Threads edges out X in daily mobile users, new data shows
Threads’ daily mobile usage has quietly surpassed X as Meta leans on cross-promotion, creator tools and fast feature rollouts — even as X faces fresh controversies
Tech News
Microsoft’s first Windows 11 update of 2026 stopped some computers from shutting down
Microsoft released its first security update of 2026 for Windows 11 on January 13th. Just four days later, it was forced to release an emergency out-of-band update to fix some pretty serious bugs, the first one introduced. The security patch was stopping some systems from shutting down or hibernating properly, and also preventing some users […]
How YC-backed Bucket Robotics survived its first CES
Now, the startup is turning its attention to building the business, fundraising and striking commercial deals.
Moxie Marlinspike has a privacy-conscious alternative to ChatGPT
Confer is designed to look and feel like ChatGPT or Claude, but your conversations can’t be used for training or advertising.
Here are the 10 deals worth grabbing from Best Buy’s winter sales event
Good deals are often hard to come by at the beginning of the year — which is precisely what makes Best Buy’s Winter Sale worth checking out. The ongoing sales event features discounts on everything from big-ticket OLED TVs to smaller electronics, including fitness trackers that can help you achieve your New Year’s resolutions. There […]
Kaoss Pad V is the first major upgrade to Korg’s touch-based effects in 13 years
The Kaoss Pad has seen many different iterations, but the mainline effect unit and sampler hasn’t received an update since the launch of the KP3+ in 2013. Korg has finally given it the attention it deserves with the release of the Kaoss Pad V. Rather than a dramatic reimagining of what a Kaoss Pad is, […]
Why Coinbase derailed the crypto industry’s political future
January was going to be a landmark month for the crypto industry. The Senate would start negotiating the finer details of the CLARITY Act, a major law that would finally enshrine the fundamental structure of how the crypto market could legally operate in the United States: what digital assets counted as a security versus a […]
Under Musk, the Grok disaster was inevitable
This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on dystopian developments in AI, follow Hayden Field. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started You could say it all started with Elon Musk’s AI […]
Why Silicon Valley is really talking about fleeing California (it’s not the 5%)
If you’ve been following the billionaire exodus from California with some confusion, here’s what’s actually driving the nervousness: it’s not the 5% rate. As highlighted Friday in the New York Post, the proposed wealth tax would hit founders on their voting shares rather than the actual equity they own. Take Larry Page, who about 3% […]
Who gets to inherit the stars? A space ethicist on what we’re not talking about
While it’s easy to romanticize space as an escape to a pristine frontier where people will float weightlessly among the stars, it’s worth remembering there are no oceans or mountains or chirpy birds in space. It’s “not nice up there,” said Rubenstein. “It is not nice at all.”