Techmeme
March 17, 2020, 6:40 PM

Top News

Washington Post:
Sources: the US government is in active talks with Facebook, Google, and others to use location data from Americans' smartphones to stem COVID-19's spread  —  The U.S. government is in active talks with Facebook, Google and a wide array of tech companies and health experts …
Joe Tidy / BBC:
Israel approves emergency measures, it says lasting 30 days, for its security agencies to track the mobile phone data of people suspected to have COVID-19  —  The Israeli government has approved emergency measures for its security agencies to track the mobile phone data of people with suspected coronavirus.
The Information:
Sources: Facebook says all employees will get a $1,000 bonus and earn at least their full bonus for their first 6-month review of 2020 amid COVID-19 crisis  —  The Information writes deeply reported articles about the technology industry you won't find elsewhere.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Facebook says it plans to award $100M in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses in 30+ countries to address COVID-19's economic impact  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Facebook Inc said Tuesday it plans to award $100 million in cash grants and ad credits for up to 30,000 small businesses …
Ryan Broderick / BuzzFeed News:
Uber suspends its Uber Pool feature in the US and Canada, and Lyft says it is pausing Shared rides across all its markets to reduce the spread of COVID-19  —  Uber has suspended its Uber Pool feature in the United States and Canada due to the worsening outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Amazon to prioritize shipments of household staples and other high-demand products, partially suspending its Fulfillment by Amazon program through April 5  —  Amazon's ‘Fulfillment by Amazon’ (FBA) program, through which it provides warehousing and shipment services for products from third-party sellers …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube say they're working with each other and healthcare agencies to tackle misinfo about COVID-19  —  Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube put out joint statement promising to fight COVID-19 fraud and curb misinformation.
Khari Johnson / VentureBeat:
Google Translate debuts Transcribe for Android, letting users transcribe conversations in real-time across eight languages, with future plans to ship on iOS  —  Google Translate today launched Transcribe for Android, a feature that delivers a continual, real-time translation of a conversation.
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:
Apple says on its website that stores will be closed “until further notice”, after first saying they'd be closed until March 27  —  Late on Friday, Apple announced that it would close all Apple Stores outside of Greater China until March 27th.  Over the weekend …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Google postpones the rescheduled, online version of its Cloud Next conference until further notice, after canceling the in-person conference a few weeks ago  —  the in-person version of Cloud Next, its largest conference of the year, amid a flurry of similar coronavirus-related cancellations of major events.
Washington Post:
Around the world, coronavirus misinformation spreads rapidly across WhatsApp, TikTok, texts, and emails, mediums lacking oversight that elude the authorities  —  The Washington Post is providing this story for free so that all readers have access to this important information about the coronavirus.
BuzzFeed News:
Some warehouse workers say Amazon isn't doing enough to limit the spread of coronavirus within its fulfillment centers and demand additional protections  —  As Americans retreat to their homes to weather the coronavirus pandemic, they are increasingly turning to Amazon to get basic necessities …
Bloomberg:
Dave Clark / The Amazon Blog:
New York Times:
As the COVID-19 outbreak discourages moviegoers and theatrical releases get delayed, the ascendancy of streaming services may be accelerating  —  Cinemas, already contending with streaming services, are now facing the prospect of no audiences and no new films because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:

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