TLDR 2020-05-07

Facebook's new content oversight board will focus on challenging content issues, including hate speech, harassment, and people's safety. The board consists of 20 members who have lived in 27 countries and speak at least 28 languages. Members include a former prime minister and a Nobel Peace Prize laureate. The board will eventually grow to 40 members. It will initially focus on cases where content was removed, and Facebook expects it will only take on dozens of cases to start. The board’s case decisions must be made and implemented within 90 days, though Facebook can ask for a 30-day review for exceptional cases.

Spotify will start testing video podcasts in its app starting with Zane and Heath: Unfiltered. 50 percent of Spotify podcast listeners will be able to see the videos for the show's three most recent episodes. Users will only know that the podcast has video enabled once they start playing the podcast. The video will sync up with audio if the user turns off the screen and it will pause when ads are playing. Spotify will not be translating the videos for a global audience.

SpaceX's newest Starship prototype passed its static fire test on Tuesday night. A link to the video is available. The company will start preparing the prototype for an uncrewed test flight. SpaceX is already building the next prototype. The final Starship will be able to carry 100 passengers to the moon and Mars. It will launch on top of SpaceX's Super Heavy rocket. Both Starship and Super Heavy will be fully and rapidly reusable.

Volvo has found a LIDAR maker that can produce the sensors cheap enough for it to install them into its consumer vehicles, enabling them to drive themselves. The LIDAR-equipped vehicles will start rolling off the production line in 2022. Volvo's Highway Pilot will allow vehicles to self-navigate on highways without requiring the same level of attention as other similar driver-assist systems.

GitHub has announced four new products this week to help software communities work together. Codespaces is a fully-featured, cloud-hosted dev environment that loads directly within GitHub. It can be configured to load code, dependencies, developer tools, extensions, and dotfiles. GitHub Discussions is a place for the community to discuss ideas, help new users, and collaborate on best practices. Code scanning is now available as a GitHub-native experience. Secret scanning is now available for private repositories. GitHub has announced GitHub Private Instances. Private Instances will provide enhanced security, compliance, and policy features for enterprise customers.

Golden Gate is a framework that enables secure and reliable communication between IoT devices over Bluetooth Low Energy. It allows developers to easily implement functionality using familiar standards even when the underlying operating system or transport doesn't support those.

Google employees will not be able to expense on food and other perks like home office furniture and fitness subscriptions while working from home. Employees will not be able to use unused budgets towards these expenses nor donate any surplus cash to charities. Google doesn't usually reimburse employees for food expenses while working at home. Employees receive free meals while working on campus. Since everyone has been working from home due to the pandemic, Google has had to clarify its rules.

Uber has disclosed plans to lay off 3,700 employees, about 14% of its workforce. The job cuts were in response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Uber's bottom line has taken a massive hit as governments issue stay-at-home orders. The cuts will come from community operations and recruiting. Uber's CEO has agreed to waive his base salary for the rest of 2020.