Elon Musk wants creators on X to make more money. And for this, he plans to talk to Apple CEO Tim Cook about lowering the App Store fees for creators on Twitter X.
The billionaire wants Apple to only charge its 30% commission on the amount that X keeps, not the money a creator receives.
Everyone’s favorite bird icon is back… kind of. Image: Garrett Heath/Wikimedia Commons/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
If you miss the Twitter icon, you’re not alone. But there’s good news: You can easily change the app’s new X icon back to Twitter’s blue bird on your Home Screen by using a shortcut.
While it’s too late for Elon Musk to backtrack on many of the questionable business decisions he made since buying Twitter, you can at least patch over this latest one using my free downloadable Shortcut.
If you’re still using X, née Twitter, you might want the bright blue bird back on your Home Screen. I’ll show you how to get it.
No, but seriously this time… I think. Image: Meta/D. Griffin Jones/Cult of Mac
Threads is the new social media platform with Twitter-like features, coming from Instagram. As on Twitter, you can make short text posts with a few attached images or video, write replies, quote posts, repost them, etc. But you’re not starting fresh again: You sign in with your Instagram account and instantly access the same network of people who you follow and all your followers.
Since Twitter’s slow-burn downfall began last year, a few hot new replacements have been propped up, with varying degrees of staying power. Mastodon is the open-source, volunteer-driven network that courted the nerdy types in the tech community — but no one else. Bluesky, backed by Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, has been scaling slowly on an invitation system. Post, T2 and countless others were the fashion of the day but burned out fast.
Threads has three great things going for it: It’s incredibly easy to join, it’s built off your existing network of friends, and it’s very simple to use. If you liked Twitter, you’ll like Threads. While I don’t like Threads as much as Mastodon, its future interoperability with the open-source alternative means we can all be happy on whatever service we choose and stay in touch.
Meta just launched Threads, a new text-based social networking service that goes head-to-head with Twitter. Meta’s Facebook and Instagram have always competed with Twitter, of course, but Threads does so directly. The two apps are nearly identical.
Twitter has struggled since being acquired by Elon Musk in 2022, and Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg clearly sees an opportunity to supplant it.
A federal judge blocked federal government contact with social media sites. Photo: Cult of Mac Deals
A federal judge in Louisiana issued a broad injunction Tuesday limiting federal government contact with social media sites over what the Biden administration may see as disinformation spreading out of control.
The ruling is one of many upcoming that frame a fight over the constitutionality of curbing social media’s influence in light of the First Amendment’s right to freedom of expression.
That $3,500 price tag certainly got people's attention. Photo: Apple
The $3,499 price of Vision Pro, the long-awaited AR/VR headset Apple rolled out at WWDC23, startles some people. You can find audience reaction videos out there with audible gasps when the price was announced (including among Apple employees, some posts claim). And mainstream headlines are joining in, too.
And of course social media hasn’t let up on the jokey memes. See below for a few choice examples.
Well, that escalated quickly! Image: Steve Jurvetson/Flickr CC/Modified by Cult of Mac
This week on Cult of Mac’s podcast: After new Twitter CEO Elon Musk began publicly questioning some of Apple’s policies, he went mano-a-mano with Tim Cook. Maybe Musk’s meme-y declaration of war was a bit premature …
Also on The CultCast:
The sad state of iCloud storage.
A Twitter phone? Really?!?
2023 MacBook Pro benchmarks reveal a big fat surprise.
A totally weird tale about the dangers of walking the streets of New York City with hundreds of iPhones.
Listen to this week’s episode of The CultCast in the Podcasts app or your favorite podcast app. (Be sure to subscribe and leave us a review if you like it!) Or watch the video live stream, embedded below.
1, 2, 3, 4 ... I declare a Twitter war. Image: Steve Jurvetson/Flickr CC/Modified by Cult of Mac
Elon Musk declared war on Apple on Monday afternoon. A Twitter war, anyway. The new owner of Twitter very publicly objects to the 30% fee the iPhone-maker claims from purchases made through the iPhone software store, and also says Apple has threatened to pull the Twitter app from the App Store. He also asked, “Do they [Apple] hate free speech in America?”
An open conflict with Apple is a risky move by Musk, as Twitter needs Apple much more than Apple needs Twitter.
Over the years, numerous celebrities have been caught promoting flagship Android phones on Twitter while tweeting from their iPhones. This could soon become a thing of the past, due to a change proposed by Twitter CEO Elon Musk.
The new Twitter owner plans to remove the “Twitter for iPhone” or “Twitter for Android” label below each tweet.