Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 9:34PM 
Image: Meta
Meta is making Horizon Worlds available to younger teens. The metaverse space will be accessible to teens aged 13 to 17 in Canada and the US in the coming weeks. Meta promises "robust" safety measures and parental controls. It wants to ensure the experience is "age-appropriate." And this gradual rollout will determine how well the protections are working.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 7:16AM 
Google is reportedly planning an earlier release for the Pixel 7a. The company supposedly plans to introduce the device at Google I/O 2023 on May 10. 9to5Google reports the smartphone will retail for USD 499 (around CAD 667), a USD 50 (~CAD 67) increase over last year's model.
The price increase might be due to new improvements coming to the phone. It'll supposedly feature an upgraded 64-megapixel main camera joined by a 13-megapixel ultrawide sensor. It'll also reportedly sport the Tensor G2 chip found on the Pixel 7 and 7 Pro, a new 90Hz screen, and wireless charging support.
Tuesday, April 18, 2023 at 5:59AM 
Image: Niantic
Niantic is taking the magic of Pokémon Go and bringing it into the Monster Hunter universe. The company collaborated with Capcom to create a "real-world hunting action RPG" called Monster Hunter Now. The gameplay is similar to Pokémon Go and the now-defunct Harry Potter: Wizards Unite, where you can team up with friends and strangers to play and use materials you gather to craft weapons and armour.
The game will be free-to-play with in-app purchases. It will feature a simplified combat similar to Pokémon Go, with you tapping and swiping on your phone. You can fight in portrait or landscape to replicate the experience on PCs and consoles. While versions of those games have battles that last over five minutes, the maximum battle time on mobile will be 75 seconds. Niantic is now accepting sign-ups for its closed beta testing, which starts on April 25. If there are no issues, Monster Hunter Now will launch sometime in September.
Monday, April 17, 2023 at 10:55PM 
Screenshot: Toronto Star
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) is the latest broadcaster to "pause" its activity on Twitter after the platform labelled it as a "government-funded media." The media outlet rebutted Twitter's use of the label that suggests the government could influence editorial output. It wanted to emphasize that reporting is "impartial and independent." Following its announcement Twitter CEO Elon Musk changed the designation to "69% government-funded media."
It's unclear if CBC is in talks with Twitter to change the label. The UK's British Broadcasting Corporation succeeded in having Twitter change its label to "publicly-funded" soon after it quickly organized an interview with Musk.
