What you buy with Facebook Pay could affect the ads you see

Facebook’s new Apple Pay and Venmo competitor has permission to use your actions to personalize ads. 

The company unveiled Facebook Pay on Tuesday — an upgrade that combines the existing peer-to-peer payment feature on Facebook Messenger with the one-time payment option for donations and purchases on Facebook. The project, which Facebook says is separate from Libra, its cryptocurrency project, will debut this week in the U.S. on Facebook and Messenger, and later on Instagram and WhatsApp.

Users can connect their PayPal account and debit or credit cards to Facebook Pay — which will then allow them to view their payment history, donate to fundraisers, pay friends, make in-game purchases, and buy products from Facebook Marketplace and select Pages and businesses.  Read more…

More about Facebook, Finance, Venmo, Apple Pay, and Fintech

Sonos speakers now work with the free version of Spotify

Until now, the only way to get Spotify working on a Sonos speaker was to pay for a Premium subscription, but that’s about to change.

As Engadget reports, all Sonos speakers (as well as collaborations between Sonos and Ikea) will be able to stream music through a free Spotify account. Once you update the Sonos app, navigate to the Settings menu, select Music & Content > Add a Service and link your free Spotify account.

After that, you can stream through Sonos’ app, Spotify’s app via Spotify Connect, and use Google Assistant to start a Spotify playlist if your Sonos speaker, such as the Sonos One, has voice control. While Alexa is also available on Sonos devices, it cannot yet control free Spotify accounts. Read more…

More about Spotify, Streaming Music, Sonos, Tech, and Consumer Tech

Toad scream-singing videos are having a moment and you simply must watch

There’s a lot to keep up with on the internet, and it’s both unhealthy and unreasonable to absorb it all. However, we’re taking a hard stance on this: You simply must watch Toad singing “Chandelier” by Sia.

Toad singing “Chandelier” by Sia, a YouTube video from 2018, is currently enjoying a resurgence on Twitter. The original was posted by the user melancholiaah, a musician in Texas whose Toad impression has improved classics like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Let It Go,” and “iLOVEFRiDAY” by Mia Khalifa (which you have probably heard on TikTok). These videos are good in that they are mostly screaming: an incredible, albeit frequently misused, comedic device. Read more…

More about Twitter, Social Media, Toad, Culture, and Music

SpaceX sends another batch of Starlink satellites into space

Elon Musk’s private space company added 60 more satellites Monday to its goal of nearly 45,000 for a global internet network called Starlink.

The satellite constellation is a work-in-progress to bring internet connectivity to, well, everywhere. The first 60 were launched in May, and on Monday morning 60 more of the approximately 500-pound devices made it into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. 

The second Starlink deployment from SpaceX’s Flacon 9 rocket (it’s a 1.2 million-pound spacecraft) was a success. There’s still more to come in 2019, and SpaceX plans to launch monthly Starlink missions in 2020. We’ll be at full network capacity in no time. Just last month, SpaceX applied for 30,000 more satellites, which you can add onto the 12,000 the U.S. Federal Communications Commission already approved.  Read more…

More about Spacex, Starlink, Tech, and Space

The Sill’s faux and preserved plants are pretty, pet-friendly, and pricey

The Sill: Faux and preserved plants
$75-940
View Product
The Good

Aesthetically pleasing option for people who struggle with plant care • Non-toxic and safe for homes with pets

The Bad

Pricey • Light shedding • Planters slightly larger than plants

The Bottom Line

The Sill’s faux and preserved plants are as beautiful as you’d expect from The Sill — with a few kinks — but they’re also super pricey.

? Mashable Score
3.0
✨Aesthetic
4.0
?Easy to use
3.0
?Delivers on promise
3.0
?Bang for the buck
2.0

I’m a big fan of The Sill for its live houseplants, which have always arrived at my door healthy, safe, and well-packaged. Now for those of us who struggle to keep even a snake plant alive, the company has dipped a toe into fake and preserved plants, too. Read more…

More about Reviews, Plants, Culture, and Web Culture