Mastodon gives a nod to journalists: The open source, decentralized alternative to X has a new feature for journalists who post their stories there. It's adding clickable author bylines on link posts that can direct Mastodon users to the author's account on the fediverse, if active, in turn allowing journalists to gain more exposure and increase their following. Read more
X considers downvotes: Code was spotted for a possible downvote button on X. Before Elon Musk took over, the company had been testing both upvoting and downvoting buttons, similar to how users can vote on the social forums site Reddit. Read more
Snapchat gets personal: Snapchat is introducing new ways for people to personalize their experience on the app in an effort to separate itself from other platforms — while also enticing people to sign up for its Snapchat+ subscription service, now used by 9 million people. Read more
Do you have what it takes to join Meta?: Meta seeks someone to come on board who has experience bringing generative AI technology to video games. The new efforts come as a blockbuster product remains elusive for Meta's Reality Labs, the division responsible for the company's various metaverse projects, including its Meta Quest headset. Read more
Chips in space: Today, electronics in space are protected from harmful radiation in two ways — they're physically shielded, using some combination of materials like aluminum and tantalum, and they're radiation hardened, which generally means that they're designed in ways that increase their tolerance to radiation exposure. Aethero wants to bring these kinds of more powerful computing systems to orbit, and the first payload launches this month on SpaceX's Transporter-11 rideshare mission. Read more
