Mission Everywhere

Nic Carter / Murmurations II : A look at challenges facing Tether and Circle's stablecoin duopoly, such as intermediaries like exchanges and DeFi protocols exploring their own stablecoins   —  Three's a crowd  —  Circle equity is worth $30.5b.  Tether's topco is reportedly raising capital at $500b. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/RPUBXQc

Taylor Swift released "The Life of a Showgirl" on Friday. Emma McIntyre/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management Taylor Swift debuted her 12th album, "The Life of a Showgirl," on Friday. The album is already breaking streaming records. "Taylor Swift: The Official Release Party of a Showgirl" is expected to top the weekend box office. Swifties wasted no time streaming "The Life of a Showgirl," and the numbers prove it. Taylor Swift released her highly anticipated 12th studio album, "The Life of a Showgirl," on Friday. The album, co-produced by Max Martin and Karl "Shellback" Schuster, includes 12 songs and features Sabrina Carpenter on the title track. Spotify announced on Friday that "The Life of a Showgirl" became the platform's most-streamed album in a single day this year. The album reached that milestone in just 11 hours. That same day, Spotify said one track — "The Fate of Ophelia"...

@openai : OpenAI updates GPT-5 Instant to better recognize and support people in distress; ChatGPT will route such sensitive parts of conversations to the model   —  We're updating GPT-5 Instant to better recognize and support people in moments of distress. Sensitive parts of conversations will now route to GPT-5 Instant to quickly provide even more helpful responses. ChatGPT will continue to tell users what model is active when asked. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/NPaXnhJ

John Burn-Murdoch / Financial Times : GWI: Time spent on social media globally peaked in 2022 and is steadily declining; North America is the exception, with usage up 15% in 2024 compared to Europe   —  As platforms degrade into outrage and slop, users are turning away  —  In years to come, we may well look back on September 2025 … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/VdFncOW

Max Martin. Michael Tran/FilmMagic/Getty Images Max Martin, a Swedish producer and songwriter, is the mastermind behind numerous mega-hit pop songs. He's won five Grammys for songs including "Since U Been Gone" and "Can't Stop The Feeling." Taylor Swift worked with Martin on her new album, "The Life of a Showgirl." Max Martin was once a mysterious force behind the world's biggest pop music hits. Martin, whose real name is Karl Martin Sandberg, has been writing and producing songs since the '90s, but music fans now recognize his name as a standard part of the pop zeitgeist. Some of his biggest hits almost wound up in the hands of other stars — TLC was offered "...Baby One More Time" before Britney Spears. But no matter which pop artist ends up taking on the track, Martin's work has a huge success rate, with a total of five Grammy awards from 25 nominations. Taylor Swift enlisted the help of Martin and Karl "S...

Rashi Shrivastava / Forbes : Moonlake AI, which creates tools to “vibe code virtual worlds”, including for gaming, animation, and filmmaking, comes out of stealth with a $28M seed   —  Plus: Hollywood rejects an “AI actress.”  —  Welcome back to The Prompt. … Artificial intelligence is facing an existential crisis. from Techmeme https://ift.tt/ZvqKDn4

Apple CEO Tim Cook showed off the Apple Vision Pro in the spring of 2023. It hasn't made much of a splash since then. Justin Sullivan/Getty Images Apple has reportedly shelved plans to make a lighter, cheaper version of its Vision Pro goggles. Instead, the company is going to focus on techified glasses — like the ones Meta is already selling. It would be wild if Meta beat Apple in a hardware race. But it's way too early to say if people want any version of these things. Remember the Apple Vision Pro ? Remember? It was a big, ambitious swing from Tim Cook and Co. — a $3,500 headset that lets you experience "augmented reality" — or, if you follow Apple's demands for branding — " spatial computing ." Apple first showed off the Vision Pro in the spring of 2023, and then started selling the device in February 2024 , and since then … you really haven't heard much about it. Unless you've seen periodic articles about how the device hasn...

Brody Ford / Bloomberg : Microsoft has committed $33B+ to neocloud providers; sources: its $19.4B Nebius deal will provide computing power for creating LLMs and a consumer AI assistant   —  Microsoft Corp.'s deal with neocloud company Nebius Group NV will provide computing power to internal teams creating large language models … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/usYt697

Sarah Perez / TechCrunch : Meta unveils communities on Threads, starting with 100+ dedicated spaces for casual conversations around topics like basketball, television, and K-pop music   —  Instagram Threads, Meta's X rival that now has over 400 million monthly active users, is officially launching a new feature … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/C9MHcyf

When you buy through our links, Business Insider may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more Amazon; Casetify; Otterbox; Zagg/Business Insider Apple's latest lineup of updated AirPods, Apple Watches, and iPhones has officially been released. Of the new tech, we might be most excited about the brand-new iPhone Air, Apple's thinnest and sleekest iPhone model to date. If you already placed your iPhone Air preorder over the last few weeks, we've got you covered with the best iPhone Air cases to keep your new phone protected. While the iPhone Air's slender frame initially raised concerns about its durability, early tests have proven the new model to be much more resistant to damage than expected. Still, the phone isn't immune to wear and tear, which is why we recommend getting a case to protect it from scratches, dents, and other damage. What you need from a good phone case varies from person to person, and we've rounded up great options for every preferenc...

Rohan Goswami / Semafor : Sources: Intel is in early-stage talks to add AMD as a foundry customer; Intel currently lacks the technology to produce AMD's most advanced, profitable chips   —  THE SCOOP  —  Intel is in early-stage talks to add AMD as a customer at Intel's factories, in what would be another vote … from Techmeme https://ift.tt/cPtYUmH