The COMUNICANO for Monday July 2nd 2018

Electric scooter company Bird has raised so much money so fast that its venture capitalist investors are left defending their investment choice. Despite their exuberance, electric scooters look like a niche transportation choice at best.

In a move to expand its existing service technology, Omaha, Neb.-based telecommunications company West Corporation announced Friday that it agreed to acquire Seattle-based Flowroute. 

Scrambling to turn out its first mass-market electric car, the automaker set up multiple assembly lines and is changing production processes on the fly.

Unlike popular self-reported salary sites like Glassdoor or Stack Overflow, Option Impact is reserved for elite users—VCs and the executives at the startups they back.

It seems like Instagram is in the news every other day. Highlights include its new Lite and IGTV apps, though there are several Instagram app tweaks sprink… 

T-Mobile is starting to support a universal messaging standard that’s supposed to make traditional texting look a bit more like chatting in a modern messaging app, complete with read receipts, typing indicators, and more.

Airbnb, the accommodation rental business, has been building up a larger profile as a travel services powerhouse to fill out its $31 billion valuation, and now it’s putting some pieces in place inside the company — specifically aimed at employee compensation — to prepare for the next phase of its growth, which could include going public as soon as June 30, 2019, but not later than late 2020.

Tech companies are beginning to accept that the artificial intelligence they’re building their futures on could be flawed. 

During an AI podcast a couple months ago, someone asked me if AI would be the next big tech bubble to burst. 

The Google Home app is a hot mess right now, to say the least. It’s primary purpose is to set up new Chromecasts and Google Home speakers, but the company… by Corbin Davenport in Applications, Google, News

Google doesn’t currently sell its own smartwatches, but 2018 could be the year that changes: the tech giant is reportedly working on the Pixel watch, a flagship smartwatch for its Wear OS platform.

Whole Foods stores are now dripping with Prime banners, but there’s no mention of the word Amazon in sight. And, it looks like that might be on purpose.

Amazon’s Echo speakers are a fantastic gateway into the world of Alexa while you’re at home, but what happens when you’re on the go? 

LTE was theoretically supposed to fix the security holes baked into earlier wireless standards, but it isn’t completely immune. 

Exclusive: Leaked data reveals many police departments are unable to respond in an active shooter situation.

Someone needs to verify the link between digital records and physical objects.

Ripple, a start-up company, is sitting on $30 billion of its digital token, XRP. It is trying to get people to think of XRP as more than an investment.

Passengers at airports across the country are reporting that increasingly TSA agents are instructing them to remove their snacks and other food items from their carry-ons and place them in those ubiquitous plastic bins for separate screening.

Sales of Samsung’s Galaxy S and Note series pale in comparison with these devices. Check out the list of the most popular phones of all time.

Hidden fees are a depressingly standard part of having a cable or internet subscription in 2018. When AT&T was spotted tripling its “administrative fee” for wireless customers this week – a move that could net it $800 million in new revenue – the best its PR reps could do is shrug and say that…

Please read @stratechery’s excellent post on Intel https://stratechery.com/2018/intel-and-the-danger-of-integration/, “Intel and the Danger of Integration” by Ben Thompson.