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When it comes to maintaining an online presence, creators are always looking to be ahead of the curve. Currently, the latest trend that has popped up all over people's For You page is NPC streaming. The basis of this trend is that streamers bizarrely repeat actions over and over again - so what is it all about? Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter Here is a breakdown of everything you need to know about the NPC streaming trend. What is NPC streaming? NPC streaming is where the streamers appear animated through their actions, hence being comparable to gaming NPCs, where they often repeat their movements or sayings. In this context, TikTok streamers only interact, speak or perform a specific action when they receive a gift from a viewer, the type of interaction can be dependent on the type of gift. @bobbysie Btw i love ohio final boss and queen Viewers can send a variety of different options such as emotes to the streamer to respond to. For instance, a viewer sends an ice cream and in response, the streamer's reaction would be to pretend to lick it and say “Oh ice cream yum”. Where did this trend begin? Last year, NPC streaming began to rise in popularity, according to Know Your Meme where it all started from Japanese TikToker @natuecoco. She has collaborated with TikToker Satoyu0704 the two of them pretended to be NPCs as they went on to see who could get the most prizes. Over the past year more creators such as Cherry Crush TV and PinkDollReal have been doing popular NPC live streams. Why is this a trend? Perhaps, the reason for the rising popularity of NPC streaming is people's curiosity to see the creator acting like an AI or a character for a video game and want to see if they can keep this act up. Also compared to your average stream, NPC streaming requires increased interaction from the viewer as the streamer is constantly responding to what is being said and sent to them. The trend appears to have celebrity fans, with music producer Timberland reportedly being the #1 viewer on a recent TikTok Live from 19-year-old viral content creator Pinkydoll, according to Pop Crave. Pinkydoll has recently been going viral in July 2023 with her NPC streams where she does things such as popping popcorn with a hair straightener. As a result of Timberland's presence, it caused Pinkydoll to break character. Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.

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Police in the UK have blamed an Android smartphone update on a record increase in accidental 999 calls. The National Police Chiefs Council said the Emergency SOS function was resulting in emergency switchboards being overwhelmed by “silent” calls. The emergency feature is activated when a side button on a device is repeatedly pressed, which triggers a countdown that allows the action to be cancelled by dragging a slider across the screen. However, many users appear to inadvertently initiate emergency calls when their device is in a bag or pocket. “Nationally, all emergency services are currently experiencing record high 999 call volumes,” the National Police Chiefs Council said. “There’s a few reasons for this, but one we think is having a significant impact is an update to Android smartphones.” Met Police chief superintendent Dan Ivey said people should disable the emergency feature, claiming that an “unprecedented” number of calls to emergency lines in June were a result of people accidentally activating it. The majority of smartphone owners in the UK use Android, with Samsung, Huawei and Google Pixel phones all using the mobile operating system. Google, which first began rolling out the Emergency SOS update with the release of Android 12 in 2021, said that it was working with these smartphone manufacturers in order to resolve the issue. “To help these manufacturers prevent unintentional emergency calls on their devices, Android is providing them with additional guidance and resources,” a spokesperson for Google said. “We anticipate device manufacturers will roll out updates to their users that address this issue shortly. Users that continue to experience this issue should switch Emergency SOS off for the next couple of days.” The feature can be deactivated within the ‘Safety and Emergency’ section of Android’s settings. Android researcher Mishaal Rahman noted on Twitter that the issue also appeared to impact other law enforcement agencies around the world, including police in Canada and Europe. Read More Facebook and Instagram to block news in Canada Police warn about dangerous emergency setting on Android phones Meta rejects accusation of censorship of language around female body Facebook and Instagram to block news in Canada