Techmeme
December 18, 2019, 4:50 PM

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:
An examination of poorly secured police and private databases reveals how China is ramping up its ability to spy on its citizens to new and disturbing levels  —  The authorities can scan your phones, track your face and find out when you leave your home.  One of the world's biggest spying networks …
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.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Author details how he created a deepfake video over two weeks at a cost of $552 using Faceswap, with an explanation of the tech and some of its limitations  —  I learned a lot from creating my own deepfake video.  —  Deepfake technology uses deep neural networks to convincingly replace one face with another in a video.
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.
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Facebook says it will ban any branded content, including influencers' posts, promoting tobacco products, vaping, or weapons on Facebook and Instagram  —  - For the first time, Facebook and Instagram are putting restrictions around the types of items that brands can promote using “branded content.”
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed News:
A meditation on digital life during the 2010s, which has become fractured, alienating, and contentious, falling short of the lofty ideals articulated in the 90s  —  In April 1997, Wired magazine published a feature with the grand and regrettable title “Birth of a Digital Nation.”
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Lawmakers balk after Facebook explains how it collects and monetizes location data of users who have denied location services in their smartphone OS for its app  —  - In response to a letter from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Facebook explained why it tracks users' locations …
First Round:
State of startups survey: 33%+ of founders worry about the end of a tech bubble, diversity and mental health are key, and 65% say 2020 fundraising will be hard  —  Welcome to the fifth edition of State of Startups.  What started as an experiment in 2015 has since become a treasured tradition here at First Round.
Gavin Bridge / Variety:
Analysis: Netflix has released 371 original TV shows and movies in the US in 2019, a 54.6% increase over 2018 and more than the entire US TV industry in 2005  —  371 series, movies represents over 50% increase in streaming service's content volume vs. 2018  —  Netflix averaged …
Tweets: @ophirgottlieb
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.

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Featured Podcasts

The Upstarts Podcast:
Blitzy's Brian Elliott: Cursor And Claude Code Are Looking At Your Enterprise Code 'Through A Straw'
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.
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The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
Re-Release: The Death of Hollywood? W/ Allan Loeb
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
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Great Chat:
Maybe Twitter isn't real life
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Big Technology Podcast:
OpenAI's Plan To Merge Chat And Agents — With Greg Brockman
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Encore: Inside Joe Weisenthal's brain
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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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.
 

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More News

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Earlier Picks

Andrew Higgins / New York Times:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
iFixit News: