Open Links In New Tab
Mobile Archives Advertise Site News
Techmeme
March 31, 2020, 3:45 AM
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter

Top News

Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Around 60 employees staged a walkout at a Staten Island, NY fulfillment center to protest the impact of Amazon's COVID-19 response on warehouse workers  —  As Amazon workers across the country test positive for the virus, employees believe collective action is the only way to get the company to meaningfully clean its facilities
Bloomberg:
Amazon confirms that it fired a worker, who led the Staten Island warehouse strike, for violating its quarantine measures; worker says firing was in retaliation  —  - Worker Chris Smalls says labor activism led to his dismissal  — Amazon says Smalls violated safety conditions, quarantine
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.
New York Times:
New York's AG sent a letter to Zoom expressing concern over security vulnerabilities and privacy practices as more users conduct sensitive tasks on the service  —  As the videoconferencing platform's popularity has surged, Zoom has scrambled to address a series of data privacy and security problems.
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 …
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 :
A look at video chat service Houseparty, which has topped the Australian, Canadian, and UK iOS App Stores and is like Zoom but with built-in games
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.
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 …
Jon Fingas / Engadget:
Report: CDC, state, and local authorities in the US have started using anonymized location data from mobile ads to help plan their response to the pandemic  —  The use of phone location tracking to keep tabs on COVID-19 is becoming increasingly common, and the US appears to be no exception.
Violet Blue / Engadget:
Before using the tools built by data harvesting companies to track the coronavirus pandemic, we must assume that the tools will be abused

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: Revolutionizing Commerce with Winter Edition '26  —  Over 150+ new features transform how merchants build, design, and grow—with technology that amplifies creative vision.
Zoho:
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control  —  Picture this: It's Monday morning.  You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
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.
Sponsor Techmeme

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
 OpenAI's 2026 Priority, Disney's AI Play, Datacenter Buildout Trouble
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.
Hard Fork:
 Australia Kicks Kids Off Social Media + Is the A.I. Water Issue Fake? + Hard Fork Wrapped
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
 Why the next AI frontier is phone calls, with Beside CEO Maxime Germain
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Great Chat:
 So what happens after AGI?
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.
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
 Lachlan Cartwright Started in Tabloids. Now He's a Must-Read Media Gossip.
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.
Add your podcast here
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:45 AM ET, March 31, 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.

From Mediagazer

Benjamin Mullin / New York Times:
Arkansas PBS severs ties with the PBS network, the first state public TV system to do so since Congress cut CPB funds, citing the annual $2M+ membership cost

Sam Roberts / New York Times:
Arthur L. Carter, who started a Connecticut newspaper in 1981, bought and sold The Nation, and founded the New York Observer in 1987, has died at 93

Pamela McClintock / The Hollywood Reporter:
Disney's Zootopia 2 surpasses $1B at the global box office, the fastest PG-rated film to do so after just 17 days in release

More News

Earlier Picks

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
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
New York Times:
Sources: Facebook's security team had disinfo concerns about The Daily Wire's sites in 2019, clashing with the policy team, which prevented action being taken
Dan Primack / Axios:
HQ Trivia, which laid off its entire staff and shut down in February, has been acquired by an undisclosed investor and has already returned, airing another show
Mark Wyciślik-Wilson / BetaNews:
Microsoft says it has seen a 775% increase in use of its cloud services worldwide in regions that have enforced social distancing or shelter in place orders
Mediagazer memeorandum WeSmirch
Home River Leaderboards About Events Newsletter