Techmeme
December 19, 2019, 8:15 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Leaked dataset from a location data company with a log of the movements of 12M+ Americans shows how “anonymous” location data can be used to track people  —  EVERY MINUTE OF EVERY DAY, everywhere on the planet, dozens of companies — largely unregulated, little scrutinized …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Report: Facebook has tasked a co-author of Windows NT with building an OS from scratch, in order to stop relying on Android for products like Oculus and Portal  —  Facebook doesn't want its hardware like Oculus and Portal to be at the mercy of Google because they rely on its Android operating system.
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat:
Google acquires Montreal-based game development house Typhoon Studios as part of its plan to create exclusive content for Stadia  —  Google's Stadia cloud gaming division has acquired Typhoon Studio, a Montreal-based triple-A game development house.  —  The move is part of Stadia's plan …
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Facebook bans misleading posts, photos, ads, and other content about the 2020 US Census, even if posted by a politician, on Facebook and Instagram  —  The new rules, announced Thursday, includes those placed by politicians  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Facebook will remove posts …
Makena Kelly / The Verge:
Congress passes the TRACED Act, enabling fines of up to $10K per robocall and requiring carriers to deploy STIR/SHAKEN protocol to identify spoofed numbers  —  A holiday gift for anyone with a phone  —  After months of negotiations, Congress approved a landmark bill on Thursday to stop the flood of illegal robocalls.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Study of 189 facial recognition algorithms shows they misidentify people of color more often than white people, confirming facial recognition tech's racial bias  —  Facial-recognition systems misidentified people of color more often than white people, a landmark federal study released Thursday shows …
Andrew O'Hara / AppleInsider:
Apple open sources parts of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit allowing anyone to prototype HomeKit devices  —  Apple has published an open-source version of its HomeKit Accessory Development Kit, allowing more users to experiment with the development of HomeKit accessories.
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
F5 Networks says it will acquire AI-powered fraud prevention platform Shape Security for around $1B in cash  —  F5 Networks will pay approximately $1 billion to acquire Shape Security, a Santa Clara, Calif.-based company that sells a fraud prevention platform to banks, airlines, retailers, government agencies, and more.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
TiVo to merge with technology licensing company Xperi; the combined company will have a fully diluted equity value of $2.4B, with TiVo owning ~53.5% of it  —  TiVo has scrapped plans to split itself into two separate companies, and instead announced a $3 billion merger with Xperi …
Katie Paul / Reuters:
Facebook says it will no longer use phone numbers provided for 2FA for friend suggestions, after stopping their use for ad targeting in June  —  SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Facebook Inc will no longer feed user phone numbers provided to it for two-factor authentication into its “people you may know” …

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:
Website Traffic Analytics: How to Read Your Data and Take Action  —  Traffic is up.  Sessions look healthy.  The dashboard is full of green arrows and yet — conversions are flat, revenue targets are slipping, and the leads coming through aren't closing.
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

Big Technology Podcast:
Will Apple (Finally) Get AI Right At WWDC?, Anthropic's Worry, Microsoft vs. OpenAI
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.
Hard Fork:
Hot I.P.O Summer + What Is A.I. Doing to Math? + HatGPT
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Upstarts Podcast:
Vanta's Christina Cacioppo: The Underdog Turning 'Nonsense' Compliance Into A $4.2B Security Standout
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.
Subscribe to The Upstarts Podcast.
Great Chat:
Who are the billboards for?
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.
Access:
AI is turning sketches into real-world products
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
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 8:15 PM ET, December 19, 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

Earlier Picks

Los Angeles Times:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Todd Haselton / CNBC: