Techmeme
April 4, 2019, 12:35 AM

Top News

UpGuard:
A 3rd-party Facebook app by Cultura Colectiva left 540M+ records of users' FB info exposed on AWS; Amazon was notified in Jan., but data was online until today  —  The UpGuard Cyber Risk team can now report that two more third-party developed Facebook app datasets have been found exposed to the public internet.
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat:
Verizon launches its mobile 5G network in parts of Chicago and Minneapolis, with a 5G-enabled Moto Z3  —  Though South Korea's government expected its three cellular carriers to be the world's first to offer commercial 5G services with smartphones based on the 3GPP's official 5G standard …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google debuts Android Q Beta 2 with multitasking overlay elements called Bubbles, foldables emulator, and precise audio recordings with zoomable microphone API  —  Google today launched the second Android Q beta with multitasking Bubbles, a foldables emulator, zoomable microphones, and more.
Damien Wilde / 9to5Google:
Google rolling out Duplex AI restaurant booking assistant to non-Pixel Android devices and iOS in the US  —  Get ready, the ability to get your Google Assistant to call your local eateries to make reservations is now rolling out to non-Pixel devices and iOS in the United States.
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Tesla starts rolling out an update to Navigate on Autopilot in the US that will give drivers an option to use the system without having to confirm lane changes  —  Tesla has long asked you to flick the turn stalk to confirm Autopilot's lane changes, but you won't have to do that for much longer.
Paul Karp / The Guardian:
Australia passes law penalizing social media platforms for failing to expeditiously remove abhorrent violent content, despite strong opposition from tech firms  —  Labor supports legislation in response to Christchurch shooting that threatens jail for executives, despite media companies' concerns
Xinmei Shen / Abacus:
Sam Biddle / The Intercept:
Researchers find that Facebook appears to deliver certain ads, despite neutral targeting parameters, in a way that aligns with race and gender stereotypes  —  How exactly Facebook decides who sees what is one of the great pieces of forbidden knowledge in the information age …
Kelsey Piper / Vox:
Nearly half of Google's external AI board has resigned or is under fire, and the design of the board suggests Google is treating AI ethics like a PR problem  —  One member resigned and two more are under fire.  It's only a week old.  —  Just a week after it was announced, Google's new AI ethics board is already in trouble.
Brady Dale / CoinDesk:
SEC issues a “no-action” letter to TurnKey Jet, saying that tokens used by the business-travel startup are not securities, a first that clears token sales in US  —  The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued a “no-action” letter to TurnKey Jet, Inc. …
Kim Zetter / Washington Post:
Researchers create malware that places fake cancerous nodes in CT scans to fool radiologists, showing what high-profile attacks on hospital gear could look like  —  Researchers in Israel created malware to draw attention to serious security weaknesses in medical imaging equipment and networks.
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Hands-on with Powerbeats Pro, Beats' new $250 wireless earbuds with Apple's H1 chip, 9 hours of battery life, “Hey Siri”, and physical controls, shipping in May  —  Coming in May for $250  —  A couple of weeks after Apple shipped its second-generation AirPods …
Ivan Mehta / The Next Web:
WhatsApp now allows users to control who can add them to group chats  —  WhatsApp's group conversations can be awfully annoying when you're dragged into them without your consent.  It's finally rolled out a fix for that, in the form of a new setting that lets you choose who can add you to group chats …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
HR software startup Rippling, led by ex-Zenefits CEO Parker Conrad, raises $45M Series A led by Kleiner Perkins, source says at a valuation of $270M  —  Parker Conrad's last startup Zenefits drowned in busy work.  Now with Rippling, he wants to boil that ocean.
Jon Porter / The Verge:
In January, Huawei patched a bug in its PCManager software, discovered by Microsoft, which acted like NSA-style malware and affected some MateBook laptops  —  The bug was patched back in January  —  Huawei has patched a bug in some of its MateBook laptops that could have allowed an attacker to take control of the system.

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Google:
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Earlier Picks

Issie Lapowsky / Wired:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Chris Welch / The Verge: