Angry Robot

The high-tech secret behind the stunning cinematography of ‘Uncut Gems’

The wonderful world of Chinese hi-fi

Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg on what’s next for Tumblr

WordPress maker Automattic bought Tumblr from Verizon for pocket change and I don’t usually get excited about corporate deals because they are usually either boring or depressing but this one I am very happy about. I don’t know if Tumblr will ever be an alternative to Facebook et al but Automattic is the best possible company to give it a shot.

Playdate. A New Handheld Gaming System

Panic is making a console. Hardware design by Teenage Engineering.

Who Just Beat the Bay Area in Tech Jobs? Toronto

Apple’s new 2018 MacBook Pros are now available, and the top specs are much faster

Yay! Although I specced out my dream laptop and it came to eight grand.

How Silicon Valley Fuels an Informal Caste System

This is fairly terrifying.

Pocketable Surface Render

Cooool. Reminds me of the tablets in Westworld.

Apple is rebuilding Maps from the ground up

Good, in-depth article. The section about the tech in the Maps vans is especially interesting given Apple’s interest in AR and autonomous vehicles.

Facial recognition software is not ready for use by law enforcement

From the CEO of a facial recognition company

Experts Bet on First Deepfakes Political Scandal

YouTube is the preferred platform of today’s teens

They still like Snapchat and Instagram, less so Facebook and Twitter.

Instagram announces IGTV, a standalone app for longer videos

Boooooo. I used to love Instagram but it is getting totally wrecked by Facebook. Isn’t it enough to be the world’s favourite photo sharing platform? Do they have to take on Snapchat and YouTube and who next, Uber? Amazon? The International Criminal Court?

Also, vertical video. What are we, animals?

Rich Intersections

I’m on my lunch, reading this article about Netflix taking over the world and listening to my “Discover Weekly” on Spotify, and it throws up a distinctive-sounding track, so I flip to the band’s bio and read:

ARIWO are a Cuban/Iranian four-piece focused on the rich intersection between electronic music, Afro-Cuban rhythm and Iranian mysticism.

It is an incredible world we live in now, folks. Rich intersections indeed.

The Beam is Sonos’ ambitious attempt to win the living room

Voice-enabled soundbar, at $399 USD

Wind turbines are getting taller, bigger, and more powerful

If I’m reading it right, one of the new big ones (height of Eiffel Tower) could power 1 million homes.

Meet the campaign connecting affluent techies with progressive candidates around the country

The Great Slate, from Pinboard’s Maciej Ceglowski

How Facebook Is Killing Comedy

Deep learning technology is now being used to put Nic Cage in every movie

It didn’t take long to find the best use for this technology.

Artificial intelligence is going to supercharge surveillance

Our Tony Scott future inches closer

Apple Watch Is a Bridge to the Future

Halfway between touchscreens and voice/AI (via birchtree)

We Are Truly F#%ked: Everyone Is Making AI-Generated Fake Porn Now

Edward Snowden made an app to protect your laptop

Why Apple’s HomePod Is Three Years Behind Amazon’s Echo

This sounds to me like a regular Apple development process, and I also don’t see how the Echo and HomePod are in competition (Echo starts at $50, HomePod costs $300 more).

That said, the Echo – or rather, the built-in Alexa assistant – has changed what people expect from a “smart” speaker. As an audiophile-ish smart speaker, HomePod seems more in competition with Sonos, and the latest Sonos One – which has Alexa built in – is the product that blows the HomePod, as we currently understand it, out of the water.