Reverting the changes to block functionality  —  Earlier today, we made a change to the way the “block” function of Twitter works.  We have decided to revert the change after receiving feedback from many users - we never want to introduce features at the cost of users feeling less safe.

Gmail blows up e-mail marketing by caching all images on Google servers  —  Ever wonder why most e-mail clients hide images by default?  The reason for the “display images” button is because images in an e-mail must be loaded from a third-party server.  For promotional e-mails and spam …

Google Said to Mull Designing Chips in Threat to Intel  —  Google Inc. (GOOG) is considering designing its own server processors using technology from ARM Holdings Plc (ARM), a move that could threaten Intel Corp. (INTC)'s market dominance, said a person with knowledge of the matter.

Amazon said to launch Pantry to take on Costco, Sam's  —  Pantry is set to launch in 2014 and will let Amazon Prime members buy consumer packages goods that will be shipping in a set sized box with a maximum weight limit, sources say.  —  SAN FRANCISCO — Amazon.com is working …

Oculus VR raises $75M from web browser inventor Marc Andreessen's VC firm to launch virtual reality goggles  —  Virtual reality goggle maker has raised a massive round of $75 million from Netscape founder Marc Andreessen's Andreessen Horowitz venture capital firm to create a consumer version of its product.

FCC votes 3-2 to lift technical ban on in-flight cellphone use  —  The Federal Communications Commission took the first step toward removing regulations that ban phone calls while in flight.  But FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler emphasized that the Department of Transportation …

Introducing Instagram Direct  —  Today, we're excited to bring you Instagram Direct, a new way to send photo and video messages to friends.  Over the past three years, the Instagram community has grown to over 150 million people capturing and sharing moments all around the globe.

Microsoft schedules BUILD 2014 developer conference for April 2nd  —  Microsoft is returning to San Francisco next year to host its BUILD developer conference.  The software giant briefly revealed the dates for BUILD 2014 today, before pulling them from its news site.

Pebble smartwatch update brings do not disturb mode and snooze alarm  —  The Pebble smartwatch is all about getting mobile notifications more efficiently, but what about when you don't want to see those notifications at all?  The new PebbleOS v1.14 update rolling out can help …

Microsoft Said to Consider Qualcomm's Mollenkopf for CEO Job  —  Microsoft Corp. (MSFT)'s board is considering Qualcomm Inc. Chief Operating Officer Steve Mollenkopf among candidates to replace Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, said people familiar with the matter.

Microsoft updates Bing to surface famous speeches, online courses, app downloads, and more directly in results  —  Microsoft today released a massive update to Bing that surfaces various new types of content directly in search results.  The list includes TED talks, famous speeches …

Presidential Task Force Recommends Overhaul of Surveillance Tactics of NSA  —  Draft Proposals Would Change Spy Agency's Leadership to Civilian, Limit How It Gathers and Holds Information  —  WASHINGTON—A presidential task force has drafted recommendations that constitute a sweeping overhaul …

Chromecast can now stream videos and music from Google Play's website  —  Google has been adding more and more ways to play content on a Chromecast, and today it's giving the media streamer a new trick: the ability to stream Google Play music and videos straight from the web.

Google's Hopes of EU Settlement Suffer Blow  —  BRUSSELS— Google Inc. 's hopes of settling its high-profile antitrust case in the European Union suffered a setback as rivals and consumer groups blasted its latest proposal for resolving the EU's competition concerns.

CrunchBase Reaches Agreement With People+, Announces New Terms Of Service  —  Following a legal dispute with Pro Populi, the company behind startup database People+, CrunchBase is announcing new terms of service.  CrunchBase data will now be available through a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 license.

Bots now ‘account for 61% of web traffic’  —  The study suggests humans only account for 38.5% of internet traffic  —  If you are visiting this page the chances are that you are not a human, at least according to research.  —  A study by Incapsula suggests 61.5% of all website traffic is now generated by bots.

DirecTV Explores Online Video Service  —  Product Would Appeal to ‘Price Sensitive’ Young People, Satellite-TV Firm Says … DirecTV is exploring the idea of an online video service that would appeal to “price-sensitive” young people or other customers who have dropped their pay-TV service, the satellite TV firm said on Thursday.

Dell's Venture Arm Expands Investments With $300 Million Fund  —  Dell Ventures is launching a new $300 million venture fund that will broaden its investments beyond storage into several other types of startups, including cloud computing, big data, security, mobility and next-generation data center companies …