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Snap is removing its controversial “speed filter” from Snapchat this week, NPR reports. The in-app effect displays your current speed in miles or kilometers per hour, and many critics have claimed the feature encouraged reckless driving — with some saying that Snap should be held liable when the speed filter was connected to deadly car crashes.

There have been multiple lawsuits over the years connecting Snapchat to car crashes. One concerning a 2015 car accident in Georgia arrived just a few years after Snapchat was first updated to include the filter. In the years since, the company has demoted the filter to a sticker, burying it in a separate menu, and making it a bit harder to use.

The Ninth Circuit Appeals Court recently ruled that Snap could be sued for the speed filter / sticker’s involvement in car accidents. The court found that Snap isn’t protected here by Section 230 — a portion of the Communications Decency Act that shields companies from being sued over the content users’ publish on a platform.

The case, Lemmon v. Snap, involved another crash in Georgia that resulted in the death of three men in 2017. The Ninth Circuit court said that the family members of the men could sue Snap after the case was initially dismissed in 2020.

Snap confirmed that the sticker is being removed and offered the following statement to The Verge:

Nothing is more important than the safety of our Snapchat community, and we had previously disabled the filter at driving speeds. Today the sticker is barely used by Snapchatters, and in light of that, we are removing it altogether.

who could blame her

WoW Archivist explores the secrets of World of Warcraft's past. What did the game look like years ago? Who is etched into WoW's history? What secrets does the game still hold?

Wherever thousands of players try to complete on-rails content, bottlenecks are inevitable. For Warlords of Draenor, Blizzard is trying to be proactive about eliminating them. Back in July, CM Zorbrix posted a "targeted feedback request" about bottlenecks in the beta. Given that the introductory experience is completely on rails before the expansion unleashes players into its less structured zones, this is a real concern.

WoW hasn't had the best track record when it comes to bottlenecks. As we help Blizzard loosen the bottlenecks of the future, let's revisit those of the past.

The great gyrocopter jam of 2012

Blizzard's server tech has come a long way since the game's launch. Lag and crashes are no longer rampant during expansion launches. But sometimes, other problems can prohibit players from progressing on Day 1. If we're talking bottlenecks, we have to start with the most infamous one in all of WoW, which also happens to be one of the most recent.

This was a problem that people saw coming. I found a thread on MMO Champion from September 2012 where a poster writes, "On Beta - everyone had to funnel through a single vehicle quest to proceed on the Jade Forest quest line. I'm a touch concerned that this is going to be way worse than any other expansion..."

And this guy was totally right. OK, maybe Mists wasn't as bad as The Burning Crusade overall, but the ironically named Unleash Hell was still the biggest -- and most dramatic -- bottleneck ever caused by a single quest.

Continue reading WoW Archivist: Bottlenecks

Filed under: WoW Archivist

WoW Archivist: Bottlenecks originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 24 Sep 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Last nigh Celestalon posted two interesting bits of information on the beta, one for mistweaver monks and the other for fury warriors. First we'll cover the mistweaver change - Renewing Mist is headed back to being somewhat of a smart heal.

I'm not a monk player, so I can only say I hope this is good news for y'all - it looks to me like it would be helpful. Also last night, Celestalon posted about a huge change to fury warriors - Colossus Smash is now an arms only ability.

Continue reading Warlords of Draenor Beta: Monk and Warrior Changes

Filed under: Warrior, Monk, Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor Beta: Monk and Warrior Changes originally appeared on WoW Insider on Wed, 17 Sep 2014 13:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of the difficulties property owners face when renting their place out via Airbnb is making sure they don't waste energy while nobody's staying there. Sure, timers can reduce some of the hassle, but many can't be configured remotely, nor are they...

One of the more irritating and frustrating aspects of winning Tier loot from bosses is having to take the token to a vendor in order to actually get the piece of armor you won. Nowadays it's rare for me to equip a piece as soon as I get it, unless it's a truly huge upgrade, but I still find it annoying to have to take a token to a vendor in order to get the actual piece of gear. In addition, as a druid, there are four versions of everything available for each token, and scrolling through page after page of nearly-identically named armor pieces makes my eyes cross. Minor complaints, really, but nonetheless the following announcement by Lead Game Designer Ion Hazzikostas, aka Watcher, on Twitter really made my day:

@RhoWoW @MeaganTC They will work that way in Warlords. No more vendors - you can get your set piece on the spot.

- Watcher (@WatcherDev) September 1, 2014

This is a fantastic quality of life change for raiders. No more running to vendors and no more waiting to get your new piece of Tier gear. I'd say "no more accidentally buying the wrong piece" with your token too, but in Warlords, your primary stats will auto-change when you shift specs anyway, so that's no big deal. In any case, this new system will be more convenient for players, and I'm certainly thankful for that!

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Filed under: Raiding, Warlords of Draenor

Warlords of Draenor: No more Tier vendors originally appeared on WoW Insider on Tue, 02 Sep 2014 16:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Has it been two weeks since we last saw you? Yep, but audio-file-munching software systems couldn't keep us away this week, so get ready. There are piles of console related tidbits on top of E3 this week, with Sony launching its PlayStation TV device...