Tech Brew Ride Home

What else? The iPhone event. Also, the EU strikes again, the T-Mobile/Sprint merger is on “pause” and "Gawker" is coming back. Links:EU approves controversial Copyright Directive, including internet ‘link tax’ and ‘upload filter’ (The Verge)European Parliament Passes Copyright Directive Giving Artists Greater Share of Revenue (Variety)FCC says it needs more time to review Sprint-T-Mobile deal (CNBC)Verizon to begin 5G home broadband service sign-ups on Thursday (Axios)Gawker Set to Relaunch Under New Owner Bryan Goldberg (EXCLUSIVE) (Variety) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ICOs now officially securities, some steps backward in the self-driving car space, parsing the Zuckerberg New Yorker profile, and did Facebook disrespect the memory of Burt Reynolds? Stories from: @eosnos Tweets: @ezraklein, @BrendanNyhan Links:US Judge Rules ICO Frauds Fall Under Securities Law (CoinDesk)Renesas in $6.7 billion deal for IDT to boost chips for self-driving cars (Reuters)GM's Plan to Test Autonomous Cars in New York City Seems to Have Gone up in Smoke (Jalopnik)How to prepare your iPhone for a trade-in program (The Verge)Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy? (The New Yorker)Facebook Apologizes For Taking Down Your Horny Burt Reynolds Posts (Vulture) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Some juicy new Apple rumors for Wednesday, the end of the Jack Ma era is nigh upon us, there were some naughty apps in the Mac App Store and why following people whose politics you disagree with might not lead to peace in our time. Links:Kuo: USB-C on 2018 iPad Pro, Touch ID on 2018 MacBook, EKG and Ceramic Backs on All Apple Watch Series 4 Models, More (MacRumors)Snap just lost its chief strategy officer (Fast Company)Alibaba announces Jack Ma succession plan: CEO Daniel Zhang to take over as chairman in a year (CNBC)Additional Mac App Store apps caught stealing and uploading browser history (9to5Mac)No. 1 paid utility in Mac App Store steals browser history, sends it to Chinese server (9to5Mac)Twitter’s Flawed Solution to Political Polarization (NYTimes Opinion)Can Mark Zuckerberg Fix Facebook Before It Breaks Democracy? (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Armstrong might be on his way out of Oath, Alex Jones is permanently off of Twitter, a Cambridge Analytica figure is officially no longer a Facebook employee, Elon Musk smokes a blunt and the weekend longreads suggestions! Links:Verizon’s Internet Boss Tim Armstrong in Talks to Leave (WSJ)Tim Armstrong is headed out of Verizon. What happens to the $9 billion content company he is leaving behind? (Recode)Charlie Warzel Twitter ThreadHOW THAT MAGICAL JACK DORSEY–ALEX JONES PHOTO HAPPENED (Wired)A Facebook scientist tied to Cambridge Analytica has quietly left Facebook (Fast Company)Weed, whiskey, Tesla and a flamethrower: Elon Musk meets Joe Rogan (CNN Tech)Tesla Erupts in Chaos After Senior Execs Leave, Musk Tokes Up (Bloomberg) The Betterment Weekend Longreads:Inside the World of Eddy Cue, Apple’s Services Chief (The Information)Bezos Unbound: Exclusive Interview With The Amazon Founder On What He Plans To Conquer Next (Forbes)The Super Rich of Silicon Valley Have a Doomsday Escape Plan (Bloomberg)What went wrong at Social Capital (Axios)How Android Pie’s Adaptive Battery and Adaptive Brightness work (Venture Beat)The man who won the lottery 14 times (The Hustle) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The 2014 Sony hacker gets charged, Lyft beats Uber to the scooter punch, why Roblox is the biggest thing since Minecraft, Spotify plays chicken with the music industry, and let’s play another round of Apple event rumor bingo. Links:U.S. charges North Korean operative in conspiracy to hack Sony Pictures, banks (The Washington Post)Lyft rolls out its first electric scooters in Denver (The Verge)You Will Soon Be Able to Control Your Xbox With Alexa and Cortana (Thurrott)Walmart partners with delivery logistics platform Bringg on last-mile grocery delivery (TechCrunch)The new Roomba could be the end of vacuuming (Quartz)Kids' gaming platform Roblox raises $150M (TechCrunch)The video game turning teens into millionaires has raised a whopping $150 million, making it a $2.5 billion company (Business Insider)A New Spotify Initiative Makes the Big Record Labels Nervous (NYTimes)The Tension Is Building Between Spotify and the Music Industry (Bloomberg)‘iPhone Xs Max’ likely name for 6.5-inch OLED flagship, sources say (9to5Mac) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech CEOs hauled before Congress again, Theranos is no more, Google mulls big changes to URL’s and maybe the whole the-teens-are-abandoning-Facebook is a real thing after all? Links:Video of the Hearings (The US Senate)Facebook and Twitter testified before Congress. Conservative conspiracy theorists lurked behind them. (The Washington Post)Blood-Testing Firm Theranos to Dissolve (WSJ)HOW GOOGLE CHROME SPENT A DECADE MAKING THE WEB MORE SECURE (Wired)GOOGLE WANTS TO KILL THE URL (Wired)Americans are changing their relationship with Facebook (PEW Research)Instagram is building a standalone app for shopping (The Verge)Snap launches new styles of Spectacles that look more like traditional sunglasses (The Verge)Vimeo pivots business from media to tech (Axios)Vimeo launches stock video marketplace starting at $79 per clip (Venture Beat) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon hits a trillion, the EU is giving Netflix quotas, gaming out various Apple rumors ahead of next week’s event and the robots are coming to the drive through window. LinksAmazon falls off $1 trillion market cap, leaving Apple the only public US company above the benchmark (Bloomberg)Local Product Quotas for Netflix, Amazon to Become Law, EU Official Says (EXCLUSIVE) (Variety)Ethereum in BigQuery: a Public Dataset for smart contract analytics (Google Cloud)Major cryptocurrency exchange delists Bitcoin Gold following $18M hack (TNW)2018 iPad Pro redesign is both brilliant and stupid (Cult of Mac)Samsung teases foldable smartphone launch for later this year (The Verge)China's Silicon Valley Threatens to Swallow Up Hong Kong (Bloomberg)Clinc is building a voice AI system to replace humans in drive-through restaurants (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How those iPhone leaks happened (maybe), the scooter permits happened and some big names got snubbed, Google’s secret deal with MasterCard, and the weekend long reads suggestions. Links:Exclusive: This is ‘iPhone XS’ — design, larger version, and gold colors confirmed (9to5Mac)Exclusive: Apple Watch Series 4 revealed — massive display, dense watch face, more (9to5Mac)Huawei’s AI Cube is a 4G router and Alexa speaker, not a cube (The Verge)Huawei's Google Home clone has Alexa inside (Engadget)Scooters will return to San Francisco, but Bird and Lime aren’t invited (The Verge)Mozilla announces Firefox will block trackers by default (Venture Beat)Google and Mastercard Cut a Secret Ad Deal to Track Retail Sales (Bloomberg) The Betterment Weekend Longreads:Franken-algorithms: the deadly consequences of unpredictable code (The Guardian)Logged off: meet the teens who refuse to use social media (The Guardian)How Big Tech Swallowed Seattle (Bloomberg Businessweek)The Mystery of People Who Speak Dozens of Languages (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

An Apple acquisition suggests they’re serious about AR, Uber is serious about escooters, Google lets Kubernetes leave the nest, your IP address is not enough to finger you for a crime, and a fully functional Bugatti made out of Legos. Links:Apple buys startup focused on lenses for AR glasses (Reuters)Apple’s AR lenses purchase also sees future mobile storage (ComputerWorld)Google takes a step back from running the Kubernetes development infrastructure (TechCrunch)Uber Is Building Its Own Scooter to Compete in Frenzy (Bloomberg)Microsoft Requires Paid Parental Leave for Subcontractors (Bloomberg)Important Appeals Court Ruling States Clearly That Merely Having An IP Address Is Insufficient For Infringement Claims (TechDirt)FIRST EVER LIFE-SIZE AND DRIVABLE LEGO® TECHNIC BUGATTI CHIRON IS A PIONEERING PIECE OF ENGINEERING AND DESIGN (Lego) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A bunch of new laptops from Dell, Amazon might jump into the free tv game, Google updates Wear OS, and why the world’s oldest blockchain has been hiding in plain site since 1995. Links:Dell tempts Pixelbook lovers with premium $599 Inspiron Chromebook 14 (ArsTechnica)Dell shows its fall lineup of Alexa-ready Inspiron, XPS, and Vostro laptops and 2-in-1s (VentureBeat)Amazon Plans New Video App, Latest Step Into TV Ad Market (The Information)Google is revamping the Wear OS smartwatch user interface (TheVerge)The rise of giant consumer startups that said no to investor money (Recode)'World Computer' Project Dfinity Raises $102 Million (Fortune)The rise of crypto in higher education (Coinbase Reports)The Hot New Subject on Campus? It's Blockchain (Fortune)The World’s Oldest Blockchain Has Been Hiding in the New York Times Since 1995 (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

President Trump accuses Google of rigged search results, Instagram updates its identity systems, Yahoo scans your mail for marketing purposes, BuzzFeed tests memberships and the rarest Apple device in the world comes to auction. Links:You can now apply to be verified in Instagram (The Verge)Yahoo, Bucking Industry, Scans Emails for Data to Sell Advertisers (WSJ)Toyota Investing $500 Million in Uber in Driverless-Car Pact (WSJ)AutoX is using its self-driving vehicles to deliver groceries (TechCrunch)BuzzFeed News quietly tests a membership program (Digiday)Buzzfeed, With Nearly $500M In Funding, Asks For Contributions (Crunchbase News)How ‘Grand Theft Auto’ Is Changing the Way the World Experiences Music (Rolling Stone)First Apple Computer Goes Up For Auction, Expected to Fetch More Than $300,000 (Paleofuture) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The three new iPhones Mark Gurman says are coming our way, Warren Buffet invests in an Indian tech company, Palmer Luckey pans Magic Leap and why Uber thinks e-scooters are cool. Links:Apple to Embrace iPhone X Design With New Colors, Bigger Screens (Bloomberg)Berkshire Hathaway in talks for a stake in Paytm (Economic Times)Microsoft Announces Xbox All Access (Thurrott.com)Public Bravado, Private Doubts: Inside the Unraveling of Elon Musk’s Tesla Buyout (WSJ)Why Elon Musk Reversed Course on Taking Tesla Private (NYTimes)Epic's first Fortnite Installer allowed hackers to download and install anything on your Android phone silently (Android Central)Magic Leap is a Tragic Heap (PalmerLuckey.com)Uber plans shift from cars to bikes for shorter trips (The Financial Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tech’s version of the five families met today to get on the same page over election security, 23andMe shuts down its API just to be safe, robot puppies, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links:Google finds evidence of attack linked to Iran state media (Axios)Tech Companies Are Gathering For A Secret Meeting To Prepare A 2018 Election Strategy (Buzzfeed News)Microsoft Hit With U.S. Bribery Probe Over Deals in Hungary (WSJ)23andMe will no longer let app developers read your DNA data (CNBC)The Impossible Job: Inside Facebook’s Struggle to Moderate Two Billion People (Motherboard) The Betterment Weekend Longreads Suggestions:Late to the Driverless Revolution (WSJ)Posting Instagram Sponsored Content Is the New Summer Job (The Atlantic)THE UNTOLD STORY OF NOTPETYA, THE MOST DEVASTATING CYBERATTACK IN HISTORY (Wired)The Vanishing Idealism of Burning Man (The New Republic)Welcome to the Age of Privacy Nihilism (The Atlantic)A monstrous primer on the works of H.P. Lovecraft (Polygon) Bonus Link!Sony Aibo hands-on: An adorable robo-pup that needs training (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Australia bans Chinese telecoms equipment, Microsoft might offer an Xbox subscription that includes the whole console, new DJI drones, Alex Stamos on hacking the 2018 election and the backlash against the “app store tax.” Links:Australia Bars China’s Huawei From Building 5G Wireless Network (NYTimes)'Xbox All Access' looks like a new subscription service with Xbox Live, Game Pass, and a console (Windows Central)DJI Mavic 2 Pro, Mavic 2 Zoom add Hasselblad quality and optical zoom to folding drones (CNET)How the U.S. Has Failed to Protect the 2018 Election--and Four Ways to Protect 2020 (Lawfare)Apple and Google Face Growing Revolt Over App Store ‘Tax’ (Bloomberg)The 30% Tax (Fred Wilson/AVC) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The fake Russians are back and they’ve brought some fake Iranians with them, Verizon throttles firefighters, Google wants to tell you something good, and day two of the Y Combinator demo days. Links:Sprawling Iranian influence operation globalizes tech’s war on disinformation (The Washington Post)Verizon throttled fire department’s “unlimited” data during Calif. wildfire (Ars Technica)Google Assistant's latest feature delivers just the 'good news' (TechCrunch)Walmart takes another jab at Amazon as it begins selling e-books for first time (USA Today)How Teens and Parents Navigate Screen Time and Device Distractions (Pew Research Center)‘Bitcoin Jesus’ Is Having a Hard Time Winning Over True Believers (Bloomberg)All 59 startups that launched today at Y Combinator’s S18 Demo Day 2 (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microsoft uncovers more Russian political hacking, a possible MacBook Air successor, Netflix “tests” bypassing the App Store, and are you paying for Amazon’s electricity bill? Links:New Russian Hacking Targeted Republican Groups, Microsoft Says (NYTimes)Apple Is Planning a New Low-Cost MacBook, Pro-Focused Mac Mini (Bloomberg)Netflix Tests Promotional Videos but Users See ‘Commercials’ (NYTimes)Netflix tests a bypass of iTunes billing in 33 markets (TechCrunch)Facebook is rating the trustworthiness of its users on a scale from zero to 1 (The Washington Post)Amazon Isn’t Paying Its Electric Bills. You Might Be (Bloomberg Businessweek)Here are the 63 startups that launched today at Y Combinator’s S18 Demo Day 1 (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fitbit doubles down on fitness trackers, new EU regulations might be coming for web platforms, Karma is a startup selling excess food, Trip Advisor has its own fake news problem, and are women the most valuable mobile gaming consumers? Links:With Charge 3, Fitbit blurs the smartwatch line (TechCrunch)EU Weighs Regulations For Terrorist Content (Financial Times)‘Minecraft: Education Edition’ comes to iPad, as education features expand to mainstream version of game (GeekWire)Karma raises $12 million for marketplace that helps restaurants and supermarkets reduce food waste (Venture Beat)Farfetch files for IPO to trade on NYSE as FTCH; has nearly 1M active users of its luxury goods marketplace (TechCrunch)Arm Unveils Client CPU Performance Roadmap Through 2020 - Taking Intel Head On (AnAndTech)How TripAdvisor changed travel (The Guardian)Women are 79 percent more likely to spend money on mobile games (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Google smart speaker with a screen, the crypto mining fad is fading, Silicon Valley has lost a piece of its history, the secret Netflix categories and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links:Google to debut display-equipped AI speaker before holidays (Nikkei Asian Review)APNewsBreak: Google clarifies location-tracking policy (The Associated Press)Crypto crash: Despite a strong quarter, Nvidia shares fall on disappointing forecast (SiliconAngle)Wish, an Internet Dollar Store, Struggles to Keep Customers (The Information)Silicon Valley is dismantling a priceless piece of its history (Fast Company)The Netflix ID Bible – Every Category on Netflix (What's on Netflix) The Betterment Weekend Longreads:VIRGIN GALACTIC’S ROCKET MAN (The New Yorker)Inside Evernote’s brain (Fast Company)LET’S ALL GO BACK TO TUMBLR (The Outline)Why Can’t Europe Do Tech? (Bloomberg Businessweek)To Get Ready for Robot Driving, Some Want to Reprogram Pedestrians (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amazon might buy a chain of movie theaters, why the Saudis invest the way they do, Twitter pisses everyone off because… what else is new? And reviews of the Note 9 and Android Pie are in. Links:Amazon in Running to Acquire Landmark Movie Chain (Bloomberg)Saudi Arabia Goes High-Tech in Approach to Investing (WSJ)Twitter company email addresses why it’s #BreakingMyTwitter (TechCrunch)Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review: A better Note for most of us (Engadget)You Can Really Feel the Samsung Note 9's $1000 Price Tag (Gizmodo)Samsung Galaxy Note 9 review: Sleek and new, but too much déjà vu (BGR)ANDROID 9 PIE REVIEW: THE PREDICTIVE OS (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today, Twitter takes action on Alex Jones, a new Intel chip vulnerability, Alexa and Cortana play nice together, consolidation in podcasting and a “rest and vest” for the ages. Stories from: @AnneMarieSteele, @dseetharaman Tweets: @MattRosoff Links:SPECTRE-LIKE FLAW UNDERMINES INTEL PROCESSORS' MOST SECURE ELEMENT (Wired)After a year's wait, Amazon and Microsoft bring Alexa and Cortana to each other's devices (CNET)OneDrive can now automatically backup your PC’s documents, pictures, and desktop folders (The Verge)Public Radio Networks to Merge in Big Bet on Podcasts (WSJ)Uber’s Losses Mount at Self-Driving Car Unit (The Information)Cash Wildfire Spreads Among Young Tech Companies (Bloomberg)WhatsApp Co-Founder’s ‘Rest and Vest’ Reward From Facebook: $450 Million (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

NVIDIA announces its next generation GPUs, Apple wants developers to get SaaS-y, what if we just rebuilt the cable bundle with streaming channels, Tinder founders file suit and is Kevin Durant teaming up with Marc Andreessen? LinksNVIDIA Reveals Next-Gen Turing GPU Architecture (AnandTech)How an invite-only meeting at Apple's luxury loft in New York set the stage for one of the biggest subscription businesses in the world (Business Insider)Banks and Retailers Are Tracking How You Type, Swipe and Tap (NYTimes)Netflix, Amazon Video, and Xfinity are accidentally re-creating cable TV (The Verge)Kevin Durant, Will Smith Top the Lineup for a New Venture-Capital Fund for Black Investors (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Google tracking you even when you tell it not to? Big executive departure at Netflix, Elon expounds on taking Telsa private, and how machine learning can identify devs simply by the way they code. Links:Lenovo Launches Ultra-Thin ThinkPad P1: X1 Carbon Meets Workstation (AnAndTech)EVEN ANONYMOUS CODERS LEAVE FINGERPRINTS (Wired)Update on Taking Tesla Private (Tesla)China has outspent the US by $24 billion in 5G technology since 2015, study shows (CNBC)An 11-Year-Old Changed The Results Of Florida's Presidential Vote At A Hacker Convention. Discuss. (Buzzfeed News)Dozens of Vegas slots went offline simultaneously during a hacker convention (Mashable) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Is Apple’s secret car project back on? Is Elon Musk in trouble with the SEC? How many people use Apple Pay? Is Alexa coming to cars? And the weekend Longreads suggestions. Stories from: @gruber Tweets: @jbarro, @kairyssdal Links:Tesla is now worth less than it was before Elon Musk's $420 tweet (Business Insider)Doug Field Returns to Apple After Leaving Tesla (Daring Fireball)Apple Pay Increasingly Central to iPhone (Loop Ventures)Amazon launches Auto SDK to bring Alexa to more cars (VentureBeat)VCs Are On Track To Make 2018 A Record Year For Unicorns (Crunchbase News) The Betterment Weekend Long Reads Suggestions:Fintech Frenzy: Hype or Reality? A Closer Look at 6 Key Sectors (Fortune)HOW THE SHARED FAMILY COMPUTER PROTECTED US FROM OUR WORST SELVES (The Verge)“The Lean Startup” is an unproductive legend (Quartz)THE STRANGE DAVID AND GOLIATH SAGA OF RADIO FREQUENCIES (Wired)THE ULTRA-PURE, SUPER-SECRET SAND THAT MAKES YOUR PHONE POSSIBLE (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The new Galaxy Note 9 is unveiled, New York City caps ride hailing companies, Discord kneecaps Steam—as expected, the continuing saga of Alex Jones and what’s up with Elon Musk now? Links:Samsung Galaxy Note9: Design, specs, features, and pricing (VentureBeat)New York Plans to Cap Uber and Lyft (WSJ)Where’s the Money Coming From, Elon? (Bloomberg Businessweek) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

We can actually, finally find out what Magic Leap does, Snap reports earnings, Slack gets ready for war, Patreon is building a patronage empire and why you’re probably getting ripped off if you’re paying for DSL. Links:I TRIED MAGIC LEAP AND SAW A FLAWED GLIMPSE OF MIXED REALITY’S AMAZING POTENTIAL (The Verge)Magic Leap Headset Test Drive: Off Your Phone and Into Your World (WSJ)Magic Leap’s headset is real, but that may not be enough (MIT Technology Review)Patreon buys Memberful but keeps it indie as patronage consolidates (TechCrunch)Tinder’s business will double this year to more than $800 million (Recode)Study Shows How Bad Most of the Country Is Getting Ripped Off By Their ISPs (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Voting via app will be tested during the midterms, Old Bitcoin Money and New Bitcoin money are in a power struggle, the truth about how we use Alexa, and a new combatant joins the fray in the Streaming Video Wars. Links:West Virginia to introduce mobile phone voting for midterm elections (CNN Tech)A Culture War Is Brewing Between Bitcoin’s Old and New Money (Bloomberg)Wall Street isn’t boosting bitcoin (Quartz)Twitter says Alex Jones and InfoWars accounts don't violate policy, will remain live for now (CNBC)The Reality Behind Voice Shopping Hype (The Information)Jeffrey Katzenberg’s ‘NewTV’ Startup Closes $1 Billion, All Major Studios Among Investors (Variety)Cloudflare Stream makes it easy (and cheap) for developers to work with video (TNW)Airbnb for Work claims 700,000 businesses as bookings tripled for second year in a row (VentureBeat) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Nearly every major tech platform bans Alex Jones to one degree or another, does Facebook really want to know your bank balance, MoviePass comes with another subscription pivot, Apple’s plans for India and why $1,000 smartphones might only be the beginning. Links:Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify ban Infowars' Alex Jones (The Guardian)Facebook to Banks: Give Us Your Data, We’ll Give You Our Users (WSJ)Facebook taps banks, but for chatbots not purchase data like Google (TechCrunch)MoviePass Abandons Price Hike, But Will Limit Films to Three a Month (Variety)iPhone Chipmaker Races to Recover After Crippling Computer Virus (Bloomberg)Here’s Apple’s Plan to Keep From Losing the World’s Fastest-Growing Smartphone Market (Bloomberg Businessweek)Why iPhone and Android phone prices will get even higher (CNET) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Fortnite snubs Google, Amazon Prime Video is coming to Comcast, Peloton raises a ton, the top ten programming languages of 2018 and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Epic Games sidesteps the Play Store with Fortnite for Android launch (TechCrunch)Ready, Aim, Hire a ‘Fortnite’ Coach: Parents Enlist Videogame Tutors for Their Children (WSJ)Google Maps location sharing shows your contact's battery level (Android Police)The 2018 Top Programming Languages (IEEE Spectrum) The Betterment.com/ride Weekend Longreads:How Robot Hands Are Evolving to Do What Ours Can (NYTimes)Why the Next Silicon Valley Will Probably Be Outside the U.S. (Citylab)Masayoshi Son’s secret to running his $100 billion fund: Telling start-ups to treat each other like family (CNBC)What Happened to General Magic? (NYMag/SelectAll)Growing Up Jobs (Vanity Fair) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple hits a trillion, a midwestern unicorn cashes in, the Surface Go reviews are in, there are no perfect tools for making memes, and Tesla is adding video games to its cars. Links:Cisco to acquire Ann Arbor-based Duo Security in $2.35 billion deal (Crain's Detroit Business)Surface Go review: The ideal cheap Windows tablet... almost (Engadget)The tiny Microsoft Surface Go is available now, and it’s an overachiever (The Verge)Microsoft Surface Go review: Barely better than a netbook (Mashable)The Microsoft Surface Go Is Practically Perfect (Gizmodo)RideOS raises $25M to become the traffic control center for self-driving cars (TechCrunch)As Memes Evolve, Apps Are Struggling to Keep Up (The Atlantic)How Software Ate the Point of Sale (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google has a secret plan to return to China, the Apple earnings analysis, Masayoshi Son goes “Brandless” and in praise of microfilm! Links:GOOGLE PLANS TO LAUNCH CENSORED SEARCH ENGINE IN CHINA, LEAKED DOCUMENTS REVEAL (The Intercept)Apple tops 300 million paid subscriptions as it reportedly preps new subscription services (Digiday)This No-Brand Startup Won $240 Million to Fight Amazon on Price and Quality (Bloomberg)Microfilm Lasts Half a Millennium (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook reveals fresh election meddling, Galaxy 9s might not be selling well, but Nintendo Switches sure are, and Playstation 4s still are, Uber stops truckin’ and Google Maps will predict which restaurant you’ll like. Stories from: @kerby, @fredwilson Tweets: @LDrogen Links:Smartphone Slowdown Hits Profits at Samsung Electronics (Bloomberg)Sony can't stop making money from PlayStation (Engadget)Uber’s self-driving trucks division is dead, long live Uber self-driving cars (TechCrunch)Where Did you Go to School? (Richard Kerby)Where Did You Go To School? (AVC)WhatsApp group calls are rolling out to everyone, but don’t ditch Skype just yet (Android Authority)Google Maps can predict how much you'll like a restaurant (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The king of the bitcoin miners mulls an IPO (not an ICO), the prediction market Augur gets dark, a “Netflix for gadgets” and a “Dallas Cowboys for e-sports” both raise money, advice for Twitter and Facebook, and why autonomous cars need to talk to us. Links:Scoop: Bitcoin Mining Company Bitmain Hit $1.1 Billion in Profits in Q1 2018 (Fortune)The First Augur Assassination Markets Have Arrived (CoinDesk)Grover raises €37M Series A to offer latest tech products as a subscription (TechCrunch)Twitter is prioritizing its network ‘health’ over adding new growth features. Is that the right move? (Recode)Why unskippable Stories ads could revive Facebook (TechCrunch)Retailers set sights on Facebook, Google ad revenue (Reuters)The self-driving cars hitting the road in Texas today are unlike any we’ve seen before (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Slack takes out some competitors, Twitter get its own earnings shock, Amazon is just fine, thank you very much, Stripe issues credit cards, MoviePass… still alive at the time of this recording… and the weekend longreads suggestions. Stories from: @neilstrauss, @lmatsakis Tweets: @sparkycollier Links:Goodbye HipChat: Slack and Atlassian Team Up on Chat Software (Bloomberg)This is the Amazon everyone should have feared — and it has nothing to do with its retail business (Recode)Stripe Starts Issuing Credit Cards (Bloomberg) Weekend Longreads:Brock Pierce: The Hippie King of Cryptocurrency (Rolling Stone)How Silicon Valley Has Disrupted Philanthropy (The Atlantic)THE 'GUERRILLA' WIKIPEDIA EDITORS WHO COMBAT CONSPIRACY THEORIES (Wired)Inside Google’s Shadow Workforce (Bloomberg)MySpace and the Coding Legacy it Left Behind (Code Academy) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Facebook earnings disaster. What else? But also Qualcomm walks away from an acquisition, Amazon’s facial recognition tech seems pretty flawed, and Samsung might have invented unbreakable displays for smartphones! Links:Samsung announces new 'unbreakable' display that survives punishing UL certification (Android Central) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Another internal Facebook memo leaks, China tells Facebook “not so fast,” Steam battles Discord, why the iPhone can’t compete in China, and a Y2K bug for the new millennium. Links:Departing Facebook Security Officer's Memo: "We Need To Be Willing To Pick Sides" (BuzzFeed News)China Said to Quickly Withdraw Approval for New Facebook Venture (NYTimes)Steam is rolling out its new Discord-like chat features to all users (The Verge)General Motors wants its customers to rent their cars to other people (The Verge)Why the iPhone can’t compete in India (The Verge)Big tech warns of 'Japan's millennium bug' ahead of Akihito's abdication (The Guardian) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Alphabet earnings, Google’s Translation app takes over the world, potentially two new Xbox consoles, Verizon wants to deliver TV over 5G and the thin-and-light laptop revolution has gone too far! Links:Alphabet surges to all-time high as Wall Street says internet giant’s big bets are ‘paying off’ (CNBC)Alphabet’s experimental investments in the future continue to cost it a fortune (The Verge)Google CEO Sundar Pichai revealed a jaw-dropping fact about its translation app that shows how much money is still sitting on the table (Business Insider)Miles is an app that tracks your every move in exchange for deals and discounts (The Verge)A Few More Details About Microsoft’s Xbox Scarlett Game Streaming Service (Thurrott.com)Verizon Is Seeking Google or Apple as 5G TV Provider (Bloomberg)Thinner and Lighter Laptops Have Screwed Us All (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Susan Fowler Rigetti gets a high profile new job, a Lyft and Uber driver was live-streaming without consent, Samsung takes a big step toward a 5G world, and why is Google Translate spitting out religious prophecies? Links:St. Louis Uber driver has put video of hundreds of passengers online. Most have no idea. (St. Louis Dispatch)$20K in Crypto: The First Bets on Prediction Market Augur Just Paid Out (CoinDesk)Qualcomm's new chips fix a major problem for 5G phones (CNET)Why Is Google Translate Spitting Out Sinister Religious Prophecies? (Motherboard)Pinterest nears $1 billion in ad sales and valuation rises as it looks to go public in mid-2019 (CNBC)Consumer startups are dead. Long live consumer startups. (Eric Feng) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

WhatsApp limits forwards, Microsoft announces earnings, emergency alerts on Netflix, grocery chain Kroger throws shade at Amazon Prime Day, and the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links:WhatsApp will drastically limit forwarding across the globe to stop the spread of fake news, following violence in India and Myanmar (Recode)https://techcrunch.com/2018/07/18/senate-wants-emergency-alerts-to-go-out-through-netflix-spotify-etc/ (TechCrunch)First Test Drive of the Tesla Model 3 Performance: A Thrilling, Modern Marvel (WSJ) Weekend LongreadsHow ‘Small’ Security Errors Lead to a Security Breach (Alex DeFreese)Robots Are Ready to Shake (and Stir) Up Bars (WSJ)AI Could Make Detecting Autism Easier (The Atlantic)Best Buy Should Be Dead, But It’s Thriving in the Age of Amazon (Bloomberg Businessweek)When a DNA Test Shatters Your Identity (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook and Zuckerberg address misinformation and censorship, Reddit rolls out live chatrooms, will Fuchsia replace Android, and who is online journalism’s newest savior? Links:Facebook says it will begin removing misinformation that leads to violence (The Verge)Full transcript: Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Recode Decode (Recode)Mark Zuckerberg clarifies: ‘I personally find Holocaust denial deeply offensive, and I absolutely didn’t intend to defend the intent of people who deny that.’ (Recode)REDDIT REINVENTS THE CHAT ROOM WITH COMMUNITY CHAT (Wired)The European Commission Versus Android (Stretechery)Project ‘Fuchsia’: Google Is Quietly Working on a Successor to Android (Bloomberg)Google’s Fuchsia OS on the Pixelbook: It works! It actually works! (Ars Technica) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google faces a record European fine, Nest gets a major reshuffle inside Google, Walmart guns for Netflix, Venmo transactions can be public, and can cool camera tech destined for smartphones actually improve autonomous vehicles? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Netflix’s subscriber miss, Amazon’s troubled Prime Day, Walmart and Microsoft team up against Amazon, some big problems with voting machines and the big autonomous vehicle startup you’ve probably never heard of. Links:What Netflix's big miss means for the new tech economy (Axios)STRIKES, BOYCOTTS, AND OUTAGES MAR AMAZON PRIME DAY (Wired)Amazon warehouse workers are striking across Europe on Prime Day (The Verge)Andreessen Horowitz Names Connie Chan A General Partner, Ending VC Firm's No-Promotion Policy (Forbes)Top Voting Machine Vendor Admits It Installed Remote-Access Software on Systems Sold to States (Motherboard)VC Firm Social Capital Set Out to Fix Capitalism. Now It’s In Turmoil (Bloomberg)Amazon Foes Walmart and Microsoft Deepen Tech Partnership (WSJ)$800 Million Says a Self-Driving Car Looks Like This (Bloomberg Businessweek) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A Roku wireless speaker, better Uber pickups, Instapaper goes solo, what to expect from the Galaxy S10 and it’s Amazon Prime Day everybody! Links:Wave Uber’s new Spotlight or send canned chats to find your driver (TechCrunch)Airbnb is grappling with how to treat people with criminal convictions (Quartz)A German court ruled you can inherit Facebook content like a letter or a diary (Quartz)Here's what to expect from the Samsung Galaxy S10, including a new feature you won't find on iPhones (Business Insider)Amazon’s share of the US e-commerce market is now 49%, or 5% of all retail spend (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Full Photoshop is coming to iPads, PC sales are growing again, what now for the AT&T/Time Warner merger, what does an unlimited data plan really mean, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Stories from: @imkialikethecar, @ballmatthew Tweets: @renato_mariotti Links:Top of the Morning (Axios)AT&T’s no-good week shows why it may regret its Google envy (Fast Company)Uber begins monitoring U.S. driver background checks continuously (Axios)Unlimited data plans are a mess: here’s how to pick the best one (The Verge) Weekend Longreads:Hell for Elon Musk Is a Midsize Sedan (Bloomberg Businessweek)How Twitter Became Home to the Teen Status Update (The Atlantic)Why Some of Instagram's Biggest Memers Are Locking Their Accounts (The Atlantic)GEORGE HOTZ IS ON A HACKER CRUSADE AGAINST THE ‘SCAM’ OF SELF-DRIVING CARS (The Verge)THE ONLY GOOD ONLINE FANDOM LEFT IS DUNE (The Outline)Netflix Isn’t Being Reckless, It’s Just Playing a Game No One Else Dares (Netflix Misunderstandings, Pt. 3) (Matthew Ball/Redef) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Surprise MacBook Pro updates, Broadcom goes for Plan B, the fate of Gawker and The Onion, who will be the first to a trillion dollars, and who wants to be the Pixar of VR. Links:APPLE’S NEW MACBOOK PROS HAVE THE LATEST INTEL PROCESSORS AND QUIETER KEYBOARDS (The Verge)Broadcom reaches deal to acquire CA Technologies for $18.9 billion in cash (CNBC)The Race to a Trillion (Above Avalon) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook faces its first fine from the Cambridge Analytica scandal, a look at what Article 13 might do to the web, a juicy new Apple rumor, more hints from Magic Leap, and a look at Alphabet’s “Moonshot” factory. Stories from: @AlecMuffett, @adavies47 Tweets: @joshelman Links:Facebook is slapped with first fine for Cambridge Analytica scandal (Washington Post)Thread by @AlecMuffett: "Regards Article13, I wrote up a little command-line false-positive emulator; it tests 10 million events with a test (for copyrighted materia […]" #Article13 (Alex Muffett)European Networks Are Joining Forces to Take On Netflix and Amazon (The Hollywood Reporter)INSIDE X, THE MOONSHOT FACTORY RACING TO BUILD THE NEXT GOOGLE (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Microsoft unveils a new Surface tablet, police can probably still break into iPhones, YouTube fights fake news, the new silicon gold rush, and Netflix makes binging even easier. Links:Microsoft’s $399 Surface Go aims to stand out from iPads or Chromebooks (The Verge)Microsoft's $399 Surface Go is here to nuke Apple's iPad (Mashable)The AI revolution has spawned a new chips arms race (Ars Technica)Netflix Binge-Watching Just Got Even Easier: Now It Automatically Downloads New Episodes To Watch Offline (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xiaomi’s IPO disappoints, Apple Music gains on Spotify, Amazon’s ad business could be a contender, and why half the members of a popular subreddit are getting banned. Stories from: @mikelaris, @noamscheiber Tweets: @danprimack Links:Shares of Chinese smartphone maker Xiaomi stumble on their debut, slipping as much as 6% (CNBC)Xiaomi's weak debut signals trouble for upcoming Hong Kong tech listings (Reuters)Apple slices into Spotify’s lead in the US music market (CNBC)High-Skilled White-Collar Work? Machines Can Do That, Too (NYTimes)Federal researchers are using data from Waze and Maryland to try to predict road dangers (Washington Post)The Thanos subreddit is gleefully heading for mass slaughter (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Sonos files for an IPO, Netflix sunsets movie reviews, the iPhone is getting new colors, the memes are safe for now, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links:MEPs vote to reopen copyright debate over 'censorship' controversy (TechCrunch)Kuo: New 2018 iPhone models to come in gold, grey, white, blue, red and orange colors (9to5Mac)Amazon Takes a Page From Toys ‘R’ Us With a Holiday Catalog (Bloomberg)Reddit — one of the world's most popular websites — is trying to cash in through advertising (CNBC) Longreads Suggestions:Xiaomi founder Lei Jun’s tech empire goes way beyond smartphones (Quartz)SELF-DRIVING CARS ARE HEADED TOWARD AN AI ROADBLOCK (The Verge)How to Make Piles of Money Using Instagram (Bloomberg)Ice Poseidon’s Lucrative, Stressful Life as a Live Streamer (The New Yorker) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A big problem with Samsung Messages, Dell comes back to the public markets, more machinations in the transportation shuffle, more NSA shenanigans, and the 10th anniversary of the App Store. Links:Dell to Return to Public Markets With Tracking Stock (NYTimes)Alphabet adds to transport bets with scooter deal (FT)N.S.A. Purges Hundreds of Millions of Call and Text Records (NYTimes)IPO Market Posts Blistering First Half (WSJ)In Q2 2018, Global VC Scales Tipped In Favor Of Chinese Startups Over North America (CrunchBase)These are the top iPhone apps of all time (Tech Crunch)“Perhaps it is simpler to say that Intel…was disrupted” (Steven Sinofsky) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Xiaomi’s IPO disappoints, Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up, the state of the ICO market, the weekend long reads suggestions, and the NES is back, baby! Stories from: @panzer, @tomwarren Tweets: @elonmusk Links:Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up (TechCrunch)Microsoft details secret ‘pocketable’ Surface device in leaked email (The Verge)Digital currency sales hit $13.7 billion in first five months of 2018: report (Reuters)The NES Classic is back: here’s where you can pick one up (The Verge) Weekend Longreads Suggestions:I Delivered Packages for Amazon and It Was a Nightmare (The Atlantic)HOW THE STARTUP MENTALITY FAILED KIDS IN SAN FRANCISCO (Wired)Despite Caution Over Cryptocurrency, Investors Are Bullish (NYTimes)The Biggest Digital Heist in History Isn’t Over Yet (Bloomberg) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices