Techmeme
March 19, 2020, 6:50 PM

Top News

Financial Times:
EU calls on streaming services such as Netflix and YouTube to limit broadband use and offer programs only in standard, rather than high, definition  —  Brussels tells streaming companies to limit services as Facebook says managing traffic is a “challenge”  —  The EU has called on streaming services …
Reuters:
Netflix says it will reduce its bit rates across all its streams in Europe for 30 days, in effect cutting traffic on its European networks by 25%  —  Netflix said on Thursday it would reduce its bit rates across all its streams in Europe, in effect cutting traffic on its European networks …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft says Teams passed 44M DAUs, up from 32M earlier this month, unveils new features like real-time noise suppression that are coming later this year  —  Microsoft Teams, which launched worldwide in March 2017, passed 32 million daily active users (DAUs) this month.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils DirectX 12 Ultimate, which promises to better unify the features and capabilities of PC gaming and the Xbox platform, coming later this year  —  Bringing a suite of software advancements in gaming graphics onto a single platform  —  Microsoft has a new version …
Phillip Prado / Android Authority:
Google says Android Go, its OS aimed at low-end devices, now has more than 100M users and announces a new Camera Go app optimized for devices with 1GB of RAM  —  Today, Google made two exciting announcements.  Android Go now officially has more than 100 million users, and the company will soon release a new Camera Go app.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Uber says ride volume is down by ~70% in cities like Seattle, it has “ample liquidity” with $10B in cash, and is considering delivering medicine; stock up 35%+  —  Uber — the on-demand transportation and food delivery behemoth — has been hit hard by the novel coronavirus pandemic.
Olga Khazan / The Atlantic:
An Amazon warehouse worker in Queens, NY tests positive for coronavirus; Amazon says it has temporarily closed the facility and sent workers home with full pay  —  Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Queens, New York, received a text Wednesday evening that they long feared might come …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Facebook starts rolling out its sweeping desktop redesign, which offers dark mode, tabbed home screen, larger fonts, and a cleaner profile, to all users  —  Facebook today officially rolled out its sweeping desktop redesign that offers dark mode, tabbed homescreen, and a cleaner profile.
Torsten Ingvaldsen / HYPEBEAST:
Report: total streams for Spotify's top 200 most-streamed songs fell 23% in Italy from March 3 to March 17; US, UK, France, Spain markets have also decreased  —  Data from Spotify may suggest that widespread self-isolation is to blame.  —  Olly Curtis/Getty Images
Bijan Stephen / The Verge:
StreamElements: gaming viewership is up 10% on Twitch and up 15% on YouTube Gaming over past week; in Italy, minutes watching livestreams grew 66%+ since Feb.  —  Live-streaming is more popular than ever  —  These are unprecedented times.  It's fun to joke about the apocalypse …
Ari Levy / CNBC:
Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook, and Microsoft have lost a combined $1.3T in value since the market peak on Feb. 19; Facebook led the decline, dropping ~30%  —  - Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet and Facebook have lost a combined $1.3 in value since the market peaked on Feb. 19.

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 6:50 PM ET, March 19, 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

Earlier Picks

Steven Sinofsky / @stevesi:
Emily Bary / MarketWatch:
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Richard Leadbetter / Eurogamer.net:
Tom Warren / The Verge: