Microsoft cuts 1,850 jobs from smartphone hardware biz

These are the top stories of the week. Microsoft's phone woes. Twitter changes are coming officially. And everything else you need to know. Microsoft announced it is streamlining its smartphone hardware business. That really means the company is cutting,850 jobs. 1,350 are in Finland. Also known as the jobs from the Nokia [MUSIC] Set acquisition. Microsoft will take a 950 million dollar charge related to these cuts. Microsoft acquired Nokia's Handset Business for seven point two million dollars in 2014. So is Microsoft done with the Smartphone world? The memo from Microsoft EVP of the windows and devices In his group, Terry Myerson said, we're scaling back, but we're not out. Okay, it's official, Twitter changes are coming. Twitter has held a 140 character limit on much of it's service. Soon photos, videos, polls, and more will not count towards that limit. And when you reply that other persons Twitter handle won't count in the 140 character limit. Additionally you'll be able to quote or retweet your own tweets. What else is new? You'll no longer have to put a dot before a Twitter handle to share reply. If you reply it will be seen by all your Twitter followers. These changes will be available in the coming months says Twitter. Fox Com just replaced. Sixty thousand humans with robots. Foxconn manufactures products for a number of companies, including Samsung and Apple. The company says this won't replace human jobs in the long run. Fifty thousand humans still work at Foxconn. Some of the biggest stories this week weren't actually confirmed. So let's take a look at a rumor-filled Rapid Fire. Apple thought about buying Time Warner, according to a report by the Financial Times. Eddie Q pitched purchasing Time Warner, owner of properties like Warner Bros. and HBO, last year. The talk didn't reach past preliminary discussions and never reached Tim Cook. Rumors are swirling that Microsoft will introduce. New versions of the XBox, one would be a video streaming specs, another would be a more powerful version of the XBox 1. Some of this maybe clear up at June's ET Conference. Analyst Ming-Chi Kuo of the KGI Securities said the MacBook Pro will see a big redesign in the fourth quarter of this year. The function buttons above the number key Keys would get the boot. Instead an old lead touch panel will replace them. The analyst also said new MacBook Pros would feature touch ID. And this next piece of news is not a rumor A US court says that Google's use of Oracle technology in Android is protected by fair use. What does that mean? Google doesn't owe Oracle a cent. But Oracle says it's going to appeal the decision. Surprise, surprise. Now you're all caught up in facts, to get your daily dose of tech news check out CNET. COM/UPDATE. For a weekly dose, hit up CNET. COM/RADAR. I'm Iyaz Akhtar, signing off.