Techmeme
March 25, 2020, 2:25 PM

Top News

New York Times:
While traffic surges on Facebook, with messaging up 50% from last month in many countries, their now-remote workforce struggles to handle its own IT snafus  —  The social network is straining to deal with skyrocketing usage as its 45,000 employees work from home for the first time.
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
Google brings its Podcasts app to iOS and unveils a redesign of Android app, with users' listening habits syncable across platforms via Google Podcasts for Web  —  Just in time for our collective house arrests, Google has unveiled a redesigned version of Podcasts.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
WHO partners with Facebook, Microsoft, and other tech companies on #BuildforCOVID19 hackathon to develop software tackling COVID-19 challenges, starting Mar. 26  —  - The World Health Organization has partnered with Facebook, Microsoft and several other tech companies for a hackathon to promote …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Apple updates Safari to fully block third-party cookies by default, months after Google said it would do the same in Chrome by 2022  —  Beating Google by two years to the privacy feature  —  Apple on Tuesday released a major update to its Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Reports: amid the pandemic, TripActions, Zeus Living, and Sonder have laid off one third or more of their staff; TripActions and Sonder are each valued at $1B+  —  Corporate travel startup TripActions Inc. is reportedly laying off hundreds of employees in the face of a slowdown in business related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
iPhone makers Foxconn and Wistron have suspended all production at their Indian plants to comply with a nationwide lockdown  —  - Foxconn and Wistron are both complying with surprise lockdown  — PM Modi has ordered population to stay at home for three weeks
Craig Mod / Wired:
The iPad's cursor, a translucent circle that has momentum and can change its form based on the context, is more convincing and simply more fun than direct touch  —  Apple's new iPadOS 13.4 adds enhanced support for trackpads.  And with that, a shiny new cursor.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
App Store rules, like a ban on services that stream from the cloud, limit iOS users from accessing rival gaming services from Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia  —  Video-game fans suddenly have their pick of a huge menu of titles thanks to a raft of new mobile subscription services from Apple Inc. …
NBC News:
Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News:
Facebook's Portal makes a lot of sense during a quarantine: it is great for video chatting and staying in touch, especially with kids and the elderly  —  The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus.
Chris Freeland / Internet Archive Blogs:
Internet Archive launches National Emergency Library, which lets users borrow 1.4M+ digitized books without joining a waitlist during the COVID-19 crisis  —  To address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials, as of today, March 24, 2020 …
FireEye:
FireEye says that between January 20 and March 11 Chinese actor APT41 attempted to exploit bugs in Citrix and Zoho products at organizations in 20+ countries  —  Beginning this year, FireEye observed Chinese actor APT41 carry out one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor we have observed in recent years.
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Humio, which offers an unlimited logging service, raises $20M Series B led by Dell Technologies Capital  —  Humio, a startup that has built a modern unlimited logging solution, announced a $20 million Series B investment today.  —  Dell Technologies Capital led the round with participation from previous investor Accel.
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
How 3D printer makers like Stratasys, Protolabs, and other companies like Ford, are helping fight COVID-19 by 3D printing face shields and medical equipment  —  With critical medical gear in short supply, additive manufacturing is an “essential part” of the pandemic response, the industry says.
Hariz Baharudin / The Straits Times:
Singapore will open source its contact-tracing app TraceTogether, which uses Bluetooth to identify people in extended close contact with COVID-19 patients  —  SINGAPORE - In a move to help the international community combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Government will be making the software …
Maciej Ceglowski / Idle Words:
During the pandemic, we should use “surveillance economy” infrastructure to trace contacts with location data, enforce self-quarantine, aid health authorities  —  I am a privacy activist who has been riding a variety of high horses about the dangers of permanent, ubiquitous data collection since 2012.

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Earlier Picks

Jay Greene / Washington Post:
Stephen Palley / The Block:
Laura Baldwin / O'Reilly Media:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: