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Today — 25 January 2025Main stream

Belkin SoundForm Isolate review: Noise cancelling headphones for those on a budget

25 January 2025 at 15:34

At CES 2025, Belkin began shipping its new headphones. They’re the first wireless headphones with active noise cancellation that Belkin has developed, and they come in at just $60 – making them incredibly affordable over-ear headphones.

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Oracle and Microsoft are reportedly in talks to take over TikTok

By: Wes Davis
25 January 2025 at 15:09
Photo illustration of Tik Tok logo in a ban symbol.
Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge, Getty Images

Oracle and a group of investors that includes Microsoft are in talks to take over TikTok’s global operations, reports NPR. The deal, which the White House is reportedly negotiating, would see ByteDance keeping a minority stake in TikTok while “the app’s algorithm, data collection and software updates will be overseen by Oracle.”

Oracle’s server network already provides the bulk of TikTok’s backbone, and under the deal, the company would “effectively monitor and provide oversight with what is going on with TikTok,” according to one of NPR’s anonymous sources, who added that the agreement’s goal is to “minimize Chinese ownership.”

Microsoft’s reported involvement isn’t clear beyond that it is “engaged in the talks.” The company was also in the mix with Oracle and Walmart in a 2020 bid to take over TikTok that Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates had called “a poison[ed] chalice.” Walmart reportedly isn’t involved this time around “after balking at the estimated price” of the app.

News of the talks comes after President Trump issued an executive order giving TikTok and others a 75-day reprieve from any enforcement action related to the United States’ requirement that ByteDance divest from TikTok. Trump had previously floated the possibility of a “joint venture” in which the US owns 50 percent of the company.

We’ve reached out to Oracle, Microsoft, TikTok, and the White House for comment.

Trump administration reportedly negotiating an Oracle takeover of TikTok

25 January 2025 at 14:56

The Trump administration is negotiating a deal that would see Oracle take over TikTok alongside new U.S. investors, according to a report in NPR. Lawmakers passed a bill last year forcing Chinese parent company ByteDance to either sell TikTok or see it banned in the U.S. The app briefly went dark before the law took […]

© 2024 TechCrunch. All rights reserved. For personal use only.

Trump plays Vegas: President basks in laughter turning rally from policy talk to improv comedy performance

25 January 2025 at 15:05

The newly-sworn in president was feeding off of the Las Vegas crowd’s energy, cracking jokes like he was holding his own improv show, as the backdrop of uncertainty following his stack of controversial executive orders this week plagues many Americans, Kelly Rissman reports

© EPA

WhatsApp could soon let iOS users have multiple accounts on one device

The latest WhatsApp beta update for iOS gives users the ability to add and switch between multiple accounts on a single device, according to WABetaInfo. It comes over a year after the feature became available for Android. With version 25.2.10.70 for iOS, users are given a choice when adding a second account to the app, WABetaInfo reports: they can set it up as a standalone primary account or “scan a QR code to link the new account as a companion.” The update is available now for beta testers through Apple’s TestFlight program.

📝 WhatsApp beta for iOS 25.2.10.70: what's new?

WhatsApp is working on a feature to add and manage multiple accounts within the app, and it will be available in a future update!https://t.co/BtvOK2hAZO pic.twitter.com/CWsBGFMS6v

— WABetaInfo (@WABetaInfo) January 25, 2025

On Android, running two accounts simultaneously on WhatsApp requires a dual-SIM situation, as each account must have its own phone number. WhatsApp does offer another app, WhatsApp Business, that users can set up a second account on using a different phone number, but that still means jumping between two apps. The Android update and what’s currently being tested for iOS allow users with two phone numbers to keep all their conversations in one app.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/mobile/whatsapp-could-soon-let-ios-users-have-multiple-accounts-on-one-device-224908618.html?src=rss

©

© WhatsApp

A render of the WhatsApp chat screen on an iPhone showing three conversations

‘RHOBH’ Star Erika Jayne’s Son Testifies at ASAP Rocky’s Trial

25 January 2025 at 09:01
Erika Jaynes Son Testifies in ASAP Rockys Trial
Getty Images (2)

Day one of rapper ASAP Rocky’s assault trial served as a reminder of just how small Hollywood can be.

Thomas Zizzo Jr., a Los Angeles police officer and son of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills star Erika Jayne, took the stand on Friday, January 14, during day one of the Grammy award-winning rapper’s trial, TMZ reported.

Rocky, 36, faces two counts of assault with a semiautomatic firearm related to a 2021 shooting incident in Hollywood. He is accused of firing two or three shots at Terell Ephron, a childhood friend. According to the Associated Press, Ephron claims the alleged shots “grazed his knuckles. The rapper has pleaded not guilty.

The rapper faces up to 24 years in prison if convicted.

Rihanna Is ‘Holding It All Together’ Before ASAP Rocky's Trial (Source)

Zizzo was one of the first LAPD officers to respond to the scene of the alleged 2021 incident, TMZ reports. While on the stand, the officer reportedly “testified about what he saw at the scene when he arrived.”

Erika Jaynes Son Testifies in ASAP Rockys Trial
GENARO MOLINA – Pool/Getty Images

Zizzo has remained out of the public spotlight despite his mother’s reality television fame — he has never appeared on RHOBH and is not featured on his mom Jayne’s social media pages. As TMZ notes, his absence from her social media accounts deliberate — she says she does not post about her son “out of respect for his privacy as a police officer.”

Jayne shares her son with ex-husband Thomas Zizzo. The pair divorced shortly after their son was born in 1992. In 2022, Jayne spoke out about her close bond with her son and ex-husband following the legal and financial struggles she faced in the wake of her separation from Tom Girardi in November 2020.

“People don’t understand this, but we’re actually pretty tight,” Jayne said of her ex-husband, Thomas, and her son at the time. “They have been very supportive of me, and I’m very grateful.

She went on to say that the “silver lining” of her separation from Girardi was how it strengthened her relationship with her son.

ASAP Rocky Will Stand Trial After Being Accused of Firing Gun at Friend

“My son and I, we’ve really come together,” she explained. “He’ll be 30 in June. Jesus. I just remember walking around here in New York being pregnant with him, but he’ll be 30. And so asking him what he thinks about things, you know, you get this adult perspective, and it’s really nice.”

While Jayne’s son was present in court on Friday, Rocky’s partner, Rihanna, was notably absent on Thursday, January 23, during jury selection. According to the Associated Press, however, she was the topic of multiple questions.

“What if Rihanna comes here to court, is it going to be hard for you to look over there and see the defendant’s family and deliver a guilty verdict?” Deputy District Attorney John Lewin asked one prospective juror.

“Yes,” the woman reportedly answered.

Rocky and Rihanna have been together since 2019 and share two sons: RZA and Riot Rose.

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