AT&T lied to investors in order to hide the failure of its DirecTV Now streaming TV service, a proposed class action alleges.
AT&T told investors that DirecTV Now was succeeding even as its subscriber base fell due to price increases and the discontinuance of promotional discounts, said the complaint filed Monday in US District Court for the Southern District of New York. The complaint accuses AT&T and executives including CEO Randall Stephenson of violating the US Securities Act by "knowingly or recklessly" making false statements to investors and failing to disclose problems that were affecting DirecTV Now sales.

ars Technica

Big corporations can totally monitor and self police their behavior, uh huh, sure. 🙄

Tech Crunch

The title of this article alone could only exist in 2019.

Giving my first conference talk today at Github headquarters for Reactathon. It’s gonna be a blast, tune in live. And follow along at home if you’d like, slides. A huge thanks to my wife and family for all their support and feedback, it really does take a village. ☺️

All major ISPs denied selling or sharing their users' browsing histories and other sensitive information in 2017, when they convinced Congress and President Trump to prevent implementation of broadband privacy rules. But since then, it has been reported that T-Mobile, Sprint, and AT&T were selling their mobile customers' location information to third-party data brokers despite promising not to do so.

FTC investigates whether ISPs sell your browsing history and location data

This one's a give me. Yep.

A program that allows drug agents to obtain a pool of billions of call records from AT&T is “still active,” according to a watchdog report.

DEA says AT&T still provides access to billions of phone records

It’s all in the title, how is this seriously still happening? How many programs for getting private data from customers do these telecoms have? There seems to be more open programs being uncovered every day. Enough already, I am becoming numb to the constant revelation of programs like this.

“We are aware that a small number of users are having issues with their third-generation butterfly keyboard and for that we are sorry,” the company writes. “The vast majority of Mac notebook customers are having a positive experience with the new keyboard.”

TechCrunch

I am so past the keyboards, after having struggles with a 2017 MacBook Pro myself. I day dream about a Mac Mini (now that they are refreshed) and an iPad Pro lifestyle in the future, but I am still very happy with the capabilities of my Surface Book going on more than a year now. The one thing I miss daily?

$ brew install

I really do like RSS, so many of the things I enjoy and rely on everything are build on the back of this simple open protocol. 😍

Given the Mac love with Mini and iMac this year, if it continues, I could see having a Mac desktop and an iPad Pro for mobile / feet up work.

This might change with the a new redesign of the MacBook Pro. A year in, I’m super happy with my Surface Book. I’ve also found myself booted in Linux for some situations. And the WLS (windows linux subsystem) is fantastic.

I could also be making up a need for me to eventually get a iPad Pro. And that’s ok. 😉

Myspace has apparently lost most or all of the music files uploaded by its users before 2015, and it told users that the data was corrupted beyond repair during a server migration. Myspace apparently admitted the problem to concerned users seven or eight months ago, but so few people noticed that there wasn't any news coverage until the past 24 hours.

Myspace apparently lost 12 years’ worth of music, and almost no one noticed

Pretty good reason to continue to beat the drum about owning the content and context of publishing things onto other platforms. Consider this same scenario with all of your instagram images in 10 years? So much of our digital life is scattered across a number of closed platforms, when they’re gone, so is your content. I think services like Wordpress and Micro.Blog are leading the way in making it easy for everyone to own and Stewart where their own content goes.

Full Response from Apple 

What Spotify is demanding is something very different. After using the App Store for years to dramatically grow their business, Spotify seeks to keep all the benefits of the App Store ecosystem — including the substantial revenue that they draw from the App Store’s customers — without making any contributions to that marketplace. At the same time, they distribute the music you love while making ever-smaller contributions to the artists, musicians and songwriters who create it — even going so far as to take these creators to court.

I am not sure I'd quite agree with Spotify "using" the App Store to "dramatically" grow their business without making any contributions to the "marketplace". What they mean is using the App Store and not paying Apple for that privilege. Also the jab making "ever-smaller" contributions to the artist, is a separate issue all together and not the point of this particular argument. It's a valid argument, just not this one.

The only time we have requested adjustments is when Spotify has tried to sidestep the same rules that every other app follows.

Mmm. That every app follows. 🤔 What about Apple Music? Does it go through the same app approval process?

The only contribution that Apple requires is for digital goods and services that are purchased inside the app using our secure in-app purchase system

Oh, you left out the part where the purchase system is the only option. Against the rules to link out the any other option Against the rules to even mention having any other products of any kind that is not purchased directly through the in-app system. This is explicably user hostel on Apple's part. Why aren't talking about Google's Play Store because you can link to, mention, advertise other tiers and products in your app. That's the point, there are options. Look at Netflix if you download the app, and don't have an account, there is nothing for the user to do. They can't sign up, they don't have a clue what to do, or where to go. That is not a good user experience and wholly on Apple and their imposing rules.

I read this and I think, Apple is not budging on lowering the 30% fee. Not now, and with the focus on service revenue, not on an infinite time line. If anything, it will become more restrictive over time, not less.

Messaging platform Telegram claims to have had a surge in signups during a period of downtime for Facebook’s rival messaging services.

Telegram Get 3M new signups during FB’s outage

I have a theory that fb could easily be displaced or replaced by something else, that doesn’t necessarily have to be better, just available and easily accessible. It’s clear that privacy isn’t the catalyst to get people to migrate. So that lends the question, what will get people to move to a more secure, private focused platform?

Most of these politically motivated sites do not disclose who is paying for them, and in many cases, the content does not include bylines

GOP funds messaging sites that look remarkably like trusted local news

None of this article is surprising. The pollution of misinformation and echo chamber bias has been running ramped unchecked for years. I wish I knew a silver bullet resolution, but like everyone struggle with my own bias and opinions. 🤷🏻‍♂️ Open to practical suggestions.

Struggles administrating wordpress are real. Not what I want to be spending my time on.

The FCC’s argument, at the center of the 2017 rule, that broadband isn’t telecommunications is supported by almost no experts whatsoever, yet as an expert agency it can decide such technical matters on its own. If Congress were to establish a law clarifying that, however, it would remove the Commission’s freedom in this matter and constrict it to operating as the law dictates.

TechCrunch

It would be nice to actual have laws on the books for net neutrality and not be at the mercy of the changing emotions, and lack of ethical judgment from Ajit Pai and the constant gutting of interest in helping the public at large, instead of taking advantage of them. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Your cable nightmare might soon be over. The USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) has unveiled the specifications of USB 4.0, as Engadget reports. And USB 4.0 looks a lot like Thunderbolt 3.

Romain Dillet

I feel like ‘might’ in this instance is a pretty big stretch. I’d love it to become reality, but the promise of a unified standard to use on all our devices isn’t realistic. Look no further than the latest rename scheme from USB gen 3v2 🙄

I didn’t realize that BlackBerry was still around, and haven’t been dismantled and sold off for scrape like Palm or Motorola. Turns out they are making a business as a patent troll. 🙄

BlackBerry, which refers to itself as a pioneer in mobile messaging, alleges Twitter “created mobile messaging applications that co-opt BlackBerry’s innovations, using a number of the innovative user interface and functionality enhancing features that made BlackBerry’s products such a critical and commercial success in the first place.”

BlackBerry sues Twitter for patent infringement

But it recently came out that a legislator in Montana was attempting to have the state officially renounce the findings of the scientific community. And, if the federal government decides to believe the scientists and do something about emissions, he wants the Treasure State to somehow sit those efforts out.

Montana legislator introduces bills to give his state its own science

I remember reading about the battles between science and the church back in the Middle Ages. And look at us, centuries later, politicians are still at odds with the power and truth that science brings when it’s not convenient to their agenda. 😡

In light of “meaningful regulation” from UK lawmakers Facebook continues to pat itself on the back for all of its “progress” they’ve made in the name of user privacy. 🙄

Facebook praised itself for recent changes it's made, but the company said it's willing to face tougher laws. Facebook's statement continued:

We are open to meaningful regulation and support the committee's recommendation for electoral law reform. But we're not waiting. We have already made substantial changes so that every political ad on Facebook has to be authorized, state who is paying for it and then is stored in a searchable archive for seven years. No other channel for political advertising is as transparent and offers the tools that we do.

Facebook is a law-breaking “digital gangster,” UK government report says

But the Reuters report describes the use of enterprise certificates to distribute pirated versions of popular iOS software like Minecraft, Spotify, and Pokémon Go. For example, a free version of Minecraft (which is normally a premium app) is distributed by TutuApp using the method. Another pirate distributor, AppValley, offers a version of the Spotify app with the ads that support Spotify and the music artists stripped out completely.

Samuel Axon @ ArsTechnica

I'm going to make a bet that WWDC in June Apple will announce, or simply roll out a new policy and process for enterprise certs for the entire iOS platform. My second bet, it's not going to be friendly, easy, or enjoyable to use. A reckoning is most certainly coming.

The cable lobby working towards their investor bottom line, not in consumers best interest.

Powell said there is "common ground around the basic tenets of net neutrality rules: There should be no blocking or throttling of lawful content. There should be no paid prioritization that creates fast lanes and slow lanes, absent public benefit. And, there should be transparency to consumers over network practices."

Cable lobby asks for net neutrality law allowing paid prioritization

Its sounds like Powell is advocating for Net neutrality, but is a cable lobbyist at this time. In his next breath he uses words like, no need for regulation and “light touch”. I simply can’t trust any angle from cable companies that have time and time again abused their position and monopoly over a must have utility service. In a space with absolutely no competition or incentive to actually serve consumers these companies will continue to take advantage until they are forced to by government. Don’t tell me the market will regulate itself. There is no competitive market in the ISP space. It’s a joke.

“Given the escalating crime and lack of public safety resources, Baltimore was a great place to try something new,” Frame said of the new market. “Citizen can now help Baltimore residents in the way it has helped New York and San Francisco, with real-time notifications that let a user escape a burning building or rescue a four-year old from an abductor. Citizen, with its real-time information, may be just what Baltimore needs.”

Taylor Hatmaker @ TechCrunch

Um, yeah. The Article goes on to compare the app to popular neighborhood sharing Nextdoor, which if you've ever checked out is a dumpster of bias and negative gossip.

Tesla released version 9.0 of its software, which featured a number of updates, including a new UI on the center display and the ability to use the forward-facing camera. The dash cam feature is available only in Tesla vehicles built after August 2017.

TechCrunch

I find it more and more unbelievable that other automakers haven’t built a platform to continually update a vehicles software and add new features. We expect it from our $1,000 mobile devices, why don’t we have the same expectations for our car or truck that is 10-100 times that expensive?

In the year of content I’ve been thinking a lot about how blogs and self publishing have made a comeback in some areas from those that want to take back control of their content. Moves away from Medium for self hosting, moves away from twitter for Micro.blog, and of course the #deletefacebook trends. So how to get the mainstream to move from these centralized, locked in platforms to more open friendly places? I have no idea really, so I’ll list something out more as food for thought.

1. Easy to engage
2. Connection with most of the people they know
3. Easy to share images and re-share
4. Marketplace, options, the idea of not being locked in. The idea of take your content / timeline with you
5. RSS is an implementation detail, not a feature.
6. People understand the idea of subscribe and share.
7. Public vs Private sharing. The ability to share with select people.
8. Clean, ad free interface. The tracking and aggregation is needs to curtailed. So what is the business model? Free / Pro / Business tiers ? I dont know. :-/
9. Cross models Reddit, wordpress, micro.blog ?

So what would a open platform using open internet standards look like ?

Pretty sure at this point most people have heard of Slack or used Slack. The chat app that has made huge inroads into enterprise and small communities alike. I used to have a Slack with friends that replaced or irc channel, now I have more than 1/2 a dozen across a variety of groups and work. It’s a lot of messaging. 🙄 Slack is currently poses for IPO, and valued around 7 billion, which brings up the point -

Is there any reason for Microsoft not to buy Slack for $20 billion? Seems like a perfect fit and at $20 billion could be a bargain.

@jyarow

I agree with Jay, Slack (right down to the new rgb color scheme from their new logo) would be a good fit for the new MS.

Hell. I’ve already got a dozen groups on my Surface Book. 😉

Spurred by Ron Miller’s piece Someone could scoop up Slack before it IPOs.

the fact that the state of much of America’s infrastructure is appalling on its face, and even moreso when compared to nations which are on paper nowhere near as rich.

Techcrunch

I lived in London for a bit coming and going from college, and one of the things I truly miss was the public transportation. It was so quick and easy to hop a bus or train and get all over a giant city like London or Paris. That is in stark contrast to living out west in Arizona. Where the closest place to get a sandwich or a cup of coffee from where you live is often 2-3 miles away. Bus's run every 30-40 minutes during peak times, so without a car to get around it will easily take you several hours of your day to get to and from work. Sadness is a good word for it. 😭