The future of AR, according to Microsoft | CNET

Final paragraphs from a wide-ranging interview with HoloLens inventor Alex Kipman

"If you solve all the problems, what's the dream end state you want?

My dream state is I walk on an airplane, man, and every single person on that airplane is wearing our product. That's not this product, by the way, It's probably not the next one either. But, ultimately, the goal is these things transform humans, they empower people and organizations to do things they just plainly were not able to do before, they allow us to displace space and time on a daily basis as if we were born instinctually with those superpowers. It's a work of a lifetime, but certainly I can't think of anything else better to do with my life."

The future of AR, according to Microsoft | CNET

Could Elon Musk Talk Himself Into a Tesla Buyout? | NYT

Unclear if this is how the simulation will play out...

"Being ejected from Tesla would leave Mr. Musk free to revive his plan from last summer to take the company private. The infamous tweet in which he said he was “considering taking Tesla private at $420. Funding secured” is what prompted the S.E.C. to accuse him of fraud. And it led to the October court-approved agreement that the regulator on Monday accused him of violating.

He has a number of advantages over rival potential bidders, not least his 20 percent ownership stake. The board may be amenable: It’s still packed with his friends, business partners and family. Meanwhile, if his putative backers really were prepared to help buy Tesla at $72 billion — the valuation implied by his tweet — they certainly should be at $26 billion.

Mr. Musk might even feel inclined to send the S.E.C. a thank-you note. Via Twitter, of course."

Could Elon Musk Talk Himself Into a Tesla Buyout? | NYT

Your next FedEx delivery could be a pizza | Washington Post

We're going to need wider sidewalks...

"FedEx is getting into the pizza delivery business, but no one will be greeting hungry customers at the door.

As companies scramble to develop technology to get food, groceries and shipments to customers in hours, even minutes, FedEx unveiled an early model of an autonomous delivery robot on Tuesday. The shipper is teaming up with Pizza Hut, Walmart, Walgreens and other companies on the delivery program.

The initiative highlights the surging demand for speedier delivery and the race to develop autonomous technology for what’s known as the “last-mile,” or the final step of the logistics journey from warehouse or kitchen to a customer’s front door."

Your next FedEx delivery could be a pizza | Washington Post

New FTC task force will take on tech monopolies | The Verge

Later in the article: "[Bureau Director Bruce] Hoffman said that firms could be “broken out,” or could be forced to “spin off” previous acquisitions as new competitors in order to recreate the markets pre-merger."

"The new task force comes amid growing pressure for antitrust action against large tech companies like Facebook and Google. Earlier this month, it was reported that FTC officials have been looking to levy a multibillion-dollar fine on Facebook for repeatedly violating a privacy agreement the two bodies came to back in 2011. A coalition of advocacy groups argued that a fine would not be enough to incentivize Facebook to be more cautious with consumer data and asked the FTC to force the company spinoffs, Instagram and WhatsApp, back into their own entities once again. The groups argued that Facebook was too big for it to adequately care for user data for all three major apps.

Discussion over retroactive merger reviews that may result in companies divesting previously approved assets has been heating up over the last few months. The Democratic-led House Judiciary Committee has been reportedly beefing up its antitrust arm and hiring on big names like Lina Khan in the academic sphere."

New FTC task force will take on tech monopolies | The Verge

Machine learning can boost the value of wind energy | Google Keyword blog

Also see Google and DeepMind are using AI to predict the energy output of wind farms | The Verge, which notes "This isn’t the first time DeepMind’s AI expertise has been used in this way. Back in 2016, Google announced that it had cut the power costs of its data centers by 15 percent thanks to the AI lab’s help. In 2018, Google went further and gave these AI systems even more control. And there were reports in 2017 that DeepMind was in talks with the UK’s national electricity grid agency to help it balance supply and demand."

"Using a neural network trained on widely available weather forecasts and historical turbine data, we configured the DeepMind system to predict wind power output 36 hours ahead of actual generation. Based on these predictions, our model recommends how to make optimal hourly delivery commitments to the power grid a full day in advance. This is important, because energy sources that can be scheduled (i.e. can deliver a set amount of electricity at a set time) are often more valuable to the grid.
Although we continue to refine our algorithm, our use of machine learning across our wind farms has produced positive results. To date, machine learning has boosted the value of our wind energy by roughly 20 percent, compared to the baseline scenario of no time-based commitments to the grid."

Machine learning can boost the value of wind energy | Google Keyword blog

Federal appeals court upholds AT&T’s Time Warner merger, handing defeat to Justice Department | Washington Post

Later in the article: "“The dominant economic philosophy of the last 25 or 30 years has been that the principal way to measure consumer harm is price,” said Andrew Schwartzman, a lecturer in law at Georgetown University. “And if that was ever correct, it’s hopelessly obsolete in a digital environment.”"

"A federal appeals court upheld AT&T’s $85 billion merger with Time Warner on Tuesday, handing the telecom giant a major victory in its months-long legal battle against Justice Department regulators who had alleged the deal was anti-competitive.

The outcome is a significant defeat for the Justice Department’s top antitrust chief, Makan Delrahim, who legal analysts say took a big risk in suing AT&T and who has now lost twice at court. The Justice Department said Tuesday afternoon that it does not intend to keep fighting the case."

Federal appeals court upholds AT&T’s Time Warner merger, handing defeat to Justice Department | Washington Post

Twitter suspends far-right activist Jacob Wohl for creating accounts to allegedly manipulate the U.S. presidential election | Washington Post

Tbd if Brad Parscale consulted on the project...

"Wohl’s suspension came on the same day as a story in USA Today in which Wohl said he planned to create “enormous left-wing online properties” in a bid to steer voters “to what we feel are weaker candidates compared with Trump.”

Twitter’s investigation found Wohl already had created some of those accounts, including @women_4_schultz, which sought to advance the early candidacy of Howard Schultz, according to a source familiar with Twitter’s investigation but not authorized to speak on the record. The former Starbucks chief executive is now considering running for president as an independent."

Twitter suspends far-right activist Jacob Wohl for creating accounts to allegedly manipulate the U.S. presidential election | Washington Post

‘It’s not even smart.’ Elon Musk’s tweets and taunts annoy some of Tesla’s biggest fans | Washington Post

"The heck with Janet Reno" c2019; also see Elon Musk’s Tweets All But Assure Tesla Will Have to Pay $920 Million | Bloomberg

"The Securities and Exchange Commission has accused Musk of not seeking preapproval of any potentially market-moving tweets about the car company as he promised. Early Tuesday, a day after the SEC asked that he be held in contempt, Musk hit back at the commission. “Something is broken with SEC oversight," he said on Twitter.

The latest grudge match between the powerful regulator and the eccentric billionaire could be an expensive one for Musk and is frustrating even Tesla’s true believers, who blame the company’s new turmoil on Musk’s incorrigible public swagger and compulsion to poke the bear. Some said it may be time to resort to defense tactics employed by members of President Trump’s inner circle — including suggesting, only half jokingly, that the company should take Musk’s phone away."

‘It’s not even smart.’ Elon Musk’s tweets and taunts annoy some of Tesla’s biggest fans | Washington Post

Warren Buffett says bitcoin is a 'delusion' and 'attracts charlatans' | CNBC

Also see You Do Not Need Blockchain: Eight Popular Use Cases And Why They Do Not Work | SmartDec

"Buffett has been a long-time critic of cryptocurrency. He called bitcoin "probably rat poison squared," ahead of the 2018 Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting. A "mirage," "not a currency," and "tulips" are among the descriptors Buffett has used for bitcoin, according to CNBC's Warren Buffett Archive.

In the interview Monday, he did point to potential in bitcoin's "important" underlying technology blockchain but said its success does not depend on cryptocurrency.

Buffett is not alone in his skepticism. Business leaders including Bill Gates, economists Nouriel Roubini and Robert Shiller, and fund managers Ray Dalio and Howard Marks are among those who have questioned bitcoin's legitimacy. J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon was also a vocal critic of bitcoin. Yet earlier this month, J.P. Morgan became the first major bank to launch its own proprietary cryptocurrency for cross-border payments."

Warren Buffett says bitcoin is a 'delusion' and 'attracts charlatans' | CNBC

SEC asks judge to hold Tesla’s Elon Musk in contempt, saying he violated settlement deal | Washington Post

Oops...

"The SEC accused Musk of breaking a deal to seek preapproval of any potentially market-moving tweets about the car company when he tweeted on Feb. 19 that Tesla would make about 500,000 cars this year. Four hours later, he tweeted that he “meant to say” the cars’ weekly production rate would equal up to about 500,000 on an annual basis but that the total car deliveries this year would be closer to about 400,000.

The next day, the SEC asked the company whether the tweets had been reviewed before being published, a requirement of a settlement agreement Musk reached late last year. The first tweet had not been preapproved, the company said. Instead, Tesla’s attorneys saw the tweet after it was published and then reached out Musk to draft a corrective second tweet, the SEC said in a motion filed in the U.S. Southern District Court.

“As a result of his failure to comply with the [settlement, Musk] once again published inaccurate and material information about Tesla to his over 24 million Twitter followers,” the SEC said."

SEC asks judge to hold Tesla’s Elon Musk in contempt, saying he violated settlement deal | Washington Post

Huawei Launches New $2,600 Foldable 5G Phone to Rival Samsung | Bloomberg

Let's see -- a folding phone/quasi-tablet or an iPhone XS Max and an iPad Pro, for less money...

"Huawei Technologies Co. announced a smartphone that unfolds into a small tablet computer, potentially rendering the need to carry two separate devices obsolete.

The Mate X supports next-generation 5G networks and will cost 2,299 euros ($2,606) when released in the summer. It’s the second folding phone announced by a major manufacturer within a week. Samsung revealed the Galaxy Fold on Wednesday.

“We’ve been working on this folding screen hinge for three years,” Huawei Consumer Group Chief Executive Officer Richard Yu said on stage at MWC Barcelona Sunday. “It’s very expensive, but there’s lots of new technology here.”"

Huawei Launches New $2,600 Foldable 5G Phone to Rival Samsung | Bloomberg

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2: a $3500 mixed reality headset for the factory, not the living room | The Verge

From an extensive review

"The Microsoft HoloLens 2 is available for preorder today for $3,500, and it’s expected to ship later this year. However, Microsoft has decided that it is only going to sell to enterprise customers who want to deploy the headset to their workers. As of right now, Microsoft isn’t even announcing a developer kit version of the HoloLens 2.

Compared to the HoloLens we first saw demonstrated four years ago, the second version is better in nearly every important way. It’s more comfortable, it has a much larger field of view, and it’s better able to detect real physical objects in the room. It features new components like the Azure Kinect sensor, an ARM processor, eye-tracking sensors, and an entirely different display system."

Microsoft’s HoloLens 2: a $3500 mixed reality headset for the factory, not the living room | The Verge

The real reason why Facebook and Google won’t change | Fast Company

Final paragraphs from a Shoshana Zuboff reality check

"When we consider what is to be done about surveillance capitalism, we tend to rely on earlier efforts to deal with capitalism run amok. Yet this economic model has rooted and flourished during the past two decades despite existing paradigms for privacy law and antitrust. Precisely because this is unprecedented, we need novel remedies. Yes, Facebook should be regulated, starting with the enforcement of the 2011 FTC consent decree intended to oversee its privacy practices. But the threats of surveillance capitalism will not end there.

So let’s call Zuckerberg’s resolutions precisely what they are: features of an unprecedented and rogue capitalism. Then let’s develop the laws, regulatory framework, and new forms of collective action that will interrupt and outlaw these behavioral extraction and modification operations. The internet and the wider realm of digital technologies can be harnessed differently. This work begins with us."

The real reason why Facebook and Google won’t change | Fast Company

The Samsung Galaxy Fold Captured Attention, but The Galaxy S10 Lineup Will Capture Sales | Tech.pinions

Also see Galaxy Fold outdoes the iPhone XS. Here's why you still won't buy one | CNET

"The Galaxy Fold stole the show with the promise of what smartphones can be in a non-distant future – the launch date is set for April. Samsung was brilliant in positioning the Galaxy Fold as a luxury device for now. It was smart not because it reflects the $1980 price point, but because the Galaxy Fold is certainly not a device for the masses. There is a lot of technology packed into the device, including many firsts, which justifies the price but differentiated use cases are still to be defined. Furthermore, purposefully designed apps taking advantage of the two screens through app continuity still need to be built. Early tech adopters have a higher degree of patience in finding the quirks and learning what a new category can do, so they are a prime target. Consumers who want a device that delivers status will also be interested in the Galaxy Fold.

We will see if the Galaxy Fold is a one-off or the start of a new category and much of this will depend on what Android and app developers will make possible. We know there will be more foldable showcased at MWC in just a few days and what I am interested in seeing is the design approach vendors will take. Overall, I think foldable phones have a more significant opportunity than 2in1 had in the PC market. Phones, unlike PCs, are always with us and while I argued many times that consumers have little left to give to Android tablets – both in terms of time and money – they will still benefit from a tablet-like experience from the device that is always with them."

The Samsung Galaxy Fold Captured Attention, but The Galaxy S10 Lineup Will Capture Sales | Tech.pinions

China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced | MIT Technology Review

Sure, "inadvertently..."

"Now, new research shows that the same alteration introduced into the girls’ DNA, deletion of a gene called CCR5, not only makes mice smarter but also improves human brain recovery after stroke, and could be linked to greater success in school.

“The answer is likely yes, it did affect their brains,” says Alcino J. Silva, a neurobiologist at the University of California, Los Angeles, whose lab uncovered a major new role for the CCR5 gene in memory and the brain’s ability to form new connections.

“The simplest interpretation is that those mutations will probably have an impact on cognitive function in the twins,” says Silva. He says the exact effect on the girls’ cognition is impossible to predict, and “that is why it should not be done.”"

China’s CRISPR twins might have had their brains inadvertently enhanced | MIT Technology Review

YouTube terminates more than 400 channels following child exploitation controversy | The Verge

Just like Fox News -- all it took was a large number of major advertisers leaving to trigger a corrective action...

"The details come from YouTube’s creator outreach team in response to a video from commentator Philip DeFranco published yesterday evening. The team’s statement said that “all of us at YouTube” are working on the problem, and that “we are continuing to grow our team in order to keep people safe.” YouTube has also been reporting comments and accounts to law enforcement, which it has to do in compliance with federal law.

Advertisers and creators have responded to the issue over the past couple of days following a video highlighting the issue that gained widespread attention. The video, from Matt Watson, demonstrated how searching terms like “bikini haul,” which features women modeling different swimsuits they’ve purchased, can lead to videos of children that feature predatory messages in the comment sections. Since the video has come out, companies including Epic Games, Nestlé, and Disney have pulled ads from the platform. Other companies like Grammarly and Peloton have asked YouTube to investigate further."

YouTube terminates more than 400 channels following child exploitation controversy | The Verge

Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo | TechCrunch

If you're using Onavo, Facebook will continue to operate it for a while (without the data harvesting) to give you time to find a replacement VPN app

"Facebook has also ceased to recruit new users for the Facebook Research app that still runs on Android but was forced off of iOS by Apple after we reported on how it violated Apple’s Enterprise Certificate program for employee-only apps. Existing Facebook Research app studies will continue to run, though.

With the suspicions about tech giants and looming regulation leading to more intense scrutiny of privacy practices, Facebook has decided that giving users a utility like a VPN in exchange for quietly examining their app usage and mobile browsing data isn’t a wise strategy. Instead, it will focus on paid programs where users explicitly understand what privacy they’re giving up for direct financial compensation."

Facebook will shut down its spyware VPN app Onavo | TechCrunch

China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise | NYT

Maybe opt out, if you see an offer for a "free health check" the next time you're in China...

"Mr. Imin was one of millions of people caught up in a vast Chinese campaign of surveillance and oppression. To give it teeth, the Chinese authorities are collecting DNA — and they got unlikely corporate and academic help from the United States to do it.

China wants to make the country’s Uighurs, a predominantly Muslim ethnic group, more subservient to the Communist Party. It has detained up to a million people in what China calls “re-education” camps, drawing condemnation from human rights groups and a threat of sanctions from the Trump administration.

Collecting genetic material is a key part of China’s campaign, according to human rights groups and Uighur activists. They say a comprehensive DNA database could be used to chase down any Uighurs who resist conforming to the campaign."

China Uses DNA to Track Its People, With the Help of American Expertise | NYT

‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates | Politico

Tbd if Brad Parscale is too busy to offer related consulting services...

"A wide-ranging disinformation campaign aimed at Democratic 2020 candidates is already underway on social media, with signs that foreign state actors are driving at least some of the activity.

The main targets appear to be Sens. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), and former Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), four of the most prominent announced or prospective candidates for president.

A POLITICO review of recent data extracted from Twitter and from other platforms, as well as interviews with data scientists and digital campaign strategists, suggests that the goal of the coordinated barrage appears to be undermining the nascent candidacies through the dissemination of memes, hashtags, misinformation and distortions of their positions. But the divisive nature of many of the posts also hints at a broader effort to sow discord and chaos within the Democratic presidential primary."

‘Sustained and ongoing’ disinformation assault targets Dem presidential candidates | Politico

When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online | The Atlantic

Later in the article: "And in France, strict privacy laws mean kids can sue their own parents for publishing intimate or private details of their lives without consent. In the United States, however, teens and tweens aren’t offered such protections, and many simply walk on eggshells. “You definitely just have to live cautiously,” Ellen said."

"But it’s not just overzealous mommy bloggers who construct a child’s online identity; plenty of average parents do the same. There’s even a portmanteau for it: sharenting. Almost a quarter of children begin their digital lives when parents upload their prenatal sonogram scans to the internet, according to a study conducted by the internet-security firm AVG. The study also found that 92 percent of toddlers under the age of 2 already have their own unique digital identity. “Parents now shape their children’s digital identity long before these young people open their first email. The disclosures parents make online are sure to follow their children into adulthood,” declares a report by the University of Florida Levin College of Law. “These parents act as both gatekeepers of their children’s personal information and as narrators of their children’s personal stories.”

Preschools and elementary schools often keep blogs or upload photos of kids to Instagram accounts and Facebook pages so that working parents can feel like a part of their kids’ day. Sports scores are recorded online, as are notable moments from after-school clubs."

When Kids Realize Their Whole Life Is Already Online | The Atlantic

At Harvard Law, Zittrain and Zuckerberg discuss encryption, ‘information fiduciaries’ and targeted advertisements | Harvard Law Today

Also see this Facebook Newsroom post for the interview video (and full transcript) and Mark Zuckerberg is ‘potentially interested’ in putting Facebook login on the blockchain | The Verge; tangentially, see Google failed to notify customers it put microphones in Nest security systems | Washington Post

"The conversation segued into another topic area involving competing sets of interests: the use of end-to-end message encryption to make private communications inaccessible to eavesdroppers. End-to-end encryption has come under criticism for making it difficult in some cases for law enforcement agents (with the proper warrants) to access evidence locked up on devices. Zittrain raised the possibility that governments not embracing the rule of law might use their legal and technical capabilities to peek into unencrypted private communications at will. “The modern surveillance states of note in the world have a lot of arrows in their quivers… they’ve got a plan B, a plan C, and a plan D,” he said.

Zuckerberg said he is inclined to implement more end-to-end encryption. “I basically think that if you want to talk in metaphors, messaging is like people’s living room, and we definitely don’t want a society where there’s a camera in everyone’s living room,” he said.

Zittrain pointed out that people are happily installing Facebook’s own smart camera–the Portal–in their living rooms. Zuckerberg laughed. “That is I guess… yeah. Though that would be encrypted.”"

At Harvard Law, Zittrain and Zuckerberg discuss encryption, ‘information fiduciaries’ and targeted advertisements | Harvard Law Today

Samsung’s foldable phone is the Galaxy Fold, available April 26th starting at $1,980 | The Verge

File under: Future collectors' item...

"Samsung first teased its foldable phone back in November, and at the company’s Galaxy Unpacked event today, it’s further detailing its foldable plans. Samsung’s foldable now has a name, the Samsung Galaxy Fold, and the company is revealing more about what this unique smartphone can do. Samsung is planning to launch the Galaxy Fold on April 26th, starting at $1,980, through AT&T and T-Mobile in the US, with a free pair of Samsung’s new wireless earbuds. There will be both an LTE and 5G version of the Galaxy Fold, and Samsung is even planning on launching the device in Europe on May 3rd, starting at 2,000 euros.

Samsung is using a new 7.3-inch Infinity Flex Display that allows the phone itself to have a tablet-sized screen that can be folded to fit into a pocket. The main display is QXGA+ resolution (4.2:3), and when it’s folded, a smaller 4.6-inch HD+ (12:9) display is used for the phone mode. Samsung is using 512GB of Universal Flash Storage 3.0 (eUFS) for fast speeds, alongside a Qualcomm 7nm octa-core processor and 12GB of RAM. Samsung has even built two batteries for its Galaxy Fold, that are separated by the fold but combined in the Android operating system to represent a total of 4,380 mAh."

Samsung’s foldable phone is the Galaxy Fold, available April 26th starting at $1,980 | The Verge

Digital ads expected to crush everything else this year | Axios

What the world needs now, apparently, is more advertising...

"The big takeaway: For the first time this year, the combined share of Google and Facebook's dominance of digital ads will actually drop, despite record revenues.

• That's because Amazon will continue to grow, eating at both companies' market share.
• eMarketer predicts that Amazon's U.S. ads business will grow more than 50% this year, putting Amazon on track to close the gap with Facebook, which is currently the second-biggest digital ad company by spend next to Google."

 Digital ads expected to crush everything else this year | Axios

Google and Facebook have become “antithetical to democracy,” says The Age of Surveillance Capitalism author Shoshana Zuboff | Recode

Check the source for a podcast interview and transcript

"“All of the economic imperatives now that define surveillance capitalism are aimed at, how do we get better and better prediction products?” Zuboff told Recode’s Kara Swisher. “How do we win the most lucrative prediction products, so that not only are we predicting the future, but really increasingly, our prediction products are equal to observation.”

There are just a couple problems: One, when customers are fully informed about how their data is being used, they don’t like it. So, companies like Google and Facebook have decided to “take without asking,” Zuboff said. And whoever has all that data has a tremendous amount of power — so much so that the same people who unwittingly provided more data than they realized to tech companies can then be manipulated toward commercial and political outcomes.

“Right now, surveillance capitalists sit on a huge asymmetry of knowledge,” she said. “They have an asymmetry of knowledge, a concentration of knowledge unlike anything ever seen in human history ... We have an institutional disfiguring of these huge asymmetries of knowledge and power which are antithetical to democracy.”"

Google and Facebook have become “antithetical to democracy,” says The Age of Surveillance Capitalism author Shoshana Zuboff | Recode

Russian Hackers Targeted European Research Groups, Microsoft Says | NYT

See New steps to protect Europe from continued cyber threats | Microsoft EU Policy Blog for more on how Microsoft AccountGuard is helping to protect "the birthplace of democracy"

"A group of hackers associated with Russian intelligence targeted civil society groups across Europe ahead of May elections there, Microsoft said on Tuesday.

The attacks, disclosed by Microsoft in a blog post, demonstrate the continuing spread of a broad online campaign aimed at disrupting real and potential political opponents of Russia’s president, Vladimir V. Putin. The company said it had found that hackers targeted more than 100 email accounts at think tanks and nongovernmental organizations that work on issues including election security, nuclear policy and foreign relations.

Microsoft didn’t address what country the attacks came from, but it blamed a group of hackers sometimes called Fancy Bear. Online security companies have identified Fancy Bear as a Russian group, and it is widely believed to be tied to Russian intelligence."

Russian Hackers Targeted European Research Groups, Microsoft Says | NYT

The race to 5G wireless tech is on. A report finds Americans may have an early lead. | Washington Post

Must be about time to start marketing 6G features...

"By 2022, fifth-generation cellular networks will power as many as 9 percent of mobile data connections across North America, Cisco said, compared with 4 percent in Asia. The new projections were unveiled Tuesday as part of Cisco’s annual Visual Networking Index report, which studies industry trends.

The report underscores the substantial work that countries like China face as they seek to out-develop Western nations. And it reflects U.S. policies that put the United States in a strong position to lead, said Cisco, which makes networking technology.

Proponents say 5G will offer download speeds faster than what many households receive on their home Internet connections. And, they say, 5G’s reliability will unlock new capabilities such as self-driving cars, remote medicine and a thriving ecosystem of smart appliances that require a constant connection."

The race to 5G wireless tech is on. A report finds Americans may have an early lead. | Washington Post

Once hailed as unhackable, blockchains are now getting hacked | MIT Technology Review

From an extensive blockchain reality check

"In total, hackers have stolen nearly $2 billion worth of cryptocurrency since the beginning of 2017, mostly from exchanges, and that’s just what has been revealed publicly. These are not just opportunistic lone attackers, either. Sophisticated cybercrime organizations are now doing it too: analytics firm Chainalysis recently said that just two groups, both of which are apparently still active, may have stolen a combined $1 billion from exchanges.

We shouldn’t be surprised. Blockchains are particularly attractive to thieves because fraudulent transactions can’t be reversed as they often can be in the traditional financial system. Besides that, we’ve long known that just as blockchains have unique security features, they have unique vulnerabilities. Marketing slogans and headlines that called the technology “unhackable” were dead wrong."

Once hailed as unhackable, blockchains are now getting hacked | MIT Technology Review

“Rebuilding a local news ecosystem”: Knight pledges $300 million to local news, free speech, and media literacy organizations | NiemanLab

Good news...

"The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation will provide a whopping $300 million over five years to organizations including the American Journalism Project, Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press, and and ProPublica, the foundation announced Tuesday.
The funding announcement follows the Knight Commission’s release earlier this month of a report outlining its recommendations for 21st-century journalism.
“We’re not funding one-offs,” Alberto Ibargüen, Knight Foundation president, said in a statement. “We’re rebuilding a local news ecosystem, reliable and sustainable, and we’re doing it in a way that anyone who cares can participate.” The foundation called on “other funders and individuals across sectors” to participate as well. (Disclosure: Nieman Lab has received Knight funding in the past.)"

“Rebuilding a local news ecosystem”: Knight pledges $300 million to local news, free speech, and media literacy organizations | NiemanLab

China Abandons Cybersecurity Truce With U.S., Report Says | Bloomberg

Later in the article: "Crowdstrike said that Iran focused much of its cyber activity on Middle Eastern and North African countries while Russia engaged in intelligence collection and information operations worldwide. North Korea deployed hackers for financial gain and intelligence collection, while China targeted sectors including technology, manufacturing and hospitality, Meyers said."

"China largely abandoned a hacking truce negotiated by Barack Obama as President Donald Trump embarked on a trade war with Beijing last year, according to the cybersecurity firm Crowdstrike Inc.

A slowdown in Chinese hacking following the cybersecurity agreement Obama’s administration secured in 2015 appears to have been reversed, the firm said in a report released Tuesday that reviewed cyber activity by U.S. adversaries in 2018.

“By 2017 they started coming back and throughout 2018 they were back in full force,” said Adam Meyers, vice president of intelligence at Crowdstrike. “They have been very active and we expect to see that continue.”"

China Abandons Cybersecurity Truce With U.S., Report Says | Bloomberg

YouTube Unleashed a Conspiracy Theory Boom. Can It Be Contained? | NYT

Tbd how Putin and others will find a way to lobby against potential regulation in this context... On a related note, see Google details how it fights ‘fake news’ in Search, News, YouTube, and ads | 9to5Google and Study blames YouTube for rise in number of Flat Earthers | Guardian

"But there is a thornier problem here. Many young people have absorbed a YouTube-centric worldview, including rejecting mainstream information sources in favor of platform-native creators bearing “secret histories” and faux-authoritative explanations.

When those creators propagate hoaxes and conspiracy theories as part of a financially motivated growth strategy, it seeps in with some percentage of their audience. And sometimes — in ways no algorithm could predict — it leads viewers to a much darker place.

It’s possible that YouTube can still beat back the flood of conspiracy theories coursing through its servers. But doing it will require acknowledging how deep these problems run and realizing that any successful effort may look less like a simple algorithm tweak, and more like deprogramming a generation."

YouTube Unleashed a Conspiracy Theory Boom. Can It Be Contained? | NYT

A Real Tube Carrying Dreams of 600-M.P.H. Transit | NYT

Interesting business model...

"“People would get sick looking at trees passing by at 600 miles per hour,” said Sébastien Gendron, TransPod’s chief executive.

Instead, developers are looking at various exterior simulations that could be projected on large screens throughout the pod. “We could create a depth effect through video projection,” Mr. Gendron said. Even movies could be shown.

Mr. Ahlborn believes that showing advertisements and providing other services to travelers could provide additional income that would hold down fares.

“My vision is that the ticket model is not the best model,” he said. “We can enable a marketplace of services and generate a lot of money.”"

 A Real Tube Carrying Dreams of 600-M.P.H. Transit | NYT

Statistician raises red flag about reliability of machine learning techniques | Digital Trends

Actual results may vary... Also see AAAS: Machine learning 'causing science crisis' | BBC

"Dr Genevera Allen, associate professor of statistics, computer science, and electrical and computer engineering Rice University in Houston, Texas has discussed this topic at a press briefing and at a scientific conference, the 2019 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). She warned that researchers in the field of machine learning have spent so much time developing predictive models that they have not devoted enough attention to checking the accuracy of their models, and that the field must develop systems which can assess the accuracy of their own findings.

“The question is, ‘Can we really trust the discoveries that are currently being made using machine-learning techniques applied to large data sets?'” Allen said in a statement. “The answer in many situations is probably, ‘Not without checking,’ but work is underway on next-generation machine-learning systems that will assess the uncertainty and reproducibility of their predictions.”"

Statistician raises red flag about reliability of machine learning techniques | Digital Trends

Facebook needs regulation as Zuckerberg 'fails' - UK MPs | BBC

Also see A digital gangster destroying democracy: the damning verdict on Facebook | Guardian

"A Commons committee has concluded that the firm's founder Mark Zuckerberg failed to show "leadership or personal responsibility" over fake news.
Untrue stories from foreign powers were risking the UK's democracy, they said.
Facebook welcomed the digital select committee's report and said it would be open to "meaningful regulation".
MPs said that what was needed to deal with the proliferation of disinformation online and the misuse of personal data was a "radical shift in the balance of power between social media platforms and the people"."

Facebook needs regulation as Zuckerberg 'fails' - UK MPs | BBC

Chinese and Iranian Hackers Renew Their Attacks on U.S. Companies | NYT

Also see Australian political parties hit by 'state actor' hack, PM says | BBC

"Businesses and government agencies in the United States have been targeted in aggressive attacks by Iranian and Chinese hackers who security experts believe have been energized by President Trump’s withdrawal from the Iran nuclear deal last year and his trade conflicts with China.

Recent Iranian attacks on American banks, businesses and government agencies have been more extensive than previously reported. Dozens of corporations and multiple United States agencies have been hit, according to seven people briefed on the episodes who were not authorized to discuss them publicly."

Chinese and Iranian Hackers Renew Their Attacks on U.S. Companies | NYT

With fitness trackers in the workplace, bosses can monitor your every step — and possibly more | Washington Post

Final paragraphs:

"Real-time information from wearable devices is crunched together with information about past doctors visits and hospitalizations to get a health snapshot of employees. Sleep monitoring has especially profound implications. Poor sleep can be a key indicator of depression, substance abuse or other mental disturbances. Overweight insomniacs, as measured in this new world, for example, will stand out faster as potentially costly health insurance risks.

Some companies also add information from outside the health system — social predictors of health such as credit scores and whether someone lives alone — to come up with individual risk forecasts.

“The Fitbit or Apple Watch applications . . . may yield clues to things about you that you are not even aware of, or not ready for other people to know,’’ said Electronic Frontier’s Tien. “Individuals and consumers who are buying these devices don’t understand that is a potential consequence.’’"

With fitness trackers in the workplace, bosses can monitor your every step — and possibly more | Washington Post

Warren Buffett's right-hand man Charlie Munger: Amazon is 'an utter phenomenon of nature' | CNBC

Tangentially, see The Oracle of Omaha has given up on Oracle, the company | Quartz

""My attitude toward Amazon is it is an utter phenomenon of nature," Munger told CNBC's Becky Quick Thursday. "There has hardly ever been anything like it in the history of our country ... very talented driven people."

The vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, who is worth $1.7 billion, according to Forbes, says he has been surprised at Amazon's growth.

"I would not have predicted the success that happened and now that it has happened, I wouldn't want to predict that it was going to stop either. I think it may run a long way."

Munger has also called founder and CEO Jeff Bezos "ferociously smart.""

Warren Buffett's right-hand man Charlie Munger: Amazon is 'an utter phenomenon of nature' | CNBC

Is Blockchain Technology Overhyped? | NYT

Excerpts from a review of two recent blockchain books

"For the John Perry Barlows of today, blockchain represents a new opportunity to free people from governments, corporations and other sources of centralized control. (Indeed, a few true believers, made rich during the recent digital currency boom, are spending millions of dollars on potential experimental communities where rights and contracts would be implemented using blockchain technology.) But for the legal scholars Primavera De Filippi and Aaron Wright, the innovative promise of blockchain, though real, has been exaggerated. As they argue in BLOCKCHAIN AND THE LAW: The Rule of Code (Harvard University, $35), the growth and evolution of this technology “will follow a similar path” to that of the internet itself: from anarchic potential to a more regulated and controlled reality. They also argue that this is desirable — that blockchain visionaries looking to free people from the hegemony of governments and corporations “could wind up surrendering themselves (and others) to the whims of a much more powerful enemy”: namely, the self-governing code of blockchain itself.
[...]
In THE BLOCKCHAIN AND THE NEW ARCHITECTURE OF TRUST (MIT, $27.95), the legal scholar Kevin Werbach stakes out a position similar to that of De Filippi and Wright, arguing that “like the internet the blockchain is mistakenly viewed as the final answer to the problem of intermediation” — the problem of inefficient, unwanted or unreliable go-betweens. The trouble with this view, he notes, is that intermediaries, when trustworthy, play many beneficial roles: pairing buyers with sellers, bundling demand to create economies of scale, correcting imbalances in bargaining power. Because there is no widespread desire to eliminate intermediaries, he predicts that blockchain technology will most often “supplement or complement conventional legal regimes, not replace them,” proving most useful when rigidity and automation are valuable. Blockchain might be used, for example, to mechanize the enforcement of reporting rules for banks, so that government agencies need not actively monitor every relevant bank transaction."

Is Blockchain Technology Overhyped? | NYT

OpenAI's new multitalented AI writes, translates, and slanders | The Verge

Also see New AI fake text generator may be too dangerous to release, say creators | Guardian

"For decades, machines have struggled with the subtleties of human language, and even the recent boom in deep learning powered by big data and improved processors has failed to crack this cognitive challenge. Algorithmic moderators still overlook abusive comments, and the world’s most talkative chatbots can barely keep a conversation alive. But new methods for analyzing text, developed by heavyweights like Google and OpenAI as well as independent researchers, are unlocking previously unheard-of talents.
OpenAI’s new algorithm, named GPT-2, is one of the most exciting examples yet. It excels at a task known as language modeling, which tests a program’s ability to predict the next word in a given sentence. Give it a fake headline, and it’ll write the rest of the article, complete with fake quotations and statistics. Feed it the first line of a short story, and it’ll tell you what happens to your character next. It can even write fan fiction, given the right prompt."

OpenAI's new multitalented AI writes, translates, and slanders | The Verge

JPMorgan Chase Moves to Be First Big U.S. Bank With Its Own Cryptocurrency | NYT

Featuring a "closed blockchain" and other oxymorons...

"The bank’s token is unlikely to shake up the financial system anytime soon. Because it will be run by JPMorgan, it lacks the fundamental qualities that have made cryptocurrencies so radical: the freedom from middlemen and from regulatory oversight.

JPMorgan will control the JPM Coin ledger, and each coin will be backed by a dollar in JPMorgan accounts, giving the coins a stable value. That means JPM Coin will not be subject to the wild price volatility that has drawn speculators to other cryptocurrencies.

The bank is following in the footsteps of several smaller players that have introduced similar digital coins tied to the dollar. A consortium of European banks has been finalizing a similar product, Utility Settlement Coin, that would make it possible to move money between banks more quickly. Several cryptocurrency exchanges already have their own so-called stablecoins."

JPMorgan Chase Moves to Be First Big U.S. Bank With Its Own Cryptocurrency | NYT

The U.S. government and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses | Washington Post

So perhaps Facebook and/or El Chapo will pay for the wall...

"The fine would be the largest the agency has ever imposed on a technology company, but the two sides have not yet agreed on an exact amount. Facebook has expressed initial concern with the FTC’s demands, one of the people said. If talks break down, the FTC could take the matter to court in what would likely be a bruising legal fight.
[...]
A multi-billion dollar fine would amount to a reckoning for Facebook in the United States after a series of privacy lapses that may have put the personal information of its users at risk. Lawmakers have faulted the company for mishandling that data while failing to crack down on other digital ills, including the rise of online hate speech and the spread of disinformation from Russian operatives and other foreign actors."

The U.S. government and Facebook are negotiating a record, multibillion-dollar fine for the company’s privacy lapses | Washington Post

India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship | NYT

On a related note, see Russia considers 'unplugging' from internet | BBC

"Under the proposed rules, Indian officials could demand that Facebook, Google, Twitter, TikTok and others remove posts or videos that they deem libelous, invasive of privacy, hateful or deceptive. Internet companies would also have to build automated screening tools to block Indians from seeing “unlawful information or content.” Another provision would weaken the privacy protections of messaging services like WhatsApp so that the authorities could trace messages back to their original senders.

The new rules could be imposed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government anytime after the public comment period ends on Thursday night. The administration has been eager to get them in place before the date is set for this spring’s national elections, which will prompt special pre-election rules limiting new policies.

Civil liberties groups and other critics said the changes would violate constitutional protections for free speech and privacy and put India in the same league as autocratic countries like China and Russia. Some of them suggested that the Modi administration was rushing to adopt the regulations so it could more easily pressure the tech platforms to remove social media posts by political opponents in the coming election."

India Proposes Chinese-Style Internet Censorship | NYT

The logic behind Apple’s give-us-half-your-revenue pitch to news publishers | Recode

New business model math for publishers

"So what is Apple thinking now?

Here’s the short answer, which I’ve cobbled together by talking to industry sources: Apple has already signed many publishers to deals where they’ll get 50 percent of the revenue Apple generates through subscriptions to its news service, which is currently called Texture and will be relaunched as a premium version of Apple News this spring.

And some publishers are happy to do it, because they think Apple will sign up many millions of people to the new service. And they’d rather have a smaller percentage of a bigger number than a bigger chunk of a smaller number.

In the words of a publishing executive who is optimistic about Apple’s plans: “It’s the absolute dollars paid out that matters, not the percentage.”"

The logic behind Apple’s give-us-half-your-revenue pitch to news publishers | Recode

Investing across the U.S. in 2019 | The Keyword

From a Sundar Pichai data center investment update

"Today we’re announcing over $13 billion in investments throughout 2019 in data centers and offices across the U.S., with major expansions in 14 states. These new investments will give us the capacity to hire tens of thousands of employees, and enable the creation of more than 10,000 new construction jobs in Nebraska, Nevada, Ohio, Texas, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia. With this new investment, Google will now have a home in 24 total states, including data centers in 13 communities. 2019 marks the second year in a row we’ll be growing faster outside of the Bay Area than in it.
This growth will allow us to invest in the communities where we operate, while we improve the products and services that help billions of people and businesses globally. Our new data center investments, in particular, will enhance our ability to provide the fastest and most reliable services for all our users and customers. As part of our commitment to our 100 percent renewable energy purchasing, we’re also making significant renewable energy investments in the U.S. as we grow. Our data centers make a significant economic contribution to local communities, as do the associated $5 billion in energy investments that our energy purchasing supports."

Investing across the U.S. in 2019 | The Keyword

Zillow Wants to Flip Your House | Bloomberg

The basic model: "Zillow would buy houses, fix them up, and resell them, earning a fee for providing a simple, fast transaction."

"For decades, selling a house in the U.S. was a low-tech, high-stress affair. You hired an agent, fixed your mind on a number, and decided how much time and money you wanted to spend repainting walls, redoing bathrooms, and making other repairs that had seemed too costly or inconvenient to make for your own benefit. You locked up your pets, lit some scented candles, and opened the door to a parade of strangers. Then you waited for an offer—ideally, more than one—and hoped your agent would be able to deliver the price you needed so you could afford your next abode.

There has long been another way, selling to the kind of investors who post signs under the highway overpass promising cash for ugly houses. Those home “flippers” have an unsavory reputation, partly because they’re seen as pushing lowball offers to those behind on their mortgage payments or otherwise desperate—the newly divorced, the widowed, or the unemployed.

Zillow is part of a new breed of high-tech home flippers, sometimes called “iBuyers,” that also includes Silicon Valley startups and a small group of adventurous real estate brokerages that have instant-offer operations. Armed with Wall Street and Silicon Valley capital and algorithms designed to make granular predictions about home prices, these investors are buying homes on a massive scale, wringing tiny profits out of each flip. That makes them valuable to the Rittenhouses and the thousands of other Phoenix-area homeowners who used them last year. It also makes them potentially scary to real estate agents, big-data skeptics, and anyone who remembers the recent history of innovations in housing finance."

Zillow Wants to Flip Your House | Bloomberg

The Strange Experience of Being Australia’s First Tech Billionaires | NYT

From a wide-ranging Atlassian profile

"Atlassian is a very boring software company. It develops products for software engineers and project managers, with hits like Jira (for software project management and bug tracking) and Fisheye (a revision-control browser). And who could forget Confluence (an enterprise knowledge management system)?

So why are its two founders household names in Australia?

Because Scott Farquhar and Mike Cannon-Brookes, both 39, are the country’s first start-up-to-I.P.O. tech billionaires. And because in the last year, they have started to make noise."

The Strange Experience of Being Australia’s First Tech Billionaires | NYT

Emoji wars: Kim Kardashian West sued for $300 million over the use of popular Kimoji | Washington Post

Stranger than fiction...

"They say a picture is worth 1,000 words.

Emoji of Kim Kardashian West could be worth $300 million, according to a new lawsuit.

A social media developer has sued Kardashian West and her company, Kimsaprincess Inc., over emoji and other images of the reality show celebrity. In a suit filed Tuesday in federal court in Oklahoma City, the developer alleges that he and two others teamed up with Kardashian West to create Kimoji designs and merchandising. Now they’re claiming that Kardashian West ran away with the trademark and never shared the profits."

Emoji wars: Kim Kardashian West sued for $300 million over the use of popular Kimoji | Washington Post

How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t do it. | Recode

Also see Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey: I Suck and the Problem Is the Whole Site | Gizmodo

"Twitter wants to be the place for the most important public conversations online. It still has some serious work to do.

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Recode co-founder Kara Swisher agreed to conduct an interview Tuesday on Twitter, and it had all the makings of a great read: The CEO of one of the most influential and controversial tech platforms in the world taking questions from one of the industry’s most ferocious reporters.

The only problem? No one could follow along."

How hard is it to have a conversation on Twitter? So hard even the CEO can’t do it. | Recode

Apple rumored to launch subscription News at March 25 event, 'AirPods 2' and new iPad mini not expected | AppleInsider

Also see Apple is reportedly planning an all-you-can-read subscription news service and wants to keep half the revenue | CNBC

"The event will be "services focused," the highlight being the debut of a paid Apple News subscription, BuzzFeed News said, citing multiple sources. That plan could be called Apple News Magazines, and grant people access to a variety of magazines and newspapers for $10 per month.

Likely missing from the event will be second-generation AirPods or a fifth-generation iPad mini, the report added. Apple has regularly introduced hardware at March events — earlier today, one questionable story suggested that the AirPods, a new Mini, and more could begin preorders on March 22."

Apple rumored to launch subscription News at March 25 event, 'AirPods 2' and new iPad mini not expected | AppleInsider

Follow the CAPEX: Cloud Table Stakes 2018 Edition | Platformonomics

From another timely Charles Fitzgerald cloud reality check

"The three hyper-scale public cloud companies – Amazon, Google, and Microsoft – spent over $68 billion on CAPEX between them in 2018. That is not all for cloud infrastructure (and maybe not even a majority of it), as those companies have other, material CAPEX spend, but it is directionally indicative. All three companies again registered all-time CAPEX highs this year. The combined total is on the order of 5% of total non-residential fixed investment in the US (one wonders whether hand-ringing about relatively disappointing fixed investment across the broader economy is attributable at least in part to the economies of scale of the public clouds)."

Follow the CAPEX: Cloud Table Stakes 2018 Edition | Platformonomics

Trump administration unveils order to prioritize and promote AI | Reuters

See this page for the full executive order

"Under the American AI Initiative, the administration is directing agencies to prioritize AI investments in research and development, increase access to federal data and models for that research and prepare workers to adapt to the era of AI.

There was no specific funding announced for the initiative, but the White House wants better reporting and tracking of spending on AI-related research and development.

The White House said investment in AI is “critical to creating the industries of the future, like autonomous cars, industrial robots, algorithms for disease diagnosis, and more.”"

Trump administration unveils order to prioritize and promote AI | Reuters

Apple announces Health Records feature coming to veterans | Apple Newsroom

Later in the post: "Health Records on iPhone will be the first record-sharing platform of its kind available to the VA, which is the largest medical system in the United States providing service to more than 9 million veterans across 1,243 facilities."

"“We have great admiration for veterans, and we’re proud to bring a solution like Health Records on iPhone to the veteran community,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “It’s truly an honor to contribute to the improved healthcare of America’s heroes.”
With Health Records on iPhone, veterans across the US will be able to see medical information from participating institutions — including the VA — organized into one view all in the Health app. Health records data includes allergies, conditions, immunizations, lab results, medications, procedures and vitals, and is displayed along with other information in the Health app like Apple Watch data. This means VA patients will get a single, integrated snapshot of their health profile whenever they want quickly and privately. All Health Records data is encrypted and protected with the user’s iPhone passcode, Touch ID or Face ID."

Apple announces Health Records feature coming to veterans | Apple Newsroom

Amazon Gobbles Up Eero to Round Out Its Smart Home Plan | Wired

In case you're inclined to provide Amazon with more personal activity data... For more details, see Amazon to Acquire eero to Help Customers Better Connect Smart Home Devices | Amazon

"But for Amazon, the Eero buy clearly signals how serious the company is about rounding out its smart home hardware offerings—and squeezing as many Amazon-owned access points as it can into a person’s home. In just five years, Amazon has both launched its own array of smart home devices, starting with the first Echo speaker in 2014. The company's roster of smart home devices now includes multiple speakers, TV streaming boxes and sticks, connected television sets, countertop displays, a wall clock, and a DVR, not to mention oddball gadgets like a scanning wand that aids your grocery shopping and a camera that judges your outfits.

Along the way, Amazon also strategically acquired smaller smart home companies, or IoT-adjacent companies. Its 2015 buy of Israeli chipmaker Annapurna Labs seemed to affirm the e-commerce company’s commitment to making its own chips that could power “home gateways, Wi-Fi routers, and network-attached storage devices.” Then, in late 2017, Amazon acquired Blink, a Massachusetts-based startup that made battery-powered smart cameras and smart doorbells. And last year, it spent $1.1 billion on Ring, which also makes smart home products and which Amazon had invested in previously through its Alexa Fund."

Amazon Gobbles Up Eero to Round Out Its Smart Home Plan | Wired

Your Smart Light Can Tell Amazon and Google When You Go to Bed | Bloomberg

The internet of surveillance things

"In other words, after you connect a light fixture to Alexa, Amazon wants to know every time the light is turned on or off, regardless of whether you asked Alexa to toggle the switch. Televisions must report the channel they’re set to. Smart locks must keep the company apprised whether or not the front door bolt is engaged.

This information may seem mundane compared with smartphone geolocation software that follows you around or the trove of personal data Facebook Inc. vacuums up based on your activity. But even gadgets as simple as light bulbs could enable tech companies to fill in blanks about their customers and use the data for marketing purposes. Having already amassed a digital record of activity in public spaces, critics say, tech companies are now bent on establishing a beachhead in the home."

Your Smart Light Can Tell Amazon and Google When You Go to Bed | Bloomberg

Journalism Isn't Dying. It's Returning to Its Roots | Wired

Final paragraphs from a timely journalism reality check; also see We are not being honest with ourselves about the failures of the models we depend upon | Jeff Jarvis

"While the tone of journalism might be headed back to the 19th century, clearly the business models are not. Revenue-wise, the Great 21st Century Journalism Shakeout will likely end with smaller organizations inventing new business models that those villains—the internet and social media—enabled. Technology outlets such as TechCrunch and Recode pioneered expensive (and expensable) conferences. Gimlet Media, just acquired by Spotify for a reported $200 million, produces high-quality journalistic podcasts, pitching them as shows to Netflix and Hollywood, while selling ads. Gear review sites like Wirecutter (which The New York Times acquired in 2016) make substantial revenue via affiliate marketing, taking a cut of sales they drive on ecommerce sites. Books, those antique vestiges of a preinternet age, still command large advances, and audiobook sales at most publishers are growing at a healthy pace. (As a personal anecdote, I have five times the number of reviews on Audible as I do on Amazon: I’m theoretically an author, but I have more listeners than I do readers.)

For larger, especially national, organizations, the money machine will be a portfolio of all of the above, and probably others. (The solutions for local journalism are less obvious, as services like NextDoor or Facebook Groups threaten local journalism’s claim on the neighborhood scuttlebutt.) The luckiest will be kept alive by wealthy largesse, ironically much of it from the technology world—Laurene Powell Jobs at The Atlantic or Jeff Bezos at The Washington Post. Neither democracy nor journalism will die. In fact, I suspect we’re about to have way more of both than we’ve had in a while. The path to the next golden age in American journalism isn’t nostalgia for a vanishing past but the same way that led to the previous golden age, namely, that of profit. More than likely, given the new business models, this will mean some partiality from journalism as well. That’s just fine too. It’s what Ben Franklin would have done." 

Journalism Isn't Dying. It's Returning to Its Roots | Wired

Google is letting some users test its AR navigation feature for Google Maps | The Verge

Navigate different

"At last year’s I/O developer’s conference, Google showed off a new augmented reality feature for Google Maps, which would provide people with directions from your phone’s camera in realtime. As my colleague Chaim Gartenberg noted, it’s a bit like what was promised with Google Glass, but without the headset. The Wall Street Journal’s David Pierce got to try out an early version of the feature.

He says that while it “isn’t likely to be your primary turn-by-turn option, it’s a huge step in the right direction for Google Maps.” He described how the feature worked — the app picks up a person’s location via GPS, and then uses Street View data to narrow it down to your exact location. Once his location was pinned down, it displayed big arrows and directions in his screen. “It was as if Maps had drawn my directions onto the real world, though nobody else could see them.”"

Google is letting some users test its AR navigation feature for Google Maps | The Verge

Jeff Bezos Weighs Options While National Enquirer Publisher Goes on Defensive | Bloomberg

Also see Attorney claims National Enquirer threat to publish Bezos photos was ‘journalism,’ not blackmail | Washington Post

"Pecker has gotten himself in -- and out -- of much trouble over the years. But fighting with Bezos may be a step too far. It’s doubtful Bezos is willing to let the matter drop. Rather than pay hush money he certainly could afford as the world’s richest person, he said he’d rather risk embarrassment of the publication of intimate messages or pictures -- including those “under the belt” -- than “capitulate to extortion or blackmail.”

Bezos is probably mulling whether AMI will now be in deeper trouble with prosecutors -- or whether he will draw from his deep pockets to destroy them on his own. Or both."

Jeff Bezos Weighs Options While National Enquirer Publisher Goes on Defensive | Bloomberg

Trump to Sign Executive Order Promoting Artificial Intelligence | NYT

Also see Trump to launch artificial intelligence initiative, but many details lacking | Science

"President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Monday meant to spur the development and regulation of artificial intelligence, technology that many experts believe will define the future of everything from consumer products to health care to warfare.

A.I. experts across industry, academia and government have long called on the Trump administration to make the development of artificial intelligence a major priority. Last spring, worried that the United States was not keeping pace with China and other countries, Jim Mattis, then the defense secretary, sent a memo to the White House imploring the president to create a national strategy on A.I.

Now, Mr. Trump is about to take that step, though this “American A.I. Initiative” may not be as bold as some had hoped."

Trump to Sign Executive Order Promoting Artificial Intelligence | NYT

Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug | Reuters

On a related note, see Google warns about two iOS zero-days 'exploited in the wild' | ZDNet

"Apple Inc on Thursday rolled out software updates to iPhones to fix a privacy issue in its FaceTime video calling service, and said it would contribute toward the education of the Arizona teenager who discovered the problem.

The software bug, which had let users hear audio from people who had not yet answered a video call, was discovered by a Tucson, Arizona high school student Grant Thompson, who with his mother Michele led Apple to turn off FaceTime group chat as its engineers investigated the issue.

The technology giant said it would compensate the Thompson family and make an additional gift toward 14-year-old Grant’s education."

Apple to contribute to U.S. teen's education for spotting FaceTime bug | Reuters

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing — no, seriously, it is, according to this new research | NiemanLab

I should probably not just skim the source research...

"It turns out that where you are on the “need for affect” scale also influences how right you think you are about news on Facebook, according to a paper published this week in Research and Politics:

We found that Facebook’s News Feed, with its short article previews, provides enough information for learning to occur. This in itself is an important and normatively positive finding: in a relatively new way of acquiring information, Facebook users are learning by merely scrolling through their News Feed. However, this learning comes with an additional consequence: audiences who only read article previews are overly confident in their knowledge, especially individuals who are motivated to experience strong emotions and, thus, tend to form strong opinions. These individuals demonstrating a high “need for affect” (Maio and Esses, 2001) are significantly more likely to overestimate their knowledge when encountering snippets of information in Facebook’s News Feed.

The authors, Nicolas Anspach, Jay Jennings, and Kevin Arceneaux, hypothesized that “those who are high in need for affect [would] form relatively strong opinions based on the limited information gleaned from the Facebook News Feed and, therefore, [would] be more likely to come away with an illusion of confidence in their knowledge relative to those who score lower on need for affect.” This hypothesis was borne out."

A little knowledge is a dangerous thing — no, seriously, it is, according to this new research | NiemanLab

There’s now an official Green New Deal. Here’s what’s in it. | Vox

Final paragraphs from a detailed overview

"But take a step back and appreciate: The progressive movement has, in rather short order, thrust into mainstream US politics a program to address climate change that is wildly more ambitious than anything the Democratic Party was talking about even two years ago. One hundred percent clean energy, investment in new jobs, and a just transition have gone from activist dreams to the core of the Democratic agenda in the blink of a political eye. There’s a long way to go, but the GND train has come farther, faster than anyone could have predicted.

“We are going to transition this country into the future and we are not going to be dragged behind by our past,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the press conference Thursday.

With Trump and his attendant chaos, US politics is more disrupted, uncertain, and malleable than it’s been in my adult lifetime. Everything is up for grabs. The forces of ethnonationalism and fossil fuel myopia sense this malleability and are organizing to drag the country backward. But the malleability can serve a humane progressive agenda as well; progressives just have to organize better.

The map has been drawn, the path laid out. Now it’s on."

There’s now an official Green New Deal. Here’s what’s in it. | Vox

News aggregator Nuzzel sold to subscription service Scroll | VB

All the news that's fit to Scroll -- and perhaps a leading indicator of the anticipated Apple News Magazines

"Which brings us to why Scroll is buying Nuzzel. Scroll, as you may know, is a coalition of publishers and platforms. It is backed by Axel Springer, News Corp, and the New York Times — three of the world’s biggest publishers — and led by former executives of Chartbeat, Spotify, and Foursquare. The platform counts MSNBC, BuzzFeed, Vox Media, The Atlantic, Slate, Fusion Media Group, and USA Today among its media partners.

“Scroll works automatically if you’re in mobile apps like Twitter, Reddit, LinkedIn or Facebook or just reading in Chrome on your laptop. It seamlessly syncs content across your devices and is format-agnostic,” according to the company. Scroll says more than 60 publishers have been internally testing the subscription service and have determined that “it is possible and profitable to give consumers control over the experience they want.”

The company plans to offer readers access to articles from partner outlets for a monthly fee of $5, 70 percent of which will go to publishers. As of today, Scroll has not launched its service to the public. “Nuzzel is one of the best algorithmic curators out there, and we want to see what we can learn from having that in-house about how best to find a pathway for these kind of discovery activities to be sustainable and solely user-focused. It may not lead to any great breakthroughs, but it’s important to try,” Haile told VentureBeat."

News aggregator Nuzzel sold to subscription service Scroll | VB

Google Fiber is leaving Louisville in humiliating setback | The Verge

See this Google post for more details

"In Louisville, Google Fiber installation crews had been using a process called “shallow trenching” that involved laying fiber cable two inches beneath the sides of roads in the city and covering them up with sealant. The company seemed optimistic about this plan until some of the cable started becoming exposed over time, requiring a second cover-up with hot asphalt. It seems Access realized it had to go a bit deeper with the cabling; in San Antonio, a similar method is used — but the fiber is laid at least six inches deep into the ground. Google Fiber has at times faced legal challenges from rivals (like AT&T) that don’t want to share utility poles, so shallow trenching is also a way around that hurdle.
Unfortunately, things have somehow gone so awry in Louisville that Google Fiber claims it would need to rebuild the entire network to get everything to a satisfactory point, and it seems Alphabet just isn’t interested in blowing the cash that would be necessary to do that. So instead, Google Fiber will today alert Lousville customers that their service will end on April 15th."

Google Fiber is leaving Louisville in humiliating setback | The Verge

Jeff Bezos Accuses the National Enquirer of Sextortion | Lawfare

Check the full post for an index of related resources; also see Bezos Allegations Could Upend American Media’s Deal With Feds | Bloomberg

"Wittes and I, along with Cody Poplin and Clara Spera, produced a Brookings Institution report on sextortion in 2016, and Wittes interviewed Mona Sedky—a computer crimes prosecutor who focuses on sextortion cases—on the Lawfare Podcast. Much of what we said then remains true now: sextortion is understudied; it’s suprisingly common; and it’s a brutal form of abuse. Some victims commit suicide. Those who suffer from sextortion are not usually those who have money and power; they are, by and large, vulnerable children and teenagers who are scared and don’t know where to turn. For this reason, as Wittes identified, Bezos’s decision to come forward with AMI’s threat is actually quite a powerful statement.
[...]
I would be remiss to close without noting the larger political implications of the story, though they’re outside the scope of this piece. It’s not entirely clear from the Medium post precisely what “coverage” AMI was concerned could be described as “politically motivated,” nor is it clear who AMI worried would make that statement—Bezos, or the Post. Bezos has long been a target of President Trump due to his ownership of the Post, and the Enquirer—helmed by David Pecker, a longtime associate of the president’s—has become enmeshed in the many investigations into Trump due to its role in allegedly enabling the silencing of women with whom Trump had affairs. AMI recently signed a non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York."

Jeff Bezos Accuses the National Enquirer of Sextortion | Lawfare

Netflix, but for Video Games | The Economist

New frontiers for gaming

"In October Google began tests of a cloud-gaming service called “Project Stream”, using a big-budget game, “Assassin’s Creed Odyssey” (a still is pictured). The game was designed to run on dedicated consoles and beefy PCs. But with the computational heavy-lifting shifted to Google’s data-centres, even a modest laptop could have the game’s sumptuous take on the Peloponnesian War piped to it over the web.
Those initial trials are now finished. Microsoft, which makes the Xbox consoles, is due to start testing a similar service, Project xCloud, later this year. Amazon is also thought to be interested. The giants will be battling a string of competitors. Electronic Arts, a big games publisher, has plans for a streaming product of its own. Nvidia, a maker of video-gaming graphics chips, is testing a similar service. Sony, which makes the PlayStation consoles, already has a cloud-gaming offering called PlayStation Now, as do startups such as Loudplay and Shadow. Customers of Telecom Italia, an Italian internet provider, and Orange, a French one, can avail themselves too.
The hope is that cloudified games will be more appealing to consumers. The industry would simply be keeping up with their habits, says Kareem Choudhry, who runs Project XCloud at Microsoft. People are trained to expect entertainment to be portable, transferable between different devices, and instantly available."

Netflix, but for Video Games | The Economist

The New York Times Co. Reports $709 Million in Digital Revenue for 2018 | NYT

Also see The New York Times is proving that the internet did not kill the news business | CNBC

"The company hit another revenue milestone: Digital advertising surpassed print advertising for the first time in the fourth quarter, jumping 23 percent to $103 million. Print advertising fell 10 percent, to $88 million.

The revenue gains will allow the company to spend more on its newsroom operations.

“Our appeal to subscribers — and to the world’s leading advertisers — depends more than anything on the quality of our journalism,” Mr. Thompson said in the statement. “That is why we have increased, rather than cut back, our investment in our newsroom and opinion departments. We want to accelerate our digital growth further, so in 2019, we will direct fresh investment into journalism, product and marketing.”

Last year the company added 120 newsroom employees, bringing the total number of journalists at The Times to 1,600, the largest count in its history."

The New York Times Co. Reports $709 Million in Digital Revenue for 2018 | NYT

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology | Wired

Final paragraphs from a Bruce Schneier reality check

"Do you need a public blockchain? The answer is almost certainly no. A blockchain probably doesn’t solve the security problems you think it solves. The security problems it solves are probably not the ones you have. (Manipulating audit data is probably not your major security risk.) A false trust in blockchain can itself be a security risk. The inefficiencies, especially in scaling, are probably not worth it. I have looked at many blockchain applications, and all of them could achieve the same security properties without using a blockchain—of course, then they wouldn’t have the cool name.

Honestly, cryptocurrencies are useless. They're only used by speculators looking for quick riches, people who don't like government-backed currencies, and criminals who want a black-market way to exchange money.

To answer the question of whether the blockchain is needed, ask yourself: Does the blockchain change the system of trust in any meaningful way, or just shift it around? Does it just try to replace trust with verification? Does it strengthen existing trust relationships, or try to go against them? How can trust be abused in the new system, and is this better or worse than the potential abuses in the old system? And lastly: What would your system look like if you didn’t use blockchain at all?

If you ask yourself those questions, it's likely you'll choose solutions that don't use public blockchain. And that'll be a good thing—especially when the hype dissipates." 

There's No Good Reason to Trust Blockchain Technology | Wired

Spotify finally made a profit and spent big on its podcast future | Engadget

For more analysis, see The end of an era: Spotify buying Gimlet signals the start of something new in podcasting. Is that good or bad? | NiemanLab

"Spotify already offers podcasts and has been producing original shows for some time. The company isn't content with its offerings, however. In addition to Gimlet and Anchor, executives are hoping to spend between $400 million and $500 million "on multiple acquisitions" this year. "Growing podcast listening on Spotify is an important strategy for driving top of funnel growth, increased user engagement, lower churn, faster revenue growth, and higher margins," the company said in its earnings. "We intend to lean into this strategy in 2019, both to acquire exclusive content and to increase investment in the production of content in-house."

Spotify is taking the Netflix model, in short. As the company grows, it's inevitable that established record labels will start charging higher licensing fees. Podcasts, however, is something that Spotify can buy and own as exclusive content. If it green-lights the right shows, it could pull users away from third-party podcast apps and then slowly persuade them to take out a premium subscription. Anchor, too, gives Spotify the potential to rapidly build a YouTube-style distribution network. "Gimlet and Anchor will position us to become the leading platform for podcast creators around the world and the leading producer of podcasts," Ek hinted in a blog post."

Spotify finally made a profit and spent big on its podcast future | Engadget

Oracle Didn’t See the Data Reckoning Coming | Bloomberg

Data broker broken

"Data Cloud’s software enables an advertiser to target people based on what they buy in stores; the websites they visit; their likes, interests, and musings on social media; and even what they’re looking at on their screens. It also helps an advertiser manage its Facebook and Twitter campaigns. If Company X wants to, it can ask Oracle to find people looking at images of its SUV, add the information to its consumer profiles, and then upload the data to Facebook, where the carmaker can target those people with ads for the same model.

That last part has gotten tougher in the past year. In March, after the Cambridge Analytica scandal revealed just how casually Facebook Inc. had shared user data with other companies for years, the social network’s clampdown on its own systems became a serious problem for Oracle, say two former staffers and another person familiar with the matter, all of whom spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. By fall, Facebook promised, Oracle and other companies would have to get more consumer consent to use data that helped brands target ads on its network, and Facebook would stop selling ad data on behalf of such third parties. Facebook confirmed that it canceled two partner programs but declined to comment further.

Before the Cambridge story broke, it wasn’t uncommon for Oracle account managers to do 40 percent of their business on Facebook, says one of the former staffers. So while Oracle tried to get Facebook workarounds in place, account managers scrambled to push clients toward Twitter, Pinterest, and other alternatives that at least kept them spending money, that person says. At the same time, the list of companies supplying Oracle with profile data fell by as much as half, they say, because many of those companies couldn’t comply with Europe’s new General Data Protection Regulation ahead of its enforcement deadline last May. Oracle says it doesn’t push clients to favor one platform or another, that it has more than made up for its lost data inputs with new partners in other markets, and that Facebook remains a key partner."

  Oracle Didn’t See the Data Reckoning Coming | Bloomberg