Medium’s latest update 👏👏👏

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: Today, we are ending the upvote[1]. That’s right, the archaic binary upvote system is being replaced with claps, the latest technology to demonstrate love on the internet.

Also starting today, New Medium. Check it out. 👏👏👏

Lots of you have already seen the recent branding updates – and the claps – but its more than a superficial change. Medium explains what they’re all about:

“The more claps you give a locked post, the more share of your membership fee that author will get.”

That’s right, Medium created an emoji-based economy for content creators to earn money. The more claps you give, the more money writers earn from Medium’s newish subscription membership.

P.S. If you are not interested in making money from your work, nothing changes. Medium remains free and open.

[1] Just kidding. Upvotes are staying. Go exercise your freedom to ⬆️.

New Medium 👏

So we’re just… talking to software now?

ElevenLabs has been the go-to for voice for a while. Now they've turned that expertise into agents that actually get things done. You set one up, it talks like a real person, listens, responds, and helps handle the task — support calls, bookings, whatever the job is. Not a demo, not a "press 1 for sales" situation. It's ready to deploy. Feels like one of those shifts where the interface quietly changes. Less typing, less clicking, more just saying what needs to happen and letting it play out.