Telegram founder: U.S. intelligence agencies tried to bribe us to weaken encryption

Pavel Durov, the Russian founder of the popular secure messaging app Telegram has revealed in a series of tweets that U.S. intelligence agencies tried twice to bribe the company's developers to weaken encryption in the app, presumably so it would be easier for the agencies to obtain communications sent via its users. Durov also says he was pressured by the FBI to do so.

And that was just 1 week. It would be naive to think you can run an independent/secure cryptoapp based in the US.

— Pavel Durov (@durov) June 11, 2017

If you've never experienced Oculus virtual reality via the Rift headset … well, it's tough to explain what you've missed. But Oculus is rolling out a new feature that makes it possible to shoot video of someone using Rift in front of a green screen, and then combine that footage with the VR environment that person is seeing. The resulting composited video amounts to a third-person view of the VR world.

"In these early days, mixed reality capture does require numerous steps and a certain level of technical proficiency," notes the blog post announcing the feature, which says that it's useful now for developers, creators, and marketers who want to convey what VR is like. But the compan says it's working on simplifying this mixed-reality technology, with the aim of making it more consumer-friendly.

HM

First we saw video game characters hanging out in bedrooms, then a moon rotating in some dude's kitchen, then AR tape measures. But this one takes the biscuit. In the demo posted on Twitter, a developer at French firm Nedd has created a series of inter-dimensional portals:

🐍 Watch your step → inter-dimensional iPhone portals are closer than they appear 🧐 https://t.co/pqc0fRhUiQ ARkit demo by @nedd 👌 pic.twitter.com/zklYWr8CYk

— Made With ARKit (@madewithARKit) June 30, 2017

MS

Jay Z's 13th studio album, 4:44, is here and it's generating all the excitement, online chatter, and lyrical analyses you'd expect from such an occasion. And while the album is technically a Tidal exclusive, things are a little different this time: 4:44 was also played on 160 radio stations via a partnership with iHeartMedia. The album may also be coming to Apple Music and other streaming services as early as next week, according to Variety.

The controversial (and strategically questionable) tactic of releasing albums exclusively on one streaming platform has died down in the last year or so, thanks to issues with piracy and frustrations on the record label side. And while Jay Z is giving it one more go, the strategy is beginning to look much more relaxed. That's good, because streaming exclusivity isn't terribly effective—and it's annoying for fans. Hopefully this is its last gasp.

[Photo: Wikipedia] JPT

Former VC and early Twitter investor Chris Sacca penned a Medium post today in response to Justin Caldbeck's alleged harassment of female founders and employees. "I've learned that it's often the less obvious, yet pervasive and questionable, everyday behaviors of men in our industry that collectively make it inhospitable for women," he wrote. Sacca says he realized that he, too, had "personally contributed to the problem" at times: 

Particularly when reflecting upon my early years in Silicon Valley, there is no doubt I said and did things that made some women feel awkward, unwelcome, insecure, and/or discouraged. In social settings, under the guise of joking, being collegial, flirting, or having a good time, I undoubtedly caused some women to question themselves, retreat, feel alone, and worry they can't be their authentic selves. By stupidly perpetuating a culture rife with busting chops, teasing, and peer pressure to go out drinking, I made some women feel self-conscious, anxious, and fear they might not be taken seriously. 

I am sorry. 

Sacca then outlined what he would do going forward to better advocate for women and minorities in tech, both in speech and action, and how he would check his own biases and conduct. 

I am, of course, giving Sacca the benefit of the doubt. But assuming he is being earnest and not preemptively doing damage control, this is the type of response I'd like to see more of. Outrage from men in Silicon Valley is of little use without introspection. And too often it happens after instances of harassment become public, rather than while it's happening. Whether Sacca will keep his word and actually take tangible action remains to be seen, but this is a start. 

[Photo: Binary Capital] PM

Four years ago, a spate of online bedsheets brands like Parachute, Brooklinen, and Boll & Branch entered the scene, offering luxurious sheets that competed directly with expensive department store brands like Sferra and Frette. Because these startups were digital and direct to consumer, they were able to charge more reasonable prices for high-end bed linens. 

In an interesting twist, Parachute is now investing heavily in its brick-and-mortar presence at a time when many brands are actively shutting down their physical stores. A year ago, it launched a hotel in Venice, Ca., that served as a showroom for products but also a gathering spot for classes and events. This week, the brand has opened another store in a historical Victorian building in Portland, Oregon. 

Rather than simply replicating the hotel concept, founder Ariel Kaye is focused on curating an experience that will be relevant to the locals. This store will feature the work of local craftspeople and artists with similar aesthetics; it also has a large garden in the back that will be used for parties. Parachute offers an interesting example of how brands can successfully translate online experiences offline. In both stores, the goal isn't necessarily to get people to buy products, but to create community and invite customers to be part of the lifestyle the brand has created.   ES

Last week I reported that the meditation and wellness app company Headspace had laid off a good chunk of its employees, amid a structural shift and some internal cultural woes. It seems this may have been part of a grander scheme to keep Headspace going; Fortune reports that the company has now raised $36.7 million in a new round of funding.

The company told Fortune that the new round is part of its expansion, which will focus on corporate memberships. Over the last year it had been focusing on some expensive marketing, sources told me, as well as facing stiffer competition. Employees also indicated that, after a recent leadership change, morale has been low. It seems like now Headspace is trying to refocus after these hiccups.

You can read my report here.  CGW

Turns out those "I'm a Mac/I'm a PC" ads could just as easily have been about Republicans and Democrats. SurveyMonkey gathered political data from their subscribers, and Axios took that data and put together a tech-oriented look at the 2016 U.S. election. They calculated what the election would look like if the only voters were Mac users, or only PC users, or only iPhone or Android users.

Axios then put that data into a map, and the results are fascinating. In short, if only Mac users had voted, Hillary Clinton would have won the election (meaning she'd be the one tweeting about Mika Brzezinski's face-lift right now). Check it out here, while surreptitiously checking out your coworkers' phones.  ML

If you were looking for an excuse to start your day with a bowl of Cocoa Krispies topped with chocolate milk, science has your back. A study published recently in Frontiers in Nutrition looked at the effects of cocoa and cocoa-derived food (read: chocolate) and found that they have "the potential to counteract cognitive decline and sustain cognitive abilities, particularly among patients at risk." 

The secret lies in flavanols, a class of natural compounds that has "neuroprotective effects" (meaning, it's good for your brain), and chocolate happens to be filled with the stuff. The study's authors, Valentina Socci and Michele Ferrara from the University of L'Aquila in Italy, found that participants—lucky, lucky participants—showed improvements in memory and were better able to process visual information after having cocoa flavanols. The study also showed that, for women at least, cocoa actually counteracted the cognitive impairment that comes with sleep deprivation.

This isn't just good news for college kids pulling all-nighters, though. In fact, the effects of cocoa flavanols were more easily seen in older populations, and particularly those who had already started to lose memory or suffered from other mild cognitive impairments. Long-term ingestion of cocoa flavanols (ranging from 5 days up to 3 months) improved attention, processing speed, working memory, and verbal fluency. So maybe get your grandma an extra Whitman's Sampler the next time you see her. 

[Photo: Michal Grosicki] ML

After yesterday's tweets from Donald Trump making sexist and nasty remarks to MSNBC hosts Joe Scarborough and Mika Brzezinski, all eyes have been on the Morning Joe personalities and their reactions. Today they published an op-ed in the Washington Post that didn't mince words: "Donald Trump is not well" was the headline.

In the piece, they describe an "unhealthy obsession" the president had with the show and his penchant for sexist remarks. They also give their version of what Trump's tweets yesterday described last winter. Most interesting, however, is a claim that White House staff members tried to blackmail the hosts.

"This year, top White House staff members warned that the National Enquirer was planning to publish a negative article about us unless we begged the president to have the story spiked," Scarborough and Brzezinski write. "We ignored their desperate pleas." In essence, they are claiming that Trump told them a tabloid would run a smear story about them, unless they begged for forgiveness. If true, this is insane at best, illegal at worst. Trump has already responded on Twitter, calling their story (what else?) fake news. The National Enquirer has also responded. 

On that note, if you work at National Enquirer, or have firsthand information about this story, I'd love to hear from you—anonymity guaranteed!

CGW

Today's the day, so let's get right to the list. The best way to celebrate Asteroid Day, the intergalactic holiday that was made official by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs in December 2016, is to watch NASA's live broadcast, starting at noon EDT today. To kick off the festivities, the space agency will explain how their Planetary Defense Coordination Office finds and studies "near-Earth objects" aka how they plan to protect the Earth from getting destroyed by an asteroid (hint: 'splosions). You can watch it here. 

The second best way to mark the occasion is to play Asteroids while eating Pop Rocks. The third best way is to watch Armageddon (or Deep Impact, if you're allergic to Ben Affleck). The fourth best way is to hide out in an exogorth in an asteroid field until this intergalactic holiday is over.

[Photo: Flickr/NASA] ML

Airbnb already rents out fashionable homes to bigwigs like Lady Gaga, but now it wants to make those premium homes into a stand-alone offering. The company is working on a project informally called Airbnb Lux, according to Bloomberg. The new tier of homes would cater to wealthy travelers seeking more lavish accommodations afforded through penthouses, mansions, and villas. The news comes as no surprise. Airbnb was already headed in this direction as indicated by its purchase of Canadian-based Luxury Retreats in February. The expansion into higher-end properties will no doubt boost its bottom line.  RR

Palmer Luckey reportedly has pledged two grand to support the development Revive, software that is capable of cracking Oculus games to run on the HTC Vive, reports The Next Web. Revive's creator Jules Blok confirmed Luckey's donation on his Patreon blog:

 "As some of you suspected the sudden extreme jump in the pledge amount is indeed by Palmer Luckey. I'd like to thank him for his pledge and everything he has done for the VR community as a whole."