Although it wasn’t completely unexpected, it still scandalized many when WhatsApp announced a policy changed that unsurprisingly favored handing some information over to its parent company, Facebook. After trying to clarify its position, the messaging platform opted to delay its implementation but eventually pushed a Terms of Service that limited features unless you accepted them. These events resulted in a … Continue reading
There was a time when Google planned on putting Android on feature phones, sometimes called dumb phones to contrast with the more predominant smartphone breed. Lacking touch screens, Android would have needed to be driven using physical D-Pads and buttons as well as using voice commands. Google eventually settled for integrating Google Assistant into another operating system designed specifically for … Continue reading
Games can be fun, but they can also be incredibly addictive and we’re sure that more than a few of us have spent a lot longer on games than we should have. However, it seems that over in China, they’re trying to curb such behavior, at least as far as kids are concerned and it looks like the government will be tightening their measures.
According to a new regulation in the country, it seems that kids under the age of 18 will no longer be able to play games for more than 3 hours a week. Plus, there will also be a set time that they’ll be allowed to game, which is from 8PM to 9PM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Prior to this, the rules were slightly more relaxed where those under 18 could play games for 1.5 hours a day on most days.
However, the government claims that in order to safeguard the mental and physical health of children, they have decided to tighten the rules. China has pretty strict rules and a system in place that can actually pull this off. Since users need to use their national ID cards to verify themselves, game systems usually know when an underaged user tries to play past their curfew.
More recently, companies like Tencent have even taken to using facial recognition to ensure that kids don’t play past their curfew.
China’s New Regulation Will Ban Kids From Gaming For More Than 3 Hours Per Week
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At the start of the year, WhatsApp introduced a new privacy policy that seemed to rub users the wrong way. As a result, many users started to seek out alternative messenger platforms that would offer more privacy, and Telegram was one of them. The company had previously reported that at the peak of the controversy, they saw 25 million new users register in 72 hours.
Now according to the latest figures, it seems that Telegram has finally managed to hit 1 billion downloads. This is according to Sensor Tower who claims that Telegram had managed to achieve that milestone after having launched back in 2013, which means it took them a while to hit those figures.
It is unclear if WhatsApp’s controversial privacy policy helped Telegram grow their user base, or if the app would have gotten there eventually, but it is indeed quite an achievement. However, as TechCrunch notes, the number of installs does not necessarily mean that the app’s active users might differ.
This is because users might download and install the app but decide that maybe it’s not for them, but it is clear that Telegram (and other apps such as Signal) have benefitted from the attention that WhatsApp has been getting. In the meantime, it was also previously reported that WhatsApp’s privacy policy could have lost them million of users.
Telegram Has Hit 1 Billion Downloads
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Trying to cure cancer is a bit of a mixed bag. We’ve seen and heard countless stories of people who have seemingly been cured, only for the disease to return. We’ve also seen cases of people who have made full recoveries, and we’ve also heard about certain types of cancers that are more lethal than others.
Basically, it feels like there is still a lot that we can learn in order to beat it, and now thanks to researchers from the University of British Columbia, we might have discovered something new that could aid us in that battle. According to the researchers, they claim to have discovered what some might call the Achilles Heel of cancer.
During their research, they found an enzyme that actually helps fuel the growth of a tumor especially when oxygen levels are low. The protein, dubbed CAIX (Carbonic Anhydrase IX), is what allows cancerous cells to adapt itself to treatments and spread throughout the patient’s body. It sounds bad, but at the same time it’s a good thing because the researchers believe that by blocking the production of CAIX in the body, it might result in the growth of the tumor being slowed or even halted.
The researchers have since identified a compound known as SLC-0111 that has inhibiting properties. Experiments on mice have shown that it is effective at treating certain types of cancers, but the downside is that the compound was said to have attacked both healthy and cancerous cells and produced unpleasant side effects.
However, the researchers are optimistic that with this new discovery, it could lead to the development and production of drugs that will help in the battle against cancer.
Researchers Discover The Achilles Heel Of Cancer That Could Slow The Tumor’s Growth
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Women can keep taking classes, but not in a “mixed male and female environment,” the acting education minister said.
The GameStop hype got a new generation of people interested in trading, fueling the popularity of simple platforms like Robinhood that make it easy to buy and sell stocks. It’s perhaps no surprise, then, that PayPal appears to be gearing up to launch its own Robinhood competitor, one that would join its relatively new crypto support. The details come from … Continue reading
With barely a month left, a new insider tip about the next iPhone seems to have set the Internet ablaze. Rumors of iPhone 13 features revolving around low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites have unsurprisingly produced some speculation and pushed one company’s shares up briefly. That said, newer information is now tempering those expectations, claiming that the feature might be limited to … Continue reading
It’s been a while since we haven’t traveled to meet innovators, and since international travel is likely to be disrupted for now, so we have decided to proceed with our new series called Ubergizmo Discovery via video conferencing.
Ubergizmo Discovery will feature innovative companies that we discussed with. We looked at their products and “raison d’etre” to tell you who they are and what problems they are trying to solve.
This episode features South Korean companies that we discovered through various media partnerships with local media and incubators. This time, we partner with Korean media Aving during the Digital Content Company Global Workshop even in South Korea to meet new startups.
If you want all the details, you can watch the full video chat at the end of the article, but we are writing about our takeaway of three companies we talked to Pixelitygames, The wave Company, and Maunzi.
Pixelity games is a VR gaming company, and their latest title is called “The Patcher” (demo available on steam).
The game’s backdrop is that in Neo JS City, the elites have relegated a lower class of citizens to live underground in a ruthless fight for survival. They live in housing called “Patch Builds,” so these people call themselves “Patchers.” That reminded me a bit of the Morlocks vs. Eloys in H. G. Wells’s The Time Machine.
The game’s gameplay trailer first appeared around June 2021 and shows a multiplayer faction-based fighting system that mixes shooting (FPS-style) and edged weapons. Players can also gain experience and obtain new weapons, which is an incentive to keep engaged with the game over time.
The Patcher is still in open beta, but the development team (23 strong) told me that they are accepting additional beta-players on an ongoing basis. At the moment, Oculus is their primary VR hardware platform, but I’ve confirmed with the team that it’s not too much work to port to other VR headsets.
The developers will only rely on game sales to generate revenues. Therefore, there are no in-game purchases or possibility to buy virtual currency with real cash. I respect a hardcore gamer point of view, even though in-game purchases might have generated more income from a business point of view.
The minimum config is a PC with a GTX 1060 GPU, and the main attraction here is the unique universe and game dynamics. I thought that the graphics are attractive, especially for an indie VR game. Check for yourself:
The Wave Company is a Wellness Wear company that is looking at entering the Virtual Reality (VR) Suit and VR Gloves high-tech market, and it may hold an advantage thanks to the “interlocking bio-silicone” fabric that it makes today for sportswear.
Some Wave Company products like WaveWear have a similar effect to Kinesiology Tape. Such tape is supposed to improve lymphatic flow and drainage, which would reduce muscle fatigue or soreness. That’s why you see this tape on athletes more and more, including in the recent Olympics.
WaveWear provides the same functionality as the tape. However, because it is embedded directly in a sock or t-shirt, it’s much easier to put on than actual tape. Everything lands in the right spot, something that usually requires some expertise to place it right. Wave Company’s proprietary wearable electrode is only 0.78mm thick and is washable.
Virtual Reality applications would be enabled by a derivative of the company’s Electrode Adhesive Bio-Silicone called “ElecSil” that can induce EMS (Electrical Muscle Stimulation).
It is not uncommon in the VR world that EMS and TENS (Transcutaneous Electrical Neural (or Nerve) Stimulation) produce some haptic feedback. However, the Wave Company hopes to do it in a more cost-effective and integrated way, thanks to its existing work on Wellness Wear.
Finally, the same technology is used to create monitoring sportswear with integrated sensing that could be hooked up to a computer instead of wiring many electrodes with adhesive. The possibilities are open-ended, and The Wave Company thinks it could become “the next Peloton.”
Maunzi is a company building an educational coding platform based on programming robots, primarily for 8-13 years old. The robots are made of several cubic modules that are each have a specific function such as Lighting, Motor, power-charging, and more (here’s the list)!
At the moment, Maunzi is working with education companies to include its hardware in their curriculum, but they hope to scale this effort to the rest of the world in time. The company says that it has received orders for 1M kits so far.
The cubes are also compatible with Lego blocks, making it extremely easy to customize the looks of any project based on the incredible availability and universality of the Lego ecosystem.
Beginners can start with Visual coding via the included apps. However, more advanced users can use Java or Python to build more complex programs to control the robots. I haven’t used it myself, but the number of base blocks does offer a good set of functionalities. I particularly like the joint blocks that allow the creation of snake-like robots.
Maunzi has been around for a few years, but they plan to come back on Kickstarter with new kits. What’s new this time is that instead of selling individual blocks and leaving it to the users imagination, each kit will represent a complete character or robot, increasing user engagement and satisfaction.
In the full interview video you quick jump to each company using the following timecodes.
Ubergizmo Discovery #001: Pixelitygames, Maunzi & The Wave Company
, original content from Ubergizmo. Read our Copyrights and terms of use.
Phil McCracken, Eileen Dover and Ophelia McCaulk were some of the names submitted for public comment.
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