Techmeme
October 2, 2020, 4:40 AM

Top News

Annie Palmer / CNBC:
Amazon says that of its 1.37M frontline workers, 19K+ contracted COVID-19 from March 1 to September 19, with an infection rate lower than general US population  —  - Amazon on Thursday released comprehensive data into the spread of the coronavirus across its workforce.
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Google will pay publishers $1B+ through 2023 to create and curate high-quality journalism for the new Google News Showcase, starting in Germany and Brazil  —  Google will pay publishers more than $1 billion over the next three years to create and curate high-quality journalism for a new set …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Netflix support document says that 4K streaming will be available only on Macs that have macOS 11.0 Big Sur, the latest Safari browser, and a T2 security chip  —  Macs without a T2 chip can't watch 4K Netflix  —  macOS Big Sur, Apple's upcoming release of its Mac operating system …
Michael McSweeney / The Block:
DOJ and CFTC charge BitMEX and its founders with allegedly operating an unregistered trading platform and violating CFTC anti-money laundering rules  —  The U.S. Department of Justice and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) have filed charges against crypto derivatives exchange BitMEX …
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Facebook announces updates for Groups: automating moderation, surfacing some public group discussions in News Feeds and search results, and more  —  The company is pushing people to join Groups  —  Facebook is expanding the reach of public groups today with new features that could lead …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
The Senate Commerce Committee votes to subpoena CEOs of Facebook, Google, and Twitter to testify before the panel about concerns over Section 230  —  The Senate Commerce Committee Thursday voted on a bipartisan basis to subpoena the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter to testify before the panel …
The Verge:
Facebook moderators at Accenture say they were told to return to the office despite the pandemic; Facebook says their work can't be done remotely  —  Employees are concerned about COVID-19 now that they're being told to return starting October 12th  —  Facebook moderators employed …
Christine Fisher / Engadget:
Facebook makes Forecast, an app for crowdsourced predictions and collective insights, available to all users  —  The company thinks Forecast will ‘encourage measured, respectful conversation.’  —  Facebook isn't exactly known for balanced conversations or reliable information …
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils $549 Surface Laptop Go with smaller 12.4" display, 10th-gen Intel Core i5, in three color variants, preorders start today, shipping October 13  —  This new Surface laptop is smaller, lighter, and less powerful  —  Microsoft is introducing a new Surface Laptop Go today …
The Verge:
HP debuts 14-inch Spectre x360 laptop with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 11th-gen Intel processors, Thunderbolt 4, and AI-based noise removal features, starting at $1,199  —  Plus updates for Spectre x360 13 and HP's Envy lineup  —  HP has just announced several new laptops, including …
Jim Salter / Ars Technica:
Survey of 500+ North American developers: ~50% say they manage at least 100 times more code than they did in 2010  —  Developers manage more code, in more languages, for more platforms than ever.  —  Sourcegraph, a company specializing in universal code search, polled more than 500 North …
More: Walmart Inc..  Tweets: @jgamblin
Shannon Vavra / CyberScoop:
DOD and DHS say malware dubbed SlothfulMedia is being used in ongoing campaigns in India, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Malaysia, Russia, and Ukraine  —  The Department of Defense and the Department of Homeland Security are calling out an unspecified “sophisticated cyber actor” …
Stanford Cyber Policy Center:
Researchers detail communities of accounts on Instagram and Twitter that role play with stolen images of minors, sometimes to sexualize children  —  A Look at the Use of Stolen Child Imagery in Social Media Role-Playing Games  —  In June 2020 Stanford Internet Observatory came across communities …

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.
Cloudflare:
Cloudflare Connect 2026: The Agentic Conference  —  Stop preparing for agents.  Start running them.  100+ sessions, workshops, and speakers from OpenAI, Arm, and Cloudflare across AI, security, and performance.
Zoho:
The 90-day recognition cliff: Why praise programs fade, and what keeps them alive  —  Recognition programs often start with enthusiasm.  Employees participate, managers share shoutouts, and teams have a new way to celebrate achievements.
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:
SAP CEO: AI Won't Kill Software, But It Will Change Your Job — With Christian Klein
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.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
David Ellison's Paramount-Warner Empire & The Fight That Comes Next
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.
Sources:
Factory CEO on why AGI is already here
Candid conversations with the leaders shaping what's next in AI and the broader tech industry. Hosted by Alex Heath, who has covered Silicon Valley for more than a decade.
Subscribe to Sources.
Invest Like the Best:
Noah Shinn - Building Instinct: The Personal Agent
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Lenny's Podcast:
The grief, loneliness, and burnout sweeping through the tech industry right now | Molly Graham
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Great Chat:
Doomers at Dreamforce
A podcast mostly about tech. Brought to you weekly by Angela Du, Sally Shin, Mac Bohannon, Helen Min, and Ashley Mayer.
Subscribe to Great Chat.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 4:40 AM ET, October 2, 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

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Benjamin Mayo / 9to5Mac:

Earlier Picks

Gordon Corera / BBC:
Shira Ovide / New York Times:
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Nathan Ingraham / Engadget: