Techmeme: US Army documents show Palantir, which has struggled to win a major defense contract, has won the bid to build a battlefield intelligence system for soldiers (Shane Harris/Washington Post)

Top News

Three pioneers of AI, Geoffrey Hinton, Yann LeCun, and Yoshua Bengio, win the $1M Turing Award for their work on neural networks — SAN FRANCISCO — In 2004, Geoffrey Hinton doubled down on his pursuit of a technological idea called a neural network. — It was a way for machines …

More: Wired, The Verge, Washington Post, and Bloomberg

Tweets: @ylecun, @michael_nielsen, @pcastr, @sundarpichai, and @facebookai

Jules Wang / Android Police:

Google Podcasts is auto-transcribing podcast episodes and using those transcripts as metadata to help listeners search for shows — Google Podcasts is now automatically generating transcripts of episodes and is using them as metadata to help listeners search for shows, even if they don't know the title or when it was published.

More: Mashable and Beyond Search

Tweets: @glenngabe, @chronotope, @tomaxwell, @alexhern, @backlon, and @gretchenamcc

Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:

How a vulnerability disclosure by researchers to Atrient, a vendor of player reward kiosks for casinos, led to competing claims of assault and blackmail — “Ethical hackers” tried to disclose problems to a casino software company—it got messy. — People who find security vulnerabilities commonly run …

Tweets: @vickerysec, @vickerysec, and @k8em0

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Apple News+ could accelerate the demise of news outlets by decimating their revenue and disrupting publishers' relationships with readers — At the mercy of a new algorithm — Apple doesn't care about news, it cares about recurring revenue. That's why publishers are crazy to jump into bed with Apple News+.

Tweets: @brianstelter, @jandersonqz, @joshconstine, @johnwilson, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, @joshconstine, and @trippmickle

See also Mediagazer

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Memo: Microsoft's marketing chief Chris Capossela tells employees not to engage in any public-facing April Fool's Day pranks because of “unwanted news cycles” — No Clippy pranks this year — Everyone hates April Fools' Day, and Microsoft is taking a stand against its own corporate pranks.

Tweets: @tomwarren, @jasonabbruzzese, @alex, and @alexhern

Reuters:

Sources: Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun is seeking to sell Grindr, the popular gay dating app, after a US govt panel raised concerns about its ownership — (Reuters) - Chinese gaming company Beijing Kunlun Tech Co Ltd is seeking to sell Grindr LLC, the popular gay dating app it has owned since 2016 …

More: Engadget, TechCrunch, The Verge, Reuters, Tech in Asia, and socalTECH.com

Tweets: @ingridlunden, @pstasiatech, @morganlbrennan, @caseynewton, and @teddyschleifer

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:

Apple iPad Air (2019) review: excellent screen and fast processor but it only supports first-gen Pencil, speakers are on one side, and no Face ID — A good step up from the basic iPad — There sure are a lot of different iPads now. Last week's announcement of a new iPad Air and iPad mini means …

More: Laptop Mag, Mashable, TechRadar.com, and CNBC. Tweets: @backlon

The Keyword:

Google announces an Advanced Technology External Advisory Council to consider ethical issues around AI like facial recognition and fairness in machine learning — Last June we announced Google's AI Principles, an ethical charter to guide the responsible development and use of AI in our research and products.

More: The Register, Business Insider, 9to5Google, MIT Technology Review, Forbes, PYMNTS.com, The Verge, Engadget, Beyond Search, VentureBeat, and CNET

Tweets: @farbandish, @farbandish, @floridi, @samgregory, @freedom2marry, @future_of_music, @elizabeth_joh, @jtashea, @evgenymorozov, @ibogost, and @j2bryson

Mark Bergen / Bloomberg:

Source: Google CEO Sundar Pichai to meet with General Joseph Dunford, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, after Dunford criticized Google's AI work in China — - CEO Pichai set to meet General Dunford on Wednesday in DC — Military chief has criticized big tech for helping China

More: TechNode, Fortune, Telecoms.com, TechSpot, Firstpost, and Business Insider

Tweets: @alistairmbarr and @next_china

Eric Niiler / Wired:

A look at Estonia's efforts to deploy AI in government services, from farm inspections via satellite image analysis to robot judges for small claims disputes — GOVERNMENT USUALLY ISN'T the place to look for innovation in IT or new technologies like artificial intelligence. But Ott Velsberg might change your mind.

Tweets: @mims, @wired, and @gstichele

Brittany A. Roston / SlashGear:

Uber brings Ride Pass, its $14.99+/month service that locks in a flat fee for UberX and UberPool trips, to 20 more US cities, up from five at its October launch — Popular ride-sharing service Uber has expanded its Ride Pass into 20 more cities, the company has announced …

More: Uber Newsroom, The Verge, CNET, 9to5Mac, Digital Trends, and PYMNTS.com

Vanessa Friedman / New York Times:

Talk of wearables and fashion has gone quiet since the lead up to Apple Watch's 2014 debut, as many fashion brands now market tech wearables as niche products — When Apple introduced the Apple Watch five years ago, the whole tech industry began to flirt with style. But interest in wearables has cooled.

More: AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, and iPhone Hacks. Tweets: @vvfriedman

Sidney Fussell / The Atlantic:

Airbnb says it's cracking down on hosts who record guests, but four guests who found cameras in their rentals say Airbnb is inconsistent in enforcing its rules — When Max Vest shook hands with the host of his Miami Airbnb back in January, the man introduced himself as Ralph—even though …

Tweets: @theatlantic, @mimbsy, @elizabeth_joh, and @andersen

J. Brian Charles / Governing:

The NYPD has developed Patternizr, an AI-based system to track crimes and spot patterns using police data, and has been using it since late 2016 — The nation's largest police force has developed a first-of-its-kind algorithm to track crimes across the city and identify patterns.

Makena Kelly / The Verge:

FTC launches a broad inquiry into privacy practices of ISPs, orders seven ISPs including AT&T and Verizon to provide nonpublic info about handling consumer data — The commission wants to know what data your ISP is collecting about you — The Federal Trade Commission today announced …

More: TechCrunch, Federal Trade Commission, TechSpot, SiliconANGLE, AppleInsider, Engadget, Gizmodo, CNET, ZDNet, and Private Internet Access Blog

Tweets: @tonyromm, @realdanstoller, and @karlbode

Max Willens / Digiday:

Profile of Peter Stern, who has led business operations for Apple's services division, which now includes Apple TV+ and Apple News+, for the past year — Peter Stern joined Apple at a moment when its relationships with entertainment companies and publishers were at a low point.

More: AppleInsider, Engadget, Six Colors, iPhone in Canada Blog, MacDailyNews, CNN, Cult of Mac, and OneZero

Tweets: @pkafka and @trippmickle

Shane Harris / Washington Post:

US Army documents show Palantir, which has struggled to win a major defense contract, has won the bid to build a battlefield intelligence system for soldiers — The Army has chosen Palantir Technologies to deploy a complex battlefield intelligence system for soldiers, according to Army documents …

More: Silicon Valley Business … and Defense One

Tweets: @kendilaniannbc, @amy_siskind, @karangoel, @bznotes, @jennamc_laugh, and @mattdrange

Julia Fioretti / Reuters:

Chinese video streaming service iQIYI raises $1.05B from convertible bond sale, the second such bond sale since its March 2018 IPO on Nasdaq — HONG KONG (Reuters) - Video-streaming firm iQIYI, backed by search engine giant Baidu, returned to the capital markets on Wednesday …

Manish Singh / VentureBeat:

BitTorrent says it is relaunching BitTorrent Live, its defunct Sling TV-like service, as a Snapchat-like social media app for iOS and Android, currently in beta — BitTorrent today announced it is reviving one of its most ambitious services as it looks for ways to expand since being acquired by blockchain startup Tron last year.

More: Variety

Nick Brown / Reuters:

US Census Bureau has asked Google, Facebook, and Twitter for help protecting upcoming 2020 count from disinformation campaigns designed to dissuade participants — NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. Census Bureau has asked tech giants Google, Facebook and Twitter to help it fend off “fake news” …

Lulu Yilun Chen / Bloomberg:

Sources: Chinese smartwatch and AI startup Mobvoi, backed by Google, is close to raising $100M at a $1B valuation, ahead of an IPO in China — - Mobvoi is said to seek $100 million in funding round — The startup is said to target an IPO on China's new tech board

Tweets: @sirsteven and @luluyilun

Susan Decker / Bloomberg:

US trade judge finds that Apple infringes a Qualcomm patent, says she will be recommending an import ban on some iPhones — - Qualcomm is seeking leverage in Apple patent-royalty fight — Two cases are before trade agency; Second decision due later — Apple Inc. infringes …

More: CNET, Silicon Valley Business …, The Verge, Reuters, FOSS Patents, PiunikaWeb, Bloomberg, FOSS Patents, Coinspeaker, Firstpost, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, Financial Times, Patently Apple, PYMNTS.com, Engadget, The Hill, ZDNet, iPhone Hacks, CNBC, MacRumors, AppleInsider, VentureBeat, 9to5Mac, Telegraph, iPhone in Canada Blog, CCN, and Axios

Tweets: @markgurman, @markgurman, @markgurman, and @superwuster

Susan Decker / Bloomberg:

In the second of two cases, the ITC rejects a patent infringement claim filed by Qualcomm against Apple, stopping a possible iPhone import ban for that claim

More: Cult of Mac. Tweets: @markgurman

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