Los Angeles-based tech company Production Club is currently working to provide an alternative to social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic.

SUNCARE favourite Banana Boat has been slammed by beachgoers after they were left with horrific sunburn. The manufacturer says the product is fine.

THE annual Australia Day lamb ad has become an Aussie tradition. But the latest one has been dubbed the most political one to date.

It won't shock you to hear that livestreaming services are seeing an upswing in viewership due to the COVID-19 pandemic keeping people at home, but now it's clear just what kind of effect the outbreak has had on viewing habits. Streamlabs and Stream Hatchet have determined that watch hours surged 23 percent between February and March, to just over 1.2 billion. Other services saw increased demand as well, but their gains were relatively slight. Microsoft's Mixer saw a 15.9 percent gain, while YouTube's gaming streams saw a 10.7 percent boost. Facebook Gaming saw a modest 3.8 percent increase.

ASUS has refreshed its line of gaming laptops with new 10th Generation Intel Core processors, NVIDIA RTX 2070/2080 Super graphics and a bunch of other features designed to make gaming and content creation slicker and smoother. First up, the new Zephyrus S17 (pictured), which comes with a 17.3-inch display with super narrow bezels in an 18.7-millimeter-thin chassis. A 300 Hz refresh rate and 3ms grey-to-grey response time means the display is lightning fast, and it comes with Pantone-validated color accuracy as well.

Acer is joining a flurry of PC makers in adopting the next wave of NVIDIA and Intel chips inside its laptops. It's updating its 15.6-inch Predator Triton 500 (above) and Nitro 5 (below) gaming portables to use NVIDIA's new GeForce RTX Super laptop GPUs as well as Intel's 10th-generation Core H-series processors. As you might guess, the premium Predator series is the highlight. It comes with up to a GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q to deliver speedier and more efficient graphics, and mates that with a 300Hz, 3ms response IPS display and per-key RGB keyboard lighting.

ASUS has been pushing laptops with second screens for a couple of years now, but it's still searching for a winning formula. Last year's ZenBook Pro Duo pushed the keyboard down to the edge of the laptop's body, with the rest of the surface housing a second screen. The problem with that configuration was an awkwardly placed trackpad. But, you know who cares less about trackpad placement? Gamers. Hence, almost a year later, the company's Republic Of Gamers (ROG) division has its own spin on the concept: the ROG Zephyrus Duo 15.

Lenovo is leaping quickly on the latest NVIDIA and Intel technology for its gaming laptops. It's introducing Legion 5i and Legion 7i portables (successors to the Y540 and Y740 respectively) that, most notably, are among the first to use NVIDIA's Advanced Optimus graphics switching. The tech both lowers power consumption in less-intensive moments and ramps up performance in GPU-heavy situations, theoretically giving you added battery life and higher frame rates in the same package. The Legion 7i also touts the option of new GeForce RTX 2080 Super Max-Q graphics if you insist on the best possible visuals.

No, you're not hallucinating and this isn't a late April Fool's joke. That is in fact, the NookPhone from Animal Crossing: New Horizons at the top of this post. It's safe to say that the game has really taken off in the two weeks since its release. It's the perfect salve for our troubled era, and a great way to kill time when you're stuck at home.

Microsoft's buccaneering simulator, Sea of Thieves, already has 10 million players on Xbox One and Windows 10. The company announced that the game is coming soon to Steam, adding to an already large stable of Microsoft games on Valve's platform, and allowing existing Steam users to connect more easily with friends. The game, which was developed by Rare, challenges players to complete voyages across the open seas. What makes things more interesting is the fact that crews can run into pirate ships manned by other gamers -- and attempt to plunder their booty.

Gaming on Twitch is largely a one-way affair. You can join a Marbles on Stream race or play a slightly delayed Jackbox Party Pack game, but the service is largely meant for passive viewing. Amazon aims to fix that before long, however. The company tells the New York Times that it's developing games both Twitch streamers and their viewers can play together in "real time." While details are scarce, you should see games become available throughout the summer.

The next Apex Legends event is about to get underway and while that might only last for a few weeks, Respawn is bringing back a couple of key features on a permanent basis. The original Kings Canyon map will join the current World's Edge arena on rotation after it recently popped back up for a limited time. Meanwhile, the duos mode that debuted last fall is returning for good alongside the original trios option. They'll both come back on April 7th.

The original iPad came out on April 3rd, 2010, at a time when most smartphone manufacturers were making the awkward transition from full QWERTY keyboards to touchscreen-only devices. Apple sold 1 million iPads in that first month, and by the end of 2010, that figure had climbed to 15 million.

That same year, the top video games were Fallout: New Vegas, Bayonetta, Red Dead Redemption, Super Meat Boy and StarCraft II. The alpha version of Minecraft was generating some slight buzz.

If you're devoted enough to livestreaming that you want the kind of features you'd expect from a TV studio, Blackmagic might have your back. It's releasing the ATEM Mini Pro, an enhanced version of the ATEM Mini switcher that's focused on the most elaborate streaming setups. There's now a hardware streaming engine that lets the Pro stream directly to Twitch, Facebook and YouTube through an Ethernet connection, with no special software required. You can also save recordings for posterity to USB flash drives, and multiview on the HDMI output lets you monitor all inputs on one screen.

PlayStation 5 uncovered: The Mark Cerny tech deep dive
Richard Leadbetter,
Eurogamer

If you're craving even more explanation on the PlayStation 5 than lead architect Mark Cerny shared during his in-depth chat a couple weeks ago, get comfy. Eurogamer shared part two of its chat with Cerny this week, and while there weren't any new revelations per se, there was more detail on the things we'd already heard about.

Numerous internet services have offered help to creators who may be struggling during the COVID-19 pandemic, but Microsoft's Mixer might have one of the simpler solutions: direct cash infusions. The livestreaming service is giving all of its partnered members $100 to help them get through any financial hardships while the outbreak lasts. Given that anyone sufficiently committed to Mixer to reach partner status depends at least partly on the service to make a living, that may be a welcome gesture.

Some experts question whether such efforts will make a difference

The nasal swab diagnostic test is far from infallible

Experts have long been concerned about loneliness in America

'I want to see every community treated fairly,' NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio says

The artists deliver slow beats and fast cars.

Londoner David Gomoh was on his way to work when he died.

The 1992 NBA Finals prompted one of the best head-to-heads.

Who says being quarantined keeps you from being competitive?

Thanks to Zoom, 50 of their friends were able to attend.

Staff members of his show are without income.

'The Real' co-host has a vision of her special day.

This 4-year-old girl seems fearless.

"I think this quarantine is really revealing a lot."

The line reached all the way outside the mall.

Abbe Awosanya says she won’t be deleting the video.

Georgia's governor lifted the state’s order.

The Netflix documentary is set to release May 6.

Brandy drops the lead video from her first album since 2012.

The ladies spilled plenty of tea.

The enforcement was meant to protect from coronavirus spread

It is described as "an unfiltered look into Rihanna’s life."

New episodes return May 6 at 9/8c.

The showrunner is trailblazing a new path for women in TV.

She’s also challenging other celebrities to set up testing.

The former president was weirdly credited.

The beautiful baby boy is the comedian’s first child.

Trump Administration not sticking to its own order.

Jamira Burley has found her calling.

"We are all in this together."

His impromptu show has also provided comic relief.

The documentary hits Netflix tomorrow.

A district attorney is recommending a grand jury review.

“This means so much to me!!!”

"They were looking for a problem."