Techmeme
May 13, 2020, 8:40 PM

Top News

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Google announces a new tab-grouping tool for Chrome, rolling out “slowly”, letting users cluster tabs together and organize them by name and color  —  Google is introducing a new feature to Chrome that will have you asking how you lived without it before.
Joe Maring / Android Central:
Report: Google's Pixel division has lost Marc Levoy, the engineer leading the camera division, and GM Mario Queiroz over the past year, as sales disappoint  —  The general manager for the Pixel division is also gone.  —  What you need to know  — According to The Information, Marc Levoy and Mario Queiroz have both left Google.
Martin Matishak / Politico:
A bipartisan amendment to FISA to prohibit warrantless surveillance of Americans' online browsing and search histories failed in the Senate by one vote, 59-37  —  Congressional privacy hawks scored a critical victory on Wednesday that deepens the uncertainty about the fate of expired federal surveillance powers.
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Dell announces a new XPS 17 and a redesigned XPS 15 with 16:10 edge-to-edge displays, only USB-C ports, and Intel 10th-gen CPUs, starting at $1,300 and $1,500  —  Dell goes all USB-C and 16:10 for its XPS lineup  —  Dell is making some big changes to its XPS lineup today, with a redesigned XPS 15 and a new XPS 17.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
April Glaser / NBC News:
Sources say Google has rolled back diversity programs, but Google disputes the claims and says it's adding outside help to scale racial equity training globally  —  One well-liked diversity training program at Google called Sojourn was cut entirely, according to seven former and current employees.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Uber says all riders and drivers will need to wear masks starting next week and introduces new tools to verify drivers are doing so before each trip  —  - Uber is launching a new tool that checks if drivers are wearing face masks before starting trips.  — The ride-hailing firm …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic Games unveils the Unreal Engine 5, coming in 2021, with a PlayStation 5 demo and says the Epic Online Services tools are available today  —  Epic says its new engine is a ‘quantum leap,’ and it'll arrive in 2021  —  Epic Games today announced the next iteration of its game engine …
Margaret Harding McGill / Axios:
Apple says its VP for Public Policy and Government Affairs Cynthia Hogan has resigned, following her appointment to Joe Biden's VP selection committee  —  Cynthia Hogan, Apple's vice president for public policy and government affairs, has resigned from the company, Apple said.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
In an open letter, Brian Huseman, Amazon's VP of public policy, calls for the establishment of a federal price gouging law amid coronavirus scams  —  - In a blog post Wednesday, Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, called for the establishment of a federal price gouging law.
Sean Lyngaas / CyberScoop:
DHS and FBI jointly accuse hackers affiliated with Chinese government of attempting to steal US research into a COVID-19 vaccine, adding to a slew of charges  —  The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI on Wednesday blamed hackers linked with the Chinese government for attempting …
Tyler Sonnemaker / Business Insider:
Filing: Kickstarter laid off 25 employees, or ~18% of its workforce; the company says 30 staff members took voluntary buyouts, taking total reductions to 39%  —  - Kickstarter is reducing its workforce by around 39%, the company confirmed on Wednesday.  — “Through a combination …
More: The Verge
Reuters:
A new French law compels internet giants to remove pedophile and terrorism-related content within an hour or face a fine of up to 4% of global revenue  —  PARIS (Reuters) - Social networks and other online content providers will have to remove paedophile and terrorism-related content …
Lauren Debter / Forbes:
Profile of Louis Borders, founder Borders bookstores, as his dotcom-era online grocery delivery service Webvan reemerges using a network of automated warehouses  —  Louis Borders is sure he can do it this time.  He just needs time, money and customers.  And more robots.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon gives its Fire HD 8 tablet and Fire HD 8 “Kids Edition” a spec bump, adds a new Fire HD 8 Plus model with 3GB of RAM and Qi wireless charging  —  Along with a slight price increase to $89.99  —  Amazon has announced a new update for its Fire HD 8 tablet, adding a faster processor, more RAM, and USB-C charging.
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Alphabet's Loon signs deal with carrier Vodacom to bring its commercial internet service to Mozambique  —  Loon, the Alphabet -owned company that's using stratospheric balloons to provide high-speed bandwidth to hard-to-serve areas without strong ground infrastructure, has signed a new deal …
Max Willens / Digiday:
Sources: Apple is asking the publishers participating in Apple News+ for permission to produce audio versions of stories, with Apple handling production costs  —  Apple News+ is pivoting to audio.  —  Over the past several months, Apple has been asking the publishers participating …
Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:
Cryptocurrency trading service FalconX raises $17M from Avon Ventures, Accel, and others  —  Over the last few weeks all eyes in the crypto world have been glued to the halvening, a nigh-religious moment in the blockchain realm.  Every once in a while, the amount of new bitcoin mined …
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
Amazon says it will extend hazard pay for warehouse workers, an extra $2 per hour, to the end of May, but will return to normal rates in June  —  Amazon warehouse workers have faced additional hazards throughout the coronavirus pandemic.  Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images
Doug Black / HPCwire:
MemVerge, which develops memory machine software, raises $19M led by Intel Capital  —  Memory situated at the center of the computing universe, replacing processing, has long been envisioned as instrumental to radically improved datacenter systems performance.
More: FinSMEs
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Lawyers involved in the settlement between Facebook and its content moderation contractors say around half of all moderators may develop mental health issues  —  That's according to lawyers involved in a settlement announced this week  —  In November 2018 I received a message that changed my life.

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Lily Hay Newman / Wired:

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