35 – Breaking News & Latest Updates 2026
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Jacob Kastrenakes

Jacob Kastrenakes

Executive Editor

Executive Editor

    More From Jacob Kastrenakes

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Twitter plans to wipe out inactive accounts.

    According to Elon Musk, at least, who has a habit of declaring Twitter policies that he does not follow through on.

    This one could have big repercussions, though, and Musk didn’t provide clarity on what qualifies as being inactive. Does that mean no logins? No tweets? What happens to now-inactive icons like @Horse_Ebooks?

    It’s probably a good time to fire off a tweet on your burner, just in case.

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Elon is very worried about government access to Twitter…

    but not enough to aggressively fight back. Rest of World reports that government requests for Twitter to censor posts or provide data more than doubled under Musk, and Musk’s team has been doing little to combat them.

    In the year before Musk’s acquisition, the [requests that Twitter complies with in full] had hovered around 50 percent, in line with the compliance rate reported in the company’s final transparency report. After Musk’s takeover, the number jumps to 83 percent (808 requests out of a total of 971).

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Spotify’s CEO is “disappointed but not surprised” by the Apple–Epic ruling.

    On an earnings call today, Daniel EK called Epic’s single win — which will let app developers tell users about non-Apple payment options — “very important.” But mostly, he said the US still needs a law to be passed to open up mobile devices from the control of Apple and Google.

    Here’s Ek on why he sees this as a big issue:

    “When I started as a 14 year-old entrepreneur, the internet was this democratic place that anyone, anywhere in the world could have an impact, and right now we’re in a place where billions of consumers are using the internet primarily through smartphones and ... there’s literally two companies now that control all of that on the internet and they can unilaterally change the rules.”

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Is it still insider trading if you’re trading NFTs?

    The US government’s criminal case against the former product leader of OpenSea, Nate Chastain, kicks off this week. Chastain is accused of buying up NFTs that he knew would be featured on OpenSea’s homepage, then selling them shortly thereafter as their value spiked.

    The question isn’t so much whether Chastain did this, it’s whether doing this is illegal. As a former SEC enforcement lawyer told Reuters, “Is it insider trading of anything?”

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    An explosive leak is rocking the world championship of... chess?

    Yesterday, as grandmasters Ding Liren and Ian Nepomniachtchi faced off in game eight for the chess world’s top title, someone on Reddit noticed that the exact position on their board had recently been reached by an online account.

    Now, the entire chess world seems convinced that they’ve found Liren’s secret online prep account, revealing his planned attacks and defenses to Nepomniachtchi ahead of their remaining games. “This is a huge, huge blow in terms of the overall match strategy,” grandmaster Hikaru Nakamura said in a video yesterday.

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    “Now we know that if given access to it, they would use it.”

    –a scientist discussing parrots and video calling apps. Highly recommended reading in The New York Times.

    Parrot on a video call with another parrot.
    Parrot on a video call with another parrot.
    Image: Northeastern University
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    #hashtag inventor Chris Messina has signed off of Twitter.

    Messina said goodbye to the platform on Saturday after his verification check was removed:

    My choice isn’t about the badge; it’s about everything that lead up to the badge and how it has been handled. Whatever Twitter was before deserved more dignity and consideration than it’s received in the last six months.

    His account has now been set to private.

    Messina’s suggestion, back in 2007, to use the # symbol to organize groups became a defining feature for Twitter. The platform’s new owner, however, isn’t much of a fan.

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    I know what you’re thinking: RentAHitman.com is obviously run by the FBI.

    Turns out, it’s not — it’s just a gag website from a guy who uses the pseudonym Guido Fanelli. But Guido is in contact with the FBI, and you would not believe how many people have been arrested because of it.

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Confirming, that is Tim Cook.

    Apple’s CEO was spotted at Coachella this weekend alongside Apple Music leader Eddy Cue. Apparently he’s something of a regular. Do you think he stuck around for Frank Ocean?

    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Jacob Kastrenakes
    Of course Jony Ive made his own font.

    LoveFrom, Ive’s design firm, has a custom typeface called LoveFrom Serif. It was revealed on the agency’s website a couple years ago, but I just found out about it today when looking at the Steve Jobs ebook, which features this note at the end.

    “Designed by LoveFrom. Typeset in LoveFrom Serif.”
    Image: credits for the “Make Something Wonderful” webpage.