Techmeme Ride Home

Amazon has a record-breaking holiday season, surprising absolutely no one, another Instagram crackdown, a look at Austin as a tech hub, and why mobile alerts are a Frankenstein monster increasingly out of control. Amazon Says Alexa Voice Shopping Tripled During 2018 Holiday Season (Fortune) Instagram’s Christmas Crackdown (The Atlantic) Tesla's Supercharger network will cover all of Europe in 2019 (Engadget) With Tech Expansion, Austin Is Still Weird. It’s Just More Wired Now, Too. (NYTimes) Pushed Even Further: US Newsrooms View Mobile Alerts as a Standalone Platform (CJR) Movie Theaters Bounce Back: What’s Behind the 2018 Rebound (Variety) Watch the trailer for Black Mirror: Bandersnatch, releasing Friday 28th on Netflix (The Verge) https://flipboard.com/

How the US government shutdown affects cybersecurity, how the Open Government Data Act is possibly good tech governance, Airbnb and Slack are considering non-traditional IPOs and the state of AI research at the end of 2018. How a government shutdown affects America’s cybersecurity workforce (FifthDomain) In a huge win for open data, Congress passes the Open, Public, Electronic, and Necessary Government Data Act (BoingBoing) Wall Street Quietly Shelves Its Bitcoin Dreams (Bloomberg) Layoffs Underway Amid ‘Adjustments,’ Bitcoin Miner Bitmain Confirms (CoinDesk) HQ Trivia launches HQ Words as reinstalled CEO seeks a game-changer (TechCrunch) Airbnb and Slack are considering untraditional IPOs that box out bankers like Spotify did (Recode) Geoffrey Hinton and Demis Hassabis: AGI is nowhere close to being a reality (VentureBeat) https://flipboard.com/

Facebook is developing a cryptocoin for WhatsApp, Blind was not quite anonymous enough, which is the most accurate voice assistant and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Metalab.co The Internet of Things Podcast Links: Facebook Is Developing a Cryptocurrency for WhatsApp Transfers, Sources Say (Bloomberg) At Blind, a security lapse revealed private complaints from Silicon Valley employees (TechCrunch) Apple AI Chief John Giannandrea Gets Promotion to Senior Vice President (MacRumors) Annual Smart Speaker IQ Test (LoopVentures) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: Software Defined Talk (Podcast) Apple Computers Used to Be Built in the U.S. It Was a Mess (NYTimes) Inside Shenzhen’s race to outdo Silicon Valley (Bloomberg) The 2019 IPO class headlined by Uber will create a ton of new wealth. Will the billions go to mansions or missions? (Recode) Venture Capital Blind Spots: The Top 7 Reasons Why VCs Miss Billion-Dollar Outcomes (645 Ventures) Prime and Punishment (The Verge) 7 Modern BBSes Worth Calling Today (PCMag) https://flipboard.com/

Now some iPhones can’t be sold in Germany, is there an iPad Pro bend-gate brewing, drones shut down a major UK airport, and why Carlton from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is suing the makers of Fortnite. Sponsors: Metalab.co The Cyberwire Podcast Links: Apple to Stop Selling iPhone 7 and iPhone 8 Models in Germany While Appealing Broader Sales Ban [Updated]  (MacRumors) Apple confirms some iPad Pros ship slightly bent, but says it’s normal (The Verge) Justice Department charges Chinese nationals in ‘extensive’ global hacking campaign (CNBC) Uber's self-driving cars return to public roads after fatal crash (CNET) Drones cause holiday chaos at one of London's busiest airports (Engadget) Gatwick Airport: Drones ground flights (BBC News) Pinterest Readies Itself for Early 2019 IPO (WSJ) FORTNITE KEEPS STEALING DANCES — AND NO ONE KNOWS IF IT’S ILLEGAL (The Verge) https://flipboard.com/

I’m sorry. I truly am. Another Facebook scandal to tell you about. The Boring Company unveils its tunnel, Zwift is gamification, a fitness app play, a social network, VR, and e-sports all in one startup and why Touch ID might return to the iPhone. Sponsors: Metalab.co Grumpy Old Geeks Podcast https://flipboard.com/

Google presses pause on that Chinese search project, what’s delaying Facebook’s Clear History project, AT&T’s 5G goes live and Audi unveils its autonomous vehicle ambitions. Sponsors: FlatironSchool.com/podcast Metalab.co https://flipboard.com/

Facebook got all the press but the Russians really loved Instagram to spread misinformation, more tech real estate moves, the CEO of HQ Trivia passes away, and how to break into somebody’s phone with a 3D-printed head.Sponsors: Techmeme.Robinhood.com Metalab.co Links: Instagram Was Bigger Russian Election Tool Than Facebook, Senate Report Says (Bloomberg) Google Details Major New York Expansion (WSJ) Colin Kroll, 34, HQ Trivia and Vine Co-Founder, Is Found Dead (NYTimes) We Broke Into A Bunch Of Android Phones With A 3D-Printed Head (Forbes) Robinhood Will Retool Checking Product Following Scrutiny (Bloomberg) Apple hires designer Andrew Kim away from Tesla (The Verge) My Talk at Google (Me) https://flipboard.com/

Fri. 12/14 - Facebook Faces a GDPR Inquiryhttps://feedpress.me/RideHome - Direct RSS feed starting this weekend, just in caseThe bomb scare email scam that demanded bitcoin, Facebook’s Photo API gave away too many photos, Apple strikes back at Qualcomm, Apple kills its second music-based social network, an Apple analyst sounds alarm bells about iPhone unit sales, Instacart breaks up with Whole Foods, PlanetScale brings mega-scaling technology to the masses, and of course the Weekend Longreads suggestions.Sponsors: MacStadium.com/ridehome  Tiny.website Links: Bitcoin scammers send bomb threats worldwide, causing evacuations (The Verge) Facebook bug exposed up to 6.8M users’ unposted photos to apps (TechCrunch) Irish regulator to investigate Facebook after new data leak (Financial Times) Apple Says China iPhone Ban Would Force Settlement With Qualcomm (Bloomberg) Apple Music removes ability for artists to post to Connect, posts removed from Artist Pages and For You (9to5Mac) Ming-Chi Kuo cuts first quarter iPhone sales estimates by 20%, says iPhone XR demand is low (9to5Mac) Amazon has officially killed the Whole Foods-Instacart partnership (Recode) They scaled YouTube—now they’ll shared everyone with PlanetScale (TechCrunch) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: EV News Daily (Podcast) Evelyn Berezin, 93, Dies; Built the First True Word Processor (New York Times) The State of Technology at the End of 2018 (Stratechery) The rise of the recommendation site (Vox) How the CIA Trains Spies to Hide in Plain Sight (Wired) https://flipboard.com/

Apple keeps Austin weird with a new campus, RobinHood launches checking and savings accounts, hands on with the Apple Watch ECG thingy, and the most disliked video in YouTube history. Sponsors: MacStadium.com/ridehome  Tiny.website Links: Apple to invest $1 billion in new Austin campus (Axios) Amazon Hires Lobbyists for N.Y. Site and Tries to Fend Off Ocasio-Cortez’s Supporters (NYTimes) Amazon Went to City Hall. Things Got Loud, Quickly. (NYTimes) High-Tech Degrees and the Price of an Avocado: The Data New York Gave to Amazon (NYTimes) After losing half its value, Nvidia faces reckoning (TechCrunch) Robinhood launches no-fee checking/savings with Mastercard & the most ATMs (TechCrunch) A look at the Apple Watch’s ECG, from someone who needs it (Ars Technica) Apple now has dozens of doctors on staff, showing it's serious about health tech (CNBC) POSTMATES' QUEST TO BUILD THE DELIVERY ROBOT OF THE FUTURE (Wired) YouTube Rewind 2018 is officially the most disliked video on YouTube (The Verge) https://flipboard.com/

Intel’s next generation architecture revealed, was China behind that massive Marriott hack, Good Money wants to give customers a stake in their own banking, and what is Michael Dell’s long game?Sponsors: Eero.com/ride (promo code: ride) Tiny.website Links: Intel unveils a new architecture for 2019: Sunny Cove (Ars Technica) Intel is bringing teraflop integrated graphics to 10nm chips in 2019 (Engadget) AN INTEL BREAKTHROUGH RETHINKS HOW CHIPS ARE MADE (Wired) Marriott Data Breach Is Traced to Chinese Hackers as U.S. Readies Crackdown on Beijing (NYTimes) Apple Suppliers Are Considering Moving iPhone Output if Tariffs Hit 25% (Bloomberg) U.S. investigators point to China in Marriott hack affecting 500 million guests (The Washington Post) Indonesia e-commerce leader Tokopedia raises $1.1B from Alibaba and SoftBank's Vision Fund (TechCrunch) At this new online banking platform, customers are the owners (Fast Company) Apple’s ‘Netflix for Magazines’ Getting a Chilly Reception (Bloomberg) Dell’s long game is in hybrid and private clouds (TechCrunch) U.S. internet speeds rose nearly 40 percent this year (ReCode) https://flipboard.com/

Mr. Pichai goes to Washington, another bug prompts Google to kill Google+ even sooner, Keurig for beer makes no sense, and Doom turns 25.Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website FlatironSchool.com/podcast Links: Google moves up Google+ consumer shutdown to April 2019 (VentureBeat) Uber customers and drivers are furious after a major outage causes all kinds of issues (BusinessInsider) Social media outpaces print newspapers in the U.S. as a news source (Pew Research Center) Fintech start-up Plaid raises $250 million at $2.7 billion valuation, adds Mary Meeker to board (CNBC) Vroom nabs $146M from AutoNation, VCs for its used car site (TechCrunch) Keurigs for Beer Make No Sense (Gizmodo) Doom is 25 and co-creator John Romero is putting out a giant expansion for it (TechCrunch) https://flipboard.com/

iPhone sales blocked in China, Apple’s getting into the A&R business, pump the breaks on the e-scooter hype, and forget the notch, 2019 might be the year of the hole punch.Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: China bans many iPhone models in Qualcomm patent dispute (Axios) Can the U.S. Stop China From Controlling the Next Internet Age? (NYTimes) Huawei CFO Arrested, Australia’s Awful Law (Stratechery) Apple acquired Platoon, a platform for musicians to create and distribute work (TechCrunch) Investor Frenzy for Scooter Startups Cools (WSJ) Your Apps Know Where You Were Last Night, and They’re Not Keeping It Secret (NYTimes) Samsung’s A8s is its first phone with an Infinity-O hole-punch display (The Verge) https://flipboard.com/

Microsoft calls for regulation of facial recognition AI, the Crypto market crash is starting to claim casualties, Reddit is quietly doing very well, thank you very much, and the Weekend Longreads suggestions.Sponsors: Metalab.co DataDogHQ.com/RideHome Links: MICROSOFT WANTS TO STOP AI'S 'RACE TO THE BOTTOM' (Wired) Scientists create AI that can crush the world's best AI (at board games, thankfully) (CNET) Crypto Market Crash Leaving Bankrupt Startups in its Wake (Bloomberg) Reddit’s Year in Review: 2018 (Upvoted) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: The Comics Canon (Podcast) Land of the “Super Founders“— A Data-Driven Approach to Uncover the Secrets of Billion Dollar Startups (Ali Tamaseb) YOUTUBE CREATORS BLINDSIDED BY MAJOR NETWORK’S COLLAPSE (The Verge) A 7-year-old boy is making $22 million a year on YouTube reviewing toys (MSN) Almost Every Electric Scooter in the World Comes From This Chinese Company (Bloomberg) Cryptopia In Crisis: Joe Lubin’s Ethereum Experiment Is A Mess. How Long Will He Prop It Up? (Forbes) How Robotics Maker Rethink Crashed and Burned (The Information) The new word processor wars: A fresh crop of productivity apps are trying to reinvent our workday (GeekWire) https://flipboard.com/

Huawai’s CFO arrested and stock markets quake, Google’s Allo joins the crowded Google Deadpool, Lyft files for an IPO and are Amazon’s robots finally rebelling?Sponsors: DatadogHQ.com/RideHome Metalab.co Links: Canada arrests Huawei’s global chief financial officer in Vancouver (The Globe and Mail) Microsoft is rebuilding its Edge browser on Chrome and bringing it to the Mac (The Verge) Google is shutting down Allo (The Verge) Ride-hail firm Lyft races to leave Uber behind in IPO chase (Reuters) These Confidential Charts Show Why Facebook Bought WhatsApp (Buzzfeed) Firefly Nets $21.5 Million Seed Round To Boost Ride-Hail Driver Revenues With On-Car Ads (Crunchbase News) Cuba to roll out mobile internet for the first time (CNBC) Robot Accidentally Hospitalises 24 Amazon Workers After It Sprays Them With Bear Repellent (Huffington Post) https://flipboard.com/

The UK Parliament docu-dumps on Facebook, Qualcomm fires the starter pistol on 5G rollout, an actual test drive on Waymo’s new ride hailing service, and behind that $100 million Friends deal.Sponsors: Metalab.co DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Note by Damian Collins MP (UK Parliament) Qualcomm announces the Snapdragon 855 and its news under-display fingerprint sensor (TechCrunch) Qualcomm announces first ultrasonic fingerprint reader: Headed to the Galaxy S10? (CNET) Fortnite’s Minecraft-like creative mode launches tomorrow (The Verge) RIDING IN WAYMO ONE, THE GOOGLE SPINOFF’S FIRST SELF-DRIVING TAXI SERVICE (The Verge) The story behind Netflix’s $100 million ‘Friends’ deal (Recode) https://flipboard.com/