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Citibank's digital wallet works in apps, online and through NFC
Citibank is partnering with MasterCard and its digital payment service, Masterpass, to add online and in-app transactions to its customers' accounts. Citi Pay users will be able to use their existing Citibank login details across online and app payments. Android users will be able to make NFC payments at wireless-enabled registers. There's no mention of Apple Pay — and that's because Apple doesn't let its payment chip parlez with other platforms.
No, US citizens can't vote by phone
An unsettling series of tweets surfaced on Twitter earlier today advising users to vote by phone. This is, of course, impossible: The voting system in the US requires citizens to register locally and vote either in-person or via absentee ballot sent in over snail mail. The tweets have been removed and at least one account that first sent them has been banned, but the lesson remains: Be smart, ignore trolls.
Bad experiences on Facebook have real-world consequences
Researchers at Brown University believe that they have established a link between Facebook use and depression. The study examined 264 people and tracked if, and when, they reported having an NFE: a Negative Facebook Experience. When that data was boiled down, the team concluded that people who reported experiencing NFEs were 3.2 times more likely to risk suffering from the symptoms of depression.
Day-one patches are the new normal
No Man's Sky will receive a massive day-one patch that adds a ton of content and gameplay elements to an already-humongous game. This would be just fine, except a few retailers across the nation started selling the game early -- it comes out Tuesday, but some people (including reviewers) were playing it late last week. The patch, which includes the actual finished game with all its bells and whistles, requires these early players to delete their saves and start over when No Man's Sky actually comes out. Developers at Hello Games wiped No Man's Sky's servers Sunday, and they're doing the same thing today. And there's nothing wrong with any of this.
Blizzard has had enough of rude 'World of Warcraft' players
Blizzard wants to put a stop to inappropriate behavior in World of Warcraft. The company is rolling out a new silence penalty that will limit abusive players from engaging with the game in a few major ways.
ESPN bosses mull an online streaming package
A report over at the Information claims that ESPN is planning to take a baby step towards offering its shows direct to consumers. The Disney-owned sports broadcaster is working on a package of live programming that cord-cutters will be able to purchase without a cable subscription. Naturally, the content on offer won't include premium events from the NFL or NBA, instead you'll find "niche" sports up for grabs. Details are thin, but that could run from college sports all the way through to eSports, which the network has recently embraced. It's a toe in the water, for sure, but also shows just how far online video has come along in the last five years.
BBC to put major new drama series on iPlayer before it airs on TV
While the BBC is increasingly choosing to air new programmes on iPlayer before they appear on TV, the broadcaster has typically restricted output to low-risk shows and specials. However, with its new supernatural drama, The Living And The Dead, the Beeb has decided it's time to change that mindset -- it'll debut all six episodes this Friday (June 17th), two weeks before they start being broadcast on TV.
Play a free, futuristic 'Cops and Robbers' on your Xbox One
Rumors are swirling that we could see more of the new Crackdown in just over a week's time at E3, but until Microsoft's media briefing you'll just have to make due with All Points Bulletin: Reloaded. The free-to-play online game of futuristic cops and robbers recently launched on Xbox One after a lengthy delay, and if you log in within the first month (or before its initial patch, whichever comes first), there are a few bonuses for you. In addition to weapon skins and a placard for your avatar if you play for 10 hours, there's a special weapon (the Fireworks Flare Launcher) and vehicle (Mikro JC14 "New-Cross") in store for everyone, regardless of play-time.
Tinder to debut transgender-friendly feature next month
Up until now, Tinder's gender options have been rather, well, binary. It's either men looking for women or vice versa. However, that's going to change according to Tinder CEO, Sean Rad. "There's a transgender community on Tinder and we haven't done enough to give them a good experience," Rad told the attendees at the Recode Code Conference on Thursday. To that end, the company will begin rolling out a more flexible system with which people can identify themselves and specify who they're looking to connect with. Rad did not go into much detail of how the news system will actually work, though he did confirm that the features will be implemented within the next month and a half.
Hulu is working on a live TV service for cord-cutters
Hulu is reportedly working on a new live TV platform that's designed to tempt cable subscribers to cut the cord. The Wall Street Journal believes that Hulu has ambitions to square off against both domestic cable providers as well as Sling TV and PlayStation Vue. Rather than trying to broadcast every channel in existence, it's claimed that the company will focus on quality over quantity. Given that Hulu is part-owned by Disney and 20th Century Fox, you can assume that ABC, ESPN and Fox will be lynchpins of the new platform. The same report explains that Hulu will enable customers to record their own shows in the cloud, rather than on a DVR.
There was gonna be a 'Guitar Hero' MMO
In the five years following the first Guitar Hero, Activision sought to flood the market with variations on the theme. But if the company hadn't swung the axe in 2011, we were even going to get a massively multiplayer online version of the title. Unseen 64 has unearthed footage from the early stages of Hero World, a planned replacement for DJ Hero 3 that was designed to unify the entire World series in one place. It should come as no surprise that, as the bottom fell out of the plastic-musical-instrument genre, the idea was axed, even if it did have some pretty exciting ideas.
'Street Fighter' cheating means dropped ranks and lost points
Last week Capcom asked for your help catching Street Fighter V rage quitters in the act. Using the evidence the community provided, the publisher/developer was able to cross-reference it with internal data to find the folks with 80 - 90 percent disconnect rates and "unrealistic win rates," and punish the jerks.
Sony to shutter its native PSP store at the end of March
Sony announced on Monday that it will shutter the PSP's native store on March 31, 2016. Customers will still be able to purchase PSP content from the company's webstore, just not directly through their devices. That said, users will still be able to access their previous purchases from their on-device Download list and can still make in-game purchases directly. This move comes just days after Sony announced that it will no longer sell its PlayStation TV accessory in Japan.
Capcom needs your help tracking 'Street Fighter' sore losers
Street Fighter V might not feel entirely complete right now, but that's no reason to abandon good sportsmanship. Developer/publisher Capcom is aware of the problems the community is facing in terms of people rage-quitting when online matches that aren't going their way and it wants you to help. Over the weekend, if someone can't handle the Snake Eyez-level of heat you're bringing with Zangief and they disconnect, the gamemaker is urging you to use the PlayStation 4's "share" button to catch him or her in the act once the match has ended.
Report: ISIS's Twitter propaganda efforts have stalled
The Islamic State isn't having much luck recruiting new members online these days. Twitter suspended 125,000 accounts sympathetic to the jihadist organization between June and October of last year and it appears to be making an impact, according to a study being released Thursday by George Washington University's Program on Extremism.
British Library digitizes George III's massive map collection
King George III was quite the map collector, and his massive catalog of cartographic relics is being digitized by the British Library. In total, the collection encompasses over 50,000 maps, including the Klencke Atlas which is the second largest atlas in the world. It measures 1.8 x 2.3 meters (about 6 x 7.5 feet) and includes 41 maps bound together in a single book. The library is a quarter of the way through photographing the collection, and once it's finished, the maps will be accessible online through its Transforming Typography website.
Ancestry kills its desktop software, moves to online subscriptions
Ancestry.com has announced that it's getting rid of its desktop software options at the end of the year. The company is reacting to what it sees as the "declining desktop software market" (and that pesky smartphone and tablet user boom), adding that it will allow the company to better provide support and updates to users. Its Family Tree Maker software will cease sale on December 31st 2015, but will continue working until January 1st 2017. This will include its TreeSync service that links to the web service -- important if you still want to keep scouring your lineage for that all important (yet tenuous) link to royalty.
Kobe Bryant decides to announce his retirement online
Kobe Bryant announced his retirement at the end of the NBA season through the web and social media -- not by press conference. Sure, Twitter retirement announcements aren't a new thing: Shaq did so in 2011, not to mention David Ortiz and Steve Nash. It wasn't a completely Twitter-specific announcement. He linked to his farewell message / poem in full on The Players' Tribune (a site launched by fellow former-athlete Derek Jeter). The site, which allows pro athletes to self-publish (and say what they want to), meant Bryant gets to say his piece -- although it's not specific. That said, it's already been retweeted over 70,000 times, and half an hour later, the NBA followed up itself on Twitter. The response was so strong that Jeter's site crashed under the strain. It's back online now, so if you'd like to see a portrait of Bryant whispering his farewell sonnet into a basketball, here's where to go.
Remember Mplayer? The '90s game service is relaunching
If you lived in the '90s and tried to run multiplayer Quake across a 56K modem, you may have fond memories (or not) of MPlayer. The '90s PC gaming service is coming back after being defunct for 15 years, thanks to a company called MPlayer Entertainment. To refresh your memory, MPlayer was a free, ad-supported online community that hosted up to 20 million visitors a month. It ran between 1996 and 2001, and offered over 100 free games, including Quake, Mech Commander and Rogue Spear. It also popularized the idea of VoIP chat between gamers. The ad-supported service was never profitable, however, and was eventually sold to GameSpy, which took it offline in 2001.
Nintendo launched a multiplayer web portal for Splatoon stats
How do you get your Splatoon fix when you're away from your Wii U? With SplatNet -- the game's newly christened web portal, of course. Okay, it's not actually that new: Japanese players have had access to the website for months, but Nintendo only just recently got around to translating the portal for international audiences. It's a convenient online hub that lets users check their weekly ranking, plan future matches with friends, view equipped gear and more.
