Techmeme
May 16, 2016, 7:00 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 …
Connie Loizos / TechCrunch:
Debra Lee, chairman and CEO of Viacom's Black Entertainment Television, joins Twitter's board  —  Debra Lee, who has been CEO of Viacom's Black Entertainment Television (BET) since 2005 and its chairman since 2006, has joined the board of Twitter.  She tweeted out the news earlier today.
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.
San Francisco Chronicle:
Waze tests carpooling option in Bay Area, starting with 25K+ employees from select firms, with new Waze Rider app that matches similar commutes among Waze users  —  Waze, the Google-owned traffic navigation app, said Monday more than 25,000 employees at select companies in the Bay Area …
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 …
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.
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge:
Apple tries to improve iTunes navigation, adding persistent sidebar and other UI tweaks  —  Apple knows that the iTunes interface is extremely confusing and needs work.  But apparently its solution is to add even more menus.  —  Apple released an update to iTunes today that's supposed to give it …
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 …
Paul Sawers / VentureBeat:
Walmart Pay rolls out to nearly 600 stores in Texas and Arkansas  —  U.S. retail giant Walmart is today accelerating the rollout of its mobile payment service, Walmart Pay, with a full state-wide launch in both Texas and Arkansas, equating to around 600 stores across the neighboring states.
Tim Peterson / Marketing Land:
Facebook's video ads now available on third-party sites via Facebook Audience Network, and can now appear on both desktop and mobile  —  Facebook's Audience Network is chasing brand budgets with new video ads that mark its first foray onto the desktop web.  —  If an ad can run on Facebook …
The Economic Times:
Sources: Apple likely to announce accelerator program for Indian startups during Tim Cook's visit to the country this week  —  BANGALORE: Apple is likely to announce an accelerator program for Indian startups as part of its CEO Tim Cook's visit to India this week, two people familiar with the development told ET NOW.

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More News

Ellen Huet / Bloomberg:
Patrick Foster / Telegraph:

Earlier Picks

Jon Russell / TechCrunch:
Emil Protalinski / VentureBeat:
Lara O'Reilly / Business Insider:
Greg Bensinger / Wall Street Journal:
Jacob Kastrenakes / The Verge: