Techmeme
October 30, 2019, 11:30 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Will Cathcart / Washington Post:
WhatsApp sues NSO Group after investigating an attack from last year that sent malware to 1,400 devices and targeted 100+ human rights defenders and journalists  —  Will Cathcart is head of WhatsApp, which is owned by Facebook.  —  In May, WhatsApp announced that we had detected and blocked …
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Spotify launches a dedicated Spotify Kids app available in a beta test period in Ireland for its Spotify Premium Family plan subscribers  —  Spotify is trying to sell more multi-account family-plan subscriptions — by setting up a special “playground of sound” just for kids.
Peter Kafka / Vox:
HBO Max to launch in May and cost $15 a month, same as the existing HBO; AT&T plans to bundle free subscriptions for some customers of its other services  —  HBOMax, WarnerMedia's new streaming service, will feature all of HBO's shows, like Game of Thrones, plus new programing.  HBO
BBC:
Facebook agrees to pay a £500K fine to the UK for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal but makes no admission of liability  —  Facebook has agreed to pay a £500,000 fine imposed by the UK's data protection watchdog for its role in the Cambridge Analytica scandal.
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Report: Apple will use Qualcomm's X55 5G modem in all three 2020 iPhones  —  Apple's 2020 iPhones will all use Qualcomm's newest and fastest 5G-capable modem chip, claims a new report out of Asia today.  —  Apple is expected to launch three iPhones next year in 5.4-inch, 6.1-inch, and 6.7-inch sizes.
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Sony says it will shut down its PlayStation Vue live TV subscription service on January 30  —  After much reports about trying to find a buyer, it seems that PlayStation Vue has decided to shut down the service instead.  The service, which launched in 2015, was one of the first Live TV Streaming Services …
Stan Schroeder / Mashable:
Xiaomi's first high end smartwatch looks a lot like the Apple Watch, with a button and twisting control knob on the right side  —  Xiaomi's November 5 event is shaping up to be a pretty big one.  —  On Monday we wrote about the company's upcoming 108-megapixel phone, but now the company …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
MX Player, a streaming and offline video app popular in India, raises ~$111M Series A led by Tencent; source: MX Player has a post-money valuation of $500M  —  MX Player, a popular video app that offers both local playback and streaming services, said on Wednesday that it has raised $110.8 million …
Chris Krycho:
The current state of Apple's developer documentation, in which many parts of the ecosystem are entirely undocumented, is shocking  —  If you want developers to love your platform, then you need to take this seriously.  If it isn't documented, it isn't done.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Uber refuses to provide LA with real-time location data on its scooters, sues the city, requests restraining order in case LA decides to suspend Uber's license  —  The ride-hailing company doesn't want to share everything with the city's government.  —  Los Angeles wants a peek …

Sponsor Posts

Command Line:
Bringing local models and sandboxed tools to Windows and GitHub Copilot  —  GitHub Copilot will soon determine when a task is best handled by on-device AI and when it needs cloud-scale models.
Will Reed:
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Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Meta & Microsoft's Claude Slowdown, His Agent Leaked His Banking Info, Don't Bully Your AI
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Sources:
Qualcomm's CEO on the coming AI phone supercycle
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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The Upstarts Podcast:
Bringing Back Mammoths And Building Noah's Ark 2.0 | Colossal's Ben Lamm
Veteran tech reporter Alex Konrad sits down with breakout entrepreneurs taking on the status quo to shake up their fields in AI, design, nuclear energy, space, and more.
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Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Training Data:
Google's AI Infrastructure Chief, Amin Vahdat, on the Physics & Economics of Frontier AI
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
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More News

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Earlier Picks

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