Techmeme
April 27, 2020, 10:30 PM

Top News

Leo Kelion / BBC:
UK's NHS says it's making a contact tracing app that uses a centralized approach, giving it more insight into COVID-19's spread than Apple and Google's approach  —  The UK's coronavirus contact-tracing app is set to use a different model to the one proposed by Apple and Google, despite concerns raised about privacy and performance.
Bloomberg:
Douglas Busvine / Reuters:
Elizabeth Dwoskin / Washington Post:
As COVID-19 decimates the global economy, tech giants have a unique opportunity to expand their power, crush rivals, and improve their political fortunes  —  The global pandemic gives Silicon Valley titans a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to expand their power, crush rivals and change their political fortunes.
New York Times:
Many tech startups are successfully applying for loans under the Paycheck Protection Program, often to extend their runways despite already raising large sums  —  Some young companies have turned to the government loans not for day-to-day survival but simply to buy useful time.
Ben Sandofsky / Halide:
An in-depth analysis of how iPhone SE leverages machine learning software to generate a portrait effect using a single 2D image  —  After four years, we have a new budget-conscious iPhone.  Like previous SE, it reaches that price point by sticking to components from previous generations. iFixIt found …
Yoko Kubota / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Apple pushes back production of flagship iPhones coming later this year by about a month, as the pandemic weakens demand and disrupts manufacturing  —  The phones, some with 5G connectivity, will vary in price and come in three sizes  —  Apple Inc. is pushing back the production ramp …
CNN:
Baseless YouTube conspiracy videos, embraced by CCP media and uploaded to WeChat, Weibo, claim a US Army reservist started the pandemic and are ruining her life  —  Maatje Benassi, a US Army reservist and mother of two, has become the target of conspiracy theorists who falsely place …
Chris Welch / The Verge:
Review of Google's second-generation $179 wireless Pixel Buds: sound quality has improved, but their silicone “stabilizer arc” can cause discomfort over time  —  Google's new earbuds finally go truly wireless and have improved sound quality  —  Google's original Pixel Buds came …
Eduard Kovacs / SecurityWeek:
Microsoft has patched a vulnerability in Teams that could have been exploited by hackers to hijack accounts by sending malicious links or GIFs  —  Microsoft has addressed a vulnerability that could have been exploited by hackers to hijack Microsoft Teams accounts by sending specially crafted links …
Josh Constine / TechCrunch:
Josh Constine says he's leaving TechCrunch after 8.5 years to join VC fund SignalFire as their head of content and a principal investor  —  How do you leave the place that made you?  You figure out what it made you for.  TechCrunch made me a part of the startup ecosystem I love.
Adam Satariano / New York Times:
Interviews and documents show Europe's GDPR rules have been stymied by a lack of enforcement, poor funding, limited staff resources, and tech companies stalling  —  Nearly two years in, there has been little enforcement of the General Data Protection Regulation, once seen as ushering in a new era.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Twitter turned off the ability to receive tweet alerts via SMS messages in most countries last week  —  The ability to receive tweet notifications has been disabled  —  For the most part, you can no longer use Twitter as it was originally built to be used: over text message.
Neha Alawadhi / Business Standard:
WhatsApp says there has been a 70% reduction in the number of highly forwarded messages sent after its new forwarding limit was enforced  —  Earlier this month, WhatsApp limited the number of times a frequently forwarded message can be sent further to only one chat at a time
Tom Krisher / Associated Press:
Tesla rolls out a new update for select vehicles to be able to automatically stop at traffic lights and stop signs  —  DETROIT (AP) — After testing on public roads, Tesla is rolling out a new feature of its partially automated driving system designed to spot stop signs and traffic signals.

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Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Financial Times: