Tech Brew Ride Home

Simon Owens is a journalist who, in his writing, podcasting and newsletters, covers the whole gamut of digital media, from the creator side to the publisher side… from the journalist side to the business side. So, we’ve got a great, wide-ranging conversation today about everything from newsletters, to YouTube, to paywalls to podcasts. And check out Simon’s great podcast, The Business of Content. Sponsors: Instacart. Promocode RIDE at checkout. Wix.com/podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

That Wired longread that I suggested yesterday, about Amazon’s warehouse robots really stuck with me for personal reasons you’ll hear in a second. I talked to the author of the piece, Matt Simon, not only cause I wanted more flavor on what it was like to work with these things, but because he also raises interesting ideas about human/robot symbiosis. In short, the robot apocalypse might still be coming, but not today. And for the foreseeable future, that might be the growth industry for humans: robot baby sitters. Please enjoy. Matt's article: INSIDE THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE WHERE HUMANS AND MACHINES BECOME ONE Sponsors: Vistaprint.com/ride Stamps.com, click on the Microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in RIDE Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are foldable phones cursed—and will we ever see one? Facebook coin might be coming as early as next week, the hottest crypto is up 330% YTD but you’ve probably never heard of it, some IPOs to report on and, of course, the weekend longread suggestions. Sponsors: PixelUnion.net Tech.FidelityCareers.com Links: Huawei delays foldable phone launch until September to do extra tests after Samsung’s troubles (CNBC) Huawei delays launch of foldable Mate X following Galaxy Fold failure (The Verge) AT&T Cancels All Galaxy Fold Preorders, Issues $100 Promo Card (Tom's Guide) Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency, Libra, Gets Big Backers (WSJ) Hottest Crypto Is Up 330% This Year and Its Name Isn’t Bitcoin (Bloomberg) Chewy, PetSmart’s online business, soars as much 86% after IPO pricing at $22 per share (CNBC) THE HIGHLY DANGEROUS 'TRITON' HACKERS HAVE PROBED THE US GRID (Wired) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The restaurant owner who asked for 1-star Yelp reviews (The Hustle) EverQuest’s long, strange 20-year trip still has no end in sight (Ars Technica) The story of the first E3 (Polygon) THE NEWEST HAVEN FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES? WYOMING (Wired) Comcast CEO’s Son Wants to Turn Philly Into an E-Sports Town (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) Beyond the PC: Lenovo's ambitious plan for the future of computing (ZDNet) Subscribe to the ad-free feed RIGHT HERE. Right in your podcast app! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Telegram is getting DDoS’d, Google pulls a Radiohead on Pixel phone leakers, Bird buys Scoot, my dream TV is a wall, and the most interesting startup I’ve heard about in a while. Sponsors: SVB.com/next PixelUnion.net Links: Telegram faces DDoS attack in China... again (TechCrunch) NFC gets a lot more powerful in iOS 13 (TechCrunch) This is Google’s Pixel 4 (The Verge) Scooter Startup Bird Buys Struggling Competitor Scoot (WSJ) Ford will test new third-generation self-driving cars in Detroit (The Verge) Samsung's massive The Wall TV is now available in a 292-inch, 8K luxury version (TechSpot) Official Breaking Bad mobile game is now available (TechSpot) Helium raises $15 million to float fee-free, peer-to-peer networking (VentureBeat) Napster Founder’s IoT Startup to Go Crypto With $15 Million Series C (CoinDesk) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The state of the Internet according to Mary Meeker, Houseparty joins the Fortnite party, Uber Elevate is planning some important firsts, the DOJ is telegraphing its possible punches to Silicon Valley, and someone find Have I Been Pwned a good home. Sponsors: PixelUnion.net PaintYourLife.com: Text the word TECH to 48-48-48 Links: Mary Meeker’s most important trends on the internet (ReCode) Fortnite maker Epic acquires social video app Houseparty (TechCrunch) Apple Discusses Acquisition of Intel’s German Modem Unit (The Information) Google Is Moving More Hardware Production Out of China (Bloomberg) Uber Wants Your Next Big Mac to Be Delivered by Drone (Bloomberg) Snapchat’s Gender-Swap and Baby Filters Doubled Downloads of the App (OneZero) The DOJ’s antitrust chief just telegraphed exactly how it could go after Google, Apple and other big tech companies (CNBC) Assistant Attorney General Makan Delrahim Delivers Remarks for the Antitrust New Frontiers Conference Project Svalbard: The Future of Have I Been Pwned (Troy Hunt) Premium Feed Link! Subscribe Right Here In Your Podcast App! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An abject example of the maxim, “any data that is collected, will be breached,” Foxconn isn’t worried about a trade war so maybe Apple doesn’t have to be, electric car charging is about to get easier, and why it’s weird that Spotify can advertise against your moods. Sponsors: Inside the Five-Sided Box: Lessons from a Lifetime of Leadership in the Pentagon by Ash Carter PixelUnion.net Links: Don’t smile for surveillance: Why airport face scans are a privacy trap (Washington Post) The CBP Data Breach (TechCrunch) Apple’s U.S. iPhones Can All Be Made Outside of China If Needed (Bloomberg) Amazon to shut down its Amazon Restaurants business in the U.S. (GeekWire) Amazon launches Personalize, a fully managed AI-powered recommendation service (VentureBeat) Charging an electric car will get easier (TechCrunch) This is how scammers are now abusing Google Calendar to pillage your data (ZDNet) Big Mood Machine (The Baffler) Radiohead Have The Last Laugh After Hackers Hold 18 Hours Of Their Unreleased Music Ransom (HuffingtonPost UK) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The next generation Xbox sounds like a beast, Salesforce buys Tableau, Apple might buy a self-driving car startup, we finally get some details on Quibi and does Broadway want to jump on the streaming video bandwagon? Sponsors: Pantheon.io/ride PixelUnion.net Links: Microsoft’s next-generation Xbox: 8K graphics, SSD storage, and ray-tracing for 2020 (The Verge) Microsoft’s new Xbox streaming mode is arriving in October for consoles (TheVerge) I tried Project xCloud at Xbox's E3 2019 show. It is real. It is insane. (Windows Central) Salesforce is buying data visualization company Tableau for $15.7 B in all-stock deal (TechCrunch) Apple to Buy Drive.ai in Bid for More Autonomous Vehicle Talent (Bloomberg) The Google Assistant is now available in Waze (The Keyword) Jeffrey Katzenberg, Meg Whitman Offer Details on Quibi Launch, Pricing (Variety) Would you pay to stream endless musicals? Some Broadway insiders are quietly betting on it. (The Washington Post) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Does what is says on the tin. John Voorhees helps us sum up WWDC, get act dev reaction from the floor of the conference, and pick up some of the stray threads we missed from Apple's biggest week of the year. Sponsors: Capterra.com/ride Molekule.com checkout code: ride for $75 off Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now you can’t get Facebook on new Huawei phones, Barnes and Noble waives the white flag, WarnerMedia abandons that tiered streaming plan idea, Walmart wants to deliver directly to your refrigerator and the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Tiny.website Pantheon.io/ride Vistaprint.com/RIDE Links: Exclusive: Facebook suspends app pre-installs on Huawei phones (Reuters) Elliott Management to acquire Barnes & Noble for $683 million (CNBC) Amazon’s Home Surveillance Company Is Putting Suspected Petty Thieves in its Advertisements (Motherboard) AT&T Eyes $16- to $17-a-Month Streaming Service in Strategy Shift (WSJ) Walmart employees will soon deliver groceries directly into your fridge (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: New Evidence Suggests Satoshi Nakamoto Is Paul Solotshi, The Creator Of Encryption Software E4M And TrueCrypt (InvestInBlockchain.com) The Stanford connections behind Latin America's multibillion-dollar startup renaissance (TechCrunch) When Grown-Ups Get Caught in Teens’ AirDrop Crossfire (The Atlantic) Buildings Can Be Designed to Withstand Earthquakes. Why Doesn’t the U.S. Build More of Them? (NYTimes) The Big Challenge for Policy Makers: Policing American Tech Giants (WSJ) Not Your Daddy’s Regulation: Tech Giants Face A Complicated Reckoning In Washington (BuzzFeed.news) The Day When Computers Can Break All Encryption Is Coming (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google Stadia details are revealed, Amazon shows off its delivery drone and Uber debuts Uber Copter, Facebook is going to do an official white paper for its cryptocurrency, and our mobile gadgets have finally dethroned the television. Sponsors: Tiny.website Pantheon.io/ride Links: GOOGLE’S STADIA GAME SERVICE IS OFFICIALLY COMING NOVEMBER: EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW (The Verge) Google cloud boss Thomas Kurian makes his first big move — buys Looker for $2.6 billion (CNBC) Facebook plans June 18th cryptocurrency debut. Here's what we know (TechCrunch) A first look at Amazon's new delivery drone (TechCrunch) Uber Copter to Offer Flights From Lower Manhattan to J.F.K. (NYTimes) Average US Time Spent with Mobile in 2019 Has Increased (eMarketer) People spend more time on mobile devices than TV, firm says (Los Angeles Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YouTube actually DOES make some changes, Peloton is going public, could Prime open Amazon up to anticompetitive scrutiny, more on that Sign in with Apple controversy, and why your local police department might want to buy you Ring doorbell. Sponsors: Eero.com/ride promo code RIDE Tiny.website Links: YouTube just banned supremacist content, and thousands of channels are about to be removed (TheVerge) Peloton, the connected fitness company, has filed to go public (TheVerge) Amazon may soon face an antitrust probe. Here are 3 questions the FTC is asking about it. (Vox/Recode) The SEC Is Suing Kik for Its 2017 ICO (CoinDesk) Netflix Is Testing an Instagram-Like Feed of Photos and Videos (Variety) Facebook shareholder revolt gets bloody: Powerless investors vote overwhelmingly to oust Zuckerberg as chairman (Business Insider) Apple asks developers to place its login button above Google, Facebook (Reuters) An antitrust case looms, and Apple tempts fate (Casey Newton/The Interface) Amazon's helping police build a surveillance network with Ring doorbells (CNET) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It looks like Washington is serious about going after Big Tech in a big way, Firefox blocks cookies, why are developers trepidatious about that Sign In with Apple scheme, and why it’s time we really need to talk about the YouTube recommendation algorithm. Sponsors: Legacybox.com/ride Tiny.website Links: Facebook, Google and other tech giants to face antitrust investigation by House lawmakers (Washington Post) ITUNES IS DEAD. LET'S PAY OUR RESPECTS (Wired) Apple’s top spec Mac Pro will likely cost at least $35,000 (The Verge) Firefox starts blocking third-party cookies by default (VentureBeat) On YouTube’s Digital Playground, an Open Gate for Pedophiles (NYTimes) How YouTube Became a Breeding Ground for a Diabolical Lizard Cult (The New Republic) YouTube star who gave toothpaste-filled Oreo to homeless man gets 15-month jail sentence (Fox News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the news and headlines from WWDC, the anti-trust brigade might be coming for Google in the US, a big chip acquisition, big news on the payments front, and a dispatch from the frontlines of the streaming wars… but, c’mon, we know what you’re here to hear about. Tiny.website Tech.FidelityCareers.com Links: Mac Pro (The Verge) Pro Display XDR (The Verge) iPadOS and Files app (The Verge) Sign in with Apple (9To5Mac) Dark Mode (The Verge) The Justice Department is preparing a potential antitrust investigation of Google (Washington Post) Infineon Will Buy Cypress Semi in Latest Chip Mega-Deal (Bloomberg) PayPal opens up access to e-commerce platform that’s already used by Instagram and Facebook (CNBC) Stripe Launches Chargeback Protection Service (Pymnts.com) An HBO Question Is Giving AT&T Executives a Headache (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Y’all know Dan Frommer. Veteran tech journalist. We’re gonna do a WWDC preview here today, but before that, Dan has his own, excellent newsletter, the new consumer! Sign up for it in the show notes! Link to the free and paid editions. Because this is the beat Dan covers so well, before we get into the WWDC and Apple stuff, a lengthy discussion of the whole consumer unicorn startup space, that I don’t think we cover enough. https://newconsumer.com/ Sponsors: Rhone.com/ride promocode RIDE at checkout HappyCog.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Might Amazon get into the cellular carrier game and thus make a Sprint/T-Mobile merger more palatable? Uber’s first quarterly report as a public company, what to expect from WWDC next week, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: HappyCog.com/ride Mealime.com Links: Exclusive: Amazon interested in buying Boost from T-Mobile, Sprint - sources (Reuters) Uber stock rises as net losses match expectations (CNBC) APPLE WWDC 2019: MAC PRO, IOS 13, MARZIPAN, AND WHAT ELSE TO EXPECT (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Product Breakfast Club podcast The unlikely origins of USB, the port that changed everything (Fast Company) Bing turns 10: Why it’s been more disruptive than you think (Search Engine Land) The Collapsing Crime Rates of the ’90s Might Have Been Driven by Cellphones (The Atlantic) This ID Scanner Company is Collecting Sensitive Data on Millions of Bargoers (OneZero) AT&T Has Become a New Kind of Media Giant (Fortune) The case for caseless iPhones (Vox) Disney’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge theme park lands, explained (Polygon) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microsoft brings the Xbox Game Pass to PCs, Google gives the finger to adblockers (and all of us), the DOJ will only approve the Sprint/T-Mobile merger if there’s no actual market consolidation, GoGo wants to bring 5G to airplanes and when will an e-sports stadium come to your town? Sponsors: Mealime Sonic.com/ride Sponsors: Microsoft's Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC (Engadget) Google to restrict modern ad blocking Chrome extensions to enterprise users (9to5Google) Apple, Google and WhatsApp condemn UK proposal to eavesdrop on encrypted messages (CNBC) U.S. Wants T-Mobile to Create New Rival Before Clearing Megadeal (Bloomberg) Hulu Says 70% of Its 82 Million Viewers Are on Ad-Supported Plan (Variety) Gogo plans in-flight 5G for U.S. and Canadian aircraft in 2021 (VentureBeat) Excel for iPhone now lets you take a picture of a spreadsheet and import it (The Verge) As E-Sports Grow, So Do Their Homes (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon has a new Echo Show to go after the Google Nest Home Hub, the NYC subway is entering the mobile era, Uber says it will now ban RIDERS who get bad Uber ratings, and Microsoft outlines its vision for a modern operating system. Sponsors: Lightstream.com/ride Mealime Links: The Amazon Echo Show 5 puts Alexa on a smaller screen, shipping in June for $89.99 (The Verge) NYC subway riders will be able to swipe in with Apple Pay starting Friday (TechCrunch) Uber is now kicking low-rated passengers out of its cars (CNET) Huawei Revs Up Its U.S. Lawsuit, With the Media in Mind (NYTimes) Inside the Apple Team That Decides Which Apps Get on iPhones (Bloomberg) The Decrypted Podcast Microsoft hints at new modern Windows OS with ‘invisible’ background updates (The Verge) Enabling innovation and opportunity on the Intelligent Edge (Official Microsoft Blog) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The iPod touch lives (and got an update), Dell’s whole laptop lineup got an update, the apocalypse is coming for small vendors on Amazon, MacKenzie Bezos signs the Giving Pledge, and why a laptop infested with malware sold for $1.3 million dollars. Sponsors: Sonic.com/ride Mealime Links: Apple refreshes the iPod touch with the iPhone 7’s processor (The Verge) Dell reveals new laptops aimed at gamers and business users (Android Authority) Amazon Is Poised to Unleash a Long-Feared Purge of Small Suppliers (Bloomberg) MacKenzie Bezos pledged to give away more than half of her $37B fortune to charity and philanthropy (TechCrunch) Browser vendors win war with W3C over HTML and DOM standards (ZDNet) Driverless Delivery Vans Are Here as Production Begins in China (Bloomberg) Auction for a laptop full of malware closes at $1.3 million (updated) (Engadget) Subscribe to the ad-free Premium Feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nerds and tech folk have always had a special fascination with typeface and font design, and especially with the venerable Helvetica. Today we're going to talk to Charles Nix, who's foundry Monotype had the challenge of updating Helvetica for the 21st century with Helvetica Now. A lot of these bonus episodes are you learning along with me as we take deeper dives into certain tech topics, well no more so than this episode because I knew absolutely nothing about this area of design and so was fascinated to learn about what goes into creating a typeface from an artistic, design, and even business perspective. Sponsors: HappyCog.com/ride Mealime This is what the Helvetica Now looks like. This is the ad-free premium feed! Subscribe now! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Facebook cryptocurrency could be here in about six months, SpaceX launches its first batch of internet satellites, iFixit tears down the MacBook keyboard tweaks, the robots are coming for MLB umpires, and a supersized weekend longreads segment. Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Linkedin.com/ride Castro App Links: Facebook plans to launch 'GlobalCoin' currency in 2020 (BBC News) SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket deals out a deck of 60 Starlink internet satellites (GeekWire) Apple’s keyboard ‘material’ changes on the new MacBook Pro are minor at best (The Verge) Robot umpires are coming to baseball (Axios) The Weekend Longreads: Special report - Hobbling Huawei: Inside the U.S. war on China's tech giant (Reuters) WeWork Wants to Become Its Own Landlord With Latest Spending Spree (Bloomberg BusinessWeek) How Silicon Valley gamed Europe’s privacy rules (Politico) AFTER 15 YEARS, THE PIRATE BAY STILL CAN’T BE KILLED (Mel) One Inventor’s Race to Manage His Parkinson’s Disease With an App (OneZero) Business Bets on a Quantum Leap (Fortune) Can AI escape our control and destroy us? (Popular Science) The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet (OneZero) A Revolution In Your Pocket (RBS.io) Subscribe to the ad-free premium feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Playdate is a Game Boy for the 21st Century, GitHub launches a Patreon for open source developers, Amazon is working on a health app that can monitor emotions, Door Dash is emerging at the leader in the food delivery wars, and Rotten Tomatoes brings the hammer down on review stuffing. Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Castro Podcast App Sonic.com/ride Links: Playdate is an adorable handheld with games from the creators of Qwop, Katamari, and more (The Verge) GitHub launches Sponsors, lets you pay your favorite open-source contributors (TechCrunch) Amazon Is Working on a Device That Can Read Human Emotions (Bloomberg) DoorDash Is Now Worth $12.6 Billion After New $600 Million Investment (Forbes) Andreessen pours $22M into PlanetScales' database-as-a-service (TechCrunch) Walmart starts selling self-branded Android tablets starting at $64 w/ Play Store (9to5Google) A year after GDPR, mobile notifications are up, location sharing is down (MarketingLand) Rotten Tomatoes will start verifying ticket purchases for audience reviews (TechCrunch) Subscribe to the premium, ad free feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Huawei mess metastasizes, the EU goes after Google again, Qualcomm loses to the FTC, and Comcast—of all people—is getting into health tech. Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Tech.FidelityCareers.com The Castro Podcast App Links: Huawei: ARM memo tells staff to stop working with China’s tech giant (BBC News) Huawei Considers Rivals to Google's Android After U.S. Ban (Bloomberg) EU regulator launches probe into Google over data privacy (CNBC) Google says some G Suite user passwords were stored in plaintext since 2005 (TechCrunch) U.S. judge says Qualcomm violated antitrust law; appeal planned, shares plunge (Reuters) Microsoft kicks off the rollout of the Windows 10 May Update, version 1903 (ZDNet) Medium CEO Ev Williams Goes All-In on Building Subscription Business (Cheddar) Comcast is working on an in-home device to track people’s health (CNBC) Leak reveals Uber's $9.99 Unlimited delivery Eats Pass (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has Apple fixed the MacBook keyboard problem? Huawei gets a 90 day reprieve, Instagram wants to copy Snapchat AND TikTok, the first self-driving mail trucks, and why would your smart car want to tell people if you’ve gained weight? Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Castro Podcast App Sonic.com/ride Links: Apple tweaks its troubled MacBook keyboard design yet again, expands repair program (The Verge) U.S. eases curbs on Huawei; founder says clampdown underestimates Chinese firm (Reuters) Google will work with Huawei for 90 days after US eases trade restrictions (CNBC) DOJ Leans Against Approving T-Mobile’s Takeover of Sprint (Bloomberg) Instagram's IGTV copies TikTok's AI, Snapchat's Design (TechCrunch) Google brings release channels and Windows Container support to its Kubernetes Engine (TechCrunch) Self-Driving Trucks Will Carry Mail in U.S. for the First Time (Bloomberg) Hand Gestures And Horses: Waymo’s Self-Driving Service Learns To Woo The Public (Forbes) Chevy rolls out new feature that locks teens out of driving until they buckle up (The Verge) Your Car Knows When You Gain Weight (NYTimes) Subscribe to the ad-free, Premium Feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Why Google ghosting Huawei might lead to a chain reaction for all of tech, the Sprint/T-Mobile merger gets a shot in the arm, GM sort of gets the point of software, I guess, and why 5G might be horrible for weather forecasting. Sponsors: AirTable.com/techmeme Tech.FidelityCareers.com The Castro Podcast App Links: Exclusive: Google suspends some business with Huawei after Trump blacklist - source (Reuters) Huawei responds to Android ban with service and security guarantees, but its future is unclear (TechCrunch) Y Combinator promotes Geoff Ralston to president, while Sam Altman shifts to advisor role (TechCrunch) Google Glass Enterprise Edition 2 drops to $999 and adds Qualcomm’s XR1 (VentureBeat) T-Mobile, Sprint Get Merger Backing From FCC Chairman (WSJ) 5G NETWORKS COULD THROW WEATHER FORECASTING INTO CHAOS (Wired) GM GIVES ALL ITS VEHICLES A NEW SOUL (Wired) Top ‘Live-Streamers’ Get $50,000 an Hour to Play New Videogames Online (WSJ) Subscribe to the ad-free Premium Feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Eric Jackson is an investor at EMJ Capital Ltd. He’s deep in the media space, he’s deep in the streaming wars, as I think I say in this episode, he’s shaped a ton of my thinking about the streaming wars. So… where are we? Who’s up? Who’s down? Is it time to get bullish on Disney+ for a ton of reasons? Eric has a great podcast: The Eric Jackson Podcast. Sponsors: Audible.com/techmeme Instacart. Promocode RIDE at checkout. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

You know them, you love them, Jay Yarrow of CNBC, Farhad Manjoo of the New York Times. It’s another Jay and Farhad Show Reunion! Today’s topics: Uber’s IPO, the Streaming Wars, and Game of Thrones! These are my favorite episodes. I just hit record, and we thumb wrestle each other to get in a hot take. :) Sponsors: Capterra.com/ride Sonic.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Can Minecraft Earth be the killer app for AR? Are the best and brightest shunning working at Facebook? Has drone maker DJI beaten GoPro at its own game? And do I have some killer weekend longreads suggestions? You better believe I do. Sponsors: EthosLife.com/ride WeWorkRemotely.com Links: Hewlett Packard Enterprise to buy supercomputer maker Cray in $1.30 billion deal (Reuters) MINECRAFT EARTH GOES A STEP BEYOND POKÉMON GO TO COVER THE WORLD IN BLOCKS (TheVerge) Facebook has struggled to hire talent since the Cambridge Analytica scandal, according to recruiters who worked there (CNBC) Alphabet’s Wing will kick off Helsinki drone deliveries in summer 2019 (VentureBeat) DJI is out-GoProing GoPro with its own action camera (TechCrunch) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How the Promise of a $120 Billion Uber I.P.O. Evaporated (NYTimes) WHY I (STILL) LOVE TECH: IN DEFENSE OF A DIFFICULT INDUSTRY (Wired) Editorial: Why Apple created Apple TV+ rather than buying Netflix (AppleInsider) The Pivot (Asymco/Horace Dediu) AS COMMERCIAL SPACEFLIGHT TAKES OFF, THE AVIATION INDUSTRY GETS PROTECTIVE OF AIRSPACE (The Verge) The Fusion Reactor Next Door (NYTimes) Subscribe to the ad-free premium feed here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The hammer is coming down on Huawei, China blocks Wikipedia, Google clarifies the Works with Nest shutdown, a 1TB microSD, more 5G rollouts, what should we think of Quibi and you didn’t fall for that porn scam did you? Sponsors: WeWorkRemotely.com Stamps.com, click on the Microphone at the TOP of the homepage and type in RIDE Links: Trump administration cracks down on giant Chinese tech firm, escalating clash with Beijing (Washington Post) Trump’s Huawei Threat Is the Nuclear Option to Halt China’s Rise (Bloomberg) Instagram is killing Direct, its standalone Snapchat clone app, in the next several weeks (TechCrunch) Report: Apple’s custom 5G modems may not arrive until 2025 after ‘long and painful divorce’ with Intel (The Information) China has blocked all language versions of Wikipedia (Mashable) Sprint will launch 5G on May 31 in 4 cities with LG V50 and HTC 5G Hub (VentureBeat) Streaming Service Quibi Seeks Up to $1 Billion in New Funding (The Information) Exclusive: Scammed Porn Watchers Have Paid Nearly $1 Million in Bitcoin Blackmail (Fortune) The Ad Free Premium Feed Is Here Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s a new major chip flaw called ZombieLoad, the major tech companies sign on to the so-called Christchurch Call to Action, San Francisco bans facial recognition tech, is Google effectively deprecating search, and did Beyonce make $300M on Uber? Sponsors: Tech.FidelityCareers.com WeWorkRemotely.com Links: New secret-spilling flaw affects almost every Intel chip since 2011 (TechCrunch) Facebook changes livestream rules after New Zealand shooting (CNN) White House declines to back Christchurch call to stamp out online extremism amid free speech concerns (Washington Post) San Francisco passes city government ban on facial recognition tech (TechCrunch) Google’s combining all its travel planning features under a site called Trips (The Verge) New native Discovery ad campaigns from Google monetize Discover feed for first time (Search Engine Land) Beyoncé Is Going To Make Bank From Uber Going Public (Yahoo Finance) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WhatsApp discovered one of the craziest flaws I’ve ever heard about in mobile, Disney now controls all of Hulu, now we’ve got folding laptops, the One Plus 7 Pro is another strike against $1,000 phones and is bitcoin back? Sponsors: Joybird.com/ride Promocode: RIDE WeWorkRemotely Links: WhatsApp voice calls used to inject Israeli spyware on phones (Financial Times) WhatsApp discovers 'targeted' surveillance attack (BBC) Disney to take full control over Hulu, Comcast has option to sell its stake in 5 years (CNBC) Lenovo shows off the world’s first ‘foldable PC’ (The Verge) Walmart announces next-day delivery, firing back at Amazon (CNBC) Apple announces support for Apple Pay NFC stickers, partners with Bird scooters and more (9to5Mac) ONEPLUS 7 PRO REVIEW: PROOF THAT OTHER BIG PHONES COST TOO MUCH (The Verge) Uber Misses the Enchanted Forest (Bloomberg) Uber's underwater investors (Axios) Up $1,200 on the Day, Bitcoin’s Price Surges Above $8K (CoinDesk) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Supreme Court ruling might spell trouble for Apple and others, Amazon is automating the boxers out of a job, Discord is doing some serious MAU’s, what the death of Nest means for IOT, and a LITERAL Bitcoin treasure hunt. Sponsors: WeWorkRemotely.com Sonic.com/ride Links: Supreme Court deals Apple major setback in App Store antitrust case (CNBC) Exclusive: Amazon rolls out machines that pack orders and replace jobs (Reuters) Amazon Offers to Pay Employees $10,000 to Quit Their Jobs and Deliver Packages Instead (Time.com) Slack says it’s going to replace email and is as necessary as electricity in its pitch to investors (CNBC) Discord, Slack for gamers, tops 250 million registered users (CNET) FDA clears first 6-lead consumer ECG, AliveCor’s $150 KardiaMobile 6L (VentureBeat) Google Just Handed Amazon A Massive Advantage In Smart Home Tech (Forbes) Nest, the company, died at Google I/O 2019 (ArsTechnica) ‘Satoshi’s Treasure’ Is a Global Puzzle With a $1 Million Bitcoin Prize (CoinDesk) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Not too long ago I did a longreads suggestion about Huawei and listener Dexter Thillien got in touch, because he’s a telecoms analyst, and he was actually quoted in the article. Over email, he educated me about some of my misconceptions about Huawei and I was like, “Don’t just school me! Come on the podcast and let’s catch everyone on up Huawei!” And so, today, we do that. Where did Huawei come from? How did it get to a place where it’s the pre-eminent 5G infrastructure firm? Is Huawei just a tool of the Chinese government. I do apologize for the somewhat poor Skype connection, but the content here is so good, you won’t even notice. My thanks to Dexter Thillien. Sponsor: Everykey.com, promo code RIDE20 to get 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I knew Uber was going public this week, and it occurred to me that since this podcast started, my default position has been: Uber: super cool company, but a lot of people have a lot of doubts about them. But I realized, I had never explained that, or gone into detail about WHY people feel that way… unlike how we’ve done with other things. So, I reached out to Shira Ovide at Bloomberg, not to talk trash about Uber, but to… let’s say… get the skeptic’s take about Uber’s business model— which is the ride hailing business model, in a way, which is also the sharing economy business model in a way—so, in that vein, we also talk about WeWork a bit too (which people are also skeptical of). Sponsors: Eero.com/ride promocode RIDE at checkout Sonic.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uber’s big IPO had some issues, smartphone shipments are at a 5 year low, do you need an app for unsubscribing to things and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: MacStadium.com/ridehome Metalab.co Links: Uber Jackpot: Inside One of the Greatest Startup Investments of All Time (WSJ) Americans Have So Many Subscriptions They Need Apps to Track and Cancel Them (Bloomberg) Blue Origin: Bezos company aims to take people to moon by 2024 (The Guardian) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How Much Is an Idea Worth? In Uber’s Case, $3.7 Billion (Bloomberg) The VC Who Engineered the 2017 Uber CEO Coup Just Got Very Rich (Bloomberg) The dangers of in-game data collection (Polygon) How Unions Are Pushing Back Against the Rise of Workplace Technology (Fortune) Three years in, Google’s hardware honcho is just getting started (FastCompany) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes says it’s time to break up Facebook, more developer details from I/O, Uber has an arbitration problem, shoe tech is real, and get ready for 64 megapixel smartphone cameras. Sponsors: Wix.com/podcast Metalab.co Links: It’s Time to Break Up Facebook (Chris Hughes/NYTimes) Google is testing Mini-apps in Search and Google Assistant (VentureBeat) Google to allow users to pay for Android apps using cash (TechCrunch) Uber’s Arbitration Addiction Could Be Death by 60,000 Cuts (Bloomberg) Sick of Getting Returned Sneakers, Nike Tries a New Sizing App (Bloomberg) The story of the Brannock Device World’s fastest supercomputer will be built by AMD and Cray for US government (The Verge) 64-megapixel phone cameras are coming (The Verge) Fortnite is free, but kids are getting bullied into spending money (Polygon) Subscribe to the ad-free premium feed. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google is talking big on privacy, but going after cookies helps their bottom line as well, why the Pixel 3a might usher in a new era of flagship “lite” phones, the huge Binance bitcoin hack and why does Bird want to sell you a scooter, not just rent you one? Sponsors: Metalab.co Vistaprint.com/RIDE Links: Google strengthens Chrome's privacy controls (TechCrunch) Facebook talked privacy, Google actually built it (TechCrunch) US digital advertising exceeded $100 billion in 2019 (TechCrunch) Google shows Apple and Samsung how ‘lite’ flagships are done (Engadget) Apple should bring back the iPhone SE and model it after Google’s Pixel 3a (MacWorld) Bird has a new electric scooter: it’s durable, comes in three different colors, and you can buy it (The Verge) DIY Artists Will Earn More than $1 Billion This Year. No Wonder the Major Labels Want Their Business (Rolling Stone) Subscribe to the ad-free feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the news that I could possibly grab from Google’s I/O keynote, again, Alexa IS spying on you, Cruise Automation raises a big round... and will we ever actually see the Galaxy Fold? Sponsors: Lightstream.com/ride Metalab.co Links: THE PIXEL 3A PUTS GOOGLE’S PHENOMENAL CAMERA IN A $400 PHONE (The Verge) Alexa has been eavesdropping on you this whole time (The Washington Post) Check your Alexa recording archive here Study: Voice Assistants Far From Hot Marketplace For Buying (MediaPost) GM’s self-driving division Cruise raises another $1.15 billion (The Verge) How Chinese Spies Got the N.S.A.’s Hacking Tools, and Used Them for Attacks (NYTimes) Samsung Electronics says no anticipated shipping date yet for Galaxy Fold (Reuters) Subscribe to the Premium Ad-Free Feed right here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the announcements from Microsoft’s Build 2019, Mozilla fixes the Firefox snafu, we think, a grab-bag of Apple rumors and why Netflix’s competitive resiliency might be here to stay. Sponsors: Legacybox.com/ride Metalab.co Links Microsoft's IntelliCode for AI-assisted coding comes out of preview (TechCrunch) Microsoft aims to modernize and secure voting with ElectionGuard (TechCrunch) Add-ons disabled or failing to install in Firefox (Mozilla Add-ons Blog) Amazon can already ship to 72% of US population within a day, this map shows (CNBC) Brussels poised to probe Apple over Spotify’s fees complaint (Financial Times) Netflix's Competitive Resiliency Is Here to Stay (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 7) (Redef) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This Facebook cryptocurrency is real, people, Microsoft has a blockchain product as well, Verizon is looking to unload Tumblr, Softbank is considering an IPO for the vision fund and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: PixelUnion.net Instacart. Promocode RIDE at checkout. Links: Facebook Building Cryptocurrency-Based Payments System (WSJ) Project Libra: Facebook to launch stablecoin-based payments network (The Block) Report: Facebook looking to disrupt credit cards with cryptocurrency (ArsTechnica) Microsoft adds more AI, mixed-reality, IoT services to its Azure line-up (ZDNet) Microsoft launches a fully managed blockchain service (TechCrunch) Verizon Looks to Unload Tumblr Blogging Site (WSJ) SoftBank Considers IPO for $100 Billion Vision Fund (WSJ) Sonic’s live-action design upset the entire internet, so the studio is changing it (The Verge) The Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The making of Amazon Prime, the internet’s most successful and devastating membership program (ReCode) The search for the kryptonite that can stop CRISPR (MIT Technology Review) The Most Valuable Company (for Now) Is Having a Nadellaissance (Bloomberg Businessweek) Software, the Tough Tomato Principle, and the Great Weirdening of the World (Florent Crivello) The productivity pit: how Slack is ruining work (ReCode) Exclusive: The Saga Of 'Star Citizen,' A Video Game That Raised $300 Million—But May Never Be Ready To Play (Forbes) Support the show! Lose the ads! Subscribe to the premium feed RIGHT HERE in your podcast app with 3 taps! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook might get a federally appointed privacy official, Google lets you set a time-limit on what it tracks about you, what Apple had to pay Qualcomm, Russia might effectively leave the open web, a Wikipedia competitor, and is the low-hanging fruit gone for the big tech oligarchs? Sponsors: ReMars.amazon.com PixelUnion.net Links: Exclusive: New privacy oversight on the table for Facebook, Zuckerberg (Politico) Google can now automatically delete your location, app, and search activity data (VentureBeat) Qualcomm to record $4B revenue from Apple settlement (Axios) Putin signs law to isolate Russian internet (Financial Times) Spotify launches voice-enabled ads on mobile devices in a limited US test (TechCrunch) Tesla is raising up to $1.5 billion through convertible note and share sale (TechCrunch) Golden unveils a Wikipedia alternative focused on emerging tech and startups (TechCrunch) Airbnb Spawned an Ecosystem of Startups That Sweat the Details so Owners Don’t Have to (Bloomberg) Support the show! Ad free feed! Signup right in your podcast app! Right here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple’s earnings were bad, but investors rejoiced, Andreessen Horowitz is continuing its transformation, Eric Schmidt is leaving Google’s board, don’t sleep on Hulu in the streaming wars and some thoughts on F8. Sponsors: PixelUnion.net Sonic.com/ride Links: Apple Trade-Ins and Discounts Spark iPhone Revival (Bloomberg) A16z ushers in new fund strategy with $2.75B (TechCrunch) Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt will leave Alphabet’s board after 18 years (The Verge) Scoop: e-Bike startup led by mobile veterans raises $20 million (Axios) SoftBank makes a huge bet on Latin America (TechCrunch) Hulu Grows to 28 Million Subscribers (The Hollywood Reporter) At F8, Facebook focuses on privacy — and little else (The Interface) Subscribe to the ad-free premium feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All the news from the Facebook F8 conference, Cheddar gets acquired, Alphabet shows weakness, and why does Ring, the smart doorbell, need a news editor? Sponsors: FlatironSchool.com/techmeme PixelUnion.net Links Facebook details Messenger updates: New desktop app, social video, and Project LightSpeed (VentureBeat) Instagram will test hiding public like counts in Canada (The Verge) Altice USA Buys Streaming-Video Network Cheddar for $200 Million (WSJ) Google Shows First Cracks in Years (WSJ) Alphabet drops after reporting a slowdown in ad revenue (CNBC) WeWork Files for Initial Public Offering (WSJ) Amazon wants to deliver crime news and fear to Ring doorbell owners (TheNextWeb) A doorbell company owned by Amazon wants to start producing “crime news” and it’ll definitely end well (Nieman Lab) How Chinese apps like TikTok are quietly racking up American users (CNBC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

There’s no reason the hotel chains can’t do what Airbnb does, why superzoom lenses might be the real innovation in smartphones right now, we’re almost done with Tech Earnings Season and why was GOT so dark last night? Sponsors: Pixelunion.com/agency GetQuip.com/ride Links: Spotify is first to 100 million paid subscribers (The Verge) Beats’ Powerbeats Pro earbuds will ship on May 10th for $250 (The Verge) Marriott Is Officially Getting Into the Homesharing Business (Skift) "Superzoom" lenses will be the biggest thing to happen to smartphone cameras in years (Android Police) How China’s ‘Unicorns’ Shook a Bicycle Town (NYTimes) California governor signs internet sales tax law (AP) AT&T says 5G will be priced like home Internet—pay more for faster speeds (ArsTechnica) Samsung thinks millennials want vertical TVs (The Verge) A Theory About Why Last Night's Game of Thrones Was Too Dark to Watch (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I wanted to talk to Dave Bittner of CyberWire because the CyberWire podcasts are my go to source for keeping up with the security space in a broad way. And I’m glad I did, Dave is a super knowledgeable pro, and we do get into things like those huge credential dumps, password best practices and that Triton virus that has me so worried. But we started off by going on a weird tangent about Facebook where I found myself arguing for Facebook for some reason, and we ended by really going off the rails and talking about the Fermi Paradox and aliens. It ended up being a really fun chat. :) Sponsors: Capterra.com/ride remars.Amazon.com Passwords article we discuss Subscribe to the ad-free premium feed! Right here! Inside your podcast app! It's easy! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This one requires a bit of explaining. Remember that segment I did about Change A View, that subreddit that was becoming its own site to try to create a platform for healthy discourse and debate online? They got backing from—and technical support from—an Alphabet subsidiary called Jigsaw. So, I went down a rabbit hole with Jigsaw, because they weren’t on my radar, and I learned that their remit is to… seemingly… try to make the Internet not suck as much. So, long story short, I reached out to some people and got put in touch with Dan Keyserling of Jigsaw to see what they’re up to. Combatting radicalization, online censorship, trolls, bias in AI… there ARE still some folks who believe technology can make the world better… not just break it. Huge, if true!  But seriously, this is a bit of a palate cleanse for me, and for you… but really… mostly for me. Sponsors: Wix.com/podcast Everykey.com, promo code RIDE20 to get 20% off. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon wants all Prime deliveries to be one-day shipping, Slack files for its IPO and Uber sets its price range, someone with a personal vendetta to fix Gmail and of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: Tech.FidelityCareers.com Tiny.website Links: Amazon smashes earnings expectations (CNBC) Slack files to go public, revealing $400 million in revenue and $139 million in losses (CNBC) Uber sets IPO terms, could be valued at $84 billion (Axios) Regulators Around the World Are Circling Facebook (NYTimes) The former lead designer of Gmail just fixed Gmail on his own (Fast Company) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How Fortnite’s success led to months of intense crunch at Epic Games (Polygon) Red Dead Redemption 2: six months later (Polygon) WE’VE BEEN WARNED ABOUT AI AND MUSIC FOR OVER 50 YEARS, BUT NO ONE’S PREPARED (TheVerge) How the Kleiner Perkins Empire Fell (Fortune) These home security startups aren’t afraid of Amazon and Google (Fast Company) Amazon Has Gone From Neutral Platform to Cutthroat Competitor, Say Open Source Developers (OneZero) I Sell Onions on the Internet (Deep South Ventures) Subscribe to the ad-free feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It is just an earnings bonanza: Facebook? Good! Tesla? Bad! Microsoft? Really good! In fact, king of the world again! Nintendo? Not so good. Oh, and the whole Luminary, podcasting wars, Game of Phones and Nick Quah called it, had a crazy new wrinkle today… Sponsors: FlatironSchool.com/Techmeme Tiny.website Links: Facebook Reports First Quarter 2019 Results (Facebook Investor Relations) Facebook jumps as Stories users and ads show promising growth (CNBC) Nintendo Disappoints With Tepid Outlook, No Date for New Switch (Bloomberg) Verizon’s Galaxy S10 5G launches as it unveils next 20 5G cities (CNET) Podcast startup Luminary’s launch week keeps getting worse (The Verge) The ad free feed is here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

iFixit thinks it knows why the Galaxy Fold is having issues, Wing becomes the first drone delivery operator cleared by the FAA, why Netflix has gone deep into debt and have the podcasting wars begun? Sponsors: Tech.FidelityCareers.com Tiny.Website Links: Samsung Galaxy Fold Teardown (iFixit) Here’s Why We Think Galaxy Folds Are Failing (iFixit) May to ban Huawei from providing 'core' parts of UK 5G network (TheGuardian) Google Spinoff’s Drone Delivery Business First to Get FAA Approval (Bloomberg) Kuo: Two new AirPods models in Q4 2019 – Q1 2020, one features an all-new design and higher price (9to5Mac) Snap rally fades after earnings beat (CNBC) Microsoft Paint to remain part of Windows 10 after all (The Verge) Netflix offers $2 billion more in debt to fund its content spending (TechCrunch) The Joe Rogan Experience to withdraw from Luminary (HotPod) Subscribe to the ad-free feed! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tesla has an event that some people say is all reality distortion field, Facebook makes some interesting hires, Twitter is quietly chirping a tune Wall Street likes and Amazon Key is here to deliver inside your house. Sponsors: Tiny.website EthosLife.com Links Here are Elon Musk’s wildest predictions about Tesla’s self-driving cars (The Verge) Facebook’s new chief lawyer helped write the Patriot Act (The Verge) Twitter stock surges more than 15% on earnings beat (CNBC) Key by Amazon in-home delivery comes to Las Vegas, 12 other cities (CNET) How Otonomo, with nearly $55 million in funding, is illegally cloning our product (SmartCar) HackerNews thread about all this SoftBank Founder Masayoshi Son Lost $130 Million on Bitcoin (WSJ) The Premium Ad-Free Podcast Feed! Try it Free For 7 Days! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Samsung Galaxy Fold is delayed, Sri Lanka blocking social media is complicated, how you’re being tracked in the airport and at work, and why there’s no such thing as a free lunch when it comes to free apps. Sponsors: tech.FidelityCareers.com Tiny.webiste Links: Samsung’s Galaxy Fold Smartphone Release Delayed (WSJ) Sri Lankan government blocks social media and imposes curfew following deadly blasts (The Washington Post) Zillow launches AI-powered 3D home tours in the U.S. and Canada (VentureBeat) The US wants to scan the faces of all air passengers leaving the country (QZ) Employee privacy in the US is at stake as corporate surveillance technology monitors workers’ every move (CNBC) That mental health app might share your data without telling you (The Verge) Turns Out, Meal Kits Might Not Suck for the Planet (Earther) Support the podcast directly! Subscribe to the ad-free feed right here inside your podcast app! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices