Techmeme
December 22, 2019, 8:15 AM

Top News

Reuters:
US Navy bans TikTok from government-issued mobile devices citing a cybersecurity threat, will block devices with the app from the Navy Marine Corps Intranet  —  (Reuters) - Earlier this week the United States Navy banned the social media app TikTok from government-issued mobile devices …
The Verge:
The 84 biggest flops, fails, and dead dreams of the 2010s, from the Fire phone and Google Glass to the undoing of net neutrality in the US  —  A decade of failures  —  The world never changes quite the way you expect.  But at The Verge, we've had a front-row seat while technology …
Matt Brown / Jalopnik:
California DMV to start approving permits for self-driving delivery vehicles, with and without backup drivers, from Jan. 17, both for testing and commercial use  —  Are you ready to be stuck in traffic behind armies of autonomous delivery robots?  No?  Well good news: if you live in California …
Davey Alba / New York Times:
Facebook and Twitter shut down a network of fake accounts using AI-generated faces to “masquerade” as Americans; Facebook links the network to Epoch Media Group  —  Researchers said the profiles, linked to the Epoch Media Group, used photos generated by artificial intelligence in a preview of an …
Sarah Nassauer / Wall Street Journal:
New York Times:
Text messages show how the head of DOJ antitrust division Makan Delrahim steered the T-Mobile-Sprint deal and played a crucial role in getting Dish involved  —  Text messages indicate that Makan Delrahim, the head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, worked behind the scenes to help the companies pull off a deal.
Rebecca Heilweil / Vox:
A look at New York City's slow attempts to increase transparency around its use of algorithms, which govern many policy areas, including policing  —  The Traffic Management Center for New York, located in Queens.  Two tools used by the Department of Transportation were reviewed …
Sidney Fussell / The Atlantic:
How a new class of online lending apps, which promise to “advance” users' wages, are much the same as traditional payday lenders  —  Apps promising to “advance” a user's wages say they aren't payday lenders.  So what are they?  —  Jonathan Raines needed money.  An app promised to help.
Elias Groll / Wired:
Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan, head of the Joint AI Center for the DOD, talks integrating AI into its weapons systems, building predictive maintenance tools, and more  —  Lt. Gen. Jack Shanahan doesn't want killer robots—but he does want artificial intelligence to occupy a central role in warfighting.
Lisa Kaplan / Lawfare:
TheSoul, a Russian web publisher with YouTube channels like 5-Minute Crafts, has the most reach among entertainment groups on YouTube, after Disney, WarnerMedia  —  What the heck is TheSoul Publishing?  I'm still honestly not sure.  —  Here's what I do know: Measured in terms of views and subscribers …

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Karen Weise / New York Times:
New York Times:
Fortune: