Techmeme
May 6, 2020, 12:35 PM

Top News

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Surface Go 2 with a bigger 10.5-inch display and more powerful Intel processors, available on May 12, starting at $399  —  The smaller Surface gets a big hardware bump  —  Microsoft's smallest Surface tablet is getting some important hardware upgrades today in the form of the Surface Go 2.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Microsoft debuts 13.5-inch and 15-inch Surface Book 3 laptops with 10th-gen quad-core Intel CPUs, new NVIDIA GPUs, available May 21 from $1,600 and $2,300  —  With the Surface Book 2, Microsoft proved it could take on the MacBook Pro directly with a powerful and genuinely innovative PC notebook.
Panos Panay / Windows Blog:
Microsoft announces $249 Surface Headphones 2 with better sound and battery, arriving on May 12, and says its Surface Buds will ship on the same day for $199  —  Available for preorder today, new Surface devices and accessories are designed to help you work, learn, connect and play from anywhere
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Uber says it will lay off 3,700 employees, or about 14% of its workforce, as it has been hit hard by the pandemic  —  Uber announced Wednesday that it will lay off 3,700 employees.  The cuts to its customer support and recruiting teams represent about 14% of its 26,900 employees, based on Uber's most recent headcount.
Ellen Hammett / Marketing Week:
Study: half of the money that brands invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers; 15% of the money cannot be attributed at all  —  A new study by ISBA has found that half the money advertisers invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers …
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Interview with Apple SVP Craig Federighi about the iPadOS cursor, a significant change to the pointer paradigm, and the decisions Apple made to get there  —  Apple SVP Craig Federighi talks about the iPad's new cursor and Magic Keyboard  —  Even though Apple did not invent the mouse pointer …
Ivan Mehta / The Next Web:
Facebook takes another stab at enabling “free” mobile web access, testing a Discover app in Peru that lets users visit any website with daily data limits  —  Remember Free Basics?  Facebook's ambitious program to bring people to the internet for the first time.
Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Letter from Brian Chesky to Airbnb employees says the company is laying off 1,900, or ~25% of its workforce, and expects a 2020 revenue decline of 50% YoY  —  Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff.  —  Airbnb, seen until recently as one of Silicon Valley's most financially secure unicorns, is laying off a quarter of its staff.
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Sources: Google to release a Fire TV-like Android TV dongle with a new content-centric UI in the coming months, likely extending its Nest brand to the product  —  Google is set to introduce an Android TV streaming device in the coming months, a reimagined dongle with a new user interface …
Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters:
Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee makes a rare apology, saying he will not hand over management of the company to his children, and vows to protect labor rights  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee, embroiled in a bribery scandal, on Wednesday made a rare apology …
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Q&A with Steven Sinofsky on his upcoming memoir that chronicles his time at Microsoft, as he reflects on how the company fought the ILOVEYOU virus 20 years ago  —  On the 20th anniversary of the unleashing of the ILOVEYOU virus—which infected millions of PCs worldwide …
Bloomberg:
Spotify CEO expects Apple to “open up” its platform more to 3rd-party apps, after Spotify's antitrust complaint with the EU, but sees it as a long-term process  —  - Apple plans to let other music services integrate with HomePod  — Ek says ‘steps to go before’ Apple is open and fair platform
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Sources: Magic Leap is in talks to raise $100M in funding from a major health company after laying off around half of its workforce  —  - Magic Leap is turning to a “major” health care company to raise money, according to an internal memo obtained by The Information.
Shannon Liao / CNN:
Activision Blizzard CEO says people may turn to free mobile games during the pandemic, after the company beat Q1 expectations with sales of $1.52B, up 21% YoY  —  New York (CNN Business)While much of the economy is hurting during the pandemic, video games are thriving.
Divya Balji / Bloomberg:
Shopify tops estimates with Q1 revenue of $470M, up 47% YoY, and gross merchandise volume of $17.4B, up 46% YoY  —  - First-quarter revenue jumped 47% to $470 million from 2019  — Gross merchandise volume soared 46% to $17.4 billion  —  Shopify Inc. reported first-quarter revenue …
David Z. Morris / Fortune:
Google, Gates Foundation, and others form the Mojaloop Foundation, which will develop an open source digital payments platform for developing countries  —  For more than a decade, Kenyans from the bustling capital of Nairobi to far-flung farms have had access to a digital payments service that was ahead of its time.
More: Fortune
FinSMEs:
Limbix, which is developing prescription digital therapeutics for adolescent mental health disorders, raises $9M Series A led by GSR Ventures  —  Limbix, a Palo Alto, CA-based developer of digital therapeutics for the treatment of adolescent mental health disorders, raised $9M in Series A funding.

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