Victoria Fox's Blog, page 167

Accidental Repost On TikTok? Here’s How To Undo It

You can easily undo an accidental repost by accessing the video itself through the mobile app. If you still have the TikTok video playing onscreen, this is the easiest method to use. If not, you can easily use the app’s search function to look up the video that you mistakenly reposted and do the following:

Open the video you didn’t mean to repost.Tap the Share icon. It’s the right-pointing arrow in the right navigation panel.Tap “Remove repost.”

The repost will automatically be undone, without the need to confirm the action again. A brief “Your repost has been removed” message should then appear on the top of the TikTok video.

Similarly, you can also access all your reposts and remove the ones you no longer want through your own TikTok profile page. Provided that you’ve updated to the latest version of the TikTok mobile app, here’s what you do:

Launch TikTok.From the bottom navigation menu, tap Profile.Navigate to your profile’s Repost tab. It’s the icon with the two arrows forming a circle.Select the TikTok video you want to disassociate your account from.Tap the Share icon.Hit “Remove repost.”

Again, a quick notification should appear onscreen informing you that the repost has been removed. Different from a previous version of the TikTok app, a confirmation pop-up will no longer appear afterward.

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5 Top Rated Android Smartphones For Gamers

Samsung’s number one flagship phone, the Galaxy S23 Ultra, wasn’t exactly built with only gaming in mind. But in terms of performance and gaming experience, it delivers as well as, if not better, than most other phones engineered specifically for gamers.

It boasts Samsung’s best chip yet, the custom-built Snapdragon 8 Gen 2, crafted to support peak performance for long periods, 8 or 12 GB of RAM, and up to 1 TB of storage. It also has a 1440 x 3088-pixel 6.8-inch AMOLED display with a 120Hz refresh rate. All of these specs are supported by a battery we have tested that can last a day without needing to charge.

Apart from the hardware numbers, the S23 Ultra has some pro-gaming features you should know. One of the physical characteristics that earmark it from the S22 predecessor is its flatter sides, which gives it a better grip for playing games in landscape mode. Also, the S23 has a hidden feature that lets you direct power straight to the CPU instead of the battery while charging the phone. This helps reduce heat throttling and improve performance while keeping your phone plugged in.

However, the S23 Ultra is expensive and doesn’t offer the same gaming-oriented hardware, cooling features, and dedicated gaming software that other phones on this list will offer.

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Students With iPhones Will Appreciate These Helpful Homework Apps

If, like most students, you frequently struggle with math more than any other subject, then Mathway might be for you. This learning app is dedicated to answering math homework, covering a spectrum from Algebra to Statistics, and even extends to math-related Chemistry and Physics problems.

Mathway’s interface is straightforward and user-friendly. When you open the app, you can only see three main tabs: Camera, Keyboard, and History. The camera tab is where you can snap a photo of your handwritten or printed math problem.

The keyboard tab, on the other hand, is for instances when you want to type the problem instead. It features different keyboards specialized for each subject. For instance, the Trigonometry keyboard includes keys like sin, cos, and tan, while the Physics keyboard has Greek alphabet keys. Additionally, if you prefer dictating the problem, you can do so from the keyboard tab. Finally, the history tab contains a log of the problems you previously asked about.

After inputting your question on the app, Mathway will ask you how you’d like the problem to be solved. The options vary depending on the question asked but could include things like “Find the Roots,” “Solve for x,” and “Graph.” Once you’ve selected an approach, Mathway breaks down the solution for you step-by-step, explaining the process as short and simple as possible. While Mathway is indeed a handy app, it’s important to note that Mathway isn’t a free service. To access the solutions, you’ll need a Mathway+ account.

