Techmeme
March 18, 2020, 11:50 AM

Top News

Apple:
Apple unveils new 11" and 12.9" iPad Pro with a lidar scanner for depth-sensing, backlit keyboard and trackpad, available to order today for $799+ and $999+  —  New Magic Keyboard Designed for iPad Pro Features a Floating Design, Backlit Keyboard and Trackpad, Delivering the Best Typing Experience Ever on iPad
Apple:
Apple launches new MacBook Air with a Magic Keyboard featuring scissor-style keys, 13.3" display, Touch ID, and 10th-gen Intel Core CPUs, starting at $999  —  The Most Popular Mac Now Has Up to 2x Faster Performance, the New Magic Keyboard and Twice the Storage
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple updates Mac Mini with double the storage capacity in standard configurations, with the $799 base model now coming with a 256GB SSD  —  Apple today updated the Mac mini so that standard configurations now come with double the storage capacity.  —  The $799 configuration now comes …
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.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Slack unveils a new design with an updated navigation bar, collapsible sections within the sidebar, improved ways to respond to threads and mentions, and more  —  It arrives today, and it's more customizable and simplified  —  Slack is unveiling a big redesign to its communications app …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
This pandemic has generated a surge in online community building, creating cautious optimism that our virtual efforts can offset some in-person losses  —  We've always hoped that our digital tools would create connections, not conflict.  We have a chance to make it happen.
Alfred Ng / CNET:
HHS waives penalties for the use of non-HIPAA compliant video chatting services, like FaceTime and Skype, for telehealth during COVID-19 outbreak  —  The coronavirus crisis is pushing the US government to loosen one of its only laws on data privacy.  The Department of Health and Human Services …
Lindsey O'Donnell / Threatpost:
Study: Microsoft Edge sends frequent hashed IDs tied to hardware to its back-end servers, making it one of the least private browsers available  —  Microsoft Edge is one of the least private web browsers — even more so than other popular browsers like Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox — according to academic researchers.
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 …
The Information:
Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Chinese video sharing app Likee is looking to expand in the US, following in the footsteps of TikTok, as the app's MAUs grew to 115.3M, up 208%, in Q4  —  - Likee was a breakout hit in 2019 and is keeping momentum up  — Operating out of Singapore may ease U.S. regulator concerns

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Cloudflare:
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Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
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Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
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Sources:
Factory CEO on why AGI is already here
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
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Invest Like the Best:
Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
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Lenny's Podcast:
The grief, loneliness, and burnout sweeping through the tech industry right now | Molly Graham
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
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Big Technology Podcast:
Meta's Muse Revival, Frontier AI Under Threat, The Rise Of Dopamine Sites
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Great Chat:
Doomers at Dreamforce
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
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