Tech Brew Ride Home

Huawei tries to launch a flagship smartphone without a Google net, could Apple and Disney have merged? Some really interesting raises, for Automattic and Stripe, but also an autonomous construction equipment startup, and why there now might be SSD’s that are basically failproof. Sponsors: Mealime.com OpenVPN.net/ride Links: Huawei Mate 30 Pro goes official w/ no Google apps, ‘horizon’ display (9to5Google) GitHub acquires code analysis tool Semmle (TechCrunch) “WE COULD SAY ANYTHING TO EACH OTHER”: BOB IGER REMEMBERS STEVE JOBS, THE PIXAR DRAMA, AND THE APPLE MERGER THAT WASN’T (Vanity Fair) Datadog Rises 53% in Trading Debut After Rebuffing Cisco (Bloomberg) Amazon signs Climate Pledge to advance Paris Climate Accords goals by 10 years (VentureBeat) Built Robotics raises $33M for its self-driving construction equipment (TechCrunch) Automattic raises $300 million at $3 billion valuation from Salesforce Ventures (TechCrunch) Fintech Company Stripe Joins Silicon Valley Elite With $35 Billion Valuation (WSJ) Samsung unveils new PCIe 4.0 SSDs that "never die" (TechSpot) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Sep 201918min

Facebook debuts Portal TV, and wants to make AR smart glasses to replace your smartphone, Google Fi has an “unlimited” plan that is every bit as unlimited as any other, the Apple Watch Series 5 reviews and autonomous vehicles come to the farm. Sponsors: Vistaprint.com promo code Ride2. Mealime.com OpenVPN.net/ride Links: Facebook launches Portal TV, a $149 video chat set-top box (TechCrunch) Facebook’s second-generation Portal devices are cheaper, smaller, and support WhatsApp (The Verge) Facebook working on smart glasses with Ray-Ban, code-named ‘Orion’ (CNBC) Smart TVs sending private data to Netflix and Facebook (Financial Times) Google Fi launches a more traditional unlimited plan (The Verge) HP Elite Dragonfly hands-on: A really light business notebook (Engadget) APPLE WATCH SERIES 5 REVIEW: THE BEST SMARTWATCH (The Verge) Apple Watch Series 5 (Daring Fireball) FarmWise and its weed-pulling agribot harvest $14.5M in funding (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Sep 201917min

WeWork’s IPO is off for now, Amazon Music HD is going after Tidal, the Streaming Wars mean big price tags for Seinfeld and Big Bang Theory, and a wrap up of all the iPhone 11, Pro and Pro Max reviews. Sponsors: OpenVPN.net/ride Mealime.com Links: Computer Scientist Richard Stallman Resigns From MIT Over Epstein Comments (Motherboard) WeWork delays IPO after frosty investor response (Reuters) SoftBank Backers Rethink Role in Next Vision Fund on WeWork (Bloomberg) Amazon Music rolls out a lossless streaming tier that Spotify and Apple can’t match (The Verge) Snapchat is adding a 3D Camera Mode, the latest salvo in its feature race with Instagram (TechCrunch) Netflix Lands 'Seinfeld' Rights in $500M-Plus Deal After Losing 'Friends' and 'The Office' (The Hollywood Reporter) ‘The Big Bang Theory’ to Show on New Streaming Service HBO Max (WSJ) NBCUniversal’s Streaming Service Is Called Peacock and It’s Launching Next April (Vulture) APPLE IPHONE 11 REVIEW: THE PHONE MOST PEOPLE SHOULD BUY (The Verge) Apple iPhone 11 Pro and Pro Max review: Better, but not groundbreaking (Engadget) Review: The iPhone 11 Pro and iPhone 11 do Disneyland After Dark (TechCrunch) Review: Apple iPhone 11 Pro (Wired) IPhone 11 and 11 Pro Review: Thinking Differently in the Golden Age of Smartphones (NYTimes) Apple Arcade's best selling point: Games you'll actually want to play (Engadget) SUBSCRIBE TO THE AD-FREE FEED! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

17 Sep 201917min

If Amazon wants to tip-toe past the regulators, headlines like those from today can’t help, October is going to be filthy with major tech launch events, is TikTok showing us the future of the Chinese web in worrying ways, and let’s pour one out for MoviePass! Links: OpenVPN.net/ride Mealime.com Links: Amazon Changed Search Algorithm in Ways That Boost Its Own Products (WSJ) Facebook and JP Morgan meet with global central banks to discuss cryptocurrencies (CNBC) Google announces October 15th hardware event for Pixel 4 (The Verge) Iger Departs Board of Apple, Disney’s New Streaming Competitor (NY Times) Wi-Fi 6 officially launches today, ahead of iPhone 11 availability on Friday (9to5Mac) Wi-Fi 6 certification is here to make next-gen speeds a widespread reality (CNET) Multiple camera simultaneous recording coming to iPhone XS and iPhone XR, not just iPhone 11 (9to5Mac) TikTok’s Beijing roots fuel censorship suspicion as it builds a huge U.S. audience (The Washington Post) MoviePass will shut down for good on Sept. 14 (CNBC) AD FREE FEED SIGNUP! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Sep 201917min

As I mentioned in the Weekend Longreads segment, Gary Marcus and Ernest Davis had an op ed in the times that has changed the way I think about the state of AI. But they’re also the authors of a great new book, Rebooting AI: Building Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust. There’s a reason people remain fearful about AI… it hasn’t earned our trust yet. In all sorts of ways that we get into on this episode. And also, the interesting ways AI development needs to change to take the state of the art to the next level. Sponsor: MintMobile.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

15 Sep 201923min

We had the big iPhone announcement this week, so to break it down, our good friend at MacStories, John Voorhees is here to dive into… why so much backlash to this event? Was it boring? What did we actually get from Santa Tim? And why we might look back at this as the pivot point where Apple events changed into something new... Sponsors: Tinycapital.com WeWorkRemotely.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

14 Sep 201926min

Cloudflare has a successful IPO, but will WeWork’s planned IPO be considered a success even if it actually has one? Is another investment bubble popping in the AR/VR space? Will the streaming wars kill the back-end deal in Hollywood? And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: TinyCapital.com GetQuip.com/ride Links: Cloudflare stock pops 20% in first day of trading (CNBC) WeWork’s valuation could fall to below $15 billion in IPO, down from $47 billion private valuation (CNBC) House lawmakers ask Apple, Amazon, Facebook and Google to turn over trove of records in antitrust probe (The Washington Post) Another high-flying, heavily funded AR headset startup is shutting down (TechCrunch) J.J. Abrams Officially Closes Sizable WarnerMedia Film, TV Partnership (The Hollywood Reporter) The end of the backend? Disney wants to limit profit participation on its new TV shows (Los Angeles Times) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How to Build Artificial Intelligence We Can Trust (NYTimes) As sex toys continue to get hacked, the defin­i­tion of sexual assault is under question (Screen Shot) What Happened to Urban Dictionary? (Wired) TONY HAWK ON HOW HIS GAMES CHANGED SKATEBOARDING (The Verge) From Communism To Coding: How Daniel Dines Of $7 Billion UiPath Became The First Bot Billionaire (Forbes) Human speech may have a universal transmission rate: 39 bits per second (Science) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

13 Sep 201918min

Uber says the California contractor law doesn’t apply to it because it is… checks notes… not technically in the ride hailing business, will France block Libra in the EU, dark mode comes to Slack, crowd-sourced answers come to Alexa, and, some news on the Fermi Paradox front. Sponsors: Tinycapital.com Datatribe.com/challenge Links: Uber argues its drivers aren’t core to its business, won’t reclassify them as employees (The Verge) FACEBOOK’S LIBRA CRYPTOCURRENCY WILL BE BLOCKED IN EUROPE, FRANCE SAYS (The Independent) Slack's desktop apps get dark mode options (Engadget) The FBI is investigating a venture capital fund started by Peter Thiel for financial misconduct (ReCode) Exclusive: Amazon will let anyone answer your Alexa questions now (Fast Company) Healthy.io raises $60 million to help patients complete urine tests on their phone (Venture Beat) An Exoplanet Like No Other Yet Found (The Atlantic) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

12 Sep 201917min