GDC 2024 begins with keynote on diversity and inclusivity
Old habits die hard in the business of game development, and industry figureheads are making a point of calling for more inclusivity at this year’s conference and beyond. The annual Game Development Conference kicked off yesterday, and thousands will be attending to partake in the week’s round-tables, lectures, tutorials, and...
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Spotify begins rolling out music videos feature
While it appeared Spotify had laid its hat on short-form video, the music service will now begin to roll out full music videos on the app across the coming months. Is this the beginning of the end for the looping Canvas videos everyone disables to save their battery life? In a...
Could gene-editing cure HIV?
Scientists say they’ve been able to literally cut out the ‘bad’ bits of DNA from infected cells to eliminate HIV in patients using the Nobel Prize-winning technology CRISPR. During the last few years, scientists have made strides towards treating diseases through gene-editing technology, their most promising breakthrough being the...
Is a TikTok ban coming to the US?
A proposed ban on TikTok is making the rounds in Congress, garnering support from young people and policymakers alike. ‘If they pass it, I’ll sign it,’ said President Joe Biden on Friday. But what exactly does the ban entail? From the moment TikTok rose to widespread popularity, US government...
Royals photo commotion highlights challenge of discerning fake content
As artificial intelligence makes discerning between real and fake imagery increasingly tricky, people are undoubtedly becoming less trusting of media they’re presented with. Can we nip this growing scepticism in the bud? Society’s threshold for what qualifies as ‘uncanny valley’ in 2024 is becoming more debatable by the month. Public...
Warner Bros. Discovery to double down on live-service games
Despite the publisher releasing Hogwarts Legacy last year to great success, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of gaming says live-services and mobile will be its main focus moving forward. If you’re into video games, it’s likely you picked up - or at least saw gameplay of - Hogwarts Legacy last year. Despite...
Why gamblers embracing AI is cause for concern
The perception that AI can eliminate risk and replace luck with foolproof strategy is concerning. Will this lead to more newcomers getting hooked and larger sums being lost? The over normalisation of betting is increasingly becoming a problem and the industry’s latest ‘coup’ has the potential to open an ever larger can of worms. While having a bet on a sporting event once required a visit to the local bookies, a...
Google announces major shake up to search algorithm
In an effort to reduce low-quality articles and unoriginal content, Google is making big changes to its search algorithm. A new core update to Google’s search traffic algorithm could have wide-reaching implications for SEO experts and copywriters. The company is further boosting its low-quality downranking project that it began testing in 2022. In a statement that year, Google explained that it had ‘launched thousands of updates to Search based...
Do parenting influencers have a place on social media?
The recent sentencing of Ruby Franke, who dished out parenting advice online, has sparked conversation around the safety of so-called ‘sharenting’ via social media. When Ruby Franke was sentenced to four terms in prison, she had 2.3 million followers on a now-deleted YouTube channel titled ‘8 Passengers’. The premise of the channel was to provide parenting advice, a phenomenon known online as ‘sharenting’. And to her millions of followers, Franke was...
Apple fined nearly $2 billion USD by EU for ‘blocking’ music apps
Apple is being fined almost $2 billion USD for supressing alternative music streaming apps on its App Store. It’s the first time the EU has penalised the company and its third largest fine ever. Which music streaming platform do you opt for? Are you an avid Spotify user or an Apple Music goer? The two platforms are considered to be direct competitors within the streaming space. Now, after months of rumours,...
