Techmeme
March 4, 2021, 10:15 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.
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.
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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
Casey Newton / Platformer:
Report: YouTube's critical role in cross-platform misinformation in the 2020 election was enabled by more permissive policies and by its popularity  —  Three takeaways from a post-mortem on misinformation in the 2020 campaign  —  Today let's talk about a comprehensive new report on election integrity …
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 …

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
Codegen:
Ship with AI: The Future of Coding is Here  —  Use natural language in Slack to trigger real PRs, docs, dashboards, infra & more.  Codegen connects GitHub, Linear, Notion, and beyond.
Zoho:
Workforce password management made easy with Zoho Vault  —  Every click, every login, every digital interaction—we're constantly exchanging sensitive data.  But with cyber threats on the rise, why do so many of us still rely on weak, predictable passwords?
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Techmeme Ride Home:
What Would AGI Actually Look Like?
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Spotlight On:
VBSR 1.02: The geography advantage + customer anthropology + a taste for taste
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Lenny's Podcast:
AI prompt engineering in 2025: What works and what doesn't | Sander Schulhoff (Learn Prompting, HackAPrompt)
Interviews with world-class product leaders and growth experts to uncover actionable advice to help you build, launch, and grow your own product.
Subscribe to Lenny's Podcast.
Channels with Peter Kafka:
Why did Apple ice out the most famous Apple blogger?
Media and tech aren't just intersecting - they're fully intertwined. To understand how those worlds work, Peter Kafka talks to industry leaders, upstarts and observers.
Subscribe to Channels with Peter Kafka.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Sam Altman from OpenAI
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 10:15 AM ET, March 4, 2021.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

William J. Broad / New York Times:

Earlier Picks

Alex Konrad / Forbes:
Sara Fischer / Axios:
Axios:
Todd Spangler / Variety:
Joseph Cox / VICE:
Zack Whittaker / TechCrunch: