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Candy Crush Turns NYC Into One Big Pregame with Free Candy Cabs for Soccer Season 2026

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Candy Crush is transforming NYC game-day travel with Candy Cabs, where riders can complete a Candy Crush Saga level to unlock a complementary ride.Soccer icon Alex Morgan is headlining Candy Crush’s Soccer Season 2026, the annual in-game tournament that brings the “game between games” to life.Whether heading to a fan zone, watch party, or celebration, Candy Cabs keep fans playing long after they leave the stadium.

NEW YORK, June 29, 2026 /PRNewswire/ –This Soccer Season, Candy Crush Saga® is taking game day beyond the stadium and onto the streets of New York City. Launching June 30, Candy Cabs are a fleet of interactive rides designed to turn travel time into play time, giving fans the chance to unlock complimentary rides simply by beating a Candy Crush Saga level before they reach their destination.

Equipped with in-cab tablets featuring live gameplay, Candy Cabs transform every trip into a high-stakes challenge and the ultimate “game between the games.” Whether heading to a fan zone, sports bar, watch party, or post-match celebration, fans can keep the excitement going from kickoff to the final whistle—all while enjoying one of the world’s most beloved mobile games.

Although soccer matches only last around 90 minutes, game day excitement lasts way longer for U.S. fans. More than half (52%) say their experience begins hours before the first whistle¹, with anticipation building before kickoff. And those in-between moments are already moments of play: 27% are playing games on their phones in transit, and nearly as many (23%) jump back in at halftime, proving the journey is just as electric as the match itself. That’s exactly where Candy Cabs come in. Turning every ride, wait, and pause into a chance to play, match, and win along the way.

The Candy Cab Experience

Book your spot: Scan the QR code on Candy Crush fly posters or Candy Cab vehicles around Manhattan to reserve your slot.Play for your ride: Once you’re in, complete a Candy Crush level on the in-cab tablet before you arrive. Beat it and the ride’s free.Get there: Your Candy Cab picks you up at Cooper Classic Cars in Greenwich Village and drops you at either Hudson Yards Public Square & Gardens or Hair of the Dog (168 Orchard St).

“Game day isn’t just about the match- it’s about everything that leads up to it. Candy Crush has always made those in-between moments more fun, and with Candy Cabs we’re bringing that spirit to life in a way only Candy Crush can—turning the ride to the game into part of the game itself.” — Luken Aragon, Chief Marketing Officer, King.

Candy Cabs are part of Candy Crush’s broader Soccer Season celebration, a limited-time in-game event that brings the excitement of the sport directly into the game. Since June 9, players have been collecting Blue Candies, climbing competitive leagues, and competing for exclusive rewards alongside soccer legend Alex Morgan, who encourages fans to embrace this season’s tournament as the ultimate “game between games”.

“Every athlete knows the game-day experience starts long before kickoff. The journey there, the anticipation, the energy building around you—it’s all part of what makes sports so special. Candy Crush has been one of my favorite ways to pass the time between matches, so seeing the game come to life around Soccer Season feels like a full circle moment for me.” — Alex Morgan, two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup Champion.

Scan. Ride. Play. Follow the experience and explore every colorful match day moment by visiting Candy Crush on Instagram and TikTok at @CandyCrushSaga or online at candycrushsaga.com.

Candy Crush Saga® is free to download on iOS and Android. For more information, visit candycrushsaga.com.

About Candy Crush Saga
Candy Crush Saga® is one of the world’s most popular mobile games. Millions of players around the globe match colorful candies in combinations of three or more to win points, defeat obstacles, and progress through more than 20,000 levels. In November 2022, Candy Crush Saga celebrated its 10-year anniversary. Candy Crush Saga is available to download for free from the Apple App Store, Google Play, Amazon App Store, Windows App Store and Facebook.

About King
With a mission of Making the World Playful, King is a leading interactive entertainment company for the mobile world with more than 20 years of history of delivering some of the world’s most iconic games in the mobile gaming industry, including the world-famous Candy Crush franchise, as well as other mobile titles such as Farm Heroes Saga. King games are played by more than 200 million monthly active users. King, part of Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), has Kingsters in Stockholm, Malmö, London, Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin, San Francisco, New York, Los Angeles and Malta. More information can be found at King.com or by following us on LinkedIn and @lifeatking on Instagram.

¹Source: Atomik Research survey of 1,000 U.S. sports fans aged 18–40, commissioned by Manifest on behalf of Candy Crush; June 2026

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China Hour Expands Reach of Chinese Audiovisual Content in South Africa Through Multi-Platform Partnership

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NANJING, China, Sept. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — “China Hour,” a year-round media initiative jointly operated by Jiangsu Broadcasting Corporation (JSBC) and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), is significantly expanding the footprint and accessibility of Chinese audiovisual content across South Africa.

Marking the first time a Chinese broadcast media institution has established a year-round, dedicated daily broadcast mechanism with an African national public broadcaster, the project leverages SABC’s television network and digital streaming platform, SABC+, bringing over 100 hours of localized Chinese programming directly to South African households since its launch in June 2026.

The initiative first gained momentum in April 2026, when senior SABC leadership attended the 13th China Internet Audio & Video Convention and officially announced the joint project with JSBC. To solidify and expand upon these initial results, JSBC and SABC formally signed a new cooperation agreement on August at the 7th Forum on China-Africa Media Cooperation in Beijing. The signing was witnessed by senior leadership from China’s National Radio and Television Administration and South Africa’s Department of Communications and Digital Technologies.

So far, China Hour has already achieved rapid audience engagement. The popular fantasy drama series The Starry Love, which premiered on SABC2 on July in a dedicated 10:30–11:30 p.m. daily broadcast block, entered SABC+’s monthly Top 10 chart in its debut month, becoming the first Chinese television series to achieve a Top 10 ranking on the streaming platform.

Beyond hit drama series, the broader China Hour content catalog spans diverse genres designed to offer South African audiences holistic perspectives on contemporary and historical China. Featured titles include flagship documentary series such as The Grand Canal, Wetlands Our Land, Reading on the Island, and Architecture China, as well as popular short-form productions including A Dream Like True Love and Wildfire, among others.

To streamline content adaptation, JSBC deployed its proprietary Lychee Media AI Module for automated multilingual translation and dubbing adaptation. Integrated with rigorous human editorial review, this hybrid workflow enhances production efficiency while ensuring content complies strictly with local language nuances, cultural contexts, and broadcasting regulations.

The project builds on more than a decade of strategic exchanges between JSBC and African media organizations, including active participation in regional markets. Continuing its commitment to industry collaboration, JSBC will once again co-organize the China Pavilion at MIP Africa in Cape Town this October, showcasing new intellectual properties and exploring cross-border content licensing opportunities.

Looking ahead, JSBC and SABC plan to deepen cooperation across program curation, platform operations, and audience development, while welcoming broader collaboration with media stakeholders across the African continent.

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viaim Rise Receives Two 2026 IFA Innovation Awards; Indiegogo Campaign Launches September 8

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BERLIN, Sept. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — viaim today announced that viaim Rise, its AI Agent Earbuds, won Best in Audio and was named a Best in Design Honoree at the 2026 IFA Innovation Awards. The recognition highlights Rise’s combination of acoustic engineering, AI-assisted work features and a distinctive smart charging case.

The recognition at IFA 2026, one of the world’s most significant technology trade shows, validates viaim’s unique vision for the future of work. Following this successful unveiling in Berlin, viaim has confirmed that the viaim Rise will be available for global consumers via a crowdfunding campaign on Indiegogo, launching on September 8, 2026, at 9:00 AM ET.

Beyond Audio: Listen. Think. Act.

viaim Rise combines premium wireless earbuds with an AI Agent workflow designed for everyday work. Built around Listen. Think. Act., Rise helps users capture conversations they choose to record, understand them in context and prepare next steps that remain under the user’s control.

Engineered for the modern professional, Rise supports user-initiated recording, transcription and translation for phone calls, in-person meetings and multilingual conversations, covering 78 languages and 145 accents. The system’s breakthrough lies in its ability to connect these recordings directly to project context, surface actionable insights, and hand off tasks—by voice—to the AI platforms users already rely on after the user confirms, such as ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini.

Award-Winning Hardware Meets Intelligent Software

The dual IFA Innovation Awards reflect the product’s commitment to both sonic excellence and functional design. The ‘Best in Audio’ win acknowledges the product’s premium acoustic architecture. The viaim Rise features a powerful 11mm + 6mm dual-driver configuration, delivering Hi-Res Audio Wireless with LDAC and LHDC support. Coupled with an advanced ANC system featuring transparency and voice pass-through modes, the earbuds ensure high-fidelity sound, while a comprehensive multi-microphone array with bone-conduction VPU guarantees crystal-clear call quality, regardless of the environment.

At the same time, Vision Intelligence officially announced a partnership with Bose, a world-leading audio brand. viaim is working with engineers from Bose’s Audio Technology business to enhance the audio performance of viaim products. Working with Bose, viaim will leverage the company’s decades of technical expertise in active noise cancellation and acoustics to improve AI Agent hardware and enable robust perception and decision-making capabilities.

The ‘Best in Design’ honor recognizes the product’s innovative form factor: a unique dual-device ecosystem. When users press the two side latches, a mechanical structure raises the earbuds from the charging case—a physical expression of the Rise name. The smart charging case also serves as a recording entry point: with at least one earbud inside, users can start a recording without opening the case or reaching for a phone. When connected to a computer over USB-C, its three-microphone array can support desktop meeting capture through the viaim PC app.

