Techmeme
May 24, 2016, 5:50 PM

Top News

Todd Sherman / The Twitter Blog:
Twitter won't count photos, videos, @names in replies toward 140 characters “in the coming months”, will allow self-retweets, touts improved onboarding metrics  —  Over the past decade, the Tweet has evolved from a simple 140-character text message to a rich canvas …
Amir Efrati / The Information:
Source: Apple's Siri getting third-party apps, preparing a Siri SDK for release at WWDC, and the company is developing an Amazon Echo rival  —  Apple is upping its game in the field of intelligent assistants.  After years of internal debate and discussion about how to do so …
Sam Schechner / Wall Street Journal:
French government raids Google's Paris HQ as part of ongoing tax investigation seeking €1B+; company says it is working with authorities  —  Prosecutors follow up on complaint from France's tax authority  —  PARIS—Dozens of tax investigators swooped into Google's French headquarters …
Katie Roof / TechCrunch:
Google brings new local search ads to Google Maps, will experiment with new formats like promoted pins; advertisers can now place bids for specific device types  —  Google's AdWords is getting a makeover.  The search giant announced today that they have made several updates to make its advertising tools more suitable for mobile.
Chance Miller / 9to5Mac:
KGI: Apple to release MacBook Pros with Touch ID and an OLED touch bar replacing function keys above keyboard in Q4, plus a 13-inch MacBook model  —  According to a new note from reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo at KGI Securities and corroborated by our sources, Apple plans to introduce …
Steven Levy / Backchannel:
A look at the design process behind Pebble Core: an untethered music-streaming accessory with two programmable buttons, GPS, and optional cable-less charging  —  The Pebble Core lives on your keychain.  It plays music and tracks your run.  But it won't give you the time of day.
Harrison Weber / VentureBeat:
Joseph Menn / Reuters:
Jon Callas, co-founder of Silent Circle, Blackphone, PGP Corp, was re-hired by Apple in May  —  Apple Inc (AAPL.O), which has resisted pressure from U.S. law enforcement to unlock encrypted iPhones, this month rehired a top expert in practical cryptography to bring more powerful security features to a wide range of consumer products.
Fast Company:
Samsung says no Android Wear devices are in development or being planned, citing better battery efficiency of Tizen OS  —  It was at Google I/O two years ago that Samsung announced its Gear Live smartwatch (now discontinued) running the Android Wear OS.  Two years later the collaboration is over.
Eric Newcomer / Bloomberg:
Toyota to make strategic investment in Uber and team up on auto leasing program  —  Toyota Motor Corp. said it is making a strategic investment in Uber Technologies Inc. and will offer auto leases to the ride-hailing company's drivers.  —  Uber declined to disclose the size of the investment.
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
VW invests $300M in Uber rival Gett in new ride-sharing partnership  —  The on-demand transportation service continues to heat up, and today the spotlight is shining on a New York startup whose business is based primarily in Europe.  Gett, a cab-hailing startup with operations across some 60 cities …

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Earlier Picks

Ted Sarandos / Netflix Media Center:
Colin Stretch / Facebook: