Techmeme
April 28, 2020, 8:00 PM

Top News

Alphabet:
Alphabet reports revenue of $41.2B, up 13% YoY, net income of $6.8B, up from $6.7B YoY, Other Bets operating loss grew to $1.1B; headcount grew to 123K, up ~20K  —  MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - April 28, 2020 - Alphabet Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG, GOOGL) today announced financial results for the quarter ended March 31, 2020.
Jennifer Elias / CNBC:
In an email to staff, Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will allow employees to return to offices no earlier than June 1 and take a “staggered” approach  —  - Google CEO Sundar Pichai said the company will allow employees to return to offices no earlier than June 1 …
Jon Swartz / MarketWatch:
Alphabet Q1 earnings show the pandemic is responsible for “a significant slowdown in ad revenues”, with $33.8B revenue from ads; stock up ~9% after hours  —  Earnings come in lower than diminished expectations, but sales growth tops projections despite COVID-19 effects  —  Referenced Symbols
Matt Stroud / OneZero:
The CEO of Banjo, a SoftBank-backed surveillance firm that's raised nearly $223M, was once a neo-Nazi and was involved in the drive-by shooting of a synagogue  —  magazine profiles and on conference stages, Damien Patton, the 47-year-old co-founder and CEO of the surveillance startup Banjo, often recounts a colorful autobiography.
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Source: Uber executives discuss cutting ~20% of its 27,000 headcount in the coming weeks; company veteran CTO Thuan Pham has resigned  —  Executives at Uber are discussing plans to cut around 20% of the company's employees, as it copes with a sharp decline in its ride-hailing business due …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
YouTube adds fact-check info boxes to some searches, above the search results, in the US, after launching in Brazil and India last year  —  The program launched in Brazil and India last year  —  YouTube will begin adding informational panels containing information from its network …
David Gelles / New York Times:
A look at efforts by the tech industry to procure PPE for frontline workers, including one led by Salesforce's Marc Benioff to secure 50M pieces of PPE for $25M  —  A call from a university chancellor set in motion a private sector effort to procure 50 million masks, gowns and swabs for American medical facilities.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Spotify's Anchor launches a tool that turns video chats into podcast-ready audio; works with a range of videochat products including FaceTime and Instagram Live  —  Spotify is tapping into the increased usage of video conferencing during the coronavirus quarantine to grow its own podcast business.
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Zuckerberg more actively in charge of Facebook after five departures from board of directors since 2019, as he attempts to consolidate decision-making  —  The 35-year-old tycoon has recast the company's board of directors and sought a high-profile role for the social-media giant in the Covid-19 pandemic
Taylor Lorenz / New York Times:
Instagram has been overrun with cash giveaways, which are often framed as charity, but are part of growth schemes run by social media marketing firms  —  As the coronavirus continues to disrupt lives and livelihoods, influencers are offering free money to followers — and gaining a lot more in return.
Andy Greenberg / Wired:
Kaspersky researchers detail a targeted espionage campaign via Play Store spyware apps, aimed at a few hundred users in Vietnam, Bangladesh, Indonesia, India  —  Malicious Android apps from the so-called PhantomLance campaign targeted hundreds of users, and at least two slipped past Google's defenses.
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Shopify launches Shop, a consumer shopping app that allows users to browse recommended and local products and buy using the one-click Shop Pay checkout process  —  While Shopify is best-known for powering the online stores of more than 1 million businesses, the company is launching …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Instagram launches a way for users to fundraise for nonprofits while livestreaming, showing streamers a breakdown of donors, so they can give them a shout-out  —  Instagram is today launching a new way for users to fundraise for nonprofits via Instagram Live, amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
British payments firm Checkout.com joins the Libra Association, the first payments processor to do so since Visa, Mastercard, and Stripe pulled out in October  —  - Checkout.com is the first payments firm to join the Libra Association after Visa, Mastercard and Stripe pulled out over regulatory concerns.
Stephanie Condon / ZDNet:
AMD reports Q1 revenues of $1.79B, up 40% YoY, non-GAAP net income of $222M, compared to $62M in the year prior; stock down ~5% in after-hours  —  Computing and Graphics revenue was up 73 percent year-over-year, thanks to strong Ryzen processor and Radeon product channel sales.
More: The Verge and AMD
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Oracle announces Zoom has picked it as the meeting service's core cloud infrastructure provider and is already moving seven petabytes through its cloud daily  —  The deal is a major win for Oracle's cloud computing business, especially considering Zoom's newfound ubiquity.
Gizmodo:
Parolees say technical issues with Guardian, an app that uses GPS and biometric data for tracking, are causing problems including losing jobs, reincarceration  —  On the day Layla got out of prison and back to her home in Georgia, she was told she would need to purchase a smartphone …

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