Techmeme
May 5, 2020, 11:25 PM

Top News

Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Letter from Brian Chesky to Airbnb employees says the company is laying off 1,900, or ~25% of its workforce, and expects a 2020 revenue decline of 50% YoY  —  Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff.  —  Airbnb, seen until recently as one of Silicon Valley's most financially secure unicorns, is laying off a quarter of its staff.
Apple:
Apple will host a virtual WWDC starting on June 22 in the Apple Developer app and website, free for all developers  —  Submissions for the Swift Student Challenge Are Now Open Through May 17  —  Cupertino, California — Apple today announced it will host its annual Worldwide Developers …
Kieren McCarthy / The Register:
UK's NHS contact tracing app won't work unless it's running in the foreground and the phone is kept awake and unlocked, and will also ask for users' location  —  Herd immunity all over again  —  Comment Britain is sleepwalking into another coronavirus disaster by failing to listen …
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Sources: Magic Leap is in talks to raise $100M in funding from a major health company after laying off around half of its workforce  —  - Magic Leap is turning to a “major” health care company to raise money, according to an internal memo obtained by The Information.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says its goal is to launch the Xbox Series X this year, and it will hold monthly streams to promote games for the next-gen console  —  Microsoft is revealing the Xbox Series X boot screen animation today and is promising to focus on first-party Xbox Game Studios games during a July event.
Brian Barrett / Wired:
Adult livestreaming website CAM4 exposes 10B+ records, including names, sexual orientations, payment logs, and email transcripts, on an unsecure database  —  CAM4 has taken the server offline, but not before it leaked 7TB of user data.  —  It's all too common for companies to leave databases chock full …
Tweets: @lanceulanoff
Shannon Liao / CNN:
Activision Blizzard CEO says people may turn to free mobile games during the pandemic, after the company beat Q1 expectations with sales of $1.52B, up 21% YoY  —  New York (CNN Business)While much of the economy is hurting during the pandemic, video games are thriving.
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
California AG, along with city attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego, and San Francisco, file a worker misclassification lawsuit against Uber and Lyft  —  California Attorney General Xavier Becerra along with city attorneys from Los Angeles, San Diego and San Francisco are filing …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Following Facebook, YouTube says it will host an online graduation event on June 6, featuring the Obamas, Sundar Pichai, Malala Yousafzai, Lady Gaga, and others  —  YouTube announces a stacked, eclectic lineup  —  YouTube is hosting an online graduation event to give seniors whose ceremonies have been canceled something to tune into.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Facebook's Oculus division is developing a smaller, lighter Quest VR headset, but the device is facing potential delays due to COVID-19  —  - Timing of new mid-range device is being impacted by Covid-19  — Company's planned AR glasses also facing Covid-related delays
Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
With one in four Americans lacking high-speed internet at home, some resort to sitting outside closed cafes and libraries to access free Wi-Fi  —  With cafes and libraries closed, Americans without internet access are sitting outside them to get free and fast connections.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Firefox 76 arrives with password management improvements, including site breach alerts, and support for Audio Worklets, which are used by Zoom  —  Mozilla today launched Firefox 76 for Windows, Mac, and Linux.  Firefox 76 includes new Firefox Lockwise password functionality, Zoom improvements, and a handful of developer features.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Peanut, a social network originally for moms but now for all women, raises $12M Series A led by EQT Ventures, bringing the total raised to $21.8M  —  Peanut, an app that began as a tool for finding new mom friends, has evolved into a social network now used by 1.6 million women to discuss a range of topics …
More: Tech.eu and PitchBook
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Pinterest reports Q1 revenue of $272M, vs. $270M est., up 35% YoY, and user base grew to 367M MAUs, up 26% YoY; stock down 15%+ after hours  —  - Shares of Pinterest fell more than 10% in after-hours trading on Tuesday after the company reported its first quarter results.
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Security researchers and experts say Apple's lawsuit against iOS and Android virtualization company Corellium has had a chilling effect on security research  —  Last year, Apple accused a cybersecurity startup based in Florida of infringing its copyright by developing and selling software …

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Earlier Picks

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