Techmeme
April 5, 2020, 2:00 PM

Top News

Valerie Strauss / Washington Post:
Zoom is being banned over security concerns by some US school districts, including NYC, which is directing teachers to switch to Microsoft Teams  —  Some school districts around the country have started to ban the use of Zoom for online learning from home during the coronavirus crisis …
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch:
New York Times:
Harriet Sherwood / The Guardian:
After some cell towers in the UK were set on fire, govt to meet with Facebook, YouTube, Twitter to stop the spread of a conspiracy theory linking 5G to COVID-19  —  After a spate of fires, the government is stepping in to halt the spread of linking coronavirus to the mobile network
Jim Waterson / The Guardian:
Telecom engineers, considered essential workers in the UK, are facing harassment from anti-5G conspiracy mongers, linking the deployment of 5G to coronavirus  —  EE suspects telephone mast engulfed by fire in Birmingham was an arson attack as celebrities claim Covid-19 caused by new network
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
iOS 14 code indicates that Apple is working on a new feature codenamed “Avocado” to enable real, movable widgets on iPad and iPhone home screens  —  9to5Mac reported last month that Apple is working on a redesigned wallpaper settings panel for iOS, based on an early build of iOS 14 …
Dave Gershgorn / OneZero :
Washington state's facial recognition law, which is championed by Microsoft, was sponsored by State Sen. Joe Nguyen, who also is a program manager at Microsoft  —  Plus, live facial recognition updates and the week's A.I. research  —  Welcome to General Intelligence, your weekly dive into the A.I. news and research that matters.
Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:
Sources: Apple is in the process of acquiring the California-based VR startup NextVR in a deal valued around $100M  —  It's no secret that Apple has ambitious plans for augmented reality and a future AR-focused headset.  Apple is practically building the platform for its future headset out in the open with ARKit.
Rebecca Rubin / Variety:
Some independent movie theaters are launching “virtual cinemas” to let patrons stream first-tier films from home as a temporary revenue source amid the pandemic  —  Greg Laemmle never thought he'd recommend anyone to stream a movie at home.  The best way to watch a film …
J.M. Porup / CSO:
Critics say bug bounty programs buy researcher silence, may violate labor law, and are less effective when they are closed and have NDAs placed on them  —  When Jonathan Leitschuh found a catastrophic security vulnerability in Zoom, the popular videoconferencing platform …
Vox:
In internal email lists Amazon corporate employees express dismay over the firing of Christian Smalls and a report that management discussed a plan to smear him  —  Leaked internal emails show employee dismay over how their company is handling escalating labor disputes during the coronavirus pandemic.

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Earlier Picks

Aliya Chaudhry / The Verge: