A blast from chef Ramsay
First there was Tetris, then Candy Crush, and now Chef Blast is aiming to be the next puzzle game sensation…with a little help from none other than Gordon Ramsay. The chef, known for his no nonsense approach and colourful put-downs on his TV shows and social media, is making his first approach into the world of gaming.
Chef Blast follows the traditional colour matching mechanic of many other puzzle games, with food items, such as onions and hamburgers, each having their own rules. Users unlock exclusive recipes from Ramsay to then ‘become a culinary master’. And, unlike his other ventures. there’s no swearing from the chef itself – that’s left to users themselves when they fail that tricky level for the umpteenth time!
Read more: https://metro.co.uk/2021/01/14...
BBC expands bitesize
As part of their commitment to helping families during the current lockdown, the BBC launched its Lockdown Lessons last week, which includes an expansion of their Bitesize offering.
Not only can pupils access the online BBC Bitesize collection of educational resources, which caters for those in Years 1 to 9 and students studying for GCSEs and Nationals, but parents can also look for much needed guidance on the BBC Bitesize social media channels. Their Facebook and Twitter profiles focus on aiding parents and teachers, while teenage students can get additional content on the Bitesize Instagram and, in keeping with current trends, TikTok too.
Read more here:
The BBC is just one organisation working to support parents and teachers with home-schooling. Others include our client LEAF Education who help manage Countryside Classroom, an online centre for educational resources around food, farming and the environment. Originally targeted solely at teachers, since lockdown last year resources have been curated and offered for parents too in the Home Education Hub.
Extension to WhatsApp Ts and Cs update following confusion
New Ts and Cs for WhatsApp have been met with criticism and confusion, forcing an extension in the deadline to accept them from 8th February to 15th May. The main point of contention is changes to which data is shared with parent company Facebook. This differs in the UK to the US, due to different privacy laws, but users claim the new Ts and Cs do not make that clear.
Discover what the fuss is about? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tec...
Since the new Ts and Cs were published, rival sites Signal and Telegram have both seen significant growth as users look for alternative platforms. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/tec...
Trump gets banned… while Biden starts ‘from scratch’
Following this month’s riots in Washington, Donald Trump has now been permanently banned from Twitter, as well as Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitch and Snapchat. Meanwhile his successor will have to start from scratch with the @POTUS Twitter account resetting to zero followers before passing to Joe Biden. This is in contrast to Trump himself, who inherited 13m followers when he took over the handle from Barack Obama, although Biden’s own Twitter account currently has more than 24m followers, who will all be invited to follow the official account. (Source:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-55675826)
Some may say that Trump’s ban should have happened sooner, while others will claim that it takes away his free speech. This Guardian article explores both sides of the argument: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/17/trump-twitter-ban-five-free-speech-experts-weigh-in.
Trump wasn’t the only one with a ban this month as microblogging site Parler, whose posts often contain far right content, anti-Semitism and conspiracy theorists, was also suspended by both Apple and Google Play stores last week. While the app remains offline, the website resurfaced at the weekend – although in a limited capacity.
Read more here: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/ne...
And it’s goodbye to Sir David
Someone else not returning to social media, though entirely of his own choice, is Sir David Attenborough. Despite racing to 1m followers in record time last year the presenter and campaigner told Radio 1 last week that he couldn’t get the hang of it saying he had ‘enough problems with the post!”. It may have been short lived, but as with everything Sir David does, we enjoyed it while it happened.