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Children get a new museum of answers in Mumbai

Mumbai’s newest children’s museum, the Museum of Solutions, blends objects and experiences

Children clamber up an abstract structure that looks like a cross between Jack’s giant beanstalk from the fairytale and an art installation. “I am constantly in awe of the way children of all ages interact with the climber,” says Tanvi Jindal Shete, CEO and founder of the Museum of Solutions (MuSo), Mumbai, while pointing to the Luckey Climber, an interactive three-dimensional climbing device which is a staple in many children’s museums across the world and has just arrived in India. “Along the way, they make friends, learn to collaborate, and collectively have fun in a visually stunning and experientially superior environment.”

Museum of Solutions, which opened on 26 November, is a not-for-profit children’s museum designed as a large educational laboratory with learn-through-play devices and programming.

While all children’s museums are designed as learn-through-play spaces that foster an interest in science, art, and design through interactive devices, each museum recasts this purpose differently. Mumbai’s other, older museum, CSMVS Children’s Museum, is a creative cultural lab that also has a mock archaeological pit and a 95-year-old African baobab. At MuSo, there are exhibits, devices, a recycling centre, and investigation stations that encourage children to find solutions to real-world problems through play.

Also read: Book excerpt: 12 simple steps in which children can build high self-esteem

Shete, a former Teach for India fellow, noticed a paucity of meaningful activities and spaces for children to learn and play in Mumbai. She visited many children’s museums around the world to understand their design, visitor experience and outcomes. The result is MuSo, which will not only serve members of the public, but will also offer 50% of its school visits free of cost. This will ensure that children from government schools, anganwadis (rural childcare and development centres), and municipal schools can access the museum’s resources, which are available in English and Hindi, she explains.

And there are plenty of resources. In the rapid prototyping studio, which is part of the Make Lab at MuSo, children can use 3D printers to create models and figurines or build from scratch with whatever they find around them.

Tanvi Jindal Shete, CEO and founder of the Museum of Solutions

Looking for solutions, the museum tells children, can be fun and meaningful. The Bernoulli shooter, for instance, is a great way to explore science. It creates a steady air stream that can hold objects in the air, even at an angle. Children need to use the horizontal and vertical rotation as well as throttle move a floating ball through three target hoops and complete a challenge. Children need to figure out the exact movements to make this work.

Also read: Play together to stay together

The museum’s other zones include the Grow Lab, the Discover Lab, and a quiet zone called the Library of Solutions, a child-led lending library of books and games. The Discover Lab’s overarching theme is water and the museum plans to move on to other themes in the future. In the lab’s empathy zone, interactive storytelling exhibits focus on water and its use in Mumbai.

One of the most interesting interactive exhibits is the talking matka (earthen pot) in the Discover Lab. Designed with headphones and helmets, children can wear these matkas and walk through three simulated pathways, listening to interactive stories and understanding which path would be most suitable based on spillage and safety. The ways to engage children are fun but there is a deeper, more meaningful cultural anchor in every exhibit that will make the learning stick for a long time to come.

Shweta Sharan is a freelance writer based in Mumbai.

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From pixels to pop culture

Do you want to get the latest gaming industry news straight to your inbox? Sign up for our daily and weekly newsletters here .

Here’s my opening speech at GamesBeat at The Game Awards event at the Grammy Museum at LA Live on December 7.

The Game Awards is the biggest celebration of gaming that we have with more than 100 million people watching it. So we felt there was no better time to do an event that helped celebrate gaming with the GamesBeat community. 

We are here today to celebrate gaming’s rise. When I was growing up, gaming was new. For many years, it was stuck in a subculture of nerdiness. It was toxic. It was full of bullies. And there weren’t many women. It was clearly in a subculture off by itself. Fun for some.

I was on a panel not long ago with a young GenZ woman who was a creator. She said that for as long as she remembered, gaming was cool. And that’s the inspiring generational difference in perspective between an older guy like me and a young woman who sees gaming is for everybody.

While gaming started as a subculture, it is becoming mass culture with every day that passes. The average age of gamers is climbing (now at 33), and 66% of Americans play games. And while toxicity isn’t a solved problem, 88% of gamers say that gaming relieves stress. 

It’s great to see this inexorable demographic trend pushing games forward.

Yet we have layoffs in the industry that make it seem like times are really bad and unpredictable. I wouldn’t minimize that hardship, and I realize it is a difficult time for the industry and for the world. But I do want to say there is light on the road ahead. The revelation of the Grand Theft Auto VI trailer – leaked a day early – made me feel like we were turning a corner.

A beach in Vice City in the GTA VI trailer.

I don’t think we need to worry that gaming is stuck in a cycle of upturns and downturns like in the past. The demographics of the world and the interests of GenZ show that gaming’s growth is constant. And the success of shows like The Last of Us, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, and Five Nights at Freddy’s show that there is more room to grow.

It is worth pointing out, as Strauss Zelnick has said, that gaming is a better and more profitable business than movies and TV. But these shows and the incredible success of the Barbie movie show how movies can expand the number of eyeballs and raise awareness about entertainment even higher.

169 million people have seen the Mario movie, and it has lifted Nintendo’s game sales. We’re not at peak gaming, and the success of gaming and Hollywood is helping us find new audiences at a time when we need it. But as Russell Binder says, gaming is at the center of the hub and spoke ecosystem of IP. It’s not just a spoke anymore.

And despite the looming worries about AI, jobs are being created even as some are being lost. 

Creators are ignoring traditional paths into the industry and they’re crafting their own careers. We’ve seen esports stars do that for a long time, and more people are making a living as streamers. And I wrote a feature about some of the three million active creators on Roblox. 

Anne Shoemaker is head of Fullflower Studio, which makes popular Roblox games.

These are young people who are maybe 23-year-old CEOs, and they’ve got a decade of experience creating games. They’re leading teams of dozens, and they’re inspired by the prediction from Dave Baszucki, CEO of Roblox, that within the next five years we will see a Roblox game studio valued at $1 billion. 

Gaming is the biggest entertainment industry with $184.4 billion in revenue in 2022, according to Newzoo. And while the predicted 0.6% rise this year isn’t great, it’s better than shrinkage. And The Game Awards tonight will show it’s been an incredible year for great games to be launched. Once we get over this slowdown, consultants like Bain see growth returning for games and hitting 50% over the next five years.

Searching for that growth is one of the reasons we’re gathering here today, so that you can see the opportunities ahead.  This is your place to network and discuss the industry in a safe space. We’re glad to share this space too. Jon Wolheim, who is head of people and culture at the nonprofit Games for Love, is here to do more celebratory LinkedIn Live sessions after our show. 

Thank you for coming. We appreciate your support at a tough time for the media. We appreciate the community that you have helped build around GamesBeat. Our work is not easy and we sometimes encounter stories that people don’t want told. As journalists, we tell those stories and do so in as fair and balanced way that we can. Events like this, and your help as an open community, enable us to carry on that work.

Today we want to discuss gaming’s culture and to help elevate it so that it becomes all that we want it to be. I think it is time to decide just how tribal – and how inclusive – we want to be as gamers. As gaming moves to pop culture and mainstream audiences, we can shed the exclusionary elements of harassment and toxicity and put out the welcome mat for everybody. 

Pedro Pascal as Joel and Bella Ramsey as Ellie in HBO’s The Last of Us.

All gamers should be ambassadors for the world. We are quite happy to export the good things from the subculture upward to the global pop culture and leave the negative elements behind. 

Thank you to our speakers. About 39% of our speakers are from diverse backgrounds today. We’re thankful to our sponsors – Google, TikTok and Xsolla – who enabled us to invite many people including underrepresented folks in our audience today for no cost. It’s great to see the crowd here because a month ago we had very little advance signups. We want to get in the swing of more advance planning. 

As noted, our upcoming events include GamesBeat Summit in mid-May 2024 and GamesBeat Next in October 2024. And we will hold a series of dinners around the country as part of a partnership with Xsolla that was announced today. 

Thanks to all of you for coming, thanks to our advisers, and to our emcee Karla Reyes. Now let’s get on with our first session. Welcome to Pixels to Pop Culture. Thanks to those of you who attended. We’ll have more coverage of the event coming.

GamesBeat’s creed when covering the game industry is “where passion meets business.” What does this mean? We want to tell you how the news matters to you — not just as a decision-maker at a game studio, but also as a fan of games. Whether you read our articles, listen to our podcasts, or watch our videos, GamesBeat will help you learn about the industry and enjoy engaging with it. Discover our Briefings.

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The Luxury Car Elon Musk Totaled In Seconds

Musk and Peter Thiel (one of the founders of PayPal) were on their way to meet with venture capitalist Mike Moritz to seek investment in PayPal when Musk crashed the F1 on a Palo Alto road.

As he told Pando Daily, “We’re driving up Sand Hill Road, and I didn’t really know how to drive the McLaren.” Thiel asked Musk what the car was capable of, to which Musk cheekily responded, “Watch this.” Musk said he then floored it and immediately lost control of the 640-horsepower beast, crashing it into an embankment. All of the glass in the car was shattered, and it suffered extensive body damage, but fortunately, neither man was injured. 

Musk didn’t have insurance on the car, however, and ultimately had to repair it out of pocket. He kept the F1 until 2007, and this past summer, the car was displayed at the Goodwood Festival of Speed in West Sussex, England. However, the crash did irreparable damage to Musk and Thiel’s business relationship. In his book “The Contrarian: Peter Thiel and Silicon Valley’s Pursuit of Power,” author Max Chafkin wrote, “The experience shook Thiel, who came to see Musk as reckless” (via Business Insider).

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5 Of The Best Apps For Backing Up Photos And Videos

Microsoft OneDrive is a popular option for people who frequently use software like Outlook, Wood, and PowerPoint. When you sign up for Microsoft 365’s free plan, you will receive 5GB of cloud storage and OneDrive photo and file backup abilities. If you need more storage, you can upgrade to Microsoft 365 Basic for $19.99 per year or $1.99 per month, which gives you 100GB of storage along with the web and mobile versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint, and other Microsoft apps.

The Microsoft OneDrive app is good if you’re looking for an all-inclusive package that allows you to back up your photos and videos along with other software to help with work, school, and other daily life activities. However, be aware that some features listed on the app’s preview page are only available if you have a paid subscription like access to an entire folder on the app while being offline. Still, with such high review ratings, it may still be worth it for you.

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DNA companies should receive the death penalty for getting hacked

Personal data is the new gold. The recent 23andMe data breach is a stark reminder of a chilling reality — our most intimate, personal information might not be as secure as we think. It’s a damning indictment of the sheer negligence of companies that, while profiting from our DNA, are failing to protect it.

The 23andMe breach saw hackers gaining access to a whopping 6.9 million users’ personal information, including family trees, birth years and geographic locations. It brings to the fore a few significant questions: Are companies really doing enough to protect our data? Should we trust them with our most intimate information?

Companies are promising to keep our data safe, but there are a couple of quirks here. Government overreach is certainly a possibility, as the FBI and every policing agency in the world is probably salivating at the thought of getting access to such a huge dataset of DNA sequences. It could be a gold mine for every cold case from here to the South Pole.

The argument, “But if you haven’t done something wrong, you have nothing to worry about!” is only partially applicable, here: The problem is one of consent. My father at one point did a DNA test, and discovered he had a half-brother who is about to turn 80. Cue an incredible amount of family drama when they started digging into the history and unearthed a whole bunch of potentially problematic family history.

The problem isn’t so much that my dad chose to do that, it is that I didn’t consent to being in a database, and that’s where things get sticky. I can envision a definite Black Mirror-esque future, where one family member is curious about their ancestry, gets tested, and two weeks later, the FBI comes knocking on every person’s door who shares 50% DNA with that person because they are wanted for some sort of crime.

The audacity of 23andMe, and companies like it, is astounding. They pitch themselves as guardians of our genetic history, as the gatekeepers of our ancestral pasts and potential medical futures. But when the chips are down and our data is leaked, they hide behind the old “we were not hacked; it was the users’ old passwords” excuse.

This logic is equivalent to a bank saying, “It’s not our fault your money got stolen; you should have had a better lock on your front door.” It’s unacceptable and a gross abdication of responsibility.

Companies that deal with such sensitive data should be held to the highest possible standard. We’re not just talking about credit card numbers or email addresses here. This is our DNA, the very blueprint of our existence. If anything should be considered “sacred” in the digital realm, surely it should be this?

The fact that the stolen data was advertised as a list of people with ancestries that have, in the past, been victims of systemic discrimination, adds another disturbing layer to this debacle. It highlights the potential for such data to be misused in the most nefarious ways, including targeted attacks and discrimination.

The DNA testing industry needs to step up. It must ensure that the security measures in place are not just adequate, but exceptional. They should be leading the charge in cybersecurity, setting an example for all other industries to follow.

This is not just about better passwords or two-factor authentication. This is about a fundamental shift in how these companies view the data they are entrusted with. It’s about recognizing the profound responsibility they have, not just to their customers, but to society at large.

Am I hopeful? Not even a little. I’ve long argued that after the Equifax breach, the company should have received the corporate equivalent of the death penalty. Instead, it was given a $700 million fine. I think that’s laughable. Allowing a breach of such a magnitude to even be possible, never mind actually come to pass? You don’t deserve to continue to be a company. I think that is even truer for companies dealing with our DNA.

It’s time for 23andMe and the DNA testing industry as a whole to realize that they are not just dealing with data. They are dealing with people’s lives, their histories and their futures. It’s time they started treating our data with the respect and care it deserves.

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Travelsist hopes its air travel concierge will take off from Atlanta

If you are dreading to catch flights over the holiday season, you are not alone. Forget about marveling at the wonder that is flying; going through an airport is still very much a hassle, and this is where Atlanta-based startup Travelsist can help.

There are several sides to what the company does, including an AI-enabled chatbot called VERA. But “at the simplest level,” its team told me, “the Travelsist platform connects travelers who need help getting through the airport with a Travelsistant who provides concierge and personal assistant services that help get them from their ride to plane-side safely and on time.”

Founded by former flight attendant Veronica Woodruff, the startup was a Startup Battlefield company at TechCrunch Disrupt earlier this year. At the time, I highlighted how it was part of a growing group of startups that make life easier for disabled individuals; but there are many more people that Travelsist can help, including working moms like Woodruff.

“I arrived at the airport one day for a cross-country flight, and realized I’d left my daughter’s stroller at home,” she recalled.

From parents to seniors to first-time fliers, there are many who could use a hand, and there is more than wheelchair or stroller services that can make airports more accessible; which is why Travelsist also provides passengers “help with wayfinding, or other physical or navigational support in what is oftentimes a very stressful and chaotic portion of their trip.”

Behind the scenes

While Travelsist’s end users are the passengers, the startup’s customers are airports and airlines (except for a few exceptions where passengers can request assistance and pay for it themselves).

Going B2B2C make sense: These have a legal obligation to assist people with disabilities, for instance, but it often proves expensive and tricky, which is why they are willing to outsource it to a third party like Travelsist.

Travelsist doesn’t simply find people who can provide assistance; it also leverages technology to make the whole process more efficient. For instance, the platform reduces waiting time for assistance by locating where it is required, Woodruff told me.

While the company received international interest, the U.S. was its initial focus, starting with Atlanta — and not just Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport (ATL). Travelsist is now able to assist passengers flying in and out of the two biggest airports in its hometown. Since Disrupt, it closed a partnership with DeKalb-Peachtree Airport (PDK), which Woodruff described to me as “a popular regional Atlanta-area airport that services lots of private flights and VIP travelers.”

It is a natural evolution for Travelsist to expand its audience, and it already has. Since its inception four years ago and subsequent launch in 2020, the company wrote in a document which head of product Dino Decespedes shared with me, “Travelsist’s value proposition has evolved from babygear rental for moms who travel, to an enterprise software solution solving human capital headaches for the world’s busiest airports and airliners.”

Talking to Woodruff in person, the human element mentioned above comes across much more clearly, and it becomes clear how she is passionate not only about helping travelers, but also providing Travelsistants with fulfilling and potentially life-changing work opportunities.

“What I love most about being able to offer people the opportunity to work at a company that’s at the airport is that they have an opportunity to meet someone that’s beyond their front door. There’s so many people that come from so many different walks of life, that you never know how a 10-minute conversation can influence or change your life; that person can be someone that can offer you an even better job than Travelsist,” Woodruff said.

In the meantime, Travelsist is intentional about making sure that these 1099 workers “know that they’re valued and that they’re appreciated,” and enjoy good working conditions. “We pride ourselves in being a tech company first, but the number one thing is that we’re bringing in a new culture to this industry, where people can have more control over their time, earn good wages and be trained with [new] skills.”

Travelsist’s employee app is there to support these workers by filling them in with specific details around a traveler’s request and location, but also providing them with training and reminders. For example, making sure a passenger is properly buckled up before you lift them, and asking nicely for permission — a welcome change, considering that flying with a disability too often ends up being dehumanizing.

If the company ever runs out of Travelsistants, it can count on My PANDA, a fellow Atlanta-based startup (PANDA stands for Personal Assistants Next Door). It’s run by a really good friend of hers, Woodruff said. “We have an agreement where I can dip into her staff: If I need them, they come and work for us. Atlanta is a beautiful place to build because of those relationships.”

Besides its core team and its Travelsistants, Travelsist also has some 25 contractors and “a lot of people who advise us and meet with us.” The company was part of the first women-focused cohort of the Techstars Founder Catalyst Program based in Atlanta and conducted in partnership with J.P. Morgan; it also received support and awards from several other organizations. This is part of being from Atlanta, Woodruff beamed. “Atlanta is a very hands-on city when you’re building something that people believe in; people want us to succeed.”

Beyond Atlanta, the company was flying relatively under the radar until recently, when it obtained some provisional patents that made the team more confident about its odds against competitors.

AI is part of its strategy: At TechCrunch Disrupt, it launched VERA, a chatbot that can answer traveler questions “around flight times, airport shops and restaurants, security line wait times, parking instructions, airport and TSA rules, hours of operation, and much much more,” the team wrote to me.

Image Credits: Travelsist

For airports and airlines, the chatbot is another opportunity to improve traveler satisfaction, which they can track alongside other metrics in the customized data dashboard that Travelsist provides.

This value proposition seems to be resonating. “We are on track to close 12-15 new airports in the first half of 2024, which would allow us to service more travelers end-to-end — in their departure airport AND their arrival airport,” Woodruff messaged me.

Travelsist already has some raised some $850,000 funding to execute its plans, including investment from The Fearless Fund and a grant from the Black ParentPreneur Foundation. But it is understandably seeking more, and currently is raising a $5 million Series A round it hopes to close by the end of the year. This would be timely, as travel woes will be on many minds at this time of the year.

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True love — and the myth of “happily ever after” | Francesca Hogi

“The fairytale industrial complex has been lying to you,” says love coach and podcast host Francesca Hogi. Having spent years talking to thousands of people about their romantic hopes and dreams, she introduces a new possibility for our collective romantic future, one that recognizes that each of us holds the keys to true love within ourselves.

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