1. Teenage Gamer Wins Record $3 Million in Fortnite Competition
Fortnite has wrapped its first-ever massive sporting event in New York’s Arthur Ashe tennis stadium. The stadium was more packed Sunday than on previous days, when Epic games hosted a duos tournament and an amateurs vs. pros competition. More than a million viewers tuned in to watch online, according to Twitch, YouTube and Fortnite in-game stats.
What’s even more surprising?
They dished out their largest pay-out ever of $3M to a player no one would have expected. Beating out other pros and famous streamers, Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf, 16, made a name for himself by dominating from the first round, taking home the grand prize for individual players. Everyone who participated in the games on Sunday, including those who placed last with no points at all, takes home at least $50,000 for playing. That makes this one of the biggest tournaments in esports so far.
Check out our very own Equalman Studios esports video here!
(Source: CNN)
2. Senate Cracks Down on Social Media
There are increasing concerns that social media is addictive and that it’s being intentionally and maliciously designed this way. Companies are using psychological tricks to seduce teenagers into spending hours and hours of their time on these outlets. Here is looking at you Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube, and many others.
But, politicians are saying enough.
Senator Josh Hawley introduced the Social Media Addiction Reduction Technology Act, or SMART Act, on Tuesday. The bill cracks down on the “addictive and deceptive techniques” used by tech companies and social media sites to keep our attention. The legislation, if passed, would ban features like infinite scroll for news feeds and autoplay for videos.
Did you know that Teenage girls’ suicide is up by 68%? Check out other jaw dropping stats in this Screenagers video here.
(Source: CNET)
3. Rock Band Tool Caves to Digital Streaming Pressures
Until now, Rock band, Tool has been one of the biggest artists to refuse to sell its music digitally. However, over the years the band’s position has become more and more isolated. The likes of The Beatles, Metallica, AC/DC, and Led Zeppelin have all caved one by one and allowed their music to be streamed as part of a monthly subscription. Tool said its albums would be available on “all digital and streaming formats,” which is expected to include the likes of Spotify, Apple Music, Pandora, and Amazon Prime Music.
The band has said that its catalog will finally be available to stream and to purchase digitally on August 2nd. Tool’s timing, ironically, came after Apple announced that it would discontinue iTunes.
What does this mean?
The band was just months away from skipping out on the iTunes generation completely.
(Source: The Verge)
