Techmeme
May 1, 2020, 5:10 PM

Top News

ICANN:
ICANN board has voted to reject the sale of the .org registry to private equity firm Ethos Capital  —  Today, the ICANN Board made the decision to reject the proposed change of control and entity conversion request that Public Interest Registry (PIR) submitted to ICANN.
David Heaney / UploadVR:
Valve ends SteamVR support for macOS, three years after Apple announced it at WWDC; Valve's survey found only 4% of Steam users were using macOS  —  Valve just ended SteamVR's support for macOS.  ‘Legacy builds’ will continue to be available.  —  SteamVR is Valve's PC-based virtual reality platform, supporting Windows and Linux.
Tony Romm / Washington Post:
House Judiciary Committee demands Jeff Bezos testify at a hearing on Amazon's alleged misuse of third-party seller data or face a potential subpoena  —  A top House committee investigating the tech industry has asked him to agree to appear or face a potential subpoena if he declines
Thomas Brewster / Forbes:
Researchers say Xiaomi phones are tracking usage habits and browsing data even in incognito mode  —  “It's a backdoor with phone functionality,” quips Gabi Cirlig about his new Xiaomi phone.  He's only half-joking.  —  Cirlig is speaking with Forbes after discovering that his Redmi Note 8 smartphone …
Carrie Mihalcik / CNET:
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx, Target, and Walmart join together in striking on May 1, demanding better workplace safety conditions  —  Demands include better cleaning services and 14-day shutdowns at affected locations  —  On May 1st, workers from Amazon, Whole Foods …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Automatic Labs, which was recently acquired by SiriusXM, shuts down its vehicle-tracking service, tells users to remove its connected car adapters from vehicles  —  Automatic has announced that it'll be abruptly shutting down on May 28th because “the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted our business.”
Aimee Chanthadavong / ZDNet:
IDC: Global smartphone shipments dropped 11.7% YoY to 276M during Q1 2020, the largest YoY decline ever  —  Shipment volumes suffered its largest year over year decline in the first quarter.  —  The latest data from International Data Corporation (IDC) has revealed that as the world grapples …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft is in talks to buy UK-based robotic process automation software startup Softomotive  —  Microsoft Corp. is in talks to buy Softomotive Ltd., a U.K.-based startup that makes software robots to automate tasks, according to people familiar with the matter.
Jane Lanhee Lee / Reuters:
ASAPP, which provides AI software to call centers, raises $185M Series B, source says at a valuation of $800M  —  (Reuters) - ASAPP Inc an artificial intelligence software that helps call center agents work better and faster, on Friday announced a $185 million series B funding round …
Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News:
Ontic, whose “protective intelligence software” lets companies identify potential physical threats to employees and facilities, raises $12M Series A  —  Ontic, which has developed a software platform to help businesses proactively address physical safety, announced today …
Joseph Cox / VICE:
The UN's social distancing app, 1point5, is largely ineffective at monitoring distance between people, indiscriminately picking up any Bluetooth signals  —  This week a division of the United Nations announced its new social distancing app designed to help alert people when they get too close …
Pranav Dixit / BuzzFeed News:
Apple:
Apple reports Q2 revenue of $58.3B, up 1% YoY, of which $44.9B came from products, $13.35B from services, and net income of $11.25B  —  Total Revenue Grows, Services Revenue Reaches New All-Time High of $13.3 Billion  —  Apple today announced financial results for its fiscal 2020 second quarter ended March 28, 2020.
William Gallagher / AppleInsider:

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Bobbie Johnson / MIT Technology Review:
Amazon:
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