Threads, a social networking programme aiming at competing with Twitter, has amassed over 100 million users in less than five days.

The platform, which was introduced by Instagram owner Meta, has surpassed the previous record established by Open AI’s ChatGPT app.

Threads was released last Wednesday in 100 countries, including the United Kingdom, in the Apple and Android app stores.

Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO of Meta, said he “couldn’t believe” the milestone had been reached so quickly.

Threads hasn’t had it all easy; it’s not currently available in mainland Europe because of questions about whether it conforms with EU data privacy regulations.

Thierry Breton, the EU’s industry commissioner, told French radio station Franceinfo in his first public remarks on the matter that “taking a little time to do so seems to me to be probably a good policy.”

Despite its difficulties in the EU, Threads has had remarkable development. Meta, which also owns Facebook, stated that the app had ten million users within the first seven hours of introduction and more than thirty million by Thursday morning.

That amount has more than doubled within 24 hours.

It is still some distance behind its major competitors. Threads’ user base of 100 million is less than one-third of Twitter’s estimated 350 million users.

Since billionaire Elon Musk took control, some Twitter users have grown dissatisfied. Thousands of positions have been slashed during his tenure, and he has promised a number of reforms to help Twitter earn cash.

Other competitors, such as Mastodon and Bluesky, have arisen but have faltered due to a lack of an existing user base.

Threads has benefited from its association with Instagram, which has over one billion users.

People who join up for Threads will have a link to their Threads profile on their Instagram profile, however, this can be hidden.

Threads requires users to have an Instagram account in order to sign up.

You cannot deactivate your Threads profile without also removing the corresponding Instagram profile.

Deactivating your Threads profile, however, will not deactivate your Instagram account.

According to Meta, deactivation means that your Threads profile, posts, and interactions with others’ postings will no longer be accessible.

Legal threat

Twitter has threatened Threads with legal action since its introduction.

A corporate lawyer charged Mr Zuckerberg with “systematic, wilful, and unlawful misappropriation of Twitter’s trade secrets and other intellectual property” in order to establish Threads.

Twitter stated that Meta employed former workers who “had access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information” and “continue to have access to Twitter’s trade secrets and other highly confidential information.” Meta has vehemently refuted this.

Threads users may publish text of up to 500 characters, which is larger than Twitter’s 280-character limit. Both applications allow users to share links, photos, and videos.

However, the regulations controlling what content may be submitted differ – nudity and NSFW (not safe for work) explicit photographs are not permitted on Threads.

Similarly to Twitter, there is currently no desktop version of Threads.

Source: BBC.com

There is more to a Mercedes – any Mercedes – than just the prestige that comes with the badge. It presents style, class and innovation, and this new S Class E is exceptional on all levels.

The building of the Affalterbach reputation started 52 years ago, and since then, those AMG letters on any Mercedes have become the benchmark for luxury and brutal performance.

Today, the new Mercedes-AMG S 63 E Performance with AMG hybrid technology once again sets the benchmark in the segment.

It combines the AMG 4.0-litre V8 Biturbo engine with the AMG-specific hybrid powertrain and a new expansion stage of the AMG battery (HPB). The new HPB 150 offers the same high performance and directly cooled battery cell as the well-known HPD 80.

The focus of the powertrain, however, is less on electric range and more on best-in-class performance. With 590kW and 1 430Nm, this saloon accelerates from 0 to 100km/h in 3.3 seconds, topping out at 290km/h.

“The S-Class has always had a very special meaning for us. In 1971, it made the AMG brand famous overnight with its legendary appearance in the Spa 24-hour race. This was undoubtedly an important foundation stone for our rise as a performance and sports car brand with global significance.

With E Performance, we are now opening a new chapter. Never before has a luxury saloon so perfectly combined best-in-class performance with superior comfort and virtually silent electric driving. In this way, we are also opening up to highly discerning target groups who see Mercedes-AMG as the performance luxury brand of the 21^st  century. With the most powerful S-Class of all time, however, we are not only going our own technical way, as is characteristic of AMG, but also making a strong visual statement. For the first time, the S-Class Saloon also has our AMG-specific radiator grille, so the brand affiliation is closer than ever before,” says Philipp Schiemer, chairperson of the board of management of Mercedes-AMG GmbH.

This car presents an expressive exterior and interior design. The MBUX infotainment system includes various AMG- and hybrid-specific displays and functions. These include the displays in the instrument cluster, on the multimedia central display in portrait orientation in the centre console and the optional heads-up display.

The instrument cluster view can be personalised with different display styles and individually selectable main views.

Source: northcoastcourier.co.za

You can finally hide your wallpaper while using your iPhone 14 Pro’s AOD.

The iPhone 14 Pro and the iPhone 14 Pro Max feature an Always-On Display (AOD) that allows you to check the time without waking up the entire screen. The feature is great to have (albeit years behind Android), but its execution was a bit lacking, as it wouldn’t allow you to hide your wallpaper entirely. Instead, Apple’s approach involved showing a dimmed Lock Screen wallpaper. This looks fine, but in practice, it could lead to worse battery life—plus, it’s easy to mistake the dimmed AOD screen as your iPhone actually being awake. Overall, it’s a bit of a mess.

However, the situation has changed with iOS 16.2 beta 3. You can finally decide if you want to see your wallpaper (and notifications) on your iPhone’s AOD, rather than have Apple decide for you. As iOS 16.2 is still in beta testing, you will need to enroll your iPhone in Apple’s beta program to try it out. Remember, though, that beta software is unfinished, which means it isn’t reliable: If you need to remove the software for whatever reason, you could lose your data, so we don’t recommend installing beta software on your main device.

To use this feature on an iPhone 14 Pro or 14 Pro Max running iOS 16.2, go to Settings > Display & Brightness > Always On Display, and you will see two new options: Wallpaper and Notifications. To improve your battery life,disable the Wallpaper option.

In case you want to minimize distractions andmaximize your battery life, you should disable both of these options. By doing so, your iPhone’s AOD feature will show you the date and time and nothing else. It’s a relatively small change that makes the feature much more subtle.

iOS 16.2 is expected to ship in the coming weeks, so you can always wait if you don’t want to bother with beta software now. In the mean time, you could always try this hack to fix the shortcomings of the AOD feature on your iPhone. This alternative method involves creating a Focus mode to get the job done, and it’s surprisingly effective.

Source: lifehacker.com