Tech
- SoftBank is raising its Vision Fund 2. Will it be as big as vision fund 1 (USD 100 Bn) after problematic investments such as WeWork and large tickets from Saudi sovereign wealth fund? TechCrunch
- How the US is patrolling the US-Mexico boarder with technological aid (aid being drones, sensors and more) VOX
- The Iowa elections demonstrated why we still don’t do elections through applications – here are some further thoughts to why it might be a couple of years until we don’t have to walk to a voting center to vote VOX
- London police begins Live Face Recognition monitoring for suspects in the streets of London. The TV-series The Capture becomes reality… Privacy violations or enabling of a more secure city? MetPolice
- NTT Docomo released a White paper on 6G – where human centered value creation and real opportunities for businesses will be enabled NTTDocomo
Media
- Snap launching Bitmoji TV – a show where your Avatar plays the lead character TechCrunch
- Spotify acquires podcast production company the Ringer in a move towards owning more conent IPs and catering more of a sports audience WSJ
- Disney+ now has more than 28.6 M subscribers, exceeding everyone’s (?) expectations BusinessInsider
- HBO Max has together with Warner Bros built a separate studio arm only to create movies for HBO Max in order to compete with Netflix, Prime and more Engadget
- Parasite won big and Netflix didn’t win as much as they probably hoped in the 92nd Oscars Variety
Transportation
- First (of many?) acquisition amongst the scooter companies. Bird acquiring German competition Circ TechCrunch
- Foodora looking into converting or doubleing their couriers to delivering packages as well as food – brilliant? DiDigital
- Bird deploys Bird 2 scooters in San Francisco, a self-reporting of damages scooter Techcrunch
- The WSJ made a solid story on whether or not it is viable to live with a fully electric car already today. 8 reporters in 4 countries living with EVs WSJ
- The Corona virus impacts travellers and 3 major American airlines among several European have now cancelled flights from China NYT
XR
- H&M, Magic Leap and Warpin Media revealed in-store and at-home redesign experience for AR MagicLeap
- AR and AI startups win Verizons USD 1 M challenge to showcase the real use case of 5G Venturebeat
- Apple applies for patents with multi-angle playback for AR/VR recordings UploadVR | VentureBeat
- Google Glass 2 opens for direct purchase. To me a sign that AR enabled features now really seems to be taking off and being of interest to businesses finding and exploring AR features. TheVerge
- Lynx reveals stand-alone MR headset RoadtoVR
Statistics
- Live statistics of the Corona virus from the John Hopkins institute Gisanddata
- Video streaming in Europe was up 58% (!) in 2019 DigitalTVEurope
Binge
- British series about authorities mis(?)use of camera surveillance footage in court – fiction Playpilot
Podcast
- Hollywood Blacklist founder Franklin Leonard on Recode Decode VOX
