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A nation standing together, in isolation 

The coronavirus crisis brought out the best in Britons, but underlying divides persist




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Can Matt Hancock’s 5-point plan solve the testing crisis?

Health secretary pledges to increase tests to 100,000 a day in England by enlisting big companies and private labs




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UK parliament has been shamefully missing in this crisis

Democratic politics functions on the premise that accountability improves outcomes




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Wishing this Passover night was more like other nights

Coronavirus lockdown limits celebration of one of Judaism’s most festive occasions




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Covid-19: how I’m betraying my class in the lockdown

No family song on Facebook, no dance routine, no home-grown tomatoes… is it time to raise our game?




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Robert Shrimsley: After the coronavirus phone tracker, a few other life-saving apps

Post-lockdown, technology could help us contain Covid-19. But why stop there?




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Culture wars are infecting the UK’s pandemic strategy

The attempt to set up gender equality and ethnic diversity as the enemies of prosperity is telling




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Adobe details feature roadmap for Photoshop on the iPad, subject selection coming in 2019

Adobe has taken quite a bit of heat for its release of Photoshop on the iPad, mostly because it’s not as feature-complete as a lot of users were hoping, given that this is meant to be a full version of Photoshop on par with the desktop edition on Apple’s tablet OS for the first time. […]




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Apple brings its hardware microphone disconnect feature to iPads

Apple has brought its hardware microphone disconnect security feature to its latest iPads. The microphone disconnect security feature aims to make it far more difficult for hackers to use malware or a malicious app to eavesdrop on a device’s surroundings. The feature was first introduced to Macs by way of Apple’s T2 security chip last […]




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Apple said to be planning fall iPhone refresh with iPad Pro-like design

Apple is readying a new iPhone for fall to replace the iPhone 11 Pro this fall, Bloomberg reports, as well as follow-ups to the iPhone 11, a new smaller HomePod and a locator tag accessory. The top-end iPhone 11 Pro successors at least will have a new industrial design that more closely resembles the iPad […]




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Apple’s Magic Keyboard Review: Laptop class typing comes to iPad Pro

Over the past two years, I’ve typed nearly every word I’ve written while traveling on the iPad Pro’s Smart Keyboard Folio. For more on why, you can see my iPad Pro review here. For the purposes of this look at the new Magic Keyboard, though, you should probably just know two things about the old […]




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3D-printed glasses startup Fitz is making custom protective eyewear for healthcare workers

A lot of startups have answered the call for more personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essentials to support healthcare workers in their efforts to curb the spread and impact of COVID-19. One of those is direct-to-consumer 3D-printed eyewear brand Fitz, which is employing its custom-fit glasses technology to build protective, prescription specs for front-line […]




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As stocks recover, private investors aren’t buying the hype

You can easily read optimism in the stock market. Ask around the private markets, however, and you'll hear a very different narrative.




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Twitter says Elon Musk’s tweets advocating against expert COVID-19 guidance don’t violate its rules

Twitter has said that tweets posted early Tuesday morning by Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk that irresponsibly call for restrictions put in place to defend against the spread of COVID-19 don’t violate its guidelines around inaccurate or disputed information about the coronavirus that could cause harm. Musk tweeted a series of things on Tuesday, […]




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Twitter Q1: sales up 3% to $808M as it swings to a loss on COVID-19, mDAUS hit record 166M

Despite traffic for many online properties being at an all-time high, advertising has fallen off a cliff because of the downturn in consumer activity outside the home and the wider economic pressures resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic. And today, Twitter reported quarterly earnings that bore this trend out. The ad-based social networking and media company said that […]





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Twitter runs a test prompting users to revise ‘harmful’ replies

In its latest effort to deal with rampant harassment on its platform, Twitter will look into giving users a second chance before they tweet. In a new feature the company is testing, users who use “harmful” language will see a prompt suggesting that they self-edit before posting a reply. When things get heated, you may […]




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Twitter rolls out changes to threaded conversations following tests in its prototype app, twttr

Twitter announced today it’s introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier to understand who you’re replying to and how the conversation is flowing. The company will also test putting engagement actions — including likes, Retweet and reply icons — behind an extra tap to make replies […]




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Longtime VC Todd Chaffee of IVP says late-stage scene is now ‘M&A world’

Todd Chaffee has long been one of the most senior members of the late-stage venture firm Institutional Venture Partners. Chaffee joined IVP in 2000 after logging six years at Visa, and went on to lead rounds in numerous prominent later-stage companies, many (but not all) of which have gone public, including Coinbase, Compass, Klarna, Kayak, […]




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Roadside recovery and an aggravating communications breakdown

In an overleveraged world headed for economic slowdown, don’t rely on the heavily indebted for rescue




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Investing in IPOs is an easy way to lose money

The struggles of Uber provide a stark lesson of the dangers of buying new issues




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Banking fraud: 78,000 reasons to crack down

If you fall for a scam, who is to blame — you or your bank?




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Buying the coronavirus dip would be bold indeed

The global economy was already looking a bit ropey and vulnerable to shocks




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The many confusing shades of green for investors

All portfolios should at least nod to the idea that there’s more to life than short-term profits. But how?




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Equities: buy for the long term, but buy carefully

We may have passed peak uncertainty and there is definitely a reason to start buying again — carefully




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The pandemic and the radical change in wealth distribution to come 

‘The old globalised order is fracturing. We are seeing wartime-style falls in GDP’




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Trump’s re-election would be dangerous for the world

The notion of the west as an alliance with moral foundations would evaporate if the president wins




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UK economy: a Downing Street 'coup'

The FT's chief economics commentator says Boris Johnson's levelling-up mission will come at a cost




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A spending spree to get the job done

The thrust of the UK chancellor’s Budget is welcome. Yet it will not transform prospects in the near term




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This pandemic is an ethical challenge

To avert disaster, solidarity between countries must be as strong as within them




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The tragedy of two failing superpowers

To address the pandemic, China and the US must not only function. They must function together




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Monetary financing demands sober management

It is simply another policy tool, neither the royal road to hyperinflation nor a cure-all




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The world economy is now collapsing

A microbe has overthrown our arrogance and sent global output into a tailspin




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Maintaining the lockdown and saving the economy are mutually compatible

It is not a matter of protecting people ‘or’ the economy but of protecting people ‘and’ the economy





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H1 Insights is giving the healthcare industry the ultimate professional database

“I want to build a business which profiles every single researcher and healthcare professional in the world and I want to sell it to industry,” says Ariel Katz, the co-founder and chief executive of H1 Insights.  With the healthcare industry on a mission to digitize and analyze every conceivable data point it can to wring […]




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Greylock’s Reid Hoffman and Sarah Guo to talk fundraising at Early Stage SF 2020

Early Stage SF is around the corner, on April 28 in San Francisco, and we are more than excited for this brand new event. The intimate gathering of founders, VCs, operators and tech industry experts is all about giving founders the tools they need to find success, no matter the challenge ahead of them. Struggling […]




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Daily Crunch: LinkedIn is getting a new CEO

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here. 1. Jeff Weiner will step down as CEO of LinkedIn June 1, product head Ryan Roslansky steps up The changes are LinkedIn’s […]




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Online learning marketplace Udemy raises $50M at a $2B valuation from Japanese publisher Benesse

The internet has, for better or worse, become the default platform for people seeking information, and today one of the companies leveraging that to deliver educational content has raised some funding to fuel its next stage of growth. Udemy, which provides a marketplace offering some 150,000 different online learning courses from business analytics to ukulele […]




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Silicon Valley could be Biden’s funding lifeline post South Carolina

Presidential candidate Joe Biden is likely to throw a fundraising lifeline to Silicon Valley after his commanding South Carolina victory and heading into the next wave of primaries. A pro-Biden Super PAC, Unite the Country — whose past backers include senior tech figures — is picking up efforts to tap wealthy donors, Treasurer Larry Rasky […]




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Box is now letting all staff work from home to reduce coronavirus risk

Box has joined a number of tech companies supporting employees to work remotely from home in response  the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. It’s applying the policy to all staff, regardless of location. Late yesterday Box co-founder Aaron Levie tweeted a statement detailing the cloud computing company’s response to COVID-19, the name of the disease caused […]




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HireSweet helps employers find candidates that aren’t actively looking to change jobs

The right candidate to fill your job may not actually be looking for a job right now. HireSweet, which is part of Y Combinator’s current class of startups, is trying to help companies find exactly these candidates that are perfect for a job but not actively looking. Like so many other recruiting platforms, the HireSweet […]




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Virtual dates and video speed dating: Dating.com Group launches a $50 million corporate venture fund 

The dating startup world is notorious for few exits, and a similarly slim number of buyers. There’s Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and OkCupid, and there’s Spark Networks, which owns Christian Mingle, JSwipe, Jdate and Zoosk. Dating.com Group also owns a slew of dating brands, like Dil Mil, a dating app for South Asians. […]




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LinkedIn’s making its recruitment tools free to those fighting the coronavirus pandemic

Like many other websites at the moment, the career-oriented networking platform LinkedIn has seen a big boost in traffic as a result of people being asked to work from home and stay indoors overall to slow the spread of the coronavirus, with a bump of 55% more conversational activity between existing connections in recent weeks. […]




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FDA authorizes production of a new ventilator that costs up to 25x less than existing devices

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has authorized the manufacture of the Coventor ventilator, a new hardware design first developed by the University of Minnesota. The project sought to create a ventilator that could provide the same level of life-saving care as existing ventilator models, but with a much lower cost to help ramp […]




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Apple said to be working on modular, high-end, noise-cancelling over-ear headphones

Apple is said to be developing its own competitors to popular over-ear noise-cancelling headphones like those made by Bose and Sony, Bloomberg reports, but with similar technology on board to that used in the AirPod and AirPod Pro lines. These headphones would also include a design with interchangeable parts that would allow some modification with […]




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GoPro lays off 200 employees representing 20% of the company

Action camera manufacturer GoPro has announced some massive organizational changes at the company. In particular, the company is laying off more than 200 employees — which represents a 20% staff reduction. GoPro plans “office space reductions in five geographies” as well as a reduction in operating expenses. The company expects a “$100 million reduction in […]




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3D-printed glasses startup Fitz is making custom protective eyewear for healthcare workers

A lot of startups have answered the call for more personal protective equipment (PPE) and other essentials to support healthcare workers in their efforts to curb the spread and impact of COVID-19. One of those is direct-to-consumer 3D-printed eyewear brand Fitz, which is employing its custom-fit glasses technology to build protective, prescription specs for front-line […]




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Samsung’s Galaxy Watch blood pressure monitoring app approved by South Korean regulators

Samsung Electronics announced today that its blood pressure monitoring app for Galaxy Watches has been approved by South Korean regulators. Called the Samsung Health Monitor, the app will be available for the Galaxy Watch Active2 during the third quarter, at least in South Korea, and added to upcoming Galaxy Watch devices. TechCrunch has contacted Samsung […]




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R&D Roundup: Sweat power, Earth imaging, testing ‘ghostdrivers’

I see far more research articles than I could possibly write up. This column collects the most interesting of those papers and advances, along with notes on why they may prove important in the world of tech and startups. This week: one step closer to self-powered on-skin electronics; people dressed as car seats; how to […]