Latest Stories from Jamie
Facebook app ‘Sparked’ to bring kindness to dating
In a ruthless age of dating, where potential suitors are mercilessly swiped by and matches routinely ghosted, Facebook is promoting a kind approach to speed-dating with its new app ‘Sparked.’ Getting into dating these days is easier than ever, thanks to a multitude of free apps such as Tinder, Bumble, and Hinge. However, this level of convenience and boundless choice has brought with it a wave of unsavoury dating behaviours that...
France MPs vote to ban domestic flights as part of climate pledge
French MPs have voted to axe domestic flights on routes that can be travelled by train in less than two and a half hours. Macron’s climate commission now looks set to up the ante throughout 2021. As of April 10th, the French government has declared a ban on short domestic flights where other transport options are available. Specifically, the new legislation states that flights across the nation which can be...
UK black youth ‘three times as likely’ to be jobless after COVID-19
With new data showing the UK’s most severe black youth employment slump in 40 years, has COVID further exposed deep-rooted inequality within the job market? Young black workers in the UK have been hit disproportionally hard during the pandemic, and the knock on effects could put a dent in our pursuit of total job equality for some time. This troubling update comes courtesy of new data from the Office for...
Facebook unveils its Clubhouse competitor ‘Hotline’ with beta test
Hot on the heels of Clubhouse and wanting to gain a slice of the burgeoning audio chat market, Facebook is finally showing its hand with ‘Hotline’ beta tests. Well... that didn’t take long, did it? Clubhouse’s meteoric rise over the last year has cemented ephemeral audio chat as the hottest new USP in social media’s ever-fleeting wheelhouse, thus putting a gigantic target on the app’s back. Keen to usurp the newcomer platform,...
Twitch expands misconduct policy to include other platforms
Ensuring that Twitch remains a safe and inclusive space for stream buffs, the platform is expanding its off-service conduct policy to punish threatening behaviours outside of Twitch. Those who take to spreading hate online or trolling Twitter and Discord may soon find their indiscretions have landed them bans on Twitch – much like a certain ex US president last January. The Amazon owned streaming giant has this week expanded its off-service...
Clubhouse users can soon make in-app donations to creators
As the latest part of its monetisation efforts, Clubhouse will allow users to make donations to their favourite creators. The flagship audio app won’t take a cut of payments. It’s been quite the inaugural year for flagship audio chat app Clubhouse. Already numero uno in the audio chat space, Facebook and Twitter are set to up the competition in 2021 with their own ephemeral updates. Clubhouse is now being forced to...
NASA readying the launch of $10 billion ‘ultimate time machine’
NASA’s James Webb Telescope will peer further back into the universe’s mysterious history than ever before. Scientists are lauding the upcoming project as the ‘ultimate time machine’. Decades of careful planning and development is set to finally come to fruition in October with the launch of the world’s most powerful astronomical observatory in history, the James Webb Space Telescope. Boasting 100 times the observational power of the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA’s...
The Biden administration looks to bring ‘vaccine passports’ to the US
With talk of overseas travel and big entertainment events returning in the not so distant future, the Biden administration is pushing digital apps to credentialise those who have been vaccinated. If you’re planning a holiday to or from the US in the next few years, you may have to bring a ‘vaccination passport’ along with your physical ID. That’s if the Biden administration gets its way anyway. Mere months into his...
UK urged to support developing countries in funding climate action
The UK must take the lead in providing developing countries with funding to tackle the climate crisis, the UN’s development chief has said. Ahead of crunch talks at the Cop26 climate summit in November, ministers from around the world are set to meet (virtually of course) this week to discuss emission reduction plans for developing countries. Hit hardest by an economic fallout spurred by Covid-19, developing countries are bearing the brunt...
Facebook’s donation tools raise $5bn for worthy causes
Through public donation tools on both Facebook and Instagram, Zuckerberg claims more than $5 billion has been raised in non-profit fundraisers. The pandemic has definitely been something of a double edged sword for Facebook. With folk condemned to their homes across the globe over the last 12 months, engagement has risen significantly on both Facebook and Instagram. However, with the two being such popular networks for topical conversation, they’ve also become...
