Techmeme
January 20, 2020, 6:20 AM

Top News

Kashmir Hill / New York Times:
A look at Clearview AI, a facial recognition app claiming it scraped 3B+ images from sites like Facebook, YouTube, and that 600+ law enforcement agencies use it  —  A little-known start-up helps law enforcement match photos of unknown people to their online images — and “might lead to a dystopian future or something,” a backer says.
Sundar Pichai / Financial Times:
Google CEO Sundar Pichai says AI is too important not to be regulated and there are real concerns about the potential negative consequences of AI  —  The writer is chief executive of Alphabet and Google  —  Growing up in India, I was fascinated by technology.  Each new invention changed my family's life in meaningful ways.
Scott Stein / CNET:
AR startup Mojo Vision shows off the first prototype of Mojo Lens, its contact lenses that display text, have an eye-controlled interface, and work in the dark  —  Mojo Vision's smart contacts put text in my eye and let me see in the dark.  They're aiming for even more than that.
Bart Meijer / Reuters:
TomTom says it has reached a deal with Huawei “some time ago” for the use of its maps, traffic information, and navigation software in Huawei phones  —  AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Dutch navigation and digital mapping company TomTom on Friday said it has closed a deal …
Hindenburg Research:
Research: Opera, known for its web browser, allegedly issues predatory loans in Kenya, Nigeria, and India via Android apps, likely violating Play Store policies  —  GET OUR LATEST REPORTS DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX  —  Summary (NASDAQ: OPRA)  — Opera went public in mid-2018 based largely on prospects for its core browser business.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Instagram removes the IGTV button from its home page; Sensor Tower: IGTV's standalone app was downloaded 1.1M times in the US since its launch in June 2018  —  TikTok saw 80X more installs  —  At most, 7 million of Instagram's 1 billion-plus users have downloaded its standalone IGTV app in the 18 months since launch.
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
An analysis of 40 studies finds that the link between social media use and both depression and anxiety among adolescents is small and inconsistent  —  A growing number of academics are challenging assumptions about the negative effects of social media and smartphones on children.
The Verge:
Profile of Armslist, the “Craigslist of guns” that offers nearly any kind of gun imaginable and where all transactions are done peer to peer  —  Inside Armslist, the online ‘gun show that never ends’  —  Thomas Caldwell was a veteran in his 60s with a soft physique, oval glasses …
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero:
US Army contracted two firms for $4.5M to create a facial recognition system that analyzes infrared images to identify people at a distance of 10 to 500 meters  —  Infrared cameras recognize the heat emitted from your face  —  he U.S. military is spending more than $4.5 million …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
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.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:20 AM ET, January 20, 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

The Intercept:

Earlier Picks

Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
AnnaMaria Andriotis / Wall Street Journal:
Sean Gallagher / Ars Technica:
Asif Iqbal Shaik / MySmartPrice: