The apps empowering BLM protesters right now
Police brutality is the enemy, racial equality is the goal, and technology is becoming the vehicle for change. Many of you won’t be old enough to recall this with much clarity, but I remember the 2011 London Riots like they happened yesterday. A 29-year-old black man named Mark Duggan was...
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Quibi fails to break into the mainstream during lockdown
Huge investment in both star power and content production has done little to establish Quibi among the streaming elite. But does the app have a future? Two months ago, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, veteran execs Jeffrey Katzenberg and Meg Whitman boldly decided to launch a new mobile-centric...
Facebook’s ‘Deep Fake Detection Challenge’ returns worrying data
As the 2020 US presidential election looms, social media sites are having to prepare for the inevitable onslaught of political discourse, and detecting defamatory content is high on the agenda. If you keep up to date with Thred, then this definitely won’t be the first time you’ve heard of...
Social media is getting Gen Z to the voting booth
New data suggests that apps such as Snapchat are making a sizeable difference to voting turnouts, which in turn could dramatically shift election results moving forward. One of the biggest challenges in modern politics is getting young people to vote. Millennials and Gen Zers now make up more than...
SpaceX and NASA successfully launch Dragon Capsule
It’s the first time NASA has launched astronauts since 2011, and could usher in a new age of commercial and government space innovation. Amidst all of the memes and baby names, I sometimes forget that Elon Musk is an actual billionaire with a huge, privately owned space tech company....
Investors bet on permanence of lockdown gaming habits
Lockdown restrictions have meant that many of us are flocking to online video games to distract ourselves, and investors are hoping the trend continues well beyond the pandemic. I’m sure I’m not alone in saying that I’ve chucked more than a few extra hours into playing video games since lockdown...
Indie developers can now use Unreal Engine for free
Yesterday’s demo of the Unreal Engine 5 was certainly something wasn’t it? And small indie devs will get a taste of the new cutting-edge technology for free. Consider yourself an avid gamer? the chances are you’ve already played several titles developed using one of the constantly improving iterations of the Unreal Engine. Whether we’re talking Mass Effect, Bioshock, Borderlands, Mortal Kombat, or owners Epic Games’ in-house projects Fortnite and Gears of War, a hefty chunk of the most popular franchises...
SoundCloud and Twitch change the game for aspiring artists
You didn’t think SoundCloud was going to be underground forever, did you? SoundCloud is one of the worst kept secrets in the music industry in recent years, having propelled indie creators like Lil Peep, 21 Savage, XXXTentacion, and Post Malone from bedroom rappers to global stars seemingly overnight. And the music sharing platform is ready to permeate the mainstream on a whole other level with its latest coup. Yesterday, SoundCloud announced...
Animal Crossing: New Horizons gains a dark underbelly
Just what is wrong with you people?! Will anyone ever play Animal Crossing: New Horizons the way it was intended ever again, or will we have to out you lot every single week? On the surface, Animal Crossing: New Horizons is as unassuming and frothy as games come. The painterly villages are filled with adorable creatures and smiley low fidelity avatars who potter around fishing, gathering seashells, and chasing butterflies – that is until they’re...
Malaria cure possible with new microbe
Scientists in Kenya have discovered a microbe they say can prevent mosquitoes from spreading malaria. Malaria is currently one of the leading causes of mortality in the world. More than 400,000 people are killed by the disease each year, and most of these victims are children under the age of five in emerging African nations. Likely because of its containment to non-western states, progress in...
