Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared to troll Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg as the new Threads platform closes in on 100 million users. Since the launch of Threads, the Tesla and SpaceX chief has been critical of the new app, even filing a lawsuit accusing Meta of poaching former Twitter staff to build the new social media app. Mr Musk responded to a Twitter post on the lawsuit last week, saying “Competition is fine, cheating is not”. On Saturday, he called Threads “just Instagram minus pics,” adding that it “makes no sense, given that thirst pics are the main reason people use that app”. Then later on Sunday, responding to a screenshot of a Threads conversation between Mr Zuckerberg and the account of fast food joint Wendy’s, the Tesla chief said “Zuck is a cuck”. “Cuck” is an insult often used to attack the masculinity of an opponent. It is short for “cuckold”, a word dating to the Middle Ages that describes a man who is aware of his wife’s infidelity and acquiesces to it. Meanwhile, as the Threads app nears close to 100m users, the Meta chief also has expressed his fare share of jibes at the SpaceX and Tesla boss. Mr Zuckerberg posted his first tweet in 11 years on the day of Threads’ launch, sharing the popular meme of two Spider-Men pointing at each other, a likely reference to the comparisons drawn between Threads and Twitter. The Meta boss also responded to two posts on Threads in one-worded replies, commenting “concerning”, seemingly a reference to the way Mr Musk tweets often. Mr Musk has replied with the word “concerning” at least 26 times, according to a review of the multibillionaire’s tweets by Insider. Since the launch of Threads, Mr Zuckerberg has hoped to draw a contrast to Twitter which currently boasts over 250m users but has also seen a surge in hate speech and misinformation since Mr Musk bought the company last year. Even as the Meta chief has expressed intention to make “kindness” the focus of Threads, it remains to be seen how new signups by race supremacists and fringe rightwing personalities will affect the platform. It also remains unclear if the beef between the two tech billionaires is playful banter or bitter competition as they have also expressed willingness to engage in an MMA bout. The two agreed to a physical fight last month after Mr Musk accused the Meta chief of ripping off Twitter with Threads. “Up for a cage match,” the Twitter owner and chief operating officer wrote, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied “Send me location”. UFC trainer Javier Mendez recently said the Meta boss is more likely to win the fight due to his active training, apparent fitness, and experience. Podcaster and jiu jitsu enthusiast Lex Fridman has also said following a training session with the Tesla boss that he was “extremely impressed” with Mr Musk’s “strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground”. Read More I’m a tech nerd who does jiu-jitsu. I know exactly why Mark Zuckerberg wants to fight Elon Musk Musk, Zuckerberg and the bitter battle for the future of social media I tried Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival, Threads – I’m not impressed Threads hits 70 million sign-ups on its second day Mark Zuckerberg trolls Elon Musk with Spider-Man meme after launching Twitter rival Meta’s new Twitter rival app Threads gets over 10 million sign-ups

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 11, 2023--

Months after Elon Musk ran a Twitter poll in which the platform's users voted for

E-cigarette company Juul is set to launch a new generation of vapes that has electronic age verification and parental locks. It comes after brands faced backlash for their products being enticing towards teens and children. Juul submitted their plans to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a proposal to diminish underage usage and to encourage adult tobacco smokers to move over to vapes. They plan on using a mobile and web-based app to enable the verification technology, "including device-locking, and real-time product information and usage insights for age-verified consumers with industry-leading data-privacy protections." Juul plans on adding a larger, long-lasting battery with a smart light system that communicates battery life and liquid level. A unique pod ID chip to prevent fake Juul vapes will also be added. Additionally, plans suggest the newly designed Juul vapes will have an "innovative heating element that improves product performance and temperature-control precision". Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Juul’s Chief Product Officer Kirk Phelps said: "Our company DNA is product innovation." "With our next-generation platform, we have designed a technological solution for two public-health problems: improving adult-smoker switching from combustible cigarettes and restricting underage access to vapour products. "This is only the beginning of new tech being developed and refined for the U.S. market and abroad to eliminate combustible cigarettes and combat underage use." Chief Regulatory Officer Joe Murillo added: "Our next-generation vapour platform PMTA is built on new technology that advances public-health objectives and compelling science that demonstrates a clear public-health benefit, as required to secure a marketing authorization. We look forward to engaging with FDA throughout the review process while we pursue this important harm-reduction opportunity." The company's July submission is pending acceptance review. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

MOBILE, Ala.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 31, 2023--

Dillon Danis said, 'If you go to my story I didn’t delete anything but everything with Tate is deleted and now I’m disabled this is actually nuts'

HAIFA, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 15, 2023--

Bryan Johnson, the multimillionaire tech and science entrepreneur who is trying to reverse his biological age, has taken the next odd step in his attempt to achieve this. Johnson, who has already spent millions of dollars every year trying to turn back the clock, has now revealed that he’s injected himself with his teenage son’s blood. The multimillionaire recruited his 17-year-old son, Talmage, and his 70-year-old father, Richard, for a trigenerational blood transfusion. The family travelled to a clinic in Dallas, where Talmage and Richard gave a litre of their blood for it to be converted into a batch of plasma. Bryan then donated a litre of his blood to Richard. Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Claims that plasma from younger bodies can benefit older people’s health have been around for a while. Previously there have been studies carried out on mice, however experts say the results are inconclusive. The FDA does not recommend the blood infusions Bryan has done. "We have not learned enough to suggest this is a viable human treatment for anything." said Charles Brenner, a biochemist at City of Hope National Medical Centre in Los Angeles. The 45-year-old has previously spoken about his lifestyle, and told the BBC that there have been improvements in different parts of his body. "my left ear is 64, my fitness tests say I’m 18, my heart is 37, my diaphragm strength is 18," he said. Bryan’s mission to reverse the ageing process has been titled ‘Project Blueprint,’ and involves following a strict diet, sleep, and exercise routine. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

Frankenstein’s monsters aren’t just for Halloween, as a team of US scientists have recently discovered. The experts at Northern Kentucky University (NKU) were tasked with analysing the remains of a supposed mummified “mermaid”, and what they found was pretty gruesome. The mummy was brought to America from Japan more than 100 years ago after being donated it to the Clark County Historical Society in Springfield, Ohio. It arrived at the society in 1906 but documents supplied alongside the strange specimen suggest it dates back to the mid-1800s. This means that for some 170 years, the true identity of the wisened, 29-cm-long creature remained a mystery. However, thanks to modern technology, the team at NKU has finally worked out that the sinister-looking “siren” is, in fact, a ghoulish hybrid of monkey, fish and lizard. Joseph Cress, who led the project, told Live Science that he and his colleagues used X-ray and CT scans to investigate the creepy cadaver. "This allowed us to see [the mummy] in almost every dimension in the hopes to see what was inside it," he explained. They determined that that the “mermaid” consists of the head and torso of a monkey sewed onto the body of a fish, and its “hands” are the clawed legs of a lizard – most likely a Komodo dragon. The scans also revealed a pair of wooden stakes hidden inside the chimeric corpse – one running from head to tail and another across the shoulder blades — which were presumably inserted to keep the monster in one piece. Cress and his colleagues are currently trying to reconstruct a more detailed model of the mermaid and its individual components, according to Live Science. Once these models are complete, they plan to send them to zoos and aquariums to help confirm the different parts on a species level. However, jaw-dropping this specimen may be, it's not the only “mermaid” to be debunked in recent times. In March 2022, researchers analysed a similar example that was found in a hidden box in a Japanese temple. They also expected the creature, which was 30.5 cm long and dated back to the mid-1700s, to be a monkey-fish hybrid. However, tests conducted in February this year revealed that it was, in fact, predominantly made of cloth, paper and cotton. It had been painted with sand and charcoal and held together by metal pins, while various animal parts, including fish skin and mammal hair, had been stuck to it. Experts believe that the two “mermaids” were made to resemble "ningyo" — hideous fish-like creatures with human heads and sharp claws from Japanese mythology. According to legend, a nun named Yaobikuni lived for 800 years and retained the youthful appearance of a young woman, after eating a ningyo. Her immortality made the creatures a symbol of longevity, so it’s likely that fraudsters tried to recreate the mermaids to sell them to wealthy seekers of immortality. Still, at least the owners of these two examples didn’t make the mistake of trying to eat them. Sign up for our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings

Nvidia Corp. reached a record high Thursday after the chipmaker at the forefront of an industrywide artificial intelligence

By Sheila Dang Alphabet's Google said on Wednesday it is launching two new artificial intelligence-powered features for advertisers

Mattresses and appliances may be the stars of the show for Memorial Day sales, but