This is what the Nothing Phone 1 will look like

Even though the Nothing Phone 1’s launch is still about a month away, the company has already begun showing what the device will look like to help generate hype. From afar, the device appears to be a blend of the iPhone X’s back (with its pill-shaped dual-camera island) and the iPhone 12’s flat edges. However, the back cover here is transparent, revealing a big wireless charging coil, several screws (something you don’t really see on phones these days) and a mysterious pattern teased earlier by founder Carl Pei.

Nothing didn’t provide any further detail in these teaser posts, but we imagine the company still has a few tricks up its sleeve — particularly, how Pei will enable “an open and diverse product ecosystem” with this device. So far, we know that the Phone 1 will feature a Qualcomm Snapdragon chipset — Engadget understands that it’ll be a mid-tier processor — and the pure Android-like Nothing OS with some design flair. Nothing’s design team is led by former Dyson lead designer, Adam Bates, who joined the company in early 2022.

The Nothing Phone 1 will be launched in London at 4PM BST/11AM EST on July 12th. There will be a livestream available, but you’ll have to RSVP in advance.

Twitch opens up ads program to more streamers and increases payout

More Twitch streamers will find invites to join the platform’s Ads Incentive Program now that the company is opening up the opportunity to welcome “more… Partners than ever.” In addition, Twitch will stop paying streamers in the program using a fixed CPM structure — instead, it will use a percentage-based revenue share model to increase ad payouts. When the streaming service launched the program in February, it promised creators a flat payout every month based on the hours they stream and the ads they serve per hour. A user who agrees to stream 40 hours per month, for instance, will earn $300 if they run 3 minutes of ads per hour.

The idea behind the flat payout is to eliminate the guesswork for creators who’d rather know how much they’ll earn for the month. With this new model, though, creators will get 55 percent of the revenue from every ad that runs on their stream. Twitch says that represents a 50 to 150 percent increase in ad pay rate for the vast majority of creators on the platform.

While this rollout is meant to bring more Partners, who need to meet a pretty demanding set of requirements, into the fold, smaller streamers will also be able to benefit from the higher revenue structure soon. Starting in August, qualifying affiliates can also earn more money from the 55/45 split by agreeing to run 3 minutes of ads per hour and activating the setting in their Ads Manager. Further, an affiliate who opts in will be able to stream free of pre-roll ads, or those ads that play as soon as a stream begins for a user.