Frederic Lardinois
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The Latest from Frederic Lardinois
Microsoft brings Teams to consumers and launches Microsoft 365 personal and family plans
Microsoft today announced a slew of new products, but at the core of the release is a major change to how the company is marketing its tools and services to consumers. Office 365, which has long been
White House extends social distancing guidelines to April 30
Only a few days after saying that he would like to see the country “opened up and raring to go by Easter” and maybe relax rules for at least some parts of the U.S. sooner than later, Presi
After a brief pause, Google restarts Chrome and Chrome OS releases
It was only a week ago that Google said it would hit pause on Chrome and Chrome OS releases “due to adjusted work schedules” in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. Today, however, the company
Duolingo’s new app teaches children how to read and write
Until now, Duolingo‘s focus was always squarely on teaching languages, but today, the company launched Duolingo ABC, a free English literacy app for children ages 3 to 6. Originally, the company
Microsoft acquires 5G specialist Affirmed Networks
Microsoft today announced that it has acquired Affirmed Networks, a company that specializes in fully virtualized, cloud-native networking solutions for telecom operators. With its focus on 5G and edg
United Airlines will now cut its domestic flights by 52%
United Airlines, which had already announced drastic cuts to its domestic and international schedule, today announced even deeper cuts. While the carrier was originally planning to cut 42% of its dome
Qatar Airways adds 10K seats while other airlines draw down their schedules
While most domestic and international airlines are cutting thousands of flights from their schedules due to the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, Qatar Airways is taking another route. The airline is
Babbel makes its language learning app free for all US students
Babbel, the Berlin-based paid language learning app, today announced that, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is making its service available for free to all K-12 and college students until the end
Google’s travel search now highlights travel advisories and airline cancellation policies
Google today announced a small but important addition to its travel search site on both mobile and desktop. When you search for flights, hotels and activities, the site will now highlight active trave
Google Cloud launches Game Servers, a managed cloud backend for games
Google Cloud today announced the beta launch of Game Servers, a managed service that provides game developers with the usual backend services for running their games, including multi-player games, in
IBM, Amazon, Google and Microsoft partner with White House to provide compute resources for COVID-19 research
During today’s White House coronavirus task force press conference, President Trump announced the launch of a new public/private consortium to “unleash the power of American supercomputing
Emirates will suspend most passenger flights by March 25
Emirates, the world’s largest airline by international traffic, today briefly announced on Twitter and its own website that it would halt all passenger flights by March 25 but then reversed cour
A week later, Trump’s national coronavirus screening website is still nowhere to be found
Last Friday, President Trump, together with Vice President Pence and White House coronavirus task force coordinator Deborah Brix, announced that we would soon see a new website go up that would be at
Formula 1 replaces its postponed races with a virtual grand prix series
Formula 1 had to postpone and cancel several races on its calendar due to the current COVID-19 pandemic. With races in Australia, Bahrain, Monaco, Vietnam and China already called off, and the Dutch a
American Airlines will use passenger planes for cargo-only flights to Europe
American Airlines today announced that it will fly a handful of cargo-only flights to Europe, using its standard 777-300 passenger planes, over the course of the next few days. The company says these
Quantum Machines raises $17.5M for its Quantum Orchestration Platform
Quantum Machines, a Tel Aviv-based startup that is building both hardware and software to operate quantum computers, today announced that it has raised a $17.5 million Series A funding round. The roun
NYSE will temporarily close its trading floor and move to electronic trading only
The New York Stock Exchange will close its trading floor on Monday, March 23 and fully move to electronic trading, the exchange’s operator Intercontinental Exchange announced today. The actual p
Google hits pause on Chrome and Chrome OS releases
Google today announced that it is pausing upcoming Chrome and Chrome OS releases “due to adjusted work schedules.” The company confirmed that we will still see security updates, though, wh
Delta Air Lines will park at least half its fleet and close airport lounges
In a letter to employees, Delta Air Lines CEO Ed Bastian today announced that the company is parking at least half of its fleet as demand for flights during the current COVID-19 pandemic has plummeted
Google launches the next Android 11 developer preview
Google today announced the second developer preview of Android 11. Like the first preview, this one, too, is only meant for developers and isn’t available as an over-the-air update. Instead, dev