Tech Brew Ride Home

E3 was last week, not even this past week, but I did want to get a debrief on what went on there, so I had to wait for everyone to get back from E3 and Brian Heater of TechCrunch is here to file a report. Where is gaming in this transition to streaming? What were the headline games announced at E3? What about Project Scarlett?

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Well, given the news of the week, I knew we needed to do a deep dive on Libra, so I called up our friend Brady Dale at CoinDesk and we get into it. What do crypto folk think of Libra? Is he surprised by the governmental backlash? And since by the time you hear this, bitcoin might already be back above $10k dollars? Are we out of the crypto winter and into crypto spring?

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Google is getting out of the tablet business, there’s a MacBook Pro recall but not because of keyboard issues, a startup is aiming to disrupt the billable hour in the legal space, the world’s “first” electric plane is here, and, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

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Links:

Google's officially done making its own tablets (Computerworld)

GOOGLE WAS NEVER REALLY SERIOUS ABOUT TABLETS (The Verge)

Apple launches recall program for select MacBook Pros due to battery safety concerns (9to5Mac)

FASTEST MOBILE NETWORKS 2019 (PC Mag)

The boring genius of how Atrium kills legal busy work (TechCrunch)

Why the age of electric flight is finally upon us (BBC News)

The Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

THEY WELCOMED A ROBOT INTO THEIR FAMILY, NOW THEY’RE MOURNING ITS DEATH (The Verge)

Apple, Google, and Facebook Are Raiding Animal Research Labs (Bloomberg Businessweek)

How Much of Google’s Search Traffic is Left for Anyone But Themselves? (SparkToro)

Don’t Know Which Toaster to Buy? There’s a Website for That. (The Ringer)

Using CRISPR to resurrect the dead (CNet)

The fake French minister in a silicone mask who stole millions (BBC News)

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Slack debuts as a publicly traded company, there will be Congressional hearings about Libra, a Florida city pays ransom money to hackers, getting your internet from your lightbulbs and are we on the cusp of a fast-charging-battery revolution

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Horns are growing on young people’s skulls. Phone use is to blame, research suggests. (The Washington Post)

Facebook called before Senate panel over digital currency project (Reuters)

YouTube under federal investigation over allegations it violates children’s privacy (The Washington Post)

Apple Explores Moving Some Production Out of China (WSJ)

Florida city pays $600,000 ransom to save computer records (Associated Press)

Philips Hue company announces lights that beam data at 250 Mbps (The Verge)

Vivo's insane 120W Super FlashCharge tech fills a 4000mAh battery in 13 minutes (AndroidCentral)

The Blade Itself (The First Law Trilogy): Joe Abercrombie 

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More revelations about the horrible job that is Facebook Moderation, Best Buy now doubles as a Genius Bar—sorta, YouTube has some new AR tricks and is mulling some changes for kids, and the reaction to Facebook’s crypto play has me fascinated.

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BODIES IN SEATS (The Verge)

Apple expands authorized repairs to ~1,000 Best Buy Stores (TechCrunch)

The new Kindle Oasis lets you adjust color temperature for night reading (The Verge)

YouTube's new AR Beauty Try-On lets viewers virtually try on makeup while watching video review (TechCrunch)

Top Democrat calls for Facebook to halt cryptocurrency plans until Congress investigates (The Verge)

Facebook’s Libra cryptocurrency: where are the banks? (The Block)

THE AMBITIOUS PLAN BEHIND FACEBOOK’S CRYPTOCURRENCY, LIBRA (Wired)

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Facebook announces Libra, Twitch acquires Bebo, are unmanned convenience stores something people even want, Facebook wants more houses in Silicon Valley, and LA real estate is starting to look like Silicon Valley.

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Facebook announces Libra cryptocurrency: All you need to know (TechCrunch)

FACEBOOK’S CALIBRA IS A SECRET WEAPON FOR MONETIZING ITS NEW CRYPTOCURRENCY (The Verge)

Libra White Paper Shows How Facebook Borrowed From Bitcoin and Ethereum (CoinDesk)

There’s a Second Token: A Breakdown of Facebook’s Crypto Economy (CoinDesk)

Amazon's Twitch acquired social networking platform Bebo for up to $25M to bolster its esports effort (TechCrunch)

China's unmanned store boom ends as quickly as it began (Nikkei Asian Review)

$1 billion for 20,000 Bay Area homes (Google)

Silicon Valley and Los Angeles Real Estate (LA Times)

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The 5G iPhones might be both bigger and smaller, both Huawei and the chip industry prepare for tough times, Genius says it caught Google red-handed, is the US making a big 5G mistake and what exactly is farming-as-a-service?

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Huawei Braces for Phone Sales Drop of Up to 60 Million Overseas (Bloomberg)

Broadcom's $2 billion warning rattles global chip sector (Reuters)

Kuo on 2020 iPhones: 5.4-Inch and 6.7-Inch Models With 5G, 6.1-Inch Model With LTE, All With OLED Displays (MacRumors)

Lyrics Site Accuses Google of Lifting Its Content (WSJ)

Infarm closes $100M Series B to scale its 'urban farming platform' (TechCrunch)

CHOOSING THE WRONG LANE IN THE RACE TO 5G (Wired)

Study finds that a GPS outage would cost $1 billion per day (Ars Technica)

On Snapchat, Original Series Are Finding Return Viewers (The Hollywood Reporter)

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Simon Owens is a journalist who, in his writing, podcasting and newsletters, covers the whole gamut of digital media, from the creator side to the publisher side… from the journalist side to the business side. So, we’ve got a great, wide-ranging conversation today about everything from newsletters, to YouTube, to paywalls to podcasts. And check out Simon’s great podcast, The Business of Content.

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That Wired longread that I suggested yesterday, about Amazon’s warehouse robots really stuck with me for personal reasons you’ll hear in a second. I talked to the author of the piece, Matt Simon, not only cause I wanted more flavor on what it was like to work with these things, but because he also raises interesting ideas about human/robot symbiosis. In short, the robot apocalypse might still be coming, but not today. And for the foreseeable future, that might be the growth industry for humans: robot baby sitters. Please enjoy.

Matt's article: INSIDE THE AMAZON WAREHOUSE WHERE HUMANS AND MACHINES BECOME ONE

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Are foldable phones cursed—and will we ever see one? Facebook coin might be coming as early as next week, the hottest crypto is up 330% YTD but you’ve probably never heard of it, some IPOs to report on and, of course, the weekend longread suggestions.

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Links:

Huawei delays foldable phone launch until September to do extra tests after Samsung’s troubles (CNBC)

Huawei delays launch of foldable Mate X following Galaxy Fold failure (The Verge)

AT&T Cancels All Galaxy Fold Preorders, Issues $100 Promo Card (Tom's Guide)

Facebook’s New Cryptocurrency, Libra, Gets Big Backers (WSJ)

Hottest Crypto Is Up 330% This Year and Its Name Isn’t Bitcoin (Bloomberg)

Chewy, PetSmart’s online business, soars as much 86% after IPO pricing at $22 per share (CNBC)

THE HIGHLY DANGEROUS 'TRITON' HACKERS HAVE PROBED THE US GRID (Wired)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

The restaurant owner who asked for 1-star Yelp reviews (The Hustle)

EverQuest’s long, strange 20-year trip still has no end in sight (Ars Technica)

The story of the first E3 (Polygon)

THE NEWEST HAVEN FOR CRYPTOCURRENCY COMPANIES? WYOMING (Wired)

Comcast CEO’s Son Wants to Turn Philly Into an E-Sports Town (Bloomberg BusinessWeek)

Beyond the PC: Lenovo's ambitious plan for the future of computing (ZDNet)

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