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We may earn a commission from links on this page. Deal pricing and availability subject to change after time of publication.Garmin smartwatches have been gaining popularity in recent years for health-conscious and sports enthusiasts alike. Their Garmin Venu 3S, which was released in late 2023, is one of their premium watches that works great for beginners and more advanced athletes thanks to their user-friendly fitness tracking. You can get the 41mm Venu 3S for $349.99 (originally $449.99), the lowest price it has been according to price tracking tools. Garmin Venu 3S Operating System: Android, Memory Storage Capacity: 8 GB $349.99 at Amazon $449.99 Save $100.00 Get Deal Get Deal $349.99 at Amazon $449.99 Save $100.00 The Venus 3S offers Android and Apple users a long battery life of up to 10 days (depending on your use and settings), 8GB of storage, a built-in GPS to track your activity, and a 1.2-inch AMOLED touchscreen. This 41mm size is perfect for people with smaller-sized wrists. The Venus 3S is user-friendly, with three buttons and a touchscreen to navigate its features and avoid accidentally stopping your workout. The smartwatch has a speaker and microphone so you can take your calls directly from your watch. You can also use it to listen to its guided meditation feature or your playlists from Spotify and Amazon music, just keep in mind there is no LTE support, so you'll need to be within Bluetooth or wifi range of your phone to use these features. If you're looking for a smartwatch to do trail runs, this smartwatch is not it, since there's no trail-run feature. However, you can get stats on your recovery time after workouts as well as the benefits of your training, a morning report of your health status, heart rate monitoring, stress tracking, on-screen workouts you can follow along, their Body Battery Energy Monitoring that shows you how much or little energy you might have, as well as a Sleep Coach feature that helps you improve your sleep.

The switch has flipped on the TikTok ban. TikTok's app stoped working and was removed from the App Store and Google Play on Saturday night just hours before the January 19, ban was set to take effect.People who have previously installed the app were instead greeted with a pop-up. "Sorry, TikTok isn't available right now," it says. "A law banning TikTok has been enacted in the U.S. Unfortunately, that means you can't use TikTok for now. We are fortunate that president Trump has indicated that he will work with us on a solution to reinstate TikTok once he takes office. Please stay tuned."The notice gives users the option to close the app or "learn more," which directs to a page on TikTok's website with similar language. Existing users can also download their data from the website.Following the passage of the "Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Apps Act" by President Biden, TikTok had six months to divest itself from Chinese parent company ByteDance. The company opted to fight the law, bringing a case to the Supreme Court that its First Amendment rights were violated by the measure. The Supreme Court was not swayed.As part of the ban, Apple's App Store, Google's Play Store and any other app marketplace must remove TikTok or be subject to a fine of $5,000 for every user in the US that downloads the app. Internet hosting providers are also expected to comply, which means accessing the platform's short-form videos from a web browser is out of the question.Multiple attempts have been made to ban TikTok in the US over concerns of spying, but this is the first time one has stuck. President-elect Trump was a major of supporter of a ban during his first term in office and, ironically, TikTok's only hope of surviving after his second inauguration. Trump called for the Supreme Court to take up TikTok's appeal, and now that the court's made its decision, the problem falls to the President-elect to "fix," if he choses to.Developing...This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/tiktok-is-no-longer-available-in-the-us-040204115.html?src=rss

Looking for NYT Connections answers and hints? Here's all you need to know to solve today's game, plus my commentary on the puzzles.

It is one of the 20th centurys most memorable images: a naked girl, screaming, running from a napalm bombing during the Vietnam War. More than a half-century later, a new documentary is calling into question who took it and the retired Associated Press photographer long credited for the photo insists it was his, while his longtime employer says it has no evidence of anyone else being behind the camera.The film about the Pulitzer Prize-winning picture, The Stringer, is scheduled to debut next week at the Sundance Film Festival. Bothphotographer Nick Utand his longtime employer are contesting it vigorously, and Uts lawyer is seeking to block the premiere, threatening a defamation lawsuit. The AP, which conductedits own investigationover six months, concluded it has no reason to believe anyone other than Ut took the photo.The picture of Kim Phucrunning down a road in the village ofTrang Bang,crying and naked because she had taken off clothes burning from napalm, instantly became symbolic of the horrors of the Vietnam War.Taken on June 8, 1972, the photo is credited to Ut, then a 21-year-old staffer in APs Saigon bureau. He was awarded the Pulitzer a year later. Now 73, he moved to California after the war and worked for the AP for 40 years until retiring in 2017.The films allegations open an unexpected new chapter for an image that, within hours of it being taken, was beamed around the planet and became one of the most indelible photographs of both the Vietnam War and the turbulent century that produced it. Whatever the truth, the films investigations apparently relate only to the identity of the photographer and not the images overall authenticity.The dispute puts the filmmakers, whocall the episodea scandal behind the making of one of the most-recognized photographs of the 20th century, at odds with Ut, whose work that day defined his career. It also puts them at cross purposes with theAP,a global news organization for whom accuracy is a foundational part of the business model.How did the questioning of the photo begin?Its difficult, so many years later, to overestimate the wallop that this particular image packed. Ron Burnett, an expert on images and former president of the Emily Carr University of Art and Design, called it earth-shattering.It changed the way photos have always been thought about and broke the rules for how much violence you can show to the public, Burnett said.The photo sat unchallenged for much of its 53-year existence. All these years later, a counter-narrative has emerged that it was instead taken by another person, someone who working that day as a driver for NBC News and also lives now in California. The person allegedly had delivered his film to the APs office as a stringer, a non-staff member who provides material to a news organization.The husband-and-wife team of Gary Knight, founder of the VII Foundation, and producer Fiona Turner are behind the film. On his website, Knight described The Stringer as a story that many in our profession did not want told, and some of them continue to go to great lengths to make sure isnt told.The film grapples with questions of authorship, racial injustice and journalistic ethics while shining a light on the fundamental yet often unrecognized contributions of local freelancers who provide the information we need to understand how events worldwide impact us all, Knight wrote.Knight did not return a message seeking comment from the AP on Thursday. A representative from Sundance also did not return a message about a cease-and-desist letter from Uts lawyer, James Hornstein, trying to stop the films airing. Hornstein would not make Ut available for an interview, saying he anticipated future litigation.Knight and Turner met with AP in London last June about the allegations. According to the AP, filmmakers requested the news organization sign a non-disclosure agreement before they provided their evidence. AP declined.That hampered the APs own investigation, along with the passage of time. Horst Faas, chief of photos for AP in Saigon in 1972, and Yuichi Jackson Ishizaki, who developed Uts film, are both dead. Many of the Saigon bureaus records were lost when communists took over the city, including any dealings with the stringer. Negatives of photos used back then are preserved in APs corporate archives in New York, but they provided no insight for the investigation.Still, the AP decided to release its own findings before seeing The Stringer and the details of the claim that it is making. AP stands prepared to review any evidence and take whatever remedial action might be needed if their thesis is proved true, the news organization said.Some who were there are sure about what happenedThe AP said it spoke to seven surviving people who were in Trang Bang or APs Saigon bureau that day, and all maintain they have no reason to doubt their own conclusions that Ut had taken the photo.One was Fox Butterfield, a renowned longtime New York Times reporter, who also said that he was contacted by Turner for the documentary. I told them what my memory was and they didnt like it, but they just went ahead anyway, Butterfield told AP.Another was photographer David Burnett, who said he witnessed Ut and Alexander Shimkin, a freelance photographer working primarily for Newsweek, taking photos as Kim Phuc and other children emerged from smoke following an attack. Shimkin was killed in Vietnam a month later, according to the investigation.A key source for the story in The Stringer is Carl Robinson, then a photo editor for the AP in Saigon, who was initially overruled in his judgment not to use the picture. AP reached out to Robinson as part of its probe, but he said he had signed an NDA with Knight and the VII Foundation. Knight followed up, saying Robinson would only speak off the record, which the AP concluded would have prevented the news organization from setting the record straight.Robinson did not immediately reply to an email seeking comment on Thursday.On duty that day in Saigon, Robinson had concluded that Uts picture could not be used because it would have violated standards prohibiting nudity. But Faas overruled him, and senior AP editors in New York decided to run the picture for what it conveyed about war.The AP questioned Robinsons long silence in contradicting Uts photo credit, and showed a photo from its archives of Robinson with champagne toasting Uts Pulitzer Prize. In a 2005 interview with corporate archives, Robinson said he thought AP created a monster when it distributed the photo because much of the worlds sympathies were focused on one victim, instead of war victims more broadly.Former AP correspondent Peter Arnett, who believes Ut made the image, said Robinson wrote to him after Faas death in 2012 to make the allegation that Ut had not taken it; he said he did not want to do it while Faas was still alive. According to the AP investigation, Arnett said Robinson told him that Ut had gone all Hollywood and he didnt like it.Hornstein characterized Robinson, who was dismissed by AP in 1978, as a guy with a 50-year vendetta against the AP. He also questioned the long silence by the man supposedly identified in the documentary as the person who really took the photo.The lawyer also produced a statement from Kim Phuc, who said that while she has no memory of that day, her uncle has repeatedly told her that Ut took the picture and that she had no reason to doubt him. Ut also took her to the nearest hospital after the photo was taken, she wrote.David Bauder, Associated Press

Remember not too long ago when everything was bigger? TVs were bulky, phones were thick, as were laptops. Chipsets werent that powerful, but they were larger, and memory disks the size of a book maxed out in gigabytes. Today, technologys overcome size to make things more powerful while being smaller. Smartphones are super-slim, laptops and TVs are often razor-thin, and you can now literally get a memory card with 2 terabytes of capacity. The point is, things get smaller and more powerful with time. Case in point, Tektos A3 Delta Mini Automatic Knife.The A3 Delta Mini takes this philosophy of compact power and applies it to the world of everyday carry. Its a knife thats unapologetically small but remarkably capableproof that size is no longer a limitation in design. Inspired by its larger predecessor, the A3 Delta, this scaled-down marvel retains the strength, precision, and reliability that Tekto is known for, all within a form factor that slips seamlessly into your pocket. Its not just a smaller knife; its a smarter one, showcasing how modern engineering and thoughtful design can condense greatness into a truly pocket-sized tool.Designer: TektoClick Here to Buy Now: $119 $139.99 (15% off, use coupon code YANKO). Hurry, free 2-day FedEx shipping in the United States. Deal ends in 48 hours!The A3 Delta Mini retains the full-sized A3 Deltas DNAruggedness, durability, and top-notch performancebut in a compact, California-legal form. Its automatic folding mechanism ensures lightning-fast deployment, while the 1.95-inch titanium-coated D2 steel blade balances precision and control. Whether youre slicing through tough materials or tackling delicate tasks, this knife delivers reliable results. Compact doesnt mean underpowered; the A3 Delta Mini is a tactical powerhouse designed for modern-day challenges.The Mini features a 1.95-inch Fine Edge Drop Point blade fashioned from titanium-coated D2 steel, renowned for its durability and edge retention. With a hardness rating of 5860 HRC, it can tackle a variety of cutting tasks with confidence, whether slicing rope, opening packaging, or prepping small game outdoors.Every detail of the A3 Delta Mini has been crafted with the user in mind. Its contoured G10 handle offers exceptional grip, comfort, and control, no matter the hand position or weather conditions. Enhanced with additional jimping, the handle ensures a firm grip for precise cuts, even under pressure. Whether youre navigating everyday carry (EDC) tasks or unexpected scenarios, the Minis ergonomics make it a versatile tool ready for anything.Unlike its full-sized predecessor, the A3 Delta Mini is California-legal for automatic knives, offering quick deployment through a button lock mechanism. A distinctive crimson-red safety indicator and a forward-locking system work together to prevent accidental openings, ensuring peace of mind during daily carry. Coupled with Tektos reputation for top-tier build quality, this thoughtful safety suite underlines the brands commitment to combining speed and accessibility with uncompromising reliability.The A3 Delta Minis handle measures 4.00 inches, while the overall length reaches 6.13 inches when opened. At just 2.54 ounces, it strikes an impressive balance between heft and portability, giving users the confidence to tackle tasks without feeling weighed down. Meanwhile, its slender build ensures easy pocket carry, aided by the included ambidextrous pocket clip for quick and efficient retrieval. The knife comes in 3 colorways Black, Desert, and OD Green.Despite its small footprint, the A3 Delta Mini brings impressive reliability to everything from quick everyday tasks to emergent situations. The button lock and safety switch provide an extra layer of protection, while the D2 steels toughness ensures repeated performance over time. Add in features like the lanyard hole and Tekto pouch, and you have a highly adaptable tool well-suited for campers, hikers, and urban explorers alike.Click Here to Buy Now: $119 $139.99 (15% off, use coupon code YANKO). Hurry, free 2-day FedEx shipping in the United States. Deal ends in 48 hours!The post Tekto A3 Delta Mini: Ultra-Compact Power in a California-Legal Automatic Knife first appeared on Yanko Design.

The popular video app stopped working shortly after signaling to users it might go offline, with a federal law barring U.S. companies from hosting or distributing TikTok set to take effect on Sunday.

A TikTok ban in the US that's been in the works for years started early on Saturday with the company locking down US users but the entire saga remains more about politics than national security.TikTokAs of January 19, 2025, TikTok is no longer accessible within the US. The app is being removed from Apple's App Store and the Google Play Store, plus Oracle must now stop hosting the service's US user data.Those existing users will see only an explanatory pop-up message on launching the app. TikTok's owners, Chinese firm ByteDance, is said to be working to allow users to download their data and personal information. Continue Reading on AppleInsider | Discuss on our Forums

PinPINNEDTODAY, 37 minutes agoRichard LawlerTikTok is down in the US Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikTok has gone dark in the US now that the ban-or-divest law passed last year is taking effect. The app has been removed from both Apple and Googles app stores, its unavailable on the web, and users who open the app are blocked from viewing videos.The shutdown has the astonishing effect of removing a social network used by 170 million people in the US, according to TikToks own numbers. While other social media platforms have experienced outages, even prolonged ones, no network as big as TikTok has simply shut down without any indication of if or when it will come back online.Read Article >TODAY, 41 minutes agoBarbara KrasnoffHow to bulk download and save your TikTok videos Illustration by Samar Haddad / The VergeTheres a general sense of doom on the TikTok feeds these days, and no wonder: it looks like the video service may be banned in the US as of January 19th. TikTok creators are offering satirical goodbyes to their Chinese spies and wondering how quickly they can download the several hundred or thousand videos they have up on the service.TikTok itself apparently doesnt like the idea of allowing its creators to bulk download their videos. You can download in TXT or JSON format a certain amount of your data, which, according to the support page, may include but is not limited to your username, watch video history, comment history, and privacy settings. When I tried it, it did not include my videos.Read Article >TODAY, Two hours agoAlex HeathTikTok will be temporarily unavailable in the US starting tonight Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikTok is officially going dark in the United States now that a federal ban on the app is set to go into effect on January 19th. Around 9PM ET, the app began notifying people in the US, including Verge staffers, with a message that said the ban would make our services temporarily unavailable. The message goes on to say, Were working to restore our service in the US as quickly as possible, an outcome that will require action from the incoming Trump administration one way or another. A similar message is showing up in the CapCut video editor, which is also owned by TikTok.Read Article >Jan 18Wes DavisBiden White House says TikToks threat to go dark is a stunt Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesWhite House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called TikToks threat to go dark on Sunday, January 19th, a stunt, and that there is no reason for TikTok to shut itself down before President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in on the 20th.It is a stunt, and we see no reason for TikTok or other companies to take actions in the next few days before the Trump Administration takes office on Monday, MSNBC quotes Jean-Pierre as saying. We have laid out our position clearly and straightforwardly: actions to implement this law will fall to the next administration.So TikTok and other companies should take up any concerns with them.Read Article >Jan 18Alex HeathTikTok says it will go offline on Sunday if Biden doesnt intervene Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikTok says it plans to go offline on Sunday, January 19th if the Biden administration doesnt intervene.The company confirms earlier reporting that it will be forced to go dark on the 19th unless the outgoing administration provides a definitive statement assuring its most critical service providers that they wont be held liable for breaking the law. Those providers include Apple and Google, which together distribute TikTok through their app stores, and its hosting partners, which include Amazon and Oracle.Read Article >Jan 18Alex HeathHow TikTok backed itself into a corner Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesYoud think that TikTok would have a Plan B by now.Its now clear the company never planned for a scenario in which it would lose to the Supreme Court. Maybe it couldnt, given that the Chinese government ultimately has final say on a sale. Now, TikToks leaders are banking on Donald Trump to save them in a last-ditch effort that will unquestionably come with strings attached.Read Article >Jan 17Alex HeathTikTok tells advertisers its optimistic about finding the best path forward.The app is set to be shut off in the US at midnight on Saturday after losing its appeal to the Supreme Court. TikTok president Blake Chandlee just sent this to advertisers:This is a rapidly evolving situation, and were working quickly with our legal and policy teams to assess the situation and provide clear, accurate updates for our valued partners. Were optimistic about finding the best path forward.Rest assured, well be in touch with more details and next steps ahead of the Sunday, January 19 deadline.He then links to CEO Shou Chews reaction video, which makes clear the company is banking on Trump saving it from a ban.Jan 17Lauren FeinerThe Supreme Court ruled on TikTok and nobody knows what comes next Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesNow that TikTok has finally reached the end of its legal options in the US to avoid a ban, somehow, its future seems less clear than ever. The Supreme Court couldnt have been more direct: the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, as applied to TikTok, withstands First Amendment scrutiny and can take effect on January 19th. The court agreed that the government had a compelling national security interest in passing the law and that its rationale was content neutral. The solution proposed forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to divest TikTok or see it ousted from the US was ruled appropriately tailored to meet those ends. Read Article >Jan 17Lauren FeinerTikTok CEO flatters Trump ahead of US ban deadline Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesIn his first statement since the Supreme Court upheld a law that could ban TikTok from the US on Sunday, TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew offered no insight into what would happen to the app in just a few days. Instead, he took the opportunity to appeal to President-elect Donald Trump.I want to thank President Trump for his commitment to work with us to find a solution that keeps TikTok available in the United States, Chew says in a video on the platform. We are grateful and pleased to have the support of a President who truly understands our platform one who has used TikTok to express his own thoughts and perspectives, connecting with the world and generating more than 60 billion views of his content in the process.Read Article >Jan 17Lauren FeinerSupreme Court upholds TikTok ban law Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesThe Supreme Court ruled that the law that could oust TikTok from the US unless Chinese parent company ByteDance sells it is constitutional as applied to the company. There is no doubt that, for more than 170 million Americans, TikTok offers a distinctive and expansive outlet for expression, means of engagement, and source of community, the court wrote in a per curiam ruling, which is not attributed to any particular justice. But Congress has determined that divestiture is necessary to address its well-supported national security concerns regarding TikToks data collection practices and relationship with a foreign adversary.Read Article >Jan 17Lauren FeinerTrump says he talked to Chinas President Xi about TikTok.We dont know exactly what they discussed, but the US President-elect says it was a very good call. Until we hear otherwise from the Supreme Court or President Joe Biden, the TikTok ban is set to take effect on January 19th one day before Trumps inauguration. It is my expectation that we will solve many problems together, and starting immediately, says Trump.Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)[Truth Social]Jan 17Mia Sato6 TikTok creators on where theyll go if the app is banned Cath Virginia / The Verge | Photo by Brendan Hoffman, Getty ImagesIts been more than four years since Donald Trump first moved to expel TikTok from the US and now, just days before a second Trump presidency begins, it just might happen.President Joe Biden signed legislation last April that officially began the countdown that would force TikToks parent company, ByteDance, to divest from the US business. But even afterward,Read Article >Jan 16Lauren FeinerBiden punts the TikTok ban to Trump Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesThe Biden administration says it will leave it to incoming President Donald Trump to figure out how to deal with the mess of the TikTok ban, ABC News reports.Our position on this has been clear: TikTok should continue to operate under American ownership, a White House official told ABC News. Given the timing of when it goes into effect over a holiday weekend a day before inauguration, it will be up to the next administration to implement. Read Article >Jan 16Will RedNote get banned in the US? Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeIm not the first to note the irony of TikTok users flooding RedNote this week. The TikTok divest-or-ban rule was supposed to drive Americans away from a foreign-owned social network that was subject to influence or data harvesting by the Chinese government. Instead, it pushed them onto a different foreign-owned social network that poses the exact same hypothetical risks and that might be subject to the exact same kind of ban.TikTok faces a ban under the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, which passed with overwhelming bipartisan support and was signed last year by President Joe Biden (who is reportedly experiencing some buyers remorseRead Article >Jan 16Gaby Del ValleAs Americans flock to RedNote, privacy advocates warn about surveillance Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeMore than 700,000 US-based users have downloaded RedNote, a popular Chinese social app, as the TikTok ban deadline looms but they may find themselves looking for yet another TikTok alternative soon. A US official told CBS News that Xiaohongshu, the app more commonly referred to as RedNote, has many of the same issues that caused Congress to ban TikTok and that the app could eventually face a similar ban unless it divests from its China-based parent company.This appears to be the kind of app that the statute would apply to and could face the same restrictions as TikTok if its not divested, the anonymous official told CBS News on Thursday, referring to the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, the bill under which Congress banned TikTok.Read Article >Jan 15Lauren FeinerDonald Trump is reportedly considering an executive order to delay the TikTok ban.It would suspend enforcement of the law for 60 to 90 days, extending the timeline for a sale, The Washington Post reports. Trumps AG pick Pam Bondi also wouldnt commit to enforcing the TikTok law. But either of those routes wouldnt eliminate the risk of Apple and Google hosting the app on their app stores after January 19th.Trump considers executive order hoping to save TikTok from ban or sale in U.S. law[The Washington Post]Jan 14Lauren FeinerCan Elon Musk really save TikTok? Laura Normand / The VergeChinese officials are reportedly exploring a backup plan for TikTok after the Supreme Court appeared unlikely to save it from a US ban.The kicker? China is reportedly mulling having President-elect Donald Trumps favorite tech billionaire, Elon Musk, act either as broker or buyer in the arrangement. Reports from the Financial Times, Wall Street Journal and Bloomberg all citing unnamed sources indicate that Chinese officials are at least discussing the option of a sale. TikTok spokesperson Michael Hughes has called the reports pure fiction. The Chinese embassy in the US and Musks existing social media company, X, did not respond to requests for comment.Read Article >Jan 14Emma RothRedNote: what its like using the Chinese app TikTokers are flocking to Image: Cath Virginia / The VergeInstead of wallowing in misery about potentially losing access to their favorite short-form video app, many TikTokers are flocking to RedNote, a Chinese social media platform also called Xiaohongshu. Ive decided to spend some time on the platform myself, and it looks like so-called TikTok refugees are excited about interacting with a community mainly comprised of Chinese-speaking users and vice versa.Launched in 2013 as a shopping platform, RedNote has grown into one of Chinas most popular social apps featuring photos, videos, and written content. Now its seeing another spike in users from another part of the globe, with more than 700,000 users joining RedNote in just two days, according to a report from Reuters. The number is still small, at just a fraction of the 150 million