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Watch your favorite games quickly conquered for charity here!
It's the long holiday weekend, we're smack dab in the middle of the summer drought for big game releases and you want to make it to Tuesday with all your fingers intact. That basically rules out lighting fireworks or playing a new game. And, let's face it, the chances of you actually playing anything you bought during the Steam summer sale are slim, at best. What's there to do? How about plopping down and watching a ton of video games beaten in record time, for charity?
'Mega Man' stars in charity speedrunning marathon this weekend
Are you ready to watch 160 hours of people playing through video games incredibly quickly? Then grab some snacks, coffee and a spot in the most comfortable seat in your house because Summer Games Done Quick returns this weekend to sate all your vicarious speed-running desires. Games on tap include the ultra-tough Demon's Souls and Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze as well as classic fare like The Legend of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, Tetris: The Grand Master Series, multiple Mega Mans and Super Metroid. If you need a schedule to plan your holiday weekend around, that lives over on the Games Done Quick homepage.
Facebook's new tool will help you raise funds for charity orgs
It's now much easier to raise funds for your favorite causes and charity organizations on Facebook. The social network has begun rolling out a tool that'll enable you to create personal fundraisers for 501c3 nonprofits verified by the company, including The Nature Conservancy, Alzheimer's Association and Oxfam. Best thing about these campaigns is that they'll allow your friends to donate money within Facebook itself -- it won't send them to an external website.
Google.org pledges $20 million to support disability technologies
The World Health Organization estimates 1 billion people across the world live with disabilities, and Google's philanthropy division, Google.org, just pledged $20 million to help improve their situations. The money is spread across 29 programs working on disability technologies -- the average amount they'll each receive is $750,000, with six of the grant winners getting more than $1 million, Wired reports.
Bowie tribute concert at Radio City will be streamed on Skype
A pair of concerts will offer a tribute to David Bowie in New York City this week, and you'll be able to stream one of them. Due to "unprecedented interest," concert organizers are teaming up with Skype and Ammado so that Bowie fans around that world can watch live performances from Radio City Music Hall on April 1st. This is actually the second show, added after the response for the first event that's set for Thursday at Carnegie Hall. The Carnegie Hall date for "The Music of David Bowie," a tribute show that will raise money for music education, was announced just before the singer passed away in January. Both nights sold out immediately.
The People's Operator now has a super-cheap 4G plan
When The People's Operator (TPO) launched in the UK in 2012, it stood out for two reasons. On the one hand, a quarter of the company's profits are piped into a charitable foundation, and 10 percent of subscriber spend goes to a charity of their choice. Kudos where kudos is due, but initially high data costs seriously limited the MVNO's potential audience. In subsequent years, TPO -- which piggybacks on EE's network -- has improved the attractiveness of its tariffs, though they've remained 3G-only. Today, however, TPO has finally caught up with the times, announcing its first 4G plan with 2GB of data, 600 minutes and unlimited texts for £7 per month.
Live speedrunning marathon raises $1.2 million for charity
Games Done Quick offers exactly what its name promises: a marathon of video games played quickly -- this is called "speedrunning" -- in front of a live audience and streamed online. The coolest part is that the organization does all of this twice a year for charity. The winter event is called Awesome Games Done Quick and it just wrapped up with a whopping $1.2 million raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation (which also offers what its name promises).
See games played quickly for charity at 12PM Eastern
If you didn't catch the Games Done Quick crew's summer charity run, you're about to get a second chance: the speedrun specialists are starting their winter campaign, Awesome Games Done Quick, at 12PM Eastern. The week-long event will see volunteers blaze through a mix of titles to raise funds for cancer prevention. It promises to be quite eclectic. Things kick off with Nintendo's frenetic shooter Splatoon, and you'll see both numerous classics (including the notoriously tough Battletoads) through to modern hits like Bloodborne. There are perks for donating, too, such as getting to influence the stream. Tune in below, and chip in if you're eager to support a good cause.
Spend an afternoon with the 'Sonic' charity marathon
The fine folks at Respawn Point are in the middle of a non-stop, seven-day Sonic the Hedgehog marathon, livestreamed on Twitch and benefiting UK charity Special Effect, which helps people with disabilities play video games. The stream started on December 27th and runs through January 3rd. Respawn Point's stream team is playing a lineup of historically significant Sonic games, starting with 1991's Sonic the Hedgehog and including notoriously awful installments like the 2006 Sonic disaster.
'Take This' livestream starts today with video game stars, swag
Take This is a non-profit that educates and supports those with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, with a focus on the video game community. Starting today at 12PM ET, Take This hits Twitch for a two-day livestream starring BioShock creator Ken Levine, popular gaming critic Jim Sterling, Tom Clancy's son and game developer Thom Clancy, and other famous figures of the industry. Donate during the stream for a chance to win sweet gaming swag, including a signed Octodad poster, an IGN gift pack, a remote-controlled replica of Claptrap from Borderlands or a custom Fallout 4 Xbox One.
Tinder wants to talk to you about organ donation
If you're hot and horny then there's one thing that's guaranteed to kill the mood stone dead: a long discussion about organ donation. Tinder isn't too worried about harshing that buzz, which is why it's teamed up with the UK's blood and transplant service to raise awareness about the importance of organ donation. For the next two weeks, users will be able to spot celebrity profiles like Olympic gold medalist Jade Jones as well as TV stars Jamie Laing and Gemma Oaten. If you swipe right on any of the three, you'll be greeted with a notification saying "if only it was that easy for those in need of a life-saving organ to find a match."
Zuckerberg denies that his new organization is a tax dodge
Mark Zuckerberg is well aware that a lot of people think he's giving away $45 billion worth of Facebook shares to dodge taxes. That's why he's taken to Facebook yet again to clarify that the Chan-Zuckerberg Initiative is a limited liability company (LLC) and not a traditional charitable organization. The difference? By setting up an LLC, Mark and Dr. Chan won't be able to take advantage of tax deductions and can only get tax breaks if they donate money to charities. As Zuckerberg seems to imply in his post, if he really wanted a way to dodge taxes, he'd have set up a traditional foundation instead.
Watch live streamers play developers at their own games for charity
Erin Robinson Swink, developer of the hand-painted space-physics game, Gravity Ghost, has a simple reason driving her passion for green energy and environmental advocacy: asthma. "I remember how awful it was needing an inhaler as a kid," she says. Air pollution -- driven in large part by burning coal -- contributed to her respiratory disease. Today, Robinson Swink is combining her love of game development and clean energy for a three-day event called Beat the Dev on Twitch. The show is live now, and it promises to feature developers behind Borderlands 2, Uncharted 3, Super Meat Boy, Octodad, Nuclear Throne, Journey, Darksiders II and 17 others playing their own games against a lineup of live-streamers. Donations made during the event will benefit The Sierra Club and its clean-air, green-energy advocacy efforts.
Facebook is testing a new set of tools for nonprofits
Facebook wants to make it easier for nonprofits to collect donations and spread awareness of their causes. The social media giant recently announced that it's testing a new feature called "fundraisers", a dedicated channel found on a nonprofit's Facebook page. It lets charities tell their story, gather supporters, collect donations and track progress all from the one place. People who want to help can give money and share the nonprofit's information with their friends, with the existing Donate button included in each shared post, meaning folks don't have to leave their News Feed in order to support a cause. The button is also going to appear at the top of Pages, giving nonprofits more opportunity to raise money. These new features are currently being tested with 37 partner organizations and should expand to others "in the future".
Watch people play 'Desert Bus' for days in the name of charity
Penn & Teller's Desert Bus mini game is legendary for its tongue-in-cheek monotony (you drive 8 hours to score a single point), but it's also a force for good: the Desert Bus for Hope campaign has raised $2.4 million for the Child's Play hospital charity over the years. Well, the volunteer group is at it again with the just-launched Desert Bus 9... and this may be one of its most ambitious fundraising efforts yet. The team is planning to stream live gameplay from the notorious Sega Genesis title for as long as donations allow, which could be quite a while when last year's effort lasted for 158 hours -- that's nearly a full week. If you like the idea of an epic video game endurance test helping a noble cause, tune in below and consider sending some cash to Desert Bus for Hope at the source link. [Image credit: Andrew Ferguson]
Indiegogo rebrands charity as Generosity(.com)
Indiegogo will rebrand Indiegogo Life, its service to raise money for good causes, as Generosity.com. Launching later today, the platform will charge no fees, set no deadline and use Indiegogo's backend to run each campaign, much as it has done for the past year. The site will (re)launch with four new high-profile initiatives that require your cash, including helping Syrian refugees start new lives and funding STEM education for girls. It's another high-profile break with rival crowdfunding site Kickstarter, which had to break its own rules to launch a campaign to help Syrian refugees. It's also interesting that Indiegogo has opted to take its name off the service, perhaps showing a degree of self-awareness that its online reputation isn't the best. Update: The site hasn't gone live yet, but we've been told that the site will be branded as "Generosity by Indiegogo," so ignore that line about it being aware of its own terrible reputation.
Google will match your donations to migrant and refugee relief
As you're no doubt aware, Europe is facing a crisis: it's struggling to accommodate scores of migrants and refugees coming to the continent in search of a better life. If you're wondering how you can help, you'll be glad to hear that Google is making things easier. It just launched a campaign that will see it match donations until it raises a total of €10 million ($11.3 million) toward migrant and refugee relief. Any money you send will be distributed to four nonprofits (Doctors Without Borders, International Rescue Committee, Save the Children and the UN) providing food, security and shelter to those in need. Google's effort won't solve everything, but it's worth checking out if you previously felt powerless to help. Update: (9/19): Google announced that it has reached the €10 million goal, and its website has links for those still interested in donating to contact the programs directly. [Image credit: AP Photo/Selcuk Bulent]
'Halo,' 'Surgeon Simulator' devs join the War Child game jam
War Child, a London-based charity that aims to improve the lives of children affected by war, is collaborating with influential developers to create a collection of games titled HELP: Real War is Not a Game. Participating developers include 343 Industries (Halo 5: Guardians), Bossa Studios (Surgeon Simulator), Creative Assembly (Alien: Isolation), Team 17 (Worms) and Hinterland (The Long Dark), all of which will participate in a six-day game jam organized by War Child. This means the studios will have just six days to create the games for HELP, and the full compilation will be sold digitally in late March 2016. Proceeds will go toward funding War Child's efforts in global conflict zones.
Dog emoji keyboard encourages you to adopt real pups
There are plenty of cute emoji keyboard add-ons out there, but one from the UK's Dogs Trust is going above and beyond to raise awareness for a good cause. The charity has released a dog emoji keyboard where every icon is based on a dog available for adoption. Load it up and you can show your fondness for specific breeds, such as Huskies and Greyhounds, while remembering that there's a real pup looking for a home. The keyboard is free on both Android and iOS, so it won't hurt to give this a shot and spread the word... especially on National Dog Day.
Facebook's 'Donate Now' button makes it easy to help non-profits
If you've ever wanted to make an online contribution to a non-profit but were put off by having to wade through the organization's website, Facebook has your back. It's deploying a "Donate Now" button that can pop up both in ads and on non-profits' social network pages. Click it and you can go straight to a donation link instead of tracking it down yourself. It'll take a while before you see the button in your feed, but it could be a big help the next time you're eager to fund a good cause.
