peter thiel
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Peter Thiel is leaving Meta's board of directors
Peter Thiel is leaving the board of Meta, more than 16 years after becoming one of Facebook's earliest investors.
Contact tracing apps are coming whether we like it or not
Can you imagine trying to get 80 percent of Americans, from the privacy and security aware to coronavirus “truthers,” to download a tracking app? It could also save a lot of money; our economy is bleeding out before our eyes.
NBC News: Zuckerberg had an undisclosed dinner with the president
Last month Mark Zuckerberg publicly made a trip to Capitol Hill as he testified in front of lawmakers about Facebook's Libra cyptocurrency plans. Tonight NBC News has revealed that Zuckerberg also made another stop that was not previously disclosed -- a dinner at the White House with Facebook board member Peter Thiel and Donald Trump. In a statement to NBC News, a Facebook spokesperson said "As is normal for a CEO of a major U.S. company, Mark accepted an invitation to have dinner with the President and First Lady at the White House," although there's no indication about why the meeting was, until now, a secret. Zuckerberg publicly met with Trump in the Oval Office earlier that month, and in the last day he toured the facility where Apple builds Mac Pros in Texas. The second meeting also occurred at the same time Zuckerberg repeatedly spoke out in favor of maintaining Facebook's policy to not fact check political advertising, a stance opposing candidates like Elizabeth Warren have claimed helps Trump.
White House: Google’s work in China is not a security risk
Earlier this month, Facebook board member and billionaire investor Peter Thiel accused Google of working with China's government. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he and President Trump have no national security concerns about Alphabet Inc.'s work in China.
Facebook's diversity push hampered by its own hiring practices
2016 was supposed to be the year that Facebook took the lead in positive hiring practices and show the rest of the industry what a truly diverse workforce looked like. To that end the company instituted a points-based incentive program the year prior, geared towards bringing on more hispanic, black and female workers. So far, it hasn't worked out too well (no, Peter Thiel doesn't count). And now it appears we finally know why.
Trump team wants to meet with Silicon Valley execs next week
The Trump transition team has invited a number of tech industry leaders to New York next week for a roundtable discussion. USA Today reports that Reince Priebus, Trump's chief of staff, Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, and advisor Peter Thiel are engineering the December 14th summit.
After Math: Politics as usual
It's been a crazy week for US politics, what with the end of the contentious 2016 election just around the corner. The New York Times announced that it would lower its paywall for the 72 hours surrounding election day while human dumpster fire Peter Thiel tried to explain away his support for Donald Trump. Security experts are also investigating why one of Trump's servers keeps pinging a Russian bank as the FBI investigates one of its own Twitter accounts for violations of the Hatch Act. And no, you still can't vote by phone, dummy. Numbers, because how else are you going to rig an election?
The Engadget Podcast Ep 13: A Chicken with its Head Cut Off
Editor in chief Michael Gorman and executive editor Christopher Trout are in town this week and stop by to talk Peter Thiel, Vine and online voting with host Terrence O'Brien and reviews editor Cherlynn Low. Then, after they've had their fill of beating up on Thiel, the four will explore how dating and sex have changed in the age of apps. Warning, things get a little NSFW.
Is tech billionaire Peter Thiel prepping for a life in politics?
"I occasionally get involved but don't want to make it a full time thing." That was how Peter Thiel answered a question about his future in politics today. But, after he spent roughly 15 minutes delivering what amounted to a polite version of Donald Trump's stump speech to the National Press Club, it's a little hard to take him at his word.
The Engadget Podcast, Ep 3: Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)
Editors Nathan Ingraham and Devindra Hardawar join host Terrence O'Brien to talk about Android Nougat, PlayStation 4 rumors and why Amazon would create an Echo-exclusive music service. Then the panel addresses the endless harassment faced by Leslie Jones, and use the word "garbage"... a lot.
