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Tag: COVID-19

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This Week in Apps: Zoom has issues, Pinterest founders new COVID-19 research app, record Q1 spending

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Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all. The app industry saw a record 204 billion downloads and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019, according to App Annie’s “State of Mobile” annual report. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544…

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The Race to Get Convalescent Plasma to Covid-19 Patients

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One morning a few weeks ago, Rebecca Haley realized that her job had changed. Haley is the medical director for blood collection at Bloodworks Northwest, a nonprofit that serves 90 hospitals in the Pacific Northwest. But, Haley decided, regular blood and platelet donations weren’t the focus anymore. Like thousands of blood centers across the country, Bloodworks needed to collect something new: plasma from Covid-19 survivors. How Long Does the Coronavirus Live on Surfaces?  Plus: What it means to “flatten the curve,” and everything else you need to know about the…

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Eventbrite pulls protest listings over violations of stay-at-home orders

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Earlier this week, Facebook confirmed that it had begun pulling down select COVID-19 protests, citing violations of state-enforced social distancing. The social media giant was attempting a sort of diplomacy, noting that all rallies/protests would be assessed on a case by case basis, and crosschecked with local government. CNET today noted that Eventbrite has begun taking a similar approach, citing violations of both social distancing policy, as well as its own site guidelines. The news specifically covers a “Freedom” rally set for Ottawa on May 2, which, like a number…

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Facebook pulls pseudoscience from its list of targeted ad categories

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Even as Mark Zuckerberg touted the “hundreds of thousands of pieces of misinformation related to COVID-19” that the site had pulled in recent months, Facebook continued to offer targeted ads classified as “pseudoscience.” It was an odd choice from a social network so publicly declaring its own campaigns to remove junk science amid a global pandemic. Using Ad Manager, advertisers were able to serve ads to some 78 million people “who have expressed an interest in pseudoscience.” Following an investigation by The Markup that found the site buying ads to…

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Plz Donate in Exchange for Celebrity Nudes

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We’ve reached Peak Horny. Locked inside with nothing to do but let our minds wander, already bored with making bread and bingeing obscene amounts of Netflix, our fingers happily scroll through Instagram. And that’s when you catch sight of him, the Horny Internet’s very own David: Ansel Elgort in the nude. Maybe you pause for a second, thanking his parents for the gift of their DNA. Perhaps you’re a chronic oversharer and immediately drop the link in a group chat. Or it’s possible you’re not phased one bit, plump from…

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Seth Meyers Exposes Sean Hannitys Huge Coronavirus Hoax Lie

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Nobody in the media got a pass from Seth Meyers on Wednesday night. In his latest praised President Donald Trumps new tone on the crisis at his daily briefing on Tuesday. Because he managed to restrain himself for an hour, after weeks of lies and serial failures that led us to this harrowing moment, Meyers said, some in the media were actually gullible enough after four years to give Trump credit for his change of tone. He singled out MSNBCs Brian Williams and CNNs Erin Burnett and Jim Acosta, among…

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Lady Gagas Together at Home Raised $128 Million for Covid-19 Relief

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Hello, and welcome to a new edition of The Monitor, WIRED’s entertainment news roundup. This time around we have a few more updates on how the coronavirus is impacting the culture landscape, from Netflix to Comic-Con International. Let's get started. Lady Gaga’s Together at Home Raised $128 Million for Coronavirus Relief Last Saturday, if you weren’t watching the will be canceled due to concerns over the coronavirus. People who purchased badges for this year’s events will receive instructions soon on how to get a refund or transfer their badges to…

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Seth Meyers Unloads on Trump for Mocking Mitt Romneys Coronavirus Quarantine

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It seemed pretty weird when Seth Meyersthe novel coronavirus pandemic to viewers from an empty hallway in his house. It may be weird to do this from a hallway, the Late Night host said. But at least Im not doing it from a public beach! Meyers caught his audience up on nearly every aspect of the crisis that he has missed over the past week, including the revelation that Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) had The Last Laugh podcast. Read more: https://www.thedailybeast.com/seth-meyers-unloads-on-trump-for-mocking-mitt-romneys-coronavirus-quarantine

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Coronavirus News Fatigue Is Officially Setting In

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When confronted with a calamity that demands we stay home the majority of the time, it’s only natural that many of us have resorted to reading the news. WIRED UK. Throughout March, we watched and surfed ceaselessly. The Guardian received 2.17 billion page views, an increase of over 750 million on the previous record set in October 2019. Boris Johnson’s address to the nation on March 23 was one of the most-watched broadcasts in UK television history, with more than 27 million live viewers, rivaling the 1966 World Cup final…

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Salesforces Benioff pledges no significant layoffs for 90 days

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In a Twitter thread on Tuesday, Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff outlined an eight-step plan to keep people safe and find treatments and a vaccine for the COVID-19 virus, all while working to find a way to get people back to work safely. He also asked that all CEOs take a 90-day “no lay off” pledge to help everyone get through the crisis. Salesforce is pledging to its workforce Ohana not to conduct any significant lay offs over the next 90 days. We will continue to pay our hourly workers while…

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Gig Work Relief, Auto Care, and More Car News This Week

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WIRED is usually about solutions, which has been hard in the past few weeks as Covid-19 continued its deadly trek across the world. For a while there, it felt like the biggest questions were: What is going on? And when will it end? This week, the tech and science folk we usually lean on for ideas started to roll some big ones out. Researchers looked at whether it’s possible to prevent more coronavirus outbreaks by using mobile location data to track the whole country’s movements—without putting every bit of our…

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Heres how to help restaurants while socially distancing yourself

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Ayr Muir, the owner of Clover, a chain of veggie-friendly fast food joints, filed for unemployment recently. Clover is on hiatus but is working to connect its farmers and suppliers directly to customers to help them stay afloat.  He says he filled out his own unemployment application the other day but isn’t sure he did it correctly. “This just adds to the feeling of uncertainty and stress.” The trend, much like other ways big tech is helping others out during this pandemic through free promos or access to services, can…

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Study behind updated FDA guidance shows self-swab tests are as effective as those done by clinicians

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Earlier this week, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that it would be updating its guidance to allow self-swab tests for COVID-19, in which a patient collects a sample for their own nose for a health professional to test. On Wednesday, UnitedHealth Group revealed the results of a peer-reviewed large scale study that provided the science behind the decision to switch to the less-invasive sample collection method. The self-swab process doesn’t change where FDA-approved testing can happen – this expanded guidance only applies to the method of collection,…

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Postmates reveals plans to cover medical costs for couriers as part of COVID-19 response

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Postmates said that it will be creating a fund to cover the costs for doctor appointments and medical expenses related to the COVID-19 outbreak for its delivery fleet, and, for merchants, Postmates will waive commission fees for stores in impacted markets. The goal, the company said, is to give small business owners access to on-demand delivery at no additional cost. Postmates said it would launch the initiatives this week. As the company noted, more than half of Americans are unable to afford a $400 unexpected expense, so the Postmates Fleet…

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