Techmeme
January 16, 2015, 1:10 AM

Top News

BBC:
Google Glass to become an independent division reporting to Tony Fadell; Glass Explorer Program shutting down; production of device in current form to end  —  Google calls end to Glass programme but says kit is not dead  —  Google is ending its experimental Google Glass programme, the BBC has learned.
James Ball / Guardian:
Newly uncovered US cybersecurity report finds encryption vital to protect private data, and is at odds with David Cameron's proposal  —  Secret US cybersecurity report: encryption vital to protect private data  —  Newly uncovered Snowden document contrasts with British PM's vow to crack down on encrypted messaging after Paris attacks
More: Ars Technica and The HillTweets: @dangoodin001
Sarah Perez / TechCrunch:
Dating site Zoosk cuts costs, lays off 15% of employees after putting IPO plans on hold  —  Dating Service Zoosk Lays Off 15% Of Staff, Company Confirms  —  Dating service Zoosk has laid off 15 percent of its employees this week, sources told TechCrunch, and the company now confirms.
Jared Newman / TechHive:
Xiaomi announces $30 Mi Box Mini, a media streamer the size of a phone charger, with pre-orders open in China on Jan. 20, shipping late Jan.  —  Xiaomi's Mi Box Mini is a media streamer the size of a phone charger  —  With the $30 Mi Box Mini, Xiaomi has managed to stuff …
Richard Lai / Engadget:
Reuters:
China to create $6.5 billion venture capital fund to support start-ups  —  (Reuters) - China will set up a government venture capital fund worth 40 billion yuan ($6.5 billion) to support start-ups in emerging industries, in its latest move to support the private sector and foster innovation.
Brendan Klinkenberg / BuzzFeed:
South Carolina Orders Uber To Stop Operations  —  The latest regulatory battle facing the ride-hailing giant.  —  http://blog.uber.com  —  Uber's increasingly bitter fight to operate in states across the country worsened today, as South Carolina issued an order to cease and desist all operations in the state.
More: The Verge and Gigaom
David Meyer / GigaOm:
Be My Eyes app harnesses volunteers to help sight-impaired people  —  The Danish developer Robocat, which I've previously covered for its Thermodo thermometer dongle, has fully launched a new app that could be of great use to visually-impaired people.  —  Robocat built the open-source …
Steven Johns / Neowin:
Moving the Steam folder on Linux is causing users' entire file systems to be deleted  —  Users of Steam on GNU/Linux are reporting that attempting to move the Steam folder - something that the GNU/Linux Steam installer doesn't allow you to set at the time of installation - is leading to everything being deleted recursively from root.
More: GitHub
Brian Fung / Washington Post:
United for Patent Reform launches, a “super-coalition” against patent trolls brings together some of the biggest names in Silicon Valley  —  Patent reform advocates are launching a ‘super-coalition’ to whack patent trolls  —  What do department stores and restaurants have in common with search engines and social networks?
More: Politico
Ina Fried / Re/code:
Mobile Industry Generated $3.3 Trillion Last Year, Created 11 Million Jobs  —  A new study finds that the mobile industry last year produced more than $3.3 trillion in revenue.  —  That breaks down to more than $400 for every man, woman and child on earth.  So everyone must be feeling a little wealthier, right?
Phil Goldstein / FierceWireless:
T-Mobile launches new ‘Simply Prepaid’ plans, starting at $40/month with 1 GB of LTE  —  T-Mobile US (NYSE:TMUS) launched new prepaid plans under its “Simply Prepaid” banner starting at $40 per month.  The new plans come several months after T-Mobile launched the “Simply Prepaid” …
Dan Goodin / Ars Technica:
KeySweeper, a USB charger that sniffs, decrypts, logs, and transmits keystrokes of some Microsoft wireless keyboards can be built for $10  —  Meet KeySweeper, the $10 USB charger that steals MS keyboard strokes  —  It sounds like the stuff of a James Bond flick or something described …

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Adi Robertson / The Verge:

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