Techmeme
November 2, 2018, 4:15 PM

Top News

Andrei Zakharov / BBC:
Hackers publish private messages from 81K Facebook accounts and claim to have details from up to 120M accounts for sale; FB blames 3rd-party browser extensions  —  Hackers appear to have compromised and published private messages from at least 81,000 Facebook users' accounts.
Kara Swisher / Recode:
In a wide-ranging interview Elon Musk talks about his tweeting habits, the past year of Tesla, new Navigate on Autopilot feature, full autonomy, and more  —  Musk talks about his “excruciating” 2018, fighting with journalists on Twitter, why Tesla won't build an electric scooter and much more.
Justin O'Beirne:
A detailed look at Apple's new maps for iOS 12 covering San Francisco and the Bay Area with seemingly better road data than Google Maps but worse location data  —  HAS APPLE CLOSED THE GAP WITH GOOGLE'S MAP?  —  TAP OR CLICK ANY IMAGE TO ENLARGE  —  Perhaps the biggest surprise about Apple's new map is how small it is:
Yahoo News:
Sources: in 2011, Iranians used Google search to identify a string of websites CIA was using to communicate with its agents, compromising CIA's wider network  —  In 2013, hundreds of CIA officers — many working nonstop for weeks — scrambled to contain a disaster of global proportions …
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
Profile of cryptocurrency millionaire Jeffrey Berns who says he has spent $300M to build an experimental community based on blockchain in Nevada  —  A man spent millions on an enormous plot of land near Reno.  Now he wants to build a community based on the blockchain technology introduced by Bitcoin.
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Spotify makes an early version of its Apple Watch app available to a limited number of users via Apple's TestFlight beta testing program  —  Spotify is officially coming to Apple Watch, as the streaming music service today delighted users with an early beta version of the watchOS app through TestFlight.
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
After The Intercept's inquiry, Facebook deletes “white genocide conspiracy theory” as a pre-defined ad targeting category with an estimated 168K users  —  Apparently fueled by anti-Semitism and the bogus narrative that outside forces are scheming to exterminate the white race …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple will stop reporting unit sales for iPhone, iPad, and Mac starting next quarter, as CFO says units sold isn't representative of the state of business  —  Apple just announced on its earnings call that it will stop reporting unit sales for iPhone, iPad and Mac from next quarter — the start of its next financial year.
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
IDC:
IDC: 355.2M smartphones were shipped worldwide in Q3 2018, down 6% YoY from 377.8M; Samsung saw a decline of 13.4% and Huawei grew 32.9%  —  According to preliminary data from the International Data Corporation (IDC) Worldwide Quarterly Mobile Phone Tracker, smartphone vendors shipped a total …
David McCabe / Axios:
Google says Susan Molinari, its Vice President of Public Policy for the Americas and head of its D.C. office, is leaving next year  —  Google's top U.S. public policy official is stepping down from the role, the company confirmed on Friday.  —  Why it matters: The departure …
More: New York TimesThanks:@dmccabe
Rita Liao / TechCrunch:
Tencent unveils Spectacles-like Weishi smart glasses, available in China from November 11 and named after its own short video sharing app Weishi  —  Some were surprised to see Snap release a second version of its ‘face-camera’ Spectacles gadget, since the original version failed to convert hype into sales.
More: The Verge
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Report: live-streaming TV services' viewing hours grew 212% YoY; connected TVs, such as those using devices like Roku or Apple TV, account for 56% of time spent  —  Live streaming TV services, like Sling TV, PlayStation Vue, Hulu with Live TV, and others, are gaining steam in the U.S …
Peter Cao / 9to5Mac:
Apple starts rolling out App Store Connect API, which lets developers automate TestFlight tasks like creating groups and adding and removing testers  —  Apple has today started rolling out the App Store Connect API to developers.  Promised back in June of this year, the new API will allow developers …
More: iClarified
Gram Slattery / Reuters:
Sources say Amazon is struggling to ramp up operations in Brazil amid challenges like the nation's tax system, complicated logistics, and testy vendor relations  —  SAO PAULO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is struggling to ramp up its operations in Brazil, a promising market that so far …
BuzzFeed News:
Google workers from Singapore, Japan, Israel, the UK, Ireland, India, and the US staged a walkout to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment  —  Groups of Google employees are staging walkouts at offices across the world in protest at how sexual misconduct allegations are handled by the company.
The Cut:

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More News

Rachel Chitra / Times of India:
Jeremy B. Merrill / ProPublica:
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post:

Earlier Picks

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Alfred Ng / CNET:
Micah Singleton / The Verge: