Social Networks

Valhalla Entertainment, Trouper Productions and Zipper Bros. Films have kicked off production on upcoming documentary Mass Effect: The Story of YouTube, Deadline hears. Directed and produced by Alex Winter (Bill & Ted Face The Music, Showbiz Kids), with Gale Anne Hurd and Glen Zipper also on board as producers, Mass Effect will be a gripping, frightening and, at times, hilarious look at the video-streaming platform, examining its humble origins within a pizzeria attic, and how it went on to become the largest media platform in history. While looking at cultural phenomena like cat videos, the doc will also dig into weighty issues associated with YouTube. Offering access to key players in technology, business, media and politics, it will specifically tackle such subjects as surveillance, algorithmic capitalism, online radicalization, and the spread of fake news. Related Story YouTube Shorts, A Response To TikTok, Launches Beta In U.S. “I’m very excited to be partnering with Gale Anne Hurd and my long-time producing partner Glen Zipper on this film,” said Winter. “I’ve been eager to make another tech-related documentary, and the rise of YouTube is one of the most significant cultural and business stories of our time.” “Mass Effect is both an inspirational and cautionary tale…

Twitter is testing a way to let you watch YouTube videos right from your timeline. Typically, when someone includes a YouTube link in a tweet, clicking that link sends you to YouTube, which can be frustrating if you didn’t want to leave Twitter to watch the video. This new feature, which is in testing today on iOS, means you won’t be sent away from Twitter, which will make it easier to watch a video and then keep on scrolling if you so choose. Twitter shared how the feature works in a GIF: Starting today on iOS, we’re testing a way to watch YouTube videos directly in your Home timeline, without leaving the conversation on Twitter. pic.twitter.com/V4qzMJMEBs— Twitter Support (@TwitterSupport) March 18, 2021 The test will be available to “a very small group of users” in Canada, the US, Japan, and Saudi Arabia, Twitter said in a statement shared with The Verge after we first published this story. “The current test on iOS will be a four-week experiment,” a Twitter spokesperson said. We plan to take a look at the results and will scale accordingly.” This new test arrives alongside two others announced last week for iOS and Android that are…

A former Dover Township woman has pleaded guilty to having sexual contact with two teenage boys and sexting a third.Lauren Ray Thomas, 32, of Hanover, pleaded guilty Thursday in York County Court to the first-degree felony of statutory sexual assault — which was the most serious count lodged against her — and two counts of unlawful contact with a minor, which are third-degree felonies, according to court records.Thomas must undergo an assessment by the state's Sexual Offender Assessment Board, which is standard for defendants who plead guilty or are found guilty of sexual offenses.Sentencing was set for July 6 by presiding Common Pleas President Judge Maria Musti Cook.Thomas remains free on unsecured bail and her bail conditions include having no contact with any minors except when the court makes an exception.Her bail conditions forbid her from having contact with anyone at Dover Area School District and forbid her from attending school events and activities. Court documents don't identify where the teens she offended against attend school, but this bail condition strongly suggests Dover Area students were involved.It was a open plea, meaning there is no agreed-on sentence with prosecutors, records state. However, prosecutors did agree to withdraw her remaining charges at sentencing in exchange for…

Snap acquires Fit Analytics The parent company of Snapchat, Snap, has acquired Fit Analytics. It is a startup in the field of apparel and footwear technology. Reportedly, this acquisition will help the company add a substantial e-commerce technology business to its portfolio. The leading apparel brands and retailers like North Face, Asos, Calvin Klein, Patagonia across the six continents, and more use Fit Analytics' platform to solve sizing at scale and deliver ‘meaningful bottom-line impact’. The company released a statement on Wednesday and said, "We are thrilled to announce that Fit Analytics will soon become a part of Snap. This acquisition will strengthen Fit Analytics' position as an industry leader in apparel and footwear technology. For a Fit Analytics partner, this is only the beginning.” Snap also added, “The major focus going forward will be to scale the  Fit Analytics business and work with Snap to grow their shopping platform, leveraging its technology and expertise.” Fit Analytics also said, "Our teams will work jointly and execute next-gen shopping, fashion, and style offerings.” The Fit Analytics sizing platform combines the world's largest database of garments. It fits information with hundreds of billions of dollars of purchasing records and consumer preferences. "We've…

Xbox announced its first ever Twitch Gaming showcase centered around indie games this week with the new event scheduled to take place on March 26th. A series of announcements to be made during the event will encompass different ID@Xbox titles including an update on the development of S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 and some news on games coming to not only Xbox consoles themselves but also to Xbox Game Pass. The event overall is said to encompass more than 100 different games from independent developers.Being a Twitch Gaming showcase itself, the event will appropriately be held through Twitch and can be viewed either through the Twitch Gaming channel or the Xbox channel. It wasn’t stated how long the event would last, but with so many games to show, it’ll likely take a while to get through. The first-ever @ID_Xbox Twitch Gaming showcase is airing March 26 at 9 a.m. PST! Details here: https://t.co/q6mIiXj0wk — Xbox Wire (@XboxWire) March 18, 2021 It’s worth noting that even though Xbox said there’d be more than 100 games discussed, we’ll only see gameplay and trailers for over 25 games during the event. Game codes should also be expected along with news for those who are subscribed to…

The Xbox hype train is still going full force and doesn’t show any signs of stopping. Today, Microsoft announced that Xbox and Twitch have partnered up and will be hosting an event on March 26th, 2021, at 9 AM PDT / 12 PM EDT.  This event will showcase several upcoming indie games heading to Xbox and can be viewed at either Twitch.tv/twitchgaming or Twitch.tv/xbox.We at ID@Xbox, the Independent and Digital games publishing program for Xbox, love indie games,” Microsoft’s Glenn Gregory mentions. “It’s in our blood. Technically, it’s also kind of in our name. Turns out our friends at Twitch also love indie games. When we found that out, we thought ‘we gotta collab’.”As for what we can expect to see, Xbox claims we’ll see over 100 games from various indie developers from all over the globe. From developers such as Devolver Digital, Curve Digital, Drinkbox, and more. Not to mention new trailers and gameplay for titles such as Second Extinction, The Wild at Heart, Voidtrain, Exo One, and an update on S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.It sounds like this event will be full of great announcements, with plenty of content for everyone. 

Christine Holmes, Zanesville Times Recorder Published 1:09 p.m. ET March 18, 2021 | Updated 1:18 p.m. ET March 18, 2021CLOSEZANESVILLE - Attorneys are recommending a Frazeysburg teenager be sent to prison for three-and-a-half years after he was caught using a social media app to solicit young girls for sex.Nathaniel Susil, 19, pleaded guilty to a prosecutor's bill of information on two third-degree felony counts of importuning this week.According to Prosecutor Ron Welch, Susil used Snapchat to communicate with two girls under the age of 13 between May and August.In their exchanges, Susil attempted to get the girls to have sex with him. The messaging came to an end when the mother of one of the victims became aware that Susil had asked her daughter to engage with him in a threesome. During the investigation, Welch said it became evident to law enforcement that Susil had been in contact with another girl. In their messages, Susil told that victim he wanted to have sex with her as well. "Based on the investigation, the defendant appeared unable to successfully engage in relationships his own age and in an attempt to fill that void, he started soliciting younger girls who were more likely to be impressed by his…

Tumblr ranks 7th worldwide among social media platforms. In the U.S. alone there are more than 23 million bloggers. Think of all the potential connections and leads. The best part? You only need a few dedicated bloggers to grow your venture. If you don’t know how to get started, don’t worry. Let’s cover the basics of how to use Tumblr.    Step 1: Create an AccountTo officially become a new tumblr user, you need to create an account. You can use your catch-all email or create one specifically for the blogging site. Now’s your chance to come up with a cool, catchy, and clever username; you can change the name later on. Also, go with a password that no one – even you- will guess.Step 2: Set Up Your BlogWith your account created, you can set up your blog. Will the content be personal or professional? Are you using tumblr for business or pleasure?Remember that you can create many tumblr blogs under the same email if you have different topics you want to explore. Step 3: Design Your Blog After decided what sorts of content you want to focus on, turn your attention to the design theme of your blog. You can choose from hundreds of free pre-made…

Ah Tumblr. We just don’t know how to quit you. The site remains a place where people can, largely anonymously, post about their fannish interests with abandon. Of course, it can also be the oddest corner of the Internet. Like the time that Hamilton fanfic writer who claimed to have HIV/AIDS did not have that. Or that post about bones? It’s a weird place, but it’s given birth to some excellent memes. Since it’s #ThrowbackThursday, we might as well indulge with some of the best Tumblr memes out there. They are legion with many iterations because Tumblr is a Leviathan of memes, after all. Let’s indulge in our Tumblr nostalgia, shall we?  This is just who we are We will always, in our heart of hearts, be shoving breadsticks in our purses. Just the ways things are Every person who identifies as female on Tumblr is a former weird little girl. We all were trying to have our Wednesday Addams phase of only thinking about homicide and raising the dead. And some of us never really grow out of it, tbh.  If only summons a demon playing D&D, then it was probably by accident Clearly everyone who hasn’t played D&D…

By Charles Makakala Last week Tanzania’s minister of ICT, Dr Faustine Ndugulile, told a local newspaper that “the government was looking into ways of preventing loss of its revenues, occasioned by WhatsApp calls”.According to the report, the number of international calls has fallen dramatically in the past decade, from 107.2 million calls to 27.3 million calls per quarter between 2012 and 2020, respectively. That’s a decrease of 75 percent in eight years, surely a cause for considerable concern for policy makers and revenue collectors.Commenting on this move, Mr. Emmanuel Manase, a director at Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA), explained that the government is trying to find ways to offset its losses without putting any additional burden on end-users. I was impressed. What was described revealed a high degree of duty of care that’s seldom manifested in similar government regulations. Too bad that the effort is misguided in this case.From the very beginning, international voice gateways (IGWs) have always been lucrative sources of income for both operators and governments. In Tanzania, for decades that business was monopolised by TTCL which was the only licensee in that category (Zantel had a licence for Zanzibar). As a monopoly, regardless of TTCL’s performance, it…