Techmeme
May 21, 2020, 1:40 PM

Top News

Casey Newton / The Verge:
Facebook says it will allow most of its employees to permanently work remotely and will make most of its US job openings eligible for remote hires  —  In a move that illustrates how swiftly the COVID-19 pandemic is reshaping the global economy, Facebook said today that it would begin allowing …
Dana Mattioli / Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Amazon has decided to move its annual Prime Day event to September and has started allowing unlimited nonessential goods shipments to warehouses  —  E-commerce giant also allows nonessential goods shipments, indication of wider variety of products  —  Amazon.com Inc. AMZN -.25% …
Jessica Bursztynsky / CNBC:
Netflix says it will ask customers who have been inactive for a year or more if they want to keep their subscriptions, canceling accounts that take no action  —  - Netflix will start asking customers who haven't used its platform in the past year if they want to keep their subscriptions.
Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat:
Facebook unveils a new Messenger feature to alert users about malicious activity, aimed at preventing scams and unwanted interactions with those under 18  —  In an effort to beat back a rise in scams and other unwanted interactions during the pandemic, Facebook today unveiled …
Ian Fogg / Opensignal:
Analysis of ten 5G operators across US, S. Korea, UK, and Australia finds that while Verizon has the fastest 5G speeds, its users see 5G just 0.5% of the time  —  Understanding the extent to which 5G improves the mobile experience is critical both for consumers considering upgrading to 5G …
Russell Brandom / The Verge:
Aditi Shrivastava / The Economic Times:
Amazon India launches a food delivery service called Amazon Food in select areas of Bengaluru and says it will expand to other cities in a few weeks  —  Amazon has been luring eateries with competitive commissions as a part of its larger plan to build a comprehensive product portfolio
Candy Cheng / Bloomberg:
Shopify says it will allow its 5,000 employees to work from home indefinitely  —  - Canadian e-commerce company switching to ‘digital by default’  — Offices will be closed until end of year and redesigned  —  Shopify Inc. will allow its 5,000 employees to work from home indefinitely …
Larry Dignan / ZDNet:
Samsung unveils the Galaxy S20 Tactical Edition with custom features for terrain navigation and data encryption, made for rugged use cases like law enforcement  —  The move highlights how Samsung is pushing its devices into more industry use cases.  —  Samsung is continuing its push …
Dieter Bohn / The Verge:
Google rolls out new accessibility features for Android, including Assistant-powered, customized buttons called Action Blocks for tasks like playing music  —  Live Transcribe, Sound Amplifier, and Google Maps also get new updates  —  For Global Accessibility Awareness Day …
Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:
NoSQL cloud database service Couchbase raises $105M Series G led by GPI Capital, bringing its total raised to $251M per Crunchbase  —  Couchbase. the Santa Clara-based company behind the eponymous NoSQL cloud database service, today announced that it has raised a $105 million all-equity Series G round …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Facebook introduces a tool in India that locks an account, preventing strangers from viewing and downloading pictures, primarily for women  —  Facebook has rolled out a new safety feature in India that will enable users to easily lock their account so that people they are not friends …
Rey Mashayekhi / Fortune:
Neo-bank Aspiration, which positions itself as socially-conscious and sustainable, raises $135M Series C led by Alpha Edison, bringing total funding to $200M+  —  Aspiration, the fintech startup that's brought a socially- and environmentally-conscious twist to the burgeoning realm of digital banking …
More: TechCrunch
Mark Hachman / PCWorld:
Intel says it's acquiring Rivet Networks, makers of the Killer range of networking products, and will integrate it into its Wireless Solutions Group  —  Intel said Wednesday that it has acquired Rivet Networks, and will integrate the company's Killer Networking line of Wi-Fi networking products into its own wireless portfolio.
Elizabeth A. Harris / New York Times:
How the remote school experience, with fewer distractions and less social pressure from peers, makes learning easier for some students  —  “At home, it seems to be a bit easier to focus on all the work,” said one eighth grader who was struggling in school.  “Everything in general is easier.”
Ron Miller / TechCrunch:
Google Cloud says it's made a deal with the DoD's Defense Innovation Unit, which will use Google Cloud's Anthos for its multi-cloud management solution  —  Google dropped out of the Pentagon's JEDI cloud contract battle fairly early in the game, citing it was in conflict with its “AI principals.”

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