Techmeme: Qualcomm introduces ultra-low power Bluetooth audio SoCs for wireless earbuds, with support for hybrid active noise cancellation and voice assistants (David Carnoy/CNET)

Top News

Todd Haselton / CNBC:

On Twitter, Slack CEO discussed some of the dramatic changes Slack has seen over the last few weeks, like quickly adding 9K net new customers; stock up 10%+ — - Slack CEO Stewart Butterfield posted a thread to Twitter telling a story of how wild things have been for Slack this month.

More: TechCrunch, SiliconANGLE, ZDNet, Business Insider, Business Wire, Slack, MarketWatch, Mashable, and Seeking Alpha

Tweets: @stewart, @reformedbroker, @rkrigney, @mkobach, @profgalloway, @lyssaslounge, and @stevesi

Andrew Webster / The Verge:

Epic Games launches Epic Games Publishing, a label that will cover up to 100% of development costs while game creators retain 100% of IP and creative control — ‘The publishing model we always wanted’ — Fortnite maker Epic Games is getting into publishing in a big way.

More: Epic Games Store, Remedy investors, Forbes, Ars Technica, Windows Central, VentureBeat, GamingBolt, Game Rant, GameSpot, Kotaku, TechSpot, CCN.com, Rock, Paper, Shotgun, IGN, Polygon, USgamer.net, Neowin, TrueAchievements, and Gamasutra

Tweets: @epicgames, @ballmatthew, @samlakermd, and @timsoret

Andy / TorrentFreak:

AMD confirms someone claimed in December to have “test files” related to current and future graphics products; some files recently posted online were removed — Graphics cards are big business and AMD is one of the leading brands with an estimated 32% share of the discrete desktop market.

More: The Verge, Engadget, LaptopMag, IGN, HackRead, VG247, Tom's Hardware, Plagiarism Today, The Daily Dot, Neowin, SecurityWeek, TechSpot, Thurrott, OnMSFT.com, Game Rant, Wccftech, SlashGear, TrueAchievements, TechRadar.com, and Windows Central

Tweets: @xcloudtimdog and @campuscodi

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Microsoft acquires Affirmed Networks, which provides fully virtualized, cloud-native networking tech to telecom operators, with a focus on 5G and edge computing — Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Affirmed Networks, a company that specializes in fully virtualized, cloud-native networking solutions for telecom operators.

More: The Official Microsoft Blog, Affirmed Networks, Windows Central, GeekWire, ZDNet, Thurrott, VentureBeat, Light Reading, WinBuzzer, SDxCentral, OnMSFT.com, and FierceWireless

Tweets: @greengart, @yousefkazure, and @dmavrakis

Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer:

Researcher: a vulnerability affecting iOS 13.3.1 and later prevents VPNs from encrypting all traffic, potentially exposing user data or leaking IP addresses — A currently unpatched security vulnerability affecting iOS 13.3.1 or later prevents virtual private network (VPNs) …

More: ProtonVPN Blog and 9to5Mac. Tweets: @protonvpn

Airbnb Newsroom:

Airbnb says it wants to provide free or subsidized housing to 100K healthcare professionals, relief workers, and first responders around the world — - New global initiative will provide free or subsidized housing for healthcare professionals, relief workers, and first responders, typically closer to where they are working

More: TechCrunch, USA Today, CNET, Slashdot, and PYMNTS.com

Tweets: @bchesky and @airbnb

Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:

Huawei rolls out Celia, its multilingual AI assistant for phones outside China, initially on P40 in UK, France, Spain, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia — Huawei has officially announced its own voice-activated virtual assistant outside of China, as the Chinese technology titan continues to push its own versions of Google's services.

More: Android Authority, Android Authority, Android Headlines, and Engadget

Sam Byford / The Verge:

Preview of Huawei's P40 flagship, which doesn't include any Google services: the hardware is really terrific but is not enough to overcome Google's absence

More: The Irish Times, 9to5Google, Thurrott, CNET, The Next Web, Gizmodo, Android Police, Digital Trends, TechCrunch, The Register, Mashable, KnowTechie, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @greengart and @_vancajun

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Fast, which is building platform-agnostic login and checkout services for e-commerce, raises $20M Series A led by Stripe — Early this morning, Fast, a startup building platform-agnostic login and checkout services, announced that Stripe has led a $20 million investment into its business.

More: PYMNTS.com, The Irish Times, Crowdfund Insider, and FinSMEs

Tweets: @tylertringas and @julien. Thanks:@dstickler_01

Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:

Google says it will resume Chrome and Chrome OS releases after pausing them last week due to the adjusted employee work schedules during the pandemic — Google Chrome 81 to be released next month, on April 7. — Google paused Chrome updates last week when it canceled the Chrome 81 release …

More: Chromium Blog, BetaNews, BleepingComputer, TechCrunch, and 9to5Google

Tweets: @chromiumdev, @techcrunch, and @campuscodi

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.

More: Android Police, 9to5Google, Qualcomm, The Irish Times, Digital Trends, Qualcomm, International Business Times, The Verge, XDA Developers, SlashGear, and Engadget

Tweets: @greengart and @brianroemmele

Celia Wan / The Block:

Blockchain startup Block.one invests $150M in its social media app Voice, to kickstart its independent operations; Voice lets users post for token rewards — Block.one, the publisher of the EOS blockchain protocol, has invested $150 million in Voice, a social media platform launched in June last year.

More: The Capital

Annie Palmer / CNBC:

Interviews with 12 Amazon warehouse workers: limited options from Amazon are forcing them to work in crowded warehouses with few essentials, like sanitizers — - A dozen Amazon workers told CNBC they're terrified to go to work during the pandemic, while others have expressed frustration …

More: CNET, Forbes, and Business Insider

Tweets: @lauren_feiner, @eamonjavers, @robotodd, @stevekovach, and @kifleswing. Thanks:@mattrosoff

Maura Church / Patreon Blog:

Patreon says 30,000+ creators signed up in the first three weeks of March; average new patron growth in 6 countries, including US and Italy, was 36.2% over Feb. — Right now is a stressful time to be a creator. In a time when so many around the world are deeply affected …

More: The Verge. Tweets: @nwquah, @om, and @ranimolla

Bloomberg:

US CFTC publishes guidance on the “actual delivery” of a digital asset, which could impact margin loans where no actual cryptocurrencies change hands — - CFTC explains what ‘actual delivery’ of digital currency means — Guidance distinguishes spot trades from futures contracts

More: CoinGeek, Finextra, and CFTC

Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:

A self-reporting COVID-19 symptom app developed by Boston-based startup Zoe had 750k downloads in 24 hours in the UK; Zoe is working to bring the app to the US — One of the big challenges (among many) with the coronavirus pandemic is that overwhelmed health services do not always know how best …

More: 9to5Mac, iPhone Hacks, Pocket-lint, EURACTIV.com, Neowin, and VentureBeat. Thanks:@ingridlunden

William J. Broad / New York Times:

MIT, Princeton, Microsoft, and others form a consortium to launch the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute to investigate big issues, like pandemics, using AI — A new consortium of top scientists will be able to use some of the world's most advanced supercomputers to look for solutions.

More: Berkeley News, AiThority, and Forbes

Tweets: @corytv and @2morrowknight

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:

Dremio, which offers a virtualization toolkit to streamline and curate data, raises $70M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to ~$115M — Dremio, which offers tools that help to streamline and curate data, today announced that it has raised $70 million in equity growth financing.

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 …

Ron Miller / TechCrunch:

Denver-based Yaguara, which helps e-commerce companies analyze customer data, raises $7.2M seed round led by Foundation Capital — Yaguara, a Denver-based startup that wants to help e-commerce companies understand their customers better to deliver more meaningful experiences, announced a $7.2 million seed investment today.

Thanks:@davedonohue

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