Zoom has hired a tech trade association veteran to lead its policy work as its pandemic-driven surge in popularity invites increased scrutiny from Washington.
Why it matters: The videoconferencing provider has become the go-to app for work meetings and virtual happy hours in a time of social distancing, but privacy and cybersecurity concerns have drawn lawmakers' interest.
Airbnb is laying off a nearly 1,900 employees, or a quarter of its global workforce, as it tries to weather the near total halt of travel amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Why it matters: Despite raising $2 billion in debt and equity last month, cutting marketing expenses and freezing hiring, the company couldn't escape having to cut a significant number of jobs.
California's attorney general, along with city attorneys for San Francisco, Los Angeles and San Diego, is suing Uber and Lyft over the companies' classification of drivers are independent contractors instead of employees.
Why it matters: This is the latest move in a long-running effort to get the companies to reclassify their drivers. It follows multiple lawsuits from individual drivers over the years, as well as last year's new California law codifying a state supreme court decision that makes it harder to classify workers are contractors.
The U.S. should work to develop a national education strategy to address any technological or resource gaps confronting students, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said Tuesday at an Axios event.
What he's saying: "The access to education when you can't get to the classroom is limited or nonexistent for some and works for others. It seems to me we should have a national strategy using infrastructure monies that may come through Congress, the E-rate monies, which are in the billions of dollars, local and state technology budgets — all of this put together to create a national strategy is necessary to make sure every child has access to learning during these times."
Of all the conspiracy theories floating around the internet related to the coronavirus, disinfectant has by far gone the most viral.
Why it matters: Unlike some of the other conspiracy theories gaining traction on the internet, the disinfectant theory has gone viral online in large part because it's so obviously nonsensical that it quickly became an internet meme after President Trump suggested it could be used as a cure for coronavirus.
ATTN:, the progressive social media-based news outlet aimed at millennials, is launching a video series on Facebook and Instagram, in partnership with Poynter's groundbreaking digital literacy project "MediaWise."
How it works: Facebook came to ATTN: to produce the series because it's already proven that it knows how to capture millennials' attention with video, especially on Instagram.
Steven Sinofsky, the former Microsoft executive and current Andreessen Horowitz board partner, has been working on a book chronicling what he learned during his decades at Microsoft, including his time leading the Office and Windows teams.
Why it matters: There are a lot of lessons today's tech giants can learn from Microsoft's experiences — and Sinofsky was at Microsoft for many of its most crucial moments.
As the coronavirus pandemic heightens tensions between the U.S. and China, policymakers and industry are promoting a new, software-driven approach to build next-generation cellular networks without using Chinese equipment.
Why it matters: It's a tall order to replace the wireless ecosystem's hardware-powered status quo, but designing 5G more around software could make it cheaper and easier to deploy — and give hawks a way to lock out China's products.
Intel is paying $900 million to buy Moovit, a data-rich app that helps people navigate cities using multiple modes of transportation from bikes and scooters to public transit and taxis.
Why it matters: The acquisition will help Mobileye, Intel's automated driving subsidiary, expand the breadth of its planned mobility services to include everything from self-driving vehicles and automated fleets to on-demand robo-taxi services.
Tim Bray, vice president and distinguished engineer at Amazon Web Services, announced Monday in a blog post that he resigned after the company fired workers who raised concerns about warehouse employees frightened of the coronavirus.
Why it matters: Bray said he strongly disagreed with the firings of a number of employees, including Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, who link their terminations to their public criticism of Amazon’s treatment of employees during the coronavirus pandemic, according to TechCrunch.
Elliott Management, one of the most feared activist investors, is financing a patent lawsuit on behalf of a small interactive video company against the splashy new mobile streaming company Quibi, a person familiar with the lawsuit tells Axios.
Why it matters: Elliott Management's involvement escalates the months-long battle over who owns the video technology that powers Quibi's entire business. Quibi just launched in April, and has struggled to stick to its ambitious growth plan amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Tim Cook offered an uplifting take on the current crisis Sunday as he delivered a commencement address, virtually, to this year's graduating class at the Ohio State University.
The big picture: Graduating from college is often an uncertain time, but all the more so in the coronavirus era.
Private equity firm Silver Lake is investing 56.56 billion rupees (about $746.74 million) into Jio Platforms, a telecom subsidiary of India's Reliance system, at a $65 billion valuation.
Why it matters: The deal comes just over a week after Facebook announced a $5.7 billion investment into the company, underscoring Jio's growing importance as an entry point into the Indian market. This investment is also the latest in Silver Lake's recent tech spree, which has brought it stakes in Airbnb, Expedia and Twitter in the last two months.
Salesforce is announcing new products Monday to help businesses navigate reopening during a pandemic, tackling newly necessary tasks like scheduling office workers in shifts, managing employee health and handling emergency responses.
Why it matters: Firms like Zoom and Slack have seen their existing services flourish during the coronavirus crisis, but Salesforce's new products are some of the first designed specifically to help navigate it. Expect many more to follow.
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