While traffic surges on Facebook, with messaging up 50% from last month in many countries, their now-remote workforce struggles to handle its own IT snafus
The social network is straining to deal with skyrocketing usage as its 45,000 employees work from home for the first time.
Apple updates Safari to fully block third-party cookies by default, months after Google said it would do the same in Chrome by 2022
Beating Google by two years to the privacy feature — Apple on Tuesday released a major update to its Safari Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) …
Facebook internal report: US users are reading more COVID-19 content from “higher-quality” sources based on its ranking of top publishers adopted last year
> Is Facebook really a “news powerhouse” again, thanks to coronavirus? (No more than it was before) https://www.niemanlab.org/... Tom Gara / @tomgara : The top four news publishers on Facebook right n...
WHO partners with Facebook, Microsoft, and other tech companies on #BuildforCOVID19 hackathon to develop software tackling COVID-19 challenges, starting Mar. 26
- The World Health Organization has partnered with Facebook, Microsoft and several other tech companies for a hackathon to promote …
Instagram to remove some coronavirus-related content and accounts from recommendations and Explore, with exceptions for credible health organizations
People who search for information related to the coronavirus or COVID-19 on Instagram will start to see an educational message connecting …
Google brings its Podcasts app to iOS and unveils a redesign of Android app, with users' listening habits syncable across platforms via Google Podcasts for Web
Just in time for our collective house arrests, Google has unveiled a redesigned version of Podcasts.
Internet Archive launches National Emergency Library, letting users borrow 1.4M+ digitized books without joining a waitlist during the COVID-19 crisis
To address our unprecedented global and immediate need for access to reading and research materials, as of today, March 24, 2020 …
Analyst estimates Facebook and Google could lose $44B+ in 2020 global ad revenue due to COVID-19; Facebook says its ad business has weakened in affected places
Ad spending is falling off a cliff amid the COVID-19 pandemic — and Facebook and Google, the two heavyweights in digital advertising …
NY federal court issues preliminary injunction against Telegram's 2018 $1.7B ICO, finding the distribution of Gram tokens likely violates US securities law
The $1.7 billion 2018 fundraising effort by Telegram hit a major snag today when a Federal Judge in New York issued …
Tech platforms, which had mostly resisted calls for strict moderation, are now taking a “harder line” when it comes to moderating content related to COVID-19
and just in time. On coronavirus, they're working proactively to push good information while trying to contain the bad stuff. Thank gd. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Mar Hicks / @histoftech : “Choosing ...
The iPad's cursor, a translucent circle with momentum and the ability to change form based on the context, is more convincing and simply more fun
Apple's new iPadOS 13.4 adds enhanced support for trackpads. And with that, a shiny new cursor. — I gasped when I first saw the iPad's new cursor …
iPhone makers Foxconn and Wistron have suspended all production at their Indian plants to comply with a nationwide lockdown
- Foxconn and Wistron are both complying with surprise lockdown — PM Modi has ordered population to stay at home for three weeks
App Store rules, like a ban on services that stream from the cloud, limit iOS users from accessing rival gaming services from Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia
Video-game fans suddenly have their pick of a huge menu of titles thanks to a raft of new mobile subscription services from Apple Inc. …
Six US Amazon warehouses have at least one worker testing positive for COVID-19, with some facilities temporarily shut for cleaning and some workers quarantined
The spike in positive tests for the disease caused by the novel coronavirus comes as the ecommerce giant races to hire 100,000 workers to meet massive shopper demand.
How 3D printer makers like Stratasys, Protolabs, and other companies like Ford, are helping fight COVID-19 by 3D printing face shields and medical equipment
With critical medical gear in short supply, additive manufacturing is an “essential part” of the pandemic response, the industry says.
Singapore will open source its contact-tracing app TraceTogether, which uses Bluetooth to identify people in extended close contact with COVID-19 patients
SINGAPORE - In a move to help the international community combat the coronavirus pandemic, the Government will be making the software …
Apple SVP of People and Retail says in internal memo that Apple expects to start reopening its retail stores in the first half of April on a staggered basis
Apple Inc. expects to start re-opening its retail stores in the first half of April on a staggered basis and has extended remote work abilities …
France announces a $4.3B plan to support startups including bridge funding, liquidity support measures, and faster tax returns and public support payments
France's Ministry of State for Digital Affairs Cédric O and public investment bank Bpifrance announced a comprehensive support plan for startups this morning.
Facebook's Portal makes a lot of sense during a quarantine: it is great for video chatting and staying in touch, especially with kids and the elderly
The journalists at BuzzFeed News are proud to bring you trustworthy and relevant reporting about the coronavirus. Tweets: @mattk , @jgreendc , @susan_hennessey , @ayshardzn , @sarafischer , @mattnavar...
YouTube Music can now show static lyrics, sourced from LyricFind, while listening to a song on its iOS and Android apps, with web player support coming soon
But lyrics aren't supported on the web player yet — YouTube Music users can now read lyrics while listening to a song …
During the pandemic, we should use “surveillance economy” infrastructure to trace contacts with location data, enforce self-quarantine, aid health authorities
Maciej Ceglowski / Idle Words :
How volunteers from tech companies and epidemiologists worked together to build the US-focused COVID-19 data aggregation website covidnearyou.com in six days
- Volunteers from Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and other tech companies worked every night for a week to make a website called covidnearyou.
Mozilla launches Firefox Better Web with Scroll for Firefox tracking protection and Scroll's ad-free browsing experience for $2.50/mo. for the first six months
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch :
Sansar, a social VR platform from the makers of Second Life, is acquired by SF-based Wookey Project Corp, a social search engine, for an undisclosed sum
Janko Roettgers / Protocol :
WHO's WhatsApp global COVID-19 information service is launching in 20+ languages, aiming to reach 50M people, after successful trials in South Africa
- World Health Organization steps up social media communication — Service employs articial intelligence to offer range of topics
Espressive, which aims to develop AI-driven chatbots to reduce calls to company help desks, raises $30M Series B led by Insight Partners
Espressive, a four-year-old startup from former ServiceNow employees, is working to build a better chatbot to reduce calls to company help desks.
As more people work and live in isolation during the pandemic, Apple's Screen Time tool is horrifying many users with skyrocketing usage reports
Michael Doyle was “horrified” upon receiving his iPhone's weekly screen time report. — The Toronto-based freelance journalist was already a self-described “heavy phone user.” Tweets: @scohensea , @s...
Unacast, an analytics company using location data from a variety of apps, debuts a Social Distancing Scoreboard to grade how US citizens are adapting by region
or not. Data from tens of millions of smartphones grades counties & states by how much people are staying put. Washington, DC gets an A Wyoming gets an F See your county https://www.washingtonpost.com...
London-based SoftIron, which provides performance-optimized data center appliances, raises $34M Series B led by its co-founder Norman Fraser
Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu :
Apple releases iOS 13.4, iPadOS 13.4, macOS 10.15.4, tvOS 13.4, and watchOS 6.2 to the public
Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat :
Apple updates Apple Card's privacy policy to share more anonymized data with Goldman Sachs, to help some users secure or expand credit, allows opt out via email
and recommended — the Apple Card largely for its privacy practices, Apple changing its data policy now feels like a bait and switch. “Aggregate and anonymized” still mean my life is feeding Goldman Sa...
Brave partners with Binance to include a widget on the new tab page that lets users buy, trade, and receive cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether
Romain Dillet / TechCrunch :
After multiple outages, Robinhood says it has fixed an issue with an internal messaging system and will offer credits to some users on a “case-by-case basis”
Kate Rooney / CNBC :
Ad fraud malware found in 24 children's Android games and 32 utility apps, downloaded nearly 1M times, before being removed from the Google Play Store
Check Point Research :
Source: amid quarantines, Uber Eats recorded a 10% increase in US sales last week and a 30% increase in signups from people willing to deliver food
Amir Efrati / The Information :
Yelp and GoFundMe team up to promote local business fundraisers, with GoFundMe campaigns automatically appearing on Yelp business profiles
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch :
O'Reilly Media announces it is canceling all of its upcoming in-person conferences and shutting down that portion of its business indefinitely
Laura Baldwin / O'Reilly Media : Tweets: @waxpancake , @digiphile , @sarahm , @rossdawson , @sfoskett , @edd , @chr1sa , @marcprecipice , and @ruv . Thanks: @chrismessina See also Mediagazer Tweets: ...
Pinterest introduces a new Today tab, a central hub including curated topics and trending posts, as users flock to the service during the pandemic
Scott Nover / Adweek :
Apple rolls out a universal purchase option, letting devs bundle macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS apps, sharing in-app purchases across iOS and macOS
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac :
Arkose Labs, which is developing a service that detects and mitigates online fraud, raises $22M Series B led by Microsoft's venture fund M12
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat :
Shopify's new AI commerce stack
Their VP of Product digs into just-launched products to help entrepreneurs and developers build with the latest AI and tech.
Email fatigue is real: Here's how smart email tools help you regain control
Picture this: It's Monday morning. You walk into the office feeling energized and ready to take on the week.
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data
Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.