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The Pokémon Company has pledged $200k to the Hawaii Wildfire Relief Fund after announcing Honolulu as the location of next year's Pokémon World Championship.

In early July, Meta Platforms launched the Threads app, a new text-based social media app aimed at capturing the essence of real-time interactions. With a massive launch and an influx of Instagram users transitioning to Threads, the initial excitement was amazing. In fact, Threads was quickly dubbed as a "Twitter-killer". However, this enthusiasm was short-lived, as the app's active user base experienced a steep decline soon after its launch even though it had broken many records initially.

BGMI Redeem Codes for August 14: After the release of the 2.7 update of Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI), the new Dragonball collaboration has gone live, and players can earn a selection of Dragonball-themed rewards as part of it. For a limited time, players can get their hands on Dragonball characters like Goku, Vegeta, and more! So, if you're a BGMI player and a Dragonball fan, you must take advantage of this rare opportunity to get the rewards. Here's how.

Eduard Badaluta, the face model for Leon Kennedy in the Resident Evil 2 and 4 remakes, is calling on fan accounts to be deleted. In comments that have since been removed, Badaluta says these fans are running "piece of shit accounts", and says that he "doesn't need" fan accounts in the first place.

Starfield has so many gamers on the edge of their seats as its release date gets closer and closer, and players are ready to blast off into outer space. This game has many other fandoms excited as well, including the fans of Fallout. Starfield is a sci-fi game that boasts a massive open world, or should we say open galaxy. In contrast, Bethesda’s Fallout is a post-apocalyptic role-playing game with a singular yet incredibly dense map.

On Wednesday, Aug. 9, a post on the Instagram account of the teenageinfluencer Lil Tay announced the deaths of her and her half-brother. But fans questioned it, leaving skeptical comments on the post. Lil Tay’s internet presence was characterized by stunts and staged controversy, as well as strained familial relationships.

Last week, we asked you to share heartwarming moments from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights: 

Sony has quite a wide range of first-party studios that deliver thrilling video game franchises. However, one of the big studios that has captivated so many players around the world is Naughty Dog. This studio has turned over some truly remarkable video games, and they have been known for their cinematic-like video games. Their titles are so well crafted and detailed and hooks players in with the narrative that it’s no surprise we saw adaptations come out. If, by chance, you’re unfamiliar with this studio by their name, then you might recognize them from their incredible works.

The author of the Metro series of books, Dmitry Glukhovsky, has been sentenced to eight years in prison by Russian prosecutors.

Author of the Metro series novels, Dmitry Glukhovsky, has been sentenced to an eight-year prison team for spreading misinformation about the Russian army.

Have you ever tried posting that memorable group picture from your college days, office party, or a family event to Instagram Stories? The first reaction of many is instant regret when they realize they will have to manually tag each of the 10-12 people in the picture. The problem only worsens when there are multiple group pictures to be uploaded. But now, Instagram may soon bring a new feature where you can tag your entire group with a single mention. This feature is still in the testing phase, but once it does roll out, it can be a massive time-saver.

An Associated Press report says Metro 2033 author Dmitry Glukhovsky has been sentenced to eight years in prison after being found guilty of spreading false information about the Russian military in online posts.

Threads is rolling out a few feature upgrades this week intended to boost engagement as Meta's Twitter competitor works to recover some of its initial buzz.

There is a lot of hype built around the next Call of Duty game. For a few weeks now, we had seen several leaks and reports suggesting that the next game would fall within the Modern Warfare series. That eventually was confirmed, and we also had since seen the reveal of when Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III would land in the marketplace. But today, a new leak might have emerged online that stems back to the actual actor involved with the upcoming video game installment. I guess you can say this was a big mistake on this person’s part. But if you don’t want to get any spoilers potentially, it might be best to avoid reading on.

Dmitry Glukhovsky, the author behind the Metro books, has been sentenced to eight years in prison.

Dmitry Glukhovsky's case reflects Russia's ongoing crackdown on dissent, as writers and artists face stifling consequences for voicing opposing views.

Initially touted as a “Twitter-killer”, the Threads app has struggled for traction as of late. The app made an amazing debut on July 6 as it amassed 100 million followers in just 5 days, becoming the fastest platform in the world to do so. But things are looking down as the initial fad now seems to have passed. A report from market analysis firm Sensor Tower recently revealed that the average amount of time people spend on Threads daily has plummeted more than 75 percent since its debut.

The text-based social media scene is undergoing a big revolution. While Twitter, a traditional player and the pioneer of the format has been focused on building revenue opportunities for its users and working on its immersive video experience, newer players like Mastodon, Threads, and Bluesky are building a tech-forward social media experience that is being called ‘fediverse'. It essentially means that users can jump from one social media platform to another without ever having to create a new profile or lose their existing data. Taking a step in that direction, Meta's Threads dropped a major update where among other features, it was announced that Threads users will be able to verify their profile on Mastodon and other supported platforms.

BGMI Redeem Codes for August 10: After weeks of anticipation, the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) 2.7 update is finally live and it brings a ton of new content. The highlight of this update is the Dragonball Super collaboration that has introduced Dragonball-themed content in the game. Along with new game modes, and weapons, the 2.7 update also brings gameplay enhancements and bug fixes. Check out everything that's new in the BGMI 2.7 update.

If you've been on the internet for long enough, you'll have noticed its collective hive-mind has the habit of turning  even the most monstrous creatures into sex icons. If you somehow hadn't noticed that, then I'm sorry for what I'm about to bring to your attention. 

Norway's data protection agency said Tuesday it would start fining Facebook and Instagram owner Meta nearly $100,000 per day for defying a ban on using users' personal information to target ads.

Warcraft Rumble has entered a new phase in development and is unleashing joyous chaos beginning in the Philippines with a new testing phase along with an updated name. Warcraft Arclight Rumble is now Warcraft Rumble.

Microsoft seems to be gauging interest in a new kind of Age of Empires game.

Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk are still talking about having a cage match.

Meta's newest text-based app Threads has gone somewhat quiet in terms of new feature launches in the last week. The Instagram-powered platform enjoyed its moment of success when it hit the coveted 100 million user mark just a few days after its launch, but ever since then, it has failed to build upon that sudden user surge. As per reports, more than half of its users have left the platform in recent weeks. Some users have highlighted the app's lack of many basic features as one of the reasons for not preferring it over its rival platform X (formerly known as Twitter). However, things might change as Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the platform will get two of its highly requested features “in the next few weeks”.

Instagram earlier this week introduced a new feature that lets users recover their deleted posts. Instagram explained situations where hackers might gain access to your account and delete posts, and you don't have any option to recover them.

Kai Cenat, the newly-crowned King of Twitch, announced on Instagram and Twitter today that he was doing a «big New York IRL stream» at 3:30 pm ET today, complete with some kind of videogame giveaway. «Be there!» he said, and they were—literally thousands of them turned out for a shot at seeing the streamer and getting some stuff.

Last week, we asked you to think pink and share pink-colored moments from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s pink highlights: 

There’s a new rumor that there could be a new Lego Harry Potter game on the horizon.

X (formerly known as Twitter) has been working hard to make its premium subscription X Blue appear more alluring to boost the subscriber count. Recently, it added features such as unlimited DMs, potential participation in the platform's ad revenue sharing, and access to XPro (TweetDeck). Now, adding to the already long list of benefits, owner Elon Musk announced on Thursday that verified users will also be able to download videos on the microblogging platform. However, there are some restrictions to this feature, which have been likely added to give creators more power.

The next big video game series to get the Lego toy treatment may be Animal Crossing, according to new reports.

A teaser for a new Lego Harry Potter game has been spotted on Instagram, it’s been claimed.

Today was a massive day in the artificial intelligence domain. We saw big announcements from major players in this space. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp, has released a new AI tool called AudioCraft that can generate audio and music from simple text prompts. In other news, Google has shared three new ways in which users can enhance their Search experience with AI. This comes as the company plans to roll out the AI Search feature next week. And in a shocking development, it appears that Elon Musk might have bought the domain www.ai.com from OpenAI. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

American rapper Post Malone has purchased the world’s rarest trading card.

Social media giant Meta on Tuesday said it intends to ask EU-based users to give their consent before allowing targeted advertising on its networks including Facebook, bowing to pressure from European regulators.

Meta Platforms is preparing to launch a range of artificial intelligence (AI) powered chatbots that exhibit different personalities as soon as September, the Financial Times reported on Tuesday. These AI chatbots are also likely to come to Facebook and Instagram and are internally called ‘personas'. Reportedly, they will offer a new way to use search, get recommendations, and interact with social media platforms.

YouTube Shorts, short-version video sharing platform of YouTube, has crossed 2 billion views by logged-in users monthly, the company said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

It is the first day of August and some major announcements were made in the field of artificial intelligence. YouTube is working on some experimental AI features that will allow it to auto-generate video summaries. In other news, Meta is developing AI personas for Facebook and Instagram that will offer a new way to interact with social media platforms. This and more in today's AI roundup. Let us take a closer look.

Several large Pokémon content creators have been banned on Instagram, with no reason given for the ban.

In a bid to enhance the capabilities of its latest microblogging platform and thereby compete in a much better way with Elon Musk's X, the former Twitter, the new Meta platform Threads is set to introduce the direct messaging (DMs) functionality, allowing users to engage in conversations with their friends and followers in a much more engaging way. Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, confirmed this development in a recent statement to the Washington Post. With Facebook and Instagram, other social media platforms under Meta's umbrella, already equipped with DM options, the integration into Threads should be a relatively smooth process, positioning it to compete with X on a much better footing.

An Overwatch 2 John Cena collaboration looks more likely than ever right now, as the professional wrestler turned actor shares a cryptic post to his Instagram page amid rife speculation about an upcoming Overwatch 2 character. As we head towards the Overwatch 2 season 6 release date, many streams of the Blizzard FPS game have been interrupted by a mysterious figure ‘hacking’ into their broadcast to tease the Overwatch 2 Invasion update.

Soon you might be able to shop without leaving the TikTok app.

Lizzo has fully embraced Legolas cosplay — silver hair, pointed ears, and all. In a series of TikTok and Instagram posts, the pop star dubbed herself “Lizzolas” and galavanted through what appears to be The Shire in New Zealand. Let the Lizzolas era begin.

Bungie composer Ella Feingold, who has been orchestrating Destiny since 2015, has posted an image on Instagram of a score sheet with a notable name on it: P. McCartney (spotted by VGC). The title of the composition has been obscured, while the orchestration is credited to Feingold and Jordan Cox, and lest there were any doubt, Feingold's caption reads «Yeah that P. McCartney. That's all I can say for now.» 

Last week, we asked you to think pink and share pink-colored moments from the game of your choice using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s pink highlights: 

This Week in Business is our weekly recap column, a collection of stats and quotes from recent stories presented with a dash of opinion (sometimes more than a dash) and intended to shed light on various trends. Check back every Friday for a new entry.

Elements of Paul McCartney’s Destiny 1 theme will seemingly be incorporated for new music coming to the game.

Regardless of your stance on plundering graves, whether your anaconda does or not, Lara Croft and Nicki Minaj are coming to Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and Warzone 2.0. It's the kind of straightforward, surreal video game news we enjoy indulging in, and it's just a small part of what's in store for Call of Duty fans, with Season 5 rolling out on 2nd August.

The European Commission, which announced Thursday an inquiry into Microsoft's promotion of its Teams messaging app, has fought US tech giants on fronts from tax avoidance, disinformation and hate speech to data privacy and monopolistic practices.

BGMI Redeem Codes for July 27: This year's biggest Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) tournament, named the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series (BGIS) 2023, is set to start soon and the registrations are already ongoing. Since making its comeback in India, this is the first official tournament organized by Krafton, the game's developer. At present, The Grind is taking place where a total of 256 teams have participated, and only 64 of them will proceed to the second round of the main tournament.

After a launch that saw a surge in sign-ups, interest in Meta’s Twitter competitor, Threads, continues to drop off.

Warning! This article contains spoilers for Secret Invasion season 1. If you've yet to finish the show, turn back now.

At a time when Elon Musk is busy driving Twitter's rebranding to X, the Instagram-powered Threads has quietly rolled out one of the biggest Android updates so far. The update added a crucial feature to the text-based social media platform that was missing so far. The new update will add a chronological ‘Following' tab to the app, that will now enable the users to see a separate feed with posts from only those who the user is following. This has been one of the biggest requests from Threads users ever since the launch of the app, and now the developers have duly obliged.

It's rare for corporate brands to become so intertwined with everyday conversation that they become verbs. It's rarer still for the owner of such a brand to announce plans to intentionally destroy it.

The Meta Quest Pro has been in the VR space for less than a year, yet recent rumors speculate that its successor, and the entire future of the Quest Pro VR line, might be in trouble. Meta itself, however, says different.

After all of Twitter’s self-inflicted wounds over the last nine months, the remaining employees at the service that is now rebranding itself to “X” can console themselves with this data point: People still hate Facebook a little more. 

Instagram down: For a third time this month, the popular social media platform Instagram has suffered a massive outage, leaving thousands of users struggling to access the various features on the platform. According to reports, more than 16000 users have reported facing issues with the app and the web interface of the platform.

TikTok, the social platform known for its addictive video content, announced Monday that it will offer text-only posts, becoming the latest tech giant to offer an alternative to embattled Twitter.

The Wowhead team is hiring a Social Media Manager to help us keep our socials informative and fresh as the team continues to expand! This is a paid freelancer opportunity, and we're looking for someone that's a huge Warcraft, Diablo 4, and Wowhead fan.

This is not investment advice. The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. Wccftech.com has a disclosure and ethics policy.

After a wildly successful first few days, Threads popularity has waned in the weeks since Meta launched its challenge to Twitter, which lives on despite its problems.

Just after receiving a huge response in the world of microblogging, the popularity of Threads seems to be fading away - fast. Instagram's ambitious attempt to compete with Twitter through its app "Threads" is facing significant challenges.

India is facing a growing threat from cybercriminals who exploit virtual numbers with the +92 country code, often associated with Pakistan, to carry out fraudulent activities. Recently, a new online scam has emerged, where scammers impersonate the so-called 'Bhai' from Dubai, enticing unsuspecting individuals with promises of attractive rewards like a free iPhone 14. One such victim, Virag Doshi, a 24-year-old businessman from Ahmedabad, fell prey to this deceitful scheme.

Last week, we asked you grab a fedora and share gaming moments that capture the spirit of noir using #PSshare #PSBlog. Here are this week’s highlights: 

Nearly five billion people, or slightly more than 60 percent of the world's population, are active on social media, according to a recent study.

BGMI Redeem Codes for July 21: All the Battlegrounds Mobile India (BGMI) teams in India are gearing up for this year's biggest contest yet, the Battlegrounds Mobile India Series (BGIS) 2023. In anticipation of the tournament, The Grind has already begun with several teams in Groups 1 and 2 competing. On day 1, Numen Esports find themselves at the top position in Group 1 with a staggering 48 points on the board. In Group 2, Reckoning Esports performed even better with 57 points taking them to the summit of the group. Both these teams, along with several others have qualified for the next round.

Garena Free Fire redeem codes for July 21: The developers of Garena Free Fire MAX are constantly rolling out several events in the game, but this does not mean they have forgotten about Free Fire, as the same events are live there too. Although the game is still banned in India, players outside the country can take part in exciting battle royale matches. Now, a new event named Bunny Upgrade event could go live in the game soon.

Netflix's first original African animated series premiered on Thursday in a debut its creator said she hoped would pave the way for more productions from the continent.

At almost exactly this time last year, news broke that Ben Affleck was coming back to Batman, reprising his role as the Caped Crusader in James Wan’s Aquaman 2, aka Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom. Affleck said he was done playing Batman in DC’s live-action movies all the way back in 2019 — he even had a send-off ceremony for his run as the character. Previously he played Bruce Wayne in Zack Snyder’s Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, then reprised the role in Justice League and cameoed in the David Ayer edition of Suicide Squad.

Missed the GamesBeat Summit excitement? Don't worry! Tune in now to catch all of the live and virtual sessions here.

Horror comic Hack/Slash is back with a new spinoff and a new creator in 2023 Eisner Award nominee Zoe Thorogood.