📡 This is just the beginning, but 🎁⏳

Mar 22, 2020

Welcome to today’s Pulse!

Hope you’re all safe and healthy. I tried to keep Pulse as COVID-19-free as possible, but COVID-19 is bigger and more important than anything I write about here.

There’s no escaping it - at least in terms of news. Tech, media, and business - and almost everything I write about - are either slowing down or completely shut down.

However, this doesn’t mean that there’s nothing interesting happening. Stay home and catch up on what you always wanted to do. This might be way too glass half full, but you’ve been given the gift of time… use it — not everyone’s so lucky…

— 𝕭𝖊𝖓 𝔣𝔯𝔬𝔪 [ 𝖕𝖊𝖗𝖘𝖕𝖊𝖈𝖙𝖎𝖛𝖊 𝖎𝖝 ]

By the way, if I quarantine myself, there’s a good chance I’ll send more emails to Pulse Members. You can either support me & Pulse by becoming a member for as little as $5 (almost 1 cup of Starbucks) a month, or click here so I can add you to the list for free.

Ps. Happy Nowrouz (Persian New Year); and the start of the Spring.

🗞 NEWS

Netflix, YouTube, and Amazon Prime Video say they will reduce their streaming quality in EU to reduce traffic on the network, as millions are confined at home [Reuters] — writing this while my broadband is down and I’m using my mobile hotspot…

After canceling Google I/O’s in-person event in early March, Google now says it will “not be holding an I/O event in any capacity this year” [9to5Google] — someone had to start… will others follow? Apple? Facebook? Probably.

Microsoft Teams passed 44M DAUs, up from 32M earlier this month, unveils new features like real-time noise suppression that are coming later this year [VentureBeat] — it would be interesting to see if they can keep the numbers up post-COVID19…

The Bank of England has an interesting position paper on digital currency possibilities, going beyond crypto [PDF].

Apple unveils new 11" and 12.9" iPad Pro with a lidar scanner for depth-sensing, backlit keyboard and trackpad [Apple], new MacBook Air with a Magic Keyboard featuring scissor-style keys, 13.3" display, Touch ID, and 10th-gen Intel Core CPUs [Apple].

Sony details full PlayStation 5 specs: a custom eight-core AMD Zen 2 CPU, custom GPU based on AMD’s RDNA 2 with 10.28 teraflops, 16GB RAM, and custom 825GB SSD [EuroGamer].

🎁 a gift for you.

🧠 INSIGHTS

COVID-19 & Global Economy - Credit: Fusion Medical Animation on Unsplash

COVID-19: Implications for business

The coronavirus outbreak is first and foremost a human tragedy, affecting hundreds of thousands of people. It is also having a growing impact on the global economy. This article is intended to provide business leaders with a perspective on the evolving situation and implications for their companies. The outbreak is moving quickly, and some of the perspectives in this article may fall rapidly out of date. This article reflects our perspective as of March 16, 2020. We will update it regularly as the outbreak evolves.

Read the complete article on McKinsey.

📊 STATISTICS

The WHO’s dashboard of COVID-19 stats [Link].
The UK COVID-19 Cases Update [Link]

⚠️ it’s more than a little scary!

Astrology App Revenue - Credit: SensorTower

U.S. Astrology App Revenue Grew 64.7% to Nearly $40 Million in 2019

Three of 2019’s highest-earning apps have appeared in the top 10 each year since 2016. Zodiac Touch saw the most significant increase in 2019 over its 2016 revenue at 75% growth, while Psychic Txt and Purple Ocean grew 45.5% and 8%, respectively, over the past four years.

📱 TOOLS & APPS

StoryChief Social: The most user friendly social media tool out there.

according to them though.

Control Illustrations: 108 free flat illustrations with customisable characters.

pretty handy illustrations.

QuarantineChat: Talk on the phone with someone else stuck at home.

works on iOS and Android.

🎧 AUDIO STIMULATION

‘It’s Like a War’ - The Daily

Italy has become the epicentre of the pandemic’s European migration, with nearly 30,000 infections and more than 2,000 deaths in just a few weeks. These numbers are soaring by the day, even after the government took extreme measures to lock down much of the country.

Guest: Dr Fabiano Di Marco, a professor at the University of Milan who is also the head of the respiratory unit of the Hospital Papa Giovanni XXIII in Bergamo, a nearby town.

It’s a heartbreaking but eyeopening story.

The Confrontation - Invisibilia

Welcome to what is possibly the most tense and uncomfortable summer program in America! The Boston-based program aims to teach the next generation the real truth about race, and may provide some ideas for the rest of us about the right way to confront someone to their face.

It’s super uncomfortable, but a fantastic story.