Week in Review for the Week of 4/27/20

Week in Review for the Week of 4/27/20
Number	1116
Broadcast Date	MAY 2, 2020
Episode Length	6:10
Hosts	Rich Stroffolino

Germany will adopt decentralized contact tracing for COVID-19, DJI announces the Mavic Air 2, and Reddit launches (then rolls back) a Start Chatting feature.

Headlines

• Amazon Loses Appeal of French Order to Stop Selling Nonessential Items

France's Versailles Court of Appeals upheld a lower court ruling, ordering Amazon to stop delivering non-essential items in the country to protect workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Under the ruling, Amazon can only deliver health items, food, pet food and electronics while it does risk evaluations in consulation with French unions. Amazon faces a fine of up to 100,000 euros for each non-essential delivery.

• Germany flips to Apple-Google approach on smartphone contact tracing

Germany's Chancellery Minister Helge Braun and Health Minister Jens Spahn announced that the country would adopt a decentralized approach to contact tracing for COVID-19. Germany authorities had previously backed the Pan-European Privacy-Preserving Proximity Tracing plan to develop a tracking system that would give health authorities centralized control of the data. According to sources speaking to Reuters, Apple refused to change Bluetooth settings in iOS to allow for this centralized approach. According to the announcement, the tracing system "should be voluntary, meet data protection standards and guarantee a high level of IT security."

• Sen. Josh Hawley calls for a criminal antitrust probe into Amazon

Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley urged the US Justice Department in a letter to open a criminal antitrust investigation into Amazon over whether its employees used sales data from independent sellers in order to develop its own competing, private label products. Last week, The Wall Street Journal published a report indicating that Amazon official Nate Sutton may have “lied” to Congress about its data practices in a previous hearing. In response to Senator Hawley's letter, an Amazon spokesperson told The Verge that the company bars employees “from using non-public, seller-specific data to determine which private label products to launch.”

• Instagram launches live fundraisers for nonprofits

Instagram is launching “live fundraisers” to allow nonprofit donations during live video feeds, which the company announced last week. Broadcasters choose a nonprofit to support, and viewers can make donations using their credit card which unlocks an “I donated” sticker, similar to the “Stay Home” sticker the company introduced in March. Instagram users could previously fundraise for nonprofits through their Stories. TikTok also added a donation feature in the form of clickable stickers that can be added to TikTok videos and live streams that let people submit donations within the app. The company partnered with 8 organizations to support communities impacted by the coronavirus pandemic and will match donations made through May 27.

• To fight fraud, Amazon now screens third-party sellers through video calls

Amazon announced a pilot program in the US, UK, China, and Japan to verify third-party sellers to help reduce fraudulent sellers and listings on its platform. The program initially used in-person interviews and now switched to video calls in light of COVID-19, and checks the sellers ID against their application to Amazon, with Amazon associates also using third-party data sources for additional verification. This pilot project is in addition to the use of machine learning algorithms and human investigators reviewing applications, which Amazon says stopped 2.5 million accounts from listing items in 2019. Amazon says more than 1000 seller applications have already gone through the verification pilot project.

• DJI’s new Mavic Air 2 has an upgraded camera and much longer flying time

DJI announced the Mavic Air 2, with a bigger image sensor than the original Mavic Air, and DJI’s own OccuSync transmission technology replacing traditional Wi-Fi. It has up to 34 minutes of flight time and comes with a redesigned controller. Preorders start for $799 and start shipping May 11th in the US. DJI's Fly More bundle now includes ND filters, a carrying bag, prop guards, charging hub, and three batteries for $988.

• Google Meet video conferencing is now free for anybody

Google made its enterprise video conferencing service Google Meet available for free to anyone with a Google account. Meetings can have up to 100 participants. After September 30, Google may limit free meetings to 60 minutes. The free version does not offer phone-in options. Google Meet will also be integrated into Gmail.

• Apple adds COVID-19 testing sites to Maps across the US, and shares more mobility data

Apple added COVID-19 test sites to its Apple Maps in the US. Apple also updated its Mobility Trends site which offers data on how people are moving around in order to assist local governments with lockdown policy. The update includes improved regionalization like state or province-level search and more cities available to review.

• Apple and Google release first seed of COVID-19 exposure notification API for contact tracing app developers

Apple and Google are delivering the first version of their exposure notification API to selected developers working on apps for public health organizations. After this test round, the API is expected to be released broadly in mid-May. The updates come in the beta of Apple's Xcode 11.5 and iOS 13.5 and Google's Play Services and Android Developer Studio.

• Reddit adds chat rooms for subreddits

Reddit introduced a new chat tool called "Start Chatting" on April 30th, which will randomly match up to seven users in a given subreddit into a chat. The feature was supposed to roll out to 16,000 Safe for Work subreddits and with plans to expand to other subreddits in the coming weeks. Start Chatting was subsequently rolled back on May 1st, with Reddit citing errors that caused the "Start Chatting" buttons to appear on all subreddits, as well as criticism from moderators.

• Walmart is piloting a pricier 2-hour Express grocery delivery service

Walmart confirmed plans to launch a new grocery service called Express, which would provide 2 hour or less grocery delivery for an additional $10 fee. The service has been in testing in 100 US stores since mid-April, and Walmart plans to expand it to 1000 stores by early May, expanding to more than 2000 in coming weeks. Express delivery slots will be available when traditional delivery isn't available same day or even days out, but Walmart says it will not push back standard delivery orders to make capacity for Express.

• ICANN rejects sale of .org registry to for-profit investor group

The board of ICANN voted to reject the sale of the .org registry to Ethos Capital, citing concerns on how Ethos would use the registry to pay down the $300 million in debt the acquisition would require. The Internet Society currently manages the .org Public Internet Registry, and announced plans for the sale in November. The deal also faced scrutiny from California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, as well as several ICANN founding members.

Links

• This episode on dailytechnewsshow.com
• Support DTNS on Patreon
• DTNS subreddit

Preceded by: "Walmart Launching Express 2-Hour Grocery Delivery"

Week in Review for the Week of 4/27/20

Followed by: "Apple Updates the 13-Inch MacBook Pro"