iWorld
JioCinema to stream the inaugural Global Chess League
Mumbai: The Global Chess League, a joint venture between Tech Mahindra and FIDE, today announced JioCinema as the OTT partner for the inaugural edition. From 22 June 2023, onwards, all the matches of the league being held in Dubai will be streamed LIVE on the platform.
As part of JioCinema’s commitment to helping the Global Chess League reach a wider audience, the league will be streamed free to all viewers.
Viacom18 – sports head of strategy, partnerships & acquisitions Hursh Shrivastava, said, “We are excited to be a part of the chess revolution that the Global Chess League will bring about. Through JioCinema, we will provide a one-of-a-kind experience for chess fans while also helping the sport grow its fan base. We are looking forward to a successful partnership with the league”.
The annual league will feature a unique mixed-team format wherein, each of the six franchises will play a total of 10 matches in a double round-robin format, with the winner of each match being decided in a best-of-six board scoring system played simultaneously. The top two teams will compete for the Global Chess League Championship title on July 2nd, 2023.
Global Chess League Board chairperson Jagdish Mitra said, “One of the league’s core objectives is to promote and popularise chess worldwide. With JioCinema, we have the ideal partner for bringing the league closer to the audience. We are confident that the league will reach new heights as the world’s most-watched and engaging chess league. We look forward to a successful collaboration with JioCinema in setting new standards for fan engagement”.
The league will also set the standards for technological innovations in the sport of chess as Tech Mahindra and FIDE will explore innovative ways to promote the game through interactive technology-enabled platforms by leveraging next-generation technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, and virtual reality, among others.
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.
