Maine’s Senate Race Implodes, Meta’s Threads Rivals Musk’s X, and Trump’s Phone Calls.
In this episode of Uncanny Valleyour hosts discuss Threads as it recently hit 500 million monthly users, putting it on par with X—but does it really compete or just fill a different niche? Meanwhile, reviews have been pouring in for Trump’s T1-branded phone in recent weeks as it began shipping after a year-long delay. Also: We describe the immediate crisis surrounding Senate candidate Graham Platner, who is stepping down after a series of controversies.
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You can follow Zoë Schiffer on Bluesky at @zoeschiffer and Leah Feiger on Bluesky at @leahfeiger. Write to us at [email protected].
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Transcript
Note: This is an automatic transcript, which may contain errors.
Leah Feiger:Hey friend.
Zoë Schiffer: Leah, hello.
Leah Feiger: How is it?
Zoë Schiffer: Good. Brian is gone. If the cat is not there, the mice will not talk about any technical conferences.
Leah Feiger: We’re talking about gadgets, but it’s—
Zoë Schiffer: It’s one we care about.
Leah Feiger: It’s one we care about. A gadget we care about.
Zoë Schiffer: Welcome to WIRED’s Uncanny Valley. I’m Zoë Schiffer, director of business and industry.
Leah Feiger: And I’m Leah Feiger, director of politics and science.
Zoë Schiffer: Today on the show, we discuss how Threads, Meta’s rival in X, has quietly grown and is actually catching up to its rival. Last month, Threads reached 500 monthly users, making it as popular as Elon Musk’s social media. He really caught me by surprise. We’ll discuss what this milestone means for the ever-busy world of AI products.
Leah Feiger: We’ll get into Trump’s phone again. The one that was announced last year, was delayed a few times, and now apparently local orders have been arriving for the past few weeks. The features of the phone are exactly what you would expect. After that, we’ll be turning our attention to the political debate taking place in Maine. Democratic nominee Graham Platner is facing allegations of sexual harassment and numerous calls for his resignation.
Zoë Schiffer: Okay, Leah, let’s get into Meta’s Threads first. If you have an Instagram account, you’ve definitely seen it. The app is constantly updated on the main feed. And just to catch people who don’t know, it looks like an X, like Twitter. And that’s the point. Elon Musk bought Twitter in 2022, turned it into X, and Meta saw an open field because people were very upset with the way Elon Musk was running that platform. Therefore, they created Threads as a direct competitor. When it was first introduced, it received a ton of press. I was part of that press. I’ve been heralding it, ironically as the new, next, best Twitter. But then it just had this kind of overrated LinkedIn feel, at least to me, and it seems like a lot of others. And of course, it feels like it’s been dropped a bit on the map. But then Meta announces, wait, no, 500 million monthly users, putting you on par with X.
