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...
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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...
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...
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...
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...
Facebook considered least secure social media site
A recent study suggests that Facebook is considered to be the least secure social media platform, despite TikTok’s ties to China and longstanding controversies. Before receiving the results from the latest tech surveys you’d be forgiven for thinking that TikTok takes the crown as the least secure social media...
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 we’ve finally found a feasible solution to make a dent in the storm of space junk currently orbiting the Earth – though it may sound like a child’s submission to Blue Peter. Developed by Japanese-UK space solutions firm Astroscale, the world’s 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 – fast. At present, society is experiencing an acute mental health crisis, exacerbated tenfold by a pandemic that’s dramatically intensified feelings of loneliness, uncertainty, and grief. In the US, there’s been a 20% spike 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 America’s big gaming conferences axed last year due to Covid-19, it’s 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...
How ‘virtual escape rooms’ are helping students enrol during Covid-19
Thanks to Covid-19, enrolling at new schools has become a challenging process on all fronts. With campus tours and face-to-face interviews off the table, admissions officers are now evaluating prospective students through virtual escape rooms. It turns out ‘escape room’ experiences have uses beyond bringing workmates together for novel team bonding sessions, or inspiring the naff horror movies on Netflix. Covid-19 rapidly changed the landscape for schooling throughout 2020. Social distancing...
