Hasta La Gadget!

For me, face masks have been a convenient excuse.

West held a massive listening session at the stadium Thursday and was seen on social media attending a soccer match.

Facebook is taking new steps to limit advertisers’ ability to reach teens with targeted ads. With the change, advertisers will no longer be able to use “interests” or information gleaned from other services to show ads to Facebook, Instagram and Messenger’s youngest users.

The change won’t prevent advertisers from reaching teens at all — they can still use broad demographic information like age, gender, and location — but the update will prevent more granular data from being used, including info from third-party websites and apps.

Instagram is also making several changes to make teens on its platform less visible. The app will begin making new accounts private by default for teens younger than 16, though teens as young as 13 can still opt for a public-facing account if they wish. Instagram said that in early tests “eight out of ten young people accepted the private default settings during sign-up,” suggesting the change could lead more teens to have non-public accounts.

For teens who do opt for public accounts, Instagram is making it more difficult for adults they don’t know to interact with them in the app. The company says it has “developed new technology” that makes it easier to identify “potentially suspicious behavior” in adults who could pose a risk to teens.

According to Instagram, adults flagged as “potentially suspicious” will be blocked from following teens or commenting on their posts (the app has previously limited adults ability to direct message teens). These adults also won’t see content from teens in Reels, Explore and other in-app recommendations. The company isn’t sharing many details about how it determines which adults might be sketchy, but said one factor would be adults who get blocked or reported by younger users.

The changes come as Instagram is vying for younger users. The company has publicly discussed future plans for a version of its service for children younger than 13 years old. That idea, which the company has said is in early stages, has already prompted pushback from lawmakers and other officials. But Facebook is still pushing ahead with the idea. In a separate blog post, the company again said it plans to work with experts in child development and online safety as it creates the service, and that it welcomes “productive collaboration with lawmakers.”

Those who religiously attend their local comic conventions now have the chance to go the biggest one of them all thanks to a new Omaze giveaway. The company’s latest sweepstakes gives you the chance to win 4-day badges to San Diego Comic-Con 2022, with access to a special preview night. In addition to the badges, you’re also getting reserved seating in Hall H for the entire convention, a personal concierge, a private tour of the Comic-Con Museum, dinner in Balboa Park and tickets to the “Night at the Comic-Con Museum” special event. The winner will also have travel to the convention and lodgings covered.

Enter to win at Omaze

The 2022 Comic-Con will mark the return of the in-person event in San Diego as the 2021 convention was postponed. Instead, the organization held the online Comic-Con Home from July 23-25 this year, and its hoping to have a smaller, supplemental “Comic-Con Special Edition” event in November, if conditions allow. You have until December 8 to enter this giveaway and the winner will be announced before the end of 2021.

Like other Omaze giveaways, you don’t have to spend money to enter — and anyone can use the code AFF20 at checkout to get 20 bonus entries. But if you do buy entries, you’ll increase your chances of winning. All funds raised in sweepstakes like this go to charity, and this one in particular benefits the San Diego Comic Convention, which is a nonprofit public benefit corporation devoted to increasing public awareness and appreciation for comics and similar art forms.

If you’re unfamiliar with Omaze, it’s a site that raises money for charities through giveaways and experiences. You can read more about how the allocation of funds works by reading the “Fundraising Transparency” section at the bottom of the giveaway page.

Pricing and availability is subject to change. No donation or payment necessary to enter or win this sweepstakes.See official rules on Omaze.

TikTok wants to encourage more livestreams, and that now includes creating a friendlier environment for the hosts. The social video giant is rolling out a string of new features that include tools to promote kindness. For a start, TikTok will now pop up an alert if you’re about to post a comment the company deems “potentially unkind or harmful.” You can press forward if you’re determined, but TikTok clearly hopes you’ll reconsider any personal attacks.

Accordingly, the hosts will have more power as well. You can assign a trusted moderator before you start a stream, letting you focus on the show instead of blocking and muting trolls. You can now add up to 200 entries to the keyword filter. In the “coming weeks,” you’ll also have ways for both hosts and viewers to both delete comments and temporarily mute viewers. Someone who committed a minor offense can have a shot at redemption, in other words.

There’s also a focus on improved discovery. An addition rolling out “soon” will improve your ability to find livestreams from the For You and Following pages, not to mention provider quicker access to top and recommended live videos. TikTok also recently launched a scheduling tool for hosts, picture-in-picture viewing and a “Go Live Together” feature that lets two people start broadcasting at the same time.

The focus on livestreams doesn’t come as a shock. TikTok noted that the number of people hosting and watching live video had “doubled” over the past year, and some of its biggest events have involved livestreams. The Weeknd played a concert through the platform, for instance. While looping videos remain TikTok’s core, the company is more than a little eager to challenge Facebook, Instagram and other services where live video is also growing in popularity.