Techmeme
January 9, 2019, 11:40 AM

Top News

Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google makes over a dozen announcements for Google Assistant at CES, including Google Assistant Connect for third-party developers and flight check-ins  —  Today, Google is showing off auto-translation on smart display speakers, letting you naturally talk to each other with the speaker acting as the translator automatically.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Lauren Goode / Wired:
Mark Zuckerberg:
Mark Zuckerberg says his challenge for 2019 is to host a series of public discussions about the future of technology in society  —  Every year I take on a personal challenge to learn something new.  I've built an AI for my home, run 365 miles, visited every US state, read 25 books, and learned Mandarin.
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
Jeff and MacKenzie Bezos announce they are divorcing after 25 years of marriage; MacKenzie worked at Amazon from the beginning  —  Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie Bezos, announced this morning via the Amazon CEO's personal Twitter account that they've decided to divorce after 25 years of marriage.
Elizabeth Gurdus / CNBC:
Tim Cook says revenue for Apple's wearables is 50% more than iPod at its peak, with the Watch and AirPods generating 4-6x more in sales than iPod over same time  —  - Apple CEO Tim Cook says that the revenue from his company's wearable products, namely the Apple Watch and the AirPods, has already topped that of the iPod at its peak.
Kim Zetter / Politico:
Sources: Russian security firm Kaspersky Lab helped the US government catch NSA contractor Harold Martin, who was accused of stealing a trove of classified data  —  The U.S. has accused Kaspersky Lab of working with Russian spies.  But sources say the company exposed a massive breach that U.S. authorities missed.
Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Customers have been annoyed by Samsung's deal to pre-install Facebook on devices, including Galaxy phones, because the app can only be disabled, not deleted  —  - Galaxy owners take to Twitter to complain about permanent app  — Pre-install deals are common, but privacy concerns are rising
Edgar Alvarez / Engadget:
Twitter says it is launching a program to let a limited set of users try out new conversational features with their followers in the coming weeks  —  Twitter is launching a new program to let users reshape how conversations on its site look and feel, the company announced today in an interview with Engadget at CES 2019.
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Royole unveils FlexPai, a hybrid device that measures 7.8 inches in tablet form and becomes two Android phones when closed; available now in China for ~$1,320  —  You asked for this  —  The Royole FlexPai is the sort of device that companies rush out when they feel the absolute imperative to be first with some new technology.
Stefan Etienne / The Verge:
Yale and Emtek announce new smart locks that integrate with August's software, the first locks to do so without additional hardware  —  Using its sister company's software on new smart locks  —  Yale and Emtek, two smart lock companies under the umbrella of the lock conglomerate Assa Abloy …
Joseph Cox / Motherboard:
Investigation shows how easy and affordable it is to obtain cellphone customers' real-time location data, as T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T peddle it to middlemen  —  T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T are selling access to their customers' location data, and that data is ending up in the hands …

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