Talking Tech

Thu Jul 13 2023

Brett Molina | Consumer Tech Reporter

@brettmolina23

It's not just any Thursday. It's Talking Tech Thursday. It's also the start of National French Fry Day, celebrated over two days. Weird, I know. If you want to hold the fries, tomorrow is National Mac and Cheese Day.

It's Brett Molina here, serving up tech headlines and debating where to score some free fries, and maybe a little mac and cheese.

Let's talk Threads. It's the latest app from Meta. You may know them from such hit apps as Facebook and Instagram.

The app is very similar to Twitter, and it's picking up steam. Less than a week since launch, it has scooped up 100 million users. If you've heard a lot about Threads, but are still trying to figure this app out, we've got you covered.

What exactly is Threads? It's a social media app where users can post text, photos, videos or other information . Threads is connected to Instagram, so users can either sign up with their current account or create a separate account for Instagram to log in with Threads. The app also imports any accounts you follow to Threads.

How does it compare to Twitter? They are very similar, but because Threads is just over a week old, it lacks many of the features of Twitter, such as subject search and the ability to thread messages.

What's it like to use Threads? I've been tinkering with Threads since it launched. What Threads did well was kept most of the experience pretty close to how Twitter works. They also had a large group of big-name accounts so it felt more lively than apps like Mastodon or Hive.

Will it really replace Twitter? If you're Elon Musk, then you hope that's not the case. For now, it's tough to say because Threads has only been available for over a week. Doesn't hurt the app has more than 100 million users.

How good does Threads handle privacy? USA TODAY Tech columnist Marc Saltzman breaks down what kind of data they collect if you sign up Threads. Basically, Instagram already has plenty of data on users, but there are still some reasons to be concerned.

What else happened in tech?

Gotta catch some z's: Pokémon reveals sleep-tracking app to launch soon.

Tired of Amazon Prime? Here's how to cancel the service.

Meet the 'Autocado': Chipotle is testing a robot to help make guacamole in its restaurants.

Thursday tech tip

Let's brush up on our texting abbreviations. This week: what does 'TTYL' stand for?

One more thing

How did we get this far without mentioning Prime Day? The two-day shopping event wrapped up Wednesday, and consumers spent $6 billion . The top categories for shopping this year have been home goods, household essentials and apparel and shoes, according to Data firm Numerator's 2023 Live Prime Day Tracker.

And don't sweat it if you missed out. Here's your rundown of the best Amazon tech deals you can get right now.

Thanks for reading! Until next week.