Stream of Reading (Prepare to be Forwarded) – An Archive of What I'm Reading
Mashable’s sign in their New York office. Business Insider Mashable was in deep trouble financially before it sold for far below its one-time valuation of $250 million, according to documents reviewed by Business Insider. The company was heavily reliant on digital-media advertising revenue, the documents show. It also lost $4.2 million in the three months through September….
This summer, Elon Musk spoke to the National Governors Association and told them that “AI is a fundamental risk to the existence of human civilization.” Doomsayers have been issuing similar warnings for some time, but never before have they commanded so much visibility. Musk isn’t necessarily worried about the rise of a malicious computer like…
In September, I met with a prominent entrepreneur looking for positive press on his new project. Meetings like these are a common, usually formulaic, part of my job—except in this one, the conversation drifted to the tech industry’s year of bad headlines. As we discussed the latest sexual harassment scandal, he posed a question: Will…
Bitcoin, an imaginary kind of computer money made up by a mystery man, is a valuable financial asset. It is being traded daily by educated professionals, based upon rational financial calculations, so you may rest easy knowing that its value is safe, just, please, DON’T READ THE NEWS, EVER. Everything is different now: One of…
If 2016 was the year of “Uber for X,” 2017 was the year of Silicon Valley “inventing” things. The tech industry officially ran out of ideas this year. Rather than tacking on some tech element to things that already exist, it edged closer to just renaming the things that already exist. To be fair to…
(The Information) Prepare yourself for a list of allegations against Uber’s security and competitive intelligence team that resemble the work of an authoritarian government. A letter disclosed in Waymo’s civil trade-secrets-theft case against Uber, written by an ex-Uber security employee, alleges things like: *Unlawfully recording an employee conference call that was supposed to be part…
“I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t learn something from him.” – Galileo “Hold my soylent” – Sam Altman You know the old saying: Writing about Y Combinator is like wrestling with a pig, you both get dirty and the pig threatens to fabricate a smear campaign against you…
Criteo shares plummeted Thursday after the company said a recent move by Apple Inc. to strengthen its ad tracker prevention is going to negatively affect Criteo’s revenue more than anticipated. Shares were down 26% shortly before 2 p.m. in New York. Criteo had been utilizing a workaround to Apple’s feature called Intelligent Tracking Prevention, which rolled…
The Federal Communications Commission voted to repeal Obama-era regulations protecting net neutrality — rules that prohibit internet service providers from slowing websites or charging premiums for “fast lanes” for specific services or higher-quality streaming. On Thursday, the commission, whose deliberations were briefly delayed by a security concern, passed the widely expected decision on a 3–2…
San Francisco residents continue to rage against the machines. While the city’s board of supervisors moves toward finalizing limits on robots that roam the sidewalks to deliver food and goods, it must also find a way to handle security robots that patrol public sidewalks. Ad Tag – c1 (xs/xm/md) The S.F. SPCA in the Mission…