Google is creating its own first-party game studio

Google just unveiled Stadia at a conference in San Francisco, its cloud gaming platform. While most of the conference showcased well-known games you can play on your PC, Xbox One or Playstation 4, the company also announced that it is launching its own first-party game studio, Stadia Games and Entertainment.

Jade Raymond is going to head the studio and was here to announce the first details. The company is going to work on exclusive games for Stadia. But the studio will have a bigger role than that.

"I'm excited to announce that, as the head of Stadia Games and Entertainment, I will not only be bringing first party game studios to reimagine the next generation of games,” Raymond said. “Our team will also be working with external developers to bring all of the bleeding edge Google technology you have seen today available to partner studios big and small."

Raymond has been working in the video game industry for more than 15 years. In particular, she was a producer for Ubisoft in Montreal during the early days of the Assassin’s Creed franchise. She also worked on Watch Dogs before leaving Ubisoft for Electronic Arts.

She formed Motive Studios for Electronic Arts and worked with Visceral Games, another Electronic Arts game studio. She was working on an untitled single player Star Wars video game, but Visceral Games closed in 2017 and the project has been canceled since then.

According to Google, 100 studios around the world have already received development hardware for Stadia. There are over 1,000 engineers and creatives working on Stadia games or ports right now.

Stadia uses a custom made AMD GPU and a Linux operating system. Games that are already compatible with Linux should be easy to port to Stadia. But there might be more work for studios focused on Windows games.

According to Stadia.dev, the cloud instance runs on Debian and features Vulkan. The machine runs an x86 CPU with a “custom AMD GPU with HBM2 memory and 56 compute units capable of 10.7 teraflops”. That sounds a lot like the AMD Radeon RX Vega 56, a relatively powerful GPU but something not as powerful as what you can find in high-end gaming PCs today.

Google will be running a program called Stadia Partners to help third-party developers understand this new platform.

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Google’s new Stadia gaming platform is all about streamers

Google unveiled its new Stadia game streaming service today and while we’re still waiting to hear more details about how (and when) consumers will be able to access the service, it’s clear that Google clearly kept game streamers in mind when it designed this new service. Indeed, it’s the first modern gaming platform that was clearly designed from the ground up with game streamers in mind.

During its presentation today, Google almost spent more time talking about streamers than the games that will be available on the service. Since Google owns YouTube, that’s no surprise. But it’s worth remembering that while YouTube surely has its own dedicated streamer community, it lags well behind Amazon’s Twitch. Stadia could change that.

So here is what Google is doing for streamers: Google’s own Stadia controller will have a button that lets you stream right to YouTube (though it’s unclear if you’ll be able to bring in a feed from your webcam, too). In Youtube, streamers will be able to give watchers a direct link to the game on Stadia — and there’ll probably be some revenue share here. But the really innovative piece here is that streamers will be also able to create a queue for viewers who want to play with the streamer. And that’s to a feature called State Share, sharing clips to YouTube will also be incredibly easy.

Since all the tech is managed by Google and runs in the cloud, there’s no additional hardware or software to buy and manage for streamers.

“Stadia is focused on empowering both creators and viewers to achieve new heights by breaking barriers of content capture and creating unique ways to engage with and grow a creator’s audience,” Google’s Ryan Wyatt said. “Established creators will have new ways to engage and monetize on YouTube with Stadia’s features. And with aspiring creators, we’re going to break down the barrier of entry in capturing content by giving you the ability to highlight, live stream and capture directly from Stadia.”

The last part is important, given how it takes a bit of work to create a working streaming setup. Of course, that’ll mean you’ll see lots of low-quality stream on YouTube once Stadia goes live, but there’ll surely be some new talent that’ll be discovered this way, too.

It’s worth remembering that Stadia is a new platform — this isn’t just a way to play your existing library in the cloud. Developers will have to specifically port games to it. With that, Google is able to add these features right into Stadia, making it the first platform that is able to do so from the outset.

Google’s Stadia game-streaming platform kills downloads and lets you play anywhere

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Google scores a custom AMD GPU to power its Stadia cloud gaming hardware

Google’s new Stadia game streaming service may be great for people who don’t own a powerful PC or console, but those games have to run somewhere — specifically, in a Google datacenter. And the hardware they run on will be largely powered by a custom graphics card from AMD that, on paper at least, puts the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X to shame.

In its presentation at GDC today, Google touted its partnership with AMD, which created the unnamed card for integration with its Stadia “instances,” the Linux-based computers that will actually run the games players stream.

The actual specs shown on screen don’t mean much to hardware fiends — teraflops are how supercomputers are rated, not graphics cards, which have sophisticated custom units and pathways for different effects and calculations.

So although it’s impressive that this one produces 10.7 TF, more than the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X combined, unless you’re using this hardware for sequential logic operations, it’s more important to know its actual game-specific chops. Of course, I’m sure the GPU is also quite competent there — it has to handle both running a modern game at 4K and 60 FPS and may have some extra load from streaming the video as well.

The 16 GB of “total” RAM is also suspicious. The way it’s phrased suggests it may be inclusive of video RAM, i.e. that in the graphics card, which makes the most likely combo 4 GB in the card and 12 for the system. That’s just speculation, though.

Interestingly, shortly after announcing the single-GPU system that the Stadia will use, a multi-GPU instance was teased in order to show the possibilities of fluid dynamics in games. It’s unclear how this would come into play — perhaps it’s necessary for 4K instances of some games, or would be an upsell for performance-obsessed players.

Whatever the specifics, this gives an idea of what kind of power and cost the Stadia backend infrastructure is going to necessitate. Every concurrent player will require a dedicated instance, which at the scales Google hopes for means at least a couple hundred thousand of these things, increasing to millions if it takes off. Call the bill of materials $150 plus $50 a year in maintenance and upgrades (this is all just napkin math) and you’re easily looking at a hundred million dollar bottom line, probably way more.

As of this writing (the presentation is ongoing) there’s still no mention of how Google plans to make money from this whole… situation. Show ads every 10 minutes of play? Take a cut of game sales? Publishers pay Google to make instant games available? Perhaps, as with plenty of other Google products, they’ll just release it first and figure out how to make money later. That works sometimes.

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Google scores a custom AMD GPU to power its Stadia cloud gaming hardware

Google’s new Stadia game streaming service may be great for people who don’t own a powerful PC or console, but those games have to run somewhere — specifically, in a Google datacenter. And the hardware they run on will be largely powered by a custom graphics card from AMD that, on paper at least, puts the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X to shame.

In its presentation at GDC today, Google touted its partnership with AMD, which created the unnamed card for integration with its Stadia “instances,” the Linux-based computers that will actually run the games players stream.

The actual specs shown on screen don’t mean much to hardware fiends — teraflops are how supercomputers are rated, not graphics cards, which have sophisticated custom units and pathways for different effects and calculations.

So although it’s impressive that this one produces 10.7 TF, more than the PS4 Pro and Xbox One X combined, unless you’re using this hardware for sequential logic operations, it’s more important to know its actual game-specific chops. Of course, I’m sure the GPU is also quite competent there — it has to handle both running a modern game at 4K and 60 FPS and may have some extra load from streaming the video as well.

The 16 GB of “total” RAM is also suspicious. The way it’s phrased suggests it may be inclusive of video RAM, i.e. that in the graphics card, which makes the most likely combo 4 GB in the card and 12 for the system. That’s just speculation, though.

Interestingly, shortly after announcing the single-GPU system that the Stadia will use, a multi-GPU instance was teased in order to show the possibilities of fluid dynamics in games. It’s unclear how this would come into play — perhaps it’s necessary for 4K instances of some games, or would be an upsell for performance-obsessed players.

Whatever the specifics, this gives an idea of what kind of power and cost the Stadia backend infrastructure is going to necessitate. Every concurrent player will require a dedicated instance, which at the scales Google hopes for means at least a couple hundred thousand of these things, increasing to millions if it takes off. Call the bill of materials $150 plus $50 a year in maintenance and upgrades (this is all just napkin math) and you’re easily looking at a hundred million dollar bottom line, probably way more.

As of this writing (the presentation is ongoing) there’s still no mention of how Google plans to make money from this whole… situation. Show ads every 10 minutes of play? Take a cut of game sales? Publishers pay Google to make instant games available? Perhaps, as with plenty of other Google products, they’ll just release it first and figure out how to make money later. That works sometimes.

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Google’s Stadia game-streaming platform kills lengthy downloads

Onstage at GDC, Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced the company’s latest big initiative, taking on the entire gaming industry with a live-streaming service called Stadia.

The service will let gamers leave their hefty GPUs and expensive systems behind. Pichai says that the service can be used on devices with a chrome browser and an internet connection. To Google that means Stadia will launch on desktops, laptops, TVs, tablets and phones. The service will work across platforms so you won’t just be competing with other Stadia users.

Google working on new gaming efforts here isn’t exactly a surprise. Last fall, the company launched a pilot program of sorts with Project Stream, allowing gamers to stream gameplay of Assassins Creed Odyssey in their internet browser at 1080p in 60fps.

At launch Stadia will support 4K at 60fps with surround sound and HDR. They say they are also working on 8K 120fps support in “the future.” The stat we’re waiting to hear about is latency and what sort of ranges the service has been hitting.

The company showed off a dedicated controller though you’ll also be able to use your existing third-party controllers or keyboard and mouse.

Google’s new Stadia game controller has a few tricks up its sleeves

Google is an underdog here, though the company obviously has a massive mobile gaming platform with Android, when it comes to desktop gaming, the tech giant doesn’t have a ton of background aside from their sporadic efforts on PC virtual reality. One would imagine that Microsoft or Valve are the best positioned here, but Google has some pretty heavy mindshare with YouTube Gaming and some pretty heavy infrastructure with Google Cloud.

Viewers will be able to move from YouTube directly into gameplay without any downloads just by clicking a “Play Now” button. Google says this process can take as little as 5 seconds.

Google certainly has ample reason to want gamers to move away from Windows PCs to systems with more lightweight onboard compute. The idea of running something heavier than minesweeper-equivalents on a Chromebook can be pretty interesting, the idea of doing that across all of your devices could be game-changing.

Updating

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Twitter cracks down on API abuse, will charge B2B devs

To prevent its own Cambridge Analytica and make sure it’s getting paid for its data, Twitter will audit developers using its APIs. Starting June 19th, Twitter will require any app that calls a recent tweets from or mentions of a user more than 100,000 times per day to submit their app for review.

If a developer proves they have a legitimate consumer use case, like running a third-party Twitter client or doing research, they’ll be granted free access to the API at the same rate they have today. If they primarily use the data to serve business customers as a B2B tool, like for customer service or social media monitoring, they’ll have to pay to enter a commercial licensing agreement with Twitter that costs $150 to $2500 per month or more.

Developers found to breaking Twitter’s policies will be booted from the platform, while those that don’t submit for review will be capped at 100,000 requests per day for the user timeline and mentions APIs. Twitter says it suspended 162,000 apps in the second half of 2018, showing it’s willing to play hardball with developers that endanger its ecosystem.

The goal is “ensuring that our platform is safe and promoting the privacy and safety of our users, and providing a level playing field commercially” Twitter’s head of site integrity Yoel Roth tells me. “We’re fundamentally different than other platforms that have APIs since almost everything that happens on our service is public. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a deep responsibility to our users.”

This is the second big platform safety move Twitter has made after last year requiring all new developers who sign up to have their use cases reviewed, and get whitelisted if they publish more content to Twitter than a normal person could. But that still left all the old developers without proper oversight, which will change in June.

In the past, Twitter has thrashed developers with whiplash by suddenly changing its API policies. That led apps to break, businesses to fold, and a perception of Twitter as an unreliable or even hostile place for developers to build. This time, Twitter is giving developers a three-month heads up to minimize surprise and problems. At a time when developers are becoming increasingly suspicious of Facebook, treating them better so they keep building bonus experiences is a smart move for Twitter.

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Twitter cracks down on API abuse, will charge B2B devs

To prevent its own Cambridge Analytica and make sure it’s getting paid for its data, Twitter will audit developers using its APIs. Starting June 19th, Twitter will require any app that calls a recent tweets from or mentions of a user more than 100,000 times per day to submit their app for review.

If a developer proves they have a legitimate consumer use case, like running a third-party Twitter client or doing research, they’ll be granted free access to the API at the same rate they have today. If they primarily use the data to serve business customers as a B2B tool, like for customer service or social media monitoring, they’ll have to pay to enter a commercial licensing agreement with Twitter that costs $150 to $2500 per month or more.

Developers found to breaking Twitter’s policies will be booted from the platform, while those that don’t submit for review will be capped at 100,000 requests per day for the user timeline and mentions APIs. Twitter says it suspended 162,000 apps in the second half of 2018, showing it’s willing to play hardball with developers that endanger its ecosystem.

The goal is “ensuring that our platform is safe and promoting the privacy and safety of our users, and providing a level playing field commercially” Twitter’s head of site integrity Yoel Roth tells me. “We’re fundamentally different than other platforms that have APIs since almost everything that happens on our service is public. That doesn’t mean we don’t have a deep responsibility to our users.”

This is the second big platform safety move Twitter has made after last year requiring all new developers who sign up to have their use cases reviewed, and get whitelisted if they publish more content to Twitter than a normal person could. But that still left all the old developers without proper oversight, which will change in June.

In the past, Twitter has thrashed developers with whiplash by suddenly changing its API policies. That led apps to break, businesses to fold, and a perception of Twitter as an unreliable or even hostile place for developers to build. This time, Twitter is giving developers a three-month heads up to minimize surprise and problems. At a time when developers are becoming increasingly suspicious of Facebook, treating them better so they keep building bonus experiences is a smart move for Twitter.

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Snap is under NDA with UK Home Office discussing how to centralize age checks online

Snap is under NDA with the UK’s Home Office as part of a working group tasked with coming up with more robust age verification technology that’s able to robustly identify children online.

The detail emerged during a parliamentary committee hearing as MPs in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) questioned Stephen Collins, Snap’s senior director for public policy international, and Will Scougal, director of creative strategy EMEA.

A spokesman in the Home Office press office hadn’t immediately heard of any discussions with the messaging company on the topic of age verification. But we’ll update this story with any additional context on the department’s plans if more info is forthcoming.

Under questioning by the committee Snap conceded its current age verification systems are not able to prevent under 13 year olds from signing up to use its messaging platform.

The DCMS committee’s interest here is it’s running an enquiry into immersive and addictive technologies.

Snap admitted that the most popular means of signing up to its app (i.e. on mobile) is where its age verification system is weakest, with Collins saying it had no ability to drop a cookie to keep track of mobile users to try to prevent repeat attempts to get around its age gate.

But he emphasized Snap does not want underage users on its platform.

“That brings us no advantage, that brings us no commercial benefit at all,” he said. “We want to make it an enjoyable place for everybody using the platform.”

He also said Snap analyzes patterns of user behavior to try to identify underage users — investigating accounts and banning those which are “clearly” determined not to be old enough to use the service.

But he conceded there’s currently “no foolproof way” to prevent under 13s from signing up.

Discussing alternative approaches to verifying kids’ age online the Snap policy staffer agreed parental consent approaches are trivially easy for children to circumvent — such as by setting up spoof email accounts or taking a photo of a parent’s passport or credit card to use for verification.

Social media company Facebook is one such company that relies a ‘parental consent’ system to ‘verify’ the age of teen users — though, as we’ve previously reported, it’s trivially easy for kids to workaround.

“I think the most sustainable solution will be some kind of central verification system,” Collins suggested, adding that such a system is “already being discussed” by government ministers.

“The home secretary has tasked the Home Office and related agencies to look into this — we’re part of that working group,” he continued.

“We actually met just yesterday. I can’t give you the details here because I’m under an NDA,” Collins added, suggesting Snap could send the committee details in writing.

“I think it’s a serious attempt to really come to a proper conclusion — a fitting conclusion to this kind of conundrum that’s been there, actually, for a long time.”

“There needs to be a robust age verification system that we can all get behind,” he added.

The UK government is expected to publish a White Paper setting out its policy ideas for regulating social media and safety before the end of the winter.

The detail of its policy plans remain under wraps so it’s unclear whether the Home Office intends to include setting up a centralized system of online age verification for robustly identifying kids on social media platforms as part of its safety-focused regulation. But much of the debate driving the planned legislation has fixed on content risks for kids online.

Such a step would also not be the first time UK ministers have pushed the envelop around online age verification.

A controversial system of age checks for viewing adult content is due to come into force shortly in the UK under the Digital Economy Act — albeit, after a lengthy delay. (And ignoring all the hand-wringing about privacy and security risks; not to mention the fact age checks will likely be trivially easy to dodge by those who know how to use a VPN etc, or via accessing adult content on social media.)

But a centralized database of children for age verification purposes — if that is indeed the lines along which the Home Office is thinking — sounds rather closer to Chinese government Internet controls.

Given that, in recent years, the Chinese state has been pushing games companies to age verify users to enforce limits on play time for kids (also apparently in response to health concerns around video gaming addiction).

The UK has also pushed to create centralized databases of web browsers’ activity for law enforcement purposes, under the 2016 Investigatory Powers Act. (Parts of which it’s had to rethink following legal challenges, with other legal challenges ongoing.)

In recent years it has also emerged that UK spy agencies maintain bulk databases of citizens — known as ‘bulk personal datasets‘ — regardless of whether a particular individual is suspected of a crime.

So building yet another database to contain children’s ages isn’t perhaps as off piste as you might imagine for the country.

Returning to the DCMS committee’s enquiry, other questions for Snap from MPs included several critical ones related to its ‘streaks’ feature — whereby users who have been messaging each other regularly are encouraged not to stop the back and forth.

The parliamentarians raised constituent and industry concerns about the risk of peer pressure being piled on kids to keep the virtual streaks going.

Snap’s reps told the committee the feature is intended to be a “celebration” of close friendship, rather than being intentionally designed to make the platform sticky and so encourage stress.

Though they conceded users have no way to opt out of streak emoji appearing.

They also noted they have previously reduced the size of the streak emoji to make it less prominent.

But they added they would take concerns back to product teams and re-examine the feature in light of the criticism.

You can watch the full committee hearing with Snap here.

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Patreon ups its revenue cut, but grandfathers in old creators

Patreon couldn’t survive charging all creators just a 5 percent rake on the monthly subscriptions they earn from fans while building commerce tools like CRMs and merchandise to stay ahead of Twitch, YouTube, and Google. But it also didn’t want to screw all its loyal early creators.

So today, Patreon is overhauling its pricing. Any creator can still get a 5 percent rate, but just for a Lite version without bonus tools or different fan tiers. All of Patreon’s extra features will now be in the Pro plan with an 8 percent rate, but with existing creators grandfathered in at 5 percent. And the new Premium enterprise plan for 12 percent (9 percent for existing creators) will offer full-service merchandise sales, multi-user team accounts, and dedicated customer support.

If you want the lower grandfathered rates, you’ll need to join Patreon in the next few weeks before the new rates go into effect in early May.

“With this change, Patreon is a long-term independent company that doesn’t need anyone else. That’s the move we’re making here” says Patreon’s SVP of Product Wyatt Jenkins. More sustainable pricing means creators won’t have to fear Patreon selling out in desperation to someone like Facebook that might neglect or exploit them.

Instead, Patreon CEO Jack Conte tells me he wants to balance powerful features with right-sized pricing for different creator types to become the platform agnostic home for subscription patronage when tech giants are each trying to build their own. “To have a different membership for each distribution platform, that’s not going to work. You need a single place for the bottom of your distribution funnel” Conte explains.

Balancing Rates And Resources

Patreon now has 3 million fans paying 100,000 creators over half a billion dollars per year, and it will cross $1 billion in payouts in 2019 after six years in business. But Patreon was starving on its 5 percent rate which some venture capitalists tell me is why they passed on its funding rounds totaling $105 million led by Thrive Capital and Index. Now it might make enough to keep the lights on, retain ownership, and maybe even earn a profit one day.

Jenkins tells me Patreon spent a year talking to over 1000 creators to figure out how to re-price its offering. “People don’t like change. But I think in terms of change, we’re going to be able to invest in the different products in different ways. We can put a lot of horsepower into membership” he explains. The company didn’t want to screw up like when it changed its payment processing rates a year ago, leading to creator backlash and some exodus. “We unilaterally did something that impacted creators’ patrons. That was the real landmine we stepped on.”

Patreon’s New Rates

What Patreon discovered was some creators, especially individuals and hobbyists, didn’t care for bells and whistles. They wanted cheap and easy recurring payments so they can focus on their art, so Patreon made the 5 percent Lite plan that strips out the extra features but keeps the old rate

More serious videographers, illustrators, comedians, and pundits wanted to offer different price tiers for different levels of exclusive content. They need analytics, special offers, integrations with other productivity and commerce apps, and priority customer support when things break. That’s what creators will get for 8 percent, unless they they’re grandfathered in at 5 percent.

But Patreon also found there were whole media organizations with 50 employees built atop its patronage platform. They needed to be able to share accounts and get immediate support when necessary. Meanwhile, tons of creators see merchandise as a powerful way to lure in fans who want signed photos, stickers, and other swag each month. “85 percent of our creators tell us we need merchandise. ‘We spend our days in the post office licking stamps. You can get great negotiation leverage since you have scale, so why aren’t you helping us with this?’ We can’t build that on 5 percent” Jenkins tells me. They’ll all pay the 12 percent Premium plan price unless grandfathered in at 9 percent. Patreon will in return process, pack, and ship all their merchandise.

Patreon is also changing its payment processing fees to make sure it doesn’t overpenalize smaller contributions like creators’ popular $1 per month tiers. Now all transactions over $5 incur a 2.9 percent and $0.30 fee similar to Stripe’s industry standard, while microtransactions under $5 cost 5 percent plus $0.10. Existing creators get the old rates, and people paying via PayPal from outside the US get hit with an extra 1 percent fee.

The Battle For Fan Subscriptions

Surprisingly, one of Patreon’s most popular creators told me they actually felt bad about being grandfathered in at a lower price, because why should they get special treatment compared to other artists who just might not be as tech savvy. That said, they weren’t going to voluntarily pay a higher rate. “I guess I’m not surprised” Conte responds. “I’ve found that creators are really humble and selfless, always thinking about other people. I can imagine them saying ‘what about these people? Why am I paying less than them?”

If Patreon can power through the rate change without breaking momentum, it could have a bright future. It’s started a patronage trend, but leaked documents show Facebook plans to charge creators up to 30 percent like YouTube already does, and Twitch charges an astronomical 50 percent. But with far more restrictions on content and far more distrust accrued after years of forsaking creators and tense negotiations, Patreon’s neutral platform with the cheapest rate could remain the fan subscription leader at a time when ad revenue shares are proving an inadequate to support turning ones passion into their profession.

Patreon co-founder and CEO Jack Conte

When TechCrunch broke the news that Facebook planned to charge up to 30 percent, Conte says “Honestly, it was relieving but really disappointing in some way. I think competition is good. I hope there are many membership products. I hope they’re successful and [give creators a choice]. Right now, it’s not a choice. Facebook’s product is not usable. The folks that have used Facebook’s product have turned it off. From a competitor standpoint, it confirmed my thought that Facebook doesn’t understand creators.”

That’s also why he hopes that one day, the tech giants might just integrate Patreon rather than compete, and they could each get a cut of subscription revenue.

Looking forward, he says the toughest challenge for Patreon will be building three different products for three distinct types of creators without the infinite wallets of its rivals. “I think Patreon will be raising for a long time” Conte says. That will fund Patreon’s plans for eventual international operations where 40 percent of patrons and 75 percent of creators live. Right now Patreon is only in English and US dollars. But if it can spin up local languages, currencies, and payment processors, Patreon could be where creators around the world go to share with their biggest fans.

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MoviePass brings back its unlimited movie plan, with a limited time price of $9.95

MoviePass is bringing back a version of the plan that made it so popular in the first place — a subscription where you pay a monthly fee and get an unlimited number of 2D movie tickets.

MoviePass Uncapped will have a regular price of $19.95 per month, but the company is offering cheaper deals for what it says is a limited time. If you’re willing to pay for a full year (via ACH payment), it will cost the same as that original unlimited plan, namely $9.95 per month. If you don’t want to make a full-year commitment, it will cost $14.95 per month.

Now, you may be thinking that this kind of deal is exactly what got MoviePass into so much trouble last year, to the point where it nearly ran out of money and began announcing new pricing plans and restrictions on a seemingly constant basis.

However, the company’s announcement today includes multiple references to its ability to “combat violations” of MoviePass’ terms of use. And those terms do say that “MoviePass has the right to limit the selection of movies and/or the times of available movies should your individual use adversely impact MoviePass’s system-wide capacity or the availability of the Service for other subscribers.”

So if you’re a heavy MoviePass user, the plan may not be truly unlimited.

In addition, you’ll only be able to reserve tickets three hours before showtime, and you’ll need to check in to the theater between 10 and 30 minutes before the movie starts.

This new plan replaces the ones announced in December. If you’ve already signed up, you can stick to those subscriptions, but new users won’t have that option.

In a statement, Ted Farnsworth, CEO of MoviePass parent company Helios and Matheson Analytics, said:

We are – and have been – listening to our subscribers every day, and we understand that an uncapped subscription plan at the $9.95 price point is the most appealing option to our subscribers. While we’ve had to modify our service a number of times in order to continue delivering a movie-going experience to our subscribers, with this new offering we are doing everything we can to bring people a version of the service that originally won their hearts.

After an extremely rough year, MoviePass attempts to ‘refocus’

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How to Secure Fortnite.com With 2FA (Two Factor Authentication)

Fortnite took the world by storm. The 100-player “battle royale” has players of all ages, spread around the globe. At its 2018 height, Fortnite developers Epic Games were pulling in $350 million per week through in-game transactions.

Over time, Fortnite accounts have become an attractive proposition for hackers and other fraudsters. Stolen accounts with high-tier loot can be resold, with a willing market waiting to buy.

With that in mind, you need to secure your (and your children’s) Fortnite account. Here’s how to enable two-factor authentication (2FA) on your Fortnite account.

Do You Need 2FA on Your Fortnite Account?

In December 2018, the BBC interviewed one Slovenian teenager making an astonishing amount of money. The young chap in question was cracking Fortnite account passwords in the hope of finding an account full of premium skins and other loot. The cracker put his earnings at around $20,000 for seven months of work.

“It’s lucky dip basically, you either get a good account or you don’t. People like the rarity of the ‘skins’ and it’s about the look of them and showing off to friends.”

But that is just one example. The Epic Games Fortnite forum is full of threads about stolen accounts, lost skins, fraudulent V-Bucks transactions (V-Bucks is Fortnite’s internal currency), and more. Some Fortnite items are very rare. So rare, that they’re worth hundreds of dollars in the real world.

Epic Games is acutely aware of the issue, too. The vast majority of Fortnite’s userbase is young. Many have no idea about turning on 2FA, let alone how to practice secure password hygiene. The combination of these two factors means that crackers are using basic credential stuffing tools to blast through Fortnite accounts.

In short: You need to turn on 2FA security on every account you own, including your kids’ accounts. (Your kids are playing Fortnite: here’s what you need to know!) Epic Games will even give you the Boogiedown Emote if you turn it on, plus 50 Armory Slots, 10 Backpack Slots, and 1 Legendary Troll Stash Llama in Save the World mode.

