Lyft is removing its electric scooters out of San Antonio, Dallas, Atlanta, Phoenix, Columbus and Nashville, as the company explained it will shift resources to markets where it "can have the biggest impact," CNET reports.
The big picture: The dockless, rentable, electric scooter trend started with just a couple companies operating in a handful of cities. "Now it's a competitive land grab, with more than a dozen operators that've dropped scooters in hundreds of cities around the world," CNET writes.
Zealous marketing departments, capital-hungry startup founders and overeager reporters are casting the futuristic sheen of artificial intelligence over many products that are actually driven by simple statistics — or hidden people.
Why it matters: This "AI washing" threatens to overinflate expectations for the technology, undermining public trust and potentially setting up the booming field for a backlash.
Big Tech, already under a withering spotlight from Congress for mishandling some user data, is elbowing further into health care — a world defined by its privacy pitfalls.
Why it matters: Giant companies have earned regulatory wrist-slaps for fumbling sensitive personal information, but the stakes are much higher for poorly protected health data.
Microsoft's Bill Gates topped Amazon's Jeff Bezos as the richest person in the world for the first time in two years on Friday, Bloomberg reports.
Driving the news: The Pentagon's recently announced decision to grant a $10 billion cloud-computing contract to Microsoft ahead of Amazon may have played a part in the news, according to Bloomberg.
Some highly anticipated battery-powered vehicles are expected to debut next week from Tesla, Ford and other automakers.
The big picture: "After spending billions on eco-friendly, all-electric cars that resulted in lackluster sales, automakers are shifting their target market from earthy environmentalists to gearheads and thrill seekers looking for speed," per CNBC.
Microsoft hired former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to audit AnyVision, a facial recognition company it has invested in, to determine whether the Israeli tech company adheres to Microsoft's ethical principles, NBC News reports.
Why it matters: AnyVision's "advanced tactical surveillance" software powered a project that covertly monitored Palestinians in the West Bank, for which the company won an Israeli defense prize in 2018, per NBC. Human rights activists have rallied against the company for that project.
The Supreme Court said Friday it will hear Google’s appeal in the long-running copyright dispute between the search company and Oracle.
The big picture: The two tech giants have been feuding for nearly a decade over whether Google illegally used parts of Oracle’s Java code for its Android software, with Oracle seeking billions of dollars in damages.
Twitter announced updates to its new political ad ban on Friday, clarifying how it will define political ads and what exceptions exist for certain advertisers.
Why it matters: The new details include bans on specific advertising micro-targeting, which is something that industry leaders and regulators have been calling for in light of research and reporting showing how micro-targeting can be abused to spur misinformation.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi says the first AVs could be deployed on the ride-hailing network within three to five years, but other companies will bear the cost of owning and maintaining those self-driving cars.
Why it matters: Driverless technology is a key to profitability for Uber, which has warned investors to expect losses of almost $3 billion this year. But if all it does is replace the cost of a human driver with the overhead from managing its own fleet of self-driving cars, it won't be any closer to achieving a profit.
A leading AV developer this week said self-driving cars just quietly had their "Kitty Hawk moment."
The big picture: It was a surprising assertion as the hype around self-driving cars has calmed, and most companies are recalibrating their plans for AVs. But in his optimistic blog post, Voyage CEO Oliver Cameron wrote Waymo's recent expansion of "rider-only" taxi service for early adopters near Phoenix, Ariz. puts us in a "post-driverless world."
In a significant move toward diversifying the world of video games, two major-studio titles due out next year will place queer protagonists at the center of the action.
Why it matters: Gaming has historically been a tough world for LGBTQ players, with plenty of harassment and few visibly queer characters.
Amid growing health concerns over e-cigarettes, Apple will remove all 181 vaping-related apps from its mobile App Store this morning, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: The move comes after at least 42 people have died from vaping-related lung illness, per the CDC. Most of those people had been using cartridges containing THC, though some exclusively used nicotine cartridges.
Apple released on Thursday an app for iPhone and Apple Watch users to participate in three longitudinal health data studies.
The big picture: Apple is just one of several Silicon Valley companies investing in health tech and transforming the future use of health data. Clinical trials via phone could increase participation rates, compared to traditional in-person studies.
