The Latest from Amanda Silberling
Twitter went down this morning for users across the globe
If you had trouble loading tweets this morning, you’re not the only one. Starting around 8 AM ET, tens of thousands of users reported outages on Downdetector, a site chronicling web outages. Abo
A Twitter test will remind you to add alt text to images
In the midst of absolutely no internal chaos whatsoever, Twitter’s accessibility team launched a much-requested feature test. Ten percent of users, who make up the test group, will be served rem
Twitter v. Elon brings us a meme-driven lawsuit for the books
When Elon Musk announced his intention to terminate his $44 billion bid for Twitter, the social media company didn’t give up easily. Today, Twitter sued the SpaceX and Tesla CEO for refusing to
Spotify acquired Heardle, the Wordle-inspired music guessing game
If you tried to play Heardle this morning and got redirected to a Spotify website, that wasn’t a glitch. Spotify announced today that it acquired the Wordle-inspired music guessing game, which t
YouTube ends Lofi Girl’s two-year-long music stream over bogus DMCA warning
There are three constants in life: death, taxes and the “lofi hip hop radio — beats to relax/study to” YouTube stream. That is, until YouTube falsely hit the Lofi Girl channel with a DMC
Twitter lays off 30% of its talent acquisition team
Twitter laid off 30% of its talent acquisition team today, two months into a companywide hiring freeze. A Twitter spokesperson confirmed these layoffs but declined to share the exact number of employe
Former Theranos exec Sunny Balwani is found guilty of fraud
Former Theranos COO and ex-boyfriend of disgraced founder Elizabeth Holmes, Sunny Balwani has been found guilty on all 12 criminal charges after a three-month trial. At her own high-profile trial this
Meta’s next VR headset might be called the Quest Pro
The company formerly known as Facebook may soon release its first new piece of VR hardware since rebranding to Meta last year. According to developer Steve Moser in a report from Bloomberg, the next h
MKBHD says yes to Google Glass, no to the metaverse
If you’ve ever searched on YouTube for a review of the latest iPhone or electric car, then you’ve probably encountered Marques Brownlee. Since he started his channel MKBHD as a teenager in
What if Nintendo released a Switch Pro haha jk … unless?
Over five years after the release of the Nintendo Switch, fans are salivating for news about a new console, whether that be a rumored Switch Pro or Switch 2. Last night, it seemed almost certain that
Notch will sell you insurance in case your Instagram gets hacked
Getting hacked sucks. It’s even worse if you’re a digital creator whose social media accounts literally pay your bills. When creators get hacked, it can mean that they aren’t able to
The end of a second straight month of layoffs in tech
June brought another wave of layoffs in tech, with cuts impacting roughly the same number of employees as May: 16,000 employees, according to tracker layoffs.fyi. Another layoff aggregator from TrueUp
Binance taps TikTok’s mostly silent superstar Khaby Lame to explain how crypto works
Khaby Lame is quite literally on top of the world (if TikTok follower counts are the world). After attending his first VidCon and surpassing Charli D’Amelio as the most followed TikToker, the It
Substack cuts 13 jobs to avoid raising more venture capital
The newsletter platform Substack laid off 13 employees today, mostly in HR and writer support roles. Co-founder and CEO Chris Best informed the company after holding meetings with the affected employe
The company behind Pokémon GO, Niantic lays off 8% of staff and cancels 4 projects
Pokémon GO developer Niantic is running into trouble as it builds “the real-world metaverse.” Like so many other tech companies facing turbulent economic times, the company decided to let
MrBeast explains YouTube’s algorithm
At the first VidCon since 2019, YouTube’s top earner in the U.S., MrBeast, got on stage to talk to YouTube’s director of discovery Todd Beaupré about one of the biggest questions on creat
Khaby Lame dethrones Charli D’Amelio as the most-followed TikTok creator
Just in time for VidCon, TikTok has a new most followed creator on the platform: Khaby Lame, a 22-year-old from Senegal who rose to fame by stitching and dueting other TikToks, wordlessly fixing viral
Snap will pay 25 Black creators $120k in a new accelerator program
On stage at VidCon, Snap announced its first accelerator program for emerging Black creators. Over the course of a year, Snap will pay 25 selected applicants $10,000 a month ($120,000 total) to help l
Activision Blizzard shareholders reject board seat for employees
As Activision Blizzard faces numerous sexual harassment lawsuits and investigations, employee activists have rallied to get a seat on the company board to represent the voice of the staff. Despite maj
Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, Unity and others form Metaverse Standards Forum
As more tech companies develop virtual and augmented reality products, some oversight groups are trying to keep the industry on the same page. The newest of these is the Metaverse Standards Forum, whi