Techmeme
August 17, 2020, 5:00 AM

Top News

Charlie Warzel / New York Times:
While social media platforms did not create QAnon, they helped it go mainstream via recommendation systems designed to prioritize engagement  —  A supporter of the dangerous conspiracy theory is most likely headed to Congress.  The social media platforms have some soul-searching to do.
Florian Mueller / FOSS Patents:
A look at the similarities and differences between Epic's lawsuits against Apple and Google from an antitrust law perspective  —  This is already my fourth post in three days on Epic Games v. Apple and Google.  For your convenience, here are the headlines (and links to) to the previous three posts:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
With its ban on cloud gaming services and now the removal of Fortnite, Apple is at the risk of losing a generation of young, game-loving smartphone owners  —  Apple has always had a complicated relationship with the game industry, but this month that relationship slid into a bitter …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Jamie Smyth / Financial Times:
Google warns Australians that the government's proposal to make it pay for news content would put user privacy at risk, threaten free Search and YouTube results  —  Internet group has also paused licensing deals with outlets due to proposed regulation  —  Google has warned …
Steve Yegge:
Steve Yegge, an ex-Googler who wrote a searing critique decrying Google's lack of innovation, lambasts Google's approach to deprecation of its Cloud APIs  —  God dammit, I didn't want to blog again.  I have so much stuff to do.  Blogging takes time and energy and creativity that I could be putting …
Rebecca Heilweil / Vox:
A look at Remark Holdings, supplying 100+ Chinese schools, and a Las Vegas school, with AI-powered thermal imaging tech to monitor COVID-19 safety compliance  —  This fall, AI could be watching students social distance and checking their masks.  —  Thousands of schools nationwide will not be reopening this fall.
Parmy Olson / Wall Street Journal:
As companies start using AI-software to detect race or ethnicity, often as part of market research, researchers worry it will fuel bias and discrimination  —  When Revlon Inc. wanted to know what lipstick women of different races and in different countries were wearing, the cosmetics giant didn't need to send out a survey.
Amit Katwala / WIRED UK:
Tens of thousands of UK high school students were downgraded from teacher estimates by an algorithm that replaced exams, affecting university applications  —  Even with the late changes, GCSE and A-Level results still highlight the flaws in a biased education system

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More News

Aliya S. King / LEVEL:
Kim Lyons / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Jacob Helberg / Foreign Policy:
Lora Kolodny / CNBC: