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TC Roundup: Facebook, moving ahead with drone, plans test this summer

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Facebook, moving ahead with drone, plans test this summer: Facebook plans to test a version of its solar-powered drone this summer, a step in its efforts to beam internet access to billions of people without it today, executives said on Thursday.

Earlier this month, Facebook tested a smaller drone, about one-tenth the size of its planned solar-powered models. The full-size version will have the wingspan of a Boeing BA -0.04% 737 but only weigh as much as a small car. (The Wall Street Journal)

Twitter launches live broadcasting app Periscope: Twitter has launched Periscope, an app that lets users broadcast live video recorded on their smartphone directly to their followers on social media.

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The micro-blogging site bought Periscope earlier this month for a reported $100 million. Periscope is Twitter's answer to Meerkat, a month-old live broadcasting app that made a splash at SXSW festival this month.(CNBC)

New Google C.F.O. gets $70 Million pay package (and $7,500 to Move): Ruth Porat, Google's new chief financial officer, is joining a company that has more than 50,000 employees and is one of the most valuable corporations in the world. Thus, given Google is long past its early days, it's not the kind of place that will make her a start-up billionaire.

Instead she will have to settle for $65 million in stock grants, a $5 million signing bonus and a yearly salary of $650,000, according to a company filing to the Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday.(The New York Times)

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The benchmark way: Five partners who make other VC firms look outgunned and overstaffed: The first topic of conversation at one of Silicon Valley's most exclusive dinners is usually the table. Made of a deep brown walnut, the table isn't oval or square but a distinctive asymmetrical rounded triangle inspired by the French designer Jean-Marie Massaud. It's been custom-built for its hosts, Benchmark Capital, which uses it for partnership lunches and semi-secret weekly dinners with select members of the Valley's brain trust.

The events are exclusive salons that tackle everything from the future of mobile computing to the features that drive Twitter's success. "The table's dimensions make it perfect for seven people to all speak together," says Bill Gurley, the firm's longest-serving active partner. (Forbes)


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