Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed Monday that recent tariffs on Chinese imports have not caused significant price increases on the company’s platform. Speaking on CNBC’s Mad Money, Jassy credited strategic…

Is there anything climate change can't do?It makes summers hot. It's the reason meteorologists can't accurately predict tomorrow's weather. It causes wildfires. And earthquakes. It also increases…

At launch, Threads DMs will support one-on-one chats, preset emoji reactions, the ability to report spam, and mute DMs (as on Instagram). Other features, like group messaging, inbox filters, and more advanced message controls, will arrive in a later release.

Nothing has revealed its first over-the-ear headphones. The aluminum and transparent Headphone (1) was designed in collaboration with KEF. They offer adaptive noise canceling, bass enhancement for deeper low frequencies, and spatial audio, for $299 at launch. But spoiler alert: The buttons on these headphones might be the best part.

The social platform X will pilot a feature that allows AI chatbots to generate Community Notes, a Twitter-era feature that Elon Musk has expanded under his ownership of the service now called X.

Historic regional competition launches to showcase Central Eurasia’s rising startup ecosystem on Silicon Valley’s biggest stage. For the first time in its history, Central Eurasia will have a direct pathway to TechCrunch Startup Battlefield through the launch of “Road to Battlefield,” a groundbreaking regional competition that promises to put the underrepresented region firmly on the […]

The U.S. dollar just keeps getting weaker and weaker, and that is a major problem because our current standard of living depends on having a strong dollar.  When the U.S. dollar is strong relative to other national currencies, our paychecks stretch farther and we can buy more stuff.  Conversely, when the U.S. dollar is weak …

When it comes to pushing the boundaries between country and rock, nobody is doing it more than HARDY. His 2023 album the mockingbird & THE CROW was half rock and half country, showing off both sides of the genre-bending superstar. And his 2024 album Quit!! seemed to blur the lines even more, pushing “country” towards a more rock sound. Of course if it hadn’t been for Eric Church, HARDY might have ONLY been a rock artist. As HARDY explained a while back on an episode of Power Hour, he grew up listening mainly to rock music: “I grew up in a small town, so I grew up country. I grew up this regular small-town kid, I just loved rock and roll so that’s all I ever listened to. So speaking that language, I’ve always had that part in me, the lyrics and all the ideals of being from the small town and country and all that stuff. I’ve always had that cause that’s how I grew up.” It wasn’t until HARDY was a teenager that he started to get into country music, thanks to one song in particular from Church: “As far as starting to learn about country music and love country music, it probably started when I was 17 or 18 years old and Eric Church put a record out called ‘Chief,’ which was obviously one of his biggest records. And he had a song on that record called Homeboy, and I was driving to class one day and I heard that song on the radio for the first time and it just sent kind of a chill up my spine, because it was a very good marriage between rock and roll and country and I had never heard it been represented like that. I said, ‘Ok, if that is country music right now today, then I love country music and I can do that. I want to do that.’ So that was like this really big cornerstone moment for me.” Of course at the time HARDY probably didn’t think that he would soon be hanging out with Church himself, like when he was just sitting around on a couch with Chief and Morgan Wallen singing “Sand In My Boots” all together. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Morgan Wallen (@morganwallen) But HARDY’s far from the only current country music star who credits Eric Church for turning them on to country music. Morgan Wallen has often spoken about the influence Church had on him and his music, calling him his “country music hero.” And during an appearance together, Morgan even called Church “the best f–kin’ country music singer that ever lived.” And Luke Combs said the same thing, crediting Church with getting him back into country music after going through a time when country just wasn’t doing it for him after a friend invited him to an Eric Church concert: “He walked into my room and he said ‘Hey, I got this guy that I think you would like. He’s playing a show at Legends tonight and his name is Eric Church.’ If Andy Stoker doesn’t walk into my room on the third floor of Dalton residence hall in 2009, this show doesn’t happen tonight.” After Church won Entertainer of the Year at the 2020 CMA Awards, Luke praised Church and credited him for his country music career: “I was pumped to see Eric win Entertainer tonight. Without him, there is no me and I think no one has deserved anything more than he deserved that trophy tonight. As much as I would’ve loved to win, I couldn’t be more excited for him too.” And up-and-coming superstar Hannah Dasher has also spoken about how Church pulled her back into country music at a time when country music was lacking the meaning – and the heart – that makes it so special: “A friend of mine said, ‘Hey, there’s a new guy out. And you’re gonna love his record, it’s called Sinners Like Me.’ And by God it was Eric Church. And it inspired me to write country music.” It’s hard to overstate the impact that Eric Church has had on an entire generation of country stars. It’s not often that somebody comes along who has that much of an influence on so many people, but Church is a one-of-a-kind artist who’s left his mark on country music through so many other artists – and it sounds like we can add HARDY to that list too.The post HARDY Says He Didn’t Love Country Music Until He Heard Eric Church: “Sent A Chill Up My Spine” first appeared on Whiskey Riff.

Okay, maybe Keith himself didn’t hang up… but his publicist probably did? This morning, a story quickly went viral after Keith Urban (allegedly) abruptly hung up during an interview on Australia’s Mix 102.3 with Hayley & Max in the Morning, who got pretty personal in asking him about some rather inappropriate topics, to be honest. When Max Burford and co-host Hayley Pearson began the interview with Urban, they talked about the upcoming Australian leg of his High & Alive Tour, and he noted how excited he was to be going back to his home country. He said that he was especially thrilled to be performing at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre on August 28 because it’s “just a good vibe in the audience.” However, things took a turn during the “Wall of Truth” segment, where the hosts typically ask extremely personal questions, hoping their guests will answer them honestly or request that they move on. And well… mission accomplished. Keith’s wife, legendary actress Nicole Kidman, was recently in movie with Zac Efron called A Family Affair where they play lovers, which includes some steamy scenes, and Buford asked: “What does Keith Urban think when he sees his beautiful wife with beautiful younger men like Zac Efron having these beautiful love scenes on TV and radio?” Buford waited for Urban’s response, but there was only silence. He then looked at his producer, asking what had happened, to which he was informed that Keith Urban had disconnected from the Zoom call: “I think his team hung up on us because they didn’t want us to ask that question. He’s gone, see you Keith.” Buford was trying to make a joke surrounding the situation, questioning: “Does Keith Urban hate us? Do we have beef with Keith Urban now?” However, co-host Hayley Pearson said that she felt like she had known this might happen and was upset that they had made the Grammy Award-winning artist mad. When Pearson expressed this, Buford then questioned her: “If you knew this was going to happen, Hayley, why didn’t you stop me asking the question?” Yeah… it made for a really awkward on-air moment, and I doubt Keith will ever appear on this radio show again… but according to a source close to Urban that gave a statement to People this afternoon, they claim it was a “nothingburger” story and claimed that he “did not hang up, period,” so maybe there is hope he’d return? I wouldn’t hold my breathe, though… “Keith did not hang up, period. He doesn’t host his Zoom interviews. This is a complete nothingburger.” It’s possible that Keith himself didn’t hang up on them, but someone did, because the call got disconnected and that was the end of it. While I get his team probably wants to push this story under the rug, so to speak, it’s made headlines pretty much everywhere so I don’t think it’s a “nothingburger,” to use their words. If his publicist nixed it, then why not just say that? People reportedly reached out to Keith’s team but got no comment, so once again, sounds like someone on his side ended it… why no comment on it? If the goal of ending the interview was to not make Keith look bad based on his answer, it seems like they accomplished that without him saying a word… why not just get out in front of it instead of beating around the bush… I don’t get it. If you want to hear the radio clip, you can listen to it HERE, but if you wanna hear Zac and Nicole actually talk about their steamy love scene, you can do that below: It’s not the first time Keith has shut down a conversation of this nature before too, and last year when he appeared on the Jam Nation with Jonesy & Amanda podcast, Urban wasn’t love it when the topic veered away from his record HIGH and upcoming world tour to talking about Nicole Kidman being at the Venice Film Festival. He was visibly uncomfortable, giving concise responses to the questions, eventually shutting it down as a whole with the simple phrase:  “Anyway, moving on.” Which is probably what he would’ve done here if someone didn’t pull the plug…The post Keith Urban Reportedly Did NOT Hang Up On Radio Hosts Who Asked About Nicole Kidman’s Steamy Love Scenes first appeared on Whiskey Riff.