ShinyShiny snippets: Does Roblox have a sex problem?
A naked man, wearing just a dog collar and a lead, is led across the floor by a woman in a bondage outfit. Two strippers dance next to a bar. A group has gathered around a couple openly having sex, watching and occasionally commenting. One man is wearing a Nazi uniform. This isn’t happening in the real world, it’s taking place on a children’s gaming platform. Roblox is a huge sprawling world of games which is sometimes described as a kind of primitive metaverse. It’s one of the most popular children’s games in the world. BBC
Virgin Media O2’s 5G network in London now covers nearly two-thirds of the population, the mobile operator has announced. The firm, which is aiming to reach 50% of the entire UK population with 5G coverage by 2023, said 64% of the London population was now covered. The operator has also upgraded 4G capacity in more than 41,000 postcodes across the city to boost coverage for those customers not yet on 5G and is part of a wider £10 billion commitment by the company to invest in connectivity across the UK. Evening Standard
BT has sunk £30m into a start-up offering tech guns-for-hire to clients seeking to overhaul their systems, as it steps up it own modernisation efforts. The telecoms giant is taking a stake and board seat at Distributed, which provides developers with expertise in artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The company is led by its co-founder Callum Adamson, a former professional musician in a country band. It is the latest step in chief executive Philip Jansen’s revamp of BT, which included last year’s hiring of the tech executive Harmeen Mehta as chief digital and innovation officer. Telegraph
Apple today updated its list of vintage and obsolete products to add the iPhone 6 Plus, as it has been more than five years since the device was last offered for sale. The iPhone 6 Plus was first released in September 2014 alongside the iPhone 6, and it was discontinued in September 2016 following the launch of the iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus. The iPhone 6 Plus’ sister phone, the iPhone 6, is not on the vintage list at this time as it was available for sale for a longer period of time. Apple relaunched the iPhone 6 in 2017 as a midrange iPhone, and it was available for purchase until September 2018, so for that reason, it will be another two years or so before it is designated as a vintage product. MacRumors
Media regulator Ofcom has urged all broadband firms to support low-income homes by offering discounted packages known as “social tariffs”. Ofcom has found that only 55,000 out of 4.2 million homes in receipt of Universal Credit are using discounted rates. It means households on benefits are missing out on an average yearly broadband saving of £144 each. Many families are facing added pressure from the cost of living crisis. Ofcom said it wanted more companies to offer help to low-income households and to make it clearer how people can switch to cheaper deals. It said that 84% of people receiving benefits were unaware of the social tariff packages. BBC
HMD Global has just unveiled two new budget Nokia-branded phones, dubbed the Nokia G21 and the Nokia G11, and while some budget phones struggle to stand out, these two have at least one obvious selling point – they both promise up to three days of battery life. In a world where even many flagship phones struggle to get beyond one day, that’s an impressive stat – though we haven’t yet put these phones to the test, so we can’t verify it. Still, they have decently large batteries, with both phones including a 5,050mAh battery. They also support charging at up to 18W, though only a 10W charger comes in the box. Tech Radar
