Netflix warns people against attempting Bird Box challenge

Once memes go viral and spawn ridiculous challenges, it’s hard to slow these down—no matter how stupid or dangerous they might be. Netflix is feeling the negative effects of how viral its horror film Bird Box became. The streaming service had to warn people to not take part of the “Bird Box challenge,” where people walk around with blindfold at all times as they attempt to go about their lives. Some took more extreme approaches, like YouTube creator Morgan Adams who attempted a 24-hour challenge. In a tweet released on its official account, Netflix says, “Can’t believe I have to say this, but: PLEASE DO NOT HURT YOURSELVES WITH THIS BIRD BOX CHALLENGE. We don’t know how this started, and we appreciate the love, but Boy and Girl have just one wish for 2019 and it is that you not end up in the hospital due to memes.” Whether that warning makes a difference or not, we can’t say. But we have to side with the streaming service on this one, just don’t do it.

Source: The Verge

Leak shows off the hole-punch display on the rumoured Galaxy S10

Serial gadget leaker Evan Blass took to Twitter again to share a look of the rumoured Galaxy S10. The phone features a camera cutout at the top-right corner of the screen with extremely thin bezels to the side, the bottom gets a slightly thicker chin than the rest of the phone. This “Infinity-O display” design was first seen in the Galaxy A8s, which Samsung revealed a few weeks back. It’s the first time Samsung has put any kind of interruption on the screen as the company has managed to stay notch-free for its flagships. Blass claims this is what the standard S10 is going to look like. He also mentions that this phone will be able to wirelessly charge other phones and watches, similar to what the Huawei Mate 20 Pro can do. Four Galaxy S10 models are expected to arrive at the end of February (when Samsung usually launches its S line of phones)—there’s supposedly going to be a Lite model, a Plus model, and a 5G one.

Source: The Verge

Bethesda settles lawsuit with Warner Bros. and Behaviour over ‘Westworld’ game

Bethesda Softworks has settled a lawsuit against Warner Bros. and developer Behaviour Interactive over a Westworld base-building game, which Bethesda alleges was a ripoff of its Fallout Shelter game. The company filed a lawsuit for copyright infringement, breach of contract, and unfair competition back in June 2018. Bethesda released a brief statement claiming they’ve reached an “amicable” agreement, but the company didn’t disclose the terms. The companies will bear the cost of attorney fees and the like and Bethesda dismissed its claims with prejudice, which means the same claims can’t be brought up again. Back in June, Bethesda accused Behaviour of using copyrighted code from Fallout Shelter to develop the Westworld game. That a bug found in the early version of Fallout Shelter, which Behaviour developed with Bethesda, was found in Westworld. But both Warner Bros. and Behaviour disputed this claim, saying the accusations were baseless.

Source: Gamastura + Polygon

Apple announces blockbuster holiday week with $1.22 billion in sales

Apple announced a record-breaking holiday sales week and New Year's Day with a huge $1.22 billion in sales spent in apps and games. 

"The holiday week was our biggest week ever with more than $1.22 billion spent on apps and games, and New Year’s Day set a new single-day record at more than $322 million,” said Phil Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “Thanks to the inspiring work of our talented developers and the support of our incredible customers around the world."

Apple says services set new all-time records in multiple categories, including the App Store, Apple Music, Cloud Services, Apple Pay and the App Store’s search ad business. Huge earners in the app department includemultiplayer games like Fortnite and PUBG as well as productivity, health and fitness apps. "1Password, Sweat and Luminosity charting in their respective categories," Apple reported.