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:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Try Gemini 3 Pro  —  Google's newest and most intelligent AI model that helps you bring any idea to life
Shopify:
Transform ML Experimentation with Tangle  —  Save months of compute time with Tangle, built by Shopify.  Try this open-source platform to simplify ML workflows, ensure reproducibility, and seamlessly share with collaborators.
Zoho:
Contract Signed.  Project Ready.  Tasks Created.  —  Every project begins with a promise; a contract that outlines the deliverables, the timelines, and the terms.  But for most businesses …
Bitrix24:
Bitrix24 powers the next generation of high-performing businesses  —  Chat, projects, CRM, and automation — all in one place.  Replace dozens of tools so your team moves faster, collaborates smarter, and grows effortlessly.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
OpenAI Calls a 'Code Red' + Which Model Should I Use? + The Hard Fork Review of Slop
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Access:
Is Roblox making the internet better or worse? We asked the CEO
A show about the tech industry's inside conversation, hosted by tech reporter Alex Heath and founder whisperer Ellis Hamburger.
Subscribe to Access.
Lenny's Podcast:
Why LinkedIn is turning PMs into AI-powered "full stack builders" | Tomer Cohen (LinkedIn CPO)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Code red: our favorite tech rivalries
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
Big Technology Podcast:
How An AI Model Learned To Be Bad — With Evan Hubinger And Monte MacDiarmid
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 8:00 AM ET, March 17, 2020.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

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: