Microsoft announces $249 Surface Headphones 2 with better sound and battery, arriving on May 12, and says its Surface Buds will ship on the same day for $199  —  Available for preorder today, new Surface devices and accessories are designed to help you work, learn, connect and play from anywhere

Letter from Brian Chesky to Airbnb employees says the company is laying off 1,900, or ~25% of its workforce, and expects a 2020 revenue decline of 50% YoY  —  Airbnb is laying off a quarter of its staff.  —  Airbnb, seen until recently as one of Silicon Valley's most financially secure unicorns, is laying off a quarter of its staff.

Alphabet's Loon partners with AT&T to extend the cellular network coverage using its balloons globally in case of disasters  —  Alphabet-owned Loon, the company focused on providing connectivity via high-altitude, stratosphere skimming balloons that can act as on-demand, deployable cell towers …

Study: half of the money that brands invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers; 15% of the money cannot be attributed at all  —  A new study by ISBA has found that half the money advertisers invest in programmatic advertising never reaches online publishers …

Uber says it will lay off 3,700 employees, or about 14% of its workforce, as it has been hit hard by the pandemic  —  Uber announced Wednesday that it will lay off 3,700 employees.  The cuts to its customer support and recruiting teams represent about 14% of its 26,900 employees, based on Uber's most recent headcount.

Q&A with Steven Sinofsky on his upcoming memoir that chronicles his time at Microsoft, as he reflects on how the company fought the ILOVEYOU virus 20 years ago  —  On the 20th anniversary of the unleashing of the ILOVEYOU virus—which infected millions of PCs worldwide …

Shopify tops estimates with Q1 revenue of $470M, up 47% YoY, and gross merchandise volume of $17.4B, up 46% YoY  —  - First-quarter revenue jumped 47% to $470 million from 2019  — Gross merchandise volume soared 46% to $17.4 billion  —  Shopify Inc. reported first-quarter revenue …

Sources: Magic Leap is in talks to raise $100M in funding from a major health company after laying off around half of its workforce  —  - Magic Leap is turning to a “major” health care company to raise money, according to an internal memo obtained by The Information.

Sources: Google to release a Fire TV-like Android TV dongle with a new content-centric UI in the coming months, likely extending its Nest brand to the product  —  Google is set to introduce an Android TV streaming device in the coming months, a reimagined dongle with a new user interface …

Facebook takes another stab at enabling “free” mobile web access, testing a Discover app in Peru that lets users visit any website with daily data limits  —  Remember Free Basics?  Facebook's ambitious program to bring people to the internet for the first time.

Profile of Ford-backed Argo AI and its CEO Bryan Salesky, who previously worked at CMU's Robotics Institute and as a Google hardware lead for self-driving cars  —  Meet Brian Salesky and the team of resourceful engineers at Argo, the little company trying to crack a big problem: safe autonomous driving.

Activision Blizzard CEO says people may turn to free mobile games during the pandemic, after the company beat Q1 expectations with sales of $1.52B, up 21% YoY  —  New York (CNN Business)While much of the economy is hurting during the pandemic, video games are thriving.

Adult livestreaming website CAM4 exposes 10B+ records, including names, sexual orientations, payment logs, and email transcripts, on an unsecure database  —  CAM4 has taken the server offline, but not before it leaked 7TB of user data.  —  It's all too common for companies to leave databases chock full …

Spotify CEO expects Apple to “open up” its platform more to 3rd-party apps, after Spotify's antitrust complaint with the EU, but sees it as a long-term process  —  - Apple plans to let other music services integrate with HomePod  — Ek says ‘steps to go before’ Apple is open and fair platform

With gyms closed, sales of the $2,245 Peloton connected smart bike have surged; Peloton's stock has risen 86% since mid-March, valuing the company at $10B  —  With gyms closed and nowhere to go, more people are shelling out $2,245 for the workout bike.  —  Lauren Allbright, a teacher …

Ring debuts an improved $99.99 entry-level doorbell with a $49 solar charger accessory, available June 3 and open for preorders now  —  It's basically a Video Doorbell 2 for half the price  —  Ring is relaunching its original Video Doorbell, first introduced in 2014, with features found …

After tests on twttr prototype app, Twitter is rolling out a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make conversations easier to follow  —  Twitter announced today it's introducing a new layout for replies that will use lines and indentations to make it easier …

Uber Eats introduces a new sharing feature that lets users send food to friends, who can now track the deliveries  —  Uber Eats is introducing a new feature that lets customers send food to friends, family or coworkers and share details to make it easier track the deliveries.

Peanut, a social network originally for moms but now for all women, raises $12M Series A led by EQT Ventures, bringing the total raised to $21.8M  —  Peanut, an app that began as a tool for finding new mom friends, has evolved into a social network now used by 1.6 million women to discuss a range of topics …

Disney+ has seen paid subscribers grow from 33.5M in March to 54M in May, nearly meeting its launch date projection of 60M-90M users by the end of 2024  —  - Disney announced Tuesday that it saw growth across all of its streaming service platforms in the past quarter.