Author: Mobile Syrup

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Mobile Syrup

Instagram is rolling out the ability to privately like stories

Instagram is testing out a new feature that will help users keep their inboxes uncluttered. The feature lets users send private likes in reply to a story, instead of having to send a message or an emoji to display their affection.

The messaging functionality, which was first shared by the head of Instagram Adam Mosseri, is now rolling out for all Instagram users.

According to Mosseri, “the idea here is to make sure that people can express more support for each other, but also to clean up DMs a little bit.” As part of the update, a new heart icon will now appear between the pill-shaped send message bar and the airplane icon, when you’re viewing a story.

Before this update, if you had to show appreciation or affection to someone’s story, you’d have to send them a message, and it would pop up in their DMs, but now, all you need to do is press the new heart icon on their story and they will be able to see it in their ‘viewer sheet.’

While not a monumental feature, the new update is sure to help you organize your DMs better, and if you’re on the other side of the equation, make it easier to show love.

Source: @mosseri

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Mobile Syrup

Federal government allocates millions to train young Canadians for the digital economy

OTTAWA, CANADA – NOVEMBER 10, 2018: Canada Wordmark, the official logo of the Canadian government, on an administrative building next to a Canadian flag waiving

The future is digital, and the Government of Canada is acknowledging this through its CanCode program.

Launched in 2017, the program allows youth to learn coding and other digital skills, ensuring Canada has a trained workforce that can respond to the digital economy and is strong in science, technology, engineering and math.

In its third round of funding, the government has committed $80 million towards 29 organizations to create 3 million training opportunities for students and 120,000 teachers.

Black Boys Code, Edmonton Space & Science Foundation, and Science East are some organizations receiving funding.

Students between kindergarten and Grade 12 will learn coding, data analytics, and digital content development. Teachers are given resources that help them incorporate digital skills in the classroom.

“To drive our economic success for years to come, we must support young Canadians in the digital world. By investing in resources that teach students things like coding and data analytics, we are helping them gain the skills needed to succeed in the 21st-century economy,” François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, said in a statement. “These are the skills that will help them transition from the classroom to research labs, shop floors and boardrooms.”

The program has provided 220,000 teachers and students with 4.5 million training opportunities in its first two rounds. This announcement brings that figure up to 7.5 million. A full list of funding recipients is available here.

Image credit: Shutterstock

Source: Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada

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Mobile Syrup

Tweet your favourite movie of 2021 to win a trip to next year’s Oscars

Twitter users can vote for their favourite films released in 2021, even if it’s not an Oscar nominee, by using the hashtag #OscarsFanFavorite, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film that gets the most votes by March 3rd will be recognized during the ceremony on March 27th.

Additionally, three users who tweet out their votes from February 14th to March 3rd will be selected alongside some of their guests to have an all-expensed-paid trip to L.A. and will get the opportunity to present an Oscar at the 2023 award ceremony.

“We’re thrilled to partner with Twitter to help build an engaged and excited digital audience leading up to this year’s ceremony,” Meryl Johnson, the V.P. digital marketing at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, said in a statement to The Hollywood Reporter. “Through these activations, social media users around the world now have more opportunities to engage with the show in real time, find a community and be a part of the experience in ways they’ve never been able to before.”

This new fan-favourite film won’t be an official Oscars category, but it gives fans a way to include films they think deserve an Oscars nomination. The Acadamy and Twitter partnership will also let users tweet about their favourite scenes from 2021 movies using the #OscarsCheerMoment hashtag.

The Academy will show the winning scenes alongside the winning film. Users who tweet this will get a prize pack that includes a full year of free movie tickets at theatres, subscriptions to streaming services and exclusive items from the Academy Museum Store.

Twitter users will tweet out their submissions up to 20 times per day.

As you can probably tell by the header, I’ll be tweeting out Spider-Man: No Way Home as my film that could have won.

Source: The Hollywood Reporter

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Mobile Syrup

Steam’s 2K Publisher sale offers games up to 90 percent off

Steam’s ‘2K Publisher Sale’ is offering digital 2K games for up to 90 percent off.

These games are available until February 24th.

Below are some of the top deals:

You can check out more deals on Steam’s website.

Image credit: Steam 

Source: Steam Via: RedFlagDeals

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Mobile Syrup

Nintendo Canada shows off chocolate Joy-Cons for Valentine’s Day

Have you ever gazed at your Nintendo Switch’s Joy-Con controllers and thought to yourself, “this looks delicious?”

No? Neither have I, but that hasn’t stopped Nintendo from turning its iconic gamepads into chocolate.

Unfortunately, these chocolate Joy-Cons aren’t real, which is good because if you tried playing Super Smash Bros with these controllers, they’d melt.

That said, they’re pretty cool and look like they’d make a great snack.

Source: Nintendo Canada 

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Mobile Syrup

Developer gets Windows 11 to work on Pixel 6 running Android 13

A Pixel 6 running Windows 11 is at the top of my list of things I’ve never wanted.

However, that hasn’t stopped developer ‘kdrag0n’ from running Microsoft’s desktop operating system on Google’s Android device using a  Kernel-based Virtual Machine (KVM) found in the Android 13 developer preview. 

kdrag0n says that they focused on performance and that the Windows Virtual Machine is “actually really usable.”

kdrag0n goes on to outline that they were able to run Doom on the Pixel 6 using the phone’s Windows Virtual Machine and that they utilized their computer’s keyboard for input.

XDA Developers explains that Android 13 makes it easier to access the kernel-based virtual machine that’s available on the device, and that they took advantage of this exploit to unlock the full virtual machine on the Pixel 6.

Microsoft first launched its Windows Phone operating system back in 2010, but it was eventually killed off roughly seven years later in 2017. 

Source: @kdrag0n Via: XDA Developers

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Mobile Syrup

The DeLorean is back, but this time it’s an EV

There truly are no original ideas, but at least this one is tied to a pretty cool looking roughly 40-year-old car.

In a new brief teaser, the DeLorean Motor Company showed off a glimpse of the return of its iconic car, stating that “The future was never promised” and “Reimagine today.”

The approximately 15-second video also offers a glimpse of the DeLorean’s iconic gull-wing doors and includes several search-friendly hashtags, but beyond this, nothing else is revealed about the car. It’s unclear how close the new electric vehicle (EV) DeLorean will stick to the original car’s design, but based on this short teaser, it seems to be a more modern take on the iconic car’s blocky design.

The new DeLorean is set to be revealed at some point in 2022.

The original DeLorean was sold between 1981 and 1982. Along with its unique design, the $25,000 USD (roughly $31,000 CAD) — equivalent to $71,000 USD (about $90,000 CAD) as of 2020 — car is best known for being a very underpowered vehicle. The original DeLorean Motor Company shuttered operations back in 1982.

Most likely know the original DeLorean from Robert Zemeckis’ Back to the Future film franchise, which released several years after the car’s demise in 1985.

It’s unclear if Back to the Future is also getting a remake to go alongside the new DeLorean EV.

Image credit: @deloreanmotorco

Source: @deloreanmotorco

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Mobile Syrup

Bell, Shaw, and Telus show continued support for audience insight project

Marketing targeting and customer selection concept. The hand is tracing the figures.

Bell, Shaw, and Telus are all competitors in the telecom world.

But they have decided to join forces to once again collectively fund a project that will shed light on audience insights and provide Canadian producers with data to increase content discoverability.

Magnify Digital manages the initiative called the 2022 Audience Development Pilot Project.

The Vancouver-based company focusing on digital marketing and audience analytics said it’d work with the Bell Fund, Shaw Rocket Fund, and Telus Fund.

The “groundbreaking initiative will help Canadian screen media creators simplify the process and access the tools, understanding and agency to position their content in front of target audiences at home and internationally,” according to a report byCartt.

Founder and CEO of Magnify Digital, Moyra Rodger, welcomed the news. “We are thrilled to advance this important collaboration to help producers and media businesses build audiences. [It’s audience analytics platform] ViewerCentric is growing in terms of its features, database and the insights it can deliver to industry.”

The companies first stated their support in April 2021, when the project was in its pilot phase. They’ve extended their support now that the project has been renewed.

“Renewing this initiative will double the project portfolio within ViewerCentric, leading to a more robust database, benchmarks and learning. The momentum and potential for propelling Canadian content are exciting,” a joint statement from the three companies says.

Image credit: ShutterStock

Source: Cartt.ca

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Mobile Syrup

Cyberpunk 2077’s anticipated current-gen console update could arrive soon

Despite Cyberpunk 2077 being a near-absolute mess when it was first released back in 2022, CD Projekt Red (CDPR) has continued to support the beleaguered open-world title with several patches.

However, the game’s anticipated current-gen Xbox Series X and PlayStation 5 update hasn’t yet appeared, though it seems that might change soon.

Back in October CDPR delayed all fixes and free DLC for Cyperpunk 2077, stating that a “major update” would arrive in 2022 alongside its current-gen/next-gen “enhanced” update. Fast-forward to now and the developer revealed in a tweet that it’s set to make an announcement on Tuesday, February 15th at 10am ET/7am PT.

Adding to this rumour, Cyberpunk 2077 now shows up as “optimized” on the Xbox Series X/S, and a PS5 edition of the title appeared on Sony’s PlayStation Network back in January. The enhanced update also seems to already be hitting some players’ consoles.

The enhanced update will be free to anyone that already owns the Xbox One/PlayStation 4 version of the title. CDPR is also expected to release an upgraded version of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt for the Xbox Series X/PlaySation 5, though it likely won’t release until Q2 2022.

Source: @Cyberpunkgame 

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Mobile Syrup

Capcom’s website features a mysterious countdown that ends on February 21st

Capcom’s website has been updated with a mysterious countdown that’s set to end on Monday, February 21st.

As of right now, no one knows what the Japan-based video game developer intends to reveal on the big day, which also happens to be Family Day here in Canada.

If you visit this link, you’re greeted with a countdown that says “6 days, 9 hours” (at the time of publication, which happens to be 12am ET on February 21st.

The day coincides with the final of Capcom’s Pro Tour 2021 season, so it might have something to do with Street Fighter given the franchise is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year. There’s also a possibility the developer could reveal Street Fighter VI or Resident Evil Village DLC.

Whatever might be the case, it seems like Capcom plans to keep things quiet until February 21st.

Image credit: Capcom

Source: Capcom