| 10:45 PM • | DL Cade / PetaPixel: Sony to spin off its consumer electronics, imaging, and mobile businesses into new intermediate holding company Sony Electronics Corporation on April 1 |
| 10:10 PM • | Jason Del Rey / Vox: Amazon admits it unintentionally hid competitors' faster delivery options and is working on a fix, after pushing back delivery on some items to April 21 |
| 8:05 PM • | Laura Kayali / Politico: The COVID-19 pandemic could signal a truce between EU and Big Tech, as Netflix and others limit video quality and stamping out misinformation becomes a priority |
| 7:40 PM • | Andy Greenberg / Wired: Kaspersky says Google's TAG links DarkHotel, a S. Korean hacking group with gov ties, to attacks on N. Koreans; 0-day exploits demonstrate rare sophistication |
| 7:25 PM • | Chris O'Brien / VentureBeat: Apptopia: COVID-19 quarantines have seen global downloads of Houseparty, Discord, Zoom, and Marco Polo skyrocket; Houseparty has seen ~652K downloads/day |
| 6:05 PM • | Toni Gidwani / The Keyword: Google sent users 40K warnings about phishing or malware attempts from nation-states in 2019, a 25% drop YoY; journalist and news outlet impersonations up |
| 5:30 PM • | Joseph Cox / VICE: Zoom iOS app, like many using Facebook SDKs, sends data to FB even if there's no linked account, but Zoom's privacy policy fails to clearly mention the practice |
| 4:10 PM • | Matt Day / Bloomberg: Amazon says a returns warehouse in Kentucky where three workers tested positive for COVID-19 has been closed by the order of the state's governor until April 1 |
| 4:05 PM • | Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: Cybersecurity insurance provider Chubb confirms it is investigating a “security incident” involving the unauthorized access of data belonging to a third-party |
| 3:35 PM • | WRAL TechWire: CData, a Chapel Hill, NC-based provider of cloud data access and connectivity software, raises $20M Series A from Updata Partners |
| 2:40 PM • | William J. Broad / New York Times: MIT, Princeton, Microsoft, and others form a consortium to launch the C3.ai Digital Transformation Institute to investigate big issues, like pandemics, using AI |
| 2:25 PM • | Sergiu Gatlan / BleepingComputer: Researcher: a vulnerability affecting iOS 13.3.1 and later prevents VPNs from encrypting some traffic, potentially exposing user data or leaking IP addresses |
| 2:20 PM • | Celia Wan / The Block: Blockchain startup Block.one invests $150M in its social media app Voice, to kickstart its independent operations; Voice lets users post for token rewards |
| 2:10 PM • | Maura Church / Patreon Blog: Patreon says 30,000+ creators signed up in the first three weeks of March; average new patron growth in 6 countries, including US and Italy, was 36.2% over Feb. |
| 1:35 PM • | Catalin Cimpanu / ZDNet: Google says it will resume Chrome and Chrome OS releases after pausing them last week due to the adjusted employee work schedules during the pandemic |
| 1:25 PM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Denver-based Yaguara, which helps e-commerce companies analyze customer data, raises $7.2M seed round led by Foundation Capital |
| 1:10 PM • | Annie Palmer / CNBC: Interviews with 12 Amazon warehouse workers: limited options from Amazon are forcing them to work in crowded warehouses with few essentials, like sanitizers |
| 12:50 PM • | Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch: Microsoft acquires Affirmed Networks, which provides fully virtualized, cloud-native networking tech to telecom operators, with a focus on 5G and edge computing |
| 12:20 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Dremio, which offers a virtualization toolkit to streamline and curate data, raises $70M Series C led by Insight Partners, bringing its total raised to ~$115M |
| 12:10 PM • | Bloomberg: US CFTC publishes guidance on the “actual delivery” of a digital asset, which could impact margin loans where no actual cryptocurrencies change hands |
| 11:25 AM • | Todd Haselton / CNBC: On Twitter, Slack CEO discussed some of the dramatic changes Slack has seen over the last few weeks, like quickly adding 9K net new customers; stock up 10%+ |
| 10:55 AM • | Paul Sawers / VentureBeat: Huawei rolls out Celia, its multilingual AI assistant for phones outside China, initially on P40 in UK, France, Spain, Chile, Mexico, and Colombia |
| 10:40 AM • | Andrew Webster / The Verge: Epic Games launches Epic Games Publishing, a label that will cover up to 100% of development costs while game creators retain 100% of IP and creative control |
| 10:25 AM • | Airbnb Newsroom: Airbnb says it will subsidize hosting costs for up to 100K healthcare professionals, relief workers, and first responders around the world |
| 9:55 AM • | Reuters: Counterpoint: global smartphone sales fell 14% in February as the coronavirus spread in China; China saw sales drop 38% YoY in February |
| 8:50 AM • | CNBC: 33 US state AGs call on Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Walmart, and Craigslist to take proactive measures to prevent price gouging on products related to COVID-19 |
| 7:45 AM • | Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch: Fast, which is building platform-agnostic login and checkout services for e-commerce, raises $20M Series A led by Stripe |
| 6:50 AM • | Andy / TorrentFreak: AMD confirms someone claimed in December to have “test files” related to current and future graphics products; some files recently posted online were removed |
| 2:55 AM • | Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch: A self-reporting COVID-19 symptom app developed by Boston-based startup Zoe had 750k downloads in 24 hours in the UK; Zoe is working to bring the app to the US |
| 10:55 PM • | David Carnoy / CNET: Qualcomm introduces ultra-low power Bluetooth audio SoCs for wireless earbuds, with support for hybrid active noise cancellation and voice assistants |
| 10:40 PM • | Natasha Mascarenhas / TechCrunch: Plastiq, which lets consumers and SMBs use credit cards to pay for anything, raises $75M Series D round led by B Capital Group, bringing total raised to $140M+ |
| 9:00 PM • | Sam Byford / The Verge: Preview of Huawei's P40 flagship, which doesn't include any Google services: the hardware is really terrific but is not enough to overcome Google's absence |
| 7:55 PM • | ESPN: StubHub says it has furloughed some employees, citing the pandemic's impact on live events; source: ~450 staff on unpaid leave, 67% of its N. American workforce |
| 7:35 PM • | Reuters: Amazon says it is pausing sellers' repayments of loans from its Amazon Lending program until April 30, with interest not accruing during this period |
| 7:20 PM • | Ally Marotti / Chicago Tribune: Groupon says CEO Rich Williams and COO Steve Krenzer “no longer” in their roles, but continue to work at Groupon; N. America business head appointed interim CEO |
| 6:40 PM • | Biz Carson / Protocol: Several former TripActions employees say ~100 staff members were fired en masse during a Zoom call, without being told the reason behind the meeting beforehand |
| 6:20 PM • | James Shotter / Financial Times: Slovakia passes a law allowing state use of telecom data to track movements of people infected with the coronavirus to ensure they abide by quarantine rules |
| 5:10 PM • | Nikkei Asian Review: Sources: Apple is weighing a delay of the launch of the iPhone 12 by months over fears of low sales and supply chain constraints amid the coronavirus pandemic |
| 4:30 PM • | Pew Research Center: Pew survey: 57% of Americans who rely mostly on social media for political and election news say they've seen “news” that seemed made up about COVID-19 |
| 4:15 PM • | Jon Porter / The Verge: Dell updates its Mobile Connect app to support iPhone screen mirroring, controlling the keyboard and mouse, and sharing photo and video files |
| 4:00 PM • | Darrell Etherington / TechCrunch: IBM and its subsidiary The Weather Company announce real-time COVID-19 maps and data tracking on the Weather Channel's app and weather.com |
| 3:50 PM • | Amy Feldman / Forbes: How Carbon, an industrial-scale 3D printing startup worth $2.4B, is scrambling to design and produce FDA-approved medical equipment for the COVID-19 response |
| 3:40 PM • | Steve O'Hear / TechCrunch: Munich-based Twaice, which builds battery management analytics software for electric vehicles and other devices, raises €11M Series A led by Creandum |
| 2:50 PM • | John Herrman / New York Times: As social interactions become more distant, Nextdoor has seen a spike in engagement as it helps neighbors connect and organize without risking physical contact |
| 2:20 PM • | Aral Balkan: As part of Safari's privacy push, it will delete a site's local storage, like Indexed DB, after seven days of inactivity, hamstringing Safari's offline web apps |
| 2:05 PM • | FireEye: FireEye says that between January 20 and March 11 Chinese actor APT41 attempted to exploit bugs in Citrix and Zoho products at organizations in 20+ countries |
| 1:30 PM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Humio, which offers an unlimited logging service, raises $20M Series B led by Dell Technologies Capital |
| 12:55 PM • | Mary Ann Azevedo / Crunchbase News: Reports: amid the pandemic, TripActions, Zeus Living, and Sonder have laid off one third or more of their staff; TripActions and Sonder are each valued at $1B+ |
| 12:35 PM • | Taylor Soper / GeekWire: Online marketplace OfferUp raises $120M led by OLX Group and says it will acquire rival Letgo, aimed at used goods |
| 12:20 PM • | David Uberti / Wall Street Journal: Experts say the cybersecurity fallout from COVID-19 will not become clear for weeks or months, as sophisticated organizations and nation-states glean more data |
| 12:00 PM • | Maciej Ceglowski / Idle Words: During the pandemic, we should use “surveillance economy” infrastructure to trace contacts with location data, enforce self-quarantine, aid health authorities |
| 11:35 AM • | Antony Sguazzin / Bloomberg: WHO's WhatsApp global COVID-19 information service is launching in 20+ languages, aiming to reach 50M people, after successful trials in South Africa |
| 11:25 AM • | Craig Mod / Wired: The iPad's cursor, a translucent circle that has momentum and can change its form based on the context, is more convincing and simply more fun than direct touch |
| 11:05 AM • | Todd Spangler / Variety: Analyst estimates Facebook and Google could lose $44B+ in 2020 global ad revenue due to COVID-19; Facebook says its ad business has weakened in affected places |
| 10:30 AM • | NBC News: Tech platforms, which had mostly resisted calls for strict moderation, are now taking a “harder line” when it comes to moderating content related to COVID-19 |
| 10:00 AM • | Katie Notopoulos / BuzzFeed News: Facebook's Portal makes a lot of sense during a quarantine: it is great for video chatting and staying in touch, especially with kids and the elderly |
| 9:50 AM • | Ron Miller / TechCrunch: Espressive, which aims to develop AI-driven chatbots to reduce calls to company help desks, raises $30M Series B led by Insight Partners |
| 9:40 AM • | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: App Store rules, like a ban on services that stream from the cloud, limit iOS users from accessing rival gaming services from Microsoft, Google, and Nvidia |
| 9:30 AM • | Brian Heater / TechCrunch: Google brings its Podcasts app to iOS and unveils a redesign of Android app, with users' listening habits syncable across platforms via Google Podcasts for Web |
| 9:20 AM • | Jay Peters / The Verge: YouTube Music can now show static lyrics, sourced from LyricFind, while listening to a song on its iOS and Android apps, with web player support coming soon |
| 8:50 AM • | Debby Wu / Bloomberg: iPhone makers Foxconn and Wistron have suspended all production at their Indian plants to comply with a nationwide lockdown |
| 8:25 AM • | Stephanie Condon / ZDNet: How 3D printer makers like Stratasys, Protolabs, and other companies like Ford, are helping fight COVID-19 by 3D printing face shields and medical equipment |
| 8:01 AM • | Annie Musgrove / Tech.eu: London-based SoftIron, which provides performance-optimized data center appliances, raises $34M Series B led by its co-founder Norman Fraser |
| 7:25 AM • | Travis Andrews / Washington Post: As more people work and live in isolation during the pandemic, Apple's Screen Time tool is horrifying many users with skyrocketing usage reports |
| 7:00 AM • | Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: France announces a $4.3B plan to support startups including bridge funding, liquidity support measures, and faster tax returns and public support payments |
| 5:30 AM • | Hariz Baharudin / The Straits Times: Singapore will open source its contact-tracing app TraceTogether, which uses Bluetooth to identify people in extended close contact with COVID-19 patients |
| 2:55 AM • | Christina Farr / CNBC: How volunteers from tech companies and epidemiologists worked together to build the US-focused COVID-19 data aggregation website covidnearyou.com in six days |
| 12:55 AM • | Janko Roettgers / Protocol: Sansar, a social VR platform from the makers of Second Life, is acquired by SF-based Wookey Project Corp, a social search engine, for an undisclosed sum |
| 11:20 PM • | Chris Freeland / Internet Archive Blogs: Internet Archive launches National Emergency Library, which lets users borrow 1.4M+ digitized books without joining a waitlist during the COVID-19 crisis |
| 10:55 PM • | Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: WHO partners with Facebook, Microsoft, and other tech companies on #BuildforCOVID19 hackathon to develop software tackling COVID-19 challenges, starting Mar. 26 |
| 9:45 PM • | Amir Efrati / The Information: Source: amid quarantines, Uber Eats recorded a 10% increase in US sales last week and a 30% increase in signups from people willing to deliver food |
| 9:05 PM • | Jay Greene / Washington Post: Ten US Amazon warehouses have at least one worker testing positive for COVID-19, with some facilities temporarily shut for cleaning and some workers quarantined |
| 7:40 PM • | Stephen Palley / The Block: NY federal court issues preliminary injunction against Telegram's 2018 $1.7B ICO, finding the distribution of Gram tokens likely violates US securities law |
| 7:30 PM • | Kate Rooney / CNBC: After multiple outages, Robinhood says it has fixed an issue with an internal messaging system and will offer credits to some users on a “case-by-case basis” |
| 6:25 PM • | Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: Yelp and GoFundMe team up to promote local business fundraisers, with GoFundMe campaigns automatically appearing on Yelp business profiles |
| 5:40 PM • | New York Times: While traffic surges on Facebook, with messaging up 50% from last month in many countries, their now-remote workforce struggles to handle its own IT snafus |
| 5:05 PM • | Nick Statt / The Verge: Apple updates Safari to fully block third-party cookies by default, months after Google said it would do the same in Chrome by 2022 |
| 4:45 PM • | Scott Nover / Adweek: Pinterest introduces a new Today tab, a central hub including curated topics and trending posts, as users flock to the service during the pandemic |
| 4:00 PM • | New York Times: Facebook internal report: US users are reading more COVID-19 content from “higher-quality” sources based on its ranking of top publishers adopted last year |
| 3:55 PM • | Matthew Panzarino / TechCrunch: Apple updates Apple Card's privacy policy to share more anonymized data with Goldman Sachs, to help some users secure or expand credit, allows opt out via email |
| 3:49 PM • | Laura Baldwin / O'Reilly Media: O'Reilly Media announces it is canceling all of its upcoming in-person conferences and shutting down that portion of its business indefinitely |
| 3:25 PM • | Mark Gurman / Bloomberg: Apple SVP of People and Retail says in internal memo that Apple expects to start reopening its retail stores in the first half of April on a staggered basis |
| 3:10 PM • | Instagram: Instagram to remove some coronavirus-related content and accounts from recommendations and Explore, with exceptions for credible health organizations |
| 2:40 PM • | Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Apple rolls out a universal purchase option, letting devs bundle macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS apps, sharing in-app purchases across iOS and macOS |
| 2:25 PM • | Dani Deahl / The Verge: Spotify confirms it will no longer work with third-party DJ apps starting on July 1, affecting developers like Algoriddim |
| 2:15 PM • | Geoffrey Fowler / Washington Post: Unacast, an analytics company using location data from a variety of apps, debuts a Social Distancing Scoreboard to grade how US citizens are adapting by region |
| 2:00 PM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Arkose Labs, which is developing a service that detects and mitigates online fraud, raises $22M Series B led by Microsoft's venture fund M12 |
| 1:50 PM • | Check Point Research: Ad fraud malware found in 24 children's Android games and 32 utility apps, downloaded nearly 1M times, before being removed from the Google Play Store |
| 1:39 PM • | Jeremy Horwitz / VentureBeat: Apple releases iOS 13.4, iPadOS 13.4, macOS 10.15.4, tvOS 13.4, and watchOS 6.2 to the public |
| 1:25 PM • | Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: Brave partners with Binance to include a widget on the new tab page that lets users buy, trade, and receive cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin and ether |
| 12:47 PM • | Lucas Shaw / Bloomberg: YouTube will change the default video resolution to standard definition worldwide for a month starting today to ease internet traffic |
| 11:25 AM • | Financial Times: Sources: Facebook's in talks to buy a multibillion-dollar stake in Reliance Jio to expand its presence in India; source says it was nearing deal for a 10% share |
| 10:10 AM • | Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: Instagram announces Co-Watching, a feature that lets users browse the app together over video chat |
| 9:55 AM • | Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: Mozilla launches Firefox Better Web with Scroll for Firefox tracking protection and Scroll's ad-free browsing experience for $2.50/mo. for the first six months |
| 9:45 AM • | Kyle Wiggers / VentureBeat: Google open sources SEED RL, a TensorFlow 2.0-based architecture for scaling AI model training to thousands of machines while reducing costs by up to 80% |
| 9:30 AM • | Romain Dillet / TechCrunch: Mobile-only banking app Revolut, which has 10M+ customers in Europe, is launching in the US today |
| 9:05 AM • | Dieter Bohn / The Verge: iPad Pro 2020 review: it's fast with a great display and excellent trackpad support, but iPadOS limitations remain and its lidar tech may get little use |
| 8:30 AM • | Eleanor Cummins / OneZero : The spread of COVID-19 has marked an uptick in livestreamed funerals and ancestor ceremonies, forcing the technologically stagnant death industry to adapt |
| 3:05 AM • | Manish Singh / TechCrunch: India launches a WhatsApp chatbot to create awareness about coronavirus and asks social media services to curb the spread of misinformation |
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