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The Comedy Club at the End of the Metaverse

The Comedy Club at the End of the Metaverse

It’s Sunday, and I’m onstage at the Soapstone Comedy Club in the metaverse. My VR avatar is clad in a black suit, tie, sunglasses, and an unfortunate fedora I’ve selected from the pool of free clothes for your virtual dolls in Meta’s Horizon Worlds. After the show, a guy whose username is Large Phenis pops up in the bar next to me. “Hey there, Blues Brothers,” he cackles—tough crowd.

Soapstone’s adults-only digital comedy club has been around since nearly the beginning of Meta’s Horizon Worlds. It has hosted more than 5,000 events, from improv and stand-up to trivia nights and open-mic singing. It’s had partnerships with famous comedians like Natasha Leggero, Ron Funches, and Pete Holmes. It has also served as a hub for ragtag regulars who seem to really like the place.

Last week, Meta announced it would shut down Horizon Worlds in VR to focus on its mobile version; it pivoted the next day after community blowback to keep it running indefinitely. Now, the service is on life support. Come June 15, Meta plans to cut creation features in VR and stop allowing users to build updates or new content on the platform—no more new worlds or seasonal updates, except on mobile.

“Soapstone is a world built by a third-party creator and is currently available as both a mobile world and a VR world,” wrote a Meta representative in an email to WIRED. “The VR version was built on Horizon Unity Runtime (HUR), and all HUR worlds will live in VR for the foreseeable future as our CTO, Andrew Bosworth, said in his AMA.”

For the past year and a half, Soapstone user Miss Del Rey has hosted these Sunday improv shows. She is from Sweden, and her avatar sports bright red hair, a red dress and cap, and knee-high gold boots.

“It came as a shock that they were shutting this down so soon,” Miss Del Rey says about the initial VR news. “It’s been this massive production, and now it’s just disappearing.”

Soapstone is an adults-only digital comedy club in Meta’s Horizon Worlds.

Photograph: Boone Ashworth

At the first Soapstone Sunday improv show since Meta’s shutdown whiplash, folks here to joke around with their brightly colored avatars aren’t sure what comes next. Soapstone says it will continue into the mobile era, but it’s not clear whether the users will follow.

“People are just terrified of the uncertainty,” Del Rey says. “This might not be profitable to do on VR, but I don’t think Meta understands how important this place is to so many people. I don’t know what my life would have been like today without Soapstone.”

For the next hour, Del Rey and her cohost Millsbertc run volunteers through classic improv games—pulling scenes from a hat or asking a group to tell a story one word at a time that quickly delves into debauchery. (“My anacondas are small and dirty,” the group decides.)

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#Comedy #Club #Metaverse

You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home">ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard
                You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

 Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.  			 				 			 				 				© ADT 				 			 				 			 				 				© ADT 				 		  The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted.  The Live Light requires a -per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs , including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.) © ADT ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

 For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.      #ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home

ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home">ADT’s New Big Idea Is a Light-Up ADT Sign for Your Yard

You know those little ADT security signs? You know, the ADT logo-emblazoned yard signs or stickers you find in front of houses or slapped on a window by the front door. Well, ADT is rethinking them: today, the home security company announced the ADT Live Light, a light-up version of its logo yard sign that will—you guessed it—shine when your ADT alarm system has been tripped. 

Besides being a visual indicator for your neighbors that something is amiss, ADT says the Live Light could be useful in helping first responders identify which house is yours. It would also serve the same purpose as the stickers and yard signs that came before it: letting would-be intruders know that they risk triggering an alarm by messing with your stuff. And while it can activate automatically, you can also turn it on using the ADT+ app if you want.

The Live Light is wireless and powered by three included AAA lithium batteries. It’s IP65-rated, meaning it should be dust-proof and resistant to water jets from any direction, and should operate in temperatures ranging from 4 to 122 degrees Fahrenheit. Both good things if you’re expecting people to leave their light-up sign out in the elements year-round (although those of us in the Midwest might want to bring it in for a couple of months in the winter). The sign itself is 10 x 10 inches tall and 1.75 inches thick, and goes into the ground with a 21-inch stake, although it can also be wall-mounted. 

The Live Light requires a $25-per-month ADT Professional Monitoring subscription and costs $50, including professional installation. There’s no option to install it yourself; ADT requires that one of its own installers carry out what doesn’t strike me as a terribly complicated procedure. (But what do I know? I’m just a little ol’ country technology reporter.)

Images showing the ADT My Safety feature in the ADT+ app.
© ADT

ADT also announced a new ADT+ app feature called My Safety. My Safety extends ADT’s subscriber service beyond your house by letting you do things like set a check-in timer that, if missed, will prompt ADT to contact emergency services for you. It also offers the manual options of speaking or texting with ADT agents, or setting an “Emergency Phrase” that lets you speak a custom phrase to summon help—that is, ADT will again contact emergency services for you. The company says subscribers will be able to use that last feature even if their phone isn’t in their hand, and I’ve asked exactly how that works.

For the My Safety feature, there’s no call history, and for subscriptions with multiple people on them, only the person who initiates a call with ADT monitoring will be able to see status, activity, alerts, and notifications. It’s nice to see the company has thought of that—it can be important for victims of abuse to be able to discreetly seek help. An ADT representative told Gizmodo via email that the ADT+ app update with My Safety is available now for all subscribers in the U.S., except in Milwaukee, WI.

#ADTs #Big #Idea #LightUp #ADT #Sign #YardADT,apps,Home security,Smart Home

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