My colleague Chris Welch spotted that the tab had been pinned to the top of his home screen in the iOS app, beckoning him to stick with Threads for the latest news on the awards show, which is starting in less than an hour at 7PM ET.
I don’t have it, but it’s not unusual for Threads to test the waters before rolling features out to everyone.
The US General Services Administration (GSA) laid the team off in an overnight email explaining the decision came from “top levels of leadership within both the Administration and the GSA,” reports NextGov.
Established in 2014, 18F aimed to modernize government technology products and recently helped realize the IRS Direct File program, which now offers free tax filing in 25 states.
[nextgov.com]
Agency chair Brendan Carr criticized Verizon’s “lack of progress” on ending DEI initiatives in a letter telling its executives to contact FCC staff working on its pending Frontier acquisition, according to Bloomberg. That implies the merger’s approval is tied to Carr’s DEI agenda, fellow Commissioner Geoffrey Starks told the outlet in a statement critical of the move.
DEI is also at the center of the FCC’s Comcast probe.
Disclosure: Comcast is an investor in Vox Media, The Verge’s parent company.
Apple’s retail stock of last year’s iPad Air is drying up, a sign that Apple could announce new versions of the tablet soon, Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman writes in today’s Power On newsletter. That’s a rare turnaround for the iPad Air, which Apple tends to take longer to replace.
Gurman adds that the M4 MacBook Air’s launch is “imminent,” with Apple making “a Mac-related announcement as early as this coming week.”
Android Authority spotted that the latest WhatsApp Android beta now lets you raise your hand or send emoji reactions during a video call.
Similar to a video call in Google Meet, the WhatsApp beta only presents a handful of options, like the thumbs-up emoji or heart emoji. Both the hand-raising option and emoji reactions are tucked behind the three-dots menu.
