Twitter threatens to sue Meta, accuses of poaching employees and copying its platform with Threads app

Image: Semafor

Meta may face legal action from Twitter over its new text app Threads, which Twitter says is a "copycat" of its platform. Twitter claims Meta hired former Twitter employees who used Twitter's trade secrets and intellectual property to develop Threads. Meta denies the allegations and says none of the Threads engineers are ex-Twitter staff. Threads is a text-based companion to Instagram that resembles Twitter and other text-based social platforms. It launched on Wednesday and attracted 30 million users in one day, posing a serious challenge to Twitter's dominance. Twitter's owner Elon Musk accused Meta of "cheating" and vowed to protect his intellectual property rights.

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Threads hits 30 million signups, 95 million threads

Image: Meta

People seem to be taking to Meta's new text-based app Threads. CEO Mark Zuckerberg shared that the app hit over 30 million sign-ups as of Thursday morning. And The Verge reports that internal data shows users have posted over 95 million threads and dropped around 190 million likes. All this happened less than 24 hours since the Twitter competitor launched.

The app isn't without faults or flaws, though. For now, you can't access features like direct messaging, a reverse-chronological following feed (you have a messy home feed for now), planned integration with decentralized ActivityPub protocol, and more. There's also the issue of not being able to delete your Threads account without deleting your Instagram one. However, you can deactivate the former without deactivating the latter. For now, they're tied together.

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Google Pixel 8 Pro leaks in hands-on photos

Photos: Reddit via Droidlife

Google's next flagship phone, the Pixel 8 Pro, has been spotted in the wild, revealing its new design and features. The leaked photos show the phone's triple-camera setup, flat display, and prototype stickers. The photos were posted to Reddit by a user who claimed to have received the phone from Google's device team for testing. The original post was quickly deleted, but not before droidlife managed to save the images and share them online.

The Pixel 8 Pro looks similar to its predecessors but with some noticeable differences. The most obvious one is the new camera module, which now houses all three lenses in a single glass oval. The camera system is rumoured to include a 50-megapixel main sensor, a 64-megapixel ultra-wide sensor, and a 48-megapixel 5x telephoto sensor. There is also a new sensor under the flash that can measure the user's body temperature, according to previous leaks.

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'Forza Horizon 5' celebrates the release of 'Barbie The Movie' with two exclusive cars

Photo: Microsoft

The summer is heating up with the arrival of the most anticipated film of the season, Barbie The Movie, which takes audiences on a dazzling journey to the colorful world of Barbie Land—where every day is the best day ever! To mark this occasion, the Horizon Festival is inviting all Forza Horizon 5 players to join the fun by offering them two stunning cars featured in this bold movie adaptation.

You can now claim the Barbie iconic 1956 Chevrolet Corvette EV and the Ken 2022 GMC HUMMER EV Pickup for free in your Forza Horizon 5 Message Center. These cars are stylish and fast. But they're also eco-friendly, as they run on electric power. Whether you want to cruise around Mexico in Barbie’s signature pink Corvette, or explore the rugged terrain in Ken’s powerful Hummer, the choice is up to you!

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