Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Twitter rolls out new storefront feature for select merchants in the U.S.

Twitter is rolling out a new e-commerce feature on its platform which will allow small and large businesses, individual sellers and everyday Twitter users to transform their profile to a virtual storefront.

The new feature, Twitter Shops, will allow users to showcase up to 50 products on their profile, and is free to use.

As of today, the ability to display products on their profile is only available to select merchants in the United States, namely @Verizon, @ArdenCove, @LatinxInPower, @GayPrideApp, and @AllIDoIsCookUS. Additionally, the ability to view and interact with said storefronts currently rests with users in the United States who use Twitter in English on an iPhone.

The feature works similarly to how it is on TikTok. Potential shoppers have the option to browse products in the “View Shop” section, which would appear on the merchant’s profile. From there, you can browse through the 50 products on display and be redirected to the merchant’s website through an in-app browser, if you choose to buy something.

“As we continue to test, we’ll explore how to make Shops more discoverable; adding new ways for merchants to tell their brand story through their Shops; expanding the number of products merchants can showcase, and bringing Twitter Shops to more merchants and more people,” concludes Twitter’s blog post.

The storefront feature comes soon after it was revealed that Twitter is working on a new podcast tab for the platform.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Twitter

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Mobile Syrup

Here are the nominees for the 2022 Canadian Game Awards

Canadian esports organizer Northern Arena has announced the full list of nominees for its third-annual Canadian Game Awards ceremony.

Check out some of the best titles and studios nominated below:

Starting off the list, here are the titles nominated for the ‘Game of the Year:’

  • FIFA 2022
  • Far Cry 6
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Echo Generation
  • Boyfriend Dungeon

The ‘best PC games’ nominated for this year are:

  • Age of Empires IV
  • Mass Effect Legendary Edition
  • Discovery Tour: Viking Age from Assassin’s Creed Valhalla
  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Inscryption

‘Best Console Games’ for the year are up next:

  • Marvel’s Guardians of the Galaxy
  • Far Cry 6
  • Discovery Tour: Viking Age from Assassins Creed
  • FIFA 22
  • Echo Generation

Nominations for the ‘Best Mobile Game’ are as follows:

  • Lego Star Wars: Castaways
  • Goose Goose Duck
  • RuPaul’s Drag Race Superstar
  • Big NEON Tower VS Tiny Square
  • Hotel Hermes
  • Grindstone

The ‘best VR/AR games’ nominated for this year are

  • Doom 3 VR
  • Dark Threads
  • Winds & Leaves
  • Arcadia.tv

People working behind the scenes need to be shown more appreciation. Some studios nominated for the ‘Best Studio of the Year’ are:

  • Ubisoft Toronto
  • EA Sports
  • Motive Studios
  • Relic Entertainment
  • Ubisoft Montreal

These are only some of the categories and nominations for the 2022 Canadian Game Awards. To check out the full list, head here. Find last year’s nominees and winners here.

Note: MobileSyrup’s Brad Shankar is involved in judging the Canadian Game Awards. 

Image credit: Canadian Game Awards

Source: Canadian Game Awards

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Mobile Syrup

Casetify partners with Pokémon to launch cool new Pocket Monster cases

Casetify is announcing the launch of its new Pokémon x Casetify collection ahead of its March 22nd release.

Celebrating last year’s 25th anniversary, Casetify is releasing new case designs with Pokémon characters such as Pikachu, Eevee and more. The collection includes a Pokémon Sticker Mania case and a Pokémon Color Grid Case from Pocket Monsters from Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

These cases are available for iPhone and Samsung devices and start at $40 USD (we’ve reached out for Canadian pricing). They also have designs for AirPods, Apple Watch Bands, AirTag, 2-in-1 grip stands and for the AirPods Pro, a case inspired by Pokémon’s Pixel Pokéball.

Additionally, three winners will have the chance to win three exclusive mirror cases available in the exclusive ‘Pokémon Premium Cases Box’ featuring Legendary Pokémon Dialga, Palkia and Arceus. Customers can register for this on Casetify and take a “Pokémon Quiz” to win.

You can sign up for priority access for the cases ahead of the March 25th release date, here. 

Image credit: Casetify

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Mobile Syrup

GameStop Canada is running a ‘March Frenzy’ sale starting on the 11th

GameStop Canada is running a ‘March Frenzy’ sale from March 11th to 20th.

See below for some of the most notable deals. (Note that the Mario games are on sale at a variety of retailers as part of March 10th “MAR10 Day” promotions).

  • Deathloop — $49.99
  • Far Cry 6 — $49.99 (regularly $79.99)
    GRID Legends — $49.99 (regularly $79.99)
  • Mario Tennis, Super Mario 3D World, Luigi’s Mansion 3, Super Mario Maker 2, New Super Mario Bros. U Deluxe, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe — $54.99 each (regularly $79.99)
  • Mario Kart Live — $89.99 (regularly $129.99)
  • NBA 2K22 — $29.99 (regularly $89.99)
  • Riders Republic — $39.99 (regularly $79.99)

Note: the flyer isn’t yet posted on GameStop’s website, but Twitter user Lbabinz has shared a version of it.

Via: @Lbabinz

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Mobile Syrup

Governments of Canada and Alberta increase funding to end digital divide in Alberta

Canadian flag and Alberta flag blowing in the wind in the Canadian alpine.

The governments of Canada and Alberta are increasing their financial commitment to bring high-speed internet to rural Alberta residents.

In December, the two governments committed $300 million in joint funding. Today they increased funding to $780 million.

The increase deals with the $1 billion price tag to eliminate Alberta’s digital divide.

“We need to close this connection gap and ensure that every nook and cranny of Alberta has access to reliable high-speed internet,” Gudie Hutchings, Minister of Rural Economic Development, said in a statement.

