Sarah Perez
Reporter
The Latest from Sarah Perez
Spotify to include a selection of 150K audiobooks with its Premium subscription
Spotify today unveiled what’s next for the future of its audiobooks service. At an event hosted in its New York offices on Tuesday afternoon, the company announced a new business model where it
US lawmakers ask TikTok about its ByteDance ties after recent exec transfers between the companies
U.S. lawmakers have written a letter to TikTok questioning its independence from its Chinese parent company ByteDance, in the wake of a recent report from The Wall St. Journal that noted that several
Gmail to enforce harsher rules in 2024 to keep spam from users’ inboxes
Google today is announcing a series of significant changes to how it handles email from bulk senders in an effort to cut down on spam and other unwanted emails. The company says that starting next yea
DoorDash tests a feature that rewards users for dining out, not ordering in
DoorDash has made a name for itself as a restaurant delivery service that has in later years expanded to categories like groceries and convenience store items. But the company is now running a test of
Elon Musk’s X Corp. faces trademark lawsuit from social media ad agency
When Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X this summer, there were concerns that the new company could face trademark lawsuits as there were nearly 900 active U.S. trademark registrations that cover the le
Amid Twitter chaos, Mastodon grew donations 488% in 2022, reached 1.8M monthly active users
Consumer interest in open source, decentralized social networking isn’t something that was only reflected in news headlines over the past year, it’s also apparent in the financials behind
Elon Musk’s X to test livestream shopping in partnership with Paris Hilton
As Elon Musk’s X expands its efforts to become an “everything app,” the company formerly known as Twitter announced today it will run a livestream shopping event with media icon Pari
Spotify spotted developing AI-generated playlists created with prompts
Following the successful launch of Spotify’s AI-powered DJ feature and, more recently, added support for AI-translated podcasts, Spotify now appears to be developing another means of using AI in
BeReal pushes back at report that it’s losing steam, says it now has 25M daily users
Just under a year ago, the buzzy new social app BeReal looked to be on the rise, with reportedly 20 million users launching the app every day to snap their candid photos. However, in the months since,
It’s not clear X CEO Linda Yaccarino knew about Elon Musk’s plan to charge for X
In a live chat earlier this month, Elon Musk said X would charge users “a small monthly payment” to use its service — a necessity, he explained, in order to combat the “vast ar
Artifact co-founder Mike Krieger says there’s a ‘flavor’ of Twitter in app’s latest release
The AI-powered news reading app Artifact, built by Instagram’s co-founders, has been transforming itself into a more social experience over time with recent launches like profiles, commenting, l
Bumble CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd shares how AI will ‘supercharge’ love with digital matchmakers
Bumble, Inc. CEO Whitney Wolfe Herd believes the power of AI technology will lead to a better online dating experience for her apps’ users. Speaking at the Code Conference on Wednesday, the Bumb
Publisher-focused Twitter alternative Post comes to Android, adds newsletter support
Post, a publisher-focused Twitter/X alternative backed by a16z, is bringing its social news-sharing app to Android today along with new tools that will make it easier for creators to share their newsl
Meta’s 512GB Quest 3 now comes with 6 months of the Quest+ subscription
Meta’s VR subscription service, Quest+, is now being bundled with the company’s Quest 3 mixed-reality headset. The subscription, which provides VR device owners the ability to two handpick
Generative AI stickers are coming to Meta’s apps along with AI editing
At its Meta Connect event today, CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced that generative AI stickers would be coming to Meta's messaging apps.
Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl says AI to impact the music industry within the next year
Warner Music CEO Robert Kyncl believes AI will be significantly impacting the music industry within the next year. Speaking at the Code Conference this week, the industry exec said the industry should
Snap shutters its enterprise services division after less than a year
Snap is closing down a division of its company designed to offer its AR expertise to enterprise customers. The initiative, called AR Enterprise Service, or ARES, was announced in March of this year, a
Walmart returns to Roblox after its first games were attacked by consumer advocacy groups
Walmart is returning to Roblox, but this time with a virtual world where gamers can discover new virtual items and accessories to personalize their experience, not browse or shop items from Walmart it
YouTube relaxes advertiser-friendly guidelines around controversial topics, like abortion, abuse and eating disorders
YouTube today announced an update to its advertiser-friendly guidelines that relaxes some of its rules around controversial issues, including sexual and domestic abuse, abortions and eating disorders.
Photo-sharing app Lapse hits top of the App Store by forcing you to invite your friends
Forget invite-only social apps, Lapse is testing a new technique to acquire its users: It forces you to invite your friends in order to get in. The reinvention of a social camera app first introduced