Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Recode Daily: China says Trump’s U.S. is ‘opening fire on the entire world’

Plus, Amazon takes a page from the Toys “R” Us catalog; Facebook ads give a glimpse at the showdown over the POTUS SCOTUS pick; about that treadmill desk in the newsroom.

Shipping containers being unloaded from a container ship
Shipping containers being unloaded from a container ship
Justin Sullivan / Getty

China says the Trump-led U.S. is “opening fire” on the world with its proposed trade war. These include tariffs set to go into effect on Friday on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports; China is set to retaliate with its own tariffs on American goods, including food and automotive imports. [Elias Glenn and Christian Shepherd / Reuters]

[Want to get the Recode Daily in your inbox? Subscribe here.]

Amazon is planning to send out a print toy catalog for the holiday shopping season, which would also be handed out at its Whole Foods stores. The 100-page catalog would be inspired by the iconic “Big Book” catalog from the now-bankrupt Toys “R” Us — which closed in part because of competition from online stores like Amazon; the online behemoth has also reportedly looked at expanding its retail footprint by acquiring some of the vacated toy-store locations. [Matthew Townsend / Bloomberg]

Workers at Microsoft, Google and Amazon have forced their employers to reconsider how their products are being used by the U.S. government. But so far there has been no employee uprising at Twitter, Trump’s favored social network, which has been central to viral progressive movements. Here are some thoughts about why. [Farhad Manjoo / The New York Times]

Facebook ads are offering a peek at Trump’s looming Supreme Court pick: Partisan groups have flooded Facebook, Twitter and other social networks with political ads over the potential candidates. Classified as advocacy groups, they are not required to identify their donors or disclose much of their spending. But Facebook’s new ad policies are giving a glimpse of how money from these organizations flows through social media. [Kevin Roose / The New York Times]

Business schools are trying to attract more liberal-arts types with “math camps.” Carnegie Mellon, Yale and Columbia University are among the flagship MBA programs helping former English literature and political science majors prepare for math-intensive coursework before their first semesters. Once reliable moneymaking ventures for large universities, MBA tracks have experienced a steady drop in applications in previous years. [Janiki Chadha / The Wall Street Journal]

What’s it like to livestream your life to tens of thousands of obsessed, controlling fans? The New Yorker profiles Paul Denino, a.k.a. Ice Poseidon, whose edgy livestreams generate an impressive amount of drama. “Denino has lived in Los Angeles for a year and a half, and during that time he has been kicked out of six apartments.” [Adrian Chen / The New Yorker]

Some AI experts are saying we should pump the brakes about the impending reality of fully self-driving cars: It could be years, if not decades, before they can reliably avoid accidents. [Russell Brandom / The Verge]


Recode Presents ...

Do you have questions about the Instagram sports sensation House of Highlights? Kurt Wagner will be talking with the account’s creator, Omar Raja, on a future episode of Too Embarrassed to Ask. Tweet your questions about HoH (or the NBA offseason, or the World Cup) to us with the hashtag #tooembarrassed or email us, TooEmbarrassed@recode.net.

Top stories from Recode

These are the “invisible” challenges that make it harder for Snapchat, Facebook and Twitter to grow.

Early Amazon employee Eugene Wei breaks down his theory of “invisible asymptotes” on the latest Recode Media podcast.

This is cool

So, about that treadmill desk in the newsroom …


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

See More:

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh