Monthly Archives: March 2020

Google has banned the Infowars Android app from the Google Play store, the company confirmed to Wired on Friday. Google also confirmed the apps removal to The Verge, and we couldnt find the Infowars app in a search on the Play Store this evening.

The app was apparently removed because of a video posted by radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that, according to Wired, disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Before it was removed, the app had more than 100,000 downloads, Wired reports.

Now more than ever, combating misinformation on the Play Store is a top priority for the team, a Google spokesperson said in a statement given to The Verge. When we find apps that violate Play policy by distributing misleading or harmful information, we remove them from the store. Infowars was not immediately available for comment.

Last week, Alex Jones was ordered by New York Attorney General Letitia James to stop selling Infowars products that were marketed as a treatment or cure for the coronavirus. [Alex Jones] latest mistruths are incredibly dangerous and pose a serious threat to the public health of New Yorkers and individuals across the nation, James said in a statement.

Tech companies have also publicly committed to cracking down on coronavirus misinformation. Google has an SOS Alert in place for searches for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, that points to resources from the CDC and local governments at the top of search results. And a group of companies that includes Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube said theyre jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus in a statement issued on March 16th.

Apple permanently banned the Infowars app from the App Store in September 2018, citing App Store guidelines that forbid content thats offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste.

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Google has banned the Infowars Android app over false coronavirus claims - The Verge

The tech story that made the biggest impact on me yesterday was Sam Byfords Living a Google-free life with a Huawei phone. In the run up to the launch of Huaweis new flagship P40 line, he got himself a Mate 30 Pro and used it to see what Android is like sans Google. This is, of course, something untold millions of people in China do every day, but outside China Huawei falls in a weird zone where it doesnt have its local China services nor Google services.

The result, as Sam writes, is weird. But what struck me the most is how essential Google Mobile Services (GMS) are to the functioning of every modern Android phone outside of China. You might already expect that not having Gmail, Chrome, and the Play Store would be annoying but the fact that so many non-Google apps dont work was a bit of a shock.

GMS and Google Play Services have slowly grown to become essential parts of how an Android phone works. Theyre how the web engine gets updated, theyre increasingly how the operating system itself gets updated (via Project Mainline), and they protect against malware even for apps you dont load from the official Google Play Store.

They also offer lots of services to developers, and thats the part thats easy to forget. Googles services offer push notifications, location, casting, ad support, and much more. Huawei has been building out its own services and store to deal with life away from Google, but the situation right now is that the Mate 30 Pro doesnt even ship with a viable maps app. Android may be open source, but an Android phone doesnt really operate without Google at least outside of China.

None of this is especially shocking or even nefarious, its just something that isnt in your face every day. Other operating systems like Windows and iOS are equally tied up with the company that makes them, which is a point so obvious that pointing it out in the first place seems silly. But with Android, its worth remembering.

Well have lots of coverage of Huaweis new P40 series today, so look forward to that. For what its worth, Huawei has said it would come back to the US if it could, but that seems unlikely in the near future. Also, thanks to everybody who emailed me today with their thoughts on the iPad Ill try to reply personally to everybody but itll take a bit.

Google Podcasts rolls out new design, launches on iOS. Looks like a huge upgrade, and availability on iOS makes it more appealing to people who need to be on multiple platforms. But the cross-platform king of podcast apps remains Pocket Casts, in my opinion. Its also the rare app that is excellent on every platform I use it on, from CarPlay to the web to Android to smart displays. Plus, its not owned and operated by a giant tech company! (Though to be fair NPR aint small.)

Royole claims the FlexPai 2 fixes the problems of its rough first foldable. I love that Royole is just going for it with another foldable phone and promising this one wont be a cringey mess like the first. I do wonder why the display is branded Cicada Wing, though. Apparently theyre good at repelling water and self-cleaning? The wings I mean, not this screen.

Samsungs new Galaxy Tab A offers LTE connectivity. Im not sure Id recommend this over an iPad to anybody, but its inexpensive and gives you an LTE option if you want that.

Samsungs S10 and Note 10 are getting updated with the S20s best camera features.

Dell now lets you control iPhones from its PCs. Its legit amazing that Dell does this and the Mac does not. Im sure people will turn their nose up at it, but using the Your Phone app on Windows 10 has me convinced that its a good idea. There are still going to be bugs and such, but I hope theres continued investment in this kind of software from multiple companies.

Qualcomms latest chips could make noise cancellation standard on new wireless earbuds.

SpaceX is making its own hand sanitizer and building face shields to donate to fight coronavirus.

Apple says customers must wait to pick up repairs locked inside its retail stores. Heres an idea that sounds easy and is easy to recommend because Im not Apple: why not offer loaner devices to these people? I am guessing Apple could afford to! Like I said, probably harder and more expensive than I would guess, but it would suck to be stuck in a lurch without a computer. Maybe I just feel this particularly pointedly because the N key on my MacBook Pro is about to die.

I, like seemingly everybody else I follow, am playing a bunch of Animal Crossing. If you are too, we have a lovely set of stories that are both useful and entertaining. If you want a full-on guide, Polygons is quite comprehensive. Im also playing Shadow of the Tomb Raider and its kind of an overloaded, overwhelming collect-the-map game.

If youre looking for something to play, my advice is to check out our best games of 2020. Our team is keeping this page updated throughout the year. Bookmark it!

How to watch movies with friends online. Aliya Chaudhry goes over all the major options. There are a bunch, and some of them work with multiple video services.

Fox will broadcast NASCARs substitute sim racing season on television. Sean OKane is going to get me into NASCAR, isnt he? I have gone to one NASCAR race and I deeply loved it, but there are only so many things I can afford to keep track of. But this looks joyful and fun.

One reason it was possible for the motorsports world to quickly flip this switch to sim racing is that theres been a thriving community competing on these platforms for years. Sim racing has grown so prevalent that many pro drivers are already deeply familiar with the likes of iRacing. Most have sim racing rigs a seat, steering wheel, pedals, and giant, often wraparound monitors set up in their homes, or at the very least, at their teams headquarters.

CBS All Access is offering a free one-month trial, just in time to binge Star Trek: Picard.

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Outside China, Android isnt Android without Google - The Verge

Google is increasing the maximum number of people who can participate in a Duo call from eight to twelve, the companys senior director of product management announced on Twitter. We recognize group calling is particularly critical right now, Sanaz Ahari Lemelson wrote. We have increased group calling from 8 participants to 12 effective today. The announcement did not mention whether the increase was permanent.

Duo has supported eight-person video calls since May of last year when Google doubled the maximum amount of participants from four to eight. The new 12-person limit compares to eight for Houseparty, 32 for Apples FaceTime, 50 for Skype and Messenger, and 100 for Zooms free tier.

If you need to chat with a larger number of people and you definitely need to use a Google service to do so, then youll need to use Googles enterprise-focused Hangouts Meet service. Although its exclusive to G Suite business users, Google also recently increased the maximum number of participants to 250 for G Suite and G Suite for Education subscribers. Previously, Google charged $13 extra per user for this increased limit as part of its enterprise tier.

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Google ups Duo group calling limit from eight to twelve - The Verge

The sun shines as Felix Quintana cruises through South Central Los Angeles. He's always been inspired by what he sees out of his car window, from the strip malls to the street vendors. "I love the hustle," he says. "The hand-painted signs, the swap meets, the people making money washing windshields."

But those moments can fly by. And his ongoing series of cyanotypes make us pause on the often overlooked Angelenos who work and live in the less glitzy, more gritty neighborhoods of LA County.

A multidisciplinary artist using his photographer's eye, Quintana samples from the Google Maps Street View archive, turns a screenshot into a digital negative and prints it using digital inkjet film. In the darkroom, he coats the paper with a solution and "scratches" it with symbols of the city "to reveal what's beneath the surface," he explained.

His images together re-create the act of cruising through his hometown. "Cruising is all about driving slow, hella slow, like 25 miles per hour, and bumping music and looking fresh," Quintana says. Cruising can be a political act there are "No Cruising" signs posted in the area. "It's all about taking up space," he adds. "People are scared of all these Chicanos and black folks coming together."

The work invites you to slow down, to see black and brown people exist and resist, and to celebrate the vernacular of South Central LA in all its ungentrified glory.

"It's a very objective point of view that Google gives, but the images are still really grimy," Quintana says. "I'm able to appropriate them and reclaim them, without permission, to find the beautiful and the poetic, to frame it in a way that shows resilience."

Quintana chose the cyanotype, an alternative photographic printing process, for his love letter to his city. He makes them by exposing the cyanotype-coated paper to ultraviolet light and sunshine the pride and joy of Los Angeles. That light develops a melancholic but brilliant blue that harkens back to architectural blueprints.

"These are the emotional and cultural blueprints of the city," Quintana says. "It's an archive of the city that's changing. When gentrification comes in, this is what you're pushing out."

In the era of pervasive horizontal wooden-slatted "flipper fences" or "gentrifences," we see chain-link fences and iron gates. Plants also persevere in this concrete jungle. Quintana draws them sprouting from the sidewalks and depicts the ubiquitous palm tree iconic to Los Angeles even though only a single species is native to California. The motifs recall a line from rapper Tupac Shakur's poetry: "The rose that grew from the concrete."

"It's a good symbol for the people," Quintana says. "We're rooted, we're planted, we're growing."

He made these markings instinctively, he says. They feel at home in South Central LA, fluent in the local slang. "It's a very cholo, gang graffiti style marking territories," he says.

One of his most frequently recurring drawings is a sly coyote, which has become Quintana's signature. It's a nod to artist Keith Haring's famous dog figure. "A coyote in Spanish is the person who smuggles people. That's how a lot of my family got here," Quintana says. "It's this idea of someone within the landscape, but you don't see him."

Like the coyote, the people at the center of Quintana's photographs often go unnoticed. They're working in the street, commuting without cars and shopping at the dollar store. But these images are also documentation of an inequity that affects working-class people: a lack of green space, inaccessible mass transit, food deserts.

At times, these everyday images, now extra visible, surprise even Quintana. Like the time he found his father who died three years ago preserved in a Google Street View image, sitting in the driver seat of his truck.

"Photography is so much about this present moment," Quintana says. "But Google has archives that date back to 2007. Now, I can make images of the past."

These images of the past preserve not just the people from Quintana's life, but the places, too. The Compton Fashion Center was an indoor flea market and West Coast hip-hop landmark with connections to Tupac, N.W.A and Kendrick Lamar. The center closed in 2015 but it's the subject of the next entry in his continuing Los Angeles blueprints series.

"You went for CDs, white tees, vintage Nikes and Icees," Quintana said. "It's a Walmart now, which is just sad."

Felix Quintana is an artist, photographer and educator who is now based in San Jose, Calif. His Instagram is @felixquintana.

Samantha Clark is a writer and photo editor based in Washington. Follow her on Instagram @samanthabrandyclark.

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Cruising Through South Central Los Angeles With Google Street View : The Picture Show - NPR

Google on Friday removed the Android version of the Infowars app from the Google Play online store, after comments made by Infowars founder Alex Jones about the COVID-19 pandemic were deemed false and harmful.

Google Play was that last major internet platform that provided an outlet for Infowars, which trades in right-wing conspiracy theories and fear mongering. In September 2018, Apple banned the Infowars app from the App Store, citing its violation of the policy prohibiting offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust or in exceptionally poor taste. Jones and Infowars also have been banned by Googles YouTube,Twitter, Facebook, Apple PodcastsandSpotify for violating policies on hate speech and harassment.

The news of Googles ban on the Infowars Android app was first reported by Wired, which said the removal came in response to a video in which Jones disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.

Now more than ever, combating misinformation on the Play Store is a top priority for the team, a Google spokesperson said in a statement. When we find apps that violate Play policy by distributing misleading or harmful information, we remove them from the store.

Jones, in a video response on Infowars website about Googles removal of the app, said, It doesnt make me mad that theyre doing this to me. Its that theyre doing it to all of us Modern book burning is now the default position. Jones also said, Even if Im wrong about something, I have a right, you have a right to judge it, and tune in or tune out.

As noted in Wireds report, New York Attorney General Letitia James on March 12 sent Jones a cease-and-desist notice, ordering Infowars to stop and marketing products as a treatment or cure for the coronavirus. As the coronavirus continues to pose serious risks to public health, Alex Jones has spewed outright lies and has profited off of New Yorkers anxieties, James said in a statement. Per the New York AG, Jones fraudulently claimed that Superblue Toothpaste kills the whole SARS-corona family at point-blank range. The CDC says there currently are no FDA-approved drugs specifically for the treatment of patients with COVID-19.

According to a post Friday on the Infowars site, Jones said the ban came after he discussed the use of hydroxychloroquine, zinc, and strong antibiotics to treat coronavirus. Jones pointed out that the treatments he promoted have been popularized by President Donald Trump, and also discussed by [Fox News hosts] Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, and Laura Ingraham, according to the post.

The U.S. now has the most confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the world, with 104,837 as of Saturday morning, and 1,711 total deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins Center for Systems Science and Engineeringscoronavirus tracker.

Jones final deplatforming from all major internet services comes after years of controversial and false statements. His most notorious claim has been that the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in which 20 children and six adults were killed was a giant hoax perpetrated by crisis actors. Jones has been sued for defamation by several family members of the Sandy Hook victims, and to date a judge has ordered Jones and Infowars to pay $150,000 to families in legal fees. In a court deposition last year, Jones said it was a form of psychosis that caused him to believe events like the Sandy Hook massacre were staged.

The Infowars host, among other comments, also has has alleged the U.S. government was behind the 9/11 attacks and said that NFL players protesting during the national anthem were kneeling to white genocide.

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Google Removes Infowars Android App From Online Store Over Coronavirus Misinformation - Variety

Googles second-generation Pixel Buds may have just appeared in Federal Communications Commission (FCC) filings, indicating that the companys new true wireless earbuds could hit their spring release window (via 9to5Google).

Two new FCC filings from Google for wireless earphones appeared yesterday. The filings have two different model numbers, G1007 and G1008, possibly correlating to one filing for each earbud. The filings dont specifically state that these are the new Pixel Buds, and a product appearing on the FCC isnt always a confirmation that it will launch imminently. But given that Google has said the new Pixel Buds will come out sometime in spring, it seems likely that yesterdays filings are indeed for the new earbuds.

Google says the new Pixel Buds will have hands-free access to Google Assistant, passive noise cancellation, five hours of battery life on one charge, 24 hours of battery life with the case, and long-range Bluetooth that can apparently stay connected to your phone from up to three rooms away. Theyll cost $179.

My colleague Nilay Patel got to hold and wear the new Pixel Buds shortly after they were announced, but the ones he tried werent actually working yet, so its unclear how good they will sound or if theyll live up to Googles promises.

Were also still waiting on Microsofts $249 Surface Earbuds, which were also first announced last October but were later delayed to this spring. Both Google and Microsoft will face fierce competition from Apples popular AirPods and AirPods Pro, Samsungs new Galaxy Buds Plus, and other true wireless earbuds.

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Googles new Pixel Buds could hit spring release date, as they may have just hit the FCC - The Verge

April Fools Day is one of the most annoying internet traditions, but this year Google infamous for its numerous elaborate pranks that typically touch on nearly every major product the company makes wont be participating due to the serious threat of the coronavirus that continues to impact the entire world.

According to an internal email obtained by Business Insider, Google will take the year off from that tradition out of respect for all those fighting the Covid-19 pandemic. Our highest goal right now is to be helpful to people, so lets save the jokes for next April, which will undoubtedly be a whole lot brighter than this one.

Weve already stopped any centralized April Fools efforts but realize there may be smaller projects within teams that we dont know about, the email from Googles head of marketing Lorraine Twohill continues. Please suss out those efforts and make sure your teams pause on any jokes they may have planned internally or externally.

Like or loathe internet April Fools jokes, its hard to argue that Googles decision here isnt a wise one. With the seriousness of the health crisis gripping the United States and the world, dedicating a day to misleading people and adding extraneous, misinforming features to critical products like Google search, YouTube, Gmail, or Maps just seems like a bad idea.

Hopefully other companies will take note of Googles lead here and adjust their own April Fools plans accordingly. Theres a time and a place for a good joke but this probably isnt it.

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Google cancels its infamous April Fools jokes this year - The Verge

Googles Ads Data Hub (ADH) started as a pure analytics and measurement service. But Google has been testing audience activation with a beta program for the past six months, according to AdExchanger sources who are in the program.

The beta program includes large brands and agencies, and is currently only open to select clients that have invested heavily in ADH. Display and Video 360, Googles DSP, is the only ad-buying platform that can be connected with ADH audiences for campaigns.

The ADH-based ad campaigns only include non-Google properties. So the beta customers can buy on the open web, but not YouTube or Google Search.

Audience buying is a natural evolution of ADH, according to one brand marketer who is part of the beta.

Youre creating segments within the platform that are ideal for targeting, he said. Instead of only having cookie info a users device, perhaps their location and a limited sense of previous sites theyve visited ADH segments are grounded with stronger audience data, since the segments are informed by a brands CRM or other first-party data and Googles identity graph.

Right now, the ADH ad-buying tests only work well for companies with large first-party data sets in Google Cloud and integrated with ADH, so the marketer first-party data can sync with Googles data set, said another agency exec involved in the beta.

One of the primary use cases for ADH audience activations is frequency management, said Hugo Loriot, managing director of the ad analytics consultancy 55, whos been briefed on the beta program.

Cookies are far from a sure-fire tool for frequency capping, since people use different devices, different internet services and delete cookies, each of which can throw off frequency caps for an individual.

Deepening the Google relationship

Taking advantage of the beta means committing more deeply to the Google platform, said one agency exec.

Since Googles identity data set informs the audience packages, the data can never leave ADH, or advertisers would be able to retarget individuals without consent. The ADH audience segments arent transferred from ADH to DV360 it all happens within the platform.

Thats also why third-party DSPs are not part of the beta program. Ad servers like Sizmek and Flashtalking are ADH partners, because they integrate for analytics and measurement. But no outside DSPs are connected with ADH.

There arent specific policy or privacy restrictions that prohibit Google from syncing ADH campaigns with outside DSPs down the road, according to agency execs. And the same goes for media. YouTube and Search could theoretically be available for ADH-based campaigns,though Google hasn't stated if this will happen.

DV360 is the only DSP I expect ADH will ever integrate with, according to an agency exec whos tested the ADH and DV360 ad campaigns. If exposing cookie-based IDs outside the walls is a nonstarter, Google certainly isnt going to let other DSPs traffic campaigns informed by logged-in user data.

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Google Tests Audience Buying In ADH, A Big Step From Analytics To Activation - AdExchanger

In just a few weeks, the coronavirus crisis has turned Zoom into a household name.

As people increasingly stay home to help stop the spread of COVID-19, the coronavirus disease, they're turning to Zoom to collaborate with colleagues, attend school, keep in touch with family and friends, and even attend yoga classes.

And Zoom is seeing the benefits: The company's stock has just about doubled since January 31, even as it told investors that it had to increase its cloud-computing spending to keep pace with its rapid growth. While Zoom isn't sharing user numbers, it hinted earlier this month that it has seen a dramatic increase in usage, and its smartphone apps have rocketed to the tops of the download charts.

In short: Zoom's popularity as a business tool is turning it into a widely used consumer tool, which is in turn making it a household name among both types of customers and driving up the value of the company.

Amid this rapid rise, the big question has been: How did Zoom, a relative upstart that focuses mainly on corporate customers, find itself in the spotlight when there are so many other options out there, including Google Hangouts, Microsoft Teams, Cisco's Webex?

Experts told Business Insider that the answer to that question was a combination of Zoom's ease of use, quick and decisive action from the company amid the crisis, and a healthy amount of good luck being in the right place at the right time.

"I don't know of any other tool that started as an enterprise-software product that became a consumer product so quickly or heavily," Alex Zukin, an analyst at RBC, said.

Ultimately, the analysts said, Zoom couldn't be a success among consumers without first being a hit in the workplace.

Rishi Jaluria, an analyst at D.A. Davidson, told Business Insider that Zoom benefited from a certain dynamic: People are now using Zoom for hours every day at work or to attend classes virtually. So when those same people go looking for ways to socialize virtually, they turn to Zoom because it's the system with which they're most familiar.

That said, Zoom also came up with a business-grade videoconferencing system so simple and easy that people still want to use it in their free time, Jaluriasaid and that, in turn, has given Zoom plenty of positive word of mouth and attracted new users into the fold.

"That's the brand they know. It's known to be easy to set up and run, and I think there is a brand association, not only is this is the way things are done, but Zoom is seen as the cooler or hotter brand," Jaluria said.

Jaluria said even at his own firm, employees use Cisco Webex for official purposes. But the hype around Zoom is such that the younger employees use it to organize virtual happy hours after work, he added.

The analysts also praised several of Zoom's choices as contributing to its success in terms of product decisions and its response to the coronavirus crisis.

Beyond flashy, popular features like its custom video backgrounds, Zoom invested from its early days in ensuring compatibility with all types of devices, new and old. That's paying off now because it means that Zoom can reach a wider net of users, regardless of whether they have a cutting-edge PC or smartphone. That gave it an edge in the workplace and again with consumers.

"Particularly in the enterprise, the ability for Zoom to basically work with all of your existing legacy hardware from a videoconferencing perspective was a huge boost and benefit," Zukin said.

Some of Zoom's popularity right now also stems from its quick reaction to the coronavirus crisis and decision to offer up its tools during the crisis, Dan Newman, an analyst at Futurum Research, said.

At the end of February, Zoom lifted the 40-minute limit on conference calls in China when CEO Eric Yuan said he wanted to do something to help those affected. It has also made the product free for schools. After that, companies like Slack, Cisco, Google, Microsoft, and others started following suit.

That gave Zoom a head start to make itself known as a way to help people connect during even the earlier stages of the pandemic, Newman said.

Becoming a consumer-friendly app also comes with added responsibility, particularly around privacy and security, several analysts said. The fact that it's so easy to join and participate in Zoom calls is a big part of its appeal, but it also raises questions about its privacy and security controls.

"I think people look at Zoom as an enterprise application that would have the same stringent data-privacy rules as a Microsoft or a Cisco, but they don't," Newman said.

That's why Zoom may need to be proactive about upping its privacy and security features as its usage grows outside business needs, Jaluria said. Like Facebook or Twitter, the company has to start getting serious about protecting consumer users. That's going to be a learning process for Zoom, which previously mainly dealt with customers who were using it in a professional context.

"Zoom, I think proactively, may need to be in a position where people can better monitor their own content, or Zoom can better find people who are irresponsibly using the product, and a way of kind of policing content," Jaluria said.

Security experts have highlighted concerns about a lack of clarity over the firm's privacy policy. Internet trolls have also recently been infiltrating Zoom calls to share indecent images or other spam. That prompted Zoom to address the issue and show people how to prevent that from happening in a blog post.

Zoom said it "only collects user data to the extent it is absolutely necessary to provide technical and operational support, and to improve our services" and "does not sell user data of any kind to anyone."

One thing that analysts agree on is that Zoom will change the way we work forever, even if people stop using it for happy hours and college classes after the crisis ends. And all those college kids who are using Zoom for class now will likely continue using it even after they graduate, Jaluria said.

Got a tip?Contact this reporter via email atpzaveri@businessinsider.comor Signal at925-364-4258. (PR pitches by email only, please.)You can alsocontact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

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Why Zoom is winning so much hype over Microsoft and Google - Business Insider

On Thursday morning, Chuck Robbins, the chief executive of Cisco, signed on to an companywide video conference from his home office in Silicon Valley. The connection was stable, but the quality was not great.

I tell you, he said in an earlier interview, this whole teleworking thing as much as we sell it to our customers, Im not sure I want to do it 100 percent of the time.

In addition to Mr. Robbins, the video conference featured several mental health professionals, who spent an hour answering questions from Cisco employees grappling with the stress of working from home during the coronavirus outbreak. Nobody prepares for this, he said.

Cisco, which makes networking equipment, has seen demand for its Webex video conferencing system spike. In response, it has redeployed teams to focus on making sure big customers can conduct everyday chats and board meetings remotely.

Still, it is a stretch. None of this technology was designed to support the entire world working from home, Mr. Robbins said. The Webex teams havent slept in days.

As the coronavirus sweeps the globe, even chief executives who normally flit from meetings to conferences in chauffeured SUVs and private jets have been confined to spare rooms.

From there, they are working to keep their business afloat as the stock market plummets; managing supply chains upended by travel restrictions and labor shortages; and trying to keep their employees healthy and sane. For this installment of Corner Office our biweekly C.E.O. interview column I talked to the leaders of several prominent companies about what the experience has been like.

Its a Miracle You Can Run a Company This Way: Sundar Pichai of Alphabet

At an undisclosed location in Silicon Valley, Sundar Pichai, the chief executive of Alphabet, has a very nice home office. Soaring ceilings. Artfully decorated two-tone bookshelves. A seating area. A really big plant. Its the kind of home office you would expect the wealthy chief executive of one of the worlds most powerful technology companys to have.

From there, Mr. Pichai is monitoring the myriad ways that Alphabet which includes Google, YouTube and more is responding to the coronavirus crisis. Paramount among his concerns, he said, is ensuring that disinformation is kept in check.

Were making sure that most of the information is coming from expert organizations and journalistic organizations, and are trying to surface them higher across all our products, he said via a Hangouts video call.

At the same time, Google is seeing a spike in demand for its G-Suite and Hangouts products, and has most of its employees working from home as well. Its a miracle you can run a company this way, he said.

Mr. Pichai, like so many, is also having to navigate the home front. The day-to-day juggling of all this stretches all of us, he said. It was not easy to help my teenage daughter to understand what is going on.

Adena Friedman, the chief executive of Nasdaq, made the decision weeks ago: Key personnel at the stock exchange would be split into two teams.

Each week, one team would work from home and the other would work from the office. Over the weekend, the office would be cleaned. In the event that one team got sick, the other team could run the company.

During her rotations away from the office, Ms. Friedman has been working from her primary residence in Chevy Chase, Md. along with her husband and two sons, both in their 20s, all of whom are also working from home.

Ms. Friedman follows the same routine each workday. She wakes up at 5:30 a.m., rides on her Peloton, eats breakfast and gets to work. During the day, she is monitoring the steady decline in the markets, trying to ensure that banks which also have most employees working remotely are clearing trades, and taking meetings with executives who are also at home.

Whats been really fun is to peer into the personal lives of your colleagues, she said in a telephone interview. Sometimes a kid will walk into the room. My dog has been barking all day.

When Ms. Friedman gets hungry, she runs downstairs and makes herself a peanut butter and honey sandwich, then races back to her office for more calls. It is a high stress environment right now, she said.

For Stewart Butterfield, the chief executive of Slack, it was bad time to have spotty internet service. He was stuck at home in San Francisco amid the shelter-in-place orders last week, and had an all-company video conference to host. But with his home internet wonky because of construction, there was just one room that had a decent connection. I did the all-hands from the laundry room, he said in a telephone interview.

Slack, the messaging company, has experienced a sharp spike in usage in recent weeks, as much as 30 percent above previous highs of messages sent per day. Weve seen an incredible surge in new sign-ups that has tracked pretty closely to the countries that have been affected, he said.

Mr. Butterfield contends the new demand has galvanized the team. It was probably the most productive week of work in the companys history, he said.

But Mr. Butterfield said he was aware that it might not last. The adrenaline rush eventually wears off, he said. We dont want people to burn out.

Albert Bourla, the chief executive of drugmaker Pfizer, was happy when the bickering began. His college-aged daughter had moved back home to Scarsdale, N.Y., after the coronavirus closed schools around the country, and she was already at it with her mother.

I had missed the fights between my wife and my daughter, he said in a telephone interview. Im happy to see it once more. The day starts with a fight and ends with a fight.

When not delighting in his reunited family, Mr. Bourla is grappling with the immensity of the challenges confronting Pfizer, a global company that is also a critical cog in the health care system. My mind right now is spinning a thousand times, he said. Its not only that I feel responsible for the 90,000 people of Pfizer. I feel a responsibility to bring a solution to this crisis.

Pfizer is ramping up production of medicines that might be needed to treat patients suffering from Covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It has also begun aggressive research into a vaccine for the virus, as well as antiviral treatments.

Mr. Bourla saw the crisis coming somewhat earlier than others. Pfizers offices in Asia were affected by the coronavirus months ago, and Mr. Bourla said the novelty of remote working quickly wore thin for workers there. After a couple of weeks there was a fatigue of working from home, he said. It feels very strange.

Gregg Renfrew, the chief executive of Beautycounter, was trying to work from an apartment in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, but her husband kept interrupting her video calls.

Beautycounter, a private company that makes makeup and shampoos, doesnt sell through stores. Instead, it does most of its business through a network of consultants mostly women who sell to their friends and associates.

Ms. Renfrew has been trying her best to manage the disruption wrought by the coronavirus fortifying her supply chain, increasing the production of some essential items and postponing some product launches. But the pressure to keep the company running is intense at a time when many small business owners are facing an existential crisis.

I have 50,000 people whose livelihood depends on us, she said in an interview via Zoom. And I have to acknowledge that I dont have all the answers.

Last week, in recognition that everyone was feeling a bit frazzled, Ms. Renfrew told company employees to take Friday off. We all need to figure out how to manage everything, she said. Then we can come back and get to work.

On a conference call the other day, Marc Benioff, the Salesforce chief executive and co-founder, made an insensitive remark. Describing how the company was meeting customer demand during the coronavirus crisis, he said, We have a full Chinese menu of options for our customers. The blowback was swift, with employees around the country reprimanding him via email. Mr. Benioff apologized.

I am learning new levels of sensitivity, Mr. Benioff said via FaceTime from his home office in San Francisco, where he is holed up amid the regions shelter-in-place order.

Like most of his 50,000 employees, he is juggling professional demands and personal life from home.

Mr. Benioff, already a rampant networker, said the volume of inbound communication he is receiving surpasses anything he has experienced before. Its everything from working with our management team to planning the fiscal year, he said. Im having to adjust what my priorities are.

Also: His father-in-law is staying with him, and his mother comes over for dinner every night. To cope, Mr. Benioff, a Buddhist, has been meditating more.

Salesforce employees are also feeling the strain. Mr. Benioff said an internal survey revealed that 36 percent of his work force was experiencing mental health challenges these days. And those are the ones who are willing to admit it, he said. Were starting a daily mental health call, to encourage daily prayer meditation and mindfulness.

We All Have to Make Trade-Offs: Giovanni Caforio of Bristol Myers Squibb

Giovanni Caforio, the chief executive of the drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb, was monitoring the coronavirus long before most Americans. Mr. Caforio is Italian, and his brother, who works in a hospital in Rome, told him weeks ago that the virus was serious. I know firsthand three people in the I.C.U., Mr. Caforio said in a telephone interview. Two in Milan and one in Rome.

Now Mr. Caforio is running the company from his home in Princeton, N.J., where his wife and two children are also trying to keep up with their responsibilities. His wife manages a nonprofit that provides food to the underprivileged. His college-aged son came back from Scotland after school was canceled. And his daughter is a senior in high school. She is not getting a prom or a graduation ceremony, he said. Were adapting to a new reality.

Mr. Caforio said Bristol Myers Squibbs supply chain, which is sourced from the United States and Europe more than China, was holding up well so far. But he acknowledged that new disruptions were possible as the virus spreads around the globe. Some hospitals in Europe have already started stockpiling Bristol Myers Squibbs products in anticipation of supply constraints.

Mr. Caforio knows it is a stressful time, and is trying to be empathetic with his work force. Some of our employees working from home were feeling almost guilty, he said. They were struggling about how to balance their personal needs with how to help the company. Its OK. Right now we all have to make trade-offs.

Read more here:

Logged On From the Laundry Room: How the C.E.O.s of Google, Pfizer and Slack Work From Home - The New York Times