Techmeme: As online exam proctoring services like Examity gain widespread adoption amid the pandemic, students are finding them invasive with privacy and security issues (Monica Chin/The Verge)

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May 1, 2020, 5:40 AM

Top News

Apple:

Apple reports Q2 revenue of $58.3B, up 1% YoY, of which $44.9B came from products, $13.35B from services, and net income of $11.25B — Total Revenue Grows, Services Revenue Reaches New All-Time High of $13.3 Billion — Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2020 second quarter ended March 28, 2020.

Emily Bary / MarketWatch:

Apple Q2: iPhone sales of $28.9B, down from $31B in Q2 2019, Greater China sales of $9.5B, down from $10.2B YoY, authorizes additional $50B in share buybacks

More: MacDailyNews, iPhone Hacks, Appleosophy, TechCrunch, and Forbes

Tweets: @jonerlichman, @benbajarin, @thedomino, @adamnash, @reneritchie, @wlwatts, @stevekovach, @asymco, and @asymco

William Gallagher / AppleInsider:

Apple Q2: services hit an all-time record of $13.35B, up from $11.45B in Q2 2019, as Wearables, Home and Accessories grew to $6.3B, compared to $5.13B last year

More: iPhone Hacks, Billboard, and AppleInsider

Tweets: @2shar, @billboardbiz, @aloomba, @asymco, @paulcanetti, @2shar, and @munster_gene

ICANN:

ICANN board has voted to reject the sale of the .org registry to private equity firm Ethos Capital — Today, the ICANN Board made the decision to reject the proposed change of control and entity conversion request that Public Interest Registry (PIR) submitted to ICANN.

More: ICANN, Reuters, Ars Technica, KeyPointsAbout.org, Mashable, The Register, CircleID, Financial Times, Engadget, The Next Web, CNET, The Verge, and Domain Name Wire

Tweets: @eff, @icann, @randfish, @carolinegreer, @katrinfritsch, @evacide, @enthusiamy, @hpana, @dellcam, @georgekirikos, @timbray, @jacklerner, @grady_booch, @evan_greer, @katiehafner, @robinwauters, and @stshank

Amazon:

Amazon Q1: $75.5B revenue, up 26% YoY, net income of $2.5B, down from $3.6B in Q1 2019, AWS revenue of $10.2B, up from $7.7B YoY; stock down 5%+ after hours

More: Business Wire, CNBC, TechCrunch, GeekWire, SiliconANGLE, and TechCrunch

Tweets: @cnbcnow, @jonerlichman, @patrickmoorhead, @stevekovach, @teroterotero, @ataussig, @carnage4life, @levynews, @melissa_repko, @djtosin, @cloud_opinion, @joshelman, @teroterotero, @ericjackson, @ldignan, @cmroberson06, @exis10tial, and @jyarow

The Verge:

Amazon says it expects to spend $4B or more, the predicted operating profit for the company's upcoming third quarter, just on COVID-19-related expenses

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:

Amazon reports Q1 “other” category revenue, which mostly covers its ad business, of $3.9B, up 44% YoY, and subscriptions services revenue of $5.56B, up 28% YoY

More: The Guardian, South China Morning Post, Vox, Protocol, AdExchanger, and Engadget. Tweets: @glenngabe

Aimee Chanthadavong / ZDNet:

IDC: Global smartphone shipments dropped 11.7% YoY to 276M during Q1 2020, the largest YoY decline ever — Shipment volumes suffered its largest year over year decline in the first quarter. — The latest data from International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that as the world grapples …

More: Counterpoint Research, IDC, iMore, Android Authority, Canalys, CNBC, MSPoweruser, AppleInsider, Engadget, The Verge, and SiliconANGLE

TrendForce:

Global smartphone production in Q1 fell by 10% YoY to ~280M units, the lowest in five years, and is estimated to drop by 16.5% YoY to ~287M units in Q2

More: TechCrunch, Reuters, CNET, PYMNTS.com, and Android Central

Monica Chin / The Verge:

Reddit has disabled its chat room feature, Start Chatting, a day after launch due to “several errors” in rollout and moderators' concerns over lack of control — The company says the rollout had several errors — Remember how Reddit announced just yesterday that it was introducing built-in subreddit chat rooms?

More: reddit, Mashable, SlashGear, Engadget, and IT Management

New York Times:

Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube have declined to remove Trump's comments on UV and disinfectants curing COVID-19, despite commitments to removing misinformation — Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have declined to remove the president's statements about unproven coronavirus treatments.

More: SiliconANGLE and The Verge

Tweets: @rasmus_kleis, @moonalice, @paulwrblanchard, @jilliancyork, @nytimes, @eorden, @daveyalba, @dpfunke, @nytimestech, @jesselehrich, @evan_greer, @ceciliakang, @sheeraf, and @theplumlinegs

See also Mediagazer

Lauren Feiner / CNBC:

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff asks the CEOs of Google, YouTube, and Twitter to follow Facebook's lead on coronavirus misinformation policies

More: schiff.house.gov, Engadget, and CNET

Tweets: @lauren_feiner, @avaaz, @repadamschiff, and @jaredhecht

Monica Chin / The Verge:

As online exam proctoring services like Examity gain widespread adoption amid the pandemic, students are finding them invasive with privacy and security issues — As schools go remote, so do tests and so does surveillance — The stranger on the Zoom call appeared to be sitting in a tent.

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:

Walmart is piloting a 2-hour “Express” grocery delivery service for an extra $10 fee, plans to expand to 1K stores in May, using its 74K+ “personal shoppers” — Record usage of grocery delivery services amid the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delayed orders …

More: Walmart Inc. and The Verge. Tweets: @vgknightinarmor

Bobbie Johnson / MIT Technology Review:

Pandemic conspiracy theories are being spread using Wayback Machine links of content already discredited by fact-checkers and even deleted — Pandemic conspiracy theorists are using the Wayback Machine to promote “zombie content” that evades moderators and fact-checkers.

Tweets: @aaronwall, @thedailybeast, @wrklsshrd, @utischool, @mantzarlis, and @xor

Prafulla Dhariwal / OpenAI:

OpenAI announces Jukebox, a neural net that generates music, including rudimentary singing, as raw audio in a variety of genres and artist styles — We're introducing Jukebox, a neural net that generates music, including rudimentary singing, as raw audio in a variety of genres and artist styles.

More: OneZero , The Next Web, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Waxy.org, Input, FlowingData, and The Verge

Tweets: @openai, @metaleptic, @amydentata, @mikerugnetta, @waxpancake, @nottombrown, @byjacobward, @kcimc, @kentbye, @jemenger, @oriolvinyalsml, @brendandawes, @panzer, @mark_riedl, @jgulden, @gdb, and @songadaymann

Joseph Cox / VICE:

The UN's social distancing app, 1point5, is largely ineffective at monitoring distance between people, indiscriminately picking up any Bluetooth signals — This week a division of the United Nations announced its new social distancing app designed to help alert people when they get too close …

More: BBC. Tweets: @josephfcox, @josephfcox, @rebelcinder, @josephfcox, @evacide, and @josephfcox

Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed News:

India says 75M+ people downloaded its contact tracing app, but privacy advocates worry about its potential as a tool for state surveillance beyond the pandemic

Tweets: @tomgara, @pranavdixit, @sivavaid, @pranavdixit, @pranavdixit, @stephaniemlee, @benadida, @pranavdixit, @azeen, and @sarahnemerson

Tom Warren / The Verge:

Microsoft's bet on Xbox Game Pass seems to be paying off, as it hits 10M subscribers, far ahead of the 5M and 1M subscribers EA and Sony announced last year — Microsoft takes an early lead in the battle for the Netflix of video games — Microsoft now has 10 million subscribers …

More: Xbox Wire, KnowTechie, Windows Central, VentureBeat, GameSpot, USA Today, and The Next Web

Les Pounder / Tom's Hardware:

Raspberry Pi announces a new $50 camera board with a 12MP Sony sensor and support for interchangeable lenses — Great flexibility and resolution make the Raspberry Pi High Quality Camera a winner. — OUR VERDICT — With interchangeable lenses and a 12-MP sensor, the Raspberry Pi High …

More: The Verge, Raspberry Pi Blog, VICE, TechEBlog, Daring Fireball, SlashGear, Liliputing, TechSpot, Gizmodo, BetaNews, Engadget, and Digital Photography Review

Tweets: @planetubuntu, @dcuthbert, @raspberry_pi, @ruskin147, @aallan, @brianroemmele, @raspberry_pi, @maxvoltar, @stroughtonsmith, and @stshank

Benjamin Romano / The Seattle Times:

Amazon tells its Seattle and Bellevue employees already working from home since early March that they “are welcome to do so until at least October 2” — Amazon told its corporate employees working from home since early March that they “are welcome to do so until at least October 2 …

Tweets: @pauledroberts, @rosskimbarovsky, and @rgrunbaum

Alex Konrad / Forbes:

Design software startup Figma raises $50M Series D led by Andreessen Horowitz at a $2B valuation — Covering venture capital, software and startups — Figma CEO Dylan Field has enjoyed watching his design software take off in bizarre ways in recent weeks.

More: Figma Blog, Andreessen Horowitz, The Startup Student, Silicon Republic, SiliconANGLE, and FinSMEs

Tweets: @zoink, @johnolilly, @davidgeorge83, @william_blake, @sachinrekhi, @a16z, @julesyoo, @calbucci, @danielgross, @johnnie, @meliarobin, @gokulr, @stewart, @mg, @ow, @rstephens, @alexrkonrad, @alexisohanian, and @alexrkonrad. Thanks:@alexrkonrad

Dara Kerr / CNET:

Uber partners with telemedicine service Ro to give US workers free COVID assessments, as Lyft partners with One Medical for one month trial memberships — The ride-hailing company partners with the telemedicine service to help drivers figure out if they may have been infected with the coronavirus.

Tweets: @imeluny, @trafficbutter, and @darakerr. Thanks:@richardjnieva

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From Mediagazer

Deadline:

Disney initiates a third round of layoffs under CEO Josh D'Amaro, reportedly impacting a couple hundred staff, largely in HR and tech

Wall Street Journal:

Sources: the Trump administration used DHS funds to finance pro-Trump ads, including one that is almost identical to a 2024 Trump campaign ad, calling them PSAs

John Koblin / New York Times:

Paramount streaming chief Cindy Holland is leaving the company; she joined Skydance as an adviser and became Paramount's direct-to-consumer chief last year

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More News

Bloomberg:

Sources: construction software company Procore called off its IPO and instead raised $150M at a $5B valuation, but may still go public in 2020

Tweets: @lewis_lin and @katie_roof

Jim Waterson / The Guardian:

Amazon to cut the price of its Kindle ebooks in UK from Friday, after the government brought forward plans to stop charging 20% VAT on online publications

Tweets: @jimwaterson

Earlier Picks

BBC:

Facebook says it is now reopening some moderation centers, with plans for social distancing and PPE, but return to work will be voluntary for content reviewers

More: Social Media Today

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:

Motorola Edge Plus review: top-tier specs, good camera, solid battery life, but it's not waterproof, edge display has issues, and it's Verizon exclusive

More: Wired, Android Central, and Mashable

Tweets: @julianchokkattu, @cgartenberg, @reckless, @suka_hiroaki, and @dcseifert

Anna Baydakova / CoinDesk:

Telegram postpones the launch of its TON blockchain for a second time, pushing the go-live date to April 2021, and offers to return $1.2B to investors

More: PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @prestonjbyrne and @baidakova

Dr. Ian Cutress / AnandTech:

Intel launches flagship 10th-gen Comet Lake desktop CPUs with 10 cores based on its Skylake architecture; the $488 Core i9-10900K CPU can reach 5.3GHz

More: SiliconANGLE, Engadget, IGN, Appleosophy, AnandTech, and Tom's Hardware

Tweets: @aras_p, @tapbot_paul, and @anandtech. Thanks:@iancutress

Nicole Wetsman / The Verge:

Supply chain algorithms used by companies like Walmart and Amazon, which rely on past data to forecast demand, have been completely upended by the pandemic

More: PYMNTS.com. Tweets: @hypervisible and @carnage4life

Sam Nussey / Reuters:

SoftBank says it sees a loss of ~$6.6B in the year ending March on its WeWork investment held outside the Vision Fund, extending its expected net loss to $8.4B

More: Crunchbase News. Tweets: @malsamisa, @counternotions, and @mvzelenks

Taylor Lyles / The Verge:

Facebook rolls out a tool that lets users in the US and Canada transfer their photos and videos to Google Photos as part of the Data Transfer Project

More: Washington Post, Reuters, Engadget, Android Police, BGR, Social Media Today, Ubergizmo, 9to5Google, iPhone in Canada Blog, XDA Developers, and Neowin

Tweets: @seyiakiwowo and @paigeleskin

Dan Primack / Axios:

Andreessen Horowitz raises $515M for its second fund dedicated to cryptocurrency and blockchain investments and holdings

More: TechCrunch, CoinDesk, coinspeaker.com, The Block, Messari Crypto, Cointelegraph, Andreessen Horowitz, CNBC, and Modern Consensus

Tweets: @a16z, @iam__vance, @gaberivera, @christophera, @martinvars, @davidmarcus, @coindesk, @stanikulechov, @minhokim, @k_schellinger, @scheplick, @melt_dem, @jpurd17, and @sherm8n