Image: Loops The fediverse answer to TikTok is on its way. Signups opened this week for Loops, a short-form looping video app from the creator of Instagram alternative Pixelfed, reports TechCrunch. Users who’ve signed up can post up to 60 seconds of video, according to details shared by developer Daniel Supernault on Mastodon. He added that using sounds and remixing others’ videos is coming, as are pinned profile videos, and that users will be able to “curate” their comment sections. Videos can be categorized, but hashtags and mentions aren’t yet supported.The Loops Pixelfed account has posted videos like the one below of Loops in action. Supernault has posted screenshots and screen recordings, as well. Creating an account isn’t instantaneous... Continue reading…

A Lyft sign taken in January 2023 at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. | Photo: Mat Hayward / Getty Images The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) announced Friday that rideshare company Lyft has agreed to pay $2.1 million as part of a proposed settlement that requires it to change how it advertises driver pay. The company routinely advertised that drivers could make “specific hourly amounts” — in one instance, claiming earnings of “up to $33” per hour for driving in Atlanta — that were based not on an average, but on what the top fifth of drivers made, according to the Commission. The company also apparently included tips in those figures.Such moves “overinflated the actual earnings achieved by most drivers by as much as 30%,” writes the FTC, which says the company now must base potential pay claims on what drivers typically make, instead. And... Continue reading…

Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images Governor Tim Walz is returning to Twitch and this time, he’ll actually be playing a game. Earlier this month, Kamala Harris’ campaign teamed up with a Twitch streamer to live-stream a Walz rally as part of a World of Warcraft stream. But on Sunday afternoon, Walz will be playing Madden NFL on Twitch with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s (D-NY).Like with live-streaming the Walz rally alongside WoW, the idea with this Madden livestream is to try to reach young men, a demographic that Trump polls relatively high with.Ocasio-Cortez is already well-known for her huge Among Us stream ahead of the 2020 election and a stream in July 2023 where she played Pico Park and Gartic Phone. (She’s a fan of League of Legends, too.) But while Walz is a k... Continue reading…

Google may be working on persistent notifications similar to its phone call status pictured here. | Photo: Wes Davis / The Verge Android 16 may come with a new “Rich Ongoing Notifications” feature that lets developers keep persistent notifications in the Android status bar, according to Android 15 beta code discovered by Android Authority’s Mishaal Rahman, who frequently dives into code to surface coming features.Right now, the code enables adding a pill-shaped icon with custom text and background color to the Android status bar. Some mock notifications Rahman created show how it could be used for things like telling you when to expect your Uber to arrive. Android has already had a feature like this since Android 12 that lets you know how long you’ve been on a phone call, Rahman notes. Screenshot: Mishaal Rahman / Android Authority A... Continue reading…

It seems that Intel has gotten itself into another rut. Tom of Moore's Law Is Dead previously claimed that Intel's Raptor Lake stability issues have come back from the grave to haunt Arrow Lake, and while there was very little reason to disbelieve him, I still had a shred of hope that things weren't as bad as they seem. Well, turns out, things were even worse; not only are reviewers reporting bad stability, but two more companies have reportedly expressed an interest in buying Intel.

A huge benefit of being a PC user is the ability to upgrade your machine to keep up with the times. It's one of the major advantages of custom PCs, as you can't always upgrade individual components of a pre-built PC. A lot goes into choosing which upgrades are worth it, but people sometimes end up splurging as soon as something new and exciting comes out. This can unintentionally cost you money, as you fail to fully optimize your PC upgrades.

RAM disks were all the rage when they first came out. They allowed users to use the extra RAM in their system to create a virtual hard drive. The idea behind it is that if the programs and files are already stored in the fastest memory possible on your system, you can save files instantly and have programs and apps load almost as quickly.

Fear the Spotlight. | Image: Blumhouse Games More than most genres, survival horror feels rooted in time. It started with the methodical Resident Evil on the original PlayStation and is defined in part by limitation — a slow pace, grimy visuals, and scant resources to help amplify the scares. Many of those elements stemmed from the early, awkward days of 3D gaming, whether it was Resident Evil’s clunky controls, which made zombie chases more terrifying, or Silent Hill’s fog, which lent an iconic atmosphere while also letting the developers get around technical limitations of the time.And a few decades later, developers are still finding ways to bring the most important elements of those games — namely, the mood and scares — to modern horror without feeling dated.The most obvious... Continue reading…

Image: The Verge Google could preview its own take on Rabbit’s large action model concept as soon as December, reports The Information. “Project Jarvis,” as it’s reportedly codenamed, would carry tasks out for users, including “gathering research, purchasing a product, or booking a flight,” according to three people the outlet spoke with who have direct knowledge of the project.Powered by a future version of Google’s Gemini, Jarvis reportedly only works with a web browser (it’s tuned specifically for Chrome). The tool is aimed at helping people “automate everyday, web-based tasks” by taking and interpreting screenshots and then clicking buttons or entering text, The Information writes. In its current state, it apparently takes “a few seconds” between... Continue reading…

Docker is one of the most popular tools for pulling, deploying, and managing containerized applications, and for good reason. Compatible with multiple operating systems, this container platform can work on pretty much every computing device under the sun, including the Raspberry Pi. Its also fairly lightweight and lets you access a massive number of community-created images from the Docker Hub.

Many of us have to use a Windows 11 PC day in and day out for work, and while that's just a standard for modern society, it doesn't mean it's good for your health. Looking at a screen all day is going to wear down your eyes and cause discomfort, so you need to take some preventive measures.

Image: Remedy Entertainment Remedy’s latest release is connective tissue for its growing video game universe. Continue reading…