Techmeme
April 29, 2020, 1:35 PM

Top News

Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Filing: Lyft is laying off 17% of its workforce, or 982 staff, and will furlough 288 employees alongside salary cuts ranging from 10% to 30% for all staff  —  Lyft is laying off 982 employees and furloughing an additional 288, the company announced in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
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.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Apple and Google release the first version of their contact tracing API, referred to as exposure notification API, in respective developer builds  —  Apple and Google have released the very first version of their exposure notification API, which they previously called the contact tracing API .
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 until 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 …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M; MAUs rose 31% YoY to 286M, premium users rose 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs rose 32% to 163M  —  The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
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.
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 …
Washington Post:
Survey of US adults finds skepticism about Apple and Google's COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, with smartphone owners split 50-50 on whether they would use it  —  Nearly 3 in 5 Americans say they are either unable or unwilling to use the infection-alert apps under development by Google and Apple …
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 …
Andy Baio / Waxy.org:
Roc Nation files copyright claim over deepfake YouTube videos that 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 …
Nick Corasaniti / New York Times:
Profile of Acronym, a progressive nonprofit that, with the help of ex-Facebook staffer James Barnes, is looking to use Trump's online ad tactics against him  —  A former Facebook employee is using a tool he employed to help President Trump win to conduct tests for a progressive group …
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

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Matthew Moore / The Times:

Earlier Picks

Crofton Black / The Bureau of Investigative Journalism:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: