Techmeme
December 19, 2018, 12:40 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Internal docs show Facebook gave ~150 companies access to more user data than disclosed; some could read private DMs; Facebook says it didn't violate FTC decree  —  Internal documents show that the social network gave Microsoft, Amazon, Spotify and others far greater access to people's data than it has disclosed.
Guru Gowrappan / Verizon:
On January 8, Oath, which was created from Verizon's acquisitions of Yahoo and AOL, will be rebranded as Verizon Media Group  —  Verizon Media Group will replace the Oath brand, representing our strong alignment as a core pillar of Verizon's business.  —  I'm excited today to share …
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch:
Anthony Levandowski launches self-driving truck startup Pronto.ai, which plans to ship level 2 automated driving systems in 2019 starting at $4,999  —  Anthony Levandowski, the former Google engineer and serial entrepreneur who was at the center of a trade secrets lawsuit between Uber and Waymo …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Twitter is relaunching the reverse-chronological feed as an option for all users starting today on iOS and other platforms in the coming weeks  —  Just hit that sparkle, fam  —  Twitter is offering users another escape hatch from its ranked timeline.  The company said today that it will introduce …
Ina Fried / Axios:
AT&T to launch 5G mobile service on December 21 across 12 US cities via a $499 mobile hotspot device and $70/month data plan  —  The 5G era has arrived.  AT&T is launching 5G mobile service in a dozen U.S. cities beginning this Friday, becoming the first carrier to do so.
Mallory Locklear / Engadget:
Facebook posts a six-month update on its civil rights audit: 2018 changes included voting encouragement and banning voting disinformation  —  In May, Facebook agreed to conduct a civil rights audit, and now the company has released an update of its progress.
Jeff John Roberts / Fortune:
Blythe Masters, CEO of blockchain startup Digital Asset Holdings and a former JPMorgan executive, will step down as CEO but remain on its board  —  Blythe Masters left her job as a high-flying JPMorgan Chase executive in 2014, and soon after became CEO of Digital Asset, a blockchain startup that caters to banks and startups.
Wall Street Journal:
iPhone prices are unpalatable in India, where reports say its marketshare has shrunk to ~1%, and a source says it's taking in <50% of the revenue once hoped for  —  With global smartphone sales flattening, Apple has looked to India for new growth, with little success so far
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Spectrum's parent Charter reaches $174.2M settlement in New York AG's speed fraud lawsuit, which alleged that the ISP's speeds were 80% slower than advertised  —  The lawsuit, filed last year, alleged that Charter's speeds were 80 percent slower than advertised
Manish Singh / VentureBeat:
Truecaller report: worldwide spam calls increased 300% YoY, reaching 17.7B in 2018; Brazil led with more than 37 spam calls per user per month  —  According to the yearly report published by Stockholm-based phone number-identification service Truecaller, spam calls grew by 300 percent year-over-year in 2018.
Emily Dreyfuss / Wired:
Amnesty International calls Twitter a “toxic place for women” in a study of 288,000 tweets aimed at 778 female journalists and politicians from the US and UK  —  FOR MANY WOMEN, especially journalists, politicians, and other public figures, Twitter is something to endure.
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
As shilling products has become a sign of success for influencers, up-and-comers on Instagram are posting fake sponsored content to boost their credibility  —  Tapping through Palak Joshi's Instagram Stories recently, you might have come across a photo that looked like standard sponsored content …
New York Times:
Senate report on Russia's disinformation campaign accuses Google, Facebook, and Twitter of being evasive and withholding data about Russian activity  —  SAN FRANCISCO — When lawmakers asked YouTube, a unit of Google, to provide information about Russian manipulation efforts …
Bloomberg:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Mathew Ingram / Columbia Journalism Review:
NPR's podcast measurement technology RAD has sparked debate within the industry, with Overcast's Marco Arment expressing concerns about tracking and privacy  —  Until recently, it hasn't been easy to measure the success of podcasts, beyond how many people download them …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
Introducing AI Forms: Create optimized forms with AI in Zoho Forms  —  The future of form creation isn't coming, it's here.  Forget everything you thought you knew about building online forms.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Mon. 12/23 - The Revenge Of Google Glass?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:40 AM ET, December 19, 2018.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Matthew Leising / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Ry Crist / CNET: