Techmeme: Cisco: Internet traffic will pass a zettabyte this year driven by mobile, will double again in 2019; 5.5B people will own a mobile device by 2020 (Arik Hesseldahl/Re/code)

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February 4, 2016, 4:45 PM

Top News

Walt Mossberg / The Verge:

The quality and reliability of Apple's apps on iOS and OS X have gradually degraded over the past few years — Mossberg: Apple's apps need work — People think of Apple as a maker of excellent premium hardware. In fact, many reviewers regard Apple devices as the best you can buy.

More: The Loop, iMore, Sudophilosophical, Computerworld, Daring Fireball, BGR, Business Insider, O'Grady's PowerPage, Insanely Great Mac and iPhone in Canada Blog

Tweets: @nickwingfield, @glennf, @drbarnard, @phillryu, @epro and @riddle

Olga Kharif / Bloomberg Business:

Apple Pay is now available in 2M retail locations, coming soon to Crate & Barrel, Chick-fil-A, Zappos, and Au Bon Pain — Apple Pay Locations Reach 2 Million, With Chick-Fil-A to Come — The mobile-payment service doubled in-apps purchase volume — Greater competition looms while consumers still skeptical

More: Digital Trends, Fortune, Macworld, MacRumors, The Next Web, 9to5Mac, Eater, Patently Apple, iPhone in Canada Blog, iLounge, SlashGear, O'Grady's PowerPage, TechnoBuffalo, iMore, AppleInsider, iPhone Hacks, Cult of Mac, MacNN and TheStreet.com

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple to update iPhone trade-in program to give credit for units with damaged displays, will offer screen protector installation — Apple launching new broken iPhone upgrade, screen protector installation programs — Apple is gearing up to launch a pair of new retail initiatives centered around …

More: The Verge, The Next Web, iMore, App Advice and iPhone Hacks

Nicole Lee / Engadget:

Square NFC payment reader available in US Apple stores for $49, compatible with chip-enabled cards, Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay

More: TechnoBuffalo, MacRumors, Fortune, VentureBeat, The Next Web, App Advice, MacNN, App Advice, iClarified, iMore, AppleInsider, WebProNews, TechCrunch, iPhone Hacks and The Apple Insider. Tweets: @brianroemmele

Official Android Blog:

Android Wear adds new gestures, speaker support, and ability to send messages using your voice — Android Wear: Designed for your wrist — You're walking to meet a friend with coffee in hand. Or maybe it's really cold outside, so you're rocking a pair of mittens. Or maybe you're in the middle of making dinner.

More: The Next Web, Android Police, Ars Technica, 9to5Google, PCWorld, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Engadget, SlashGear, Tech Times, Phandroid, TechnoBuffalo, PhoneDog.com, Pocketnow, Android Central and Droid Life

Mariella Moon / Engadget:

Premium Spotify subscribers can now play music directly on Amazon Echo — Amazon's Echo can now play music directly from Spotify — Playing Spotify music on the Amazon Echo is now as easy as saying three words: “Alexa, Play Spotify.” The e-retailer-slash-device-maker launched voice control …

More: Amazon.com, Re/code, Digital Trends, The Verge, The Next Web, Six Colors, PhoneDog.com, BetaNews, VentureBeat, TechCrunch, Android Central and WebProNews

Todd Spangler / Variety:

YouTube Red to launch its first original programming, three films and a series, on Feb. 10 — YouTube Set to Premiere First Original Movies, PewDiePie Series — YouTube next week is set to launch its first exclusive programming — a test of how many customers will fork over $10 per month …

More: YouTube Blog, 9to5Google, MediaNama, Home Media Magazine and BGR

New York Times:

Sharp says it's leaning toward a takeover offer from Foxconn over offer from the Japanese government-backed fund INCJ — Sharp leaning toward takeover offer from Foxconn over offer from government-backed fund — NAGOYA, Japan — Sharp, the struggling Japanese technology company best known …

More: Wall Street Journal, Engadget, The Mac Observer, AppleInsider, Fortune, AppleInsider, Nikkei, Reuters, NASDAQ.com, Wall Street Journal, Asia Stocks to Watch and Wall Street Journal

Lucas Ballard / Google Online Security Blog:

Chrome's Safe Browsing feature now warns users about sites with deceptive embedded content, like fake download buttons — No More Deceptive Download Buttons — In November, we announced that Safe Browsing would protect you from social engineering attacks - deceptive tactics that try …

Taylor Loren / Latergramme Blog:

Instagram Rolls Out Multiple Account Switching for Some iOS Users — Now You Can Add Multiple Accounts on Instagram - If You're Lucky — If you're using Instagram on iOS, you might have access to one of the most-requested features for Instagram - and not even know it.

More: MacRumors, Engadget, 9to5Mac, iMore, The Next Web, iPhone in Canada Blog, iDownloadBlog.com, iPhone Hacks, MobileSyrup.com, Droid Life, Ubergizmo and App Advice

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Instagram extends max video ad length from 30 to 60 seconds to attract TV dollars; max user-posted video length remains at 15 seconds

More: internetretailer.com, iPhone Hacks, International Business Times, Digital Trends, App Advice, WebProNews, Marketing Land, The Next Web and VentureBeat

Tweets: @joshconstine and @danchaparian

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