Author: GT

Bluesky may soon get a new blue checkmark verification system, according to changes to the app’s public GitHub repository spotted Friday by reverse engineer alice.mosphere.at. The blue checks may have a similar look to the system pioneered by Twitter, now X, but Bluesky’s version seems like it will work quite differently. Bluesky’s blue check system may rely on multiple organizations to distribute blue checks, according to the codebase changes. That suggests Bluesky will actively verify notable accounts, but also label certain organizations as “trusted verifiers,” and give them the authority to directly issue blue checks themselves. The changes to Bluesky’s…

ChatGPT, OpenAI’s text-generating AI chatbot, has taken the world by storm since its launch in November 2022. What started as a tool to supercharge productivity through writing essays and code with short text prompts has evolved into a behemoth with 300 million weekly active users. 2024 was a big year for OpenAI, from its partnership with Apple for its generative AI offering, Apple Intelligence, the release of GPT-4o with voice capabilities, and the highly-anticipated launch of its text-to-video model Sora. OpenAI also faced its share of internal drama, including the notable exits of high-level execs like co-founder and longtime chief…

OpenAI’s recently launched o3 and o4-mini AI models are state-of-the-art in many respects. However, the new models still hallucinate, or make things up — in fact, they hallucinate more than several of OpenAI’s older models. Hallucinations have proven to be one of the biggest and most difficult problems to solve in AI, impacting even today’s best-performing systems. Historically, each new model has improved slightly in the hallucination department, hallucinating less than its predecessor. But that doesn’t seem to be the case for o3 and o4-mini. According to OpenAI’s internal tests, o3 and o4-mini, which are so-called reasoning models, hallucinate more…

Techstars, a nearly 20-year-old startup accelerator, announced new terms for startups that enter its three-month program. The organization will now invest $220,000, which is $100,000 more than it offered previously, in companies starting with its fall 2025 batch. The capital will be divided into two components. The group is offering companies $20,000 in exchange for 5% ownership in the business. Startups will also receive $200,000 in the form of an uncapped SAFE note with a “most favored nation” clause. Put more simply, Techstars’ percentage ownership of its $200,000 SAFE will depend on the company’s subsequent valuations. For example, if the…

A new animated kids’ series expected to premiere this year won’t be headed for a TV network. Or a streaming service. Instead, the founders of production studio We Ghosted Media plan to launch on a decentralized web platform that uses blockchain technology. And yes, a crypto wallet will be involved.  We Ghosted Media — founded by Chris Jammal, an assistant director for “Bob’s Burgers,” and Jaclynn Demas, producer of hit children’s show “Peg + Cat” — is a TV production studio abandoning traditional show release methods in favor of a decentralized approach, commonly referred to as web3. The studio announced Friday…

Bitcoin, the world’s largest cryptocurrency, could serve as an inflation hedge if President Donald Trump’s tariff-driven trade tensions erode the U.S. dollar’s global supremacy, according to analysis from Messari. “Over time, we believe [tariffs] could lead to Bitcoin decoupling from U.S. equities,” said Dylan Bane, Enterprise Research Analyst at Messari, a crypto research firm. “It may increasingly be viewed not as a tech stock proxy or risk-on trade, but as a credible inflation hedge and long-term store of value.” Although Messari expects Bitcoin to maintain its high correlation with the U.S. equity market in the near future, it forecasts a…

The tech layoff wave is still kicking in 2025. Last year saw more than 150,000 job cuts across 549 companies, according to independent layoffs tracker Layoffs.fyi. So far this year, more than 22,000 workers have been the victim of reductions across the tech industry, with a staggering 16,084 cuts taking place in February alone. We’re tracking layoffs in the tech industry in 2025 so you can see the trajectory of the cutbacks and understand the impact on innovation across all types of companies. As businesses continue to embrace AI and automation, this tracker serves as a reminder of the human…

In a new Roundtable discussion with Gokhshtein Media founder David Gokhshtein, HIVE Executive Chairman Frank Holmes laid out how green Bitcoin mining is creating surprising geopolitical and economic benefits — not just for crypto investors, but for entire countries. “HIVE is a unique company. It only sources green energy. It functions in nine time zones, in five languages, and it keeps getting recognized,” Holmes began. He praised his team as one of the most efficient Bitcoin miners in the world and highlighted their major footprint in Paraguay — a country most Americans know little about. “What a lot of Americans…

Companies around America have started cutting DEI programs and eliminating DEI commitments from public documents in response to legal and political threats from the Trump administration. Just a few weeks ago, Attorney General Pam Bondi instructed the Department of Justice to “investigate, eliminate, and penalize,” DEI programs deemed illegal in private sector companies that receive federal funds.  Trump has signed an executive order banning DEI in the federal government with the approval of his right-hand companion Elon Musk, an immigrant from South Africa and a long-time denouncer of DEI.  The reaction to the government’s anti-diversity push has taken many forms.…

A new animated kids’ series expected to premiere this year won’t be headed for a TV network. Or a streaming service. Instead, the founders of production studio We Ghosted Media plan to launch on a decentralized web platform that uses blockchain technology. And yes, a crypto wallet will be involved. We Ghosted Media — founded by Chris Jammal, an assistant director for “Bob’s Burgers,” and Jaclynn Demas, producer of hit children’s show “Peg + Cat” — is a TV production studio abandoning traditional show release methods in favor of a decentralized approach, commonly referred to as web3. The studio announced…