Snapchat is giving users more powerful video tools through a new feature called Director Mode. It’s available starting today globally for iOS and Android.

Director Mode, first previewed in April, brings a handful of new features for filming and editing videos on Snapchat, including a few that are popular on other platforms. Green screen, for example, allows users to record videos with a background, similar to the TikTok filter of the same name. And dual camera, previously only available for iOS users, is a BeReal-esque feature that takes a front and back-facing photo or video simultaneously.

Other tools include quick edit, which allows users to trim and splice multiple videos together, and a camera speed feature to speed up or slow down videos. Director Mode is available via an icon on the main camera toolbar.

People can use Director Mode to make content to share with friends, but the emphasis on new editing tools comes as Snap tries to make a case for Spotlight, its TikTok competitor. Snapchat has introduced several programs to try to entice creators to make videos for Spotlight, including challenges that pay cash for top videos using different Lenses or sounds.

Boosting Spotlight usage is a priority for Snap. In an internal memo circulated in September, CEO Evan Spiegel said he wants 30 percent of Snapchatters using Spotlight every day in 2023. The company recently told investors that engagement on Stories was down; Snap laid off around 20 percent of its employees this summer.

Other platforms

Let’s start with the good things

WhatsApp’s new “Communities” feature, which will support communication across larger organizations, is beginning its rollout alongside the addition of 32-person video calls, the company announced Thursday.

The Communities featureswhich is WhatsApp’s take on Telegram’s Groups and Channels sections, were first announced in April alongside the addition of emoji message reactions.

Using Communities, the Meta-owned chat app will now allow users to “bring together separate groups under one umbrella with a structure that works for them,” Meta said. This could include ways to coordinate among school groups or neighborhoods.

“It [communities] makes groups better by enabling sub-groups, multiple threads, announcement channels and more,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement. “All secured by end-to-end encryption so your messages stay private.”

Within WhatsApp communities, you’ll be able to do a number of new things such as receive updates sent to the entire community and organize smaller discussion groups. There will also be new tools for administrators such as announcement messages that can be sent to the whole group and control over which groups can be part of the community.

In addition to communities, WhatsApp is also rolling out other new features that can be used in both groups and communities, such as in-chat polls for group decision making, the aforementioned 32-person video calls and groups that allow up to 1,024 members.

Communities is rolling out globally and will become available to everyone over the next few months, Meta said.

Despite Nintendo’s carefully cultivated family image, the company has produced its share of mature games over the years, from the darkly atmospheric Metroid series to the risky Bayonetta 3. And while it has seldom dabbled in outright horror, it came fairly close with Famicom Detective Club , a pair of obscure detective games from the company’s early years that are perfectly suited for Halloween.

Originally released in the late ’80s for the Famicom Disk System, a disk-drive peripheral for the company’s first home console that never launched outside of Japan, the Famicom Detective Club series spans two games: The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind, both of which have been lavishly remade for the Nintendo Switch. (A third installment in the series was also released for Super Famicom’s short-lived Satellaview accessory, but it remains unlocalized.)

Written by Yoshio Sakamoto, who would become a household name among gaming fans for his work on the aforementioned Metroid series, the Famicom Detective Club duology stands as an early example of the visual novel genre: a type of interactive story driven primarily by the choices you make. Delving into much darker subject matter than other Nintendo games, both Famicom Detective Club titles put you in the shoes of a fledgling detective tasked with unraveling a series of mysterious murders.

While each game weaves a compelling tale full of suspense and intrigue, The Girl Who Stands Behind is particularly thrilling thanks to its snappier pace and haunting, supernatural atmosphere. After the body

Slack’s features help millions of people communicate in hybrid workspaces, but it might feel overwhelming trying to keep up with all the notifications across channels and chats. You probably need to know about an upcoming meeting. A meme from a reality TV show, though? Probably not.

Thankfully, there are ways to amplify and mute certain channels in Slack so aren’t bogged down with unnecessary notifications. Here’s how to do both on your desktop and mobile devices.

Manage Slack channel and chat notifications from desktop

1. Open and log in to Slack from a web browser or the Slack app.

2. Click into a channel or chat you want to amplify or mute.

3. Click either the channel name or the member names across the top of the window.

4. Click the middle drop-down menu with the bell icon across the top of the new window. The first time you see this menu, it might read Get Notifications for @ Messages or Get Notifications for All Messages depending on your settings.

5. From there you can choose one of the four notifications options:

• All messages: Notifies you of every new message.
• @ mentions: Only notifies you for @mentions, @channel and @here.
• Off: You won’t receive any notifications.
• Mute: You won’t receive notifications, but you will see the red badge icon if you are mentioned in the channel. This channel will also be moved to the bottom of your channels list.

6. Once you’ve made your choice, click the X in