YouTube, Instagram, SoundCloud, and other online platforms are changing the way people create and consume media. The Verge’s Creators section covers the people using these platforms, what they’re making, and how those platforms are changing (for better and worse) in response to the vloggers, influencers, podcasters, photographers, musicians, educators, designers, and more who are using them.
The Verge’s Creators section also looks at the way creators are able to turn their projects into careers — from Patreons and merch sales, to ads and Kickstarters — and the ways they’re forced to adapt to changing circumstances as platforms crack down on bad actors and respond to pressure from users and advertisers. New platforms are constantly emerging, and existing ones are ever-changing — what creators have to do to succeed is always going to look different from one year to the next.
One app, all your feeds, none of the nonsense of social media. It’s a better way to consume just about everything.
The President signed an executive order today to create the fund “within the next year,” and told reporters that the US could use it to purchase TikTok, according to Reuters.
Trump has previously suggested the US could own 50 percent of the app in a “joint venture.”
After a few delays, Universal and Blumhouse’s sequel to their $180 million grossing viral hit about a best-friend-AI-bot-gone-bad is scheduled to premiere on June 27th, 2025. Now the first teaser trailer has dropped on the night of the Grammy Awards with an assist from Chappell Roan’s song “Femininomenon.”
In M3gan 2.0 the robot will be resurrected to do battle with a military-grade spinoff based on her original tech, and presumably some new TikTok dances.
Six months ago, YouTube demonetized game streamer Guy Beahm, aka Dr Disrespect, after he confirmed reports about why his Twitch channel was banned in 2020. In a now-deleted post, he wrote:
Were there twitch whisper messages with an individual minor back in 2017? The answer is yes.
Now, on the same day the game studio he co-founded before it cut ties with him last summer announced it’s shutting down, Kotaku reports that Beahm informed his viewers YouTube re-enabled monetization. The 10,000 ‘Founders Access’ NFT passes Beahm and Midnight Studios sold for their game Deadrop weren’t mentioned.
The livestreaming platform announced that this week, every channel will get the ability to edit and share clips straight to Instagram.
How useful that is for Twitch’s gaming-focused creators is up for debate, but with TikTok’s future in question, adding Instagram to the mix seems sensible.
Trump’s executive order doesn’t provide much legal protection, and it’s putting his supporters in a tough spot.
Asked by reporters if Microsoft is in talks to take over TikTok’s US arm, the president was succinct: “I would say yes.” The company is reported to be among several investors, including Oracle, working on a joint bid. Microsoft previously tried to buy the social site back in 2020, which CEO Satya Nadella called the “strangest thing I’ve ever worked on.”
[Bloomberg.com]
Its “Medcast” bit from over the weekend imagines Amazon’s One Medical trying a new approach to get men in for their annual checkups: structuring medical appointments like a bro-y podcast.
Sounds like hell to me, but hey, whatever gets men to get their prostates examined.
The President was asked about the talks, which NPR reported yesterday afternoon also involve Microsoft, during a flight to Florida Saturday. His response, according to Reuters:
“No, not with Oracle. Numerous people are talking to me, very substantial people, about buying it and I will make that decision probably over the next 30 days. Congress has given 90 days.”
Hairo Satoh has managed to squeeze a Nintendo DS into an original Game Boy that still closely resembles the original hardware. DS games are playable thanks to an added card slot on the bottom, a second screen that pops out the top, and a touchscreen upgrade. Now just give it an 3DS autostereo screen and stubby joystick!
Correction: It was the 3DS, not the DS, that had a stubby joystick.
Please don’t buy used phones with TikTok installed. I know it’s hard to pass the time without the FYP, but it’s a massive security and privacy risk. Just scroll on your browser instead.
It’s not clear whether any of the examples in this New York Times story have actually sold, but eBay is full of listings that apparently have been purchased.
[The New York Times]
The celebrated cartoonist talks anxiety, process, and the final installment of his Acme Novelty Datebook series.
There are repair guides and replacement parts available for more than 20 Logitech devices, including keyboards, headsets, and MX / G series mice, on the iFixit-hosted Logitech Repair Hub — and now you can get them in 62 countries.
That includes the UK, Canada, Australia, Japan, and across the EU, following Logitech’s iFixit partnership initially launching in the US. Repair guides are also available in multiple languages.
An analysis from Bloomberg shows how streamers and podcasters including Joe Rogan, Logan Paul, Lex Fridman, and Theo Von espoused similar conservative messaging leading up to the election, potentially priming their predominantly male viewers to vote for Trump.
Across over 600 videos with more than 1 million views each, Bloomberg found:
In two-thirds of the videos, broadcasters discussed voting, immigration, people identifying as transgender, institutional medicine, war or the economy... Voting was the most frequently mentioned political topic among the highly viewed videos, with mentions appearing in 37% of the episodes that Bloomberg reviewed.
Here he is talking about it during today’s big data center announcement, with Larry Ellison, Sam Altman, and Masa Son standing in the room with him.
Extreme First Amendment issues with having the government own a social platform aside, it’s striking how he keeps talking about “permits” even though nothing in the TikTok bill has anything to do with permits. Once a real-estate guy, always a real-estate guy, I suppose.
The “Repeal the TikTok Ban Act,” introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Rep. Ro Khanna (D-CA), would undo the forced divestiture law. Unlike President Donald Trump’s executive order or his proposal for the US to own 50 percent of the app, this would be the most legally-sound way to overturn the ban — but it’s still likely a long shot to pass.
