Techmeme
April 11, 2020, 4:40 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Apple and Google announce a joint effort to introduce iOS and Android APIs in mid-May for opt-in Bluetooth-based COVID-19 contact tracing  —  A huge step forward in the fight against COVID-19  —  Apple and Google announced a system for tracking the spread of the new coronavirus …
More: The Keyword, New York Times, Washington Post, Ars Technica, TechCrunch, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Wall Street Journal, NPR, New York Times, joekent.nyc, Wired, Vox, International Business Times, Forbes, Bloomberg, Reuters, BBC, NBC News, Axios, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, Six Colors, TidBITS, MacStories, Variety, Inc42 Media, The Hacker News, Towards Data Science, Aldo's Notes, MediaNama, coinspeaker.com, Ubergizmo, Nikkei Asian Review, Seeking Alpha, ACLU, kottke.org, Techdirt, Newser, Threatpost, PYMNTS.com, The New Consumer, New York Post, MacRumors, TalkAndroid.com, TechSpot, Digital Trends, FierceWireless, The Daily Hodl, Michael Tsai, ExtremeTech, ProgrammableWeb.com, BetaNews, Fortune, Macworld, Mashable, SiliconANGLE, Stacey on IoT, BuzzFeed News, Gizmodo, Droid Life, IDG Insider Pro, Pocketnow, Thurrott, Pocket-lint, AppleInsider, Liliputing, The Next Web, Daring Fireball, Daring Fireball, Wccftech, Politico, iPhone Hacks, Android Police, Apple Must, BGR, The Irish Times, AppAdvice.com, ZDNet, Appleosophy, The Verge, Technology Personalized, Reuters, Android Authority, Yahoo Finance, VentureBeat, Input, iMore, Neowin, and CNET
Casey Newton / The Verge:
A look at the limits of Bluetooth-based voluntary COVID-19 contact tracing, which faces adoption hurdles, potentially big numbers of false positive pings, more  —  False positives and rampant privacy issues suggest we need to make a new investment in hiring people
Moxie Marlinspike / @moxie:
[Thread] Moxie Marlinspike explains how Apple and Google's contract tracing framework will work in practice  —  First look at Apple/Google contact tracing framework: 1) Once a day, your device derives a new key ("daily tracing key"). 2) It uses that to derive a new “proximity ID” every time your device's bluetooth address changes (15min), which is broadcast to nearby BT sensors. 1/10
Tom Maxwell / Input:
IBM is releasing a free course and forum next week to teach COBOL programming language, as US states struggle to find programmers for old unemployment systems  —  Many systems that process unemployment claims still run on a 60-year-old programming language that barely any coders understand.
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times:
Instacart is paying workers about the same to do 2-3 orders at a time as it does for one order as demand rises during the pandemic, interviews and receipts show  —  Dina W. did her last job for Instacart on March 20.  Before the coronavirus outbreak, Dina could easily avoid doing …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Research tracking tech startup layoffs across the world since March 11 finds 204 startups have laid off 16,229 employees, nearly doubling between April 2-8  —  On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported some staggering figures: the number of unemployment claims filed between March 15-April 4 surged to 16.8 million.
Justin Phillips / San Francisco Chronicle:
SF mayor caps commissions for food delivery startups to 15% during the pandemic; startups say the cap will raise customer fees, hurt delivery people's income  —  As struggling San Francisco restaurants pin their hopes of staying open on delivery and takeout orders, city officials have stepped …
New York Times:
Experts say social distancing directives, likely to continue in some form after the COVID-19 crisis, could prompt various industries to accelerate automation  —  Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google says it will make changes to search results over the coming week to make it easier for users to find virtual health care options  —  The changes are rolling out over the coming week  —  Google is making changes to search results to make it easier for people to find virtual health care options …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
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:
AI Device Wars Heat Up, RIP Metaverse?, Netflix Acquires Warner Brothers
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:
"Hollywood is Truly Freaked Out." Inside the Netflix/WBD Deal with Lucas Shaw
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.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
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:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:40 PM ET, April 11, 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

Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Brian Fung / CNN: