Govt using telemedicine to reduce doctors' exposure

Details of patients, who are otherwise healthy, are sent to doctors who then advise workers on how to manage the patients https://ift.tt/2ycjKuY https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Sources: after handing over to the new CEO, Bob Iger effectively returned to run Disney in March, as the pandemic decimated its most profitable businesses (Ben Smith/New York Times)

Ben Smith / New York Times:
Sources: after handing over to the new CEO, Bob Iger effectively returned to run Disney in March, as the pandemic decimated its most profitable businesses  —  The former C.E.O. thought he was riding into the sunset.  Now he's reasserting control and reimagining Disney as a company with fewer employees and more thermometers.

Telcos warn of full service breakdown in virus hotspots

Telecom operators seek urgent intervention of DoT to ensure free movement of service teams in a bid to provide uninterrupted mobile and internet connectivity in these sealed locations https://ift.tt/2Xy4SSm https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Privacy groups feel Aarogya Setu's not all that transparent

IFF raised concerns about information collection, purpose limitation, data storage, institutional divergence, and transparency and audibility. https://ift.tt/2V4hZco https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

PE & VC deal-making set for further dip in June quarter

Many investors have put deals on hold as they see the impact of Covid-19 on the economy, stock markets and specific sectors as well. https://ift.tt/3eahbKu https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

With govt's new portal on the way, all HCQ info may just be a click away

Govt to roll out portal 'Covid-med' that will offer information on drug availability, where to buy it https://ift.tt/3b7V0CI https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Oyo's founder borrowed $2B to buy Oyo shares as its valuation soared, with loans personally guaranteed by Masayoshi Son, leading to a messy ordeal amid pandemic (Bloomberg)

Bloomberg:
Oyo's founder borrowed $2B to buy Oyo shares as its valuation soared, with loans personally guaranteed by Masayoshi Son, leading to a messy ordeal amid pandemic  —  - India startup puts thousands of workers on indefinite furlough  — Oyo founder borrowed money to buy more of his company's shares

Banks stare at defaults as cabbies go home

Industry executives seek concessions from lenders to prevent large-scale writeoffs https://ift.tt/3ee83Vb https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

C-CAMP picks 13 ideas to tackle the Covid-19 epidemic

Among the ideas include respiratory devices, air & surface sanitising technology and cold chain swab sample transport https://ift.tt/3celYJ0 https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

A list of issues that make contact tracing an impractical solution in the real world, from trolling others to cheating to insufficient adoption (Ross Anderson/Light Blue Touchpaper)

Ross Anderson / Light Blue Touchpaper:
A list of issues that make contact tracing an impractical solution in the real world, from trolling others to cheating to insufficient adoption  —  There have recently been several proposals for pseudonymous contact tracing, including from Apple and Google.

A profile of OBS Studio, an open source desktop app for live streaming and video recording with more advanced features than tools offered by Twitch and YouTube (Klint Finley/Wired)

Klint Finley / Wired:
A profile of OBS Studio, an open source desktop app for live streaming and video recording with more advanced features than tools offered by Twitch and YouTube  —  OBS Studio offers customization and other advanced features that are easier to use than those in other free recording tools

Sources: NHSX, UK health service's technology arm, is working on a Bluetooth-based contact tracing app with Google and Apple at a "breakneck speed" (The Sunday Times)

The Sunday Times:
Sources: NHSX, UK health service's technology arm, is working on a Bluetooth-based contact tracing app with Google and Apple at a “breakneck speed”  —  Ministers have ordered the creation of an NHS mobile phone app the government hopes will help end the coronavirus lockdown.

Celebs share rumors linking 5G to coronavirus, nutjobs burn cell towers

(credit: Carl Lender / Flickr)

There's a long history of fears regarding wireless technology, based on vague accusations that it causes health issues and claims that some people are "electrosensitive." Those fears have been maintained by a handful of ambiguous studies that had hints of possible links between cell phone use and cancer, but most of them had significant issues. And plenty of other studies saw no connection.

Nevertheless, the gradual arrival of the next generation of wireless technology, 5G, has re-ignited health fears in some circles. And while arguments against 5G have been circulating for months, they seem to have found a new focus thanks to the coronavirus pandemic, with rumors of a connection between the two seemingly inspiring people to set fire to cellphone base towers.

Same as it ever was

Radiofrequency radiation is relatively low energy, and it can't break chemical bonds. Like the nearby microwave frequencies, it can heat tissues. But we're not aware of any mechanisms beyond heating by which radiation at these wavelengths can damage human tissue. And, as noted above, there's no evidence at the population level that indicates that radiation from these sources poses any sort of risk.

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Digital hoarders: “Our terabytes are put to use for the betterment of mankind”

Think we prefer the album version, but OK, sure Top of the Pops

Today perhaps more than ever, data is ephemeral. Despite Stephen Hawking's late-in-life revelation that information can never truly be destroyed, it can absolutely disappear from public access without leaving a trace.

It’s not just analogue data, either. Just as books go out of print, websites can drop offline, taking with them the wealth of knowledge, opinions, and facts they contain. (You won't find the complete herb archives of old Deadspin on that site, for instance.) And in an era where updates to stories or songs or short-form videos happen with the ease of a click, edits happen and often leave no indication of what came before. There is an entire generation of adults who are unaware that a certain firefight in the Mos Eisley Cantina was a cold-blooded murder, for instance.

So on any given day, 19-year-old Peter Hanrahan now spends his evenings binging on chart-topping radio shows from the 1960s. A student from the North of England, he recently started collecting episodes of Top of The Pops—a British chart music show which ran between 1964 and 2006—after seeing the 2019 Tarantino flick, Once Upon a Time In Hollywood.

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A third of India's 4M IT workers at firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro still go to the office daily to serve clients abroad amid lockdown (Ananya Bhattacharya/Quartz)

Ananya Bhattacharya / Quartz:
A third of India's 4M IT workers at firms like Tata Consultancy Services, Infosys, and Wipro still go to the office daily to serve clients abroad amid lockdown  —  Looking at Big Tech as the next Big Oil.  —  The world's abrupt slowing down in the past few weeks may have introduced millions …