iWorld
Stream “1UP” exclusively on Lionsgate Play from 7 July
Mumbai: Geek it out with Vivian and her girls as Lionsgate Play brings to you another laughter riot. An homage to the classic girls versus boys trope, 1UP follows high-school gamer Vivian, essayed by Paris Berelc as she battles it out on the esports frontline to secure a scholarship at her dream college. When Vivian’s future is threatened by Dustin and his team of video game geeks, she enlists a group of outcast girls and her college professor to settle the score once and for all. Starring Ruby Rose, Taylor Zakhar Perez and Hari Nef in titular roles, 1UP is set to stream exclusively in India on Lionsgate Play this 7 July. So grab your controllers and get up to speed for this intense showdown.
Talking about his inspiration behind the film, director Kyle Newman said, “I grew up as part of the Nintendo generation, and video games (and gaming culture at large) have remained ever-present in my life. When my older siblings exposed me to the magic of Atari, ColecoVision, and coin-operated arcades at a young age, I became obsessed. The Legend of Zelda, FIFA Soccer, Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, Double Dragon, Goldeneye 007, The Secret of Monkey Island, Baldur’s Gate, Call of Duty, my tastes run deep! Now, my own children have become fanatical Nintendo Switch devotees (defeating nearly every iteration of Super Mario since the early ’80s), exposing me to a generation of new titles from Undertale and Cuphead to Friday Night Funkin’. Gaming has been a tremendous way to bond with my boys, and, in many ways, I made this film for them!”
iWorld
WhatsApp may soon let users to pick who sees their status updates
The messaging giant is borrowing a page from Instagram’s playbook as it pushes to give users finer control over their social circles.
CALIFORNIA: WhatsApp is quietly working on a feature that could make its Status function considerably smarter and considerably more private.
According to reports from beta tracking platforms, the app is testing a tool called Status lists, which would allow users to create named groups such as close friends, family and colleagues, and control precisely which group sees each update. It is a meaningful step up from the platform’s current blunt instruments, which offer only three options: share with all contacts, exclude specific people, or manually select individuals each time.
The new feature draws an obvious comparison with Instagram’s Close Friends function, and the resemblance is unlikely to be accidental. Both platforms sit within Meta’s family, and the company has been nudging them toward a common logic of audience segmentation for some time.
The move also fits neatly into WhatsApp’s broader privacy push. The platform has been rolling out enhanced chat protections and is exploring the introduction of usernames, which would allow users to connect without exchanging phone numbers. Status lists extend that philosophy from messaging into broadcasting.
Meanwhile, Status itself has been evolving well beyond its origins as a simple photo-and-text slideshow. The feature now supports music stickers, collages, longer videos and interactive elements, pushing it closer to the social-media-style story format pioneered by Snapchat and refined by Instagram. In that context, finer audience controls are not merely a privacy feature. They are a precondition for people sharing more.
The feature remains in development and has not been confirmed for release. WhatsApp routinely tests tools that are later modified or quietly shelved. But the direction of travel is clear: the app wants Status to be a destination, not an afterthought. Letting users decide exactly who is in the audience is how it gets there.
