Techmeme
May 6, 2020, 11:30 AM

Top News

Microsoft Devices Blog:
Microsoft announces $249 Surface Headphones 2 with better sound and battery, arriving on May 12, and says its Surface Buds will ship on the same day for $199  —  Available for preorder today, new Surface devices and accessories are designed to help you work, learn, connect and play from anywhere
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Microsoft unveils Surface Go 2 with a bigger 10.5-inch display and more powerful Intel processors, available on May 12, starting at $399  —  The smaller Surface gets a big hardware bump  —  Microsoft's smallest Surface tablet is getting some important hardware upgrades today in the form of the Surface Go 2.
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Microsoft debuts 13.5-inch and 15-inch Surface Book 3 laptops with 10th-gen quad-core Intel CPUs, new NVIDIA GPUs, available May 21 from $1,600 and $2,300  —  With the Surface Book 2, Microsoft proved it could take on the MacBook Pro directly with a powerful and genuinely innovative PC notebook.
Lauren Feiner / CNBC:
Uber says it will lay off 3,700 employees, or about 14% of its workforce, as it has been hit hard by the pandemic  —  Uber announced Wednesday that it will lay off 3,700 employees.  The cuts to its customer support and recruiting teams represent about 14% of its 26,900 employees, based on Uber's most recent headcount.
Theodore Schleifer / Vox:
Letter from Brian Chesky to Airbnb employees says the company is laying off 1,900, or ~25% of its workforce, and expects a 2020 revenue decline of 50% YoY  —  Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff.  —  Airbnb, seen until recently as one of Silicon Valley's most financially secure unicorns, is laying off a quarter of its staff.
Ellen Hammett / Marketing Week:
Study: half of the money that brands invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers; 15% of the money cannot be attributed at all  —  A new study by ISBA has found that half the money advertisers invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers …
Harry McCracken / Fast Company:
Q&A with Steven Sinofsky on his upcoming memoir that chronicles his time at Microsoft, as he reflects on how the company fought the ILOVEYOU virus 20 years ago  —  On the 20th anniversary of the unleashing of the ILOVEYOU virus—which infected millions of PCs worldwide …
Bloomberg:
Spotify CEO expects Apple to “open up” its platform more to 3rd-party apps, after Spotify's antitrust complaint with the EU, but sees it as a long-term process  —  - Apple plans to let other music services integrate with HomePod  — Ek says ‘steps to go before’ Apple is open and fair platform
Hugh Langley / Business Insider:
Sources: Magic Leap is in talks to raise $100M in funding from a major health company after laying off around half of its workforce  —  - Magic Leap is turning to a “major” health care company to raise money, according to an internal memo obtained by The Information.
Shannon Liao / CNN:
Activision Blizzard CEO says people may turn to free mobile games during the pandemic, after the company beat Q1 expectations with sales of $1.52B, up 21% YoY  —  New York (CNN Business)While much of the economy is hurting during the pandemic, video games are thriving.
Thomas Ricker / The Verge:
Ring debuts an improved $99.99 entry-level doorbell with a $49 solar charger accessory, available June 3 and open for preorders now  —  It's basically a Video Doorbell 2 for half the price  —  Ring is relaunching its original Video Doorbell, first introduced in 2014, with features found …
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Christine Hall / Crunchbase News:
Covariant, which builds AI-powered industrial robots, raises $40M Series B led by Index Ventures, bringing its total raised to $67M  —  Within all industries, companies are under pressure to deliver goods efficiently, fast and reliably, and especially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, in a way that keeps workers safe.

Sponsor Posts

Meta:
Open Source AI: Available to all, not just the few  —  Meta's open source AI enables small businesses, start-ups, students, researchers and more to download and build with our models at no cost.
Zoho:
The crossroads of AI and SaaS  —  Enabling businesses of all sizes to build products in-house and disqualifying SaaS tools that are not AI-powered.  In a span of just two years, AI has made a name for itself as the key driver for innovation.
Genesys:
Executive Insights: The Era of Contact Center AI Copilots  —  How AI copilots are transforming customer experience and agent performance.
Tribe AI:
Build AI products that matter  —  Tribe AI helps organizations rapidly deploy AI solutions that have real business impact.  We bring together world class AI talent and tooling to drive differentiated results.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Fri. 12/20 - Gemini Flash Thinking
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or RSS.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:30 AM ET, May 6, 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

Angela Lashbrook / OneZero :
Brooke Auxier / Pew Research Center:

Earlier Picks

Cecilia Kang / New York Times:
Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC:
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Kieren McCarthy / The Register: