Techmeme
January 6, 2016, 12:20 AM

Top News

Kurt Wagner / Re/code:
Sources: Twitter considers 10K-character limit for “Beyond 140” feature slated for Q1, testing timeline that shows 140 characters with option to expand for more  —  Twitter Considering 10,000-Character Limit for Tweets  —  Longer tweets are coming soon to Twitter.
@jack:
Jack Dorsey likens additional text in tweets to text screenshots, affirms the value of the 140-character constraint, predicts most tweets will still be short  —  At its core Twitter is public messaging. A simple way to say something, to anyone, that everyone in the world can instantly see. We didn't start Twitter with a 140 character restriction. We added that early on to fit into a single SMS message (160 characters).
Vlad Savov / The Verge:
Samsung's new Notebook 9 laptops take “thin-and-light” to a beautiful extreme, with the 13.3-inch model weighing just 1.85lbs, the 15-inch 2.84lbs  —  Samsung's Notebook 9 laptops take ‘thin-and-light’ to a beautiful extreme  —  Before Intel coined the term “ultrabook” …
Chris Velazco / Engadget:
Mike Brunker / NBC News:
Lumosity to Pay $2M to Settle FTC Charges Over ‘Brain Training’ Ads  —  The company that created the Lumosity “brain training” program has agreed to pay $2 million to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers into believing that its mind games could help users excel …
Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
Casio's Android Wear watch is drop and shock resistant, will have up to a month of battery life, coming April for about $500  —  Casio's First Android Wear Watch Will Be Ruggedized And Have Up To A Month Of Battery Life  —  Most of the Android Wear devices out there are similar takes on the same use case …
Michael S. Rosenwald / Washington Post:
President Obama instructs Defense Department, the Justice Department, and DHS to research and regularly review smart gun technology in executive action  —  Obama embraces smart guns, thrilling proponents of the controversial technology  —  Proponents of smart guns say President Obama's executive action …
Anthony Ha / TechCrunch:
Twitter's new “conversational ads” let users respond to ad tweets by choosing between multiple preselected hashtags and then tweeting them  —  Twitter's ‘Conversational’ Ad Unit Encourages Users To Participate With Customizable Hashtags  —  Twitter is announcing a new …
Patrick Howell O'Neill / The Daily Dot:
Dutch government backs strong encryption, condemns backdoors  —  The Netherlands government issued a strong statement on Monday against weakening encryption for the purposes of law enforcement and intelligence agencies.  —  The move comes as governments in the United Kingdom and China act …
Reuters:
Sources: Verizon to auction off 48 data centers to focus on core business, hopes to raise $2.5B+ new messages  —  Exclusive: Verizon launches auction to sell data centers - sources  —  Verizon Communications Inc (VZ.N) has started a process to sell its data center assets …
Lauren Goode / The Verge:
Fitbit's new fitness watch, Blaze, offers 5-day battery, improved heart rate tracking, touch LCD display, swappable bands, more available in March for $200  —  Fitbit's new wearable is a fitness watch called Blaze  —  How do you compete in a growing smartwatch market without making a smartwatch?
Ryan Whitwam / Android Police:
Cyanogen OS 12.1.1 With Cortana Integration Is Rolling Out To The OnePlus One  —  Cyanogen Inc is rolling out Cyanogen OS 12.1.1 for the OnePlus One today, and it's not just any update.  This is the first version of Cyanogen OS with support for Microsoft Cortana baked right in.
Andrei Frumusanu / AnandTech:
Huawei Mate 8 review: excellent battery life and performance, while display and camera leave room for improvement  —  The Huawei Mate 8 Review  —  It's been over a year since we reviewed the Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and Ascend Mate 2.  For many people and including ourselves at AnandTech …
Ingrid Lunden / TechCrunch:
Intel Says Its Button-Sized Curie Will Ship In Q1, Costing Under $10  —  Computing devices are getting smaller by the day, and today at CES in Las Vegas Intel's CEO Brian Krzanich announced new details about one of its big (little?) efforts in the space.  Curie, Intel's button-sized wearable …
Jon Healey / Los Angeles Times:
Dish releases Hopper 3 set-top box, can record 16 HD shows simultaneously, introduces HopperGo, a portable, $99 battery-powered storage device  —  CES 2016: Dish offers a DVR for the stream-and-binge generation  —  Dish Network's Hopper 3 set-top box can record programs on 16 channels simultaneously …
Adi Robertson / The Verge:
The second HTC Vive development kit has a built-in camera and new controllers  —  HTC is spending a surprisingly good name on a product that will only exist for a few months.  —  The product is the Vive Pre, a virtual reality headset that's going out to developers soon after its unveiling this morning.
Mark Hachman / PCWorld:
HumanEyes announces Vuze 360-degree 3D 4K camera, preorders begin March, priced around $800  —  HumanEyes' Vuze is a 4K, 3D, 360-degree consumer camera  —  That's a crazy amount of video!  —  For just $800, you can shoot a 360-degree panoramic 3D video, with 4K resolution per eye.
Garett Sloane / Digiday:
Sources: Snapchat is building an ad API, and reaching out to potential ad partners  —  Snapchat is building an ad technology platform  —  Snapchat is working on a crucial part of its growing digital ad business: an application programming interface (API) that would let partners start buying ads …

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Peggy Johnson / The Official Microsoft Blog: