Bryan Chaffin and Dave Hamilton join host Kelly Guimont to discuss San Francisco’s current debate over facial recognition software.
Leaked Facebook Documents Show how Mark Zuckerberg Plays Dirty
Leaked Facebook documents that include emails, chats, presentations, spreadsheets, and meeting summaries show how Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook’s board and management team played dirty.
Zuckerberg, along with his board and management team, found ways to tap Facebook’s trove of user data — including information about friends, relationships and photos — as leverage over companies it partnered with.
In some cases, Facebook would reward favored companies by giving them access to the data of its users. In other cases, it would deny user-data access to rival companies or apps.
Basically, everything Facebook has said in public, they are doing the exact opposite in private.
Apple Donates to Notre Dame Rebuilding Efforts
Tim Cook tweeted that Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts of Notre Dame after its horrific fire.
We are heartbroken for the French people and those around the world for whom Notre Dame is a symbol of hope. Relieved that everyone is safe. Apple will be donating to the rebuilding efforts to help restore Notre Dame’s precious heritage for future generations.
It’s great to see Apple donate, and I hope other companies do the same.
Leander Kahney’s Tim Cook Biography Out Today
Leander Kahney’s (Cult of Mac editor) Tim Cook biography is out today. Subtitled “The Genius Who Took Apple to the Next Level” it tells the story of Mr. Cook’s role as Apple CEO and how he has handled the company after the death of Steve Jobs. It also looks at Mr. Cook’s life before Apple, like when he worked at IBM for 12 years. After that he briefly worked at Compaq, and helped transition the company from in-house manufacturing to creating products overseas with China and Taiwan. He used that expertise when he joined Apple in 1998, where he became a leader at operations and supply chains. I haven’t read the book yet but I look forward to sitting down with it. Mr. Kahney says he didn’t dive into Mr. Cook’s personal life, so it sounds like the book is more about his role at Apple. Apple Books: US$13.99
AT&T Sells its Stake In Hulu to Disney (and Comcast) for $1.43B
The Verge writes:
[It’s a] move that will now give Disney (which already had gained a controlling interest in Hulu through its Fox purchase) even more control going forward….
Disney gaining even more control over Hulu could also mean a radical shift in what Hulu even is.
Now, Disney owns 66 percent of Hulu. The remaining stakeholder is Comcast which, as a result, now owns 33 percent. Comcast owns NBCUniversal, and it might only be a matter of time before Comcast pulls its Hulu content back to its own streaming service. Soon, it appears, each and every studio will have its very own exclusive subscription service.
2Do Task Manager for Mac: $19.99
We have a deal on 2Do, a task manager for the Mac. 2Do features color coded lists, the ability to add URLs, addresses, or Google searches to your tasks, and the ability to sync over Dropbox, Reminders (CalDAV), or Toodledo. 2DO is $19.99 through our deal.
TMO Background Mode Interview with Technical Journalist Lance Ulanoff
Lance is a technology journalist, on-air expert, consultant, and influencer. He’s been a senior editor at Online Windows Magazine, editor-in-chief of PC Magazine, and Chief Correspondent and Editor-in-chief at Mashable.
Currently, Lance is a Freelance Journalist and contributor to Medium. He’s appeared on Live with Kelly and Ryan, The Today Show and Good Morning America.
We chatted about his early interest in journalism, but it didn’t have a technical focus when he got his B.A. Lance describes how he got interested in tech journalism and his path towards becoming the editor-in-chief of PC Magazine for 11 years (2000-2011). Then we turned our attention to the Mac, Apple News+, AirPods, AirPower, and Apple TV+. Lance made a strong argument for how Apple should approach Apple TV+ content.
Apple News is Better for Big Publishers Than Small
Digiday reached out to five publishers participating in Apple News+, and so far it sounds like there is a lot of confusion. Plus there’s the reality that the service seems to favor big publishers over smaller ones.
All participating publishers were given an email address where they were encouraged to send pitches, and sources said that by and large, Apple’s representatives were responsive to their outreach.
But a smaller, select group of publishers were invited to join a private Slack channel where they could connect with Apple more directly, a move that exasperated several sources when they were informed of the channel’s existence.
So far that’s the way Apple News has been, and this isn’t a News+ specific problem. Hopefully the service will improve over time.
Meet the AI-Created Sport Called Speedgate
Design agency AKQA gave data on 400 existing sports to a neural network, and one of the games it created is called Speedgate.
While the sport was created as an exercise for Design Week, it might just become a serious sport. AKQA is talking to the Oregon Sports Authority about Speedgate, and there might be an intramural league in the summer. The company is encouraging others to start their own leagues.
This sounds (and looks) like a cool game and I’d be interested to try it out. Additionally an informative guide to Speedgate can be found here.
iPhones Aren’t Safe From Google’s Sensorvault Database
Google has a database called Sensorvault. It contains location data of users and shares it with law enforcement—if they have a warrant, of course. Apple honors lawful requests as well. But Jennifer Valentino-DeVries wonders whether the database is too broad.
Google would not provide details on Sensorvault, but Aaron Edens, an intelligence analyst with the sheriff’s office in San Mateo County, Calif., who has examined data from hundreds of phones, said most Android devices and some iPhones he had seen had this data available from Google…
“It shows the whole pattern of life,” said Mark Bruley, the deputy police chief in Brooklyn Park, Minn., where investigators have been using the technique since this fall. “That’s the game changer for law enforcement.”
