Spain’s top flight soccer division La Liga announced on Tuesday a landmark deal with Facebook which will allow viewers in the Indian sub-continent to watch every game over the next three seasons free of charge on the social network. A statement from La Liga said all 380 league matches for the new season, which begins on Friday, would be available to viewers in India, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. “We are really happy to be on a free to air service in such an important territory as the Indian sub continent,” Alfredo Bermejo, La Liga’s head of digital…
Author: Loknath Das
Micro-blogging platform Twitter has made its data-friendly Twitter Lite Android app available in 21 more countries, including India, which can be downloaded from Google Play Store. Built for 2G and 3G networks which are still in use in several parts of India, Twitter Lite has an install size of 3MB, saves data and space and loads quickly on unreliable networks. “While using the app on 2G or 3G, you’ll notice that content will load quickly on Twitter Lite. We want to make sure you can see what’s happening no matter what network you’re on,” Twitter said in a statement late on Monday. Twitter Lite is now available in…
Fincare Small Finance Bank (SFB) aims to grow its loan book size to Rs 10,000 crore by 2020-21 and targets to gain 40 lakh customers by then, its managing director and chief executive Rajeev Yadav said today. “Our FY’21 vision is to be a Rs 10,000 crore assets company and 4 million customers. We believe once we reach Rs 10,000 crore, we will have a reasonable mass of customers and size,” Yadav said in an interaction. Fincare SFB was earlier known as Dish Microfin as an NBFC and it forayed into Delhi market by opening a branch here today. “So…
After a lot of rumours and speculation, the word is finally out. Fortnite for Androidwill be exclusive to Samsung devices for just three days. Instead of using the Google Play Store to distribute the game to the masses, Epic has taken a different route. The game will be available on Epic’s own website as a downloadable APK. The game is launching first as a beta. On Samsung smartphones, Fortnite will be available through the Galaxy Apps Store for download. If you own a Samsung device, then Fortnite will be compatible with the following phones – Galaxy Note 9, Galaxy Note 8, Galaxy S9, S9+, S8, S8+, S7, S7 Edge along…
Creating a game in the hope of making the world a better place — as opposed to making a buck — looks like a noble endeavor. But if you decide to dedicate yourself to such a generous project, be warned: major obstacles await. The most significant problem? Big game companies. Platform holders like Microsoft, Sony, Nintendo and Valve currently do not allow not-for-profit games on their platforms. It’s not that these titans of capitalism have any philosophical problem with not-for-profits, they just don’t have the systems in place to deal with such philanthropy. Not-for-profits qualify for tax-exemption benefits that are…
Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin is notorious for killing off all his characters. But he’s adamant about keeping a love of reading alive in America. He and other celebrities are contributing to the PBS series The Great American Read, which is asking everyone to cast their vote to determine the most beloved book in the country. And if you ask Martin, the award should go to the series that inspired his own work: Lord of the Rings. In a preview for the series’ upcoming return on Sept. 11, Martin discusses how books helped him experience the world as a…
Germany bans symbols belonging to unconstitutional groups, which has caused problems in games where the Nazis are a frequent adversary. In games like the Wolfenstein series, German editions would change Hitler’s name, remove his moustache, and replace swastikas with another shape. The change means Nazi symbols used in an artistic way will be allowed. Until now, using banned symbols would prevent a video game from being considered for a compulsory age rating – essentially banning it from being sold in stores. The ban on extremist symbols is still in place, but rating body USK said the rules will now be…
Facebook apologised on Wednesday after users posting about a deadly earthquake in Indonesia on the social media platform saw their messages decorated with images of balloons and confetti. A 6.9 magnitude quake struck the tourist island of Lombok on Sunday, killing at least 347 people and leaving thousands homeless, according to the government-run Antara news agency. Many Indonesian speakers wrote messages on Facebook using the word ‘selamat’ – which can mean ‘safe’ but also ‘congratulations’ – triggering celebratory animations. “The feature (automatic animations for ‘congratulations’ in posts) is widely available on Facebook globally,” a spokeswoman for the world’s largest social network…
A day before Facebook announced that it had discovered and disabled a propaganda campaign designed to sow dissension among US voters, it exclusively shared some of the suspicious pages with an online forensics team so busy it hasn’t put a nameplate on the door. The Atlantic Council’s Digital Forensic Research Lab is based in a 12-foot-by-12-foot office in the Washington, DC, headquarters of the nearly 60-year-old Council, a think tank devoted to studying serious and at times obscure international issues. Facebook is using the group to enhance its investigations of foreign interference. Last week, the company said it took down 32 suspicious pages…
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his company’s decision not to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars show, saying he did not break any rules. Dorsey’s remarks, in a series of tweets late Tuesday, came after other major tech companies removed Jones’ content for violating hate speech policies. “We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday,” Dorsey said. “We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does.” Dorsey was responding after Facebook, Apple, YouTube, and Spotify took down material over the past week published by Jones, reflecting more aggressive enforcement of their hate speech policies and raising pressure…