Bijan Stephen
The Verge
New York, United States
Contact Bijan
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Past articles by Bijan:
How Nick ‘Nickmercs’ Kolcheff battled his way to the top of Twitch
Nick “Nickmercs” Kolcheff is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch. This is the story of how that happened, from Gears of War and Major League Gaming to the Navy SEALs and streaming. → Read More
Ludwig ends his 31-day stream by breaking Ninja’s all-time sub record
Twitch streamer Ludwig’s subathon has finally ended after three weeks. The stream ended at 12AM ET on Wednesday, April 14th, after viewers kept it alive much longer than anticipated. → Read More
CodeMiko will see you now
Miko is a virtual streamer who draws tens of thousands of viewers with her interviews and viral antics. Here, she talks about how it all came to be. → Read More
Go read this story on the real history of NFTs
A new story in The Atlantic from the CEO of Glitch, Anil Dash, tells the tale of how he and a partner, Kevin McCoy, came up with the idea for NFTs in 2014. → Read More
PUBG Lite is shutting down at the end of April
PUBG Lite will shut down on April 29th, two years after launching in beta in Thailand and Europe. Downloads closed on March 30th. → Read More
The big boat is unstuck, and it’s for the best
The Evergreen Marine Corporation’s Ever Given ship has become unstuck, and the Suez Canal is no longer blocked. → Read More
YouTube is testing automatic product detection in videos
"The goal," the company says, "is to help people explore more videos and information about those products on YouTube." It’s available to people watching videos in the US. → Read More
NFT mania is here, and so are the scammers
You can make almost anything into a non-fungible token. Which is why artists are seeing their work stolen, tokenized, and selling on sites like Rarible. → Read More
A streamer is staying live for as long as people keep subscribing
Ludwig Ahgren is one of the biggest streamers on Twitch, and he’s keeping his stream live for as long as viewers keep subscribing to his channel. → Read More
Twitch makes it easier for streamers to wipe out their old videos to avoid copyright strikes
Streamers will now be able to see DMCA notices and copyright strikes directly from the video producer. They will also be able to mass delete or unpublish VODs. → Read More
PSA: LastPass’ free offering is changing today
Free users will now have to choose between using the desktop or the mobile version of LastPass. The company is also offering a limited-time discount on Premium. → Read More
Twitch and Facebook Gaming exploded during the pandemic — and they’re even bigger a year later
In February, Twitch’s watch hours were up 82 percent year over year to more than 1.8 billion hours watched. Facebook Gaming was up by 79 percent or more than 400 million hours watched. → Read More
The makers and crafters who broadcast on Twitch streams
Twitch’s Makers & Crafting category is a warm, welcoming place. → Read More
Soon you’ll be able to buy a one-foot-tall figurine of ChilledCow’s lo-fi chill beats anime girl
The figurine comes with her desk, her homework, her backpack, and more. It goes on sale on April 2nd at 3PM ET. → Read More
Facebook adds a path to partnership for its Level Up creators
To be eligible to become a Facebook Gaming partner, streamers need to have 3,000 engaged followers and earn $2,000 a month in Stars revenue. → Read More
Twitch may be adding a ‘brand safety score’ for streamers
Cybersecurity researcher Daylam Tayari found evidence of the change in Twitch’s internal API. It would rate broadcasters on a number of factors, including age, automod settings, and a streamer’s relationship to Twitch. → Read More
Go read this piece about why you may be seeing a lot of city pop in your feeds
Writing in Pitchfork, Cat Zhang presents a capsule history of city pop as a genre and explains its recent (and sudden) popularity. → Read More
The NYPD deploys a robot dog again
Yesterday, the NYPD used a Boston Dynamics robot — Spot — to investigate a home invasion in the Bronx. A spokesperson for the NYPD said the robot is in a test phase. → Read More
SNES hacker speeds up a game that originally ran at 4 frames per second
Brazilian software engineer Vitor Vilela hacked the Atari game Race Drivin’ to run at 30 frames per second using the Nintendo SA-1 “Super Accelerator” chip. The results are stunning. → Read More
MSCHF’s latest drop lets you control a Boston Dynamics robot with a paintball gun on its back
Prankster art / marketing collective MSCHF recently spent $74,500 to purchase a Spot robo-dog from Boston Dynamics — and then they put a paintball gun on its back and are letting people control it remotely. → Read More