
Fri. 11/30 - The Big Marriott/Starwood Data Breach
The monster Starwood Hotels data breach, Apple music comes to Amazon Echo devices, Instagram rolls out “close friends” lists, Airbnb wants to build your house, not just rent it, and the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Links: Marriott says 500 million Starwood guest records stolen in massive data breach (TechCrunch) SEC charges Floyd Mayweather, DJ Khaled for promoting ICOs without disclosing payments (CNBC) Apple Music is coming to the Amazon Echo (TechCrunch) Instagram now lets you share Stories to a Close Friends list (TechCrunch) Exclusive: Airbnb will start designing houses in 2019 (Fast Company) Techmeme now publishing paid and free "Leaderboards" showing the most influential reporters around a specific news topic (Techmeme.com) The Betterment Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Our first podcast suggestion: Python Bytes Microsoft Is Worth as Much as Apple. How Did That Happen? (NYTimes) How China’s Bytedance became the world’s most valuable startup (The Verge) China’s Video Craze Drives Growth for ByteDance (The Information) How Amazon Web Services Reinvented the Internet and Became a Cash Cow (NYMag) The legacy of PlayStation creator Ken Kutaragi, in 24 stories (Polygon) This Is the Way the Paper Crumples (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
30 Nov 201818min

Thu. 11/29 - YouTube Jumps on the Stories Bandwagon
Amazon gets into self-driving cars… in a way, Google Assistant adds some familiar features, YouTube rolls out Stories, and WTF is happening in Crypto? Stories from: @RolfeWinkler Tweets: @CrankGameplays, @SavinTheBees Links: Amazon debuts a scale model autonomous car to teach developers machine learning (TechCrunch) New Parents Complain Amazon Baby-Registry Ads Are Deceptive (WSJ) An Amazon revolt could be brewing as the tech giant exerts more control over brands (Recode) Google Assistant gets visual lyrics and more in big holiday update (Engadget) YouTube is rolling out its Instagram-like Stories feature to more creators (The Verge) Facebook Considered Charging for Access to User Data (WSJ) WTF is happening to crypto? (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
29 Nov 201819min

Wed. 11/28 - Google Fi (née Project Fi) Comes to iPhones
The biggest ad fraud ever? Amazon gets into medical records, Project Fi comes to iPhones, one of Elon’s LA tunnels is canceled, and the Big Mouth Billy Bass enters the 21st Century. Links: 8 People Are Facing Charges As A Result Of The FBI’s Biggest-Ever Ad Fraud Investigation (BuzzFeed) Big Tech Expands Footprint in Health (WSJ) Project Fi is now Google Fi, and it will work with iPhones and most Android devices (The Verge) Waymo taps former NTSB chair to oversee safety of self-driving ride-share fleet (CNBC) YouTube to Make New Originals Available for Free, Ad-Supported Viewing With ‘Single Slate’ Strategy (Variety) Laurene Powell Jobs’s Emerson Collective bought Pop-Up Magazine Productions (Recode) Community Activists Kill Elon Musk's Plan for an Underground Freeway Tunnel in LA (Motherboard) Big Mouth Billy Bass Will Now Annoy the Shit Out of You With Alexa Support Built In (Gizmodo) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Nov 201817min

Tue. 11/27 - Why Is Shopping On Amazon So Hard? (Replacement)
AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock (Krebs on Security) Employees Say Startup Civil Hyped Crypto Returns, But Failed to Pay (CoinDesk) Apple has an idea to make Animoji even more fun (Cult of Mac) Don’t Look Now, But Microsoft Is Overtaking Apple (Bloomberg) What If Amazon.com Actually…Is A Horrible Website? (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
28 Nov 201816min

Tue. 11/27 - Why Is Shopping On Amazon So Complicated?
AWS goes the custom silicon route, Facebook Watch goes after the olds, will Microsoft leapfrog Apple and why does Amazon’s shopping experience suck so much? Stories from: @katienotopoulos, @ShiraOvide Tweets: @ajassy, @AlexSchleber Links: Amazon Web Services introduces its own custom-designed Arm server processor, promises 45 percent lower costs for some workloads (GeekWire) Facebook's YouTube competitor is pivoting to older audiences as teens tune out and publishers balk (CNBC) Half of all Phishing Sites Now Have the Padlock (Krebs on Security) Employees Say Startup Civil Hyped Crypto Returns, But Failed to Pay (CoinDesk) Apple has an idea to make Animoji even more fun (Cult of Mac) Don’t Look Now, But Microsoft Is Overtaking Apple (Bloomberg) What If Amazon.com Actually…Is A Horrible Website? (BuzzFeed) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
27 Nov 201816min

Mon. 11/26 - Apple Visits the Supreme Court
Apple heads to the Supreme Court over antitrust concerns about its App Store; Facebook’s internal documents are seized by the British Parliament; what’s behind the resurgence of Atari; the human story of Black Friday inside Amazon’s fulfillment centers; and Lenny—a chatbot designed to frustrate telemarketers. Links: U.S. top court leans toward allowing Apple App Store antitrust suit (Reuters) My Amicus Brief (AVC/Fred Wilson) Parliament seizes cache of Facebook internal papers (The Guardian) Internal documents Facebook has fought to keep private obtained by UK Parliament (CNN) Atari CEO interview — How Rollercoaster Tycoon revival saved the company (VentureBeat) The human costs of Black Friday, explained by a former Amazon warehouse manager (Vox) The Story of Lenny, the Internet's Favorite Telemarketing Troll (Motherboard) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
26 Nov 201816min

Tue. 11/20 - Worse Shape: Tech Stocks or Crypto?
Storm clouds everywhere! Tech stocks in bear market territory, crypto in full-on meltdown territory… but video games might help solve science’s gender problem and this one spacebar trick might make your iPhone insanely more useful. Oh, and the weekend Longreads suggestions. Links: It's Official: Once Mighty FAANG Stocks Have All Entered a Bear Market (Fortune) Silicon Valley wages have dropped for all except highest-paying jobs: report (The Mercury News) Bitcoin drops 12% to below $5,000 (CNBC) Tumblr was removed from Apple’s App Store over child pornography issues (The Verge) Video games could be a short-term answer to science’s gender problem (The Conversation) “The space bar trick” is the most amazing feature in iOS 12, and the internet just realized it (Fast Company) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: How The Wall Street Journal is preparing its journalists to detect deepfakes (NiemanLab) Self-driving trucks in US offer window into where machines may replace humans (Christian Science Monitor) When Elon Musk Tunnels Under Your Home (The Atlantic) The Case Against Quantum Computing (IEEE Spectrum) HOW GOOGLE AND AMAZON GOT AWAY WITH NOT BEING REGULATED (Wired) How to Use an iPod Touch as a Secure Device Instead of a Phone (Motherboard) Scientists say goodbye to physical definition of the kilogram (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
20 Nov 201819min

Mon. 11/19 - Are iPhone Sales Really Underwhelming (This Time)?
Skype calls on Amazon Echos, Tumblr disappears from iOS, Facebook on a war footing, iPhone sales storm clouds, and the Bitcoin Cash hard fork explained. Links: Skype calling now available on Alexa (The Verge) Tweet Storm on Where Tumblr's Gone (@bluechoochoo) With Facebook at ‘War,’ Zuckerberg Adopts More Aggressive Style (WSJ) Tim Cook defends multibillion-dollar Google search deal despite Apple’s privacy focus (The Verge) Apple Suppliers Suffer With Uncertainty Around iPhone Demand (WSJ) With Facebook at ‘War,’ Zuckerberg Adopts More Aggressive Style (WSJ) Bitcoin Cash Declares War: Why Coming Hard Fork Could Mean Another Split (CoinDesk) One Day After the Bitcoin Cash Hard Fork: Takeaways and Latest Developments (Bitcoin Magazine) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
19 Nov 201816min