Latest news with #TechBillionaire
Gizmodo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Gizmodo
So Far, Elon Musk's Revival of Vine Is Seriously Disappointing
For quite some time now, Elon Musk has been promising to bring back Vine. Back in the day, the short-lived TikTok precursor allowed users to post dopey 6-second videos that looped and could be easily shared. However, as the Tesla billionaire's plans for the short-form video distributor come into view, it increasingly seems like he (as per usual) got us all excited for nothing. Vine, which was purchased by Twitter in 2012, has been officially dead for a little over half a decade now. After Twitter killed uploads of the app's videos in 2016, Vine's archive subsisted for another three years or so until 2019, when the platform pulled support for it. Since then, all that has survived is a nostalgia for those halcyon days when short-form video was novel and joy-inducing, instead of being a grim staple of our increasingly frenetic information landscape. Musk initially floated the idea of bringing the video-sharing app back in 2022, not long after he purchased Twitter. Since then, he has repeatedly teased the app's return, much to the delight of site users. Last April, Musk again touched on resurrecting Vine with one of his many X polls. 'Bring back Vine?' he asked. A vast majority of respondents voted 'yes.' In January, an X user tweeted at Musk, 'think it's time to bring it back.' And the Tesla CEO personally replied, 'We're looking into it.' However, as Vine's 'return' has approached, it seems increasingly clear that the app may not be exactly how you remember it. On Monday, Musk promised that the archive of old Vine videos would return in some form. However, it seems increasingly doubtful that the app will be an active service that users can use to make new videos. Instead, Musk has implied that Grok's new AI video generator, Imagine (which, Musk has bragged, can be used to create NSFW material), will act as a replacement. 'Grok Imagine is AI Vine!' Musk wrote, in an X post on Saturday. Little other information was shared, but it left onlookers with the sad suspicion that the new Vine won't resemble the fun-fueled video clips of yesteryear and will be more about repackaging the AI-generated porn slop that's taking over everyone's feeds uninvited. Is Musk saying that Grok Imagine is the new Vine? Or will a new version of Vine be launched by X, alongside the archive of old videos? It's all unclear at the moment. If the resurrection of Vine just ends up being Grok's AI video app, with Musk dubbing it a 'return' of Vine, then we will all have been taken for a ride, once again. Gizmodo reached out to X for more information. That said, it's not like anybody really needs Vine now. The app occupies a peculiar spot in American tech history, in that it predated many other short-form video services that have gone on to become ubiquitous by copying its business model (see: Reels and TikTok). Yet despite being a pioneer in the category of apps whose primary societal contribution has been the shrinking of our collective attention span, it seems to have found success just a little too early. After Twitter's acquisition of the app, it enjoyed a few good years before confronting a boom of those competitor apps that ultimately outpaced it.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Zuckerberg's political shift didn't shock Meta staff: ‘The whole time this was all one inch underneath'
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg's recent public support for President Donald Trump did not come as a shock to those who know or have closely worked with him, with dozens of people saying some changes at the company are part of the tech billionaire's long-held beliefs. Dozens of people who have either worked with or known Zuckerberg told the Financial Times that the CEO's more public shift toward Trump is just Zuckerberg displaying the more 'authentic' version of himself to the world, even though he was once known to support liberal ideology and voiced opposition to Trump's policies during the first administration. 'Mark was trying to keep his real feelings tight inside and put on a suit and cut his hair and be a good boy. But the whole time this was all one inch underneath,' an unnamed Meta insider told the outlet. 'Then he said, 'F*** it. I might as well be the person I really am.'' Since Trump was elected in November, the Meta CEO has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, attended the inauguration, co-hosted a reception, and changed company policy to align more closely with the administration. Insiders told the newspaper that the tech billionaire's unapologetic pro-'masculine energy', free speech-loving shift is only a shift to the public. 'The public is seeing him more how we have, internally, since the beginning.' Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, told FT. Bosworth suggested that Zuckerberg's former suit-wearing, government-obeying self was just the Meta CEO doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing. The Independent has asked the White House for comment. Meta declined to comment for this story. Zuckerberg's private shift toward more conservative figures, such as Trump, was reportedly a slow movement that was seemingly triggered by constant pushback against Facebook – Meta's former name – from both the public and lawmakers, especially those seeking to regulate the tech industry. One major shift came in 2020, when Biden administration officials pressured Zuckerberg to censor misinformation about Covid on his social media platform, which he did and later regretted. But under the Trump administration, Zuckerberg appears less concerned with appeasing the public. Appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast recently, the Meta CEO said he believes 'masculine energy is good.' Even when executives challenged Zuckerberg's comments, he refused to apologize. Those familiar with Zuckerberg told FT that his decision to lean into hobbies such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu or wear more streetwear or cozy up to the administration is all part of Zuckerberg's efforts to get people to like him. 'He saw that Elon Musk was popular among the tech bros,' a former insider said. 'There was a push to make him cool. The core of the Social Network movie is true — he just wants people to like him.'
The Independent
20-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Zuckerberg's political shift didn't shock Meta staff: ‘The whole time this was all one inch underneath'
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg 's recent public support for President Donald Trump did not come as a shock to those who know or have closely worked with him, with dozens of people saying some changes at the company are part of the tech billionaire's long-held beliefs. Dozens of people who have either worked with or known Zuckerberg told the Financial Times that the CEO's more public shift toward Trump is just Zuckerberg displaying the more 'authentic' version of himself to the world, even though he was once known to support liberal ideology and voiced opposition to Trump's policies during the first administration. 'Mark was trying to keep his real feelings tight inside and put on a suit and cut his hair and be a good boy. But the whole time this was all one inch underneath,' an unnamed Meta insider told the outlet. 'Then he said, 'F*** it. I might as well be the person I really am.'' Since Trump was elected in November, the Meta CEO has met with Trump at Mar-a-Lago, donated $1 million to Trump's inaugural fund, attended the inauguration, co-hosted a reception, and changed company policy to align more closely with the administration. Insiders told the newspaper that the tech billionaire's unapologetic pro-'masculine energy', free speech-loving shift is only a shift to the public. 'The public is seeing him more how we have, internally, since the beginning.' Andrew Bosworth, Meta's CTO, told FT. Bosworth suggested that Zuckerberg's former suit-wearing, government-obeying self was just the Meta CEO doing what he thought he was supposed to be doing. The Independent has asked the White House for comment. Meta declined to comment for this story. Zuckerberg's private shift toward more conservative figures, such as Trump, was reportedly a slow movement that was seemingly triggered by constant pushback against Facebook – Meta's former name – from both the public and lawmakers, especially those seeking to regulate the tech industry. One major shift came in 2020, when Biden administration officials pressured Zuckerberg to censor misinformation about Covid on his social media platform, which he did and later regretted. But under the Trump administration, Zuckerberg appears less concerned with appeasing the public. Appearing on Joe Rogan's podcast recently, the Meta CEO said he believes 'masculine energy is good.' Even when executives challenged Zuckerberg's comments, he refused to apologize. Those familiar with Zuckerberg told FT that his decision to lean into hobbies such as Brazilian jiu-jitsu or wear more streetwear or cozy up to the administration is all part of Zuckerberg's efforts to get people to like him. 'He saw that Elon Musk was popular among the tech bros,' a former insider said. 'There was a push to make him cool. The core of the Social Network movie is true — he just wants people to like him.'
The Independent
19-06-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Musk publicly rips White House aide who prompted his falling out with Trump
Elon Musk has blasted a top White House aide, who reportedly prompted his public falling out with Donald Trump, branding him as a 'snake.' The tech billionaire posted the stinging response to a new report in The New York Post, claiming that Sergio Gor – director of presidential personnel and vetting members of Trump's team – had not vetted himself for the role. 'He's a snake,' Musk wrote on X, weeks after unleashing a barrage of posts against the president himself in an explosive online clash. Musk later apologized to the president. Gor is in charge of vetting around 4,000 members of the executive branch, using old social media posts, political donations and remarks to select those loyal to the president. However, The Post's report found that he has not yet submitted official paperwork about his own background. Such documentation is needed to procure a permanent security clearance. Three sources insiders told the outlet that Gor has not turned in his Standard Form 86, or SF-86 – a hefty set of questions spanning more than 100 pages, that is required for officials who need high-level security clearances. In a statement to The Independent, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt branded the report 'baseless gossip.' Another official added: 'Mr. Gor is fully compliant with all applicable ethical and legal obligations. His security clearance is active, any insinuation he doesn't maintain a clearance is false.' The beef between Musk and Gor allegedly came to a head as the Tesla boss prepared to depart the White House. The pair rivalry intensified Trump's decision to withdraw the nomination of Jared Isaacman – a close friend of Musk's – to be the next administrator of NASA. Rumours spread that Gor was behind the decision and intended it as an 'out-the-door 'f*** you' to Musk.' Gor, according to the Post, developed a grudge against Musk after the tech mogul 'humiliated' him in front of other cabinet members. After the event, Gor would publicly boast every time Tesla's stock plunged, according to reports. That version of events has been disputed, however, with complaints from Republican senators about Isaacman's track record as a Democratic donor also given as a reason for the decision. 'Perception is reality, though, and I'm pretty sure Elon thought the NASA situation was a last insult,' an official told Axios at the time. 'So here we are.'
Al Arabiya
01-06-2025
- Politics
- Al Arabiya
White House says Trump withdrawing Musk ally as nominee to head NASA
US President Donald Trump is planning to withdraw his nomination of tech billionaire Jared Isaacman, a close ally of Elon Musk, to lead space agency NASA, the White House said Saturday. 'It's essential that the next leader of NASA is in complete alignment with President Trump's America First agenda and a replacement will be announced directly by President Trump soon,' the White House said, confirming a report by The New York Times that Isaacman's nomination was being withdrawn.
