Continuing to invest in virtual reality, Facebook has reportedly agreed to drop about $60 million on Israel-based gesture-control technology provider Pebbles. “Pebbles has recently integrated its technology into the virtual-reality headset developed by Facebook’s Oculus VR, enabling users to interact with the device via hand and finger gestures,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Pebbles’ enables users to see images of their own arms and hands in their virtual-reality display.” 

Try as it may, Reddit is having a hard time convincing its core audience that the future is bright for the link-sharing site. “Reddit is trying to grow up, but it's experiencing a lot of growing pains along the way,” The Washington Post reports. “And competing quotes, one from a co-founder today and another from another co-founder three years ago, highlight just how significant of a pivot is underway.”

As part of a minor redesign, Snapchat is highlighting its “Discover” section for news articles and ads. “With the update, Snapchat began promoting content from ESPN, CNN, Cosmopolitan, Yahoo and its other media partners from the ‘Stories’ tab inside the app,” The Wall Street Journal reports. “Previously, Discover content was confined to its own tab that could be reached either by clicking on an icon within Stories or swiping twice from the camera.”  

Facebook is flatly denying reports of a forthcoming music service. “We have no plans to go into music streaming," a spokesperson for the social giant tells The Verge. Adds The Verge: “A source familiar with the matter said the last thing Facebook wants to do right now is take on Apple in a streaming war.” 

Michael Wolf thinks serious publishers like The New York Times are getting a raw deal with Facebook’s Instant Articles, and similar services. As he writes in the MIT Technology Review: “It is not only that this syndication arrangement gives the Times no direct payments, but ‘instant articles’ and other platform distribution deals move the business another step closer toward what Ken Doctor … calls ‘off news site’ reading.” 

We’re learning a little more about Facebook’s forthcoming music service. Sources confirm to Music Ally that the social giant is preparing to launch a music-streaming service. In the first phase, Facebook will royalties to music rights holders for plays of their music videos … "while also launching a system akin to YouTube’s Content ID to help those rights holders identify and then either take down or ‘claim’ user-uploaded videos featuring their music.” 

New legislation approved by the Senate Intelligence Committee would require social networks to report videos and other content posted by suspected terrorists to federal authorities. “The measure … which still has to be voted on by the full Senate, is an effort to help intelligence and law enforcement officials detect threats from the Islamic State and other terrorist groups,” The Washington Post reports. 

In the wake of Facebook’s decision to share ad revenue with video creators, Re/code compares the offering to a similar program offered by YouTube. “While the two companies are offering a similar premise around revenue sharing, the fine print reveals a few key distinctions,” it writes. For one, “Facebook doesn’t like pre-roll ads … Instead, it’s offering standalone, autoplay ads … that will run within its new Suggested Videos stream.” 

Taking picture quality more seriously, Instagram has started storing images at a higher resolution of 1080 x 1080. “The higher-resolution pictures are not yet being displayed as such by Instagram,” The Verge writes. The change, however, is “likely in preparation to making a full and public switch to the greater size in the coming days or weeks.” 

In what is likely his last public address as CEO of Twitter, Dick Costolo is promising that the company will continue pushing for the free flow of information. “Our commitment is that we as a company will continue to navigate an increasingly complicated political landscape,” he writes in The Guardian. “We will make difficult decisions every day to ensure that as many people as possible have access, and that the smallest voices in the world can be heard.”