Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall Game Coming to iOS

If you can tear yourself away from Harry Potter Wizards Unite, a new Game of Thrones game is coming to iOS soon. Users can pre-register for Game of Thrones Beyond the Wall now, and be alerted when it is available. The game was created by BeHaviour Interactive. The trailer, released Thursday, doesn’t reveal much but indicates the game is a strategy-led RPG. The graphics look to be suitably impressive and epic too. It may just fill the space left in fans lives now the TV show is off-air!

Private Social Network MeWe Reaches Over 5 Million Members

MeWe is a social network with privacy in mind, and it recently surpassed 5 million members. Additionally it closed a US$4.5 million offering, bringing the company’s total funds raised to US$15 million.

MeWe is on track to have 30 million members by yearend, and projects 150 million by the end of 2020. MeWe achieved 405% growth in 2018 and is already growing twice as fast on a daily basis in 2019. MeWe’s growth is organic—it runs no paid marketing campaigns.

It’s good to see MeWe doing well. I don’t use it anymore, but I still recommend it to people looking for a private social network.

Deepfakes Could be a 'Completely Different Category' Says Zuckerberg

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said the social network could put deepfakes into a “completely different category.” His comments at the Aspen Ideas Festival came in the wake of altered video of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, which was widely shared on Facebook. Axios had a good summary of all his comments.

Zuckerberg has been getting clobbered by politicians and the media for two years for everything from election manipulation to fake news unfolding on his platform. He knows the pummeling may only intensify with 2020 heating up. Zuckerberg also said Facebook is rethinking its handling of deepfake videos, and said it might make sense to treat them differently from other “false news,” as Facebook calls fake news. Zuckerberg said it’s worth asking whether deepfakes are a “completely different category,” and said developing a policy on these videos is “really important” as AI grows more sophisticated.

On Covering Up Your iPhone Selfie Camera

Jack Morse writes how we should cover up our phone’s selfie camera, but doesn’t spend much time telling us why. 90% of the article is about webcams on laptops. The only phone-related thing mentioned is the iOS FaceTime bug. Ultimately the choice to cover up the selfie camera is a personal one, but I wouldn’t worry too much about it.

This writer has used the Post-it Note technique for a few years, and it works wonders. While every now and then I get some weird looks from strangers or friends when they see that I cover my selfie camera, just like with laptop webcam covers it’s likely they’ll all be doing the same before too long.

Startup 3 Website Builder 1-Year Subscription: $19.999

We have a deal on a 1-year subscription to Startup 3, a website building service. It features drag-and-drop design, and pre-designed blocks, elements and Bootstrap templates you can customize. And, you can do it all right from your browser. This 1-year subscription is $19.99 through our deal.

The Next Silicon Valley is...LA?

Can anywhere in the U.S. challenge Silicon Valley, and San Franciso in particular, to become America’s next tech hub? Economist Tyler Cowen thinks he has the answer. He puts the case for LA in his latest Bloomberg column.

First, consider the virtues of the Los Angeles area. It has splendid weather — warmer and sunnier than San Francisco — and a deep pool of talent. It is America’s second-largest city, with many nice neighborhoods to choose from (some of them, to the east, even affordable). It even has a subway, albeit an underdeveloped one. I would argue it has much better food, and of course a much larger and more diverse entertainment scene. You might reasonably conclude that top talent might prefer to live in or near Los Angeles rather than the Bay Area.