All public servants in Singapore to use Workplace by Facebook by 2017, Tech News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

Workplace by Facebook continues to build momentum

"All public servants in Singapore will be using Workplace by Facebook to communicate with one another on their mobile phones and tablets, marking yet another first for Singapore among governments in the world.

Workplace by Facebook, a professional edition of the popular Facebook social networking tool, has been rolled out to 15 public agencies. It is in use by more than 5,300 public officers, the Public Service Division announced today.

The plan is to get all 143,000 public servants from all agencies on board by March next year (2017), said Mr Peter Ong, head of Civil Service. The decision was made taking into consideration factors such as security, cost and ease of use."

All public servants in Singapore to use Workplace by Facebook by 2017, Tech News & Top Stories - The Straits Times

Tech CEO letters to employees address feelings of unrest after election - The Verge

Leading by example

"The notes being shared so far carry hopeful tones. Box CEO Levie reiterated the company’s values of "openness and inclusion." Apple’s Cook said the company’s "North Star hasn’t changed," and also included an inspiring quote from Martin Luther King Jr. eBay’s Wenig said to "stay focused." CEOs have a particular interest in keeping employees motivated to do work, and in offering the support that enable employees to do this. All of us, tech employees or otherwise, have to wake up, get out of bed, and go about our days.

But it’s the subtext and the context that are most meaningful: the fact that they’re writing these letters in the first place. They want to remind people that their workplaces are diverse, and that they should show mutual respect for each other. They’re asking them to work together in the spirit of generosity. They now feel compelled to tell their employees to just be kind to each other. Please, let’s be decent to one another. This election season has brought us all to this point, whether in Silicon Valley, or anywhere else."

Tech CEO letters to employees address feelings of unrest after election - The Verge

Peter Thiel will reportedly join Donald Trump’s transition team - The Verge

Maybe there will be a new Department of the Fourth Estate Management (a.k.a. Ministry of Truth) Secretary role

"Peter Thiel, Silicon Valley billionaire and Hulk Hogan helper, is reportedly set to join Donald Trump’s transition team. Ex-Fortune editor Dan Primack cites sources that say Thiel has agreed to join the president-elect’s team, but declines to mention in what capacity he will operate.

The Huffington Post had reported earlier in the day that Thiel was being considered for chair of Trump’s transition team — a position currently held by New Jersey governor Chris Christie — but Primack says people close to Thiel would be “surprised” if he wanted such a hands-on role."

Peter Thiel will reportedly join Donald Trump’s transition team - The Verge

Should Buy Snopes to Get Serious About Fact-Checking? - The Atlantic

This domain is poised to become a historic test of the potential of machine learning

"It would still be quite a leap to move from a focus on emotional and physical safety to refereeing the facts in a debate—and, on top of that, it would be really hard to do. The sheer volume of links posted to Facebook every day would make it incredibly difficult for even a large team of human fact-checkers to take on. Yet the current, algorithmic system doesn’t seem to be doing its job, either, judging by the volume of posts that have slipped through the cracks.

Perhaps the algorithms that currently find disputed posts could flag them for human review by a Snopes-like fact-checking team—heck, it could even buy Snopes. Once they’d researched the facts in the story and determined its accuracy, they could overlay a badge like the ones that already populate the Snopes site—an X in a red circle for “false”; a check mark in a green circle for “true”—on one corner of the link preview in the post."

Should Buy Snopes to Get Serious About Fact-Checking? - The Atlantic

Could better Internet security have prevented Trump’s shocking win? - The Washington Post

Tangentially, Trump will be a disaster for online privacy. Here’s how to protect yours before it’s too late. (Recode)

"The election of Republican Donald Trump has stunned Silicon Valley, sparking renewed fears about how the federal government’s powerful surveillance machinery could undermine personal privacy — especially in the hands of a man with a history of threatening retaliation against those who challenge him.

But as some prepare to take new high-tech defensive measures against government intrusion, there also is a note of regret: The campaign of Trump’s rival, Democrat Hillary Clinton, suffered several disruptions when poorly protected emails fell into the hands of Russian hackers, WikiLeaks and, finally, the FBI. Better digital security, including measures long advocated by some experts, might have prevented Clinton’s defeat, they say."

Could better Internet security have prevented Trump’s shocking win? - The Washington Post

Facebook's Zuckerberg Says Fake News and Echo Chambers Didn't Drive Election - Bloomberg

Also see Mark Zuckerberg says it’s ‘crazy’ to think fake news stories got Donald Trump elected (Recode)

""As norms change and as people want to see more news, we will have to continue to evolve the guidelines to reflect the values that the community holds," Zuckerberg said. "It's tough to make everyone happy, but we care, and we care about learning quickly and making this better and better and better."
When asked about the election result, Zuckerberg said that the country would have a lot of work to do either way.
"One thing that I think it's easy to lose track of is, most progress is made by private citizens," not the government, he said. "That progress will continue.""

Facebook's Zuckerberg Says Fake News and Echo Chambers Didn't Drive Election - Bloomberg

Online, Everything Is Alternative Media - The New York Times

As Steve Jobs might have said about the way many people counterproductively consume "news" and participate in social media: "You're using it wrong" (although we do now have a case study in how related dynamics can be exploited to unscrupulously con your way into an unprecedented power grab)

"Faith in the importance of social metrics was a common trait among pro-Trump media, and for obvious reasons. They were clear indicators of support, participation and success, though exposed to no methodology. They were relative to other media and, by proxy, to politics.

The pro-Trump media understood that it was an insurgent force in a conversation conducted on social media on an unprecedented scale. It understood that its success could be measured by the extent to which it contributed to the assembled millions carrying out their political reading, watching, sharing, commenting and arguing among family and friends. David Bozell, president of ForAmerica, a conservative nonprofit group that operates a large Facebook news page, boasted of its social media prowess: “Because of our success, we know there are real voters delivering real-time political activism every day on these platforms. The press and the political class, at their own peril, ignored the signs, which is why so many got President-elect Trump’s victory wrong.”"

Online, Everything Is Alternative Media - The New York Times

Trump hates net neutrality - Recode

(Okay, I think that's enough depressing Trump posts for today...)

"A Donald Trump presidency will shake up key regulatory agencies in Washington, which could lead to a reversal of hard-won decisions on issues like net neutrality and completely upend the relationships the tech industry has worked to foster with regulators.

Trump will appoint new leaders to agencies like the Federal Communications Commission, the agency that brought us net neutrality last year.

Yet Trump has also promised a “temporary moratorium on new agency regulations” and to “eliminate our most intrusive regulations.”"

Trump hates net neutrality - Recode

Trump’s sweep could be a big setback to Tesla and Elon Musk - The Washington Post

Reminder: you can still vote with your purchase and investment decisions; tangentially, see Read Tim Cook’s Email To Apple Employees After Donald Trump’s Election (BuzzFeed)

"Some of the biggest implications for Tesla may come in the form of new U.S. energy policies that favor traditional fuel sources such as oil and coal, said Kathryn Thomson, a former top lawyer for the Federal Aviation Administration and the Department of Transportation.

"Anybody who advocates for energy-efficient, sustainable solutions should be worried," said Thomson. "On the one hand, Trump is saying, 'Let's look at all the options,' and that's positive. On the other hand, he seems to be pushing more-conventional fuels and technologies. And that's not good for innovation, and that's not good for efficiency and sustainability.""

Trump’s sweep could be a big setback to Tesla and Elon Musk - The Washington Post

The Data Said Clinton Would Win. Why You Shouldn’t Have Believed It. - The New York Times

Also difficult to factor in recently influential variables such as the mainstream media giving an outlier candidate ~infinite free coverage in order to boost their advertising profits; recommended reading in this context: The Attention Merchants

"In addition to the polling errors, data scientists said the inherent weakness of election models might have caused some forecasting errors. Before an election, forecasters use a combination of historical polls and recent polling data to predict a candidate’s chance of winning. Some may also factor in other variables, such as giving higher weight to a candidate who is an incumbent.

But even with decades of polls to analyze, it is difficult for forecasters to predict accurately a candidate’s chance of winning the presidency months or even weeks ahead of time. Dr. Mutalik of Yale compared election modeling to weather forecasting."

The Data Said Clinton Would Win. Why You Shouldn’t Have Believed It. - The New York Times

Facebook and Twitter Contend With Their Role in Trump's Victory - Bloomberg

I expect Facebook will be exonerated in this context, based on its substantive terms and policies; Twitter, not so much -- see, e.g., The Twitter Paradox: How A Platform Designed For Free Speech Enables Internet Trolls (NPR)

"Facebook Inc. will have to contend with mounting dissatisfaction over its role as the most widely used news filter in history. Forty-four percent of American adults get their media through the site, many consuming news from partisan sources with which they agree. The proliferation of fake news on Facebook has also been a problem: false stories about the Clinton family committing murder and Huma Abedin being a terrorist flew fast and furious despite refutations from responsible news organizations. Those stories shaped public opinion, said Ed Wasserman, the dean of the University of California, Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism.

“This is a landmark,” he said. “Trump was able to get his message out in a way that was vastly influential without undergoing the usual kinds of quality checks that we associate with reaching mass public. You had a whole set of media having influence without really having authority. And the media that spoke with authority, the authority that comes after careful fact checking, didn’t really have the influence.”"

Facebook and Twitter Contend With Their Role in Trump's Victory - Bloomberg

Peter Thiel’s Bet on Donald Trump Pays Off - The New York Times

I'm guessing the payoff for Peter Thiel's "bet" in this context, in terms of the potential to advance concerns he espouses, is far from a sure thing. The article's last paragraph: "“I did vote,” he said. “I don’t always vote, but I thought you might ask, so I did.”"

"Peter Thiel, the billionaire investor at odds with much of Silicon Valley, will have President Trump’s ear on tech issues.

He won’t be moving to Washington, Mr. Thiel made clear in an interview Wednesday afternoon. He is unlikely to have a formal role. He has no desire to fulfill his youthful dream of joining the United States Supreme Court.

But he will have a voice."

Peter Thiel’s Bet on Donald Trump Pays Off - The New York Times

Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer to Step Down - The New York Times

More Twitter transitions; maybe the company should just focus on ways to "monetize" @realDonaldTrump...

"For many months, Twitter has been trying to reshape itself as a growing social media service. That attempt now includes reshaping the company’s top ranks.

On Wednesday, Twitter said that Adam Bain, its chief operating officer, plans to leave the company. Mr. Bain was well liked by Wall Street for building up and running Twitter’s once fast-growing advertising business."

Twitter’s Chief Operating Officer to Step Down - The New York Times

Facebook threatens LinkedIn with job opening features | TechCrunch

Another facet of the Facebook/Microsoft complementor/competitor landscape

"Facebook might muscle-in on LinkedIn’s recruiting business with ways for business Pages to promote job listings. The new Jobs features could give companies another reason to drive traffic to their Facebook Page beyond marketing their products in the News Feed, while also allowing them to pay the social network to get their open position in front of more candidates.

Today TechCrunch spotted a Jobs tab on its Page, and now Facebook confirms it’s experimenting with a slew of recruiting features. A Facebook spokesperson tells me, “Based on behavior we’ve seen on Facebook, where many small businesses post about their job openings on their Page, we’re running a test for Page admins to create job postings and receive applications from candidates.”"

Facebook threatens LinkedIn with job opening features | TechCrunch

Gmail and Google Calendar get a whole lot better on iOS (Google blog)

Evidently Google now agrees with Microsoft on the importance of maintaining first-class iOS apps

"When you get the next Gmail iOS app update, you’ll notice some exciting changes: The biggest overhaul of the app in nearly four years. It's the Gmail you know and love, with a fresh new look, sleeker transitions and some highly-requested features. It's a lot faster, too.

With the new app, getting things done on the go is a lot easier — whether you’re trying to find a message your colleague sent you last month, or trying to get through your work inbox on a Monday morning."

Gmail and Google Calendar get a whole lot better on iOS

Why Twitter Must Be Saved – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

Excerpt from a timely Twitter reality check

"To be clear, Twitter has a real abuse problem that it has been derelict in addressing, a decision that is costly in both human and business terms; there is real harm that comes from the ability to address anyone anonymously, including the suppression of viewpoints by de facto vigilantism. But I increasingly despair about the opposite extreme: the construction of cocoons where speech that intrudes on one’s world view with facts is suppressed for fear of what it does to the bottom line, resulting in an inert people incapable of finding common ground with anyone else.

This is why Twitter must be saved: the combination of network and format is irreplaceable, especially now that everyone knows it might not be a great business. For all the good that the Washington Post has done it is but one publication among many; the place where those publications disseminate information is the true scale, but Facebook has made its priorities clear: engagement and dollars, leavened with the certainty that engineers can make it all better; the externalities that result from a focus on making people feel good are not their concern."

Why Twitter Must Be Saved – Stratechery by Ben Thompson

Tesla acquires Grohmann engineering to boost production | TechCrunch

Later in the article: "“We thought it was important that Tesla become, in part, a German company,” Musk said, regarding the investment in the country. “That’s what this was all about.”"

"Tesla just announced that it will acquire Germany’s Grohmann Engineering, in a deal that will see the global engineering leader become Tesla’s new Advanced Automation facility based in Germany, a new subdivision of the automaker dedicated to helping Tesla increase the automation and effectiveness of its manufacturing process.

“This will really be our first acquisition of significance in our whole history,” explained Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk on a call discussing the news, noting that Grohmann was their “first choice” in terms of bringing on expertise to help it “build the machines that build the machine.”"

Tesla acquires Grohmann engineering to boost production | TechCrunch

After a slow start, Apple News is emerging as a significant traffic driver for some news orgs » Nieman Journalism Lab

Also see Apple is bringing in NBCUniversal to sell ads in Apple News (Recode), which notes "Apple won’t comment on detailed usage numbers, but says the app now has 70 million unique users."

"CNN, for example, says its Apple News content got 36.5 million unique readers in September, a major increase from August’s 5 million. Its pageviews also increased significantly to 274 million, up from 43 million a month before.

“It’s really quite a remarkable story,” said Alex Wellen, CNN’s chief product officer. While CNN had seen “steady traffic growth” for most of the year,” said Wellen, Apple’s tweaks to its news app have changed the traffic picture significantly."

After a slow start, Apple News is emerging as a significant traffic driver for some news orgs » Nieman Journalism Lab

After mastering Go, these computers are learning to play StarCraft - The Washington Post

See DeepMind and Blizzard to release StarCraft II as an AI research environment (DeepMind blog) for more details

"Earlier this year, researchers' artificial intelligence beat a human in the dazzlingly complex board game known as Go. Not just once, but four times. It was a milestone in machine learning.

Now, the same Google-backed researchers who designed AlphaGo have their sights set on dominating a new game: Starcraft, the classic computer strategy game that has attracted millions of fans, some of whom duel online in professional tournaments hosted by real-life sports leagues.

Researchers from U.K.-based DeepMind want to train a bot that can play StarCraft II in real time — making decisions about which military units to send on scouting missions, and how to allocate resources and ultimately conquer other players."

After mastering Go, these computers are learning to play StarCraft - The Washington Post

The Risk to Civil Liberties of Fighting Crime With Big Data - The New York Times

Related recommended reading: Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy

"The American Civil Liberties Union, citing reports that the Chicago Police Department used a computer analysis to create a “heat list” that unfairly associated innocent people with criminal behavior, has warned about the dangers of the police using big data. Even companies that make money doing this sort of work warn that it comes with civil rights risks.

“We’re heading to a world where every trash can has an identifier. Even I get shocked at the comprehensiveness of what data providers sell,” said Courtney Bowman, who leads the privacy and civil liberties practice at Palantir Technologies, a company in Palo Alto, Calif., that sells data analysis tools. He has lectured on the hazards of predictive policing and the need to prove in court that predictive models follow understandable logic and do not reinforce stereotypes."

The Risk to Civil Liberties of Fighting Crime With Big Data - The New York Times

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Rocket Launches Might Resume Next Month - The New York Times

A multifaceted rocket science case study

"Last week, SpaceX released a statement that it was focusing the investigation on one of three helium containers within the oxygen tank. During launch, as the liquid oxygen is consumed, the helium is heated up and released to maintain pressure within the tank. The company said that its tests had replicated the rupture of the helium containers, made of carbon fiber composite materials.

“It basically involves a combination of liquid helium, advanced carbon fiber composites and solid oxygen,” Mr. Musk said. “Oxygen so cold that it actually enters solid phase.”"

Elon Musk Says SpaceX Rocket Launches Might Resume Next Month - The New York Times

Group Chat Emerges as the Hottest Thing in IT - WSJ

It's not just about group chat; it's about activity streams done right, encompassing a number of communication, collaboration, and content apps/services

"Forget artificial intelligence. Forget the cloud. Forget everything you think you know about what will separate the winners and losers among business-technology vendors. The defining turf war of the next decade will be group chat.

It sounds ridiculous. How could something pitched primarily as a “replacement for email” prove more important than other technologies, from productivity software to storage?

The answer: Chat is becoming the backbone of many businesses, bringing together both people and multiple software programs."

Group Chat Emerges as the Hottest Thing in IT - WSJ

Media’s Next Challenge: Overcoming the Threat of Fake News - The New York Times

Support your favorite journalists and scrutinize The Attention Merchants

"The election news bubble that’s about to pop has blocked from plain view the expanding financial sinkhole at the center of the paper-and-ink branch of the news industry, which has recently seen a print advertising plunge that was “much more precipitous, to be honest with you, than anybody expected a year or so ago,” as The Wall Street Journal editor in chief Gerard Baker told me on Friday.

Papers including The Journal, The New York Times, The Guardian, the Gannett publications and others have responded with plans to reorganize, shed staff, kill off whole sections, or all of the above.

Taken together, it means another rapid depletion in the nation’s ranks of traditionally trained journalists whose main mission is to root out corruption, hold the powerful accountable and sort fact from fiction for voters."

Media’s Next Challenge: Overcoming the Threat of Fake News - The New York Times

How LinkedIn Drove a Wedge Between Microsoft and Salesforce - The New York Times

Insights from an overview of how Salesforce ended up near the top of Microsoft's strategic competitor list

"At one point, Mr. Benioff offered to buy the Dynamics business that Salesforce competed with, but Mr. Nadella turned him down, according to two people briefed on the discussions.

The two companies stayed close and by the spring of 2015 their conversations evolved into another deal: Microsoft would acquire Salesforce. In May 2015, CNBC reported that the talks had fallen apart because Salesforce was demanding around $70 billion, about $22 billion more than the company’s market value at the time.

Several people briefed on the talks said that account was accurate, though two of them said another factor was that Mr. Benioff thought Microsoft was not respectful enough of his accomplishments in building Salesforce. It was unclear whether Mr. Benioff would be happy in a subordinate role at Microsoft after building Salesforce from the ground up, and it was equally hard to imagine a successful Salesforce without him."

How LinkedIn Drove a Wedge Between Microsoft and Salesforce - The New York Times

Signals of Editorial Quality (Monday Note)

A quest for quality content

"Despite this, I remain confident that the news industry will eventually deploy a robust quality-scoring system.
Furthermore, I bet the lead will come from large players such as Medium or even Google. Medium is actually best positioned to build a quality-scoring apparatus as it is both a public CMS, and has yet to find a model to monetize its vast content. In a likely application of the Pareto principle, Medium’s only way to make money is to monetize the 20% or so of its content to which a quality label can be affixed. 
As for Google, we have rumors that it is working on a CMS aimed at small/medium size sites, and we know it controls both ends of the ecosystem, from production tools to advertising. In this case, both Google and the publishing industry have aligned interests in capitalizing on quality."

Signals of Editorial Quality

Google’s New Hardware Strategy: Actually Make Money (Technology Review)

Disruption time in the Android smartphone ecosystem

"Indeed, burgeoning consumer interest in virtual assistants and VR is one reason why Google is revamping its smartphone strategy. The maturation of the smartphone industry is another. Microsoft and BlackBerry’s slumping smartphone businesses have pitted Google and Apple against each other for market dominance. As a result, Google believes it needs a single Android phone that can truly take on the iPhone, and matching the Pixel’s price with the iPhone’s is the company’s way of telling consumers the devices are comparable.

The other relevant change in the smartphone market is that Samsung is the only company that currently manages to make money selling premium Android phones (in spite of its Galaxy Note 7 debacle). Several years ago, Google would have hesitated to release a pricy smartphone under its own brand for fear of alienating its many Android partners. But Samsung’s control of the high-end Android phone market has concerned Google for some time and it likely hopes that the Pixel will diminish this dominance."

Google’s New Hardware Strategy: Actually Make Money

Apple iPhone captures 103.6% of smartphone industry profits in Q3, according to analyst estimates | 9to5Mac

Evidently a lot of unprofitable (non-Apple) smartphones out there; also see Google Android hits market share record with nearly 9 in every 10 smartphones using it (CNBC)

"Apple has recorded an insane mobile phone profit share in the third quarter, according to analysts at BMO Capital Markets. They estimate Apple captured 103.6% of total smartphone industry profits, with Samsung trailing far behind at just 0.9%. The reason Apple can take more than 100% of profits is because the majority of vendors lost money and recorded losses on their smartphone division, such as LG and HTC.

On a units basis, Samsung led with 21.7% of smartphones sold with Apple placing second at 13.2% share. This is the first time Apple has recorded industry profits in excess of 100% thanks to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7 recall blunders and strong demand for iPhone 7."

Apple iPhone captures 103.6% of smartphone industry profits in Q3, according to analyst estimates | 9to5Mac

Google Attacks EU Case That ‘Doesn’t Fit the Reality’ - Bloomberg

For another Alphabet reality check, see Alphabet Reveals Hardware Inventory Numbers for the First Time (Bloomberg)

"Google said Thursday that the EU’s allegations lack evidence and would ultimately harm users in favor “of a small number of websites,” in a blog posting detailing its response to European Commission antitrust objections over its comparison-shopping and AdSense services.

“The commission’s revised case still rests on a theory that just doesn’t fit the reality of how most people shop online,” Kent Walker, Google’s senior vice president and general counsel said in the blog post. The EU’s “claims are wrong as a matter of fact, law, and economics.”"

Google Attacks EU Case That ‘Doesn’t Fit the Reality’ - Bloomberg

GoPro Reports Another Loss, 40% Revenue Drop - WSJ

Tangentially, see After sagging sales numbers, Fitbit’s stock price collapses by over 33% (Ars Technica) and GoPro Is Betting This Slick Drone Will Save the Day (Bloomberg)

"GoPro Inc. on Thursday swung to a deep quarterly loss and said it expects to remain in the red next year, as its new products failed to provide a panacea to its profitability woes.

GoPro also lowered its sales target for the year, reflecting a weak holiday season when the company is expected to log nearly half of its revenue for the year.

Shares of GoPro, which have fallen 88% from their 2014 high, were down more than 20% in after-hours trading."

GoPro Reports Another Loss, 40% Revenue Drop - WSJ

Google Home vs. Amazon Echo: A Face-Off of Smart Speakers - The New York Times

Also see OK, Alexa: A Google Home Versus Amazon Echo IQ Test (Wired) and Mossberg: Google Home shows promise, but needs work (Recode)

"Echo and Home are largely the same in the basic tasks they can perform. The capabilities that Home currently lacks, like movie showtimes or support for other smart home accessories, will probably show up in software updates or future partnerships.

So what really distinguishes one from the other? Right now, Echo’s major advantage is its ability to order items from Amazon.com and its broader smart home capabilities. If you like the idea of using a speaker to quickly reorder diapers or toilet paper, or if you are eager to get a speaker to control home accessories like lights and thermostats, Echo is a better product for you.

But if you aren’t big on Amazon shopping and can wait a few months to see how Home evolves, Google’s speaker may be your long-term bet because of its smarter artificial intelligence and superior audio player. Home, priced at about $130, is also cheaper than Amazon’s $180 Echo."

Google Home vs. Amazon Echo: A Face-Off of Smart Speakers - The New York Times

LinkedIn launches Salary, a tool that taps into user data to chart earnings across the globe | ZDNet

See Introducing “LinkedIn Salary”: Unlock Your Earning Potential (LinkedIn blog) for more details

"LinkedIn's Economic Graph initiative took another step forward November 2 with the launch of LinkedIn Salary, a new portal that collects and analyzes salaries across jobs globally, which people can then use to better understand the compensation landscape of their given field.

Effectively, the Economic Graph concept is LinkedIn's goal to digitally map the global workforce. This includes creating a profile for every working person, a profile for every company in the world, and a digital representation of every job and every skill set required to obtain those jobs."

LinkedIn launches Salary, a tool that taps into user data to chart earnings across the globe | ZDNet

Chicago Cubs fans can buy championship gear on the Uber app and have it delivered in minutes - Recode

Wait, no drone delivery option?...

"Chicago Cubs fans waited 108 years for a World Series victory. They’ll only have to wait a few minutes for the championship gear to commemorate it.

Starting at 10 am local time on Friday, Cubs fans in Chicago can purchase championship hats and t-shirts through the Uber ride-hailing app. Dedicated Uber drivers will be on the road to deliver the gear to customers within minutes."

Chicago Cubs fans can buy championship gear on the Uber app and have it delivered in minutes - Recode

Want to Know What Virtual Reality Might Become? Look to the Past - The New York Times

Final paragraph from a Steven Johnson VR reality check

"It’s possible, of course, that the next generation — acclimated to these merely stereoscopic explorations — will agitate for the medium to take on the kinetic qualities of the cinema: not just the intricacies of plot but the rapid cuts, the action sequences. But think of all those countless thousands of spectators who thrilled to the “natural magic” of Barker’s Panorama, standing in silent contemplation, traveling to a distant place for a few minutes before venturing back out into the chaos and smog of the great city. A similar sense of quiet contemplation may well be what differentiates V.R. from its immediate predecessors. In an age when action movies have acclimated our eyes to multiple cuts per second, and in which video games bombard us with nonstop carnage, there turns out to a surprisingly meditative quality to the world we inhabit with V.R. goggles on. This could well turn out to be the most magical trick of all: harnessing all this advanced technology to slow us down and make us wonder again."

Want to Know What Virtual Reality Might Become? Look to the Past - The New York Times

Social media ‘influencers’: A marketing experiment grows into a mini-economy - The Washington Post

On a related note, see Review: ‘The Attention Merchants’ Dissects the Battle for Clicks and Eyeballs (NYT)

"What was an experimental marketing practice only a short time ago has morphed into a mini-economy with dizzying financial stakes. The social-media analytics firm Captiv8 estimates that big brands are spending a collective $255 million per month for sponsored posts on Instagram alone. Captiv8 says Instagram influencers who have more than 7 million followers command an average rate of more than $150,000 per sponsored post.

Some have even signed with agents, who help them get connected for a cut of the earnings. Others have banded into informal syndicates to help promote one another’s posts, making them attractive to more brands."

Social media ‘influencers’: A marketing experiment grows into a mini-economy - The Washington Post

Microsoft Puts Slack in Cross Hairs With New Office Chat App - The New York Times

Also see Microsoft launches Teams, takes on Slack on its home turf (Ars Technica)

"Microsoft began working on Microsoft Teams about 18 months ago, after Mr. Gates encouraged Brian MacDonald, a respected Microsoft engineer credited with creating Outlook, the company’s flagship email application, to come up with a new take on productivity applications.

“We’d have pretty frequent conversations, sometimes group reviews, sometimes one-on-ones,” Mr. MacDonald said. “He’d send me big, long memos to consume. I’d send him a few ideas back. It was great.”

Microsoft does not always build a new product when it wants to expand the range of Office. About four years ago, it paid $1.2 billion to acquire Yammer, a social networking app that had found a following in the tech industry. So did Microsoft consider buying Slack?

“It’s not something that I looked at,” Mr. Nadella said, adding that he did not know if others who work for him seriously considered it."

Microsoft Puts Slack in Cross Hairs With New Office Chat App - The New York Times

Facebook Defies Social Media Gravity With User and Profit Growth - The New York Times

Also see Facebook says ad revenue growth will start slowing down next year (Recode)

"The social network on Wednesday reached the latest milestones in its quest to dominate the world, topping 1.79 billion monthly visitors as of the end of September, up 16 percent from a year ago. Facebook also added a record number of new daily users and said for the first time that more than one billion people regularly used its network exclusively on their mobile device every month.

And those numbers do not even include Facebook’s other properties, such as the photo-sharing service Instagram and the messaging service WhatsApp."

Facebook Defies Social Media Gravity With User and Profit Growth - The New York Times

Introducing Microsoft Teams—the chat-based workspace in Office 365 - Office Blogs

Check the full post for details and an FAQ; also see the Teams press release and Announcing the Microsoft Teams Developer Preview (Office Dev Center)

"Today, at an event in New York City, we announced Microsoft Teams—the new chat-based workspace in Office 365. Microsoft Teams is an entirely new experience that brings together people, conversations and content—along with the tools that teams need—so they can easily collaborate to achieve more. It’s naturally integrated with the familiar Office applications and is built from the ground up on the Office 365 global, secure cloud. Starting today, Microsoft Teams is available in preview in 181 countries and in 18 languages to commercial customers with Office 365 Enterprise or Business plans, with general availability expected in the first quarter of 2017.

At Microsoft, we are deeply committed to the mission of helping people and organizations achieve more—and reinventing productivity for the cloud and mobile world is core to our ambition. We built Microsoft Teams because we see both tremendous opportunity and tremendous change in how people and teams get work done. Teams are now more agile and organizational structures more flat to keep communications and information flowing. With Microsoft Teams, we aspire to create a more open, digital environment that makes work visible, integrated and accessible—across the team—so everyone can stay in the know."

Introducing Microsoft Teams—the chat-based workspace in Office 365 - Office Blogs

Slack shows it’s worried about Microsoft Teams with a full-page newspaper ad - The Verge

Business just got a lot more challenging for Slack, which was already contending with the launch of Workplace by Facebook

"Microsoft is just minutes away from unveiling its Slack competitor, Microsoft Teams, at an event in New York City today. The software giant is expected to position its Teams software with tight integration into Microsoft Office, Skype, and the company's Office 365 services, and as a direct competitor to Slack. Microsoft hasn't even officially unveiled its Teams service, but that's not stopping Slack from getting some words out before the software maker's event.

In a full back page ad in the New York Times, Slack welcomes Microsoft's competition into the messaging market with some "friendly advice." In a long note, that's also published on Slack's blog, the company warns Microsoft that it's not the features that matter, it's the craftsmanship and human aspects of the software. "We've spent tens of thousands of hours talking to customers and adapting Slack to find the grooves that match all those human quirks," says the Slack team. "The internal transparency and sense of shared purpose that Slack-using teams discover is not an accident. Tiny details make big differences.""

Slack shows it’s worried about Microsoft Teams with a full-page newspaper ad - The Verge

Microsoft’s IFTTT alternative is now open to everyone - The Verge

For an overview of some enterprise-oriented Flow features, see Announcing Microsoft Flow General Availability (Microsoft Flow blog)

"Microsoft Flow, the company’s own take on IFTTT, is officially available to the general public after being released in beta back in April. The tool lets you connect cloud services like Slack, G Suite, Twitter, Office 365, and Dynamics 365 to create action “Flows” for the workplace.

A Flow is an action that takes place after something else happens — like having a photo uploaded to Dropbox after emailing it to yourself. Unlike IFTTT, which lets you link two single actions with each other, Microsoft’s version can perform multiple actions in a single Flow. For example, you can choose to have a tweet containing a certain keyword trigger both a push notification and an email simultaneously instead of creating two separate recipes."

Microsoft’s IFTTT alternative is now open to everyone - The Verge

Instapaper drops monthly subscriptions - The Verge

Tangentially, see Instagram is finally going to make it easier to shop for the products you see in your feed (Recode)

"Instapaper is dropping its monthly subscription and will begin offering its service ad-free to all users. All of Instapaper’s Premium features, including full-text article searches and speed-reading, will also be opened up to everyone.

This is a big shift for Instapaper, and one that’s clearly driven by its recent acquisition by Pinterest. Before today, Instapaper offered a $2.99 per month (or $29.99 per year) subscription to support itself. But in doing so, it placed some of the service’s unique and helpful features behind a paywall, making it harder to stand out from its much-loved competitor, Pocket."

Instapaper drops monthly subscriptions - The Verge

Facebook Shares Optical Networking Technology Dubbed Voyager - WSJ

See An open approach for switching, routing, and transport (Facebook Code blog) for details

"Facebook Inc. has created a high-speed, long-distance networking system it plans to share with other companies, in the social network’s latest push to spur technological advances and drive down hardware prices.

The company, which has already shared designs for server systems and data switching gear, on Tuesday disclosed details of its first device designed to link geographically dispersed data centers using fiber-optic cables.

Facebook plans to encourage hardware companies to sell the device, dubbed Voyager, and other companies to write software to manage it."

Facebook Shares Optical Networking Technology Dubbed Voyager - WSJ

Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Exploited Flaw in Windows - WSJ

Also see Google Just Warned of an 'Actively Exploited' Microsoft Windows Bug (Fortune)

"The hackers believed responsible for breaking into computers at the Democratic National Committee have exploited previously undisclosed flaws in Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system and Adobe Systems Inc.’s Flash software, Microsoft said Tuesday.

It is unclear if those hackers, reportedly tied to Russia, used the newly disclosed vulnerabilities to hack into the DNC.

Microsoft Tuesday criticized Alphabet Inc’s Google for publicly identifying the Windows flaw on Monday, before Microsoft had had a chance to issue a patch."

Microsoft Says Russian Hackers Exploited Flaw in Windows - WSJ

How the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth - The New York Times

For a couple timely case studies, see Inside the Trump Bunker, With Days to Go (Bloomberg) and Trolls for Trump (The New Yorker); also see On Twitter, Trump bots are out-tweeting Clinton bots 7 to 1 (Recode)

"One of the apparent advantages of online news is persistent fact-checking. Now when someone says something false, journalists can show they’re lying. And if the fact-checking sites do their jobs well, they’re likely to show up in online searches and social networks, providing a ready reference for people who want to correct the record.

But that hasn’t quite happened. Today dozens of news outlets routinely fact-check the candidates and much else online, but the endeavor has proved largely ineffective against a tide of fakery.

That’s because the lies have also become institutionalized. There are now entire sites whose only mission is to publish outrageous, completely fake news online (like real news, fake news has become a business). Partisan Facebook pages have gotten into the act; a recent BuzzFeed analysis of top political pages on Facebook showed that right-wing sites published false or misleading information 38 percent of the time, and lefty sites did so 20 percent of the time."

How the Internet Is Loosening Our Grip on the Truth - The New York Times

Why the MacBook’s Pro’s Touch Bar Matters | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

Final paragraphs from a long-term Touch Bar perspective

"I am concerned with the new MacBook Pros pricing but, to be fair, if this meets the needs of their pro customers, it will still sell well. However, if Apple’s new Touch Bar is the next evolution of Apple’s contribution to mobile user interface design, I suspect the Touch Bar will eventually be on all laptops Apple brings to market over time and, if history is our guide, the prices of these MacBook Pros will also go down in next generation models.
I realize there will be naysayers who will be skeptical about the role the Touch Bar plays in the future. But if there is one thing I have learned over the 35 years of covering Apple it is that, when they put a lot of thought and detail into user interfaces, it is best to take note. That is why I believe the Touch Bar not only matters but it and the special chip they use to power it will have more of an industry impact than most can see right now."

Why the MacBook’s Pro’s Touch Bar Matters | Tech.pinions - Perspective, Insight, Analysis

No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming - Bloomberg

Extent to which Tesla just Osborned the immediate-term home solar market tbd

"Powerwall 2 looks ready for primetime. The new solar shingles? Let’s wait until more details emerge. Tesla says we should expect a slow initial rollout beginning in about nine months. Within two years of production, the shingles could account for five percent of the five million roofs installed in the U.S. every year, said Peter Rive, SolarCity’s co-founder and chief technology officer. SolarCity, under the Tesla brand, would also manufacture and sell surface-mounted solar panels for homeowners who have no plans for replacing their existing roofs.  

The pricing on the new solar roof is a bit—squishy. Musk said that someone who buys a Tesla roof will save money compared with someone who buys a comparable traditional roof plus electricity from the grid. But make no mistake: This will be a premium product, at least when it first rolls out. The terra cotta and slate roofs Tesla mimicked are among the most expensive roofing materials on the market. SolarCity CEO Lyndon Rive noted that the price of a conventional roof can vary widely, from $7,000 to $70,000—based on materials, size, complexity, location—so giving out firm prices of a solar roof at this point would be difficult."

No One Saw Tesla’s Solar Roof Coming - Bloomberg

Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds - The New York Times

Actual results may vary during political election periods

"As our social lives have moved onto social media sites like Facebook over the past decade, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing over what all that screen time might be doing to our health.

But according to a new paper, time spent on social media could be associated with a longer life.

The paper, published in the journal PNAS on Monday, asserts that the health effects of active online social lives largely mirror the benefits of busy offline social lives."

Facebook Could Be Associated With a Longer Life, Study Finds - The New York Times

Microsoft Gives Away New Server Design Aimed at Speeding Global Cloud Setup - Bloomberg

See Microsoft reimagines open source cloud hardware (Microsoft Azure Blog) for more details

"Microsoft Corp. is offering up a new server design that it hopes will influence the rest of the data-center industry, a move that keeps pressure on hardware vendors like Hewlett Packard Enterprise Co. to lower the price of cloud infrastructure.
An earlier design by Microsoft now accounts for 90 percent of the company's data center server purchases, underscoring just how far it has moved in favor of its own specifications, often manufactured by commodity server vendors."

Microsoft Gives Away New Server Design Aimed at Speeding Global Cloud Setup - Bloomberg

You can watch Leonardo DiCaprio's climate change documentary right here (Mashable)

On a related note, We Don’t Need a ‘War’ on Climate Change, We Need a Revolution (NYT)

"In Before the Flood, Leonardo DiCaprio travels around the globe to explore the effects of global warming as well as possible solutions.

The 95-minute movie is free on a bunch of platforms from Oct. 30 through Nov. 6, including including Facebook, Hulu and, yes, YouTube (see above) [here]. 

The wide distribution on one of the most popular free video platforms in YouTube may be an attempt to bolster views ahead of the United States presidential election on Nov. 8."

You can watch Leonardo DiCaprio's climate change documentary right here

Vertical limit | The Economist

Check the full article for a long-term oligopoly case study

"There are two reasons why trustbusters should now take a tougher line. First, the telecoms industry is already a rent-seekers’ paradise. Americans pay at least 50% more for mobile and broadband service than people in other rich countries. For each dollar invested in infrastructure and spectrum, American operators make 28 cents of operating profit a year, compared with 18 cents for European firms. That reflects the lack of competition. AT&T and Verizon control 70% of the mobile market, and are the only firms that reach 90% or more of Americans with high-speed services. Half of the population has no choice of fixed-broadband supplier. The lack of downstream competition in pipes could distort competition in upstream content.

[...]

A second concern is that AT&T-Time Warner would have vast political and lobbying power, allowing it to bend rules over time, including any antitrust remedies that it agreed with regulators. It would capture 28% of the media-and-telecoms industry’s pre-tax profits and 2% of all corporate profits, making it America’s third-biggest domestic firm. Media and telecoms regulation is already intensely political, and AT&T today is no shrinking violet, being a vocal opponent of net neutrality, the rules that ensure that all online traffic is treated equally."

Vertical limit | The Economist

Tesla unveils its solar roof and Powerwall 2 (The Verge)

Unveiled on the Desperate Housewives set

"At Universal Studios in Los Angeles tonight, Tesla CEO Elon Musk showed off the company's solar roof-top panels, a new $5,500 Powerwall 2 high-capacity residential battery pack, and the Powerpack 2 for businesses.

Musk and company have been teasing these photovoltaic cell-embedded rooftop panels for a few weeks. The event was probably timed as an grand explanation for why it's important that the automaker acquire Solar City. Musk said that if the merger doesn't go through, the launch of the new tiles will be difficult."

Tesla unveils its solar roof and Powerwall 2

Microsoft CEO Envisions a Whole New Reality - WSJ

Final paragraphs from a Satya Nadella interview

"Similarly, if you say, “Well, what if AI can be applied not just to replace humans or to augment humans, but to help humans enjoy life?” One of the projects which was very stunning to me was, we took all of Rembrandt’s works, I think he has around 160,000 or so fragments, analyzed them and then had the machine create the next masterpiece.

Now, you could say, “Well, that is saying that you’re going to replace one of the greatest Dutch masters.” No, that is not the idea. The idea was to be able to say, “Can you inspire a new generation of artists by being able to bring someone from the past alive again?” So that’s another way of thinking about AI.

You can see the impact of AI through this lens of augmenting human capability, human enjoyment, human creativity. That’s the lens through which we’ll look at it."

Microsoft CEO Envisions a Whole New Reality - WSJ

Publishers Are Rethinking Those ‘Around the Web’ Ads - The New York Times

Tangentially, on my recommended-reading list: The Attention Merchants: The Epic Scramble to Get Inside Our Heads by Tim Wu

"Usually grouped together under a label like “Promoted Stories” or “Around the Web,” these links are often advertisements dressed up to look like stories people might want to read. They have long provided much-needed revenue for publishers and given a wide range of advertisers a relatively affordable way to reach large and often premium audiences.

But now, some publishers are wondering about the effect these so-called content ads may be having on their brands and readers. This month, these ads stopped appearing on Slate. And The New Yorker, which restricted placement of such ads to its humor articles, recently removed them from its website altogether."

Publishers Are Rethinking Those ‘Around the Web’ Ads - The New York Times

Google beats Wall Street expectations with $22.45B in revenue, ad value still in decline (TechCrunch)

A strong quarter for the world's second-most-valuable company; the other part of the digital advertising duopoly (Facebook) reports next Weds

"Alphabet’s strategy of trying to stuff the difference between declining mobile advertising value with additional clicks appears to still be paying off as the company once again showed Wall Street that it can make a ton of money and continue to grow.

Alphabet (we’re just gonna call it what it is because we’re talking about the core business: Google) reported earnings of $9.06 per share on revenue of $22.4 billion. That’s another 20 percent gain compared to the same quarter a year ago. Wall Street was looking for earnings of $8.64 per share on revenue of $22.05 billion."

Google beats Wall Street expectations with $22.45B in revenue, ad value still in decline

AWS reports $3.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2016, up 55% over last year | VentureBeat | Cloud | by Jordan Novet

For an overall Amazon quarterly review, see Amazon Comes Up Short on Profits, Focusing on Warehouses and Movies (NYT)

"Ecommerce company Amazon.com today said that its Amazon Web Services (AWS) public cloud computing infrastructure division generated $3.23 billion in revenue in the third quarter of the year. That means revenue was up 54.9 percent year over year.

AWS produced $861 million in operating income for the quarter, according to today’s earnings statement. The business unit had $2.21 billion in operating expenses.

For its most recent four quarters, AWS has now fetched $11.08 billion in revenue for Amazon."

AWS reports $3.2 billion in revenue in Q3 2016, up 55% over last year | VentureBeat | Cloud | by Jordan Novet

Apple Increases Prices of Macs in U.K. by 20 Percent - Bloomberg

For another Brexit bump, see Microsoft to hike UK enterprise prices after Brexit pounds sterling (TechCrunch)

"Apple Inc. quietly raised the cost of some of its products in Britain by 20 percent, the latest blow to U.K. consumers after the decision to leave the European Union sent the pound sliding.
The computer-maker overnight began charging 2,999 pounds ($3,650) for its “Mac Pro” desktop machine, up from 2,499 pounds earlier in the week. The “Mac Mini” now retails at 479 pounds compared to 399 pounds."

Apple Increases Prices of Macs in U.K. by 20 Percent - Bloomberg

LG's latest 5K screen is Apple's new flagship display (Engadget)

Evidently Apple plans to stay out of the display business

"If you're eyeballing Apple's new MacBook Pro line, but you need even more screen real estate than 15 inches of Retina display -- LG has already got you covered. Taking the place of Apple's own, discontinued Thunderbolt Display, the LG 27-inch UltraFine 5K and 21.5-inch UltraFine 4K displays are stepping up as the new go-to companions for the MacBook Pro's sharp new screen and limited port variety.

The biggest selling point for both models is the ability to charge your new MagSafe-less laptop over the same Thunderbolt 3 connection that delivers video, audio and data. That, plus the three USB-C ports on the back led Phil Schiller to describe them as "the ultimate docking station" during today's presentation."

LG's latest 5K screen is Apple's new flagship display

Broadband Providers Will Need Permission to Collect Private Data - The New York Times

Your next broadband service renewal contract will probably require a bit more scrutiny to avoid inadvertently opting in

"Federal officials approved broad new privacy rules on Thursday that prevent companies like AT&T and Comcast from collecting and giving out digital information about individuals — such as the websites they visited and the apps they used — in a move that creates landmark protections for internet users.

By a 3-to-2 vote, the Federal Communications Commission clearly took the side of consumers. The new rules require broadband providers to obtain permission from subscribers to gather and give out data on their web browsing, app use, location and financial information. Currently, broadband providers can track users unless those individuals tell them to stop."

Broadband Providers Will Need Permission to Collect Private Data - The New York Times

More Wretched News for Newspapers as Advertising Woes Drive Anxiety - The New York Times

Tangentially, see Twitter Has an Old Media Problem. Here’s a Solution. (NYT)

"With print advertising continuing to drop precipitously, you would be hard-pressed to find a newsroom devoid of uncertainty anywhere in the country. Companies like Gannett have recently announced layoffs, and its stock price has plunged during a monthslong pursuit of the company that owns The Los Angeles Times and The Chicago Tribune. The New York Times recently went through buyouts and has acknowledged that its newsroom will get even smaller next year. And for journalists at The Wall Street Journal, anxiety in the last several weeks has been especially pronounced.

Numerous Journal employees, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they feared endangering their jobs, said in interviews and conversations that they have received few specifics from management about the size and scope of the coming cuts. Mr. Baker said in one of his memos last week that changes to the print newspaper would “involve some consolidation of sections of the paper and the teams that produce it.” The employees said that the staff is now openly speculating about the potential for once-prized sections, including Greater New York and Personal Journal, to be folded or significantly reduced. Separately, employees have been working without a union contract since Oct. 1, and negotiations with the company are ongoing."

More Wretched News for Newspapers as Advertising Woes Drive Anxiety - The New York Times

Twitter will revamp safety regulations after election (Slate)

For a timely case study on why this is needed, see Trolls for Trump (The New Yorker)

"Twitter says it will be making some meaningful changes to its safety policy in order to clean up its notoriously toxic atmosphere and crack down on “targeted behavior that harasses or threatens others to silence another person’s voice.”

This is a good move for the beleaguered social media platform, which has found itself home to some of the nastiest trolls on the internet. But Twitter says the changes won’t go into effect until after the election, and considering much of Twitter’s most hateful rancor is politically motivated, this timing seems suboptimal."

Twitter will revamp safety regulations after election.

Microsoft Finally Explains Its VR Strategy - Thurrott.com

With virtual availability details

"Microsoft’s new VR strategy appears to put the coming VR headsets—which will come from PC maker partners like Lenovo, HP, Dell, Acer, and ASUS—in the same basic sweet spot as the PSVR. That is, they will be capable devices with immersive experiences, though they will be tethered to, and require, a PC. The good news? That PC could cost as little as $500, a far cry from the $1500 or more for an Oculus PC. And the headsets will cost as little as $300.

For Microsoft’s part, it is doing what it always does: Supplying the platform bits needed in Windows to drive these solutions. These will apparently come as part of Windows Holographic, from what I can tell. But they will arrive with the Windows 10 Creators Update, regardless. So we’re looking at Spring 2017 for the software. It’s not year clear what the schedule is for the hardware, but that would of course by the earliest time."

Microsoft Finally Explains Its VR Strategy - Thurrott.com

Hobbyist hackers probably caused Friday’s Internet meltdown, researchers say - The Washington Post

Also see Dyn DNS DDoS likely the work of script kiddies, says FlashPoint (TechCrunch)

"Some have worried that the massive cyberattack that disrupted the Internet on Friday was the work of Russian government-backed hackers, politically motivated hacktivists or sophisticated cybercriminals. But researchers at cyber-intelligence firm Flashpoint say the Internet meltdown may have been carried out by amateurs who haunt a popular hacking forum.

Flashpoint helped Web service provider Dyn determine that hacked Internet-connected devices were involved in the attack. If Flashpoint is right, the attack shows that even hobbyists can cripple the Internet's fragile infrastructure. When asked about Flashpoint's research, Dyn pointed to a blog post on its site Wednesday that said it's “collaborating in an ongoing criminal investigation of the attack and will not speculate regarding the motivation or the identity of the attackers.”"

Hobbyist hackers probably caused Friday’s Internet meltdown, researchers say - The Washington Post

Twitter’s ‘Firehose’ of Tweets Is Incredibly Valuable—and Just as Dangerous - Bloomberg

Troubling Twitter trends

"But if Twitter provides a rare outlet for criticism of repressive regimes, it’s also useful to those regimes for tracking down and punishing critics. In September 2012 a Saudi Twitter user named Bader Thawab was arrested for tweeting “down with the House of Saud.” In March 2014 an eight-year prison sentence was upheld for a Saudi man who’d mocked the king and religious officials on Twitter and YouTube. The following May, a Saudi man in a wheelchair named Dolan bin Bakheet was sentenced to 18 months in prison and 100 lashes for using Twitter to complain about his medical care. In all, there have been dozens of Twitter-related prosecutions in Saudi Arabia, according to Human Rights Watch.

Twitter is still popular in the kingdom—the service has added 200,000 active users there since 2014, according to the Arab Social Media Report—but it no longer hosts much dissent. Activists are careful to tweet in coded language, if they tweet at all. “People don’t openly discuss important things on Twitter anymore,” says Ali Adubisi, a Saudi human-rights activist. “Twitter is totally different, totally silent, totally weak.”"

Twitter’s ‘Firehose’ of Tweets Is Incredibly Valuable—and Just as Dangerous - Bloomberg

Microsoft Unveils Its First Desktop PC - The New York Times

Also see Hands on with the Surface Studio, Microsoft’s first desktop computer (Ars Technica)

"The new Microsoft machine is a handsome specimen of the all-in-one PC category best exemplified by Apple’s iMac. It has a sleek aluminum body with 28-inch screen that rests on top of a stand. Microsoft also showed a new accessory device called the Surface Dial that augments computer mice, giving users a precise way to zoom in images and perform other actions.

“This is a product that we believe truly brings out the creator in all of us,” said Panos Panay, a Microsoft corporate vice president.

The new Microsoft PC will not be for everyone though, if only because of its $2,999 price tag. It will go on sale in limited quantities this holiday season, Mr. Panay said. Architects, product designers and engineers are among the likely targets for the product."

Microsoft Unveils Its First Desktop PC - The New York Times

Tesla Surprises Investors With Quarterly Profit Ahead of Merger Vote - The New York Times

Sunny days ahead for Tesla; also see Elon Musk Says Tesla Car-Share Network Is ‘the People vs. Uber’ (Bloomberg)

"The electric carmaker Tesla Motors said on Wednesday that it earned $22 million in the third quarter, its first profitable period since 2013, raising expectations for the success of its expansion plans.

The company’s chief executive, Elon Musk, said in a letter to investors that the results reflected improvements in vehicle production, the addition of new stores and a steady increase in market share for its luxury models.

“We were able to have our best quarter ever, and we are heading toward a great fourth quarter as well,” Mr. Musk said in a conference call with analysts."

Tesla Surprises Investors With Quarterly Profit Ahead of Merger Vote - The New York Times

Google: Our Assistant Will Trigger the Next Era of AI (Backchannel)

From a Steven Levy Assistant assessment

"That process, unrolling over the next two years, is The Transition. When millions of people begin conversing with Google, through the Assistant, the seas of difficulty suddenly part. (With Google Home, conversing is the only way you will get any use out of it — there’s no keyboard.) “You can start doing machine learning on that,” Pereira says. “You can move much faster; you can accelerate the process of getting deeper and broader in understanding. This 2016-to-2017 Transition is going to move us from systems that are explicitly taught to ones that implicitly learn.” Think of it as a mini-Singularity.
The data flowing in during this two-year transition won’t stop, of course. (I should clarify here that Pereira and the other Googlers talking about this transition are referring to the collection of data in the aggregate, not in accumulating dossiers on the conversational preferences, peregrinations, and peccadilloes of individual users.) Pereira sees it leading to a better version of the Assistant, which in turn will lead to more usage, more conversation, more data — and more improvement. Perhaps a decade from now, this accelerating cycle may lead to a bot that really knows what we talk about when we talk about…anything."

Google: Our Assistant Will Trigger the Next Era of AI

AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit - The Daily Beast

Maybe AT&T/Time Warner/HBO will make a mini-series about this...

"Hemisphere isn’t a “partnership” but rather a product AT&T developed, marketed, and sold at a cost of millions of dollars per year to taxpayers. No warrant is required to make use of the company’s massive trove of data, according to AT&T documents, only a promise from law enforcement to not disclose Hemisphere if an investigation using it becomes public.
These new revelations come as the company seeks to acquire Time Warner in the face of vocal opposition saying the deal would be bad for consumers. Donald Trump told supporters over the weekend he would kill the acquisition if he’s elected president; Hillary Clinton has urged regulators to scrutinize the deal.
While telecommunications companies are legally obligated to hand over records, AT&T appears to have gone much further to make the enterprise profitable, according to ACLU technology policy analyst Christopher Soghoian."

AT&T Is Spying on Americans for Profit - The Daily Beast

This is Jamboard, Google’s new 4K digital whiteboard - Recode

Also see Jamboard — the whiteboard, reimagined for collaboration in the cloud (Google Blog)

"But like most of Google’s suite of business apps, the real point is the software and its collaborative cloud service.

As you might expect, inside a “Jam” session, you can draw, type, import and scribble on images and Google Docs, search the web in a mini-browser, communicate with colleagues via Google Hangout and keep a digital record of your work in Google Drive. Teams using multiple Jamboards can work together on the same project in real time, as long as there’s internet access.

There’s also a full-featured tablet app for iOS and Android (so others can participate without a Jamboard) and a simpler version of the app for smartphones. Companies can test the concept just using these apps, though Google (obviously) thinks the huge touchscreen is a big part of the equation. It has been testing the software and devices with about 30 teams internally and with external partners including Netflix and Spotify."

This is Jamboard, Google’s new 4K digital whiteboard - Recode

Apple Said to Develop Car Operating System in BlackBerry Country - Bloomberg

Yet another Blackberry bummer

"The engineers now work at an Apple office in the Ottawa suburb of Kanata, about a five-minute walk from QNX, the people said. Apple targeted QNX employees because of their experience developing fundamental components of operating systems and power management, a former QNX executive said. An Apple spokesman declined to comment.

The most notable Apple hire from QNX was its chief executive officer, Dan Dodge. Since joining Apple’s Project Titan car initiative early this year, he’s taken on a larger role overseeing the car operating system, splitting his time between Canada and California, the people said. Another notable addition is Derrick Keefe, who left QNX last year after more than a decade as a senior engineer, one of the people said."

Apple Said to Develop Car Operating System in BlackBerry Country - Bloomberg

IBM Teams Up With Slack to Build Smarter Data-Crunching Chatbots - Bloomberg

Later in the article: "About 30,000 IBM employees use Slack’s messaging system, making it one of the San Francisco startup’s biggest customers." On a related note, see Microsoft could be unveiling Teams, its Slack competitor, next week (Ars Technica).

"IBM is teaming up with Slack Technologies Inc. to make it easier for companies to build custom chatbots into the startup’s workplace-messaging systems, the latest move by Big Blue to add more diverse business cases for its Watson artificial-intelligence technology.
The two companies will release a developer toolkit that includes Watson technologies and can integrate easily into Slack, they said in a statement Wednesday. International Business Machines Corp. will also build a chatbot -- a conversation-based application -- that will help IT departments identify and resolve issues without having to leave the Slack platform. The startup’s own customer-service bot will incorporate the Watson Conversation system, which includes technologies such as speech-to-text conversion and natural-language processing, or the ability for a computer to understand what a person is saying."

IBM Teams Up With Slack to Build Smarter Data-Crunching Chatbots - Bloomberg

Google Curbs Expansion of Fiber Optic Network, Cutting Jobs - The New York Times

Less Fiber in Alphabet's diet; also see Google’s Alphabet Experiment Misses Key Goal: Keeping Executives (Bloomberg)

"The company said on Tuesday that it was curbing the expansion of its high-speed fiber optic internet network and reducing staff in the unit responsible for the work. Alphabet did not provide an exact number for the jobs that will be cut.

Craig Barratt, chief executive of Access, the Alphabet division containing Google Fiber, also said he planned to step down because the company was shifting to new technologies and methods of deploying high-speed internet. No replacement was announced. Mr. Barratt, an Alphabet senior vice president, said he would remain an adviser to the company."

Google Curbs Expansion of Fiber Optic Network, Cutting Jobs - The New York Times

Apple Predicts a Big Holiday Bounce After Its Biggest Rival, Samsung, Falters - The New York Times

Also see 4 ways Tim Cook made lemonade out of Apple’s Q4 2016 earnings (Macworld)

"“There’s more demand we can supply right now,” Apple’s chief financial officer, Luca Maestri, said in an interview. Interest in the iPhone 7 Plus, Apple’s largest model and the most direct rival to Samsung’s Galaxy Note 7, is so intense that Apple said production could still lag demand even by December.

If the company’s forecast is accurate, it will mark a turnaround from what has been a disappointing year for the Silicon Valley giant. In April, Apple announced that sales in the first three calendar months of 2016 shrank for the first time in 13 years.

The poor performance continued through the quarter that ended on Sept. 24, the company reported on Tuesday. For the most recent three-month period, Apple said, revenue fell 9 percent to $46.9 billion. Net income fell 19 percent to $9 billion."

Apple Predicts a Big Holiday Bounce After Its Biggest Rival, Samsung, Falters - The New York Times

IBM's cloud move: New unified platform buries SoftLayer under Bluemix brand | ZDNet

Bluemixed results ahead; see this IBM blog post for more branding details

"According to Hazard, SoftLayer products will be available on both SoftLayer.com and IBM.com/Bluemix for the next few months. IBM has also integrated the SoftLayer control portal with the Bluemix console to manage infrastructure and cloud services.

The brand shift comes as IBM moves to become a 'cloud broker' and sell not just its own SoftLayer infrastructure, but also Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Compute Engine."

IBM's cloud move: New unified platform buries SoftLayer under Bluemix brand | ZDNet

Trump’s Campaign Is Launching a Nightly News Show on Facebook | WIRED

Testing Facebook's hate speech filtering policy...

"Members of the media quickly seized on the event, calling it a test drive for Trump TV, the post-election television network that Trump is rumored to be considering in the event he loses in November. Despite reports that his son-in-law has been talking to media dealmakers about Trump TV, Trump himself has denied he has any interest in such a thing.

Epshteyn says this nightly Facebook Live stream is simply a way for the campaign to circumvent the mainstream media Trump so publicly loathes. “We all know how strong the left wing media bias is. This is us delivering our message to voters,” he says. “It has nothing to do with Trump TV. It’s about using 21st century technology and communication in a way that’s effective.”"

Trump’s Campaign Is Launching a Nightly News Show on Facebook | WIRED

The Pentagon’s ‘Terminator Conundrum’: Robots That Could Kill on Their Own - The New York Times

Also see A.I. Inspiration: The Science Fiction That Frames Discussion (NYT)

"At the core of the strategic shift envisioned by the Pentagon is a concept that officials call centaur warfighting. Named for the half-man and half-horse in Greek mythology, the strategy emphasizes human control and autonomous weapons as ways to augment and magnify the creativity and problem-solving skills of soldiers, pilots and sailors, not replace them.

The weapons, in the Pentagon’s vision, would be less like the Terminator and more like the comic-book superhero Iron Man, Mr. Work said in an interview.

“There’s so much fear out there about killer robots and Skynet,” the murderous artificial intelligence network of the “Terminator” movies, Mr. Work said. “That’s not the way we envision it at all.”"

The Pentagon’s ‘Terminator Conundrum’: Robots That Could Kill on Their Own - The New York Times

AT&T-Time Warner Deal Is a Strike in the Dark - The New York Times

Also see A Chilly Reaction to AT&T-Time Warner Deal (NYT)

"We are witnessing the emergence of a new order in the TV business. In five or 10 years’ time, that order may become clear. There’s a good chance it will involve some current players — Comcast, Disney and a merged AT&T and Time Warner will all play a role in the entertainment business of tomorrow. But these behemoths’ size and influence will almost certainly be diminished by new tech-powered players, whose pocketbooks and ambitions seem limitless — companies like Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple, Netflix and possibly Twitter and Snap.

What’s scary for the incumbents is that at the moment, much of the future seems up for grabs, because consumer behavior is neither settled nor predictable. Even viewership of N.F.L. games is down this season. Down!"

AT&T-Time Warner Deal Is a Strike in the Dark - The New York Times

How Dan Rather Became the Only Good Newsman on Facebook - The Daily Beast

Insights from social media/journalism pioneer Dan Rather -- if you're among the 1.7 billion people using Facebook, check out his page here

 "My goal with this is not to convince anybody of any political persuasion. What I’m really hoping I’m doing is encouraging people to think—and I think it’s happening far more than I ever would’ve imagined. A lot of journalistic operations in print and online have begun slugging off their sleepwalking and started calling truth and lies as they see it. And not a moment too soon. It’s maybe even too late. What I worry about is moving into the post-truth era of American politics. God help us if we’ve moved into such an era."

How Dan Rather Became the Only Good Newsman on Facebook - The Daily Beast

Chinese firm admits its hacked DVRs, cameras were behind Friday's massive DDOS attack | PCWorld

Or as Benedict Evans noted in his latest weekly newsletter: "A network designed to withstand nuclear attack, brought down by toasters."

"A Chinese electronics component manufacturer says its products inadvertently played a role in a massive cyberattack that disrupted major internet sites in the U.S. on Friday.

Hangzhou Xiongmai Technology, a vendor behind DVRs and internet-connected cameras, said on Sunday that security vulnerabilities involving weak default passwords in its products were partly to blame.

According to security researchers, malware known as Mirai has been taking advantage of these vulnerabilities by infecting the devices and using them to launch huge distributed denial-of service attacks, including Friday’s outage."

Chinese firm admits its hacked DVRs, cameras were behind Friday's massive DDOS attack | PCWorld

Daily Report: Microsoft, Ahead in the Cloud - The New York Times

Looking at clouds from both sides now

"Here, as elsewhere, things were not exactly what they seemed, in good ways and bad. Adjusting for inflation, Microsoft shares, about $60.60 apiece in after-hours trading Thursday, will have to rise above $85.09 to be worth more than they were at the peak of the internet bubble.

In addition, it’s still hard to say exactly what to make of cloud-computing revenue at Microsoft: Is a customer really paying for access to the kind of advanced hardware and software that is in Microsoft’s cloud, called Azure?

Or is the business buying standard Microsoft software applications, like Office, which are now sold in jazzed-up versions that are sold via Azure, as a subscription? To some, that kind of revenue matters less, since people buy Office anyway — it’s not like Microsoft really did anything new to get this money, the argument runs."

Daily Report: Microsoft, Ahead in the Cloud - The New York Times

AT&T Is Buying Time Warner Because the Future is Google | WIRED

Turbulent telecommunications times; also see AT&T-Time Warner Deal Is Mostly About Defense (WSJ) and Swift Opposition to Resurrection of AT&T Giant (NYT)

"Telecommunications companies are becoming media companies. That explains AT&T’s agreement to buy Time Warner for $85.4 billion. But something else explains it, too.

Media companies are becoming telecoms.

Internet firms like Google and Facebook and Amazon and Netflix are the new media companies. They deliver enormous amounts of video online, posing a direct threat to old-school television and movie companies. But they also are becoming telecoms, threatening the likes of AT&T and Verizon."

AT&T Is Buying Time Warner Because the Future is Google | WIRED

Slack versus Facebook (FB) Workplace on DAUs — Quartz

New constraints for Slack

"Slack and Facebook will tussle over companies with office-bound populations, like big ad agencies, other tech companies, or media organizations—all current Slack customers. But Facebook has said it intends to go after a far broader spectrum of workers than that. At its Workplace launch event in London, it said it intended its messaging system to be used by everyone from factory workers to baristas—in addition to white-collar folks like the employees of ad agency TBWA, which tested the platform.
Scant data is available for Workplace for now, but Slack’s salad days appear to be behind it. From now on, its user metrics will be benchmarked against Facebook’s work offering, which means it has little opportunity to slack off."

Slack versus Facebook (FB) Workplace on DAUs — Quartz

How an Internet-of-Things Botnet Took Down Twitter, Reddit, and Github - The Atlantic

A Bruce Schneier quote later in the article: "What this all means is that the [internet of things] will remain insecure unless government steps in and fixes the problem."

"The websites were not targeted individually. Instead, an unknown attacker deployed a massive botnet to wage a distributed denial-of-service attack on Dyn (pronounced like dine), the domain name service (DNS) provider that they all share.

A distributed denial of service attack, or DDoS, is not an uncommon attack on the web, and web hosts have been fending them off for years. But according to reports, Friday’s attack was distinguished by its distinctive approach. The perpetrator used a botnet composed of so-called “internet-of-things” devices—namely, webcams and DVRs—to spam Dyn with more requests than it could handle."

How an Internet-of-Things Botnet Took Down Twitter, Reddit, and Github - The Atlantic

Macs are cheaper for businesses, and even IBM says so - Recode

Interesting enterprise computing times

"Big Blue released data on Wednesday showing that it saves anywhere from $265 to $535 over a four-year period for each employee who uses a Mac over a PC.

To understand how we are at a place where IBM even has such data, you have to know that IBM no longer makes Windows PCs. It is also Apple’s primary partner in selling devices into large business.

IBM is actually Apple’s largest corporate customer, with 90,000 Macs deployed and an expectation that it will top 100,000 by the end of the year."

Macs are cheaper for businesses, and even IBM says so - Recode

Tesla Sets Price for Self-Driving Feature, Lays Groundwork for Ride-Hailing Service - WSJ

Also see Tesla won't let its cars autonomously drive for Uber or Lyft (Engadget)

"Tesla Motors Inc. said it plans to charge buyers of its newest cars $8,000 to activate autonomous-driving technology, hinting those who do would be able to offset the cost through a ride-hailing network similar to Uber Technologies Inc. and Lyft Inc.

The $8,000 price covers the software to enable a new hardware option, called Full Self-Driving Capability, which will cost $10,000 if purchased separately from the vehicle.

The autonomous-driving software still needs to be validated, and regulators must approve it, the company said."

Tesla Sets Price for Self-Driving Feature, Lays Groundwork for Ride-Hailing Service - WSJ

Microsoft Shares Hit a High With Promise of the Cloud’s Profit Margins - The New York Times

Post-PC Microsoft momentum; also see Microsoft's cloud sales buffer Windows pain (USA Today)

"Microsoft has staked its future on cloud computing, the next big technology wave for companies, and is now telling investors more about how much money it’s making from the business.

It appears they like what they hear so far: Microsoft’s share price hit a high on Thursday — up 6 percent to more than $60 a share in after-hours trading — after the company released the financial results of its most recent quarter.

The last time Microsoft’s stock was this valuable was back in 1999, when Bill Clinton was still president, Mark Zuckerberg was in high school and the company was heading toward an antitrust showdown with the Department of Justice."

Microsoft Shares Hit a High With Promise of the Cloud’s Profit Margins - The New York Times

Nintendo Switch Console Is Met With Skepticism From Investors - The New York Times

Tbd if gamers will Switch; also see 6 Major Concerns About The Nintendo Switch (Forbes) and Nintendo’s Dream of Gaming On-the-Go Gets a Reality Check (Bloomberg)

"Nintendo unveiled its latest piece of video game hardware on Thursday: the Nintendo Switch, a shape-changing console that doubles as a traditional home-based machine and a smaller portable device. Gamers will have until March, the official launch date, to decide whether it’s a must-have. (Nintendo hasn’t set a price yet.) Investors got to weigh in faster, though, and the initial review was not encouraging. Nintendo’s share price plummeted 7 percent on Friday after trading opened in Tokyo."

Nintendo Switch Console Is Met With Skepticism From Investors - The New York Times