An Italian-based artificial intelligence company is regularly analyzing social media posts about the coronavirus for their emotional content.
Why it matters: Classifying tens of thousands of posts by their emotional tone provides a snapshot of how people feel about the pandemic. Spoiler alert: not great!
Coronavirus appears to be accelerating the adoption of workplace automation — and the trend is likely to stick around after the pandemic.
Why it matters: Adopting robots and AI could keep businesses going during social distancing and reduce the health risk to human workers. But with unemployment already at Great Depression levels, many of the jobs lost to automation might never be regained.
The Federal Communications Commission said the number of Americans with access to high-speed internet service has grown since 2017, according to a report Friday.
The big picture: The coronavirus pandemic has put in sharper focus the toll of the digital divide — the gap between those who have broadband internet and those who do not.
Facebook said Friday that it's launching a new video chat feature called "Messenger Rooms" that looks and functions similar to Zoom, except it allows far more people — up to 50 — to join at once for free.
Why it matters: It shows the company is willing to quickly innovate to keep up with new demand and opportunities. Facebook also announced alongside several other new video products, citing a major increase in calls and video chatting on its platforms throughout the coronavirus pandemic.
Apple and Google announced a series of small changes to their coronavirus contact-tracing technology and shared additional technical details ahead of a launch in the coming weeks.
Why it matters: The system is likely to serve at the heart of major efforts around the world to use technology to detect potential coronavirus exposure, as it will be built into the two main smartphone operating systems.
A government watchdog found key security deficiencies in the Federal Communications Commission's IT systems, including the public comment system, according to a report out Friday.
Why it matters: The FCC relies on feedback from the public to help shape policy, but its system for collecting it has been marred by fake comments and outages during high-profile debates — most publicly in the fight over net neutrality.
Intel reported strong quarterly earnings Thursday, but its shares fell in after-hours trading amid concerns around its near-term outlook.
Why it matters: Investors are trying to figure out what to expect from the tech sector as the impact of the coronavirus and related shutdowns works its way through the economy. Some parts of the tech sector would appear to still be seeing strong demand amid the shift to remote work and e-commerce.
While usage of most mobile apps has remained neutral during the coronavirus pandemic, social media app usage has exploded during the lockdown, according to new data from Nielsen.
Despite the tech industry's relative health during the pandemic, tech product roadmaps and schedules have been revisited, shaken up and in some cases completely rewritten thanks to the coronavirus.
What's happening: Both giants and startups are trying to focus on projects that are doable, relevant and critical. Those that don't meet any of these criteria are likely to fall by the wayside.
