Airbnb has evolved its offerings over the year with many professionals renting out their properties on the platform to either supplement their income or be all-out businesses. This move into more corporate offerings has seen an uptick in a variety of problems, however, with people caring less about the properties they are staying in, even when they are a normal person’s home. One such problem has been the breakout of Airbnbs being rented out to host massive parties, which themselves bring with them a whole host of particular problems. Airbnb moved to ban these types of rentals in 2019 and now looks set to implement ways of enforcing the ban.
Back in 2019, five people were killed in a fatal shooting that took place during a party at an Airbnb in California. Since then, the company has banned parties from taking place at Airbnb rentals and is now trialing anti-party technology in a bid to stop them from happening altogether.
The anti-party technology is not something that is installed at properties and blocks parties when they are detected. Instead, the technology, which is ready for testing in the US and Canada, will assess reservation requests against a series of factors and block the reservation from going through if it is suspicious. Furthermore, that user will then be unable to book a whole property and instead only have the option to book a private room. In the blog post announcing the move, Airbnb described the new anti-party technology like this:
“This system looks at factors like history of positive reviews (or lack of positive reviews), length of time the guest has been on Airbnb, length of the trip, distance to the listing, weekend vs. weekday, among many others. The primary objective is attempting to reduce the ability of bad actors to throw unauthorized parties which negatively impact our Hosts, neighbors, and the communities we serve.”
Airbnb recognizes that the new system won’t be perfect but it is a clear effort from the company to reduce problematic bookings. It remains to be seen just how successful it will be. In other recent Airbnb news, bookings have once again reached record levels as people are traveling more now that the lockdown confinements are over.
Most of us take them for granted these days, but virtual backgrounds on apps like Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet can cause real problemsfor some users. It shouldn’t be a surprise that they won’t work perfectly as, in essence, they are a form of movie-like special effects but the problems, like glitchy backgrounds and even lost body parts, are much worse for some users than for others. Google is trying to address this problem with an update it is rolling out for Meet. Here is what you need to know.
It takes a lot of processing power for an app to be able to determine different elements of a video for an image. For example, it can be a struggle for an app like Google Meet to differentiate between the subject of the image (you) in the foreground and all the other items in your room in the background. If this occurs while the app is trying to overlay a virtual background behind the subject, it will cause problems, particularly if you have a lower-powered device such as an older PC, smartphone, or tablet.
To fix this issue, Google is rolling out an update for Google Meet that will take the heavy lifting for this type of processing off your device by handling it with its own cloud hardware capabilities. This new cloud-assisted processing will happen automatically when necessary and will be prioritized for devices that need it the most, resulting in savings of up to 30 per cent of your device’s CPU usage.
An added bonus of this move is that reducing the strain on your device’s CPU will also have a beneficial effect on your device’s battery life too. This means that as the performance is improving the strain being placed on your battery is reduced. If you’ve ever been on a group video call while running on battery power, you will know just how big of a deal this really is. Therefore, although this update will benefit those using lower-powered devices most it will have wider benefits for all Google Meet users too.
Spider-Man Remastered was recently released for PC, and it has already proved a massive success for Sony. The newly remastered game is currently the second biggest Steam launch by Playstation Studios, trailing close behind God of War. We’re also excited to see what Spider-Man: Miles Morales will do.
The new Spider-Man Remastered has, in fact, done so well that it has surpassed the performance of games like Days Gone and Horizon Zero Dawn. As of the writing of this article, Spider-Man Remastered boasts an all-time player peak of 66,436 players.
This is according to SteamDB, which further mentions that God of War debuted with an all-time peak player count of 73,529. SteamDB also notes that Horizon Zero Dawn achieved a peak of 56,557 players at launch, while Days Gone only scraped together 27,450 players when it launched.
Playstation is definitely welcoming the immense success of its latest title as it bolsters the company’s decision to slide into PC publishing. To that end, Playstation recently acquired Nixxies, the PC porting specialist. The company has also started setting up a new PC label in order to port humanity’s favorite Playstation titles and exclusives to PC gaming marketplaces such as Steam.
Unsurprisingly, the company expects to make quite a killing from this new venture, with profits from PC gaming exclusively estimated to be around $300 million in Sony’s next financial year.
Spider-Man Remastered isn’t the only web-flinging title coming to PC this year. Miles Morales, a Spider-Man spin-off is expected to drop a little later this year for PC.
If you’re a fan of legos and lego games, then we have some exciting news for you! The Lego Group and Thunderful have announced they’ll release a new Lego game, Lego Bricktales, to console later this year.
This latest game was developed alongside Clockstone, the studio that released Bridge Constructor. In this newest game, players will travel across various dioramas constructed with lego blocks. Each diorama features its own biome, along with challenges, quests, and puzzles. Players will also have ample opportunities to test their building skills throughout these challenges.
Some of these builds can be purely aesthetic, whereas others can be required to perform a function, like building a bridge or helicopter to access another part of the diorama.
Some of the biomes you can expect will be a jungle, a castle, a desert, a tropical island, and more. There will also be a storyline for the player to follow, so it’s not just purely a creative game. Spread across the different biomes, the player will also meet Lego Minifigures that need help. By helping these characters, the player can unlock new skills.
Each diorama also includes different building sites, complete with lego bricks. At these sites, you can experiment with building various objects ranging from simple thrones to real feats of engineering. Unlike many of the Lego games we’ve seen, Bricktales focuses on real constructing. That’s right; you will have to construct and test your builds – which is extremely exciting!
Lego Bricktales will be released on PC, PS4, PS5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S later this year. We’re very excited about the game, and those who are eager for a sneak peek and try the demo game available on Steam.
Are you ready for another green-giant adventure? She-Hulk: Attorney at Law is a new Disney+ series where we see Jennifer Walters take on new powers while still practicing law. It’s an interesting twist, and she’ll need her cousin’s help as much as possible to learn to master her new abilities.
You get to watch it all unfold on Disney+! Starting tomorrow, August 18, the series will play through into October with about nine episodes. Remember, you’ll need a Disney+ subscription to enjoy every moment of She-Hulk: Attorney at Law. Read until the end when we’ll share details of an exciting discount offer.
Attorney for the Superhuman
Jennifer Walters is an attorney at law for superhumans with Bruce Banner for a cousin. While still angry at the Abomination for trying to kill Hulk, she tries to rid the streets of villains as her day job. That’s until something happens that causes her to turn into the female green giant, which changes everything.
At this point in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), everyone knows about superhumans. Her transformation into a new green hero as She-Hulk is celebrated more than shunned, so she remains a lawyer. However, Bruce needs to teach her how to control the new power so that she doesn’t accidentally kill the prosecution. Oh, and he encourages her to also fight crime while she’s at it.
She-Hulk has a powerful comic origin story
While not much is known at this time about her origin story in She-Hulk, Marvel fans of the superhero know the comic version pretty well. She was hot on the case of the notorious crime lord Nicholas Trask. One night while Bruce was on his way to her to explain how he became the Hulk, Trask had her shot down at home.
With Bruce arriving as the Hulk to stop them from killing her further, the only way to save her was with a transfusion of his blood. She received his abilities but also retained enough of her subconscious to control them. It will be interesting to see how the MCU handlers She-Hulk’s origin story on Disney+, as we haven’t seen signs of Trask in the trailers.
Star-filled Marvel cast
Another exciting element of She-Hulk is that the Disney+ series will see many actors from the MCU make a return to the screen. Besides Mark Ruffalo as Bruce, we also see Tim Roth return as the Abomination in what appears to be an important role, Charlie Cox from The Daredevil series, Benedict Wong from the Dr. Strange movies, and many more!
Are you ready to see green with She-Hulk on Disney+?
As you can tell, She-Hulk is going to be an exciting journey on Disney+ with nine episodes to enjoy in total. It will be fun to see if she will join the Avengers in any epic upcoming movies, such as Secret Wars.
Until then, be sure to check out the latest discount for a Disney+ membership. You only pay for 10 months while enjoying a full 12-month subscription!
Tower of Fantasy is a new gacha MMORPG available for PC and Mobile that some in the gaming industry are calling the new Genshin Impact. As amazing as this new game is, it’s rife with features and gameplay mechanics that aren’t explained all too well.
In the article that follows, we’ll explore Tower of Fantasy from all angles and give you a list of everything we’ve discovered about the game with detailed descriptions! Get ready for a comprehensive listicle of everything you need to know about Tower of Fantasy.
The Tower of Fantasy daily level cap
The first aspect of Tower of Fantasy that we need to address is the fact that there is a daily cap on how much progress you can make. What we mean is that you can only progress so far on any given day before you hit a digital wall. That said, at the very least, there isn’t some kind of pay-to-play mechanic to unlock further ability to progress. This is how the cap works: On the first day that you play Tower of Fantasy, you’ll be able to reach anywhere up to level 18.
On the second day, you’ll be able to progress up to level 24 and so on. The caps don’t increase in increments of any specific numeric sequence or multiplication factor. Instead, the levels are tied to the chapters of your Wanderer’s Log. This is actually more efficient as it means you can check your log to see how close you are to the next daily cap.
One thing to note is that you won’t have terribly much to do before you hit level 20, so be prepared for a relatively quiet first day. While I won’t claim to understand a game that puts a physical limit on the amount of progress you’re allowed to make during a day, I do see the benefit of encouraging gamers to take a break once in a while, if only to stretch their legs and take a few deep breaths outdoors.
The cap resets daily at around 9 AM GMT (Greenwich Mean Time). In case you primarily work with EST or EDT as your dedicated time schematic, all you need to do is find your region’s GMT code and either add or subtract the suffixed numeric digit to the current GMT. For instance, Pretoria is located in a GMT+2 zone, so my daily cap for Tower of Fantasy will reset at around 11 AM (9 AM +2).
Simulcrum is just a skin
You’ll notice that as you play, you’ll use Tower of Fantasy’s gacha system to unlock various characters and weapons. However, you’ll also notice that the characters you unlock don’t get added to your party as they do in other games like Genshin Impact, with similar mechanics.
Instead, you’ll unlock a Simulcrum, which you can then use to equip a new character as an avatar. The aspect that really drives home the point that these are essentially skins is that the changes that each Simulcrum initiates are purely cosmetic and make no actual difference to your stats or character abilities.
Don’t forget your mount
As soon as you start the game, you’re going to realize just how much time you spend climbing and gliding. These are your primary methods of movement in Tower of Fantasy – apart from good old perambulation, that is. With all these amazing methods of personal propulsion at your disposal, it’s easy to forget that you have a mount.
The most exciting way to explore the world in Tower of Fantasy is definitely gliding, but the most immersive and effective way to explore the world is to mount up and ride around. This way, you’ll be able to see more than you would if you were gliding through the air. Your mount will also be significantly faster than conventional sprinting.
Not all chests in Tower of Fantasy respawn
Tower of Fantasy has various types of chests that it’s difficult for a beginner to keep track of them all. That said, each type of chest contains a different reward. Keeping this in mind will make it easier to anticipate what kind of reward you’re looking at just by observing the shape of the chest.
For instance, the orb-shaped chests will reward you with the in-game gacha currency – Gold and Black Nucleus. The triangular and rectangular chests will reward you with basic materials that you can use to upgrade items and make food. You’ll also get a good amount of EXP. Tower of Fantasy also has a premium currency – Dark Crystals – which is also contained within certain orb-shaped chests.
The differences between the different chests extend further than simply the contents of each. The chests also differ in that those shaped like triangular or rectangular prisms will regenerate and respawn, while those shaped like orbs will not.
Double-jump
This is arguably one of the most pivotal and often-used features of any type of adventure game. Double-jumping will let you traverse larger cliffs and expanses than hitting the jump icon only once. Double-jumping is essentially equivalent to jumping once, and then as your character closes up the arc that their initial jump creates, they hit an invisible force that they can ricochet off of.
This results in a boost in distance and height. Don’t forget that you can double-jump in Tower of Fantasy, as this could prove pivotal to many situations you’ll encounter as you explore the game.
Each year, Google releases a new version of the Android operating system. Android 13 is now available on select devices as a direct upgrade and as images that Android users may download and install.
Google is rolling out the new Android version to Pixel devices already. The rollout happens in waves, and it may take some time before the update is offered on a specific device.
Third-party manufacturers will publish updates for some of their Android devices in the coming weeks and months. New Android devices will also become available that run Android 13 out of the box.
If Android 13 is available on your device already, you may about new features and improvements that the update includes.
For this reason, we are taking a look at the top features of Android 13. Developers may want to point their browsers to the official summary on Google’s Android website, as it provides a deeper look at the changes.
Android 13: the major features
Android 13 includes a huge number of changes and improvements. Some of these may be discovered immediately, while others may be discovered later or not at all.
One of Google’s focus in Android 13 was on improving the privacy of users. While that is a commendable effort, some changes require application updates before they become available.
App notifications are now opt-in
Android 13 gives users more control over application notifications. In previous Android versions, applications obtained notification permissions automatically. While you could remove the permission at any time, apps could send notifications immediately after installation.
Starting in Android 13, applications need to ask for permissions explicitly. Those who do not do that can’t send notifications on the Android device.
As a result, another permissions prompt may be displayed on first launch of applications on an Android 13 device; this gives users more control over notifications, and may prevent spammy apps from abusing the system.
The change applies to new application installations only. Consequently, already installed apps do not display the notifications permissions prompt after upgrading to Android 13.
Android 13 displays notifications about apps that use battery excessively to the user. The silent notification gives you an option to kill an app with a single action.
Per-app language settings
Many Android users speak more than one language. Android itself supports a single display language only, and this language is used by all applications, provided that it is supported.
There are good reasons for wanting to change the language of individual applications: the translation of some apps may lack clarity, or you may prefer a different language for some content.
Android 13 introduces the ability to set languages for individual apps. Want Google News in English, YouTube in Spanish, and the Calendar in Japanese? This is doable in Android 13.
Just select Settings > System > Languages and input > App languages. Not all applications support the new feature at the time of writing, but many system apps do already.
Clipboard improvements
When you copy text on Android 13 devices, you will see a small overlay on the screen that contains it. It allows you to edit the text and share it immediately.
As a new privacy feature, the clipboard clears content automatically after some time. Consequently, clipboard text becomes less of a privacy risk. Email addresses, passwords, credit card numbers and other sensitive data is removed automatically by the Android device.
At the present time, there is no option to adjust the interval or disable the functionality altogether.
Smaller changes in Android 13
Android 13 features a number of smaller changes that users may benefit from. Here is a short list of other features and improvements in the new Android version:
You may give apps permissions to only access photos or videos that you select. In previous Android versions, permission to access the entire media library needed to be granted.
Sleep Mode supports the dimming of the wallpaper and the selection of a dark theme.
Support for Spatial Audio, which detects head movement to adjust sound automatically.
There is a new QR code scanner widget that you may add to the notifications area to scan codes quickly and without using a third-party app.
Additional Material You color schemes and wallpapers.
Support for the exFAT file system is finally available.
Improved switching between different Android device types, e.g., from tablet to smartphone, or Android TV to tablet.
Conclusion
Android 13 includes several important improvements and features for users. Some of these are limited to certain applications at the present time but will become available sooner or later in more apps.
Google Pixel owners are among the first to get the upgrade option to the new version of Android. Third-party manufacturers like Samsung or Motorola will offer the upgrade to some of their devices in the coming weeks and months as well.
We cover a great many crossovers in our news section. However, these usually involve Fortnite and whichever brand, person, or media phenomenon is all the rage at the moment. Today, we have a very different crossover to present to you in FIFA 23, one that you may never have anticipated unless you idolize footballers as though they were literal superheroes. Do you get where I’m going with this yet?
Yes, EA is partnering with Marvel to reimagine the world’s favorite football stars as superheroes ahead of the launch of FIFA 23 in September. While the movement only currently concerns past footballers who have made an impression on the industry, we can assume the formula will be retained for use in other collaborative instances with today’s football stars.
Here’s a list of the footballers currently involved in the collaboration and the names of their superhero alter-egos:
Landon Donovan of the USA takes up the shield of the Captain America-inspired The Brave.
Chelsea Defender of legendary proportions Ricardo Carvalho is being immortalized as The impossible-to-surprise Anticipator.
Former Man City midfielder Yaya Touré stands resolute as the Greek god-inspired The Citadel.
Claudio Marchisio, the former Juventus midfielder, once more takes up his dressing room nickname and becomes Il Principino – The Little Prince.
South Korea’s Park Ji-Sung dons an Iron Man-inspired suit to become Tigerheart.
Okay, so it’s an interesting collaboration with really awesome cover art, but what does it mean for the average player? Essentially, this collaboration merely results in a few skilfully created images of the stars as superheroes. These images will replace the real-world players’ photos – exclusively in FIFA 23’s Ultimate Teams mode.
There will also be numerous FIFA World Cup FUT Heroes items available in the FIFA 23 Ultimate Teams lootboxes. EA has also said that Marvel will even release an Online Marvel Heroes comic book at a later date. Marvel seems to really be invested in this collaboration.
The collaboration does, however, deem to be purely cosmetic and won’t impact gameplay much – or at all. While I have no issue with the glorification of former soccer stars who have left their names prominently etched into the very fiber of the industry, I don’t know if this collaboration in its current state is the way to do it. Hopefully, there is more to this collaboration than meets the eye. We’ll have to wait until FIFA 23 is released to find out.
It is no exaggeration to say that Steam has revolutionized PC gaming. The gaming platform makes life easier by centralizing everything PC gamers need such as full games, official DLCs, and unofficial mods. There is always room for improvement, however, and PC gamers are loving this minor tweak as it makes their lives even easier. Let’s check it out.
At the moment, whenever a game is available for free on Steam you have to essentially begin downloading and installing it to add it to your library. This means you have to wait until it is installing and then hit cancel if you don’t want to download it right there and then. This is all changing, however, with a small update that will make a big difference.
To address this, admittedly minor, annoyance, Valve has added a new Add to Library button, which now gives users the chance to quickly and easily add free titles to their gaming collections. The same thing also applies to DLC too, with the new Add to Library button also giving users the chance to avoid all the unwanted and unnecessary messing around.
It is funny how such a minor tweak can result in such positive praise, as has happened here. It does make you wonder why Valve didn’t introduce the update much sooner when gamers have been complaining about the overly complicated method for adding free stuff to your Steam library.
On the other hand, though, was having to cancel a download or halt an installation ever really a big deal? Maybe it took Valve so long to get to the fix because they had more important things to do in the meantime? Perhaps, Steam has made things too easy for PC Gamers who don’t even realize they have been complaining about getting free stuff on a platform that has made life easier for them than it has ever been before. Let’s leave that there though, as that whole point is a discussion for another time.
Every game publisher and their brother have wanted to attach their name to an adaptation of the Lord of the Rings saga. No matter how old the franchise is, it remains an incredibly popular choice for adaptations, such as Lord of the Rings Online. Recently, we learnt that the honor of publishing a LOTR adaptation falls onto the capable shoulders of Take-Two Interactive.
This new breed of Middle-earth entertainment will be developed by Private Division – a Take-Two label – and Wētā Workshop’s interactive game division. Wētā Workshop is also involved in another LOTR-themed project, Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, which will release next month. The new game was officially announced on Private Division’s Twitter page:
‘We’re thrilled to announce that we have partnered with @WetaWorkshop to publish a new game set in the literary Middle-earth universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. We look forward to sharing more about the project in the future!’
We’re thrilled to announce that we have partnered with @WetaWorkshop to publish a new game set in the literary Middle-earth universe of J.R.R. Tolkien. We look forward to sharing more about the project in the future! pic.twitter.com/z9HxvXe7Da
Apart from the fact that the new game will be based on Middle-earth, a fantasy world created by the legendary author J.R.R. Tolkien, we don’t know much about the title. Amie Wolken, the head of interactive gaming at Wētā Workshop did, however, teased that the game would be ‘one that’s so different from what fans have played previously.’ This was posted to Private Division’s official website.
This potentially tells that everything that we know about what it’s like to play a game set in Middle-earth could be thrown out of the window. However, the game would still need to respect the various aspects of J.R.R. Tolkien’s world. From a creative standpoint, though, there are probably more ways that modern technology could reinterpret Tolkien’s words to reframe the Middle-earth experience. I’m getting ahead of myself, though.
What we know for a fact about the new game can be summarized as follows:
We’re getting a new game based on the world of the LOTR franchise. The game has no official release date, but Private Division has stated that it expects to launch the game ‘during Take-Two’s fiscal year 2024.’ We also know that it’s planned to be something different from what we’ve come to expect from the LOTR franchise.
We don’t know conclusively which platforms the game will release on. However, we can tell from former launches that Take-Two is what we call a multiplatform publisher. Based on historical releases, we can, therefore, speculate that the new game will be made available for PC, Xbox Series X|S, and PlayStation 5.
