| 11:15 PM • | Andrew Hutchinson / Social Media Today: Facebook announces new measures to help businesses including a gift card registry, says applications for its $100M SMB grant program will open next week |
| 10:15 PM • | Julian Borger / The Guardian: Twitter deletes 20K fake accounts linked to governments of Serbia, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Honduras, and Indonesia for “attempt to undermine public conversation” |
| 8:30 PM • | Devin Coldewey / TechCrunch: FCC approves $200M COVID-19 Telehealth Program to help cover the cost of new telehealth services and devices with up to $1M in funding for medical providers |
| 8:00 PM • | Zac Hall / 9to5Mac: Source: Apple's new entry level iPhone will be called iPhone SE, available in white, black, and red, with 64GB, 128GB, or 256GB storage options |
| 6:50 PM • | Mark Hachman / PCWorld: Zoom has issued a patch for a vulnerability in its Windows client that let attackers steal Windows login credentials from malicious chat links |
| 6:20 PM • | John Gruber / Daring Fireball: A deep dive into the deal between Apple and Amazon that lets the retail giant process some payments in Prime Video app, and the motivations of both companies |
| 5:40 PM • | Ryan Browne / CNBC: European countries, including France and Germany, are offering billions of euros to support tech startups during COVID-19; the UK is facing calls to do similar |
| 4:35 PM • | Megan Rose Dickey / TechCrunch: Instacart says it will start providing free health and safety kits with a face mask, hand sanitizer, and a thermometer to its full-service shoppers |
| 4:20 PM • | Pururaj Dutta / Appleosophy: Apple references its rumored AirTags item tracking tags in a video uploaded to its Apple Support channel on YouTube |
| 4:15 PM • | Paul Blest / VICE: Leaked notes from an internal meeting attended by Jeff Bezos reveal Amazon execs discussed a plan to smear fired warehouse employee Christian Smalls |
| 3:55 PM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: Zoom issues a new update to fix its “malware-like” macOS installer |
| 3:10 PM • | Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: eBay says it will waive seller fees for new businesses through June 30 as part of a new Up & Running program to help owners of shuttered physical stores |
| 2:05 PM • | Dan Primack / Axios: House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy says VC-backed startups will become eligible for $350B in small business loans guaranteed via the CARES Act |
| 1:15 PM • | Ivan Mehta / The Next Web: Google says it is shutting down Neighbourly, a neighborhood Q&A app for India, on May 12 |
| 1:00 PM • | Sara Fischer / Axios: Memo: Google will begin letting some advertisers run COVID-19 related ads, prioritizing government entities, hospitals, and others working directly on the issue |
| 12:50 PM • | Seth Schiesel / New York Times: Amazon reveals plan for interactive games on Twitch, arriving over summer; sources say Amazon is working on a cloud gaming platform codenamed Project Tempo |
| 12:25 PM • | Sarah Perez / TechCrunch: App Annie: consumers spent a record $23.4B+ globally through Google and Apple app stores in Q1 2020, with average weekly time spent in apps and games up 20% YoY |
| 11:35 AM • | Jason Del Rey / Vox: Amazon bans the sale of some medical supplies, like N95 and surgical masks, to the general public and will only allow hospitals and government orgs to buy them |
| 11:20 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Phantom AI, which is developing advanced driver-assistance systems for cars and trucks, raises $22M Series A led by Celeres Investments |
| 11:10 AM • | Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge: Intel announces its first 10th-gen Comet Lake H-series CPUs for high-end gaming laptops, with clock speeds that can boost past 5.0GHz |
| 10:40 AM • | Frank Chaparro / The Block: Binance acquires crypto data aggregator CoinMarketCap, source says for around $300M |
| 10:35 AM • | Jeffrey Dastin / Reuters: Amazon says it plans to roll out temperature checks and masks for staff at its US and European warehouses and will use ML to improve social distancing measures |
| 10:07 AM • | Christine Fisher / Engadget: Facebook launches a standalone Messenger app for MacOS and Windows with unlimited, free group video calls, support for Dark Mode, and more |
| 10:00 AM • | New York Times: Zoom says it's now disabled a feature that let users covertly access data from some people's LinkedIn profiles, even when they were in the meeting anonymously |
| 9:45 AM • | Rory Cellan-Jones / BBC: Spyware firm NSO Group is marketing software that uses mobile phone data to monitor and predict the spread of COVID-19, says some countries are testing it |
| 9:30 AM • | Ari Levy / CNBC: How Toast, a cloud-based restaurant management software provider, is supporting its clients' transitions from in-person dining to takeout and delivery services |
| 9:00 AM • | Eric S. Yuan / Zoom Blog: Zoom apologizes for security failures, says it has 200M+ DAUs vs. 10M in Dec., and plans to freeze development of new features to focus on security and privacy |
| 8:35 AM • | Bloomberg: Sources: SoftBank-backed online lender Kabbage suspended credit lines to its small business clients in the past week without notice |
| 8:10 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: Collibra, which provides tools to manage, warehouse, store, and analyze data troves, raises $112.5M at a post-money valuation of $2.3B |
| 7:20 AM • | Tammy Lovell / MobiHealthNews: London-based Air Doctor, which helps travelers connect with local doctors for non-emergency conditions in 42 countries, raises $7.8M Series A |
| 4:50 AM • | Kieren McCarthy / The Register: Amazon, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Akamai, and Netflix join MANRS, an Internet Society-supported initiative aimed at bolstering internet's routing security |
| 1:15 AM • | Matthew Gault / VICE: Popular early internet meme site YTMND has been resurrected with the help of fans, a year after it went down |
| 12:00 AM • | Olivia Poh / The Business Times: Doctor Anywhere, a Singapore-based telemedicine startup, raises $27M Series B, says it will use the funds to expand into Malaysia and the Philippines |
| 11:20 PM • | Dave Lee / Financial Times: Amazon is investigating claims of its contractors sleeping in “subhuman” conditions on makeshift beds in a Philippine call center due to travel restrictions |
| 11:05 PM • | Ben Bergman / dot.LA: An inside account of how Bird laid off 406 employees in two minutes via a Zoom webinar; employees say they were locked out of their computers during the meeting |
| 9:55 PM • | Jason Aycock / Seeking Alpha: Snap says the time users spent calling on its app increased by 50%+ from February to March, and that Snaps between friends reached all-time high in that period |
| 8:15 PM • | Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch: Anthony Levandowski files motion to force Uber into arbitration, alleging Uber must shoulder $179M judgment against him as part of its 2016 indemnity agreement |
| 7:45 PM • | Ry Crist / CNET: FCC will vote on a proposal to make the entire 6 GHz band available for unlicensed use, citing the increase in Wi-Fi demand, on April 23 |
| 7:05 PM • | Zoe Schiffer / The Verge: Some couples, faced with orders to shelter in place to avoid COVID-19, are getting married at home with friends and relatives watching on Zoom |
| 6:13 PM • | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Apple now lets some video streaming apps, like Amazon Prime Video, use their own payment methods for in-app purchases on Apple devices, avoiding Apple's 30% cut |
| 4:28 PM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: Amazon Prime Video now allows in-app rentals and purchases on the iPhone, iPad, and Apple TV |
| 4:00 PM • | Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: Ohio-based Olive, which is developing an automation tool for US healthcare administration, raises $51M led by General Catalyst, bringing total raised to $123.8M |
| 3:36 PM • | Erin Griffith / New York Times: All-in-one productivity tool Notion, which helps people organize and track their work, raises $50M from Index Ventures and others at a $2B valuation |
| 3:18 PM • | The Information: Sources: YouTube is planning to release Shorts, a rival to TikTok inside YouTube's main app, by the end of the year |
| 2:50 PM • | Issie Lapowsky / Protocol: As COVID-19 confines people to their homes and prohibits gatherings, US political races are moving online, causing anxiety for some campaigns |
| 2:25 PM • | Erin Griffith / New York Times: COVID-19 has negatively affected tech startups big and small, leading to layoffs, halted IPOs and hiring, slashed prices for products, and bankruptcies |
| 2:10 PM • | Kaya Yurieff / CNN: Doctors are banding together on Twitter and TikTok to settle on frameworks of verifiable sources and information to share with the public |
| 2:00 PM • | Daphne Leprince-Ringuet / ZDNet: Amazon says Amazon Detective for AWS, which uses ML to visualize anomalies in customer resources, is now generally available |
| 1:45 PM • | Pearse Anderson / The Verge: As colleges shutter campuses, students are using Minecraft servers to faithfully replicate those spaces, hosting graduation ceremonies and parties online |
| 1:15 PM • | Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac: iOS 14 code indicates Apple is beefing up its Keychain password manager, adding two-factor authentication and more |
| 1:05 PM • | Lynn La / CNET: As the US Census kicks off, the Census Bureau's 500,000 enumerators will use iPhone 8s instead of clipboards, improving data entry and analysis |
| 12:30 PM • | Drew Harwell / Washington Post: “Online proctor” companies, which watch students through their webcams during exams, are seeing a surge of business as universities close due to the pandemic |
| 12:08 PM • | Nikitha Sattiraju / Bloomberg: A look at Google's US data center water usage, which it tries to keep secret: an estimated 2.3B gallons in three states in 2019, some with water shortages |
| 11:55 AM • | Colin Campbell / Polygon: A look at Microsoft's strategy with Xbox Series X: building a top-tier console alongside robust streaming services to ward off Amazon and Google |
| 11:35 AM • | Stephanie Condon / ZDNet: Okta announces Okta Platform Services, a suite of tools to help companies manage user identities |
| 11:10 AM • | Douglas Busvine / Reuters: A new initiative between 130 researchers from eight European countries aims to build a platform for COVID-19 contact tracing while complying with GDPR |
| 10:55 AM • | Bloomberg: Source: following its deal with the UK's NHS, Palantir is in talks with France, Germany, Austria, and Switzerland about using its tools to battle COVID-19 |
| 10:00 AM • | Tom Warren / The Verge: Slack introduces a new app to integrate Microsoft Teams calling features and launches VoIP phone integration with Zoom, WebEx, Jabber, and more |
| 9:33 AM • | Lauren Feiner / CNBC: John Legere steps down as T-Mobile CEO after the company closed its merger with Sprint; President and COO Mike Sievert takes over as CEO |
| 9:25 AM • | Bloomberg: Sources: Amazon's job fairs in various cities had packed rooms, followed no special precautions, and ignored official social distancing guidelines |
| 9:00 AM • | Vikas SN / The Economic Times: Spotify renews global licensing partnership with Warner Music Group, bringing WMG's roster of popular artists to Spotify users in India for the first time |
| 7:30 AM • | Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: Orion Labs, which develops automated communication tools for deskless and frontline workers, raises $29M Series B led by Dell Technologies Capital |
| 7:05 AM • | Manish Singh / TechCrunch: Prominent VC firms including Accel, Lightspeed, Sequoia Capital, and Matrix Partners write an open letter cautioning Indian startups to “prepare for the worst” |
| 2:50 AM • | Lauren Feiner / CNBC: Analysis finds that almost 4,000 jobs across 40+ US startups were eliminated in March, operating in sectors including hospitality, transportation, and AI |
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