Goldman Sachs and Apple Plan to Offer a New Credit Card - The New York Times

Also see What the Goldman Sachs-Apple Pay credit card would mean for mobile payments (Tearsheet)

"Apple executives have said they aim for Apple Pay to eventually replace cash and plastic as the primary way to pay. But Apple’s payment service has a long way to go. One of the people familiar with the discussions between Apple and Goldman said that taking Apple Pay into the physical world would help expand its reach. With an Apple Pay credit card, loyal iPhone users could use Apple Pay even in places that don’t yet accept digital payments, the person said.

The research firm Loup Ventures estimated last year that just 13 percent of active iPhones had activated the service. And Apple Pay isn’t even the most popular mobile-payment service. It faces stiff global competition from Samsung Pay and Google’s Android Pay, as well as Alibaba’s Alipay and Tencent’s WeChat Pay in China."

Goldman Sachs and Apple Plan to Offer a New Credit Card - The New York Times

Facebook Shares Recover From Cambridge Analytica Scandal - Bloomberg

All is forgiven, for now... Tangentially, see Facebook’s blockchain foray is about trust, not crypto (Tearsheet)

"Since the revelation in mid-March that Cambridge Analytica, a political ad consulting firm, got data on tens of millions of users without their consent, Facebook has been scrambling to address criticism. The company reviewed all its products and made changes to how much information it shares with app developers.

Facebook shares climbed as much as 1.4 percent to $185.25 in morning trading in New York. The stock had closed at $185.09 on March 16, just before the news broke. It rebounded 16 percent from a low for the year in late April."

Facebook Shares Recover From Cambridge Analytica Scandal - Bloomberg

Microsoft reflects on the failures of Courier, KIN, and ultra mobile PCs - The Verge

Check the full article for a tour of some ahead-of-their-time Microsoft products/projects

"Friedman is still at Microsoft and he’s now responsible for the design of Office 365. Friedman held a similar talk at a design conference in Seattle two years ago, but this is the first time he’s spoken at Microsoft’s own conference about past product failures. The timing of Friedman’s talk is ironic as Microsoft is now rumored to be working on a Courier-like device for taking digital notes. The mysterious device has been spotted many times in patents from the Surface team, and reports suggest it will include dual displays with a unique hinge and a special notepad app to mimic writing like a real notebook.

It’s not clear if Microsoft’s mysterious Surface device, codenamed Andromeda, will ever make it to market, but Friedman’s talk does show that the company is aware of its past failures and is trying to learn from them."

Microsoft reflects on the failures of Courier, KIN, and ultra mobile PCs - The Verge

California is requiring solar panels on all new houses: here’s what that means - The Verge

Later in the article: "Though buyers could see their monthly mortgage go up by $40, their utility bills would fall by $80. Over time, a family would save $19,000 of today’s dollars, adjusted for inflation, over 30 years, according to Beck."

"California has become the first state to require that new homes be built with solar panels. The rules go into place in 2020 and are part of the state’s ambitious efforts to cut greenhouse gas emissions. But these requirements also make it more expensive to build in a state where housing is already extremely expensive.

The new building rules approved by the California Energy Commission apply to all residential buildings up to three stories high (including both single-family buildings and condos). They’ll no doubt help California reach its goal of having at least half of electricity come from renewable energy by 2030. Solar is already responsible for about 16 percent of California electricity."

California is requiring solar panels on all new houses: here’s what that means - The Verge

Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t. - The New York Times

Later in the article: "Apple said its smart speaker, HomePod, is designed to prevent commands from doing things like unlocking doors, and it noted that iPhones and iPads must be unlocked before Siri will act on commands that access sensitive data or open apps and websites, among other measures."

"Many people have grown accustomed to talking to their smart devices, asking them to read a text, play a song or set an alarm. But someone else might be secretly talking to them, too.

Over the past two years, researchers in China and the United States have begun demonstrating that they can send hidden commands that are undetectable to the human ear to Apple’s Siri, Amazon’s Alexa and Google’s Assistant. Inside university labs, the researchers have been able to secretly activate the artificial intelligence systems on smartphones and smart speakers, making them dial phone numbers or open websites. In the wrong hands, the technology could be used to unlock doors, wire money or buy stuff online — simply with music playing over the radio."

Alexa and Siri Can Hear This Hidden Command. You Can’t. - The New York Times

How Misinformation Spreads on Social Media—And What To Do About It - Lawfare

Ample room for improvement

"Last year, the company’s engineering team revealed how its current algorithm works. As with Facebook and YouTube, Twitter now relies on a deep learning algorithm that has learned to prioritize content with greater prior engagement. By combing through Twitter’s data, the algorithm has taught itself that Twitter users are more likely to stick around if they see content that has already gotten a lot of retweets and mentions, compared with content that has fewer. 

The flow of misinformation on Twitter is thus a function of both human and technical factors. Human biases play an important role: Since we’re more likely to react to content that taps into our existing grievances and beliefs, inflammatory tweets will generate quick engagement. It’s only after that engagement happens that the technical side kicks in: If a tweet is retweeted, favorited, or replied to by enough of its first viewers, the newsfeed algorithm will show it to more users, at which point it will tap into the biases of those users too—prompting even more engagement, and so on. At its worse, this cycle can turn social media into a kind of confirmation bias machine, one perfectly tailored for the spread of misinformation."

How Misinformation Spreads on Social Media—And What To Do About It - Lawfare

And for His Next Act, Ev Williams Will Fix the Internet - The New York Times

From a timely Evan Williams reality check

"And as for Twitter, which remains a highly addictive app with millions of compulsive users? Well, Mr. Williams said, the company is working to fix its problems, including weeding out some of the most noxious rule breakers on the service. (The company recently solicited proposals for tools to help it measure “conversational health.”)

But he is not convinced that the problems with social platforms can ever be fully solved, nor does he believe it’s entirely incumbent upon tech companies to solve them. Ultimately, Mr. Williams said, it will be up to users to choose, and stick to, their own information diets.

“There’s a huge buffet,” he said. “If you eat whatever’s put in front of you, you’re not necessarily going to be making the best choices.”"

And for His Next Act, Ev Williams Will Fix the Internet - The New York Times

Google AI Blog: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

Check the full post for some impressive example scenarios

"A long-standing goal of human-computer interaction has been to enable people to have a natural conversation with computers, as they would with each other. In recent years, we have witnessed a revolution in the ability of computers to understand and to generate natural speech, especially with the application of deep neural networks (e.g., Google voice search, WaveNet). Still, even with today’s state of the art systems, it is often frustrating having to talk to stilted computerized voices that don't understand natural language. In particular, automated phone systems are still struggling to recognize simple words and commands. They don’t engage in a conversation flow and force the caller to adjust to the system instead of the system adjusting to the caller.

Today we announce Google Duplex, a new technology for conducting natural conversations to carry out “real world” tasks over the phone. The technology is directed towards completing specific tasks, such as scheduling certain types of appointments. For such tasks, the system makes the conversational experience as natural as possible, allowing people to speak normally, like they would to another person, without having to adapt to a machine."

Google AI Blog: Google Duplex: An AI System for Accomplishing Real World Tasks Over the Phone

‘Oops’: Walmart’s Biggest Deal Ever, Announced by SoftBank’s CEO - Bloomberg

For some context-setting, see Why are Walmart and Amazon desperate to buy Flipkart? (Quartz)

"This isn’t the way multibillion-dollar deals usually get announced.

Hours before Walmart Inc. was scheduled to unveil the largest acquisition in its history, Masayoshi Son, chief executive officer of SoftBank Group Corp., spilled the beans to a roomful of investors and journalists in Tokyo. He confirmed that the U.S. retailer has agreed to buy control of Flipkart Online Services Pvt, the leading Indian e-commerce player backed by SoftBank.

“I think we announced it last night,” he said, during an investor call after his own company’s earnings. “If not, well then that means I’m just spouting this out. In any case, it’s been decided.”"

‘Oops’: Walmart’s Biggest Deal Ever, Announced by SoftBank’s CEO - Bloomberg

Google Strikes Humble Tone While Promoting A.I. Technology - The New York Times

Sundar Pichai also extended Google's mission statement in his opening keynote -- noting “Our core mission is to make information more useful, accessible and beneficial to all of society” (emphasis mine; Google's Our company page still has “Organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”)

"But in a year when some of its most popular products have been used to propagate misinformation, spread conspiracy theories and meddle with elections, Google struck a more measured tone on Tuesday. Speaking at this year’s Google I/O conference, Sundar Pichai, the company’s chief executive, said advancements in artificial intelligence had pushed Google to be more reflective about its responsibilities.

“There are very real and important questions being raised about the impact of these advances, and the role they will play in our lives,” Mr. Pichai said during his keynote speech. “We know the path ahead needs to be navigated carefully and deliberately. We feel a deep sense of responsibility to get this right.”"

Google Strikes Humble Tone While Promoting A.I. Technology - The New York Times

Facebook Shakes Up Management; Main Divisions Get New Heads - Bloomberg

For more reorg details, see Facebook to Reorganize After Scrutiny Over Data Privacy (NYT)

"The Menlo Park, California-based company also unveiled a new initiative to explore the use of blockchain, the decentralized ledger technology that underpins digital currencies like Bitcoin. The team dedicated to blockchain will be run by David Marcus, who formerly headed the Messenger chat app.

Facebook’s chief product officer, Chris Cox, has been promoted to oversee all of the company’s apps. Will Cathcart will become head of Facebook’s core application, the company said. The former leader of news feed, Adam Mosseri, was named head of product at photo-sharing app Instagram, replacing Kevin Weil, who will join the blockchain team."

Facebook Shakes Up Management; Main Divisions Get New Heads - Bloomberg

Vox Media Punches Up Podcast Ads WIth a Kara Swisher Character Chat – Variety

Parody different

"Vox Media publishes many articles that get people talking. But now the company is doing something it hopes will get its consumers to listen – even when its journalism and analysis aren’t at the center of the conversation.

Listeners to Recode’s “Recode/Decode” podcast this week may have been surprised to hear host Kara Swisher take a break from the program and start to interview Russ Hanneman, the erratic technology investor from HBO’s comedy “Silicon Valley.” In the exchange – laden with profanity – Swisher quizzes the fictional character (played by actor Chris Diamantopoulos) on his efforts to launch cryptocurrencies, which is one of the current plotlines of the program. The interview will also be heard on The Verge’s “Vergecast” and Recode’s “Recode Media.”"

Vox Media Punches Up Podcast Ads WIth a Kara Swisher Character Chat – Variety

Microsoft Tries a New Role: Moral Leader - The New York Times

Tangentially, see Apple is an 'amazing' company with best profit potential in tech, Bill Gates says (CNBC); also see At Google, ‘responsibility’ upstages new technology (Washington Post)

"But while the company’s power has diminished since a couple of decades ago, when it controlled computing through Windows, Microsoft remains an influential voice. On Monday, its market capitalization of $733 billion made it the third most valuable technology company, behind Apple and Amazon and ahead of Google parent company, Alphabet, and Facebook.

“The irony for Microsoft is that they lost in search, they lost in social networks and they lost in mobile, and as a consequence, they have avoided the recent pushback from governments and media,” said David Yoffie, a professor at the Harvard Business School. “This has given Microsoft the freedom to take the high road as the ethical leader in technology.”"

Microsoft Tries a New Role: Moral Leader - The New York Times

Opinion | What Will New York Do About Its Uber Problem? - The New York Times

A timely sharing economy reality check; on a related note, see Airbnb is freaking out over NYC's report on rising rents (CNet)

"New Yorkers who can afford to avoid their dysfunctional subway system are spoiled for choice these days. In addition to long-established taxis, livery cabs, black cars and limousines, they can summon rides through Uber, Lyft, Via, Juno and other app-based ride-hailing and ride-sharing services. While this new surfeit of options has been a boon to people trying to get around town, it has also helped lay waste to the livelihoods of taxi drivers and turn New York’s already busy streets into glorified parking lots — and leaders like Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, Albany and the City Council have yet to come up with an effective strategy to deal with these problems.

Cities have a long history of intervening to impose order on their streets. No large metropolis can accommodate everyone who would like to drive or be privately driven around — street space is a limited resource, especially in the densest neighborhoods and at the busiest times of the day. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, New York created its taxi medallion system because drivers looking for work flooded the streets, far outstripping demand and driving down wages for drivers. With the rise of Uber, Lyft and the like, the city is again confronting a tragedy of the commons."

Opinion | What Will New York Do About Its Uber Problem? - The New York Times

Bitcoin Sees Wall Street Warm to Trading Virtual Currency - The New York Times

Also see Should the Fed Create ‘FedCoin’ to Rival Bitcoin? A Former Top Official Says ‘Maybe’ (NYT)

"The parent company of the New York Stock Exchange has been working on an online trading platform that would allow large investors to buy and hold Bitcoin, according to emails and documents viewed by The New York Times and four people briefed on the effort who asked to remain anonymous because the plans were still confidential.

The news of the virtual exchange, which has not been reported before, came after Goldman Sachs went public with its intention to open a Bitcoin trading unit — most likely the first of its kind at a Wall Street bank.

The moves by Goldman and Intercontinental Exchange, or ICE, the parent company of the New York Stock Exchange, mark a dramatic shift toward the mainstream for a digital token that has been known primarily for its underworld associations and status as a high-risk, speculative investment."

Bitcoin Sees Wall Street Warm to Trading Virtual Currency - The New York Times

Just in Time | Asymco

Revisiting the iMac on its 20th anniversary

"In retrospect you have to wonder if Apple, with the iMac, was lucky to survive into this next era or if that era would have ever happened without the iMac. It’s a question of causality which quickly devolves into an un-winnable argument about stochastic vs. deterministic existence.

Regardless, the result was felt more than seen. The computing industry was pivoting. The results are seen also in the graphs above. The iMac came right in the middle of the “desert” of platform choice of the late 1990s. By the 2000s mobile platforms detonated on the scene. The iPod was Apple’s first entry, in 2001, but it was not a computer. It was an appliance. A stepping stone at a time when the early platform contenders Nokia, Palm, Microsoft and BlackBerry surged before realizing that they did not have sound foundations upon which to build ecosystems. Their advances could not be consolidated."

 

Just in Time | Asymco

Cambridge Analytica: how did it turn clicks into votes? | News | The Guardian

Check the full article for an overview of Cambridge Analytica modus operandi

"While this was undoubtedly a highly sophisticated targeting machine, questions remain about Cambridge Analytica’s psychometric model – ones Wylie, perhaps, isn’t best placed to answer. When Kogan gave evidence to parliament in April, he suggested that it was barely better than chance at applying the right Ocean scores to individuals. Maybe that edge is enough to matter – or maybe CA was selling snake oil. And even if individuals were correctly labelled with the five factors, is advertising to them based on that really as simple as slightly hokey-sounding appeals to love of order, or fear of the other?

That said, there’s clearly something in it. Take a look instead at a patent filed in 2012 on “determining user personality characteristics from social networking system communications”. “Stored personality characteristics may be used as targeting criteria for advertisers ... to increase the likelihood that the user … positively interacts with a selected advertisement,” the patent suggests. Its author? Facebook itself."

Cambridge Analytica: how did it turn clicks into votes? | News | The Guardian

What Europe’s Tough New Data Law Means for You, and the Internet - The New York Times

On a related note, see Who Strikes Fear Into Silicon Valley? Margrethe Vestager, Europe’s Antitrust Enforcer (NYT) and The agency in charge of policing Facebook and Google is 103 years old. Can it modernize? (Washington Post)

"Much will depend on how strictly national regulators enforce the rules, and how they use their tight budgets. Data-protection agencies in each European Union country will be in charge of policing the companies that have European headquarters within its borders.

That oversight structure is leading to concerns that officials in countries such as Ireland, where Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter and many other data-heavy companies are based, will be overmatched.

A lot of responsibility also falls on you to keep tabs on how companies use your data.

The General Data Protection Regulation provides ways to take action if your information is being misused. But the question is whether people care enough, or if trading privacy for convenience remains a worthwhile deal."

What Europe’s Tough New Data Law Means for You, and the Internet - The New York Times

Berkshire’s Annual Meeting: Buffett Approves of Apple’s Buyback Plan - The New York Times

A long-term investor perspective

"Warren Buffett and Charles Munger saved their harshest words for cryptocurrencies.

“Cryptocurrencies will come to bad endings.” Mr. Buffett said, responding to an attendee from Ukraine.

Mr. Buffett’s main argument against cryptocurrencies is the same one he has made about gold: They are not a “productive asset.” That means the value of cryptocurrencies is determined solely by what someone is willing to pay for it.

“If you had bought gold at the time of Christ and you figure the compound rate on it, it’s a couple tenths of a percent,” Mr. Buffett said."

Berkshire’s Annual Meeting: Buffett Approves of Apple’s Buyback Plan - The New York Times

John Micklethwait: The Future of News - Bloomberg

From a wide-ranging journalism reality check

"Nowadays, journalists increasingly prep their story templates to be filled in by a computer system called Cyborg that dissects a company’s earnings the moment they appear and produces not just instant headlines but, in a matter of seconds, what is in effect a mini-wrap with all the numbers and a lot of context. All this is in competition not just with Reuters but with specialist news-scraping sites that serve hedge funds looking for microseconds of advantage. An arms race has developed, with the battleground moving to secondary data—like the number of iPhones sold in China—that can often move a share price more than the profit numbers. Today, a quarter of the content produced by Bloomberg has some degree of automation.

It’s not just the financial press. The Washington Post, for example, uses automation to cover high school sports. News organizations that used to first hear about news from local reporters now use banks of computers to find news, trawling through reams of social data for words like “explosion,” “resignation,” or even “Kardashian.”"

John Micklethwait: The Future of News - Bloomberg