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March 25, 2020, 3:00 PM
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Top News

New York Times:
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.
New York Times:
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
Brian Heater / TechCrunch:
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.
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
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 …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Reports: amid the pandemic, TripActions, Zeus Living, and Sonder have laid off one third or more of their staff; TripActions and Sonder are each valued at $1B+  —  Corporate travel startup TripActions Inc. is reportedly laying off hundreds of employees in the face of a slowdown in business related to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
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) …
Aral Balkan:
As part of Safari's privacy push, it will delete a site's local storage, like Indexed DB, after seven days, hamstringing the future of Safari's offline web apps
Debby Wu / Bloomberg:
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
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
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. …
Craig Mod / Wired:
The iPad's cursor, a translucent circle that has momentum and can change its form based on the context, is more convincing and simply more fun than direct touch  —  Apple's new iPadOS 13.4 adds enhanced support for trackpads.  And with that, a shiny new cursor.
David Uberti / Wall Street Journal:
Experts say the cybersecurity fallout from COVID-19 will not become clear for weeks or months, as sophisticated organizations and nation-states glean more data  —  Sophisticated hackers could lie dormant as they search for valuable data  —  As millions of U.S. workers frantically pivoted …
FireEye:
FireEye says that between January 20 and March 11 Chinese actor APT41 attempted to exploit bugs in Citrix and Zoho products at organizations in 20+ countries  —  Beginning this year, FireEye observed Chinese actor APT41 carry out one of the broadest campaigns by a Chinese cyber espionage actor we have observed in recent years.
Instagram:
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 …
NBC News:
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
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Humio, which offers an unlimited logging service, raises $20M Series B led by Dell Technologies Capital  —  Humio, a startup that has built a modern unlimited logging solution, announced a $20 million Series B investment today.  —  Dell Technologies Capital led the round with participation from previous investor Accel.
Chris Freeland / Internet Archive Blogs:
Internet Archive launches National Emergency Library, which lets 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 …
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
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.
John Herrman / New York Times:
As social interactions become more distant, Nextdoor has seen a spike in engagement as it helps neighbors connect and organize without risking physical contact  —  Homebound city dwellers are turning to a neighborhood app to connect, organize and help each other without risking physical contact.
Hariz Baharudin / The Straits Times:
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 …
Maciej Ceglowski / Idle Words:
During the pandemic, we should use “surveillance economy” infrastructure to trace contacts with location data, enforce self-quarantine, aid health authorities  —  I am a privacy activist who has been riding a variety of high horses about the dangers of permanent, ubiquitous data collection since 2012.

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The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

From Mediagazer

Meghnad Bose / Columbia Journalism Review:
A profile of the Thomson Foundation Young Journalist of the Year winner, an Afghan woman who works anonymously and covers the plight of women under Taliban rule

Asif Shahzad / Reuters:
Pakistani TV host Matiullah Jan was picked up off the street and charged with terrorism after investigating claims of casualties in a protest march in Islamabad

Ella Creamer / The Guardian:
Writers and publishers criticize Spines, which raised a $16M seed round and charges authors $1,200 to $5,000 to use AI to edit and distribute their books

More News

Earlier Picks

Jay Greene / Washington Post:
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
Stephen Palley / The Block:
NY federal court issues preliminary injunction against Telegram's 2018 $1.7B ICO, finding the distribution of Gram tokens likely violates US securities law
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
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
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