Apple, Google Update Coronavirus Contact Tracing Tech Ahead of Launch

Apple and Alphabet's Google on Friday updated technical details of the coronavirus contact tracing system they plan to release next month, saying new features would strengthen privacy protections... https://ift.tt/2Y2HOvf

Facebook Takes Aim at Zoom With Messenger Rooms Launch

Facebook has unveiled a new video chat service "Messenger Rooms" where people can pop in to visit friends, aiming at users turning to the popular Zoom platform during the pandemic. https://ift.tt/3cIu6BZ

Facebook takes aim at Zoom with Messenger Rooms

Facebook is also doubling the number of people who can simultaneously take part in WhatsApp video calls to eight. https://ift.tt/2VCjKhl https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

How Apple and Google will 'use' your phone to fight coronavirus: 15 things to know

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Research: ~150 new domain registrations starting with "reopen", and many ending with US place names, are tied to state GOP orgs and other conservative groups (Brian Krebs/Krebs on Security)

Brian Krebs / Krebs on Security:
Research: ~150 new domain registrations starting with “reopen”, and many ending with US place names, are tied to state GOP orgs and other conservative groups  —  The past few weeks have seen a large number of new domain registrations beginning with the word “reopen” and ending with U.S. city or state names.

Smartphone shipments grow 4% in Q1

A steep annual decline in March due to Covid-19 outbreak restricted the overall quarter growth of the whole quarter https://ift.tt/3aDeeiK https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

In court documents, WhatsApp claims that NSO Group used US-based servers to direct malware to WhatsApp user devices (Shannon Vavra/CyberScoop)

Shannon Vavra / CyberScoop:
In court documents, WhatsApp claims that NSO Group used US-based servers to direct malware to WhatsApp user devices  —  The legal battle between software surveillance vendor NSO Group and Facebook continues (Greg Otto/Scoop News Group)  —  Lawyers for WhatsApp's parent company alleged …

Sources: China orders ByteDance to temporarily remove its Slack-style office app Feishu, after discovering content from banned sites like Facebook and Twitter (Zheping Huang/Bloomberg)

Zheping Huang / Bloomberg:
Sources: China orders ByteDance to temporarily remove its Slack-style office app Feishu, after discovering content from banned sites like Facebook and Twitter  —  - Regulators found the app allowed access to Facebook, Twitter  — The decision deals a blow to ByteDance's internet ambitions

Handset makers, retailers divided over essential tag, offline availability in India

CAIT ditched ICEA on Friday and backed AIMRA in its views that offline handset shops shouldn't be opened during the Covid crisis. https://ift.tt/3bE1oSq https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Eros STX Wants Its Own MCU as It Looks to Hollywood, China, and Beyond

With the Eros STX merger, Eros CEO Pradeep Dwivedi and Eros Now CEO Ali Hussein talk about creating an MCU-equivalent out of ancient Indian epics, making mainland Chinese movies, and the bigger focus... https://ift.tt/3bxfyVz

Ireland's prime minister says the government should consider copying Australia's plan to force Facebook and Google to share advertising revenue with local media (Conor Humphries/Reuters)

Conor Humphries / Reuters:
Ireland's prime minister says the government should consider copying Australia's plan to force Facebook and Google to share advertising revenue with local media  —  DUBLIN (Reuters) - The Irish government should consider copying Australia's plan to force Facebook Inc (FB.O) and Alphabet Inc's …

Distribution of child sexual abuse materials increases across major sites including Facebook and YouTube, as moderation efforts are constrained during pandemic (Olivia Solon/NBC News)

Olivia Solon / NBC News:
Distribution of child sexual abuse materials increases across major sites including Facebook and YouTube, as moderation efforts are constrained during pandemic  —  With tech companies' moderation efforts constrained by the pandemic, distributors of child sexual exploitation material are growing bolder …

Profile of Mobilize, a tool for helping organizations manage events and recruit volunteers, which has become nearly ubiquitous among Democratic campaigns (Gilad Edelman/Wired)

Gilad Edelman / Wired:
Profile of Mobilize, a tool for helping organizations manage events and recruit volunteers, which has become nearly ubiquitous among Democratic campaigns  —  Mobilize was the leading events platform for Democrats before the pandemic.  Now its organizing is entirely virtual—and it's getting creative.

Amazon loses appeal of French court ruling to limit customer orders to essential items; must conduct risk evaluations with unions to resume nonessential sales (Liz Alderman/New York Times)

Liz Alderman / New York Times:
Amazon loses appeal of French court ruling to limit customer orders to essential items; must conduct risk evaluations with unions to resume nonessential sales  —  The ruling is another court victory by French unions against Amazon in a battle over workplace safety.

Bezos, Musk Among US Billionaires Gaining Net Worth in Pandemic: Report

The combined wealth of America's billionaires, including Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos and Tesla chief Elon Musk, increased nearly 10 percent during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, according to a... https://ift.tt/2x38L6X