This week on Father’s Day, a 17-year-old Minecraft YouTube streamer known as “Ranboo” won the right to display his GIF—a logo/calling card for his character—on the New York City Times Square billboard for 24 hours. 

To win this unusual accolade, a Twitter competition, run by ARKH, an augmented reality start-up, tweeted “the most liked reply we will put on a billboard in Times Square. You have 24 hours.” 

The winning GIF, named Ranboo my Beloved, started off as a meme created by Ranboo’s fanbase. The GIF has the image of his Minecraft character, Ranboo, and a love heart. 

Ranboo, who does Minecraft roleplay known as ‘lore,’ plays lots of games (including Minecraft and Sims), talking as he plays. He games on Twitch, and his live streams become VODs (Videos on Demand) re-uploaded on YouTube. He also partakes in the DreamSMP (a private, whitelisted survival multiplayer (SMP) Minecraft server).

And for a teenager, his popularity is no joke. Despite his age, Ranboo’s following is in the millions. His Twitch main account has three million followers, and around 700,000 people watch him play live. 

When asked about the billboard he commented in his live stream …“it was amazing because it was Father’s Day, and I’m kind of a canonical father, you see.” (He and another character Tubbo have adopted a pigling called Michael).  He adds: “Fighting makes you famous and helps get you to the position of Influencer in the gaming world.” 

In other news

• Antivirus pioneer McAfee dies in Spanish prison. The New York Times reports that John McAfee, the creator of the antivirus software bearing his name, died on Wednesday of an apparent suicide. His death came on the heels of a Spanish court clearing the way for his extradition back to the US on charges related to tax-evasion. McAfee once held a fortune of over $100 million but lost most of it in the 2008 financial crisis, causing him to move to Central America where the cost of living was cheaper. Over the years the controversial McAfee, 75, had been accused of, or charged with, a variety of crimes including drunk driving and gun possession, securities fraud involving cryptocurrencies, raising a militia and drug charges in Belize, and even being a person of interest in a murder there. 

• Alan Turing commemorated on £50 note. As of June 23, Mathematician and visionary Alan Turing, whom you may know as the inventor of the computer, is the new face of the United Kingdom’s £50 note. On the note, you’ll find symbols representing computer processing, and his World War II Enigma code-breaking days, a picture of the all-thinking machine he built known as the ‘bombe’, and a ticker-tape sunflower to represent Turing’s work in morphogenetics. Turing died in 1954, aged 41, in what many view as a premature and even preventable death, recently explored in the film The Imitation Game. Turing suffered persecution for being homosexual, and despite his exceptional achievements, consistently faced an unforgiving ‘establishment’ culture. For the full story of Turing’s amazing life, read our tribute to Alan Turing on our blog.

• Robots turning the other cheek. Remember the robot dogs in Black Mirror? And then how way back in April of this year, the very real robot dogs from Boston Dynamics were coming under attack for their use in law enforcement? In an interesting development, car manufacturer Hyundai just bought the controlling shares in the company. If the new video is anything to go by, the company is trying to change the image of robots and put more emphasis on how they can assist, rather than harm, humans. In the video we see robotic technology helping people to walk, serving as guide dogs, and assisting in hospitals. Furthermore, Engadget reports that Hyundai wants “to create a “robotics value chain” that spans robot component manufacturing, construction and automation.” Fingers crossed that the future of Black Mirror is very, very far away. 

• Robot housekeepers. In more auto company + robot news, Toyota has developed robot technology that may one day be able to take care of household chores. Apparently reflective surfaces befuddle most robots, but Toyota’s tech has overcome that challenge. In a video released by the company, we can see a robot wiping down a shiny tabletop and even moving the items on the surface to clean underneath. I don’t know about you, but I’m looking forward to the day when Rosey from The Jetsons can do all my housework for me.

Tip of the week

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[News] Gaming streamer Ranboo scores big .