YouTube to retire Go app in August

YouTube is retiring its lightweight alternative to the main app. According to the YouTube Team, it's retiring YouTube Go because it's become unnecessary. The app was first launched in 2016 to help make the app accessible to users where connectivity is spotty, mobile data prices are high, and low-end phones couldn't handle the main app. 

YouTube has upgraded its primary app to allow entry-level devices or those in slow network areas to run more efficiently. Plus, YouTube said it is working on new controls to help lower their mobile data usage if they have limited access to it. The company is now advising Go users to download the main app, especially since this gets them access to features like commenting, posting, and creating content.

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Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano resigns from Spotify

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Spotify's podcasting tech chief and Anchor co-founder Michael Mignano will leave the company by the end of June. Spotify confirmed that he submitted his resignation last week, making him the latest high-profile departure from Spotify's podcasting business. He follows after the head of studios and video Courtney Holt and Gimlet Media director Lydia Polgreen left. Holt was the one who cut blockbuster deals with Joe Rogan and the Obamas.

Mignano co-founded Anchor in 2015, which Spotify bought in 2019 for over US$150 million. The streaming service brought in Mignano to head its podcast tech division. As The Verge pointed out, Anchor hasn't produced any big stars. Still, it has become one of the most-used podcast hosting platforms, with one out of four new podcast episodes done through Anchor (according to Livewire Labs).

'Fornite' brings back 'Star Wars' items for a limited time

Source: Epic Games

Since it's almost May the Fourth, Fortnite decided to bring back its old Star Wars-themed items tomorrow until May 17. Every non-Battle Pass Star Wars Outfit that has been in the Item Shop will make a return. The Lightsabers will be back, and so will the E-11 Blaster Rifle. There will be new Star Wars Quests for those who want to go through Stormtrooper training. When you complete five of the quests, you'll earn an Empire Banner.

You can check out everything coming to the game this next two weeks over here.

Amazon finally adds epub support to the Kindle

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It's taken so long (like 15 years), but Amazon's Kindle will finally support the widely-used epub format on its e-reader by the end of the year. It will allow the Send to Kindle function to convert epub files into a file format that can be opened on the Kindle. This news will be widely welcomed by Kindle users who have had to grapple with manually converting their ebook library just so it can work on a Kindle device.

This update means that Kindle will lose support for the MOBI format. This older French file format served as Amazon's proprietary ebook format, which it got when it acquired Mobipocket in 2005. The company then rebranded that to AZW. Those old files will still be accessible on your Kindle, but there won't be any new ebooks in that format.

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