Techmeme
April 13, 2020, 1:15 PM

Top News

Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is planning an iPad Pro-like design with flat edges and a smaller notch for iPhones, a smaller, cheaper HomePod, and Apple Tags for the fall  —  - iPhone's fall refresh to add 5G on as many as four new models  — Smaller HomePod speaker, location tags for keys in development
Krystal Hu / Reuters:
Amazon says it will put new online grocery delivery customers on a waitlist and prioritize existing customers amid surging demand  —  (Reuters) - Amazon will begin to put new grocery delivery customers on a wait list and curtail shopping hours at some Whole Foods stores to prioritize orders …
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon says it will hire an additional 75,000 workers, on top of the 100,000 new positions it created last month, to deal with increased demand during COVID-19  —  - Amazon is hiring 75,000 additional workers after it filled more than 100,000 positions in the last month.
Ross Anderson / Light Blue Touchpaper:
A list of issues that make contact tracing an impractical solution in the real world, from trolling others to cheating to insufficient adoption  —  There have recently been several proposals for pseudonymous contact tracing, including from Apple and Google.
Leo Kelion / BBC:
NHSX will test an app for users to send a “yellow alert” if they self-diagnose with COVID-19 symptoms and a “red alert” if they test positive to recent contacts  —  The UK has confirmed plans for an app that will warn users if they have recently been in close proximity …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
The Guardian:
Chris Stokel-Walker / OneZero:
As some YouTube advertising rates drop by as much as 50% while viewership rates are up, YouTubers say their pay has dropped dramatically  —  Advertising rates on the platform have dropped significantly during the coronavirus pandemic  —  Newspapers, websites, and TV channels have all been decimated by the coronavirus.
AFP:
SoftBank forecasts a $7B net loss for the year ending in March, due to coronavirus and losses related to WeWork, and expects an operating loss of $12.5B  —  Struggling Japanese conglomerate SoftBank Group on Monday forecast a $7-billion net loss for the year ended March due to the negative impact …
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Sources: after handing over to the new CEO, Bob Iger effectively returned to run Disney in March, as the pandemic decimated its most profitable businesses  —  The former C.E.O. thought he was riding into the sunset.  Now he's reasserting control and reimagining Disney as a company with fewer employees and more thermometers.
William J. Broad / New York Times:
Investigation finds a decade-long health disinformation campaign by Russia, using social media and news outlets like RT, to sow confusion and hurt institutions  —  A decade of health disinformation promoted by President Vladimir Putin of Russia has sown wide confusion, hurt major institutions …
Seb Joseph / Digiday:
Esport sites are struggling to monetize the huge rise in viewership due to the drastically slowed ad market; Twitch had a record 1.1B viewing hours in March  —  Viewership of esports may be booming right now, but the drastically slowed ad market has made capitalizing on that audience difficult.
Tweets: @alex

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: MessageWhiz SMS for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Channels with Peter Kafka:
The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
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.
Big Technology Podcast:
Nick Bostrom: Worries About AI Existential Risk Just Became More Concrete
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.
Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
OpenAI's Head of Design: This is the best time in history to be a designer | Ian Silber
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.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
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 1:15 PM ET, April 13, 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