24 November 2017

Snapchat seeks salvation in long-form and “hands-on” AR ads


 Snap Inc’s stock tanked after missing revenue expectations by $30 million last quarter, so Snapchat is looking to win over businesses with immersive new ads formats. This week it introduced two new forms of ads: Promoted Stories which string together multiple Snaps into a longer-form slideshows openable from a tile on the Stories page that’s shown to everyone in a given country,… Read More

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Snapchat seeks salvation in long-form and “hands-on” AR ads


 Snap Inc’s stock tanked after missing revenue expectations by $30 million last quarter, so Snapchat is looking to win over businesses with immersive new ads formats. This week it introduced two new forms of ads: Promoted Stories which string together multiple Snaps into a longer-form slideshows openable from a tile on the Stories page that’s shown to everyone in a given country,… Read More
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How to Save Battery Life on Android for Beginners


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Battery life is the bane of everyone smartphone owner’s existence. Despite the amazing advances in technology in the last 20 years, battery life just hasn’t been able to keep up. Even the beefiest Android phones can only make it two days on a charge, but most barely make it one day. If you’re struggling to keep your phone alive through the day and don’t know where to start, look no further. These are all the basic battery life tips that you need. Lower Your Brightness This one is probably obvious, but I still run into quite a few people who...

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A Quick Introduction to Java 8 Lambdas


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If you’re a Java programmer and you’re interested in learning more about Java 8 lambdas, in this article we’re going to take a closer look at lambda syntax and usage. A lambda expression in Java is a concise way to express a method of a class in an expression. It has a list of parameters and a body. The body can be a single expression or a block. It is commonly used where an implementation of an interface is required. This need usually arises when an interface is required as the argument to invoke a method. Some Simple Lambda Expressions...

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11 LinkedIn Features You Aren’t Using (But Should Be)


linkedin-features

With hundreds of millions of users, there’s no doubt that LinkedIn is still the world’s largest professional-oriented platform. That being said, in recent years, lots of users have drifted away from the network. They rarely log in and barely engage with the content and connections found over there. I was exactly the same, checking my LinkedIn account a handful times each year, max. There was never anything of interest. But since LinkedIn’s fairly recent design overhaul, I took another look at what the now Microsoft-owned platform offers. And truth be told, I was pretty surprised to find a number useful...

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Get a Free Gift Certificate Template for Microsoft Office


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If you’re looking for a gift certificate template for your business customers, employees, or friends and family, you do not have to look far for an attractive design. These templates have terrific themes for holidays and birthdays or just any time of the year. You can use just one for all occasions or use a few different ones to mix things up. Either way, these templates are fully customizable. Occasion-Themed Gift Certificates You can choose gift certificates with specific themes for birthdays or holidays. Maybe you’d like to use one for a friend’s birthday or perhaps your company is handing...

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Here Are The Best Black Friday Deals You Can Get on Amazon


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With Black Friday around upon us, it’s time to get a head start on holiday shopping (or time to pick up something nice for yourself). We’ll be keeping this post updated with new deals over the course of Thursday and Friday, so make sure to keep checking back and see what gems we find on Amazon! So far, there are great deals on TVs, audio devices, Sandisk products, smartphones, Amazon devices, and much more! TV and Home Theater Deals | Gaming Deals | Smartphone Deals | Audio Device Deals | Home Deals | Computers and Accessories | Amazon Device Deals Black Friday TV Deals Sony XBR55X900E 55-Inch 4K Ultra HD...

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8 Star Wars Props You Can Make at Home


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With forty years’ worth of movies and spin-offs to work from, Star Wars prop building and cosplay is a popular pastime. But just how do you get started constructing droids, blasters, lightsabers, helmets and other props? The best place to go for inspiration is YouTube, where you’ll find builds based on cardboard, foam, and even industrial tubing. Basically, there’s something for all DIY abilities. Basically, not only can you build props to gain superhero powers, you can become a Jedi, too! (Disclaimer: Not actually true). Here are eight Star Wars props you can build at home this weekend. 1. Build...

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Twitter testing a feature that shows how many are ‘talking about’ tweets


 Twitter is experimenting with a new feature that will show how many people are “talking about” individual, popular tweets. The metric shows up under some embedded tweets when they appear elsewhere on the web, and seems to replace both the retweet and replies totals with one, cumulative total. The new look for embeds as seen above is just a small experiment according to Dan Jackson,… Read More
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3 Reasons to Download Windows Desktop Apps From the Microsoft Store


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Installing software on Windows can be such a pain. This is one area where other operating systems are objectively better thanks to options like Mac App Store installations and Linux package managers. Windows, at best, relies on bulk installation apps like Ninite. But that could change over the next few years. If you’re a Windows user, now might be a good time to start installing apps through the Microsoft Store (formerly Windows Store) instead of the traditional method of downloading individual installers. You may feel an aversion to even the idea of this, but hear me out! There are several...

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Synology DiskStation 418play: The Best 4-Bay NAS For Everyone, with Full Plex Support


Our verdict of the Synology DS418play:Great hardware with 4K transcoding support, on top of easy-to-use management software. If you need a reliable NAS with Plex support, buy this one. 1010Are you content to pay through the nose for a measly few gigabytes of cloud storage from Apple, or do you entrust your photos to the great Google overlord? Or even worse, do you backup your data to DVD-Rs, only to find out 3 years later that they’re corrupted? (Go check now, I bet they’re broken. Sorry about that.) But there’s a solution to all of this! A Network Attached Storage (NAS) device can act as a centralised,...

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What Is the Facebook Explore Feed and Why Should You Care?


We’re all familiar with the Facebook feed, where you can see posts from all your friends and the Facebook pages you’ve liked. But there’s a second feed that was recently introduced — the Explore Feed — where you can go to see what’s popular across all of Facebook. What Is the Facebook Explore Feed? The Explore Feed is where Facebook shares the top posts from across the social network, including posts, articles, and videos from pages and users you don’t follow. But everyone doesn’t see the exact same feed. The Explore Feed offers up content similar to what you’ve already liked or content that your friends like....

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More Than One Google Account? How to Set a Default Sign-In


If you’re like me, you have multiple Google accounts for things like email and calendars. Unfortunately, multiple Google accounts come with a problem: multiple sign-ins on desktop and mobile devices. Which one is the default account? And if it’s not the one you want, how can you change the default Google sign-in to the one you want? Believe it or not, Google has a simple solution. How to Set Your Default Google Account Multiple sign-ins used to be a mess, but now it’s more seamless than ever before. This feature allows you to view the content of your other accounts while logged in to...

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Revolut now has a million customers for its banking alternative


 Fintech startup Revolut has reached a big milestone. The company now has over a million customers across Europe two years and a half after launch. The company says that customers have saved $160 million in foreign exchange fees compared to a traditional bank account (£120 million). The startup tries to match the interbank rates as much as possible and charges 0.5 percent on your transaction… Read More

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How to Delete Games on Xbox One


Looking to remove some games from your Xbox One? With launch systems only having a 500GB hard drive, and some games requiring 50GB or more space, it’s only a matter of time before you’ll run out of space. It’s a good idea to buy an external hard drive for your Xbox One to avoid this problem, but that won’t help in an emergency situation. Next time you try to install a game and don’t have enough free space, here’s what you need to do. How to Delete Games on Xbox One On the Home menu, select My games & apps. Select...

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YouTube Targets Inappropriate Videos for Kids


YouTube has a new problem to solve, and this time it involves inappropriate or exploitative videos aimed at children. YouTube is taking steps to tackle the problem, and it’s starting by removing dozens of channels and thousands of videos from the site. However, there’s more work to be done. Since its earliest days YouTube has had to stop people uploading videos they shouldn’t be uploading. At one time this was all about piracy and porn, but content creators have moved on a little since then. Now, it’s a strange mix of videos either aimed at or starring children. Exploiting Children...

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The Moto Z’s Alexa Smart Speaker is mostly useless


 The Moto Z is a phone built around a strong gimmick, but it’s a gimmick nonetheless. A little over a year after release, the company has added some interesting Mods to its selection, but none have offered an entirely compelling justification for the phone’s modular system. That certainly applies to the new Alexa Smart Speaker. Read More

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15 Awesome Star Wars Props You Can 3D Print


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With a new episode of Star Wars around the corner, the force is strong within all of us. But man, the merchandise costs big bucks. Here’s a neat hack: you can download and print these 3D printable props for free! Of course, you’ll need access to a 3D printer for these. If you don’t have one, then head to your local hackerspace to make use of it. Otherwise, get the best 3D printer for your budget and start rolling out the Star Wars props. These make for perfect budget geek gifts on Christmas, or they can be something you keep...

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Apple’s First Holiday Ad Gives Thanks for AirPods


It’s Thanksgiving. Which means a) you’re probably reading this in between mouthfuls of turkey and/pumpkin pie, b) as a Brit I’m jealous of Americans for getting an extra day off, and c) Apple has released its first TV commercial of the holiday season. The first of many, it has to be said. Apple has a reputation for producing great commercials. And deservedly so, for the most part. Who can forget the 1984-inspired ad for the Apple Macintosh? Or the long-running “Get a Mac” ads which declared PCs as old, uncool, and incapable. But Apple has changed tact in recent years....

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