Weekly#316

Apple’s plan for its new TV service: Sell other people’s TV services

Robotics process automation startup UiPath raising $400M at more than $7B valuation

Paris to tax scooter and bike services

Amazon to Launch Mobile Ads, in a Threat to Google and Facebook

Chinese electric buses making biggest dent in worldwide oil demand…The report estimates that “for every 1,000 electric buses on the road, 500 barrels of diesel are displaced each day.”

Robots enable bees and fish to talk to each other

Global Box Office Flat in 2018, Netflix and Subscription Services Rise in Popularity

Ford will invest $850 million to add more production capacity for EVs

Korea to shift all commercial vehicles to fuel cell energy by 2035

Solve it can you? Speak Yoda how to

How Frito-Lay Applies Machine Learning

Teach Yourself Computer Science (a DIY curriculum)

Weekly#315

  • Lambda School. Link2
  • Rakuten TV expands to 42 European countries, gets direct button on Samsung, LG, Philips and Hisense remotes
  • MIT’s deflated balloon robot hand can pick up objects 100x its own weight
  • Uber reportedly raising $1B in deal that values self-driving car unit at up to $10B
  • Ford is expanding its self-driving vehicle program to Austin
  • A Chinese subway is experimenting with facial recognition to pay for fares
  • The just-published Global Environment Outlook 6 was produced by 250 scientists and experts from more than 70 countries. “…The 700+ page report offers warnings on climate change, biodiversity, and freshwater pollutants, which “will see anti-microbial resistance become a major cause of death by 2050 and endocrine disruptors impact male and female fertility, as well as child neurodevelopment…” [REPORT]
  • Volkswagen boosts electric vehicle production by 50% with 22 million BEVs by 2029
  • U.S. esports advertising revenue to top $200 million by 2020
  • RTL to invest in streaming services
  • Google is reportedly shutting down its in-house VR film studio
  • The web in 30 years? It’ll be beyond our imagination, says Tim Berners-Lee
  • Nine companies are steering the future of artificial intelligence
  • Introducing Scratch 3.0: Expanding the creative possibilities of coding

Weekly#314

  • OECD Report : New technologies and 21st century children: Recent trends and outcomes
  • New Google Chrome Zero-Day Vulnerability Found Actively Exploited in the Wild
  • YC’s latest moonshot bet is a startup building a $380K ‘flying motorcycle
  • Airbnb is acquiring a hotel company. So is Airbnb now a hotel company?
  • A Privacy-Focused Vision for Social Networking. Mark Zuckerberg Wants Facebook to Emulate China’s WeChat. Can It?
  • “The rise in unprofitable IPOs reflects the general preference in both public and private markets for growth over profitability,” Paul Condra, lead analyst of emerging technologies at startup research firm PitchBook, told Recode.”
  • SpaceX CEO Musk’s security clearance under review
  • The PS4’s Remote Play update now lets you stream to iOS devices
  • From video game to day job: How ‘SimCity’ inspired a generation of city planners
  • Why ‘ji32k7au4a83’ Is a Remarkably Common Password

Weekly#313

  • Scientists use CRISPR to make stem cells invisible to immune system
  • Cedars-Sinai puts Amazon Alexa in patient rooms as part of a pilot program
  • Walmart acquires Israel’s Aspectiva, which analyses UGC to recommend products to shoppers
  • Chart: How the definition of “journalist” is changing
  • Altimeter’s Top Digital Trends for 2019
  • How Disney Built Star Wars, in real life
  • Zūm, a ridesharing service for kids, raises $40 million
  • ClassDojo, an app to help teachers and parents communicate better, raises $35M
  • Tesla closing retail stores in shift to online-only sales strategy
  • Google Translate is a manifestation of Wittgenstein’s theory of language
  • An Ingenious Injection Can Create Infrared Vision
  • SpaceX and NASA to Test Launch Crew Dragon, a New Ride to Orbit

Weekly#312

  • Apple’s Executive Shake-Up Readies Company for Life After iPhone…reordering priorities across its services, artificial intelligence, hardware and retail divisions as it works to reduce the company’s reliance on iPhone sales.
  • Key Investors Are Unhappy With SoftBank Tech-Investment Fund
  • Apple just hired ex-Microsoft exec Sam Jadallah to revamp its smart home business, and catch up to Google and Amazon
  • Pinstagram? Instagram code reveals Public Collections feature
  • Digital advertising in the US is finally bigger than print and television
  • Opera Touch brings website cookie blocking to iOS
  • The Future Is Here, Almost: Virtual Travel Becomes More of a Reality
  • With $100 million and a lot of volunteer labor, SpaceIL’s Beresheet spacecraft could be the first privately built vessel to reach the lunar surface.
  • By 2040, Spaniards can expect to live to an average age of 85.8 years.
  • Upskilling – The upcoming trend
  • 11 EU states already meet their 2020 renewable energy targets
  • SensorKnits: Architecting textile sensors with machine knitting

Weekly#311

     From Ben Evans
  • Amazon Launches Private Label Cosmetics in Europe
  • Amazon is buying mesh router company Eero
  • Life on the small screen [PDF]
  • Amazon’s marketing spend soars to $8.2bn to rival P&G and Unilever
  • Pinterest 100: The top trends for 2019
  • Netflix Has Saved Every Choice You’ve Ever Made in ‘Black Mirror: Bandersnatch
  • This website automatically generates new human faces. None of them are real. They are generated through AI. Refresh the site for a new face https://thispersondoesnotexist.com/
  • New AI fake text generator may be too dangerous to release, say creators
  • NASA Calls It Quits for Opportunity Mars Rover After 15-Year Mission
  • Samsung bets big on network gear
  • Visa, Mastercard mull increasing fees for processing transactions
  • Berkshire trims Apple stake, adds Suncor and Red Hat, exits Oracle
  • Aluminum may be key to making exosolar systems with water worlds

Weekly#310

    • Amazon, Sequoia invest in self-driving car startup Aurora
    • Netflix launches ‘smart downloads’ feature on iOS to automate offline viewing
    • The Raspberry Pi store is much cooler than an Apple Store
    • Apple tells app developers to disclose or remove screen recording code
    • Facebook Acquires Visual Shopping Startup to Bolster AI Work
    • Artificial Intelligence Study of Human Genome Finds Unknown Human Ancestor
    • Apple’s internal hardware team is working on modems now, likely to replace Intel
    • Affectiva’s AI hears your anger in 1.2 seconds
    • Amazon reportedly reconsiders New York expansion

Weekly#309

  • Tesla Model Y is coming in 2020
  • Apple is getting closer and closer to spelling out its TV strategy
  •  The forthcoming WarnerMedia streaming service will be partially supported by ads
  • Roughly half of Instagram’s users 1 billion users now use Instagram Stories every day. That 500 million daily user count is up from 400 million in June 2018
  • Facebook’s banned research app
  • Columbia Engineers Translate Brain Signals Directly into Speech
  • Apple blocks Google from running its internal iOS apps
  • Robot learns to play Jenga
  • Apple Exerts Power as Privacy Protector
  • Amazon Web Services brought in more money than McDonald’s in 2018
  • How do you turn around the culture of a 130,000-person company? Ask Satya Nadella
  • 10 leading companies are trying to make powerful, low-cost lidar

Weekly#308

  • The ‘future book’ is here, but it’s not what we expected
  • Facebook launches petition feature
  • 2019 Predictions for Big Tech and Beyond (Scott Galloway)
  • PEW Study: Facebook Algorithms and Personal Data
  • App economy expected to be $120 billion in 2019 as small screen leads digital transformation efforts
  • a16z Notes on Security in 2019
  • Why Forgetfulness Might Actually Help You (WSJ) ...Forgetting can help us block out useless or outdated information and keep us from fixating on a single set of ideas or thoughts. And contrary to the notion that forgetfulness reflects a withering of brain cells, scientists say it can actually be driven by the growth of new neurons in the hippocampus, a brain region linked to memory…
  • Apple cuts 200 staff from its Project Titan autonomous car division
  • Samsung is getting into robotics
  • Why There Are No Nuclear Airplanes
  • World Economic Forum: The Global Risks Report 2019 Video PDFThe
  • Mac App Store welcomes Office 365
  • Jaguar tests self-driving cars that project their next move

Weekly#307

  • Tesla unveils first home charging station that can be plugged into a wall outlet
  • IBM and Vodafone form $550M venture to develop cloud, 5G and AI business solutions
  • Coursera moves into healthcare education with 100 courses and 2 masters degrees
  • AWS launches Backup, a fully-managed backup service for AWS
  • New pre-seed fund powered by First Round Capital will target recent graduates
  • The history of Netflix price increases in a single chart
  • CES 2019: A Show Report
  • Birds Can See Earth’s Magnetic Fields, And Now We Know How That’s Possible
  • China grows first ever plant on Moon
  • Gradually, Then Suddenly
  • Facebook’s 10 Year Challenge
  • Hydrogen Cells Best Batteries in Hour-Long Drone Test Flight
  • Google’s new US data centers will run on 1.6 million solar panels
  • Industrial Exoskeletons Give Workers a Lift
  • Payments company Square launches debit card for small businesses
  • CES 2019