Promenade Technology

Halloween decorations, Harry Styles and a QAnon-adjacent missing children story broke up a wall of pre-election political news. https://nyti.ms/3jGekuf

Researchers found that bots have helped spread falsehoods related to the coronavirus and far-right conspiracy theories such QAnon and “pizzagate.” https://nyti.ms/2JisfKB

Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Alphabet reported the latest in a string of enormous quarterly profits on Thursday. https://nyti.ms/2TCTem8

In an interview, Trey Parker, Matt Stone and their collaborator Peter Serafinowicz discuss the back story of “Sassy Justice,” their deepfake video that used images of President Trump and others. https://nyti.ms/3kEUJfz

Government officials warned that hackers were seeking to hold American hospitals’ data hostage in exchange for ransom payments. https://nyti.ms/37T1XJ1

Republican senators accused the leaders of Twitter, Facebook and Google of censorship. Democrats denounced that as posturing. https://nyti.ms/3kHTNHa

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Coinbase, Expensify, Soylent, Clubhouse and others are embroiled in a culture war over politics and the workplace. https://nyti.ms/37RFv34

On his new program, the former “Daily Show” host will “explore topics that are currently part of the national conversation and his advocacy work,” Apple said. https://nyti.ms/31JwwNF

Noise. Damages. Safety questions. Airbnb is racing to address the risks posed by partying guests before it goes public. https://nyti.ms/34uY3UJ

The deal would broaden A.M.D.’s business into chips for markets like 5G communications and automotive electronics. https://nyti.ms/2HuYcPy

Recent developments point to promise for driverless car technology, if we stay realistic. https://nyti.ms/31L7kGo

The tech giant’s coming share sale will be among the largest ever. But the company has made most of its impact in just one country: China. https://nyti.ms/31KXLr8

The Alibaba online finance spinoff, which offers people in China a one-stop shop for loans, investments and more, will list shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai. https://nyti.ms/3dUO0LS

It wasn’t simple to become a do-it-all education tool almost overnight. https://nyti.ms/31CdUz5

In a landmark antitrust complaint, the Justice Department is targeting a secretive partnership that is worth billions of dollars to both companies. https://nyti.ms/2HpyLPn

Since 2016, the Falun Gong-backed newspaper has used aggressive Facebook tactics and right-wing misinformation to create an anti-China, pro-Trump media empire. https://nyti.ms/31Dmc9T

Stories about Pope Francis, separated children and 50 Cent’s Trump endorsement dominated engagement on social media this week. https://nyti.ms/3oosMdV

In contrast, CNN and MSNBC gave more airtime to the Podesta cache four years ago, according to the Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab. https://nyti.ms/3mdQuIb

American politicians are divided on almost everything. They agree on this: Big Tech must change. https://nyti.ms/2Hu03Ur

Any action would follow the Justice Department’s landmark suit this week against Google, as a bipartisan tech backlash ramps up. https://nyti.ms/34lfV4k

The battered Chinese giant won’t say how many of its new handsets it can produce. U.S. restrictions may have curtailed access to essential components. https://nyti.ms/3oiKnnO

The Polestar 2 inherits some classic Scandinavian design elements from its Volvo lineage, but aims to be a little more free spirited. https://nyti.ms/35iwtJC

The tweet, from Dr. Scott Atlas, one of the president’s top science advisers, was debunked by many experts and deleted by Twitter. https://nyti.ms/2Hr9qEm

“We’re now approaching the technological threshold where the little guys can do it to the big guys,” one researcher said. https://nyti.ms/31r5k6g

Even if you don’t have an expensive camera, you can capture memorable images with your smartphone, the right software and a few tricks. https://nyti.ms/2HnWBdY

We are publishing the full list so readers can see whether the sites target their area. https://nyti.ms/2TfUyv3

The new iPhone has an improved design, but it’s undermined by the wireless industry’s messy rollout of ultrafast 5G networks. https://nyti.ms/3o8udNF

A victory for the government could remake one of America’s most recognizable companies and the internet economy that it has helped define. https://nyti.ms/2FKv0D3

Labs closed in the pandemic, but innovation doesn’t stop. So while some workers have the home office, engineers have the garage. https://nyti.ms/3kgdYfb

A nationwide operation of 1,300 local sites publishes coverage that is ordered up by Republican groups and corporate P.R. firms. https://nyti.ms/3kbjsI4

Ultranauts has been developing creative ways to hire, manage and motivate a far-flung and diverse work force for seven years. https://nyti.ms/2FE4Rpp

When their annual conference was moved online, they were amused to find seemingly benign words blocked and replaced with asterisks during virtual sessions. https://nyti.ms/34akD4V

President Trump tweeted about one of the site’s stories on Friday. It is unclear whether he knew it was a joke. https://nyti.ms/35938B4

The latest change underlined how rapidly social media platforms are shifting their positions in the days leading up to the election. https://nyti.ms/3k76ivE

The companies have said they would do more to stop misinformation and hacked materials from spreading. This is what that effort looks like. https://nyti.ms/2IAwPDL

The cellular networks might be life-changing in the future. Not today. https://nyti.ms/2Iuq7ip

YouTube has played a bigger role in moving QAnon from the fringes to the mainstream than most platforms. https://nyti.ms/3dsJaFv

YouTubers, influencers and streamers popularized the multiplayer game. Then their fans started playing too. https://nyti.ms/3k5VNZG

Facing a laptop shortage, some schools have had to jump through hoops to make remote learning work. https://nyti.ms/3nLcaNr

The misinformation touches on ballot boxes, the “deep state,” and a conspiracy involving the coronavirus and the vote. https://nyti.ms/3dnf46c

Baseless claims are circulating online about a Democrat-led coup, inflaming tensions in an already turbulent election season. https://nyti.ms/34S7gFC

From Ford to Microsoft, white-collar companies are increasingly extending working from home through next summer. https://nyti.ms/3lLUVd5

Just being a customer now makes people a target for inescapable corporate advocacy. https://nyti.ms/2InkJxI

Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook’s chief executive, once cited Holocaust denial as something he would allow on the social network for free speech reasons. https://nyti.ms/2SPWTg4

People are engaging more on Facebook with content from outlets that publish falsehoods and distortions, even though the social network has tried limiting misinformation, new research found. https://nyti.ms/3lDaFPj

People are getting defrauded as they turn to Square’s Cash App and PayPal’s Venmo to do more online banking in the pandemic. https://nyti.ms/36SPpkr

With more Americans riding bikes, there’s new pressure to find ways to make the streets safer for everyone. https://nyti.ms/3jTnSDo

Conservatives have raised questions about public decency on the Chinese-owned service, but opposition groups see an efforts to stop criticism of the country’s leadership. https://nyti.ms/2GDwZcZ

Van Halen obituaries, a Netflix indictment and a Proud Boys trolling campaign were the week’s most-engaged news stories on social media. https://nyti.ms/3dgSUlP