Techmeme
March 26, 2020, 2:45 AM

Top News

Nikkei Asian Review:
Sources: Apple is weighing a delay of the launch of the iPhone 12 by months over fears of low sales and supply chain constraints amid the coronavirus pandemic  —  US tech giant assesses coronavirus impact on global demand  —  PALO ALTO/TAIPEI — Apple is preparing the ground to possibly delay …
Biz Carson / Protocol:
Several former TripActions employees say ~100 staff members were fired en masse during a Zoom call, without being told the reason behind the meeting beforehand  —  Hundreds of tech employees are getting laid off amid the coronavirus outbreak — but now it's all happening over Zoom.
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.
Aral Balkan:
As part of Safari's privacy push, it will delete a site's local storage, like Indexed DB, after seven days of inactivity, hamstringing Safari's offline web apps  —  Blocking third-party cookies, good.  Killing offline web apps, bad.  —  On the face of it, WebKit's announcement yesterday …
NBC News:
Tech platforms, which had mostly resisted calls for strict moderation, are now taking a “harder line” when it comes to moderating content related to COVID-19  —  Facing the prospect that hoaxes or misinformation could worsen a global pandemic, tech platforms are taking control of the information ecosystem like never before.
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.
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.
David Carnoy / CNET:
Qualcomm introduces ultra-low power Bluetooth audio SoCs for wireless earbuds, with support for hybrid active noise cancellation and voice assistants  —  Qualcomm introduced two new Bluetooth audio systems-on-a-chip that will power upgraded true wireless headphones hitting stores in the coming months.
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Plastiq, which lets consumers and SMBs use credit cards to pay for anything, raises $75M Series D round led by B Capital Group, bringing total raised to $140M+  —  When Eliot Buchanan tried to use his credit card to pay his Harvard tuition bill, the payment was rejected because the university said it doesn't accept credit.
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Analyst estimates Facebook and Google could lose $44B+ in 2020 global ad revenue due to COVID-19; Facebook says its ad business has weakened in affected places  —  Ad spending is falling off a cliff amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and Facebook and Google, the two heavyweights in digital advertising …
New York Times:
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 …
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Online marketplace OfferUp raises $120M led by OLX Group and says it will acquire rival Letgo, aimed at used goods  —  It's a big day for OfferUp.  —  The Bellevue, Wash.-based mobile marketplace startup today announced a $120 million funding round and an agreement to acquire Letgo …
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
John Herrman / New York Times:
As social interactions become more distant, Nextdoor has seen a spike in engagement as it helps neighbors connect and organize without risking physical contact  —  Homebound city dwellers are turning to a neighborhood app to connect, organize and help each other without risking physical contact.

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