Technology

Twitch is launching a new built-in fundraising tool called Twitch Charity to make it easier for streamers to run charity streams. Many streamers and organizations put on charity streams to help raise funds for causes they support. Right now, streamers often pledge donations, subscriptions, and Bits (Twitch’s virtual currency) received over a certain period of time to the charity of their choice. But there can be a lot to manage when hosting a charity stream — you can get an idea of what’s involved in this guide to hosting a charity stream from my former colleague Bijan Stephen. Twitch Charity is designed to simplify the fundraising process. Streamers will be able to go into “charity mode,” which activates a “Donate to Charity” button that people can use to donate, and donations will be pro...

The QA department at Blizzard Albany, the studio formerly known as Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2’s Vicarious Visions, has become the second QA department within Activision Blizzard to organize a union. Today, we announce a new union at Activision Blizzard. QA is currently an undervalued discipline in the games and software industries. We strive tofoster work environments where we are respected and compensated for our essential role in thedevelopment process. 1/5 — GWA Albany (@WeAreGWAAlbany) July 19, 2022 The group, organized as GWA Albany, has around 20 members and formed a union to address issues like competitive and fair compensation, healthcare, and “establishing reasonable protocols to address demands of ‘crunch’ time.” GWA Albany is now the second QA department within Activision Bliz...

When Facebook changed its name to Meta in October, there were a few concerns that the company was planning to dominate the nascent metaverse — but there’s one aggrieved party that’s only now going public. An installation-art company called META (or Meta.is) announced Tuesday that it will be suing Meta (or Facebook) for trademark violation, alleging that Zuckerberg’s name change violated the smaller company’s established brand. “On October 28, 2021, Facebook seized our META mark and name, which we put our blood, sweat, and tears into building for over twelve years,” reads a post on the smaller company’s site. “Today, after eight months of trying to negotiate with Facebook in good faith to no avail, we were left with no choice but to file a lawsuit against them.” “the toxicity that is inextr...

Apple has agreed to pay out $50 million to settle a class action lawsuit that said the company knew about flaws with the butterfly keyboard switches it built into several MacBook models (via Reuters). The keyboards, introduced with the 2015 MacBook, were notoriously unreliable; basically any sort of grime, crumb, or dust could make it so that a key stopped responding altogether or got stuck, resulting in embarrassing typos. Apple tried several fixes for the keyboards, but each new generation failed to fix the core issue, with computers impacted as recently as the 2019 MacBook Pros and Air. (A full list of the affected computers is included on the first page of the settlement, but it’s basically all of Apple’s laptops from 2015 to 2019.) The judge still has to approve the proposed settlemen...

This is a Nerf blaster unlike any you’ve seen before. It doesn’t shoot reusable foam darts or foam balls, but rather pellets of squishy, water-infused gel. Pellets so small you can fit 800 of them into this blaster, and so cheap it’ll come with 10,000 of them right out of the box. It’ll shoot them fully automatic with an included rechargeable, swappable 7.4V battery you can top up with a USB-C cable — just like a phone. It’s called the Nerf Pro Gelfire Mythic, it’ll cost $79.99 this November, and it’s wild to see it exists — partly because it’s such a departure from kid-friendly darts, and partly because it feels like Hasbro is finally conceding that it doesn’t need to reinvent the wheel to attract an older audience. Image: Hasbro After spending the better part of a decade searching for a ...

Nintendo has confirmed that both the Wii U and 3DS digital storefronts will no longer allow new purchases of paid or free content starting March 27th, 2023. Previously, it was broadly targeting March 2023, giving gamers plenty of time to fill out their collections before they no longer have the chance to do so — legally, at least. Now, there’s a final date. There’s a bit more urgency, however, if you were hoping to purchase a Nintendo eShop card (which are typically available at some sort of small discount) to add funds to your account on Wii U or 3DS. As Nintendo previously shared, the cutoff date to add funds via this method is August 29th, 2022, which is just over one month from the time of publishing. Those funds will be yours to use as you see fit until March 27th, 2023. Nintendo says...

Chevy is bringing the Blazer to its electric car lineup. The midsize crossover SUV is the latest of the GM brand’s gas cars to feature an all-electric version, joining the Chevy Equinox EV, Silverado EV, and GMC Hummer EV. Chevy isn’t going light on the options for the Blazer EV: buyers can choose between front-wheel drive, rear-wheel drive, or all-wheel drive models. Plus, there will be a high-performance Blazer SS model capable of 557 horsepower. It can go from 0 to 60mph in less than four seconds using what the company calls a WOW (wide open watts) mode that recalls other high-performance electric settings like Tesla’s Ludicrous and Plaid options, Lucid Motors’ Launch Mode, or the Unbridled Extend setting on the Mustang Mach-E. Other trim levels include the 1LT, 2LT, and RS, with the 1L...

Nothing claims its new Phone 1 can “Bring us back. To us” with “deeper interactions” and “brave simplicity.” It’s not the life-changing phone that Nothing makes it out to be; it’s just a good midrange device with flashing lights on the back. The Phone 1’s unique light-up notification “glyphs” are somewhat useful, but more than anything, they’re a fashion flourish. Given that it’s backed up by solid performance and fair price, there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Verge Score 7 out of 10 Good Stuff Snappy performance Smooth-scrolling, pleasant-to-use OLED screen Some unique use cases for glyph notification system Four years of security updates promised Bad Stuff Battery life is just okay No charger included No track record of success yet One important note: Phone 1 is not coming to the US...