Instagram has provided users with a way to block out abusive messages that are sent as DM requests on its platform.
While people can avoid abusive or offensive messages in DMs on Instagram by limiting who can contact them, many users report getting abusive messages via the DM request inbox on Instagram.
A new tool can now be used that will automatically filter DM requests containing offensive words, phrases, and emojis, so you never have to see them. It will work in a similar way to the comment filters that are already available on Instagram.
Instagram worked with anti-discrimination and anti-bullying organizations to develop a predefined list of offensive terms that will be filtered from DM requests when the feature is turned on. There is also the option to create your own custom list of words, phrases, or emojis that you don't want to see in your DM requests.
All DM requests that contain these offensive words, phrases, or emojis - whether from your custom list or the predefined list - will be automatically filtered into a separate hidden requests folder. If you choose to open the folder, the message text will be covered so you're not confronted with offensive language, unless you tap to uncover it.
Sixteen-year-old classic RE4 has been demonstrated ahead of its release for the Oculus Quest 2.
Originally released for the GameCube, Resident Evil 4 is a beloved classic of the horror series and has been ported several times already. This year it is getting the Oculus VR makeover, and we now have a glimpse of what that will look and feel like.
Weapons, ammo, and items are physical objects in the game you can reach out to manipulate or pick up. Drawing a weapon can be done with your hand rather than a menu, along with the act of reloading.
You can move Leon from your first-person perspective using the controllers or you can use a new teleportation feature that makes it easy to skip Leon's movement forward.
The game can be run at a higher framerate than the original 30FPS also, and all original characters and textures have been ported to Unreal Engine 4. More details will be available soon ahead of its launch later this year.
There is now an enhanced version of Monday's historic first powered flight from the Martian surface.
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter made history this week when it powered up and lifted off on the surface of Mars. The brief excursion into Mars' thin atmosphere is the first time a human-made device has taken powered flight from the surface of another planet, even if it was just a short hop into the air. It is important to state it is the first powered flight, as the Soviet Union achieved the first balloon flight in the atmosphere of Venus in 1985.
The first images of Ingenuity were grainy and choppy and were followed by a better video. However, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory channel on YouTube has uploaded an enhanced video with more detail.
It actually contains two separate recordings of the event, presented side by side. The view on the left uses motion filtering to show where dust was detected during liftoff and landing and the view on the right is enhanced with the motion filtering.
Several dozen popular free-to-play games can now be enjoyed on Xbox One, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series X without an Xbox Live Gold subscription.
Popular titles including Call of Duty: Warzone, Apex Legends, Fortnite, Rocket League, Roblox, and many more were limited to paying Xbox Live Gold subscribers up until now. Microsoft is known to have been testing the change for weeks.
Additionally, Xbox party chat and the Looking For Groups (LFG) have been similarly liberated from the premium tier.
The move comes after Microsoft irked gamers with a planned doubling of the yearly cost of an Xbox Live subscription earlier this year. It also happens as Microsoft is phasing out the branding of Xbox Live, to be replaced by Xbox network.
SpaceX has denied recent reports of a near-miss incident involving one of its Internet-beaming Starlink satellites, and one belonging to rival OneWeb.
The news has reignited concerns about the ambitious plans of SpaceX and others to launch arrays of satellites into low-Earth orbit in order to provide low-latency, high-speech broadband services. Critics warn that launching too many satellites into low Earth orbit increases the risk of collisions that could produce large amounts of dangerous space junk, inhibiting future space operations.
There are also concerns about the presence of satellite constellations in orbit and the effect it will have on ground-based astronomy.
In recent days news spread about a close call between a Starlink satellite, operated by SpaceX, and a OneWeb satellite. In a filing, SpaceX essentially accuses OneWeb of spreading false information about what actually occurred.
The initial reports stated that SpaceX has turned off its collision avoidance system when its satellite came within 190 feet of the OneWeb satellite on April 2. OneWeb had performed a maneuver and avoided a collision. Representatives of SpaceX and OneWeb met with FCC staff since the incident.
Apple finally released its long anticipated AirTag device yesterday. And to be honest to its reputation, the item tracking device comes in wide variety of styles. And yes, some of those styles are insanely priced.
AirTag is essentially a small Bluetooth-like device that you can hook to your key ring, your laptop, etc and can then find your misplaced item with your phone. Similar solutions have existed before, from wide variety of manufacturers over the past few years.
The basic version of AirTag is quite reasonably priced, at $29 in U.S. But..
A genuine leather luggage tag, including a built-in AirTag and designed by famous French luxury designer Hermès is something else. It is currently available only in the United States, but it costs a whopping $449 on Apple's own store.
According to a report from Digital Music News last week, Spotify will resume removing Joe Rogan Experience podcasts from its inventory.
The popular podcast made the jump to Spotify at the end of 2020, with the Swedish streaming platform securing exclusivity over the existing catalog and new episodes. Some older episodes still remain on YouTube, while Spotify decided against bringing over several dozen podcast episodes. Additionally, clips from new podcast episodes are still uploaded to YouTube.
Spotify has reportedly removed 42 episodes of the podcast which features guests including provocateur Milo Yiannopoulos, Gavin McInnes, comedian Chris D'Elia, and more. While Spotify did not bring over old episodes featuring Alex Jones, it still has a more recent episode online with Mr. Jones and comedian Tim Dillan, which Rogan himself described as a "big test."
The popular podcaster, comedian, and UFC commentator clashed with Spotify employees shortly after the transition to the service. Reports circulated that Spotify employees were demanding editing oversight be given to Spotify staffers, that trigger warnings be displayed for some episodes, as well as clarifications by "fact-checkers."
According to a report, Microsoft may be preparing to launch its Cloud PC service as soon as this summer.
Codenamed 'Project Deschutes', Microsoft sees potential in offering the familiar Windows Desktop environment as a service to subscribers. With this Cloud PC service, customers could use their devices to access a remote Desktop running atop Microsoft's Azure cloud computing platform.
Of course, familiar Microsoft products such as Office 365 would likely be accessible through the service. Believed to be in testing now, the Cloud PC service may roll out as soon as June or July, reports ZDNet.
Leaks have revealed that Microsoft is planning multiple options for potential subscribers designated Medium, Heavy, and Advanced. The three separate options would vary based on the allocated CPU capacity, RAM capacity, and storage space.
Another potential use for the Cloud PC service is to allow customers running Windows 10X devices to run Win32 applications. Windows 10x is an upcoming operating system that will target the Chrome OS market, and it will not run standard Win32 applications.
Tesla chief Elon Musk revealed that the data from a fatal car accident involving a Tesla Model S showed the car was not on autopilot at the time.
Police responded to reports of a serious car accident near The Woodlands, about 30 miles north of Houston, on Saturday night. The vehicle, a Tesla Model S, veered off the road and hit a tree at high speed before igniting, killing two occupants.
According to deputies, there was nobody in the driving seat at the time that the vehicle veered into the tree. Emergency services fought the fire using more than 30,000 gallons of water, as the damaged battery kept reigniting. At some point during the four-hour effort to put out the fire, Tesla has to be contacted for instruction on how to quench the flames.
Predictably, the details of the incident prompted questions about the safety of vehicle automation, and Texas authorities revealed they will secure data from the vehicle from Tesla with a warrant.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk has responded to the incident and subsequent reports publicly, however. He did so using the platform he usually uses to respond to media reports, Twitter!
In a response Tweet, Musk revealed that the data from the accident shows that Autopilot was not engaged at the time of the accident. Furthermore, the vehicle did not have the full self-drive capabilities, which can be purchased as an add-on for a $10,000 fee. FSD enables compatible Tesla's to automatically change lanes and self-park.
The COVID-19 pandemic can be blamed for both good news and bad news at Netflix!
When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it confined most of us to our homes and dramatically increased our demand for online and streaming media. Netflix rode a wave of soaring subscriptions as a bored public sought an escape from the constant reminder of our predicament.
In 2020, Netflix added a whopping 36.5 million new subscribers globally which was easily its best year for subscriber growth. By contrast, 2019 had seen a decline in growth from 28.6 million to 27.8 million the previous year.
While more users were signing on to the service, Netflix was hit by the same production problems as others in the industry. Filming of its popular TV shows and much of its new movies and other content ground to a halt as COVID-19 restrictions also kept directors, producers, actors, studio engineers, writers, and everyone else required for production at home.
In the first quarter of 2021, Netflix recorded just shy of 4 million new subscribers, down dramatically from over 15 million for the same period a year earlier. Worse, it warned shareholders that it only expects to add just 1 million new subscribers in Q2.
Social and messaging platform Discord is walking away from talks over a multi-billion dollar deal with Redmond-giant Microsoft.
Discord witnessed rapid growth last year as more people were staying at home as part of COVID-19 restrictions. The service enables users to gather in public or private channels to chat, post images and other media, and also to Direct Message each other.
Voice chat is also supported, as is the ability to share screens or camera feeds. Discord servers dedicated to a single topic (tv shows, sports teams, musical artists, video games, etc.) are very popular, and the company earns revenue by selling premium Nitro subscriptions at $9.99 per month, or $99.99 for the year.
Nitro members can "boost" servers to unlock extra features, and also have access to exclusive emojis and other benefits. In 2020, Discord reported revenue of over $130 million driven by Nitro subscriptions.
Microsoft has been looking to expand its web services in recent years. It scooped up video games outfit ZeniMax Media in a $7.5 billion deal last month. Additionally, it acquired Nuance Communications and its AI and speech recognition technology, for $16 billion this month.
However, these acquisitions came on the back of its public failure to buy TikTok almost a year ago.
One of the biggest tech acquisitions ever gets slowedŽdown. American Nvidia has already agreed to buy UK-based ARM for a whopping $40 billion.
But now British authorities have intervened and have requested a report on impact to its national security. ARM is the chip designer whose chips power basically all the cell phones in the world: Androids, iPhones and more. Furthermore, Apple's new M1 chip is based on ARM technology and Microsoft is keen to push its Windows to run on ARM-based computers, too.
Britain's Digital Secretary said "Following careful consideration of the proposed takeover of ARM, I have today issued an intervention notice on national security grounds. As a next step and to help me gather the relevant information, the UK's independent competition authority will now prepare a report on the implications of the transaction, which will help inform any further decisions."
The deal would merge the leading GPU manufacturer Nvidia with the dominant mobile phone (and increasingly notable computer) chip maker.
Modestly priced, awesome battery life, and from a brand known for its quality products! What could go wrong? This is exactly what many of us thought when OnePlus finally decided to launch its own smartwatch, aptly named OnePlus Watch.
We got the OnePlus Watch for review just before its official launch date and were pretty excited to see it in action.
Unfortunately, this time around, the expectations were not met. For us, the OnePlus Watch is a prime example of a product that doesn't have a focus and was simply launched because everybody else had one.
Logitech, best known for its keyboards and mice, has decidedd to end its once-popular Harmony line of universal remote controls.
Logitechh's Harmony remotes have been praised by many and they had their heyday in first decade of 2000s. About 15 years ago many countries went through digtalization of TVs and there was a need for separate STB in order to get digital TV transmissions to old, analog TV sets. Furthermore, the decade also marked the peak time for DVDs. Thus, many households had several peripherals connected to the TV: STB, DVD player and various others. So, the need for remotes that could command them all was also at its peak.
Since then, things have changed: streaming services have largely replaced DVDs, TVs themselves have the streaming service apps integrated into them and built-in digital TV receivers are commonplace with TV sets. So, the need for universal remotes has also diminished.
Company predicted the trend early on and considered selling its Harmony business back in 2013, but decided to keep it in house instead. But now, Logitech has announced that they have stopped manufacturing Harmony remotes for good.
One of the few major studios that hasn't tried to create its own Netflix competitor is Sony Pictures. Now, Sony Pictures has decided to license all its upcoming movie releases exclusively to Netflix.
Deal includes upcoming sequels to award-winning 2018 Spider-Man animation film, Uncharted movies and more. All Sony's big screen releases from year 2022 onwards will be made available to Netflix shortly after their theatrical release.
Furthermore, the deal includes also all Sony Pictures' direct-to-streaming movies and select past titles from its vast movie catalog. It should be noted that while Marvel is nowadays part of Disney empire, Sony has full film rights to some Marvel's characters - most notably, to those appearing in Spider-Man universe. Thus, while other Marvel movies and series are moving to Disney+, those owned by Sony will be Netflix-exclusive.
Sony's press release doesn't give out much more information about the deal. The length nor the price of the deal are not made public.
Sony's Spider-Mar: Into the Spider-verse won the best animated film Academy Award back in 2019. All its upcoming sequels can be found on Netflix under this deal.
World's largest pure demo party, Revision has been held annually in Germany since 2011. This time around the event was held remotely, due the global COVID-19 pandemic. But during the event, the streaming platform provider Twitch decided to ban the event's stream, without warning.
Twitch has recently expanded to various gaming and demo events, trying to expand its reach beyond game streaming platform. Thus, Revision had chosen Twitch as its streaming provider in order to cater the event, competitions and all things involved to its virtual visitors.
During the Saturday afternoon, however, Twitch hhad decided to block the Revision's stream - without warning and with no reason given why they banned the stream. Revision party relies heavily on volunteers who have poured thousands of hours of work to ensure that the event runs as smoothly as possible. Not to mention all the demo groups that have invested hundreds of hours to their art that was meant to be showcased in Revision competition.
On the very last days of the Soviet Union, a local TV channel in Leningrad released its own movie version of iconic J.R.R. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings book trilogy. Movie was aired once and was thought to be lost forever, until now.
The TV channel Leningrad Television aired the movie on the very same year the Soviet Union eventually collapsed. As years passed by, many enthusiasts have tried to find the movie - or even bootleg copies of it, to no avail. But just over the Easter weekend, the TV channel's successor, 5TV, added the entire movie to YouTube.
Movie, called Khraniteli, has gathered already over 700'000 views online, despite it being - well, obviously - in Russian language. As the budget wasn't exactly a match to the movies made by Peter Jackson in early 2000s, it is still a notable piece of history.
You can watch the entire movie here, it has been split into two parts:
Korean tech giant LG is reported to end its mobile phone business line completely.
Company's phone business has been a loss-maker for more than 6 years now and company has previously announced that it is seeking for "various options" for its mobile phone business. Now, according to Korean sources it seems that company has made a decision to quit the mobile phone business completely.
According to the reports by The Korean Times, LG will shift its current mobile phone workforce to company's other business segments and to cease the mobile phone business for good.
Meanwhile, LG's shares have soared in Korean stock market, boosted by strong demand for its flat-screen TVs and home appliances. It has also grown to be one of the biggest component providers for electronic vehicles, boosted by its strong presence in battery manufacturing business.
Company hasn't officially confirmed the rumors about its mobile phone business yet, but according to The Korean Times, such announcement is expected on early next week.
Instagram has provided users with a way to block out abusive messages that are sent as DM requests on its platform.
Sixteen-year-old classic RE4 has been demonstrated ahead of its release for the Oculus Quest 2.
There is now an enhanced version of Monday's historic first powered flight from the Martian surface.
