Internet & Websites News - Page 1

Have you noticed a recent trend regarding the Steam store page for games that the media section would be full of videos and trailers, and you'd have to scroll to see screenshots?

The new store page layout on Steam now features two trailers max before screenshots.

Well, the good news is that Valve has, too, with a new update to Steam for developers now limiting the presentation to a maximum of two trailers before screenshots.

"Starting today, a maximum of two trailers can appear in the row of thumbnails to the left of screenshots," Valve writes in the update. "Any remaining trailers will be displayed after the screenshots, resulting in a default view for players that always has a mix of screenshots and trailers in view."

For the first time ever, Google Translate can now be used with images. That means that you can throw an image at the Google Translate website on your Mac or PC and have it translate any text it finds into the language of your choice.

Google Translate in use - Image source support.Google.com

While Google Lens already allows image translation, the key difference here is that Google Translate supports offline images, allowing you to provide your own file. Google Lens only works online, which leaves it in a bit of a pickle sometimes.

The confirmation of Google Translate's new powers came in an unassuming community post. There, users were informed that they could head to translate.Google.com and then click the new images option. After doing so they can then select the image that they want to have translated.

YouTube has confirmed that it is going to do away with what it calls Overlay ads, a format of ad that was particularly irritating for those who have to see them.

Overlay ads are ads that appear on top of video content on the YouTube desktop website, and they require user interaction to make them go away. Now, YouTube has confirmed that it's making them go away itself, and for good.

The positive news came via a post on the YouTube Help Forum in which it was confirmed that starting April 6, 2023, Overlay ads will no longer appear on YouTube. The streamer said that it's all about helping to improve viewer experiences, but it then went on to ruin that somewhat by suggesting that engagement and higher-performing ad formats are going to be the order of the day.

Beleaguered social network Twitter has rolled its subscription Twitter Blue service out to more countries. Now, more than 20 more countries have access to the subscription offering than was the case yesterday and they're all across Europe.

The new countries in which people can now subscribe to Twitter Blue include Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Sweden.

Twitter Blue gives subscribers access to a handful of perks for at least $8 per month. How much you pay depends on which platform you subscribe via, with those paying via Apple's App Store and Google's Play Store paying more to make up for the companies' 30% cut.

Twitter CEO Elon Musk says that he might hang around at Twitter for the rest of the year rather than choosing his replacement today.

Elon Musk - Image source: mashable.com

Musk's tenure as Twitter CEO since his $44 billion buyout in late 2022 has proven problematic to say the least. He fired thousands of Twitter employees to try and save money and has made no secret of the fact that the social network is losing cash at an unsustainable rate. That, he suggests, is one of the reasons he isn't ready to hand over the Twitter top job just yet.

Musk was speaking at the World Government Summit in Dubai when he said that he won't move on from the CEO role until he's been able to stabilize Twitter. He says that he wants to make sure that Twitter is "in a healthy place," something that will be no mean feat.

Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser has been on the way out for years, as the Chromium-based Microsoft Edge became the company's focus. Even though Internet Explorer hasn't been officially supported since June 2022, its death date has now arrived for Windows 10 users - on Valentine's Day.

Microsoft Edge was announced in 2015 as the successor to Internet Explorer. With the transition complete, we can only assume Edge is putting on its best Darth Vader to say, "Internet Explorer was weak, and I destroyed him." Officially though, Microsoft has said the following.

"All remaining devices that have not already been redirected from IE11 to Microsoft Edge are scheduled to be redirected with the Microsoft Edge update scheduled for February 14, 2023," writes Microsoft. "The change to using Microsoft Edge update to disable IE is intended to provide a better user experience and help organizations transition their last remaining IE11 users to Microsoft Edge."

Since the dawn of the internet and digital social interaction, typing "lol" has meant that you found something so funny - you're laughing out loud. At least, that's the idea. In 2023 it's become shorthand for amusement on any level, and "lol" has become a part of everyday conversation.

You've probably said or typed "lol" when you thought something was slightly amusing without actually laughing. We've all done it. The same sentiment applies to the rise of laughing emojis and social media platforms. There's nowhere near as much laughing as we all imply.

This raises the question - who's out there laughing out loud?

Chess has been popular for hundreds of years, long before the first home computer arrived. And if we look back to the early days of PC gaming, there have always been chess games. In the age of the smartphone and always-online social interaction, chess.com is proving to be one of the most popular gaming destinations on the planet.

Thanks in part to lockdowns and shows like The Queen's Gambit on Netflix, and fun things like soccer stars Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo playing chess on social media, chess, and Chess.com is seeing a massive surge in interest and players. We're talking over one million games per hour and a record-breaking 31,700,000 games played on January 20 alone. These are incredible numbers, but it has also led to issues keeping servers up and running.

Traffic on Chess.com has nearly doubled since the beginning of December, and our servers are struggling, especially during peak hours, typically around noon to 4 p.m. ET. We are very sorry for the issues; we know it's super frustrating. We are all hands-on deck to address these challenges, but sadly there isn't (yet) a simple button we can press to resolve these issues.

Google Chrome, first released in 2008, and has since become one of the most popular web browsers in the world and now Google is rolling out new updates to reduce battery strain and improve system memory.

These updates were designed to improve the browser's performance and make it more efficient, especially when it comes to how much it impacts battery life and its system memory usage. The updates rolled out two new modes, Memory Saver mode and Battery Saver mode. According to reports, Memory Saver mode reduces memory usage by up to 30% on desktop.

By optimizing the way that the browser allocates and uses memory, Google was able to reduce the amount of memory that Chrome consumes, freeing up more performance for your PC to allocate to different tasks while also making the browser faster and more responsive.

Google's Year in Search 2022 has revealed that the most searched terms of the year were "Worlde", "World Cup," "Ukraine," and "Queen Elizabeth". These terms reflect the major events and trends that have shaped the year, offering insight into the interests and concerns of people around the world.

The search term "Worlde" game likely reflects the popularity of online gaming, which has grown significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. With many people spending more time at home, they have turned to games as a way to stay entertained and connected with friends and family.

The term "World Cup" likely relates to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, which is happening in Qatar. As the event continues, many people are likely using Google to find out more about the teams, players, and schedule.