Techmeme
May 6, 2020, 6:25 AM

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 …
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.
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.
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 …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
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
Brooke Auxier / Pew Research Center:
Survey: Americans are split on the acceptability of tracing people's movements with phone data, and 60% believe contact tracing tech won't make much difference  —  The ongoing coronavirus outbreak has brought privacy and surveillance concerns to the forefront - from hacked video conferencing sessions …
Kieren McCarthy / The Register:
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
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.
Angela Lashbrook / OneZero :

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More News

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai / VICE:
Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:

Earlier Picks

Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Peter Eavis / New York Times:
Amanda Meade / The Guardian: