Techmeme
January 16, 2015, 1:45 AM

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.
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.
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
More: Ars Technica and The HillTweets: @dangoodin001
Reuters:
China to create $6.5 billion venture capital fund to support start-ups  —  (Reuters) - China will set up a government venture capital fund worth 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) to support start-ups in emerging industries, in its latest move to support the private sector and foster innovation.
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Dating site Zoosk cuts costs, lays off 15% of employees after putting IPO plans on hold  —  Dating Service Zoosk Lays Off 15% Of Staff, Company Confirms  —  Dating service Zoosk has laid off 15 percent of its employees this week, sources told TechCrunch, and the company now confirms.
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
United for Patent Reform launches, a “super-coalition” against patent trolls brings together some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley  —  Patent reform advocates are launching a ‘super-coalition’ to whack patent trolls  —  What do department stores and restaurants have in common with search engines and social networks?
More: Politico
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
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 …
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
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?
Matthew Goldstein / New York Times:
Hacker's List matches professional hackers with those needing their service for $100 - $5,000  —  Need Some Espionage Done?  Hackers Are for Hire Online  —  A man in Sweden says he will pay up to $2,000 to anyone who can break into his landlord's website.
Tweets: @mikeisaac
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 …
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” …

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More News

Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
Adi Robertson / The Verge:

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