Facebook unveils its Clubhouse competitor βHotlineβ 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 βHotlineβ beta tests. Well... that didnβt take long, did it? Clubhouseβs meteoric rise over the last year has cemented ephemeral audio chat as the hottest new...
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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...
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 wonβt take a cut of payments. Itβs been quite the inaugural year for flagship audio chat app Clubhouse. Already numero uno in the audio chat space, Facebook...
NASA readying the launch of $10 billion βultimate time machineβ
NASAβs James Webb Telescope will peer further back into the universeβs mysterious history than ever before. Scientists are lauding the upcoming project as the βultimate time machineβ. Decades of careful planning and development is set to finally come to fruition in October with the launch of the worldβs most powerful...
The Biden administration looks to bring βvaccine passportsβ 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 youβre planning a holiday to or from the US in the next few years, you may have to bring...
Facebookβs 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...
Facebook considered least secure social media site
A recent study suggests that Facebook is considered to be the least secure social media platform, despite TikTokβs ties to China and longstanding controversies. Before receiving the results from the latest tech surveys youβd be forgiven for thinking that TikTok takes the crown as the least secure social media platform, at least as far as public opinion is concerned. Plagued by accusations of Chinese spyware and repeatedly called out...
This magnified satellite could be the key to clearing space junk
Japanese space solutions mogul Astroscale has launched the first commercial mission to remove debris from our atmosphere. Spoiler: it involves a giant magnet. It appears weβve finally found a feasible solution to make a dent in the storm of space junk currently orbiting the Earth β though it may sound like a childβs submission to Blue Peter. Developed by Japanese-UK space solutions firm Astroscale, the worldβs first commercial clean-up mission to...
Global psychedelics market projected to reach $10.75bn by 2027
Australia will soon be trialling psychedelic drugs as a treatment for mental illness, while California is looking to decriminalise them altogether. The marketplace is expected to grow β fast. At present, society is experiencing anΒ acute mental health crisis, exacerbated tenfold by a pandemic thatβs dramatically intensified feelings of loneliness, uncertainty, and grief. In the US, thereβs been a 20%Β spikeΒ in the number of prescriptions for antidepressants and in the UK, where an...
The Game Devs of Color Expo to go entirely digital for 2021
In its sixth year, the Game Devs of Color Expo 2021 will celebrate the growing ethnic diversity within game development. Again, the event will be entirely digital. With most of North Americaβs big gaming conferences axed last year due to Covid-19, itβs good to see that the calendar year is back on track for gamers in 2021. Organisers from both E3 and the GDC are gearing up for completely...
