Alphabet reports revenue of $41.2B, up 13% YoY, net income of $6.8B, up from $6.7B YoY, Other Bets operating loss grew to $1.1B; headcount grew to 123K, up ~20K
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 28, 2020 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Google Meet is now free for everyone with a Google account, for meetings of up to 100 people, which are not time limited until September 30
Can it stem Zoom's meteoric growth? — Google is opening up its Google Meet videoconferencing service to anybody who wants to use it …
Spotify beats with Q1 revenue of €1.8B and net income of €1M; MAUs rose 31% YoY to 286M, premium users rose 31% to 130M, and ad-supported MAUs rose 32% to 163M
The coronavirus may be decimating some corners of the economy, but the impact on the digital music …
Source: Uber executives discuss cutting ~20% of its 27,000 headcount in the coming weeks; company veteran CTO Thuan Pham has resigned
Executives at Uber are discussing plans to cut around 20% of the company's employees, as it copes with a sharp decline in its ride-hailing business due …
How a handful of employees at Apple quickly pushed forward the development of a contract tracing API and collaboration with Google in less than a month
- Apple and Google announced a partnership to bring contact tracing to smartphones on April 10th. Their software toolkit will be released on Friday.
Alphabet Q1 earnings show the pandemic is responsible for “a significant slowdown in ad revenues”, with $33.8B revenue from ads
Jon Swartz / MarketWatch :
Spotify says TV and game console usage is up by 50% due to the pandemic, with increased consumption of wellness podcasts and searches for terms like “chill”
New York (CNN Business)The coronavirus pandemic has upended consumers' lives and behavior, including the way they stream music.
Google Cloud revenue increased 52% to $2.78B in Q1, driven by “significant growth” in Google Cloud Platform and “ongoing strong growth” in G Suite
Todd Bishop / GeekWire :
Samsung reports Q1 earnings with total revenue ~$45.4B, up 5.6% YoY, and operating profit of ~$5.2B, up 3% YoY, as chip demand was solid amid COVID-19 crisis
SEOUL (Reuters) - Samsung Electronics Co Ltd (005930.KS) said its operating profit rose 3% in the January to March period …
Sources: Zuckerberg more actively in charge of Facebook after five departures from board of directors since 2019, as he attempts to consolidate decision-making
The 35-year-old tycoon has recast the company's board of directors and sought a high-profile role for the social-media giant in the Covid-19 pandemic
Alphabet reports YouTube Q1 ad revenue of $4.04B, up 33% YoY, but says ad sales fell significantly in March
Todd Spangler / Variety :
Apple adds COVID-19 testing site information to Apple Maps across the US and makes improvements to its Mobility Trends site
Apple has now added COVID-19 testing sites to its Apple Maps app across the U.S., covering all 50 states and Puerto Rico. The update provides testing locations …
Sources: Amazon bought thermal cameras to check worker temperatures from Dahua, a Chinese company blacklisted by the US over alleged help monitoring minorities
NEW YORK/SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) has bought cameras to take temperatures of workers during …
Roc Nation files copyright claim over deepfake YouTube videos that use AI to impersonate Jay-Z's voice, raising new copyright and fair use questions
On Friday, I linked to several videos by Vocal Synthesis, a new YouTube channel dedicated to audio deepfakes — AI-generated speech …
Google's teleconferencing service, Meet, is adding 3M new users per day, up from 2M earlier this month, with 100M DAUs compared to Zoom's 300M
Jay Peters / The Verge :
Survey of US adults finds skepticism about Apple and Google's COVID-19 contact tracing efforts, with smartphone owners split 50-50 on whether they would use it
Nearly 3 in 5 Americans say they are either unable or unwilling to use the infection-alert apps under development by Google and Apple …
Flexera State of the Cloud 2020 report: multicloud is becoming primary architecture choice; 65% of organizations are using Docker, 58% are using Kubernetes
Flexera's State of the Cloud 2020 report highlights how multicloud is becoming a default strategy for many enterprises …
Mojo Vision, which is building AR contact lenses, raises $51M Series B-1 led by NEA, bringing its total raised to $159M+
There's little debate that, as tech pushes further into our lives, we'll soon be using augmented reality glasses that overlay computer images on the real world.
Google is shutting down Shoelace, a hyper-local social networking app it had launched in New York City in July 2019
In July 2019, Google's experimental project incubator Area 120 launched a new local meetup app that would connect users in New York City.
Filing: Lyft is laying off 17% of its workforce, or 982 staff, and will furlough 288 employees alongside salary cuts ranging from 10% to 30% for all staff
Lyft is laying off 982 employees and furloughing an additional 288, the company announced in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. Tweets: @kateconger , @danprimack , and @mikeisaac Tweets: Kate Conger / ...
Profile of Acronym, a progressive nonprofit that, with the help of ex-Facebook staffer James Barnes, is looking to use Trump's online ad tactics against him
A former Facebook employee is using a tool he employed to help President Trump win to conduct tests for a progressive group … Tweets: @nytpolitics , @chillywillers , @conorjrogers , @anthony , @fishbo...
LG's smartphone division reports Q1 sales of $843.9M, down 34% YoY, operating loss of $201M, says it was impacted by “supply disruptions from Chinese partners”
The company's smartphone sales decreased by 34% in the first quarter of the year. — What you need to know
NYC-based Catalyst, which is developing customer satisfaction analytics software, raises $25M Series B led by Spark Capital, sources say at a $125M valuation
New York-based Catalyst, which has developed a customer success platform, today announced a $25 Million Series B funding round led by Spark Capital.
Deliverect, a Belgian startup developing online food delivery management software for restaurants, raises €16.25M Series B led by OMERS Ventures
Today Deliverect, a Belgian startup streamlining the restaurant industry with its online food delivery management software …
Utah AG suspends Banjo's state contract after report about its founder's KKK past, suspends use of the surveillance tech while auditing it on data privacy, bias
you should also read his book on police/tech surveillance. https://twitter.com/... Schmaltzing Matilda / @shammaboyarin : Some of those who burn crosses, create massive surveillance tech for the force...
How data-driven tech used for tracking and predicting the movement of refugees and migrants across Europe is being repurposed to track the spread of COVID-19
The pandemic has given a boost to controversial data-driven initiatives to track population movements Tweets: @tbij , @guengl , @nowviskie , @linnetelwin , @iang_fc , @isaacriveraj , @hypervisible , @...
Facebook announces Blender, an open source chatbot aimed at AI research that it says has been trained on 9.4B parameters
Andrew Tarantola / Engadget :
Kaspersky researchers detail a targeted espionage campaign via Play Store spyware apps, aimed at a few hundred users in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India
Andy Greenberg / Wired :
A deep dive on pitches to governments from cyber-intel firms like Cellebrite, NSO Group, and Intellexa to use their spy tools to trace the coronavirus
Stash, a money management and investment service aimed at younger, less affluent Americans, raises $112M led by LendingTree at a $800M+ valuation
Nabila Ahmed / Bloomberg :
Arm announces Arm Flexible Access for Startups, offering zero-cost access to its most widely used chip designs, in an effort to accelerate time to market
Dean Takahashi / VentureBeat :
Ford says it's delaying the commercial launch of its self-driving vehicle services, developed with Argo AI, to 2022, as it reassess its strategy amid COVID-19
Kirsten Korosec / TechCrunch :
Facebook poaches Tony Close, director of content standards at Ofcom, as director of content regulation; Ofcom is preparing to regulate social media companies
Matthew Moore / The Times : Tweets: @mattkmoore , @mrharrycole , @janinegibson , @tim2040 , @damiancollins , and @jbenton See also Mediagazer Tweets: Matthew Moore / @mattkmoore : Tony Close was plac...
Particle Health, which is developing a HIPAA-compliant API to provide secure access to patient health data, raises $12M Series A led by Menlo Ventures
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News :
Irish startup Glofox, which develops gym management software, raises an additional €9.2M to bring its total Series A funding to ~€18.4M led by Octopus Ventures
Charlotte Tucker / EU-Startups :
Sources: e-commerce giant JD.com has filed confidentially for a second listing in Hong Kong, which could raise at least $2B
Bloomberg :
Cybersecurity firm Rapid7 is acquiring DivvyCloud, a cloud security and governance startup, for $145M in cash and stock
Ron Miller / TechCrunch :
Microsoft is pushing privacy bills, modeled on the Washington Privacy Act it failed to get passed twice, in Arizona, Hawaii, Illinois, and Minnesota
Issie Lapowsky / Protocol : Tweets: @aclu_wa and @issielapowsky Tweets: @aclu_wa : “We don't want to see a bill with loopholes, weak enforcement, and preemption becoming a so-called gold standard,” s...
Hungarian competition watchdog GVH fines Booking.com £6.1M for unfair business practices, including misleading ads and psychological pressure on consumers
Geneva-based startup Taurus Group, which provides an enterprise-level digital asset exchange for financial institutions, raises €10M led by Arab Bank
Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu :
Developers of autonomous vehicles have responded to the pandemic by increasing reliance on simulations, as real-world data gathering has come to a halt
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.