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August 2, 2019, 11:40 AM
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Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Apple is suspending Siri response grading, the program in which humans review recordings of Siri queries for quality control, in response to privacy concerns  —  In response to concerns raised by a Guardian story last week over how recordings of Siri queries are used for quality control, Apple is suspending the program world wide.
Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Google will let Android users in Europe choose their default search engine starting in 2020; inclusion on the choice screen will be determined via auction  —  Only the top-three bidders will appear alongside Google on the choice screen  —  Starting in early 2020, Google will present …
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
DoorDash agrees to acquire Caviar, Square's food delivery business, for $410M in cash and preferred DoorDash stock  —  DoorDash has reached an agreement with Square to purchase on-demand food delivery and catering business Caviar .  DoorDash has agreed to pay Square $410 million in cash and preferred DoorDash stock.
Karl Bode / VICE:
FTC asks that the 147M people affected by the Equifax breach take free credit monitoring as only $31M of the $575M+ Equifax settlement is allocated to consumers  —  After “overwhelming” public interest, the FTC now urges users to settle for free credit monitoring instead.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Google to add an automated text-to-speech feature for emergency calls made via the Pixel Phone app to help relay location information to first responders  —  The new feature will automatically describe the kind of emergency and exact address to first responders
New York Times:
Records show the NYPD has uploaded arrest photos of juveniles into a facial recognition database since 2015, despite higher risk of false matches in young faces  —  With little oversight, the N.Y.P.D. has been using powerful surveillance technology on photos of children and teenagers.
Dell Cameron / Gizmodo:
Amazon's Ring says that it receives some real-time 911 call data, including addresses, from police, which helps it curate crime news posts for its Neighbors app  —  Amazon-owned home security company Ring is pursuing contracts with police departments that would grant it direct access to real …
Ben Fox Rubin / CNET:
Following its move to stop selling new Dash buttons in February, Amazon says it will turn off the capabilities of all its Dash buttons worldwide on August 31  —  If you're dying to test out the features of Amazon's Dash button, it's now or never.  Amazon said Thursday it will turn off …
Rae Hodge / CNET:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein introduces a bill that would give voters five rights, including the right to be notified when campaigns obtain their data  —  Sen. Dianne Feinstein on Wednesday introduced a bill prompted by Cambridge Analytica's misuse of Facebook users' private data.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
FTC is looking into the Amazon/Apple deal that kicked many small resellers off Marketplace, has interviewed at least one reseller of refurbished MacBooks  —  Experts say the deal raises serious antitrust concerns  —  Last year, Amazon cut a deal with Apple to bring direct iPhone sales to its platform for the first time.
More: 9to5Mac and Cult of Mac
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Babylon Health raises $550M Series C at $2B+ valuation from Saudi Arabia's PIF, Kinnevik, and others to expand its AI-based health services to the US and Asia  —  Babylon Health, the UK-based startup that has developed a number of AI-based health services, including a chatbot used …
Jacqueline Feldscher / Politico:
Pentagon puts the decision of awarding the $10B JEDI cloud services contract on hold as Defense Secretary Mark Esper reviews accusations of unfair competition  —  The Pentagon is slamming the brakes on its mega-competition to award a $10 billion cloud computing contract after President Donald Trump suggested …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: the Federal Reserve examined a Virginia Amazon cloud facility in spring, the first of what is expected to be ongoing oversight of big cloud providers  —  Visit was made in April to Amazon facility in Virginia  —  The Federal Reserve conducted a formal examination this spring …
Andrew Webster / The Verge:
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the biggest name in Fortnite and one of Twitch's most popular stars, says he will move to Microsoft's Mixer full-time  —  Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, the biggest name in Fortnite and one of Twitch's most popular stars, is leaving the platform to stream exclusively on Mixer.
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook says it will open source two algorithms it uses to identify child sexual exploitation, terrorist propaganda, and graphic violence in images and videos  —  Crowdsourcing a better solution to disturbing photos and videos  —  Facebook will open-source two algorithms it uses …
Will Knight / MIT Technology Review:
Researchers developed AI that learned chess not by playing but analyzing reactions of expert commentators in text form to evaluate the quality of the moves  —  Machines that appreciate “brilliant” and “dumb” chess moves could learn to play the game—and do other things—more efficiently.
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
E-commerce site Wish raises a Series H, reportedly with $300M in funding, bringing its valuation to $11.2B, up from $8.7B in September 2017  —  Ecommerce startup Wish has reportedly raised $300 million in a confirmed Series H round led by General Atlantic.  The financing boosts Wish's valuation …
More: Axios.  Thanks:@bayareawriter
Donie O'Sullivan / CNN:
Facebook details its first takedown of inauthentic accounts linked to the Saudi government, alongside a separate takedown of accounts linked to UAE and Egypt  —  Washington (CNN Business)Facebook said Thursday it had found evidence of something cyber security and national security experts …

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:40 AM ET, August 2, 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 Arkin / NBC News:
Gene Shalit, a longtime film critic for NBC's Today who was with the show from 1970 until his retirement in 2010, dies at 100

Gary Baum / The Hollywood Reporter:
A look at the first “case” brought before Objection, which aims to use AI to evaluate news stories, and a Q&A with Objection's founder; the site is now dark

Aidan Ryan / The Boston Globe:
A look at an AI-reliant news site for 19 towns south of Boston, which uses public meeting transcripts and LLMs to produce stories and has 350 paid subscribers

More News

Earlier Picks

Wall Street Journal:
Sources: as part of its antitrust probe, FTC is investigating whether Facebook bought startups like Instagram and WhatsApp to neutralize possible competitors
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Inside US-based “phone farms”, where people use dozens or hundreds of smartphones to fabricate engagements with ads and generate some disposable income
Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:
An in-depth look at Intel's new Ice Lake chips, including their development history and benchmark results
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