Slack’s rapid growth slows as it hits 1.25M paying work chatters | TechCrunch

The release of Workplace by Facebook probably isn't going to help Slack's momentum

"Slack is still growing fast, about 33% in daily users and paid seats in the last 5 months. But not as fast as before, when it saw 50% DAU growth and 63% paid seat growth in the 5.5 months from December 15th to May 25th.

This aligns with rumors TechCrunch has heard about a slight dip in customer retention at Slack, as the casual, GIF-filled workplace chat app can get noisy and distracting for bigger companies, and have trouble scaling. Uber, for example, dropped Slack back in April.

Slack revealed in a blog post today that it now has 4 million daily active users, 5.8 million weekly active users, over 1.25 million paid users, and 33,000 paid teams. That gives it a current annual run rate of $100 million. That’s not much for a company with over 650 employees across 7 offices that was valued at $3.8 billion when it raised $200 million in April."

Slack’s rapid growth slows as it hits 1.25M paying work chatters | TechCrunch

Facebook’s Three-Point Plan to Get Four Billion More People Online [Technology Review]

Connect different

"Satellites, stratospheric drones, and new forms of wireless networks—these are the technologies Facebook is betting on to make Internet access much, much cheaper and more widely available.

Today, roughly 4.2 billion people are not online. The social network established its Connectivity Lab in 2014 to work on new communications technologies to dramatically shrink that number.

Yael Maguire, head of the connectivity lab, laid out his plan to deliver on that mission at EmTech MIT 2016 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on Tuesday. He said the lab has to develop multiple new technologies in parallel because the problem of getting people online is too complex for a single answer."

Facebook’s Three-Point Plan to Get Four Billion More People Online

Five new ways to reach your goals faster with G Suite (Google The Keyword blog)

Check the full post for details on how Google is leveraging machine learning, Slack integration, and more in G Suite

"One of the core promises of Google Docs is to help you and your team go from collecting ideas to achieving your goals as quickly and easily as possible. That’s why last month we launched Explore in Docs, Sheets and Slides — with machine intelligence built right in — to help your team create amazing presentations, spreadsheets and documents in a fraction of the time it used to take.

Today, we’re introducing five new time-saving features designed to speed up and simplify the way you work, so you can focus on bringing your team’s ideas to life."

Five new ways to reach your goals faster with G Suite

Apple lawsuit says 90 percent of 'official' chargers sold on Amazon are fake - The Verge

Later in the article: "The lawsuit says that when Apple alerted Amazon to the problematic chargers supplied to it by Mobile Star, the online retailer turned over its entire inventory purchased from the company."

"Ever had to buy a new Apple charger from Amazon? Well beware even those labelled as the genuine article — according to a recent lawsuit filed by Apple, 90 percent of them are fake.

The iPhone-maker is currently suing a company named Mobile Star LLC for trademark infringement, alleging that the firm has been passing off counterfeit Apple chargers as the real thing. PatentlyApple has posted the text of the lawsuit, in which Apple reports buying a number of Mobile Star's chargers from Amazon."

Apple lawsuit says 90 percent of 'official' chargers sold on Amazon are fake - The Verge

Apple sends out invites for Oct. 27 event - The Washington Post

Launch event confirmed for 10/27 (10:00 a.m. PT)

"Prepare for another Apple event. The company on Wednesday sent invitations to the media, asking them to gather at Apple headquarters in Cupertino, Calif., for a product launch event.

Apple is widely expected to introduce a batch of laptops at the event — an area of the company's product lineup that has gone without a major refresh for quite a while. Apple hasn't updated its Retina MacBook Pro or MacBook Air in more than a year; the company did offer a refresh of its MacBook in April. The standard MacBook Pro hasn't had an update in four years."

Apple sends out invites for Oct. 27 event - The Washington Post

Tesla Will Make Its Cars Fully Self-Driving, but Not Turn the System On Yet - The New York Times

Check this Tesla post for more details

"Tesla Motors said on Wednesday that it would equip all of its new vehicles with technology that enables fully autonomous driving, but would not activate the system until it undergoes further testing.

In a blog post, the maker of electric cars said the new hardware included cameras, sensors and radars that allow the vehicles to operate without a human driver.

The company said the technology would be installed in all of its models, including the much-anticipated Model 3 sedan, which is expected to reach the United States market next year."

Tesla Will Make Its Cars Fully Self-Driving, but Not Turn the System On Yet - The New York Times

How to endorse a political candidate on Facebook and lose friends forever - The Verge

Perhaps best to wait until after the final debate tonight...

"Facebook is a place for making friends, sharing photos, and stoking bitter political arguments that last a lifetime. And while the social network pays a lot of attention to the first two activities, it's rather neglected the third. Not any more: as of this week, you can publicly endorse political candidates on Facebook.

There's a whole guide to this process in Facebook's Help Center, but it's pretty straightforward. Just go to the Facebook page of a candidate you like, select the "Endorsement" tab on the left-hand sidebar, and hit "Endorse" on the right. You can then choose who to share this endorsement with whoever you like — friends, enemies, soon-to-be-enemies — and write a little message to go along with it."

How to endorse a political candidate on Facebook and lose friends forever - The Verge

Apple plans to launch new Macs at an October 27 event - Recode

It's going to be an interesting week; also see Microsoft to launch new Surface PC at October 26th event (The Verge) and What to expect at Apple’s Mac event: All-new MacBook Pros, refreshed Airs & iMacs, more (9to5Mac)

"Apple is planning to introduce new Macs at an Oct. 27 event, sources confirmed to Recode.

The move had long been expected, given that the company released MacOS Sierra last month but had yet to introduce any new computer models sporting the software. It also comes just in time for Apple to have the new products on sale for the full holiday season.

Apple has gone a long time without making significant changes to any of its Mac models, with most experts encouraging customers to hold off all but essential new purchases until the lineup was updated. Tops among the rumors have been reports that Apple will introduce a new MacBook Pro sporting a row of customizable touchscreen keys."

Apple plans to launch new Macs at an October 27 event - Recode

Yahoo met its earnings goals by cost-cutting, not by building its business - Recode

Also see Yahoo Says Traffic Rose Despite Hacking That Could Alter Verizon Deal (NYT)

"Analysts had expected the company to report earnings of 14 cents per share, excluding certain expenses, compared to 15 cents in the same period a year ago. Instead, Yahoo reported earnings of 20 cents.

Wow, right? Well, no. While it looks like a big beat, this result is primarily due to cost cuts and not massive growth in its businesses. Adjusted Ebitda, which is a real measure of performance, was down to $229.2 million from $244.2 million. (Kudos to CFO Ken Goldman for making it look better than it is at Yahoo via cost cuts and creative accounting!)

While revenue in its mobile, video and native businesses rose, the big moneymakers declined as advertisers fled and traffic declined. Display ad revenue was down 7 percent and search revenue was down 14 percent."

Yahoo met its earnings goals by cost-cutting, not by building its business - Recode

Samsung is setting up booths at airports to exchange Note 7s - The Washington Post

Convenient for Note 7 users who didn't get the memo re The Samsung Galaxy Note 7 is officially banned from airplanes (The Washington Post)

"The Transportation Department's ban on the Samsung's Galaxy Note 7 could be leaving some users in a lurch if they try to bring the phone on any flight going to or from any part of the United States. To help those folks, Samsung is setting up pop-up exchange booths at airports to offer customers another Samsung phone in exchange for their faulty Notes.

In a statement, Samsung said booths in the United States will be at “some of the most frequently visited airports around the country,” but it did not provide a full list of airports. San Francisco International Airport seems to be one of them as Twitter users have reported seeing booths there."

Samsung is setting up booths at airports to exchange Note 7s - The Washington Post

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year’s Big Loser Is Email - The New York Times

Final paragraph: "In other words, limits often help. Get on the phone, make a decision, ditch your inbox. The world will be better off for it." On a related note, see Trump Organization uses really, really insecure e-mail servers. Sad! (Ars Technica)

"Instead, let’s examine a more basic mystery buried in the emails: Why were all these people discussing so much over email in the first place? Haven’t they heard of phone calls? Face-to-face meetings in dimly lit Washington parking garage? Anyplace else where their conversations weren’t constantly being recorded, archived and rendered searchable for decades to come?

The answer, of course, is that email is as tempting as it is inescapable, for Mrs. Clinton as well as for the rest of us. More than 50 years after its birth, email exerts an uncanny hold on all of our internal affairs.

But everything must meet its maker, and for email, that time is nigh."

Whoever Wins the White House, This Year’s Big Loser Is Email - The New York Times

Google Pixel Review: Assessing the New Smartphone - The New York Times

For more positive Pixel perspectives, peruse Google Pixel review: Home run (The Verge), Mossberg: Google's first phone is first rate (The Verge), and Google Pixel Review: The Android iPhone You’ve Been Waiting For (WSJ)

"The absence of a major competing Android device works out especially well for Google because the Pixel is, relatively speaking, mediocre. It is slower than Apple’s iPhone 7 and the Galaxy S7, Samsung’s smaller flagship phone. Photos shot with Pixel’s camera don’t look as good as the iPhone’s. And Google’s built-in artificially intelligent virtual assistant, called Assistant, is still fairly dumb.

But hey, the Pixel probably won’t burn down your garage or injure a child. So if you prefer Android and are already hooked on Google’s suite of internet-powered software, including its maps, photos, email and document-editing apps, then you probably won’t regret buying the Pixel."

Google Pixel Review: Assessing the New Smartphone - The New York Times

WikiHillary for President - The New York Times

Thomas Friedman on the campaign significance of WikiLeaks; also see Ecuador Cuts Internet of Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’ Founder (NYT)

"Thank God for WikiLeaks.

I confess, I was starting to wonder about what the real Hillary Clinton — the one you never get to see behind closed doors — really stood for. But now that, thanks to WikiLeaks, I’ve had a chance to peruse her speeches to Goldman Sachs and other banks, I am more convinced than ever she can be the president America needs today.

Seriously, those speeches are great! They show someone with a vision, a pragmatic approach to getting things done and a healthy instinct for balancing the need to strengthen our social safety nets with unleashing America’s business class to create the growth required to sustain social programs."

WikiHillary for President - The New York Times

Fed-Up Belichick Takes Screen Out of His Arsenal. (The Hand-Held One.) - The New York Times

Final paragraph: "Microsoft said in a statement: “We respect Coach Belichick’s decision, but stand behind the reliability of Surface. We continue to receive positive feedback on having Surface devices on the sidelines from coaches, players and team personnel across the league.”"

"“They’re just too undependable,” Bill Belichick, the Patriots’ chronically unimpressed coach, said.

“It’s basically a problem every week,” he added.

“I just can’t take it anymore,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.

Was Belichick talking about backup quarterbacks? Properly inflated footballs? Nope. He was talking, of course, about the scourge of the N.F.L.: tablet computers. The Microsoft Surface tablets that the league uses on the sideline to provide images of plays are an I.T. nightmare, Belichick said."

Fed-Up Belichick Takes Screen Out of His Arsenal. (The Hand-Held One.) - The New York Times

How Microsoft Fell Hard for FPGAs (The Next Platform)

Also see The moonshot that succeeded: How Bing and Azure are using an AI supercomputer in the cloud (Microsoft blog) and A Cloud-Scale Acceleration Architecture (Microsoft Research PDF) for details

"Microsoft’s embrace of programmable chips knowns as FPGAs is well documented. But in a paper released Monday the software and cloud company provided a look into how it has fundamentally changed the economics of delivering hardware as a service thanks to these once-specialty pieces of silicon.

Field programmable gate arrays, or FPGAs, are chips where the logic and networking functions can be reconfigured after they’ve been manufactured. They are typically larger than similarly functioning chips and traditionally were made for small jobs where the performance advantage outweighed the higher engineering cost associated with designing them."

How Microsoft Fell Hard for FPGAs

Facebook Messenger suggests what to talk about with “Conversation Topics” feature | TechCrunch

Tbd if it'll go full ELIZA mode and, e.g., encourage you to text your mom; also see Facebook Messenger's New 'Conversation Topic' Feature Seems Creepy and Bad (Gizmodo)

"Facebook Messenger may have already hit the billion-user club this past summer, but the company is always looking for new ways to increase app usage. The latest attempt is the introduction of “conversation topics” on Messenger – a feature offering suggestions about what to talk about with friends. These conversation starters appear to rely on Messenger’s connection to Facebook’s larger social network, as they reference things your friends have done lately – like where they’ve been, or events they plan to attend, for example.

The feature was spotted this weekend on the iOS app by Chris Messina, who posted to Twitter about the new conversation starters."

Facebook Messenger suggests what to talk about with “Conversation Topics” feature | TechCrunch

American Experience "Tesla" Documentary: Watch an Exclusive Clip | WIRED

The Tesla documentary premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. Eastern; also see Inside Nat Geo’s Incredible Documentary Mission to Mars (Wired)

"ON TUESDAY, THE PBS historical series American Experience will premiere its latest documentary, “Tesla.” No, it’s not about the electric car company. It’s about Nikola Tesla, the electrical engineer whose experiments and inventions moved electronics into the modern era. Tesla was a wacky guy with some far-fetched ideas, but many of theories about how electricity could work would eventually prove to be dead on."

American Experience "Tesla" Documentary: Watch an Exclusive Clip | WIRED

Disney Dropped Twitter Pursuit Partly Over Image - Bloomberg

Also see Twitter trolls were part of the reason why Salesforce walked away from a deal (Business Insider) and Twitter's Next Act: Zombiehood (Fortune)

"Walt Disney Co. decided not to pursue a bid for Twitter Inc. partly out of concern that bullying and other uncivil forms of communication on the social media site might soil the company’s wholesome family image, according to people familiar with management’s thinking.
The producer of family fare like “Finding Dory” had gone so far as to hire two investment banks, JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Guggenheim Partners LLC, to help evaluate a bid for Twitter. Disney management also listened to a presentation about the business from Twitter executives, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because the discussions were private."

Disney Dropped Twitter Pursuit Partly Over Image - Bloomberg

IBM Revenue, Profit Edge Lower - WSJ

Also see IBM Watson Will Run On IBM and IBM Alone (Fortune) and IBM Profit Margins Shrink Again in Shift to Cloud Computing (Bloomberg)

"Alongside falling revenue in some older lines of business, revenue from cloud services across all IBM business segments grew 42% in constant currency to $3.4 billion, Mr. Schroeter said. Those cloud services include SoftLayer, which sells access to computing capacity over the internet, and Bluemix, which sells access to software over the web, among other things. The cloud business during the quarter added new customers including Dixons Carphone Group, JFE Steel Co., Ltd. and Vodafone India.

Cloud computing is one of several faster-growing areas that IBM calls strategic imperatives. Those businesses, which also include artificial intelligence, data analytics and security, grew 15% in constant currency during the third quarter compared with 12% during the second quarter. They now represent 40% of IBM’s overall business."

IBM Revenue, Profit Edge Lower - WSJ

How Apple Scaled Back its Titanic Plan to Take on Detroit - Bloomberg

The Project Titan mystery continues

"Apple Inc. has drastically scaled back its automotive ambitions, leading to hundreds of job cuts and a new direction that, for now, no longer includes building its own car, according to people familiar with the project.
Hundreds of members of the car team, which comprises about 1,000 people, have been reassigned, let go, or have left of their own volition in recent months, the people said, asking not to be identified because the moves aren’t public. 

New leadership of the initiative, known internally as Project Titan, has re-focused on developing an autonomous driving system that gives Apple flexibility to either partner with existing carmakers, or return to designing its own vehicle in the future, the people also said. Apple has kept staff numbers in the team steady by hiring people to help with the new focus, according to another person."

How Apple Scaled Back its Titanic Plan to Take on Detroit - Bloomberg

The Perils of Peak Attention | New Republic

From another review of Tim Wu's The Attention Merchants

"Picture Thoreau now, on his obligation-shedding saunter through the Massachusetts woods. There are unanswered emails from the morning’s business a twitchy finger away. Facebook notifications fall upon him like leaves. The babbling brook is not only lovely, but demands to be shared via Instagram, once the correct filter (“Walden,” natch) has been applied. Perhaps a quick glance at the Health app to track his steps, or a browse of the TripAdvisor reviews of Walden Pond (“serene and peaceful”). There may be Pokémon Go baubles to collect—the app may have even compelled his walk in the first place."

The Perils of Peak Attention | New Republic

The Atlantic's Website Will Now Let Some Pay to See No Ads | Media - AdAge

In Wired's case, I'd settle for ads that don't cause major performance problems on my Mac

"Wired magazine rolled out a similar approach to ad-blocking earlier in the year, asking readers to either whitelist the site or pay $1 a week for an ad-free version. In April, the magazine's then-head of product and business development told Ad Age that the approach was "going great."
Wired, at the time, reported that 20% of unique visitors were using blockers, making the problem even more pronounced than for The Atlantic. The New York Times is also considering an ad-free digital subscription offering, though that effort doesn't seem to have progressed beyond the exploratory stages.
"All the cool kids are doing it," Ms. Lau said when asked about the rise of ad-free subscription offerings."

The Atlantic's Website Will Now Let Some Pay to See No Ads | Media - AdAge

Why Twitter Is Actually a Media Company - WSJ

Later in the article: "If investors come to view Twitter purely as a media company, its stock price could be cut in half."

"If you are among the 73% of American adults who don’t log in to Twitter at least once a month, you can be forgiven for viewing it primarily as a place where presidential candidates launch broadsides and celebrities embarrass themselves.

Twitter Inc.’s long struggle to define itself goes hand in hand with its recent inability to grow beyond its active but hard to grasp subcommunities. The mix of content, curation, humor, self-promotion and invective confounds its product teams, leaders and investors.

So let’s define Twitter once and for all. Twitter is a media company that happens to be based in San Francisco, and it should be structured, led and valued as such. Twitter is no longer a technology-driven hypergrowth unicorn. Twitter has, in a way, admitted as much. Last week, in a memo to Twitter staff, Chief Executive Jack Dorsey called the service the “People’s News Network.”"

Why Twitter Is Actually a Media Company - WSJ

Air Passengers With Samsung Note 7 Phones Face Fines in U.S. - Bloomberg

Another incentive for Samsung customers to replace Note 7s

"Airline passengers who try to carry Samsung Electronics Co. Note 7 smartphones on flights will have them confiscated and may face fines under an emergency U.S. order that significantly expands restrictions on the devices linked to almost 100 incidents of overheating and fires.
The devices won’t be allowed aboard passenger or cargo aircraft even if they’ve been shut off, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration and the Federal Aviation Administration announced Friday. Flight restrictions will be extended to each of the 1.9 million Note 7s sold in the U.S. starting at noon New York time on Saturday."

Air Passengers With Samsung Note 7 Phones Face Fines in U.S. - Bloomberg

IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It - The New York Times

From an AI market dynamics reality check

"IBM has invested billions of dollars in its Watson business unit, created at the start of 2014, which now employs an estimated 10,000 workers. Its big-ticket marketing push includes clever television ads that feature Watson trading quips with famous people like Serena Williams and Bob Dylan. And Watson, after a slow start, has shown its mettle by assisting in daunting tasks like diagnosing cancer.

Yet industry experts question how quickly IBM can build a business around Watson. “IBM has pursued big, bespoke moonshot initiatives that can take years and are extremely expensive,” said Tom Austin, a research fellow at Gartner. “It seems like they’re swimming upstream with that.”"

IBM Is Counting on Its Bet on Watson, and Paying Big Money for It - The New York Times

They’ve Got You, Wherever You Are by Jacob Weisberg | The New York Review of Books

From a review of Tim Wu's new book (to be released 10/18)

"The economist Herbert A. Simon first developed the concept of an attention economy in a 1971 essay. Taking note of the new phenomenon of “information overload,” Simon pointed out something that now seems obvious—that “a wealth of information creates a poverty of attention.” In recent years, thinking about attention as a scarce resource has come into vogue as a way to appraise the human and psychological impact of digital and social media.

The animating insight of Tim Wu’s illuminating new book, The Attention Merchants, is to apply this concept as a backward-facing lens as well as a contemporary one. Modern media, he argues, have always been based on the reselling of human attention to advertisers. Wu, who teaches at Columbia Law School, is a broad thinker about law, technology, and media who has had a varied career as an academic, a journalist, and a 2014 candidate for lieutenant governor of New York. He is best known for developing “net neutrality”—the principle that access providers (such as Comcast or Time Warner) should treat all Internet traffic equally—which formed the basis of a federal regulation that went into effect last year."

They’ve Got You, Wherever You Are by Jacob Weisberg | The New York Review of Books

Twitter Has Never Been Stronger—or Weaker - The New Yorker

Final paragraph from a timely Twitter reality check

"Yet it’s important to see that even these critiques of Twitter, sensible as they may be, are predicated on the idea that the proper goal for the company is to grow ever bigger. It’s a way of criticizing Twitter for not being Facebook or Google. But the truth is that not every company needs to be—or should be—huge. Nor is growth the only, or even the most important, metric by which to judge a company. Indeed, if you look at Twitter in terms of social impact and user engagement, you would say that the company is doing quite well and adding a great deal of value. The problem is that, for a publicly traded company, that value is irrelevant if it can’t be translated into continually rising profits. Going public pushes you to define yourself in the market’s terms rather than your own. As a private company, Twitter might be seen as a great success. As a public company, it’s a perpetual disappointment."

Twitter Has Never Been Stronger—or Weaker - The New Yorker

Google will tell you where to vote, who's on your local ballot - CNET

See Get polling place and ballot information quickly and easily (The Keyword) for details

"Google wants to make sure you have no excuse for not voting.

The search giant on Thursday launched new tools designed to get people more information for November 8, when America goes to the polls.

When you ask Google who or what's on the ballot, the search engine breaks it down to national, state and local races. You'll also see local candidates and measures."

Google will tell you where to vote, who's on your local ballot - CNET

Labeling fact-check articles in Google News (The Keyword -- Google blog)

Check the full post for examples and links

"In the seven years since we started labeling types of articles in Google News (e.g., In-Depth, Opinion, Wikipedia), we’ve heard that many readers enjoy having easy access to a diverse range of content types. Earlier this year, we added a “Local Source” Tag to highlight local coverage of major stories. Today, we’re adding another new tag, “Fact check,” to help readers find fact checking in large news stories. You’ll see the tagged articles in the expanded story box on news.google.com and in the Google News & Weather iOS and Android apps, starting with the U.S. and the U.K.
Google News determines whether an article might contain fact checks in part by looking for the schema.org ClaimReview markup. We also look for sites that follow the commonly accepted criteria for fact checks. Publishers who create fact-checks and would like to see it appear with the “Fact check” tag should use that markup in fact-check articles. For more information, head on over to our help center."

Labeling fact-check articles in Google News

Facebook now lets you stream video to Apple TV and Chromecast - The Verge

See A New Way to Watch Videos From Facebook on Your TV (Facebook Newsroom) for more details

"This is just one small step in Facebook’s grander video ambitions. The company has invested significant resources into transforming the News Feed into a place to digest all sorts of video, be it live streamed clips from a stranger’s mobile phone to professionally edited videos crafted by news organizations. Adding streaming support to watch these videos on larger displays is an obvious choice to increase consumption. For Facebook Live videos, you’ll be able to see reactions on your TV screen, as well as browse other parts of Facebook on your phone while the video continues playing."

Facebook now lets you stream video to Apple TV and Chromecast - The Verge

VMware is turning to rival Amazon AWS to power its new cloud service - Recode

Also see Here's Who Wins and Who Loses Now that Amazon and VMware Are BFFs (Fortune) and AWS has made VMware the Airbnb of the cloud (The Register)

"Amazon’s fast-growing cloud service just landed another high-profile customer. Enterprise heavyweight VMware is using AWS for its new cloud service, the two companies confirmed Thursday at an event at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in San Francisco. The news was a bit anticlimactic as VMware had jumped the gun with a blog post earlier in the day.

But the partnership itself represents a significant shift for VMware and demonstrates just how much AWS has grown too big to ignore. VMware had previously declared AWS its sworn enemy.

“This is the result of customers telling us what they needed,” VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said at the event."

VMware is turning to rival Amazon AWS to power its new cloud service - Recode

Verizon Says Yahoo Hack Could Reopen $4.8 Billion Deal Talks - The New York Times

Also see Verizon Is Said to See Yahoo Breach Affecting Acquisition (Bloomberg)

"The Securities and Exchange Commission’s guidance on cyberattacks says breaches can have a material impact and lead to lost revenue if proprietary information is stolen, or if companies “fail to retain or attract customers following an attack.”

“There are some serious questions about whether Yahoo’s customers will continue to use the service knowing that their data has been compromised,” said Jacob Olcott, vice president of BitSight Technologies, a security company. “That is likely to be the biggest question Verizon is trying to determine here. They acquired Yahoo, in part, because of its large customer base.”

Yahoo customers have been inquiring how to switch out email accounts after the breach. Earlier this month, the company turned off automatic email forwarding, making it harder for users to switch to alternative services."

Verizon Says Yahoo Hack Could Reopen $4.8 Billion Deal Talks - The New York Times

OneNote update preview – Paul Carpenter's Tech Blog

Worth exploring, if you're a macOS or iOS OneNote user

"There is an option to get early access to new releases of Microsoft Office MacOS Apps by selecting [Join Office Insider Program] in the Microsoft Update App. Similarly with OneNote there is an option under settings / preferences  to [Access Experimental Features] both in iOS and MacOS.

The preview OneNote app sports a redesigned interface with sections appearing hierarchically between Notebooks and Pages in the left hand pane. The new arrangement is not only aesthetically pleasing but also a more logical way to navigate OneNote content."

OneNote update preview – Paul Carpenter's Tech Blog

Mossberg: Why does Siri seem so dumb? - Recode

Also see Google’s Assistant Is More Ambitious Than Siri and Alexa (Technology Review)

"Yes, Siri can usually place a call or send a text. It can tell you sports standings, Yelp restaurant reviews and movie times — features Apple added years ago. And it must be said that all of its competitors have their own limitations and also make mistakes.

But in its current incarnation, Siri is too limited and unreliable to be an effective weapon for Apple in the coming AI wars. It seems stagnant. Apple didn’t become great by just following the data on what customers are doing today. It became great by delighting customers with feats they didn’t expect. The AI revolution will demand that."

Mossberg: Why does Siri seem so dumb? - Recode

Samsung raises recall deals to retain Note7 customers | Computerworld

On a related note... see Galaxy Note 7 Is Not Samsung’s Only Problematic Product (NYT)

"In a bid to retain customers, Samsung Electronics is giving larger financial incentives to people who choose to exchange the ill-fated Galaxy Note 7 for another smartphone from the company, rather than seek a refund. 

In the U.S., the company is giving customers a $25 bill credit through carriers and retailers to customers who return a Note 7 for a refund or for any other branded smartphone. But if they choose to exchange the Note 7 for any Samsung smartphone, they will get a whopping $100 bill credit from select retailers and carriers. The company did not immediately provide further details on the program."

Samsung raises recall deals to retain Note7 customers | Computerworld

White House report says AI will take jobs, but also help solve global problems - Recode

Also see Barack Obama on Artificial Intelligence, Autonomous Cars, and the Future of Humanity (Wired)

"President Obama thinks artificial intelligence could solve many of the world’s biggest problems — like disease, climate change, even economic inequality. To that end, his administration is recommending more investment in the technology across all levels of government, including funding STEM education to have a prepared workforce, advanced research projects, local grants and new federal infrastructure.

The White House released a 48-page report today featuring 24 recommendations for how the government can be involved in an increasingly AI-powered future, as well as ways to regulate the budding technology."

White House report says AI will take jobs, but also help solve global problems - Recode

Elon Musk’s Wild Ride (Bloomberg)

Final paragraphs from an Elon Musk profile by Ashlee Vance; tangentially, see SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has done the ‘real’ Iron Man several favors (Recode)

"With advances in cars, energy, and space exploration, Musk has ushered in a new industrial age. The world of machines and infrastructure suddenly looks poised to advance at a rapid clip. It does not seem hyperbolic to suggest that Musk has played a major role in changing the world.

That we forget all this is a curse of Musk’s own making. At every point where his companies seem to be on stable footing, Musk takes on more and promises more, erasing the memory of past gains. He might now be addicted to one-upping himself.

Wall Street and casual onlookers often find Musk’s approach abhorrent, and this makes perfect sense. They want consistent earnings-per-share figures and straight talk, while he’s in an inventive fugue state more concerned with trying to save mankind from oblivion. Musk lives in a way that few of us would choose and has a tolerance for risk that would drive most of us nuts. It’s precisely because Musk has operated his companies on the edge of what’s possible that he has achieved so much."

Elon Musk’s Wild Ride

Donald Trump Finds Improbable Ally in WikiLeaks - The New York Times

In other technology + politics news, see Facebook Helped Drive a Voter Registration Surge, Election Officials Say (NYT)

"In the final weeks of a dizzying presidential campaign, Donald J. Trump is suddenly embracing an unlikely ally: The document-spilling group WikiLeaks, which Republicans denounced when it published classified State Department cables and Pentagon secrets about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Mr. Trump, his advisers, and many of his supporters are increasingly seizing on a trove of embarrassing emails from Hillary Clinton’s campaign that WikiLeaks has been publishing — and that American intelligence agencies said on Friday came largely from Russian intelligence agencies, with the authorization of “Russia’s senior-most officials.”"

Donald Trump Finds Improbable Ally in WikiLeaks - The New York Times

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are building out a tech team to help them give away billions - Recode

A different kind of search

"Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan have promised to give away all of their wealth, and they chose a lofty goal for one of their first philanthropic ventures: Cure all disease. The couple believes this will be a technological challenge in addition to a medical one.

So Zuckerberg and Chan have hired a technical lead for their new corporation: Amazon search executive Brian Pinkerton is joining the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as its new CTO.

That means Pinkerton will lead CZI’s tech team, which he says could grow to a “couple hundred people” over the next few years. It’s not entirely clear what his team will work on right away. “The jury is a little bit out on this; it’s brand new,” Pinkerton told Recode, but added that it’ll likely be a mix of building tech in-house for the corporation while also dispatching technical support to CZI’s partners."

Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan are building out a tech team to help them give away billions - Recode

How Obama brought capitalism to outer space - The Washington Post

Also see Barack Obama: America will take the giant leap to Mars (CNN)

"Now, six years after that speech, as he nears the end of his presidency, Obama is bookending his charge by doubling down on NASA’s plan to get to Mars, even though space is a topic he has rarely addressed publicly. In an op-ed published by CNN Tuesday morning ahead of the White House Frontiers Conference in Pittsburgh, he reiterated his administration’s goal of “sending humans to Mars by the 2030s and returning them safely to Earth, with the ultimate ambition to one day remain there for an extended time.”

But while Mars remains years, if not decades away, Obama's true legacy may be something altogether different: the standing up of a commercial space industry that has ended the government’s monopoly on space."

How Obama brought capitalism to outer space - The Washington Post

Amazon to Build Convenience Stores, Wall Street Journal Reports - Bloomberg

Alexa, tell the car to go pick up my groceries

"Amazon.com Inc. is planning to build convenience stores and develop curbside pickup locations for food shoppers in its latest move to expand into groceries, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Amazon’s stores will sell perishable goods including milk and meats, the newspaper said, citing unnamed sources. Customers in the stores can also order other items with longer shelf lives for same-day delivery, the Journal said. The Seattle-based e-commerce giant will also build drive-in locations for consumers in a rush where online grocery orders will be brought to the car. Only subscribers to Amazon’s Fresh service will have access to these stores, known as Project Como."

Amazon to Build Convenience Stores, Wall Street Journal Reports - Bloomberg

Everything you need to know about Workplace by Facebook | Jaap Linssen | Pulse | LinkedIn

Conclusion from a detailed Facebook Workplace review

"I have high expectations of Workplace. Earlier in this article I described 4 aspects that make Workplace stand out: 

1. Workplace’s maker does one thing and that is social.
2. The mobile first strategy will ensure that many more people will participate.
3. People without a company email address can participate.
4. If you can use Facebook (and we can) you can use Workplace.

But what might be the most telling about the Facebook's attitude towards this is a quote from Zuckerberg himself: “This isn’t about software. This is doing business in an entirely different way.”"

Everything you need to know about Workplace by Facebook | Jaap Linssen | Pulse | LinkedIn

PC Shipments Drop 3.9% as Declines Slow Before Holiday Shopping - Bloomberg

Looks like it's about time to refresh the Mac product line... Also see PC industry is now on a two-year downslide (The Verge)

"Globally, China-based Lenovo Group Ltd. kept its perch atop the industry with 21.3 percent of the market in the third quarter, IDC said. No. 2 HP Inc. jumped to 21.2 percent while No. 3 Dell grabbed 15.8 percent -- with both of the U.S. brands adding 1.5 percentage points from the year-ago period. No. 4 Apple Inc. had 7.4 percent of the market, down from 8.1 percent a year earlier.
In U.S. shipments, the top three providers gained market share, according to IDC. HP Inc. was No. 1 with almost 30 percent while Dell had 26 percent and Lenovo had 15 percent. No. 4 Apple also lost ground in its home market, falling to 11.8 percent from 13.9 percent.
PC shipments were bolstered by strength from Google-backed Chromebooks in the education segment, along with a build up of inventory, IDC said. Still, the outlook is “cautious” for the fourth quarter, the researcher said."

PC Shipments Drop 3.9% as Declines Slow Before Holiday Shopping - Bloomberg

Tech Companies Expect Free High-Speed Internet for Poorer Americans to Pay Off Later - The New York Times

Check this Sprint page for details on the 1Million Project

"With broadband now classified like a utility, telecom and tech companies, including Sprint, Comcast and Facebook, are increasingly working to make high-speed internet accessible to every American, not just a luxury. The companies are among those that have set their sights on bringing free or cheap high-speed internet service to low-income and rural populations in the United States, spurred by philanthropy and, for some, the hope of turning Americans who are not online today into full-paying customers in the future.

Those goals were on display Tuesday, when Sprint announced that it planned to give one million low-income high school students a free device and a free high-speed data plan until graduation. Facebook is also working to bring to the United States a service known as Free Basics, which gives people free access to certain websites, including Facebook. Comcast recently loosened requirements for its low-cost broadband service, expanding it to anyone in public housing."

Tech Companies Expect Free High-Speed Internet for Poorer Americans to Pay Off Later - The New York Times

Amazon Pairs Its Speaker With Streaming Music, at a Bargain Price - The New York Times

Also see Amazon’s full on-demand streaming music service launches today (The Verge), which concludes "According to [vice president of Amazon Music Steve] Boom, this is just the first iteration of Amazon’s take on an on-demand music service, and there’s plenty more to come in the future."

"The cost of Amazon’s new service may have even more impact. The standard price for Music Unlimited is $10 a month, the same as Spotify, Apple Music and most others. For members of Amazon’s Prime program — which costs $99 a year and brings perks like free shipping and access to online videos — it will cost an additional $8 a month, or $79 a year, a discount that itself represents a triumph of negotiation, since a year ago the major record labels balked at Apple’s wanting to charge less than $10 for Apple Music.

But for customers who own an Echo device, Amazon will offer the service at just $4 a month, deeply undercutting its competitors. That price comes with a restriction: The service can be used on a single Echo device and nowhere else, like a phone or a computer. But the price is far lower than has ever been charged for what is essentially a complete catalog of music online — except for outlets like YouTube and Spotify’s free version, which charge nothing but have advertising."

Amazon Pairs Its Speaker With Streaming Music, at a Bargain Price - The New York Times

Sunken flagship: Samsung’s meltdown 2016-10-13 | Espresso

A succinct Samsung summary; also see Why Samsung Abandoned Its Galaxy Note 7 Flagship Phone (NYT)

"The fiasco harms the South Korean giant in three ways. The first is financial: Samsung had expected to sell as many as 20m units of the large-screen Note 7 over its lifespan, worth $17 billion. Now it must pay to sort out the mess. Second, the popular Note sub-brand is toast, and Samsung’s reputation for quality, reliability and manufacturing expertise has been burned too. That may dent sales of its other products. Third, Samsung’s market share will take a hit: the Note 7 had won rave reviews, so its demise is a gift to rival handset-makers. Samsung’s dream was that its flagship handset would show it can out-innovate Apple. That’s gone up in flames too."

Sunken flagship: Samsung’s meltdown 2016-10-13 | Espresso

Official: Samsung permanently ceases production of Note 7 | SiliconANGLE

Extinguished

"The decision to completely terminate the Galaxy Note 7 line leaves Samsung without its top of the range phone, a device that was meant to compete with Apple’s iPhone Plus.
Whether Samsung will resurrect a new version of the phone in the coming year, as in the Galaxy Note 8, is yet to be seen, but the Note name may now be completely sullied as a brand.
Samsung does make a number of phablets including the Galaxy Mega, however, unlike the Note series the phones have never been particularly popular outside of Asia."

Official: Samsung permanently ceases production of Note 7 | SiliconANGLE

This is the guy convincing your company to let you use Facebook at work (Mashable)

Aiming high

"Is there an industry or sized business that you are going for?

[Julien Codorniou, Workplace director] Surprisingly banking, which is a very conservative and complicated industry, has been one of our main sweet spots. I'm sure you've heard about Royal Bank of Scotland, Norway, India have been using Workplace for months now with a pretty high satisfaction.

What’s unique is that it’s for everyone in the company. We care about people that have never had email before. We care about people who just had a mobile device. Everyone in the company; every employee; every industry; that's what is unique about it.

When we think about KPIs [key performance indicators], we don’t think about number of companies using it. We think about it as the percentage of the country’s working population that is using it."

This is the guy convincing your company to let you use Facebook at work

Introducing Workplace by Facebook | Facebook Newsroom

Likely to become the biggest enterprise communication/collaboration competitive landscape disruptor in a generation; also see Facebook Workplace Tries to Muscle In on Your Job (Wired)

"At Facebook, we’ve had an internal version of our app to help run our company for many years. We’ve seen that just as Facebook keeps you connected to friends and family, it can do the same with coworkers. We started testing a version of Facebook for the workplace with a few other organizations over a year ago.

Now, more than 1,000 organizations around the world use Workplace (formerly known as Facebook at Work). People have created nearly 100,000 groups and the top five countries using Workplace are India, the US, Norway, UK and France. We’re excited by the progress we’ve made and the level of adoption and engagement we’re seeing.

So today we’re announcing that Workplace will now be available to any company or organization that wants to use it."

Introducing Workplace by Facebook | Facebook Newsroom

Samsung Market Value Plummets $17 Billion on Note 7 Sales Halt - Bloomberg

In other Samsung news, see Google’s Plan to Spread its AI Assistant Hits Samsung Roadblock (Bloomberg)

"Samsung Electronics Co. halted sales of its Galaxy Note 7 smartphones and asked consumers to stop using the ones they’ve already purchased, another blow to South Korea’s largest company as it struggles with a crisis over exploding batteries. Shares plunged, cutting $17 billion from its market value.
Samsung has already recalled the Note 7 once and the latest move comes after customers reported that replacement phones were also catching fire. Samsung may be forced to scrap an entire generation of Note smartphones, one of its two most important phone lines, a severe setback in its competition with rivals like Apple Inc."

Samsung Market Value Plummets $17 Billion on Note 7 Sales Halt - Bloomberg

Samsung Halts Production of Note 7 as Battery Problems Linger - The New York Times

I'm guessing "temporarily," in this context, means forever

"The decision amounts to a major setback for Samsung, the world’s biggest smartphone maker, which continues to struggle with the industry’s largest-ever recall. Already Samsung had said it would recall 2.5 million Note 7 phones over reports that its battery can catch fire. The halt suggests the South Korean company has not yet gotten the problem under control.

The decision came after major mobile carriers in the United States said they would stop issuing Note 7 devices over safety concerns. They too were responding to reports that some new phones were catching fire."

Samsung Halts Production of Note 7 as Battery Problems Linger - The New York Times

Amazon’s Alexa aims to be a bank teller, insurance agent, too - The Boston Globe

"... nearly 3,000 'skills'" so far

"Amazon’s voice-activated Echo may have started as a nifty gadget that provided weather updates and recited hit songs from 1985 in the soothing tones of Alexa, the company’s version of Siri. But Alexa is increasingly being programmed to take on more complex tasks of a virtual assistant and creeping into territory once reserved for bank tellers and insurance agents.

Want to pay a bill? Get insurance quotes? Or check your brokerage accounts? Alexa can do all that from the cylindrical-shaped Echo device on your kitchen counter or bedside table."

Amazon’s Alexa aims to be a bank teller, insurance agent, too - The Boston Globe

As replacement Note7s catch fire, we're nearing a permanent suspension of our Note7 recommendation | PCWorld

Also see A fourth replacement Galaxy Note 7 caught fire in Virginia this morning (The Verge)

"On August 24, we named the Samsung Galaxy Note7 the best phablet available—this based on our glowing August 16 review. Then Note7s starting catching on fire en masse, and the Consumer Product Safety Commission issued an official recall, prompting us to “temporarily suspend” our recommendation. Today, with four reported cases of ostensibly safe replacement phones catching fire in less than a week, Samsung’s Note7 problem looks all but unsalvageable. What's more, as The Verge reports, AT&T has stopped exchanging original Note7s for replacement phones.

As a result of recent developments, we’re now considering a permanent suspension of our buy recommendation. It’s time for Samsung to act swiftly and transparently in sharing exactly what’s wrong with its phone, and provide reassuring evidence that its fire hazard has been fixed."

As replacement Note7s catch fire, we're nearing a permanent suspension of our Note7 recommendation | PCWorld

Sprint will let Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners trade their replacement devices for any other phone - Recode

Also see Samsung Could Face Second Recall as U.S. Probes Burnt Phone (Bloomberg)

"Sprint is letting customers with second thoughts about using a replacement Samsung Galaxy Note 7 exchange the device for another type of smartphone.

The move comes as federal regulators and Samsung are investigating an incident Wednesday in which a Southwest Airlines flight was canceled after a passenger’s Note 7 — allegedly a replacement model — ignited before takeoff."

Sprint will let Samsung Galaxy Note 7 owners trade their replacement devices for any other phone - Recode

Facebook is talking to the White House about giving you ‘free’ Internet. Here’s why that may be controversial. - The Washington Post

Controversial cost containment and curation

"Cost remains a significant factor in preventing some Americans, particularly minorities and the poor, from getting online. A recent study by the Pew Research Center found that 15 percent of adults have few options other than a cellphone for accessing the Internet. And 48 percent of those who depend on a smartphone to get online have reported having to cancel or suspend their wireless service because they can't afford it.

Others who have eschewed an Internet connection cite relevance and ease of use as reasons for not getting online. Sixty-eight percent of adults in Pew's survey said the Internet is a waste of time, too hard to use or some other related reason. 

A program such as Free Basics could reverse some of these trends, Turner-Lee said, acting as a portal to access education, financial services or even Healthcare.gov, the federal health insurance marketplace, without the need to pay for mobile data. For needy populations, it could provide a financial leg up. For the skeptical, it may help demonstrate the benefits of an Internet connection. And for Obama, it may be a way to shore up some of his signature policy initiatives."

Facebook is talking to the White House about giving you ‘free’ Internet. Here’s why that may be controversial. - The Washington Post

Facebook Testing VR Headset That Doesn’t Need PC Connection - Bloomberg

Also see Why Google and Facebook Want to Make a New Kind of VR Headset (Bloomberg), Oculus’ new wireless prototype could be VR’s next great leap (The Verge), and this Facebook VR keynote demo

"Zuckerberg said the next step for VR is social software. Facebook’s Oculus now lets people have “rooms” to hang out with their avatar friends, where they can watch movies, play games or talk.

“Virtual reality is the perfect platform to put people first, because of presence,” Zuckerberg said. “You feel like you’re really there, in another place, with people.”

Oculus has so far spent $250 million on developers of VR experiences, and plans to pledge $250 million more, Zuckerberg said. About $10 million will go to education experiences specifically."

Facebook Testing VR Headset That Doesn’t Need PC Connection - Bloomberg

Zuckerberg in Africa (Backchannel)

Final paragraphs from a Steven Levy profile

"Nigeria won’t forget him soon. A few weeks after the trip I run into Ime Archibong at a San Francisco event where Zuckerberg and Chan announced a $3 billion investment to “stop disease in our children’s lifespan.” Archibong points me to a Facebook post from an entrepreneur who proclaimed that hereafter, the Nigerian tech scene will be bifurcated into two eras: Before Zuckerberg and anno Zuckerberg.
It isn’t the Free Basics program or the Messenger platform or whether or not a Facebook satellite rains internet on Africa from outer space that matters to the engineers and entrepreneurs that Zuckerberg visited. It’s the fact that he came. In Silicon Valley, founders learn to think big; to take risks; to use grit and coding skills and a sense of the marketplace so they can chase the unicorn’s horn. They want to do that here in Nigeria, too. But first, they need validation.
Mark Zuckerberg said he believed in them. But he could have said anything. From the moment he strolled into Yaba unannounced, his trip was a success."

Zuckerberg in Africa

Google’s Schizophrenic Pixel Positioning – Beyond Devices – Medium

Final paragraphs from a pithy Pixel perspective

"In fact, this gets at the heart of one of the main drivers behind the Pixel — Google reasserting control over Android and putting Google services front and center again. I’ve written about this previously in the context of Google’s attempts to do this through software, as exemplified by its I/O 2014 announcements. But those efforts largely failed to reclaim both control over Android and a more prominent role for Google services on Android phones. As a result, Google’s relationship with Android releases has continued to be analogous to that of a parent sending a child off to college — both have done all they can to set their creation on the right path, but have little control over what happens next.
If, though, this is the real motivation behind Pixel (and I strongly suspect it is), then all this stuff about targeting the iPhone and tightly integrated hardware and software is really something of a smokescreen. I would bet Google’s OEM partners can see that pretty clearly too, and for all Google executives’ reassurances that the OEMs are fine with it, I very much doubt it."

Google’s Schizophrenic Pixel Positioning – Beyond Devices – Medium

Trying to Solve the L.E.D. Quandary - The New Yorker

Some bright ideas

"Is there a workable business model for products that are built to last, rather than to fall apart? This is an idea that I explored here in July, in a story about the L.E.D. quandary. That quandary, in short: companies are making a good thing—light-emitting-diode bulbs that conserve energy and last for years—but they can’t make money in the long run from products that rarely need replacing. As global light sockets fill with L.E.D.s, century-old corporate titans are getting out of the bulb business even before “socket saturation” tips sales into a decline. The question remains whether any company has an incentive to make a product that is not designed to fall apart or become obsolete.

After that story ran, several newer, smaller firms reached out to me claiming to have solutions to the conundrum. Two seemed worth a deeper look: Cree, an L.E.D. specialist in the U.S.; and UrbanVolt, based in Dublin, Ireland. Both say that they no longer sell light bulbs but “light.” They exemplify two very different approaches to doing so."

Trying to Solve the L.E.D. Quandary - The New Yorker

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket Successfully Landed After an Escape Pod Test | WIRED

Catch a video of the mission here

"Today, Blue Origin tested the escape system while the rocket was 16,000 feet above west Texas—about 45 seconds after launch. At this altitude, the rocket was at so-called maximum Q, when aerodynamic stress is at its highest. When the emergency escape engine fired, it unleashed 70,000 pounds of force against the top of the rocket booster. Blue Origin’s engineers expected that pressure would be enough to send the booster off kilter, making it impossible to land.

They were wrong. While the crew capsule deployed parachutes, the booster continued going up into space. After reaching its target altitude, it cut the engines and began descending back towards Texas. It used its fins to steer most of the way back, and kicked on its main engines for the final few hundred feet before settling back onto the launchpad."

Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin Rocket Successfully Landed After an Escape Pod Test | WIRED

Samsung takes a big leap and buys artificial intelligence start-up founded by Siri’s creators - The Washington Post

Evidently Samsung is unwilling to wait to be allowed to use Google Assistant in its devices; check this Samsung press release for more details

"Samsung, the largest maker of televisions and smartphones in the world, is buying Viv Labs, a high-profile artificial intelligence startup founded by the inventors of Apple’s Siri voice assistant, the South Korean electronics conglomerate said Wednesday.

The move is a major land grab in the battle for cutting-edge artificial intelligence taking place among tech giants. Samsung, which has lagged in such services, is now positioned to add intelligent, Siri-like voice capabilities to its vast collection of home and mobile electronics.

“We have a unique opportunity to take advantage of AI, and show the rest of the industry what the smart, connected world can look like,” Jacopo Lenzi, Samsung’s Senior Vice President of Business Development and Strategic Acquisitions, said in an interview. The companies declined to disclose the purchase price of the deal."

Samsung takes a big leap and buys artificial intelligence start-up founded by Siri’s creators - The Washington Post

Sony PlayStation VR Review: The Best of an Early Crop - The New York Times

A timely Sony VR reality check; also see The PlayStation VR is the first real mass-market virtual reality headset (The Washington Post)

"Virtual reality is still in its early days, and it’s unclear whether it will ever catch on with people beyond gamers. If you already own a PlayStation, spending a few hundred dollars for the headgear and accessories is a worthwhile purchase to get started on virtual reality.

But for the average consumer, the thrill of virtual-reality gaming with PlayStation VR may be fleeting. Initially, virtual reality will probably mesmerize you because it’s so unlike any gaming experience you have ever had. But the scarce number of good games available today, combined with the fatigue you will experience after 30 minutes of game play, may drive you back to gaming on your smartphone or television screen.

So I wouldn’t run — or even stroll, for that matter — to buy a virtual-reality system. Batman can’t even walk yet, anyway."

Sony PlayStation VR Review: The Best of an Early Crop - The New York Times

Twitter’s Fate: Marc Benioff of Salesforce Addresses Acquisition Talk - The New York Times

Perhaps just bidding up the price for Microsoft?... Also see Twitter Shares Drop on Report Saying Google Won’t Make a Bid (Bloomberg)

"Mr. Benioff, who is himself a power user of Twitter, said on Wednesday that while it was essential that Salesforce be in A.I., there was more to Twitter than that.

“It’s a huge customer-service platform,” used by companies like Dell, Apple and Bank of America, he said in the interview on the way to the St. Regis. “It’s not a reason to buy it, but it’s a reason to look at it. I’m not saying I’m buying it, but I’m not saying I’m not buying it.”

Later, at the investor meeting where analysts shied from mentioning the name Twitter, Mr. Benioff tried to explain where he was coming from. “I see things in a different kind of way,” he told them. “I hope someday to sit down and say how I think about that which shall not be named.”"

Twitter’s Fate: Marc Benioff of Salesforce Addresses Acquisition Talk - The New York Times

The mobile wars are over | TechCrunch

Also see Mossberg: How Google's bold moves shake up the tech industry (The Verge); tangentially, see Southwest Flight Evacuated After Samsung Phone Catches Fire, Airline Says (NYT)

"Now, however, Google has announced its own phone, the Pixel, and it looks like the impetus to buy anything other than the latest and the greatest from either Apple or Google is swiftly waning. Even Samsung is hurting after the (literal) smoke cleared.

The Pixel is important. It’s the first phone that Google considers a Google product and, like most Google products, it’s pretty compelling. I know the Nexus line has always been considered “Google’s own phone,” but when the company decided to pack the new Pixel with all of its best-of-breed tech, they drew a line in the sand: This is the best Android phone to buy, bar none, and OEMs will have to step up their game. 

And there isn’t much game left."

The mobile wars are over | TechCrunch

Amazon’s new Prime Reading gives Prime members all they can read | TechCrunch

Check this Amazon page to explore

"Amazon launched another benefit for Prime members today: Prime Reading, which lets users read from a section of over a thousand Kindle books, digital magazines, short stories, comics and more for free as part of their subscription. It’s essentially a version of Kindle Unlimited with a pared down catalog (Unlimited boasts over one million books, magazines and audiobooks) but without any additional cost if you’re already a Prime member.

Books on the service include classics like The Hobbit, and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, but the magazine selection actually sounds potentially more appealing, since it has current issues of titles like National Geographic Traveler, People, Sports Illustrated, Popular Mechanics and more. Prime Reading content can be accessed either via the Kindle app or Amazon’s own Kindle devices."

Amazon’s new Prime Reading gives Prime members all they can read | TechCrunch

Google’s Big Strategy Shift – Beyond Devices – Medium

Hey Siri, is this a sensible strategy?... Also see Google Exec Confirms Plans to Bring Voice Assistant to Third-Party Home Audio Hardware (Variety)

"Previously, Google services have been launched on either the web or through the major app stores, typically Play and iOS simultaneously or one shortly after the other. But with the new devices announced today, Google appears to be using the Google Assistant as a way to advantage its own hardware rather than going broad. That’s a massive strategic shift, and has much broader implications than simply making a phone, a speaker, or a WiFi router.

Think about what this means: Google is choosing to favor a few million hardware sales over usage of these services by billions of people, at least in the short term. Its old approach was to pursue the broadest possible distribution for its services by making them available in almost all the places people might expect to find them. But its new approach is much more reminiscent of Apple’s, which of course is designed to differentiate hardware and not drive maximum usage."

Google’s Big Strategy Shift – Beyond Devices – Medium

Quip unveils Salesforce integration: Rich mentions, live data, and single sign-on | VentureBeat | Enterprise | by Ken Yeung

For an update on the Salesforce bigger picture, see Salesforce aims to combine Einstein, Quip, IoT into 'one platform' approach (ZDNet)

"The pairing between Salesforce and Quip offers two features centered around sharing data. The first involves leveraging Quip’s Lightning component, meaning that any linking, accessing, and editing of documents, spreadsheets, and task lists can be made directly within Salesforce records. This eliminates the need to jump between multiple apps, thereby streamlining efforts within a single platform. Meeting notes, data, and other content within Quip and shared among team members can also be stored in company records, providing a better picture of the customer relationship.

With the second feature, Quip now supports live data within documents and spreadsheets. Traditionally, users would have to copy and paste data, but now variables can be added to files that will dynamically pull in the corresponding data, so if anything changes within Salesforce, it’ll automatically be reflected within the document. As Salesforce described it: “A Quip living document that serves as the weekly meeting agenda for a regional sales team can include the latest Salesforce data on closed deals and open opportunities.”"

Quip unveils Salesforce integration: Rich mentions, live data, and single sign-on | VentureBeat | Enterprise | by Ken Yeung

Google's New Phones Target Apple But They Could Hurt Samsung More (Fortune)

In other Android hardware vendor developments, see HTC Plays Role of Apple’s Foxconn for Google’s New Phones (Bloomberg)

"“A premium Android strategy is really a strategy to take market share from Samsung,” said analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research. The South Korean company already is reeling from a highly publicized recall of its Galaxy Note 7 phones due to battery fires.

“Obviously Google doesn’t want to explicitly compete with its own partners, but this product is much more likely to compete with Samsung than Apple,” Dawson said."

Google's New Phones Target Apple But They Could Hurt Samsung More

This Man Is Explaining Google’s Hardware Bet to Android Partners - Bloomberg

"That worked fine" re Google + Motorola -- as long as Motorola continued to struggle competitively; I'm guessing the Tizen team was very happy with yesterday's Pixel introduction

"Bloomberg: What have you said to Android OEMs?

Lockheimer: They understand. They’ve seen Google evolve. We did Chromecast, we’ve done Google Glass, other hardware projects. It’s not like they’re not seeing that. They’ve asked us questions like this in the past, when we did Nexus. They also did that when we purchased Motorola. We worked with Motorola, during the time they were a Google company, in an arms-length fashion. They were another Android OEM, just like Samsung is a partner. That worked fine. I remember talking with someone at Samsung about that. He asked me the same questions and I told him what I just told you. He said ‘OK I understand.’ They’re still with us four, five years later. Android as an ecosystem has grown significantly since then. That gave us the confidence that we can do this."

This Man Is Explaining Google’s Hardware Bet to Android Partners - Bloomberg

Jack Dorsey Is Losing Control of Twitter (Bloomberg)

Destination unknown

"A few days before Twitter’s Sept. 8 board meeting, as the company’s finance team readied a presentation, it received conflicting directions on a crucial question. Should their slides reflect Twitter’s prospects as an independent company or delve into the benefits of getting acquired?

Jack Dorsey, Twitter’s chief executive officer, argued that the 10-year-old company should remain on its current course and work to capitalize on recent product improvements and success in streaming live video, people familiar with the discussions said. Ev Williams, a former CEO who has a history of clashing with Dorsey, was in favor of exploring a sale. Other directors agreed they had a fiduciary duty to consider that option. The board ultimately decided to consider takeover prospects after getting an expression of interest from a potential acquirer, which led it to hire Goldman Sachs and Allen & Co. to evaluate possible bids."

Jack Dorsey Is Losing Control of Twitter

Facebook Marketplace Goes Wrong: Sex, Guns and Baby Hedgehogs - The New York Times

Not off to a great start, at least PR-wise

"On Monday morning, Facebook introduced Marketplace, a new section on its mobile app that allowed its users to buy and sell things to their friends and to strangers.

By the evening, the social giant was apologizing for an issue with the section, which featured some posts that would not have been out of place on the online black market Silk Road, which was shut down by the F.B.I. in 2013.

Illegal drugs. Dogs. Guns. Sexual services. Baby hedgehogs. Selling all of these items and services on Facebook goes against the site’s commerce policy. And all of them were available on Marketplace on Monday."

Facebook Marketplace Goes Wrong: Sex, Guns and Baby Hedgehogs - The New York Times

Google Pixel, Pixel XL Smartphone Price and Details | WIRED

Post-Nexus

"Next time you walk into a Verizon store, at the very least, the Pixel and Pixel XL will await you. They’re the same price as the iPhone 7, starting at $649 for the small one and $769 for the big one. The Pixel features a 1080p screen, and you’ll get 1440 x 2160 from the XL. Both sport Snapdragon 821 processors, fingerprint sensors on the back, 4GB of RAM, 32 or 128GB of storage, and a big battery. Choose from three delightfully named colors: Really Blue, Very Silver, and Quite Black. (If you don’t love the look, slap on a customizable Live Case and go about your merry day.) Both phones are solid and sturdy, and a smidge heavier than I expected. And the plastic panel at the top of the phone’s back looks a little cheap next to the unibody design of some other devices. Still, though, in the few minutes I played with one, the Pixel looked and felt great."

Google Pixel, Pixel XL Smartphone Price and Details | WIRED

Google Daydream View VR Headset Price and Details | WIRED

Beyond cardboard

"GOOGLE’S DAYDREAM VIEW feels nothing like other virtual reality headsets I’ve tried. It’s not heavy or plasticky, it doesn’t take an hour to set up, and it doesn’t require a high-end PC. No cables appear to be involved. Really, the only similarity between the View and the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive is that you look silly wearing it.

During its much-hyped hardware event today in San Francisco, Google showed off the first devices in its Daydream VR lineup. All we’d seen before were concepts and line drawings, but now we’ve seen at least Google’s version of what a headset might look like. The $80 Daydream View is light, flexible, and almost plushy. Your smartphone provides the visuals. It slides into the headset and rests in front of your eyes. It comes in three colors: Slate, Snow, and Crimson. It’s meant to make virtual reality, the most sci-fi futuristic of current technologies, feel approachable."

Google Daydream View VR Headset Price and Details | WIRED

WikiLeaks just punk’d the internet by turning its rumored Clinton reveal into an anniversary event | VentureBeat | Business | by Chris O'Brien

Another bummer for Trump supporters (check this report for a more extensive quote)

"In fact, not only did Assange not reveal anything, he actually tried to play down the notion that he was engaging in a feud with Clinton. The organization noted that the idea that it was helping the Russian government was spin by Clinton defenders trying to downplay revelations in the emails it release from the Democratic National Party.

Assange and others pointed out that WikiLeaks has published large numbers of documents about Russia. He said that, personally, he bears no animosity toward Clinton.

“There’s been a lot of misquoting of me and WikiLeaks on this,” he said. “In this case, the notion that I hate Clinton or that I intend to destroy her. All those are false. They come about because here defenders are trying to personalize our publications.”"

WikiLeaks just punk’d the internet by turning its rumored Clinton reveal into an anniversary event | VentureBeat | Business | by Chris O'Brien

What the Twitter Sale Reveals About Twitter, Itself | Vanity Fair

From a Twitter reality check by Nick Bolton

"Yet now, for the first time in the company’s history, numerous news outlets have reported that Twitter is seriously considering selling itself. What’s changed? For one, it’s becoming apparent that Twitter can’t be saved in its current instantiation. Adding new media content, like live N.F.L. video streams for users to consume, and banning Milo Yiannopoulos, an alt-right defender of ultra-conservatism, for attacking celebrities, are moves that are a couple of C.E.O.s too late to save the service. While Twitter inarguably holds a tremendous amount of influence in our society (Exhibit A: Donald Trump; Exhibit B: #BlackLivesMatter), it’s also apparent that the company has been unable to eradicate malevolent trolls, or to change the direction of the product in order to entice new users, and—most importantly for this conversation—to prove its importance to investors, who prefer monetary influence over media prowess. (Its stock price, which peaked at $69 in 2014, was trading in the mid-teens before the sales rumors started.) The reality is that Twitter, in its current state, is un-fixable and a sale is likely the best way out of this predicament. (A Twitter spokeswoman said in an e-mail, “as a matter of policy we don’t comment on rumors or speculation.”)"

What the Twitter Sale Reveals About Twitter, Itself | Vanity Fair

The Microsoft Band is dead - The Verge

Also see Microsoft pulls Band listings from its Store; admits no Band 3 this year (ZDNet)

"Microsoft gave it two tries, but the company's wrist-worn Band fitness tracker is seemingly no more. The Band 2 has been removed completely from Microsoft's online store, signaling that production has ceased. It's no longer available from Best Buy either, though Amazon is still selling through its remaining inventory. ZDNet reports that the company has no current plans to release a Band 3. The team responsible for the Band was recently dissolved, throwing doubt on Microsoft's future plans for the product."

The Microsoft Band is dead - The Verge

Google’s head of self-driving tech: We’re not building a car, we’re building the driver - Recode

An important driving distinction

"Google — which has been working on its self-driving cars since 2009 — is not in the car-making business. Nope, Google is in the superhuman-driver-making business, according to Dmitri Dolgov, the company’s head of self-driving technology.

Driving is a social activity, Dolgov told Recode during a live walkthrough of the technology on Google’s self-driving car. That means that the car has to not only be able to detect and recognize humans and other objects, it also has to be able to interact with, understand and react to their behavior.

To that end, the company’s self-driving software has developed to be able to detect and understand things like hand signals — a uniform method of symbolic communication that pedestrians and human drivers often use on the road — and react appropriately. So, when a bicyclist, for example, signals left using his or her hand, the car will react as a (generous) human might."

Google’s head of self-driving tech: We’re not building a car, we’re building the driver - Recode

Facebook Launches a Craigslist Competitor, Again - Bloomberg

See Introducing Marketplace: Buy and Sell with Your Local Community (Facebook Newsroom) for more details

"The world's largest social media company is betting that the collective memory of the internet is rather short. Facebook started a similar service -- also called Marketplace -- in 2007, but it never took off and was offloaded to a third party called Oodle in 2009.
Things may be different this time. For one, the old Marketplace worked only on computers and the majority of Facebook’s users are now on mobile devices, which Craigslist doesn’t even make an application for. Phones also give Facebook better location data, so they can match people with buy-and-sell opportunities in their area."

Facebook Launches a Craigslist Competitor, Again - Bloomberg

Google moves into hardware production with smartphone and other devices - The Washington Post

It's going to be an interesting day in the Android ecosystem; check this YouTube page to catch the event at noon Eastern

"The launch of the Pixel — which was to be heralded this week by prime-time television ads during “Monday Night Football” and “The Voice,” as well as billboards and installations in London, Sydney, Berlin and New York — will test Google’s mettle in a new kind of business. The shift toward hardware also puts the company on a collision course with Apple, Amazon and Facebook, and with partners such as Samsung that have used Google’s free Android software to build their own global smartphone empires. Samsung’s Galaxy phones are the most popular high-end smartphones in the United States after Apple’s iPhone.

Samsung and Google have engaged in a tug of war in recent years, each trying to shake free of its dependence on the other, said people familiar with the situation. Google in recent years has tested the hardware market, with a spotty record, including limited efforts to sell its own line of smartphones, its purchase (and later sale) of Motorola and release of other troubled products such as Google Glass. Samsung, meanwhile, has gone so far as building its own mobile operating system and app marketplace, Tizen, as a hedge against the company’s dependence on Android."

Google moves into hardware production with smartphone and other devices - The Washington Post

More people are shopping on phones — but many stores will struggle to reap the benefits - The Washington Post

Check the full post for a share of platform time spent by age chart with stark implications for the PC market

"One notable exception to the retail app usage patterns is Amazon.com, which has managed to become a sizable part of our smartphone diets. Comscore found that the Amazon app appears on almost 25 percent of smartphone users’ home screens. This is noteworthy because people tend to give that kind of prime screen real estate to their most-used apps. Very few apps appear on so many people’s home screens — Only YouTube, Google Maps and Facebook have more home-screen incidences. (Jeffrey P. Bezos, the chief executive of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.)

It’s also striking to look at how engagement with Amazon stacks up against other online retailers. The Amazon app accounts for 34 percent of the time that users spend in the shopping sector Every other retailer lags far behind, with eBay coming in second with 8 percent of time spent."

More people are shopping on phones — but many stores will struggle to reap the benefits - The Washington Post

The Spectacle that is Dreamforce – Platformonomics

From a Salesforce reality check by Charles Fitzgerald

"My condolences to anyone in the Bay Area next week as Dreamforce descends like a khaki-clad, expense account-fuelled barbarian horde upon ancient Rome.

Salesforce may feel compelled this year to surpass its own superlative standards of spectacle to compensate for a mounting set of inadequacies, including slowing growth at a company (and stock) sustained by growth, confronting real competition that can actually write code, being reduced to enlisting the EU as a strategic partner and an increasingly Oracle-esque purchase experience (and pricing). In a cosmic twist of irony, Salesforce has become the Siebel of its generation, focused on defending its multiple at all costs to keep it out of Oracle’s clutches."

The Spectacle that is Dreamforce – Platformonomics

Microsoft’s Push to Win European Cloud Customers Tops $3 Billion - Bloomberg

Also see Building a cloud for global good (Microsoft blog)

"Last month, Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft opened a U.K. data center for its Azure cloud-computing service as well as two sites in Germany. The company can also use investments in Western Europe as jumping off points in markets in Eastern Europe that are growing, such as Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, Anderson said.
Among public-cloud infrastructure service providers in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, Amazon has 39 percent market share compared with Microsoft’s 13 percent, according to Synergy. Nadella said Microsoft is far closer to Amazon when it comes to customers among governments, small businesses and local startups.
"We definitely acknowledge the lead Amazon has in a segment in an early market, but a sustainable long-term business can only be built when it has broader impact," he said."

Microsoft’s Push to Win European Cloud Customers Tops $3 Billion - Bloomberg

Google, Lagging Amazon, Races Across the Threshold Into the Home - The New York Times

Also see Google’s October 4 hardware event: What to expect (Recode)

"Given the newness of the market for artificially intelligent home gadgets, Google has plenty of time to close the gap. The company believes it can win over consumers with a smarter digital assistant that builds on its stronghold in search and years of research in artificial intelligence.

But the fact that Google was outmaneuvered by Amazon — not Apple, which builds its own digital assistant technology, called Siri, into its mobile products — has caused head-scratching throughout the technology industry. Amazon has a notoriously uneven track record in making hardware, with some hits, like the Kindle e-reader, and spectacular whiffs, like the Fire Phone."

Google, Lagging Amazon, Races Across the Threshold Into the Home - The New York Times

Hackers now have wider choice of weapons - The Boston Globe

The Internet of insecure things

"Consumers are famously ill-equipped to protect their personal computers from malware attacks. But most people know enough to install antivirus software and download the latest security patches. Bruce Schneier, a fellow at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, said many IoT devices don’t provide a way to update their software, and most people wouldn’t know how anyway.

“We’re moving down the chain to lower-cost embedded devices without upgrade paths, without patch systems, without security teams,” said Schneier, who is also chief technology officer of Resilient, a data security company owned by IBM Corp. “There’s going to be no way to fix this,” said Schneier. “None.”"

Hackers now have wider choice of weapons - The Boston Globe