Weekly output: Craig Newmark + Count von Count, T-Mobile freebies, Android fake call detection, election security
I’m on my way to the other half of the world tonight–once again, I’m speaking at Web Summit Rio. This time the organizers (who as per our usual arrangement are picking up airfare and lodging) have me moderating four panels. All of them are about AI in some way, and two only got added to my schedule this weekend.
6/1/2026: ‘Craigslist Founder Teams Up With a Muppet to Persuade People to Stop Clicking on Scams, PCMag
For the second time in six months, I had a video conversation with Craiglist founder-turned philanthropist about his Take9 efforts to get people to take a beat before clicking through sketchy links. This time, we discussed how Newmark has enlisted the help of a vaguely vampiric purple potentate–Sesame Street’s Count von Count–in this effort.
6/2/2026: T-Mobile Offers Fresh Set of Freebies for 10th Anniversary of T-Mobile Tuesdays, PCMag
T-Mobile offered an advance on this news but got the final version of their press release to me way too late in the workday on Monday. My editors were fine with me filing something Tuesday afternoon.
6/3/2026: Google Will Soon Spot Fake Calls on Supported Android Phones, PCMag
I noted some of the software dependencies of the new fake-call-detection feature, but Ars Technica’s Ryan Whitwam (once again) went into much more detail about them in his writeup.
6/3/2026: Report Cites Misinformation As Key Threat to Election Security, Doesn’t Name the Biggest Offenders, PCMag
The chance to quiz one of Check Point’s security experts about this report made for a more interesting post. Having to update it with a clarification about leaked credentials from the Democratic fundraising platform ActBlue made for a more time-consuming post.
#AndroidUpdate #CheckPoint #CountVonCount #CraigNewmark #DonaldTrump #electionIntegrity #electionSecurity #ElonMusk #scamCalls #scams #SesameStreet #TMobile #TMobileTuesdays #Take9
