Techmeme
April 2, 2020, 3:01 AM

Top News

The Information:
Sources: YouTube is planning to release Shorts, a rival to TikTok inside YouTube's main app, by the end of the year  —  YouTube is planning to release a rival to TikTok, the hugely popular video-sharing app, by the end of the year, according to two people familiar with the matter.
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Apple now lets some video streaming apps, like Amazon Prime Video, use their own payment methods for in-app purchases on Apple devices, avoiding Apple's 30% cut  —  Apple Inc. has relaxed a controversial policy that took a 30% cut of payments when video apps on its platform sold TV shows and movies.
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
All-in-one productivity tool Notion, which helps people organize and track their work, raises $50M from Index Ventures and others at a $2B valuation  —  While many start-ups grapple with the fallout from the pandemic, this San Francisco company raised more cash to survive.
Erin Griffith / New York Times:
COVID-19 has negatively affected tech startups big and small, leading to layoffs, halted IPOs and hiring, slashed prices for products, and bankruptcies  —  Dozens have laid off thousands, slashed costs and changed their businesses to try to survive the pandemic.  All that may not work.
Ben Bergman / dot.LA:
An inside account of how Bird laid off 406 employees in two minutes via a Zoom webinar; employees say they were locked out of their computers during the meeting  —  Last Friday morning, 406 Bird employees - who had been working from home for two weeks because of the coronavirus and bleary-eyed …
Ry Crist / CNET:
FCC will vote on a proposal to allow the entire 6 GHz band to be available for unlicensed use, citing the increase in Wi-Fi demand; vote is set for April 23  —  The Federal Communications Commission announced a potentially significant step for Wi-Fi today, with plans for an April 23 vote …
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
John Legere steps down as T-Mobile CEO after the company closed its merger with Sprint; President and COO Mike Sievert takes over as CEO  —  John Legere is officially done with the role of T-Mobile CEO after the company officially closed its merger with Sprint, the company announced Wednesday.
Felix / @c1truz_:
[Thread] Security researcher finds Zoom uses a “shady” technique to install its Mac app without user interaction, applying tricks used by macOS malware  —  Ever wondered how the @zoom_us macOS installer does it's job without you ever clicking install? Turns out they (ab)use preinstallation scripts, manually unpack the app using a bundled 7zip and install it to /Applications if the current user is in the admin group (no root needed). https://twitter.com/...
Lawrence Abrams / BleepingComputer:
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Some couples, faced with orders to shelter in place to avoid COVID-19, are getting married at home with friends and relatives watching on Zoom  —  As the coronavirus pandemic continues, socially distanced weddings are moving online  —  The day — her day — was finally here.
Filipe Espósito / 9to5Mac:
iOS 14 code indicates Apple is beefing up its Keychain password manager, adding two-factor authentication and more  —  Apple is working to improve the iCloud Keychain password manager on iOS, 9to5Mac has learned, with two-factor password integration and more.
Matthew Gault / VICE:
Popular early internet meme site YTMND has been resurrected with the help of fans, a year after it went down  —  Almost a year ago, the popular early internet meme machine YTMND.com went down.  According to Max Goldberg, the site's creator, one of the site's databases was running on eight year old hardware.
Kaya Yurieff / CNN:
Doctors are banding together on Twitter and TikTok to settle on frameworks of verifiable sources and information to share with the public  —  New York (CNN Business)Ali Raja spends his nine-hour shifts in the emergency room at Massachusetts General Hospital treating gunshot wounds …
Lynn La / CNET:
As the US Census kicks off, the Census Bureau's 500,000 enumerators will use iPhone 8s instead of clipboards, improving data entry and analysis  —  April 1 is Census Day 2020 in the US.  For the first time, census takers have said goodbye to paper and clipboards and hello to iPhone apps.
Drew Harwell / Washington Post:
“Online proctor” companies, which watch students through their webcams during exams, are seeing a surge of business as universities close due to the pandemic  —  Colleges are racing to sign deals with ‘online proctor’ companies that watch students through their webcams while they take exams.

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Leveraging design tool extensions in Cliq: A designer's guide to Figma, Lucidchart, and Miro  —  Picture this: you're deep in a pixel-perfect Figma mock-up, bouncing between chats and emails, when someone pings you for feedback on a Lucidchart workflow.
IDrive:
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.

Featured Podcasts

Invest Like the Best:
Gustav Söderström - How Spotify Thinks
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Techmeme Ride Home:
How Apple Lost AI
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
Microsoft CTO Kevin Scott on how AI can save the web, not destroy it
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Grit:
From Scaling Cisco to Seeding AI: John T. Chambers on Speed, Strategy, and Reinvention
Grit explores what it takes to create, build and scale world-class organizations.
Subscribe to Grit.
Lenny's Podcast:
Microsoft CPO: If you aren't prototyping with AI you're doing it wrong | Aparna Chennapragada
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Hard Fork:
Ed Helms Answers Your Hard Questions
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 3:01 AM ET, April 2, 2020.

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.

More News

Nikitha Sattiraju / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Tom Warren / The Verge:
Monica Nickelsburg / GeekWire:
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac: