Mon. 09/23 - Google Play Pass And WeWork Soap Opera

Google acquires Fitbit, Apple TV+ officially launches, might the US Government be about to bring the hammer down on TikTok, and of course, the Weekend Longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Tiny Capital Leap.FidelityCareers.com Links: Google to acquire Fitbit, valuing the smartwatch maker at about $2.1 billion (CNBC) Maps Incognito is launching for Google Maps Android Users (Google Maps Help) Apple TV+ is now live in the TV app: Start watching Apple’s original TV shows and movies (9to5Mac) Exclusive: U.S. opens national security investigation into TikTok - sources (Reuters) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: 50 years ago today, the internet was born in Room 3420 (Fast Company) Talking with former Facebook security chief Alex Stamos (CJR) Everything is Amazing, But Nothing is Ours (AlexDanco.com) The Gross Margin Problem: Lessons for Tech-Enabled Startups (Craft) The Ransomware Superhero of Normal, Illinois (ProPublica) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

1 Nov 201917min

Twitter says it will ban ALL political advertising, Cognizant says it is getting out of the content moderation business, Facebook earnings are good, Apple earnings are good… and evolving, and can the Chinese monitor SMS messages at the provider level, at scale? Sponsors: Tiny Capital Leap.FidelityCareers.com Links: Jack Dorsey's Twitter Thread Zuckerberg defends politician ads that will be 0.5% of 2020 revenue (TechCrunch) Aaron Sorkin: An Open Letter to Mark Zuckerberg (NYTimes) Facebook shares rise on strong Q3, users up 2% to 2.45B (TechCrunch) A Facebook content moderation vendor is quitting the business after two Verge investigations (The Verge) Apple is laying the groundwork for an iPhone subscription (CNBC) Researchers unearth malware that siphoned SMS texts out of telco’s network (ArsTechnica) Unraveling the Secret Origins of an AmazonBasics Battery (OneZero) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

31 Okt 201919min

WhatsApp sues the NSO Group about that crazy exploit, Uber is threating to sue Los Angeles about a crazy tracking program that I’m not sure about, we’ve got the full details surrounding HBO Max, an activist is taking Facebook’s political advertising policy to its logical conclusion, and how come none of you told me about Mario Kart Tour? Sponsors: Tiny Capital Pessimists Archive Podcast Links: Why WhatsApp is pushing back on NSO Group hacking (Washington Post) WhatsApp Says Israeli Firm Used Its App in Spy Program (NYTimes) The New HBO Max is competing with Netflix by giving you Friends and Game of Thrones for $15 a month (Recode) Report: Apple to Use Qualcomm's X55 5G Modem in All Three 2020 iPhones (MacRumors) Uber in talks with Los Angeles as scooter location data lawsuit looms (CNET) Privacy groups actually side with Uber in scooter data fight (Mashable) This man is running for governor of California so he can run false Facebook ads (CNN Business) Mario Kart Tour Has a Rocket Start With 123.9 Million Downloads in Its First Month (SensorTower) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

30 Okt 201917min

Earnings from Alphabet and Shopify, hacking the Olympics, the Rise of the Rest rides again, Amazon is making grocery delivery free and letting you pay your electric bill via Alexa, and don’t update your HomePod, or you might brick it. Sponsors: Tiny Capital leap.fidelitycareers.com Links: Alphabet Earnings Dented by Spending on Cloud Business (Bloomberg) Shopify Shares Tumble After Surprise Loss on Spending Boost (Bloomberg) Microsoft: Russian hackers are targeting sporting organizations ahead of Tokyo Olympics (ZDNet) AOL Founder Steve Case Launches Second $150 Million ‘Rise Of The Rest’ Fund To Back Entrepreneurs Across U.S. (Forbes) China to Funnel $29 Billion Towards its Chip Ambitions (Bloomberg) Amazon axes $14.99 Amazon Fresh fee, making grocery delivery free for Prime members to boost use (TechCrunch) Amazon will let you pay bills with Alexa (VentureBeat) New 13.2 Update Bricking Some HomePods [Update Pulled by Apple] (MacRumors) PlayStation Vue is Shutting Down Live TV Streaming Service in January (The Streamable) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

29 Okt 201916min

AirPods Pro are here, new Nvidia streaming gadgets are here, Alphabet might be about to acquire Fitbit, the fallout from the Pentagon JEDI contract and what happens when your entire city orders from Amazon every single day. Sponsors: Tinycapital.com LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Apple reveals new AirPods Pro, available October 30 (Apple NewsRoom) Apple unveils new in-ear AirPods Pro coming October 30 for $249 (9to5Mac) Google parent Alphabet makes offer to buy Fitbit, sending stock soaring (CNBC) Nvidia’s new Shield TV wins the Android TV market with amazing 4K upscaling (TechCrunch) Microsoft snags hotly contested $10 billion defense contract, beating out Amazon (CNBC) Spotify grows users 30% in Q3 2019, premium subscribers reach 113 million (VentureBeat) Microsoft’s Xbox bundles are back and ready for the new Project Scarlett Xbox (The Verge) 1.5 Million Packages a Day: The Internet Brings Chaos to N.Y. Streets (NYTimes) Subscribe to the premium ad-free feed here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

28 Okt 201916min

The news that Yahoo was shutting down Yahoo Groups, as I said, was another gut punch when you realize how much of the web’s history is so ephemeral. It also got me thinking that Yahoo as a company might be about to go down the memory hole, and that got me thinking about Yahoo’s legacy as perhaps the first great Internet company, and that got me talking to one of the deans of tech journalism, Harry McCracken. What IS Yahoo’s legacy? Why has it ended up the way it has? And also, why do we feel nostalgic for the sort of web Yahoo Groups represents? What has changed on the Internet from the Yahoo Groups glory days until now? Sponsors: PixelUnion.net LegalForce RAPC (650-390-6461 or raj@legalforcelaw.com) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Okt 201920min

Introducing Facebook News. Did the major US Carriers do an end-run around Google out of spite? Amazon is back to making as little profit as it possibly can, HBO Max makes its aggressive pricing move, and, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: Mealime LegalForce RAPC (650-390-6461 or raj@legalforcelaw.com) Links: Rupert Murdoch wanted Mark Zuckerberg to pay him for news stories — and now Facebook is going to do just that (Recode) [Update: Google responds] Verizon, AT&T, Sprint, and T-Mobile join forces to bring RCS to Android in 2020 (9to5Google) AMAZON.COM ANNOUNCES THIRD QUARTER SALES UP 24% TO $70.0 BILLION (Amazon) Behind AT&T's plan to take on Netflix, Apple and Disney with HBO Max (Reuters) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The 2010s Broke Our Sense Of Time (Buzzfeed) Inside R/Relationships, the Unbearably Human Corner of Reddit (The Atlantic) He revolutionized how millions of people spend money in India. His next target: America (CNN Business) Now the Machines Are Learning How to Smell (Wired) Pentagon, With an Eye on China, Pushes for Help From American Tech (NYTimes) Google CEO Sundar Pichai on achieving quantum supremacy (MIT Technology Review) How Do You Like We Now (Bloomberg Opinion) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Okt 201917min

Is TikTok a national security risk? Inquiring Senators want to know. Earnings running the gamut from bad to surprisingly good from Twitter, Amazon and Tesla. And to paraphrase an old saw: if a voicemail system goes down how would anyone even notice? Sponsors: Mealime LegalForce RAPC (650-390-6461 or raj@legalforcelaw.com) Links: TikTok raises national security concerns in Congress as Schumer, Cotton ask for federal review (The Washington Post) Music Video Upstart ‘Triller’ Says It’s Taking On TikTok Amid $28 Million Series B (TubeFilter) Twitter Q3 misses bi on revenues of $824M and EPS of $0.05 on the back of adtech glitches (TechCrunch) Twitter’s Growth Sags, But That Wasn’t the Worst Part (Bloomberg) Microsoft Sales, Profit Top Estimates on Cloud; Azure Slows (Bloomberg) Tesla Shares Soar as Elon Musk Packs Profit Report With Positives (Bloomberg) AT&T claims a weeks-long voicemail outage will be fixed with a single device update (The Verge) Apple TV app launches on Amazon Fire TV devices (9to5Mac) 40 Major Music Festivals Have Pledged Not to Use Facial Recognition Technology (Vice) BBC News launches 'dark web' Tor mirror (BBC News) Behold the massive social media explosion from Fortnite’s Season 10 finale (The Washington Post) Last week's Fortnite update helped Akamai set a new CDN traffic record (ZDNet) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

24 Okt 201917min