Technology Seattle startup behind Amazon gift guides on your feed just raised $20 million Seattle startup Levanta, which connects Amazon sellers with influencers on social media, just secured $20 million in funding to grow its platform. Monica Nickelsburg
Politics Traffic on Bluesky, an X competitor, is up 500% since the election. How will it handle the surge? Unlike other social media sites, Bluesky allows users to create their own algorithm. The site does not have ads, nor harvest data for artificial intelligence training. But it is still very small, and it does not make money. Bobby Allyn
Science Development of Elon Musk's rocket to Mars will likely take off under Trump Regulators have slowed the pace of Starship launches over environmental concerns, but that may be about to change. Geoff Brumfiel
Politics Trump taps FCC's Brendan Carr to lead the agency Carr was seen as a pretty conventional Republican with a pro-corporate outlook for most of his career. More recently, he has embraced Trumpian themes about social media, tech and television companies. David Folkenflik
Technology Meet Spotify's AI DJ Spotify's AI DJ feature brings curated playlists to subscribers in English and Spanish.
Arts & Life Will Spotify's AI DJ make you listen longer? The music streamer's AI DJ feature offers personalized playlists with a warm AI voice that gives context to song picks. Chloe Veltman
Technology Australia will require social media platforms to act to prevent online harm to users Australia plans to require social media platforms to act to prevent online harms to users such as bullying, predatory behavior and algorithms pushing destructive content, the government said Thursday. The Associated Press
Arts & Life Nintendo has launched a music app, seizing on the appeal of video game playlists The Nintendo Music app lets you listen to dozens of hours of music from games like Mario, Zelda and Donkey Kong. Vincent Acovino
Technology Google's AI Overview has no opt-out. That's making some people unhappy Tech companies are force-feeding people AI on search engines and social media platforms and there's no way to opt out. Google search, considered the gateway to the internet, is especially frustrating. Dara Kerr
Politics 2020’s debunked election fraud claims are coming back due to Trump’s 2024 victory Election deniers have spent the past four years focused on false claims that 2020 was rigged. This year, it raised similar alarms about fraud — only for those claims to evaporate as returns came in. Shannon Bond