How to Enable 2FA on Your Fortnite Account

Whether you understand the urgency or you like the look of the free loot, here is how you enable 2FA on your Fortnite account.

Before starting the process, consider what type of 2FA you are most comfortable using. Epic Games offers two options:

Authenticator app: An authenticator app is a 2FA app you keep on your smartphone (tablets, too). When you want to login to your Fortnite account, it will ask you for a six-digit code that will appear in the authenticator app. There are several authenticator apps available. I would strongly suggest using Authy or Google Authenticator.

Download: Authy for Android | iOS (Free)
Download: Authenticator for Android | iOS (Free)

Email authentication: Email authentication works by sending you a single-use 2FA security code to the email address associated with your Fortnite account.

Once you know which 2FA method you’re going to use, move onto securing your account. That is, if you’re using an authenticator app, make sure you install it on your smartphone before continuing.

Now, for Authenticator Apps:

1. Head to your Epic Games account in a web browser.
2. Under Password & Security, scroll down to Two-Factor Authentication.
3. Select Enable Authenticator App.
4. Open the authenticator app on your smartphone, then scan the QR code to add your Fortnite account.
5. Type the six-digit security code into the verification box, and complete the process.
6. On the next screen, you can generate a series of backup codes for your account locked with an authenticator app. Copy these to somewhere safe. You can only use each backup code once!

Now, for Email Authentication:

1. Head to your Epic Games account in a web browser.
2. Under Password & Security, scroll down to Two-Factor Authentication.
3. Select Enable Email Authentication.
4. Head to the email address associated with your Fortnite account and check for a verification email.
5. Copy the six-digit security code from the email into the Enable Email Verification box and press Continue.

That’s it. You have secured your Fortnite account with two-factor authentication.

Watch Out for Fortnite Scams

If the threat of Fortnite account crackers wasn’t enough, there are also scammers out there looking to trick unsuspecting users. Most of the scams center around free V-Bucks.

Scammers make flashy videos full of Fortnite imagery with alluring titles such as “How to Get Free V-Bucks” or “Check Out This Free V-Bucks Fortnite Glitch.” Most of the time, the videos invite users to a specific fraudulent website where you input a code from your Fortnite account.

In some cases, scammers can access the Fortnite account and use it to steal the existing V-Bucks, or lock the account for resale.

Other examples send users to websites full of malware that instantly begins downloading. And others still act as phishing portals, waiting for the user to input their Fortnite credentials before having their account stolen, locked, and resold.

Another route for scammers is through the Google Play Store. The Google Play Store is full of apps claiming to gift the user tens of thousands of V-Bucks for nothing. At best, they’re just terrible guides detailing fake methods of acquiring V-Bucks. At worst, they ask for Fortnite account login details to steal your account.

Enable Fortnite 2FA for Free Loot!

Epic Games understand there is a problem. That’s why they’re giving away some free loot to every account that turns 2FA on.

You don’t have to become a statistic though; it only takes a moment to secure your account. Similarly, as the Fortnite loading screen declares, “Only you can stop V-Buck scams.”

2FA is a great way to add additional security to all of your online accounts, not just Fortnite, and Epic Games. Here’s how to add 2FA to your Gmail, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and many other accounts.

Read the full article: How to Secure Fortnite.com With 2FA (Two Factor Authentication)

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The 7 Best Android TV Launcher Apps

The home screen of your Android TV device is where your apps, recommended videos, and menus live. This is also known as the launcher. The most recent redesign of the native Android TV launcher (in 2018) was widely criticized by the community.

However, it’s possible to replace the Android TV launcher on your device. It’s easy to download an alternative option with different menus, fonts, layouts, and more. And with that in mind, here are the best Android TV launcher apps to consider using.

1. Ugoos TV

The most popular launcher for Android TV is arguably Ugoos TV.

The user interface marks a significant break from the Android TV launcher that you’re used to using. On the left-hand side of the screen, you will see a scrolling wheel that lets you browse through broad categories (for example, All Apps, Internet, Games, Options, and so on.).

There are nine categories in total. Any apps that fall under the highlighted category will appear on the right-hand side of the screen for you to select and open.

Ugoos TV has nine different themes and supports customizable backgrounds, customizable icons, and adaptive remote controls.

Download: Ugoos TV (Free)

2. TvHome Launcher

If you have a smart TV from Samsung or LG that runs either TizenOS or webOS, the layout of TvHome Launcher will be instantly familiar. Indeed, if you want to recreate the smart TV experience, TvHome is one the best Android TV launchers you’ll find.

All of your apps are displayed along the bottom of the screen in a minimalist single line. You can scroll through the list using the left and right buttons on your Android TV remote control. The background image is customizable.

TvHome Launcher is also notable for its minimal drain on your system’s resources. If you have a cheaper, underpowered Android TV box, this launcher is definitely worth checking out.

Download: TvHome Launcher (Free)

3. Simple TV Launcher

Simple TV is another minimalist Android TV launcher.

There are six spaces for apps on the main screen. You can choose the apps that appear in the slots. If you need to access your complete list of apps, click on the corresponding icon in the upper left-hand corner.

In the lower right-hand corner, you’ll find an icon that lets you jump directly into your Android TV’s settings menu.

Simple TV Launcher is open source—you can find the source code on GitHub. If you have sufficient time and knowledge, you can use the launcher as the basis for your own creation.

Download: Simple TV Launcher (Free)

4. HALauncher

In the introduction, we mentioned that the current version of the native Android TV launcher has irked many users. It’s not as easy to use use or as aesthetically pleasing as the previous iteration.

Alas, if you would like to roll back to the older visuals, you’re in luck. The HALauncher app closely mimics the previous design; you’ll find your apps in one row and your games in another.

HALauncher also has one massive benefit over the official launcher: it supports sideloaded apps on its home screen. That means you won’t need to use a fiddly workaround to access sideloaded apps on your Android TV box.

Lastly, like many of the other launchers on this list, HALauncher lets you add your own background image.

Download: HALauncher (Free)

5. UNICA TV Launcher

UNICA TV Launcher introduces its own design and visuals, but that’s not the main reason you should install it.

This launcher is especially worth trying if you typically use a remote with a D-pad to control your Android TV box. UNICA TV has D-pad-optimized navigation.

You will see your Android TV apps displayed in four columns. For easier navigation, you can add apps to custom categories. The categories are accessible via the shortcuts on the bottom of the screen.

There’s also a most-used apps section for quick access to your favorite content, as well as custom wallpapers.

UNICA TV Launcher is free for 14 days. However, after that you will need to purchase a full license for a few dollars if you want to customize categories and remove the nag screen.

Download: UNICA TV Launcher (Free)

6. Top TV Launcher 2

If you want to enjoy complete control over the way your home screen looks, we think Top TV Launcher 2 is the best Android TV launcher for your needs.

It has a built-in layout editor; you can use it to place apps anywhere on the screen, as well as adding widgets and tiles. You can even create your own tiles using the built-in tile editor, or by adding an ICO file or an image.

There’s also the option to add multiple apps to a single tile for a folder-esque experience, support for PIN-protected apps, and custom wallpaper options.

Top TV Launcher 2 is ad-free.

Download: Top TV Launcher 2 (Free)

7. Android TV Launcher

We end with the official Android TV Launcher by Google. Depending on the Android TV box you own, there’s a chance that the official Google launcher is not already pre-loaded.

There have been numerous complaints about the launcher from a design and usability perspective, but we know from experience that some manufacturer-made launchers are infinitely worse.

And besides, there’s always something to be said for running stock Android in any form. Doing so means you can be confident that it will work as expected, and it’s unlikely to crash.

Android TV Launcher is free to download.

Download: Android TV Launcher (Free)

How to Sideload Apps on Android TV

Some Android TV boxes don’t come with Google Play installed. If that’s the case, you might struggle to install the launchers we have discussed onto your device. Instead, you will need to sideload them.

Typically, there are three ways to sideload apps on Android TV:

• Use the web version of the Google Play Store and select your device from the dropdown list.
• Download the APK using a browser on Android TV.
• Transfer the APK to your device using a USB stick.

If you want to learn more, check out how to access sideloaded apps on Android TV. And remember, there are some essential Android TV apps you need to sideload. So learning how to do it is a valuable lesson.

Read the full article: The 7 Best Android TV Launcher Apps

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8 iPhone Apps You Can Lock With Touch ID or Face ID

How to Enable Flash in Chrome in 5 Easy Steps

Of the many reasons to abandon Flash as soon as possible, the vast number of security vulnerabilities is the most important one. And HTML5 is better in almost every way!

That’s why, even though Google Chrome comes with Flash built-in, Flash is disabled by default on Google Chrome. This has pretty much made Flash obsolete on the web—but plenty of sites are lagging behind, and maybe you need to access one of those sites.

Here’s how you can enable Adobe Flash Player in Chrome, and better yet, how to keep Flash disabled until you click on it to play. This prevents Flash from autoplaying when websites load, reducing the chance of malicious code executing before you can stop it.

How to Enable Flash Player in Google Chrome

Here’s how to enable Flash Player in Chrome:

1. Open the three-dot menu and select Settings.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Advanced.
3. Under Privacy and Security, click Site Settings.
4. Under Permissions, click Flash.
5. Enable the setting so the label reads Ask first (recommended).
6. Close the settings tab. You’re done!

How to Play Flash Content in Google Chrome

With Flash enabled in Chrome, whenever you visit a webpage with Flash content, you’ll need to click on the Flash player for it to start. This could be a nuisance if you have to deal with tons of Flash media every day, but otherwise, it’s a safe step to take—if you trust the site!

When you click, you’ll get a notification asking if you want to allow or block Flash for the current site. To run it, click Allow. The page will refresh and the Flash content will start as it should.

How to Change Flash Permissions in Google Chrome

Let’s say you accidentally blocked Flash content on a certain site, or worse, you accidentally allowed Flash content when you meant to block it! There are two ways to revoke or change Flash permissions for a site in Chrome.

Method 1: Use the Padlock

Here’s how to change Flash permissions for a single site:

1. Visit the site with Flash content.
2. Click the padlock to the left of the address bar.
3. Click the dropdown menu for Flash.
4. Select the permission you want for the site.
5. Click Reload to refresh the site.

Method 2: Use the Settings Tab

Here’s how to change Flash permissions using the Chrome Settings tab:

1. Open the three-dot menu and select Settings.
2. Scroll to the bottom and click Advanced.
3. Under Privacy and Security, click Site Settings.
4. Under Permissions, click Flash.
5. Under the Block or Allow sections, find the site you want to change Flash permissions for, then click the trash icon to remove it from the list.
6. Close the settings tab. You’re done!

Even More Security for Google Chrome

Flash isn’t the only security risk on the web. On top of malware and hackers, you also have to worry about password protection and data privacy. Check out our articles on essential Google Chrome privacy settings and best security extensions for Google Chrome.

Read the full article: How to Enable Flash in Chrome in 5 Easy Steps

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The Best Legal IPTV Service Providers in 2019

There are dozens of IPTV services available, some providing illegal content, and others providing legal content. As tempting as it may be, you should avoid IPTV services that cross the line, and instead focus on those which stay firmly on the right side of the law.

Thankfully, there are plenty of legal IPTV service providers available. Some of which are free, and others that require a paid subscription. In this article, we find the best legal IPTV services that won’t get you in trouble with the law.

1. Hulu + Live TV

If you want a reliable IPTV service, you should consider Hulu. The company offers three streaming plans, but only the most expensive $44.99/month subscription provides access to live TV channels.

Networks in the Hulu + Live TV package include ABC, CBS, NBC, FOX Sports, ESPN, MSNBC, HGTV, Telemundo, and CNN. In total, more than 50 channels are available. Sports lovers can enjoy coverage of the NBA, NHL, NFL, NCAA, and the English Premier League.

Note: While Hulu may be one of the best IPTV services in the US, it isn’t available in other countries. European users will need to look elsewhere.

2. Sling TV

Another of the best IPTV providers in the US is Sling TV. It was the first IPTV provider to offer multi-channel live TV over the web after it went live in 2015.

Sling is also an IPTV subscription service. Two plans are available: Sling Orange and Sling Blue. Both cost $25/month.

The two plans offer different channels. Sling Orange includes channels from ESPN and Disney, but not FOX or NBC. Sling Blue is the opposite; you can watch content from FOX and NBC, but not ESPN or Disney.

If you want access to all the channels, you need to subscribe to both IPTV plans for $40/month (a 20 percent saving).

3. Pluto TV

If you want the best free IPTV provider, check out Pluto. It works on all the major cord cutting devices, including Android TV, Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, Chromecast, and several smart TVs. It’s also one of the best IPTV add-ons for Kodi.

A few premium channels are available. They include Sky News, Bloomberg, RT, and, depending on where you live, FOX Sports News.

Pluto also offers several of its own IPTV channels. They focus on particular genres of movies and TV shows. The Pluto app is available around the world.

4. DirecTV Now

Other IPTV providers in the US include PlayStation Vue and YouTube TV, but first, let’s talk about DirecTV Now.

DirecTV Now is a subsidiary of AT&T. The company offers six different IPTV subscriptions. The cheapest is the Select package. It costs $35/month and provides access to 155 channels. The most expensive plan is Premier. It will set you back $110/month but includes 330 channels.

Only the Premier subscription includes HBO, Showtime, Starz, and Cinemax. If you want ESPN and FOX Sports, you’ll need to pay $40/month.

If you sign up for DirecTV Now, you won’t be tied into a long IPTV subscription; you can cancel at any time without penalty.

5. USTVnow

Some of the options we’ve looked at so far are among the best IPTV services inside the US, but what if you’re not on American soil?

An excellent app to consider is USTVnow. It provides US expats and military members with access to five free IPTV channels. They are ABC, CBS, The CW, PBS, and MyTV9.

If you pay the $19/month IPTV subscription fee, you’ll also be able to watch AMC, FOX, Animal Planet, The Weather Channel, USA Network, ESPN, and more.

6. PlayStation Vue

Like many of the IPTV providers we’ve looked at so far, PlayStation Vue is only available in the United States.

Four IPTV plans are available through PlayStation Vue. They are Access ($44.99/month), Core ($49.99/month), Elite ($59.99/month), and Ultra ($79.99/month).

Disney and ESPN are available in the basic plan. Core adds ESPN News and the NFL Network. If you want HBO and Showtime, you need the Ultra subscription.

And don’t let the name confuse you; PlayStation Vue is available on multiple platforms—including Roku, Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, and Android TV. There’s also a web app.

7. BBC iPlayer

Most of the main over-the-air TV networks in the UK provide their own streaming service. You can use them to watch live British TV and to catch up with old series and episodes on demand.

The BBC iPlayer service is the most well-known of the TV apps from the UK. To access it, you need to live in Britain. Non-British residents may have some success with a VPN or a smart DNS.

BBC iPlayer is also one of the best ways to watch IPTV on Kodi. There is a third-party BBC iPlayer add-on in the official Kodi repo.

8. YouTube TV

The last of the “big five” IPTV subscription providers in the US is YouTube TV.

There is only one plan available; it costs a flat $40/month and provides access to more than 60 IPTV channels, including ABC, FOX, CNN, NBA TV, FOX Sports, Comet, E!, and TNT.

Some additional add-on channels are available. Starz is an extra $9/month, Showtime is $7/month, AMC Premier is $5/month, and FOX Soccer Plus is $15/month.

YouTube TV is not yet available in all metro areas. Check directly on YouTube TV’s site to find out whether it’s available in your town.

9. TVPlayer

TVPlayer is a free IPTV provider in the UK.

You’ll get access to BBC One, BBC Two, ITV, Channel Four, Channel Five, Dave, More4, CBBC, BBC News, Food Network, Fashion TV, Travel Channel, and more.

If you want to watch ITV 2, 3, or 4, Comedy Central, E!, Eurosport, The History Channel, or National Geographic, you need to subscribe to a £9.99/month no-contract plan.

10. Zattoo

Zattoo is Europe’s best IPTV provider. It offers more than 200 free IPTV channels from countries across the continent, including the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Turkey, and more.

A premium subscription plan is available. In addition to the 200+ free channels, you’ll also receive more than 70 high-definition channels.

Zattoo costs roughly $10/month, depending on the exchange rate.

Choose the Best IPTV Service for You

We’ve listed the IPTV services that should meet your needs, no matter where in the world you live or what type of content you want to watch. Now you just need to choose the one that best suits you.

If you would like to learn more, be sure to read our articles listing the best IPTV apps on Android and detailing how to watch live TV on Kodi.

Read the full article: The Best Legal IPTV Service Providers in 2019

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