Entertainment

Welcome to the new phenomenon of playing Zoom poker. It is a novel idea that is catching on as the pandemic continues. The video platform has become a popular solution for friends who miss their regular in-person poker games. It adds the missing element of banter and social interactions that playing...

While many people have been stuck at home during the pandemic, virtual travel marketing has emerged to help fill the void felt by those who yearn for faraway places. The E-Commerce Times caught up with some virtual travel experts to discover how they're using various technologies to give folks the o...

A proposal to avoid the banning of the popular social media app TikTok was submitted to the U.S. Treasury Department over the weekend. The plan submitted by ByteDance, which owns TikTok, calls for the company to enlist Oracle as a "trusted technology provider" in order to address national security c...

Apple's "Walled Garden" was built to protect consumers from malicious applications, but it can also protect the company from competition, as Microsoft and Facebook discovered recently. Late last week, Apple refused to allow Microsoft to offer its xCloud streaming gaming app for iOS and iPadOS at the...

Though initially isolating, the coronavirus pandemic has spawned a whole new world of digital parties and get-togethers. People stuck at home are finding innovative ways to socialize, participating in everything from virtual beer tastings to online book club meetings. While the event landscape has b...

Consumer interest in cloud gaming could boost annual subscription revenues to nearly US$3 billion, according to Parks Associates. There is renewed interest, the research firm's report noted, in gaming services that can stream over the Internet and deliver games to multiple platforms without download...

A new virtual reality headset designed for mobility will serve as an entry point into a new virtual world. The $599 Mova headset from XRSpace, founded by former HTC chief Peter Chou, will support 5G and be the exclusive on-ramp to Manova, a social reality platform that aims to defy the boundaries of...

Facebook has launched a free standalone app for creating and watching live video game play on Android devices. Some 700 million users already engage in gaming on the platform, but with its dedicated app Facebook is locking horns with the leaders in the market -- Amazon, Google and Microsoft. "Live s...

Being stuck at home gives us all way too much time to think, and many of us are burning through online content very rapidly. One of the things that's become painfully apparent is that TV shows that used to have live audiences -- like The Daily Show and Last Week Tonight -- have become almost unwatch...

It may not be a question of if but when the Internet will reach the breaking point under the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Internet is fast becoming a potential victim of the coronavirus assault. With an estimated billion people staying home, remote working, or just watching shows online all ...

Microsoft whetted demand for its Xbox Series X product line with the revelation of some impressive specs for its next-generation gaming console. "It's really going to be a kick in the pants for the industry," said Mark N. Vena, senior analyst at Moor Insights and Strategy. "It should provide quite a...

Though it no longer grabs many headlines, video piracy remains a major issue for pay-TV services, according to data released last month by consumer research firm Parks Associates. If just 10 percent of pay-TV subscribers should discontinue paying for services by 2023, the loss in revenue to operator...

When we watch a work of fiction, we enter an understanding with its makers. We agree to suspend our disbelief, and they agree to entertain us. If it's a particularly good work, perhaps it inspires us by communicating some kernel of wisdom about human nature. Its story may touch our emotions deeply, ...

Increasing numbers of connected devices in the home and greater consumption of streaming media are driving consumer demand for faster broadband speeds. Recent years have brought dramatic changes to the market as providers introduced greater service speeds, bundles and pricing models in an attempt to...