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Google’s China search engine drama
The first time many of us heard about China's use of facial recognition on jaywalkers was just this week when a prominent Chinese businesswoman was publicly "named and shamed" for improper street crossing. Turns out, she wasn't even there: China's terrifyingly over-the-top use of tech for citizen surveillance made a mistake. The AI system identified Dong Mingzhu's face from a bus advertisement for her company's products.
Dear tech: Stop doing business with Nazis
Kicking Nazis off tech companies' services is so easy, and such a simple thing to do. It is such a basic act of human decency, a trivial task that would stop PayPal, Stripe, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, GoDaddy and many more from being unquestionably complicit in the deadly rise of American Naziism. Stakes climb as we approach next week's elections. And yet.
With Khashoggi, tech confronts its blood money
In 2015 we laughed at Hacking Team for getting hacked. Their profit-driven facilitation of human rights abuses around the world was somehow barely competent, but notorious. They sold illegal hackware and surveillance tech to brutal regimes and trained them in attacking citizens and journalists. We knew they were evil clowns. We just didn't expect what happened next.
Uber, Google, Facebook: Your experiments have gone too far
It was 2014, around the time when Travis Kalanick referred to Uber as his chick-magnet "Boober" in a GQ article, that I'd realized congestion in San Francisco had gone insane. Before there was Uber, getting across town took about ten minutes by car and there was nowhere to park, ever. With Boober in play, there was parking in places there never were spaces, but the streets were so jammed with empty, one-person "gig economy" cars circling, sitting in bus zones, mowing down bicyclists whilst fussing with their phones, still endlessly going nowhere, alone, that walking across the city was faster.
Silicon Valley’s Brett Kavanaugh problem
As we steel ourselves to careen numbly toward whatever new horrors lay in store with Trump, his Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh, and the conservative politicians willing to help them, it's impossible not to contemplate how deep and depraved the culture of silence actually goes here. USA Today wrote: "When Kavanaugh gave a speech in 2015 at Catholic University's Columbus School of Law and stated, 'What happens at Georgetown Prep stays at Georgetown Prep. That's been a good thing for all of us, I think,' he summed up the culture perfectly (...) It was their job to protect each other from their misdeeds no matter how big or alcohol-fueled. The boys kept each other's secrets."
HBO renews 'Silicon Valley' for a sixth season
HBO announced this week that it's renewing Silicon Valley for a sixth season. Season five, which premiered last month, is the first without TJ Miller, who tweeted his support of the Erlich Bachman-free season earlier this year, saying, "See - told you the show would be better without me on it." Miller was recently arrested and charged with calling in a fake bomb threat.
Mark Zuckerberg won't lose his job any time soon
We've seen it countless times. A technology company enters the market with a bang, throwing established industries into chaos and forever changing the lives of everyday people -- and then a scandal breaks and the founder or CEO is publicly ousted. Uber co-founder Travis Kalanick was kicked out as reports of the company's sexist culture flooded the news; Equifax CEO and chairman Richard Smith suddenly decided to retire amid a data breach affecting more than 140 million people; Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes was charged with fraud by the SEC, forced to give up control of her business and barred from serving as the leader of a public company for 10 years. Even Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer couldn't keep a job during the Verizon acquisition, following a series of security scandals, including a hush-hush hacking campaign that hit billions of accounts. So it would seem the writing is on the wall for Mark Zuckerberg, the founder, CEO and chairman of Facebook. His company is at the heart of a massive political and data-security scandal, accused of turning a blind eye as British political-consulting firm Cambridge Analytica collected information from 50 million Facebook users without their consent. That information was then piped into Donald Trump's successful campaign for president.
Live the startup 'dream' in the ‘Silicon Valley’ VR Hacker Hostel
If you've enjoyed HBO's Silicon Valley over the last four seasons, chances are you're keyed in to the same tech and startup scenes that the show satires. Which means you might have an HTC Vive, which is the platform of choice for the upcoming VR experience based on the show. If you want to roam around the suburban "startup incubator" where the Pied Piper team makes the magic happen, Silicon Valley VR: Inside The Hacker Hostel is coming soon to HTC's headset.
Peter Thiel might be getting out of Silicon Valley
The Wall Street Journal reports today that Peter Thiel -- billionaire, investor and Gawker-killer -- might be cutting many of his ties with Silicon Valley. The paper spoke to sources it says are familiar with Thiel and his plans and they said that the shift is largely due to the Bay Area's left-leaning politics and what Thiel sees as its intolerance for conservative views. Supposedly, he's considering leaving Facebook's board and plans to move to Los Angeles. Thiel Capital and Thiel Foundation, companies that manage his investments, may also be relocated to LA.
HBO's 'Silicon Valley' returns for its fifth season on March 25
Silicon Valley is about to return for a fifth season, and as the new trailer shows, things in Pied Piper's world of startup tech are not running smoothly. There's no Erlich Bachman, for a start (although T.J Miller, who played Bachman, has tweeted his praise for the Erlich-free season), hapless CEO Richard Hendricks is struggling to get the new internet off the ground and Jian-Yang has embraced a new badass attitude. Also there's a dead pig for some reason. Startups, eh? Catch the new season on March 25 on HBO.
Recommended Reading: Must-see TV in 2018
36 TV Shows to Watch in 2018 Sophie Gilbert, The Atlantic 2018's television slate is already off to a solid start, but there's a lot more good stuff to come before the year is out. The Atlantic breaks down three dozen shows to watch this year, including streaming selections from the likes of Netflix, Amazon and many more.
Smart lock maker Otto folds before releasing its first product
On a landscape increasingly driven by smart devices, a digital smart lock seemed like an obvious addition to the raft of home automation products already on the market. But Otto, the company that came closer than any other to making the product a sellable reality, has now closed its doors -- just four months after showing off its device to the world.
Uber, but for toxic techbro culture
Some companies are just born with an infinite number of chances to keep doing everything wrong and yet somehow seem immune to the consequences. Uber is one of those companies. Uber's latest scandal -- a fat hack and its dirty coverup -- is just one in a long line of Uber-riffic examples on just how far a certain kind of privilege gets you.
Recommended Reading: Why Cassini had to be destroyed
Analysis: Why Nasa's Cassini Probe Had to Be Destroyed Fedor Kossakovski, PBS By now, you've likely read a bit about NASA's Cassini probe plunging into Saturn to end its tour of duty this week. You've also probably wondering why that had to happen. PBS breaks it down.
How Bodega typifies Silicon Valley’s cultural ignorance
On Wednesday a story about two ex-Google employees receiving an obscene amount of money for a bad idea hit social media and was met with a level of outrage you could feel through the screen. If you're online in any way whatsoever, you likely know I'm talking about Bodega. The excellent article, Two Ex-Googlers Want To Make Bodegas And Mom-And-Pop Corner Stores Obsolete, hit several raw nerves with a wide range of people. This fury is so crystallized because "Bodega" -- an overfunded, probably doomed, glorified vending machine startup positioned as a bodega killer -- stands for everything Silicon Valley represents to us. Whereas in reality, the very concept of a bodega stands for the absolute opposite of Silicon Valley.
Recommended Reading: Japan's eSports struggle
The Crazy Laws Keeping Japanese Out of Video Game Competitions Yuji Nakamura and Takako Taniguchi, Bloomberg Japan is a popular locale for video games, but laws are keeping eager players from participating in the eSports revolution. Bloomberg has the details on how regulations aimed at gambling and organized crime make paid gaming competitions impossible.
Snapchat will feature original scripted shows by end of year
Snapchat has jumped into television in a big way, with NBC's twice-daily news show, CNN's newscast, a CBS-led James Corden variety show and even MTV's Cribs crowding in to connect with Snapchat users. Now the photo messaging app is set to move into to scripted content by the end of this year, according to a report at Variety.
Tesla's diversity panel uncovers more tales of Silicon Valley sexism (updated)
When former Tesla employee AJ Vandermeyden sued the company for ignoring complaints of discrimination and "pervasive harassment," the self-driving vehicle maker downplayed her claims. Tesla told The Guardian at the time that it believes in "fostering an inclusive workplace" and that there is "more we can do to promote diversity." The company also said that there would always be a "small number" of people who make these kinds of claims. It turns out, however, that more women have had similar experiences at Tesla, according to a new report in The Guardian.
Recommended Reading: Netflix has another winner with 'GLOW'
Feeling the 'GLOW' Mairead Small Staid, The Ringer Despite recent news of Netflix cancelling a few of its high-profile originals, the streaming service hasn't missed a beat. One of its most recent, GLOW, debuted last week and critics seem to agree that it's worth your time. Heck, we even recommended it in our monthly roundup. The Ringer offers a look at the series and the actual women's wresting promotion from which the show gets its name.
‘Silicon Valley’s’ ridiculous Not Hotdog app hits Android
Get excited, Android users, the Not Hotdog app is now available to you. The app, based on a bit from HBO's Silicon Valley, was launched for iOS in May and from our findings, does a pretty good job at determining what is and isn't a hotdog. And honestly, it's not even close to the most useless thing we've seen today.
