Techmeme: Testing US Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System, a version of HoloLens 2 modified for military use, which felt like a real-life game of “Call of Duty” (Todd Haselton/CNBC)

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April 7, 2019, 5:55 PM

Top News

Jason Schreier / Kotaku:

Following Anthem's rough launch, current and former BioWare employees say its development was hampered by EA's Frostbite engine and poor leadership — It wasn't even supposed to be called Anthem. Just days before the annual E3 convention in June of 2017, when the storied studio BioWare …

More: Forbes, PC Gamer, Polygon, PC Gamer, Engadget, TechSpot, The Next Web, GamesIndustry.biz, VG247, USgamer.net, and Wired

Tweets: @jasonschreier, @hartsman, @justanavrgetree, @unheroics, @jessecox, @rolanberrypie, @kateleth, @apunkbird, @edzitron, and @adamconover

CNBC:

After a NY Post report that Morgan Stanley offered Lyft's pre-IPO investors a short-selling product, Lyft sends a letter threatening to sue the investment bank — - In a letter sent to Morgan Stanley on April 2, Lyft questioned the firm about its role in helping market certain products …

More: The Information, TechCrunch, Forbes, and New York Post

Tweets: @lessin, @alysekilleen, @maxjacobsedison, @cookie, @sameerpatel, @amir, @wintonark, @thufirhawat, @jessicalessin, @jessicalessin, and @jessicalessin

Todd Haselton / CNBC:

Testing US Army's Integrated Visual Augmentation System, a version of HoloLens 2 modified for military use, which felt like a real-life game of “Call of Duty” — - Microsoft is building the military's IVAS headset, which is based on HoloLens 2.

More: CNET, Digital Trends, The Verge, SlashGear, TechSpot, Engadget, Gizmodo, and MSPoweruser

Tweets: @jamesashley, @undersecarmy, @mattrosoff, @robotodd, @robotodd, and @robotodd. Thanks:@mattrosoff

Arielle Pardes / Wired:

Founder of Change My View subreddit, which has 700K+ subscribers, launches Change A View, a site with paid moderators and some funding from Alphabet's Jigsaw — A FEW MONTHS shy of his high school graduation, Kal Turnbull came to a realization: Conversations on the internet are broken.

More: Change A View, Inc. and Boing Boing

Tweets: @pardesoteric, @kevinakwok, @jeffweiner, and @mehatch

Christopher Mims / Wall Street Journal:

How fraud-detection services like Sift and SecureAuth use thousands of signals and opaque algorithms to generate user-trustworthiness scores — When you're logging in to a Starbucks account, booking an Airbnb or making a reservation on OpenTable, loads of information about you is crunched instantly …

Tweets: @mims, @profgalloway, @mims, @elizabeth_joh, @wsj, and @wsj

Ron Amadeo / Ars Technica:

Hands on with Android Q Beta 2: deep dive into an early version of Bubbles multitasking UI, a look at the changes to notifications and gesture navigation, more — Android's Bubbles feature can actually completely replace the notification panel. — Android Q Beta 2 is out!

Tweets: @benedictevans and @stevesi

Sean Hollister / The Verge:

Netflix says it pulled AirPlay support because it is technically unable to ensure a good enough user experience on 3rd party devices now getting AirPlay 2 — A “technical limitation” — With no warning and little explanation, Netflix has removed the easiest way to sling its shows from one Apple device to another: AirPlay.

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

TikTok is becoming a new platform for a song to find an audience, as shown by the viral hit “Old Town Road”, which now has more than 65M streams on Spotify — ‘TikTok helped me change my life,’ says Lil Nas X — Montero “Lil Nas X” Hill's parents were concerned when their son dropped …

More: New York Magazine, TikTok Newsroom, TIME, and Vox

Tweets: @nymag and @bafeldman

Foreign Policy:

How Huawei, once an upstart using licensed and sometimes stolen tech to undercut rivals, became a telecom infrastructure juggernaut during the 4G upgrade cycle — The same year, Huawei landed an even bigger and more unexpected contract to completely rebuild and replace Norway's mobile phone network …

Tweets: @eliasgroll, @foreignpolicy, @harriszainul, @foreignpolicy, and @austinyugo

The Guardian:

