Aggregator

JACK GAUGHAN: Leeds United supporters jeered en masse as three Manchester City players observed the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.

Watched by millions and loved for its glitz and glamour, BBC bosses hoped they would have the pick of the UK's most-loved presenters as they look to replace Tess Daly and Claudia Winkleman.

Friday was "a horrible day" for investors in Duolingo, reports Fast Company. But Friday's one-day 14% drop is just part of a longer story. Since last May, Duolingo's stock has dropped 81%. Yes, the company faced a social media backlash that month after its CEO promised they'd become an "AI-first" company (favoring AI over human contractors). And yes, Duolingo did double its language offerings using generative AI. But more importantly, that summer OpenAI showed how easy it was to just roll your own language-learning tool from a short prompt in a GPT-5 demo, while Google built an AI-powered language-learning tool into its Translate app. And yet, Friday Duolingo's shares dropped another 14%, after announcing good fourth quarter results but an unpopular direction for its future. Fast Company reports: On the surface, many of the company's most critical metrics saw decent gains for the quarter, including: — Daily Active Users: 52.7 million (up 30% year-over-year) — Paid Subscribers: 12.2 million (up 28% year-over-year) — Revenue: $282.9 million (up 35% year-over-year) — Total bookings: $336.8 million (up 24% year-over-year) The company also reported its full-year 2025 financials, revealing that for the first time in its history, it crossed the $1 billion revenue mark for a fiscal year. But the Motley Fool explains that Duolingo's higher ad loads and repeated pushes for subscription plans "generated revenues in the short term, but made the Duolingo platform less engaging. Ergo, user growth decelerated while revenues rose." Thursday Duolingo announced a big change to address that, including moving more features into lower-priced tiers. Barron's reports: D.A. Davidson analyst Wyatt Swanson, who rates Duolingo stock at Neutral, posited that the push to monetize "led to disgruntled users and a meaningful negative impact to 'word-of-mouth' marketing." Duolingo has guided for bookings growth between 10% and 12% in 2026, compared with the 20% rate the company would have expected to see "if we operated like we have in past years...." If stock reaction is any indication, investors are concerned about Duolingo's new focus.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

New research analyzed more than 80,000 UFO reports and found that there are 'clusters' of reports of sightings near submarine canyons in the continental US.

Tom Hanks' son Chet Hanks has taken to social media with a dramatic plea for help, claiming he's stranded overseas without a valid US passport.

Here's what Trump looked like when the US launched strikes on Iran.

The shaken influencer, 40, has recalled the terrifying moment she saw an Iranian missile hit Dubai's famous Palm Jumeirah hotel.

The Soham murderer (pictured) was attacked by a fellow inmate at a recycling workshop at HMP Frankland in County Durham on Thursday morning.

Figures show 2,658 sex offences were recorded on the network in 2024-25 - equivalent to more than 50 every week - an increase of almost 10 per cent.

Labour MP Josh Simons has resigned as a Cabinet Office minister, saying he had 'become a distraction from this Government's important work'.

LIVE BLOG: The United States and Israel have launched a daylight missile attack on Iran as Donald Trump declared he will 'raze their missile industry to the ground'.

Jack Whitehall lived up to his reputation as he hosted this year's BRIT Awards live at the Co-op Arena.

President Donald Trump signaled Saturday afternoon that he was willing to give the Iranian regime a way out after launching a 'major' attack early Saturday morning.

Ahead of the Spring Statement, the Tony Blair Institute said Labour's policies have 'added friction at the moment the UK needs greater agility'.

Gamco has cited the same argument that Weinstein uses in his bid to oust the boards of UK investment trusts and install his own nominees.

I've lost count of the number of times I've been asked, often in all seriousness, whether London is still safe, says Dame Susan Langley.

The bets, which makes holders money if the stock falls, have soared on fears that the popularity of hunger-suppressing jabs could hit sales at the sausage roll seller.

Reviews of the millions of documents included in the Epstein files have revealed the disgraced financier's deep ties in the medical industry.

Israeli socialite Hofit Golan and British TV stars Vicky Pattison and Laura Anderson are among the celebrities currently caught up in the Iranian missile strikes on Dubai's famous Palm Jumeirah.

"The drought of upcoming Star Wars movies is coming to an end soon," writes Cinemablend. In May the The Mandalorian and Grogu opens, and one year later there's the release of the Ryan Gosling-led Star Wars: Starfighter. But "there are some insiders who already believe that Starfighter will be a bigger hit than The Mandalorian and Grogu..." According to unnamed sources who spoke with Variety, there's a "sense" that Star Wars: Starfighter, which is directed by Deadpool & Wolverine's Shawn Levy, will be a more satisfying viewing experience. These same sources are allegedly impressed by the early footage they've seen of Ryan Gosling's performance and also suggested that Levy has "recaptured the franchise's spirit of fun." Furthermore, the article states that there's concern that because The Mandalorian and Grogu is spinning out of a streaming-exclusive series, it might not have as much appeal to people who aren't already fans of The Mandalorian... Star Wars: Starfighter, on the other hand, will be accessible to everyone equally. It's set five years after The Rise of Skywalker, which is an unexplored period for the Star Wars franchise onscreen. It's also expected that most, if not all of its featured characters will be brand-new, so no knowledge of past adventures is required. Slashdot reader gaiageek reminds us that 2027 will also see a special 50-year anniversary event in movie in theatres: a "newly restored" version of the original 1977 Star Wars.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.