Sadly, it seems that the coronavirus has accelerated the decline in freedom online in many places around the world---and led to ever more digital authoritarianism. More here: https://www.wired.com/story/internet-freedom-covid-19-2020/.

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Apple has new phones. And the big launch event/infomercial was an important milestone in the development of 5G, AR, and, ideally, phones that are shatter-proof enough that we don’t have to encase their beautiful narrow borders in massive ugly rubber cases. More here: https://www.wired.com/story/everything-apple-announced-october-2020/.

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New research shows a dark but clever way to hack autonomous cars, or at least make them stop on highways. There are important lessons to be learned from this—but I dearly hope these kinds of hacks don’t slow this industry down. More here: https://www.wired.com/story/tesla-model-x-autopilot-phantom-images/.

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New software that uses AI to determine how efficient sales people are, and how they can do better. It’s slightly creepy—and very useful. And it’s a reminder that the coronavirus is pushing technological innovation forward, even as it creates chaos in so many other ways. More here: https://www.wired.com/story/sales-calls-virtual-ai-listening/.

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Facebook is going to ban political ads after the election. Why? The reasons are more complicated and interesting than you might think. It’s not about money, at least not in a direct way since political ads are a miniscule portion of FB’s business. Ultimately, I think it’s a good decision, but a small one. Because political ads are such a tiny part of Facebook.

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The House has released a brutal new report on anti-trust. It takes the big tech companies to task and lays out, with damning new documents and brutal evidence, the dangers to American capitalism of having so much market power accumulate in so few companies. And one of the biggest ideas in there: consumer harm shouldn’t be measured just by how much we pay for things. But also whether monopolies force us to give up other things of value, like our privacy, in return for using their products.

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