Techmeme
May 16, 2016, 4:00 PM

Top News

Sarah Frier / Bloomberg:
Source: Twitter will stop counting photos and links in the 140-character limit as soon as within next two weeks  —  Company said to make the change in next couple of weeks  —  CEO Jack Dorsey aims to make it easier to compose tweets  —  Twitter Inc. will soon stop counting photos and links …
Luke Wroblewski / Official Google Blog:
Google announces Spaces, a new app for small group sharing around any topic, for Android, iOS, and web  —  Group sharing isn't easy.  From book clubs to house hunts to weekend trips and more, getting friends into the same app can be challenging.  Sharing things typically involves hopping between apps to copy and paste links.
Lauren Pollock / Wall Street Journal:
Filing: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway owned 9.81M Apple shares on March 31, valued at $1.07B  —  Legendary investor, who previously avoided technology stocks, also slightly increases position in IBM  —  Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Inc. took a new position in Apple Inc. in the first quarter …
Bogdan Petrovan / Android Authority:
WhatsApp beta users briefly get the option to make video calls, hinting at future in-app feature  —  A beta version of WhatsApp for Android included the option to initiate a video call.  The feature was not active for most users, and it was removed with a later update …
Patrick Foster / Telegraph:
Sources: BBC working on subscription streaming service to rival Netflix, dubbed Britflix, delivered via iPlayer; ITV and NBC Universal are involved  —  The BBC is to push ahead with plans to launch a British rival to Netflix, after getting the go-ahead from the government to develop a new subscription streaming service.
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Google plans to make Flash plugin click-to-play by default in Chrome in Q4'16, rendering HTML5 instead when available, except for 10 top sites relying on Flash  —  Google has outlined a plan to push HTML5 by default in Chrome, instead of Flash.  In Q4 2016, the company plans to only serve Flash …
The Intercept:
The Intercept begins releasing installments of NSA's internal newsletters starting from 2003  —  SIDtoday is the internal newsletter for the NSA's most important division, the Signals Intelligence Directorate.  After editorial review, The Intercept is releasing nine years' worth of newsletters in batches, starting with 2003.
Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Source: Amazon to debut new lines of private label products, including perishable foods and household items, for Prime members only in coming weeks  —  The first of the brands could appear on the company's website in coming weeks  —  Amazon.com Inc. in the coming weeks is set to roll …

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More News

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:

Earlier Picks

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:
Alex Dobie / Android Central: