South by Southwest is taking place online this year, and one of the things attendees can check out is an interactive HBO Max experience. HBO Max Orbit aims to show off the depth of the streaming service's catalog in a novel way.

Through facial movement recognition and voice commands, HBO Max Orbit will allow you to interact with moments, stories and characters from the library, according to WarnerMedia. HBO Max has packed more than 150,000 clips into Orbit, including ones from Game of Thrones, Lovecraft Country, The Big Bang Theory, Tom and Jerry and Zack Snyder’s Justice League. The scenes are drawn from titles from HBO, Warner Bros., DC, Cartoon Network and other WarnerMedia brands.

The experience will dig up clips of characters that match your movements in real time. Certain clips will activate a challenge, through which you'll need to move your face to look for clips that match a title. You might also be asked to say a phrase from a specific show within a time limit. Completing a challenge will unlock parts of an exclusive clip from Godzilla vs. Kong, which arrives on HBO Max and in theaters at the end of the month.

You'll be able to check out HBO Max Orbit starting on March 19th. Starting in April, an in-person version will be available at some flagship AT&T stores. WarnerMedia says that will take place in an immersive 360-degree chamber designed to "optimize the feeling of a vast audio-visual space." It will match clips to your body movements and voice.

Facebook is offering creators more options to make money from their audiences. One method it’s testing is a way to make bank from Stories. Some creators will be able to plug ads that look similar to stickers into their Stories and they'll get a cut of ad revenue. For instance, creators might plug local businesses with a sticker while they're on trips.

Only a small number of creators have access to this option during the initial test, but Facebook hopes to roll out the feature in the near future. It also plans to enable the feature for all short-form videos.

Elsewhere, Facebook is bringing mid-roll ads to shorter videos. Until now, ads were only present in videos that were at least three minutes long. You may start to see ads in videos that run for only a minute. Videos lasting between one and three minutes can have ads 30 seconds in. Ads can appear in longer videos after 45 seconds, down from one minute.

Pages will only be able to run ads on shorter videos if they meet certain requirements, like having 600,000 minutes of total watch time in the previous 60 days and at least five active video uploads. Live video creators additionally need to have at least 60,000 minutes of live watch time over the same period to qualify for ads in their streams.

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Facebook is also expanding paid live events to another 24 countries and switching on fan subscriptions in 10 more regions. In addition, it's spending $7 million to promote the Stars virtual tipping currency. As with Twitch Bits, users can send these to creators. Facebook will be giving away Stars during certain live streams. Comments that users send with Stars will be more prominently displayed on streams. You'll be able to send virtual gifts to creators too.

Stars will be available in more markets, and you can check on a creator support site whether your Page is eligible. Soon, Facebook will expand Stars beyond live streams by testing them in on-demand videos. Meanwhile, Facebook has updated the minimum eligibility criteria for gaming creators to become partners and unlock more features and monetization options.

Esports organization Sentinels has suspended Valorantpro Jay "Sinatraa" Won following accusations of sexual assault. Sentinels said it's investigating the matter. "While the investigation is pending, he is suspended from the team. We will provide a further update once the investigation has concluded," the organization wrote.

Won's ex-girlfriend, Cleo Hernandez, made allegations of emotional and physical abuse against Won on Tuesday. Following her statement, Valorant publisher Riot Games banned Won from playing in tournaments pending its own investigation. Won has yet to respond to the accusations.

Last April, Won switched esports to join the burgeoning Valorant scene after a successful Overwatch career. He won the 2019 Overwatch League championship with the San Francisco Shock and was named the league MVP for that season.

Hulu users now have access to even more live sports. Subscribers to Disney's streaming bundle (which includes Disney+) can start watching sports programming from ESPN+ on Hulu today. Live events and other ESPN+ shows are also available through a $5.99/month add-on.

You can watch a wide array of live action, including soccer, UFC, college sports, MLB, tennis and golf. ESPN+ originals and studio shows have made their way to Hulu too, along with documentary series like 30 for 30. ESPN+ pay-per-views, such as UFC events, will be available through Hulu this summer.

It emerged in December that Disney would bring sports programming from ESPN+ to Hulu sometime this year. Pulling all of that content together into a single hub should be useful for viewers who are content to use the Hulu interface. You won't need to use a separate app if you want to catch some of a Hulu show during half time of a big game, for instance.

Disney increased the cost of ESPN+ monthly and annual plans in recent months, though you still get plenty of bang for your buck. On March 26th, the company is bumping up the price of its streaming bundle by a dollar to $13.99 per month. That gets you access to Disney+, ESPN+ and Hulu with ads (the ad-free version will cost you extra). Disney+ subscriptions are going up in the US on the same day to $7.99/month or $79.99/year.

Apple is slashing production of the iPhone 12 mini through the first six months of the year, according to Nikkei. The company will reportedly produce at least 70 percent fewer units than it initially planned. That will account for most of a 20 percent drop in overall planned iPhone 12 production until June.

Apple is even said to have told some suppliers to temporarily stop making specific parts for the iPhone 12 mini. Some other components have been reapportioned for the iPhone 12 Pro and iPhone 12 Pro Max.

Even with the cuts, Apple is still on track to make more iPhones this year than it did in 2020. Nikkei suggests the company plans to manufacture 75 million units in the first six months and 230 million handsets in total, representing an overall increase of 11.6 percent. This is reportedly to help Apple get ahead of possible parts shortages as well as possible economic recovery (and more people perhaps having enough spare cash to buy a new phone).

The report backs up previous suggestions that the 5.4-inch iPhone 12 mini isn't selling all that well. Although the iPhone 11 is a year older than the 2020 lineup, it offers superior battery life to the iPhone 12 mini and it costs $100 less. That, aligned with the fact many people are opting for phones with larger screens, could be one reason why the iPhone 12 mini seemingly isn't selling as much as Apple would have hoped.