Americans TikTok reported were already using the app in early 2023.Read Article >Jan 14Alex HeathTikTok is planning for various scenarios ahead of possible US ban Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikToks executives are planning for various scenarios ahead of the Supreme Court likely upholding a US ban of the app.In an internal memo obtained by The Verge, employees were told that the company is continuing to plan the way forward ahead of the courts imminent decision, which is expected as soon as Wednesday, January 15th. Read Article >Jan 14Lauren FeinerTikTok could get a 270-day extension to make a deal Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikToks luck might not run out just yet, if a new bill extending its January 19th deadline for a sale is approved by Congress.Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA), announced on the Senate floor Monday that he plans to introduce the Extend the TikTok Deadline Act to give the company an extra 270 days to divest from its Chinese parent company ByteDance to avoid facing a ban in the US. The bill notably wouldnt overturn Congress initial bill, but it would give the company more time to make a deal, as its legal options dry out. The Supreme Court is expected to decide this week whether the initial law, the Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act, violates the First Amendment, as applied to TikTok but many court-watchers predict the ruling is unlikely to go in TikToks favor. Read Article >Jan 14David PierceThe TikTok ban, and what comes next Image: Alex Parkin / The VergeGoodbye to our personal Chinese spies. With five days left until the date by which TikTok is to be either sold or banned in the United States, millions of users are reckoning with what happens when one of the internets most important media platforms just up and disappears. (Or, more likely, sticks around for a while, consistently gets worse, and then dies with a whimper.) On this episode of The Vergecast, we reckon with how we got here, and where we go next. The Verges Lauren Feiner walks us through the years-long history of the fight over TikTok, and takes us inside last weeks Supreme Court hearing, where the countrys highest court appeared to be in favor of the ban. Even with a few days left, though, the storys not over: Donald Trump has said he wants to save the app, and hell be inaugurated as president the day after the ban is set to go into effect. And now there are rumors Elon Musk might be involved with the apps future, too. If weve learned one thing about the TikTok ban, its that its always coming and seemingly never actually here. But it sure feels close now.Read Article >Jan 14Jay PetersElon Musk may be in the mix to buy TikTok.Under one scenario thats been discussed by the Chinese government, Musks X the former Twitter would take control of TikTok US and run the businesses together, the people said, Bloomberg reports.TikTok spokesperson MichaelHughes tells The Verge that we cant be expected to comment on pure fiction.China Weighs Sale of TikTok's US Operations to Elon Musk as One Possible Option[Bloomberg]Jan 13Emma RothGoodbye to my Chinese spy might be the last great TikTok trend Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty ImagesTikTokers are coping with the apps potential ban with an unusual trend: by bidding farewell to their personal Chinese spy. The trend, which pokes fun at security concerns surrounding the app, has users thanking their spy for surveilling them and filling their For You page with entertaining content, while others proclaim that theyd rather share their data directly with the Chinese government than switch to Instagram Reels or YouTube Shorts.One post, which garnered more than 1.5 million likes, depicts an emotional scene from Squid Game with the caption, Me saying goodbye to my Chinese spy on the 19th (He perfected my algorithm). Other TikTokers are speaking and singing in Chinese, while some pretend to be the spies powering individual algorithms.Read Article >Jan 13Emma RothChinese social media app RedNote tops App Store chart ahead of TikTok ban Photo Illustration by Sheldon Cooper/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty ImagesRedNote, the Chinese social media app also known as Xiaohongshu, rose to the number one spot on the Apple App Store as a US ban closes in on TikTok. The app offers a mix of pictures, short-form videos, and text posts across follow, explore, and nearby feeds.A cursory scroll through RedNotes Explore page shows English-language posts scattered among those written in Chinese. Many American users call themselves TikTok refugees in videos, while others write in text posts that theyre in search of a new community because of the potential TikTok ban. Some are even asking questions to Chinese users, such as What are some popular memes in China?Read Article >Jan 12Alex HeathNice shot, Mr. President! Can I buy TikTok?Kevin OLearyrecently joined Frank McCourts bid to buy TikTok. Now, with TikTok facing a ban in one week, the Shark Tank host is playing golf with the President-elect. Hmm.

If you've felt a vibe shift, you're not alone: there's a massive revolution afoot, led by "America-hating communists."At least, that's according to Marc Andreessen, the cofounder of the powerful venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, which has made immense sums of money by investing in tech companies ranging from Facebook to Airbnb and is now a key player in the nascent AI industry.Lately, though, Andreessen has been troubled. Elite institutions, he says, have been churning out radicalized graduates who are destroying his companies from the inside."I believe its the children of the elites," he told New York Times columnist Ross Douthat this week. "The most privileged people in society, the most successful, send their kids to the most politically radical institutions, which teach them how to be America-hating communists.""There was a point where the median, newly arrived Harvard kid in 2006 was a career obsessed striver," he seethed, but by "2013, the median newly arrived Harvard kid was like: '[expletive] it. Were burning the system down. You are all evil. White people are evil. All men are evil. Capitalism is evil. Tech is evil.'"Pretty soon, Andreessen says these little monsters ended up at his various companies, where they start sowing havoc."Theyre professional activists in their own minds, first and foremost," Andreessen fumed. "And it just turns out the way to exercise professional activism right now, most effectively, is to go and destroy a company from the inside."Does any of this particularly hold up to scrutiny? Not really; in reality, Americans' ideological beliefs have remained relatively stable over the past three decades, and the tech industry has remained staggeringly profitable. There's also a tension that's hard to reconcile: if Andreessen and his deputies are so brilliant at founding and managing startups, why are they constantly hiring saboteurs instead of qualified candidates?But what does emerge is an unintentionally revealing self-portrait of one of the most influential men in the AI industry. Andreessen feels besieged, paranoid that a deep state of his own employees is tearing down his companies from within. One reasonable interpretation: whether he's right or wrong about that hypothesis, it's spurring him to throw money at startups aiming to automate the work of the regular employees he feels so betrayed by.How are those AI investments going? As Andreessen continued to unload on Douthat, a new target emerged: the Biden administration, which the venture capitalist raged has been trying to kneecap the AI sector before it can get off the ground.Senior Biden staffers, Andreessen said, told him in meetings that "we are going to make sure that AI is going to be a function of two or three large companies. We will directly regulate and control those companies. There will be no startups.""And thats the day we walked out and stood in the parking lot of the West Wing," he continued, "and took one look at each other, and were like, 'Yep, were for Trump.'"Again, it's difficult to square Andreessen's storytelling with reality. Thereare plenty ofAI startups, many of which he's invested in, from ChatGPT maker OpenAI to military contractor Anduril. If the White House has been trying to kill the sector, it's doing a remarkably incompetent job, because the AI industry been growing explosively throughout Biden's term. And, as a point of fact, Biden's attempts at AI regulation have been mild and vague.Moreover, when AI startups have run into trouble, it's very often come in the form of self-inflicted wounds as they deploy technology they don't understand and have difficulty controlling.Look no further than Character.AI, a chatbot company started by Google defectors, into which Andreessen Horowitz has poured $150 million. The company rapidly gathered a large userbase among teenagers and younger kids until it turned out the company's bots had been keeping underage users engaged by plying them with inappropriate roleplay about sexual scenarios, suicide and self-harm, eating disorders, school shootings, and more (the company is now the subject of two lawsuits, one holding it accountable for the suicide a 14-year-old who developed an intimate relationship with one of the company's bots.)Is any of that the fault of overzealous government regulators? Obviously not, but at this point it doesn't even matter. When Donald Trump is sworn in, the Andreessens of the world won't have Biden to blame anymore, and the AI industry will either have to find a working revenue model or develop a new excuse for why it's failing."The metaphor that I use here is were the dog that caught the bus," Andreessen conceded to Douthat, "and we got the tailpipe firmly between our jaws, and the bus is dragging us down the street."Share This Article