Techmeme
April 22, 2020, 9:25 AM

Top News

Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Facebook invests $5.7B in Jio for a 9.99% stake, making it the largest minority shareholder in the subsidiary of India's most valued firm, Reliance Industries  —  Facebook has enjoyed unparalleled reach in India for more than a decade.  But as China's fast-growing ByteDance emerges …
Nikhil Pahwa / MediaNama:
Facebook's deal with Jio is unlikely to make a dent in India's mobile payments market, where Google Pay, PhonePe, and Paytm have emerged as the big players  —  So it's confirmed: Facebook has bought 9.9% stake in Jio Platforms Limited, the parent company of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited, for $5.7 billion (Rs 43,574 crore).
Lucas Matney / TechCrunch:
Epic Games launches Fortnite on the Play Store, after over a year of offering it only outside the store, noting Google puts sideloaded apps at a disadvantage  —  Epic Games is finally settling its feud — kind of — with Google and putting Fornite onto the Google Play Store, but the studio sounds pretty pissed about it.
About Facebook:
Facebook rolls out Messenger Kids to 70+ new countries, adds features to make it easier for parents to connect kids with their friends  —  With schools closed and people physically distancing, parents are turning to technology more than ever to help their kids connect with friends and family.
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
Vivaldi browser gets built-in options to block ads and tracking, with a blocklist powered by DuckDuckGo's Tracker Radar, and comes out of beta on Android  —  Vivaldi, the browser launched by former Opera CEO Jon von Tetzchner, has long positioned itself as a highly customizable alternative to Chrome and Firefox for power users.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
Kuo: Apple postpones iPhone SE Plus release from H1 to H2 2021, seeing a dip in demand for iPhones and production delays across the upcoming iPhone 12 models  —  Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of TF International Securities has shared a new investor note today detailing the ongoing development of Apple's 2020 iPhone 12 models.
Jason Schreier / New York Times:
While gaming sales are breaking records, the coronavirus pandemic is impacting the gaming industry with delays, scope cuts, and serious production challenges  —  The coronavirus pandemic is offering mixed news and new challenges for gaming companies, both independent and corporate.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Netflix reports Q1 revenue of $5.77B, up 27.6% YoY, vs $5.76B est., global paid net subscriber additions of 15.77M, now totaling 182.86M accounts, up 22.8% YoY  —  - Netflix reported its Q1 2020 earnings after the bell on Tuesday.  — Netflix has ranked among analysts' favorite …
The Daily Beast:
Sources say Palantir's data suites are a primary contributor to HHS Protect Now, a US government tool to track the spread of coronavirus in use since April 10  —  Palantir, a longtime partner of intelligence agencies, co-founded by major Trump backer Peter Thiel, is helping build “the single source for [coronavirus] testing data.”
Kate Cox / Ars Technica:
Leaked screenshots of Ring survey show Amazon is considering adding facial recognition and license plate detection tools to its home surveillance product line  —  Amazon wouldn't be the first consumer company to do it, but it would be the biggest.  —  Amazon subsidiary Ring …
Snap:
Snap reports in Q1 DAUs increased 20% YoY to 229M, revenue increased 44% YoY to $462M, time spent watching Discover content rose 35%+; stock up 18%+ after hours  —  Snap Inc. Announces First Quarter 2020 Financial Results Daily Active Users increased 20% year-over-year to 229 million …
James Pearson / Reuters:
Sources: Vietnamese state-telcos took Facebook's local servers offline, slowing traffic, until the company agreed to increase censorship of “anti-state” posts  —  HANOI (Reuters) - Facebook's local servers in Vietnam were taken offline early this year, slowing local traffic …
CNBC:
US Small Business Administration notifies ~8,000 business owners seeking federal relief loans that their personal data may have been exposed to other applicants  —  - Some small business owners seeking help via the Small Business Administration's Economic Injury Disaster Loan program …
Taylor Lyles / The Verge:
Google says it is gradually rolling out a “Hey Google” feature that lets users adjust the listening sensitivity of Assistant devices in detecting the command  —  No, Google, I wasn't talking to you  —  Google is starting to “roll out gradually” a feature allowing …
Bloomberg:
Analysis shows that Huawei landed $4B worth of network contracts from China Mobile in 2020, over half of the operator's 5G contracts, as US sanctions persist  —  - Lands $4 billion in network gear contracts from China Mobile  — Beijing's banking on 5G innovation to boost post-virus economy
Sean O'Kane / The Verge:
General Motors is shutting down Maven, the car-sharing service it launched in 2016, amid the COVID-19 pandemic  —  The coronavirus pandemic was the final nail in the coffin  —  General Motors is shutting down Maven, the car-sharing service it launched in 2016, the company tells The Verge.

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