Techmeme
- Google will require a Virtual A/B partition setup on new Android 11 devices, paving way for simpler and seamless background updates, similar to Chrome OS (Mishaal Rahman/XDA Developers)
- Google says G Suite now has over 6M paying businesses, up from 5M in February 2019, and that Google Meet has 25 times more users than it did in January 2020 (Jordan Novet/CNBC)
- Hong Kong-based Neat, which helps startups and small businesses do cross-border banking online and apply for corporate credit cards, raises $11M Series A (Catherine Shu/TechCrunch)
- Sources: Airbnb is paying 10%+ interest on the $1B funding it raised on Monday; investors were offered free stock warrants based on a company valuation of $18B (Wall Street Journal)
- Taiwan bars all government agencies from using Zoom for official work due to security concerns, becoming the first national government to impose a ban on Zoom (Bloomberg)
- In a small experiment, Facebook approved seven scheduled ads with content that violated company rules about COVID-19, indicating flaws in automated ad screening (Kaveh Waddell/Consumer Reports)
- Toast, a cloud-based restaurant management software provider, cuts ~50% of its staff after raising $400M at a $4.9B valuation in February (Natasha Mascarenhas/TechCrunch)
- Inside the global efforts to build a privacy-conscious COVID-19 tracking app, with experts contributing from the US, UK, Australia, Switzerland, and elsewhere (NBC News)
- Amazon to suspend Amazon Shipping, its delivery service for Amazon Marketplace sellers that was being beta-tested in some US cities, with last pickups on June 5 (Eugene Kim/Business Insider)
- Corporate catering marketplace ezCater, valued at $1.25B last year, lays off more than half of its 750-person workforce (Dan Primack/Axios)
- Tyto Care, a NYC-based telehealth startup that sells an in-home kit to help doctors remotely diagnose patients, raises $50M in round led by Insight Partners (Paul Sawers/VentureBeat)
- Profile of Min-Liang Tan, the co-founder and CEO of global gaming giant Razer, one of the few companies managing to thrive in the disrupted business landscape (Karen Gilchrist/CNBC)
- Professional video game streamers, already used to isolation, are seeing increased viewership on Twitch and other platforms as COVID-19 forces people inside (David Segal/New York Times)
- Jack Dorsey says he's moving $1B of his Square equity, ~28% of his wealth, to Startsmall LLC to fund COVID-19 relief, to later focus on girls' health, education (@jack)
- Netflix now lets parents remove specific titles and filter shows out based on their ratings, in both the designated kids portal and the general section (Julia Alexander/The Verge)
TechCrunch
- Australian startup SafetyCulture nabs $800 million valuation on $35.5 million round
- Silicon Valley Bank only started processing stimulus loan applications today
- Livongo stock jumps over 10 percent on revised earnings guidance, pointing to digital health boom
- Hong Kong fintech startup Neat raises $11 million Series A to give small companies more banking services
- Tyto Care raises $50 million as it looks to buy and build new services during COVID-19 demand surge
- Restaurant management platform Toast cuts 50% of staff
- Latin America Roundup: Grupo ZAP, Grow Mobility, Wavy get acquired; Credijusto adds $100M; Cornershop, iFood brace for delivery boom
- This low-flying growth equity firm, with payments and logistics bets, just closed a $257 million fund
- NASA puts $7M toward long-shot research, from moon mining to solar lenses
- Jack Dorsey creates $1B COVID-19 relief fund using Square equity
- Tech shares close down on the day despite roaring start
- New email service, OnMail, will let recipients control who can send them mail
- PlayStation 5?s new DualSense controller is a sleek and futuristic gaming accessory
- Away, the high-flying travel brand, just furloughed half its employees and laid off 10%
- Netflix now lets you lock your personal profile with a PIN to keep kids (and roommates) out
- Nuro gets OK to test its driverless delivery vehicles on California public roads
- SpaceX and NASA test the system Crew Dragon staff would use to exit the launch area in an emergency
- Dear Sophie: Is unemployment considered a public benefit?
- Facebook ships an experimental app for couples
- SpaceX?s first operational version of Dragon successfully ends its 20th and final mission
Silicon Alley Insider
- Airbnb is reportedly paying a steep 10% interest on the debt it just raised in its $1 billion funding and its valuation is nearly half what it was in 2017
- The refreshed 2021 VW Atlas has arrived, and the 7-passenger SUV still starts at $32,000
- $5 billion software startup Toast just slashed its workforce by 50% despite a recent $400 million funding round, as coronavirus has wiped out its main source of customers
- How to check which version of Firefox you have on your computer
- How to update iPhone apps on iOS 13 manually, or set them to update automatically when new versions are released
- Google's G Suite now has 6 million paying business customers, as it ramps up competition with Microsoft and Zoom (GOOGL)
- Almost all of San Francisco's public transit will be shut down as the city gears up for an expected surge in coronavirus cases
- The wild life of billionaire Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who eats one meal a day, dates models, and just said he's pouring $1 billion of his own wealth into a coronavirus relief fund (TWTR)
- Google is making the premium version of its workplace video chat tool free until the end of September, to help businesses and schools working remotely due to coronavirus (GOOG, GOOGL)
- 'In order to make a living I must put myself and my community in danger': Uber drivers say the company's inconsistent sick pay policy is pushing them to keep working ? even if they get sick
- A group of tech billionaires is funding 'fast grants' of up to $500,000 for COVID-19 research, with every grant decision made in less than 48 hours
- Take a first look at the next-generation controller for the long-awaited PlayStation 5
- 13 YouTube stars break down their highest-earning videos of all time, from $4,000 to $97,000
- Venture-backed startups are laying off thousands of tech workers as the coronavirus strains finances. Here's a list of all of the startups that are cutting headcount.
- More than 1,000 Uber and Lyft drivers told us they're putting their lives at risk to make just $2.50 an hour with meager support from the companies themselves
- Instagram has been rolling out Direct Messages to your desktop ? here's how to check if you have the feature (FB)
- Microsoft is freezing hiring except in some unspecified 'strategic areas' (MSFT)
- Uber says it has paid out $3 million to drivers and delivery workers in the US through its coronavirus sick pay program (UBER)
- Amazon is 'pausing' its own shipping service that it was beta testing in the US ? read the memo it just sent sellers (AMZN)
- While Americans await their stimulus checks ? or a short-term universal basic income ? Spain moves to permanent basic income for low-income residents. Here's how the Silicon Valley dream became a policy plank for Andrew Yang and now Donald Trump.
Mashable