Techmeme
October 18, 2020, 5:10 PM

Top News

Agence France-Presse:
Nick Clegg says 2.2M ads on Facebook and Instagram have been rejected and 120K posts withdrawn for attempting to “obstruct voting” in the US elections  —  A total of 2.2m ads on Facebook and Instagram have been rejected and 120,000 posts withdrawn for attempting to “obstruct voting” …
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
A filing with a regulator in Brazil says the iPhone 12 has a 2,815 mAh battery, and the iPhone 12 mini has a 2,227mAh battery  —  While the iPhone 12 and iPhone 12 Pro are now available for pre-order in the US, Apple is getting ready to bring its new smartphones to other countries as well.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Thoughts on Apple's “Hi, Speed” event: the iPhone 12 lineup, camera differences, missing chargers and earbuds, focus on 5G and Verizon CEO's cameo, more  —  Last month's “Time Flies” event for the Apple Watch Series 6 and new iPad Air was about an hour long; this week's “Hi, Speed” event ran just a bit longer at 70 minutes.
BBC:
UK to make it illegal to use a mobile phone while driving from next year, closing a loophole that let drivers use a phone to take a photo or play a game  —  It will become illegal for anyone to pick up and use their mobile phone while driving, under new legislation to be enacted next year.
Anil Ananthaswamy / Knowable Magazine:
A look at “neurosymbolic AI”, which combines techniques of deep neural networks and “good old-fashioned AI”, with comments from its proponents and critics  —  The unlikely marriage of two major artificial intelligence approaches has given rise to a new hybrid called neurosymbolic AI.
Bloomberg:
Stephen Totilo / Kotaku:
Interview: Microsoft's Phil Spencer on Xbox Series S vs. Series X, Bethesda deal, cross-gen gaming, ballooning game file sizes, and the storage size trade-off  —  There's nothing normal about interviewing Xbox chief Phil Spencer these days.  —  First, there's the location.
The Markup:
The Markup announces The Citizen Browser Project, an initiative with The NYT to analyze how the algorithms of Facebook and YouTube serve content to users  —  The Markup, a nonprofit newsroom that investigates how the world's most powerful institutions use technology to reshape society …
Laurens Cerulus / Politico:
Sources: EU is finalizing a plan to toughen export controls on “dual use” technologies, including hacking software and facial recognition systems  —  EU needs to make sure ‘China or Russia are not simply given the newest technology,’ lead negotiator says.
Marietje Schaake / Foreign Affairs:

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Vijaya Gadde / @vijaya: