Techmeme
October 8, 2019, 11:00 PM

Top News

Ina Fried / Axios:
Twitter says it has unintentionally used some email addresses and phone numbers provided for account security purposes for ad targeting  —  Twitter disclosed Tuesday that it “unintentionally” used some mail address and phone numbers for advertising even though the information was provided for account security.
Bloomberg:
Blizzard bans player from Hearthstone competition for a year and rescinds $10K prize money, after he publicly supported Hong Kong's pro-democracy protestors  —  - Expressing sympathy for Hong Kong democracy push proves costly  — Hearthstone player won't be allowed to compete for a year
Ben Thompson / Stratechery:
As China exports its domestic standards, the US should treat China's leveraging of market access into self-censorship by US companies as trade violations  —  It all started with a tweet:  —  “It” refers to the current imbroglio surrounding Daryl Morey, the General Manager for the Houston Rockets …
Jeremy Burge / Emojipedia:
Washington Post:
Bipartisan Senate report makes recommendations to prevent Russian election interference in 2020, saying Russia sowed social media discord to help Trump in 2016  —  GOP-led panel endorses finding that Russia interfered to help Donald Trump  —  A bipartisan panel of U.S. senators Tuesday called …
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
Google debuts a stream transfer feature that lets users move ongoing music and video streams between devices, coming first to Chromecast, Google Home, and Nest  —  At long last, Google is finally introducing a way for users of its smart speakers and streaming adapters to move media between those devices.
Zachary Evans / National Review:
FISA court rules that an FBI foreign surveillance program violated Americans' civil liberties, deeming tens of thousands of searches from 2017-2018 illegal  —  The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has ruled that an FBI program intended to target foreign suspects violated Americans' constitutional right …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Facebook says its Workplace platform has 3M paid users, up 1M in the past eight months, and introduces new features, like Portal support and new analytics tools  —  Should Workplace by Facebook boost employee engagement and connect frontline workers, the company is likely to add more enterprise customers.
Amanda Capritto / CNET:
Smart fitness company Mirror, maker of a reflective LCD device with two-way audio and video, launches in-home 1:1 personal training at $40 per 30-minute session  —  Mirror, the fitness equipment that's part full-length mirror and part LCD screen, took the home-workout world by storm in early 2019 …
Peter Rubin / Wired:
Sony announces PlayStation 5 will launch in time for “holiday 2020”, featuring a new controller with haptic technology and triggers with varying resistance  —  Now that the name is official, we've got more details about Sony's next-gen console—from the haptics-packed controller to UI improvements.
Paul Wagenseil / Tom's Guide:
D-Link won't patch a remote exploit in four of its routers, saying they are end-of-life, despite some being discontinued in 2018 and still being sold on Amazon  —  Models deemed end-of-life, although they're still sold online  —  A serious security flaw has been found in four D-Link routers.
Lori Hawkins / Austin American-Statesman:
Austin-based SparkCognition, which uses AI to monitor and predict when industrial systems may fail or be hacked, raises $100M Series C at a valuation of $725M  —  In one of the biggest Austin funding deals of the year, fast-growing SparkCognition has raised $100 million to accelerate its artificial intelligence platform.
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Robinhood unveils Cash Management, which earns 2.05% APY interest on uninvested money in users' accounts, after 2018's botched roll out of its checking product  —  This time it actually has insurance.  Zero-fee stock trading app Robinhood is launching Cash Management, a new feature …
David Canellis / The Next Web:
Report on Dapp's across six blockchains, including ETH, EOS, TRON: total transaction volume was $2.03B in Q3, down 40% QoQ, dapp user retention from Q2 was 36%  —  GAMBLING IS STILL THE NUMBER ONE USE-CASE  —  The total transactional volume of blockchain apps (dapps) across …
Austin Carr / Bloomberg:
Interviews with 36 people shed light on Quintillion, a fiber internet company working in the Arctic whose co-founder, Elizabeth Pierce, forged $1B in contracts  —  When he discovered that the ship's underwater plow was stuck at the bottom of the Arctic Ocean, 50 miles off Alaska's coast, Frank Cuccio thought of Ernest Shackleton.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple's Catalyst rollout with macOS Catalina has been muted, as devs say it's been more work than expected to port iPad apps, and consumers need to pay again  —  Last year, Apple Inc. software chief Craig Federighi said developers would be able to easily bring their iPad apps to Mac computers …

Sponsor Posts

Soxton:
Fast, affordable law for startups  —  Soxton automates startup legal so founders can move faster and sleep better.  We handle incorporation, advisor, employment and commercial contracts.  Join the waitlist for early access!
F5:
Accelerate AI Adoption at F5's AI Virtual Summit  —  Learn how to architect, secure, and scale AI for production with real-world insights from industry leaders on June 23.  Register now to save your spot.
Zoho:
Agentic AI: The need for a data foundation  —  This is the first post of the 4-part series on Agentic Data Infrastructure.Every business app now ships with an AI agent.  Each one is good at its own job.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

BG2 Pod:
The SpaceX IPO, Fable 5 / Mythos, AI Capex Update & Market Check w/ Gavin Baker, Andrew Fox & Clark Tang
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
All about Interest Rates
Nick Bilton, Dick Costolo, and Paul Kedrosky pull back the curtain on AI, startups, and the future rushing toward us, all with healthy dose of irreverence.
Subscribe to The Nick, Dick and Paul Show.
Training Data:
Google DeepMind's Logan Kilpatrick: Why the Model Eats the Harness
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Big Technology Podcast:
What Should An AI Device Look Like? — With Alex Himel
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Great Chat:
Founders dish on VC bad behavior (and bring receipts)
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
AI's Mythos Moment: Rishi Sunak on preparing governments for AI
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:00 PM ET, October 8, 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.

More News

Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Jason D. Rowley / Crunchbase News:

Earlier Picks

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
New York Times: