Techmeme
April 13, 2020, 9:30 AM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Apple says COVID-19 contact tracing apps can include duration of proximity when deciding what is a proximity event, potentially limiting false positive pings  —  Adoption is the hard part of contact tracing apps so far — but if it's baked into the operating system, it gets a lot easier
Ross Anderson / Light Blue Touchpaper:
A list of issues that make contact tracing an impractical solution in the real world, from trolling others to cheating to insufficient adoption  —  There have recently been several proposals for pseudonymous contact tracing, including from Apple and Google.
Leo Kelion / BBC:
NHSX will test an app for users to send a “yellow alert” if they self-diagnose with COVID-19 symptoms and a “red alert” if they test positive to recent contacts  —  The UK has confirmed plans for an app that will warn users if they have recently been in close proximity …
The Guardian:
Leaked docs reveal the extent of UK's cooperation with Faculty and Palantir on a “Covid-19 datastore” to power the previously announced NHS pandemic dashboard  —  Technology firms are processing large volumes of confidential UK patient information in a data-mining operation …
The Sunday Times:
Moxie Marlinspike / @moxie:
Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple is planning an iPad Pro-like design with flat edges and a smaller notch for iPhones, a smaller, cheaper HomePod, and Apple Tags for the fall  —  - iPhone's fall refresh to add 5G on as many as four new models  — Smaller HomePod speaker, location tags for keys in development
Ben Smith / New York Times:
Sources: after handing over to the new CEO, Bob Iger effectively returned to run Disney in March, as the pandemic decimated its most profitable businesses  —  The former C.E.O. thought he was riding into the sunset.  Now he's reasserting control and reimagining Disney as a company with fewer employees and more thermometers.
Kate Rooney / CNBC:
PayPal and Intuit say they have been approved by the Small Business Administration to distribute funds from its $350B emergency lending program  —  - PayPal and Intuit are among the first non-bank, fintech companies to be approved for the Small Business Association's emergency lending program.

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Earlier Picks

Duncan Fyfe / VICE:
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: