When Discord announced its Stage Discovery feature in May, it said at the same time it was working on adding threaded conversations. A few months later, that feature is now available across the platform’s desktop, web and mobile apps.

Discord

You can convert a message into a thread by tapping on the “#” button that appears when you hover your mouse over something someone said. Alternatively, you can start one from scratch by tapping the “+” icon in the chat bar and then selecting the “Create Thread” option. Either way, you can see all the threads you’re currently taking part in on the sidebar. When you open a thread from a chat channel log, it will appear in another side panel to the right of the interface so you can follow both conversations at the same time. By default, threads will automatically archive after 24 hours. The idea behind the time limit is to keep channels clutter-free, according to Discord.

If you’re on a server people with Nitro subscriptions have boosted to level two, you’ll also have the option to take part in private threads. These won’t appear in a server’s channel listing, and the only way to take part in one is if someone invites you to the conversation. Boosted channels can also make it so that threads archive up to one week after they’re started, instead of 24 hours after the fact. With the introduction of threads, Discord is also adding new permissions. Channel owners can decide who can take part in both public and private threads and manage them as needed.  

Discord is starting the rollout of threads today. Community servers can enable the feature early. On August 17th, however, the company plans to enable threads across all servers.

Employees at Activision Blizzard are calling on the company to issue a new statement in response to the lawsuit it’s facing from the California Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). If you’ve been following the saga since it broke earlier in the month, you may recall the company brushed off allegations that it had fostered a “frat boy” workplace culture, claiming the lawsuit included “distorted, and in many cases false descriptions of Blizzard’s past.”

Now, in a letter obtained by Polygon, a group of more than 800 Activision Blizzard employees say the statement the company issued was “abhorrent and insulting,” and they’re demanding leadership undertake “immediate” corrective action. “Categorizing the claims that have been made as ‘distorted, and in many cases false’ creates a company atmosphere that disbelieves victims,” the letter states. “Our company executives have claimed that actions will be taken to protect us, but in the face of legal action — and the troubling official responses that followed — we no longer trust that our leaders will place employee safety above their own interests.”

The group specifically calls out the message Frances Townsend, executive vice president of corporate affairs at the publisher, sent to employees after the news broke. In the leaked email, Townsend claims the lawsuit DFEH filed presents “a distorted and untrue picture of our company, including factually incorrect, old and out of context stories — some from more than a decade ago.” According to Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier, the response had some workers “fuming.” The group that signed the letter is calling on Townsend to step down as executive sponsor of the ABK Employee Women’s Network.

The timing of the letter comes after Activision Blizzard reportedly held an ‘all-hands’ meeting with 500 employees. The Zoom call was supposed to include the entire studio, but a scheduling error meant not everyone could join the meeting. Activision executive Joshua Taub allegedly told those in attendance he and CEO Bobby Kotick “have never seen this,” adding that “does not mean this behavior does not happen.” Taub then reportedly said, “we don’t publicize all of these claims, we work with the employee and the person who is accused and try to work on a resolution.” The company has a second meeting planned for tomorrow, according to Uppercut. 

We’ve reached out to Activision Blizzard for comment.

Exactly one week after the release of iOS 14.7, Apple has pushed out a new update to iPhone and iPad owners. Coming in at approximately 900MB, iOS 14.7.1 doesn't include new features but does address a bug that made its way into 14.7. The glitch broke Apple's Unlock with iPhone integration, preventing Touch ID-equipped phones from unlocking Apple Watch devices. So if you use an older iPhone with your Apple wearable, you'll want to download the update as soon as possible.

Apple says iOS 14.7.1 also addresses a security vulnerability that someone may have exploited. In a support document spotted by 9to5Mac, the company notes the oversight had allowed an application to execute arbitrary code with kernel privileges. Apple's latest macOS software, which you can also download today, addresses that same issue with the release of Big Sur 11.5.1. As usual, the company says the updates are "recommended for all users."

If you don't see a prompt to download iOS 14.7.1 on your iPhone or iPad, you can manually check for the software by opening the Settings app on your device, tapping "General" and then "Software Update." On macOS, meanwhile, open the System Preferences menu and then click on "Software Update."

After returning from the edge of space, Jeff Bezos has personally waded into Blue Origin's dispute with NASA over its decision to award a $2.9 billion lunar lander contract to Elon Musk's SpaceX. In an open letter to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson, Bezos said his company is willing to waive up to $2 billion in payments from NASA in the current and next two federal fiscal years in return for a fixed-price lander contract. Bezos said Blue Origin is also willing to fund its own pathfinder mission to low-Earth orbit. "This offer is not a deferral, but is an outright and permanent waiver of those payments," Bezos said in the letter. "This offer provides time for government appropriation actions to catch up."

While Bezos spends a significant part of his letter talking about Blue Origin's commitment to "advance America's future in space," his offer isn't altruistic. At the heart of it is the belief that NASA unfairly excluded his company from a lucrative and prestigious contract. When it comes to its most important projects, NASA has historically handed out agreements to multiple contractors to promote competition and ensure it can get a mission off the ground on time if one company falls behind schedule. In its latest procurement, NASA didn't do that, and Blue Origin filed a protest with the federal government shortly after that.

At the time, a Blue Origin spokesperson told Engadget NASA "executed a flawed acquisition for the Human Landing System program and moved the goalposts at the last minute." That's something Bezos reiterates in his letter. "Instead of investing in two competing lunar landers as originally intended, the Agency chose to confer a multi-year, multi-billion-dollar head start to SpaceX," the former Amazon CEO said. "That decision broke the mold of NASA's successful commercial space programs by putting an end to meaningful competition for years to come."

It's hard to say how NASA will respond to the open letter. The Human Landing System project can't move forward while the US Government Accountability Office reviews the protest from Blue Origin. Notably, this isn't the first time a Bezos-affiliated company has got itself into a contract dispute with the US government. In 2019, Amazon challenged the Department of Defense's decision to award Microsoft its $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure (JEDI) cloud contract. After a nearly two-year-long legal battle, the Pentagon canceled that project at the start of July in favor of a new multi-vendor project that will hand out work to both Amazon and Microsoft.

As promised, Respawn Entertainment has shared a gameplay trailer showing off some of the more significant changes coming to Apex Legends as part of its upcoming Emergence season, which is slated to get underway on August 3rd. Right off the bat, we’re treated to a look at the new version of World’s Edge. Respawn has tweaked the battleground to add a molten lava fissure that runs through the center of the map.

The studio says it did this in part to make combat encounters that take part in and around the Sorting Facility, one of the main points of interest in World’s Edge, more dynamic, with a greater emphasis on close-quarters action. Another major element of the redesign is the addition of gondolas at two of the new points of interest. According to Respawn, the idea here was to replicate some of the “dynamic gameplay” that trains offered in the original version of the map.

Outside of the redesigned World’s Edge, we also get to see the game’s new Rampage LMG in action, which will allow players to knock down doors from a distance. Towards the end of the clip, Seer, Apex’s latest playable character, makes his entrance. His kit allows you to narrow in on your opponents by tracking their heartbeats while aiming down the sights of your weapon. If you find an enemy, you can send a swarm of microdrones to hunt them down. Players can avoid detection by Seer by moving slowly. During EA’s Play Live event last week, Apex Legends game director Chad Grenier said he believes the character will help vary the pace of matches, forcing players to move more methodically when Seer is on the other team.

Apex Legends is available to play for free on PlayStation, Xbox, PC and Nintendo Switch.   

Spotify is introducing a feature to notify people when their favorite artists and podcast producers have a new release to check out. Taking the form of a bell icon you’ll find at the top of the app’s home interface, the What’s New panel collects new releases from bands, musicians and shows you follow on the platform. Spotify says the feature will update in real-time, with a blue dot overlaid on top of the bell icon indicating when the panel has been refreshed with new content. Spotify plans to roll out the feature to all Android and iOS users over the coming weeks.

Spotify

In intent, What’s New is similar to Spotify’s existing Release Radar playlist. They’re both designed to surface new content for you to add to your Spotify library, but the way they go about that task is different. Like Discover Weekly, Release Radar uses a mix of human curation and software to highlight the songs you’re most likely to enjoy from a new album, EP or single. What’s New, by contrast, forgoes curation in favor of comprehensiveness. It also has the advantage of a dedicated interface element. As a playlist, it’s easy for Release Radar to get lost among all the other playlists you can add to your Spotify library.

More than 18 months after its failed first attempt to make it to the International Space Station, Boeing’s Starliner is ready for a second shot. Following a flight readiness review, NASA is moving forward with the craft’s upcoming July 30th uncrewed orbital flight test. Unless there’s an unforeseen delay, the capsule will launch from the Space Force’s Cape Canaveral Station mounted on an Atlas V rocket at 2:53PM ET. Should NASA postpone the flight, it will again attempt to carry out the test on August 3rd at the earliest.

The purpose of the flight is for NASA to conduct an end-to-end test of Starliner’s capabilities. It wants to know if the capsule can handle every aspect of a trip to the ISS, including launch, docking as well as atmospheric re-entry. “[Orbital Flight Test-2] will provide valuable data that will help NASA certify Boeing’s crew transportation system to carry astronauts to and from the space station,” the agency said.

If the flight is a success, NASA will move forward with a crewed test of the Starliner. Steve Stich, commercial crew program manager at NASA, said that could happen “as soon as later this year.” Both Boeing and NASA have a lot invested in the viability of Starliner. For the aerospace company, its decision not to conduct an end-to-end test of the craft before its failed 2019 flight left the agency “surprised,” leading to questions about the project. Meanwhile, NASA is keen to have two capsules that can ferry its astronauts to the ISS. Right now, it’s limited to just SpaceX’s Crew Dragon. “It’s very important for the commercial crew program to have two space transportation systems,” Stich told reporters.

CBS has shared the first trailer for Prodigy, its first-ever fully computer-animated Star Trek series. The clip introduces us to the show’s cast of disparate characters. They’re stuck on what looks like a mining colony and trying to find a way to escape. As it just so happens, they discover a grounded Starfleet vessel known as the USS Protostar, and it’s their ticket to adventure.  

Before the trailer ends, a familiar voice declares, “We’ve only just begun.” Star Trek: Prodigy will see Kate Mulgrew reprise the role of Captain Kathryn Janeway, albeit in holographic form. If you live outside of the US, you can see the clip on the official Star Trek Twitter account. We’ll note here CBS Viacom also shared a trailer for the second season of Lower Decks. Star Trek: Prodigy will debut this fall on Paramount+, before it eventually airs on Nickelodeon.

There may not have been any fans in the Olympic Stadium, but Japan still found a way to put on a show for the opening of the 2020 Summer Games. The host country charmed early with the parade of nations, which featured an orchestrated video game soundtrack, and then showed off the type of creativity it's known for with a performance involving the Olympic pictograms. But Tokyo saved the biggest spectacle for last.

Towards the end of the ceremony, a fleet of 1,824 drones took to the skies above the Olympic Stadium. Initially arrayed in the symbol of the 2020 Games, they then took on the shape of the Earth before a rendition of John Lenon's "Imagine," which was reworked by Hans Zimmer for the Olympics, played across the stadium.

We've seen displays like this before. At Super Bowl LI in 2017, a pre-taped segment featuring 300 Intel drones forming the US flag punctuated Lady Gaga's halftime performance. Technically, the drone show that occured above Tokyo isn't the biggest ever. As of earlier this year, that distinction belongs to a 3,281 display Hyundai-owned car brand Genesis put on in Shanghai, China. But even with fewer drones involved, the Tokyo drone show was still impressive. 

If you missed the opening ceremony, you can watch it again at 7:30PM ET on NBC.

Facebook has become the latest company to offer a cloud gaming service on iOS, only once again you won't access it through the App Store. Starting today, you can visit the Facebook Gaming website to add a Progressive Web App (PWA) that acts as a shortcut to the service on your iPhone or iPad. To do so, visit the platform's website and tap the "Add to Home Screen" option from the Safari share sheet.

It's not an elegant solution, but it's the same one employed by Amazon and Microsoft. When Apple tweaked its guidelines last September to allow for cloud gaming clients on iOS, it said games offered in a streaming service had to be individually downloaded from the App Store. That's a requirement both Microsoft and Facebook said was not congruent with how every other platform treats cloud gaming services.

"We've come to the same conclusion as others: web apps are the only option for streaming cloud games on iOS at the moment," Vivek Sharma, Facebook's vice-president of gaming, told The Verge of today's launch. "As many have pointed out, Apple's policy to 'allow' cloud games on the App Store doesn't allow for much at all. Apple's requirement for each cloud game to have its own page, go through review and appear in search listings defeats the purpose of cloud gaming."

The process of adding the web app is complicated enough that Facebook includes a short how-to when you first visit its Gaming website on Safari. You also have to know to navigate to the company's website in the first place. The reason for that is the App Store guidelines prohibit developers from using their applications to direct individuals to websites that feature alternative payment systems to those offered by Apple, and you pay for the in-game purchases offered in Facebook Gaming titles through Facebook's Pay platform.