Enlarge / Victoria University of Wellington is in New Zealand. We offer no further defense of this image.
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Last Friday, IT staff at the Victoria University of Wellington started a maintenance procedure aimed at reclaiming space on the university network—in theory, by removing the profiles of students who no longer attend the university. The real impact, unfortunately, was much larger—affecting students, faculty, and staff across the university.
The New Zealand university’s student newspaper reported the issue pretty thoroughly this Wednesday, although from a non-IT perspective. It sounds like an over-zealous Active Directory policy went out of bounds—the university’s Digital Solutions department (what most places would refer to as Information Technology, or IT) declared that files stored on the university network drives, or on Microsoft’s OneDrive cloud storage, were “fully protected.”
A grad student reported that not “only files on the desktop were gone” but “my whole computer had been reset, too,” which would be consistent with an AD operation removing her user profile from the machine entirely—in such a case, a user would be able to log in to the PC, but into a completely “clean” profile that looked factory new.
The same student reported hearing that some PhD students lost a year’s worth of data, saved only on their local computers and wiped by the errant maintenance procedure. For those Arsians who don’t work in IT themselves, there’s a lesson here—be careful where, and how, you save your data.
It’s unclear whether the university accidentally wiped users’ files on its network drives at all—but even if it did, there’s a very strong, reasonable expectation that those drives would be backed up regularly and completely. No such expectation exists for the local drive on a user’s PC or laptop—if the only place you saved it is your own C: drive, that’s almost certainly the only place it exists.
For routine data, it’s sufficient to understand company policy on what is or is not backed up and save your data accordingly. For items of significant personal importance—such as a PhD student’s thesis—it’s unwise to rely entirely on the IT department to safeguard the data in the first place. There’s no substitute for taking responsibility for your own data and keeping regular, tested backups of your own.
What Call of Duty giveth, Call of Duty taketh away. Yesterday, a fancy new crossbow went live in Call of Duty: Warzone and Black Ops Cold War by accident, and now players who spent hours trying to unlock it are frustrated that Activision has taken it back out of the game.
As Eurogamer reports, players discovered the R1 Shadowhunter crossbow in the Warzone shop yesterday, March 18, which was weird because it hadn’t officially been mentioned in the latest patch notes. Players who decided to buy it anyway weren’t able to use it in Warzone but could pull it out and start shooting people with it in Black Ops Cold War’s multiplayer. Others discovered it could be unlocked for free by completing a challenge that required them to get three one-shot kill medals in 15 matches. And so they did, for several hours, until Activision eventually realized it had made a mistake and snatched it back.
The crossbow has been especially powerful in the game’s zombies mode. Gif: SWE3N3Y
“An issue with the R1 Shadowhunter weapon appearing earlier than planned in Warzone and Black Ops Cold War has been resolved,” the company tweeted from its support account. “Refunds are planned for players who purchased the bundle while it was live in the Store, and the bundle and in-game challenge will return at a later date.”
Tweet comments were, of course, turned off, but that didn’t stop players from expressing their frustration elsewhere. “Rippa to all the ppl who grinded their ass off for the weapon,” wrote one person in a quote-tweet. Others vented on the game’s subreddit. It would be one thing if the crossbow was just being temporarily disabled until it was ready (some players reported its attachments were a bit buggy), but a community manager for Treyarch confirmed on Twitter that unlock progress for the weapon would be reset for everyone even once it’s brought back into the game. Black Ops Cold War is a militarized world of Activision’s making, however, and it could always decide to unlock the weapon for free if it wanted.
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The publisher didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment about when the R1 Shadowhunter will officially return.
After years of development and delays, Super Nintendo World finally opened this week at Universal Studios Japan (USJ) in Osaka. The themed area of the park is Nintendo’s biggest swing yet to leverage its most iconic characters beyond its traditional home of video game consoles.
The idea sounds strong on paper. USJ is one of the biggest tourist attractions in Asia, and Universal has experience in the field, having launched the conceptually similar Wizarding World of Harry Potter themed areas at three of its parks, including Osaka. What could go wrong?
Well, a global coronavirus pandemic, for one thing. The park is launching under less than ideal circumstances; it was originally planned to open ahead of the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, which were also delayed to this year. And even in more normal times, this would be new ground for Nintendo. Its game design credentials are unimpeachable, but in many ways it’s quite a conservative company, and theme park attractions are not exactly in its wheelhouse.
With that in mind, I headed down to Osaka for the opening day to see exactly how Nintendo and USJ would pull this off. The short answer is that they’ve succeeded. Super Nintendo World is a gleefully surreal experience that pushes surprising technological boundaries. Once travel starts to open up again, it’s going to drive a huge number of visitors.
Super Nintendo World follows the blueprint set by The Wizarding World of Harry Potter in that it’s housed within the larger theme park but feels entirely separate. Both areas are situated at the end of long entrance paths, and you generally can’t see the rest of the park when you’re inside. Still, a day out at Super Nintendo World starts out feeling like a regular day at USJ.
It’s fair to question the wisdom of opening a theme park at all right now, let alone a new area that’d inevitably boost visitor interest. With limits on entry imposed and the fact that USJ and Super Nintendo World are largely outdoors, though, I didn’t feel like this was unusually risky. While some nearby Asian nations have done better, Japan has been hit far less hard by the pandemic than most Western countries without enforcing strict lockdown restrictions. It goes without saying that everyone was wearing masks, though I was surprised to see a designated “mask-free zone” with some spaced-out benches by the waterfront.
Entry to Super Nintendo World is theoretically covered by a regular USJ one-day ticket, which costs 7,800 yen (about $70) on weekdays or 8,400 yen (about $75) on weekends. I say “theoretically” because once you’re inside, you’ll need to use the USJ app to secure yourself timed entry to Super Nintendo World, and space is extremely limited. If you don’t get one, you’ll have to hope you get lucky with a standby lottery for spaces that didn’t end up getting taken.
It is possible to guarantee entry with some of the express tickets that USJ sells online, which give you fast-pass access to a few rides as well as a scheduled time slot for Super Nintendo World, but they can end up more than doubling your total cost of entry. This is the route I went so as to avoid a wasted work trip from Tokyo, but it’s not going to be practical for most people who want to attend.
My Super Nintendo World slot was in the afternoon, so I killed time beforehand by exploring the rest of the park. As you’d expect, it’s also heavily decked out in Nintendo promotion. The gift stores are stacked with Mario and Luigi merchandise, and there’s a new cafe where you can get themed drinks and snacks.
Super Nintendo World itself is located down a fairly nondescript path that you could easily miss if not for the green pipes and 1UP blocks along the way. It’s overshadowed by the Waterworld attraction, which doesn’t make for an auspicious start. At the end of the path, though, there’s a giant sign and pipe to walk through, and that’s when you’re really in the park.
The experience of stepping through the pipe and into Super Nintendo World is honestly amazing. The architecture is so complete, and your view of it so well-directed, that it really does feel like you stepped into another world. I love that the designers went for a blocky, 2D-esque style for much of the environment — it would have been easy to go with something more conventional given that there are now a lot of 3D Mario games, but this approach is much more evocative. Rather than attempt to replicate a particular Mario game, the mashed-up style just screams “Nintendo.”
The first thing you’ll want to do inside Super Nintendo World is pick up a Power Up Band. It costs 3,200 yen (~$30) and you don’t strictly need it for most of the attractions, but the park experience is designed around it. The bands are available in six varieties featuring various Nintendo characters like Mario and Princess Peach. I went with Yoshi.
The band is like a chunky smartwatch that snaps around your wrist with an adjustable metal clasp. You pair it to the Super Nintendo World section of the USJ app with a QR code printed on the back, and from there the watch and app will track your progress through the park. There are lots of stamps to collect for completing certain activities — often this involves interacting with the park itself directly, like by hitting a power-up block with the band to collect coins. High-score leaderboards are displayed in the app and on touchscreens around the park; your “team” is decided by the style of band you chose.
I only got 18 out of 170 stamps in my admittedly fairly hurried time at Super Nintendo World, and the system is clearly designed to encourage repeat visits. For example, there are eight hidden 8-bit sprites that appear on the walls when you activate a switch, but the only one I found was Peach. There are also stamps and awards available based on your performance in the attractions, the most elaborate of which is Mario Kart.
The Mario Kart ride is the most ambitious attraction I’ve ever seen at a theme park. It’s essentially an AR action game set on a go-kart track, where you’re drifting through the virtual course and firing virtual shells at virtual opponents — as the kart moves through the track in real life.
The ride is located inside a re-creation of Bowser’s castle, with lots of well-crafted Mario Kart paraphernalia to look at as you line up. (The queue was fast-moving on my visit and took about half an hour in total, though I imagine wait times will be a lot longer when the park is at full capacity.) Inside you’re given a plastic Mario hat that fits onto your head with an adjustable disc, a little like a PlayStation VR headset.
Once you get to your kart, you have to attach a HoloLens-style wired visor to the helmet, which is how you see the AR imagery. The field of view is pretty good, but I found the ride quite disorientating at first. Almost immediately after the car takes off, it comes to a stop at a corner so that you can practice firing off turtle shells at various enemies flying around you. I thought the headset was glitching out at first since some of the enemies were disappearing from view; it took me a while to realize that they were supposed to be passing behind glowing objects that actually existed in real life.
There’s just a lot going on with the Mario Kart ride. It doesn’t move very fast, but it feels like it does because the track is often completely simulated. The Rainbow Road section, for example, is incredibly visually intense. Throughout all this you have to drift on command by using the steering wheel while aiming turtle shells at your opponents with your head and firing them with buttons on the wheel, often as the car itself spins in different directions.
It’s overwhelming but a whole lot of fun, and like the rest of the park it seems to be more rewarding if you try it multiple times. I know I’d get a better score the next time around.
It’s also designed to get better in the future, rather than some theme park attractions that soon find themselves technically obsolete. That’s why the headset has a modular design, for example. “It has to be modular because augmented reality isn’t going to last as long as most of our 15-20 year ride vehicle experiences,” Universal Creative director of technology Tom Geraghty said during a media roundtable this week. “We know that it’s going to advance and come into your home. So we have plans to iterate the tech to support the creative [vision] that we may change, so that it may be like that.”
You can definitely see that the Mario Kart ride is pushing at the limits of what’s possible with technology. It’s not necessarily a sleek experience right out of the gate, unlike Bandai Namco’s spectacular Mario Kart VR, but the sheer ambition is impressive.
“The technology was not ready for this,” says Universal Creative SVP Thierry Coup. “But one of the incredible things that Universal Parks & Resorts does, we look forward, and we see a technology that could allow us to deliver an experience, and we grab it and we develop it further and make it happen. There is a bit of calculated risk, but we really think that’s the only way for us to really stay on the cutting edge of the ultimate experience.
“We thought AR would be the perfect technology for this; you want to be able to go through some of the items in Mario Kart, you want to collect things, you want to see the characters fly. Certain things you can not do with stereo, 3D, or any other kind of projection. It had to be AR.”
According to Coup, Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo’s talismanic designer and creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, was deeply involved in the Mario Kart ride. “We are known for collaborating and partnering with the creators of all of these incredible stories that we’ve brought to life in our parks, but I think this relationship with Mr. Miyamoto and his team has been beyond anything we’ve done before,” he says. “He was involved from day one, and creatively had his hands on everything we’ve worked together on. I think we probably had the most fun out of any of our creations designing this project. Everyone was a Nintendo fan. And because Mr. Miyamoto loves to have fun when he creates, while it was challenging, this was the most fun.”
“At the very end of the project, Miyamoto-san shared that we had made his dreams come true,” adds Geraghty. “Which was just a lifetime high moment for me.”
The other ride in Super Nintendo World is Yoshi’s Adventure, which is very much on the other end of the ambition spectrum. It’s a slow-paced train ride that’s suitable for kids and gives you a good view of the park, but otherwise isn’t all that engaging.
While the Yoshi series isn’t known for its challenge, the interactive elements of Yoshi’s Adventure are minimal at best. Basically, you have three colored egg buttons in front of you, and you press them when you see that egg along the track. I’d ride it again for the extra stamps, but there’s not much to it.
Super Nintendo World also has a lot of gift shops with exclusive merchandise as well as food vendors with Mario-themed fare. Here is my Power Mushroom Pizza Bowl, which was pretty good:
One thing you won’t find on sale at Super Nintendo World — or at least I didn’t — is traditional Nintendo products like the Switch or its software. Part of that might be due to currently limited stock, but the official Nintendo stores in New York and the new one in Tokyo offer Switch games as well as the other merch. For now, at least, it seems the company wants Super Nintendo World to serve as an opportunity to showcase its IP on its own terms as opposed to as a vehicle for video games.
But if that’s the case, the scope of the park is actually quite limited at this point. It’s called Super Nintendo World, but almost everything in it is related to Mario one way or another. There’s speculation that it’ll expand to include Donkey Kong at some point — the door below is hidden in plain sight — but even that’s a Mario-adjacent franchise. Anyone looking for references to The Legend of Zelda, Metroid, or Super Smash Bros. will be disappointed.
Still, it feels like a minor miracle that Super Nintendo World exists at all, more than a year into the pandemic. What’s there right now is a great first start with obvious room to grow. Even though attractions like Mario Kart are hugely ambitious, it’s clear that improvements can and will be made to the park’s execution and scope.
Nintendo’s biggest achievement with Super Nintendo World is the way it gamifies the theme park experience. I love parks like Tokyo DisneySea, for example, but there’s not as much to do once you’ve been on all the rides. With Super Nintendo World, though, I already feel the need to go back. I’m hoping it won’t be too long before my Yoshi band gets another workout.
Samsung launched the Galaxy S21 series earlier this year with impressive camera features. Now, the company is rolling out some of those camera-related features to its older high-end smartphones, including the Galaxy S20 series and the Galaxy Note 20 series, via a new software update.
With the new update, which is rolling out in Germany right now, the Galaxy S20, Galaxy S20+, Galaxy S20 Ultra, Galaxy Note 20, and the Galaxy Note 20 Ultra have received new camera features. Users can now capture portrait images in low-light conditions, something that was earlier possible only with the Galaxy S21 series. The Night Mode also works with the ultrawide camera.
The company has also added three new effects in the Portrait mode: backdrop, high-key mono, and low-key mono. These studio-like effects let you change the background color to black, white, or a random color that is chosen by the camera app. In Night mode, users can now let the camera choose the exposure or use the maximum possible exposure. Moreover, the ultrawide camera can now be used in the camera’s Pro mode.
For those who were hopeful of getting the Galaxy S21’s Director View on their Galaxy S20 or Galaxy Note 20 series phone, there is some bad news. None of those phones have received the Director’s View feature, most probably because of limitations in the processor’s ISP (image signal processor).
The new software update has firmware version G98xxXXU7DUC7 for the Galaxy S20 series and N98xxXXU1DUC8 for the Galaxy Note 20 series. If you are in Germany, you can check for the update on your Galaxy S20 or Galaxy Note 20 series device by navigating to Settings » Software update and tapping on Download and install. The update could roll out to more markets over the next few weeks.
New updates are being added at the bottom of this story…….
Original story (published on March 16, 2021) follows:
The latest iteration of the Google Chrome browser carries a version number of 89 and was merged into the stable branch early this month. The update brings about several new features.
For the uninitiated, the profiles module has received a big revamp with the update where each user can now customize their profile with a custom background and play around with various themes and color schemes.
The update also implements support for WebHID, which in short is an API that allows web applications to interact with human interface devices (HID) like VR controls, gamepads, and joysticks.
And last but not least is the new Google Chrome Reading List feature that allows users to save stuff they find worth reading for later or maybe just for archiving purposes.
Prior to this, people were dependent on third-party plugins like Pocket for the same purpose, but it’s now great to see Chrome have its very own built-in function.
Nonetheless, to add stuff to Chrome’s Reading List, simply hit the star icon inside the address bar and then select “Add to Reading List”.
Such saved sites can then be conveniently accessed from the far left of Chrome’s bookmark bar, as shown in the above image.
This implementation, however, hasn’t gone down well with everyone. Many are now complaining that the Reading List option eats up too much of the bookmark bar’s space – space that could otherwise be used to keep additional bookmarks in view.
Therefore, some users have been seeking a way to hide it altogether.
Source
So this “Reading list” just appeared near my bookmarks and it’s taking too much space that I need for my bookmarks. I wonder how can I get rid of it. Source
How to hide – Reading list from bookmark. It was bugging the heck out of me, just appeared out of nowhere today. Source
Fortunately for you, we managed to lay our hands on a simple solution.
You may be aware that Google Chrome gives users a great degree of control over its features through the Flags. And while most of the stuff under it may be experimental, it does end up serving quite well for those looking for a way to customize Chrome beyond what it permits on its front-end.
This very feature is now going to help us remove the Reading List from the bookmarks bar on Google Chrome by disabling it entirely. Simply follow the steps given below for immediate results:
NOTE: If you want to learn about Google Chrome Reading List on Android, head here.
Click to enlarge
1. Enter chrome://flags/#read-later into the address bar and hit the Enter key. 2. Select “Disabled” from the drop-down list next to the Reading List option. 3. Restart Chrome.
Of course, the above series of steps are completely valid across any desktop operating system – be it macOS, Windows, or Linux.
Rather simple isn’t it? Hopefully, the workaround did the job for you. If it indeed did, be sure to inform us in the comments below.
Update 1 (March 17)
It’s worth noting that like it’s usually the case in phased rollouts, the Reading List feature may not be available for everyone (as it has just started rolling out). The only way to get rid of it at the moment is the one which we have described above.
However, if you don’t want to walk that path, but want Google to roll back the feature instead, then it’s worth knowing that a rollback will only happen when a lot of users send negative feedback about the feature to the company. So the best you can do is to send your views as feedback to the company.
Take a look at what a product expert at the community recently said regarding this (translated):
It’s not in my environment I think it’s probably applied sequentially or in the form of “distributed as a test to a small number of people”
As is often the case with Google, if you want to apply it to everyone at once We may pre-apply to 5% or 10% of users to see the reaction in advance. Eventually it will be applied to all I think that it will be withdrawn at a small number of times if it is a fatal defect or a big unpopularity. (Isn’t there a lot of visible withdrawals?)
I think it’s good to send “Jamada” as an opinion I think it’s good to send feedback and say, “I’m getting more and more obstructive to the reading list. I want to get rid of it.”
Update 2 (March 18)
For those of you naive, the flags show up under the Experiments until a feature becomes part of the stable update and is forced to all devices. That’s the reason why sharing your feedback while the feature is still being tested becomes all the way more important.
So if you don’t like the Reading list feature and don’t wish to get stuck with it forever, make sure you share your opinion with the developers. Take a look at how a product expert at the community has explained this:
I would also like to recommend that if you don’t like the function, send your opinion to the Chrome team about what aspect you don’t like, or why you don’t like it:
Report a bug or feedback on Chrome – Google Chrome Help
It is very important that you do this, since these comments will be received directly by the Chrome team (they do not usually go through the forums in Spanish). Also, it is important because if this function is set to the stable version for everyone, the flag will eventually be removed, and there will be no way to disable the option.
Here’s a feedback example given by the expert:
For example, what I do not like is the fact that when I click on the bookmarks star it asks me if I want to save it as a bookmark or I want to save it in the reading list: I would prefer that the dialog that always appears, with an option to save it to the reading list.
Update 3 (March 19)
We’re conducting a poll to understand whether or not users like the Reading list feature. So share with us your opinion by casting a vote below:
Note: Following are some of our other articles in this series:
PiunikaWeb started purely as an investigative tech journalism website with a main focus on ‘breaking’ or ‘exclusive’ news. In no time, our stories got picked up by the likes of Forbes, Fox News, Gizmodo, TechCrunch, Engadget, The Verge, MacRumors, and many others. Want to know more about us? Head here.
Facebook has pushed back against Apple’s planned rollout of anti-tracking tools at everypossibleopportunity, but now the social media giant seems to be changing its tune in a last-ditch effort to save face. On Thursday, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Facebook may actually be in a “stronger position” after the privacy updates to iOS and is optimistic about how the company will weather this change, according to CNBC and CNET.
“The reality is is that I’m confident that we’re gonna be able to manage through that situation well and we’ll be in a good position,” he said in a Clubhouse room Thursday per the outlets.
With Apple’s planned privacy updates for iOS 14, which are scheduled to roll out sometime this spring, the company aims to give iOS users more transparency and control over their data by requesting permission before apps can track their activity across other apps and the web.
Facebook hasn’t been too keen on that idea given that roughly 98% of its revenue stream depends on targeted ads, which are built around monitoring a person’s browsing habits. The company launched a campaign to convince folks that personalized ads are good, actually, which has so far involved taking out full-page ads in several leading newspapers to condemn Apple and running a video ad claiming that Apple’s privacy updates are killing small businesses by not giving Facebook and other apps free rein to hoover up your data.
(As you might already suspect, Facebook’s claims have been found to be misleading at best, and self-serving propaganda at the worst. While advertising might become slightly more difficult for small businesses and developers with Apple’s new updates, Facebook stands to take the biggest revenue hit, not the little guys.)
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Now though, with Apple’s updates looming close on the horizon, Facebook is apparently adopting a new strategy: corncobbing. Aka, to continue to embarrass oneself rather than admit to being brutally owned.
On Thursday, Zuckerberg reiterated concerns that Apple’s decision could still hurt small businesses and developers, but also expressed hope that Facebook might benefit from the situation, CNBC and CNET report.
“It’s possible that we may even be in a stronger position if Apple’s changes encourage more businesses to conduct more commerce on our platforms by making it harder for them to use their data in order to find the customers that would want to use their products outside of our platforms,” he said.
That’s a far cry from the bleak picture Facebook painted before. In August 2020, the company warned that Apple’s updates could lead to a more than 50% drop in its Audience Network advertising business, which lets mobile software developers personalize ads based on Facebook’s data. Facebook’s chief financial officer David Wehner also expressed concern it could hurt the social network’s ability to effectively target ads to users.
Apple and Facebook did not immediately respond to Gizmodo’s request for comments. Apple has repeatedly defended its planned privacy updates against Facebook’s accusations, arguing that these new features aren’t getting rid of targeted ads entirely but instead giving users the chance to opt-out if they wish to.
Facebook is planning to create a version of Instagram for children under the age of 13, according to documents obtained by BuzzFeed News.
“I’m excited to announce that going forward, we have identified youth work as a priority for Instagram and have added it to our H1 priority list,” Vishal Shah, Instagram’s VP of product, wrote on an employee board, according to BuzzFeed.
“We will be building a new youth pillar within the Community Product Group to focus on two things: (a) accelerating our integrity and privacy work to ensure the safest possible experience for teens and (b) building a version of Instagram that allows people under the age of 13 to safely use Instagram for the first time,” Shah added.
The new project will reportedly be overseen by head of Instagram Adam Mosseri and led by Vice President Pavni Diwanji. Diwanij previously worked at Google where she oversaw the creation of children’s products like YouTube Kids.
Instagram’s terms of use currently prohibit people under of 13 from using the app.
“We have to do a lot here,” Mosseri told BuzzFeed. “But part of the solution is to create a version of Instagram for young people or kids where parents have transparency or control. It’s one of the things we’re exploring.”
Mosseri said the project was in early development and added that Instagram does not yet have a “detailed plan” in place.
“Increasingly kids are asking their parents if they can join apps that help them keep up with their friends. Right now there aren’t many options for parents, so we’re working on building additional products – like we did with Messenger Kids – that are suitable for kids, managed by parents,” a Facebook company spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. “We’re exploring bringing a parent-controlled experience to Instagram to help kids keep up with their friends, discover new hobbies and interests, and more.”
BuzzFeed notes that Instagram had just this week published a blog post addressing bullying among its younger, teenage users.
“We require everyone to be at least 13 to use Instagram and have asked new users to provide their age when they sign up for an account for some time. While many people are honest about their age, we know that young people can lie about their date of birth,” Instagram wrote in the Tuesday blog post. “To address this challenge, we’re developing new artificial intelligence and machine learning technology to help us keep teens safer and apply new age-appropriate features.”
The new features included restricting direct messages between teens and adults who they don’t follow, prompting teens to be more cautious about interactions in direct messages, encouraging teens to make their accounts private and making it harder for adults to find and follow teens.
On Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m., Ludwig Ahgren, a Twitch streamer in Los Angeles, turned his camera on and began streaming. He hasn’t stopped.
Over the past five days Mr. Ahgren has maintained a near constant livestream of his life. He plays video games, chats, cooks, eats and sleeps, all on stream. In the evenings, he hosts movie nights with his viewers. Mr. Ahgren lives with five roommates and his girlfriend, and some of them also play a role on camera, helping him cook or working out together.
He even streamed himself in the shower (with shorts on).
All of this is part of what is known on Twitch as a “subathon.” A subathon is a short period of time when a streamer will engage in certain activities or stunts to accrue paid subscriptions to his or her channel. Some streamers set numeric goals. For instance, if they reach 2,000 new subs, they’ll eat something spicy on camera or play a particular game for fans.
Mr. Ahgren, 25, structured his subathon so that every new subscription adds an additional 10 seconds to a clock that dictates how long he’ll stream. When Mr. Ahgren set things up this way, he imagined that he’d be streaming for 24 hours max, maybe 48. Five days later, his subathon stream has blown up and become the top stream on Twitch, driving tens of thousands of new subscriptions daily as fans pay to see how long he can go. He has gained more than 40,000 new subscriptions since he began streaming.
“The weirdest thing is every time I wake up, it feels like it gets bigger and bigger,” Mr. Ahgren said. “Last night, I went to bed with 30,000 viewers and 60,000 subs. I woke up and I was at 70,000 viewers and 70,000 subs.”
That’s because as Mr. Ahgren sleeps, an army of fans works overtime to maximize his subscribers. They chat and play YouTube clips and videos for one another to keep the channel entertaining. Mr. Ahgren’s name has trended on Twitter twice in the past week, both times while he was asleep.
“At night, the rest of us do his content for him,” said a 21-year-old college student who goes by Happygate and acts as one of Mr. Ahgren’s moderators. “We try to keep everyone excited and highly motivated to see this go on as long as possible.”
“The sleep streams have been really interesting,” said Stephen Seaver, 15, a high school student in Georgia. “Basically what happens is his mods” — that’s short for moderators — “get on a Discord call and they’re calling and talking the entire time, shilling out of their mind for subs. The idea is that it’s funny, while he’s sleeping the timer is going up.”
Sleep streams have become popular throughout the pandemic on Twitch and TikTok, where fans say they enjoy the late-night pop-up communities that sleep streams facilitate. Creators like them because they’re able to make money literally while they sleep.
“I fell asleep on stream last night and became the most watched streamer on Twitch,” Mr. Ahgren tweeted on Monday. “What the hell is even that.” Later Monday evening, Twitch wished Mr. Ahgren “Goodnight” from its official Twitter account.
Twitch, which has been owned by Amazon since 2014, has seen a rapid surge in popularity over the past year. The site had already expanded from a place where gamers could broadcast their play of Fortnite and Call of Duty into a broader platform that included lifestyle, cooking and political streams. The coronavirus pandemic accelerated that growth as people stuck at home looked for online entertainment.
Erin Wayne, head of community and creator marketing at Twitch, said that streams like Mr. Ahgren’s were becoming more prevalent on the platform. “It’s the idea of multiplayer entertainment, where the community is able to impact the content that a creator makes, will continue to grow in popularity,” she said. “The person consuming the content is able to directly impact, and, in some cases, dictate what happens in the content they consume. It’s so inherently unique to Twitch. I think that’s why these types of marathons or subscriber streams are so popular.”
Mr. Ahgren’s stream can be seen as an extension of the trend of creators monetizing more and more parts of their lives, from daily decisions on what to eat or wear to who they should hang out with. Streams like his can generate a deeper connection with fans, who view the subathon as a collective community experience.
“No matter what time of day you tune in, his stream is up and running, and you’ll see many familiar faces in chat,” Nathan Grayson, a gaming reporter, wrote at Kotaku. “It’s only been running for three days, but it already feels like comfort food.”
It was this type of comfort and connection that Mr. Seaver said drew him in. “Even though the content of the stream might not be particularly special, it’s the fact that you’re all part of this community watching this really rare event,” he said. “You get to watch Ludwig’s entire life for days. It’s not great for him, but you get so much content out of it and you get that you as a community got together and were able to see this thing happen.”
As a result, more and more people have been able to earn a living through streaming on the platform full time, with a handful of the highest-earning streamers making more than $1 million a year, according to a September study by the online lender CashNetUS.
Twitch’s growth mirrors the overall boom in the gaming industry in 2020. Stay-at-home orders combined with the release of a new generation of video game consoles from Microsoft and Sony in November led to a financial bonanza; gamers spent a record $56.9 billion last year in the United States, up 27 percent from 2019, according to the NPD Group.
While Mr. Ahgren has already made six figures off his stream, he has encouraged his young fans to be responsible with their money. “I’ve been just telling them, ‘Hey, don’t use your stimulus check on me,’” he said. “Make sure your bread is right before giving it away.”
No one knows how long Mr. Ahgren can go. Other Twitch streamers have streamed relatively continuously for over 31 days, but Mr. Ahgren said he couldn’t imagine things would get to that point.
He does have a trip coming up to visit his girlfriend’s family in a week several hours north, so he’s hoping things will end before then. If it doesn’t, he’ll have to figure out a way to take his stream on the road. “I think this is a cool, once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Mr. Ahgren said of his stream. “I’m kind of excited every day to wake up because it’s never going to happen to me again.”
Today, Twitch banned and de-partnered Ali “Gross Gore” Larsen, a longtime streamer and subject of controversy, after sexual assault allegations old and new came to light last weekend.
Allegations emerged after the 28 year-old Larsen, who’s been suspended by Twitch numerous times over the years, made a post on the RoastMe subreddit on Friday. This led users to discuss previous allegations against him, culminating in lengthy lists of Larsen’s indiscretions, including videos of Larsen himself talking about times he asked a 15 year-old to show her breasts (he was 18 at the time) and slept with a 16 year-old when he was in his 20s, as well as a video in which another streamer, Jenna, accuses him of sexually assaulting her during TwitchCon. Threads also referenced a series of incidents at UK Runescape convention Runefest in 2018, which Kotaku reported on at the time, including a video in which Larsen appears to grab a woman’s face and try to kiss her, as well as multiple alleged inappropriate comments toward women that culminated in a physical altercation between Larsen and another streamer, Skiddler, that was dispersed by hotel staff and the police.
In the wake of these allegations resurfacing, a woman named Eve came forward on Saturday with her own story, saying that Larsen groomed her back in 2008, when she was 13 and he was 16. “Ali offered me video opportunities, clan chat rankings, and being featured on his personal YT channel,” she wrote in a Twitlonger. “In exchange, all I had to do was moan as he masturbated…Even at 13 I knew I was doing something wrong, but I didn’t understand until many years later how he used his power over me to help him masturbate.”
Over a Discord call, Jenna told Kotaku that Larsen was like a “big brother” to her for a long time, but during a party at TwitchCon 2019, he got drunk and refused to stop touching her arms, legs, and thigh while the two were on a couch. Eventually, he asked to grab her face. “It was super creepy,” Jenna told Kotaku, noting that she’d previously witnessed and talked to Larsen about other instances of sexual assault at events, during which she believes he was also drunk. “Then he started begging to grab me. And I was like ‘No dude, you’re my brother. Stop this.’” She says she ended up leaving the party not long after.
In response to the allegations, Larsen posted a YouTube video on Saturday in which he claimed some allegations, like the video of Jenna accusing him of sexual assault, were false or taken out of context, and that he had already apologized for others and turned over a new leaf. “There are some disgusting things from my past and I can promise you that’s not who I am today,” he said. “I look back, I cringe, I get embarrassed, and I regret so much.”
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Now, several days later, Twitch has banned him and taken away his partnership status, meaning he’s probably not coming back this time. In a statement to Kotaku, Twitch cited its rules against inappropriate behavior off-platform.
“The safety of our community is our top priority,” a Twitch spokesperson said in an email. “We take appropriate action when we have evidence that a streamer has acted in violation of our Community Guidelines or Terms of Service, including in certain instances where the behavior may have taken place off Twitch. These apply to all streamers regardless of status or prominence in the community.”
The spokesperson specifically mentioned a rule that says, “We may take action against persons for hateful conduct or harassment that occurs off Twitch services and is directed at Twitch users.”
Kotaku also reached out to Larsen, who pointed to a video he posted to Twitter shortly after he’d been banned. In the video, Larsen showed viewers the email he received from Twitch, which cited “adult sexual exploitation” as the reason for his ban.
“I don’t know what to believe anymore,” Larsen said in the video. “I don’t know what to say anymore. I’m so used to being thrown around in this community, and like being bullied and picked on. They’re bringing up stuff from 2016.”
He speculated that Twitch banned him for a “revenge porn” incident in which he allegedly sent nudes to a then-teenage streamer’s mother, but he said that he just showed her mother her Instagram account, and that she was 18 at the time. “This is a mistake from Twitch,” he concluded, adding that he’s going to start streaming on YouTube tomorrow.
Despite a laundry list of alleged infractions, Twitch took its time in banning Larsen. Back in 2018, he’d already been suspended numerous times, including in 2016 after he harassed a Riot employee. In a video Larsen released after Runefest 2018, he said Twitch would have perma-banned him had “someone at Twitch” not intervened on his behalf. Instead, the company suspended him for a month and prevented him from attending TwitchCon, suggesting it was well aware of the severity of his actions at Runefest. Since then, Larsen has managed to continue growing his Twitch audience all the way up to half a million followers. Larsen’s ban comes nearly a year after Twitch’s #MeToo reckoning, which resulted in the company banning several streamers accused of sexual assault and vowing to “continue to assess accusations against people affiliated with Twitch and explore ways Twitch can collaborate with other industry leaders on this important issue.” Months later, the company also ended up parting ways with an employee accused of sexual assault by a streamer.
Jenna hopes that some good comes of Larsen’s Twitch ban. “I feel bad, really, but he’s doing it to himself,” she said. “Obviously what he’s doing is awful and unforgivable. He really needs to get help, or he’s going to keep hurting people. That’s all there is to it. Maybe Twitch banning him will force him into going and getting that help.”
In response to Larsen’s Twitch ban and everything else that has happened, Eve told Kotaku that she’s “happy and ready to move forward,” but that Larsen’s response to his ban left her cold.
“He never reached out to me, and all I wanted was some acknowledgement and a private sincere apology,” Eve wrote in a DM. “He has been doing the same stuff for over 10 years. If he wanted to write off my story as him being a kid, then why didn’t this behavior end when he grew up? I honestly was hopeful after writing my story he would reach out, apologize, and I could move on and tell him I forgive him. But that video just showed me how not sorry he was, and deserved to be banned. I have no doubt in my mind if he weren’t banned, there would be more stories in the future of Ali sexually assaulting or harassing women. Without being held accountable, I don’t think he would see a reason to change.”
The birthday cake you’ll receive in the mail… (Image: Nintendo)
If you boot up your copy of Animal Crossing: New Horizons, there should be an update waiting for you which bumps the game up to Version 1.9.0. Else you can activate the update manually by going into the game’s settings on the Switch Home Menu.
When you’ve updated to this latest version of the game, you’ll receive an anniversary cake in the mail. Apart from this, players can also look forward to the return of Bunny Day on 4th April, new seasonal items, enhanced custom design and much more.
Below are the full patch notes, courtesy of the official Nintendo support page:
Ver. 1.9.0 (Released March 17, 2021)
The software has been updated if you see “Ver. 1.9.0” in the upper-right corner of the title screen.
General updates
The Bunny Day seasonal event has been updated.
Additional support for the Sanrio® Collaboration amiibo cards has been added.
New miles redemption options have been added to the Nook Stop.
Custom Design Pro Editor+
Adds additional custom design slots and new pattern options.
Custom Designs Portal*
Adds access to the Custom Designs Portal from the Custom Designs app.
The following content has also been added:
Additional limited-time seasonal items from Nook Shopping.
Nintendo Switch Online membership item*.
*A Nintendo Switch Online membership (paid service) is required to use the Custom Designs Portal and obtain the Nintendo Switch Online membership item.
Fixed issues
Fixed an issue from Ver. 1.4.0 where if a player used a wand to transform, then swapped their wand for another item while their pockets are full, the player would no longer be able to remove the transformation outfit.
Fixed an issue from Ver. 1.7.0 involving kits where a player could dig where they normally shouldn’t be able to if they change their mind after using the “Let me imagine it…” option.
Other adjustments and corrections were made to improve the game play experience.
Check out the previous update here. Have you downloaded this latest update yet? Notice anything else? Comment down below.
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