Each government is funding $390 million. The federal government provides the money through the Universal Broadband Fund (UBF).

“With this funding agreement in place, we can focus on reviewing funding applications and getting shovels in the ground this spring so we can bring immediate relief to Albertans all across the province,” Nate Glubish, Minister of Service Alberta, said in a statement.

The federal government has already announced 21 projects in the province funded through the UBF fund, valued at $41 million. It’s unclear when the government will provide details on projects relating to today’s announcement.

All projects funded through the UBF can be viewed here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Check out Best Buy’s latest list of Top Deals

Best Buy Canada’s latest batch of weekly Top Deals discounts several 4K TVs and monitors along with a bunch of headphones, wearables and smart home tech.

Check out the deals below:

TVs

Find all TV top deals here.

Laptops

Find all laptops on sale here.

PCs

Find all PC deals here.

Headphones

Find all headphones on sale here.

Wearables

Find all wearables on sale here.

Smart home

Find all smart home tech deals here.

Find all products under Best Buy’s Top Deals here.

MobileSyrup utilizes affiliate partnerships. These partnerships do not influence our editorial content, though we may earn a commission on purchases made via these links that helps fund the journalism provided free on our website.

Image credit: Best Buy

Source: Best Buy

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Mobile Syrup

Volkswagen’s ID Buzz electric micro bus only seats five

Volkswagen has finally revealed the modern ID Buzz, an electric van with retro stylings and a very modern-looking interior.

The van, like most of the VW ID series, is built on the company MEB battery platform and can accept direct CCS charging rates up to 170 kW. Volkswagen says that this allows drivers to top up the vehicle to 80 percent in roughly 30 minutes.

However, Canadians won’t need to worry about this much since the van is only launching in Europe this year. There’s a North American launch planned at a later date, likely sometime in 2024.

The van is only launching as a five-seater, but wording in VW’s press release suggests a six-seater with a bench seat in the front might eventually be available.

The company has yet to share the range of the van, but it can hit a top speed of around 145km, according to The Verge. 

Inside the displays and instrument clusters carry forward regular Volkswagen ID designs with a large screen in the centre that supports Android Auto and Apple CarPlay.

Source: Volkswagen Via: The Verge

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Mobile Syrup

Here are the game trailers shown off at PlayStation’s March State of Play

Sony’s latest State of Play showcased a variety of games created by Japanese studios. Some of these trailers were for titles that we’ve already seen gameplay of like Forspoken and Ghostwire Tokyo, but we saw some new gameplay footage as well.

Here are the new trailers:

Exoprimal (PS4, PS5)

Ghostwire: Tokyo (PS5) — March 25th release date

Stranger of Paradise Final Fantasy Origin (PS5, PS4) — March 18th release date

Forspoken (PS5) — October 25th release date

Gundam Evolution (PS5, PS4) — Coming 2022

GigaBash (PS5, PS4) — Coming early 2022

JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: All Star Battle R (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022

Trek to Yomi (PS4, PS5) — Spring 2022

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Cowabunga Collection (PS4, PS5) —  Coming 2022

Returnal – Ascension (PS5)

The DioField Chronicle (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022

Valkyrie Elysium (PS4, PS5) — Coming 2022

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Mobile Syrup

Man prosecuted for using COVID-19 relief funds to buy rare Pokémon card

Southern District of Georgia, USA’s Department of Justice (DOJ) recently sentenced Vinath Oudomsine, a 31-year-old Dublin, Georgia resident, after he pleaded guilty to using COVID-19 relief funds to purchase a Pokémon card.

“COVID-19 disaster relief loans are issued by the government to help businesses struggling to survive during a pandemic, not to use for trivial collectible items,” said Philip Wislar, acting special agent in charge of FBI Atlanta, in the DOJ’s news release. “This sentence highlights the FBI’s commitment to aggressively pursue anyone who would abuse taxpayer dollars and divert them from citizens who desperately need them.”

Oudomsine, who claimed he ran a small 10-man business, was awarded an $85,000 (roughly $108,900 CAD) Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) back in August 2020, which he was supposed to use to support his business and pay his employees. Instead, he used $57,789 USD (roughly $74,000 CAD) out of the total funds to purchase a rare, first-edition, shadowless, and holographic Charizard Pokémon card, which according to Polygon has a 9.5 gem mint rating.

In its news release, the DOJ doesn’t specify how Oudomsine came to be apprehended, though it does mention that he will have to spend the next 36 months in prison, in addition to paying $10,000 USD (roughly $12,000 CAD) in fine and $85,000 USD (about $109,000 CAD) in restitution.

Oudomsine also agreed to forfeit the Pokémon card as part of the prosecution.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Via: Polygon

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Mobile Syrup

Apple will reportedly still reveal a new MacBook Air later this year

A new MacBook Air design is reportedly still on the way.

According to often reliable Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, Apple still has plans to reveal a new version of the MacBook Air before the end of the year.

The analyst says that the design will be more in-line with the new MacBook Pro and that the thin laptop will be available in seven different colours, including models that feature white bezels and a white keyboard. Imagine a MacBook Air lineup that adopted the same colours as the iPad Air? I’ll go with ‘Starlight,’ thanks. Kuo says that the production will kick off in the second or third quarter of 2022.

The new MacBook Air isn’t expected to feature the MacBook Pro’s mini-LED display. It’s unclear if the new Air will feature the M1 or Apple’s rumoured M2 chip.

At Apple’s March 8th event, the tech giant showed off several new devices, including a new iPhone SE and iPad Air. The tech giant also revealed its new Mac Studio and Studio Display.

Source: @mingchikuo Via: 9to5Mac