Techmeme
May 13, 2020, 1:40 PM

Top News

Joe Maring / Android Central:
Report: Google's Pixel division has lost Marc Levoy, the engineer leading the camera division, and GM Mario Queiroz over the past year, as sales disappoint  —  The general manager for the Pixel division is also gone.  —  What you need to know  — According to The Information, Marc Levoy and Mario Queiroz have both left Google.
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Epic Games unveils the Unreal Engine 5, coming in 2021, with a PlayStation 5 demo and says the Epic Online Services set of tools are available today  —  Epic says its new engine is a ‘quantum leap,’ and it'll arrive in 2021  —  Epic Games today announced the next iteration of its game engine …
Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:
Sources: Apple plans to return employees to offices sooner than rival tech companies, with staff coming back in phases  —  - Company to start letting more workers return to major offices  — Google, Facebook will allow remote work through end of 2020  —  Apple Inc. plans …
Casey Newton / The Verge:
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Max Willens / Digiday:
Sources: Apple is asking the publishers participating in Apple News+ for permission to produce audio versions of stories, with Apple handling production costs  —  Apple News+ is pivoting to audio.  —  Over the past several months, Apple has been asking the publishers participating …
Devindra Hardawar / Engadget:
Spatial makes its VR meeting rooms free to use and adds support for the web, mobile, and Oculus Quest  —  Two years ago, we called Spatial's virtual collaboration platform “FaceTime in VR.”  Since then, the company has focused on corporate users who have access to pricey augmented reality headsets …
More: Wired, CNET, and VentureBeatThanks:@lucyagoss
Tom Warren / The Verge:
Dell announces a new XPS 17 and a redesigned XPS 15 with 16:10 edge-to-edge displays, only USB-C ports, and Intel 10th-gen CPUs, starting at $1,300 and $1,500  —  Dell goes all USB-C and 16:10 for its XPS lineup  —  Dell is making some big changes to its XPS lineup today, with a redesigned XPS 15 and a new XPS 17.
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
CNBC:
Sources: Uber has been in off and on talks for a year to acquire Grubhub, but the parties remain at odds about price  —  - Uber has made an offer to buy food delivery company Grubhub, a person familiar with the matter told CNBC Tuesday.  — Grubhub's stock spiked as much as 38% …
Chaim Gartenberg / The Verge:
Amazon updates the Fire HD 8 tablet with a faster processor, more RAM, more storage, and USB-C, with the base model getting a slight price increase to $89.99  —  Along with a slight price increase to $89.99  —  Amazon has announced a new update for its Fire HD 8 tablet, adding a faster processor, more RAM, and USB-C charging.
Natalie Gagliordi / ZDNet:
Slack rolls out its redesign on iOS and Android, which launched on desktop in March, including new navigation icons and a new compose button  —  The updates build on Slack's desktop revamp​ back in March, which aimed to make the user interface more intuitive and organized.
More: CNET, The Verge, and Slack
Jason Del Rey / Vox:
Amazon says it will extend hazard pay for warehouse workers, an extra $2 per hour, to the end of May, but will return to normal rates in June  —  Amazon warehouse workers have faced additional hazards throughout the coronavirus pandemic.  Helen H. Richardson/Denver Post via Getty Images
More: Bloomberg
Bijan Stephen / The Verge:
Reports: live-streaming grew 45% between March and April, and 99% YoY; Twitch saw the highest growth, as hours watched rose 50% from March to April and 101% YoY  —  Every platform grew, but Twitch is still the biggest  —  We finally have numbers to back up the wild view counts we've seen …
Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch:
Alphabet's Loon signs deal with carrier Vodacom to bring its commercial internet service to Mozambique  —  Loon, the Alphabet -owned company that's using stratospheric balloons to provide high-speed bandwidth to hard-to-serve areas without strong ground infrastructure, has signed a new deal …
Lily Hay Newman / Wired:
Security experts believe online voting systems do not have strong enough security guarantees for prime time despite seemingly successful trials in the US  —  Proponents of mobile and internet voting point to its uneventful track record.  That's not good enough.
Doug Black / HPCwire:
MemVerge, which develops memory machine software, raises $19M led by Intel Capital  —  Memory situated at the center of the computing universe, replacing processing, has long been envisioned as instrumental to radically improved datacenter systems performance.
More: FinSMEs
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Some European Netflix users say video quality throttling is still in place, angering those who pay more for higher-quality plans  —  Facebook to Pay $52 Million to Settle Lawsuit Over Moderators' Exposure to Graphic, Disturbing Content  —  Almost two months ago, Netflix …
Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch:
Education startup Quizlet raises $30M Series C led by General Atlantic at a $1B valuation, up 5x from its last 2018 round, as usage surges during the pandemic  —  As millions of students and teachers shift to learn from home in response to the novel coronavirus disease …

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Michael Potuck / 9to5Mac:
Robert Stevens / Decrypt: