Tech News
Tech News and Analysis from around the web
Joanna Stern / Wall Street Journal:
A look at Sign in with Apple, which is available for users with iOS 13 for a small number of apps including Nike, Instacart, Bird, and Kayak — Apple wants its new password killer to cut your dependency on Facebook and Google—if you can find it in the apps you use most
Dina Temple-Raston / NPR:
Profile of Adrian Lamo, a famous hacker in the early 2000s who died mysteriously in 2018 and was decried by the hacking community for turning in Chelsea Manning — Toggle more options — Debbie Scroggin and her husband live at the end of a series of gravel roads in a lonesome part of Kansas.
Henry Chu / Variety:
Netflix CEO warns of a “whole new world” when streaming services from Disney and Apple drop in November, reiterates that Netflix isn't in “acquisition business” — After dominating the subscription streaming scene for so long, Netflix is girding for a new phase …
Financial Times:
Amid rising competition and a dramatic fall in US subscribers during Q2, doubts arise over the sustainability of Netflix's debt-driven business model — On a sunny midsummer weekend in Los Angeles, Netflix turned the Santa Monica Pier — one of the city's busiest tourist destinations …
Julia Lee / Polygon:
Minecraft's latest beta update introduces a character creator that allows players to change body types and wear accessories — You can be a mermaid — Minecraft's latest update has added a character creator to the game. After years of only using skins over the same model …
Mike Butcher / TechCrunch:
Lookiero, a Paris-based personal clothing and accessory shopping service, raises $19M, bringing its total raised to $23M — Lookiero, the online personal shopping service for clothes and accessories, has closed a $19 million funding round led by London-based VC MMC Ventures with support …
Jason Schott / Fox Business:
Roku study: 2M people in the US moved from traditional pay TV to streaming in 2019; up to 60M US households will exclusively use streaming in the next 5 years — Television viewing has gradually expanded into streaming, and a new study from Roku makes a dramatic prediction about how people will consume video in the years to come.
Janko Roettgers / Variety:
YouTube reverses course, says channels with verification badges will keep them without appeal and channels that reach 100k subs can still apply for verification — A day after announcing significant changes to its verification program, YouTube announced Friday afternoon that it won't be de-verifying existing creators after all.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Apple's implementation of STIR/SHAKEN protocol in iOS 13 doesn't display “Caller Verified” notice on call screen, making it useless for identifying robocalls — STIR/SHAKEN comes to iPhones, but not in a useful way — Robocalls are a scourge, but cellular networks …
Nat Levy / GeekWire:
IBM sues Zillow for infringing on its patents, including one about list-based searches that let users see the results on a map that fits within their screen — IBM filed a lawsuit against Zillow this week, accusing the real estate giant of piggybacking off its patented technology …
Kyle Alspach / CRN:
HP acquires endpoint security startup Bromium from which it has been licensing anti-malware technology since 2017; Bromium has raised $115.8M, per Crunchbase — The PC and printer maker has been licensing Bromium's anti-malware technology since 2017. — HP Inc. says it will bolster …
Kyle Bradshaw / 9to5Google:
Samsung releases a new care guide instructing Galaxy Fold users to “just use a light touch” and keep the phone free of water and dust — While the Samsung Galaxy Fold is not the first foldable phone on the market, it's without a doubt the biggest, and it will be the device that sets the example for other companies.
Julia Alexander / The Verge:
YouTube CEO apologizes to creators and users over the company's decision to revoke verification statuses and says it is working to address creator concerns — Updates are expected to come — YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki has just apologized to the creator community over the company's decision …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Source: Fitbit has hired investment bank Qatalyst Partners to explore a sale; stock closes up 11.72% — KEY POINTS — Fitbit hires boutique investment firm Qatalyst Partners to explore a sale, according to a person familiar with the matter. — A Fitbit display is seen at a Target store in Los Angeles.
C. Scott Brown / Android Authority:
Huawei says it is planning to let users unlock the Mate 30 bootloader, which will make it easier for them to sideload Google Play and other apps onto the device — During the launch of the Huawei Mate 30 series of smartphones in Munich, CEO Richard Yu sat down to answer questions from various journalists, including Android Authority.
This is what the Scripting News home page looks like this morning.
Yes, I screwed up, I can see what the problem is, hopefully will have a fix shortly. Still diggin. 🍌
BTW, it's not as bad as it appears, despite what the screen says.
10:22AM Eastern -- fixed.
- Somehow a right curly brace got turned into a 7.
- Cosmic rays.
Most of my orders with Amazon are uneventful. The product arrives when it was supposed to and it works and that's that. But sometimes something goes wrong.
On July 26, I ordered an outdoor thermometer. Not expensive, $10. But it was broken when I opened the package, and I cut my finger, it bled.
I went to the Order page and reported that it arrived broken. I just wanted to throw it out, not wanting to handle the broken glass, possibly injuring myself again, or someone who had to handle it at UPS or at Amazon. That was the right thing to do. The Amazon rep said OK, they would credit me for the thermometer. Honestly I was surprised it was that easy. I ordered another one (which arrived unbroken and I'm using it).
Well, about a week ago, I got an email saying I needed to send the thermometer back or I'd be charged for it. There was no way to respond. I got another notice a few days later saying they had charged me for it.
Okay $10 isn't going to make a difference to me, but it would make even less of a difference to Amazon. And they agreed to the arrangement, and it was the right thing to do.
So I thought I'd write it up here on my blog. Maybe someone in an executive role at Amazon will see it, and will change their system so it's easier for customers to talk to them, and make sure when they agree to something, they stick to it.
Yesterday I got an email from Richard Stallman's PR person, Sylvia Paull, who I've known for many years. She was updating me on how he had lost his position at MIT and at the FSF in recent days. Of course I had been following the story.
I offered advice, in an email, which I am including below.
- I feel for Stallman. On the other hand he had a long run and was celebrated in so many ways, given an office at MIT, had a foundation. Some of us would have loved that kind of support. ;-)
- As his PR person I think you can help by first learning from others' mistakes in these situations. There have now been lots of them. A mistake a lot of people make is trying to fight back or argue with the judgement. I don't think that works. If he has the money, taking some time off, writing software perhaps, fixing bugs in other people's stuff. Not being such a big guy for a while. Live a human-size life. Imagine what he could come up with if he wasn't always out traveling and evangelizing? I've done it. I even write software just for myself these days, no intention to publish ever.
- Best advice is to slow down, set your expectations on a longer horizon, and do some self-improvement.