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December 20, 2019, 12:25 AM
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| Josh Constine / TechCrunch: |
Report: Facebook has tasked a co-author of Windows NT with building an OS from scratch, in order to stop relying on Android for products like Oculus and Portal — Facebook doesn't want its hardware like Oculus and Portal to be at the mercy of Google because they rely on its Android operating system.
Source:
The Information. More:
The Verge, Engadget, Bloomberg, Android Central, Firstpost Tech, Neowin, Android Authority, Input, SiliconANGLE, Thurrott, SlashGear, PYMNTS.com, and MSPoweruser
| New York Times: |
Leaked dataset from a location data company with a log of the movements of 12M+ Americans shows how “anonymous” location data can be used to track people — EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized …
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Security Boulevard, MacRumors, SlashGear, Mashable, Android Authority, Lifehacker, iPhone Hacks, Light Reading, Tom's Guide, TidBITS, Android Central, Gizmodo, The Verge, CNBC, KnowTechie, 9to5Mac, and Slashdot
Tweets: @stuartathompson, @cwarzel, @stuartathompson, @carnage4life, @leakissner, @benedictevans, @joannastern, @joannastern, @johnbattelle, @kashhill, @stuartathompson, @robertcaruso, @hshaban, @pashulman, @tomwarren, @drjjoyner, @justinwolfers, @bwjones, @tomgara, @wolfiechristl, @jscarto, @joannastern, @mirakamdar, @laurengoode, @zittrain, @kashhill, @helvetica, @matthewstoller, @kashhill, and @cwarzel
| Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat: |
Google acquires Montreal-based game development house Typhoon Studios as part of its plan to create exclusive content for Stadia — Google's Stadia cloud gaming division has acquired Typhoon Studio, a Montreal-based triple-A game development house. — The move is part of Stadia's plan …
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The Keyword, Engadget, TechSpot, SlashGear, Android Police, Droid Life, Android Headlines, USgamer.net, Variety, Wccftech, Polygon, PlayStation LifeStyle, 9to5Google, PC Gamer, TechCrunch, Neowin, IGN, Hollywood Reporter, MSPoweruser, GameSpot, Gamasutra, Blue's News, and Gematsu
Tweets: @domsplaying and @nextgenplayer
| Drew Harwell / Washington Post: |
Study of 189 facial recognition algorithms shows they misidentify people of color more often than white people, confirming facial recognition tech's racial bias — Facial-recognition systems misidentified people of color more often than white people, a landmark federal study released Thursday shows …
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NIST, New York Times, Associated Press, CNN, CNET, Business Insider, The Hill, The Next Web, Boing Boing, Axios, and Mashable
| Kim Lyons / The Verge: |
Convenience store chain Wawa discloses a data breach across its 700 stores over the past nine months that may have exposed customer and credit card details — The breach may have affected all 700 stores over the past nine months. — If you used your credit card or debit card to buy gas …
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Wawa, Business Insider, CBS News, Ars Technica, Yahoo Finance, 6abc, Bloomberg, Sun-Sentinel, 6abc, Houston Chronicle, ZDNet, WTKR-TV, SlashGear, and CyberScoop
| Makena Kelly / The Verge: |
Congress passes the TRACED Act, enabling fines of up to $10K per robocall and requiring carriers to deploy STIR/SHAKEN protocol to identify spoofed numbers — A holiday gift for anyone with a phone — After months of negotiations, Congress approved a landmark bill on Thursday to stop the flood of illegal robocalls.
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The Hill, Ars Technica, Washington Post, International Business Times, Consumer Reports, iDownloadBlog.com, Android Authority, Input, Engadget, Newser, TechCrunch, and WebProNews
Tweets: @milliew_ng, @chrisismills, and @senrickscott
| Tony Romm / Washington Post: |
Facebook bans misleading posts, photos, ads, and other content about the 2020 US Census, even if posted by a politician, on Facebook and Instagram — The new rules, announced Thursday, includes those placed by politicians — SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook will remove posts …
More:
About Facebook, SiliconANGLE, CNN, Associated Press, Reuters, CNET, Adweek, NPR, Business Insider, The Hill, CNBC, Axios, IT Management, Input, Engadget, and Mashable
| Claire Stapleton / ELLE: |
Claire Stapleton, a Google Walkout organizer, recalls Google execs supporting the activism initially, then slowly pushing her out of the company in retaliation — Claire Stapleton didn't just buy into the lore of Google—she helped write it. What happened when the bard of Google became one of its most vocal critics?| Andrew O'Hara / AppleInsider: |
Apple open sources parts of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit allowing anyone to prototype HomeKit devices — Apple has published an open-source version of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit, allowing more users to experiment with the development of HomeKit accessories.
More:
Apple Developer, TechCrunch, The Mac Observer, iPhone Hacks, MacRumors, iPhone in Canada Blog, Patently Apple, iDownloadBlog.com, iMore, and Ars Technica
Tweets: @ckindel and @atulbutte
| Kim Lyons / The Verge: |
According to a new report from Have I Been Pwned, 170M emails along with usernames and hashed passwords were stolen in the Zynga breach in September — If you're still playing Words with Friends or Draw Something, you should change your password — A September password breach … | Taylor Soper / GeekWire: |
F5 Networks says it will acquire AI-powered fraud prevention platform Shape Security for around $1B in cash — F5 Networks will pay approximately $1 billion to acquire Shape Security, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that sells a fraud prevention platform to banks, airlines, retailers, government agencies, and more.
More:
Business Wire, ZDNet, SiliconANGLE, Silicon Valley Business …, and SDxCentral. Thanks:@mnickelsburg
| Chris Eggertsen / Billboard: |
Jury finds Cox Communications liable for its customers' piracy of 10,000+ musical works, awards $1B to Sony Music, EMI, Universal, and Warner Music — Cox Communications was found liable for piracy infringement of more than 10,000 musical works by a U.S. District Court jury in Virgina on Thursday …
More:
The Verge, Axios, Variety, Hollywood Reporter, and The Wrap
Tweets: @mmasnick and @future_of_music
| Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: |
Ghostery releases Ghostery Midnight, a desktop app that includes an ad blocker, tracker protection and monitoring, and a VPN, for $14 per month — Ghostery, a popular privacy- and security-focused browser extension and mobile browser app, has officially launched for desktop users.
More:
The Verge, BGR, Ad Age, iDownloadBlog.com, TechCrunch, and PCWorld
| Jay Peters / The Verge: |
OnePlus unveils a bug bounty program with rewards from $50-$7,000 open to any security expert and a bug bounty partnership with HackerOne for select researchers — You can earn up to $7,000 for submitting a bug — OnePlus announced its second data breach in two years back in November … | Katie Paul / Reuters: |
Facebook says it will no longer use phone numbers provided for 2FA for friend suggestions, after stopping their use for ad targeting in June — SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will no longer feed user phone numbers provided to it for two-factor authentication into its “people you may know” …
More:
Input, CNET, SlashGear, and The Verge
Tweets: @kennwhite, @random_walker, @rmac18, @cfidd, @zackwhittaker, and @harrymccracken
| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
TiVo to merge with technology licensing company Xperi; the combined company will have a fully diluted equity value of $2.4B, with TiVo owning ~53.5% of it — TiVo has scrapped plans to split itself into two separate companies, and instead announced a $3 billion merger with Xperi …
More:
TiVo Corporation, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Neowin, TechSpot, Liliputing, Engadget, MarketWatch, Hollywood Reporter, The Mac Observer, and Fortune
Tweets: @harrymccracken and @benedictevans
| Arno Schuetze / Reuters: |
German court bans Uber in the country, says it is using rental cars without a necessary license; source: Uber will change the way it operates in Germany — FRANKFURT (Reuters) - A German court on Thursday banned Uber ride-hailing services in Germany, arguing the U.S. company lacks … Sponsor Posts
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