Technology

Smartphone users may soon see new gender-neutral figures, a citrus fruit and a mythical creature in their emoji list. Unicode, the non-profit behind Emoji creations, drafted “four new gender-neutral family emojis intended to be represented via silhouettes” possibly for its 15.1 update, reports Emojipedia, a popular blog that keeps up with the modern-day hieroglyphics. A Phoenix bird, lime, mushroom, broken …

Elon Musk got blasted on social media over his controversial decision to ditch Twitter’s iconic blue bird branding — which has become globally recognizable over the past 17 years — in favor of a generic-looking “X” logo. The Twitter rebrand took place a matter of hours on Sunday, with Musk announcing that “X.com” would redirect to “Twitter.com” and debuting an …

Elon Musk, beware. He’s not “Zuckin around.” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg showed off his new blue belt in jiu-jitsu — the latest achievement for the amateur martial artist as he prepares for a possible cage match with his tech rival. The 39-year-old Zuckerberg posted an image on his Instagram page over the weekend of him wearing the blue belt, the …

Saudi officials announced that Microsoft invested $2 billion to build a cloud storage facility in the kingdom — and activists are warning that the move could pose danger to users’ personal data. The announcement was made at LEAP 2023, an annual tech conference held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, where high-profile bosses fraternize with Saudi officials and planners of Neom, the …

Spotify Technology on Monday raised prices for its premium plans across several countries including the United States and United Kingdom, as the music-streaming company looks to boost profitability in an uncertain economy. The move will result in a $1 price increase for Spotify’s US plans, with the premium single now starting at $10.99, duo at $14.99, family at $16.99 and the student plan …

Worldcoin, the bizarre eyeball-scanning cryptocurrency token co-founded by OpenAI boss Sam Altman, made its debut on Monday with a pledge to serve as a “privacy-preserving” global financial system. The controversial project requires customers to scan their retina using a device called an “Orb,” described as a “biometric verification device,” in an exchange for a so-called “World ID” that is unique …

Elon Musk said on Sunday he was looking to change Twitter’s logo, tweeting: “And soon we shall bid adieu to the Twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds.” In a post on the site at 12:06 a.m. ET, the social media platform’s billionaire owner added: “If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make (it) go live worldwide …

Amazon is asking some corporate workers to relocate to other cities as part of its return-to-office policy, which mandates workers to be in the office three days a week. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed on Friday that relocations are happening but would not comment on reports by several news outlets that the tech giant was requiring some workers in smaller offices …

Twitter, which has asked a court to terminate a consent order struck last year with the Federal Trade Commission related to data breaches, said in a court filing on Thursday that it planned to subpoena Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in connection with the fight. After billionaire Elon Musk took over Twitter last year, the company laid off thousands of employees and drastically cut …

Bankrupt crypto exchange FTX’s nonprofit arm wanted to buy a Pacific island nation and build a bunker on it in preparation for an apocalyptic event, according to a lawsuit filed against disgraced FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried. The complaint filed in Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday alleged that Bankman-Fried’s kid brother Gabe wanted to use the FTX Foundation, FTX’s philanthropic branch, …