Tech Brew Ride Home

Pretty major FaceTime bug from Apple, the DOJ makes it’s case against Huawei, the first successful ICO of the year and what Bluetooth ‘direction finding’ might do for you. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Major iPhone FaceTime bug lets you hear the audio of the person you are calling … before they pick up (9to5Mac) U.S. Charges Huawei With Stealing Trade Secrets, Bank Fraud (Bloomberg) BitTorrent Tokens Sold Out in Under 15 Minutes, Netting Over $7 Mln (CoinTelegraph) Bluetooth gains ‘direction finding’ for location accuracy to the centimeter (VentureBeat) After backlash, BuzzFeed says it will pay out earned paid time off to laid off employees (CNN Business) Aiming to change the way people take medicine, Lyndra Therapeutics raises $55 million (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Apple subscription gaming service? Is Facebook Watch still alive? The GDPR floodgates are truly open. And losing to AI’s might have some benefits. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: Apple Plans Gaming Subscription Service: Sources (Cheddar) A Tiny Screw Shows Why iPhones Won’t Be ‘Assembled in U.S.A.’ (NYTimes) China created a unicorn every 3.8 days in 2018 (South China Morning Post) China's smartphone shipments dropped 14 percent in 2018 (TechCrunch) Facebook Watch Isn’t Living Up to Its Name (Bloomberg) Google and IAB ad category lists show 'massive leakage of highly intimate data,' GDPR complain claims (TechCrunch) AI Helps Amputees Walk With a Robotic Knee (IEEE Spectrum) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

One of my favorite people to read is the Wall Street Journal tech columnist Chris Mims. We talked about his piece this week positing that email was back, baby! And I read a piece he did a while back about the new way of constructing super energy efficient homes, but when I did the email piece and remembered he did a piece recently about how I’m more likely to get a burrito delivered to me for lunch than to have my self-driving wager come in by commuting to work in a robot car, I knew it was time to hit up Chris to come on the pod. He’s a listener! This episode has a full transcript. The posts we discuss: The Hot New Channel for Reaching Real People: Email Why Your Ice Cream Will Ride in a Self-Driving Car Before You Do Sponsors: Squarespace.com/listen Risk! Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Given all the news of layoffs in the digital media space this week, I knew I couldn't sit on this interview with Rafat Ali any longer. Currently the founder and CEO of digital media company Skift—but also, if you weren’t aware, a true digital media pioneer going back to his founding of Paid Content—I knew he could talk about this stuff, and he has a pretty unique perspective on the state of digital media in 2019. TLDR, it’s not good. Dire might even be the word. This episode has a full transcript. Sponsor: Capterra.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now the AIs can defeat us at StarCraft II (too?), Zuckerberg wants to unify his collection of messaging apps, my grand unifying theory for the streaming video wars and of course the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Juniper.net/try Metalab.co Links: Zuckerberg Plans to Integrate WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook Messenger (NYTimes) Facebook knowingly duped game-playing kids and their parents out of money (Reveal) Facebook ignored kids’ spending problems, internal documents reveal (BBC News) DeepMind AI Challenges Pro StarCraft II Players, Wins Almost Every Match (ExtremeTech) Coming to a TV near you: personalized ads (Axios) The SmartTouchUSA.com Weekend Longreads: From Founder to CEO (podcast) EVERYBODY DOES IT: THE MESSY TRUTH ABOUT INFILTRATING COMPUTER SUPPLY CHAINS (The Intercept) Katzenberg and Whitman: Hollywood’s New Odd Couple (Fortune) Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: The Rolling Stone Interview (Rolling Stone) “The Linux of social media”—How LiveJournal pioneered (then lost) blogging (ArsTechnica) Reddit’s r/changemyview is a template for how all online discussion should be (TNW) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Bing’s Schrodinger-style China Ban, headphones from Sonos, flying cars from Boeing, layoffs for project Titan, and the serious ongoing layoffs in the digital media world. Sponsors: Lightstream.com/ride Metalab.co DatadogHQ.com/ridehome Stories from: @pkafka, @markgurman Tweets: @stroughtonsmith Links: China Appears to Block Microsoft’s Bing as Censorship Intensifies (NYTimes) Sonos Plans Headphones in Move Outside the Home (Bloomberg) Boeing’s ‘flying car’ lifts off in race to revolutionize urban transport (VentureBeat) The U.S. Government Shutdown Has Delivered A Surprise Blow To Bitcoin (Forbes) Apple just dismissed more than 200 employees from Project Titan, its autonomous vehicle group (CNBC) Verizon Media Group is laying off 7% of its staff (CNBC) BuzzFeed is laying off more than 200 people, its second round of cuts in 14 months (Recode) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

YouTube TV goes nationwide, Jony Ive’s dream phone design, Patreon milestones and is Spotify killing music’s middle class? Sponsors: Joybird.com/RIDE ... Promocode RIDE Metalab.co Links: YouTube TV finally goes nationwide almost two years after launch (The Verge) Hulu drops to just $5.99 per month after Netflix’s price hikes (The Verge) Waymo says it will build self-driving cars in Michigan (Reuters) Xiaomi's flexible phone concept folds on both sides (Engadget) Meizu Zero debuts with no physical buttons, speaker or charging port (GSMarena) Millions and Billions | Celebrating Patrons, Creators, and Major Milestones (Patreon Blog) Digitimes: AirPods 2 launching in first half of this year, redesigned to support ‘health monitoring’ features (9to5Mac) Spotify Will Soon Let You Block Artists (Thurrot.com) The economics of streaming is making songs shorter (QZ) Is Spotify’s Model Wiping Out Music’s Middle Class? (The Ringer) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Munchery bites the big one, Foxconn considers moving production to India, Netflix wants a seat at the adults table, and, yes, even guitar tech is now tech. Sponsors: Metalab.co DatadogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Munchery closes on-demand meal-delivery business (San Francisco Chronicle) Foxconn Looks Beyond China to India for iPhone Assembly (WSJ) Apple Supplier in Japan Looks to Taiwan for Bailout After iPhone XR Letdown (WSJ) Apple Pay coming to Target, Taco Bell and more top US retail locations (Apple Newsroom) Netflix in advanced talks to join major Hollywood lobbying group (Politico) Rosetta Stone for iPhone adds AI to identify objects for live translations (VentureBeat) FENDER'S NEW ACOUSTIC GUITAR HAS A MILLION DIFFERENT VOICES (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GDPR fines begin, but the EU “link tax” might be in trouble, Uber wants self driving scooters, and why email is back, baby! (Hint: it never left.) Sponsors: Flatironschool.com/podcast Metalab.co Links: French data protection watchdog fines Google $57 million under the GDPR (TechCrunch) Copyright negotiations hit a brick wall in Council (Julia Reda) Uber is exploring autonomous bikes and scooters (TechCrunch) A POKER-PLAYING ROBOT GOES TO WORK FOR THE PENTAGON (Wired) Amazon helped 50,000 SMBs generate $500,000 in sales (Neowin) The Hot New Channel for Reaching Real People: Email (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Ali's Medium Post: Land of the Super Founders On this bonus episode, we’re going to revisit a past weekend longread suggestion and talk to the author of that longread to go further in-depth. Do you remember I recommended Land of the Super Founders a medium piece by Ali Tamaseb who spent 300 hours gathering data on unicorn startups to answer the simple question what did billion-dollar startups look like when they were getting started? What common traits did they share? This episode has a full transcript. Sponsor: Squarespace.com/listen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week had a lot of health tech news in it… a lot of it broken by CNBC’s health tech reporter Christina Farr. So, I reached out to Christina to chat, and we discussed Amazon getting into healthcare—possibly even getting into health insurance—what Apple’s health strategy is, where health tech might go beyond