It’s mid-July, and COVID-19 is here for the foreseeable future. Could there be a better moment to publish a piece on app updates and virtual happenings? After all, virtual relationships are keeping us connected right now.
OKCupid Normalizes Pronouns
Mashable recently reported that OKCupid is allowing all its users — regardless of gender — to select their preferred pronouns. The app made the change to help normalize pronoun use and to “create a safer environment for OKCupid’s trans and non-binary users.”
“For many people, especially non-binary and transgender daters, there’s nothing more personal than our names and pronouns,” said Michael Kaye, global communications manager at OkCupid.
“At OkCupid we’ve spent years helping LGBTQ+ daters express themselves more accurately on our platform, by adding questions focused on dating as a queer person to expanding gender and orientation options, and introducing the pronouns feature for our LGBTQ+ users.
By encouraging all our users to share their pronouns,” said Kaye, “we’re hoping to create an even more inclusive space for everyone who lives outside of traditional expectations of gender expression and identity.”
In addition to its pronouns change, the app also has added a Black Live Matter badge and profile questions concerning racial inequality.
Virtual Protests
Can’t attend a Black Lives Matter protest in person? Animal Crossing’s got you covered.
According to Business Insider, “Animal Crossing: New Horizons” is allowing players to create digital protests, signs, and clothing with “BLM imagery.”
“Anyone with access to a Nintendo Online account can host an online protest in the game,” Business Insider reported. “As there’s a limit of only eight players allowed to be on another player’s island at a time, interested players were directed to a site which put folks in line to gain access. When the player’s turn came, they were given a special code needed to enter the island.”
One player who hosted a virtual protest in June made signs, pillows and photos. They also “carved out a special path and area on their island to hold the sit-in protest,” Mashable added. “Players were encouraged to bring in-game currency (also known as bells) to the island, which would be converted into a charity donation by the host in the name of the player who contributed.”
Twitter is Building a Subscription Platform
According to Venture Beat, Twitter’s possible subscription platform’s code name is “Gryphon.” Venture Beat pieced together the information about Twitter’s “upgrade” by looking into two online job postings.
First, there’s a remote contractor position listed on LinkedIn that’s “seeking a backend Scala software engineer to work for Gryphon.” The team is “split across Twitter hubs in San Francisco, New York, and London,” Venture Beat reported. The job posting states that “Gryphon constitutes a mixture of frontend and backend engineers who are ‘working closely together to deliver something new at Twitter” and involves rebuilding some of Twitter’s services to “produce a subscription management platform.’”
The second job posting is for a “senior full-stack software engineer.” Venture Beat found the listing on Twitter’s career portal.
The investigation is on!
Apple Music is a drain
According to Gizmodo, many iPhone users have noticed that Apple Music is draining their batteries. Complaints are popping up on Apple Support, Reddit, and MacRumors.
Gizmodo reported that “users with iPhones running iOS 13.5.1 and iOS 13.4.1 claim background activity from Apple Music is sucking up an inordinate amount of battery, resulting in battery usage upwards of 50% in some cases.”
If you noticed your device is having battery issues, Gizmodo has a few suggestions.
“For people who think they may be suffering from excessive battery drain caused by Apple Music, there are a number of troubleshooting options you may want to try,” Gizmodo reports.
“The easiest of these is to force quit Apple Music, delete Apple Music and then reinstall, or simply try restarting your iPhone. But if that doesn’t work, some users have reported success by disabling Automatic Downloads from the iPhone’s settings menu, disabling Background App Refresh, or canceling all downloads in your Apple Music Library. In extreme cases, some users have tried factory resetting their phone, but if you do this, you’ll want to make sure you back up all your data first.”
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Abbie Stutzer is a queer, non-binary writer living in Kansas City, MO. You can find them doing witchy stuff at home with their numerous pets or at the local animal shelter saving lives. Contact Stutzer via abbie@ynotcam.com.
Background header image via Pexels here.
