Techmeme
May 2, 2020, 2:35 PM

Top News

Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
Companies are turning to intrusive monitoring of work-from-home employees, with always-on webcam rules, daily check-ins, and not-so-optional company happy hours  —  Always-on webcams, virtual “water coolers,” constant monitoring: Is the tech industry's new dream for remote work actually a nightmare?
The Economic Times:
India's government has mandated all private sector employees to download its COVID-19 contact tracing app, following its mandate for all the public sector staff  —  Privacy activists said a diverse group of organisations and individuals had endorsed a representation to the Prime Minister's Office …
Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed News:
Sirin Kale / WIRED UK:
An inside look at the dropshipping scene in Bali, where expats typically purchase items on AliExpress and have them shipped directly to buyers in the West  —  In Bali, western immigrants are selling products they've never handled, from countries they've never visited, to consumers they've never met
Kif Leswing / CNBC:
CDC issues new criteria for evaluating contact tracing tools to be used by public health authorities, opening the door for Apple-Google approach  —  - A new document published by the Centers for Disease Control outlines what it sees as the critical features for digital contact tracing apps.
Mark Sweney / The Guardian:
Sources: the owners of Virgin Media and O2 are discussing a merger to create a new TV and mobile company that would challenge BT and Sky in the UK  —  Owners of telecoms giants set to team up and challenge major sector players  —  The owners of Virgin Media and O2 are in talks to create …
Hagop Kavafian / Android Police:
Google's Messages app, which isn't part of Google's apps package often pre-installed on phones by 3rd-party Android OEMs, passes 1B+ installs on the Play Store  —  Google's Messages app is packed with features, including a built-in markup tool, reminders, context-aware recommendations, a dark mode, RCS support, and a web interface.
More: 9to5Google and Neowin

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Earlier Picks

Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
David Heaney / UploadVR:
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
ICANN:
Aimee Chanthadavong / ZDNet: