Techmeme
December 6, 2016, 6:15 AM

Top News

Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed:
How the “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory spread online via 4chan, Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites, culminating in arrest of gunman in Washington D.C.  —  The unhinged conspiracy theory now known as “Pizzagate” has resulted in a man bringing an assault rifle to the DC bar named …
Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch:
Facebook now asking users to rate articles' use of “misleading language” to detect fake news  —  A survey asking users about “misleading language” in posts is the latest indication that Facebook is facing up to what many see as its responsibility to get a handle on the fake news situation.
Julia Love / Reuters:
Tim Cook says Apple Watch set a new sales record during first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track to be the best ever for the product  —  Sales of the Apple Watch to consumers set a record during the first week of holiday shopping, and the current quarter is on track …
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Amazon debuts Amazon Go, a checkout-less food store in Seattle, where purchases are tracked by computer vision and app, open to its staff now and public in '17  —  The straight-forwardly named “Just Walk Out” technology ought to give you a pretty good idea of what Amazon Go is all about.
Facebook:
Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, and YouTube will create a database to share hashes of terrorist images and recruitment videos removed from their services  —  Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube are coming together to help curb the spread of terrorist content online.
Peter Sayer / PCWorld:
OpenAI open sources Universe, a training platform where AIs can learn to play games, use apps, and interact with sites; source code now available on GitHub  —  A company backed by Elon Musk wants to help robots to learn to steal cars by playing games  —  OpenAI, an artificial intelligence …
Natt Garun / The Verge:
Google's new Trusted Contacts app lets you share your location during emergencies  —  It's basically Google Latitude, three years later  —  When Google discontinued Latitude in 2013, it never truly made a replacement for its version of iOS's Find My Friend.
Jeremy Kahn / Bloomberg:
Google DeepMind open sources its AI training platform, releases entire source code on GitHub for researchers and developers to experiment  —  Company is increasingly embracing open-source initiatives  —  Move comes after rival Musk's OpenAI made its robot gym public
Mehedi Hassan / MSPoweruser:
Microsoft quietly launches a chatbot on Kik named Zo that avoids conversation topics like politics, following disastrous debut of Tay chatbot earlier this year  —  Earlier this year, Microsoft introduced a new chatbot powered by artificial intelligence, called Tay.
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Uber acquires AI startup Geometric Intelligence, appoints co-founders Gary Marcus and Zoubin Ghahramani as co-directors of its new research arm, A.I. Labs  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Uber envisions a future in which a fleet of vehicles can make the most complex maneuvers while carting passengers around without the help of a driver.

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More News

Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:

Earlier Picks

Rupert Jones / The Guardian: