Fri. 03/08 – TikTok In Peril?

Google fires four workers associated with labor organizing, Amazon's ruthless quotas lead to high rates of warehouse injuries, grass-roots opponents to Amazon's power form a coalition, a report cites the public cost of Amazon warehouses on Southern California, the California DMV is selling driver information, the Rev transcription service exposes contractors to horrific recordings, Facebook pays people to take surveys, Zuckerberg mostly listens to old white men, a TikTok teen spreads the news about Chinese mistreatment of Muslim Uyghurs, and Texas Instruments keeps toting up new profits from an old calculator style. Sponsors Silicon Valley Bank Mealime Links: Google fires four workers, including one tied to protests (Bloomberg) Ruthless Quotas at Amazon Are Maiming Employees (the Atlantic) Amazon's Own Numbers Reveal Staggering Injury Rates at Staten Island Warehouse (Gizmodo) Grass-roots activists on Amazon's power coalesce (New York Times) Amazon costs Southern California big time in public assistance for its workers, environmental and transportation impact (Economic Roundtable) California DMV makes $50 million a year selling personal information (Vice) Rev Transcribers Hate the Low Pay, But the Disturbing Recordings Are Even Worse (The Verge) Facebook pays people to take surveys (Engadget) Zuck talks to old white men (Bloomberg) TikTok suspended a teen who posted a viral takedown of China disguised as a makeup tutorial (Business Insider) The Texas Instruments Chained-Calculation Massacre (Medium's GEN) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

26 Nov 201920min

Uber loses its license in London, the web’s founder launches a “contract” to save it, eBay sells StubHub, the Threadrippers seem to be the real deal, Deadpool is buying a mobile carrier and Elon Musk knows why those windows cracked. Sponsors: Mealime DollarShaveClub.com/ride Links: Uber loses London licence after TfL finds drivers faked identity (The Guardian) Tim Berners-Lee unveils global plan to save the web (The Guardian) EBay to sell StubHub to Viagogo for about $4 billion in cash (CNBC) India's financial services firm Paytm raises $1B (TechCrunch) The AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X and 3970X Review: 24 and 32 Cores on 7nm (AnandTech) AMD confirms 64-core Threadripper 3990X for 2020 (The Verge) Ryan Reynolds now owns a stake in budget carrier Mint Mobile (Engadget) Elon Musk explains why Tesla’s Cybertruck windows smashed during presentation (The Verge) Tesla's polarizing Cybertruck was preordered 200,000 times within 3 days (USA Today) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

25 Nov 201917min

We gotta talk about Cybertruck, Twitter continues its shipping products hot streak, AirPods are hotter than even Apple anticipated, some trouble in Russia for gadget makers and, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: SVB.com/next Netgear.com/bestwifi Links: Behold, the Tesla Cybertruck is here (TechCrunch) Tesla accidentally busted two windows on the Cybertruck while demonstrating how tough they are (TechCrunch) Wall Street analysts say Tesla’s pickup is ‘really weird’ and Ford can ‘breathe a sigh of relief’ (CNBC) Tesla all-electric ATV makes a surprise debut at Cybertruck event (TechCrunch) Russia bans sale of gadgets without Russian-made software (BBC News) Twitter will finally let users disable SMS as default 2FA method (ZDNet) Twitter rolls out its 'Hide Replies' feature to all users worldwide (TechCrunch) Apple AirPods Shipments Expected to Double to 60 Million in 2019 (Bloomberg) Microsoft pushes Surface Earbuds release back to spring 2020 (Windows Central) Weekend Longreads Suggestions: How our home delivery habit reshaped the world (The Guardian) The Architect of Modern Algorithms (Quanta Magazine) Spotify’s Daniel Ek Has a Plan to Harness Hollywood for Podcasts and Create "the World’s No. 1 Audio Platform" (The Hollywood Reporter) Inside the Most Watched YouTube Channel in the World (Bloomberg Businessweek) Global Protests Reveal Bitcoin’s Limitations (CoinDesk) Robert De Niro and Al Pacino: A Big, Beautiful 50-Year Friendship (GQ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

22 Nov 201917min

Google is changing its rules around political ads, PayPal is acquiring Honey for a ton of money, why have a Dash Button when you can have a Dash Shelf? Route puts all your orders in one place and I’m afraid Google’s original culture is definitively dead. Sponsors: Castro.fm SVB.com/next Links: An update on our political ads policy (The Keyword/Google) Google to Limit Targeting of Political Ads (NYTimes) Facebook Weighs Steps to Curb Narrowly Targeted Political Ads (WSJ) PayPal to acquire shopping and rewards platform Honey for $4B (TechCrunch) Amazon unveils new Dash Smart Shelf that automatically reorders items when supplies run low (GeekWire) Route's app auto-tracks all your packages, raises $12M (TechCrunch) Inside Apple’s iPhone Software Shakeup After Buggy iOS 13 Debut (Bloomberg) Google Hires Firm Known for Anti-Union Efforts (NYTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

21 Nov 201917min

Hackers could take over your Android cameras, the police can do whatever they want with your Ring videos, if your Disney+ account is hacked, is it probably your fault? An amazing breakthrough in solar technology and why fishing by drone has become a thing. Sponsors: Castro Rhone.com/ridehome Links: Android Camera App Bug Lets Apps Record Video Without Permission (BleepingComputer) Police can keep Ring camera video forever and share with whomever they’d like, Amazon tells senator (Washington Post) Amazon says it’s considered face scanning in Ring doorbells (Associated Press) Hacked Disney+ accounts are reportedly being sold for as little as $3 (CNBC) Apple expands in Austin (Apple Newsroom) Secretive energy startup backed by Bill Gates achieves solar breakthrough (CNN) A new solar heat technology could help solve one of the trickiest climate problems (Vox) Tackle Box for the Modern Fisherman: Rod, Reel, Drone (WSJ) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

20 Nov 201917min

Apple’s planning an awards ceremony? Amazon has a new fire TV accessory, Spotify launches Your Daily Podcast, Google announces Your News Update, Ransomware comes for the vets, and the hidden cost hurdle for electric cars. Sponsors: Castro SVB.com/next Links: Apple announces press event on Dec. 2 (CNBC) Amazon’s latest Fire TV accessory is an IR blaster that lets your Echo control your TV (The Verge) AMAZON EXPANDS FREE MUSIC STREAMING SERVICE TO APPLE, ANDROID DEVICES (MusicBusinessWorldwide) Google is putting an algorithmic audio news feed on its Assistant (The Verge) Ransomware Bites 400 Veterinary Hospitals (Krebs on Security) Why the electric-car revolution may take a lot longer than expected (MIT Technology Review) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

19 Nov 201917min

The Mustang Mach-E wants to out Tesla Tesla, John Legere is stepping down from T-Mobile, .org domain names might be getting a lot more expensive, and the reviews on Google Stadia are decidedly mixed, but at least it works. Sponsors: Castro Mealime Links: FORD’S MUSTANG MACH-E IS AN ELECTRIC SUV WITH UP TO 300 MILES OF RANGE (The Verge) UP CLOSE WITH FORD’S ELECTRIC MUSTANG SUV, THE MACH-E (The Verge) Wayve raises $20 million to give autonomous cars better AI brains (VentureBeat) John Legere to step down as T-Mobile CEO next year (CNBC) The org that doles out .org websites just sold itself to a for-profit company (The Verge) ByteDance to take on rivals with music streaming launch (Financial Times) HP board unanimously rejects Xerox’s bid to acquire the company (CNBC) GOOGLE STADIA REVIEW: THE BEST OF CLOUD GAMING IS STILL JUST A BETA (The Verge) Stadia the Technology? Awesome. Stadia the Service? Not So Much (Vice) Stadia tech review: the best game streaming yet, but far from ready (EuroGamer) Subscribe to the ad-free feed right here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

18 Nov 201916min

So, that Razr event, out in LA... obviously I didn’t get to cover it live… and if there was ever a recent hardware event crying out for “hands-on” reporting, this was one. So, I reached out to someone who was there: QZ.com’s Mike Murphy, and actually, his take was pretty different than some of the others I read to you on Thursday. Come for that, and stay for the reality check about what will really make the 5G revolution happen. Sponsors: Mealime GetQuip.com/ride Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

16 Nov 201923min