Techmeme
August 13, 2019, 11:10 PM

Top News

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Sources: Facebook paid hundreds of contractors to transcribe user audio; FB says it's stopped the work, which affected users who wanted voice chats transcribed  —  - Social network says it paused human review of conversations  — Apple, Amazon, Google have been scrutinized for similar work
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Twitter to soon let users follow interests, starting with sports, and create separate timelines for different topics; topics will be curated by Twitter using AI  —  A new way to explore interests on Twitter  —  Twitter will begin letting users follow interests, the company said today …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Snap announces Spectacles 3 with an updated design and a second HD camera to create depth perception, going on sale in November for $380  —  They're $380 and go on sale in November  —  Snap today announced Spectacles 3, a redesigned version of its augmented reality sunglasses with a sleek …
Nitasha Tiku / Wired:
Interviews with 47 former and current employees about the past three years at Google reveal fear of the far right, activist awakening, weaponized leaks, more  —  ON A BRIGHT Monday in January 2017, at 2:30 in the afternoon, about a thousand Google employees—horrified, alarmed, and a little giddy …
Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Microsoft patches four wormable BlueKeep-like bugs in Remote Desktop Service, two of which can be exploited remotely without authentication or user interaction  —  Most Microsoft Windows (ab)users probably welcome the monthly ritual of applying security updates about as much as they look forward …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Nvidia says it has broken records for real-time conversational AI, training the industry-standard BERT model in 53 minutes and then inferring responses in ~2ms  —  Nvidia's GPU-powered platform for developing and running conversational AI that understands and responds to natural language requests …
Ed Targett / Computer Business Review:
Amazon says it has added “fear” to the range of emotions that its Rekognition facial recognition software can now detect  —  Release follows amid immigration protests  —  AWS has added “fear” to the range of emotions identified by its Amazon Rekognition facial analysis service …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta, giving podcasters valuable listener data like age, gender, location, music taste, and episode listening duration  —  Spotify for Podcasters comes out of beta today  —  Spotify is going to give podcasters listener data they can't get anywhere else.
The Information:
Sources: Spotify is discussing a plan with Apple to let iPhone users tell Siri to play songs, playlists, albums with voice commands, as anti-trust battle looms  —  An issue that has long vexed many iPhone users—the inability to play music from Spotify using Siri, Apple's voice assistant—may soon be a thing of the past.
Dara Kerr / CNET:
Property owners and hosts, including eight people who dealt with bedbugs in their rentals, say Airbnb doesn't have a systematic procedure to handle outbreaks  —  Waking up with bedbug bites can be a nightmare.  It's also a costly and traumatic problem for Airbnb guests and hosts.
Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:
Verizon sues Rochester, NY to avoid paying fees the city levied over its 5G deployments, uses the FCC's controversial order limiting such fees to argue its case  —  Verizon lawsuit against Rochester relies on FCC vote to cap city-imposed fees.  —  Verizon has sued the City of Rochester …
Angelica Krystle Donati / Forbes:
OpenSpace, which uses AI to create navigable, 360-degree images of building sites using photos from cameras attached to builders' hats, raises $14M Series A  —  I write about proptech and innovation in real estate and construction.  —  “> As a testament to the increasing significance of the subsector …
More: VentureBeatThanks:@alexanderhunter

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
Intel:
Intel Delivers powerful CPUs for AI and Networking  —  With the onset of AI, businesses demand powerful and efficient CPUs.  Explore new Intel Xeon 6 processors, for the broadest set of workloads with leadership performance and lower TCO.
Zoho:
Gamification: A simple way to enjoy getting more work done  —  Work doesn't have to be boring.  Gamification transforms everyday tasks into exciting challenges, making employees feel more engaged and motivated.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
E2EE For All!
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Why Trump can't be trusted with Congress' new anti-deepfake bill
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Lenny's Podcast:
Inside Bolt: From near-death to ~$40m ARR in 5 months--one of the fastest-growing products in history | Eric Simons (founder & CEO of StackBlitz)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Flexport CEO Ryan Petersen Breaks Down the Global Impact of Trump's New Tariffs
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Generative Now:
Dan Shipper: The First MultiModal Media Company
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Spotlight On:
Nebius's Arkady Volozh on What it Takes to Build Infrastructure Needed for the AI Era
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:10 PM ET, August 13, 2019.

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

Earlier Picks

Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Taylor Lorenz / The Atlantic:
Ursula Perano / Axios: