Re/wind: Twitter Numbers, Microsoft's Slam Poetry Poster and More

It’s still summer, which means you have every excuse not to keep up with all the week’s tech news. But, if you want a roundup of the best headlines from the past few days, no worries. Re/code has you covered:

1. This week, Twitter disclosed that it paid $134 million for the social data company Gnip and tweaked its metrics to hype its advertising pool and downplay the number of bot accounts, as well as began testing video ads.
2. Microsoft really wants to sell super-cheap phones. Its latest Nokia handset costs just $25. The company also veered into awkward college freshman territory with an internal pitch for the upcoming Windows 9 system that reads like bad slam poetry.
3. Facebook understandably wants Instagram to make money, which is why it appointed a new ad chief for the photo and video sharing site this week: Facebook Regional Director James Quarles. In other Facebook exec news, longtime employee and VP of Product Management Sam Lessin announced he’ll be leaving the company.
4. The Internet of Things trend is going full steam ahead, as evidenced by Samsung’s $200 million acquisition of the smart-home controller company SmartThings.
5. Apple finally got around to releasing its diversity numbers. It’s about 70 percent male and 55 percent white.
6. The smartphone market is getting crowded, making it harder for companies to pull ahead. Smartphone maker HTC is adjusting by doubling down on its software business.
7. You may have heard that Andreessen Horowitz invested $50 million in the viral media site BuzzFeed, placing the company’s value at around $850 million. But how did BuzzFeed get to that number?
8. A Kickstarter campaign for a water balloon company raised nearly $1 million. Money isn’t real. Life isn’t real. Nothing is real.
9. Between “Lucy” and “Sharknado 2,” there was a whole lot of bad science coming out of Hollywood this summer. But audiences didn’t seem to care.

This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

Will you support Vox’s explanatory journalism?

Most news outlets make their money through advertising or subscriptions. But when it comes to what we’re trying to do at Vox, there are a couple of big issues with relying on ads and subscriptions to keep the lights on:

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead.

Second, we’re not in the subscriptions business. Vox is here to help everyone understand the complex issues shaping the world — not just the people who can afford to pay for a subscription. We believe that’s an important part of building a more equal society. And we can’t do that if we have a paywall.

So even though advertising is still our biggest source of revenue, we also seek grants and reader support. (And no matter how our work is funded, we have strict guidelines on editorial independence.)

If you also believe that everyone deserves access to trusted high-quality information, will you make a gift to Vox today? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via