Social Networks

WhatsApp is making a clear play for sports fandom. The messaging platform has announced a new partnership with Arsenal Football Club, aiming to bring fans closer to the club through the very place they already spend time: group chats. The collaboration kicks off with the launch of a new documentary titled “It’s Official,” premiering across Arsenal and WhatsApp’s owned channels, including YouTube, Instagram, and in-app experiences. The film focuses on what it really means to be a supporter, capturing everything from pre-match anticipation to post-game conversations that continue long after the final whistle. But the real play isn’t just content. It’s behavior. From content consumption to conversation Beyond the documentary, fans will gain access to exclusive digital experiences via WhatsApp’s official Arsenal Channel, alongside activations on Facebook and opportunities tied to real-world moments, including events at Emirates Stadium and matchday access. What WhatsApp is really building here is not another content destination, but a conversation layer around fandom. Football has always lived in group chats. The commentary, the debates, the memes, the emotional highs and lows, it’s all already happening there. WhatsApp isn’t trying to pull fans somewhere new. It’s formalizing what already exists and plugging the club directly into

London: In a significant move aimed at reshaping user privacy, WhatsApp is introducing new security features for its global user base, directly challenging the upgraded messaging system from Apple based on RCS. The most notable change is the introduction of a username feature, allowing users to chat without sharing their phone numbers. Until now, a phone number was mandatory to send messages, but the new update will enable users to connect using unique usernames, similar to features already available on Telegram and Signal. This is expected to significantly enhance privacy, especially for users reluctant to share personal contact details with strangers. The update also expands WhatsApp’s disappearing content options. While the platform previously allowed “view once” images and videos, it will now extend this feature to regular text messages. Messages sent using this option will automatically disappear after being read, offering greater control over conversations that users do not want permanently stored. However, the rollout comes amid ongoing criticism over data security. Despite WhatsApp’s claims of end-to-end encryption, concerns persist about message backups stored on cloud services by companies like Google and Apple. Pavel Durov has claimed that nearly 95% of WhatsApp messages stored in the cloud lack encryption, raising

Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. Please try your request again later. Why did this happen? IP address: 185.181.255.246Time: 2026-04-14T18:37:05ZURL: https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3DVWMcaVkVYL8

ORLANDO – Since its launch in 2018, the Shareholders Society has stood as a cornerstone of UCF Athletics’ philanthropic success, inspiring and recognizing the generosity of our most committed supporters. This community has played an integral role in elevating UCF Athletics and positioning the Knights for sustained success on the national stage. Over the past several years, the landscape of college athletics has undergone rapid and significant change, reshaping how programs compete, invest, and support student-athletes. Throughout this evolution, our Shareholders, corporate partners, and season ticket holders have remained at the forefront, empowering UCF not only to adapt, but to lead. Because of this collective commitment, UCF Athletics has grown its operating budget from $51 million in FY17 to approximately $121 million today. More than $150 million has been invested into the Kenneth G. Dixon Athletics Village, highlighted by the opening of a new Roth Tower this August and the continued development of the Hagle Football Gateway project, both of which are critical to the future trajectory of our program. UCF Athletics also recently celebrated its 500th Shareholder, a milestone that underscores the remarkable momentum and strength behind Knight Nation. Below is a snapshot that illustrates our tremendous growth over

Snigdha Gairola Tue, 14 April 2026 at 11:31 am GMT-5 2 min read Snap Inc. CEO Evan Spiegel on Sunday said artificial intelligence is transforming the company, calling it the best thing that has ever happened to Snap. In an interview with David Senra, Spiegel described AI as "probably the best thing that’s ever happened" to Snap, pointing to its ability to help the company move faster despite limited resources. Spiegel said Snap has spent years competing against much larger rivals, calling it "like trench warfare with monopolies for 15 years." Don't Miss: A single bad hire can set a startup back years. Here are the 5 hires founders most often misjudge — and why Experts say these common ETF pitfalls can catch new investors off guard That experience, he added, taught the company an early lesson: "there's no moat in software," meaning competitors can quickly replicate features. With AI making it even easier to copy products, Spiegel said Snap has focused on building harder-to-replicate advantages. "We've evolved our business to really focus on the things that hard to copy," he said, citing network-driven communication, creator ecosystems and augmented reality platforms. He also emphasized the rapid internal impact of AI

A young woman who alleges disgraced Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) once tried to lure her to a hotel room after sending her pervy messages on Snapchat says she constantly thinks about how she dodged a bullet — saying the close call left her shaken to the core. Breaking her silence for the first time, Annika Albrecht told CBS News on Tuesday that the married congressmen started interacting with her soon after she met him on a class trip in college. She claimed Swalwell, who initially started chatting to her under the guise of a professional mentorship, quickly asked for her Snapchat. Annika Albrecht (center) says she keeps “thinking about how lucky I am that I didn’t go to that hotel” with disgraced Rep. Eric Swalwell. CBS News Eventually, she alleged, the messages crossed the line to “sexually inappropriate” before he hit her with the hotel invite. “I keep thinking about how lucky I am that I didn’t go to that hotel,” Albrecht said, adding that she immediately stopped responding to him. “It was very clear what the connotation was.” Another victim has accused Swalwell of sexually assaulting her in a hotel room in New York City in 2024. The woman

ServiceNow's Gina Mastantuono and PayPal's Jamie Miller are among finance chiefs using LinkedIn to take their message beyond the quarterly ...

Globally, Chartbeat clients’ traffic from Twitter has fallen by 70% since 2022, when Elon Musk acquired the platform. A lot of the discussion of news publishers’ traffic in recent months has focused on a decline in search traffic. But social traffic is down, too. Last week, when I was analyzing how links hurt publishers on Twitter, I asked analytics platform Chartbeat for data on how Twitter referral traffic has changed. The decline is stark. Global Chartbeat clients’ traffic from Twitter has fallen by 70% since 2022 when Elon Musk acquired the platform. But it’s not just Twitter. Facebook traffic has declined steeply, too. Users are also spending less time on publishers’ sites after they click through from Facebook or Twitter. This chart looks specifically at engaged time on news and media sites: Charts made with Claude.

Cobb County commissioners, at its Tuesday April 14 meeting, unanimously approved a proposal from Cobb DOT to acquire right-of-way for a planned pedestrian bridge along the Noonday Creek Trail, a project aimed at improving safety and connectivity across Cobb Parkway. The proposal outlines a contract with the Georgia Department of Transportation to fund and carry out right-of-way acquisition for the Noonday Creek Trail at SR 3 and Noonday Creek pedestrian bridge project, a segment of a regional trail linking Marietta, Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, Cherokee County and Woodstock. Safety-focused crossing over major corridor The project targets a crossing at SR 3/U.S. 41/Cobb Parkway just north of Barrett Parkway, where pedestrian and bicycle travel along the trail currently has challenges due to heavy traffic and limited crossing infrastructure. Plans call for a grade-separated crossing that includes elevated boardwalk approaches, a bridge spanning Cobb Parkway, a second bridge over Noonday Creek and a short segment of at-grade trail connecting to existing sidewalks. The full project is expected to extend approximately 0.60 miles across portions of unincorporated Cobb County and the City of Kennesaw. Regional coordination and prior approvals The crossing has been identified as a priority transportation improvement by the Town

Photo above: Screenshot of Curtis “Buddy” Tesar from the video of the Cobb BOC meeting Curtis “Buddy” Tesar was unanimously approved as Cobb County’s Chief Financial Officer during the Board of Commissioners meeting this morning. Tesar has held the position in an interim capacity since December of 2025, when previous CFO Bill Volckmann became Cobb’s Deputy County Manager. County Manager Dr. Jackie McMorris made the recommendation, and the appointment was approved by the BOC unanimously. “It is indeed my pleasure to recommend to you the appointment of our new CFO, Mr. Curtis “Buddy” Tesar, as our chief financial officer,” McMorris said. “He joined the Cobb County Finance Department in December of 2010 as a budget specialist and has worked in many areas and we’re so proud of him.” “During that tenure, he advanced to accounting manager, finance division manager in the area of treasury and budget,” she said. “Buddy was named Deputy Chief Financial Officer in May of 2017 and has served as our interim CFO since this past December,” said McMorris. “He joined the Cobb County Finance Department in December 2010 as a Budget Specialist and since that time he has advanced to Accounting Manager, and Finance Division Manager