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Twitch now sells virtual gift cards
Twitch's new gift cards can be used to pay for pretty much anything on the platform.
Twitch turns cheers into charity during 'Thursday Night Football'
Twitch has announced a couple of new features that aim to make Thursday Night Football an even more exciting -- and worthy -- watch. First up is the TNF Live Extension, where you can make your armchair coaching heard. Predict how drives will end, who will win and more, and if you call the right shots, you'll end up on the leaderboard, which you can gleefully flaunt in front of your friends next time they make a lousy call.
Twitch's custom extensions can now ask for Bits
You didn't think Twitch would offer streamer extensions without finding a way to generate money from them, did you? Sure enough, the customization feature now accepts Bits (the microtransactions you normally use to tip streamers) for on-page games and other features. Chip in a few cents and you can participate in games with broadcasters (such as arcade or trivia titles), predict who's likely to win and mess with the streamer by voting in polls that decide what they do next.
Twitch is cashing in on your love for Overwatch League
The Overwatch League is blowing up and Twitch wants to make some extra money off its exclusive streaming partnership. To encourage viewership, you'll be able to earn Overwatch League Tokens (what you use to buy League skins). You'll pick up one token per live map finish, and a "percentage" of viewers of the "conclusion of the final map" during a live 'cast will randomly win 100 tokens.
Tip your favorite Twitch streamer with PayPal
If you want to tip your favorite Twitch streamer, you need to use Bits. The video game-centric streaming service just recently added the tipping system of "cheering" with Bits to its mobile app in hopes that more folks would drop some cash. Now you can fund your Bits account or subscribe to streams with PayPal.
You can tip Twitch streamers right from the mobile app
Bits are a staple of Twitch streaming. They're a way to back a streamer if you can't afford a full subscription, or want to offer some additional support. Until now, though, you couldn't easily buy them on your phone -- you had to either go through the web or wait until you got to a PC, by which point it might be too late. That won't be a problem for much longer, as Twitch is rolling out Bit purchases in its mobile apps. If you want to celebrate a streamer's victory, it's now just a few taps away... for an extra fee.
Twitch gives up-and-coming-streamers a cut of game sales
There's an additional avenue for non-Partnered Twitch streamers to make money. Now, in addition to earning money via Bits, Affiliate streamers can earn a five percent revenue share when viewers buy the game they're streaming, directly from their channel. "All Affiliates are automatically enabled to start earning from game sales starting today," according to a press release. "They only need to be playing a game that is available for sale on Twitch for a purchase button to appear on their channel page."
Twitch opens the door for more streamers to make money
You don't need to be a member of Twitch's exclusive group of Partnered streamers to start making money broadcasting on the service anymore. "Twitch will invite creators to join the program who fit the criteria, based on time spent streaming, viewership and followers," the company said in a statement. That starts with opening its "Cheering with Bits" functionality up to more people.
Twitch's in-chat tipping program generated $6 million in 2016
In June 2016, Twitch introduced Cheering, a system that allows viewers to pay their favorite partnered streamers simply by typing an emote into the chat -- and it appears to have paid off. Participating streamers get one cent for every Bit pledged in their chat rooms, and last year, Twitch saw a total of 590 million Bits Cheered. That means these streamers took home $5.9 million in Bits alone throughout the second half of 2016.
Twitch introduces 'Cheering' emotes for tipping streamers
Twitch, the popular game-streaming site, has a funding problem. Not related to the company -- it's owned by Amazon and is just fine -- but its streamers. Like on other video platforms, creators are paid based on ad views and subscriptions, and by all accounts not at a very high rate. While popular streamers make a living -- helped in part by sponsorship deals and the like -- it can be hard for smaller channels to make ends meet. That's why the sub-economy of donations and tips exists, and today, Twitch is trying to formalize that economy with a new feature it calls "Cheering."
IBM stores bits on arrays of atoms, shrinks magnetic storage to the scientific limit
IBM's Almaden Research Center is filled with some of the best and brightest minds in the world, and its researchers just released new findings that detail how just how far IBM has come in the realm of magnetic storage. Andreas Heinrich is leading the team at Big Blue that figured out how to create atomic storage based on the fact that atoms of ferromagnetic material align their spins in one direction -- so the ability to control the spin direction is what's needed to make such minature memory possible. Heinrich and his crew were able to accomplish the trick by supercooling 12 atoms to four degrees kelvin (-452 fahrenheit), and arranging them using an electron microscope in such a away that nonvolatile storage became possible. As this is only a proof of concept, we won't be seeing atomic memory at, say, CES any time soon, but you can dig into the deep science behind the breakthrough at the source link below.
'3D Towers' double disk storage capacity, don't require glasses
Here's some exciting news for all you data storage enthusiasts and academics out there: researchers in France have found a way to double the storage capacity of magnetic disk drives by constructing "3D towers" of information. The team from SPINTEC created these pillars out of bit-patterned media -- separated magnetic nanodots, each of which carries one bit of data. By layering the dots in specific formations, the team created a "multilevel magnetic recording device" with an areal density of two bits per dot -- twice what it started with. According to researcher Jerome Moritz, these findings could provide IT companies with a new way to circumvent physical limitations to their data storage capacities, allowing them to build up and over the vaunted one Tbit per square inch barrier. The team's full findings were recently published in the American Institute of Physics' Journal of Applied Physics. You can read the full article at the source link or, if you're afraid of paywalls, just check out the PR below.
Windows update software used to compromise security
After you've done the delicate Windows Validation dance, but before you actually get the latest automatic update, there's a background component running in Windows called BITS (Background Intelligent Transfer Service), tasked with acquiring the key updates that keep your system protected. So you can imagine how security analysts are very interested by Elia Florio's (of Symantec) new paper, outlining security compromises bypassing firewalls via BITS -- but there's a catch. BITS itself isn't compromised, per se, it's just a content acquisition service for Windows. In other words, your machine already has to be compromised for BITS to bypass your firewall; this kind of hack just helps whichever Trojan / worm / virus you've become infected with acquire more software components to aid in its intrusion. So the next time your mom or dad sends you bits-hack-RUN-ME.exe, think twice.[Thanks, Philip]
Get your gift on: game scarves
Bits to die for wants all your holiday money to belong to them. Check out their series of scarves featuring old school game images in knitted Italian wool. Swanky game gear that'll keep out the chill and still let people know you're a gamer.Our favorite is the pong scarf, but these are also perfect for the sidescrollers. We'd like to see one complete with tips and secret areas. Whip it off to get past a boss, and then wrap yourself back up.Black Friday is approaching quickly, check out Joystiq for more gift ideas as we march towards shopper meltdown.
