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Lots of people are looking for a Twitter alternative after Elon Musk bought the social media site last month, changed the site’s rules on impersonation, fired half of the site’s staff, and announced plans to sell “blue check” verification badges for $8 per month.

One of the fastest growing alternatives is Mastodon, which looks and feels a lot like Twitter.

But Mastodon isn’t a Twitter clone. It’s a free open-source platform, originally launched in 2016 by developer Eugen Rochko, and it’s made up of many different instances, or servers, instead of being managed by one company on one domain name.

This makes signing up and getting finding your friends a little bit harder.

There are also strange little quirks as well. Tweets are called “toots.” Retweets are called “boosts.” Because it’s an open-source project, it doesn’t have the same level of polish as social media sites like Twitter that are owned and operated by professionals.

Emails and loading can be slow. It’s a little bit like using Linux versus Windows or MacOS.

Mastodon has been growing fast. In the 12 days after Musk bought Twitter, Mastodon app downloads on Apple App Store and Google Play for Android surged more than 100 times previous rates to 322,000 installs during the period, according to analysis by Sensor Tower, an app analytics firm.

On Nov. 7, Mastodon founder Rochko tooted that there were over 1 million monthly active users of the service. That’s still a lot lower than the over 245 million daily active users of Twitter that CEO Elon Musk tweeted about this week.

Here’s what you need to know about Mastodon:

First, you need to pick a server, or instance

Because anyone can set up their own Mastodon server, there’s no central place to sign up like twitter.com. You have to find a server to sign up for. They’re known as “instances,” and you can think of them like e-mail providers.

A user on one instance can interact with users on other instances, including following, replying, and boosting. All instances taken together are called “the fediverse.” (The term comes from “federated,” which refers to the loosely connected way the servers work together — again, similar to email.)

Each instance has its own URL, which comes after your username, sort of like an email domain. There are over 5,000 instances, according to a site tracking Mastodon use, and they often follow a particular theme, such as geographical region or topic. Some require you to fill out a short application form with information like your interests or why you want to join that instance. Some servers are small and only for a small handful of friends.

There’s even a quiz that you can take to find which instance might be right for you.

The most popular instance is mastodon.online, which is also administered by the service’s founder. Bigger instances mean many of the best or shortest usernames on the server have already been taken. There’s also a list of instances you can join on Mastodon’s website.

Unlike Twitter, many of the instances that Mastodon runs on are not-for-profit, and some raise money for server costs and other expenses on sites like Patreon. It’s possible that some instances could stop operating because their administrators lose interest.

All instances have a feed just for people on that server that shows all toots posted in that instance in chronological order. But you can also just look at your personalized feed, which shows only toots from the people you follow — that’s the experience that’s most like Twitter.

Your username includes your server’s name

How to find friends

Mastodon can be a bit of a ghost town when you first log on, but there are a few ways to find your old favorite tweeters on the platform. Whether they post a lot is a different question.

One of the easiest ways to find people to follow is to search “Mastodon” on Twitter, where people who have created new accounts often post their new handles. Copy and paste it into the Mastodon search box to follow them.

Mastodon homepage is seen displayed on a mobile phone screen held by hand. It has been reported that more than 200.000 new users flocked the social media app after the takeover of Twitter by Elon Musk.

Musk’s Twitter takeover sent thousands flocking to Mastodon. Here’s what I discovered using the app

You can also copy and paste your Mastodon handle — with the @ symbol and domain — into your Twitter account to get your existing followers to try to join you.

There are several directories that list interesting people to follow on Mastodon.

If you’d like to try to follow the same people on Mastodon as you did on Twitter, there are several third-party apps that will try to import your follow list, although they require access to your Twitter account — be aware that you’re giving that information away to a third party.

Get tootin’

It’s time to get tooting. A first post that describes your interests or topics can help people find you.

Mastodon, like Twitter in its early days, gives users the choice to use different apps and interfaces to interact with toots and boosts.

Twitter migrants who miss TweetDeck, which displays several timelines on a desktop computer, should enable the Advanced Web Interface option in the settings to bring up a denser interface with multiple columns.

There are also several apps for iPhones and Android devices that work regardless of which instance you’re on. The main Mastodon apps work well, but there are lots of alternative clients.

Make sure to look through the settings for features that aren’t available on Twitter — like automatic post deletions and powerful block and muting features. A sensitive content feature can hide rants or NSFW posts behind a button. The latest version of Mastodon, 4.0, includes new abilities to follow hashtags, translate or edit posts, and additional content filters.

If you don’t like the instance you started on, it’s possible to export your account to another server.

Mastodon isn’t as easy to use as Twitter, nor does it have as many users generating content that will bring you back day after day. But its free, open-source approach with thousands of different servers guarantees that the platform can’t be bought for $44 billion.

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple’s Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

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Trump advisor Navarro rips Apple's Tim Cook for not moving production out of China fast enough

Peter Navarro: 'Inconceivable' that Apple could not produce iPhones outside China

White House trade advisor Peter Navarro chastised Apple CEO Tim Cook on Monday over the company’s response to pressure from the Trump administration to make more of its products outside of China.

“Going back to the first Trump term, Tim Cook has continually asked for more time in order to move his factories out of China,” Navarro said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street.” “I mean it’s the longest-running soap opera in Silicon Valley.”

CNBC has reached out to Apple for comment on Navarro’s criticism.

President Donald Trump has in recent months ramped up demands for Apple to move production of its iconic iPhone to the U.S. from overseas. Apple’s flagship phone is produced primarily in China, but the company has increasingly boosted production in India, partly to avoid the higher cost of Trump’s tariffs.

Trump in May warned Apple would have to pay a tariff of 25% or more for iPhones made outside the U.S. In separate remarks, Trump said he told Cook, “I don’t want you building in India.”

Read more CNBC tech news

Analysts and supply chain experts have argued it would be impossible for Apple to completely move iPhone production to the U.S. By some estimates, a U.S.-made iPhone could cost as much as $3,500.

Navarro said Cook isn’t shifting production out of China quickly enough.

“With all these new advanced manufacturing techniques and the way things are moving with AI and things like that, it’s inconceivable to me that Tim Cook could not produce his iPhones elsewhere around the world and in this country,” Navarro said.

Apple currently makes very few products in the U.S. During Trump’s first term, Apple extended its commitment to assemble the $3,000 Mac Pro in Texas.

In February, Apple said it would spend $500 billion within the U.S., including on assembling some AI servers.

WATCH: Apple’s $500 billion investment: For AI servers not manufacturing iPhones

Apple's $500 billion U.S. investment: For AI servers not manufacturing iPhones

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in $9 billion all-stock deal

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CoreWeave to acquire Core Scientific in  billion all-stock deal

CoreWeave founders Brian Venturo, at left in sweatshirt, and Mike Intrator slap five after ringing the opening bell at Nasdaq headquarters in New York on March 28, 2025.

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images News | Getty Images

Artificial intelligence hyperscaler CoreWeave said Monday it will acquire Core Scientific, a leading data center infrastructure provider, in an all-stock deal valued at approximately $9 billion.

Coreweave stock fell about 4% on Monday while Core Scientific stock plummeted about 20%. Shares of both companies rallied at the end of June after the Wall Street Journal reported that talks were underway for an acquisition.

The deal strengthens CoreWeave’s position in the AI arms race by bringing critical infrastructure in-house.

CoreWeave CEO Michael Intrator said the move will eliminate $10 billion in future lease obligations and significantly enhance operating efficiency.

The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2025, pending regulatory and shareholder approval.

Read more CNBC tech news

The deal expands CoreWeave’s access to power and real estate, giving it ownership of 1.3 gigawatts of gross capacity across Core Scientific’s U.S. data center footprint, with another gigawatt available for future growth.

Core Scientific has increasingly focused on high-performance compute workloads since emerging from bankruptcy and relisting on the Nasdaq in 2024.

Core Scientific shareholders will receive 0.1235 CoreWeave shares for each share they hold — implying a $20.40 per-share valuation and a 66% premium to Core Scientific’s closing stock price before deal talks were reported.

After closing, Core Scientific shareholders will own less than 10% of the combined company.

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Apple appeals 500 million euro EU fine over App Store policies

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Apple appeals 500 million euro EU fine over App Store policies

Two young men stand inside a shopping mall in front of a large illuminated Apple logo seen through a window in Chongqing, China, on June 4, 2025.

Cheng Xin | Getty Images

Apple on Monday appealed what it called an “unprecedented” 500 million euro ($586 million) fine issued by the European Union for violating the bloc’s Digital Markets Act.

“As our appeal will show, the EC [European Commission] is mandating how we run our store and forcing business terms which are confusing for developers and bad for users,” the company said in a statement. “We implemented this to avoid punitive daily fines and will share the facts with the Court.”

Apple recently made changes to its App Store‘s European policies that the company said would be in compliance with the DMA and would avoid the fines.

The Commission, which is the executive body of the EU, announced its fine in April, saying that Apple “breached its anti-steering obligation” under the DMA with restrictions on the App Store.

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“Due to a number of restrictions imposed by Apple, app developers cannot fully benefit from the advantages of alternative distribution channels outside the App Store,” the commission wrote. “Similarly, consumers cannot fully benefit from alternative and cheaper offers as Apple prevents app developers from directly informing consumers of such offers.”

Under the DMA, tech giants like Apple and Google are required to allow businesses to inform end-users of offers outside their platform — including those at different prices or with different conditions.

Companies like Epic Games and Spotify have complained about restrictions within the App Store that make it harder for them to communicate alternative payment methods to iOS users.

Apple typically takes a 15%-30% cut on in-app purchases.

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