SAVE $60: As of June 7, the PlayStation 5 God of War Ragnarok bundle is

GUAYNABO, Puerto Rico--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Aug 9, 2023--

Orla Sloan is a fashion influencer who is known to have stalked soccer players

Designed for users of high-end creative apps, the Asus ProArt B760-Creator D4 motherboard ($229.99) is

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 29, 2023--

Andrew and Tristan Tate use their Twitter accounts to engage with their followers after being banned from several social media sites

Suzanne Morphew, 49, was reported missing on May 10, 2020, after she disappeared without a trace while riding a bike in Salida, Colorado

Elon Musk will force companies on X to pay at least $1,000 (£770) per month in order to keep their verified status on the platform. From 7 August, any brand that does not pay the fee to the company formerly known as Twitter will lose the gold check mark that appears next to the account name. The latest strategy, which was first reported by The Wall Street Journal, comes amid declining ad revenues and fresh competition from text-based platforms launched by Meta and TikTok. Mr Musk responded to the report by stating that brands could also pay $1,000 per month for a verified organisation subscription. “This more than pays for itself in organic reach,” he posted on X. “The reason for the $1,000/ month is to set a moderately high bar to be a verified org, so that an org must be of non-trivial size to qualify and to make it expensive for scammers to create millions of accounts.” Earlier this month, the tech billionaire revealed that the company was suffering from negative cash flow issues after advertising revenue dropped by 50 per cent following his $44 billion takeover of the platform. Mr Musk has undertaken aggressive cost-cutting measures, which included firing more than 6,000 employees. He has also appointed former advertising executive Linda Yaccarino as the firm’s CEO in an effort to woo advertisers. The rebranding from Twitter to X could also open up new revenue streams, with Mr Musk planning to transform the social network into an “everything app” similar to China’s WeChat. X has already secured money-transmitting licences in three US states, which will allow payments to be integrated into the platform. Ms Yaccarino said on Monday that she believed X represented “the future state of unlimited interactivity”, integrating audio, video, messaging, and the ability to book and pay for goods and services. Powered by AI, X will connect us all in ways we’re just beginning to imagine,” she posted on X. “For years, fans and critics alike have pushed Twitter to dream bigger, to innovate faster, and to fulfil our great potential. X will do that and more.” Read More What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X? Elon Musk takes control of @X account from user who had held it for 16 years Elon Musk’s ‘X’ is already trademarked by Mark Zuckerberg What is Elon Musk’s ‘everything app’ X?

Since Instagram’s text-based alternative to Twitter, Threads, rolled out last week, a handful of memes and conspiracy theories have surfaced around the app’s unusual ‘at symbol’-like logo – from the inaccurate suggestion it was predicted by The Simpsons (it wasn’t), and now, to claims it’s actually linked to the devil (it isn’t). The baseless theory - seemingly backed by Twitter owner Elon Musk himself, if his public tweet likes are anything to go by – suggests the swirly icon secretly contains the number ‘666’, often referred to as “the number of the beast” and considered a link to the Antichrist. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Claiming they “can’t stop seeing it”, one Twitter user asked: “Does anyone else think the Threads logo just looks like 666? The first 6 is forward and white, then the second one is smaller and backwards, and the third one is the black space inside.” “How to put 666 ‘the number of the beast’ into a logo,” wrote another, in a tweet liked by Musk. Several other accounts have branded Threads “satanic” over the supposed link. In fact, the baseless claim became so popular that Instagram boss Adam Mosseri shared a thread on Friday explaining the real meaning behind the logo. “The Threads logo, in Instagram Sans, is inspired by the @ sign, which stands for someone’s username, the individual, and voice. “It’s a single unbroken line, inspired by the loop seen in the app when a thread is started,” he wrote. When one user commented that it “would have been entertaining” if Mosseri jokingly confirmed the conspiracy to be true, the exec replied: “It was tempting, but I feel like that kind of sass would just blow up in my face.” Sensible. Of course, this is just one fact which dispels this conspiracy theory as nonsense and baseless, but one lesser-known bit of historical trivia also exposes just how outlandish the claim is. All the way back in 2005, it was reported that a newly discovered fragment of the oldest version of the New Testament – the second part of the Bible – from the third century gave a different number entirely for the number of the beast. Found in historic dumps near Oxyrhynchus in Egypt, the text from the Book of Revelation indicates it’s not 666 which is the fiendish number we should all be fearing, but the far less aesthetically pleasing 616. Professor David Parker, Professor of New Testament Textual Criticism and Paleography at the University of Birmingham, said: “This is an example of gematria, where numbers are based on the numerical values of letters in people’s names. “Early Christians would use numbers to hide the identity of people who they were attacking: 616 refers to the Emperor Caligula.” This is in contrast to the far more popular 666, which is understood to have referred to Emperor Nero. 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.

Slack has been hit by unusual errors that have seen messages disappear and duplicate. Problems have been reported by a “small percentage” of users, according to the office chat app. Those affected said they were seeing messages duplicate or not send, especially in groups. The company acknowledged the problem and said that it was investigating. “We’re receiving reports that a small percentage of users are experiencing issues with loading and sending messages,” it said in a post to its status page. “We’re actively looking into this, and we’ll report back as more information becomes available.” Tracking website Down Detector confirmed the issues, with a relatively small number of reports from users that the app was not working as expected. It was unclear why the problems were only affecting some users, and what marked out those who were hit by it. It was also unclear whether there was any easy way for those affected to make the app work as normal again. The outage comes just a few days after another major outage at the office chat app. This time around, the problems came at the end of the working day in the UK, and before lunchtime in the US. Read More Slack is down Photoshop unveils ‘extraordinary’ AI that transforms your pictures with a text prompt ChatGPT creator issues stark warning on AI

The United Arab Emirates is coming under increasing pressure to achieve ambitious results when it hosts the COP28

David Hockney has unveiled his latest Christmas-themed artwork to bring “joy and hope” to people in London. The Bigger Christmas Trees artwork at Battersea Power Station depicts two large green and purple striped Christmas trees, each with a gold star at the top. The artwork is being displayed on the landmark’s two chimneys, which measure 100 metres (328 feet) and overlook the River Thames. “Battersea Power Station is such a beautiful building, I wanted to decorate it in a way that I hoped would bring joy and hope to Londoners,” said Hockney, 86. The artist, who is known for using a range of mediums including apps on iPhones, used an iPad Pro and Apple Pencil to create the design. Hockney has used Apple products in his artwork for more than 15 years including the first iPhone model in 2007. Apple’s senior vice president of worldwide marketing Greg Joswiak described Hockney’s artwork as a “gift” for London. He said: “David is one of the world’s most important and influential artists, and we couldn’t be more excited to see his latest creation lighting up Battersea Power Station. “It is a privilege for us that he chooses iPad for his work, and to create this beautiful Christmas gift for the people of London.” Hockney’s other work using an iPad includes a stained glass window and a piece to highlight the natural world, which he created during the Covid-19 pandemic. In November, he unveiled his David Hockney: Drawing from Life exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery, in London, which showcases a portrait of singer Harry Styles. Styles is depicted wearing an orange and red cardigan with a pearl necklace and blue jeans in one of 30 displays at the gallery. The Bigger Christmas Trees artwork will be displayed in a 10-minute animation on two of Battersea Power Station’s towers from 5pm to 10pm every evening until Christmas Day. Read More Apple names its App Store apps of the year £16bn Adobe takeover could harm competition in digital design market – watchdog Young people the biggest users of generative AI, Ofcom study shows Software firm Cloudsmith announces £8.8m investment UK and South Korea issue warning over North Korea-linked cyber attacks Data protection watchdog warns websites over cookie consent alerts