Time zones: EST (UTC -5), CST (UTC -6), MST (UTC -7), PST (UTC -8), AKST (UTC -9), HST (UTC -10)As the Senior Director of Customer Experience & Trust (CX&T) Product Management, you will play a critical role in safeguarding Upworks platform and fostering a safe, inclusive, and trustworthy environment for our users. Leading a talented team of Product Managers, you will design and execute strategic initiatives that protect our marketplace from fraud and abuse while enabling positive, secure interactions for a global community of professionals. Join us in shaping the future of trust and safety and customer service, ensuring our platform remains a thriving space for innovation and collaboration.ResponsibilitiesDefine, own, and drive the multi-year Trust & Safety and Customer Service product roadmap to enhance platform usability, safety, trust, and integrity.Recruit, mentor, and lead a high-performing team of Product Managers, cultivating a collaborative and growth-focused culture.Oversee the ideation, prioritization, and rollout of innovative trust and safety and customer support features, tools, and solutions to address risks such as fraud, abuse, and non-compliance.Leverage data insights and user research to deeply understand customer needs and pain points, translating these into impactful product solutions.Partner with Engineering, Data Science, Operations, Legal, and Design teams to deliver scalable and user-friendly customer service and trust and safety solutions.Advocate for trust and safety priorities across the organization, ensuring alignment with leadership and key stakeholders.Define and monitor KPIs, iterating on trust and safety and customer service initiatives to achieve measurable improvements in platform integrity and customer confidence.Stay informed on emerging trends, technologies, and regulatory developments in trust and safety, applying these insights to Upworks strategy and policies.What it takes to catch our eye10+ years of product management experience, with expertise in trust, safety, security, or integrity-focused product areas.5+ years of experience leading and mentoring product teams in fast-paced, dynamic environments.A proven ability to define and execute strategic product roadmaps for complex, multi-stakeholder platforms.Strong analytical skills, with experience translating complex data into actionable insights and user-centric solutions.Deep understanding of marketplace dynamics, fraud prevention, and risk management.Exceptional communication and stakeholder management skills, with demonstrated experience presenting to executive leadership.A passion for building inclusive, secure user experiences that scale globally.Familiarity with trust and safety tools, systems, and methodologies, such as machine learning models, moderation systems, or compliance frameworks, is a plus.Come change how the world works.At Upwork, youll shape talent solutions for how the world works today. We are a remote-first organization working together to create exciting remote work opportunities for a global community of professionals. While we have physical offices in San Francisco and Chicago, currently we also hire full-time employees in 19 states in the United States.At the core of our vibrant culture are shared values that form the foundation of our organization. These values revolve around trust, risk-taking, customer focus, and excellence. Our overarching mission is to create economic opportunities so that people have better lives. We foster an environment where individuals are encouraged to bring their authentic selves to work, nurturing personal and professional growth through development opportunities, mentorship programs, and participation in Upwork Belonging Communities.We take pride in providing exceptional benefits to our employees. These include comprehensive medical insurance coverage for both you and your family, unlimited paid time off, a 401(k) plan with matching contributions, 12 weeks of paid parental leave, and an Employee Stock Purchase Plan. To explore these benefits in detail, as well as gain insights into our company values, working principles, and the overall employee experience, we invite you to visit our Life at Upwork page.Check out our Careers page to learn more about the employee experience.Upwork is proudly committed to recruiting and retaining a diverse and inclusive workforce. As an Equal Opportunity Employer, we never discriminate based on race, religion, color, national origin, gender (including pregnancy, childbirth, or related medical condition), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, status as a protected veteran, status as an individual with a disability, or other applicable legally protected characteristics.Additionally, a criminal background check may be run on a candidate after a conditional offer of employment is made. Qualified applicants with arrest or conviction records will be considered in accordance with applicable law, including the California Fair Chance Act and local Fair Chance ordinances.The annual base salary range for this position is displayed below. The range displayed reflects the minimum and maximum salary for this position, and individual base pay will depend on your skills, qualifications, experience, and location. Additionally, this position is eligible for the annual bonus plan or sales incentive plan and eligibility to participate in our long term equity incentive program.Annual Base Compensation$216,500 - $300,000 USD

Meta has released a new AI model that can translate speech from 101 different languages. It represents a step toward real-time, simultaneous interpretation, where words are translated as soon as they come out of someones mouth. Typically, translation models for speech use a multistep approach. First they translate speech into text. Then they translate that text into text in another language. Finally, that translated text is turned into speech in the new language. This method can be inefficient, and at each step, errors and mistranslations can creep in. But Metas new model, called SeamlessM4T, enables more direct translation from speech in one language to speech in another. The model is described in a paper published today in Nature. Seamless can translate text with 23% more accuracy than the top existing models. And although another model, Googles AudioPaLM, can technically translate more languages113 of them, versus 101 for Seamlessit can translate them only into English. SeamlessM4T can translate into 36 other languages. The key is a process called parallel data mining, which finds instances when the sound in a video or audio matches a subtitle in another language from crawled web data. The model learned to associate those sounds in one language with the matching pieces of text in another. This opened up a whole new trove of examples of translations for their model. Meta has done a great job having a breadth of different things they support, like text-to-speech, speech-to-text, even automatic speech recognition, says Chetan Jaiswal, a professor of computer science at Quinnipiac University, who was not involved in the research. The mere number of languages they are supporting is a tremendous achievement. Human translators are still a vital part of the translation process, the researchers say in the paper, because they can grapple with diverse cultural contexts and make sure the same meaning is conveyed from one language into another. This step is important, says Lynne Bowker of the University of Ottawas School of Translation & Interpretation, who didnt work on Seamless. Languages are a reflection of cultures, and cultures have their own ways of knowing things, she says. When it comes to applications like medicine or law, machine translations need to be thoroughly checked by a human, she says. If not, misunderstandings can result. For example, when Google Translate was used to translate public health information about the covid-19 vaccine from the Virginia Department of Health in January 2021, it translated not mandatory in English into not necessary in Spanish, changing the whole meaning of the message. AI models have much more examples to train on in some languages than others. This means current speech-to-speech models may be able to translate a language like Greek into English, where there may be many examples, but cannot translate from Swahili to Greek. The team behind Seamless aimed to solve this problem by pre-training the model on millions of hours of spoken audio in different languages. This pre-training allowed it to recognize general patterns in language, making it easier to process less widely spoken languages because it already had some baseline for what spoken language is supposed to sound like. The system is open-source, which the researchers hope will encourage others to build upon its current capabilities. But some are skeptical of how useful it may be compared with available alternatives. Googles translation model is not as open-source as Seamless, but its way more responsive and fast, and it doesnt cost anything as an academic, says Jaiswal. The most exciting thing about Metas system is that it points to the possibility of instant interpretation across languages in the not-too-distant futurelike the Babel fish in Douglas Adams cult novel The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. SeamlessM4T is faster than existing models but still not instant. That said, Meta claims to have a newer version of Seamless thats as fast as human interpreters. While having this kind of delayed translation is okay and useful, I think simultaneous translation will be even more useful, says Kenny Zhu, director of the Arlington Computational Linguistics Lab at the University of Texas at Arlington, who is not affiliated with the new research.

See at Sling TV Watch the Premier League on USA Network from $40 a month Sling TV See at Sling TV See more details See at ExpressVPN Best VPN for streaming ExpressVPN See at ExpressVPN See more details See at TNT Sports Watch over 50 Premier League games live in the UK with TNT Sports TNT Sports See at TNT Sports See more details See at Fubo Watch the Premier League in Canada from CA$30 per month Fubo Canada See at Fubo See more details See at Optus Watch the Premier League in Australia from AU$7 a month Optus Sport See at Optus See more details Table of Contents A familiar, craggy face returns to the home dugout at Goodison Park today, as David Moyes begins his second stint in charge of Everton with a tough home game against Aston Villa in the English Premier League.Moyes was confirmed as Sean Dyche's replacement last week, his appointment coming 12 years after he left the Merseyside club to manage Manchester United. The task ahead for the former West Ham and Preston boss is stark, with Everton just a point and two places away from the relegation zone.They face an Aston Villa team that have continually disappointed on the road this season, with Unai Emery's men having lost five consecutive away fixtures in a row.Everton take on Aston Villa on Wednesday, Jan. 15, at Goodison Park in Liverpool, with kickoff set for 7:30 p.m. GMTlocal time. That makes it a 2:30 p.m. ET or 11:30 a.m. PTstart in the US and Canada, and an 6:30 a.m. AEDTkickoff in Australia on Thursday, Jan. 16.Below, we'll outline the best live TV streaming services to use to watch the match as it happens, wherever you are in the world. David Moyes was appointed as Sean Dyche's replacement over the weekend, for what will be his second spell in charge of Everton. Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty ImagesHow to watch Everton vs. Aston Villa in the US without cableWednesday's Everton vs. Aston Villa match is streaming on the USA Network, which you can access as part of your cable package or at theNBC Sports websitewith a valid login. It can also be streamed via Sling TV and other, more expensive streaming TV services. Sling TV/CNET Sling TV's Blue plan includes USA Network, making it a great option for fans wanting to watch Premier League action. It's $40 a month and features over 40 channels, including other sports channels like ESPN and FS1.Read our Sling TV review. See at Sling TV How to watch the Premier League 2024-25 season from anywhere with a VPNIf you find yourself unable to view EPL matches locally, you may need a different way to watch the games -- that's where using a VPN can come in handy. A VPN is also the best way to stop your ISP from throttling your speeds on game day by encrypting your traffic, and it's also a great idea if you're traveling and find yourself connected to a Wi-Fi network, and you want to add an extra layer of privacy for your devices and logins.With a VPN, you're able to virtually change your location on your phone, tablet or laptop to get access to the game. Most VPNs, like our Editors' Choice, ExpressVPN, make it really easy to do this.Using a VPN to watch or stream sports is legal in any country where VPNs are legal, including the US, UK and Canada, as long as you have a legitimate subscription to the service you're streaming. You should be sure your VPN is set up correctly to prevent leaks: Even where VPNs are legal, the streaming service may terminate the account of anyone it deems to be circumventing correctly applied blackout restrictions. James Martin/CNET 2024 Latest Tests DNS leaks detected, 25% speed loss in 2024 testsNetwork 3,000 plus servers in 105 countriesJurisdiction British Virgin Islands ExpressVPN isour current best VPN pickfor people who want a reliable and safe VPN, and it works on a variety of devices. It's normally $13 a month, but if you sign up for an annual subscription for $100 you'll get three months free and save 49%. That's the equivalent of $6.67 a month.Note that ExpressVPN offers a 30-day money-back guarantee. 61% off with 2yr plan (+4 free months) See at ExpressVPN Livestream Everton vs. Aston Villa in the UKAll of this week's midweek Premier League matches are set to be shown live in the UK exclusively on TNT Sports -- with the game showing on its TNT Sports 2 and TNT Sports 2 HD channels. TNT Sports TNT Sports is offering a sizable 52 matches exclusively live this season to viewers in the UK. You can access TNT Sports via Sky Q as a TV package, as well as the option of streaming online. It costs 31 either way and comes in a package that includes the Discovery Plus library of documentary content. See at TNT Sports Livestream Everton vs. Aston Villa in CanadaIf you want to stream this EPL game live in Canada, you'll need to subscribe to Fubo Canada. The service has exclusive rights to every Premier League match once again this season. Fubo Fubo is the go-to destination for Canadians looking to watch the EPL this season, with exclusive streaming rights to every match. It costs CA$30 a month, though you can save some cash by paying quarterly or annually. See at Fubo Livestream Everton vs. Aston Villa in AustraliaFootball fans down under can watch EPL matches live on streaming service Optus Sport, which is showing every single Premier League fixture of the 2024-25 season live in Australia. Optus With exclusive rights to stream all EPL matches live this season, as well as German Bundesliga and Spanish La Liga games, streaming service Optus Sport is a particularly big draw for Aussie soccer fans.If you're already an Optus network customer, you can bag Optus Sport for a reduced price, with discounts bringing the price down to as low as AU$7 a month. If you're not, a standalone monthly subscription to the service starts at AU$25. See at Optus Quick tips for streaming the Premier League using a VPNWith four variables at play -- your ISP, browser, video streaming provider and VPN -- your experience and success when streaming EPL matches may vary.If you don't see your desired location as a default option for ExpressVPN, try using the "search for city or country" option.If you're having trouble getting the game after you've turned on your VPN and set it to the correct viewing area, there are two things you can try for a quick fix. First, log into your streaming service subscription account and make sure the address registered for the account is an address in the correct viewing area. If not, you may need to change the physical address on file with your account. Second, some smart TVs -- like Roku -- don't have VPN apps you can install directly on the device itself. Instead, you'll have to install the VPN on your router or the mobile hotspot you're using (like your phone) so that any device on its Wi-Fi network now appears in the correct viewing location.All of the VPN providers we recommend have helpful instructions on their main site for quickly installing the VPN on your router. In some cases with smart TV services, after you install a cable network's sports app, you'll be asked to verify a numeric code or click a link sent to your email address on file for your smart TV. This is where having a VPN on your router will also help, since both devices will appear to be in the correct location.And remember, browsers can often give away a location despite using a VPN, so be sure you're using a privacy-first browser to log into your services. We normally recommendBrave.

January 15, 20253 min readMigrating Birds Sing to Team Up with Other SpeciesSongbirds may socialize across species during nighttime migrationsBy Gayoung Lee edited by Sarah Lewin FrasierA singing American Redstart (Setophaga ruticilla). Brian Reinke/Getty ImagesTiny songbirds such as cardinals and warblers migrate thousands of miles, flying at night and resting during the day, to and from their wintering groundsand unlike many larger birds, they forego flocks and travel separately. But new research suggests theyre not entirely alone in the dark sky. Benjamin Van Doren, an ornithologist at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and his colleagues set up ground-based microphones at 26 sites across Eastern North America and collected more than 18,300 hours of bird flight calls. The researchers found that solitary migrating songbirds seem to cooperate across species and possibly share information with other solo travelers about who they were and what to watch out for ahead.The findings, published on Wednesday in Current Biology, add to growing evidence that interspecies social interactions may influence songbirds migratory behavior far more than was previously believed.The conventional wisdom had been that each bird is following its own internal instinct or its own experience, Van Doren says. If its not a young bird and has already [migrated] a few times, they definitely rely on memory and experiencebut generally theyre just on their own.On supporting science journalismIf you're enjoying this article, consider supporting our award-winning journalism by subscribing. By purchasing a subscription you are helping to ensure the future of impactful stories about the discoveries and ideas shaping our world today.Flying in the dark presents challenges to airborne cooperation, notes biologist Allison Pierce, who studies plover migration at University of Colorado Denver and was not involved in the new paper. For example, visual cues such as another birds flight path are absent. This impelled Van Doren and his colleagues to lookor rather, listenfor other data: the seemingly random pings songbirds chirp out every few seconds to every minute.Its really been unclear why exactly they are spending all this energy and all this effort calling while theyre migrating, Van Doren says. There must be some reason why or benefit to this behavior. Otherwise theyre just wasting energy.To analyze what ended up being a gigantic amount of data, Van Doren and his colleagues used machine-learning technology with a customized version of Merlin, a bird-call-identification app developed by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.They found that individual birds from different species were flying near one another and calling out to each other using certain patterns, more so than we could explain by chance, Van Doren says. So there appeared to be some reason the birds were in proximity. The new study potentially suggests that these birds arent completely on their own trying to find their way from Chicago to Argentina ... and that maybe theres actually some social information being exchanged among these billions of songbirds migrating at night, which would totally flip around our understanding of how songbird migration works.Its still unclear exactly what information the birds may be communicating, Van Doren says. But researchers have some pretty good guesses. For instance, different bird species have different calls, but even within the same species, their pings vary across age or sex groupssuggesting that birds could be using such information to introduce themselves. Whatever the case, its highly likely that staying in touch with other individuals could help them ... navigate more effectively, Van Doren explains. They could be exchanging knowledge about landing spots and tricky weather conditions such as fog or rain, for instance. Migration is a very risky time, even for birds that have done it before.Researchers have previously observed that songbirds form mixed-species flocks while searching for food and avoiding predators during the day, Van Doren adds. The new study suggests such partnerships could play a more significant role than researchers realized. Additional studies will further test these hypotheses, hopefully by using more direct tracking methods, such as tagging specific birds to track them during migration.If we could take it from this big population-level scale and try to understand what the individuals doing, Pierce says, It is going to be a key to understanding how birds are migrating.To me, it speaks to the amazing complexity of how nature works, Van Doren says, and its exciting to be still learning new things about these well-known phenomena that are just spectacular.

Here are your PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium games for JanuaryGod of War Ragnark! Citizen Sleeper! More!Image credit: Sony Santa Monica News by Victoria Kennedy News Reporter Published on Jan. 15, 2025 Sony has announced its January PlayStation Plus line up for those of us on its Extra and Premium tiers.Subscribers will soon be able to get their paws on the following games:God of War Ragnark (PS4, PS5)Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name (PS4, PS5)Atlas Fallen: Reign Of Sand (PS5)SD Gundam Battle Alliance (PS4, PS5)Sayonara Wild Hearts (PS4)ANNO: Mutationem (PS4, PS5)Orcs Must Die 3 (PS4, PS5)Citizen Sleeper (PS4, PS5)Poker Club (PS4)The above games will be available to download from 21st January, for all PlayStation Plus Extra and Premium members. Meanwhile, those on the service's Premium tier will also be able to play the following games as part of their subscription.Indiana Jones and the Staff of Kings (PS4, PS5)Medievil 2 (PS4, PS5)8 Wholesome 2025 Cosy Games. Watch on YouTubeSo, what of the games themselves? We were quite fond of sequel God of War Ragnark. "Much like its heroes, God of War: Ragnark learns to love itself for what it truly is: gargantuan, excessive, and wonderfully absurd," our Chris wrote in Eurogamer's God of War: Ragnark review.Another highlight is Citizen Sleeper. "Occasionally turning subtext into text, Citizen Sleeper's real magic is found in the boundless warmth of its characters - and the humanity of its own design," reads our Citizen Sleeper review from 2022.For more, our Bertie recently chatted with the game's creator Gareth Damian Martin about the pressure of success and upcoming sequel Citizen Sleeper 2. Image credit: SegaThen we have Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name - perhaps something to enjoy ahead of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. We praised Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name's "absolutely fantastic combat system" on its release, however we were left wondering if this was a story that really needed to be told at all."This is another entertaining, idiosyncratic, action-packed romp for the Yakuza series, but it feels as though Like a Dragon Gaiden needs to do more to justify its undermining of Kiryu's perfect sendoff in Yakuza 6," reads our three star review.As for those on Premium, it may not be Indiana Jones and the Great Circle, but there is the Staff of Kings to tide you over before Bethesda's latest take on the fedora wearing professor makes its way to PlayStation 5 later this year."The Staff of Kings certainly has all the ingredients for a cracking action-adventure, but somewhere along the line the team ended up making arguably the most forgettable Indiana Jones game to date," reads our review from 2009. Image credit: LucasArtsSo, anything there that catches your eye?For a full list of games available on Sony's subscription service, be sure to check out our guide to PlayStation Plus here.

You can trust VideoGamer. Our team of gaming experts spend hours testing and reviewing the latest games, to ensure you're reading the most comprehensive guide possible. Rest assured, all imagery and advice is unique and original. Check out how we test and review games hereNetEase and PlayStation are teaming up to bring a new skin for Spider-Man to Marvel Rivals. Created to tie-in with the release of Spider-Man 2 on PC, players will be able to unlock the Advanced Suit 2.0 within the free superhero multiplayer game.Spider-Man 2 Marvel Rivals crossoverAnnounced on Twitter by the games official account, the ADVANCED Suit 2.0 will be available in Marvel Rivals on January 30th, 2025 at 9:00AM UTC. The new suit is a very faithful recreation of Peter Parkers suit in the Spider-Man 2 game and will release at the exact same time the games PC port goes live.Take the first look at Marvels Spider-Man 2 (2023) in Marvel Rivals, the Advanced Suit 2.0 blends Otto Octaviuss science with Peter Parkers genius, the game developers announced on Twitter. Crafted for the toughest battles, it symbolizes Spider-Mans true grit as a hero.The new Spider-Man skin will not be a free unlock for owners of the game, or even PlayStation Plus members. Instead, players will be able to unlock this legendary costume in-store, but no price has been confirmed for the premium cosmetic.Furthermore, its not known if the skin will be able to be purchased on Xbox consoles, even with the games cross-platform multiplayer. No restrictions have been confirmed by either party, so the skin will hopefully be available for all players, especially since cross-progression still isnt ready for the game.With MCU tie-in skins and the new Spider-Man 2 cosmetics, Marvel Rivals is already going hard on iconic looks for its comic book superheroes. With events like the Hellfire Gala also coming to the game, players will soon be able to collect an entire wardrobe of awesome skins. Were hoping for a Raimi suit sometime in the future.For more Rivals coverage, read the developers promise of releasing a new hero every month-and-a-half or read about the hundred-year-bans being given following the latest update.Marvel RivalsPlatform(s):macOS, PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S, Xbox Series XGenre(s):Fighting, ShooterSubscribe to our newsletters!By subscribing, you agree to our Privacy Policy and may receive occasional deal communications; you can unsubscribe anytime.Share

Pop phenom Taylor Swift is apparently expanding her Rhode Island mansion, multiple sources report. A building permit from November 2024 reveals that the Grammy winner is adding a new wing to her waterfront home located in Watch Hill, a coastal neighborhood in Westerly, Rhode Island. The permit indicates that the house will be getting another bedroom, set to be approximately 16 by 24 feet, as well as new bathrooms, though it was not specified how many. Swifts existing kitchen is also expected to get an update. The labor and materials for the project will reportedly cost the Tortured Poets Department singer an estimated $1.7 million.It has not yet been revealed when the project is slated to finishbut some dedicated Swifties have already pointed out that it is in the beginning stages of construction. TikTokers have captured clips of a crane and wood framing on the property.Swift added the Rhode Island home to her real estate portfolio in 2013 for $17.75 million. The historic 12,000-square-foot abodeoften referred to as High Watch, Holiday House, or Harkness Housewas originally built in 1929. Perched on a 5.23-acre beachside cliff, the sprawling property features eight bedrooms and ten bathrooms (for now), along with eight fireplaces, and 700 feet of private ocean views. The Colonialstyle dwelling also includes a slew of balconies, well-tended gardens, and an outdoor swimming pool.Join NowNew Year's Sale: Become an AD PRO member for only $20 $12 per monthArrowOver the years, the singers Rhode Island house has become a hotspot for her star-studded gatherings, attended by the likes of Gigi Hadid, Blake Lively, Travis Kelce, and many more over the summers. The home also inspired her 2020 song The Last Great American Dynasty, which is about Rebekah Harkness, the American socialite and patron of the arts. Harkness inherited the estate after the 1954 death of her husband, Standard Oil heir William Hale Harkness.

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Weaponised KindnessI thought Monster Hunter Now's latest feature would be inconsequential, but it's me launch the app every day to send my friends some loveIts not often that a new feature in a mobile game can trick me into engaging with it more often than I usually do, and its even rarer that it has some heart.Image credit: VG247 Article by Sherif Saed Contributing Editor Published on Jan. 15, 2025 I play Monster Hunter Now quite frequently. In fact, Id say its probably the game I consistently spend time with more than any other, phone or otherwise. I may not have a gigantic hour count to prove it - its a mobile game designed for short sessions, after all - but I can tell you that its incredibly rare that a day goes by without me at least launching it once.I do my dailies, keep up with seasonal challenges, stay on top of gear upgrades, and I occasionally even spend money in the store. All of that is to say that I dont really need more reasons to be engaged. But a recently-added feature has made me more compelled to open the app every morning, even when I dont want to play.To see this content please enable targeting cookies. Towards the end of last year, just as Monster Hunter Nows third season was coming to a close, the Season 4 update introduced the new Friend Cheering function. Every friend on your list now has a heart on their card. When you press it, you cheer them on, which increases their maximum health for that day.Every time you log in, you can immediately see if someone has sent you a cheer while you were away. Everyone gets free cheers that refresh daily, and you can tell which of your friends you already sent some love to when you browse the Friend list. The boost is small, and theres a cap on how large your HP can get from it (likely to prevent exploiting), so its not something thats likely to ever make a difference in a fight.Cheering is entirely free, too, and doesnt factor into your daily grind - you can totally ignore it, and your experience with Monster Hunter Now would hardly be affected. Cheers, everyone! | Image credit: Capcom/NianticNow, I fully understand this is done to boost engagement. If Niantic can show investors that players have been spending more time on the app (I dont really think they care if youre actively playing or not), then thats going to look great. I am also aware that these types of community features typically start out as free extras, and later get rolled into battle pass bonuses, or outright turn into items you can buy in the store.But the effect it had on me is undeniable. Just like with dating apps, I feel excited when I get a match, despite knowing it has about a 20% chance of turning into an actual date, and an even lower chance of moving beyond that.I dont think it has much to do with the people I have on my friends list, either. Theres only one person on my list that I know from outside the game; the rest I just got from Reddit. People always leave their friend codes on the Monster Hunter Now subreddit to get help with Friend Quests and such. All of that is to say I dont have much of an emotional connection with those people, but damn it if I dont want to cheer them on every chance I get.It used to be that Daily Quests was the first page Id check upon launching the game. Now, that has turned into the Friend List! I never managed to catch the Gacha anime bug, but I can tell Monster Hunter Now is becoming that game for me. Its gameplay is not as involved, or world as gigantic, and its certainly nowhere near as exploitative - but it brings me joy more often than it frustrates - which counts for a lot these days.

Image: Square EnixCo-founder of id Software and one of the minds behind the seminal FPS Doom, John Romero, has honoured a legendary Square programmer on social media, calling him an "inspiration".Sharing his thoughts in the wake of Japanese broadcaster NHK's interview with Nasir Gebelli, who lead programmer on the Final Fantasy games on NES and SNES action RPG Secret of Mana, Romero says "Without Nasir, there is no DOOM." High, high praise indeed.This makes sense, because, without Gebelli, there may well have been no Final Fantasy, one of the biggest video game franchises in the world. And NHK's interview, which was broadcast back in October 2024 and got an extended rerelease on 30th December (thanks, Time Extension!), is pretty significant because Gebelli essentially disappeared from the industry shortly after Mana's 1993 release.Subscribe to Nintendo Life on YouTube792kWatch on YouTube "Without Nasir, there is no DOOM. His work was the inspiration for so many game developers. #programmedbynasir"Gebelli worked at Sirius Software and Gebelli Software (his own company), creating games for Apple II, before joining Square in 1986. Masafumi Miyamoto, founder of Square, and Hironobu Sakaguchi, the "father of Final Fantasy", were fans of Gebelli's work, and decided to hire the programmer to work on games for the Famicom 3D and, eventually, Final Fantasy.Romero actually first met Gebelli at an Apple II Reunion event in Dallas, Texas. Romero was already a huge fan at the time and has gone on record before citing Gebelli as an inspiration. So, Romero interviewed Gebelli about his work.This was the last known interview with Gebelli, who retired from game development to travel the world, until NHK's recent interview. Genki_JPN has shared a clip of it over on X where many people tagged Romero.The extended version of the interview is only available in Japan, you can at least watch the original October '24 version on NHK World's website.Are you a fan of Gebelli's work? Let us know if you've managed to watch the interview in the comments. Time ExtensionNasir Gebelli has been off-grid since the '90s[source x.com, via timeextension.com]Related GamesSee AlsoShare:02 Alana has been with Nintendo Life since 2022, and while RPGs are her first love, Nintendo is a close second. She enjoys nothing more than overthinking battle strategies, characters, and stories. She also wishes she was a Sega air pirate. Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...Related ArticlesThe OG Mega Man Is Getting The 'Hand-Drawn Game Guide' TreatmentAnd it looks gloriousRandom: Now You Can Play DOOM... Inside A PDF?PDF Software'Nintendo Music' Adds Another Donkey Kong Soundtrack, Here's Every Song IncludedIt's double trouble with Dixie and KiddyFeature: Why Play Final Fantasy VII Remake When You Could Play FFVII 'Demake'?"more than just pirate versions"Feature: Meet Morphcat Games, The New-Gen NES Devs Pushing The 8-Bit Envelope"No one has come close to exhausting its full capabilities"