Techmeme
January 15, 2015, 10:40 PM

Top News

BBC:
Google Glass to become an independent division reporting to Tony Fadell; Glass Explorer Program shutting down; production of device in current form to end  —  Google calls end to Glass programme but says kit is not dead  —  Google is ending its experimental Google Glass programme, the BBC has learned.
Jared Newman / TechHive:
Xiaomi announces $30 Mi Box Mini, a media streamer the size of a phone charger, with pre-orders open in China on Jan. 20, shipping late Jan.  —  Xiaomi's Mi Box Mini is a media streamer the size of a phone charger  —  With the $30 Mi Box Mini, Xiaomi has managed to stuff …
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Jason Koebler / Motherboard:
Mt. Gox CEO Denies Silk Road Involvement: ‘I Am Not Dread Pirate Roberts’  —  Mark Karpeles, the CEO of Mt. Gox—which was once the world's most popular Bitcoin exchange—has denied any involvement in Silk Road and has told Motherboard that he's not Dread Pirate Roberts, the man who allegedly ran the site.
Steven Johns / Neowin:
Moving the Steam folder on Linux is causing users' entire file systems to be deleted  —  Users of Steam on GNU/Linux are reporting that attempting to move the Steam folder - something that the GNU/Linux Steam installer doesn't allow you to set at the time of installation - is leading to everything being deleted recursively from root.
More: GitHub
David Meyer / GigaOm:
Be My Eyes app harnesses volunteers to help sight-impaired people  —  The Danish developer Robocat, which I've previously covered for its Thermodo thermometer dongle, has fully launched a new app that could be of great use to visually-impaired people.  —  Robocat built the open-source …
Brendan Klinkenberg / BuzzFeed:
South Carolina Orders Uber To Stop Operations  —  The latest regulatory battle facing the ride-hailing giant.  —  http://blog.uber.com  —  Uber's increasingly bitter fight to operate in states across the country worsened today, as South Carolina issued an order to cease and desist all operations in the state.
More: The Verge and Gigaom
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
T-Mobile launches new ‘Simply Prepaid’ plans, starting at $40/month with 1 GB of LTE  —  T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) launched new prepaid plans under its “Simply Prepaid” banner starting at $40 per month.  The new plans come several months after T-Mobile launched the “Simply Prepaid” …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
KeySweeper, a USB charger that sniffs, decrypts, logs, and transmits keystrokes of some Microsoft wireless keyboards can be built for $10  —  Meet KeySweeper, the $10 USB charger that steals MS keyboard strokes  —  It sounds like the stuff of a James Bond flick or something described …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
Twitch launches free music library for video game streamers  —  Game streaming platform Twitch is trying to solve a problem that has plagued it for months: how can you enforce copyright laws without limiting what players can do on the service?  Today, the Amazon-owned company is launching …
James Ball / Guardian:
Newly uncovered US cybersecurity report finds encryption vital to protect private data, and is at odds with David Cameron's proposal  —  Secret US cybersecurity report: encryption vital to protect private data  —  Newly uncovered Snowden document contrasts with British PM's vow to crack down on encrypted messaging after Paris attacks
Ina Fried / Re/code:
Mobile Industry Generated $3.3 Trillion Last Year, Created 11 Million Jobs  —  A new study finds that the mobile industry last year produced more than $3.3 trillion in revenue.  —  That breaks down to more than $400 for every man, woman and child on earth.  So everyone must be feeling a little wealthier, right?
Carmel DeAmicis / Gigaom:
Instacart quietly changed its primary revenue model from delivery fees and product markups to grocer fees  —  On the way to $220M in funding, Instacart quietly changed its business model  —  Kaitlin Myers a shopper for Instacart studies her smart phone as she shops for a customer at Whole Foods in Denver on October 28, 2014.
More: SlateThanks:@bizcarson

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Guardian:
Billy Steele / Engadget: