Huawei tries to launch a flagship smartphone without a Google net, could Apple and Disney have merged? Some really interesting raises, for Automattic and Stripe, but also an autonomous construction equipment startup, and why there now might be SSD’s that are basically failproof.

Facebook debuts Portal TV, and wants to make AR smart glasses to replace your smartphone, Google Fi has an “unlimited” plan that is every bit as unlimited as any other, the Apple Watch Series 5 reviews and autonomous vehicles come to the farm.

If Amazon wants to tip-toe past the regulators, headlines like those from today can’t help, October is going to be filthy with major tech launch events, is TikTok showing us the future of the Chinese web in worrying ways, and let’s pour one out for MoviePass!

There’s a reason people remain fearful about AI… it hasn’t earned our trust yet. In all sorts of ways that we get into on this episode. And also, the interesting ways AI development needs to change to take the state of the art to the next level.

We had the big iPhone announcement this week, so to break it down, our good friend at MacStories, John Voorhees, is here to dive into it.

Uber says the California contractor law doesn’t apply to it because it is… checks notes… not technically in the ride hailing business, will France block Libra in the EU, dark mode comes to Slack, crowd-sourced answers come to Alexa, and, some news on the Fermi Paradox front.