Twitter has been in a state of flux ever since Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk paid out $44 billion to take over the social media site in October last year. Big changes are still happening, including a new overhaul of Twitter’s longtime verification system that once awarded blue check marks to notable accounts — including celebrities, companies, brands and journalists. 

Musk’s push to build subscription revenue led Twitter to replace its old verification system with a paid Twitter Blue service. The change makes it difficult to know the difference between a previously verified account and one that’s simply paying for the blue mark. So who can you trust on Twitter anymore? Understanding the different check mark colors and meanings can help guide you. Let’s sort it out.

Blue check mark

A blue check mark next to a username once conveyed a coveted “verified” status that meant the user was who they said they were. That’s how you’d know a tweet was coming from comedian Steve Martin and not someone pretending to be Steve Martin. 

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The blue mark now comes with this message: “This account is verified because it’s subscribed to Twitter Blue or is a legacy verified account.”

Let’s tackle the first part of that. Twitter Blue subscribers pay $8 per month on the web or $11 on iOS and Android to get a check mark along with access to additional features like the ability to edit tweets within a 30-minute window and share longer tweets up to 4,000 characters. The higher in-app price offsets the app store commissions, so you can save money by subscribing directly through the Twitter site. Anyone who pays the fee and meets the eligibility requirements (including a confirmed phone number and active status) can have a Twitter Blue check mark.

Many well-known Twitter users spoke up against the new system, including basketball star LeBron James, who declared last week, “I ain’t paying.”

But James still has his blue check mark. Turns out Twitter decided not to take the legacy check marks away from most accounts, even if they don’t pay. To add to the turmoil of introducing the new system, Twitter removed the verified check mark from the main New York Times account as Musk referred to the news outlet as “propaganda” and “unreadable.” 

Legacy verified users were once considered “active, notable, and authentic accounts of public interest.” Now it isn’t necessarily easy to determine if an account is a legacy or a Twitter Blue subscriber. That confusion may detract from the value of the blue check mark that was once a badge of authenticity. 

Twitter no longer has a media relations team that could help us sort through these issues.

Gold check mark

Yes, it looks yellow, but Twitter calls the color “gold.” These marks are reserved for official business accounts that are signed up with the Twitter Verified Organizations program. Think of this as Twitter Blue on steroids for businesses and nonprofits. 

Twitter Verified Organizations pay a $1,000-per-month subscription fee and are rewarded with a check mark, a square avatar, Twitter Blue features and the ability to add affiliate accounts, among other perks.

Gray check mark

It might look drab in comparison to the more colorful blue and gold marks, but the gray check mark is an important one to know. It primarily designates a government organization or official. US President Joe Biden’s account, for example, sports a gray check mark. The mark can also apply to multilateral organizations like the United Nations and the World Health Organization that encompass multiple countries. 

At least gold and gray are easy to understand. Will the blue confusion continue or clear up? For Twitter users, this calls for extra scrutiny of where the information is coming from. Is that tweet from a previously verified account or some random Twitter Blue subscriber? As with most things on the internet, it pays to stay on your toes and check your sources.

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Caviar, a Russian company that adds luxury embellishments to phones, lives to wow its customers with over-the-top adornments. Sometimes that “wow” is followed by a “what?!” Behold the Credo Christmas Star Diamond iPhone 11.

The $129,000 (£98,000, AU$188,000) iPhone is made with a gold pattern radiating outward from a large diamond, which lingers above a Christmas nativity scene depicting baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph in relief. The diamond is meant to symbolize the Star of Bethlehem. 

Caviar describes the one-off iPhone 11 Pro creation as “an expression of special respect to this holy day.” You can also opt for an iPhone 11 Pro Max for $140,000 if you prefer.

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If the big-bucks version is too hefty for your pocketbook, you can also pick up a diamond-less $6,000 version made with a stone composite, or a $9,000 silver option. 

“Christmas star of the new collection by Caviar will become a real artifact for the owner of this smartphone, which will lead to bright, kind and eternal things,” the company said in a statement on Wednesday. It may also lead to some sideways glances from people who can’t believe your phone is real, but that’s up to you to deal with.

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And you thought we couldn’t sink any lower than “belfies.” That collective groan heard ’round the world Tuesday came after Apple coined the term “slofie” to describe a slow-motion selfie feature for the iPhone 11. 

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Apple highlighted the new iPhone’s ability to take slo-mo selfie videos with the phone’s front-facing camera during the company’s announcement event at the Steve Jobs Theater in California on Tuesday. While Apple seemed to be amusing itself with the concept, the internet wasn’t having it.

Slofies haven’t even escaped into the real world yet and already Twitter user AnnaliseKeating’sSon is sick of them.

Kirby-Chepepe echoed a sentiment heard across Twitter. Slofies: it’s not going to happen.

Camparez_doglady is fretting about what this means for popular tourist and travel spots. We already have to deal with trampled tulips and misguided toxic-waste site visits in the name of selfies. What will happen when iPhone 11 users have to set up selfie videos?

Even if you can’t get behind the idea of slofies, you can probably agree with anglia plena jocis that the world could use less slofies and more slothies. Sloths on your iPhone? Now that would be a killer feature.

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I’m in awe. I like to think I have pretty good reflexes, but I don’t think I could top the sheer power, grace and accuracy YouTube user sirsammy 15 displayed by catching a flying cell phone during a roller-coaster ride. 

Sirsammy 15 is Samuel Kempf of New Zealand, as identified in an article by Stuff. Kempf posted a video on Wednesday showing himself riding the Shambhala roller coaster at PortAventura World park in Spain. 

The highlight happens when Kempf snatches another passenger’s flying phone out of the air with his right hand. I recommend viewing this part frame by frame. You can see his eyes spotting the phone and his extension as he reaches for it. NFL wide receivers should take notes on his form.

Kempf’s reaction of sheer joy and celebration is worth sticking around for. He reunited the phone with its owner after the ride. 

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This achievement of human agility didn’t happen entirely by accident. Kempf plays on a team for fistball, a volleyball-like sport. Stuff previously caught up with Kempf before his team headed to the World Fistball Championships in Switzerland in August.

Shambhala is not a kiddie ride. It’s a hypercoaster that once reigned as the fastest and tallest in Europe up until mid-2018. It reaches a speed of 83 mph (134 km/h). 

This is a good reminder to secure all your personal electronics before climbing aboard a roller coaster. But in case you don’t, here’s hoping you have Samuel Kempf sitting behind you.

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The latest and greatest iOS 13 and newly christened iPadOS arrived for public beta testing this week. Too bad my crotchety old iPad will never know the joys of a modern Apple operating system, just as it will never again stream a Hulu show.

I stared in mild shock. What?! I had just tapped on the Hulu app icon on my iPad 2, ready to catch up on the second episode of season 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale. Instead of Elisabeth Moss, red dresses and dystopian angst, I got a message of doom from Hulu.

“Version 4.10.1 is no longer supported. Please upgrade to the latest version.” 

A helpful “Upgrade Now” button appeared. I tapped it. It took me to the App Store link to the Hulu app. I tapped on “Open.” It took me back to the no-longer-supported message, trapping me in a cycle of despair. Hulu has given up on my iPad.

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I’ve been in denial for a couple of years now about the lifespan of my Apple tablet. 

I bought the iPad 2 new in March 2011. The screen still looks good. It’s as slow as a cold tortoise and apps crash randomly, but I mainly use it as a portable screen to watch Amazon Prime and Hulu while I’m prepping meals, and for listening to podcasts as I go to sleep.

I drastically reduced my streaming video consumption when I cut out Netflix, but I still track a handful of shows, including the Hulu original The Handmaid’s Tale. I never watch on my desktop computer (it’s for work only) and I rarely have the spare time to plop down in the living room in front of a proper television.

And so my iPad 2 is how I watch streaming shows. Amazon Prime still works, but Hulu’s exit from my tablet’s life is a stark reminder of the short life span of almost all technology. 

I’m not the only one who has had to so rudely face my iPad’s mortality. Other owners of ancient iPads took to Twitter to express their despair.

“Well it looks like I have to cancel my Hulu account,” wrote Twitter user Tom Sawyer, who also got caught in the no-longer-supported trap. “You guys suck,” he concluded.

“What am I paying for if I can’t use it?” asked Twitter user Jeanette, whose iPad Mini no longer works with the app.

The Hulu Support Twitter account is busy fielding these comments with variations on a standard apologetic reply: “In order to provide our viewers with the best possible experience, we require an updated version of our app that select older devices do not support.” The Hulu app now requires iOS 11.

My iPad 2 is frozen in time with iOS 9.3.5.  I’ve contemplated dropping Hulu, but I’m still riding out the sweet 99-cent deal from late last year. 

It’s not like I’m going to starve. I could watch Handmaid’s Tale and Letterkenny on my laptop or my slightly less old iPad Mini, but I have an aversion to streaming on both of those. The laptop because it’s too big and the Mini because it’s too small. The iPad 2 is my Goldilocks device. It’s just right.

I’m accepting my first-world problem with what I hope is a modicum of grace. Maybe I’ll find the time or the will to catch up on June’s adventures in Gilead on another device. Maybe I won’t. I have the date penciled into my calendar for when my 99-cent Hulu subscription time expires. I’ll just cancel it then. 

I’m going to stay loyal to my antiquated tablet for now. It might be over the hill, but it’s still got a spark as long as Amazon Prime keeps working. Hello, Good Omens!

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We expect a lot from our phones: communications, internet access, entertainment. A man in New South Wales in Australia seems to have discovered an extra bonus feature of his phone: the ability to stop an arrow. 

Here’s the story from the New South Wales police, complete with lots of “allegedlys.” On Wednesday, a 43-year-old man pulled into his driveway in the small village of Nimbin. He got out and spotted another man he knew standing outside his property line, allegedly armed with a bow and arrow. The first man whipped out his phone to snap a photo of the bow-wielding guy. 

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Now here’s where things get weirder. “It’s alleged the man fired the arrow at the resident which pierced through the man’s mobile phone causing the phone to hit him in the chin,” says the police. “It left a small laceration that didn’t require medical treatment.”

Officers arrested the man with the bow and charged him with “intent to commit an indictable offense, assault occasioning actual bodily harm and malicious damage.”

This would sound like a tall tale, except the police posted photos on social media of the pierced phone showing the arrow tip extending out through the screen protector. It’s unclear what model the phone it is, though it appears to be an Android device. 

The alleged attacker is now out on bail and is set to appear in court in April. The phone appears to be a complete loss, but its sacrifice was surely appreciated.

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Apple unveiled its new flagship smartphone on Wednesday, the iPhone XS Max, but not everybody loves the name, with online critics calling it lazy, uninspired and stupid.

On one hand, you can understand why Apple went this way. It’s added an “S” to iPhones before and this new phone is the bigger-screened sequel to the super fancy iPhone X. It’s really not too bad as long as your brain interprets it as “10S.” But some people can’t stop from reading it as “extra small.”  

So say hello to the contradictory iPhone Extra-Small Max, the latest target of humorous Twitter ire. 

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Twitter user Ben Gilbert isn’t pulling punches, saying “These phones look really wonderful, but ‘iPhone XS Max’ is the worst product name Apple has come up with in this century.”

Apple CEO Tim Cook may insist the name is pronounced “10S,” and while a lot of people read it as “XS,” a third option is “excess.” “Very excited to hear everyone not in tech call it the iPhone Excess,” writes Twitter user Aleen.

It will be interesting to see which pronunciation becomes the norm out in the real world. Some people are offering up the helpful reminder to call it the iPhone “tennis.” 

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Apple seems to have missed the obvious name it could have given the jumbo-screen phone: iPhone XL. “Apple had the opportunity to call the new, larger iPhone X the iPhone XL and yet they just hadn’t the balls to do it,” one Twitter user complained.

While XS Max may not be the smoothest name ever, at least we’re pretty certain Apple will have the wisdom not to extend that naming convention to the iPad line. Twitter might be dreaming of a “Max iPad,” but don’t hold your breath, people.

Despite the complaints, it doesn’t seem like the name will deter Apple fans from snapping up the phone. “iPhone XS Max is just a godawful name for an iPhone. I mean, I’m buying one but it’s a terrible name,” is just one of many similar comments floating around online. 

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MoviePass is going through a rough patch right now after raising prices and limiting new movies in an attempt to stay in business. Chagrined subscribers who were used to all-you-can-watch plans aren’t thrilled. If they thought problem-solving specialist Elon Musk might be able to help, then they’re out of luck.

Buzzfeed writer Samir Mezrahi tweeted to Musk on Tuesday asking, “can u fix moviepass.” The SpaceX and Tesla entrepreneur apparently thought it best to squash any hope and responded with a terse “No.” 

Mezrahi invited Musk to go see a movie, but Musk failed to respond to that message. The Twitter thread then evolved into a series of requests for Musk to fix various things, including the Flint water crisis and a broken Apple charging cable.

Elon Musk has a creative track record of problem-solving complex issues, including developing Boring Company tunnels to alleviate traffic congestion and creating a controversial submarine meant to help extract the Thai soccer players who were trapped in a cave. But he won’t touch MoviePass.

That didn’t stop Twitter followers from trying to talk him into it. “Please. we need cheap movies on Mars,” pleaded Tom from Turkey.

Twitter user cisnerd complained, “What are you even good for then? Can you send Movie Pass to space or something at least?”

Musk seems to have stepped out of the conversation after delivering his negatory message. MoviePass will just have to try to figure things out for itself.  

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Sarin nerve gas is one of the most frightening chemical weapons ever created. The odorless gas can kill within minutes. 

Researchers at the University of Texas at Austin have come up with a simple way to detect and identify nerve agents like sarin and VX, a substance implicated in the death of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un’s half-brother in 2017. 

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The researchers’ system uses some surprising off-the-shelf components, including Lego bricks and an iPhone. At its heart is a chemical sensor that changes colors and brightness to indicate which nerve agents are present and how concentrated they are. 

“Unfortunately, it can be difficult to see differences in the level of florescence with the naked eye in the field. And instruments used in the lab to measure florescence are not portable and cost $30,000,” said Xiaolong Sun, the developer of the sensors.  

The solution is to use a smartphone to photograph and analyze the sensor’s results. The researchers used software created by University of Texas graduate student Alexander Boulgakov. The software is freely available on GitHub and can be adapted for other operating systems. For testing, the team used an iPhone. 

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The box helps the smartphone get a good reading of the sensor. The researchers considered 3D-printing the light-tight box, but decided Lego components would be less expensive and easier to obtain. The rest of the device consists of a ultraviolet light and a standard sample-collection plate. 

The team published a paper on its creation in the ACS Central Science journal this week, concluding that its system could have “broad real-world field applications.”

“Chemical weapons are dangerous threats to humanity,” said chemistry professor Eric Anslyn. “Detection and neutralization are key to saving lives.” A low-cost, portable system like this one could help first responders quickly learn what they’re dealing with and take the proper actions to neutralize the gas and treat its victims. 

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What’s in a color? 

You can buy an Apple Magic keyboard with a numeric keypad for $129 (£129, AU$179), but it comes in the company’s usual shade of silver with white keys. Boring. Truly classy Mac owners want the rarest of animals: a space-gray keyboard, trackpad and mouse that only comes bundled with a $5,000 iMac Pro. For that, they’ll have to empty their pockets on eBay.

The iMac Pro arrived in mid-December, and since then a few of the peripherals have popped up on eBay, separated from the original systems. A space-gray keyboard sold on Dec. 31 for $285 (£210, AU$360) while a set that included a mouse and black lightning cable topped out at $635 (£470, AU$810) on the same day.

But it doesn’t end there. Boing Boing took note of a trio of space-gray peripherals, including a trackpad, that ended on a bid of $1,525 (£1,130, AU$1,945) on Tuesday. You could buy a whole iMac system for that much, though it would come with a thoroughly plebeian silver keyboard. 

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There is a twist to that bonkers eBay sale price. The seller, bfriedland174, relisted the keyboard set Wednesday and told me the high bidder for the first auction turned out to be a scammer. “I think it’s a pattern I’m going to be seeing a lot of with this niche product,” bfriendland174 said.

There is a limit to the madness. A different seller tried to hawk a space-gray set for $2,499 (half the price of the iMac Pro) and received exactly zero bids, so at least we know there’s a line even space-gray enthusiasts apparently won’t cross.

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