Techmeme
February 6, 2015, 9:00 PM

Top News

Eric Slivka / MacRumors:
OS X 10.10.3 Puts More Focus on Emoji, Lays Groundwork for Skin Tone Modifiers  —  While the featured addition in yesterday's OS X 10.10.3 developer seed was the new Photos app, Apple is addressing other issues with the forthcoming update, and one of these focus areas is emoji, which is seeing several changes and improvements.
Kelly Phillips Erb / Forbes:
TurboTax temporarily suspends e-filing for state tax returns amid fraud concerns  —  TurboTax Temporarily Halts All State E-Filings Amid Fraud Concerns  —  Up to 18 states are reporting significant upticks in fraudulent activity and there may be a common thread: tax preparation software.
Yoree Koh / Wall Street Journal:
Why Twitter's Stock Popped 16% Despite Paltry User Growth  —  Twitter finally got its wish.  —  Investors didn't react to its quarterly earnings report based on just one number: the growth rate of monthly active users.  —  At last, investors seem to be recognizing Twitter's achievements on the business side.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Twitter Confirms Google Firehose Deal To Target Logged Out Users  —  During Twitter's Q4 earnings call, Twitter CEO Dick Costolo today confirmed that Twitter has signed a firehose deal with Google, which will bring tweets back into Google searches, more eyeballs to those tweets …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Google Uses Hangouts As A Virtual Genius Bar To Sell Google Devices  —  In 2013, Google expanded its Hangouts video conferencing service into a commerce platform called Helpouts, where people buy and sell services like cooking or technical advice via live video.
More: SlashGear and The Next WebTweets: @amir
Owen Bowcott / Guardian:
UK court rules GCHQ mass internet surveillance was unlawful, breached human rights law  —  GCHQ mass internet surveillance was unlawful, rules court  —  Access to intercepted information obtained by the NSA breached human rights laws, according to the Investigative Powers Tribunal
Nellie Bowles / Re/code:
Startups and Self-Loathing at the 8th Annual Crunchies Awards  —  There was a moment last night — when comedian T.J. Miller (who had called an Uber co-founder's girlfriend “bitch” multiple times) was smashing a TechCrunch piñata as a hundred people walked out of his performance …
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Google Maps for Android update includes Local Guides program, similar to Yelp Elites  —  Google Takes On Yelp Elites With Its New “Local Guides” Program  —  Google is rolling out a “Local Guides” program in an update to Google Maps - a move that seemingly sees the company taking on …
Taylor Soper / GeekWire:
Galvanize to open massive, 71,000-square-foot ‘tech startup campus’ and coding school in Seattle  —  Good news for Seattle entrepreneurs: Galvanize is opening up a huge new space in Pioneer Square.  The Denver-based company's hybrid model combines tech office space with a programming school, access to investors and mentorship.
Andrew Chung / Reuters:
US court orders Symantec to pay $17M for violating two patents owned by Intellectual Ventures related to its email and Internet protection products  —  U.S. court orders Symantec to pay $17 mln for patent infringement  —  (Reuters) - Symantec Corp, maker of the popular Norton antivirus software …
Ben Fritz / Wall Street Journal:
Nintendo and Netflix are reportedly in early stage of developing “Legend of Zelda” live-action series  —  Netflix Is Developing a Live-Action ‘Legend of Zelda’ Series  —  “The Legend of Zelda,” one of the most popular videogame series of all time, is in the works as a television show at Netflix.
Nick Summers / Engadget:
First Ubuntu phone, a repurposed mid-range BQ Android phone, goes on flash sale in EU next week for $195  —  The first Ubuntu phone arrives next week, but there's a catch  —  It's been a long time coming, but finally Canonical is ready to release its first Ubuntu phone.

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Earlier Picks

Mark Scott / New York Times:
Kyle Wiens / Wired: