The Amazon Echo is a big deal, and Google doesn't want to be left behind, which is why it is launching Google Home, its own smart speaker. Meet Mario Queiroz, who led the team behind Google's successful Chromecast Web TV gadget, and is now steering Google Home.
[Mark Bergen | Recode]
Yesterday, Birchbox laid off 30 people. Just a few weeks ago, the co-founder of the online makeup retailer, Katia Beauchamp, was talking about going public. But for commerce startups still figuring out their business (like Birchbox) it's a legendarily bad time to plan an IPO.
[Polly Mosendz and Kim Bhasin | Bloomberg]
Uber is rolling out a new feature that will allow it to more closely monitor its drivers, keeping track of things like how often they drive or their average speed.
[Johana Bhuiyan | Recode]
Lending Club, the large online lender whose CEO quit amid scandal in May, is laying off 179 people (12 percent of its staff) and is struggling to keep selling new loans.
[Peter Rudegeair | The Wall Street Journal]
Hillary Clinton unveiled her tech policy proposals, and they were written to make Silicon Valley smile. They include student loan debt forgiveness for do-gooder tech entrepreneurs, support for net neutrality, easing copyright restrictions and a bunch of other carrots. Expect the sticks (encryption, Uber economy labor disputes) to come later.
[Noah Kulwin | Recode]
Airbnb
By Noah Kulwin
The home rental company is staring down a $30 billion valuation.
Voices
By Adit Singh
I predict that in 10 years, every new enterprise application will be self-learning at its core.
Security
By Mark Bergen
A win for privacy advocates, and a treat for advertisers to come.
Apple
By Bonnie Cha
Getting a "Carrier Settings Update" message on your iPhone or iPad, but not sure what it's all about? Read this FAQ to learn more.
Media
By Noah Kulwin
Not everyone gets to have a billionaire sugar daddy.
Abigail Fisher lost her Supreme Court case. Fisher alleged that she didn't get into UT-Austin essentially because of reverse racism; her whiteness was a handicap, because UT-Austin favors students of color. The Supreme Court ruled that this was a fiction, and that Fisher was just unqualified by most every measure. Jezebel's Jia Tolentino (soon to be at the New Yorker) wrote a remarkable essay about the deeper fiction, which is the white victimhood baked thoroughly into this whole ordeal.
This article originally appeared on Recode.net.
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