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YouTube is introducing three new ways to fine-tune your browsing experience on the platform.
First, the Google-owned video service is rolling out topics and related videos on its homepage and under its “Up Next” tab. Second, it is giving users the ability to remove suggestions from channels they don’t want to watch. And thirdly, it is providing users with more information about why videos were recommended to them.
With these changes, YouTube hopes to give you control over the what content pops up on the site.
YouTube says the topic options are based on existing personalized suggestions, but it’s possible they are related to a video you’re currently watching, or videos published by that channel.
The option “Don’t Recommend Channel” is technically not new. According to YouTube support page, you can completely turn off recommendations from specific channels by tapping “Not interested,” then “TELL US WHY,” and then “I’m not interested in this channel.” The new change just makes the process a whole lot easier.
It also says that a certain video may be recommended to you based on what other viewers with similar interests have liked and watched in the past — which is exactly how a collaborative filtering algorithm works. Spotify, Netflix, and Amazon already use this technique to suggest songs, movie titles and products you may like.
Over the last several months, the video platform has been subjected to a barrage of criticism for not doing enough to address toxic videos on the platform. Between accusations of radicalizing youths by sending them down extremist rabbit holes and ignoring harassment of LGBT content creators, YouTube has seen its algorithm recommending inappropriate videos to kids, including explicit sexual language and jokes about pedophilia.
The development also comes weeks after it began rolling out new measures to tackle hate speech on the platform. It said it will ban videos that promote the superiority of any group as a justification for discrimination against others based on their “age, gender, race, caste, religion, sexual orientation, or veteran status.”
It’s hard to evaluate whether the changes will have the desired effect. But they are long overdue, and hopefully will clean up its toxic recommendation system.
Some features are available globally on the YouTube app for Android and iOS right away, but you can expect the others to rollout on Android, iOS, and the desktop in the coming days.
Sony has a simple, straightforward way to entice would-be Xperia 1 buyers in the US: offer a bundle that might be hard to refuse. The tech giant is starting American pre-orders on June 28th, and those who purchase ahead of the July 12th release will get a pair of the company's WH-1000XM3 headphones at no extra cost -- that's $350 of (frankly excellent) wireless audio for free. If you're buying the Xperia 1 to watch movies mid-flight or stream music during your commute, you might have everything you need.
Of course, Sony can afford to do this in part because the phone costs a hefty $950. You'll still be getting quite a bit for the money between the super-long 6.5-inch 4K OLED screen, a camera system with eye autofocusing and Dolby Atmos audio. However, the price is still tough to swallow in a country where Sony phones are still quite rare. The headphones should make the Xperia 1 more palatable, even if you have concerns about the usefulness of that 21:9 ratio display or the relatively modest 3,300mAh battery.
You can tell yourself whatever you need to feel better about having to stare at your smartphone’s ugly notch all day, but it’s an awkward design decision that serves as a placeholder until a more elegant solution to hiding a front facing camera (and other tech) comes along. Apple seems to be in no rush to get rid of it, but Oppo is now showing off a smartphone prototype that manages to hide a selfie camera behind its screen.
After teasing the new tech a few weeks ago, Oppo brought a prototype to the MWC Shanghai trade show taking place in China this week. According to the company, the phone uses a specially-developed transparent material to let light pass through the various elements of its display, as well as a redesigned pixel structure that improves its transmittance. Oppo claims that while the screen is on, the camera lens underneath is invisible, but Engadget Chinese managed to get some close-up shots of the prototype, and the area that covers the camera does appear to stand out from the rest of the display, under close scrutiny.
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A truly bezel-less screen is the ideal solution for mobile devices, as they allow the size of the display to take full advantage of the size of the actual device. But features like fingerprint readers, selfie cameras, and the infra-red projector that allows Apple’s Face ID to work, have demanded ugly compromises like notches or holes punched in the corner of the screen. The industry is making some important inroads to eliminating these eyesores, however, with under-screen fingerprint readers, and pivoting cameras that can shoot either forwards or back. (Although more moving parts means more ways for your phone to break.)
Oppo’s solution seems like it’s the ideal one, even if its execution isn’t quite perfect just yet. In a tweet, the company revealed that special image processing algorithms are needed to remove haze, adjust white balance, and fix other issues caused by the extra layers of glass and electronics over the camera’s lens. This will be an issue across the board, but we’ve already seen AI-assisted algorithms flawlessly remove obtrusive watermarks from photos, so it seems like a combination of clever software and hardware could make under-screen selfie cams a viable solution—eventually. Despite the working prototype at MWC Shanghai, Oppo hasn’t announced when a smartphone with the new tech will arrive, although it claims one is en route in the near future.
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There's a moment when I think I've gone too far. Piranha Plants fill the bottom half of the screen, flying Koopas the top half, and somewhere in between is Mario using swinging claws to propel himself through the madness towards, I hope, a successful finish. But Super Mario Maker 2, like its predecessor, is all about encouraging you to be as mad and creative as you want to be. The tools are all there at your fingertips, it's just a matter of dragging and dropping whatever element of the Super Mario games you want to add to your particular creation.
(Image credit: Nintend)
Release date: June 27, 2019
Developer: Nintendo
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Super Mario Maker 2 as a Nintendo Switch release was basically inevitable. After its surprise success on the Wii U, despite the console's overall lacklustre user base, and its eventual port to the Nintendo 3DS, bringing the creation tools to make your own Mario games to the Switch was a given. Thankfully, the original game went on quite the journey since its initial launch, gaining new features based on community feedback, and what you get as a result is an almost perfect sequel.
If you aren't familiar with the first game or its 3DS port, Super Mario Maker 2 is essentially three games in one, and it has an unbelievable capacity to totally satisfy you whatever you're looking to get out of it. The main appeal is the creation tools, which puts every Super Mario gameplay element at your fingertips to use in the building of your own levels, which you can then upload and share with other players. But, along with this there's a robust story mode, and the option to play the creations of others.
Watch our 60 second video review below:
Think of it like Dreams. If you want to create, you can. If you want to simply enjoy the creative talents of others, then that's an opportunity that's never going to stop. Even on this early press build of the full game, there are already hundreds of levels that have been created by such talented humans, who obviously understand the fundamentals of a great Super Mario levels far better than me. In essence, you're getting a fully-fledged Super Mario game with continuously added levels, that both serve as inspiration for your own creations and something new to keep interacting with. Heck, you can even download the ones you really like and add them to your own playlist to play whenever and wherever you fancy.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
If you want to get even closer to the Nintendo developers though, and get inside their heads somewhat, it's more than worth diving into the game's story mode. There are 100 levels of professionally pre-made goodness, through which you need to earn coins to rebuild the Mushroom Kingdom castle. The Undo Dog sadly went a bit AWOL and destroyed all your hard work after rebuilding it the first time. Oops. There's a huge emphasis on showing you the ropes, and providing inspiration as to what you can create elsewhere. But at its heart it's also just a really good Super Mario game, with a special Luigi Assist mode that lets you give yourself power-ups, or add elements like more blocks to make a tricky level slightly easier.
It works out as a magic blend of classic and creative Mario gameplay, and if you're not too familiar with the complexities of Super Mario Maker's creative mode, it's a great place to start. Although, complexities is probably the wrong word, because even someone as rusty / inexperienced as me can quickly create something that is at least functional. Add some blocks, some enemies and anyone can make a basic level in no time at all. The more you fiddle about though, the more piqued your creative glands will become. You can create puzzles, add platforming challenges, and even set a course objective that won't let players complete the level unless they've ticked off a certain requirement, like beating Bowser, or collecting all 250 coins in a level. At the moment, you can only set one of these objectives, but that's plenty to get you started.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
Unlike the original game too, Super Mario Maker 2 gives you all the assets as soon as you boot up the game, rather than having to unlock them, so if you just want to create you're not penalised by such mechanics. Plus, there are new elements too, like slopes, see-saws and air gusts that propel Mario upwards. The most exciting addition for me is vertical scrolling though, with the option of rising lava, making for quite the fast-paced platforming challenges.
There's a new art style available too - which draws from Super Mario 3D World - and yes, that includes the cat costume. However, it does make you appreciate that Super Mario 3D World is very different from any of the 2D options on offer. You can switch at will between any of the 2D options - Super Mario Bros., Super Mario World, Super Mario World 3, and New Super Mario Bros. U - but Super Mario 3D World doesn't play by the same rules. It has its own mechanics, and moves, that makes it incompatible with any of the other game styles. It's confusing to begin with, but if you're familiar with the Super Mario series, this system does make sense.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
One thing you will find slightly frustrating though is that the UI is quite cramped. Whereas the Wii U and 3DS versions could spread all the assets across two screens, the Switch has to squeeze all the various menus onto just one screen. There's a lot to poke, prod and generally interact with, from dragging and dropping new elements onto a screen, hiding coins away in question mark boxes, adding wings to foes, changing the size of a platform, or simply getting the positioning of that Goomba just right. Doing that with the stubby poking tool that is your finger, combined with the buttons available on the Joy-Cons, does take some getting used to. But, it's far more intuitive than switching to Big Screen mode for Super Mario Maker 2. Not being able to interact with the screen makes things incredibly complicated, and just downright weird at times, as some things that you can just long press on the touch screen suddenly becomes a counterintuitive button juggle. It's definitely designed as a touchscreen experience.
Where playing Super Mario Maker 2 on the biggest screen really shines though is local co-op. Not only can you create a level cooperatively with a friend, the game now supports four-player multiplayer, with you and your friends taking control of Mario, Luigi,Toad and Toadette. It's chaotic, mad fun, and already players are creating amazing levels that really take advantage of the chaos, like races with sneaky hidden Bowser fights at the end. Course World will let you search for levels tagged with 'multiplayer', and I can see this kind of multiplayer experience seriously enhancing the appeal of Super Mario Maker 2 for families.
(Image credit: Nintendo)
The only issue with this is that while multiplayer is available online, you can't team up with your friends. It's all random. You can't create a really awesome multiplayer level and then message your mates to play it with you online; you need to be physically in the room for that to happen. I'm not entirely sure how Nintendo keeps managing to make multiplayer modes quite so complicated, but it certainly feels like a USP at this point.
That doesn't negate just how brilliant Super Mario Maker 2 is though. It takes everything that made the original great, but takes into consideration all those years of player feedback. It really is the complete package of play, create and discover for a game that really won't stop delivering something new.
