Techmeme Ride Home

The great winter of tech worker discontent is definitely here, Disney’s streaming service has a name, Vine might be coming back, Github hits a major milestone and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Amazon is finally selling new iPhones after a long and complicated 'turf war' with Apple (BusinessInsider) A note to our employees (Google) #GoogleWalkout update: Collective action works, and we need to keep working. True equity depends on it. (Google Walkout For Real Change) Amazon Execs Addressed Concerns About Amazon Rekognition And ICE At An All-Hands Meeting (BuzzFeed) Vine co-founder plans to launch successor Byte in Spring 2019 (TechCrunch) GitHub passes 100 million repositories (Venture Beat) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: Why Technology Favors Tyranny (The Atlantic) Tech C.E.O.s Are in Love With Their Principal Doomsayer (NYTimes) HQ Trivia was a blockbuster hit — but internal turmoil and a shrinking audience have pushed its company to the brink (ReCode) ‘It’s Giant and Has Like

Foldable phones are officially a thing, Tesla names a new board chair, Amazon’s mailing a physical toy catalog, Ford doesn’t want to miss out on scooters, and Comcast doesn’t want to miss out on home hubs. Stories from: @albertwenger, @dmac1, @meganrosedickey Tweets: @bryce Links: This is Samsung’s foldable smartphone (The Verge) Google says Android will natively support ‘foldables’ to limit fragmentation (The Verge) Amazon is mailing a printed holiday toy catalog to millions of customers (CNBC) Google Plans Large New York City Expansion (WSJ) The Anchor Tenant (Fred Wilson/AVC) Google's Gift to NYC (Albert Wenger) Ford buys electric scooter startup Spin (TechCrunch) Comcast is developing a video-streaming platform for broadband-only customers (CNBC) So I sent my mom that newfangled Facebook Portal (TechCrunch)   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Silicon Valley’s special election day vote, why robocalls have taken over your phone, Jeff Bezos’ clever HQ2 bonus, making 911 calls better and why Jake Tapper is a digital media pioneer. Links: San Francisco has passed a first-of-its-kind tax on big businesses — like Square and Stripe — to help the homeless (Recode) Scoop: AT&T to cut off some customers' service in piracy crackdown (Axios) Why robocalls have taken over your phone (The Verge) Amazon gained a huge perk from its HQ2 contest that's worth far more than any tax break (Business Insider) Chinese ‘gait recognition’ tech IDs people by how they walk (The Associated Press) RapidSOS, an emergency response data provider, raises $30M as it grows from 10K users to 250M (TechCrunch) Newsonomics: “Digital defeats print” is the headline as Gannett steps away from printed election results (NiemanLab) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook takes down more accounts ahead of the election, the new Chrome might block ALL ads on some websites, Macbook Air reviews, and why you might not be able to read election results in tomorrow’s newspaper. Links: Medium Post on Facebook and the Election (Jonathan Albright) Chrome will soon ad-block an entire website if it shows abusive ads (The Verge) Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities (WSJ) APPLE MACBOOK AIR (2018) REVIEW: THE PRESENT OF COMPUTING (The Verge) The 2018 Retina MacBook Air (Daring Fireball) India's Meesho, which enables social commerce via WhatsApp, raises $50M (TechCrunch) PredictHQ exits stealth with $10 million to help Uber and others forecast demand surges (VentureBeat) VMWare acquires Heptio, the startup founded by 2 co-founders of Kubernetes (TechCrunch) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Has Amazon decided on the location of its new HQ? What do people think of the new iPad Pros? Why are recently IPO’d tech companies hoarding cash? And why you might want to think twice about taking a selfie in the voting booth tomorrow. Links: Amazon in Late-Stage Talks With Cities Including Crystal City, Va., Dallas, New York City for HQ2 (WSJ) Amazon waives $25 minimum spend to offer free Christmas deliveries for all U.S. customers (Venture Beat) APPLE IPAD PRO REVIEW 2018: THE FASTEST IPAD IS STILL AN IPAD (The Verge) Apple’s first 5G iPhone will arrive in 2020 (Fast Company) YOU TOO CAN BUILD YOUR OWN CHIP – FOR ONLY $30 MILLION (Digits to Dollars) Newly Public Tech Firms Race Back to Market as IPO Frenzy Continues (WSJ) Did You Vote? Now Your Friends May Know (and Nag You) (NYTimes) You can't take a 'ballot selfie' in Illinois, Florida, or 25 other states — see where it's illegal to take a photo in the voting booth (Business Insider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Apple makes a pile of money and their stock tanks, Flickr ends its mega-free-storage plan, a classic internet cartoon gets a 4K makeover, browser extensions steal Facebook private messages, testing the latest smartphones to see how their batteries hold up, and the weekend longreads suggestions. Tweets: @neilcybart, @textfiles Links: Apple results: A record September quarter with $62.9B revenue (Six Colors) Apple’s price hike strategy is paying off (The Verge) Flickr will end 1TB of free storage and limit free users to 1,000 photos (The Verge) Several thoughts from your old pal Jason (Jason Scott/Twitter) The Cartoon That Invented Internet Culture Gets a High-Definition Rerelease (Intelligencer) Private messages from 81,000 hacked Facebook accounts for sale (BBC News) It’s not your imagination: Phone battery life is getting worse (Washington Post) ‘How the Internet Happened’ Review: Building a World Online (Wall Street Journal) The Betterment Weekend Longreads: The Facebook Dilemma, Part 1 (Frontline on Y

Google employees stage a walk-out protest around the globe, Vox swallows Recode, the new devices this week continue Apple’s push to increase ASP, and maybe it’s subscriptions that are eating the world. Stories from: @rustybrick, @benlovejoy Tweets: @lizthegrey, @ingridlunden Links: Google walkout: Pictures of Google workers leaving their desks in protest over sexual misconduct (Business Insider) Recode Tech and Media Website to Be Folded Into Vox.com (WSJ) New MacBook Air threatens both MacBook and MacBook Pro with Function Keys (Apple Insider) Opinion: The 2018 MacBook Air is the iPhone X’s ASP strategy all over again (9to5Mac) Apple's new T2 security chip will prevent hackers from eavesdropping on your microphone (TechCrunch) WhatsApp found a place to show you ads (The Verge) Google My Business Adds Setting For Google Assistant Calls Over Duplex (Search Engine Roundtable) Spotify is just $6.8 million away from profitability (Engadget) Liftoff: Mobile users are embracing subscription app economy (Venture B

Facebook earnings were not a disaster, another Alphabet employee is out because of scandal, Waymo has a permit to test real driverless cars on California roads, and if you don’t know what computational notebooks are, let me tell you about them.  Links: Zuckerberg says the future is sharing via 100B messages & 1B Stories/day (TechCrunch) Scoop: Executive accused of harassment at Alphabet 'X' unit is out (Axios) Verizon, AT&T, and T-Mobile Won't Support eSIM Until Later This Year (MacRumors) Gmail for iOS now lets you view all of your accounts in a single inbox (The Verge) Waymo’s excruciatingly gradual launch process, explained (Ars Technica) How Facebook Failed To Build A Better Alexa (Or Siri) (Forbes) Google, Accel and Jay Z invest in life insurance start-up Ethos, valuing it at more than $100 million (CNBC) Why Jupyter is data scientists’ computational notebook of choice (Nature) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today MacBook Airs, Mac Minis and new iPad Pros, Coinbase raises a round, the UK has a new tech tax, interesting executive musical chairs, and why reCAPTCHA’s might be a thing of the past. Links: UK chancellor announces 2% ‘digital services tax’ on tech giants’ revenues starting in April 2020 (TechCrunch) Snap CEO Picked a New Business Chief, Then Changed His Mind (Bloomberg) Google Launches reCAPTCHA v3 (Security Week) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

IBM buys Red Hat, museums get new ways to preserve video games, Sony announces the full list of titles for its retro PlayStation mini-console, DJI has a drone for first responders, and a look at the service Gab. Links: IBM to acquire Red Hat in deal valued at $34 billion (CNBC) Forget Watson, the Red Hat acquisition may be the thing that saves IBM (TechCrunch) IBM’s Old Playbook (Stratechery) Copyright Law Just Got Better for Video Game History (Motherboard) Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies (PDF - US Copyright Office, Library of Congress) Here are the 20 games shipping with the PlayStation Classic (TechCrunch) DJI's latest Mavic 2 drone is built for search and rescue (Engadget) Two more platforms have suspended Gab in the wake of Pittsburgh shooting (TechCrunch) On Gab, an Extremist-Friendly Site, Pittsburgh Shooting Suspect Aired His Hatred in Full (New York Times) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Tech earnings season earnings roundup, new DRM rules allow jailbreaking… for some things, China’s rival GPS system, AI “art” fetches $400,000 at auction and the weekend longreads suggestions. Links: Twitter Stock Soars after Strong Earnings Beat (CNBC) Tesla Shares Soar on Surprise Third-Quarter Profit That Beats Wall Street Expectations (CNBC) Microsoft Reports $29.1 Billion in Q1 2019 Revenue: Azure up 76%, Surface up 14%, and Windows up 3% (VentureBeat) Amazon Squeezes Out More Profit as Sales Growth Slows (New York Times) Google Stock Falls As Revenue Misses; Amazon Ad Competition To Blame? (Investor’s Business Daily) Snap Hits All-Time Low After Lackluster Earnings Report (CNBC) Copyright Office Ruling Issues Sweeping Right to Repair Reforms (iFixit) In Groundbreaking Decision, Feds Say Hacking DRM to Fix Your Electronics Is Legal (Motherboard) How China's GPS 'Rival' Beidou is Plotting to Go Global (BBC News) AI Art at Christie’s Sells for $432,500 (New York Times) The Betterment Weekend Longrea

How Google paid Andy Rubin on his way out the door despite allegations of sexual misconduct, Uber Eats and the rise of virtual restaurants, Kickstarter sunsets its Drip service but plans a nice replacement, and older people are worse than younger people at telling fact from opinion. Links: How Google Protected Andy Rubin, the ‘Father of Android’ (New York Times) Uber’s Secret Restaurant Empire (Bloomberg) A New Approach to Our Work on Drip (Kickstarter Blog) Kickstarter to End Drip, Fund New Platform with XOXO Festival Creators (The Verge) The Team Behind XOXO is Taking Over Kickstarter’s Drip Crowdfunding Community (TechCrunch) Older People Are Worse Than Young People at Telling Fact from Opinion (The Atlantic) Younger Americans Are Better than Older Americans at Telling Factual News Statements from Opinions (Pew Research Center) VIDEO: Joseph Saelee vs. Jonas Neubeauer in CTWC 2018 Finals (Twitter) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Cook attacks the “data industrial complex,” why political texts are flooding your phone, the US, China and the AI cold war, and how Facebook Messenger got its new look. Links: Apple’s Tim Cook Makes Blistering Attack On the “Data Industrial Complex” (TechCrunch) Why political text messages are flooding your phone (Axios) The AI Cold War That Could Doom Us All (Wired) Messenger redesigns to clean up Facebook’s mess (TechCrunch) How Facebook’s Messenger Got Its New Look in a New Jersey Basement (Wired) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Tim Cook demands a retraction from Bloomberg, another founder flees Facebook, Repl.it gets a murder’s row of VC backers and the iPhone XR reviews are in. Links: Amazon cloud chief Jassy follows Apple in calling for retraction of Chinese spy chip story (CNBC) Apple CEO Tim Cook Is Calling For Bloomberg To Retract Its Chinese Spy Chip Story (Buzzfeed) Supermicro CEO Joins Cook in Calling for Bloomberg to Retract Supply Chain Hack Story (MacRumors) Oculus co-founder is leaving Facebook after cancellation of ‘Rift 2’ headset (TechCrunch) Former Facebook engineer quit to build the programming tool he always wanted (CNBC) Apple iPhone XR Review: Better Than Good Enough (The Verge) Now Apps Can Track You Even After You Uninstall Them (Bloomberg) Android: A Visual History of Google’s OS On Its 10th Anniversary (The Verge) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook wants to buy some cybersecurity, Washington wants to know what Silicon Valley will do for its country, Fred Wilson wants you to ask yourself if your investors are bad actors, and stealing a Tesla by hacking the entry fob. Links: Facebook on Hunt for Big Cybersecurity Acquisition (The Information) Who Are My Investors? (AVC) Thieves steal a Tesla Model S by hacking the entry fob (Engadget) A tech executive's video of his Tesla Model S being hacked and stolen is going viral (Business Insider) Video of the Tesla theft Google Home Hub review (CNET) Google Home Hub review—Awesome hardware for Google’s nascent smart display software (Ars Technica) Google Home Hub Review: At the intersection of useful and just plain cute [Video] (9to5Google) Google Home Hub review: A more personal smart display (Engadget) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Facebook makes a hire that makes British Twitter laugh, here’s how much Google’s going to charge for Android, Google wants China but does China want Google and the Weekend Longreads suggestions. Links: Facebook Hires Nick Clegg, Former UK Deputy Prime Minister, as Head of Global Affairs and Communications, to Succeed Elliot Schrage (Financial Times) Twitter Suspends Pro-Saudi Bots Spreading Propaganda About the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi (Gizmodo) Twitter Pulls Down Bot Network That Pushed Pro-Saudi Talking Points about Disappeared Journalist (NBC News) Powerful Executives Have Stepped Away From the Saudis. Not SoftBank's. (New York Times) Google App Suite Costs as Much as $40 Per Phone Under New EU Android Deal (The Verge) Google Wants China. Will Chinese Users Want Google? (Wired) The Betterment Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Craig Newmark, Newspaper Villain, Is Working to Save Journalism (New York Times) How the West Was Digitized: The Making of Rockstar Games’ Red Dead Redemption 2 (Vulture/New York M

Spotify Premium gets a spit shine, Facebook think it knows who was behind that big hack, why everyone and their mother has a subscription box service, and an Apple event in Brooklyn! Links: Spotify Premium gets personalized artist radio stations and better search (The Verge) Twitter makes it easier to see enforcement taken on reported tweets (Tech Crunch) Facebook Finds Hack Was Done by Spammers, Not Foreign State (WSJ) Android Creator’s Startup Essential Products Cuts About 30% of Staff (Bloomberg) Inside the $2.6 billion subscription box wars (Fast Company) Beddr’s SleepTuner is a powerful standalone alternative to Apple Watch sleep tracking (9to5Mac) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Google bows to the EU’s demands, the biggest thing to happen to Github since the pull request, video game cheaters are getting sued, and Facebook brings back MTV’s The Real World.  Links: Google will start charging Android device makers a fee for using its apps in Europe (The Verge) GitHub launches Actions, its workflow automation tool (Github) Fortnite, GTA V hackers face legal action for online cheating (Ars Technica) It turns out that Facebook could in fact use data collected from its Portal in-home video device to target you with ads (Recode) MTV is bringing back 'The Real World' for Facebook Watch, and will let the audience vote on the direction of the show (Business Insider) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Uber’s targeting a blockbuster IPO valuation, cops told to stop looking at iPhones, the Kindle Paperwhite is ready for the bath, the Pixel reviews are in, and remembering Paul Allen.Sponsors:DatadogHQ.com/RideHomeTiny.website99designs.com/techmeme Links:Uber Proposals Value Company at $120 Billion in a Possible IPO (WSJ)Cops Told ‘Don’t Look’ at New iPhones to Avoid Face ID Lock-Out (Motherboard)The Kindle Paperwhite is ready for the bath (Engadget)Google Pixel 3 review: improving on incredible (Charged)GOOGLE PIXEL 3 AND 3 XL REVIEW: THE BEST CAMERA GETS A BETTER PHONE (The Verge)The Google Pixel 3 XL review (TechCrunch)Google Pixel 3 Review: The Other Way to Make a Killer Phone (Gizmodo)Paul G. Allen, Microsoft’s Co-Founder, Is Dead at 65 (NyTimes) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The future of Photoshop is here today, Palm is back to bring us a tiny phone, Apple makes another acquisition, and why we’re doomed to a future of genetic surveillance. Links: FINALLY: REAL PHOTOSHOP ON THE IPAD (The Verge) Adobe launches new AR and drawing tools (TechCrunch) Adobe launches Premiere Rush, a cross-platform video editor (Venture Beat) Apple acquires music analytics startup Asaii (Axios) THE NEW PALM IS A TINY PHONE TO KEEP YOU AWAY FROM YOUR PHONE (The Verge) GENOME HACKERS SHOW NO ONE’S DNA IS ANONYMOUS ANYMORE (Wired) Blockchain isn't about democracy and decentralisation – it's about greed (The Guardian) Tweetstorm about Google+ from @morganknutson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices