Techmeme
March 15, 2020, 6:40 PM

Top News

Diane Bartz / Reuters:
Google says it is working with the US government to develop a nationwide COVID-19 website on symptoms, risks, and testing info, in addition to other measures  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Alphabet's Google (GOOGL.O) said on Saturday that it was working with the U.S. government to develop …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
An overview of the COVID-19-related work Google is doing, and how it falls far short of the comprehensive testing system implied by President Trump on Friday  —  ‘Neither one of the announcements were ready for prime time,’ one official told the Washington Post
Frank McShan / MacRumors:
WSJ: some Apple employees still work from HQ due to restrictions on external access to some systems and prohibitions on unreleased products from leaving campus  —  The process of tech companies sending thousands of employees home amid the coronavirus crisis has been messy, according to a report from The Wall Street Journal.
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Lauren Kaori Gurley / VICE:
Amazon Prime likely to falter during COVID-19 crisis, from supply chain issues, increased demand, and the potential of a warehouse outbreak  —  More than half of American households are Amazon Prime members, and, for better or worse, have come to rely on the service for many of their everyday needs.
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Apple will only accept COVID-19 related apps from recognized entities such as government orgs, health NGOs, and companies with health or education credentials  —  Apple today announced that it is evaluating COVID-19 coronavirus-related apps critically to ensure data sources are reputable …
Jack Nicas / New York Times:
After Amazon's crackdown on price gouging, some sellers who cleared out local stores are sitting on stockpiles, causing shortages of products like sanitizer  —  Amazon cracked down on coronavirus price gouging.  Now, while the rest of the world searches, some sellers are holding stockpiles of sanitizer and masks.
Grant Martin / Forbes:
Airbnb is broadening its cancellation policy to offer refunds to worldwide travelers with stays and experiences booked between March 14 and April 14  —  The largest vacation rental company in the world is broadening its cancellation policy to offer refunds to worldwide travelers with stays …
Sophia Kunthara / Crunchbase News:
Arctic Wolf, which provides security experts to act as an extension of a company's internal cybersecurity team, raises $60M Series D  —  Cybersecurity startup Arctic Wolf raised $60 million in its Series D round, bringing its total funding to more than $148 million.
More: FinSMEs
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon wants to open source its cashier-less store software via an organization called Dent, which held unsuccessful talks with Walmart and Target  —  Retailers don't yet plan to participate, but talks highlight Amazon's ambition to have others adopt its technology
Dan Guido / Trail of Bits Blog:
An independent audit of mobile voting app Voatz, which has been used in elections in four US states, details many critical vulnerabilities and recommends fixes  —  Voatz allows voters to cast their ballots from any geographic location on supported mobile devices.

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