Techmeme
December 18, 2019, 7:05 PM

Top News

Todd Haselton / CNBC:
Apple, Amazon, Google, and the Zigbee Alliance announce a partnership to create a universal smart home standard, called the “Project Connected Home over IP”  —  - Amazon, Apple, Google and the Zigbee Alliance announced a new partnership.  — It's called Project Connected Home over IP …
New York Times:
An examination of poorly secured police and private databases reveals how China is ramping up its ability to spy on its citizens to new and disturbing levels  —  The authorities can scan your phones, track your face and find out when you leave your home.  One of the world's biggest spying networks …
New York Times:
The defining moments of tech in the 2010s, including the Arab Spring and unveiling of the iPad, as recalled by Zuckerberg, Snowden, Phil Schiller, and others  —  An oral history of the 2010s  —  When the decade began, tech meant promise — cars that could drive themselves, social networks that could take down dictators.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Lawmakers balk after Facebook explains how it collects and monetizes location data of users who have denied location services in their smartphone OS for its app  —  - In response to a letter from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., and Sen. Chris Coons, D-Del., Facebook explained why it tracks users' locations …
Bloomberg:
Current and ex-employees of SoftBank's Vision Fund describe an environment of sycophancy towards Son, harassment, rivalries, and a culture of recklessness  —  Masayoshi Son's venture capital firm is famous for making outsize bets on tech startups.  It has also been described as an environment of sycophancy and harassment.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Author details how he created a deepfake video over two weeks at a cost of $552 using Faceswap, with an explanation of the tech and some of its limitations  —  I learned a lot from creating my own deepfake video.  —  Deepfake technology uses deep neural networks to convincingly replace one face with another in a video.
Megan Graham / CNBC:
Facebook says it will ban any branded content, including influencers' posts, promoting tobacco products, vaping, or weapons on Facebook and Instagram  —  - For the first time, Facebook and Instagram are putting restrictions around the types of items that brands can promote using “branded content.”
First Round:
State of startups survey: 33%+ of founders worry about the end of a tech bubble, 65% say 2020 fundraising will be hard, and diversity and mental health are key  —  Welcome to the fifth edition of State of Startups.  What started as an experiment in 2015 has since become a treasured tradition here at First Round.
Faiz Siddiqui / Washington Post:
US government says Uber will pay $4.4M to victims of alleged gender discrimination and strengthen sexual harassment defenses, following an EEOC investigation  —  An Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation found “reasonable cause to believe that Uber permitted a culture …
Joseph Bernstein / BuzzFeed News:
A meditation on digital life during the 2010s, which has become fractured, alienating, and contentious, falling short of the lofty ideals articulated in the 90s  —  In April 1997, Wired magazine published a feature with the grand and regrettable title “Birth of a Digital Nation.”
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Facebook acquires Spanish cloud gaming startup PlayGiga, reportedly for ~€70M  —  - Facebook has acquired PlayGiga, a Madrid-based company that specializes in cloud gaming.  — Over the past few years, Facebook has been expanding its efforts in gaming.
More: Seeking AlphaTweets: @shiraovideThanks:@sal19
Andrew J. Hawkins / The Verge:
Share Now, a car sharing service collaboration between Daimler and BMW formerly known as Car2Go, says it is leaving North America to focus on Europe  —  Daimler and BMW, which jointly own Share Now, say they are focused on European markets  —  Share Now, the car-sharing service formerly known as Car2Go, is leaving North America.

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.
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.
Zoho:
5 common accounting mistakes  —  This is a guest post by Yaali Bizappln Solutions.  A lot of businesses manage their customers and finances on separate platforms.  This disconnect often leads to missed invoices …
Hamming:
Make AI Voice Agents trustworthy  —  Hamming AI automatically tests AI voice agents and continuously monitors them in production.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Thu. 11/21 - What The DOJ Wants Google To Do
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 7:05 PM ET, December 18, 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

CNN:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Daniel Cooper / Engadget:
iFixit News: