Techmeme
March 17, 2020, 8:00 AM

Top News

Dave Clark / The Amazon Blog:
Amazon plans to hire 100K more warehouse and delivery workers in the US and raise their pay by ~$2/hour in some countries, as more turn to online deliveries  —  Company will invest over $350 million globally to increase pay by $2/hour in the U.S., £2/hr in the UK …
Bloomberg:
Amazon confirms at least five workers at its warehouses in Spain and Italy have tested positive for the coronavirus, says the facilities will remain open  —  At least five workers at Amazon.com Inc. warehouses in Europe have contracted the coronavirus, a sobering development …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube say they're working with each other and healthcare agencies to tackle misinfo about COVID-19  —  Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube put out joint statement promising to fight COVID-19 fraud and curb misinformation.
New York Times:
As the COVID-19 outbreak discourages moviegoers and theatrical releases get delayed, the ascendancy of streaming services may be accelerating  —  Cinemas, already contending with streaming services, are now facing the prospect of no audiences and no new films because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Jason Gurwin / The Streamable:
Universal Pictures to offer $19.99 online rentals for some new movies, currently in theaters, and do the same for an upcoming DreamWorks film on its release day  —  In light of the movie theaters being brought to a standstill, Universal Pictures is changing the game.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
iOS 14 code shows Apple is planning an iPhone 9 and iPhone 9 Plus with the A13 Bionic chip, the same processor used in the iPhone 11 and iPhone 11 Pro  —  9to5Mac has learned several new details about the upcoming iPhone 9 based on iOS 14 code.  Now we've discovered evidence that Apple …
Nat Friedman / The GitHub Blog:
GitHub announces it has signed an agreement to acquire npm, which is home to 1.3M+ JavaScript packages with 75B downloads per month, says it will remain free  —  I'm excited to announce that GitHub has signed an agreement to acquire npm.  —  npm is a critical part of the JavaScript world.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
The Keyword:
YouTube says it will be relying more on automated systems as content moderators stay home, and creators may see fewer strikes against videos but more removals  —  During the unprecedented COVID-19 situation, many companies are closing their offices and directing their employees to work from home …
Will Knight / Wired:
After China and South Korea used smartphones to track people with COVID-19, researchers are testing apps to monitor contact among people, amid privacy concerns  —  China and South Korea used smartphone apps to monitor people with the disease.  But Americans have different views of privacy and data collection.
New York Times:

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More News

Jon Brodkin / Ars Technica:

Earlier Picks

Michael McSweeney / The Block:
Paul Mozur / New York Times:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Bloomberg:
Richard Leadbetter / Eurogamer.net: