Sarah Perez
Consumer News Editor
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Spotify’s Audiobooks will get their own ‘Countdown Pages’ to tease upcoming new releases
Spotify is enhancing its audiobooks streaming service with a feature that may be familiar to the app’s music consumers: Countdown Pages. These YouTube-like Countdown Pages were launched alongsid
Anti-AI sentiment gets big applause at SXSW 2024 as moviemaker dubs AI cheerleading as ‘terrifying bullsh**’
A whiff of anti-AI sentiment got big applause at the SXSW conference in Austin on Tuesday afternoon. Award-winning writers and directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as “
Most subscription mobile apps don’t make money, new report shows
Investors know that most startups fail, but something that may be less understood is how few mobile apps actually make money. According to a new analysis of the subscription app economy from mobile su
Bluesky scoops up the developer of popular third-party app, Graysky
Decentralized Twitter/X rival Bluesky is adding to its ranks by scooping up a member of its developer community. London-based software engineer Samuel Newman, who built the well-received third-party B
After losing access to Twitter’s API, Block Party pivots to privacy
Block Party, a startup developed by software engineer and tech diversity advocate Tracy Chou, was among the victims of Twitter’s (now X’s) API changes earlier this year, forcing it to pivo
Bluesky is funding developer projects to give its Twitter/X alternative a boost
Would-be Twitter/X rival Bluesky is looking to more directly invest in its developer community in order to foster growth. The company last week announced “AT Protocol Grants,” a new progra
Potential ‘meme stock’ Reddit will let Redditors sell shares immediately
Reddit’s IPO should be interesting to watch — and not just because the business remains unprofitable, but also because of how the company has chosen to bring in its community of active us
A third of Bumble’s Texas workforce moved after state passed restrictive ‘Heartbeat Act’ abortion bill
Bumble has lost a third of its Texas workforce in the months since the state passed the controversial abortion SB 8 (Senate Bill 8), also known as the Texas Heartbeat Act, over a year ago. This new da
Despite distancing itself from politics, the topic is dominating Threads’ trends
Meta’s newest app Threads, a would-be Twitter/X rival, may not want politics on its platform, but it’s coming to the app anyway — or so Threads’ search trends indicate. The app
AI fraud detection software maker Inscribe.ai lays off 40% of staff
Yet another AI-powered fraud detection software provider is laying off staff. Inscribe, whose platform works to detect fraud in areas like business underwriting, tenant screening and onboarding, has c
Apple will make it easier to move to Android by fall 2025
Apple says it plans to make it easier for customers to switch to Android as a result of the EU’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), which went into force today. Alongside support for alternative app sto
Turnitin laid off staff earlier this year, after CEO forecast AI would allow it to cut headcount
People worry that advances in AI will lead to job losses, but rarely does a company’s CEO openly admit that AI will help to reduce their headcount. Turnitin, a plagiarism detection company whose
Anonymous social apps face another reckoning as UNC System to ban Yik Yik, Fizz, Sidechat & Whisper
Anonymous social apps are in for a reckoning. Yes, again. This week, University of North Carolina (UNC) System President Peter Hans announced a plan to block the use of popular anonymous social apps o
Google adds new developer fees as part of the Play Store’s DMA compliance plan
Google today is sharing more details about the fees that will accompany its plan to comply with Europe’s new Digital Markets Act (DMA), the new regulation aimed at increasing competition across
Apple terminates Epic Games developer account calling it a ‘threat’ to the iOS ecosystem
The Apple-Epic saga has taken a new turn today as the Fortnite game developer, Epic Games, shared that Apple has terminated its developer account. This is a reversal from the earlier approval of Epic&
To comply with DMA, WhatsApp and Messenger will become interoperable via Signal protocol
Meta today is offering more details about how it plans to make its messaging apps, WhatsApp and Messenger, interoperable with third-party messaging services, as required by the new EU law, the Digital
k-ID launches a solution that helps game developers comply with ever-changing child safety regulations
Making a video game successful is already hard. Doing so while complying with the growing number of child safety laws and regulations around the world is an almost insurmountable task. A new technolog
Apple revises its DMA rules after pressure, but keeps the Core Technology Fee intact
No, Apple’s new and controversial “Core Technology Fee” isn’t going away for EU app developers who opt into the iPhone maker’s new business terms designed to comply with
Google takes aim at SEO-optimized junk pages and spam with new search update
Google today took aim at the SEO industry, which has gamified search rankings to destroy the value of Google Search results. Often, consumers’ web searches for product recommendations, reviews,
Facebook, Instagram and Threads were all down in massive Meta outage on Super Tuesday
Reports are coming in that a number of Meta’s top social apps, including Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, are all experiencing an outage on Tuesday morning. When loading the apps or websites, u