Last week, the Trump administration said it is considering new export controls on a broad range of futuristic technologies, a move explained as a way to prevent foreign theft and espionage.
Between the lines: With the announcement, U.S. officials are considering national security — mainly keeping China from stealing sensitive technology, and the critical objective is to stay ahead in advanced science and technology. But the announcement triggered a major worry among tech companies and researchers that the new rules could hobble American research in strategically crucial areas like artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum computing.
An Apple executive said Wednesday that Apple's mid-range iPhone XR has been outselling other models — including each of its two high-end siblings, the iPhone XS and XS Max — since the XR went on sale in October, CNET reports.
Why it matters: Per Axios' Ina Fried, some Apple watchers have expressed concerns about iPhone sales, in particular those of the XR. That said, Apple isn't saying how iPhone sales are doing overall, so it's tough to read too much into these comments.
Former Facebook employee Mark Luckie, whose departing memo to Facebook employees went viral on Tuesday, told Axiosthat the problem isn't just that there are so few black faces in the company's leadership or its ranks. It's that Facebook doesn't seem invested in creating a more welcoming environment.
Why it matters: For Facebook, this is yet another issue where the company has to defend itself. More broadly, the whole industry is beginning to be called to account for a long record of failing to deliver on promises of inclusion.
Amazon is quickly emerging as the go-to source for Silicon Valley tech startup chief financial officers amidst a shortage of experienced candidates.
The big picture: In many ways, Amazon is the perfect breeding ground for future C-suite execs of pre-IPO tech companies. It provides them with big public company experience and a good deal of autonomy as finance chiefs of large divisions, but not so much autonomy that they don't aspire to run their own shops.
Imran Khan, former chief strategy officer at Snap Inc., has raised $17.5 million for his new e-commerce startup, according to a source familiar with the deal. Lightspeed Venture Partners was lead investor, with Khan's friends and family also participating.
Why it matters: Khan is launching a multi-brand retailer aimed at millennials, with an eye toward someday taking on Amazon.
Because current safety tests are outdated, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is preparing to update its New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) to incorporate newer features, including some that will be in autonomous vehicles, into the safety rating program.
Why it matters: The U.S. is a global leader in AV innovation, home to 163 AV-related companies. But a flourishing market requires rigorous and consistent safety testing of all new technology, and NCAP updates will play a crucial role.
Through its 5-star rating program, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration already provides a standardized evaluation of crash test performance that assesses the vehicle's core hardware. The same approach should now be taken for a vehicle's self-driving software.
The big picture: No jurisdiction has yet imposed an independent test to validate AV software. The challenges of designing such a test have themselves been a deterrent, as has the fear of stifling innovation, but AVs will have to undergo independent validation to earn confidence in their decision-making.
A new report suggests autonomous vehicles could deliver goods cheaper and faster — within an hour or two of ordering in some cases — and have a major impact on consumer behavior.
The big picture: It's still unclear whether people will embrace self-driving vehicles, but the report by KPMG says one way it could happen is by lowering the cost of goods delivery, enabling e-commerce to take a larger bite out of brick-and-mortar sales and reducing the number of shopping trips people make. That access to fast, low-cost delivery could make it irresistible to order even more stuff — and send profound ripples through the economy.
The Justice Department announced Tuesday that it has brought criminal charges against eight people on 13 indictments related to a digital ad fraud scheme dubbed "3ve" worth tens of millions of dollars. The scheme, which included three separate operations, was uncovered by Google and fraud detection firm White Ops.
Why it matters: The operation was one of the largest and most sophisticated schemes ever to be uncovered involving digital ad fraud, in which advertisers are charged for bogus ad views. The discovery required unprecedented collaboration between law enforcement and dozens of different private sector groups, many of whom are competitors.
Amid rising worries regarding the development of human-level machine intelligence, a prominent Berkeley research organization has become the first to stop openly publishing all of its findings.
Why it matters: The move by the Machine Intelligence Research Institute is a break from a traditional standard of openness in computer-science research.
After three years of YouTube pushing its subscription service to its 2 billion users, the platform will start to minimize its scripted shows in 2020 and pivot to its ad-supported business, The Hollywood Reporter reports.
Why it matters: The budget for YouTube Originals, the scripted series which has been reported to be in the hundreds of millions dollars annually, has been overshadowed from Netflix and Amazon. The ad-supported business will be a main focus by giving all users access to future original content regardless of whether they pay $12 each month for YouTube Premium.
