Technology

Xbox is making it easier to find accessibility information for games, according to an announcement from the company at its Accessibility Showcase. Games in the Microsoft store will have accessibility feature tags, so players with disabilities can make sure games have the features they need before buying or downloading them. The tags are appearing in the store for members of the Xbox Accessibility Insiders League (XAIL) starting today and will eventually roll out to all Xbox users. The tags address an issue commonly expressed by players with disabilities: they often have to do their own research to figure out which games they can play. Listing certain features in the store consolidates information that can be frustrating to track down, especially if it’s not available on developer websites ...

343 Industries has added improved accessibility features to Halo Infinite. “343 Industries’ goal is to make the newest journey into the Halo universe more accessible to as many gamers as possible,” Xbox shared on its blog. “That includes those who are brand-new to the Halo franchise, as well as those who struggled to play due to barriers that hadn’t previously been accounted for.” The features include accessibility standards like enhanced colorblind settings and the ability to rebind mouse, keyboard, and gamepad controls. 343 is also adding new innovations like the movement-assisted steering feature, which allows users to add more controls to help steer vehicles like the Warthog and Mongoose. Here’s a list of Halo Infinite’s accessibility features: For subtitles Adjust the font size Adjust...

Twenty-one current and former employees of Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin published a damning essay on Thursday saying the company “turns a blind eye to sexism, is not sufficiently attuned to safety concerns, and silences those who seek to correct wrongs.” Co-authored by Blue Origin’s former head of employee communications Alexandra Abrams, the essay describes multiple accounts of sexist and dismissive behavior from some of the company’s “one-hundred percent” male senior technical and program leaders and says “professional dissent at Blue Origin is actively stifled.” The employees accuse the company’s CEO, Bob Smith, of brushing off dissent by discouraging staff from raising questions during internal town halls, asking a colleague to track “troublemakers or agitators,” and forcing o...

“Google” is the most searched term on Bing “by far,” according to a lawyer working for Google’s parent company, Alphabet. According to Bloomberg, Google made the argument while trying to get its $5 billion antitrust fine from the EU overturned, using the statistic as evidence that people use Google by choice, not force. The fine Google faces is from the European Commission, which says that Google has abused its position as the maker of Android. The regulator says that Google will have to stop forcing handset makers to pre-install Chrome and Google search if they want to have Android. Google’s argument? That most people would just use its search engine anyway. According to statistics compiled by SEO company Ahrefs, “google” is indeed the top searched term on Bing worldwide. It’s followed by...

Virtual pet franchise Neopets is getting into NFTs — a seemingly inevitable move for a site with a long and varied history that has spawned a dizzying array of merchandise and offshoots, from magazines and cards to mobile games and a (promised) animated series. You may not be familiar with Neopets, but it was a staple for many who grew up online in the early to mid-2000s. The basic concept is that users adopt virtual pets, and then spend hours farming games and events to attain items and customize their little darlings. It sounds simple, but the site was hugely popular in its day (thanks in no small part to a thriving and addictive internal economy), boasting more than 30 million active users around 2005. Neopets had more than 30 million users in its heyday but has long been in decline Neo...

If you play video games on the PC then there’s a good chance at some point in your life you’ve purchased something from Humble Bundle: a digital storefront that regularly announces time-limited, pay-what-you-want game bundles, each of which sets aside a slice of the proceeds for charity. This week, the company announced that it’s now raised more than $200 million for good causes around the world — so: well done, gamers. The Humble Bundle concept first appeared in 2010, pioneered by indie game studio Wolfire Games, but was soon spun off into its own entity, with a dedicated store and publishing subsidiary, Humble Games. Now the company offers bundles for books, comics, and software, as well as a monthly subscription service, Humble Choice. The firm recently raised more than $1.17 million fo...

In light of the recent successful flights from Jeff Bezos‘ Blue Origin, a collective of former and current employees have now published an open letter exposing a series of pressing issues that create a toxic work environment at the company. The letter began by highlighting the lack of diversity within Blue Origin’s ranks, pointing out that of the 3,600 or so people currently employed there, most are male and “overwhelmingly white.” While the group acknowledges that gender gaps are common within the space industry, they also emphasize that 100% of senior technical and program leaders are men and that gender discrimination within the company has become a culture there, with numerous cases of sexual misconduct reported among senior staff. Gender discrimination aside, the letter also underline...

A new update to Google’s Pixel phones will now enable an Emergency SOS mode that can automatically record videos and upload them online during times of crisis. Accessible through the Pixel’s Personal Safety app settings, the new Emergency SOS feature can be activated simply by pressing the power button five times. The phone will then start capturing video for up to 45 minutes as long as your device has enough storage, and you’ll still be able to use it for other functions while a notification icon and minimized viewfinder pops up to tell you that you’re currently recording video. Once recording has stopped, the file will be automatically uploaded and backed up to your Google account provided your phone has a working Internet connection, and a link to download the video can be shared with a...

In its ever-expanding effort to combat online toxicity, harassment and trolling, Twitch has now implemented new verification tools in order to keep a closer account of who is responsible for different accounts. The new measures mainly focus on both phone and email verification and allow streamers to control who has access to their streams. If checked, content creators can restrict their sessions to just accounts who have either verified their accounts through phone numbers, an email address or both. There’ll also be better ban evasion prevention as Twitch will now ban all accounts tied to a single phone number if one of those accounts has been found in contravention of its terms and conditions. The new policies are being introduced largely in response to “hate raids,” a phenomenon that has...

Amazon announced its Astro home robot on Monday, which is designed to be an Alexa on wheels that can also bring you stuff (if other people load it into the cargo bay) and act as a sort of guard dog. With a touchscreen for a face and the ability to move itself around a single story of your house, it’s a bit like the personal robots from decades of science fiction. Given that Amazon seemingly wants to continue making home robots, though, we figured we’d go through a little history to look at some previous attempts. Of course, there’s plenty of discussion to be had about what does or does not count as a robot — to anyone with a smart home setup, Siri, Alexa, and Google Assistant could be considered robots, as they can do any number of tasks if you buy the necessary hardware. But for this list...

Following a public standoff earlier this week, YouTube TV and NBCUniversal have agreed to a “short” extension over the streaming service carrying several of the broadcaster’s channels. That means that at least for now, YouTube TV will continue to carry more than a dozen major NBCUniversal-owned channels, including NBC regional sports networks. But it also means YouTube TV’s monthly subscription cost won’t be getting $10 cheaper. Had talks broken down, NBCUniversal programming would have been removed from YouTube TV at midnight ET. “NBCUniversal and YouTube TV have agreed to a short extension while parties continue talks,” an NBCUniversal spokesperson tells Protocol and Vulture. “NBCUniversal will not go dark on YouTube TV at midnight eastern tonight.” YouTube said in a blog post earlier th...

A leaked Facebook study indicates that followers of celebrity Instagram accounts often experience negative feelings after viewing their content on the platform. The internal research from the social media giant was leaked and published earlier this week by The Wall Street Journal. Titled “Social comparison on Instagram,” the study surveyed 100,000 Instagram users across nine countries including the U.S., Australia and Brazil back in March and April of 2020. While Facebook spokesperson Kevin McAlister says that respondents were asked not to name any accounts they followed, researchers nonetheless found that celebrity accounts were “some of the most frequently seen accounts for people who told us they experienced either higher or lower levels of negative social comparison on Instagram.” The ...