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X recently introduced a new immersive video player, signaling another major step in its ongoing push into video-focused experiences.  Nikita Bier, X’s head of product, announced the update earlier this week, admitting the previous video player “badly needed a refresh.” The redesign aims to make video consumption more engaging and user-friendly, especially on mobile devices. Image Credits:@nikitabier on X The update, currently rolling out to iOS, allows users to expand videos to full screen with a single tap. Once in full-screen mode, viewers can swipe up to scroll to the next video, which is reminiscent of TikTok’s popular format. While…

The grifters, according to RentAHuman, are fading. “We’re taking safety extremely seriously,” Liteplo says. But the duo also acknowledge that there are “footguns” (features that often lead to pesky bugs) and have implemented paid verification (at $10 a month), inspired by Elon Musk’s strategy of letting users pay $8 to get a “verified” badge on X. “He’s my entrepreneur hero,” Liteplo says, unabashedly. “For Twitter, they had a bot problem and they still have it, but he mitigated it a lot by making it pay-to-play. The unit economics of scammers disappears,” he continues.(Musk tweeted in 2023 that “paid verification increases…

As India pitches itself as a global hub for applied artificial intelligence, OpenAI has partnered with Pine Labs to integrate AI-driven reasoning into the fintech firm’s payments stack, automating settlement and invoicing workflows in a move the companies say could help accelerate AI-led commerce in India. The partnership will see Pine Labs embed OpenAI’s application programming interfaces — software tools that let companies plug AI into their existing systems — within its payments and commerce infrastructure, the companies said on Thursday, all with the aim of enabling AI-assisted settlement, reconciliation, and invoicing workflows. The deal underscores OpenAI’s broader push to…

From ancient remedies to your Amazon cart, mushroom supplements have traveled a circuitous road. They nourish the body, enhance the mind, and occasionally poison the unlucky. Their biochemical adaptability has intrigued Eastern cultures for centuries. The West, on the other hand, has been slow to embrace mushrooms until the 21st century, propelled in part by endorsements from celebrities like Gisele Bündchen and Gwen Stefani.Today, in a zeitgeist fixated on biohacking and self-optimization, mushrooms are now tools for functional wellness. We’re well past foraging and sautéing. Now we embrace microdosing. We’re sipping on lion’s mane extract in our adaptogenic lattes and…

The data breach that hit blockchain-based lending giant Figure affected nearly a million customers, according to a security researcher.  Last week, Figure confirmed a data breach allowed hackers to steal “a limited number of files” from its systems. The company did not provide specifics on what kind of data was stolen nor say how many customers were affected. On Wednesday, Troy Hunt, a security researcher and creator of the data breach notification site Have I Been Pwned, analyzed the data allegedly taken from Figure and found it contained 967,200 unique email addresses associated with Figure customers.  The data also included…

Zuckerberg repeatedly fell back on accusing Lanier of “mischaracterizing” his previous statements. When it came to emails, Zuckerberg typically objected based on how old the message was, or his lack of familiarity with the Meta employees involved. “I don’t think so, no,” he replied when directed to clarify if he knew Karina Newton, Instagram’s head of public policy in 2021. And Zuckerberg never failed to point out when he wasn’t actually on an email thread entered as evidence.Perhaps anticipating these detached and repetitive talking points from Zuckerberg—who claimed over and over that any increased engagement from a user on Facebook…

Mastodon, a decentralized, open source social media platform and alternative to larger apps like X and Threads, announced on Wednesday its plans to make its app more approachable for newcomers while also targeting creators with the launch of new features. The changes follow the expansion of Mastodon’s core development team over the past 18 months to include people with experience across web and mobile and back end, as well as the hiring of a dedicated designer, according to a new blog post co-authored by Mastodon’s technical director, Renaud Chaput, and product designer, Imani Joy. The post outlines the app’s future…

But a lot of these claims, it turns out, have very little—if any—actual proof behind them.Joshi is the author of a new report, released Monday with support from several environmental organizations, that attempts to quantify some of the most high-profile claims made about how AI will save the planet. The report looks at more than 150 claims made by tech companies, energy associations, and others about how “AI will serve as a net climate benefit.” Joshi’s analysis finds that just a quarter of those claims were backed up by academic research, while more than a third did not publicly cite…

The Numbers $5.5 billion: Q4 2025 revenue (+27.9% year over year) $941.1 million: Q4 net loss (GAAP) $4.02: Q4 diluted loss per share (GAAP) $928.9 million: Q4 adjusted EBITA; 16.8% margin $2.59: Q4 non-GAAP adjusted EPS $17.3 billion: Full-year 2025 revenue (+10.1% year over year) $54.5 million: Full-year net loss (GAAP) $2.7 billion: Full-year adjusted EBITA; 15.6% margin $8.65: Full-year non-GAAP adjusted EPS Watercooler TalkOmnicom’s first earnings report since closing its acquisition of Interpublic Group (IPG) reflects the cost of integration and the scale of its ambition.The holding company swung to a $941.1 million fourth-quarter loss as it absorbed transaction…

Here’s something that you’ve never seen on Big Tech social platforms: The decentralized open social network Bluesky has integrated new technology from a startup called Germ Network in order to bring end-to-end encrypted (E2E) messaging to the Bluesky app. The move makes Germ DM the first private messenger that can be launched natively within the Bluesky app. Alongside the launch, Germ is also releasing new guidance that would allow other apps built on the underlying AT Protocol that powers Bluesky to do the same thing. Image Credits:Germ Network The move is a notable example of how open social networking ecosystems…

Portrait Light: You can change up the lighting in your portrait selfies after you take them by opening them up in Google Photos, tapping the Edit button, and heading to Actions > Portrait Light. This adds an artificial light you can place anywhere in the photo to brighten up your face and erase that 5 o’clock shadow. Use the slider at the bottom to tweak the strength of the light. It also works on older Portrait mode photos you may have captured. It works only on faces.Health and Accessibility FeaturesCough & Snore Detection (Tensor G2 and newer): On the Pixel…

This story was originally published in On Background with Mark Stenberg, a free, weekly newsletter that explores the key themes shaping the media industry. You can sign up for it here.Stop me if you have heard this before, but it bears repeating: When OpenAI debuted ChatGPT in November 2022, it introduced an existential problem that, even after more than three years, has yet to find a solution.In short, answer engines rely on the copious availability of quality data to fuel their responses, which they draw from content creators, like publishers. Yet in answering users’ questions without sending those users back to…

Etsy is selling Depop, a secondhand clothing app popular with Gen Z and millennials, to eBay for $1.2 billion in cash, the company announced on Wednesday. Etsy says the deal will allow it to focus on its own marketplace. The deal comes nearly five years after Etsy acquired Depop for $1.62 billion, at a time when secondhand clothing apps were gaining in popularity. Founded in 2011, Depop generated approximately $1 billion in gross merchandise sales — the total value of goods sold through its platform — in 2025. In the U.S., the company saw nearly 60% year-over-year growth. As of…

Ask anyone what Nvidia makes, and they’re likely to first say “GPUs.” For decades, the chipmaker has been defined by advanced parallel computing, and the emergence of generative AI and the resulting surge in demand for GPUs has been a boon for the company.But Nvidia’s recent moves signal that it’s looking to lock in more customers at the less compute-intensive end of the AI market—customers who don’t necessarily need the beefiest, most powerful GPUs to train AI models, but instead are looking for the most efficient ways to run agentic AI software. Nvidia recently spent billions to license technology from…

Def Con, one of the largest and longest-running hacking conferences in the world, announced on Wednesday that three people linked to Jeffrey Epstein are no longer allowed to attend.   The conference justified adding Pablos Holman, Vincenzo Iozzo, and Joichi Ito to its public list of banned individuals, citing the three as appearing in the Department of Justice’s latest release of files related to its investigation of the late investor and convicted sex offender. Def Con also cited an article in Politico based on emails that the three exchanged with Epstein. Joan Vollero, a spokesperson for Iozzo, told TechCrunch in a…

While I’ve tested a lot of gaming headsets meant for sitting on a couch or at a desk, very few are easy to pocket and take on the go. The SteelSeries Arctis GameBuds fill that need, and are perfectly matched for consoles like the Nintendo Switch 2 and ROG Xbox Ally. They’re currently marked down to just $160 at Best Buy, a $40 discount from their usual price.Photograph: Eric RavenscraftSteelSeriesArctis GameBudsWhile most gamers prefer over-ear headsets for the sound isolation and comfort, these earbuds have some special features that help them bridge the gap. The Arctis mobile app has a…