Episodes

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'...

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...

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 Stori...

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: @RolfeWinklerTweets: @CrankGameplays, @SavinTheBeesLinks: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...

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-sh...

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, @ShiraOvideTweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleberLinks: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 Ph...

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, @ShiraOvideTweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleberLinks: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 Ph...

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)I...

Storm clouds everywhere! Tech stocks in bear market territory, crypto in full-on meltdown territory… but video games might help solve science’s gender problem and this one spacebar trick might make your iPhone insanely more useful. Oh, and the weekend Longreads suggestions.Links:It's Official: Once Mighty FAANG Stocks Have All Entered a Bear Market (Fortune)Silicon Valley wages have dropped for all except highest-paying jobs: report (The Mercury News)Bitcoin drops 12% to below $5,000 (CNBC...

Skype calls on Amazon Echos, Tumblr disappears from iOS, Facebook on a war footing, iPhone sales storm clouds, and the Bitcoin Cash hard fork explained.Links:Skype calling now available on Alexa (The Verge)Tweet Storm on Where Tumblr's Gone (@bluechoochoo)With Facebook at ‘War,’ Zuckerberg Adopts More Aggressive Style (WSJ)Tim Cook defends multibillion-dollar Google search deal despite Apple’s privacy focus (The Verge)Apple Suppliers Suffer With Uncertainty Around iPhone Demand (WSJ)Wit...

Airbnb opens the kimono, a disc-less Xbox, Facebook pushes back on controversy, SpaceX gets a key go-ahead, and the weekend longreads suggestions.Links:Airbnb booked more than $1 billion in third quarter revenue (CNBC)Microsoft’s Building a Disc-Less Xbox One for Release in 2019 (Thurrott.com)Facebook Morale Takes a Tumble Along With Stock Price (WSJ)‘I Don’t Really Want to Work for Facebook.’ So Say Some Computer Science Students. (NYTimes)Major SMS security lapse is a reminder to use a...

That huge New York Times story behind the scenes of Facebook, Google adds business messaging to Google Maps, Uber eats is a monster business, Amazon Go has a rival and there’s a new King of YouTube.Links:Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis (NYTimes)Google Maps will let you chat with businesses (The Verge)Uber continues to lose money as it scales scooters, bikes and other newer businesses (TechCrunch)Amazon Go competitor Standard Cognition raises $40 milli...

Why was Google’s traffic routed from Nigeria through China, Ford partners with Walmart on driverless cars, Amazon’s HQ2 stunt seems to be backfiring, and Uber gets a customer loyalty program.Links:Nigerian firm takes blame for routing Google traffic through China (Reuters)Exclusive: Snap reveals U.S. subpoenas on IPO disclosures (Reuters)Ford partners with Walmart and Postmates to test autonomous grocery delivery (TechCrunch)A STARTUP IS SETTING DRONES FREE BY TYING THEM TO THE GROUND (Wi...

Amazon’s HQ2 officially lands in Queens and Crystal City; Waymo is launching a driverless car service in December; Apple locks down repairs on modern Macs; get ready for cloud gaming; Pandora applies its music technology to podcasts; and a magic act that’ll make your day.Links:Amazon selects New York City and Northern Virginia for new headquarters (Amazon DayOne Blog)Amazon HQ2 decision: Amazon splits prize between Crystal City and New York (The Washington Post)Pandora brings its Genome te...

SAP buys Qualtrics, the Galaxy S10 might be coming in February and the Galaxy F might be coming in March, what exactly is TikTok and why you should care, and Jony Ive has an exclusive new product design.Links:SAP to buy Qualtrics for $8 billion (Axios)How One Family Built $8 Billion Startup Far From Silicon Valley (Bloomberg)Samsung Electronics to release first foldable smartphone in March: sources (Yonhap News Agency)Snap’s former No. 2 exec Imran Khan is building an online shopping star...

The great winter of tech worker discontent is definitely here, Disney’s streaming service has a name, Vine might be coming back, Github hits a major milestone and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.Links:Amazon is finally selling new iPhones after a long and complicated 'turf war' with Apple (BusinessInsider)A note to our employees (Google)#GoogleWalkout update: Collective action works, and we need to keep working. True equity depends on it. (Google Walkout For Real Change)Amaz...

Foldable phones are officially a thing, Tesla names a new board chair, Amazon’s mailing a physical toy catalog, Ford doesn’t want to miss out on scooters, and Comcast doesn’t want to miss out on home hubs.Stories from: @albertwenger, @dmac1, @meganrosedickeyTweets: @bryceLinks:This is Samsung’s foldable smartphone (The Verge)Google says Android will natively support ‘foldables’ to limit fragmentation (The Verge)Amazon is mailing a printed holiday toy catalog to millions of customers (CNB...

Silicon Valley’s special election day vote, why robocalls have taken over your phone, Jeff Bezos’ clever HQ2 bonus, making 911 calls better and why Jake Tapper is a digital media pioneer.Links:San Francisco has passed a first-of-its-kind tax on big businesses — like Square and Stripe — to help the homeless (Recode)Scoop: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown (Axios)Why robocalls have taken over your phone (The Verge)Amazon gained a huge perk from its HQ2 contest that...

Facebook takes down more accounts ahead of the election, the new Chrome might block ALL ads on some websites, Macbook Air reviews, and why you might not be able to read election results in tomorrow’s newspaper.Links:Medium Post on Facebook and the Election (Jonathan Albright)Chrome will soon ad-block an entire website if it shows abusive ads (The Verge)Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities (WSJ)APPLE MACBOOK AIR (2018) REVIEW: THE PRESENT OF COMPUTING (The Verge)The 2018 Re...

Has Amazon decided on the location of its new HQ? What do people think of the new iPad Pros? Why are recently IPO’d tech companies hoarding cash? And why you might want to think twice about taking a selfie in the voting booth tomorrow.Links:Amazon in Late-Stage Talks With Cities Including Crystal City, Va., Dallas, New York City for HQ2 (WSJ)Amazon waives $25 minimum spend to offer free Christmas deliveries for all U.S. customers (Venture Beat)APPLE IPAD PRO REVIEW 2018: THE FASTEST IPAD I...

Apple makes a pile of money and their stock tanks, Flickr ends its mega-free-storage plan, a classic internet cartoon gets a 4K makeover, browser extensions steal Facebook private messages, testing the latest smartphones to see how their batteries hold up, and the weekend longreads suggestions.Tweets: @neilcybart, @textfilesLinks:Apple results: A record September quarter with $62.9B revenue (Six Colors)Apple’s price hike strategy is paying off (The Verge)Flickr will end 1TB of free storag...

Google employees stage a walk-out protest around the globe, Vox swallows Recode, the new devices this week continue Apple’s push to increase ASP, and maybe it’s subscriptions that are eating the world.Stories from: @rustybrick, @benlovejoyTweets: @lizthegrey, @ingridlundenLinks:Google walkout: Pictures of Google workers leaving their desks in protest over sexual misconduct (Business Insider)Recode Tech and Media Website to Be Folded Into Vox.com (WSJ)New MacBook Air threatens both MacBoo...

Facebook earnings were not a disaster, another Alphabet employee is out because of scandal, Waymo has a permit to test real driverless cars on California roads, and if you don’t know what computational notebooks are, let me tell you about them. Links:Zuckerberg says the future is sharing via 100B messages & 1B Stories/day (TechCrunch)Scoop: Executive accused of harassment at Alphabet 'X' unit is out (Axios)Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile Won't Support eSIM Until Later This Year (MacRumors)Gma...

Today MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and new iPad Pros, Coinbase raises a round, the UK has a new tech tax, interesting executive musical chairs, and why reCAPTCHA’s might be a thing of the past.Links:UK chancellor announces 2% ‘digital services tax’ on tech giants’ revenues starting in April 2020 (TechCrunch)Snap CEO Picked a New Business Chief, Then Changed His Mind (Bloomberg)Google Launches reCAPTCHA v3 (Security Week)