Techmeme
April 11, 2020, 4:40 PM

Top News

The Verge:
Apple and Google announce a joint effort to introduce iOS and Android APIs in mid-May for opt-in Bluetooth-based COVID-19 contact tracing  —  A huge step forward in the fight against COVID-19  —  Apple and Google announced a system for tracking the spread of the new coronavirus …
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Casey Newton / The Verge:
A look at the limits of Bluetooth-based voluntary COVID-19 contact tracing, which faces adoption hurdles, potentially big numbers of false positive pings, more  —  False positives and rampant privacy issues suggest we need to make a new investment in hiring people
Moxie Marlinspike / @moxie:
[Thread] Moxie Marlinspike explains how Apple and Google's contract tracing framework will work in practice  —  First look at Apple/Google contact tracing framework: 1) Once a day, your device derives a new key ("daily tracing key"). 2) It uses that to derive a new “proximity ID” every time your device's bluetooth address changes (15min), which is broadcast to nearby BT sensors. 1/10
Tom Maxwell / Input:
IBM is releasing a free course and forum next week to teach COBOL programming language, as US states struggle to find programmers for old unemployment systems  —  Many systems that process unemployment claims still run on a 60-year-old programming language that barely any coders understand.
Johana Bhuiyan / Los Angeles Times:
Instacart is paying workers about the same to do 2-3 orders at a time as it does for one order as demand rises during the pandemic, interviews and receipts show  —  Dina W. did her last job for Instacart on March 20.  Before the coronavirus outbreak, Dina could easily avoid doing …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Research tracking tech startup layoffs across the world since March 11 finds 204 startups have laid off 16,229 employees, nearly doubling between April 2-8  —  On Thursday, the U.S. Labor Department reported some staggering figures: the number of unemployment claims filed between March 15-April 4 surged to 16.8 million.
Justin Phillips / San Francisco Chronicle:
SF mayor caps commissions for food delivery startups to 15% during the pandemic; startups say the cap will raise customer fees, hurt delivery people's income  —  As struggling San Francisco restaurants pin their hopes of staying open on delivery and takeout orders, city officials have stepped …
New York Times:
Experts say social distancing directives, likely to continue in some form after the COVID-19 crisis, could prompt various industries to accelerate automation  —  Broad unease about losing jobs to machines could dissipate as people focus on the benefits of minimizing close human contact.
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Google says it will make changes to search results over the coming week to make it easier for users to find virtual health care options  —  The changes are rolling out over the coming week  —  Google is making changes to search results to make it easier for people to find virtual health care options …

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