Recode Daily: Sandberg, Spiegel, Murdoch: It’s Day 1 of the Code Conference

Welcome to Code 2018. All week we’ll have interviews with top leaders in tech, media and business, including Brad Smith, president of Microsoft; James Murdoch, CEO of 21st Century Fox; Evan Spiegel, CEO of Snap; and, from Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg and Mike Schroepfer. We’ll also delve into AI, robots and blockchain. Our coverage starts at 3 pm PT / 6 pm ET today.

• Follow our live updates on Twitter using #CodeCon.
• Go behind the scenes with us on Instagram and Flipboard.
• Be sure to follow us on Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn for videos.
• Subscribe to Recode on Apple News so you get breaking news alerts.
• Of course, you can just refresh our website regularly!

[Want to get this daily newsletter in your inbox? Subscribe here.]

Shari Redstone, who controls both Viacom and CBS, says she doesn’t want to merge them, after all. It’s the second time Redstone has reached this conclusion in two years; the disclosure comes as part of a new suit Redstone filed against CBS and its CEO Les Moonves. Hard to imagine Redstone proposing a merger a third time as long as Moonves is running CBS.

Turn your routers off. And then turn them back on. That’s the request the FBI is making to everyone who owns a router. The agency is trying to avoid a malware system linked to Russia. The malware is capable of “blocking web traffic, collecting information that passes through home and office routers, and disabling the devices entirely.”
[The New York Times]

The future of transportation may not be on the roads but in the skies. That might not be a reality quite yet but Airbus is taking it seriously. The company is settng up a division for flying cars and on-demand taxis.
[Bloomberg]

Top stories from Recode

The ‘golden age of electronic surveillance’ is ending, says former NSA and CIA chief Michael Hayden

As the intelligence community shifts to new tactics, the Trump administration is creating an “age of lies.”

Some big Silicon Valley names are throwing money around ahead of next week’s mayoral election in San Francisco

Evan Williams, the Conways and Chris Larsen are some of the biggest donors from techland.

Airbnb’s new Stories feature is an attempt to sell a new business line: Travel services

It’s a move that supports their expansion into selling trip experiences beyond travel accommodations.

Here are some of the funniest reactions to GDPR

It’s too early to say what the long-term effects of the new rules will be, but we do know it made for some great email chains.

Silicon Valley Congressman Ro Khanna says something has to be done about tech — but not too much

“On a scale of one to 10, Europe’s regulations [are] a nine, we’re a zero. Why can’t we get to a four or a five?”

Don’t put podcasts behind a paywall, says 99 Percent Invisible host Roman Mars

The Radiotopia founder says the podcast industry isn’t nearly ready to start selling subscriptions.

This is cool

It’s been 15 years of Code (formerly All Things D) and this picture of Kara Swisher and Walt Mossberg is 100 percent.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

We're here to shed some clarity

One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via