Jun 14
After learning of a plot by the Ukrainian military to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline last summer, the CIA warned the embattled nation’s government not to move ahead with its plans, according to new reporting from the Wall Street Journal.
Jun 14
Of all the surprising things we’ve learned about Star Wars Outlaws in the days since its reveal—its focus on the galaxy far, far away’s underworld elements; its open-world gameplay; its intriguing protagonist Kay Vess—one of the most pleasant is a simple chronological shift that presents so much potential.
Jun 14
Moderators from popular Reddit communities say they plan to extend their blackout protests indefinitely. Many of the subreddits protesting the company’s API changes were initially scheduled to participate only from Monday to Wednesday this week. But the vow to extend the demonstration came after CEO Steve Huffman reportedly sent a memo to staff saying Reddit would “get through it” while opining that “like all blowups on Reddit, this one will pass as well.” In response to Huffman doubling down, a user wrote, “Let them fuck around and find out.”
Moderators from well-trafficked subreddits, including r/awww, r/music, r/videos, r/futurology, r/apple and r/NBA (among many others) chimed in to commit to an indefinite protest. The blackout is in response to Reddit taking a page from Elon Musk’s Twitter playbook, hiking API prices to astronomical levels ahead of its planned IPO. The move essentially kills all third-party Reddit clients — including the popular Apollo iOS app — leaving Reddit’s own app as users’ only option. In a moderators’ thread (spotted byThe Verge) promoting the extension, u/SpicyThunder335 described Reddit’s app as “widely regarded as poor quality, not [accessible], and very difficult to use for moderation.”
Volunteer mods responded to the proposed extension with enthusiasm. For example, u/britinsb commented, “The 48 hours was just the ‘proof of concept.’ The fact [Huffman] is so dismissive of coordinated action by 20,000+ mods and 10,000 subreddits just shows how badly out of touch he is. Now for the real pain.”
Meanwhile, u/strolls suggested taking more drastic measures. “I’ve been thinking that maybe we should stop moderating — remove only NSFW images, but allow spammers and shitposters to turn Reddit to trash.” When another user pointed out that Reddit could use that as justification for removing those mods and replacing them with lackeys, a now-deleted user replied, “Let them do it then honestly. They currently have roughly 30k mods protesting that have been doing free labor for them [for] decades, keeping these subreddits usable. It’s not that simple and will only further affect the site’s image with any possible IPO attempt. Twitter fucked around with their paid staff and dropped to a third of pre-purchase valuation. Reddit can learn as well.”
In the same thread, u/SpicyThunder335 suggested common-sense measures for communities with a more urgent need to stay online. “For example, r/StopDrinking represents a valuable resource for communities in need, and the urgency of getting the news of the ongoing war out to r/Ukraine obviously outweighs any of these concerns.” They suggested subtler protests for those forums, including a stickied announcement or weekly gesture of support.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/popular-subreddits-plan-to-extend-blackouts-indefinitely-205005565.html?src=rss
Jun 14
The Oklahoma State Superintendent has rattled many people, including Republicans in his state.
Jun 14
Of all the surprising things we’ve learned about Star Wars Outlaws in the days since its reveal—its focus on the galaxy far, far away’s underworld elements; its open-world gameplay; its intriguing protagonist Kay Vess—one of the most pleasant is a simple chronological shift that presents so much potential.
Jun 14
Amazon Web Services, the ubiquitous cloud computing provider that is responsible for supporting large portions of the internet, endured a pretty bad meltdown today. For obvious reasons, that was bad news for the droves of websites and companies that rely on it to keep things running smoothly.
Jun 14
Jun 14
Phasmophobia, like Among Us and Animal Crossing, was a staple of pandemic-era gaming — the co-op ghost hunts were a way to connect when real-life meetings were much scarier. If you missed out or just have fond memories, then, you’ll be glad to hear that Kinetic Games is releasing the title on PlayStation 5, PlayStation VR2 and Xbox Series X/S in early access this August. The living room version has cross-platform support, so you shouldn’t have to venture into spooky houses without some help.
The premise remains the same. You and up to three other players are tasked with producing evidence of ghosts using familiar pseudoscience tools like thermometers, EMF readers and Ouija boards. The more you discover, the more you can sell to ghost removal teams. The catch, of course, is that these aren’t friendly apparitions. They may go on the hunt and kill players, especially as your team’s sanity declines. It’s not uncommon to see the last surviving player make a panicked run for the exit.
The console launch is coming almost three years after the PC debut. As with Among Us, its heyday has passed. There’s still a sizeable fan base, though (over 10,800 average daily players on Steam as of this writing), and the availability on other platforms could both expand the audience and give PC gamers more help with their paranormal investigations.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/pandemic-era-hit-phasmophobia-is-coming-to-consoles-this-august-210215700.html?src=rss
Jun 14
Slattery directed his longtime co-star and friend in the new comedy “Maggie Moore(s),” which also stars Tina Fey.
Jun 14
Of all the surprising things we’ve learned about Star Wars Outlaws in the days since its reveal—its focus on the galaxy far, far away’s underworld elements; its open-world gameplay; its intriguing protagonist Kay Vess—one of the most pleasant is a simple chronological shift that presents so much potential.
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