Techmeme Ride Home Ride Home Media

Tech companies are, in fact, stepping up to track Covid-19. We have a name for the new low-end iPhone. Tesla soars but the Space X Starship doesn’t. Watch some free HBO this weekend, and of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:No Parking PodcastTinyCapital.com


Links: Google uses location data to show which places are complying with stay-at-home orders — and which aren’t (The Verge) In coronavirus fight, oft-criticized Facebook data aids U.S. cities, states (Reuters) PRIVACY EXPERTS SAY RESPONSIBLE CORONAVIRUS SURVEILLANCE IS POSSIBLE (The Intercept) Exclusive: iPhone 9 launch imminent, 2020 ‘iPhone SE’ in red, white, and black with up to 256GB (9to5Mac) Tesla soars on delivery numbers -- company delivered 88,400 vehicles in Q1 (CNBC) A third prototype of SpaceX’s Starship rocket bursts on the test stand (The Verge)Airbnb lowers internal valuation by 16% to $26bn (FT) HBO Will Stream 500 Hours of Free Programming, Including Full Seasons of ‘Veep,’ ‘The Sopranos,’ ‘Silicon Valley’ (Variety)


Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Google Data Centers’ Secret Cost: Billions of Gallons of Water (Bloomberg Green) Microsoft Edge is becoming the browser you didn’t know you needed (Ars Technica) The Xbox Series X master plan (Polygon) From courts to consoles: With live sports canceled, pro athletes join the streaming surge (The Washington Post) Telemedicine, Once a Hard Sell, Can’t Keep Up With Demand (WSJ) The Medical News Site That Saw the Coronavirus Coming Months Ago (NYTimes)

Zoom apologizes, but also reveals some INSANE growth numbers. Facebook Messenger comes to desktop. YouTube wants to clone TikTok. Apple let’s some people avoid the App Store tax. More gross firings by teleconference and a timely interesting raise.

Sponsors:TinyCapital.com No Parking Podcast


Links: A Message to Our Users (Zoom Blog) Facebook debuts standalone Messenger app on Mac and PC (Engadget)'Content network effect' makes TikTok tough to copy (TechCrunch) YouTube Plans ‘Shorts’ to Rival TikTok (The Information) Apple Lets Some Video Apps Sell Shows Without Taking 30% Cut (Bloomberg)'It Felt Like a Black Mirror Episode' The Inside Account of How Bird Laid off 406 People in Two Minutes via a Zoom Webinar (dot.LA) Notion, Maker of Collaboration Software, Raises $50 Million (NYTimes)

We’ve reached the end of the John Legere era. Samsung thinks we’ve reached the end of the LCD era. Comcast is inadvertently proving ISP datacaps are BS. Is Zoom a victim of its own success? And it’s maybe not overstating things to say it’s past time Amazon should start thinking more humanely about… people.

Sponsors:No Parking podcastTinyCapital.comSponsors: Legere is out as T-Mobile CEO as Sprint merger officially closes (CNBC) Samsung Display to end all LCD production by end 2020 (Reuters) Marriott discloses new data breach impacting 5.2 million hotel guests (ZDNet) Comcast waiving data caps hasn’t hurt its network—why not make it permanent? (Ars Technica) Zoom Lets Attackers Steal Windows Credentials via UNC Links (Bleeping Computer)@c1truz_ thread about Zoom Amazon's Covid Hiring Boom Has Applicants Packed Into Job Fairs With No Special Precautions (Bloomberg) Amazon Struggles to Find Its Coronavirus Footing. ‘It’s a Time of Great Stress.’ (WSJ) Amazon's past catches up with it (The Interface)

Snapchat launches its Stories syndication program. Fitbit has a powerful new fitness tracker. Microsoft and Spotify release some family friendly features and apps. It’s time for Zoom to come under the spotlight for privacy concerns. And a court has ruled that simply breaking a site's terms of service does not constitute criminal hacking.

Sponsors:F5.com/rideTinyCaptial.comLinks: Apple purchases hyperlocal weather app Dark Sky, ending API and killing Android apps (9to5Mac)Snapchat preempts clones, syndicates Stories to other apps (TechCrunch) Surprise! Fitbit's First New Product Since Google Deal Is A Fitness Tracker (Gizmodo) Microsoft announces Teams for consumers, Skype daily active users up 70% to 40 million (VentureBeat) Microsoft 365 bundles Office 365 with AI and cloud-powered features (VentureBeat) Spotify Brings Standalone Kids’ App to U.S., Featuring a ‘Wash Your Hands’ Playlist (Variety) New York Attorney General Looks Into Zoom’s Privacy Practices (NYTimes)ZOOM MEETINGS AREN’T END-TO-END ENCRYPTED, DESPITE MISLEADING MARKETING (The Intercept) Comcast says voice and video calls have skyrocketed 212 percent during widespread self-isolation (The Verge) Apple Tests Its Secrecy Somewhere New: Employee Homes (Bloomberg) Court: Violating a site’s terms of service isn’t criminal hacking (Ars Technica)

HQ Trivia resurrects itself thanks to an anonymous investor. Facebook tries to squeeze Apple out of the AR screen market. Some crowdsourced data reveals who where layoffs are happening in tech but also which companies are still hiring. And a major hack takes down a big chunk of the dark web.

Sponsors:TinyCapital.comFeals.com/techmeme


Links:HQ Trivia Returns Thanks to Anonymous Investor (WSJ)Facebook Strikes Deal for AR Displays, Squeezing Out Apple (The Information)Government Tracking How People Move Around in Coronavirus Pandemic (WSJ) Coronavirus has led to a 775 percent increase in usage of Microsoft Azure cloud services (BetaNews) Apple's factories are running, but suppliers wary about iPhone demand (Reuters) Candor: 267 companies have frozen hiring, 44 had layoffs, 36 rescinded offers, 111 are hiring (VentureBeat)OneWeb files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Space News) Airbnb to Halt All Marketing, Most Hiring as Losses Mount (The Information) Lyft Tells Drivers to Work for Amazon After Ridership Plummets (Bloomberg) Bird lays off about 30% of workforce amid COVID-19 pandemic (TechCrunch) Hack Attack Takes Down Dark Web Host: 7,595 Websites Confirmed Deleted (Forbes)

Apple has released an official Covid-19 App. Kuo says Arm-based Macbooks are coming next year. Sony is spinning off a lot of the parts of itself that make it a tech company. Instacart workers are planning a nationwide strike on Monday. And, of course, the weekend longreads suggestions.

Sponsors:Metalab.coKiwico.com/rideLinks: Apple releases new COVID-19 app and website based on CDC guidance (Apple Newsroom) Kuo: Apple to Launch Several Macs With Arm-Based Processors in 2021, USB4 Support Coming to Macs in 2022 (MacRumors) Sony Spins Off Camera Business Into Separate Company (PetaPixel) Instacart’s Gig Workers Are Planning a Massive, Nationwide Strike (Motherboard)Weekend Longreads Suggestions: Everything Is So F****d, You Might As Well Get A Facebook Portal (Buzzfeed News) We Need A Massive Surveillance Program (IdleWords.com) Bosses Panic-Buy Spy Software to Keep Tabs on Remote Workers (Bloomberg) Why Don’t We Just Ban Targeted Advertising? (Wired) DJI Won the Drone Wars, and Now It’s Paying the Price (BusinessWeek) We visited a small Virginia town where drone deliveries have begun for real (Input Magazine)