iWorld
Twitterati become speed breakers as Twitter mulls 10K character limit
MUMBAI: The line between news and views are broadening with time. Spontaneity is inclining thick and fast towards social media with Twitter leading the race while views and opinions are filling television sets. If we take the recent earthquake in North East India for example, the news broke instantaneously on Twitter and even the Richter scale measurement was first revealed on the micro blogging website. Traditional media took more than two hours to put the first ticker on as the natural calamity struck the territories in the wee hours of the morning. The story was quite similar when former president of India APJ Abdul Kalam collapsed at a gathering and later breathed his last.
If reports are to be believed then Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is planning to take the micro blogging social media platform’s character limit to a whopping 10,000 from 140. Of the 10,000 characters 140 of them will be visible as a tweet and rest will be a part of a story, which can be accessed after clicking on the ‘show more’ option.
This is speculatively done to stay in par with rivals and is likely to be implemented by March this year. Facebook has instant article, a feature which at this stage is not available for all users. This feature enables user to write article and publish it in a story format. LinkedIn also has a similar facility with Pulse where one can publish their creative pieces. The facility though is an encouraging one for the writers and critics who prophesize with their words but Twitteratis are leaving no stone unturned to let Dorsey and his team know that they are totally against it by posting photographs like the ones given below:
“I am a fan of Twitter because it keeps my top floor busy. Compressing and expressing is the panache of the platform. Now I fear that I might just lose the flare to rambling. People can articulate more in terms of number of characters now but yes the magic is in bits and bytes,” said a senior journalist.
Millions of tweets have made Twitter 10K trend globally with most of the tweets signifying reservations against the concept. Now it remains to be seen if the flood of tweets make team Twitter change their decision or not.
Gaming
Sony raises PS5 prices for second time in under a year
US disc edition jumps $100 to $649.99 as memory costs surge.
MUMBAI: Sony just hit the pause button on affordable gaming because when memory prices skyrocket, even the Playstation has to pay the premium. Sony has announced its second price increase for the Playstation 5 range in less than a year, citing pressures in the global economic landscape and a sharp rise in memory component costs driven by AI demand.
In the US, the PS5 disc edition will rise from $549.99 to $649.99, a $100 hike while the digital edition increases to $599.99. The more powerful PS5 Pro will jump $150 to $899.99. The Playstation Portal remote player will also rise by $50 to $249.99. The new prices take effect on 2 April 2026.
Similar increases have been applied in the UK (£90 per model), Europe and Japan. Sony last raised PS5 prices in the US in August 2025.
“We know that price changes impact our community, and after careful evaluation, we found this was a necessary step to ensure we can continue delivering innovative, high-quality gaming experiences to players worldwide,” Sony said in a blog post.
The hikes come amid an unprecedented surge in memory prices, as manufacturers prioritise supply for AI data centres. Analysts say Sony had likely secured price protections for components that have now expired, forcing the company to protect its hardware margins.
Ampere Analysis research director of games Piers Harding-Rolls told CNBC that further increases from Microsoft and Nintendo would not be surprising, though Nintendo may hesitate to raise the price of its recently launched Switch 2 while establishing the new platform.
The increases arrive eight months before the highly anticipated release of GTA 6, which is expected to drive strong console sales. However, early reactions online have been a mix of disappointment and resignation, with growing concern that premium gaming is increasingly becoming a hobby for higher-income players.
In a sector already grappling with tariffs, inflation and component shortages, Sony’s move underscores a tough reality: even the most popular consoles are not immune to the rising cost of keeping up with the latest technology.
