Techmeme
February 1, 2018, 2:05 PM

Top News

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
YouTube expands YouTube Go, a lightweight version of its service for emerging markets, to 130+ countries  —  YouTube Go, a mobile version of YouTube built for emerging markets with features like offline viewing and nearby sharing, is today expanding to over 130 countries worldwide.
David Katzmaier / CNET:
YouTube TV is now available on select Roku devices for $35/month; YouTube says the service is coming to Apple TV “very soon”  —  YouTube's $35-per-month alternative to cable TV is now on the most popular streaming platform.  —  Just in time for the big game, the Winter Olympics …
Wall Street Journal:
Sources: Alphabet and state-owned oil giant Aramco are in talks to jointly build data centers and a large tech hub in Saudi Arabia  —  Saudi Arabia's state-owned oil giant and Google parent Alphabet Inc., two of the world's biggest companies, are in talks about jointly building …
Natasha Lomas / TechCrunch:
Apple pulls Telegram apps from the App Store for inappropriate content; founder Durov expects both apps to return once protections are in place  —  Update:Both Telegram iOS apps are now back on the App Store.  Original story follows below  —  The Telegram messaging apps appear …
Julia Alexander / Polygon:
Nintendo confirms Switch Online will launch in September for $3.99/month and Mario Kart Tour will come to smartphones by March 2019  —  Company confirms Nintendo Switch Online launches this fall  —  Mario Kart Tour is the next Nintendo mobile game heading to smartphones.
Ashley Carman / The Verge:
Instagram Stories begins rolling out its “type mode” feature to users, letting them post text-based pages  —  Not so photogenic  —  Instagram's newest Stories feature doesn't feel much like Instagram.  The platform's new “type mode,” which starts rolling out today …
Recode:
Facebook's daily active user base in the US and Canada fell for the first time ever in Q4, dropping to 184M from 185M in Q3  —  It was a small but negative change to daily active users in Facebook's most valuable market.  —  Here's a troubling data point if you're a Facebook investor …
Facebook:
Richard Nieva / CNET:
Miranda Katz / Wired:
Podcasters first look at Apple's Podcast Analytics data shows listeners are highly engaged, with many listening to 80-90% of shows, and prefer longer formats  —  The public radio producer had started a podcast as a side project in early 2017, and the exploration of her experience …
Reuters:
India says it does not consider cryptocurrencies legal tender and will eliminate their use for payments, but would explore use of blockchain technology  —  NEW DELHI (Reuters) - India will move to stamp out use of cryptocurrencies, which it considers illegal, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said on Thursday …
Jason Del Rey / Recode:
eBay says it will stop using PayPal for its backend payments service by 2020, will work with Amsterdam-based Adyen instead; PayPal stock down 8%+  —  The shopping marketplace will instead begin working with Amsterdam-based Adyen.  —  One of the tech industry's most storied partnerships is coming to an end.
Nathaniel Popper / New York Times:
Concerns grow that Bitcoin's price is being propped up by Bitfinex, the widely-used and shadowy exchange subpoenaed in December by the US CFTC  —  A growing number of virtual currency investors are worried that the prices of Bitcoin and other digital tokens have been artificially propped …

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More News

Katherine Bindley / Wall Street Journal:

Earlier Picks

Roger Cheng / CNET:
Microsoft Investor Relations:
Evelyn Cheng / CNBC: