Techmeme
March 12, 2020, 12:20 PM

Top News

Catherine Shu / TechCrunch:
Twitter is making it mandatory for all employees around the world to work from home in response to the COVID-19 pandemic  —  After “strongly encouraging” it earlier this month, Twitter said today that working from home is now mandatory for all employees around the world due to COVID-19 concerns.
Sam Machkovech / Ars Technica:
Clare Duffy / CNN:
Joe Rossignol / MacRumors:
Kuo: Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with scissor keyboards in the second quarter of 2020  —  Apple plans to release new MacBook Pro and MacBook Air models with scissor keyboards in the second quarter of 2020, according to a new research note today from analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, obtained by MacRumors.
Mark Sullivan / Fast Company:
Source: at least one of this year's iPhones will have a 3D depth camera on its back, enabling new photo and video effects, as well as better AR experiences  —  Our source confirms Apple's plans to put a 3D depth camera on the back of the iPhone.  Here's what it'll do.
Steven Overly / Politico:
Sources: the White House sought help from Facebook, Twitter, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and others to combat COVID-19 misinformation and track its spread  —  The Trump administration implored the companies to use their technical expertise to help those dealing directly with the fallout of coronavirus.
Ina Fried / Axios:
Google says G Suite now has more than 2B MAUs  —  Google's G Suite, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Hangouts, Meet and other apps, quietly passed a major milestone at the end of last year: It now has more than 2 billion monthly active users, G Suite boss Javier Soltero told Axios Wednesday.
More: 9to5Google and Slashdot
Ed Hammond / Bloomberg:
Sources: Magic Leap is exploring options, including a sale, partnerships, and a possible listing, after a meeting with Facebook never progressed to deal talks  —  - Florida-based company also weighing partnerships, stake sale  — Magic Leap could fetch more than $10 billion in a sale process
Craig Silverman / BuzzFeed News:
Investigation identifies owner of 60+ browser extensions which engaged in a long-running ad fraud scheme and were removed as part of a Google crackdown in Feb  —  It was a weed that Google kept trying and failing to kill.  —  The browser extension MyPDF kept appearing and being removed from the Chrome Web Store.
Tim Berners-Lee / World Wide Web Foundation:
On the web's 31st birthday, Tim-Berners Lee warns online harassment and lack of internet access are fuelling abuse and discrimination against women and girls  —  On the World Wide Web's 31st birthday, our founder and web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee reflects on the challenges we face to deliver on our vision of a web for everyone.
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Amazon rolls out Alexa-enabled voice shopping in India, available on Android “primarily in English”, the first time Amazon launched the feature outside the US  —  Amazon today rolled out Alexa-enabled voice-powered shopping feature in India as the e-commerce giant looks for new ways …
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
AI-powered market research platform Remesh raises $25M Series A extension, bringing its total raised to $38M  —  Remesh, a software company using AI to orchestrate market research, today announced that it's raised $25 million in series 2A funding.  CEO Andrew Konya said the proceeds …
Dave Lee / Financial Times:
IBM sues Airbnb over what it claims is the illegal use of four patents, including one about “improved navigation using bookmarks”  —  Move threatens to cast shadow over short-term rental company's road to IPO  —  IBM is taking Airbnb to court over what it claims is the illegal use …
Brittany Meiling / San Diego Union-Tribune:
Cloudbeds, which makes management software for hotels, hostels, and other vacation properties, raises $82M Series C led by Viking Global Investors  —  In San Diego's largest tech deal of 2020, Cloudbeds plans to build up its software for the hospitality industry
More: FinSMEs
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Beijing-based Neolix Technologies, which says it has sold 225 level 4 autonomous delivery vehicles to clients like Alibaba, adds ~$29M to its ~$14.8M Series A  —  Neolix Technologies, a self-driving logistics startup based primarily in Beijing, today confirmed that it closed a roughly RMB 200 million …

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