Why it matters: US airlines are preparing for a complete shutdown of all passenger flights across the country. While the government has shied away from pushing a domestic travel ban, airlines could make it happen voluntarily if it isn’t implemented officially.

The news comes from a Wall Street Journal report that cites anonymous industry and federal officials. It states that government agencies are considering ordering a shutdown as cancelations increase due to the coronavirus. According to Flightstats , there have been almost 9,000 domestic flights canceled today,

The big picture: The tech industry has always prided itself—and for good reason—on describing and building products, services, and business models that look to the future. The technologies behind many of today’s advances are arguably helping define our future. Because of that, it’s become quite normal to think and talk about these developments as having to unfold over the course of several years before their true impact can be accurately measured. But the COVID-19 crisis is focusing a dramatically different lens on

The big picture: Seamless smartphone connectivity with Windows 10 PCs saw noticeable improvement with Microsoft's Your Phone app, however, as with Apple's Continuity feature, there are always some strings attached to using such a service. While Cupertino's offering only works with its own devices, Microsoft's Your Phone app is currently limited to Android devices, with Samsung owners getting special treatment when it comes to RCS support. Dell's solution for Windows 10 PCs is the Mobile Connect app, which in

In brief: Family-friendly streaming services like Disney+ have seen a surge in new subscribers over the last week as a result of schools shutting down and people looking to fill their time while under lockdown. Virtually every service has experienced growth over the past couple of weeks, some more than others.

The coronavirus response has more and more countries recommending social distancing or placing entire regions on lockdown, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that people are looking to fill up their time with more home entertainment. And

Why it matters: The 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo have officially been postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. International Olympic Committee (IOC) President Thomas Bach and the Prime Minster of Japan, Abe Shinzo, on Tuesday concluded that the Games of the XXXII Olympiad in Tokyo must be rescheduled to a date beyond 2020 but no later than the summer of 2021. It's a major setback for organizers, athletes, fans and the tech community as a whole.

From the moment

In a nutshell: Plague Inc., the strategy game that tasks players with creating a disease for wiping out humanity, might feel a little too close to reality right now, but it’s getting a new mode that’s a lot more optimistic: save the world from an outbreak instead of destroying it.

Plague Inc.’s developer, Ndemic Creations, recently donated $250,000 to help in the battle against the coronavirus. The money was split between the Coalition of Epidemic Preparedness

Why it matters: With the coronavirus forcing many people to work from home, the disruption is affecting release schedules. Google is skipping version 82 of Chrome, and Microsoft has put a hold on new Edge browser updates.

Google last week announced that it would be pausing its Chrome and Chrome OS releases due to adjusted work schedules caused by the coronavirus, adding that it would prioritize updates related to security, making sure the current Chrome 80 version is as secure as possible. As a result, Chrome 81,

In a nutshell: Users heavily invested in Apple's ecosystem can look forward to a simplified app purchase experience across platforms, provided that developers make use of the company's recently launched "universal purchase" feature.

Apple's plan to offer universal purchases for apps was revealed last month, and the feature has now been officially announced by the company for developers, enabling them to distribute their software

A hot potato: It’s long been the case that Samsung has released two versions of its flagship handsets: one with the latest Snapdragon chip for the US and a few select markets, and the other with its Exynos SoC for the rest of the world. But some people aren’t happy with this setup and have started a petition demanding Samsung drop the in-house processor from its phones.

The petition , which has been signed by over 21,000 people, states: “Phones with