10 things in tech you need to know today

Learn More about BI Prime View online           10 Things in Tech You Need to Know Today     Advertisement Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Friday. Apple's revenue growth ground to a halt in the first three months of the year, as the coronavirus pandemic shuttered its retail stores, dampened consumer demand for iPhones and rattled the company's global manufacturing operations. Apple reported fiscal second-quarter revenue of $58.3 billion, up less than 1% from the same period one year ago, and well below the company's initial projection of between $63 billion and $67 billion.  Amazon reported huge growth in first-quarter revenue but a miss on earnings on Thursday. The mixed results show how the coronavirus outbreak is leading to more shoppers on Amazon, albeit at an increased cost as the company is dealing with a number of costly changes, including supply chain lockdowns and warehouse safety upgrades. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos told investors to 'take a seat' as he told them that he's dedicating the entire current quarter's $4 billion profit and then some to COVID-19 related expenses. COVID-19-related worker protection expenses include the creation of its own COVID-19 test, which Amazon's CFO says will cost $1 billion this year. Apple CEO Tim Cook said the company is "looking at other areas" when it comes to health and the Apple Watch. The comment comes after reports have suggested that Apple is bringing features like sleep tracking and blood oxygen monitoring to the Apple Watch. WeWork has started global layoffs as the coronavirus pandemic ravages the office industry, with sales, physical product, operations, and other groups seeing cuts on Thursday. The layoffs came via Zoom calls, as has become the norm across downsizing companies under shelter-in-place orders. Coronavirus pushed Twitter to a record 24% growth in daily users last quarter, but the social media giant swung to a loss. The company's first-quarter revenue and earnings beat the consensus forecast of Wall Street analysts polled by Bloomberg. Softbank is taking a $6.6 billion hit on its WeWork investment. SoftBank is embroiled in a legal dispute with directors at WeWork after backing out of a $3 billion tender offer agreed when it bailed out the office-sharing firm following a flopped IPO attempt last year. The UK has published blueprints for COVID-19 immunity passports, a controversial route out of lockdown. Most of the submissions outline how ID documents could be used alongside facial recognition, QR codes, and test results, to verify an individual's health before allowing them to enter private premises. Microsoft's big bet on a 'Netflix of gaming' is paying off and the service now has over 10 million users. The service has been a major hit with critics and consumers and is regularly heralded as the best deal in gaming.  California's health department website crashed a minute after Elon Musk linked to it in Twitter tirade about empty hospitals. The CHHS data portal crashed just one minute after Musk tweeted a link to the website, California officials confirmed Business Insider.  Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know.     Was this email forwarded to you? SUBSCRIBE NOW     You received this email because you signed up to this Business Insider newsletter using the email: geefunk007.bond1@blogger.com   Email preferences Unsubscribe TERMS OF SERVICE PRIVACY POLICY 1 Liberty Plaza, 8th Floor. New York, NY 10006

The best smartphones

Learn more about BI Prime View online           Tech Insider           The best smartphones   We tested the latest and greatest smartphones. These are the best smartphones you can buy in 2020, at every price range.   READ MORE           I've driven midsize trucks from Ford, Chevy, GMC, Honda, Toyota, and Jeep. And best pickup is clear — although it has plenty of competition   The midsize pickup truck segment has been robustly revived since 2014, with new models cutting into Toyota's market in the US.   READ MORE           How to backup your Android phone or tablet in 4 ways, and make sure your photos, videos, and other files are safe   You can backup your Android device's photos, videos, and other data using Google Drive and Google Photos.   READ MORE             The best keyboards   If you work at a desktop, you need a good keyboard. These are the best keyboards you can buy, whether you need a sturdy workhorse or a mobile one.   READ MORE           How Facebook board member, Trump adviser, and billionaire venture capitalist Peter Thiel led Silicon Valley's elite to buy doomsday bunkers in New Zealand   New Zealand has become a go-to hideout haven, and it could all be thanks to Thiel's "Lord of the Rings" obsession and a book circulated in the Valley.   READ MORE           Amazon is reportedly tightening access to internal mass email lists amid a surge of worker organizing   Amazon said a routine audit prompted the tighter enforcement, but workers say the company is trying to prevent them from organizing, Recode reported.   READ MORE           Microsoft Teams now has 75 million daily active users, adding 31 million in just over a month   Microsoft Teams now has 75 million daily active users, CEO Satya Nadella said on the company's earnings call with analysts on Wednesday.   READ MORE           Elon Musk ripped US infrastructure, calling many American airports an 'embarrassment'   "It's really quite sad that US infrastructure, especially roads and highways, is where it is today," Elon Musk said.   READ MORE           Apple is launching an iPhone update that will make it much easier to unlock your phone while wearing a face mask   Apple's iOS 13.5 update for the iPhone will make it easier to quickly type in your passcode when it launches.   READ MORE           Salesforce is canceling all its events for the rest of 2020 and moving them online, including the massive Dreamforce conference that takes over San Francisco every year   Dreamforce attracted 170,000 attendees to San Francisco last year, bringing revenue in to the local economy.   READ MORE           Was this email forwarded to you? SUBSCRIBE NOW     You received this email because you signed up to this Business Insider newsletter using the email: geefunk007.bond1@blogger.com   Email preferences Unsubscribe TERMS OF SERVICE PRIVACY POLICY 1 Liberty Plaza, 8th Floor. New York, NY 10006

10 things in tech you need to know today

Learn More about BI Prime View online           10 Things in Tech You Need to Know Today     Advertisement Good morning! This is the tech news you need to know this Thursday. Amazon reportedly spent nearly $10 million on thermal cameras purchased from a Chinese company blacklisted in the US over allegations it helped the Chinese government detain Uighur and other minorities, according to Reuters. Zhejiang Dahua Technology reportedly sold Amazon 1,500 thermal imaging cameras, 500 of which are intended for use in the United States. Microsoft reported third-quarter earnings on Wednesday, reporting $35 billion in revenue and $10.8 billion in net income. Microsoft's overall commercial cloud business – which includes Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform, Office 365 and other cloud services – reached $13.3 billion in sales for the quarter, up 39 percent year over year. Facebook's stock surged 10% in after-hours trading on Wednesday, after the company announced surging user numbers and better-than-expected financial earnings for the first quarter. In the first three months of the year, Facebook netted $17.74 billion in revenue, up 18% year-over-year, though it says it experienced a significant drop in advertising demand. Tesla CEO Elon Musk went on a Twitter rampage protesting the various lockdowns meant to curb the novel coronavirus' spread in the US. Musk tweeted "FREE AMERICA NOW" and shared an article critical about lockdowns. Salesforce is canceling all its events for the rest of 2020 and moving them online, including the massive Dreamforce conference that takes over San Francisco every year. Salesforce said it made the decision as the "COVID-19 situation continues to evolve" and its "first priority is to help ensure the health and safety of our customers, partners, employees and communities." Apple and Google have released the first version of their contact-tracing API to developers. It means governments and public health organizations can test out the tech in their own contact-tracing apps and give feedback. Airbnb has postponed new grad hires until August 2021 but is giving them 10% of their offered salary right now — even if they turn down the job. Glassdoor says that Airbnb's average new grad base salary is about $133,000, meaning the average 10% stipend could be about $13,000. 170 cybersecurity experts warned that the British government's contact-tracing app could be used to surveil people even after coronavirus has gone. Experts warn the app could result in a database that could then be used to de-anonymize users. Lyft said on Wednesday that it would cut nearly 1,000 jobs and had furloughed 288 workers. Collectively, the job cuts and furloughs represent more than 20% of Lyft's latest reported headcount of 5,683 employees at the end of 2019. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is now worth two Mark Zuckerbergs. Bezos is now worth $140 billion, while Zuckerberg is worth $70 billion, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Have an Amazon Alexa device? Now you can hear 10 Things in Tech each morning. Just search for "Business Insider" in your Alexa's flash briefing settings. You can also subscribe to this newsletter here — just tick "10 Things in Tech You Need to Know.     Was this email forwarded to you? SUBSCRIBE NOW     You received this email because you signed up to this Business Insider newsletter using the email: geefunk007.bond1@blogger.com   Email preferences Unsubscribe TERMS OF SERVICE PRIVACY POLICY 1 Liberty Plaza, 8th Floor. New York, NY 10006