Tech Digest: Meta’s Facebook tops 3 billion monthly users
Mark Zuckerberg’s social media empire has reported a jump in advertising revenues and said that 3 billion people are now regularly checking Facebook. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram and newly launched app Threads, reported an 11pc increase to revenues in the three months ending in June. The company said the number of monthly users on Facebook had topped 3 billion, suggesting almost 40pc of the global population regularly use the platform. The company weathered the storm in the advertising market with sales surging to $32bn, even as its sales at rival Twitter stumbled under Elon Musk’s stewardship. Telegraph
Despite a dizzying number of initial sign-ups, usage of Threads, Mark Zuckerberg’s answer to Twitter, has declined significantly in recent weeks, according to a new report of by Similarweb, a digital intelligence platform. Within the first few hours of its launch on 5 July, Threads garnered 5m user registrations and within less than a week at least 100 million people had signed up for the app. But, three weeks later, active daily use or the number of users who engage with the site on a daily basis has dropped, from a peak of 49 million on 7 July to 12 million on 22 July, according to Similarweb. The Guardian
Samsung Electronics has unveiled its latest foldable phones in South Korea, pinning hopes on the splashy premium phones to help it regain lost ground in the luxury smartphone market. The South Korean company held the latest of its regular “Unpacked” international product launches in its home country for the first time as it seeks to lure consumers away from the Apple ecosystem with its annual refresh of foldable smartphones.. The prices of the phones, which will go on sale on August 11, will stay at the same level as their predecessors with the Flip at $999 and the Fold at $1,799. FT.com
A man has described the moment a fire ripped through his home after the battery for his son’s e-bike “exploded like a grenade” in the middle of the night. Andrew Beaton, 59, said his family were “lucky” to escape after the bike, bought online for his son last Christmas, burst into flames while charging under the stairs. The blaze ripped through his Lancaster home at astonishing speed, momentarily trapping his wife and daughter upstairs and gutting the entire property within minutes. Sky News
Spotify has taken a £34million hit as the music giant performed a cull of failed podcast deals. Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s lucrative contract with Spotify was terminated last month. The streaming service revealed it had taken the hit as a result of “write-offs and contract termination” costs “in connection with rationalising our podcast content portfolio”. Daniel Ek, Spotify’s CEO, said the company was “stepping out of some deals and relationships that haven’t worked out”. GBNews
The recovery of the UK car industry continues apace, as local production surged 11.7% over the first half of 2023, with June confirmed as the fifth consecutive month of growth. Some 450,168 cars left UK factory gates from January to June, up from 403,131 in the same period last year. June alone accounted for 84,767 units, an increase of nearly 12,000 cars.It was the best first half for UK car production since 2021, and demonstrates – according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders – that “manufacturers were increasingly able to manage global supply chain challenges.” Autocar
