Techmeme
March 30, 2020, 6:45 PM

Top News

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft debuts a Family Safety mobile app and AI-powered PowerPoint and Excel features as part of its 365 Family and Personal subscriptions, coming April 21  —  Microsoft today announced that on April 21, Office 365 will become Microsoft 365, or “the subscription for your life.”
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: in early March, Apple started letting some engineers take home early versions of future devices to continue work during the lockdown period  —  With its 175-acre campus in Cupertino, California, and several dozen more offices across the rest of the world, Apple Inc. wasn't designed as a work-at-home company.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
App Annie: videoconferencing apps saw a record 62M downloads during the week of March 14-21, up 45% from the prior week  —  Work-from-home policies, social distancing and government lockdowns have increased the demand for video conferencing apps, for both business and personal use.
Zara Stone / OneZero :
Sean Lyngaas / CyberScoop:
HackerOne expels mobile voting vendor Voatz from its security program over hostile interactions with researchers, the first time it's cut ties with an org  —  HackerOne, a company that pairs ethical hackers with organizations to fix software flaws, has kicked mobile voting vendor Voatz off its platform …
The Information:
Facebook says it has struck a deal to license tech and purchase AR displays from microLED firm Plessey, which sources say Apple recently looked at buying  —  Facebook has struck a deal to buy all of the augmented reality displays made by British firm Plessey, as the social network looks …
Marc Tracy / New York Times:
Facebook says it will invest $100M to support the news industry during COVID-19: $25M in emergency funding for local news and $75M in additional marketing spend  —  With grants and marketing spending, the social media giant hopes to support outlets doing essential local reporting but struggling with a drop in advertising.
Ina Fried / Axios:
After changing its rules, Twitter is cracking down on COVID-19 misinformation from prominent accounts, including Brazilian President Bolsonaro and Rudy Giuliani  —  It's notable that Twitter, like other social networks, has announced stricter rules on virus-related misinformation than other types of false posts.
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
A US federal court rules that simply breaking a site's terms of service does not constitute criminal hacking under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act  —  Courts have struggled to interpret the vague Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.  —  A federal court in Washington, DC, has ruled that violating …
Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
Foxconn posted a $1.58B profit in Q4 2019, down 24% YoY; sources say the 5G iPhone will launch in the fall, but future Apple products may be delayed  —  - The company known as Foxconn grappling with Covid-19 upheaval  — Apple's key partner getting back on track after the outbreak
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Huawei open sources MindSpore, an AI computing framework akin to TensorFlow and PyTorch, which it claims offers a 50% efficiency boost over rivals on average  —  Huawei this week announced that MindSpore, a framework for AI app development that the company detailed in August 2019, is now available in open source on GitHub and Gitee.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Shopify's new AI commerce stack  —  Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Zoho:
Enhancements to Zoho Writer's automation flow designer: New PDF operations, password protection, and more  —  Once we rolled out the automation flow designer in Zoho Writer's merge templates …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
2025 In Review, 2026 Predictions — With Reed Albergotti
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Podcast Pioneer PJ Vogt's Second Act: Less Budget, More Control
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.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
BG2 Pod:
AI Enterprise - Databricks & Glean
Open-source podcast on all things tech, markets, investing, and capitalism, hosted by Brad Gerstner.
Subscribe to BG2 Pod.
Great Chat:
The stories we told ourselves in 2025
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Grit:
How Brands Stay Visible When AI Decides | Profound CEO James Cadwallader
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Ted Sarandos: Netflix and how tech changed storytelling
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:45 PM ET, March 30, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Earlier Picks

New York Times:
Stephanie Kirchgaessner / The Guardian:
Dan Primack / Axios:
Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Mark Wyciślik-Wilson / BetaNews: