Techmeme
March 18, 2020, 3:05 PM

Top News

Apple:
Apple unveils new 11" and 12.9" iPad Pro with a lidar scanner for depth-sensing, backlit keyboard and trackpad, available to order today for $799+ and $999+  —  New Magic Keyboard Designed for iPad Pro Features a Floating Design, Backlit Keyboard and Trackpad, Delivering the Best Typing Experience Ever on iPad
Apple:
Apple launches new MacBook Air with a Magic Keyboard featuring scissor-style keys, 13.3" display, Touch ID, and 10th-gen Intel Core CPUs, starting at $999  —  The Most Popular Mac Now Has Up to 2x Faster Performance, the New Magic Keyboard and Twice the Storage
Tim Hardwick / MacRumors:
Apple updates Mac Mini with double the storage capacity in standard configurations, with the $799 base model now coming with a 256GB SSD  —  Apple today updated the Mac mini so that standard configurations now come with double the storage capacity.  —  The $799 configuration now comes …
Mitchel Broussard / MacRumors:
Apple will add full trackpad support to all iPads running iPadOS 13.4 on March 24 and unveils a Magic Keyboard with built-in trackpad starting at $299 in May  —  Apple today announced that iPadOS 13.4 will launch next Tuesday, March 24 as a free software update for all iPad Pro models …
Richard Leadbetter / Eurogamer.net:
Sony details full PlayStation 5 specs: a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU, custom GPU based on AMD's RDNA 2 with 10.28 teraflops, 16GB RAM, and custom 825GB SSD  —  Sony has broken its silence.  PlayStation 5 specifications are now out in the open with system architect Mark Cerny delivering …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Slack unveils a new design with an updated navigation bar, collapsible sections within the sidebar, improved ways to respond to threads and mentions, and more  —  It arrives today, and it's more customizable and simplified  —  Slack is unveiling a big redesign to its communications app …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google launches Android 11 Developer Preview 2 with hinge angle support for foldables, call screening improvements, and new Neural Networks API functionality  —  Google today launched the second Android 11 developer preview with hinge angle detection support, call screening improvements, and new ops in the Neural Networks API.
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
This pandemic has generated a surge in online community building, creating cautious optimism that our virtual efforts can offset some in-person losses  —  We've always hoped that our digital tools would create connections, not conflict.  We have a chance to make it happen.
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Facebook says it is rolling out a COVID-19 information center placed atop all users' feeds to help surface news and resources  —  The portal aims to be a one-stop shop for its more than 2.5 billion users to find news and resources about the pandemic.  —  Facebook on Wednesday announced …
Cade Metz / New York Times:
Pat Hanrahan and Ed Catmull are awarded the $1M Turing Award for their work on 3D animation and RenderMan, the engine behind Pixar's movies  —  Ed Catmull and Pat Hanrahan created computer techniques that remade animation, special effects, virtual reality and artificial intelligence.
New York Times:
The coronavirus pandemic is exposing the fragile situation of gig economy workers around the world, many of whom are losing their main income source  —  Gig companies promoted their flexible hours as an economic lifeline for workers.  In the coronavirus outbreak, it has been anything but.
Casey Newton / The Interface:
Amid COVID-19 crisis, tech platforms are making a premature bet on AI, as human moderators shift to moderating less sensitive content while working from home  —  Today, let's talk about some of the front-line workers at Facebook and Google working on the pandemic: the content moderators who keep the site running day in and day out.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Google says Advanced Protection program users will no longer be able to sideload apps or turn off Google Play Protect, which scans apps for malicious behavior  —  Google has announced a handful of Android-related security features today as the company looks to plug any critical gaps in its operating system …
Patrick J. Sauer / Marker:
Profile of Cameo, a marketplace that lets fans pay for personalized videos from celebrities, which in the last 15 months has grown from 20 to 125 employees  —  Inside the surreal and lucrative two-sided marketplace of mediocre famous people  —  ho's the most famous person on the planet?" asks Steven Galanis. "

Sponsor Posts

Tribe AI:
Is AI just hype?  —  Find out how top enterprises use Tribe to get real business results.
Techmeme Leaderboards:
Discover the top reporters on AI, VR, policy, and much more  —  We've analyzed Techmeme's news crawl to identify the most influential and prolific writers on 48 news topics.  Download reports immediately for just $100.
Zoho:
All new Zoho Workerly 2024  —  Staffing businesses around the world face a unique set of challenges when it comes to managing their temporary workforce.  With a constantly shifting job market and changing staffing needs …
Comprehensive.io:
Browse salary data from 3,000 startups for free  —  Click for FREE, immediate access to real-time compensation benchmarking data.  Paid version helps HR automate comp reviews and communicate total compensation to employees.
The Kevin Rose Show:
Henry Shukman, Lessons from an Authentic Zen Master
Gain unconventional wisdom and insights through conversations with top expert in AI, investing, wellness, technology, and culture.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Wed. 03/27 - Hulu Comes To Disney+; WWDC Gets A Date
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:05 PM ET, March 18, 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

Issie Lapowsky / Protocol:

Earlier Picks

Joe Tidy / BBC:
The Information: