Techmeme
February 17, 2019, 12:50 PM

Top News

Wall Street Journal:
An account of the rise and untimely death of Vine and HQ Trivia cofounder Colin Kroll, based on interviews with and documents from friends, police, and others  —  Self-taught coder Colin Kroll shot to startup fame, allowing him to live life in a fast lane  —  Colin Kroll, a college dropout …
Corinne Purtill / Quartz:
A look at how the Enron Corpus, a public database of 600K+ emails that helped bring down Enron, has enabled AI researchers to train natural language models  —  During its 2002 investigation of the bankruptcy of Enron, the US Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) checked the energy company's emails …
Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority:
Leaked images of V50 ThinQ, LG's first 5G phone, which will likely launch on Feb. 24, show a triple camera system and a rear fingerprint sensor, similar to V40  —  We've known for a while that LG would reveal a 5G phone in early 2019, just like every other OEM apparently.
Carole Cadwalladr / The Guardian:
Report by a UK parliamentary committee into fake news and disinformation, due Monday, is expected to be very critical of Facebook and its “duplicitous” CEO  —  Westminster will also urge investigation into foreign meddling in UK elections  —  Facebook cannot be trusted …
Jon Porter / The Verge:
DJI unveils a new 3D geofencing system that will prevent the company's drones from flying too close to major airports in the UK and 32 European countries  —  The new restrictions form a no-fly zone in the shape of a 3D bow tie  —  A three-dimensional “bow tie” geofence will soon prevent DJI's drones …
More: Engadget
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Elroy Air, a maker of delivery drones that can carry up to 500 lbs, raises $9.2M in seed funding from new and existing investors Catapult, Precursor, and others  —  The dozens of companies vying for a foothold in the $11.2 billion drone industry — and by extension the $400 million same …
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Records obtained via FOIA requests and interviews with local officials reveal the unusual lengths Google goes to keep its data center construction plans secret  —  Last May, officials in Midlothian, Tex., a city near Dallas, approved more than $10 million in tax breaks for a huge …

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Ryan Mac / BuzzFeed:
Jason Del Rey / Recode: