Twitch will improve its ability to detect bad actors on its platform, the company announced Wednesday, after being criticized for its failures to protect marginalized streamers from being inundated with hate speech as they broadcast live on the service.
Why it matters: Amazon-owned Twitch is the dominant player for live-streaming games in much of the world, but it remains a treacherous platform for anyone streaming who isn't a cishet white male.
One of the most notorious images in games right now is a photo of 20 mostly white male staffers that was included as part of the announcement of a new Montreal game studio called Raccoon Logic.
Why it matters: The photo has become central in the discussion of diversity in game studios and who gets a seat at the table.
Top Republicans in the House and Senate antitrust subcommittees want the FTC to dig into Zillow's plans to buy a home-showing scheduling platform amid concerns about competition in the residential real estate market.
Why it matters: Federal antitrust scrutiny of tech deals keeps widening, and any hot market in which tech is playing an increasingly big role — like real estate — is likely to come under regulators' eyes.
Several groups that had opposed Verizon's purchase of Tracfone say that they are satisfied with fresh commitments being made to the FCC and will withdraw their objections to the deal.
Why it matters: The status of Verizon's purchase of the low-cost prepaid brand had been unclear amid the concerns.
Tech giants are scrambling to update their privacy rules for young users in order to comply with new regulations from the United Kingdom focused on teens' online privacy and wellbeing.
Why it matters: Historically, when Europe passes new data laws, the U.S. and other Western countries have eventually followed suit. So it's likely that the U.K.'s pending Age Appropriate Design Code will set a new global standard for the treatment of children's data.
Artificial intelligence and automation are the new farmhands as growers try to boost productivity amid soaring global demand for food, biofuels and other agricultural products.
Why it matters: Farmers one day will be able to manage their fields from their kitchen table, using a smartphone or tablet to drive machinery, inspect plants and irrigate or treat crops with fertilizer or insecticides.
Micropayments — the decades-old vision of a new way to support creators and businesses online — remain a dream in the U.S., despite 25 years of digital business innovation.
Why it matters: After all this time, the dominant revenue models of the internet — subscriptions and advertising — are exactly the same as they were in the pre-digital era.
Microsoft and Nintendo deluged fans over the last two days with showcases focusing on indie games about everything from farming in mech suits to boyfriends that turn into weapons.
Why it matters: These showcases reinforce the idea that there are great reasons to play an Xbox or Switch beyond whatever heavily-marketed mega-games are on the release schedule.
A bipartisan trio of senators led by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) unveiled legislation Wednesday that would upend Google and Apple's control over their mobile app stores in a bid to inject more competition into the sector.
Why it matters: The bill's provisions would be a win for those app makers who have complained about how Google and Apple operate their app stores.
Samsung has introduced two new foldable phones as well as a major overhaul of its watch lineup at an online event Wednesday.
The big picture: Samsung may seem to be shaking things up this year by skipping a new Galaxy Note and using its fall event to launch new foldable phones. But it's actually returning to the early days of the Note, when its mainstream smartphone would launch early in the year and more experimental devices would roll out in the fall.
YouTube suspended Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) for seven days on Tuesday over a video claiming that cloth masks are not effective in fighting COVID-19, CNN reports.
Driving the news: "This resulted in a first strike on the channel, which means it can't upload content for a week, per our longstanding three strikes policy," a YouTube spokesperson told CNN.
This is THOR, Verizon's Tactical Humanitarian Operations Response vehicle, which the communications giant calls a 5G-enabled Swiss Army Knife on wheels.
Why it matters: It's a prototype of a vehicle that the Verizon Response Team — which handles major emergencies — could send to a disaster zone like a wildfire or hurricane to establish communications when other networks are down. It enables emergency responders from multiple agencies to communicate more easily.
Details: Built on a modified Ford F650 chassis, THOR can provide its own mobile network, along with commercial satellite options and radio communications.
It can be operated remotely from a tablet and comes with a drone that can fly ahead to provide aerial views for situational awareness.
Fun fact: Verizon's Response Team has a menagerie of field equipment they call The Barnyard: COWs (Cell On Wheels), COLTs (Cell On Light Trucks), CROWs (Cellular Repeater On Wheels) and GOATs (Generator On A Trailer).
Media that were once free or easily accessible — including news websites, podcasts, TV shows and games — rushed to get behind paywalls during the pandemic.
Why it matters: This accelerating trend is carving the internet into many niche audiences, Balkanizing our collective media diets.
Two new AI models out this week show the power of artificial intelligence to read text, write it — and even convert it into computer code.
Why it matters: Natural language processing (NLP) is one of the most exciting areas in AI research, with major implications for how we'll communicate and work in the years ahead.
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