wearables and how the healthcare industry is responding to Silicon Valley invading their turf. This episode has a full transcript. Sponsor: Squarespace.com/listen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix starts to open up, Cortana stops competing, gadget reviews now include shoes as a category and the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: Netflix beats on subscriber growth, but misses slightly on revenue — stock falls after hours (CNBC) It’s Official: Satya Nadella Confirms Cortana Defeat (Thurrott) Nike's auto-laced future (TechCrunch) NIKE'S NEW SELF-LACING BASKETBALL SHOE IS ACTUALLY SMART (Wired) The SmartTouchUSA.com Weekened Longreads Drone Radio Show Delivery Drones Use Bird-Inspired Legs to Jump Into the Air (IEEE Spectrum) Why Do Shareholders Agree to Give Up Voting Rights? (New York Magazine) The Attention Economy Is a Malthusian Trap (The Atlantic) The Story Behind Meta, the AR Startup That Just Had Its Assets Sold to a Mystery Buyer (Variety) Rekindled yet again, Nokia’s next-gen phones offer more than just nostalgia (Digital Trends) INSIDE THE STRANGE YET PROFITABLE WORLD OF RETAIL ARBITRAGE (Mel Magazine) EA’s Troubled Decade Of Star Wars Games (Kotaku) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Cook calls for a data-broker clearinghouse, a possible criminal case against Huawei, the largest leak of user credentials ever found in the wild, and why we probably need a Unix for machine learning. Sponsors: Tiny.website DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Russia (Facebook Newsroom) You Deserve Privacy Online. Here’s How You Could Actually Get It (Time) I Mentored Mark Zuckerberg. I Loved Facebook. But I Can't Stay Silent About What's Happening. (Time) Huawei Targeted in U.S. Criminal Probe for Alleged Theft of Trade Secrets (WSJ) HACK BRIEF: AN ASTONISHING 773 MILLION RECORDS EXPOSED IN MONSTER BREACH (Wired) AWS For Everyone: New clues emerge about Amazon’s secretive low-code/no-code project (GeekWire) Former Facebook engineer picks up $15M for AI platform Spell (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More high profile execs quit Snap, Apple’s in talks to get more Apple Watches in the hands of seniors, the state of the App Economy, and the Razr is coming back to herald in the era of the bendable phone. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome (DataDog's Blog Post on Container Trends) Tiny.website Links: WeWork’s CEO Makes Millions as Landlord to WeWork (WSJ) Apple is in talks with private Medicare plans about bringing its watch to at-risk seniors (CNBC) App economy expected to be $120 billion in 2019 as small screen leads digital transformation efforts (ZDNet) FACEBOOK'S '10 YEAR CHALLENGE' IS JUST A HARMLESS MEME—RIGHT? (Wired) Madagascar has become a business outsourcing hotspot thanks to its super-fast internet (QZ Africa) Return of the Razr—With a Foldable Screen and $1,500 Price (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix raises prices, maybe the Apple battery replacement WAS a big deal after all, cops can’t force you to unlock your phone with your face, and Amazon is driving its retail competitors into the arms of Microsoft. Sponsors: Metalab.co DatadogHQ.com/ridehome Links: Netflix will raise prices for US subscribers, with its most popular plan going up to $13 per month (TechCrunch) Apple Q1 Numbers: Missing Explanations (Monday Note) ON APPLE’S $29 IPHONE BATTERY REPLACEMENT PROGRAM AND ITS ROLE IN THEIR EARNINGS MISS (Daring Fireball) MongoDB Follow-up, AWS’ Incentives, Batteries: The iPhone’s Missing Miss (Stratechery) Apple's 5G iPhone shift bogged down by Qualcomm chip battle (CNET) German court throws out Qualcomm's latest patent case against Apple (Reuters) Feds Can't Force You To Unlock Your iPhone With Finger Or Face, Judge Rules (Forbes) Microsoft counters Amazon again with big Walgreens partnership, aiming to reshape healthcare (GeekWire) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Event sharing comes to stories, what this year’s CES says about where consumer tech is at the moment, and then a bunch of stories about what that means for the future in different ways, including wireless chips that suck power from the air, and