Techmeme
March 31, 2020, 2:25 PM

Top News

The Intercept:
Zoom's marketing and product make the claim that it uses “end-to-end encryption”, but video and audio content from meetings is not end-to-end encrypted  —  Zoom, the video conferencing service whose use has spiked amid the Covid-19 pandemic, claims to implement end-to-end encryption …
New York Times:
New York's AG sent a letter to Zoom expressing concern over security vulnerabilities and privacy practices as more users conduct sensitive tasks on the service  —  As the videoconferencing platform's popularity has surged, Zoom has scrambled to address a series of data privacy and security problems.
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
After reports in tabloids of Houseparty users having social media accounts hacked, Houseparty offers $1M reward to unmask those behind apparent “smear campaign”  —  App maker denies getting hacked after multiple reports in British media.  —  Houseparty, a video conferencing desktop …
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Weather app Dark Sky says it's been acquired by Apple along with its team; the Android app is no longer available and the API will shutter on Dec. 31, 2021  —  In a big move to improve its weather app, Apple has purchased the highly popular iOS app Dark Sky.
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Around 60 employees staged a walkout at a Staten Island, NY fulfillment center to protest the impact of Amazon's COVID-19 response on warehouse workers  —  As Amazon workers across the country test positive for the virus, employees believe collective action is the only way to get the company to meaningfully clean its facilities
Bloomberg:
Amazon confirms that it fired the worker who led the Staten Island warehouse strike for violating its quarantine measures; worker says firing was in retaliation  —  - Worker Chris Smalls says labor activism led to his dismissal  — Amazon says Smalls violated safety conditions, quarantine
OnePlus Community:
OnePlus says its OnePlus 8 flagship phone will have Snapdragon 865 for 25% better performance, 120Hz display, 5G, and more; launch event will be on April 14  —  As most of you already know, OnePlus has focused on creating a “fast and smooth” user experience since day one.
Victoria Song / Gizmodo:
Fitbit unveils the Charge 4 fitness tracker, its first new product under Google, with built-in GPS, NFC payments, and Spotify compatibility, starting at $150  —  As we entered a new decade, Fitbit's fortunes looked uncertain.  Last year, the company was acquired by Google for a neat $2.1 billion …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Comcast says internet traffic from voice and video calls has risen 212% on its network over the past month and the overall peak traffic is up by 32%  —  Traffic zooms up as more people work from home  —  Voice and video calls have more than tripled on Comcast's network …
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Transportation software company Via, which offers a carpooling service in NYC, raises $200M Series E led by Exor at a $2.25B valuation  —  Via, a transportation software company best-known for its carpool service in New York City, has raised $200 million in Series E funding led by Exor …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Strivr, which offers a VR platform that companies including Verizon and BMW use to train employees, raises $30M Series B led by Georgian Partners  —  Strivr, the company behind a virtual reality (VR) platform that companies uses to train employees, has raised $30 million in a series B round …
New York Times:
How the Biden campaign is ramping up its digital operation amid the COVID-19 crisis, as Democrats look to close the technological divide with the Republicans  —  In the era of big data, memes and disinformation, the Democrats are trying to regain their digital edge as the president and his loyalists dictate the terms of debate.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Seegrid, which builds autonomous industrial vehicles for transporting materials, raises $25M from G2VP  —  Seegrid, a company that builds autonomous industrial vehicles for transporting materials, has raised $25 million in round of equity funding from venture capital firm G2VP.
More: FinSMEs
Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
FCC announces that all phone carriers must adopt the STIR/SHAKEN caller ID authentication protocols by June 30, 2021 to combat robocalls  —  The FCC announced today all carriers and phone companies must adopt the STIR/SHAKEN protocol by June 30th, 2021.  The regulatory requirement is designed …
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Huawei reports net profit of $9B for 2019, up 5.65% YoY, its slowest growth since 2016, on revenue of $123B, up 19.1% YoY, says it's impacted by US blacklist  —  - Huawei reported revenue of around 858.8 billion yuan or $123 billion for 2019, in line with its target at the start of last year.
Mary Jo Foley / ZDNet:
Microsoft announces Azure Edge Zones, now in private preview, to enable new low latency cloud computing suited for 5G networks  —  Microsoft and AWS are racing to provide tighter ties between 5G and cloud services.  Microsoft's strategy for this involves Azure Edge Zones and an expanding number of telco and carrier partners.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft debuts a Family Safety mobile app and AI-powered PowerPoint and Excel features as part of its 365 Family and Personal subscriptions, coming April 21  —  Microsoft today announced that on April 21, Office 365 will become Microsoft 365, or “the subscription for your life.”

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Earlier Picks

Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
The Information:
Ina Fried / Axios:
Marc Tracy / New York Times: