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April 7, 2020, 10:05 AM
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Top News

Alex Hern / The Guardian:
WhatsApp now limits forwarding of viral messages, forwarded five or more times, to one group at a time, to fight misinformation  —  Restrictions on frequently forwarded messages intended to disrupt false Covid-19 claims  —  WhatsApp is to impose a strict new limit on message forwarding …
CNBC:
Airbnb raises $1B in debt and equity from Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners; source: the funding doesn't depend on its performance or a target date for IPO  —  - Airbnb raised $1 billion in a new round of funding led by Silver Lake and Sixth Street Partners.
Feargus O'Sullivan / CityLab:
A look at Airbnb's challenges amid the pandemic crisis, as global bookings fall and prospects for the travel accommodation industry turn murky
Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Interview with Masayoshi Son on WeWork and the role of the Vision Fund within SoftBank; he expects 15 companies in the Vision Fund portfolio to go bankrupt  —  Covering venture capital, software and startups  —  Between the WeWork debacle and the coronavirus, the markets …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft expands xCloud beta registration to 11 European countries, rolling out the preview gradually to avoid overloading the internet  —  Microsoft is rolling out the preview gradually due to coronavirus internet impact concerns  —  Microsoft is starting to open up its xCloud game streaming beta to countries across Europe.
The Guardian:
Facebook says it will start actively removing false claims that link Covid-19 to 5G, which have started entering the mainstream  —  Perfect storm of conditions helped nonsense theories about 5G and coronavirus to take hold  —  A year ago, hoax theories about the dangers of 5G had barely pierced …
Saheli Roy Choudhury / CNBC:
Samsung forecasts Q1 2020 operating profit of $5.2B, up 2.7% YoY, beating analyst estimates, and consolidated sales of ~$44B; stock is up 3%+  —  - Samsung said it expects 6.4 trillion Korean won ($5.23 billion) in first-quarter operating profit for 2020, up 2.7% from the 6.23 trillion won it posted for the same period a year earlier.
New York Times:
Some teachers in the US say under 50% of their pupils participate in online learning; absence rate seems higher in low-income households, marking digital divide  —  Teachers at some schools across the country report that less than half of their students are participating in online learning.
Taylor Lyles / The Verge:
Google updates Pixel 4 to require open eyes to use the phone's face unlock feature by default, with the option to disable it  —  Apple's had a similar feature since 2017  —  Google released an update for the Pixel 4 today requiring users to have their eyes open when using face unlock to open the phone.
Christina Farr / CNBC:
Facebook says it's releasing new Data for Good tools including Disease Prevention Maps to help public health researchers track social distancing efforts  —  - Facebook's Data for Good team is working on tools for public health researchers to help them figure out if preventative measures …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
Italian email service Email.it confirms breach; hackers claim they have data of 600K+ users, including plaintext passwords, and are selling it on the dark web  —  Italian email provider Email.it confirms security breach.  —  The data of more than 600,000 Email.it users is currently being sold …
Sahil Patel / Wall Street Journal:
Foursquare says it's merging with location data company Factual in an all-stock deal; the two companies say they brought in $150M+ in combined 2019 revenue  —  The all-stock deal is aimed at sharpening Foursquare's location-data offerings, from audience-targeting and ad measurement to app developer tools
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Microsoft hires former Apple exec Ruben Caballero to work on mixed reality hardware and AI; Caballero was in charge of wireless technologies at Apple  —  Microsoft Corp. hired Apple Inc.'s former executive in charge of wireless technologies to work on mixed reality hardware and artificial intelligence technology.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Tim Cook says Apple has now sourced 20M+ masks for healthcare workers from its supply chain and has designed and will ship face shields at a rate of 1M/week  —  Tim Cook is back with another update on Apple's ongoing efforts to help healthcare professionals amid the COVID-19 outbreak.
John Gruber / Daring Fireball:
Source: the 2020 iPad Pros do not have a U1 Ultra Wideband chip  —  Joe Rossignol, MacRumors, “2020 iPad Pro May Not Have a U1 Ultra Wideband Chip After All”: … So the tech specs don't mention it, Apple never mentioned it, and the U1-enabled features in iPhone 11 models aren't there.
More: iMore and AppleInsider
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
CircleCI, which creates tools for automated app testing and deployment, raises $100M Series E co-led by IVP and Sapphire Ventures  —  Continuous integration and delivery platform CircleCI today announced that it secured a $100 million tranche, which will be used to bolster the development …

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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.

From Mediagazer

Hadas Gold / CNN:
Anthropic is running Super Bowl ads criticizing ads in chatbots, prompting a public response from OpenAI CEO Sam Altman defending plans for ads in ChatGPT

Financial Times:
Sources: WaPo is losing about $100M per year but aiming to break even by the end of 2026, which could unlock fresh funding from Jeff Bezos

Todd Spangler / Variety:
Filing: Amazon's spending on content, including music, sports rights, and licensed and produced TV and film, rose 10% YoY to $22.4B

More News

Christina Farr / CNBC:
How US health officials have been tracking pandemics since early 2000s via syndromic surveillance using AWS-hosted federal databases of aggregated hospital data
Mike Isaac / New York Times:
Facebook's automated systems may have blocked organizers of DIY face mask hand sewing efforts; Facebook says it was in error and is working to resolve the issue

Earlier Picks

Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Google launches its Local Home SDK out of preview, to enhance smart home integration with Google Assistant by routing commands through local networks
New York Times:
Interviews with over 30 sources highlight Amazon's struggle to combat COVID-19, under pressure as orders rise, as the virus spreads to more than 50 warehouses
New York Times:
A look at law firm Keller Lenkner and startup FairShake, which file arbitration lawsuits against companies en masse, including 2K+ against DoorDash in one day
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Quibi app review: works reliably, auto-flips between landscape and portrait, but no tablet-optimized mode, no family member profiles, and lacks a TV experience
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