Techmeme
May 19, 2020, 12:00 AM

Top News

New York Times:
Disney's top streaming exec, Kevin Mayer, resigns to become CEO of TikTok and COO of parent company ByteDance; Disney names Rebecca Campbell as his successor  —  Kevin Mayer will lead the Chinese-owned app for making and sharing short videos, which has exploded in popularity during the pandemic.
Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
AG Barr says that, “no thanks to Apple”, the FBI succeeded in unlocking the “phones” of the Pensacola gunman, who they found had significant links to Al Qaeda  —  It looks like the most recent contention between the FBI and Apple over device encryption has come to an end …
Preetika Rana / Wall Street Journal:
In email to staff, Dara Khosrowshahi says Uber will cut 3,000 more jobs, in addition to the 3,700 that were let go earlier this month, and will close 45 offices  —  The ride-hailing giant also is exploring the sale of noncore businesses  —  Uber Technologies Inc. is cutting several thousand …
Richard Speed / The Register:
At an MIT event, Microsoft president Brad Smith says the company was “on the wrong side of history” with open source  —  Tell-all with president Brad Smith reveals Obama warned tech giants that a privacy reckoning was coming  —  Microsoft president Brad Smith (pictured) …
Oculus:
Oculus says it will start accepting Quest titles that support hand tracking this month and details two new collaboration and productivity apps coming this year  —  We're about to celebrate an exciting milestone: the one-year anniversary of Oculus Quest and Rift S!
Janko Roettgers / Protocol:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft says Minecraft has now topped 200M sales, up from 100M in 2016, with 126M monthly players; Minecraft saw a 25% increase in new players last month  —  Minecraft continues to grow despite being 11 years old  —  Minecraft sales have officially topped 200 million, with 126 million people playing the game monthly.
Cheng Ting-Fang / Nikkei Asian Review:
Sources: TSMC, the biggest contract chipmaker, has halted new orders from Huawei in response to new US export controls; orders placed before are not impacted  —  Taiwan chipmaker's relationship with its second biggest customer under fire  —  TAIPEI — Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. …
Zoe Schiffer / The Verge:
Jack Dorsey has told Square employees they can work from home even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end, following a similar move at Twitter  —  Employees can work remotely even after the COVID-19 shelter-in-place orders end  —  Square employees will be able to work from home …
Sam Nussey / Reuters:
Alibaba's Jack Ma resigns from SoftBank board, as he pulls back from formal business roles to focus on philanthropy; SoftBank to propose three new appointments  —  TOKYO (Reuters) - SoftBank Group Corp said on Monday that Alibaba co-founder Jack Ma will resign from its board …
Pavel Alpeyev / Bloomberg:

Sponsor Posts

Termina:
AI Powered Diligence at Scale  —  VCs and founders deploy Termina AI Scans on >12% of all known series A+ deals to uncover hidden risks and opportunities.  Explore how you too can invest and build better companies with AI.
Zoho:
Zoho Notebook: The best free note-taking app for Mac  —  If you're a Mac user, you know the value of a tool that just fits when it's designed to keep up with you.  That's exactly what Zoho Notebook delivers.
SBS Comms:
Expect Better: SBS Comms  —  The media landscape is changing fast, so don't be slow — out with the old, in with the new.  SBS helps tech companies like GitHub, Cloudflare, Flexport, Ramp and more modernize comms and secure impactful results.
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

Techmeme Ride Home:
The 2,000th Episode Spectacular
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Yamini Rangan (CEO, Hubspot) On Sales and Marketing Frameworks That Win in the Age of AI
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Generative Now:
Arvind Jain: Why Now Is the Time to Solve Enterprise Search
A podcast from Lightspeed dedicated to highlighting the stories, strategies and insights behind today's most exciting AI companies.
Subscribe to Generative Now.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Matthew Ball: Why the games business is broken
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Invest Like the Best:
Ravi Gupta - AI or Die
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 12:00 AM ET, May 19, 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

Ashley Carman / The Verge:
David Cohen / Adweek:

Earlier Picks

Sachin Ravikumar / Reuters:
Ranjan Roy / Margins:
Bloomberg:
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: