Christina Farr / CNBC: How volunteers from tech companies and epidemiologists worked together to build the US-focused COVID-19 data aggregation website covidnearyou.com in six days  —  - Volunteers from Amazon, Alphabet, Apple and other tech companies worked every night for a week to make a website called covidnearyou.

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: WHO partners with Facebook, Microsoft, and other tech companies on #BuildforCOVID19 hackathon to develop software tackling COVID-19 challenges, starting Mar. 26  —  - The World Health Organization has partnered with Facebook, Microsoft and several other tech companies for a hackathon to promote …

Anthony Ha / TechCrunch: Yelp and GoFundMe team up to promote local business fundraisers, with GoFundMe campaigns automatically appearing on Yelp business profiles  —  Following the announcement that it´s committing $25 million in waived fees and free services to support local businesses affected by the COVID-19 pandemic …

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Apple rolls out its Universal Purchase system, letting devs bundle macOS, iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and iPadOS apps, sharing in-app purchases across iOS and macOS  —  Apple has announced that it is officially launching the ability for developers to sell Mac and iOS apps as a single purchase.

Salvador Rodriguez / CNBC: Instagram announces Co-Watching, a feature that lets users browse the app together over video chat  —  - Facebook´s Instagram announced a feature that lets users browse the app with friends over video chat.  — The feature is called Co-Watching, and it allows users in direct-message conversations …

Manish Singh / TechCrunch: India launches a WhatsApp chatbot to create awareness about coronavirus and asks social media services to curb spread of misinformation  —  India is turning to WhatsApp, the most popular app in the country, to create awareness about the coronavirus pandemic and has urged social media services …

Chance Miller / 9to5Mac: Apple announces that the App Store is launching in 20 new countries this year, including Afghanistan, Iraq, Serbia, Morocco, and Myanmar  —  In a post on its developer website this afternoon, Apple has announced that the App Store is launching in 20 new countries this year.

Lauren Feiner / CNBC: In a letter to Trump, Uber CEO seeks updated labor laws to provide a “third way” of classifying workers, between contractors and employees  —  - Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi asked President Donald Trump to provide relief to gig workers whose income has been significantly cut due to the coronavirus crisis.

David Jagneaux / UploadVR: The Director of Content Ecosystem at Oculus, Chris Pruett, says 90% of users who got an Oculus Quest for Christmas never owned an Oculus headset before  —  Today during the introduction video for the F acebook: Game Developers Showcase, Chris Pruett, Director of Content Ecosystem, Oculus …

Bloomberg: SoftBank plans to raise up to $41B via sale or monetization of its assets which include stakes in Alibaba and Uber; establishes up to $18B share buyback program  —  - The Japanese company will use $18 billion for a share buyback  — SoftBank is heeding investor calls as tech valuations dive