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Tech Team

Hacker rebranding [WSJ]

Hacker= dark, hoodie-clad shape sitting in a room with a binary code background? Not quite so, say US teens, who are setting up Hack Club chapters across the US for educational purposes. The Club gives its members the opportunity to learn about coding from each other – which is not taught in computer-science education at school. The biggest challenge teens face is convincing their parents that these clubs are legit. But with 11-year-olds now capable of breaching election results in just 10 minutes, it’s time to embrace a brave, new world of ethical hackers who want to put their talent to good use.

Time flies when you’re innovating [TechCrunch]

German startup Lilium is looking for some $500 million to get electric cars up in the air. Lilium already has some heavyweight investors behind it, including internet giant Tencent, but this latest funding round may take some time. Raising money in such a new market is tough. Vision is one thing, but it’s also all very much a regulation play. Any airborne vehicle system will need to integrate with existing air traffic control infrastructure, as local and national regulators grapple with increasingly crowded skies, not to mention safety and business model hurdles … as well as a new Transport Commissioner to clear first.

A most ‘recommended’ merger [Vox]

You know those little boxes of recommended content at the bottom of most webpages, showing anything from gossip to health and wealth magic tricks? If you have been online, then yes. Ever wondered who put them there and why? Answer is Outbrain and Taboola, two competing companies that provide publishers with additional ad revenue – and that after years of rumours may soon merge. This union may seem uneventful but has big implications. Publishers might see their leverage and terms worsen. Antitrust authorities might want to check their market power. Taboolabrain will still be a small kid on the Facebook/Google block, which in turn might have some further competition in the ads market. But the web moves fast, so we may soon have some recommended content on them.