| Josh Constine / TechCrunch: |
Facebook debuts Portal TV, a TV accessory for video calling, streaming, AR gaming, and co-viewing Facebook Watch shows, shipping November 5 for $149 — Facebook wants to take over your television with a clip-on camera for video calling, AR gaming, and content co-watching.| Nick Statt / The Verge: |
Facebook unveils second-gen 10-inch Portal for $179, and 8-inch Portal Mini for $129, with WhatsApp call support, picture-in-picture viewing, and Prime Video — The $179 Portal and $129 Portal Mini are Facebook's latest hardware products — Facebook today announced three new products … | Bloomberg: |
Facebook confirms it was collecting Portal audio clips, some of which were transcribed by contractors, says 2nd-gen Portal devices will offer an opt-out option — - Company previously criticized for transcribing Messenger calls — New and old Portal devices will now offer an opt-out option| Dieter Bohn / The Verge: |
Apple Watch Series 5 review: it's a minor update and battery life hasn't improved, but an always-on, beautiful screen and new apps make it the best smartwatch — There's basically no competition — The highest praise I can give the new Apple Watch Series 5 is simply this: it's an Apple Watch.| Madhumita Murgia / Financial Times: |
Researchers: many streaming dongles and TVs, including those made Amazon, Roku, Samsung, and LG, are sending user data to firms such as Netflix and Facebook — The smart TVs in our homes are leaking sensitive user data to companies including Netflix, Google and Facebook even when some devices are idle … | The Verge: |
Roundup of everything that is known about Google's Pixel 4 and Pixel 4 XL, set to be announced on October 15, after weeks of non-stop leaks — Google's Pixel 3 might have been the most-leaked phone in history. Long before its unveiling, we knew practically everything about it from unboxing videos … | Joseph Cox / VICE: |
Repo men are scanning and uploading locations of cars they drive past into DRN, a surveillance database of 9B license plates accessible by private investigators — Repo men are passively scanning and uploading the locations of every car they drive by into DRN, a surveillance database … | Kaitlyn Tiffany / The Atlantic: |
Instagram's Close Friends feature proves controversial as both an influencer revenue stream and superficial gateway to intimacy — Gabi Abrao, better known as @sighswoon on Instagram, is “developing a language with the invisible.” Her page is half memes, half photos of her—eating fresh fruit … | Lauren Smiley / Wired: |
How data from the victim's Fitbit and a neighbor's Ring surveillance camera played a crucial role in the arrest of a 90-year-old suspect in a murder trial in CA — Karen Navarra was a quiet woman in her sixties who lived alone. She was found beaten to death. The neighbors didn't see anything.| Eliot Brown / Wall Street Journal: |
Profile of WeWork CEO Adam Neumann and his sometimes chaotic lifestyle, as sources detail worrying stories, like his wife firing multiple employees she just met — The skills that helped fuel We Co.'s breakneck growth are piling up as potential liabilities as the company prepares to go public| Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: |
Documents found on an unprotected backup drive of a Nokia Networks employee shed light on Russia's secret network surveillance system, known as SORM — A data leak exposes SORM surveillance at Russia's top telco — In cities across Russia, large boxes in locked rooms are directly connected … | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: |
IBM unveils a 53-qubit quantum computer, scheduled to arrive next month, making it the largest universal quantum computer available for external use — IBM continues to push its quantum computing efforts forward and today announced that it will soon make a 53-qubit quantum computer available to clients of its IBM Q Network.| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Descript, a toolmaker for podcasting, raises $15M Series A from a16z and Redpoint and acquires Lyrebird, which lets users create audio of their voices from text — The boom in popularity for podcasting has given a new voice to the world of spoken word content that had been largely left for dead with the decline of broadcast radio.| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Amazon says it is bringing Amazon PayCode, which allows customers to checkout using cash at Western Union locations, to the US — Amazon is making it easier for customers to pay with cash for their online purchases. The retailer today announced the U.S. arrival of Amazon PayCode … | Nilay Patel / The Verge: |
iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review: its camera system outperforms the Pixel 3 and Note10 in bright light and, with Night mode, usually beats Pixel 3 in low light — And the best camera you can get on a phone — The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 Pro Max did not arrive at the splashiest Apple event ever.| Chris Velazco / Engadget: |
| Gabriel Debenedetti / New York Magazine: |
Inside the growing split between Silicon Valley and the Democratic Party, once allies, as leading presidential candidates express extreme worries about Big Tech — Three summers ago, a worker stood up at “Q&A,” Facebook's weekly all-hands, town-hall-style meeting, which is usually held … | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Google begins rolling out new features for its Family Link parental control tool, including app-specific screen time and the ability to grant extra time — Google's parental control software, Family Link, is getting a noteworthy update today with the addition of new features that will allow parents … | Washington Post: |
Congress grills Google, Facebook, and Twitter again as lawmakers weigh creating a commission with subpoena power to study and monitor social media weaponization — House lawmakers are planning to unveil legislation to probe social media and online extremism| Lukas I. Alpert / Wall Street Journal: |
Facing mounting antitrust pressure, Google and Facebook have been cozying up to publishers, offering oft-requested fees and news-ranking changes — Facing mounting antitrust probes, tech platforms offer fees, news-ranking changes media outlets have pursued for years| Kara Swisher / Vox: |
Apple's VP of communications Steve Dowling is leaving the company after five years in the role; Dowling joined the company 16 years ago — Steve Dowling, who has headed Apple's communications for the last five years, is leaving after 16 years at the company.| Will Oremus / OneZero: |
Studies that try to place a monetary value on consumer privacy have such varying results that researchers are beginning to conclude that it's the wrong approach — No one knows. And it might be time to stop asking. — For big tech platforms, this was the year when violating users' privacy got expensive.| Financial Times: |
Facebook to give body cameras to UK Met for firearms training exercises and will use the footage to train algorithms on real-life first person shooter incidents — Facebook will use footage from police body cameras to train its computers to recognise gun attack videos … | Dan Goodin / Ars Technica: |
Researchers discover a weakness in the WS-Discovery protocol, found in over 800,000 IoT devices, that lets hackers amplify DDoS attacks — WSD is supposed to be confined to local networks. It's not, and researchers are concerned. — Hackers have found a new way to amplify the crippling effects … | Dan Seifert / The Verge: |
Sonos Move review: loud and full sound that is great indoors or out, reliable wireless connectivity, but too big and heavy for travel, significant setup bugs — Sonos' first portable speaker is more comfortable at home than on the go — For the past week or so, I've been listening to music …
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| Ryan Tracy / Wall Street Journal: |
| Tavi Gevinson / The Cut: |
| Steve Dent / Engadget: |
| Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: |
| Dieter Bohn / The Verge: |