Techmeme
January 9, 2020, 4:05 AM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Twitter says a “conversation participants” compose screen tool is coming in 2020, letting users limit who can reply, and conversation threading will improve  —  Several features inspired by Twitter's beta app are coming  —  Speaking today at a CES event in Las Vegas …
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Upcoming short-form video streaming service Quibi details new features including Turnstyle, which lets videos play well in both portrait and landscape modes  —  What the heck is Quibi?  That's the question I've been asking myself over the past year, as the Jeffrey Katzenberg-founded streaming …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
In letter to senators, Ring says it has fired four employees over the last four years after it was notified about the employees' improper access to user videos  —  Amazon-owned home security camera company Ring has fired employees for improperly accessing Ring users' video data …
Will Oremus / OneZero:
Facebook's deepfakes policy is a good move but remains deeply flawed, covering only certain videos created by AI and creating loopholes for misleading “satire”  —  It's better than nothing — but just barely  —  Monday, Facebook announced a new policy against “deepfake” videos.
New York Times:
New York Times:
TikTok says it has fixed major security vulnerabilities that could have let hackers manipulate content, gain access to private videos, and extract personal data  —  The vulnerabilities, which the app says it has fixed, could have let attackers manipulate content and extract personal data.
Washington Post:
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
AI startups are selling images of realistic computer-generated faces, letting clients like dating apps “increase diversity” in their ads without needing people  —  Artificial intelligence start-ups are selling images of computer-generated faces that look like the real thing …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify announces new tools to target podcast ads in real time using user data for its exclusive podcasts  —  One step closer to becoming a podcast ad network  —  Spotify is going to start using its copious amounts of user data to run targeted ads inside its exclusive podcasts.
Apple:
Apple says App Store customers spent $1.42B during holidays, up 16% YoY, and $386M on New Year's Day, up 20% YoY, touts 2019 as the biggest year for Services  —  Apple has marked the close of a historic 2019 for its Services offerings, a year that introduced Apple Arcade, Apple TV+ …
Isabelle Kirkwood / BetaKit:
Lightspeed POS, a Montreal-based payments software company, has agreed to buy German POS systems developer Gastrofix for ~$61M in cash and ~$40M in shares  —  Lightspeed POS is set to acquire German POS systems developer Gastrofix.  The purchase would mark Lightspeed's largest acquisition to date …

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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Zoho:
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IDrive:
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Featured Podcasts

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:
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Great Chat:
The launch industrial complex
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Big Technology Podcast:
Can AI Keep Growing Exponentially? Let's Ask SemiAnalysis — With Dylan Patel and Jordan Nanos
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Channels with Peter Kafka:
Larry Ellison's Media Ambitions & Kevin Roose on AI's Biggest Gamble
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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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