Ditchit Detonates Iconic Twitter Bird to Symbolize Launch of Local Marketplace
DOVER, DE / ACCESS Newswire In a fiery spectacle worthy of Silicon Valley lore, Ditchit – a rising star in the online marketplace space and rival to OfferUp – has made headlines by purchasing and then blowing up the original 560-pound Twitter bird sign once perched atop the company's San Francisco headquarters.
The marketing stunt, filmed in the Nevada desert with a 15-person production crew, four Tesla Cybertrucks, and a Hollywood pyrotechnics expert, marked a symbolic farewell to legacy tech monopolies and a bold introduction to Ditchit's mission: to build a local marketplace that puts people before profits.
'Elon Musk rebranded Twitter to X to support free expression. At Ditchit, we're doing the same for local marketplaces,' said Ditchit spokesman James Deluca. 'Today's platforms are filled with ads, fees, and algorithms that prioritize businesses over people. Ditchit is different-free to use, ad-free, and designed to support real communities and real sellers.'
The 12-foot-tall Twitter logo, affectionately known as 'Larry,' was purchased at auction for $34,000 earlier this year. While the initial acquisition was driven by nostalgia, the company ultimately decided to transform the artifact into a symbol of disruption.
The resulting video, now live on YouTube, shows the massive sign's explosive end outside of Las Vegas, capturing a cinematic moment that's already garnering viral attention.
But 'Larry's' story doesn't end in smoke. Fragments of the sign have been salvaged and will be sold on the Ditchit app in a sealed-bid auction starting today. 100% of proceeds will go to the Center for American Entrepreneurship, a nonprofit that champions startup innovation and supports the next generation of entrepreneurs.
'Many entrepreneurs get their start on local marketplace apps,' Deluca added. 'We're here to support that journey-not just through our platform, but through action.'
With the stunt, Ditchit isn't just selling a piece of tech history. It's signaling a new era for digital marketplaces – one powered by transparency, accessibility, and the belief that local economies deserve better.
About Ditchit
Ditchit is a community-first local marketplace built for everyday buyers and sellers. Unlike traditional platforms, Ditchit is ad-free, fee-free, and designed to keep transactions simple and fair. Founded in 2024, the Ditchit app is available for iOS and Android.
Media Contact:
James Deluca
PR Manager, Ditchit
james.deluca@ditchit.com
SOURCE: Ditchit
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
9 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Tesla Starts Long-Awaited Robotaxi Service With Low-Key Rollout
(Bloomberg) -- Tesla Inc. rolled out its long-promised driverless taxi service to a handful of riders Sunday, a modest debut for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative new business line. Bezos Wedding Draws Protests, Soul-Searching Over Tourism in Venice One Architect's Quest to Save Mumbai's Heritage From Disappearing NYC Congestion Toll Cuts Manhattan Gridlock by 25%, RPA Reports The first robotaxi trips were limited to a narrow portion of Tesla's hometown of Austin, with an employee in each vehicle keeping tabs on the operations. The carmaker hand-picked a friendly crop of initial riders, which featured investors and social-media influencers who live-streamed their trips. In one video, Herbert Ong, who runs a fan account, marveled over the speed of the vehicle and the ability to park autonomously. Another influencer with the @BLKMDL3 handle on X said the trip was 'smoother than a human driver.' Sawyer Merritt, a Tesla investor who runs an account focused on the company, called the experience 'awesome.' With no kickoff event and little in the way of formal announcements, Tesla has relied largely on word of mouth and media coverage ahead of the robotaxi launch, which comes about a decade after Musk began talking about the possibility. The unveiling was uncharacteristically low-key for a company that held a 'Cyber Rodeo' to mark a Texas factory opening in 2022 and an invite-only party near Hollywood last year to unveil autonomous products. Musk is reorienting the carmaker around hyped-but-still-unproven technologies including self-driving vehicles and humanoid robots. Some investors are counting on new markets to revive Tesla following a sales slump and consumer backlash against the chief executive officer. Its shares have tumbled 20% this year. 'Robotaxis are critical to the Tesla investment case,' Tom Narayan, an analyst with RBC Capital Markets, said in a note. About 60% of Narayan's valuation for the shares is attributable to the self-driving vehicles. The videos of the robotaxi launch posted Sunday were largely mundane, showing Model Y SUVs driving short distances, navigating intersections, avoiding pedestrians and parking — albeit with no one sitting in the driver's seat. There were some hiccups, like when one streamer tested a button to have the vehicle pull over and it instead briefly stopped in the middle of a road before the vehicle began moving again. The first riders are being charged a flat rate of $4.20 per trip, Musk said Sunday, though it's unclear what pricing will look like longer term. Robotaxis will be available between 6 a.m. and midnight daily within a geofenced area of the city, not including the airport, according to terms of use that some early riders posted. Service may be limited or unavailable in foul weather. The launch marks a crucial test for Tesla, which is using only 10 to 20 vehicles at first. It's aiming to show it can safely and successfully navigate real-world traffic, which has tripped up some other companies and brought regulatory scrutiny. Cruise, the now-defunct autonomy business of General Motors Co., grounded its fleet in late 2023 and had its operating license suspended in California following an accident that injured a pedestrian. Uber Technologies Inc. ceased testing self-driving vehicles after one of its SUVs struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in 2018. Less than three years later, the company agreed to sell its self-driving business. While Tesla hasn't said when the robotaxi service will open to the general public, Musk has pledged to scale up quickly and expand to other US cities in the near future. The company faces a crowded market in Austin. Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet Inc., is scaling up in the city through a partnership with Uber. Inc.'s Zoox is also testing there. Dan Ives, an analyst with Wedbush Securities who rates Tesla outperform, said he expects robotaxis to be competitive with Waymo from the start. After a member of his team rode in one Sunday, the analyst told Bloomberg the robotaxi user experience was 'better than expected.' Luxury Counterfeiters Keep Outsmarting the Makers of $10,000 Handbags Is Mark Cuban the Loudmouth Billionaire that Democrats Need for 2028? Ken Griffin on Trump, Harvard and Why Novice Investors Won't Beat the Pros The US Has More Copper Than China But No Way to Refine All of It Can 'MAMUWT' Be to Musk What 'TACO' Is to Trump? ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
36 minutes ago
- Bloomberg
Tesla Starts Long-Awaited Robotaxi Service With Low-Key Rollout
Tesla Inc. rolled out its long-promised driverless taxi service to a handful of riders Sunday, a modest debut for what Elon Musk sees as a transformative new business line. The first robotaxi trips were limited to a narrow portion of Tesla's hometown of Austin, with an employee in each vehicle keeping tabs on the operations. The carmaker hand-picked a friendly crop of initial riders, which featured investors and social-media influencers who live-streamed their trips.
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Elon Musk promises more risky launches after sixth Starship failure
When you buy through links on our articles, Future and its syndication partners may earn a commission. This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights. This was the ninth test flight for the rocket, and the third catastrophic failure in a row, just this year. Is this what we should expect from the very ship some are counting on to take humans further than we've ever been in the solar system? Or does this failure point to deeper concerns within the broader program? A decade of development The Starship program from Elon Musk's space technology company, SpaceX, has been in development for more than a decade now and has undergone many iterations in its overall design and goals. The Starship concept is based upon the SpaceX Raptor engines to be used in a multistage system. In a multistage rocket system, there are often two or three separate blocks with their own engine and fuel reserves. These are particularly important for leaving Earth's orbit and travelling to the Moon, Mars and beyond. With Starship, the key factor is the ability to land and reuse vast amounts of the rocket stages again and again. The company's Falcon 9 vehicles, which used this model, were fantastically successful. Initial tests of Starship began in 2018 with two low-altitude flights showing early success. Subsequent flights have faced numerous challenges with now four complete failures, two partial failures and three successes overall. Just two days ago, during the latest failed attempt, I watched alongside more than 200 other space industry experts at the Australian Space Summit in Sydney. Broadcast live on a giant screen, the launch generated an excited buzz – which soon turned to reserved murmurs. Of course, designing and launching rockets is hard, and failures are to be expected. However, a third catastrophic failure within six months demands a pause for reflection. On this particular test flight, as Starship positioned itself for atmospheric re-entry, one of its 13 engines failed to ignite. Shortly after, a booster appeared to explode, leading to a complete loss of control. The rocket ultimately broke apart over the Indian Ocean, which tonnes of debris will now call home. Polluting Earth in pursuit of space We don't know the exact financial cost of each test flight. But Musk has previously said it is about US$50–100 million. The exact environmental cost of the Starship program – and its repeated failures – is even harder to quantify. For example, a failed test flight in 2023 left the town of Port Isabel, Texas, which is located beside the launch site, shaking and covered in a thick cloud of dirt. Debris from the exploded rocket smashed cars. Residents told the New York Times they were terrified. They also had to clean up the mess from the flight. Then, in September 2024, SpaceX was fined by the US Environmental Protection Agency and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for 14 separate incidents since 2022 where the launch facilities discharged polluted water into Texas waterways. Musk denied these claims. That same month, the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) proposed a fine of US$633,009 in civil penalties should be issued to SpaceX. This was on the grounds of using an unapproved launch control room and other violations during 2023. Musk denied these claims too and threatened to countersue the FAA for 'regulatory overreach'. It's unclear if this suit was ever filed. Two other failed launches in January and March this year also rained rocket debris over the Caribbean, and disrupted hundreds of commercial flights, including 80 which needed to be diverted and more than 400 requiring delayed takeoff to ensure they were entering safe air space. Success of different space programs Until last year, the FAA allowed SpaceX to try up to five Starship launches a year. This month, the figure was increased to 25. A lot can go wrong during a launch of a vehicle to space. And there is a long way to go until we can properly judge whether Starship successfully meets its mission goals. We can, however, look at past programs to understand typical success rates seen across different rocketry programs. The Saturn V rocket, the workhorse of the Apollo era, had a total of 13 launches, with only one partial failure. It underwent three full ground tests before flight. SpaceX's own Falcon 9 rocket, has had more than 478 successful launches, only two in flight failures, one partial failure and one pre-flight destruction. The Antares rocket, by Orbital Sciences Corporation (later Orbital ATK and Northrop Grumman) launched a total of 18 times, with one failure. The Soyuz rocket, originally a Soviet expendable carrier rocket designed in the 1960s, launched a total of 32 times, with two failures. RELATED STORIES — 'Starship in space': See amazing photos from SpaceX megarocket's Flight 9 test mission —FAA requires SpaceX to investigate Starship Flight 9 mishap — SpaceX reveals why its Starship Flight 8 Ship exploded, failure traced to 'flash' in rocket's engines No sign of caution Of course, we can't fairly compare all other rockets with the Starship. Its goals are certainly novel as a reusable heavy-class rocket. But this latest failure does raise some questions. Will the Starship program ever see success – and if so when? And what are the limits of our tolerance as a society to the pollution of Earth in the pursuit of the goal to space? For a rocketry program that's moving so fast, developing novel and complex technology, and experiencing several repeated failures, many people might expect caution from now on. Musk, however, has other plans. Shortly after the most recent Starship failure, he announced on X (formerly Twitter), that the next test flights would occur at a faster pace: one every three to four weeks. This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.
