Last minute geek

1. YouTube Rewind 2019 charts put 'Minecraft,' PewDiePie at the top
(English/engadget)

YouTube's annual Rewind look back is here, and while this year's video isn't live yet -- let's hope the service avoids another most-disliked debacle -- it has revealed some statistics. ...

2. Huawei sues the FCC over subsidy ban on its telecom equipment
(English/engadget)

... Universal Service Fund subsidies to buy equipment from H... Read all  ...

3. FCC Chairman Pai's former employer, Verizon, lied about coverage, and then Pai tried to bury the news
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... power, leaving Americans with some of the world's worst, most expensive communications services. Everyone who's communicated electronically in any way in the USA knows this, except, apparently, FCC Chairman ...

4. Google Fiber drops its 100Mbps tier in favor of gigabit-only service
(English/engadget)

Google Fiber's main selling point has been its gigabit internet access, but there has usually been a low-cost option like the $50 100Mbps plan. However, that choice is going away. Google has announced ...

5. Twenty more women sue Lyft over 'inadequate' response to sexual assaults
(English/engadget)

... "known sexual predators" offer service. The fir... Read all  ...

6. Browser plugins from Avast and AVG yanked for stealing user data
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... spokesperson told ZDNet. "It is necessary for this service to collect the URL history to deliver its expected functionality. Avast does this without collecting or storing a user's identification. Mozilla ...

7. Second wave Algorithmic Accountability: from "What should algorithms do?" to "Should we use an algorithm?"
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... with services that occupied your attention but didn't bring you pleasure. Today, a new wave of critiques is emerging, one that doesn't merely ask "What are the problems with how this algorithm does its ...

8. Plex has released their own movie and tv streaming service
(English/the-gadgeteer)

... affect any personal content uploaded to your library (i.e, won’t put ads on your own uploaded media). This feature can be customized … Plex has released their own movie and tv streaming service ...

9. AWS: le novità del re:Invent 2019
(Italiano/webnews)

Amazon Web Services ha portato sul palco dell’AWS re:Invent novità in ambito sicurezza per il cloud, machine learning ed intelligenza artificiale. The post AWS: le novità del re:Invent 2019 appeared ...

10. Pandora makes its redesigned mobile app available to everyone
(English/engadget)

Pandora started rolling out its redesigned and more personalized mobile experience in October beginning with a select few, and it's now available for all the service's users across various tiers. ...

11. Plex launches its free movie and TV streaming service
(English/engadget)

We've known for a while that Plex, a company best known for helping people organize their own media collection, is getting into streaming. In September, it announced that it had teamed up with Warner ...

12. Now you can send shout-outs from Paul Reubens, aka Pee-wee Herman, to people you know
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... at 8:51pm PST How cool is THIS? Paul Reubens (you know... the guy who plays Pee-wee Herman) will send a message to someone you know through a paid service called Cameo. You just fill out a short form ...

13. Jay-Z's music is back on Spotify after two years away
(English/engadget)

In 2017, Tidal owner Jay-Z removed his music from several competing streaming services. While much of his catalog returned to some of them, like Apple Music, pretty quickly, it hasn't been on the ...

14. Brits freak out when told the price of health care in the United States
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

"So if you're poor, you're dead." That's what a woman in the U.K. said when she was told the price of health care services in the U.S. No doubt many people in the U.S. do die from the high price of health ...

15. Ford GoRide Health shifts to autonomy and shuts down in five cities
(English/engadget)

It seemed like things were going well for Ford's GoRide Health, a service that offered non-emergency transportation to hospitals and other health care facilities. This spring, it outlined a plan to ...

16. Google's next chat service is... Photos
(English/engadget)

One of the best things about Google+ (RIP) was its engrossing photography community, where people from far and wide shared and discussed their images. Google's stab at a social network might be dead ...

17. MMT: when does government deficit spending improve debt-to-GDP ratios?
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... governments and the private sector are bidding against each other for the same goods and services. A more nuanced take on MMT spending is that some government spending improves the ratio of debt to GDP ...

18. What does "incognito mode" really do?
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... do much to protect your privacy. Your ISP can see what websites you visit, and services like Twitter can figure out who you are even without cookies. From Tech Talks: The easiest way for web applications ...

19. Ring gave police a detailed map of area doorbell installations
(English/engadget)

Police departments partnered with Amazon's Ring security service had access to maps that revealed where Ring video doorbells were located, CNET reports. While Amazon has said police do not have access ...

20. Amazon Prime arrives on cable-provided TiVo boxes
(English/engadget)

There's no such thing as regular ol' TV anymore. There's cable and satellite, and a seemingly endless selection of streaming services and content platforms, so clicking around your options ...

21. Behind the One-Way Mirror: EFF's "deep dive into corporate surveillance"
(English/BoingBoing ibag)

... ad-targeting work together, who they sell to, and how their services work. Finally, the article delves into different forms of self-defense, from ad- and tracker-blockers to legislative efforts you can ...

22. Amazon AI generates medical records from patient-doctor conversations
(English/engadget)

Amazon believes its latest Web Services tool will help doctors spend more time with their patients. The tool, called Amazon Transcribe Medical, allows doctors to easily transcribe patient conversations ...

23. The Morning After: 'E.T.' returns to help sell Comcast services
(English/engadget)

Hey, good morning! Welcome back to Cyber Monday, which already sounds far too dated to be used in 2019. As stores wring the last tenuous bargains and discounts from old stock today, the long weekend is ...

24. China now requires face scans to sign up for phone service
(English/engadget)

China is as determined as ever to link real identities to the digital world. As of December 1st, anyone signing up for a new cellphone or cellular data contract is required to not only show their national ...

25. Comcast revives 'E.T.' to hawk cable and internet service
(English/engadget)

Tech companies often like to mine nostalgia for a few quick bucks, but Comcast is probably pushing that emotional exploitation a little too far. The telecom has posted a short film that reunites E.T.'s ...