Techmeme: Facebook and Instagram go down for almost an hour during Snowmadgeddon (Tom Krazit/Gigaom)

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January 27, 2015, 10:30 AM

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Jinen Kamdar / The Twitter Blog:

Twitter starts rolling out group Direct Messaging, 30-second video capture and sharing — Now on Twitter: group Direct Messages and mobile video camera — A few months ago, we mentioned some features coming soon, and today we're excited to start rolling out two of them: group messaging and a new mobile video experience.

Dan Primack / Fortune:

Perceptions aside, Groupon, with a market cap of $4.9B, has seen revenue and EBITDA consistently climb since going public — Let's stop laughing at Groupon — When we began work on our Age of Unicorns cover for Fortune, one internal conversation was about cautionary tales. Fab? Sure. Box?

Tweets: @fortunemagazine

Frederic Lardinois / TechCrunch:

Former Opera CEO Launches Vivaldi, A New Browser For Power Users — Opera's former CEO Jon von Tetzchner is launching the first preview of Vivaldi today, a new Chromium-based browser that is squarely aimed at power users. Vivaldi features tools like Quick Commands for using written commands instead …

More: The Next Web, Inquirer, Gigaom, BetaNews, The Register, ArcticStartup, Liliputing, Technology Personalized, CNET, SlashGear and Reuters

Jacob Rossi / Smashing Magazine:

How Microsoft created EdgeHTML, the rendering engine powering the Spartan browser — Inside Microsoft's New Rendering Engine For The “Project Spartan” — Last week, Microsoft made its biggest announcement for the web since it first introduced Internet Explorer in 1995: a new browser, codenamed “Project Spartan31.”

More: Windows Central

Tom Krazit / Gigaom:

Facebook and Instagram go down for almost an hour during Snowmadgeddon — Silent night: Facebook, Instagram go down for Snowmadgeddon — All those carefully crafted images of snowscapes will have to stay locked up for a bit, East Coasters, because Facebook and Instagram are down.

More: Reuters, The Next Web, Wall Street Journal, The Verge, TechCrunch, Marketing Land, Gizmodo, Guardian, CNET, The Register, Associated Press, Telegraph, Gigaom, Fortune, New York Times, Forbes, ABC, NEWS.com.au, ITProPortal, Tech2, SlashGear, Business Insider, Engadget, The Inquisitr News, Telegraph, Ubergizmo, The Register and SiliconANGLE

Tweets: @lizardmafia, @jayparikh, @bbctech, @jonrussell, @jonrussell, @monkbent, @dannysullivan, @ap and @ap

Michael Weissenstein / Associated Press:

Cut off from Internet, Cuban youth link more than 9K computers to create private network — CUBAN YOUTH BUILD SECRET COMPUTER NETWORK DESPITE WI-FI BAN — HAVANA (AP) — Cut off from the Internet, young Cubans have quietly linked thousands of computers into a hidden network …

More: Gizmodo, TechSpot, Slashdot, Geek News Central and The Register. Tweets: @bskorup

Reuters:

Exclusive: Apple supplier Foxconn to shrink workforce as sales growth stalls — (Reuters) - Taiwan's Foxconn Technology Group, the world's largest contract electronics manufacturer, will cut its massive workforce, the company told Reuters, as the Apple Inc (AAPL.O) supplier faces declining revenue growth and rising wages in China.

More: CNET, MacRumors, iMore, 9to5Mac, TheStreet.com, iPhone in Canada Blog and Channel EYE

Richard Lawler / Engadget:

WSJ: Google Fiber is coming to Atlanta, Nashville and North Carolina — Rumors broke over the weekend that Google might bring its gigabit internet Fiber connection to Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham, NC next, but it's not stopping there. The Tennesseean reports Nashville has an announcement planned …

More: Wall Street Journal, BGR, CNET, DSLreports, Washington Post, Tennessean.com, Tech Times, The Verge, SlashGear, Android Central and Pocketables

Josh Constine / TechCrunch:

Oculus' First In-House VR Film “Lost” Is Cute, Immersive, But Hardly Interactive — Oculus just premiered its Story Studio's first virtual reality cinema experience “Lost” that's designed to demonstrate the narrative potential of VR to filmmakers. The experience features …

More: Yahoo Tech. Tweets: @joshconstine

Bryan Bishop / The Verge:

Oculus announces Story Studio to make its own VR movies, first film “Lost” debuts this week

More: Wired, Wall Street Journal, Forbes, Engadget, · Beats of Bits, GamesIndustry.biz, Guardian, TechnoBuffalo, TechSpot, Gizmodo, Gizmodo, Pocket-lint, Los Angeles Times and Reuters. See also Mediagazer

Re/code:

Snapchat “Discover” Content Feature Launches Tuesday — Snapchat's boosters have long argued the company could be more than just a messaging service: It could also be a platform for media companies to reach the startup's youthful audience. — Now Snapchat will try to deliver on its promises.

More: Telegraph, New York Post, CNET, VentureBeat, Marketing Land, Guardian and Ubergizmo. Tweets: @mikeisaac. See also Mediagazer

Zac Hall / 9to5Mac:

1Password for iOS adds one-time password tool for two factor auth, new login creator, more — The popular secure password management app 1Password is out with a big update today adding new features on both iOS and Mac. Arriving in version 5.2 of 1Password for iOS is a new login creator tool …

More: The Next Web, Gigaom, TechCrunch, Agile Blog, Macworld, iMore, TUAW, MacNN, Tech2, Liliputing, The Next Web, SlashGear and O'Grady's PowerPage

Alex Wilhelm / TechCrunch:

Microsoft reports $26.5B in FQ2 Revenue, $1.1B in Surface revenue, and 10.5 million Lumia units sold — Microsoft Slips 2% After Reporting $26.5B In FQ2 Revenue, $1.1B In Surface Revenue — Today after the bell, Microsoft reported the financial performance of the second quarter of its fiscal 2015 …

More: The Register, BetaNews, Ubergizmo, cloudpro.co.uk, BGR, Windows Central and GeekWire. Tweets: @fjeronimo

Microsoft:

Earnings Release FY15 Q2 — Microsoft Cloud and Devices Momentum Highlights Second Quarter Results

Rachel King / ZDNet:

Dropbox acquires design-minded collaboration software startup Pixelapse — Summary:Pixelapse will remain a standalone product as a migration plan to the core Dropbox platform is hatched out. — Dropbox has added another collaboration startup to the portfolio with the acquisition of Pixelapse.

More: The Pixelapse Blog, TechCrunch, VentureBeat, InfoWorld, The Next Web, silicontap.com, SlashGear, Neowin and Tech2

Philip Elmer-DeWitt / Fortune:

Analysts expect Apple Q1 2015 sales to surpass $68B, up 21% YoY, and higher than Apple's $63.5B to $66.5B guidance — Handicapping Apple's earnings — This is one of those “big, but how big?” quarters. — Apple told Wall Street to expect total sales somewhere in the range of $63.5 to $66.5 billion …

More: Cult of Mac

Mark Gurman / 9to5Mac:

Apple Maps Connect for small businesses expands to UK, Australia, New Zealand, Ireland, and Singapore — Apple Maps Connect for small businesses expands beyond the U.S. — Apple has notified Apple Maps Connect for Small Businesses users that the service has expanded beyond the United States …

More: App Advice and iMore

Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:

Google's new wireless service can switch between T-Mobile, Sprint, and Wi-Fi hotspots to find best signal, could be available nationwide first half 2015 — Google's MVNO would reportedly look for best Sprint, T-Mobile or Wi-Fi signal — Google's (NASDAQ: GOOG) rumored MVNO service with Sprint …

More: BGR, Wall Street Journal, RTTNews, HotHardware, Benzinga, Droid Life, Lifehacker and TechnoBuffalo

Arik Hesseldahl / Re/code:

Meg Whitman will lead HP Enterprise, Dion Weisler to head HP's PC and printer unit after split — HP Names Executive Teams for After the Big Breakup — After Hewlett-Packard splits in two later this year, Meg Whitman will be CEO of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise, the forthcoming corporate computing …

More: HP Next, PC World, The Register, TechSpot, Mercury News, Gigaom, Seeking Alpha, ZDNet and Tech Trader Daily

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