Techmeme
May 14, 2020, 8:00 AM

Top News

Igor Bonifacic / Engadget:
Google announces a new tab-grouping tool for Chrome, rolling out “slowly”, letting users cluster tabs together and organize them by name and color  —  Google is introducing a new feature to Chrome that will have you asking how you lived without it before.
Annie Palmer / CNBC:
In an open letter, Brian Huseman, Amazon's VP of public policy, calls for the establishment of a federal price gouging law amid coronavirus scams  —  - In a blog post Wednesday, Brian Huseman, Amazon's vice president of public policy, called for the establishment of a federal price gouging law.
Joe Maring / Android Central:
Report: Google's Pixel division has lost Marc Levoy, the engineer leading the camera division, and GM Mario Queiroz over the past year, as sales disappoint  —  The general manager for the Pixel division is also gone.  —  What you need to know  — According to The Information, Marc Levoy and Mario Queiroz have both left Google.
Martin Matishak / Politico:
A bipartisan amendment to FISA to prohibit warrantless surveillance of Americans' online browsing and search histories failed in the Senate by one vote, 59-37  —  Congressional privacy hawks scored a critical victory on Wednesday that deepens the uncertainty about the fate of expired federal surveillance powers.
Celia Wan / The Block:
Reddit is beta testing two Ethereum-based tokens for users to earn rewards for contributing content to subreddits /r/Cryptocurrency and /r/FortniteBR  —  Reddit, the popular online forum, is beta testing two Ethereum-based tokens for users to earn rewards for contributing content, The Block has learned.
David Shepardson / Reuters:
Trump extends an executive order banning US companies from using telecom equipment from companies like Huawei for another year  —  WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday extended for another year an executive order signed in May 2019 declaring a national emergency …
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Uber says all riders and drivers will need to wear masks starting next week and introduces new tools to verify drivers are doing so before each trip  —  - Uber is launching a new tool that checks if drivers are wearing face masks before starting trips.  — The ride-hailing firm …
April Glaser / NBC News:
Sources say Google has rolled back diversity programs, but Google disputes the claims and says it's adding outside help to scale racial equity training globally  —  One well-liked diversity training program at Google called Sojourn was cut entirely, according to seven former and current employees.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Houseparty is debuting its first co-watching live event video series called In The House, featuring more than 40 celebrities, starting May 15 through May 17  —  Houseparty, the video chat app that's seen a surge of growth during quarantine, is preparing to expand its service in a new direction: co-watching live video with friends.
Reuters:
A new French law compels internet giants to remove pedophile and terrorism-related content within an hour or face a fine of up to 4% of global revenue  —  PARIS (Reuters) - Social networks and other online content providers will have to remove paedophile and terrorism-related content …
Bijan Stephen / The Verge:
Reports: live-streaming grew 45% between March and April, and 99% YoY; Twitch saw the highest growth, as hours watched rose 50% from March to April and 101% YoY  —  Every platform grew, but Twitch is still the biggest  —  We finally have numbers to back up the wild view counts we've seen …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic Games unveils the Unreal Engine 5, coming in 2021, with a PlayStation 5 demo and says the Epic Online Services tools are available today  —  Epic says its new engine is a ‘quantum leap,’ and it'll arrive in 2021  —  Epic Games today announced the next iteration of its game engine …
Lauren Debter / Forbes:
Profile of Louis Borders, founder Borders bookstores, as his dotcom-era online grocery delivery service Webvan reemerges using a network of automated warehouses  —  Louis Borders is sure he can do it this time.  He just needs time, money and customers.  And more robots.
More: Protocol
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Dell's upgraded flagship Alienware Area-51m R2 shows the promise of upgradeable Area-51m has failed, as the original won't get any of the new CPU or GPU updates  —  Original owners won't get any of the new CPU or GPU upgrades  —  Alienware has announced the second generation of its flagship Area-51m gaming laptop, the Area-51m R2.
Tom Warren / The Verge:

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Earlier Picks

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Devindra Hardawar / Engadget: