Techmeme
January 9, 2020, 9:55 PM

Top News

Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook says it won't back down from allowing lies in political ads but will give users the option to see fewer political ads in their feed and in Instagram  —  The company was under intense pressure to adjust its policies.  But in this presidential election year, no big changes are planned.
Mark Zuckerberg:
Zuckerberg gives up annual personal challenges, shares his goals for the next decade including a new private social platform, AR/VR, and new forms of governance  —  Every new year of the last decade I set a personal challenge.  My goal was to grow in new ways outside my day-to-day work running Facebook.
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Microsoft releases “Project Artemis”, a tool that scans online chats for patterns that may indicate a predator is grooming children for sexual abuse  —  Microsoft released a new tool Thursday that scans online chats for people seeking to sexually exploit children.
David Gilbert / VICE:
Facebook moderators in Ireland say company policies, including tracking toilet breaks and setting unrealistic quality standards, add to their trauma  —  Want the best of VICE News straight to your inbox?  Sign up here.  —  DUBLIN — When Valera Zaicev began working in Dublin …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Brochure shows a surveillance vendor is offering spying capabilities to local police via hidden cameras in tombstones, vacuum cleaners, and baby car seats  —  A surveillance vendor that works with U.S. government agencies, such as the FBI, DEA, and ICE, is marketing spying capabilities …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Lime says it is laying off about 14% of its workforce, roughly 100 employees, and shuttering operations in 12 markets as it seeks to become profitable this year  —  Scooter company Lime is laying off about 14% of its workforce (roughly 100 employees) and shuttering operations in 12 markets …
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
MalwareBytes: an Android phone offered free by Assurance Wireless as part of the US Lifeline Assistance program comes pre-installed with Chinese malware  —  For years, low-income households have been able to get cheap cell service and even free smartphones via the U.S. government-funded Lifeline Assistance program.
Emma Williams / Microsoft 365 Blog:
Microsoft announces a Walkie Talkie feature and off-shift access controls for Teams, SMS sign-in for Azure Active Directory, shared device sign-out, more  —  Companies at the forefront of digital transformation recognize how critical it is to enable all of their people with the right technology and tools.
Louise Matsakis / Wired:
Amazon warned holiday shoppers that Honey, a browser extension for comparison shopping and rewards acquired by Paypal for $4B in November, was a “security risk”  —  The retail giant warned holiday shoppers that Honey, a popular browser extension, was a “security risk.”  Honey denies the claim.
Ian Sherr / CNET:
Facebook starts testing a desktop redesign, announced last April, with a small set of users, plans to offer the new look more broadly sometime before the spring  —  Facebook 's begun giving some users access to its redesigned desktop experience, first announced in April, that's less cluttered and uses brighter icons.
More: 9to5MacTweets: @mathewiThanks:@iansherr
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Verizon eliminates bundles and contracts for Fios line of TV, broadband, and phone services, will now sell them as standalone products via “Mix & Match on Fios”  —  Verizon — feeling the pain of customer cancellations over high pay-TV prices — is killing off bundles …
Bloomberg:
Government data shows iPhone sales in China rose by 18.7% YoY to ~3.18M units in December while overall smartphone shipments were ~30M, down 13.7% YoY  —  - December numbers validate confidence in Apple's latest models  — The U.S. phone maker is defying a slump in the local market
Alex Weprin / Hollywood Reporter:
Researchers estimate streaming companies lost about $9.1B to password piracy and sharing in 2019 and say losses will rise to $12.5B in 2024  —  In 2019, companies lost about $9.1 billion to password piracy and sharing.  —  On Dec. 9, Charter Communications CEO Tom Rutledge took aim at the …
Susan Decker / Bloomberg:
Medical technology company Masimo sues Apple, claims it infringes on 10 patents and has stolen its tech related to blood oxygen level and heart rate monitoring  —  - Medical technology company says Watch uses stolen secrets  — Apple accused of stealing technology for non-invasive monitors
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Reddit bans the impersonation of an individual or entity in a misleading or deceptive manner, but impersonation that's satire will still be allowed  —  But impersonation that's satire will still be allowed  —  Today, Reddit updated its policies about impersonation to no longer allow impersonation …

Sponsor Posts

Okara:
Meet Okara, the AI platform that doesn't train on your data  —  Chat with 30+ open-source models (Llama, Kimi, Qwen, DeepSeek) through encrypted infrastructure.  Used by teams handling proprietary code and strategy.
Soxton:
AI-powered 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!
Zoho:
ERP software from the builders of world-class products  —  Every business starts with a vision.  Sustaining it is a more rigorous and complex pursuit.It lives in reconciled books, accurate inventory, and predictable cash flow.
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:
OpenAI's $50 Billion Fundraise, AI Advertising Game Theory, Apple's AI Wearable Pin
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:
Will ChatGPT Ads Change OpenAI? + Amanda Askell Explains Claude's New Constitution
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.
Access:
Home robots are coming faster than you think, with Sunday's Tony Zhao
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
The Nick, Dick and Paul Show:
An Intro to Data Centers
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.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Vinod Khosla and Keith Rabois from Khosla Ventures
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Special Edition: Key findings from the Microsoft AI Diffusion Report
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 9:55 PM ET, January 9, 2020.

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

Biswarup Gooptu / The Economic Times:

Earlier Picks

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget: