Tesla’s profits disappoint, renewing concerns about growth | Washington Post

Also see Tesla Has Just 4 Weeks to Rally 21% or Pay $920 Million on Bonds | Bloomberg

"Elon Musk’s Tesla posted a lower-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter and a $1 billion loss for all of 2018, the all-electric automaker said Wednesday, renewing questions about how it will fund its grand ambitions as it faces mass layoffs and billion-dollar debts.

Tesla’s $139 million quarterly profit marked the first time the company has recorded back-to-back quarterly profits, and the company’s $21 billion in revenue for the year — up from $11 billion in 2017 — showed it had made considerable progress in its race to dominate the global market for electric cars.

But analysts had expected the company to record about $182 million in profits for the quarter, and the miss appeared to reinvigorate investor concerns over the Silicon Valley automaker’s ability to reach new markets and survive in an increasingly competitive industry. The $50 billion company’s stock fell about 5 percent in after-hours trading."

Tesla’s profits disappoint, renewing concerns about growth | Washington Post

Intel Chiefs Testify on Global Threats, Cybersecurity and Elections | Lawfare

On a related note, see An Angry Trump Pushes Back Against His Own ‘Naïve’ Intelligence Officials | NYT

"The written statement provided by Coats began with a general discussion on the cyber threats facing the United States. According to Coats, “[o]ur adversaries and strategic competitors will increasingly use cyber capabilities—including cyber espionage, attack, and influence—to seek political, economic, and military advantage over the United States and its allies and partners.” He also briefly addressed how cyber threats have evolved. In that section, Coats concluded that foreign adversaries have expanded their traditional cyber espionage and intelligence activities and “are now becoming more adept at using social media to alter how we think, behave, and decide.” Coats’s written statement reflected the conclusions of the recently published National Intelligence Strategy, which states that “[d]espite growing awareness of cyber threats and improving cyber defenses, nearly all information, communication networks, and systems will be at risk for years to come,” and “[o]ur adversaries are becoming more adept at using cyberspace capabilities to threaten our interests and advance their own strategic and economic objectives.”

Coats identified China and Russia as “pos[ing] the greatest espionage and cyber attack threats” to the country, but also warns of the threats presented by Iran and North Korea. This point does not substantially deviate from the information that Coats provided during his 2017 and 2018 briefings to Congress. In addition, it is consistent with a 2016 statement by former DNI James Clapper, which described these four countries as “leading threat actors.”"

Intel Chiefs Testify on Global Threats, Cybersecurity and Elections | Lawfare

Newspapers cost more than twice as much today as they did a decade ago (and that was a smart move by publishers) | NiemanLab

On a related note, see Loss of newspapers contributes to political polarization | AP

"A seven-day print subscription to the Times will now run you over $1,000 a year in much of the country. A subscription to The Boston Globe here in Cambridge will run you about $750 a year. The Washington Post or The Dallas Morning News will each run you about $650. And if you’re in that dying breed of single-copy buyers at a newsstand or coffee shop, those four papers would cost you, on a weekday, $3, $2.50, $2, and $2.49, respectively.

Those prices have gone up fast. As recently as 2013, a weekday Boston Globe ran you $1.25 and a Washington Post or Dallas Morning News cost $1. And kids, gather ’round while I tell you about how angry people were in 2001 when a copy of the Post went from 25 cents to 35 cents. A year’s home delivery subscription to the Post cost about $130 back then. Even accounting for inflation since then, a Post subscription now costs about 3.5 times what it used to."

Newspapers cost more than twice as much today as they did a decade ago (and that was a smart move by publishers) | NiemanLab

Facebook keeps attracting digital ads, shares jump after hours | Reuters

 For another Facebook perspective, see Maybe Only Tim Cook Can Fix Facebook’s Privacy Problem | NYT

"Investors have worried that Facebook’s pledge to invest heavily to improve its privacy and security standards would blunt the company’s growth, but its fourth-quarter results appeared to soothe those concerns, sending its stock price up more than 11 percent after hours.

“The worst is over for this social media giant,” said Haris Anwar, an analyst at Investing.com: “Its ad business and user engagement haven’t been affected despite all the negative blows of the past year.”

The company has struggled with scandals over improperly shared customer data and propaganda on its service that tarnished its image and made it the target of political scrutiny across the globe last year."

Facebook keeps attracting digital ads, shares jump after hours | Reuters

Apple is in fantastic shape (as long as you ignore the iPhone) | Quartz

Also see Apple Reports First Quarter Results | Apple Newsroom

"Today’s report validated some of those concerns. The company reported $51.9 billion in iPhone sales this quarter, a drop of about 15% from the same period last year. It appears it was not a great holiday season for Apple’s latest devices, which some felt were too similar to last year’s products, but at a higher price.

One of the true bright spots for Apple in recent quarters has been its services business, which includes sales of apps, games, Apple Music and iCloud subscriptions, as well as Apple Pay fees. That business is the size of a Fortune 100 company on its own, and generated $10.8 billion this quarter, a jump of 19% over the same period last year.

For the first time, Apple reported the margin on its services business: a massive 62.2%."

Apple is in fantastic shape (as long as you ignore the iPhone) | Quartz

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them | TechCrunch

Yet another "learning opportunity" for Facebook senior management... Also see Facebook will shut down its controversial market research app for iOS | The Verge

"Desperate for data on its competitors, Facebook  has been secretly paying people to install a “Facebook Research” VPN that lets the company suck in all of a user’s phone and web activity, similar to Facebook’s Onavo Protect app that Apple banned in June and that was removed in August. Facebook sidesteps the App Store and rewards teenagers and adults to download the Research app and give it root access to network traffic in what may be a violation of Apple policy so the social network can decrypt and analyze their phone activity, a TechCrunch investigation confirms. Facebook admitted to TechCrunch it was running the Research program to gather data on usage habits.

Since 2016, Facebook has been paying users ages 13 to 35 up to $20 per month plus referral fees to sell their privacy by installing the iOS or Android “Facebook Research” app. Facebook even asked users to screenshot their Amazon order history page. The program is administered through beta testing services Applause, BetaBound and uTest to cloak Facebook’s involvement, and is referred to in some documentation as “Project Atlas” — a fitting name for Facebook’s effort to map new trends and rivals around the globe."

Facebook pays teens to install VPN that spies on them | TechCrunch

Warning! Everything Is Going Deep: ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ | NYT

Some deep thoughts from Thomas Friedman

"Around the end of each year major dictionaries declare their “word of the year.” Last year, for instance, the most looked-up word at Merriam-Webster.com was “justice.” Well, even though it’s early, I’m ready to declare the word of the year for 2019.

The word is “deep.”

Why? Because recent advances in the speed and scope of digitization, connectivity, big data and artificial intelligence are now taking us “deep” into places and into powers that we’ve never experienced before — and that governments have never had to regulate before. I’m talking about deep learning, deep insights, deep surveillance, deep facial recognition, deep voice recognition, deep automation and deep artificial minds.

Some of these technologies offer unprecedented promise and some unprecedented peril — but they’re all now part of our lives. Everything is going deep."

Warning! Everything Is Going Deep: ‘The Age of Surveillance Capitalism’ | NYT

With 10+ million daily active users, Slack is where more work happens every day, all over the world | Slack blog

Evidently not yet feeling constrained by Microsoft Teams or Workplace by Facebook...

"We are grateful for the customers who have put their trust in Slack to help them transform their organizations and be more productive. Slack is uniquely supporting teams at scale; it is used by 65 of the Fortune 100, and we’ve expanded our impact in these organizations by adding hundreds of thousands of new users within them since last year.

But it’s not just these large enterprises that are changing the way they work. The number of paid customers worldwide has grown by more than 50% over the past year and now tops 85,000. These include organizations with tens of people alongside those with tens of thousands, and they span nearly every kind of work: accountants, customer support reps, engineers, lawyers, journalists, dentists, chefs, detectives, executives, scientists, farmers, hoteliers, salespeople, and all kinds of other people use Slack to coordinate election coverage, diagnose network problems, review code, negotiate budgets, plan marketing campaigns, approve menus, review job candidates, and organize disaster response teams, along with countless other tasks."

With 10+ million daily active users, Slack is where more work happens every day, all over the world | Slack blog

How Google's Jigsaw Is Trying to Detoxify the Internet | PCMag

From an extensive Jigsaw overview

"Tech giants have experimented with various combinations of human moderation, AI algorithms, and filters to wade through the deluge of content flowing through their feeds each day. Jigsaw is trying to find a middle ground. The Alphabet subsidiary and tech incubator, formerly known as Google Ideas, is beginning to prove that machine learning (ML) fashioned into tools for human moderators can change the way we approach the internet's toxicity problem.

Perspective is an API developed by Jigsaw and Google's Counter Abuse Technology team. It uses ML to spot abuse and harassment online, and scores comments based on the perceived impact they might have on a conversation in a bid to make human moderators' lives easier."

How Google's Jigsaw Is Trying to Detoxify the Internet | PCMag

An Anti-Facebook Manifesto, by an Early Facebook Investor | NYT

Final paragraphs from a timely book review

"McNamee’s book is not merely the cri de coeur of a forsworn tech optimist zinged by moral conscience. It’s also a robust and helpful itemization of the ways Facebook could be brought to heel. McNamee clearly believes the company can be made into something more benign, and perhaps even socially beneficial. That may or may not be true, but the damage it has already done is not precisely containable. Considering the high likelihood that Russian activity on Facebook may have tipped the 2016 election to Donald Trump, the damage is already of generational measure.

But here’s the bizarre quirk of the Facebook dystopia, whose sheer perversity would have likely pleased Orwell: It’s all Big and no Brother. Our time and lives are the company’s only currency. Without our continued attention, Facebook quite literally has nothing, and its empire could be brought down with a feather. Now, blow."

An Anti-Facebook Manifesto, by an Early Facebook Investor | NYT

Lego bricks outshine gold bars as investments, study finds | CNET

BrickCoin can't be far behind...

""Lego returns are not exposed to market, value, momentum and volatility risk factors, but have an almost unit exposure to the size factor," the report said. "A low exposure to standard risk factors make the Lego toy an attractive alternative investment with a good diversification potential."

It's interesting to note that some of the most expensive Lego sets sold since 2014 have reached six figures."

Lego bricks outshine gold bars as investments, study finds | CNET

Major iPhone FaceTime bug lets you hear the audio of the person you are calling … before they pick up | 9to5Mac

Listen/watch different...

"A significant bug has been discovered in FaceTime and is currently spreading virally over social media. The bug lets you call anyone with FaceTime, and immediately hear the audio coming from their phone — before the person on the other end has accepted or rejected the incoming call. Apple says the issue will be addressed in a software update “later this week”. (Update: Apple has taken Group FaceTime offline in an attempt to address the issue in the interim).

Naturally, this poses a pretty privacy problem as you can essentially listen in on any iOS user, although it still rings like normal, so you can’t be 100% covert about it. Nevertheless, there is no indication on the recipient’s side that you could hear any of their audio."

Major iPhone FaceTime bug lets you hear the audio of the person you are calling … before they pick up | 9to5Mac

Images show Apple preparing News app in iOS 12.2 for new magazine subscription service | 9to5Mac

For other iOS 12.2 hints, see iOS 12.2 beta includes references to four new iPad models, new iPod Touch without Touch ID | 9to5Mac

"Today, we’ve been able to activate the landing page for this new service on Apple News running on iOS 12.2. It looks like the subscription service will be called “Apple News Magazines” and it will be associated to the user’s iTunes Store account, just like Apple Music. There are many mentions of “bundle subscription” in this beta, which makes us believe this can be a part of Apple’s plan to release an all-in-one media subscription which will include Apple Music, TV shows and magazines.

It’s unclear when this will become available to the public, but with the internal testing happening now and the other rumored new products and services, it’s possible that we’ll see an event in March which would include the announcement of the new TV shows service, Apple News Magazines and this all-in-one bundle subscription."

Images show Apple preparing News app in iOS 12.2 for new magazine subscription service | 9to5Mac

‘Businesses Will Not Be Able to Hide’: Spy Satellites May Give Edge From Above | NYT

In other surveillance capitalism news...

"High-altitude surveillance was once the domain of global superpowers. Now, a growing number of start-ups are turning it into a business, aiming to sell insights gleaned from cameras and other sensors installed on small and inexpensive “cube satellites.”

The companies and governments that spent decades using internet services, cameras and other devices to collect data on regular people may soon get a taste of their own information technology.

“Businesses will not be able to hide from competitors or regulators or watchdogs,” said Mark Johnson, chief executive and co-founder of Descartes Labs, another satellite information start-up. “They need to realize that their traditional competitive advantage — information — will be available to everyone.”"

‘Businesses Will Not Be Able to Hide’: Spy Satellites May Give Edge From Above | NYT

Microsoft’s Bing Back Online in China After Apparent Blockage | NYT

Tbd if we'll ever know the rest of the Bing-in-China story; in other Microsoft service access news, Microsoft Office 365 users in Europe unable to access mailboxes for a full day | ZDNet

"While Bing is not widely used in China, it has been one of the few remaining portals to the broader internet as the government isolates China’s internet from the rest of the world. Bing has survived in part because Microsoft has worked to follow the government’s censorship practices around political topics. It has also cooperated with the government in developing other parts of its business, such as working with a state-run firm that supplies the military to produce a government-approved version of its Windows 10 software.

“There are times when there are disagreements, there are times when there are difficult negotiations with the Chinese government, and we’re still waiting to find out what this situation is about,” Brad Smith, Microsoft’s president, said in an interview with Fox Business Network at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

Mr. Smith acknowledged that Microsoft had fewer legal rights in China than in other countries.

“There are certain principles that we think it’s important to stand up for,” he said, “and we’ll go at times into the negotiating room and the negotiations are sometimes pretty darn direct.”"

Microsoft’s Bing Back Online in China After Apparent Blockage | NYT

The Facts About Facebook | WSJ

Final paragraphs from a Mark Zuckerberg op-ed (summarized: "We need your information for operation and security, but you control whether we use it for advertising.")

"Ultimately, I believe the most important principles around data are transparency, choice and control. We need to be clear about the ways we’re using information, and people need to have clear choices about how their information is used. We believe regulation that codifies these principles across the internet would be good for everyone.

It’s important to get this right, because there are clear benefits to this business model. Billions of people get a free service to stay connected to those they care about and to express themselves. And small businesses—which create most of the jobs and economic growth around the world—get access to tools that help them thrive. There are more than 90 million small businesses on Facebook, and they make up a large part of our business. Most couldn’t afford to buy TV ads or billboards, but now they have access to tools that only big companies could use before. In a global survey, half the businesses on Facebook say they’ve hired more people since they joined. They’re using our services to create millions of jobs.

For us, technology has always been about putting power in the hands of as many people as possible. If you believe in a world where everyone gets an opportunity to use their voice and an equal chance to be heard, where anyone can start a business from scratch, then it’s important to build technology that serves everyone. That’s the world we’re building for every day, and our business model makes it possible."

The Facts About Facebook | WSJ

LinkedIn's early investment in start-up Confluent has become a 50-fold gain for Microsoft | CNBC

Check the full article for more on Confluent's history and LinkedIn's investment portfolio

"When Microsoft bought LinkedIn for $27 billion in 2016, the deal brought with it a small equity investment that's turned into a surprising windfall.

Two years before the acquisition, LinkedIn invested about $500,000 as part of a $6.9 million venture round in a fledgling spin-out called Confluent, which was setting out to commercialize the Apache Kafka open-source software. It was LinkedIn's first such investment, and valued Confluent at about $24 million.

On Wednesday, Confluent said its valuation has swelled to $2.5 billion, based on a fresh $125 million investment led by Sequoia. That means the company is worth over 100 times more today than it was when LinkedIn wrote its check in 2014. LinkedIn's stake is now valued at about $25 million (a 50-fold increase), because its investment was diluted in future fundraising rounds, said a person with knowledge of the deal who asked not to be named because the size of LinkedIn's ownership was never disclosed."

LinkedIn's early investment in start-up Confluent has become a 50-fold gain for Microsoft | CNBC

Microsoft acquires another open-source company, Citus Data | CNBC

For more details, see Microsoft Acquires Citus Data: Creating the World’s Best Postgres Experience Together | Citus Data and Microsoft acquires Citus Data, re-affirming its commitment to Open Source and accelerating Azure PostgreSQL performance and scale | Microsoft Blog; for a history of Postgres and its significance, see Looking Back at Postgres (PDF), a chapter from the recently published Making Databases Work: The Pragmatic Wisdom of Michael Stonebraker

"Microsoft on Thursday said that it's acquiring Citus Data, a start-up that has commercialized open-source database software called PostgreSQL. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed.

The deal could help Microsoft make its argument that it supports open-source technologies, particularly in the cloud, while continuing to make money from popular proprietary software like Windows and Office. In the cloud business, Microsoft wants to use openness as a way to pick up business amid competition from Google, market leader Amazon and others."

Microsoft acquires another open-source company, Citus Data | CNBC

StarCraft is a deep, complicated war strategy game. Google’s AlphaStar AI crushed it. | Vox

Tbd when Google DeepMind will introduce AlphaGovernment... For details: AlphaStar: Mastering the Real-Time Strategy Game StarCraft II | DeepMind blog

"In a stunning demonstration of how far AI capabilities have come, AlphaStar — a new AI system from Google’s DeepMind — competed with pro players in a series of competitive StarCraft games. StarCraft is a complicated strategy game that requires players to consider hundreds of options at any given moment, to make strategic choices with payoffs a long way down the road, and to operate in a fast-changing environment with imperfect information. More than 200,000 games are played every day.

The demo was streamed live on YouTube and Twitch and had been highly anticipated — not just among gamers but also among AI enthusiasts — since it was announced on Tuesday.

The results were stunning: AlphaStar won all but one of the games it played."

StarCraft is a deep, complicated war strategy game. Google’s AlphaStar AI crushed it. | Vox

Sandberg says Facebook must earn back trust | Reuters

An understatement-of-the-year candidate

"The social media platform is investing billions of dollars a year to improve the security of its network, Sandberg said in an interview hosted by German newspaper Die Zeit and UK law firm CMS at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

“We did not anticipate all of the risks from connecting so many people,” Sandberg said, adding that the site had added features that give users greater control over their personal information.

The 15-year-old technology company has been a darling of California’s Silicon Valley, making stars out of its founder, chief executive and chairman Mark Zuckerberg, and Sandberg, known for her feminist manifesto “Lean In”. But its shares have fallen roughly 33 percent since July to $144 due to concerns about user privacy."

Sandberg says Facebook must earn back trust | Reuters

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: The Rolling Stone Interview | Rolling Stone

From an extensive interview; tangentially, see NYU’s Jay Rosen says 2020’s political journalism will be even worse than 2016’s | Recode

"The model in Silicon Valley for a long time was “we are a neutral platform.” It’s obviously not quite the case anymore. So if it’s not a platform, what is it?
People see Twitter as a public square, and therefore they have expectations that they would have of a public square. Washington Square Park, for instance — I just had an hour and a half there, today. I sat, and I did my phone calls, and I watched people. There’s a lot going on in Washington Square Park. There’s tourists, students, filmmakers, musicians, street hustlers, weed dealers, chess players. And there’s people talking out in the open. The park itself is completely neutral to whatever happens on top of it. But if you stop there, you don’t realize what I believe the park actually is. It does come with certain expectations of freedom of expression, but everyone is watching one another. So if someone gets up on a little soapbox, with a megaphone, and starts yelling, a crowd comes around them and listens. That person can also yell across the park and say, “Hey, you idiot, yeah, you, I’m talking to you, come over here.” Then it’s really harassing behavior and people notice that, and they’re like, “Hey, man, don’t do that. Stop.” And then there’s the park police as well, who maintain the standard of decency within the park."

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: The Rolling Stone Interview | Rolling Stone

Google's Proposed Changes to Chrome Could Weaken Ad Blockers | Wired

For more details, see Google planning changes to Chrome that could break ad blockers | Ars Technica

"THE WEB CAN be an annoying and creepy place. Big animated ads try to distract you from what you’re reading, while ads for products you’ve already bought stalk you. That’s led many people to install ad blockers or other tools to inhibit websites from tracking them. According to a survey by identity management company Janrain, 71 percent of respondents use ad blockers or some other tool to control their online experience. Google, which makes the bulk of its money from advertising, has even gone so far as to block ads on its Chrome browser on a small number of sites with particularly aggressive ads.
[...]
But proposed changes to Google’s open source browser Chromium, on which Chrome is based, would break many existing ad blockers and other tools for blocking or changing online content. It will still be possible to block ads if the proposed changes are incorporated into Chrome, but developers would need to rewrite their Chrome extensions. Many developers are protesting the proposal, arguing that the changes would harm users."

Google's Proposed Changes to Chrome Could Weaken Ad Blockers | Wired

Meet Scout | Amazon blog

Sidewalks may soon be crowded with delivery robots... Also see The Prime Challenges for Amazon's New Delivery Robot | Wired

"How will delivery by Amazon Scout work? Customers in Snohomish County order just as they normally would and their Amazon packages will be delivered either by one of our trusted partner carriers or by Amazon Scout. Customers can shop on the Amazon App or amazon.com and enjoy the same delivery options including fast, FREE Same-Day, One-Day and Two-Day shipping for Prime members.

We’re starting with six Amazon Scout devices, delivering packages Monday through Friday, during daylight hours. The devices will autonomously follow their delivery route but will initially be accompanied by an Amazon employee. We developed Amazon Scout at our research and development lab in Seattle, ensuring the devices can safely and efficiently navigate around pets, pedestrians and anything else in their path."

Meet Scout | Amazon blog

Apple just dismissed more than 200 employees from Project Titan, its autonomous vehicle group | CNBC

Also note, from Apple shrinks autonomous vehicle team by 200 employees | The Verge: "However, despite this apparent reduced focus, the amount of self-driving cars Apple is testing on the roads has continued to increase, with the company having more registered test vehicles in California than Google’s autonomous spin-off Waymo as of March 2018."

"Apple dismissed just over 200 employees this week from Project Titan, its stealthy autonomous vehicle group, people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

An Apple spokesperson acknowledged the lay-offs and said the company still sees opportunity in the space:

"We have an incredibly talented team working on autonomous systems and associated technologies at Apple. As the team focuses their work on several key areas for 2019, some groups are being moved to projects in other parts of the company, where they will support machine learning and other initiatives, across all of Apple," the spokesperson said."

Apple just dismissed more than 200 employees from Project Titan, its autonomous vehicle group | CNBC

China Appears to Block Microsoft’s Bing as Censorship Intensifies | NYT

Later in the article: "Blocking Bing would brick over one of the last holes in a wall of online filters that has isolated China’s internet from the rest of the world." Also see China Blocks Microsoft's Bing Due to Technical Error, Sources Say | Bloomberg. In other China + technology news, see In Davos, U.S. executives warn that China is winning the AI race | Washington Post

"Under China’s president, Xi Jinping, the last vestiges of the global internet have slowly disappeared from an online world that had already shut out Twitter, Google and Facebook.

Now one of the last survivors, Microsoft’s Bing search engine, appears to have joined them — even though the American company already censors its results in China.

The Chinese government appeared to block the search engine on Wednesday, in what would be a startling renunciation of more than a decade of efforts by Microsoft to engage with Beijing to make its products available. If the block proves to be permanent, it would suggest that Western companies can do little to persuade China to give them access to what has become the world’s largest internet market by users, especially at a time of increased trade and economic tensions with the United States."

China Appears to Block Microsoft’s Bing as Censorship Intensifies | NYT

Never Tweet | NYT

From a timely Twitter/journalism reality check

"So it was just another weekend on Twitter. But in its zigs and zags, the Covington story made one thing clear: Twitter is ruining American journalism.

The Covington saga illustrates how every day the media’s favorite social network tugs journalists deeper into the rip currents of tribal melodrama, short-circuiting our better instincts in favor of mob- and bot-driven groupthink. In the process, it helps bolster the most damaging stereotypes of our profession. Instead of curious, intellectually honest chroniclers of human affairs, Twitter regularly turns many in the news — myself included — into knee-jerk outrage-bots reflexively set off by this or that hash-tagged cause, misspelled presidential missive or targeted-influence campaign.

But Twitter isn’t just ruining the media’s image. It’s also skewing our journalism. Everything about Twitter’s interface encourages a mind-set antithetical to journalistic inquiry: It prizes image over substance and cheap dunks over reasoned debate, all the while severely abridging the temporal scope of the press."

Never Tweet | NYT

Family says hacked Nest camera warned them of North Korean missile attack | Washington Post

You're securing it wrong...

"Calls to 911 and Nest confirmed there was no danger. Instead, a Nest supervisor explained to the family they were probably victims of a “third-party hack,” granting someone access to their cameras and its speakers through a compromised password.

Google, which owns Nest, told the Mercury News that Nest was not breached.

“These recent reports are based on customers using compromised passwords (exposed through breaches on other websites). In nearly all cases, two-factor verification eliminates this type of the security risk,” Nest said in an email statement to the Mercury News. The firm said it is “actively introducing features” that will reject compromised passwords, allow customers to monitor access to their accounts and track external entities that abuse credentials."

Family says hacked Nest camera warned them of North Korean missile attack | Washington Post

Google Gives Wikimedia Millions—Plus Machine Learning Tools | Wired

Significant search synergy

"GOOGLE IS POURING an additional $3.1 million into Wikipedia, bringing its total contribution to the free encyclopedia over the past decade to more than $7.5 million, the company announced at the World Economic Forum Tuesday. A little over a third of those funds will go toward sustaining current efforts at the Wikimedia Foundation, the nonprofit that runs Wikipedia, and the remaining $2 million will focus on long-term viability through the organization’s endowment.

Google will also begin allowing Wikipedia editors to use several of its machine learning tools for free, the tech giant said. What's more, Wikimedia and Google will soon broaden Project Tiger, a joint initiative they launched in 2017 to increase the number of Wikipedia articles written in underrepresented languages in India, and to include 10 new languages in a handful of countries and regions. It will now be called GLOW, Growing Local Language Content on Wikipedia."

Google Gives Wikimedia Millions—Plus Machine Learning Tools | Wired

Cloud, services fuel IBM's profit beat, robust outlook; shares jump | Reuters

Tbd when the IBM public cloud data center investment write-off will be taken... Also see IBM’s stock jumps 7% despite another decline in revenue | SiliconAngle

"IBM’s cloud strategy has focused on helping companies stitch together multiple cloud platforms rather than compete head on with “hyperscale” cloud providers such as Amazon Web Services (AMZN.O), Microsoft Azure (MSFT.O) and Alphabet Inc’s Google (GOOGL.O).

IBM’s cloud business overall grew 12 percent to $19.2 billion in 2018. It is one area IBM has actively looked to build and part of its “Strategic Imperatives,” which also include analytics, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence.

The core cloud businesses performed “quite well” in the quarter and is consistent with an overall view that enterprises are increasingly moving into the full-scale cloud migration, MoffettNathanson analyst Lisa Ellis said."

Cloud, services fuel IBM's profit beat, robust outlook; shares jump | Reuters

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It | NYT

What could possibly go wrong?...

"The whole experiment is likely to face immediate challenges as the price of Bitcoin declines, after a spectacular rise tempted investors around the world to bet on cryptocurrencies.

Most companies tend to lose money when the price of Bitcoin falls below energy costs, and mining operators worldwide have recently been scaling back. The largest mining company, the Chinese company Bitmain, has been closing offices and laying off workers. Last week, Bitfury announced layoffs at a facility in Canada.

Georgia, however, has been betting its economy on luring blockchain technology, the encrypted storage capability behind all crypto transactions."

Despite Bitcoin’s Dive, a Former Soviet Republic Is Still Betting Big on It | NYT

George Mason students have a new dining option: Food delivered by robots | Washington Post

More food delivery robots

"“Students and teachers have little free time as it is, so there is a convenience for them to have their food, groceries and packages delivered to them,” said Ryan Tuohy, Starship Technology’s senior vice president of business development. “Our goal is to make life easier, whether that means skipping the line, eating lunch on the lawn rather than in the cafe, or finding the time to eat better when studying for exams.”

“Commuters can even meet the robot on their way into class,” he added."

George Mason students have a new dining option: Food delivered by robots | Washington Post

Google is threatening to kill Google News in Europe if the EU goes ahead with its “snippet tax” | NiemanLab

The "couple of reasons:" "Publishers are more aware that scale is a pipe dream and that they want to own the reader relationship; Search is a lot more mobile now, and news is more important to search there.")

"So, depending on whose side you’re on, Europe is on the verge of either (a) finally supplying news publishers with compensation for their work from the free-riding tech titans who’ve build businesses around aggregating work they don’t pay for, or (b) destroying a fundamental tenet of the open web while simultaneously hurting audiences, publishers, and democracy itself. (Not the most subtle PR here, Google.)

It certainly seems like a bad idea to me, for a host of reasons you can read about elsewhere on the Internet. But wherever you come down on it, I think it’s worth noting how this particular moment is a little different from 2014. The power dynamics have shifted — only a bit, but noticeably — for a couple of reasons." 

Google is threatening to kill Google News in Europe if the EU goes ahead with its “snippet tax” | NiemanLab

Does Journalism Have a Future? | The New Yorker

From a journalism reality check by Jill Lepore

"The broader problem is that the depravity, mendacity, vulgarity, and menace of the Trump Administration have put a lot of people, including reporters and editors, off their stride. The present crisis, which is nothing less than a derangement of American life, has caused many people in journalism to make decisions they regret, or might yet. In the age of Facebook, Chartbeat, and Trump, legacy news organizations, hardly less than startups, have violated or changed their editorial standards in ways that have contributed to political chaos and epistemological mayhem. Do editors sit in a room on Monday morning, twirl the globe, and decide what stories are most important? Or do they watch Trump’s Twitter feed and let him decide? It often feels like the latter. Sometimes what doesn’t kill you doesn’t make you stronger; it makes everyone sick. The more adversarial the press, the more loyal Trump’s followers, the more broken American public life. The more desperately the press chases readers, the more our press resembles our politics.

The problems are well understood, the solutions harder to see. Good reporting is expensive, but readers don’t want to pay for it. The donation-funded ProPublica, “an independent, nonprofit newsroom that produces investigative journalism with moral force,” employs more than seventy-five journalists. Good reporting is slow, good stories unfold, and most stories that need telling don’t involve the White House. The Correspondent, an English-language version of the Dutch Web site De Correspondent, is trying to “unbreak the news.” It won’t run ads. It won’t collect data (or, at least, not much). It won’t have subscribers. Like NPR, it will be free for everyone, supported by members, who pay what they can. “We want to radically change what news is about, how it is made, and how it is funded,” its founders state. Push-notifications-on news is bad for you, they say, “because it pays more attention to the sensational, exceptional, negative, recent, and incidental, thereby losing sight of the ordinary, usual, positive, historical, and systematic.” What will the Correspondent look like? It will stay above the fray. It might sometimes be funny. It’s slated to début sometime in 2019. Aside from the thing about ads, it sounds a lot like a magazine, when magazines came in the mail."

Does Journalism Have a Future? | The New Yorker

This startup is launching a remote-controlled ‘grocery store on wheels' | Washington Post

Also see Your city street may soon turn into a grocery aisle | Boston Globe (source of photo below)

"Unlike a typical grocery delivery services, which requires customers to select groceries online first, food-filled Robomart vehicles — which can reach 25 miles per hour — will be dispatched to a particular neighborhood, where customers can summon one via an app. Though there is no human on board, but the delivery vehicles will be operated by people from another location using “cameras and navigation systems,” according to the Globe.

Once it has arrived, customers can open the vehicle’s sliding glass doors using the app, giving them access to a selection of fruits, vegetables, “convenient food items” and even hot meals, Ahmed said.

The vehicles’ RFID and computer vision technology automatically track each item that is removed from the vehicle before charging the customer’s account and emailing them a receipt, he said, noting that that once the doors close the transaction is complete. Asked how much food can fit in a single vehicle, Ahmed said a single vehicle — which is about 12 feet long and six feet tall — can hold about a half-ton of goods."

This startup is launching a remote-controlled ‘grocery store on wheels' | Washington Post

Twitter suspends account that helped ignite controversy over viral encounter | CNN

Reid Hoffman is perhaps hoping he didn't inadvertently fund this...

"Speaking about the nature of fake accounts on social media, McKew told CNN Business, "This is the new landscape: where bad actors monitor us and appropriate content that fits their needs. They know how to get it where they need to go so it amplifies naturally. And at this point, we are all conditioned to react and engage or deny in specific ways. And we all did."
Twitter's rules forbid users from creating "fake and misleading accounts," and shortly after CNN Business asked Twitter about the account, it was suspended.
A spokesperson for Twitter told CNN Business, "Deliberate attempts to manipulate the public conversation on Twitter by using misleading account information is a violation of the Twitter Rules.""

Twitter suspends account that helped ignite controversy over viral encounter | CNN

Uber is working on autonomous electric bicycles and scooters, opens robotics division | Electrek

I think I'll pass on the beta test phase of this technology...

"Uber is apparently working to integrate autonomous driving and sensing technology into their electric bicycles and scooters, according to 3D Robotics CEO Chris Anderson. Uber’s Advanced Technologies Group (ATG) made the announcement this weekend at a DIYRobocars event.

Autonomous electric bicycles and scooters may be able to drive themselves to charging locations or reposition themselves to locations with higher demand.

Currently, both tasks require trucks and vans to collect and disperse the electric bicycles and scooters. Autonomous driving would eliminate that requirement, cutting down on the cost of labor and fuel, as well as reducing emissions."

Uber is working on autonomous electric bicycles and scooters, opens robotics division | Electrek

France fines Google nearly $57 million for first major violation of new European privacy regime | Washington Post

GDPR => Google Destined to Pay Regularly? On a related note, see Google Considering Pulling News Service From Europe | Bloomberg

"Despite Google’s recent changes to comply with the E.U. rules, the CNIL said in a statement that “the infringements observed deprive the users of essential guarantees regarding processing operations that can reveal important parts of their private life since they are based on a huge amount of data, a wide variety of services and almost unlimited possible combinations.”

In response, Google said it is “studying the decision to determine our next steps,” adding: “People expect high standards of transparency and control from us. We’re deeply committed to meeting those expectations and the consent requirements of the GDPR.”"

France fines Google nearly $57 million for first major violation of new European privacy regime | Washington Post

Microsoft recommends switching to iPhone or Android as it prepares to kill off Windows phones | CNBC

"Achieve more" by dumping your Windows Phone; tangentially, see Microsoft Wants Cortana to Play Nicely With Amazon and Google | Wired, which notes "The strategy is straightforward. If Microsoft can't own the platform, it still wants a presence."

"Microsoft said that on Dec. 10, 2019, it will stop sending "new security updates, non-security hotfixes, free assisted support options, or technical content updates from Microsoft for free." In other words, there aren't going to be any more updates, and only a few phone models will even be supported until that final date.

"With the Windows 10 Mobile OS end of support, we recommend that customers move to a supported Android or iOS device," Microsoft said. "Microsoft's mission statement to empower every person and every organization on the planet to achieve more, compels us to support our Mobile apps on those platforms and devices.""

Microsoft recommends switching to iPhone or Android as it prepares to kill off Windows phones | CNBC

Netflix: Fortnite is a bigger rival than HBO | Washington Post

A sign of the streaming times

"“We earn consumer screen time, both mobile and television, away from a very broad set of competitors,” Netflix said in the letter. “We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO . . . There are thousands of competitors in this highly-fragmented market vying to entertain consumers."

Netflix’s decision to name-check Fortnite reflects the game’s ever-growing popularity. It boasts over 200 million registered users, and some 80 million log in to play each month, according to publisher Epic Games. Thanks to an engaging combination of reward mechanics, social communication and ease of entry — the game’s competitive mode is free to play — Fortnite soared to fresh heights last year, helping Epic earn a reported $3 billion in profit."

Netflix: Fortnite is a bigger rival than HBO | Washington Post

Facebook launches petition feature, its next battlefield | TechCrunch

Also see Facebook is launching a petitions feature | The Verge

"The launch follows other civic-minded Facebook features like its Town Hall and Candidate Info for assessing politicians, Community Help for finding assistance after a disaster, and local news digest Today In. A Facebook spokesperson who gave us the first look at Community Actions provided this statement:

“Building informed and civically engaged communities is at the core of Facebook’s mission. Every day, people come together on Facebook to advocate for causes they care about, including by contacting their elected officials, launching a fundraiser, or starting a group. Through these and other tools, we have seen people marshal support for and get results on issues that matter to them. Community Action is another way for people to advocate for changes in their communities and partner with elected officials and government agencies on solutions.”"

Facebook launches petition feature, its next battlefield | TechCrunch

Amazon Knows What You Buy. And It’s Building a Big Ad Business From It. | NYT

Selling your shopping activity and transaction data to sell you more stuff...

"“Amazon has really straightforward database — they know what I buy,” said Daniel Knijnik, co-founder of Quartile Digital, an Amazon-focused ad agency that oversaw the ads for the clinics and retirement services. “For an advertiser, that’s a dream.”

Ads sold by Amazon, once a limited offering at the company, can now be considered a third major pillar of its business, along with e-commerce and cloud computing. Amazon’s advertising business is worth about $125 billion, more than Nike or IBM, Morgan Stanley estimates. At its core are ads placed on Amazon.com by makers of toilet paper or soap that want to appear near product search results on the site."

Amazon Knows What You Buy. And It’s Building a Big Ad Business From It. | NYT

Twitter CEO dodges question about banning Trump if he called for murder | CNET

A busy day ahead for the Twitter PR department...

"But what if Trump tweeted that his followers should murder a journalist? Would that be enough to get him barred?

"That would be a violent threat. We'd definitely ... You know we're in constant communication with all governments around the world. So we'd certainly talk about it," Dorsey said in a lengthy Q&A with The Huffington Post.

When pressed again about the question, the tech mogul said, "I'm not going to talk about the particulars.""

Twitter CEO dodges question about banning Trump if he called for murder | CNET

Google buys $40 million worth of smartwatch tech from Fossil Group | Ars Technica

A timely investment; see this Fossil Group post for more details

"All of Fossil's digital-faced smartwatches run on Google's Wear OS, so the two companies have already worked together for quite some time. But Fossil is one of many companies to develop "hybrid" smartwatches, most of which have analog faces and resemble traditional timepieces in most aesthetic ways.

However, they still have the internal tech necessary to track daily activity and sleep, as well as deliver smartphone alerts through vibrations, custom watch-hand movements, and other subtle techniques. These are features that Misfit devices already had when Fossil purchased the company. Some Misfit smartwatches and trackers even used side buttons to control smartwatch functions, like taking a photo with the phone's camera or pausing music playback. While hybrid smartwatches don't have touchscreen interfaces, run apps, or store music like Wear OS devices can, they excel in longevity by having battery lives that last months to years.

It's possible that Google wants to look into the "hybrid" side of smartwatches. Google, strangely, hasn't made its own Pixel smartwatch yet, so the company may want to see if and how it can incorporate some of Fossil's technology into its next Google-made wearables."

Google buys $40 million worth of smartwatch tech from Fossil Group | Ars Technica

Microsoft’s Leap Into Housing Illuminates Government’s Retreat | NYT

Yet another reminder that elections have consequences...

"Microsoft’s announcement is welcome news in the Seattle region, where housing costs have risen faster lately than in any other part of the country. But the fact that a tech company has to step in to help ensure the development of affordable housing points to a long-building reality nationwide: The federal government has largely retreated from this role.

The government spent about three times as much on housing programs in the 1970s as it does today, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. In the years since, the government has gotten out of the business of building public housing. And capital funds to repair the remaining public housing stock have been cut in half over the last 15 years.

Over this time, federal resources have increasingly shifted away from subsidizing the construction of affordable housing to subsidizing renters who find housing in the private market. And now most new below-market-rate housing is built not by public agencies, but by nonprofit developers leveraging tax credits. The value of those credits has declined recently as well, as a result of changes in the tax bill passed in 2017."

Microsoft’s Leap Into Housing Illuminates Government’s Retreat | NYT

The shutdown is breaking government websites, one by one | Washington Post

Check the full article for additional consequences of letting security certificates expire

"Various online pages run by the White House, the Federal Aviation Administration, the National Archives and the Department of Agriculture appear to be affected by the latest round of expirations, Netcraft said.

The report follows revelations last week that Web pages run by NASA, the Justice Department, the federal judiciary and others have been affected by a lapse in security certification. The actual number of websites affected could be much higher than 130, said Paul Mutton, a Netcraft security consultant, as some certificates may have covered multiple pages under the same agency.

The expired certificates mean that most modern Web browsers, such as Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox, will refuse to display the pages on request — instead showing a warning message that suggests the sites may have been compromised by hackers.

In reality, nothing has happened. But security practitioners say that in another sense, that is precisely the problem."

The shutdown is breaking government websites, one by one | Washington Post

‘Why I Still Have Faith in Facebook’ | Time

A Facebook regulation reality check by Donald Graham; also see Roger McNamee's I Mentored Mark Zuckerberg. I Loved Facebook. But I Can't Stay Silent About What's Happening. | Time and "Zucked" book takes aim at Facebook | Axios

"Facebook has made plenty of mistakes since its inception. As was true at the Washington Post in 1981, it has to set about fixing them in the only possible way: accept the responsibility–all of it. Return to your basic mission and do it right. Provide a great service for people; protect every aspect of your users’ privacy; be honest about what went wrong; and be clear (with governments but above all with users) about what you are doing to fix the problems.

I admire Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg and the people I knew at Facebook more than I can tell you. I’m not an insider any more since leaving the company’s board in 2015, but I can see on my Facebook page the extent of their efforts to fix what has been wrong. I would bet on them and would guess that their own efforts will be more important than those of any government or regulatory body. Regulation will slow technology companies down rather than change them as their critics hope. The beneficiaries will be their Chinese competitors–not exactly paragons of respect for your privacy. It is hard to see what form of regulation can control speech on Facebook but not control TIME’s–or yours."

‘Why I Still Have Faith in Facebook’ | Time

O.K., Google: How Much Money Have I Made for You Today? | NYT

For more on “The Age of Surveillance Capitalism,” Shoshana Zuboff's new book, see Thieves of Experience: How Google and Facebook Corrupted Capitalism | LARB (Nicholas Carr), 'We Are No Longer The Customers': Inside 'The Age Of Surveillance Capitalism' | On Point and How Tech Companies Manipulate Our Personal Data | NYT

"Google comes in for plenty of criticism from Zuboff, but she is equally scathing about Facebook. (She calls Sheryl Sandberg, who worked at Google before becoming Facebook’s chief operating officer, “the ‘Typhoid Mary’ of surveillance capitalism.”) Facebook has learned how to manipulate empathy and attachment in order to increase engagement and make billions. In a document sent to advertisers in Australia and New Zealand, Facebook bragged of its ability to discern exactly when a young person could use a “confidence boost.” And then there are the Facebook scandals involving Cambridge Analytica and the Kremlin during the 2016 election, with their deployment of personality tests and viral memes; it’s all fun and games until the host of “The Apprentice” becomes president.

Surveillance capitalists like to depict themselves as more socially enlightened than their industrial predecessors, but in Zuboff’s reckoning they ask for a lot while giving relatively little back. Their companies operate at “hyperscale”: Despite their enormous market capitalization, Google and Facebook each employ far fewer workers than General Motors once did, even during the depths of the Great Depression. Citing the economic historian Karl Polanyi, Zuboff shows how postwar corporations were expected to offer some sort of communal reciprocity — hiring workers and hiking wages, sharing prosperity rather than hoarding it. The ascendancy of neoliberalism in the 1970s, she says, laid the groundwork for Silicon Valley to promote an extreme form of entrepreneurial capitalism, unencumbered by any substantive responsibility to the communities it purports to serve."

O.K., Google: How Much Money Have I Made for You Today? | NYT

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use | USA Today

On a related note, see Fox News Debuts Premium Channel For 24-Hour Coverage Of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez | The Onion [satire]

"The House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee is hosting a session Thursday morning with Ocasio-Cortez of New York (@AOC – 2.42 million followers) and Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut (@jahimes – 76,500 followers) "on the most effective ways to engage constituents on Twitter and the importance of digital storytelling."

The lesson comes as a generational divide between members of Congress and the tech platforms they oversee has been on full display.
[...]
The pair will be joined by representatives from Twitter and the House Administration Committee for the briefing.

House Democrats may not be the only group getting a Twitter lesson. Nicholas Pacilio, a spokesman for Twitter, said the platform conducts training on both sides regularly, "but they’re way more frequent at the beginning of every new Congress.""

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a social media star, to school House Democrats on Twitter use | USA Today

Forget to take your medication? A new digital pill will alert you — and your doctor. | Washington Post

Later in the article: "“The health industry is behind the curve when it comes to cybersecurity,” Jason Christopher, chief technology officer at the cybersecurity company Axio, told Forbes last year. “Forget health record databases — how do you patch a digital pill?”"

"To combat patients’ fibbing and forgetfulness, Greeno has begun deploying a new tool in recent months: a pill embedded with a tiny, ingestible sensor. The sensor transmits data from inside the patient’s body to a wearable patch placed on their abdomen, which then connects to a mobile app that patients and doctors can access.

That data offers a new window into patients’ health and behavior, Greeno said, allowing doctors to remotely monitor someone’s heart rate, activity level and sleep cycle. The sensor, which is about the size of a grain of sand and dissolves in the gastrointestinal tract, also tells doctors when a patient has ingested their medication. The information is compiled in a database that doctors can access from their devices."

Forget to take your medication? A new digital pill will alert you — and your doctor. | Washington Post

Alexa gets a professional 'newscaster' voice for reading the day's news | TechCrunch

See this Amazon post for more details and some examples

"Amazon already gave Alexa the ability to whisper, and now it’s rolling out another way to change the assistant’s speaking style — it’s giving Alexa a “newscaster” voice. Starting today, when U.S. customers ask Alexa “what’s the latest?” to hear the day’s news, Alexa will respond using a voice that’s similar to how a professional newscaster delivers news.

The voice knows which words should be emphasized for a more realistic delivery of the news, explains Amazon.

To achieve this new voice, Amazon took advantage of recent developments it made with Neural TTS technology, or NTTS. This technology delivers a more natural-sounding voice, and allows Alexa to adapt her speaking style based on the context of your request. For the newscaster voice, NTTS produced speech with better intonation that emphasizes the right words in a sentence, Amazon says."

Alexa gets a professional 'newscaster' voice for reading the day's news | TechCrunch

The New York Times politics editor is building trust by tweeting context around political stories | NiemanLab

All the context that's fit to tweet

"You can guess the kinds of complaints The New York Times gets about its political coverage. It’s too biased, too liberal. Too much coverage of the horse race, not enough coverage of the issues. Too much “But her emails!” in 2016 and not enough Trump/Russia. Too much “Racists: They’re just like us.”

With a new personal Twitter project, Patrick Healy — the Times’ politics editor and previously a reporter covering the 2004, 2008, and 2016 campaigns — is trying to address some of those concerns by giving people a view into the paper’s decision-making process.

Healy “wanted to start engaging with readers about our intentions behind our stories,” he told me, in the hopes that more transparency — about why stories are chosen, why they’re framed a certain way, and what kinds of conversations go on between reporters and editors behind the scenes — can shore up trust in the Times’ motives."

The New York Times politics editor is building trust by tweeting context around political stories | NiemanLab

Facebook Deletes Pages That Were Secretly Controlled by a Russian Propaganda Network | Gizmodo

See Removing Coordinated Inauthentic Behavior from Russia | Facebook Newsroom for more details

"Facebook has deleted hundreds of pages linked to the Kremlin-backed propaganda network known as Sputnik. The pages, allegedly operated by Sputnik employees, were made to look like they were coming from outside of Russia. The Facebook pages helped spread propaganda about NATO and European politics, among many other topics.

The announcement by Facebook came early this morning and according to the company the owners of the pages “primarily represented themselves as independent news” distributors. In fact, the pages were operated by employees of Sputnik, a propaganda agency of the Kremlin very similar to Russia’s RT. And just like RT, Sputnik is focused on reaching a non-Russian audience, whether that’s people in the United States or citizens of European countries that just so happen to have elections coming up this year."

Facebook Deletes Pages That Were Secretly Controlled by a Russian Propaganda Network | Gizmodo

You Deserve Privacy Online. Here’s How You Could Actually Get It | Time

Final paragraphs from a Tim Cook op-ed; also see Tim Cook calls on FTC to let consumers track and delete their personal data | The Verge

"Meaningful, comprehensive federal privacy legislation should not only aim to put consumers in control of their data, it should also shine a light on actors trafficking in your data behind the scenes. Some state laws are looking to accomplish just that, but right now there is no federal standard protecting Americans from these practices. That’s why we believe the Federal Trade Commission should establish a data-broker clearinghouse, requiring all data brokers to register, enabling consumers to track the transactions that have bundled and sold their data from place to place, and giving users the power to delete their data on demand, freely, easily and online, once and for all.

As this debate kicks off, there will be plenty of proposals and competing interests for policymakers to consider. We cannot lose sight of the most important constituency: individuals trying to win back their right to privacy. Technology has the potential to keep changing the world for the better, but it will never achieve that potential without the full faith and confidence of the people who use it."

You Deserve Privacy Online. Here’s How You Could Actually Get It | Time

Happy 18th birthday, Wikipedia. Let’s celebrate the Internet’s good grown-up. | Washington Post

Also see For Wikipedia’s birthday, we ask that you give the gift of a citation through #1Lib1Ref | Wikimedia News

"Wikipedia has grown enormously since its inception: It now boasts 5.7 million articles in English and pulled in 92 billion page views last year.

The site has also undergone a major reputation change. If you ask Siri, Alexa or Google Home a general-knowledge question, it will likely pull the response from Wikipedia. The online encyclopedia has been cited in more than 400 judicial opinions, according to a 2010 paper in the Yale Journal of Law & Technology. Many professors are ditching the traditional writing assignment and instead asking students to expand or create a Wikipedia article on the topic. And YouTube Chief Executive Susan Wojcicki announced a plan last March to pair misleading conspiracy videos with links to corresponding articles from Wikipedia. Facebook has also released a feature using Wikipedia’s content to provide users more information about the publication source for articles in their feed.

Wikipedia’s rise is driven by a crucial difference in values that separates it from its peers in the top 10 websites: On Wikipedia, truth trumps self-expression."

Happy 18th birthday, Wikipedia. Let’s celebrate the Internet’s good grown-up. | Washington Post

Veterans of the News Business Are Now Fighting Fakes | NYT

See this page for NewsGuard details

"A small start-up, NewsGuard, says it may have a solution. The effort is led by a pair of veteran news executives — Steven Brill, an author and the founder of the magazine The American Lawyer, and Gordon Crovitz, a former publisher of The Wall Street Journal.

The company has raised $6 million and has signed its first client, Microsoft, it planned to announce on Wednesday.

NewsGuard has created the equivalent of nutrition labels for news organizations, rating more than 2,000 news and information sites with tags: red for unreliable, green for trustworthy. A team of roughly 50 journalists and analysts is making the evaluations."

Veterans of the News Business Are Now Fighting Fakes | NYT

Why Facebook is giving $300 million for local journalism | Washington Post

For more details, see Facebook is committing $300 million to support news, with an emphasis on local | NiemanLab

"Among the funded initiatives are: a $20 million investment in a program to help local outlets design and execute subscription and membership models; a $5 million endowment to create a grant program with the Pulitzer Center for local multimedia reporting projects; and a $2 million investment in Report for America, an initiative to recruit and fund journalists to cover under-covered topics in local newsrooms across the country.

Facebook’s financial commitment comes a year after Google pledged the same dollar amount, over the same timeline, to combat misinformation and support journalism, with a focus on boosting subscriptions to local news outlets. The pair’s investments are significant because of the tech giants' dominance in the market for online advertising, which has exacerbated the decline of American newsrooms. Together, the two companies command about 58 percent of the digital ad market, steering massive amounts of ad dollars to their platforms."

Why Facebook is giving $300 million for local journalism | Washington Post

Ford and Volkswagen are about to make cars for each other | Washington Post

Tangentially (from November 2018), see Data could be what Ford sells next as it looks for new revenue | Detroit Free Press

"Ford Motor Co. and Volkswagen announced a worldwide partnership on Tuesday that’s aimed at saving the two companies millions on development of pickup trucks, vans and transit vehicles, with an eye toward working together in the future on self-driving and electric cars.

Under the alliance, each company will design and produce cars for the other. In Europe, Volkswagen will begin to sell Ford-produced medium pickups and commercial vans by 2022, and Volkswagen will develop a city-oriented van for Ford that would arrive by 2023. Each company would enjoy the flexibility to brand and market the new vehicles according to its own strategies, executives said."

Ford and Volkswagen are about to make cars for each other | Washington Post

Watson Workspace End of Marketing Announcement FAQs | IBM

I assume this effectively means the end of IBM Collaboration Solutions (as anything but a reseller), with the Lotus products sold to HCL and Watson Workspace terminated

"Q:  What is being announced?

A:  IBM has announced the end of marketing for the Watson Workspace service .  IBM also anticipates ending the Watson Workspace service on 2/28/19.  All users of Watson Workspace, both the paid and free versions, should make arrangements for alternate means of communication and save any conversations and content from the service that they wish to keep.  A tool to assist in doing so is available here.

Q: Why did IBM make this decision?

A: While there is no question that Watson Workspace is innovative and agile, we haven’t seen it sufficiently resonate with clients or obtain traction in the marketplace. Despite our best efforts and enthusiasm for these offerings, our decision to withdraw aligns to IBM’s investment strategy focused on delivering solutions that deliver measurable value to our customers and business partners."

Watson Workspace End of Marketing Announcement FAQs | IBM

Giant Food Stores will place robotic assistants at 172 locations, company says | Washington Post

Check the full article for a video

"The robots move around the store unassisted, scanning the floors for spills and trip hazards, which are reported to human workers, the company said. Once a spill is located, the machine — which makes beeping noises as it moves — reports it by verbally communicating to human employees after paging them.

Marty says, “caution, hazard detected,” to alert customers, but the machine also sends an announcement through a store’s public address system, alerting associates.

In addition to scanning shelves for items that are out of stock, Marty also does price checks, looking for discrepancies between the shelf and the store’s scanning system, Patrick Maturo, manager of store optimization at Ahold USA, told PennLive."

Giant Food Stores will place robotic assistants at 172 locations, company says | Washington Post

AWS, MongoDB, and the Economic Realities of Open Source | Stratechery

From a timely open source DBMS reality check

"This leaves MongoDB Inc. not unlike the record companies after the advent of downloads: what they sold was not software but rather the tools that made that software usable, but those tools are increasingly obsolete as computing moves to the cloud. And now AWS is selling what enterprises really want.

Worse, because AWS doesn’t have access to MongoDB (it is only matching the API) it only supports MongoDB 3.6; the current version is 4.0.5. It is possible that if AWS’ service becomes popular that MongoDB will effectively stagnate: sure, you can get a better version from MongoDB Inc., but then you have to manage it yourself or go the effort to tie in all of your AWS services with MongoDB’s offering (then again, the potential for differentiation may be MongoDB’s salvation, and an important lesson for other companies)."

AWS, MongoDB, and the Economic Realities of Open Source | Stratechery

Electric Vehicles Are in the Spotlight at Detroit’s 2019 Auto Show | NYT

From an EV market dynamics snapshot; on a related note, Cadillac Takes Aim at Tesla With SUV Priced Below Model X | Bloomberg

"Manufacturers are developing so many electrified models primarily to compete in China and Europe, where government subsidies and stringent environmental laws are spurring sales of zero-emission vehicles, said Mark Wakefield, a managing director at AlixPartners, a consulting firm. The sales pace is less certain in the United States, in part because gasoline remains cheap and the Trump administration has pulled back on emissions regulations.
“In the U.S., you can’t assume you’re going to be selling 100,000 of one model,” Mr. Wakefield said. “You don’t want to dedicate an entire factory to E.V.s” — as Tesla has done.
Last year, 361,000 electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles were sold in the United States, just 2 percent of car purchases, according to estimates by InsideEVs.com. Tesla, which has struggled with production and delivery problems, accounted for half of those sales."

Electric Vehicles Are in the Spotlight at Detroit’s 2019 Auto Show | NYT

Apple reportedly planning three iPhones for 2019, one with new triple camera system | The Verge

Another huge WSJ scoop: Apple will release new phones this year, and they may have new features...

"Apple is reportedly planning to release three new iPhones later this year. The Wall Street Journal reports that Apple will introduce a successor to the iPhone XR with an LCD display, alongside two other handsets. The high-end 2019 iPhone. presumably the largest of the three, is also rumored to include a triple camera system at the rear, in an effort that’s clearly designed to compete with the latest crop of Android handsets that include multiple cameras.

Renders of a triple camera iPhone leaked last week, with OnLeaks claiming Apple will introduce such a system later this year. It’s not clear what an additional camera at the rear of an iPhone will enable, but the rumors have emerged after reports that Sony is boosting its 3D camera output for chips that will power rear-facing 3D cameras on smartphones in 2019."

Apple reportedly planning three iPhones for 2019, one with new triple camera system | The Verge

Twitter Users in China Face Detention and Threats in New Beijing Crackdown | NYT

Also probably not good for one's social credit rating

"While it remains off limits for people in China, official media outlets like the Communist Party-controlled People’s Daily newspaper and the Xinhua news agency have used Twitter to shape perceptions of the country in the rest of the world.

“On the one hand, state media takes advantage of the full features of these platforms to reach millions of people,” said Sarah Cook, a senior analyst for East Asia at Freedom House, a pro-democracy research group based in the United States. “On the other hand, ordinary Chinese are risking interrogation and jail for using these same platforms to communicate with each other and the outside world.”"

Twitter Users in China Face Detention and Threats in New Beijing Crackdown | NYT

AT&T says it’ll stop selling your location data, amid calls for a federal investigation | Washington Post

T-Mobile and Verizon are also "winding down" similar services; tangentially, see Your Old Tweets Give Away More Location Data Than You Think | Wired

"AT&T said Thursday it will stop selling its customers' location data to third-party service providers after a report this week said the information was winding up in the wrong hands.

The announcement follows sharp demands by federal lawmakers for an investigation into the alleged misuse of data, which came to light when Motherboard revealed a complex chain of unauthorized information-sharing that ended with a bounty hunter successfully tracking down a reporter’s device."

AT&T says it’ll stop selling your location data, amid calls for a federal investigation | Washington Post

Trump vs. Ocasio-Cortez: Who Will Win the Internet? | NYT

Interesting "Extremely Online" times... Also see Beware of livestreaming politicians | Axios

"It would be a mistake to dismiss their practices as just noise. Because, as Mr. Warzel noted correctly, they are controlling the narrative by doing this so effectively. “It’s agenda-setting,” he wrote, whether we’re talking about the wall (Mr. Trump) or taxing the rich (Ms. Ocasio-Cortez). “Constant content creation forces your opponent to respond to you.” It means you are creating the news.

While there is a danger in that, it’s probably the way it’s going to be from here on out, and those who can do it well are more likely to get the attention in this very dissonant world."

Trump vs. Ocasio-Cortez: Who Will Win the Internet? | NYT

People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds | The Verge

See Less than you think: Prevalence and predictors of fake news dissemination on Facebook | Science Advances for details; also see The kids are alright. Grandpa’s the problem. | Jeff Jarvis

"Across all age categories, sharing fake news was a relatively rare category. Only 8.5 percent of users in the study shared at least one link from a fake news site. Users who identified as conservative were more likely than users who identified as liberal to share fake news: 18 percent of Republicans shared links to fake news sites, compared to less than 4 percent of Democrats. The researchers attributed this finding largely to studies showing that in 2016, fake news overwhelmingly served to promote Trump’s candidacy.

But older users skewed the findings: 11 percent of users older than 65 shared a hoax, while just 3 percent of users 18 to 29 did. Facebook users ages 65 and older shared more than twice as many fake news articles than the next-oldest age group of 45 to 65, and nearly seven times as many fake news articles as the youngest age group (18 to 29)."

People older than 65 share the most fake news, a new study finds | The Verge

Google lets users see their related search history with new card | Search Engine Land

For more details: Pick up where you left off on Search | The Keyword

"Google is now rolling out a new feature in search named “your related activity.” This feature lets signed in Google users pick up on previous searches they’ve done related to the query they just added. So if they searched for cooking tips, then got pulled away for something and then came back later and did a related search, Google may show you this related activity card.

What it does. Google will show you links to pages you’ve visited in the past through your search history. In addition, Google will show you the searches that led you to those pages. You can also mark a page to read or reference later. To do so, touch and hold the link to quickly add items on your activity card to a collection. Google said, “you can access your collections by tapping the menu on the top left of the Search page (on mobile web), or through the bottom bar of the Google app.”"

Google lets users see their related search history with new card | Search Engine Land

CES 2019: It’s the Year of Virtual Assistants and 5G | NYT

Check the full article for CES highlights; also see Ignore 5G, for Now | Wired

"Car manufacturers like Mercedes-Benz and BMW showed off concepts of autonomous vehicles powered by artificial intelligence and 5G wireless connections. But consumers won’t be able to buy self-driving vehicles from a dealership anytime soon, in part because companies still need much more data on how people drive cars. Smarter cars with features like built-in voice assistants to help people use maps, play music or get a sports update without taking their eyes off the road are available now, however.

If the economy does cool off, sales of cutting-edge gadgets will drop. Fast. But that didn’t faze people here. None of the CES attendees I spoke to expressed concern.

Matt Strauss, who oversees Comcast’s Xfinity internet and cable service, was especially bullish about the year ahead. He said just about everything announced at CES required an internet connection, so that’s the last thing that people would cut off.

“It’s become like oxygen,” he said."

CES 2019: It’s the Year of Virtual Assistants and 5G | NYT

Missing the (Bamboo) Forest for the (Apple) Trees | Platformonomics

Final paragraphs from a timely Charles Fitzgerald reality check; on a related note, see China’s slowdown is the biggest threat to world economy | Washington Post

"Tech needs to set aside the intoxicating dream of selling just one product to each and every person in China and parse the new reality. The Great Firewall of China model of parallel ecosystems may expand to other domains, as today’s deeply intertwined global economy starts to disentangle. Supply chains will have to factor in tariffs and national security concerns. Cross-border flows of capital and acquisitions will flow less freely. Non-tariff barriers and even further technology executive hostage taking may escalate. The prospects for China’s private tech titans (i.e. BAT) are in flux as they find themselves with a Party invitation they can’t refuse.

I don’t believe Mr. Xi’s China’s model will prevail. Despotism undermines itself and it is hard to think of a worse way to build an advanced economy than looking to Mao for guidance. And the Chinese people have seen and tasted too much of the rest of the world to go along with Xi. But the happy path for China’s rise over the last two decades is over and we need to recognize that. It will be bumpy, and not just for Apple."

Missing the (Bamboo) Forest for the (Apple) Trees | Platformonomics

Paul Manafort Is Terrible With Technology | Wired

See the full article for other Manafort tech challenges. Final paragraph: "Of course, Manafort could have avoided this whole mess by not committing crimes in the first place. However, he also really struggled to cover them up."

"In this redacting fail, Manafort’s lawyers revealed that Mueller alleges the former Trump campaign chair shared polling data “related to the 2016 presidential campaign” with Konstantin Kilimnik, a political consultant the FBI says is connected to Russian intelligence. The “hidden” paragraphs also indicate that the government believes Manafort initially lied to the special counsel and investigators about discussing a Ukraine peace plan with Kilimnik and meeting with him in Spain.

At this point, Manafort’s complicated legal battle with Mueller’s office has dragged on for over a year. But this latest wrinkle is evidence of a problem that has plagued the former lobbyist even longer than that: He appears to be very bad at using technology, at least according to evidence that has been made public in court and in leaked documents."

Paul Manafort Is Terrible With Technology | Wired