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Seth Weintraub

llsethj

Founder, Publisher and Editorial Director of the 9to5/Electrek/DroneDJ sites.

Seth Weintraub is an award-winning journalist and blogger who won back to back Neal Awards during his three plus years  covering Apple and Google at IDG’s Computerworld from 20072010.  Weintraub next covered all things Google for Fortune Magazine from 2010-2011 amassing a thick rolodex of Google contacts and love for Silicon Valley tech culture.

It turns out that his hobby 9to5Mac.com blog was always his favorite and in 2011 he went full time adding his Fortune Google followers to 9to5Google.com and adding the style and commerce component 9to5Toys.com gear and deals site. In 2013, Weintraub bought one of the Tesla’s first Model S EVs off the assembly line and so began his love affair with the Electric Vehicle and green energy which in 2014 turned into electrek.co.

In 2018, DroneDJ was born to cover the burgeoning world of drones and UAV’s led by China’s DJI.

From 1997-2007, Weintraub was a Global IT director and Web Developer for a number of companies with stints at multimedia and branding agencies in Paris, Los Angeles, New York, Sydney, Hong Kong, Madrid and London before becoming a publisher/blogger.

Seth received a bachelors degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the University of Southern California with a minor in Multimedia and Creative Technology in 1997. In 2004, he received a Masters from NYU’s Tisch School of the Art’s ITP program.

Hobbies: Weintraub is a licensed single engine private pilot, certified open water scuba diver and spent over a year traveling to 60 cities in 23 countries. Whatever free time exists is now guaranteed to his lovely wife and two amazing sons.

More at About.me. BI 2014 profile.

Tips: seth@9to5mac.com, or llsethj on Wickr/Skype or link at top of page.

Connect with Seth Weintraub

Comment: Google ‘News’ is already riddled with AI copies of actual articles

Google AI

If you were wondering if Google would be able to outsmart artificial intelligence, the early answers are certainly not looking good. Anecdotally, bot sites that have existed long before generative AI are likely going to embrace the new wave of technology to speed up their plagiarism, thus more robustly fooling Google into thinking that they are actual news sites, leading to Google promoting these stolen articles through the wildly popular and widely used Google News.

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Samsung Galaxy S10+ 128GB drops to $550 in today’s Gold Box ($200 off)

Today only, as part of its Gold Box Deals of the Day, Amazon offers the Samsung Galaxy S10+ 128GB unlocked for $300 off at $549.99 in Black, White, Flamingo Pink or Prism Blue. Free shipping is available for all. The price has fluctuated from $700-$850 this year, so the drop represents a great savings opportunity.

This Galaxy S10+ has a super-slim design that fits comfortably in your pocket and easily sits in the hand. A 6.4-inch endless quad HD+ dynamic AMOLED screen with nearly bezel-less infinity display offers a cinematic viewing experience with hole punch front selfie cam and a full set of pro lenses around back, including ultrawide for stunning landscapes and micro-zoom for epic details,

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DJI Mavic Air 2 review: Major upgrade with 48mp/4K60 cam is more Mavic 2 than Air

All the rumors were true: The DJI Mavic Air 2 is now official, and we’ve had a few days head start evaluating the new $799 wunderkind. (Buy at DJI or Adorama/$988 Fly More)

Talk about big numbers in a small (570g) package: 48 Megapixel camera which shares the Sony IMX586 sensor with recent flagship smartphones. Add the ability to record 4K video at 60 frames per second, which is double the framerate of the big brother Mavic 2 Pro.

There’s a lot more to this, so read on as we bring you exclusive footage and takes below:


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Google for Small Business is an easy portal to pull more businesses into its ecosystem

Google today launched a new suite of tools for small business customers called Google for Small Business.  In celebration of of International Small Business Day, Google invited a few journalists and small business owners into its beautiful Grow with Google space at the front of its huge New York City Offices.

The web portal now has features that allow small business owners to slide into Google’s ecosystem a lot easier and of course start using its ads and other revenue-making services…


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Are Powerbeats Pro the best wireless exercise headphones…for Android?

Powerbeats Pro Android

I’ve never been a fan of Beats headphones, even after the company got bought by Apple. The sound has never been as good for my tastes as Bose equivalents, specifically QC35s, for over ear listening. Until the AirPods came out, I had no need for Apple headphones in my dual iOS/Android platform life. But here we are with Apple’s new $250 Powerbeats Pro


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Anthony Levandowski’s new Pronto.ai startup has already autonomously driven 3099 miles cross country

Anthony Levandowski has had quite the run recently. The autonomous driving prodigy worked at Google for almost a decade and was an integral part of its autonomous driving efforts that spun from Google (X) into Waymo. In 2016, he exited from Google’s Waymo to found a startup called Otto which was snapped up by Uber that is partially owned by Google Ventures. Unfortunately for all involved, Levandowski left the GooglePlex with more than just his belongings and ended up the main defendant in a rare Waymo vs. Uber civil case which was settled where Google got an even bigger chunk of Uber and a promise from Uber not to use its tech.

In the meantime, Levandowski established a religious organization called ‘Way of the Future’ to develop and promote the realization of a Godhead based on Artificial Intelligence. It reads like a “I, for one, welcome our new AI overlords”.

Now he’s back with an interesting startup called Pronto.ai that promises to change autonomous driving with a new product and what appears to be a new world record for autonomous driving…
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RED Hydrogen One unboxing and hands-on: This is big

AT&T invited 9to5Google to a special RED Hydrogen One launch event last night with a keynote given by RED founder Jim Jannard. The evening didn’t disappoint with a moving rags to riches, against the odds history of Jannard’s startup exploits at Oakley, which went public in 1995 and sold out to eyewear monopoly Luxottica in 2007. In 2005, Jannard again went up against the establishment and started the RED Cinema Camera Company, which struck it big in the motion picture industry.

Act 2 from RED is the Hydrogen One Smartphone which, as we’ve seen before, is a gargantuan beast of a specs powerhouse. Its standout features, besides the size, are the 3D front and back cameras and screen, which we aren’t allowed to show you on our lame 2D website. But we can show you some new stuff here in our unboxing…


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Talking Schmidt: Google advisor/ former CEO says Elon Musk ‘exactly wrong’ on AI, doesn’t understand benefits

We haven’t done a Talking Schmidt in a while, not because the former Google CEO and current Alphabet Board member Dr. Eric Schmidt has been quiet with his sometimes outlandish commentary, but because of his reduced role at Google and its now parent company Alphabet. In February Schmidt stepped down as Chairman, taking an innovation role at MIT and was replaced by John Hennessy.

But back to the matter at hand…


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Acer’s beautiful new $270 Chromebook 11 takes base level to Play Store real 4GB/32GB

Ed. Note: After publication, Acer changed the price from $250 to $270 which is only $20 more but quite a bit in this budget segment. 

The Chromebook train keeps on trucking with Google’s partner companies turning out new, better specced, higher quality devices every few weeks it seems. Today we are taking a quick look at Acer’s new $270 fanless 4GB Chromebook 11 (CB311-8H-C5DV) in an Indigo Blue matte finish. It puts a speedy higher end 4GB/32GB SSD storage into a durable package kids will love.


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Cora is a personal ‘sky Uber drone’ backed by Google’s Larry Page and Sebastian Thrun, 2021 New Zealand launch plan

From Electrek:

The flying taxi company Kitty Hawk last night launched ‘Cora’, a Vertical Takeoff and Landing (VTOL) personal airplane/helicopter drone hybrid that will carry a passenger. Kitty Hawk is funded by Google co-founder Larry Page and CEO-ed by Sebastian Thrun, the self-driving car pioneer who is the founding director of Google’s X lab.
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How Google’s Homepage Doodles mark an event, not just for a day but for perpetuity

Everyone knows that Google’s search engine front page is a behemoth of a traffic driver even if it has lost a little traffic in the past several years since because every browser has turned the URL bar into the de facto search engine query box. That real estate on the homepage is still some of the most valuable space on the web and Google, still showing its quirky roots, more often than not, puts up a Google Doodle to mark the day.  But that doodle is fleeting — it only lasts the day on the homepage, shared throughout with world with other localized doodles and then is relegated to the archives.

But being a doodle for a day, because of Google’s great economic power to send clicks, however puts the subject matter all over the place in more permanent forms…


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Google Home Max now available for $399 to ship at a few retailers, delivers by tomorrow

Update 10:35 ET: Currently out of stock at Verizon and Best Buy – hope you got in early. 

As predicted by the Best Buy leak a few weeks ago, Google’s Home Max is now available at a few different retailers. You’ll want to get your order in ASAP for Holiday deliveries.

Available at:

Also it still shows Waitlist at Google, and B&H but we expect that to change at some point today. 
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Acer’s aluminum Chromebook 15 (2017) is as good a computer as you can get for under $400

Acer has been selling its Chromebook 15 in a variety of configurations since January of 2015. In fact, they currently list 8 different varieties on the Acer online store and somehow more at Amazon.  There are bare bones versions of the Acer Chromebook 15 for as little at $179 at Walmart, but what we’re here to talk about today is a relatively high-end model affectionately named the “CB515-1HT-P39B.”

Most important, is its aluminum shell or at least half the shell, which your friends, if their vision isn’t great, might mistake for a 2015 MacBook Pro. It also has 2 charge capable USB-C ports on either side with 2 legacy USB-A ports, as well.

I took my first look at this year’s model at IFA in August and last week Acer sent me one for review. Here are my thoughts after a week.


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IFA: LG V30 is as close to perfection from a smartphone that I’ve seen…and heard

IFA this year is full of new and recently-released high spec Android smartphones.  But having just come out of the LG V30 launch event (and deciding to pass on Sony’s), I’m just going to call it right now: The V30 is easily the best Android phone available right now. It does so much right that I have to really dig around for things I don’t like. Check our full review and spec sheet.

Let’s survey the field right quick:


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Alphabet cuts former Titan drone program from X division, employees dispersing to other units

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In 2014, Google bought Titan Aerospace, maker of high altitude, solar-powered drone aircraft. At the time Google noted, “It’s still early days, but atmospheric satellites could help bring internet access to millions of people, and help solve other problems, including disaster relief and environmental damage like deforestation.” Titan previously said that its drones could collect real-time, high-resolution images of the earth, carry other atmospheric sensors and support voice and data services. A video of the Titan Aerospace Solara 50 can be seen below…


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Don’t be Evil: Google and Apple go on record opposing any effort to build a Muslim registry

NEW YORK, NY - DECEMBER 14: (L to R) Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon, Larry Page, chief executive officer of Alphabet Inc. (parent company of Google), Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer of Facebook, Vice President-elect Mike Pence listen as President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a meeting of technology executives at Trump Tower, December 14, 2016 in New York City. This is the first major meeting between President-elect Trump and technology industry leaders. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Drew Angerer / Getty Images

In a Friday evening release to Buzzfeed, Apple and Google spokespeople went on the record saying that the two tech behemoths would be opposed to helping build or contributing to any sort of ‘Muslim Registry’.

A spokesperson for Google said:

“In relation to the hypothetical of whether we would ever help build a ‘muslim registry’ – we haven’t been asked, of course we wouldn’t do this and we are glad – from all that we’ve read – that the proposal doesn’t seem to be on the table.”

An Apple spokesperson said:

“We think people should be treated the same no matter how they worship, what they look like, who they love. We haven’t been asked and we would oppose such an effort.”


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Review: Acer’s Chromebook R13 w/ apps is a temptingly nice 13-inch 1080P convertible

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I was as pleasantly shocked as many people at Google I/O earlier this year when the company announced that Chromebooks would begin to offer Android apps via software update. In my mind, this is a real game changer, bringing Chrome OS into the mainstream desktop OS market with macOS and Windows.

The future became now as earlier this month, the already impressive Acer R13 Dev channel got the Google Play store. But let me back up a second. First you really need to hear about the hardware specs of the Acer Chromebook R13 which make it seem almost like a Pixel-type of device, if not better…
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