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Meta’s Threads is deepening its integration with the fediverse, a collection of decentralized social media platforms that includes Mastodon. Starting today, users who have enabled sharing to the fediverse in Threads will be able to see posts from federated accounts that they follow. These posts will now appear in a dedicated feed.

From this feed, users can now search for federated users from within Threads. These posts will populate in reverse chronological order, ensuring the newest posts from accounts you follow appear first.

Decentralized platforms currently compatible with Threads include Mastodon, Bookwyrm, WriteFreely and more, with Meta hoping more services will sign on in the future. When searching for fediverse accounts, simply input their username and corresponding service into the search bar, such as “@flipboard@flipboard.social,” and if an exact match exists, their profile will appear alongside the fediverse icon.

Meta has spent the last year working on building the fediverse into the Threads experience, and the company says that Threads “has interacted with over 75 percent of all fediverse servers” since sharing to the fediverse was launched a year ago.

The social media conglomerate states that its goal “remains to grow the fediverse responsibly, prioritizing the success of a safe community from multiple platforms and with multiple points of view.” Integrations like the features being launched today, however, make it much easier for the company’s users to see federated posts without ever navigating away from Threads to do so. Furthermore, fediverse engagement on Threads remains an “opt-in” feature, and replies you receive to posts shared in the fediverse are still not integrated into Threads.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/big-tech/threads-adds-new-dedicated-feed-for-fediverse-content-174105370.html?src=rss

It’s official: the Nothing Phone 3 will use the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset.Nothing CEO Carl Pei revealed the spec detail in an interview uploaded to the company’s YouTube channel, confirming that Nothing’s “first true flagship” phone will be “36% faster on CPU, 88% stronger on GPU, and 60% stronger on the NPU” than the Nothing Phone 2.Big numbers! Except the Snapdragon 8 Plus Gen 1-equipped Nothing Phone 2 is almost two years old, and by Nothing’s own admission, it’s not a true flagship, so you’d expect the Phone 3 to deliver a serious jump in performance. The even bigger elephant in the room is that Nothing’s “first true flagship” won’t be using the Snapdragon 8 Elite chipset, which by all accounts is currently the Fastest Gun in the West. Is this a terrible revelation? I’m not so sure.Look, it’s true that many of the best Android phones use Qualcomm’s latest top-end chipest, and it’s also true that, in not using the Snapdragon 8 Elite, the Nothing Phone 3 will likely lag behind the Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra and OnePlus 13 in benchmark tests and push-your-phone-to-the-limits use cases.If you’re someone who likes to max out every setting in Call of Duty: Mobile or record lengthy videos in 8K, the Nothing Phone 3 won’t be for you. But Nothing is not, and never will be, a brand for these types of power users.The Nothing Phone 3a Pro launched in March (Image credit: Philip Berne / Future)Carl Pei founded Nothing in 2020 with a mission to “make tech cool again,” and that ethos has been evident in every Nothing phone released thus far (we described the company’s most recent effort, the Nothing Phone 3a Pro, as “the most interesting phone you can buy for less than $500 / £500 / AU$850” in our review).Nothing’s next challenge is to make a “cool” phone that isn’t noticeably slower or buggier than the best phones on the market. And any device that fits that remit can, I think, accurately be described as “a true flagship”.By using the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset, the Nothing Phone 3 will feel like a flagship in comparison to Nothing phones of old, but I’m 99% certain that it’ll feel like a flagship in relation to the iPhones, Samsung phones, and Pixel phones of the world, too.As I wrote in a similarly minded piece last year: “In my opinion, we’ve reached a saturation point when it comes to the speed of flagship phones. Not necessarily overall mobile performance, mind, but the way these phones feel when you’re swiping through them.”If the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 chipset can deliver a smooth experience while you’re scrolling, streaming, swiping, gaming, taking photos, or doing any of the other things one does with their phone in 2025, I think it’s a perfectly acceptable chipset choice for a flagship handset aimed at those who value aesthetics over raw, unmitigated power.The Tensor G4-equipped Google Pixel 9 Pro was our Phone of the Year last year (Image credit: Blue Pixl Media)Consider Google’s latest flagship phone, the Pixel 9 Pro.By all accounts, its Tensor G4 chipset is weaker than the competition, yet the Pixel 9 Pro sits pretty as the ‘best Android’ option in our list of the best phones and also scooped our Phone of the Year award in 2024. Sure, those titles were awarded subjectively, but no one bats an eyelid when Google’s bona fide flagship ships without the latest and greatest in mobile silicon.The price argument is a little harder to rebuff. Rumors put the Nothing Phone 3’s price tag at around $799 / £799 / AU$1,300, which would bring the phone in line with the Snapdragon 8 Elite-equipped Samsung Galaxy S25.Naturally, Nothing’s upcoming handset won’t be able to compete with Samsung’s latest base model for raw power, but with Carl Pei promising "premium materials and software that really levels things up,” I’m confident that the Phone 3 will deliver on the CEO’s “true flagship” promise.You might also likeLeaked Nothing Phone 3 memo teases lots of AIThese are the best phones you can buy right nowThe Nothing Phone 3 may get a telephoto camera

The discourse around artificial intelligence has all been about pursuing the bleeding edge, pushing the tech into the future as fast as possible. So maybe it should be refreshing that OpenAI's latest announcement feels almost quaintly analog. Starting today, users can tap into the company's image generation by texting 1-800-ChatGPT on WhatsApp.

The post on X announcing this new option for using the ChatGPT AI chatbot specifies that the feature is "now available to everyone." I'm not sure what percentage of "everyone" wanted to have a 1-800 number to contact in order to obtain their AI-generated pictures. Considering how long it's been since the concept of a long-distance call was a factor in regular communication, I'd guess that many ChatGPT users don't even know why 1-800 phone numbers were notable. Perhaps this is OpenAI's attempt to lure the older generations away from potentially confusing (and embarrassing) competitors.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/ai/this-1-800-number-will-generate-chatgpt-images-if-for-some-reason-you-need-that-174636780.html?src=rss

Waymo is expanding its service area in two major metropolitan parts of California, according to a report by TechCrunch. The company is bringing its robotaxis to several new cities and neighborhoods around Los Angeles and San Francisco.

Beginning today, riders along the San Francisco Peninsula in cities like Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae and Burlingame will be able to try out a Waymo driverless cab. The same goes for Silicon Valley locations like Palo Alto and Menlo Park.

Ride to more places in the Bay and LA. ✨ Starting today in SF, with new areas coming to LA later this week. Download the Waymo One app to see our new service areas. pic.twitter.com/delkMqkO4k— Waymo (@Waymo) June 17, 2025

The greater Los Angeles area gets an expansion on June 18. Robotaxis will be available in neighborhoods like Echo Park, Silver Lake, Ladera Heights and Playa del Rey. They will also run through the entirety of Sunset Boulevard.

The company says this recent expansion will grow its operational borders in both regions by around 80 square miles. This brings the total coverage area in California to 250 square miles, following other expansions throughout the state.

Waymo recently boasted that it reached a milestone of 10 million paid rides, with 250,000 weekly rides in all four of its US markets. The Waymo One service also operates in Phoenix and Austin. This is a decent metric, considering the company ditched its waitlist and began offering rides to the public just last year.

On the road again: As Waymo prepares for broader scale, we're embarking on our largest road trip to date, visiting 10+ cities in 2025. First up: Las Vegas and San Diego.Read more about how our road trips help advance the Waymo Driver's AI: https://t.co/96XzLSFV8O pic.twitter.com/UDCWOCkVOk— Waymo (@Waymo) January 29, 2025

The company plans on testing its driverless system in 10 new cities this year, including Las Vegas and San Diego. It has also announced that it'll begin offering driverless taxi rides in Washington DC in 2026. Waymo hasn't abandoned the rest of the world. It started testing robotaxis in Tokyo earlier this year.

The company is also planning on more than doubling its fleet of vehicles. Waymo currently operates 1,500 Jaguar I-Pace SUVs. with 2,000 joining the fleet in the next year or so.This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/waymo-expands-service-area-around-san-francisco-and-los-angeles-180811473.html?src=rss