UK regulator launches investigation into auto-renewal, cancellation, and refund practices of online gaming services from Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft — CMA examines auto-renewal terms for Switch, PlayStation and Xbox subscriptions — The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) …

More: GOV.UK, Eurogamer.net, BetaNews, VG247, TechSpot, Engadget, Gamnesia, The Independent, ScreenRant, Game Rant, GamesIndustry.biz, MSPoweruser, OnMSFT.com, Telegraph, and VG247

Tweets: @michaelmacleod1, @cmagovuk, @cmagovuk, and @martinsfp

Bloomberg:

As Google disbands its external AI ethics board, a look at its internal AI ethics council comprising of senior execs and led by its chief legal officer — A board filled with internal executives raises questions about accountability — Two weeks ago, Google established an external panel …

More: The Guardian, Fox News, Wired, Android Authority, MIT Technology Review, TechSpot, 9to5Google, and Forbes

Tweets: @techworkersco and @lizthegrey

Mark Murray / NBC News:

Poll: 69% of Americans use social media at least once a day, 82% believe it wastes their time, 55% think it spreads lies and falsehoods, 57% say “it divides us” — A sizable majority say social media does more to divide the country than unite it, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.

More: The Wrap, The Hill, and Gizmodo

Tweets: @alasaarela, @mattmcgee, @getongab, @samueljscott, @twadhwa, and @ajitpaifcc

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This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 5:55 PM ET, April 7, 2019.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Daniel Thomas / Financial Times:

Interview with WPP CEO Cindy Rose, who says AI puts pressure on the ad agency's pricing and WPP has 10K data scientists and software engineers and 12K creatives

Paul Glynn / BBC:

HarperCollins UK drops children's author and comedian David Walliams following allegations of inappropriate behavior toward young women

Robert D. McFadden / New York Times:

Lou Cannon, a veteran Washington Post reporter who wrote several influential biographies of Ronald Reagan, has died at 92

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More News

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

With Snap Kit, Snap moves on from being a “Camera company” and becomes a camera platform, enabling developers to embed, not copy, its best features

Tweets: @joshconstine and @joshconstine. Thanks:@joshconstine

Kevin Carey / The Huffington Post:

A look at “OPMs”, companies which manage online courses for top US universities and take a 60% cut from tuition fees, which may reach $60K+ per online degree

Tweets: @ernestezeugo, @giladedelman, @bluegrasscap, @zeitgeistfilm, @emilyjodell, @bleuguy, @ralphratheriled, @abbasabbasov, @ricetopher, @kevincarey1, @alexshebanow, @bethanyletiecq, and @koehrsen_will

Mike Orcutt / MIT Technology Review:

VCs invested $334M in blockchain startups in Q1 2019, well below the 2018 levels when $5.5B was raised, but in line with 2017 levels according to PitchBook data

Tweets: @nxthompson

Yogita Khatri / CoinDesk:

Cryptocurrency payments startup Celo says a16z crypto and Polychain Capital have purchased $15M and $10M respectively in the project's Celo Gold tokens

More: Celo

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:

Profile of CarpeDonktum, a stay-at-home dad posting highly popular pro-Trump memes and blurring the lines between viral trolling and the business of politics

Tweets: @cwarzel, @eddiezipperer, and @annehelen

Cat Ferguson / The Verge:

Webcomics creators, including artists behind XKCD and Dinosaur Comics, talk about their early days, and how social media and Patreon have shifted the economics

Tweets: @gpfjeff, @adamgurri, @hayesbrown, @drmrfrancis, @projectionedge, @spookymeggie, @backlon, @3psboyd, @korybing, @jonrosenberg, @wigu, @faitherinhicks, @kcgreenn, and @biocuriosity

Earlier Picks

April Glaser / Slate:

Public databases for identifying and mapping plants and birds have had to rebuild infrastructure to hide specific locations of endangered species from poachers

Tweets: @slate, @ceshegz, @bwarburg, @cnps, @christinatoms, @chloe_beth13, @ginahelfrich, @alisonborealis, and @aprilaser

Julia Alexander / The Verge:

YouTube, which used to highlight and promote independent creators, is shifting toward more commercial, advertiser-friendly content as it battles misinformation

More: Slashdot. Tweets: @annemariebridy, @glenngabe, @pejames, @genepark, @reckless, and @loudmouthjulia