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April 29, 2020, 4:00 PM
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| Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: |
Apple and Google release the first version of their contact tracing API, referred to as exposure notification API, in respective developer builds — Apple and Google have released the very first version of their exposure notification API, which they previously called the contact tracing API .
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CNBC, 9to5Google, CNET, 9to5Mac, Appleosophy, MacRumors, Business Insider, Reuters, VentureBeat, Engadget, Axios, The Verge, MacRumors, MacDailyNews, CNBC, MacStories, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @sonikku_a2, @markgurman, @profcarroll, @realdanstoller, @leokelion, @leokelion, @rsgnl, and @leokelion
| Washington Post: |
Survey of US adults finds skepticism about Apple and Google's COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, with smartphone owners split 50-50 on whether they would use it — Nearly 3 in 5 Americans say they are either unable or unwilling to use the infection-alert apps under development by Google and Apple … | Christina Farr / CNBC: |
How a handful of employees at Apple quickly pushed forward the development of a contract tracing API and collaboration with Google in less than a month — - Apple and Google announced a partnership to bring contact tracing to smartphones on April 10th. Their software toolkit will be released on Friday.
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Redmond Pie, iPhone in Canada Blog, AVC, USA Today, The Verge, The Overspill, iPhone Hacks, iMore, Cult of Mac, AppleInsider, The Register, MacRumors, iDownloadBlog.com, Input, 9to5Google, Naked Security, CNET, International Business Times, 9to5Mac, Android Central, Business Insider, and Bloomberg
Tweets: @chrissyfarr, @knieriemen, @newtonmark, @jimkillock, @mettevd, @ohunt, @mikesimonsen, @martinvetterli, @jimprosser, @mattrosoff, @fabiochiusi, @jamestitcomb, and @martinsfp
| Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: |
Filing: Lyft is laying off 17% of its workforce, or 982 staff, and will furlough 288 employees alongside salary cuts ranging from 10% to 30% for all staff — Lyft is laying off 982 employees and furloughing an additional 288, the company announced in a regulatory filing on Wednesday.
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Input, The Verge, International Business Times, CNET, CNN, Washington Post, The Information, Business Insider, TechCrunch, Adweek, Axios, PYMNTS.com, Bloomberg, Engadget, and The Verge
Tweets: @kateconger, @kateconger, @mikeisaac, and @danprimack
| Dieter Bohn / The Verge: |
Google Meet is now free for everyone with a Google account, for meetings of up to 100 people, which are not time limited until September 30 — Can it stem Zoom's meteoric growth? — Google is opening up its Google Meet videoconferencing service to anybody who wants to use it …
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The Keyword, Ars Technica, VentureBeat, CNET, Engadget, Washington Post, Mashable, Fortune, Input, Fast Company, TheStreet, Forbes, XDA Developers, 9to5Google, The Verge, OnMSFT.com, AndroidGuys, Business Insider, Gizmodo, iDownloadBlog.com, NBC Bay Area, New York Post, BetaNews, TechRepublic, TechCrunch, PCWorld, Thurrott, KnowTechie, iPhone in Canada Blog, ZDNet, The Next Web, Droid Life, MacRumors, SiliconANGLE, Silicon Republic, Beyond Search, Forbes, Search Engine Journal, WinBuzzer, MSPoweruser, Digital Trends, Android Authority, Laptop Mag, Bloomberg, Ubergizmo, Chrome Unboxed, Android Police, SlashGear, Neowin, The Mac Observer, Liliputing, Pureinfotech, Pocketnow, and The Verge
Tweets: @epro, @mattnavarra, @googlecloud_in, @backlon, @susanlitv, @gsuite, @mdudas, @joshelman, and @pierce
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M; MAUs rose 31% YoY to 286M, premium users rose 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs rose 32% to 163M — The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
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Spotify, Engadget, CNBC, Wall Street Journal, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, VentureBeat, iDownloadBlog.com, Neowin, CNET, The Verge, iPhone in Canada Blog, and 9to5Mac
Tweets: @kerrymflynn, @j_a_warrington, @pkafka, and @spotifynews
| Kerry Flynn / CNN: |
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Nieman Lab, Fast Company, The Wrap, Thurrott, Protocol, GeekWire, MarketWatch, and Variety. Tweets: @robinwauters
| Reuters: |
Sources: Amazon bought thermal cameras to check worker temperatures from Dahua, a Chinese company blacklisted by the US over alleged help monitoring minorities — NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has bought cameras to take temperatures of workers during …
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Gizmodo, The Next Web, The Hill, Business Insider, and New York Post
Tweets: @aprilaser and @alibreland
| Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: |
Twitter updates its API platform to make it easier for developers and researchers to study the public conversation around COVID-19 — Twitter is making it possible for developers and researchers to study the public conversation around COVID-19 in real time with an update to its API platform.| Andrew Tarantola / Engadget: |
Facebook announces Blender, an open source chatbot aimed at AI research that it says has been trained on 9.4B parameters — It could help tomorrow's AI converse more naturally with people — The virtual assistants that inhabit our smartphones are helpful, sure, but they're not going to pass the Turing test any time soon.
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MIT Technology Review, Facebook AI, VentureBeat, CNET, and Fortune
Tweets: @facebookai and @techjournalist
| Vox: |
Sources: Amazon has begun cracking down on communication across its widely-read email listservs after employees used them to protest and organize — The company says it's more widely enforcing rules around mass emails as part of a routine audit. Some employees see it as an attack on worker organizing.| Ian Sherr / CNET: |
Mojo Vision, which is building AR contact lenses, raises $51M Series B-1 led by NEA, bringing its total raised to $159M+ — There's little debate that, as tech pushes further into our lives, we'll soon be using augmented reality glasses that overlay computer images on the real world.
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TechCrunch, Mojo Vision, Light Reading, Silicon Valley Business …, FinSMEs, and IEEE. Thanks:@iansherr
| Doug Palmer / Politico: |
Trump administration lists Amazon's websites in Canada, UK, Germany, France, and India as “notorious markets” for counterfeit goods; the move carries no penalty — The Trump administration Wednesday included Amazon's foreign websites in Canada, the U.K., Germany …
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Reuters, Wall Street Journal, The Amazon Blog, Yahoo Finance, Bloomberg, USA Today, and PYMNTS.com
| Larry Dignan / ZDNet: |
Flexera State of the Cloud 2020 report: multicloud is becoming the primary architecture choice; 65% of organizations are using Docker, 58% are using Kubernetes — Flexera's State of the Cloud 2020 report highlights how multicloud is becoming a default strategy for many enterprises …
More:
Flexera, SiliconANGLE, The New Stack, ZDNet, TechRepublic, and BetaNews
| Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters: |
Samsung reports Q1 earnings with total revenue ~$45.4B, up 5.6% YoY, and operating profit of ~$5.2B, up 3% YoY, as chip demand was solid amid COVID-19 crisis — SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said its operating profit rose 3% in the January to March period …
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Samsung Global Newsroom, CNBC, TechCrunch, CNET, CCN.com, Silicon Republic, PhoneArena, Android Central, Bloomberg, and ZDNet. Tweets: @rover829
| Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: |
Pittsburgh-based Niche, a school search service for prospective US students, raises $35M Series C led by Radian Capital, bringing total raised to ~$44M — Niche, a school search platform, announced this morning it has raised a $35 million Series C round of funding led by Radian Capital.| Todd Spangler / Variety: |
Alphabet reports YouTube Q1 ad revenue of $4.04B, up 33% YoY, but says ad sales fell significantly in March — NewFronts 2020: YouTube, Hulu Confirmed for Reshuffled June Marketing Series, Facebook Expected to Join — YouTube generated $4.04 billion in ad revenue for the first quarter of 2020, up 33% from the year prior.
More:
VentureBeat, RAIN News, Silicon Republic, Telecoms.com, Tubefilter, and Alphabet. Tweets: @xpangler
| Andy Baio / Waxy.org: |
Roc Nation files copyright claim over deepfake YouTube videos that use AI to impersonate Jay-Z's voice, raising new copyright and fair use questions — On Friday, I linked to several videos by Vocal Synthesis, a new YouTube channel dedicated to audio deepfakes — AI-generated speech …
More:
Techdirt, The Verge, Plagiarism Today, Music Ally, Input, and Reclaim The Net
Tweets: @glassbottommeg, @mantzarlis, @hollyherndon, @grady_booch, @reckless, @gregghoush, @henryajder, and @waxpancake
| Babu Mohan / Android Central: |
LG's smartphone division reports Q1 sales of $843.9M, down 34% YoY, operating loss of $201M, says it was impacted by “supply disruptions from Chinese partners” — The company's smartphone sales decreased by 34% in the first quarter of the year. — What you need to know| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Salesforce details its AI Economist, built in partnership with a Harvard economist, that helps design policies by modeling the impact of different tax rates — Salesforce today announced the AI Economist, a research environment designed to elucidate how economic design might be improved … | Nick Corasaniti / New York Times: |
Profile of Acronym, a progressive nonprofit that, with the help of ex-Facebook staffer James Barnes, is looking to use Trump's online ad tactics against him — A former Facebook employee is using a tool he employed to help President Trump win to conduct tests for a progressive group …
Tweets: @matthewstoller, @nytpolitics, @conorjrogers, @anthony, @davidplouffe, @deaneckles, @chillywillers, and @fishbones2017
| Samantha Cole / VICE: |
USPTO says AI cannot be an inventor, as only “natural persons” can receive a patent, after two patents filed in 2019 had an AI system credited as inventor — On Monday, the United States Patent and Trademark Office published a decision that claims artificial intelligences cannot be inventors.| Charlotte Tucker / EU-Startups: |
Deliverect, a Belgian startup developing online food delivery management software for restaurants, raises €16.25M Series B led by OMERS Ventures — Today Deliverect, a Belgian startup streamlining the restaurant industry with its online food delivery management software … | Lauren Hepler / Protocol: |
How companies like Proxy and Openpath are recalibrating their building automation offerings for offices, factories, and warehouses as COVID-19 lockdowns lift — They say access isn't everything. But when you go back to work after COVID-19, all doors may open via a mobile app … | Matthew Moore / The Times: |
Facebook poaches Tony Close, director of content standards at Ofcom, as director of content regulation; Ofcom is preparing to regulate social media companies — A senior official at the watchdog preparing to regulate social media companies has been poached by Facebook to help it respond to the curbs.
More:
Telecoms.com. Tweets: @tim2040, @mattkmoore, @mrharrycole, @janinegibson, @damiancollins, and @jbenton
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