TikTok has launched a new text-based feature to rival other social media platforms like Meta’s Threads and Elon Musk’s X app. The Chinese-owned app unveiled the new feature on the same day that Mr Musk rebranded Twitter to X, which the tech billionaire plans to transform into an “everything app” like China’s WeChat. TikTok claimed in a blog post published on Monday that the latest format would “empower” its users. “Text is the latest addition to options for content creation, allowing creators to share their stories, poems, recipes, and other written content on TikTok – giving creators another way to express themselves and making it even easier to create,” the blog post stated. “With text posts, we’re expanding the boundaries of content creation for everyone on TikTok, giving the written creativity we’ve seen in comments, captions, and videos a dedicated space to shine.” TikTok gained huge popularity through short-form video content – briefly overtaking Google to become the most popular destination on the internet in 2021 – and has since expanded to support images in an effort to take on Instagram. Earlier this month, TikTok also launched a music streaming service that offers an alternative to giants like Spotify and Apple Music, however it is currently only available in Brazil and Indonesia. TikTok said in a press release at the time that it “plans for further growth in other markets”. The new text feature looks more similar to Instagram Stories in appearance, offering colourful backgrounds and the ability to add stickers to a post. Unlike Threads or X, TikTok’s text posts will also support sounds that play in the background, similar to its video- and image-sharing features. “Sounds are core to the TikTok experience, which is why we’ve incorporated them into text posts,” the company explained in a note to users. “You’ll be able to add tunes that readers can groove to as they peruse your writing.” Posts have a 1,000-character limit – shorter than the 10,000 limit offered to paying X users but more than the 500-character limit on Threads. Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Schoolboy almost dies from swallowing magnets for TikTok challenge Woman shares honest review of New York City apartment TikTok mom slammed after making 5-year-old son run in 104 degree heat

Ancient clay tablets unearthed from ancient ruins in Turkey by archaeologists have revealed a language lost to the passages of time. The new language was discovered in the ancient capital of the Hittite Empire at Hattusa (known as Boğazköy-Hattusha). The well-preserved tablets are among many incredible artworks found at the site - a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Over the past four decades, researchers have dusted off nearly 30,000 unique tablets - with most written in Hittite. New research, however, shows that some of the tablet haul shows that they are written in a language previously unknown to modern man. Of course, the meaning and words of this language have not been deciphered, but it appears from early inspection to branch off from languages used within the Hittite Empire - and is being referred to as Kalašma. archaeologist Interestingly though, researchers from the Istanbul Department of the German Archaeological Institute have noted that the new language is found within a recitation in a 'cultic ritual text'. While that's usually the basis of a middling horror movie, we're certain that there's nothing to worry about - it stems from an ancient Hittite practice. Professor Daniel Schwemer explains that the discovery wasn't unexpected. "The Hittites were uniquely interested in recording rituals in foreign languages," he said. These ritual texts provide insight into little-known languages, and thanks to this discovery, one more has been added to the list. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

NHL teams, media, and fans are frustrated with Elon Musk for setting access limits on Twitter the day that 2023 free agency officially began.When the clock struck noon ET on July 1, the NHL free agency frenzy began. Prior to free agency opening, teams were allowed to speak with their own players...

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Football fans on social media have discovered a favourite new meme, and it features Jamie Carragher as you’ve never seen him before – as a broadband salesman. Users have been having a little fun on photoshop after a picture of the former Liverpool star holding an ipad and wearing a lanyard around his neck went viral. He was presumably snapped outside a media centre somewhere preparing for commentary on a game, but people couldn’t help but compare him to a salesman looking to stop people on the street and flog them a new deal on their internet provider. In one of those wonderfully organic trends that still happen from time to time on Twitter, people shared their own versions of the pic. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Carragher seemed to like the trend too, and even retweeted a selection of them. It’s hardly the first time Carragher has been making us laugh this year, after the former Liverpool player cracked people up in the BT Sport studio attempting to pronounce Inter Milan’s full name. Micah Richards was left with tears streaming down his face after a hilarious interview following a Champions League game, when Inter Milan player Rafael Leao had a little difficulty understanding Carragher’s accent. At the time, he appeared to do what many of us have done in a foreign country and speak more slowly and in a different accent in a bid to make ourselves understood. Carragher tried his best, but it was his pronunciation of the Italian club name “Internazionale” which tipped his co-hosts over the edge. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Aubameyang FIFA 23 Flashback SBC is now live during Level Up. Here's how to complete the SBC and if it's worth it.

CENTENNIAL, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 22, 2023--

NFTs first crossed Daniel Maegaard’s radar in 2018. He started investing in the tokens in 2019 and by

The dinosaurs may have been extinct for more than 65 million years but scientists have suggested that they could still exist as aliens on other planets. Researched published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society suggests that dinosaurs might not only be on other planets but that we could also find them. The study suggests that if scientists researched compounds that are not currently on Earth but ones that were around during the age of the dinosaurs then it may yield some results. One key element that scientists believe could unlock what would be a groundbreaking discovery is oxygen. The levels of oxygen on Earth at the moment are around 21 per cent but during the time of dinosaurs it was higher at 30 per cent. This, in theory, allowed the dinosaurs to flourish and rule the planet for millions of years. The study suggests that if similar levels of oxygen can be discovered on faraway planets then the conditions could be right for alien like dinosaurs to exist. The study's co-author Lisa Kaltenegger said in a statement: "Modern Earth's light fingerprint has been our template for identifying potentially habitable planets, but there was a time when this fingerprint was even more pronounced — better at showing signs of life." She adds: "This gives us hope that it might be just a little bit easier to find signs of life — even large, complex life — elsewhere in the cosmos." One clue that could unlock this discovery which scientists are looking for are signs of a Phanerozoic stage on a planet which would allow creatures like dinosaurs to evolve. The study's lead author, Rebecca Payne of Cornell University, said: "The Phanerozoic is just the most recent 12 per cent or so of Earth's history, but it encompasses nearly all of the time in which life was more complex than microbes and sponges. These light fingerprints are what you'd search for elsewhere if you were looking for something more advanced than a single-celled organism." If they are successful in finding these conditions on other planets then Kaltenegger believes it could lead to the discovery of dinosaurs that have never been found on Earth. "Hopefully we'll find some planets that happen to have more oxygen than Earth right now because that will make the search for life just a little bit easier," she said. "And, who knows, maybe there are other dinosaurs waiting to be found." Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

AFC Capital Partners secured $300 million in anchor funding led by the United Nations-backed Green Climate Fund, and

Apple's fall product launch next month is all but certain to include a new iPhone, and rumors say it could include faster charging.

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