Wed. 10/09 - Where Would We Be Without Lithium-Ion Batteries?

Roblox’s public market debut and why people are so excited about it. Twitter to open up spaces to everyone next month. An Apple silicon friendly version of Photoshop sports so eyebrow raising performance gains. Are iPhones about to get heavier? And the NFT sales record has been shattered thanks to Beeple. Sponsors: StartMail.com/techmeme Links: Roblox jumps to $38 billion market cap as public investors get their first crack at the popular kids game app (CNBC) Twitter plans to let anyone start hosting Twitter Spaces in April (The Verge) Verkada Workers Had Extensive Access to Private Customer Cameras (Bloomberg) Google paves way to monetize Pay users’ data in India (TechCrunch) Photoshop now runs natively on Apple’s M1 Macs (The Verge) iPhone 13 to Finally Feature Bigger Batteries (MacRumors) Oppo Find X3 Pro goes official w/ Snapdragon 888, 120Hz display, ‘microlens’ camera (9to5Google) Beeple sold an NFT for $69 million (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

11 Mar 202118min

Hackers breached the security cameras used by everybody from prisons and hospitals to Tesla factories. Why you will no longer “subscribe” to this podcast, but will “follow” it. Why T-Mobile is signing everyone up to have their usage data tracked by advertisers. And Facebook’s 10 year roadmap for AR and VR. Sponsors: CalderaLab.com use code TECHMEME (all caps one word) at checkout Uber.com/techmeme Links: Hackers Breach Thousands of Security Cameras, Exposing Tesla, Jails, Hospitals (Bloomberg) Apple slashes planned iPhone 12 mini production for 1H (NikkeiAsia) Google links Android phones to Chromebooks with new Phone Hub feature (The Verge) TikTok adds new comment controls to discourage bullying (Engadget) 'Follow our podcast': Apple Podcasts to stop using 'subscribe' (Podnews) T-Mobile to Step Up Ad Targeting of Cellphone Customers (WSJ) Amazon has over 800 people working on its secretive 'Vesta' home robot — but insiders are worried that it's a niche, gimmicky product that could fail (Insider) Inside Facebook Reality Labs: The Next Era of Human-Computer Interaction (Tech@Facebook) Facebook's ready to talk about how its AR glasses will work with neural wristbands (CNET) Samsung sets March 17 for its second Unpacked event of 2021 (CNET) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

10 Mar 202118min

Is Joe Biden about to name the architect of the current antitrust movement to a seat on the FTC? Are other bad actors swooping in to take advantage of the SolarWinds hack? Is Microsoft gonna play both sides of the fence with new Surface devices? And why popular YouTubers are suddenly building their own platforms. Sponsors: EditorX.com Links: POLITICO Playbook: Scoop: Biden taps another Big Tech trustbuster (Politico/Playbook) Amazon’s Antitrust Antagonist Has a Breakthrough Idea (NYTimes) Attacks on SolarWinds Servers Also Linked To Chinese Threat Actor (The Record) Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 will reportedly include both AMD and Intel configurations (The Verge) Apple releases iOS 14.4.1 and macOS 11.2.3 to address a WebKit vulnerability (Engadget) Why popular YouTubers are building their own sites (BBC News) LOGITECH’S CIRCLE VIEW DOORBELL IS THE CLOSEST THING WE HAVE TO AN APPLE-MADE DOORBELL (The Verge) The Kottke Ride Home Podcast Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

9 Mar 202118min

Ming-Chi Kuo’s grand unified Apple rumor includes AR enabled contact lenses. Is the US about to retaliate in kind for the SolarWinds hack? Mobile World Congress is gonna go ahead and do it live! And in person. Why is Google making Google Pay worse? And do we need a new podcast wager about meaningful quantum computing by 2023? Sponsors: Kiwico.com, promocode "ride" for 30% off BuyRaycon.com/tech for 15% off Links: Kuo: Apple to Launch Mixed Reality Headset in Mid 2022 and Augmented Reality Glasses by 2025 (MacRumors) Preparing for Retaliation Against Russia, U.S. Confronts Hacking by China (NYTimes) Smartphone Lobby Wants Conference for 50,000 People in June (Bloomberg) The new Google Pay repeats all the same mistakes of Google Allo (Ars Technica) Quantum-Computing Startup IonQ Plans Public Debut in $2 Billion SPAC Merger (WSJ) Sidewalk robots get legal rights as "pedestrians" (Axios) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

8 Mar 202118min

I don’t think this one requires any in depth intro. The great Brady Dale of Coindesk, walks us though the whole NFT phenomenon. What are NFTs? How do they work? Why are people so crazed about them at the moment? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

6 Mar 202136min

Tim Wu joined the Biden administration and that sound you hear is a big collective gulp from Silicon Valley. A tweet undo button has been unearthed. Turntable.fm has resurfaced. New data suggests the death of silicon valley has been exaggerated. And of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Audible.com/techmeme or text techmeme to 500-500 Links: A Leading Critic of Big Tech Will Join the White House (NYTimes) Here’s what Twitter’s rumored ‘undo send’ feature could look like (The Verge) Turntable.fm is back from the dead — and now there are two (The Verge) Survey finds that the reported exodus of tech companies from San Francisco's Bay Area is 'greatly exaggerated' (Insider) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: The problem for Paramount+ (and every other streamer)? Everyone already has Netflix. (Recode) Who Really Writes Twitter’s ‘Trending’ Summaries (OneZero) Blockchain, QR codes and your phone: the race to build vaccine passports (Protocol) How a tiny startup is reinventing the DVR for the cord-cutter era (Fast Company) China’s Tencent Becomes an Investment Powerhouse, Using Deals to Expand Its Empire (WSJ) I have one of the most advanced prosthetic arms in the world — and I hate it (Input) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

5 Mar 202118min

Square is acquiring a majority stake in Tidal, and either this makes little sense, or it’s a watershed moment in this NFT/creator economy phenomenon that’s suddenly washing over all of us. Apple walks the walk in terms of data portability. But they’re facing serious new anti-trust scrutiny in the UK and Arizona. And our year of Covid, at least measured in internet traffic numbers. Sponsors: Masterworks.io, promocode ride LinkedIn.com/ride Links: Square acquires majority of Tidal, Jay-Z’s streaming service, in $297 million deal. (NYTimes) Apple Launches Service for Transferring iCloud Photos and Videos to Google Photos (MacRumors) Apple Probed by U.K. as App Store Payments Scrutiny Mounts (Bloomberg) Arizona App Store Bill (The Verge) Ethereum now an option on Amazon’s managed blockchain service (The Block) Comcast: Pandemic drove peak internet traffic up 32% in 2020 (VentureBeat) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

4 Mar 202116min

Google says it’s getting out of the ad tracking game. Kinda. I’ll explain what’s really going on here. Headline wrapup from Microsoft’s Ignite conference includes AR excitement. Brave is launching a privacy search engine. And why Amazon’s app icon redesign reminded people of Hitler’s mustache. Sponsors: PingIdentity.com NewYorker.com/techmeme, promocode: techmeme Links: Google promises it won’t just keep tracking you after replacing cookies (The Verge) Google to Stop Selling Ads Based on Your Specific Web Browsing (WSJ) Microsoft says China-backed hackers are exploiting Exchange zero-days (TechCrunch) Recovering from the SolarWinds hack could take 18 months (MIT Technology Review) Microsoft launches Power Fx, a new open source low-code language (TechCrunch) Microsoft Mesh feels like the virtual future of Microsoft Teams meetings (The Verge) Brave is launching its own search engine with the help of ex-Cliqz devs and tech (TechCrunch) Amazon shaves app icon mustache that raised eyebrows (The Verge) My podcast NFT! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3 Mar 202118min