the dilemma that voice assistants pose for the modern office. Sponsors: DataDogHQ.com/ridehome Tiny.website Links: Facebook’s new Stories feature for event sharing actually sounds useful (The Verge) CES 2019: A Show Report (Learn By Shipping/@stevesi) SoundGuys: USB-C audio is dead (Android Authority) Wiliot nabs $30M from Amazon, Avery Dennison, Samsung for a chip that runs on power from ambient radio frequencies (TechCrunch) The rise of Alexa creates a dilemma for your open plan office (Wired) A Picture Of An Egg Beat Kylie Jenner For The Most Liked Instagram Of All Time (BuzzFeed News) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The great Howard Lindzon and I discuss how Wall Street is thinking of Tech right now, what Apple's deal is and what the prospects are for those big tech IPOs coming down the pike. This episode has a full transcript. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Motherboard shames the telecom companies into not selling us out, shareholders are suing Alphabet’s board, the government shutdown claims more tech victims, Apple says, “We can add more cameras also!” and the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Go.Bitrise.io/ride Metalab.co Links: I Gave a Bounty Hunter $300. Then He Located Our Phone (Motherboard) AT&T says it’ll stop selling your location data, amid calls for a federal investigation (Washington Post) Google Board Sued for Hushing Claims of Executive Misconduct (Bloomberg) Government shutdown: TLS certificates not renewed, many websites are down (ZDNet) Apple Plans Three New iPhones This Year, Plays Catch-Up on Cameras (WSJ) Amazon Developing Game Streaming Service (The Information) The Smart Touch Weekend Longreads: Demon Underneath: John DeLorean and the Invention of the Future (The Outline) The Rise and Demise of RSS (Motherboard) Pitchfork’s Ryan Schreiber shaped Internet music journalism and now leaves it behind (Los Angeles Times) Inside look at modern web browser (part 1) (Developers.Google) The Race to Diagnose Cancer With a Simple Blood Test (2069 - Medium) Lasers vs. Microwaves: The Billion-Dollar Bet on the Future of Magnetic Storage (ieee Spectrum) PREPARING FOR Y2038 (ALREADY?!) (blogs.akamai) VOTE FOR THE RIDE HOME FOR BUZZFEED'S 2019 PODCAST LIST Or: email [email protected] and make sure "podcast" is in the subject line. Thx! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We have a good idea when that foldable Samsung phone is coming, Google is actually close to a big legal win in Europe (for a change), the government shutdown might actually be affecting CES and why the “gig economy” might actually be a big nothingburger. Sponsors: Flatironschool.com/podcast Metalab.co Go.BitRide.io/ride Links: Samsung to Show Off Its New Foldable Phone in February (WSJ) Amazon Web Services calls MongoDB’s licensing bluff with DocumentDB, a new managed database (GeekWire) Google Nears Win in Europe Over ‘Right to Be Forgotten’ (WSJ) Google Only Has to Respect Your 'Right to Be Forgotten' in the EU, Court Says (Gizmodo) 2019 is already full of weird and wonderful monitors (The Verge) Government shutdown halts FCC device approvals (Axios) How Estimates of the Gig Economy Went Wrong (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Now we know why Google has gone so big at CES: they want to put Assistant in everything, the first foldable phone arrives at CES, Twitter wants to show you only half of an NBA game, and Marc Zuckerberg wants to host his own version of a podcast, I guess. Sponsors: go.bitrise.io/ride Metalab.co Links: GOOGLE’S PLAN TO TAKE ON ALEXA: NEW FEATURES, NEW DEVICES, AND A TROJAN HORSE (The Verge) The world’s first foldable phone is charmingly awful (The Verge) Twitter hopes you want to watch NBA games from a camera focused on just one player (Recode) Zuckerberg's 2019 Challenge Post VC funding in U.S. startups nears $100 billion in 2018, highest since dot-com era (GeekWire) Venture Capital Funding Report 2018 (CBInsights) Cable operators will fight off 5G with 10-gigabit cable modems (VentureBeat) This pretax benefits startup is giving hourly workers a raise (Fast Company) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Are we in a smartphone recession, mooooaaaar tv new from CES, AT&T wants to make 5G confusing, and why WeWork is now, simply, We (company). Sponsors: Metalab.co go.bitrise.io/ride Links: Sorry, Samsung. Seems nobody is immune to peak smartphone (The Register) Apple’s Errors (Stratechery) Sony doubles down on 8K TVs and the entertainment to play on them (VentureBeat) AT&T decides 4G is now “5G,” starts issuing icon-changing software updates (ArsTechnica) Uber’s Confidential Documents Show Path to $90 Billion IPO (The Information) Exclusive: WeWork rebrands to The We Company; CEO Neumann talks about revised SoftBank round (Fast Company) Amazon's new ad strategy: Free samples based on what it knows about you (Axios) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Apple willing to sacrifice Apple TV for the greater subscription good, is Google Assistant is coming to feature phones, what is the use-case for a tv you can roll up into a box, and plenty more like that because it’s time to let the CES headlines rain over you. Sponsors: go.bitrise.io/ride metalab.co Stories from: @henrytcasey, @AshleyRReports Tweets: @geoffreyfowler Links: Apple is putting iTunes on Samsung TVs (The Verge) Google Assistant will soon be on a billion devices, and feature phones are next (The Verge) Everything you may have missed from Nvidia's CES keynote (Techspot) HP Launches First-Ever AMD Chromebook (LaptopMag) Withings undercuts Apple Watch, debuts $129 ECG monitoring smartwatch (ArsTechnica) LG’s groundbreaking roll-up TV is going on sale this year (The Verge) Keeping up with Netflix originals is basically a part-time job now (QZ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Verge and AT&T have a trademark dispute, the city of Los Angeles and The Weather Channel app have a location data dispute, more on how shows like Bandersnatch really might be the future of storytelling and the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsor: Mealime.com (iOS App) (Android App) Links: AT&T tries to trademark ‘Verge TV’ as if we’re going to let them get away with it (The Verge) Los Angeles Accuses Weather Channel App of Covertly Mining User Data (NYTimes) D-Link debuts a 5G Wi-Fi router with 40 times wired broadband speeds (Venture Beat) BLACK MIRROR: BANDERSNATCH COULD BECOME NETFLIX’S SECRET MARKETING WEAPON (The Verge) Longreads: Podcast suggestion: Daily Fortnite Courier Prime He Hawks Young Blood As A New Miracle Treatment. All That’s Missing Is Proof. (HuffPo) Curbs on A.I. Exports? Silicon Valley Fears Losing Its Edge (NYTimes) The Bird Box Effect: How Memes Drive Users to Netflix (The Ringer) Birding Like It’s 1899: Inside a Blockbuster American West Video Game (Audubon) How Space and Time Could Be a Quantum Error-Correcting Code (Quanta) The Hacker News discussion of the Quanta piece Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple lowers its guidance and the tech world freaks out, the company that you can outsource your censorship friendly China content to, a more durable e-scooter is coming and what to expect from CES. Sponsor: Mealime.com (iOS App) (Android App) Links: Letter from Tim Cook to Apple investors Censoring China’s Internet, for Stability and Profit (NYTimes) Segway unveils a more durable electric scooter and autonomous delivery bot (TechCrunch) What to expect from CES 2019 (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Roku is quietly a major combatant in the Streaming Wars, Tesla slashes prices, how many cameras can we fit on a smartphone, how much would it cost to convince you to quit Facebook, and why Bandersnatch might just be the beginning of the choose your own adventure trend. Sponsor: Mealime.com (iOS App) (Android App) Links: Activision Plans to Fire CFO Neumann, Puts Him on Paid Leave (Bloomberg) ROKU BREAKS FREE FROM BOXES AND TVS (Wired) Tesla slashes EV prices by $2,000 to offset reduced tax credits (Engadget) [Exclusive] Nokia 9 PureView Penta-camera Phone Revealed in Full Glory in First-ever Promo Video (Mysmartprice) Economists calculate the true value of Facebook to its users in new study (ArsTechnica) Popsugar's Twinning app was leaking everyone's uploaded photos (TechCrunch) HOW THE SURPRISE NEW INTERACTIVE BLACK MIRROR CAME TOGETHER (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Happy 2019! And... here's what we've got on tap for the pod in the new year! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Instagram briefly goes horizontal, more on how epic Fortnite has been for Epic Games this year, Larry Ellison joins Tesla’s board, the global GPS wars are joined and the last weekend longreads of the year. Links: Instagram briefly switched to a horizontal feed and people freaked out (The Verge) Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, banked a $3 billion profit in 2018 (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Foxconn to begin assembling top-end Apple iPhones in India in 2019 - source (Reuters) Tesla Taps Ellison, HR Expert to Prove Musk Is Reined In (Bloomberg) China ramps up global coverage for domestic Beidou satellite navigation system as rival to GPS (South China Morning Post) The Betterment Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The Devchat.tv podcasts The GPS wars have begun (TechCrunch) Amazon gets into health insurance — and more 2019 health-tech predictions from top experts (CNBC) The biggest technology failures of 2018 (MIT Technology Review) Why Your Next Home Might Not Need Any Energy at All (WSJ) THE 'FUTURE BOOK' IS HERE, BUT IT'S NOT WHAT WE EXPECTED (Wired) Bird Box Is the First Great Monster Movie About This Poisonous Invention (PaleoFuture/Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.comMetalab.coLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.websiteLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.websiteLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.websiteLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/ridehomeTiny.websiteFlatironSchool.com/podcastLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/ridehomeTiny.websiteLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.coDataDogHQ.com/RideHomeLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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/RideHomeMetalab.coLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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.coDataDogHQ.com/ridehomeLinks: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) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another day, another data breach, this time Quora, Microsoft might be replacing the Edge web browser, and maybe even replacing Windows, a review of some low-end smartphones and why 4k streaming and data caps are on a collision course.Sponsors:DatadogHQ.com/ridehomeMetalab.coLinks:Quora Security Update (The Quora Blog)Microsoft is building a Chromium-powered web browser that will replace Edge on Windows 10 (Windows Central)What is Windows Lite? It's Microsoft's Chrome OS Killer (Petri.com)NVIDIA's new AI turns videos of the real world into virtual landscapes (Engadget)MOTOROLA AND NOKIA’S NEW PHONES MAKE $350 LOOK LIKE $1,000 (The Verge)Your 4K Netflix Streaming Is on a Collision Course With Your ISP's Data Caps (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tumblr bans adult content, is Apple going to sit on the 5G sidelines, Uber has held talks about acquiring either Bird or Lime, a new self-driving car yardstick and resetting your web browser to square one.SimpleContacts.com/rideMetalab.coLinks:Tumblr will ban all adult content on December 17th (TheVerge)Apple Will Wait Until at Least 2020 to Release a 5G iPhone (Bloomberg)Kuo: ‘All-new design’ AirPods in 2020, wireless charging model in first quarter 2019 (9to5Mac)Uber Exploring Deal to Buy Bird or Lime (The Information)Tencent Music Moves Forward With IPO After Delay (WSJ)Microsoft PowerPoint is getting real-time captions and subtitles for presentations (The Verge)The first self-driving car you use will most likely carry your groceries, not you (Vox)How to Reset All of Your Browsers Back to Square One (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The monster Starwood Hotels data breach, Apple music comes to Amazon Echo devices, Instagram rolls out “close friends” lists, Airbnb wants to build your house, not just rent it, and the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Marriott says 500 million Starwood guest records stolen in massive data breach (TechCrunch) SEC charges Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled for promoting ICOs without disclosing payments (CNBC) Apple Music is coming to the Amazon Echo (TechCrunch) Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Airbnb will start designing houses in 2019 (Fast Company) Techmeme now publishing paid and free "Leaderboards" showing the most influential reporters around a specific news topic (Techmeme.com) The Betterment Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Our first podcast suggestion: Python Bytes Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? (NYTimes) How China’s Bytedance became the world’s most valuable startup (The Verge) China’s Video Craze Drives Growth for ByteDance (The Information) How Amazon Web Services Reinvented the Internet and Became a Cash Cow (NYMag) The legacy of PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, in 24 stories (Polygon) This Is the Way the Paper Crumples (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon gets into self-driving cars… in a way, Google Assistant adds some familiar features, YouTube rolls out Stories, and WTF is happening in Crypto? Stories from: @RolfeWinkler Tweets: @CrankGameplays, @SavinTheBees Links: Amazon debuts a scale model autonomous car to teach developers machine learning (TechCrunch) New Parents Complain Amazon Baby-Registry Ads Are Deceptive (WSJ) An Amazon revolt could be brewing as the tech giant exerts more control over brands (Recode) Google Assistant gets visual lyrics and more in big holiday update (Engadget) YouTube is rolling out its Instagram-like Stories feature to more creators (The Verge) Facebook Considered Charging for Access to User Data (WSJ) WTF is happening to crypto? (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The biggest ad fraud ever? Amazon gets into medical records, Project Fi comes to iPhones, one of Elon’s LA tunnels is canceled, and the Big Mouth Billy Bass enters the 21st Century. Links: 8 People Are Facing Charges As A Result Of The FBI’s Biggest-Ever Ad Fraud Investigation (BuzzFeed) Big Tech Expands Footprint in Health (WSJ) Project Fi is now Google Fi, and it will work with iPhones and most Android devices (The Verge) Waymo taps former NTSB chair to oversee safety of self-driving ride-share fleet (CNBC) YouTube to Make New Originals Available for Free, Ad-Supported Viewing With ‘Single Slate’ Strategy (Variety) Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective bought Pop-Up Magazine Productions (Recode) Community Activists Kill Elon Musk's Plan for an Underground Freeway Tunnel in LA (Motherboard) Big Mouth Billy Bass Will Now Annoy the Shit Out of You With Alexa Support Built In (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock (Krebs on Security) Employees Say Startup Civil Hyped Crypto Returns, But Failed to Pay (CoinDesk) Apple has an idea to make Animoji even more fun (Cult of Mac) Don’t Look Now, But Microsoft Is Overtaking Apple (Bloomberg) What If Amazon.com Actually…Is A Horrible Website? (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock (Krebs on Security) Employees Say Startup Civil Hyped Crypto Returns, But Failed to Pay (CoinDesk) Apple has an idea to make Animoji even more fun (Cult of Mac) Don’t Look Now, But Microsoft Is Overtaking Apple (Bloomberg) What If Amazon.com Actually…Is A Horrible Website? (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple heads to the Supreme Court over antitrust concerns about its App Store; Facebook’s internal documents are seized by the British Parliament; what’s behind the resurgence of Atari; the human story of Black Friday inside Amazon’s fulfillment centers; and Lenny—a chatbot designed to frustrate telemarketers. Links: U.S. top court leans toward allowing Apple App Store antitrust suit (Reuters) My Amicus Brief (AVC/Fred Wilson) Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers (The Guardian) Internal documents Facebook has fought to keep private obtained by UK Parliament (CNN) Atari CEO interview — How Rollercoaster Tycoon revival saved the company (VentureBeat) The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager (Vox) The Story of Lenny, the Internet's Favorite Telemarketing Troll (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices