If you have somehow not jumped on the Animal Crossing bandwagon yet, now's your chance to do so for less. Amazon and Best Buy have the popular Nintendo Switch title for $45, or $15 off its normal price. It's also a new low since we've only seen the game drop to $50 in the past. The only caveat is that the sale is only on the physical version of the game, not the digital download.
New Horizons came out in March 2020, which meant millions of players found an escape from the pandemic in its adorable animations, pleasant music, ASMR-like sound effects and its open-island gameplay. You're tasked with building your personal island from the ground up with seemingly endless customizations, while you spend your days fishing, catching bugs, making friends with your neighbors and more. And with online multiplayer mode, you can visit your friends' islands at your leisure.
If you've already devoted countless hours into your Animal Crossing island, there are a bunch of other Switch games on sale right now as well. Super Mario 3D World + Bower's Fury, Super Mario 3D All-Stars, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Snap are all down to $45. That's a record-low price for all of those titles, so it's a good time to stock up on new games if you've been waiting for a decent sale.
As part of its latest turnaround strategy, Atari is shifting its focus away from free-to-play mobile games to PC and console titles. In a statement released on Monday, the company said its board of directors had approved the new plan on July 1st after conducting an in-depth review of the Atari Gaming division's "assets and opportunities."
The reorientation comes less than a month after the release of the oft-delayedAtari VCS console, which acts as both a retro gaming machine and PC. Atari said it would reach into its portfolio of 200 games and franchises — think Asteroids, Centipede, Missile Command and Pong — to create new content for the VCS and other platforms. The first new releases are expected to arrive in the current fiscal year, which ends March 31st, 2022.
At the same time, the reinvention spells trouble for some of its mobile games, several of which it plans to shutdown or sell off. Impacted titles include Roller Coaster Tycoon Stories, Crystal Castles, Castles & Catapults, Ninja Golf and Atari Combat: Tank Fury. Despite decrying the competitive nature of the free-to-play gaming market, the company isn't giving up on those titles it deems successful. More broadly, it's taking a more shrewd approach to free-to-play fare after diving into mobile games, along with MMOs, in conjunction with its turnaround plan in 2015.
In addition, the company is also exiting its online Atari Casino in Africa — a social gambling play that included retro gaming-themed slots, poker and blackjack — and writing down its TV show assets with a renewed focus on licensing agreements.
Audacity is hugely popular audio editing software, often used by beginner podcasters but with some powerful features, despite its free, open-source status.
However, recent changes to Audacity’s privacy policy have led to accusations that the editing app is now spyware. Alongside collecting user data for "app analytics" and "improving our app" — typical stuff — the data will also apparently be used for "legal enforcement."
Engadget
The policy says it will capture "data necessary for law enforcement, litigation and authorities' requests (if any)." It may share personal data with "any competent law enforcement body, regulatory, government agency, court or other third party where we believe disclosure is necessary.” Yes, it’s a little vague.
These privacy policy changes follow Audacity’s acquisition by Muse Group back in April. The changes also include a ban on under-13s using Audacity, which would violate the license under which the software is currently distributed.
Data collection was apparently in the planning since Audacity’s purchase. As some reports have noticed, a Github update says the app was supposed to include opt-in anonymous analytics data collection, handled through Google and Yandex, but this was caveated by remarks that it would be "strictly optional and disabled by default." It didn’t sound as broad as the eventual policy update.
Talking of Github, some users are already calling for a fork of the software, creating a new version of the app based on the source code. For Audacity owners, Muse Group, it’s a rough start to its newest purchase.
It lightly taps into the possibilities of the PS5.
Square Enix
Final Fantasy 7 Remake Intergrade is a little confusing, if the name didn’t give it away. It’s Final Fantasy 7 Remake polished up for the PlayStation 5, but it also includes new original content called Intermission. This is a two-chapter run completely separate to the main game, following the once-optional character Yuffie arriving into Remake’s main locale, Midgar. Sadly, you can only play Intermission with a PS5. But, oh boy, it plays like a dream. Continue reading.
It’s a joint venture with Porsche called Bugatti Rimac.
Bugatti/Rimac
Electric hypercar company Rimac is taking control of Volkswagen’s supercar brand Bugatti as part of a joint venture with Porsche (which VW owns). Bugatti and Rimac will share resources and expertise but remain separate brands with their own production and distribution setups.
Bugatti will be able to harness Rimac's EV know-how and perhaps carry on its legacy of making electric vehicles. Rimac, meanwhile, can tap into the knowledge of Bugatti, which makes the second-fastest street-legal car on the planet: the Bugatti Veyron. Continue reading.
Korean scientists claim a new desalination technique makes seawater fit to drink in minutes. The researchers’ membrane distillation process resulted in 99.9 percent salt rejection for a whole month. If commercialized, they say the solution could help alleviate the drinking water crisis exacerbated by climate change. According to the UN, more than 3 billion people worldwide are affected by water shortages.
While scientists have used membrane distillation in the past, if the membrane became too wet, it was unable to reject the salt. This particular solution uses a 3D membrane and nanotechnology. Continue reading.
Bringing us back, kicking and screaming, into the dating game.
Bumble/Float Studio
In New York, Bumble is opening a café/restaurant/wine bar. Bumble Brew is scheduled to open for breakfast service on July 24th, with lunch and dinner service starting at the Nolita spot in the coming weeks. Along with an 80-seat dining room, there will be a cocktail bar, patio dining and private dining space.
The new venture builds on the Bumble Hive pop-up community spaces where people can hang out, eat and drink and meet others. Alas, you won’t be able to reserve a table direct from the app — at least not yet. Continue reading.
Netflix has purchased a documentary on the "Tinder Swindler," who tricked women he met on the dating app into giving him millions of dollars. The notorious con-man pretended to be Russian oligarch Simon Leviev, the son of Russian-Israeli diamond mogul Lev Leviev. He would take his victims — mostly Scandinavian women — on trips via private jets, stay with them in luxury hotels and treat them to expensive dinners. In truth, he's an Israeli man named Shimon Hayut, who fled to Europe twice to escape theft, forgery and fraud charges in his home country.
Online dating scams have been fairly common these past years, with con-artists using every available outlet into finding potential victims. According to the FTC, losses to romance scams reached a record $304 million last year. And that's just for the scams Americans reported to the agency. The Tinder Swindler hit the headlines for living a jet set lifestyle, though, with previous victims funding his efforts into wooing his current ones.
Hayut would spend months pretending to be in a relationship with his targets before he begins asking them for money, usually pretending to be in trouble to ask his current "girlfriend" for help. Norwegian publication VG spent six months tracking Hayut and got in contact with two of his most recent victims. One of the women it interviewed said she had to take out loans to help him out and ended up being scammed out of 2.1 Norwegian Krones (US$244,000).
Netflix's documentary will be produced by the makers of Three Identical Strangers and Don't F*** With Cats, both of which are also available on the streaming platform. It will also be directed by Felicity Morris of Don't F*** With Cats. Variety says it will follow the women Hayut conned as they "uncover his true identity and bring him to justice." The Tinder Swindler was arrested by Greek police back in 2019 and was extradited to Israel, but he was released last year after only serving five months of a 15 month sentence. Half a year later, in December 2020, he allegedly pretended to be a paramedic to get a COVID—19 vaccine shot early — and then posted a video of the event on Instagram.
Twitter has lost its liability protections against user-generated content in India due to its failure to comply with the country's IT rules, the Indian government said in a court filing. The move could leave the company's executives vulnerable to criminal charges over objectionable material on its platform, according to TechCrunch.
Indian police have filed at least five cases against the company or its officials, including some related to child pornography and blasphemous content. A report was recently filed to police in the state of Uttar Pradesh against Twitter’s head in India, Manish Maheshwari, over the publication of a map of India that showed the disputed region of Kashmir as a separate country.
Twitter has been in a standoff with the Indian government over its new internet regulations, called the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, announced in February. They dictate that social media companies must remove content within 36 hours of a legal notice and use automated processes to take down offensive material. Platforms must also appoint three full-time executives — who are required to be Indian residents — for compliances, grievances and coordination with law enforcement.
Twitter's resident grievance officer Dharmendra Chatur was the first casualty of the dispute. The exec stepped down from the post in late June. The company has previously stated that it needed more time to comply with the law. Meanwhile, Twitter has bowed to the government's demands to take down accounts with links to the farmers' protests that erupted in India last year. However, it has also drawn the ire of officials over its decision to label tweets by members of the ruling BJP party as "manipulated media."
After months of threats, the Indian government has now officially declared that Twitter has lost its immunity against user-generated content. In a filing dated July 5th, the IT Ministry told the High Court in New Delhi that its decision was a result of Twitter's breach of the IT act. We have reached out to Twitter for comment.
India's information and technology minister Ravi Shankar recently praised other US tech giants for abiding by the rules. As part of their respective compliance reports, Facebook claimed to have taken action against 30 million pieces of content between May 15th and June 15th; its subsidiary Instagram took down about two million posts during the same period; and Google said it had removed 59,350 objectionable posts.
Nice to see significant social media platforms like Google, Facebook and Instagram following the new IT Rules. First compliance report on voluntary removal of offensive posts published by them as per IT Rules is a big step towards transparency. pic.twitter.com/FhzUv4pHUp
No stranger to trying new things, audio brand is introducing its first-ever pair of gaming-focused Bluetooth earbuds. The highlight feature of the company's new Seoul earbuds is a mode toggle that Urbanista claims reduces Bluetooth latency to about 70ms. A dedicated latency toggle isn’t something we’ve seen on a lot of true wireless headphones. Most gaming-oriented earbuds use Qualcomm’s aptX Bluetooth codec to get latency as low as possible.
Urbanista
With the codec’s low-latency variant, Qualcomm claims you get that number down to about 40ms. The downside of aptX is both your earbuds and phone need to support the codec. That’s not a problem with most Snapdragon devices since Qualcomm makes those too, but you won’t find the codec supported on Apple devices. That’s what makes the Seoul earbuds interesting. They give you a device agnostic way to get a low-latency mode.
Aside from that feature, the Seoul earbuds are about what you expect from a pair of mid-range true wireless earbuds in 2021. At $89.90, they feature a claimed eight hours of battery life on a single charge, with the included case allowing you to get another 32 hours of playtime before the entire unit needs to recharge. At that point, you can charge them using either a USB-C cable or Qi charging pad. They’re also IPX4-certified, come with Bluetooth 5.2 connectivity and feature both Google Assistant and Siri integration. Urbanista will sell the Seoul earbuds in four colors: black, blue, purple and white.
Urbanista
For those looking for something more affordable, Urbanista also announced its new Lisbon earbuds. At $49.90, they’re the company’s cheapest true wireless earbuds to date. Looking at the spec sheet Urbanista sent over, they look decent too. Battery life comes in at a claimed nine hours on a single charge. With the included charging case, you can get a total of 27 hours of playtime from them. They don’t feature waterproofing, but you do get Bluetooth 5.2 support and USB-C charging, as well as Google Assistant and Siri integration. They’ll come in five colors: pastel red, beige, pink, green and black.
With more and more people getting fully vaccinated against COVID-19, many single folks are ditching virtual dates for in-person ones. Those looking for love in New York City will soon have a new spot where they can meet up for dates, a café/restaurant/wine bar from dating app Bumble.
Bumble Brew is scheduled to open for breakfast service on July 24th. Lunch and dinner service will start at the Nolita spot in the coming weeks. Along with an 80-seat dining room, there will be a cocktail bar, patio dining and private dining space.
The restaurant, which is decked out in the app's recognizable shade of yellow, can be used for events as well. It has an Italian-inspired menu with pickup and delivery options, and the music is primarily from female artists.
The new venture builds on the Bumble Hive pop-up community spaces where people can hang out, eat and drink and meet others. Bumble Brew doesn't have a direct tie-in with the Bumble app, at least for now. Still, it's easy to imagine Bumble adding a reservation system that pops up when NYC users try to arrange a date.
On early Sunday morning, two Chinese astronauts completed work outside of their country’s Tiangong space station. The event was the second-ever spacewalk in China’s history. As The Guardian points out, it’s also the first time its astronauts have completed a tandem extravehicular activity (EVA).
Shenzhou-12 astronaut Boming Liu left the station at 8:11 PM ET on July 3rd and was later joined by crewmate Hongbo Tang. Meanwhile, Haisheng Nie, the mission’s commander, stayed inside the Tianhe “Harmony of the Heavens” crew module to support them.
The two astronauts went out to do work on the module’s robotic arm while wearing China’s next-generation Feitian EVA suits. The entire time they were about 380 kilometers (236 miles) above the surface of Earth. The components they installed will assist future missions as China looks to complete its new space station sometime in 2022. Liu and Tang went back into Tianhe at approximately 2:57 AM ET, making the entire spacewalk around seven hours.
“The safe return of astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo to the Tianhe core module marks the complete success of the first spacewalk in our country’s space station construction,” China’s Manned Space Agency said in a statement.
The last time a Chinese astronaut left their craft was back in 2008 when Zhigang Zhai put China in the history books as the third-ever country to complete a spacewalk. In the past year, the country successfuly landed its first-ever rover on Mars and retrieved rock and soil samples from the Moon. The country’s space agency plans a second spacewalk before the Shenzhou-12 crew returns to Earth later this year.
The pandemic recovery might not be all positive, at least not for the environment. Reutersreports that the International Energy Agency has warned that a post-pandemic resurgence in gas demand could threaten a goal of reaching net zero emissions worldwide by 2050. A projected 3.6 percent increase in gas use for 2021 could not only negate the 2020 decline but "even grow further," according to the IEA.
Demand is expected to taper off to 1.7 percent between 2022 and 2024, but that would still be too steep to stay on track, the IEA said.
This doesn't mean the Paris agreement and other goals are lost causes, however. The IEA believed that projects approved or underway before the pandemic could rein in those emissions. The agency also suggested that the gas industry could help by cutting down on methane leaks that contribute to climate change.
There are positive signs. Renewable energy is outpacing fossil fuels in some countries, and car manufacturers are increasingly committing to all-electric lineups in the next several years. Still, the IEA report lends a sense of urgency to those actions. Humanity might need to temper its eagerness to reestablish normalcy and refocus on green tech, at least if it wants to avoid replacing one global problem with another.
Let’s take a look at some dingbats, symbols, and cool text characters you can use today. Whether you’re looking for an icon font or other cool fonts and symbols, there are plenty of cool symbol font downloads to check out. You can easily add borders, arrows, bullets, flourishes and much more with a dingbat font. It’s as simple as typing a letter.
Easily add flourishes, lines, borders, and embellishment with the help of a cool symbol font, like this one.
What Is a Dingbat Font?
So, what is a dingbat font, and what’s up with the odd name? You’ll find the following dingbat definition in the dictionary: that a “dingbat” is a ridiculous or eccentric person. However, it’s a little different when we’re talking about typography. Our dingbat definition is a set of fonts that seemingly breaks all the rules. These fonts are largely composed of symbols and icons instead of letters.
This font is made up of dingbat symbols that are hearts. It’s the theme of this dingbat font.
How to Use Dingbat Fonts
So, why would one use dingbats, symbols, or an icon font? There are many reasons and ways to use dingbat fonts. For example, you could use them as a simple way to add decorative bullets to a list. Or use an icon font to add icons to your brochure or flyer. Dingbat font design can come in a wide variety of options, from pictorial icons to abstract symbols. You can find borders, frames, lines, icons, bullets, and much more.
To use this dingbat font, simply type the corresponding letters.
Using dingbat fonts is simple. For example, in Adobe Photoshop, it’s as simple as selecting the font itself, just as you would a normal font. Each letter is represented with a symbol, so you simply have to type the corresponding letter. Check out the example below. Note how each symbol is assigned to a letter.
Note how each letter is a symbol in this dingbat font. Download it now on Envato Elements.
Find Cool Fonts and Symbols on Envato Elements
If you’re looking for dingbats, symbols, icons, and other cool fonts, check out Envato Elements. It’s an awesome deal, especially if you’re a big fan of fonts. One low price gets you unlimited access to an entire library of fonts.
Check out the library of cool fonts and symbols on Envato Elements. They’re all included for one low price.
This includes more than dingbats and decorative symbol fonts too. There are thousands more fonts to check out on Envato Elements. Even better, they’re all licensed for commercial use too. So use these fonts for T-shirts, posters, business cards, and much more.
In addition, Envato Elements includes stock photos, mockups, design templates, and even templates for your website. There are thousands of files included, and it’s all for one price. With unlimited downloads, it’s one destination that can meet all your design needs.
You can find dingbats fonts, cool text characters, and a variety of other fonts on Envato Elements.
Dingbats Fonts to Download Now on Envato Elements
Check out this selection of fun, easy-to-use dingbats fonts you can download right now, on Envato Elements. You’ll find dividers, borders, frames, symbols, icons, and much more. Remember, they’re all included for one price.
There are so many fun curls, twists, and embellishments included in this dingbats font. Try adding them to a design, or use them on their own to create a fun, bouncy aesthetic.
Prefer strict flourishes? Then you’re going to love this set of dingbats. Add them to stationery designs, letterheads, T-shirts, and much more. This one could work well as a Cricut font too!
Here’s a dingbat font that’s specifically dedicated to decorative borders. Try adding them to corners or between parts of your copy, to break up the composition.
This awesome, pictorial dingbats font has so many extras. You can combine and compound letters to get alternatives. This is an awesome font for creating patterns too.
If you’re looking for icons, check out this icon font. It contains a huge collection of food-themed icons that you can easily use and scale. Just type the corresponding letter on your keyboard.
Here’s another stylish dingbats font. This time, it’s a huge collection of lines, including dividers, arrows, and more. They’re hand-drawn, so they have a beautiful organic aesthetic.
Here is another set of fun extras, perfect for bringing some texture to your work. Use them as line breaks, borders, frames, and more in your designs. There’s so much to choose from.
This is a color font based on maritime signal flags. Isn’t that a creative idea? Choose from a wide variety of options; since it’s a color font, you get the true to color symbol.
The author of this icon font has called “wirebet” a merge between wireframe and alphabet. It’s a fun idea, right? Use these icons for mocking up and creating your web design ideas.
Flourishes can be such a fun addition to a design project. In this case, these swirls and curls would be a lovely addition to a hand-drawn aesthetic or DIY project.
If you’re looking for an all-around collection of symbols and ornaments, give this awesome dingbats font a try. There are banners, flourishes, arrows, and more.
Now this dingbats font has a lot of content and a lot to offer. If you’re looking for simple, pictorial images for things like apps and websites, this is it. There are plenty of other fun icons too.
This font has so much content to check out. Not only do you get a huge collection of ornaments. They’re also designed to complement its companion ornamental text font.
400 ornaments sounds like a lot right? Well, it is, and they’re all included in this awesome dingbats font. Choose from a huge selection of hand-drawn design elements.
These dingbats specifically focus on “catchwords” like and, by, for, and will. Try out these words in these stylish and decorative add-ons, like in banners or between borders.
Check Out Even More Symbols, Dingbats, and Icon Fonts on GraphicRiver
There are even more dingbat fonts to check out on GraphicRiver. If you’re not necessarily looking for access to a library of fonts, and you’d prefer to just download one or two, this can be a great alternative. GraphicRiver keeps things simple: one download, one price.
This is a really useful icon font because the icons are so versatile. Use these in web projects, mobile projects, and more. This is just a sample of all the icons included in this font.
Looking for something really decorative and fun? Then this dingbats font would definitely be worth a look. It has a series of visually interesting abstract shapes for experimentation.
Aren’t these stylish ornaments fun? You could keep them simple, or really dress them up with the right color choices. They would be right at home on high-end designs as well as more informal ones.
The ornaments in this dingbats font have a vintage aesthetic and texture. Choose from decorative illustrations, foliage, flourishes, dividers, and more.
This dingbats font focuses on banners. Just type to generate the banner of your choice from the character list. Then, simply add some text to these beautifully drawn elements.
Which Is Your Favorite Dingbats Font?
There are so many cool symbol fonts out there to choose from. They can be a really handy addition to your font library. Imagine having icons, banners, dividers, and much more, easily at your fingertips!
If you’re looking for cool fonts, symbols, dingbats, and more, remember to check out Envato Elements. One low price gets you access to a collection of cool symbol fonts, as well as thousands of other fonts. They’re all included with unlimited downloads.
Or head to GraphicRiver for even more dingbats font inspiration. Download only what you need from an impressive library of fonts.
Looking for even more fonts? Check out these font collections from Envato Tuts+ for downloads, inspiration, and more:
On Monday mornings, I send out a story via email: ultra-brief tales of 1,000 words or more, usually in genres including science fiction, horror, and the supernatural. Those stories collectively are called Once Upon A Time. I’ve also published four ebooks and one paperback anthology of those stories so far.
I’d love to have you as a subscriber to the weekly free story. You can subscribe via email here, or use the form below. Unsubscribe any time, from the link in every issue.
FaZe Clan is once again reeling from drama, and this time the damage might be longer-lasting. Decryptnotes that FaZe has punished four players for alleged involvement in a pump-and-dump scheme involving the Save the Kids cryptocurrency project. The eSports team suspended Jarvis (pictured), Nikan and Teeqo, and has permanently removed Kay from the organization.
Save the Kids (aka KIDS) was pitched as a charity that would donate 1 percent of each transaction fee (which itself is 3 percent of the total transaction) to a child-oriented foundation. The creators got influencers at FaZe to promote KIDS ahead of its launch in early June, only to watch as the price crashed by almost 90 percent.
The affected clan members have denied any deliberate involvement. Kay said he had "no ill intent" in promoting KIDS, and that he made a mistake in participating without vetting the effort with the team.
This isn't even the first time FaZe team members have faced accusations of joining in scams. Kay and clan co-founder were paid to promote another coin, BankSocial, in May — only to sell shortly before exiting the partnership. Banks didn't reveal the financial connection in Twitter posts he has since deleted.
The crackdown highlights the growing number of eSports players making money outside of competitive gaming, both individually and as a team. Gucci made a Fnatic-badged dive watch, for instance. While it's not surprising given how players are quickly gaining the kind of celebrity status commonly associated with conventional sports stars, that opens them to similar temptations.
Elon Musk's Boring Company is still trying to sell cities on transit loops, and it might just have a significant buyer. As The Vergereports, the Boring Company has submitted a bid for a transit tunnel loop that would link the downtown with the beach. The Las Olas Loop would be an "innovative and unprecented" way to manage traffic congestion and transit demands, Mayor Dean Trantalis claimed.
The City Commission will vote on the proposal on July 6th. It also plans to establish a process where other companies can offer rival projects. Specific details won't be available until after the competition is over, the city said.
A successful bid would establish the Boring Company's first East Coast tunnel. The only existing tunnel, in Las Vegas, launched in June.
It would be a crucial win. Musk's outfit hasn't had much success pitching cities on passenger loops, and has even shifted some of its attention to larger freight tunnels. A Fort Lauderdale contract would give the passenger system more credibility and might encourage other cities to consider tunnels of their own — at least, so long as the tunnels prove to be useful.
Fort Lauderdale has received a proposal from Elon Musk's The Boring Co. to build an underground transit loop between downtown and the beach. Called “The Las Olas Loop,” this represents an innovative and unprecedented approach to addressing traffic congestion and transit needs.
— Mayor Dean J. Trantalis (@DeanTrantalis) June 30, 2021
