Latest news with #Decoder
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Automattic puts Tumblr migration to WordPress on hold
Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg confirmed that the company is no longer working on migrating its Tumblr blogging platform to WordPress, as previously announced. The exec shared the news on The Verge's Decoder podcast, published on Monday, saying that the project is 'on hold' for an indefinite period. 'What we decided is that we want to focus as much on the things that are going to be noticeable to users and that users are asking for,' he told the site. 'This was more like an infrastructure thing, kind of like any big re-architecture. I still want to do it. It's just cleaner. But right now, we're not working on it.' The announcement also raises questions about what this means for Tumblr's integration with the open social web, known as the fediverse. By migrating its infrastructure to WordPress, it would have become a federated app. Mullenweg admits that was one of the arguments for making the move, but hints that it's no longer a priority. '…in the meantime, I think if there was a big push to implement fediverse, we would just do it on the Tumblr code base,' he said. Mullenweg also reiterated that Tumblr is not profitable, and is sustained from the profits of other Automattic products. Still, he said he believed in Tumblr's future and plans to give it the runway it needs to figure things out. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Verge
5 days ago
- Business
- The Verge
Tumblr's move to WordPress and fediverse integration is ‘on hold'
Automattic's plan to move Tumblr's backend over to WordPress is now 'on hold,' Automattic founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg says in a Decoder episode published today. The company announced the plan to move over the more than half a billion blogs on Tumblr last year, saying that the change would 'make it easier to share our work across platforms.' But Mullenweg says on Decoder that, 'what we decided is that we want to focus as much on the things that are going to be noticeable to users and that users are asking for.' It seems as if the move might be on the table in the future, though. 'I still want to do it,' Mullenweg says. 'It's just cleaner. But right now, we're not working on it.' The decision to halt the change also appears to mean that Tumblr posts won't be available in the fediverse in the near future. currently offers an ActivityPub plug-in, so Tumblr moving onto WordPress would theoretically let people bring Tumblr posts to the fediverse. 'That would've been a free way to get it,' Mullenweg says. 'And so that was one of the arguments for migrating everything to WordPress.' In the meantime, however, 'I think if there was a big push to implement fediverse, we would just do it on the Tumblr code base,' according to Mullenweg. Automattic purchased Tumblr from Verizon in 2019.
Time of India
24-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Time of India
The last time when Hinge founder used his own dating app, and how it helped him marry his wife
Hinge founder and CEO Justin McLeod hasn't used his own dating app as a user in over a decade, but his last experience on the platform led to one of the most dramatic love stories in Silicon Valley history. McLeod revealed during a recent interview on The Verge's Decoder podcast that he last used Hinge more than ten years ago, before the app became one of America's biggest dating platforms. What happened next reads like a Netflix romantic comedy, which it literally became, inspiring an episode of the streaming service's "Modern Love" series. The story begins with heartbreak. McLeod tried to win back his college girlfriend after Harvard Business School, but she rejected him. That rejection sparked the creation of Hinge in 2011. "I started Hinge in response to that," McLeod told The Verge's Nilay Patel. A flight to Switzerland changed everything But the plot twist came years later. Someone McLeod met on his own app inspired him to make one final attempt at love. His college ex was living in Switzerland, about to marry someone else. With just one month before her wedding, McLeod flew overseas to make his case. "She called off her wedding and moved back to New York," McLeod said, describing the moment that would reshape both his personal life and his company's philosophy. The dramatic reunion led to Hinge's complete reboot in 2015, when McLeod fired half his staff and rebuilt the app around its now-famous tagline: "designed to be deleted." The couple has been together for the past decade, married with children. This personal transformation directly influenced Hinge's business model, which prioritizes getting users off the app and onto real dates, rather than maximizing screen time like other social platforms. McLeod's romantic journey became the foundation for a dating app philosophy that puts human connection over digital engagement. AI Masterclass for Students. Upskill Young Ones Today!– Join Now
Business Insider
24-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
'Like junk food': Hinge CEO calls out Mark Zuckerberg's vision for AI friends
Hinge CEO Justin McLeod said he doesn't believe artificial intelligence is the cure for the loneliness plaguing young people. McLeod had much to say about AI's role in dating during a recent interview with Nilay Patel on the "Decoder" podcast. The Hinge founder, who's been skeptical about using AI for dating, is adamant that it can't fully replace human connections. His stance contrasts with that of another leader who built a business on online social interactions: Mark Zuckerberg. The Meta CEO recently said in an interview with podcast host Dwarkesh Patel that "the average person has demand for meaningfully more" friends, and suggested AI could fill that demand. McLeod disagrees with the sentiment that "AI chatbots can become your friend," he said on the podcast published Monday, pointing to Zuckerberg's remarks. McLeod said that "extraordinarily reductive view" of friendship misses the point of what building relationships is all about. "The most rewarding parts of being in a friendship are being able to be there for someone else, to risk and be vulnerable, to share experiences with other conscious entities," McLeod said. While an AI friend might say all the right things and be available at the right time, unlike a human friend, the relationship likely won't feel good in the long run, he said. "It ultimately, just like junk food, will make people feel over time, like less healthy, more drained, and will displace human relationships that they should be out cultivating in the real world," he said. Hinge won't be getting virtual romantic partners powered by AI, McLeod said. Meanwhile, Zuckerberg is going all in on AI on the social platforms he runs. The tech giant launched Meta AI as a stand-alone app in April. It featured AI assistant tools and a scrollable feed where creators can share AI-generated images of themselves. Zuckerberg told Dwarkesh that it's still "very early" in the field responsible for AI girlfriends and therapists that can behave and look like humans. Not all of Meta's AI efforts have been wins. It rolled out AI assistants that featured the likenesses of celebrities like Kendall Jenner and posted AI-generated content until it shut down the celebrity accounts in 2024, after less than a year. On the "This Past Weekend" podcast in April, he said that AI "probably" won't replace real-life connections. "There are all these things that are better about physical connections when you can have them," Zuckerberg told host Theo Von. "But the reality is that people just don't have the connections, and they feel more alone a lot of the time than they would like." McLeod said the idea that AI could solve loneliness and create an "emotional connection" is dangerous. "That, I think, is really playing with fire," he told Patel. The loneliness epidemic, as he called it, is exacerbated by screens and the internet, resulting in "mental health issues." Meta did not respond to a request for comment from Business Insider. Where AI meets Hinge Despite his stance on chatbots mimicking emotions, McLeod said there are useful ways to incorporate AI into Hinge's technology. He sees two main areas where AI can improve the dating experience. "It's going to move much closer to the experience of working with a personal matchmaking service," he said, of one approach. That could allow users to speak more directly to Hinge about what they're looking for in a partner to build a curated list of their most compatible matches. He also sees the potential for an AI dating coach to help people get over hurdles, like preparing for a first date or crafting their dating profiles. For example, Hinge has a trained model that gives feedback on users' answers to prompts displayed on their profiles, he said. "We can give people those nudges so they write good prompts, so that they choose good photos," McLeod said.
Yahoo
10-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Is TaskRabbit a new recession indicator? Its CEO says applications to be a 'Tasker' have spiked
TaskRabbit CEO Ania Smith says interest in becoming a "tasker" is way up. There's been a noticeable uptick in applications over the past three years, the CEO told the Decoder podcast. Asked if that was a recession indicator, Smith said she wasn't sure but that there was "uncertainty" in the economy. The oft-debated recession indicator. Lipstick sales, the "men's underwear index," and … an increase in TaskRabbit applications? There's been an uptick in recent years in the number of people looking to shore up their income streams with gig work. That's been the case for TaskRabbit, which matches up "Taskers" with clients that need things built, installed, repaired, or otherwise completed by a gig worker. Its CEO, Ania Smith, told the podcast Decoder that applications to be a "Tasker" have spiked in the last year. "As the economy has changed over the last few years — and especially over the last couple of years as we've seen a bit more struggle — we've had thousands and thousands of taskers applying every year. It's 15-20% more than a year before," said Smith. In the last three years, Taskrabbit has seen nearly more supply of gig workers than the platform can handle, she added. "So now in many cities we have wait lists and so forth, because we don't want to onboard a tasker and then not be able to provide them with jobs," Smith said. "It's sort of a false premise. I want to make sure that if you are on our platform, there's work for you to do." Smith was asked point blank if she felt the rise in Tasker applications was a recession indicator. She didn't rule the possibility out, but she said the surge in applicants doesn't spell recession in and of itself. "I'm not an economist, and I read all of this stuff, just like you do. And if you do read that stuff, you know, we should have had a recession last year, and one the year before as well," Smith said. "And those predictions turned out to be wrong. And so I think the word is uncertainty." With so many factors up in the air, Smith says the only thing you can be sure of in today's economy is unpredictability. "It's very hard to predict what's gonna happen with tariffs, what's gonna happen with bond yields, what's gonna happen with interest rates, what's gonna happen with the housing market," she said. "And so, all I can say is we see an increase in tasker applications. I'm not sure that that's an indication that a recession is coming." "As a platform, the best way we can help our Tasker community is to make sure that our platform is delivering the opportunities that they are looking for," the spokesperson told Business Insider. "We know Taskers often need both supplemental income and flexible scheduling options, which is why we invest significant time and resources to attract a variety of clients to the platform," the spokesperson added. "We want to make sure that Taskers have ample opportunities for work, particularly during challenging economic times." TaskRabbit isn't the only gig-work app to feature a wait list in times of high worker supply. Business Insider's Alex Bitter wrote in April that those looking to turn to gig work as a back-up if they were to lose their job could find the move harder than they thought. "In many cities, getting approved to deliver groceries or drive for a ride-hailing service might take weeks or months," Bitter wrote. Read the original article on Business Insider Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
