TLDR 2020-03-31

Meetup is a social networking platform designed to connect people in person. WeWork has sold Meetup to AlleyCorp and other private investors. Meetup currently serves 49 million registered members, with an average of 15,000 in-person events created per day. The company had been struggling before the COVID-19 pandemic and now it is trying to position itself as a place for groups to meet online during times of crisis. It is unclear what the future holds for Meetup but it is clear they will need to adapt their business strategy in the months to come.

Amazon workers at a fulfillment center in New York have gone on strike to protest the company's response to COVID-19 infections among its warehouse employees. There is officially one confirmed case at the warehouse, but workers claim there have been at least 10 and that the company has failed to notify workers or properly clean the warehouse. They want Amazon to shut down the facility for two weeks for deep cleaning. So far, Amazon has only closed its facilities when forced to do so by government order or worker protest. The company has failed to report confirmed cases at its facilities several times. Amazon claims that it has taken appropriate measures, but employees believe it is not enough because the facilities are designed for people to work closely together. One of the organizers of the walkout has been fired for violating a 14-day quarantine after coming in contact with an employee diagnosed with COVID-19.

One of Russia's submarines is in quarantine after one of the crew members was possibly exposed to COVID-19. The virus is starting to impact the readiness of military forces around the world. Russia claims that it tested more than 3,700 individuals across its armed services for COVID-19 on March 30th, all of which came back negative. There are currently 1,836 cases in Russia, and Moscow has declared total lockdown.

Chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been praised in daily press briefings as potential coronavirus cures. There is no proven cure or vaccine for the coronavirus. The drugs are normally used to treat malaria, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis. Early studies have provided mixed evidence for the effectiveness of the drugs and they carry risks such as vision problems or cardiac arrest. Some doctors have hoarded the drugs by writing prescriptions for themselves or for their families. Texas, Louisiana, Ohio, North Carolina, and other states have issued rules limiting prescriptions. The FDA has now approved the drugs for hospitalized patients. Non-pharmaceutical forms of the drugs can cause serious health consequences, including death.

Darling is a runtime environment for macOS applications. It can be used to run macOS applications on most 64-bit x86 Linux distributions. It implements a complete Darwin environment and attempts to fully integrate apps into the Linux desktop experience by making them look, feel, and behave just like native Linux apps.

Stack Overflow now has a dark mode, after the feature was listed as the #1 most upvoted Feature Request overall. Implementing dark mode was a challenge as there are hundreds of communities with different design aesthetics on Stack Overflow. Dark mode can now be selected in user preferences. You must be logged into your account to access the option.

Pokémon Go is now easier to play inside as Niantic tweaks the game in response to the pandemic. Niantic is prioritizing updates for features that make it easier to play alone. The game is usually designed to be a social experience that requires players to go outside and seek out specific locations. Niantic's updates will increase habitats and pokéstops will drop gifts at a higher frequency. Certain items are also on sale.

As social distancing becomes ubiquitous, people are setting up work conferences or virtual parties to chat with friends through Zoom. Zoom has a custom background tool that can hide messy backgrounds. There are several resources that are handy for finding backdrops to use. Canva offers several free templates, Unsplash is a library of free high-quality stock images, Modsy has rooms from homes in popular TV shows, and Verge has a Staff Favorites list which is included in the article.