No ads in WhatsApp… for now. We have all the details on the Peacock streaming service. The other streaming wars are taking their toll on Twitch. Jack Dorsey asked Elon Musk how to fix Twitter. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Metalab.co Links: ...

Apple has acquired a pretty interesting AI startup, the Chromium-based Edge browser is here, but there is trouble in Mozilla land, Fitbit is first to market with blood oxygen monitoring, the state of the app economy and ‘instant’ weather forecasts from Google. Sponsor: Metal...

More juicy details about the Galaxy S20 lineup, Google Smart Lock lets you do 2FA on your iPhone, proof that no-code development is the new hotness, why do the Feds even need Apple to unlock those iPhones, and Jack Dorsey says we are never, ever, ever going to get… a Edit Tw...

Apple once again refuses to unlock an iPhone for the Feds, Visa buys Plaid, a macOS beta hints at future ‘Pro Mode’, super crucial Windows update you should download right away and why today is also the end of the Windows 7 Era. Sponsors: Metalab.co LegalZoom.com (promo co...

Are you ready to get hyped for the Galaxy S20 cause yes, that’s the name. We’re skipping some numbers. TikTok might be cloning Snapchat’s Discover feed. Is GDPR actually doing anything and/or is it enforceable? And could Casper be a make or break test for the Unicorn ecosystem?

Sponsors:

• LinkedIn.com/ride
• Metalab.co

Links:

• Exclusive: This is the Samsung Galaxy S20+ (XDAdevelopers)
• TikTok explores curated content feed to lure advertisers (FT)
• Cookie consent tools are being used to undermine EU privacy rules, study suggests (TechCrunch)
• A billion medical images are exposed online, as doctors ignore warnings (TechCrunch)
• Casper's IPO could be a bellwether for unprofitable startups in the post-We-Work era (TechCrunch)
• Casper files to go public, shows you can lose money selling mattresses (TechCrunch)

Checkin on the health-tech space with the only reporter I follow religiously around this space: Christina Farr. Why are hospitals suddenly in the middle of a health data gold rush? Why are you more likely to have your health records hacked then every be able to get them in your own hands?

Sponsors:

• Tiny Capital
• DoubleUp.agency

More trouble for Softbank startups, more layoffs at scooter startups, VC deals plateaued last year but music streaming continues to skyrocket, how much money does Netflix lose to password sharers and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Stackbit.com/techm...

Twitter will allow you to limit who can reply to your tweets, iPhone sales in China seem to have rebounded, the Chinese version of TikTok is why TikTok can distance itself from China, AI is going to pick which movies get made, and why sex tech finally has a home at CES.

Sponsors:

• Tiny Capital

Links:

• Twitter will put options to limit replies directly on the compose screen (The Verge)
• Firefox gets patch for critical 0-day that’s being actively exploited (Ars Technica)
• iPhone Hits Double-Digit Growth in China, Official Data Show (Bloomberg)
• Douyin, TikTok app in China, hits 400 million daily active users (TechCrunch)
• Warner Bros. Signs Deal for AI-Driven Film Management System (Exclusive) (The Hollywood Reporter)
• At CES 2020, the AirPods Pro competitors arrived in droves (The Verge)
• Sex-Tech Companies Are Having More Fun Than the Rest of Us at CES (Wired)

Another interesting Facebook memo from Boz, Intel previews its next generation of mobile GPUs, more troubles in Softbank startup land, Quibi had a bit of a launch event today, and I saw Charmin’s toilet paper delivery robot.  Sponsors: Tiny Capital BelovedRobot.com/ri...

Sonos goes nuclear on Google, though it really has Amazon in mind also; Facebook bans deep fakes… in a way; a whole bunch of really interesting laptop stuff, Sony makes a car, and you make a fashion statement and protect yourself from air pollution at the same time… all the ...

Samsung tries to scoop CES, Amazon’s Fire TV Edition wants to leapfrog Roku TV, Samsung wants the Galaxy Chromebook to change the way you think about Chromebooks, is Softbank ghosting startups even after delivering term sheets, and a roundup of day one of CES. Sponsors: Wea...

Google’s AI has a medical breakthrough, Apple raids HBO for maybe it’s biggest name, Instagram seems to be plateauing by one metric—going gangbusters in another, what to expect from CES and, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions. Sponsors: WeWorkRemotely Links: A.I...

Dell kicks off CES season with two new laptops, Imagination Technologies is back in Apple’s good graces, the IRS is finally sticking it to tax prep software firms, and a grand unified theory of the Google Civil War.

Sponsors:

• WeWorkRemotely
• MintMobile.com/ride

Links:

• Dell’s latest XPS 13 has a new design with a bigger display and Ice Lake chips (The Verge)
• Dell debuts 5G-ready Latitude 9510 laptop, adds iOS mirroring to PCs (VentureBeat)
• Apple restores Imagination GPU chip agreement after public dispute and employee poaching (9to5Mac)
• IRS Reforms Free File Program, Drops Agreement Not to Compete With TurboTax (ProPublica)
• I Was Google’s Head of International Relations. Here’s Why I Left. (Ross LaJeunesse/Medium)
• Google veterans: The company has become ‘unrecognizable’ (CNBC)

A major internet of things data leak, China is about to turn on its GPS competitor, would you like to star in a bitmoji TV show, a look back at the year in unicorns and is the VC gravy train over for us consumers, at least?

Sponsors:

• WeWorkRemotely
• GiveWell.org/ridehome

Links:

• IoT vendor Wyze confirms server leak (ZDNet)
• China decouples from US in space with 2020 'GPS' completion (Nikkei Asian Review)
• SPOTIFY TO SUSPEND POLITICAL ADS IN 2020 (AdAge)
• Snapchat will launch Bitmoji TV, a personalized cartoon show (TechCrunch)
• The New Unicorns Of 2019 (Crunchbase News)
• Israel doubles number of unicorns in 2019 (Globes)
• Tech Startups Face New Investor Mandate: Profits Over Discounts (WSJ)

A late holiday gift for YouTube creators, an important new rule for drone operators, to what degree has the Chinese government enabled Huawei’s success, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: GiveWell.org/ridehome Mealime Links: YouTube gives creat...

Travis Kalanick has cut all ties with Uber, Sling does indeed have streaming pricing power, livestreams are the new telethons, YouTube considered doing the right thing but passed, and is Catalyst fundamentally flawed?

Sponsors:

• Mealime
• GiveWell.org/ridehome

Links:

• Travis Kalanick severs all ties with Uber, departing board and selling all his shares (CNBC)
• Sling TV gets more expensive, raises cheapest subscription price to $30 (The Verge)
• Pyka and its autonomous, electric crop-spraying drone land $11M seed round (TechCrunch)
• Pentagon tells military personnel not to use at-home DNA kits (NBC News)
• Livestreams are the new telethons, and they’re raising millions for charities (Washington Post)
• Inside YouTube’s Year of Responsibility (Bloomberg)
• Catalyst and Cohesion (WormsandViruses.com)
• Catalyst, Two Months In (Daring Fireball)

The Government says ToTok is a full on spying app, TikTok wants to distance itself from allegations that it might be a spying app, out of nowhere, could Rivian be Tesla’s biggest competitor, and what does it mean if Travis Kalanick sells all of his Uber stock?

Sponsors:

• GiveWell.org/ridehome
• Mealime

Links:

• It Seemed Like a Popular Chat App. It’s Secretly a Spy Tool. (NYTimes)
• U.S. Navy bans TikTok from government-issued mobile devices (Reuters)
• DraftKings going public via reverse merger (Axios)
• Rivian adds $1.3 billion in funding for its electric utility and adventure vehicles (TechCrunch)
• Uber Co-Founder Travis Kalanick Cuts Stake in Company by More Than 90% (WSJ)
• Boeing Starliner Lands in New Mexico After Clock Error Prompts Early Return (NYTimes)
• Starliner makes a safe landing—now NASA faces some big decisions (Ars Technica)

Does Apple have a secret team to do an end run around telecom carriers, Google buys a game studio, IAC buys Care.com, Ripple is an interesting raise, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Tiny Capital GetQuip.com/ride Booknotesapp.com (or on iPhone an...

That big NYTimes piece about location data, is Facebook taking another run at creating its own OS, is Apple considering buying James Bond, is Spotify building a social graph, and do e-athletes need gaming socks? Sponsors: TinyCapital.com Rhone.com/ridehome Links: Twelve...

Everyone comes together to create a smart-home standard, did Google consider walking away from its cloud business, the last holdout comes to streaming, Gary Larson stops holding out on the web and the math behind that gift-wrapping video. Sponsors: Tiny Capital Aircall.io/r...

More reported casualties in the Google Civil War, more strife between Amazon and FedEx, can Amazon turn Alexa into a healthy ecosystem, developers: get busy on Edge extensions, and the top apps of the decade have one big thing in common. Sponsors: TinyCapital.com GiveWell.o...

Chrome 79 is wiping data from some apps, Amazon is about to deliver more than FedEx or UPS all by its lonesome, Argo plans to charge by the mile, smart TV’s make margin by watching you, does music lack pricing power and help me find a name for $100 million-dollar annual recu...

For the final weekend bonus episode of the year, I wanted to check in with Crypto. What a year for the space! Seemingly dead at the beginning of the year. But then the Crypto Spring™ happened. And then Libra happened. And so… where are we? No one better than CoinDesk’s Brady Dale to catch us up…

Sponsors:

• PixelUnion.net
• Mealime
• Sofi.com/ride

Details about the next-gen Xbox, Apple makes an interesting acquisition around photography, Lyft will rent you a car, why I find Roku so interesting, and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions. Sponsors: Today In Digital Marketing Podcast PixelUnion.net aircall.io/ri...

Google releases all the things at once, everyone is mulling over Jack’s decentralized Twitter idea, one last tech IPO of the year, should seed investors just say yes to every deal, why you should know the Canva story, and why Cousin Greg playing Adam Neumann is my Christmas ...

A bold new proposal to decentralize social media from Jack Dorsey, YouTube bans “malicious insults,” you can only clean your Pro Display XDR with a special cloth, Silicon Valley is no longer everyone’s favorite place to work and the big tech companies whistled past their tro...

Apple is suing its former chip architect, the Apple Card finally makes sense to me, wheels on the Mac Pro will run you $400, Softbank abandons Wag, Microsoft brings Office to Linux and I want the new tech bubble to be about exoskeletons. Sponsors: PixelUnion.net Today In Di...

China orders its own crackdown on foreign tech, Google is bringing “feature drops” to Pixel Phones, the Mac Pro is here but Wunderlist is exiting stage left, Magic Leap seems to be having issues, and an interesting raise from, well… us. Sponsors: Ashford.edu/ride Netgear.co...

I’ve been trying to read books about AI lately to get a firmer grasp on this important topic, and the best book I’ve read for both a basic grounding of the history and the state of play of AI, but also looking at potential frameworks for the technology, both ethically and socially is A Human Algorithm: How Artificial Intelligence is Redefining Who We Are by Flynn Coleman.

Sponsors:

• PixelUnion
• Mealime

I had already reached out to Bloomberg’s Mark Bergen this week to talk about the Google Civil War, but then, of course, there was other big Google news this week. So, come for the assessment of Google’s culture at the moment but stay for an assessment of regime change and a lot more.

Sponsors:

• Metalab
• Mealime