Indiegogo Launch Details

The viaim Rise will officially go live on Indiegogo on September 8 at 9 AM ET.

Super Early Bird Offer: Early backers can secure viaim Rise with a $259 pledge, compared with a planned MSRP of $399.Added Value: Every backer will receive a 3-month of the viaim Pro subscription for free, unlocking the complete potential of the AI Agent ecosystem.

“We are honored by the recognition from IFA,” said the viaim team. “Rise is built to move work forward. By merging professional-grade acoustic hardware with a sophisticated AI agent workflow, we are transforming the way professionals capture their ideas and execute their daily tasks.”

For those interested in experiencing the future of AI-powered productivity, join the Indiegogo campaign at https://www.indiegogo.com/en/projects/viaim/viaim-rise, or visit viaim’s official website at https://store.viaim.ai/ to learn more

About viaim

viaim develops AI-native hardware and intelligent agent services designed to help people capture information, understand context and move work forward. As of May 2026, viaim has served more than 1.5 million registered users across over 200 countries and regions worldwide.

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Bringing Local AI Home: UGREEN Introduces Privacy-First HomeAgent for Smarter Living

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BERLIN, Sept. 5, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — UGREEN, a leading global consumer technology brand, announced two new product lineups at a European launch event. The unveiling of the UGREENHomeAgent series of agentic local AI hubs and a new MagFlow lineup marks UGREEN’s next stage of growth. Building on its established presence in digital accessories and smart storage, the company is now dedicated to a broader spectrum of intelligent consumer electronics designed to enhance everyday life.

UGREEN HomeAgent: Agentic Local AI Hub for Homes

At the center of UGREEN’s broader intelligent consumer electronics vision is UGREEN HomeAgent, a groundbreaking Agentic AI Local Hub unifying local storage, computing, and control into one device. It connects a growing ecosystem of UGREEN AIoT devices, including security cameras, smart speakers, and smart photo frames, as well as third-party devices.

UGOS Pro is UGREEN’s in-house operating system built on a Linux architecture, offering professional storage management, robust data security, easy backup and sync, and extensive expandability.

UGREEN HomeAgent is powered by the all-new UGOS Pro, combining NAS-grade storage and data management with integrated home security features, smart home capabilities, and natural voice interaction to deliver a more complete all-in-one experience.

Traditional surveillance cameras usually only document bad news, and their footage is constantly overwritten, so the moments truly worth keeping quietly disappear. That’s why UGREEN set out to redefine the home camera system, not as a surveillance tool, but as a camera for life.

“HomeAgent proactively recognizes moments that are truly worth remembering and organizes them into a personalized daily briefing for every family. Moments that might otherwise be forgotten can return. We want to help families preserve the precious time they spend together.” – Samuel Zhang, CEO of UGREEN

As an agentic local AI hub integrating on-device intelligence, local storage, AI computing and smart-home control, HomeAgent serves as the AI brain of the connected home. Designed to keep data private and local, it enables intelligent file management, proactive home monitoring, voice-driven automation and unified device control. The ecosystem includes the HomeAgent HA100 and HA100 Pro, the NVIDIA® Jetson Thor™-powered MasterAgent MA100, SynCare smart cameras, the UGREEN Smart Speaker for Uliya, and UGREEN Gallery smart frames, while remaining compatible with third-party Matter-enabled devices. Together, they deliver a private, expandable AI platform that helps users preserve memories, monitor their homes and coordinate devices through natural, context-aware interactions.

MagFlow Pro: Active Heat Dissipation and Sustained Fast Charging

Announced alongside HomeAgent, MagFlow Powerbank is the world’s first liquid-cooled Qi2 25W magnetic power bank, featuring CryoPulse™ micro-pump liquid cooling, active heat dissipation and sustained fast charging.

The launch complements UGREEN’s strong range of charging options, outlining the brand’s commitment to true-rated performance and flagship-quality power.

Availability Timeline

Pre-orders for the UGREEN HomeAgent HA100, HA100 Pro and UGREEN MasterAgent MA100 opened on September 4, 2026, via the UGREEN AIoT Official Store, and remain available until the official Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign launches on October 27, 2026. Other AIoT accessories will be introduced as part of the Kickstarter campaign beginning on October 27. During the pre-order period, customers can place a deposit starting at $50 to reserve the UGREEN HomeAgent HA100, HA100 Pro or UGREEN MasterAgent MA100 and secure 50% off with the Super Early Bird discount.

About UGREEN

UGREEN is a leading global tech brand creating innovative products that make everyday life smarter, easier, and more connected. From smart charging and productivity to smart storage and AIoT, UGREEN designs technology around the needs of modern life.

View original content to download multimedia:https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/bringing-local-ai-home-ugreen-introduces-privacy-first-homeagent-for-smarter-living-302870674.html

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