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May 21, 2020, 2:00 PM
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| Casey Newton / The Verge: |
Facebook says it will allow most of its employees to permanently work remotely and will make most of its US job openings eligible for remote hires — In a move that illustrates how swiftly the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the global economy, Facebook said today that it would begin allowing …
Facebook: Mark Zuckerberg. Tweets: @dylanbyers, @qwongsj, @scottmaustin, @lizzadwoskin, @martinsfp, @kimmaicutler, @dee_bosa, @dhh, @caro, @mattnavarra, @passantino, @caseynewton, and @kurtwagner8
| Casey Newton / The Verge: |
Zuckerberg: Facebook could get to about half of staff working remotely permanently in 5-10 years and will be the “most forward-leaning company on remote work” — In January, as reports about the spread of a novel coronavirus emerged from China, Mark Zuckerberg began to prepare for a potential pandemic.
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NBC News, Wall Street Journal, and CNBC
Tweets: @carnage4life, @kurtwagner8, @scottmaustin, and @caseynewton
| Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal: |
Sources: Amazon has decided to move its annual Prime Day event to September and has started allowing unlimited nonessential goods shipments to warehouses — E-commerce giant also allows nonessential goods shipments, indication of wider variety of products — Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -.25% …
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Engadget, Laptop Mag, GeekWire, TechRadar.com, Android Police, The Verge, CNET, Business Insider Nederland, Reuters, GameSpot, Digital Trends, Droid Life, Adweek, dot.LA, PYMNTS.com, CNBC, Tom's Guide, Android Central, and iPhone in Canada Blog
Tweets: @dcseifert, @joshelman, @caseynewton, @edbott, @wsj, @johnholtnews, @danamattioli, and @brianroemmele
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Facebook announces new features for Workplace, including a drop-in video call feature that mirrors Rooms, enhanced tools for Portal, and more — One of the biggest technology takeaways of the last couple of months has been that organizations need confident, wide-ranging digital strategies to stay afloat …
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TechRepublic
| Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: |
| Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC: |
Netflix says it will ask customers who have been inactive for a year or more if they want to keep their subscriptions, canceling accounts that take no action — - Netflix will start asking customers who haven't used its platform in the past year if they want to keep their subscriptions.
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Netflix Media Center, The Verge, TechCrunch, Bloomberg, Hollywood Reporter, Engadget, and The Streamable
Tweets: @cityofthetown, @tsuvik, @loudmouthjulia, @kylebaker, @dswiese, @dadaben_, @meganmorrone, @joshconstine, and @jbursz
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Facebook unveils a new Messenger feature to alert users about malicious activity, aimed at preventing scams and unwanted interactions with those under 18 — In an effort to beat back a rise in scams and other unwanted interactions during the pandemic, Facebook today unveiled …
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Messenger News, TechCrunch, iMore, Pocketnow, The Next Web, Gizmodo, and Vox
Tweets: @messenger and @epro
| Ian Fogg / Opensignal: |
Analysis of ten 5G operators across US, S. Korea, UK, and Australia finds that while Verizon has the fastest 5G speeds, its users see 5G just 0.5% of the time — Understanding the extent to which 5G improves the mobile experience is critical both for consumers considering upgrading to 5G … | Techdirt: |
Despite qualms from some experts, Google and Apple's exposure notification API enables the most privacy-respecting approach to contact tracing in history — Apple and Google have now released their update to their mobile operating systems to include a new capability for COVID-19 exposure notification.| Russell Brandom / The Verge: |
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9to5Mac, The Register, The Keyword, Ars Technica, The Guardian, Google, The Verge, ABC News, 9to5Google, LinkedIn, MacDailyNews, AppleInsider, coinspeaker.com, TechCircle, O'Grady's PowerPage, Gizchina, Computer Business Review, The Next Web, International Business Times, Telecoms.com, BBC, MIT Technology Review, Mashable, SiliconANGLE, Liliputing, Android Central, Android Headlines, The Mac Observer, and Politico
Tweets: @debra4kag, @smytho, @reedalbergotti, @carolineha_, @mims, @apollozac, @carolineha_, @alexstamos, and @matthewstoller
| Dieter Bohn / The Verge: |
Google rolls out new accessibility features for Android, including Assistant-powered, customized buttons called Action Blocks for tasks like playing music — Live Transcribe, Sound Amplifier, and Google Maps also get new updates — For Global Accessibility Awareness Day …
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Android Police, VentureBeat, 9to5Google, CNET, The Verge, The Keyword, MacRumors, TechRadar.com, The Keyword, and Engadget
Tweets: @backlon and @reneritchie
| Ashley Carman / The Verge: |
Tinder says it will start testing Global Mode, a new opt-in feature that lets user profiles show up around the world — Meet a foreign cutie — Tinder no longer sees physical closeness as a necessity for dating. The company announced today that it'll soon be testing Global Mode … | Scott Roxborough / Hollywood Reporter: |
ScreenHits launches a streaming video aggregator app that lets users bundle different services like Netflix and Disney+; app subscriptions start at $1.99/month — The app, which allows consumers to manage all their online viewing through a single interface, is betting viewers will pay to simplify their on-demand lives.
Tweets: @jefescott
| Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: |
Ecwid, which sells e-commerce tools directly and via third parties like Square and Wix, raises $42M; Ecwid had raised only about $6.5M since its 2009 founding — In the same week that Facebook announced a redoubled effort to make a bigger mark in e-commerce, one of its long-time partners has closed a large round of funding.| Candy Cheng / Bloomberg: |
Shopify says it will allow its 5,000 employees to work from home indefinitely — - Canadian e-commerce company switching to ‘digital by default’ — Offices will be closed until end of year and redesigned — Shopify Inc. will allow its 5,000 employees to work from home indefinitely …
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Reuters, BetaKit, Financial Post, American Banker, CTVNews, and Bloomberg
| Aditi Shrivastava / The Economic Times: |
Amazon India launches a food delivery service called Amazon Food in select areas of Bengaluru and says it will expand to other cities in a few weeks — Amazon has been luring eateries with competitive commissions as a part of its larger plan to build a comprehensive product portfolio
More:
TechCrunch, Reuters, Gizchina, PYMNTS.com, DealStreetAsia, The Financial Express, MediaNama, Indiaretailing.com, Inc42 Media, Entrackr, NDTV Gadgets 360, and BGR India
Tweets: @rishialwani, @docolumide, @tanvi_madan, @dalanmendonca, @chandrarsrikant, @ettech, and @cristinagberta. Thanks:@tsuvik
| Larry Dignan / ZDNet: |
Samsung unveils the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition with custom features for terrain navigation and data encryption, made for rugged use cases like law enforcement — The move highlights how Samsung is pushing its devices into more industry use cases. — Samsung is continuing its push …
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Samsung US Newsroom, Android Authority, CNET, The Register, Engadget, Android Authority, 9to5Google, PhoneArena, Softpedia News, Android Central, Wccftech, MSPoweruser, Android Headlines, Pocket-lint, TalkAndroid.com, and Pocketnow
Tweets: @appleparody_usa, @samsungnewsus, @patrickmoorhead, and @greengart
| Ron Miller / TechCrunch: |
Google Cloud says it's made a deal with the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit, which will use Google Cloud's Anthos for its multi-cloud management solution — Google dropped out of the Pentagon's JEDI cloud contract battle fairly early in the game, citing it was in conflict with its “AI principals.”
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Axios, The Information, Ars Technica, Google Cloud, Reuters, cloudpro.co.uk, CNBC, Beyond Search, Federal Computer Week, and CNET
Tweets: @jonerp, @organizejs, and @patrickmoorhead
| Jem Aswad / Variety: |
Spotify, which has about 4,400 full-time employees in 79 countries, has told its staffers that they can choose to work from home until next year — As the coronavirus-induced lockdown begins to ease in Europe and the U.S. and people begin to confront the realities of returning … | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: |
NoSQL cloud database service Couchbase raises $105M Series G led by GPI Capital, bringing its total raised to $251M per Crunchbase — Couchbase. the Santa Clara-based company behind the eponymous NoSQL cloud database service, today announced that it has raised a $105 million all-equity Series G round …
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SiliconANGLE
| Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times: |
How the remote school experience, with fewer distractions and less social pressure from peers, makes learning easier for some students — “At home, it seems to be a bit easier to focus on all the work,” said one eighth grader who was struggling in school. “Everything in general is easier.”
Tweets: @seldo, @nytimes, @pfagell, @donaldclark, and @suptenfield
| Manish Singh / TechCrunch: |
Facebook introduces a tool in India that locks an account, preventing strangers from viewing and downloading pictures, primarily for women — Facebook has rolled out a new safety feature in India that will enable users to easily lock their account so that people they are not friends … | Ryan McMorrow / Financial Times: |
Baidu says it's considering its options over its Nasdaq listing, including a secondary listing in Hong Kong, as US weighs tighter restrictions on Chinese firms — Chief executive says company is discussing response to potential new regulations — Baidu is considering its options …
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Reuters
| Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: |
Clara Analytics raises $25M Series B led by Aspen Capital Group for its AI-powered tools that expedite worker compensation claims — Clara Analytics, a predictive analytics company for workers' compensation claims, today announced that it has raised $25 million.
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FinSMEs
| Rey Mashayekhi / Fortune: |
Neo-bank Aspiration, which positions itself as socially conscious and sustainable, raises $135M Series C led by Alpha Edison, bringing total funding to $200M+ — Aspiration, the fintech startup that's brought a socially- and environmentally-conscious twist to the burgeoning realm of digital banking …
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TechCrunch
Sponsor Posts
Command Line:
Copilot to autopilot: Why no single safeguard is enough — Microsoft designed a layered model that lets an AI agent resolve network incidents on its own within defined boundaries.
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