Techmeme
November 2, 2018, 6:05 PM

Top News

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 …
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 discusses his tweeting habits, Tesla's past year, its Navigate on Autopilot feature, full autonomous driving, and more  —  Musk talks about his “excruciating” 2018, fighting with journalists on Twitter, why Tesla won't build an electric scooter and much more.
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.
Yahoo News:
Sources: in 2011, Iranians used Google search to identify a string of websites the CIA used to communicate with its agents, compromising the CIA's wider network  —  In 2013, hundreds of CIA officers — many working nonstop for weeks — scrambled to contain a disaster of global proportions …
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:
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.
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
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 …
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 …
More: Mashable
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Flickr says it will end 1TB storage for free accounts and delete all but the most recent 1,000 photos or videos if users don't upgrade to Pro by February 2019  —  Flickr was purchased in April by professional photo hosting service SmugMug, and today, the first major changes under the new ownership have been announced.
Geoffrey A. Fowler / Washington Post:
Testing of battery life on flagship phones, including iPhone XS and Pixel 3, shows newer phones die faster than older ones, likely due to screen tech like OLED  —  Despite some notable exceptions, many 2018 smartphone batteries can't keep up.  Here's why — and what we can do about it.
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
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:
Stephen Nellis / Reuters:
Apple warns holiday sales may miss Wall Street expectations; Cook says negative forecast due to exchange rates, supply uncertainty, weakness in emerging markets  —  (Reuters) - Apple Inc on Thursday said sales for the crucial holiday quarter could miss Wall Street expectations …
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

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Earlier Picks

Jeremy B. Merrill / ProPublica:
Alfred Ng / CNET: