Techmeme
April 29, 2020, 9:35 AM

Top News

Alphabet:
Alphabet reports revenue of $41.2B, up 13% YoY, net income of $6.8B, up from $6.7B YoY, Other Bets operating loss grew to $1.1B; headcount grew to 123K, up ~20K  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 28, 2020 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
Jon Swartz / MarketWatch:
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Source: Uber executives discuss cutting ~20% of its 27,000 headcount in the coming weeks; company veteran CTO Thuan Pham has resigned  —  Executives at Uber are discussing plans to cut around 20% of the company's employees, as it copes with a sharp decline in its ride-hailing business due …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google Meet is now free for everyone with a Google account, for meetings of up to 100 people, which are not time limited till September 30  —  Can it stem Zoom's meteoric growth?  —  Google is opening up its Google Meet videoconferencing service to anybody who wants to use it …
Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters:
Samsung reports Q1 earnings with total revenue ~$45.4B, up 5.6% YoY, and operating profit of ~$5.2B, up 3% YoY, as chip demand was solid amid COVID-19 crisis  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said its operating profit rose 3% in the January to March period …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Zuckerberg more actively in charge of Facebook after five departures from board of directors since 2019, as he attempts to consolidate decision-making  —  The 35-year-old tycoon has recast the company's board of directors and sought a high-profile role for the social-media giant in the Covid-19 pandemic
Christina Farr / CNBC:
How a handful of employees at Apple quickly pushed forward the development of a contract tracing API and collaboration with Google in less than a month  —  - Apple and Google announced a partnership to bring contact tracing to smartphones on April 10th.  Their software toolkit will be released on Friday.
Matt Stroud / OneZero:
The CEO of Banjo, a SoftBank-backed surveillance firm that's raised nearly $223M, was once a neo-Nazi and was involved in the drive-by shooting of a synagogue  —  magazine profiles and on conference stages, Damien Patton, the 47-year-old co-founder and CEO of the surveillance startup Banjo, often recounts a colorful autobiography.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M, with MAUs up 31% YoY to 286M, premium users up 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs up 32% to 163M  —  The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Apple adds COVID-19 testing site information to Apple Maps across the US and makes improvements to its Mobility Trends site  —  Apple has now added COVID-19 testing sites to its Apple Maps app across the U.S., covering all 50 states and Puerto Rico.  The update provides testing locations …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
YouTube adds fact-check info boxes to some searches, above the search results, in the US, after launching in Brazil and India last year  —  The program launched in Brazil and India last year  —  YouTube will begin adding informational panels containing information from its network …
Andy Baio / Waxy.org:
Roc Nation files copyright claim over deepfake YouTube videos which use AI to impersonate Jay-Z's voice, raising new copyright and fair use questions  —  On Friday, I linked to several videos by Vocal Synthesis, a new YouTube channel dedicated to audio deepfakes — AI-generated speech …
Crofton Black / The Bureau of Investigative Journalism:
How data-driven tech used for tracking and predicting the movement of refugees and migrants across Europe is being repurposed to track the spread of COVID-19  —  The pandemic has given a boost to controversial data-driven initiatives to track population movements
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Kaspersky researchers detail a targeted espionage campaign via Play Store spyware apps, aimed at a few hundred users in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India  —  Malicious Android apps from the so-called PhantomLance campaign targeted hundreds of users, and at least two slipped past Google's defenses.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram launches a way for users to fundraise for nonprofits while livestreaming, showing streamers a breakdown of donors, so they can give them a shout-out  —  Instagram is today launching a new way for users to fundraise for nonprofits via Instagram Live, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:

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