Techmeme
March 4, 2021, 11:00 AM

Top News

Katherine Rosman / New York Times:
Square acquires a majority stake in Jay-Z's streaming service Tidal for $297M; Jay-Z will join Square's board  —  What did Jay-Z and Jack Dorsey talk about when they went yachting around the Hamptons together last summer?  Perhaps only Beyoncé knows.  —  Maybe now we do, too.
Bloomberg:
UK antitrust authorities say they plan to investigate Apple's App Store to probe whether it is abusing its market power to restrict competition  —  - CMA taking into account Apple's ‘dominant’ position in apps  — Apple probe prompted by complaints from some developers
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Facebook adds one-to-one voice and video calling to the WhatsApp desktop app, but the browser version, WhatsApp Web, is not getting this feature at the moment  —  WhatsApp is rolling out support for voice and video calling to its desktop app, the Facebook-owned messaging service said Thursday …
Gilad Edelman / Wired:
Study: far-right pubs get 65% more engagement on Facebook when they publish fake news; liberal and centrist pubs get less engagement if they publish misinfo  —  Far-right pages that publish misinformation get the most interactions by far compared to other news sources, new research shows.
Bloomberg:
Sources: Nintendo plans to unveil a new Switch model in 2021 that will come with 7-inch 720p Samsung OLED display, and support 4K graphics when docked with TVs  —  - Samsung Display will start production of 7-inch panels in June  — Gaming giant aims to propel Switch against the Xbox and PS5
Ryan Browne / CNBC:
Virtual events startup Hopin raises $400M at a $5.65B valuation, more than double its valuation in its November round  —  - Hopin says it's raised $400 million at a $5.65 billion valuation, more than double what it was worth in a November investment round.  — The latest financing round …
MK Manoylov / theblockcrypto.com:
Amazon Web Services announces that Ethereum is now available on its Amazon Managed Blockchain service, allowing its users to set up Ethereum nodes  —  Amazon Web Services (AWS), the cloud computing platform providing subsidiary out of the multinational technology company Amazon …
Juli Clover / MacRumors:
Apple debuts a service to let users transfer iCloud photos and videos to “another participating service” like Google Photos, initially in US and select markets  —  Apple this week introduced a new service that's designed to make it quick and easy for iCloud users to transfer their stored photos and videos to Google Photos.
Mitchell Clark / The Verge:
Google promises it will not build alternate identifiers to track users after phasing out third-party tracking cookies  —  Google says it wants a ‘privacy-first web’  —  Google is slowly phasing out third-party tracking cookies, and today, it's making it clear that it won't just replace …
Samantha Hissong / Rolling Stone:
Kings of Leon to be one of the first bands to debut an album as part of an NFT package, with tokens unlocking perks like limited-edition vinyl and concert seats  —  The band's revolutionary tokens will unlock special perks like limited-edition vinyl and front row seats to future concerts
Nick Statt / The Verge:
Arizona House passes bill HB2005, which would force Apple and Google to let apps in its app stores use alternative payment methods; bill now heads to AZ Senate  —  The bill, HB2005, opens the door for alternative payment systems on iOS and Android  —  The Arizona House of Representatives …
Sarah Butler / The Guardian:
Amazon opens its first cashierless store outside of the US with an Amazon Fresh location in London, UK  —  Store in Ealing, west London, is available to Prime members who must scan in phone code to enter  —  Amazon has opened its first contactless grocery store in the UK today where shoppers …
Manish Singh / TechCrunch:
Netflix plans to release 41 Indian films and shows this year, spending three times more on the Indian catalog this year than the past two years combined  —  Netflix said on Wednesday it will roll out 41 Indian films and shows this year, its biggest annual roster of Indian content to date …
Axios:
Indie.vc, a six-year-old effort by O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, shuts down after results left LPs unimpressed  —  Indie.vc, an effort launched six years ago to invest small amounts in bootstrapped businesses, announced on Tuesday that it's winding down.

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More News

William J. Broad / New York Times:
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Earlier Picks

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