Techmeme
March 31, 2020, 1:30 PM

Top News

New York Times:
New York's AG sent a letter to Zoom expressing concern over security vulnerabilities and privacy practices as more users conduct sensitive tasks on the service  —  As the videoconferencing platform's popularity has surged, Zoom has scrambled to address a series of data privacy and security problems.
The Intercept:
Zoom's marketing and product make the claim that it uses “end-to-end encryption”, but video and audio content from meetings is not end-to-end encrypted  —  Zoom, the video conferencing service whose use has spiked amid the Covid-19 pandemic, claims to implement end-to-end encryption …
Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet:
After reports in tabloids of Houseparty users having social media accounts hacked, Houseparty offers $1M reward to unmask those behind apparent “smear campaign”  —  App maker denies getting hacked after multiple reports in British media.  —  Houseparty, a video conferencing desktop …
Josh Dzieza / The Verge:
Around 60 employees staged a walkout at a Staten Island, NY fulfillment center to protest the impact of Amazon's COVID-19 response on warehouse workers  —  As Amazon workers across the country test positive for the virus, employees believe collective action is the only way to get the company to meaningfully clean its facilities
Bloomberg:
Amazon confirms that it fired the worker who led the Staten Island warehouse strike for violating its quarantine measures; worker says firing was in retaliation  —  - Worker Chris Smalls says labor activism led to his dismissal  — Amazon says Smalls violated safety conditions, quarantine
OnePlus Community:
OnePlus says its OnePlus 8 flagship phone will have Snapdragon 865 for 25% better performance, 120Hz display, 5G, and more; launch event will be on April 14  —  As most of you already know, OnePlus has focused on creating a “fast and smooth” user experience since day one.
Victoria Song / Gizmodo:
Fitbit unveils the Charge 4 fitness tracker, its first new product under Google, with built-in GPS, NFC payments, and Spotify compatibility, starting at $150  —  As we entered a new decade, Fitbit's fortunes looked uncertain.  Last year, the company was acquired by Google for a neat $2.1 billion …
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Comcast says internet traffic from voice and video calls has risen 212% on its network over the past month and the overall peak traffic is up by 32%  —  Traffic zooms up as more people work from home  —  Voice and video calls have more than tripled on Comcast's network …
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Microsoft debuts a Family Safety mobile app and AI-powered PowerPoint and Excel features as part of its 365 Family and Personal subscriptions, coming April 21  —  Microsoft today announced that on April 21, Office 365 will become Microsoft 365, or “the subscription for your life.”
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
New York Times:
How the Biden campaign is ramping up its digital operation amid the COVID-19 crisis, as Democrats look to close the technological divide with the Republicans  —  In the era of big data, memes and disinformation, the Democrats are trying to regain their digital edge as the president and his loyalists dictate the terms of debate.
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Seegrid, which builds autonomous industrial vehicles for transporting materials, raises $25M from G2VP  —  Seegrid, a company that builds autonomous industrial vehicles for transporting materials, has raised $25 million in round of equity funding from venture capital firm G2VP.
More: FinSMEs
Arjun Kharpal / CNBC:
Huawei reports net profit of $9B for 2019, up 5.65% YoY, its slowest growth since 2016, on revenue of $123B, up 19.1% YoY, says it's impacted by US blacklist  —  - Huawei reported revenue of around 858.8 billion yuan or $123 billion for 2019, in line with its target at the start of last year.
Kia Kokalitcheva / Axios:
Transportation software company Via, which offers a carpooling service in NYC, raises $200M Series E led by Exor at a $2.25B valuation  —  Via, a transportation software company best-known for its carpool service in New York City, has raised $200 million in Series E funding led by Exor …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Strivr, which offers a VR platform that companies including Verizon and BMW use to train employees, raises $30M Series B led by Georgian Partners  —  Strivr, the company behind a virtual reality (VR) platform that companies uses to train employees, has raised $30 million in a series B round …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: in early March, Apple started letting some engineers take home early versions of future devices to continue work during the lockdown period  —  With its 175-acre campus in Cupertino, California, and several dozen more offices across the rest of the world, Apple Inc. wasn't designed as a work-at-home company.

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Timothy B. Lee / Ars Technica:
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