News

Spotify has announced the launch of a new feature on Wednesday titled Lossless. The music streaming platform is rolling out its very first high-quality audio feature. Exclusively available to Spotify Premium users, it will give listeners the full experience of tracks as they were recorded in the studio. Here’s everything you need to know.

What is Spotify’s Lossless?

The feature allows Spotify listeners to stream music up to 24-bit/44.1 kHz FLAC. It is a form of compressed files that retains all of the original audio information as it was originally recorded. In other words, it is the highest quality audio available. When music gets streamed or shared online, it is often compressed and has removed some of the original audio information.

“Lossless refers to when there’s no change between what you deliver to a streaming service and what the listener hears,” Spotify Studios producer and engineer Jack Mason said on Instagram. “Without lossless, track files might get compressed in the encoding process, which might not lend to the best quality.”

The company noted that the feature was high in demand and that it would ensure music listeners have an even better experience.

“The wait is finally over; we’re so excited lossless sound is rolling out to Premium subscribers,” Spotify VP of Subscriptions Gustav Gyllenhammar said in a news release. “We’ve taken time to build this feature in a way that prioritizes quality, ease of use, and clarity at every step, so you always know what’s happening under the hood. With Lossless, our premium users will now have an even better listening experience.”

Other music streaming services also offer lossless audio. Apple Music launched the feature in 2021 and Amazon Music added it in 2019, according to USA Today. It is also only available to paid subscribers on these platforms.

How do you access Lossless on Spotify?

Lossless is being exclusively rolled out to Spotify Premium users. They will receive a notification once the feature is available to them. The company has started making the feature accessible to subscribers in Australia, Austria, Czechia, Denmark, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, the U.S. and the UK. Starting in October, it will be available in over 50 markets.

Users will have to manually turn on the feature on each device in order to access it. First, tap your profile icon in the top left. Second, go to Settings & Privacy, then click on Media Quality. Lastly, select where you want to enable lossless audio: Wi-Fi, cellular or downloads. The Lossless indicator will appear in the Now Playing view or bar and via the Connect Picker.

Spotify is allowing users to choose the level of Lossless music quality between low, normal, high and very high. The reason for it is that Lossless music uses significantly more data than classic compressed audio files. Lossless users will be able to see how much data each quality level requires.

The streamer also recommends listening to lossless music via Wi-Fi using wired headphones or with speakers on a non-Bluetooth connection, such as Spotify Connect. It also noted that music may take a moment to play because files are so heavy.

“Currently, Bluetooth doesn’t provide enough bandwidth to transmit lossless audio, so the signal has to be compressed before being sent,” the company said. “Lossless gives listeners every detail of the music, which means the audio files can be larger. As users enable lossless on their devices, it may take a moment for the track to play. But once it’s cached and loaded, you are ready to listen.”

The feature is available on mobile, desktop and tablet, as well as on devices that support Spotify Connect such as Sony, Bose, Samsung and Sennheiser. Support for devices such as Sonos and Amazon will be available in October.

If you’ve submitted a claim to Meta’s privacy settlement, you may have received an email update regarding an upcoming payment. Although the settlement was given approval in 2023, appeals delayed payments and were resolved in May 2025. Here’s everything you need to know about receiving a settlement payment.

Settlement payments have started being rolled out

“Pursuant to the Court’s Order dated August 27, 2025, the distribution of settlement benefits has commenced and will continue for approximately 10 weeks. We thank you in advance for your patience,” Angeion, the company handling the settlement, wrote in an online statement.

Individuals with approved claims will receive settlement payments over the next 10 weeks. They will receive an email three or four days prior to the payment being issued.

“No additional information needs to be collected, no additional notice needs to be given, no new payment method needs to be selected, and there is no need to wait for, or chase, a response,” the filing said, according to SFGate.

If you want to check the status of your claim, request a name or address change, or for any other questions, you may contact the Settlement Administrator at [email protected] and make sure to include your Claim ID.

How much money will each person receive?

Although Meta settled for $725 million, administrative and legal costs will be deducted from this sum. This includes around $180.5 million being paid to the attorneys on the case, as well as almost $4 million in reimbursements for their expenses. The eight lead plaintiffs will receive $120,000.

The leftover amount, which is referred to as the “net settlement fund” amounts to over $540 million. It will be distributed to claimants depending on how long they used Facebook between 2007 and 2022. Over 19 million people submitted valid claims, according to a court filing. In 2023, a plaintiff lawyer estimated that 17 million claimants would receive around $30. Payments will therefore most likely range between $25 to $30.

“To the extent that it’s maybe a little lower than we might have expected, it’s because such an incredibly large number of people made claims in this case, right?” Vince Chhabria, the San Francisco judge who presided over the case, said in 2023. “I was kind of blown away by how many people made claims.”

The case was brought forward after it was revealed in 2018 that Cambridge Analytica paid a Facebook app developer to access the personal data of 87 million users of the social media platform. Cambridge Analytica is a firm tied to former Donald Trump political strategist Steve Bannon and has supported the president’s 2016 campaign. The data was used to target US voters in the election, according to KARE 11.

Anyone in the U.S. with a Facebook account between May 24, 2007 and Dec. 22, 2022 was able to file a claim. The deadline closed in Aug. 2023. The settlement was then given final approval at the end of that year but two appeals were filed. Both appeals, although they delayed payments, were resolved in May 2025.

Smokey Bones, the Orlando-based barbecue chain known for its house-smoked meats, handcrafted cocktails and specialty drinks, is under new leadership and closing more than a dozen underperforming locations.

Twin Hospitality Group Inc., the parent company of Smokey Bones, announced the news in early September.

The company also introduced the chain’s new president, Ken Brendemihl, who will assume the leadership role and brings more than 25 years of experience overseeing other popular restaurant chains nationwide, according to a news release.

“I look forward to hitting the ground running as we embark on this transitional period that will set the foundation for Smokey Bones’ long-term success,” Brendemihl said.

More than 15 locations have closed or are expected to close this year

CEO Kim Boerema praised the “beloved brand” and said that since joining Twin Hospitality, the company has launched a “full spending review” of both brands to eliminate strategies that are no longer working and keep them moving in the right direction.

“I have also focused on reviewing the Smokey Bones portfolio, closing underperforming units, identifying strong candidates for conversion, and supporting profitable locations that will remain Smokey Bones. Ken will step in immediately bringing his deep operational expertise and proven track record to lead Smokey Bones into its next chapter,” Boerema said.

Twin Hospitality had already identified 15 underperforming locations across the U.S., with 10 stores already closed and the remaining five expected to shutter before the end of the fiscal third quarter, the company said.

Two converted Twin Peaks locations have already outperformed Smokey Bones

Closing underperforming locations and trimming $1.5 million in overhead is expected to boost EBITDA, while the remaining 26 Smokey Bones restaurants are expected to remain profitable. The company plans to franchise select locations, creating a balanced mix of corporate and franchise operations that will support future growth and expansion.

FAT Brands Inc., which operates other brands such as Fatburger, Johnny Rockets, Great American Cookies, Fazoli’s, and Twin Peaks, acquired Smokey Bones in 2023. In January, Smokey Bones and Twin Peaks merged under the Twin Hospitality umbrella.

The company is converting 19 underperforming locations into Twin Peaks lodges, with two already generating $7.8 million, compared with $3.5 million as Smokey Bones. One restaurant in Lakeland, Florida, was converted in late 2024, according to National Restaurant News. A third conversion is expected to open later this year, the company said.

Ahead of the release of a new book by former Vice President Kamala Harris and her whirlwind 2024 presidential campaign, a newly published excerpt sees Harris criticizing the inner circle of former President Joe Biden. Her comments about Biden’s decision to run for reelection and her differences with Biden’s close advisors show Harris putting new distance between herself and the former president.

Harris second-guesses ‘reckless’ approach to Biden reelection decision

In a passage published by The Atlantic from the memoir 107 Days, Harris questions the process that led to Biden deciding to run for a second term in office. “‘It’s Joe and Jill’s decision.’ We all said that, like a mantra, as if we’d all been hypnotized,” Harris says of the approach taken by her and others surrounding President Biden as he decided to run for reelection. “Was it grace, or was it recklessness? In retrospect, I think it was recklessness,” Harris says now of the approach of leaving the decision to Biden and his wife, Jill. “The stakes were simply too high. This wasn’t a choice that should have been left to an individual’s ego, an individual’s ambition. It should have been more than a personal decision.” Harris also notes that, as the person who would have benefited if Biden decided not to run, she was not in a strong position to question his decision about reelection. “I knew it would come off as incredibly self-serving if I advised him not to run.”

Here’s Kamala Harris on the “recklessness” of those who didn’t try to convince Biden to drop out sooner…An exclusive excerpt from her forthcoming memoir, published this morning in The Atlantic: pic.twitter.com/hqE64oI0sM— Adrienne LaFrance (@AdrienneLaF) September 10, 2025

Harris calls out Biden staff for ‘adding fuel to negative narratives’ about her

Harris has more sharp criticism for White House staffers surrounding Biden, who she claims undermined her and refused to support her out of apparent concern for upstaging Biden, even before she became the presidential candidate. She points to a March 2024 speech in which she called for a ceasefire and increased humanitarian aid concerning the war in Gaza. Harris explains that her comments  “went viral, and the West Wing was displeased,” saying that she  “was castigated for, apparently, delivering it too well.” More generally, she complains. More generally, Harris says that she discovered that members of Biden’s staff were “adding fuel to negative narratives” by supporting negative stories about Harris and alleged dysfunction in the vice president’s office. And “when Fox News attacked me on everything from my laugh, to my tone of voice, to whom I’d dated in my 20s, or claimed I was a “DEI hire,” the White House rarely pushed back with my actual résumé,” Harris complains.

Harris voices her frustrations with the WH team. “When Fox News attacked me on everything from my laugh, to my tone of voice, to whom I’d dated in my 20s, or claimed I was a “DEI hire,” the White House rarely pushed back with my actual résumé:” pic.twitter.com/wUBf3B8jZc— Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) September 10, 2025

Harris denies Biden was mentally incapable of being president

Harris also addresses the issue of Biden’s mental competency, addressing critics who have accused Harris and others “of some big conspiracy at the White House to hide Joe Biden’s infirmity.” Harris says of Biden, “On his worst day, he was more deeply knowledgeable, more capable of exercising judgment, and far more compassionate than Donald Trump on his best,” Harris said of Biden, before acknowledging that “at 81, Joe got tired. That’s when his age showed in physical and verbal stumbles.” Harris seems to blame exhaustion rather than impairment. “I don’t think it’s any surprise that the debate debacle happened right after two back-to-back trips to Europe and a flight to the West Coast for a Hollywood fundraiser. I don’t believe it was incapacity,” Harris explains, adding that she would have spoken up publicly if she believed Biden was unfit to be president. “As loyal as I am to President Biden, I am more loyal to my country,” Harris declares.

Even as Harris defends Biden’s mental faculties, her criticisms of Biden’s “ego” and his staff’s actions stand in sharp contrast to the mutual support Harris and Biden showed for one another, publicly at least, in 2024. As Harris promotes her new book and contemplates her political future, she appears to be establishing distance between herself and the administration in which she served.

Cortlen Henry, a member of the YNW Collective rap group and alleged accomplice of rapper YNW Melly, accepted a plea deal Tuesday regarding the 2018 killings of two fellow group members.

What are the details of Cortlen Henry’s plea agreement?

Henry appeared in court on Tuesday afternoon and pleaded no contest to the accessory charges under the plea agreement with the Broward County State Attorney’s Office, NBC 6 reported.

He initially faced two first-degree murder charges, but prosecutors dismissed them. A judge found Henry guilty of the accessory charges and sentenced him to 10 years in prison with six years of probation, crediting him for time already served. If convicted at trial, Henry could have faced life in prison.

Henry, 26, was part of the YNW collective group alongside Melly, whose real name is Jamell Demons. The pair is accused of killing both childhood friends and fellow YNW Collective group members Christopher Thomas, Jr. (YNW Juvy) and Anthony Williams (YNW Sakchaser). Henry’s collective name is YNW Bortlen, per NBC 6 and Blavity.

Thomas Jr. and Williams’ murders explained

His attorney, Fred Haddad, said he will not be required to testify against Melly in his retrial as part of the negotiated plea agreement, according to the South Florida Sun Sentinel. He will give a sworn statement in court to Broward Circuit Judge Martin Fein, explaining his role in the deaths of his two childhood friends and rap group members.

Thomas Jr. and Williams were reportedly gunned down in a Jeep driven by Henry during a late-night recording session at a Fort Lauderdale studio on Oct. 26, 2018. Surveillance video showed Henry in the driver’s seat, Melly sitting right behind him, and the two victims sitting in the front and rear sides of the passenger seat, per the South Florida Sun Sentinel.

Hours later, Thomas Jr. and Williams were shot and transported to a local hospital, where they were later pronounced dead. According to medical experts, the bullet holes indicated that both men were gunned down by someone who was inside the car.

Prosecutors said Melly had targeted his longtime friends over a gang dispute and the financial issues they faced after Melly’s rising stardom. They also stated that Henry and Melly planned the shooting and made it look like Thomas Jr. and Williams were involved in a drive-by shooting.

Melly’s first trial, in 2023, ended in a mistrial, per Blavity. His retrial is scheduled for early 2027.

Blavity’s AFROTECH Conference is right around the corner, returning to Houston from Oct. 27-31 to gather Black innovators, entrepreneurs and more for five days of networking, discussions, performances and other programming. This year’s conference will include The Blavity Stage, presented by Blavity Media Group, that will be home to dynamic, sponsor-led sessions showcasing cutting-edge products, impactful campaigns and the thought leadership driving culture-forward innovation.

Read on for more about The Blavity Stage’s exciting programming.

‘Native Land Pod’ live recording

Native Land Pod hosts Angela Rye, Tiffany Cross, Andrew Gillum, and Bakari Sellers will join The Blavity stage for a live podcast recording, where they’ll discuss the current political landscape, wielding insights and unapologetic analysis, unraveling the threads that connect Black Americans and marginalized communities to a place they courageously call home.

The live recording will include live audience participation. 

Blavity Comedy Night, presented by Blavity House Party, featuring KevOnStage

On Friday, Oct. 30, All Access ticket holders will get the chance to attend Blavity Comedy Night presented by Blavity House Party, a special evening event that offers attendees the opportunity to unwind and enjoy premium entertainment and surprise moments. Featuring comedian KevOnStage & Friends, Blavity Comedy Night’s doors will open early for attendees to secure their seating and connect before the performance.

‘Roland Maritn Unfiltered’ Live from AFROTECH

AFROTECH and Roland Martin is bringing #RolandMartinUnfiltered to this year’s conference, broadcasting live through the week. Known for tackling news, politics, culture, and more, Martin will deliver sharp commentary and real-time reactions to the biggest moments happening on site. Attendees can catch tapings where Martin interviews key voices in tech, entrepreneurship and public policy—right from the center of Black innovation.

Blavity Creator Summit, in partnership with Dream Con

Blavity is teaming up with anime and gaming convention Dream Con on a one-day creator summit at AFROTECH. The experience will offer the next generation of Black digital entrepreneurs, creators, influencers and esports talent tactical insights, new connections, and support building pathways to sustainable success.

Blavity’s creator summit in partnership with Dream Con will be held at the George R. Brown Convention Center– General Assembly from 9:30 am – 1:30 pm CST on Oct. 31.

Creator Meet-Up

This year’s AFROTECH Conference will also give content creators, influencers, and digital storytellers casual networking spaces to connect, collaborate and share insights. Creators still building their social media presence will get the opportunity to meet peers and spark lucrative partnerships.

Blavity supports the creator economy via programs like The Blavity Creator Collective Fellowship, a paid quarterly program that helps diverse talent across Blavity’s brands: Blavity.com, Travel Noire, 21Ninety, and Home & Texture. The fellowship aims to elevate emerging creators by offering tools, mentorship, and a platform to showcase their creativity in a collaborative, supportive environment.

Blavity Market at the Expo Hall

AFROTECH attendees who want to support Black-owned businesses should look out for Blavity Marketplace at the AFROTECH 2025 Expo Hall. The Marketplace will include brands across industries from fashion and beauty to tech and lifestyle.

To purchase a booth to connect with attendees and grow your business, visit AFROTECH’s vendor booths page for more information.

Stay tuned for more updates on AFROTECH 2025 programming here.