Techmeme
May 6, 2020, 3:05 PM

Top News

New York Times:
Facebook's Oversight Board announces its first 20 members, out of a total of 40, who will oversee challenging content issues  —  Introducing the company's independent oversight board.  —  The authors are co-chairs of Facebook's oversight board.  —  Social media affects people's lives in many ways, good and bad.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Microsoft debuts 13.5-inch and 15-inch Surface Book 3 laptops with 10th-gen quad-core Intel CPUs, new NVIDIA GPUs, available May 21 from $1,600 and $2,300  —  With the Surface Book 2, Microsoft proved it could take on the MacBook Pro directly with a powerful and genuinely innovative PC notebook.
Panos Panay / Windows Blog:
Microsoft announces $250 Surface Headphones 2 with better sound and battery, arriving on May 12, and says its Surface Buds will ship on the same day for $200  —  Available for preorder today, new Surface devices and accessories are designed to help you work, learn, connect and play from anywhere
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Surface Go 2 with a bigger 10.5-inch display and more powerful Intel processors in higher-end models, coming May 12, starting at $400  —  The smaller Surface gets a big hardware bump  —  Microsoft's smallest Surface tablet is getting some important hardware upgrades today in the form of the Surface Go 2.
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Sources: Google to release a Fire TV-like Android TV dongle with a new content-centric UI in the coming months, likely extending its Nest brand to the product  —  Google is set to introduce an Android TV streaming device in the coming months, a reimagined dongle with a new user interface …
Abner Li / 9to5Google:
Google says Android 11 Beta 1 is being pushed back to June 3, about a month behind schedule, but the final release is still on track for Q3  —  Back in February, Google laid out plans for three Android 11 developer previews and betas.  The company delivered the first half on that schedule amid COVID-19 …
Ellen Hammett / Marketing Week:
Study: half of the money brands invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers; 15% of the money is unattributable to supply chain players  —  A new study by ISBA has found that half the money advertisers invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Uber says it will lay off 3,700 employees, or ~14% of its workforce, as it has been hit hard by the pandemic; CEO Dara Khosrowshahi will forgo his base salary  —  Uber announced Wednesday that it will lay off 3,700 employees.  The cuts to its customer support and recruiting teams represent …
Ivan Mehta / The Next Web:
Facebook tries again to offer “free” mobile web access with data limits, partnering with telecoms in Peru to offer a Discover app that lets users visit any site  —  Remember Free Basics?  Facebook's ambitious program to bring people to the internet for the first time.
Hyunjoo Jin / Reuters:
Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee makes a rare apology, saying he will not hand over management of the company to his children, and vows to protect labor rights  —  SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Group heir Jay Y. Lee, embroiled in a bribery scandal, on Wednesday made a rare apology …
Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch:
Interview with Apple SVP Craig Federighi about the iPadOS cursor, a significant change to the pointer paradigm, and the decisions Apple made to get there  —  Apple SVP Craig Federighi talks about the iPad's new cursor and Magic Keyboard  —  Even though Apple did not invent the mouse pointer …
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Q&A with Steven Sinofsky on his upcoming memoir that chronicles his time at Microsoft, as he reflects on how the company fought the ILOVEYOU virus 20 years ago  —  On the 20th anniversary of the unleashing of the ILOVEYOU virus—which infected millions of PCs worldwide …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Match says Tinder will launch in-app one-on-one video chats later this year, as growth falls during the pandemic, although most details are TBA  —  A big undertaking for one of the world's largest dating apps  —  Tinder is going to launch its own in-app, one-on-one video chats later this year.
Bloomberg:
Spotify CEO expects Apple to “open up” its platform more to 3rd-party apps, after Spotify's antitrust complaint with the EU, but sees it as a long-term process  —  - Apple plans to let other music services integrate with HomePod  — Ek says ‘steps to go before’ Apple is open and fair platform
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
With gyms closed, sales of the $2,245 Peloton connected smart bike have surged; Peloton's stock has risen 86% since mid-March, valuing the company at $10B  —  With gyms closed and nowhere to go, more people are shelling out $2,245 for the workout bike.  —  Lauren Allbright, a teacher …
Divya Balji / Bloomberg:
Shopify tops estimates with Q1 revenue of $470M, up 47% YoY, and gross merchandise volume of $17.4B, up 46% YoY  —  - First-quarter revenue jumped 47% to $470 million from 2019  — Gross merchandise volume soared 46% to $17.4 billion  —  Shopify Inc. reported first-quarter revenue …
Charles Fishman / The Atlantic:
How internet infrastructure, like that from AT&T, has managed to cope during the lockdown, as people stream media and work remotely  —  How the internet kept running even as society closed down around it  —  Journalist and author of One Giant Leap  —  Here's a question …

Sponsor Posts

Subquadratic:
Subquadratic: the LLM built for 12M-token reasoning  —  SubQ can reason across entire codebases and document sets in one pass with no RAG workarounds.  Read how SubQ 1.1 Small holds near-perfect retrieval out to 12M tokens.
Cape:
Most carriers track everything.  Cape doesn't.  —  Unlimited talk, text & data, 24-hr metadata deletion, network ID rotation, SIM-attack defense, and more.  Switch today and get 29% off for life.
Zoho:
App Spotlight: MessageWhiz SMS for Zoho CRM  —  App Spotlight brings you hand-picked solutions that enhance your Zoho apps and tools.  Visit Zoho Marketplace to explore all of our apps, integrations …
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Salesforce data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Big Technology Podcast:
Big Tech's Insane Hidden AI Spending, Ranking Anthropic vs. OpenAI, AI For Travel Debate
The Big Technology Podcast takes you behind the scenes in the tech world featuring interviews with plugged-in insiders and outside agitators.
Subscribe to Big Technology Podcast.
Hard Fork:
OpenAI's Two-Week Pause + Jill Lepore on the Threat of the "Artificial State" + Train of Thought
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
The $12.5 Billion Lakers, the NFL's TV Fight, and Sports Media's Big Split
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Training Data:
Rich Sutton and Khurram Javed: Why AI Models Stop Learning, and How to Start It Again
Sequoia Capital partners host conversations with leading AI builders and researchers to develop a deeper understanding of the evolving technologies and their implications.
Subscribe to Training Data.
Invest Like the Best:
Ben Thompson on Big Tech, China, and the AI Boom Running Out of Money
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith:
Connecting the Unconnected: Doreen Bogdan-Martin
Microsoft Vice Chair and President Brad Smith speaks with leaders in government, business, and culture to explore the most critical challenges at the intersection of technology and society.
Subscribe to Tools and Weapons with Brad Smith.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:05 PM ET, May 6, 2020.

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.

More News

Earlier Picks

Angela Lashbrook / OneZero :
Brooke Auxier / Pew Research Center:
Shannon Liao / CNN:
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: