THE NEWS WRAP: Microsoft rolls out partnerships with Uber, PayPal and Evernote

Microsoft has launched its Outlook partners this morning, including Uber, PayPal and Evernote, allowing users to access these services without leaving the comfort of their inbox.

They’ll be rolling out first with Outlook 2013 and Outlook on the web for Office 365 and Exchange 2013 business users.

As the Outlook Team say in a blog post, it’ll make things a bit user for users, and will be available “within a month”.

“Partner add-ins help you get more done right from your inbox – from finding cool restaurants for dinner with friends to setting up a ride to get there and paying your portion of the tab,” the post says.

NBCUniversal buys big stakes in Vox Media and Buzzfeed

American television giant NBCUniversal has invested large sums of money into two of the fastest-growing digital publishers in the world.

As Re/code reports, NBCU have put US$200 million into Vox, giving it an estimated post-money valuation of more than $1 billion, while Buzzfeed is now worth $1.5 billion after a $200 million investment.

The development come as the traditional media company tries to expand its horizons and focus on the online world.

Twitter hugely expands character limit for direct messages

Twitter has increased the character limit for direct messages from 140 to a whopping 10,000.

As Cnet reports, it may seem like an innocuous change, but it’s a further step in the site’s efforts to make the platform more accessible and user-friendly to compete with social networking giants like Facebook.

Facebook’s messenger app has a limit of 20,000 characters, and the site boasts 1.5 billion monthly active users compared to Twitter’s 316 million.

Twitter has been focusing more intently on direct messaging lately, having also recently introduced group messages.

“Our users will now have the flexibility to write longer and express themselves in a more natural and comfortable way,” Twitter’s product manager for direct messages Sachin Agarwal says.

Overnight

The Dow Jones Industrial Average is down 0.33, falling 0.00% overnight to 17,402.51. The Australian dollar is currently trading at US74 cents.

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