securing accounts  —  It's not so much being watched.  It's that I don't really know if I'm being watched or not.  —  From across the other side of the world …
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
Googler says she was fired for sending pop-ups on labor rights via modified internal browser plugin; Google: she “abused privileged access” in altering the tool  —  Google stands accused of firing a fifth employee who was suspected of attempting to organize a labor union at the search giant.
Bloomberg:
Current and ex-employees of SoftBank's Vision Fund describe an environment of sycophancy towards Son, harassment, rivalries, and a culture of recklessness  —  Masayoshi Son's venture capital firm is famous for making outsize bets on tech startups.  It has also been described as an environment of sycophancy and harassment.
Andrew Higgins / New York Times:
After a massive outcry over the police raid on Nginx Moscow offices, Rambler's board orders company execs to ask law enforcement to terminate the criminal case  —  A case linked to a $670 million acquisition shows that there may be a limit to the authorities' abuse of law enforcement to advance corrupt business interests.

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Featured Podcasts

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Hard Fork:
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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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More News

Sara Fischer / Axios:

Earlier Picks

The Information:
iFixit News:
Wall Street Journal:
Danny Palmer / ZDNet: