14 March 2018

Balanced Partitioning and Hierarchical Clustering at Scale




Solving large-scale optimization problems often starts with graph partitioning, which means partitioning the vertices of the graph into clusters to be processed on different machines. The need to make sure that clusters are of near equal size gives rise to the balanced graph partitioning problem. In simple terms, we need to partition the vertices of a given graph into k almost equal clusters, while we minimize the number of edges that are cut by the partition. This NP-hard problem is notoriously difficult in practice because the best approximation algorithms for small instances rely on semidefinite programming which is impractical for larger instances.

This post presents the distributed algorithm we developed which is more applicable to large instances. We introduced this balanced graph-partitioning algorithm in our WSDM 2016 paper, and have applied this approach to several applications within Google. Our more recent NIPS 2017 paper provides more details of the algorithm via a theoretical and empirical study.

Balanced Partitioning via Linear Embedding
Our algorithm first embeds vertices of the graph onto a line, and then processes vertices in a distributed manner guided by the linear embedding order. We examine various ways to find the initial embedding, and apply four different techniques (such as local swaps and dynamic programming) to obtain the final partition. The best initial embedding is based on “affinity clustering”.

Affinity Hierarchical Clustering
Affinity clustering is an agglomerative hierarchical graph clustering based on Borůvka’s classic Maximum-cost Spanning Tree algorithm. As discussed above, this algorithm is a critical part of our balanced partitioning tool. The algorithm starts by placing each vertex in a cluster of its own: v0, v1, and so on. Then, in each iteration, the highest-cost edge out of each cluster is selected in order to induce larger merged clusters: A0, A1, A2, etc. in the first round and B0, B1, etc. in the second round and so on. The set of merges naturally produces a hierarchical clustering, and gives rise to a linear ordering of the leaf vertices (vertices with degree one). The image below demonstrates this, with the numbers at the bottom corresponding to the ordering of the vertices.
Our NIPS’17 paper explains how we run affinity clustering efficiently in the massively parallel computation (MPC) model, in particular using distributed hash tables (DHTs) to significantly reduce running time. This paper also presents a theoretical study of the algorithm. We report clustering results for graphs with tens of trillions of edges, and also observe that affinity clustering empirically beats other clustering algorithms such as k-means in terms of “quality of the clusters”. This video contains a summary of the result and explains how this parallel algorithm may produce higher-quality clusters even compared to a sequential single-linkage agglomerative algorithm.

Comparison to Previous Work
In comparing our algorithm to previous work in (distributed) balanced graph partitioning, we focus on FENNEL, Spinner, METIS, and a recent label propagation-based algorithm. We report results on several public social networks as well as a large private map graph. For a Twitter followership graph, we see a consistent improvement of 15–25% over previous results (Ugander and Backstrom, 2013), and for LiveJournal graph, our algorithm outperforms all the others for all cases except k = 2, where ours is slightly worse than FENNEL's.

The following table presents the fraction of cut edges in the Twitter graph obtained via different algorithms for various values of k, the number of clusters. The numbers given in parentheses denote the size imbalance factor: i.e., the relative difference of the sizes of largest and smallest clusters. Here “Vanilla Affinity Clustering” denotes the first stage of our algorithm where only the hierarchical clustering is built and no further processing is performed on the cuts. Notice that this is already as good as the best previous work (shown in the first two columns below), cutting a smaller fraction of edges while achieving a perfect (and thus better) balance (i.e., 0% imbalance). The last column in the table includes the final result of our algorithm with the post-processing.

k
UB13
(5%)
Spinner
(5%)
Vanilla Affinity
Clustering
(0%)
Final Algorithm
(0%)
20
37.0%
38.0%
35.71%
27.50%
40
43.0%
40.0%
40.83%
33.71%
60
46.0%
43.0%
43.03%
36.65%
80
47.5%
44.0%
43.27%
38.65%
100
49.0%
46.0%
45.05%
41.53%

Applications
We apply balanced graph partitioning to multiple applications including Google Maps Driving Directions, the serving backend for web search, and finding treatment groups for experimental design. For example, in Google Maps the World map graph is stored in several shards. The navigational queries spanning multiple shards are substantially more expensive than those handled within a shard. Using the methods described in our paper, we can reduce 21% of cross-shard queries by increasing the shard imbalance factor from 0% to 10%. As discussed in our paper, live experiments on real traffic show that the number of multi-shard queries from our cut-optimization techniques is 40% less compared to a baseline Hilbert embedding technique. This, in turn, results in less CPU usage in response to queries. In a future blog post, we will talk about application of this work in the web search serving backend, where balanced partitioning helped us design a cache-aware load balancing system that dramatically reduced our cache miss rate.

Acknowledgements
We especially thank Vahab Mirrokni whose guidance and technical contribution were instrumental in developing these algorithms and writing this post. We also thank our other co-authors and colleagues for their contributions: Raimondas Kiveris, Soheil Behnezhad, Mahsa Derakhshan, MohammadTaghi Hajiaghayi, Silvio Lattanzi, Aaron Archer and other members of NYC Algorithms and Optimization research team.

The 10 Most Popular Linux Apps and Distros in 2018

Google is using Maps to turn every video game into an earth-sized epic


Video games are about to look a lot more like the real world. If you’ve enjoyed the thrill of driving through GTA V and spying out Los Angeles landmarks, then that’s a sentiment you’re probably going to start feeling a lot more often while you play video games. Google is making its Maps API play nice […]
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PlayTable uses blockchain to connect video games and physical objects


I’ll be honest: When I first got the pitch for “the first blockchain-based video game console,” I assumed it must be some kind of gimmick. But Jimmy Chen, co-founder and CEO of Blok.Party, said the Ethereum blockchain is “a critical part of this experience,” allowing his team to create “this seamless bridge between the digital […]

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The 15 Best Chrome Extensions for Programmers and Developers


If you’re a programmer who doesn’t use Chrome, you’re in the minority.

There are so many reasons to prefer this browser for programming, such as Google’s massive influence on the direction of the web, the built-in features that make development less frustrating, and the sheer number of available extensions.

That last point is a crucial one. As of February 2018, Chrome holds over 60 percent market share on desktops—it’s no wonder that most extension creators focus their efforts on Chrome first. That said, here are the best Chrome extensions you should be using if you’re a developer of any kind, but especially a web developer.

General Development Extensions

1. Session Buddy

Chrome has an awesome feature called custom user profiles that lets you create separate sets of bookmarks, settings, tabs, histories, etc. You should definitely set one up specifically for programming, if you haven’t already.

But Session Buddy takes it one step further, allowing you to save specific “tab sessions” and switch between them at will, which comes in handy when you’re working on multiple projects.

Download: Session Buddy

2. iMacros for Chrome

iMacros is an extension that lets you automate repetitive tasks. You can “record” certain actions (e.g. mouse clicks and key presses), save them as macros, then run them whenever you want with a single click. It saves so much time when filling forms, testing changes, etc. For macros outside of Chrome, we recommend AutoHotkey scripts.

Download: iMacros for Chrome

3. Web Timer

chrome extensions for programmers - web timer

Web Timer tracks how much time you spend (or waste) on various websites, which can help curb tendencies to procrastinate. It only tracks when Chrome is in focus, and it’s smart enough to stop tracking when you’ve gone idle.

Download: Web Timer

If you want a more advanced time tracker, we highly recommend the cross-platform Toggl.

4. Awesome Screenshot

Awesome Screenshot is an all-in-one extension for grabbing screenshots, recording screen videos, annotating and blurring snapped images, and one-click sharing your screenshots with others. One nifty feature is its ability to screenshot an entire webpage and stitch it all together as one giant image. For a solution that also works outside of Chrome, check out these best tools for creating screenshots.

Download: Awesome Screenshot

5. Marmoset

Marmoset is a fun little tool for creating 3D screenshots of your code. Once you snap an image, you can rotate and skew and scale in 3D, which makes it more interesting when you want to share snippets. It’s also useful when creating code-based stock images or peeks at your source code on your project’s homepage.

Download: Marmoset

Web Development Extensions

6. Web Developer

chrome extensions for programmers - web developer

If there’s one extension you install to aid in web development, let it be this one. Web Developer is packed with several convenience features, including one-click toggling of JavaScript and plugins, window resizing to test responsive designs, testing and debugging of images, and more.

Download: Web Developer

7. User-Agent Switcher

chrome extensions for programmers - user-agent switcher

Of the many “user agent switcher” extensions in the Chrome Web Store, this one’s the best one. It’s still being updated, it doesn’t hijack links, it comes with a number of default user agent strings, but also allows you to create custom user agent strings. It’s the only extension of its kind that reliably works.

Download: User-Agent Switcher

8. Wappalyzer

chrome extensions for programmers - wappalyzer

If you want to know what kinds of web technologies are powering a particular site, Wappalyzer will tell you with a single click. It’s smart enough to detect CMSes (e.g. WordPress), web frameworks (e.g. React), tools and utilities (e.g. Google Analytics), e-commerce platforms (e.g. Shopify), and much more.

Download: Wappalyzer

9. IE Tab

chrome extensions for programmers - IE tab

As of February 2018, more than 13 percent of desktop users are still on Internet Explorer, which is a shame because IE is far from compliant with modern web standards. That’s why you need IE Tab, which emulates IE in a new tab and allows you to test websites in various versions: IE6, IE7, IE8, IE9, plus ActiveX controls. Really useful if you need your website to be compatible with ALL browsers, no matter how old.

Download: IE Tab

10. Click&Clean

chrome extensions for programmers - click&clean

When developing a website, few things are more annoying that constantly clearing browsing data to make sure you’re loading fresh changes. Click&Clean not only makes it faster, but also provides more control over what you can clean (e.g. delete databases and plugin data, keep cookies for certain sites, etc).

Download: Click&Clean

11. WhatFont

chrome extensions for programmers - whatfont

WhatFont is the fastest way to identify fonts on the web. It’s one thing to right-click an element, select Inspect Element, then look through the stylesheet to find what it is. With WhatFont, not only can you see what a font is just by hovering over an element, but it also tells you how that font is served (e.g. Google Fonts, TypeKit, etc).

Download: WhatFont

12. ColorPick Eyedropper

chrome extensions for programmers - colorpick eyedropper

ColorPick Eyedropper is a tool that lets you zoom in and get the exact color code of any pixel on any webpage. The color code is available in hex, RGB, and HSL. It’s extremely convenient, and much faster than inspecting elements to see which colors are being used in the stylesheet, or downloading images and picking colors in an image editor.

Download: ColorPick Eyedropper

13. Lorem Ipsum Generator

chrome extensions for programmers - lorem ipsum generator

When developing a website, you’ll eventually need some dummy text. Lorem ipsum generators are plentiful on the web, but Lorem Ipsum Generator is always immediately available right within your current tab. It’s fast, and you can customize how many paragraphs you want and how many sentences per paragraph.

Download: Lorem Ipsum Generator

14. Check My Links

chrome extensions for programmers - check my links

At the end of a web development project, you’ll want to do a final pass on all the core pages to make sure all of your links are working. Check My Links makes that process as easy as possible. Simply click the button and it’ll scan all links on the current page, then highlight each one according to whether it’s broken or working.

Download: Check My Links

15. Dimensions

chrome extensions for programmers - dimensions

Dimensions is more of a tool for web design than web development, but since the two tend to overlap, you’ll probably want to use this extension. In short, it instantly measures the distance between any two web elements, including text, images, videos, and form fields. It can also measure the distance from the mouse cursor to any of those supported web elements.

Download: Dimensions

More Chrome Extensions That Might Prove Useful

In addition to the above, we highly recommend these tab management Chrome extensions and these business productivity Chrome extensions, which are two things that may frustrate you as a developer using Chrome.

You should also check out our huge selection of the best Chrome extensions, which covers everything from security to entertainment, from shopping to general productivity, and so much more.


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Google announces ban on cryptocurrency ads


A little over a month after Facebook updated its advertising policy to include a blanket ban on  cryptocurrency, Google is following suit. Shortly after reporting that it had removed 3.2 billion “bad ads” in 2017, the search giant issued an update to its advertising policy page, highlighting a ban on: Binary options and synonymous products […]
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5 Photo Management Mistakes You’re Making (and How to Fix Them)

Insta360 teases new ‘FlowState’ stabilization tech for 360 cameras


360-degree camera maker Insta360 just released a video that shows off a new feature it’s calling “FlowState,” which stabilizes a ‘flat,’ traditional HD video frame by extracting it from a 360 capture. This might be a familiar technique if you’ve followed what GoPro and Rylo are doing with their own 360 cameras, but Insta360’s take […]

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Interfaith social network Pray.com raises $14M Series A to add new features to its mobile app


Pray.com, an interfaith social networking app for members of religious communities, has raised a $14 million Series A led by TPG Growth. Previous investors Science Inc. and Greylock Partners also returned for the round, which brings the Santa Monica-based startup’s total funding, including a seed round announced last June, to $16 million. Founded in 2016, […]
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Is Your Linux PC Truly Free and Open Source?


I love using Linux. I make a point out of using only free and open source applications. This is easier on a desktop than on a phone, yet at the end of the day, I have to admit that I still end up using quite a bit of proprietary software.

Chances are, even if you’re a free software-loving Linux user like myself, you are too.

This is something that became clear to me the longer I used Linux: It’s really hard to only use open source software. Even when you think you are, there’s often closed source code operating quietly in the background.

Turns out, the Linux desktop isn’t quite as free as it’s made out to be, and that’s only part of the story.

Let’s Start With the Linux Kernel

When you install a Linux distribution, what you see on screen isn’t Linux. The operating system known as Linux is technically just the kernel, the part that enables software to talk to your computer’s hardware. Most of what you see is free. It’s in the kernel where things get iffy.

The Linux kernel contains binary blobs. These are closed source bits of software that are packaged only as opaque binary files. That means not only are we not permitted to edit the code, we’re not even able to see it.

These binary blobs consist primarily of hardware drivers and firmware that make Linux work on more hardware. Ideally, companies give developers the technical documentation needed to make Linux run on their hardware. Many provide closed drivers instead.

Linux is able to run with these drivers, but it often doesn’t work as well as it otherwise might (that is, as if the coding were done by the same people that work on the kernel itself). These drivers also introduce security risks, since we don’t fully know what they do or what flaws may be present.

The Linux kernel hasn’t been entirely free and open source since 1996, the year it began accepting binary blobs. For over two decades, Linux has contained bits of closed, proprietary software.

If you find this troublesome, you can download Linux-libre, a version of the kernel with all the closed bits stripped out. Unfortunately, Linux-libre doesn’t support the hardware whose vendors don’t provide technical documentation.

This means you can expect to run into more issues with graphics cards and network cards. Your Wi-Fi may not work at all without buying a special USB dongle.

Then There Are the Drivers You Install Yourself

When I first switched to Linux, I needed to install a proprietary driver in order to get online wirelessly. My graphics card worked, but I needed a proprietary driver to get the smoothest experience and play games.

The situation has improved in the years since, but if you’re using an NVIDIA graphics card, you still need a proprietary driver to get the best gaming experience.

Oftentimes, you install these drivers immediately after installation and forget about them. You don’t have to think about them again until it’s time to upgrade to the next version of your Linux distro. But all the while, proprietary software is running in the background. There’s a corner of your computer where the code is blocked off.

This isn’t merely a matter of security and privacy, which you may be concerned (or ambivalent) about. This is also a matter of Linux developers being less able to provide you with the best computing experience.

When they have access to the documentation, they can fix bugs and make sure all the parts fit together. As things are, you’re dependent on outside companies to provide well-developed drivers for a relatively small number of users.

Not All Software in Linux App Stores Are Free

In most Linux distros, the vast majority of the software you download doesn’t cost money. Most of it is also open source. But there is occasionally proprietary software tucked away as well, and unless you both care and know what to look for, you can very easily end up with more closed source code on your PC.

Examples include software like Steam, Skype, and Slack. This is often software you need in order to do your job or stay in touch with friends.

Maybe you’ll install codecs to get music and video files to work, unaware that these are proprietary files. You think you’re using a completely free and open source computer, only to gradually realize that hasn’t been the case.

Now Let’s Talk About the Web

Even if you jump through any hoops necessary to run a completely free distro running the binary blob-free Linux-libre kernel, don’t install any additional hardware drivers, and block proprietary software from your Linux app store, you’re still likely relying on a large amount of proprietary software. It’s coming in through your browser.

Browsing through GNOME Software on Fedora the other day, I saw that Slack was available for download. Then I noticed that it was marked as proprietary.

Open Source

This put me off, so I didn’t download it. But then I thought about it. I use Slack in a browser tab, and it’s no less proprietary there than it is with a dedicated client. My browser may be open source, but much of the content coming through it isn’t.

The transition from using desktop apps to cloud software has been a mixed bag for Linux. On one hand, it’s easier to transition to Linux than ever since you can fallback to the web for many things you couldn’t do in the past. Microsoft Office 365 and Adobe Photoshop, for example, now offer a certain amount of functionality online. You can also stream movies on Netflix and listen to music on Spotify.

Desktop apps aren’t as necessary as they used to be. But on the other hand, all of these are proprietary services. If you try to use the web without touching closed source code, the way Richard Stallman does, you greatly reduce what you can do online.

Then There’s the BIOS

The BIOS, short for Basic Input/Output System, is the part of the computer you see for a brief moment before your operating system boots up. It comes pre-installed and is typically proprietary software.

Even compared to the web, this is the part of the computer you have the least control over. You can use a different kernel. You can avoid certain drivers and proprietary apps. You can even stay away from most of the web or reside offline entirely. But changing the BIOS?

You can replace the BIOS on your computer with an open alternative such as coreboot or Libreboot, but they support only a limited number of PCs. On most PCs, you’re simply out of luck.

So How Free Is Linux, Really?

At the end of the day, there remain many closed parts to your typical Linux computer. On the flip side, the experience is still much more open than Android.

If using free software matters to you, don’t lose heart. Your computer and the web may not be entirely open, but the fact that you care enough to make the effort matters. This influences people who design software, whether now or in the future.

Open source alternatives to cloud services appear all the time. Open source desktop software continues to improve. Twenty years ago, open source was still a novel idea, and we’ve come a long way since. But we can’t lie to ourselves: most computers running Linux are only partially free even to this day.


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YouTube to add Wikipedia background info on conspiracy videos


YouTube is taking action on the proliferation of conspiracy videos found on its platform: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told an SXSW panel Tuesday that the company would be introducing so-called “information cues” sourced from relevant Wikipedia articles on videos that talk about popular conspiracy theories. These will appear as text boxes that can prevent alternative […]
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Broadcom gives up and drops Qualcomm bid


It was already a complicated deal, but it now looks like Broadcom’s plans to take over Qualcomm are done. The company announced that it would respect Donald Trump’s block and drop its Qualcomm bid. “Although we are disappointed with this outcome, Broadcom will comply with the order,” Broadcom said in a statement. At one point, […]

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YouTube to add Wikipedia background info on conspiracy videos


YouTube is taking action on the proliferation of conspiracy videos found on its platform: YouTube CEO Susan Wojcicki told an SXSW panel Tuesday that the company would be introducing so-called “information cues” sourced from relevant Wikipedia articles on videos that talk about popular conspiracy theories. These will appear as text boxes that can prevent alternative […]
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Do You Know These Super Useful iPhone Shortcuts?


Save time when performing common tasks by using shortcuts instead. Many of your iPhone’s commonly used functions are easier to access with the right shortcut.

While most of us become more proficient at using technology the more time we spend with it, so many of Apple’s best productivity features are hidden in places you’d never think to look.

Today we’ll be demystifying some of the iPhone’s most productive tricks.

1. Emergency Shortcut

Perhaps the most important shortcut to know is a feature that was added in iOS 11. If you’re ever in trouble and in need of the emergency services, quickly tap your power button five times in a row to bring up the emergency menu.

Emergency iOS Shortcut

Once activated, you’ll see a slide prompt to call for help, plus a shortcut to the owner’s medical ID. Paramedics can use this shortcut to access someone else’s medical ID on their device, for potentially life-saving information like blood type and allergic reactions. Set up your medical ID right now under the Health app.

2. Taking a Screenshot

To take a screenshot on an iPhone 8 (Plus) model or earlier: press the home button and power button at the same time. You’ll see the screenshot prompt appear in the bottom-left corner on iOS 11 or later.

To take a screenshot on an iPhone X: press the side button and volume up button at the same time. You’ll see the screenshot prompt appear in the bottom-left corner of the screen.

The screenshot prompt Apple added in iOS 11 allows you to quickly crop and share the image, save as a JPG, or delete it entirely. If you wait for the prompt to disappear, the image will remain in your Camera Roll as a full-sized PNG. Note that the screenshot prompt will not show up in other screenshots. This means you can take a succession of screenshots without seeing the prompt on screen.

3. Control Center Shortcuts

Control Center is the quickest way to access the most common settings on your iPhone. You can bring up Control Center by swiping up from the bottom of the screen. You’ll see a menu that’s divided into several categories.

Control Center iOS

In the top-left you’ll find Airplane Mode, plus toggles for Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. If you 3D Touch this panel, you’ll find more options for AirDrop preferences and a quick toggle for enabling Personal Hotspot.

Unfortunately, Apple changed the behavior of the Wi-Fi and Bluetooth toggles in iOS 11. Disabling them only disconnects you, rather than disabling the internal radio altogether.

iOS Control Center Music

3D Touch the Music panel to access media receivers like the Apple TV and wireless headphones. You’ll also find other AirPlay devices listed here, including the HomePod and Apple TV. There are two handy toggles for Portrait Lock and Do Not Disturb mode, and some sliders for volume and screen brightness.

iOS Control Center Screen Options

Again, if you 3D Touch the brightness slider you’ll get access to more options in the form of Night Shift mode. The bottom row of icons are also 3D Touch friendly. You can start a quick Timer, adjust the Flashlight brightness, copy your last Calculator result, and access Camera functions like selfie mode and slow-motion video.

iOS Control Center Bottom Icons

Lastly, you can customize the buttons at the bottom of Control Center by adding and swapping out shortcuts for elements like HomeKit devices, Wallet, Apple Notes, and Screen Recording. Head to Settings > Control Center > Customize Controls to set it up to your liking.

4. Getting Around

If you want to return to the top of a web page, list, note, or any kind of scrolling content, tap the current time at the top of the screen and you’ll shoot back up to the top. Unfortunately, you can’t disable this one.

If you want to return to the previous web page or menu, swipe right from the left edge of the screen. You can also bring up the application switcher with a 3D Touch and swipe right from the left edge of the screen, though it’s difficult to pull this one off if you have your iPhone in a case.

5. Home Screen and Navigation

Navigating your Home Screen is pretty straightforward, but don’t forget about Spotlight. Swipe down on your home screen icons to reveal a search bar that can find virtually anything on your iPhone. This is the quickest way of accessing apps you can’t find, different sections of the Settings app, emails, and even content that isn’t currently on your iPhone.

iOS Spotlight Search

You can do neat tasks like convert currency (e.g. 10 AUD in USD), search the App Store or web directly, and work out quick calculations (e.g. 70*25). This is also where you will find Siri suggestions, which are proposed apps based on your usage. These will change depending on the time of day and where you are, and adapt to your habits.

If you open the same news app every morning, Siri will put it here ready for you. If you’re thinking of ordering some dinner using a delivery app, there’s a good chance Siri will make some relevant suggestions when it’s time to eat. You can turn this feature off under Settings > Siri & Search > Suggestions in Search.

iOS 3D Touch App

Most apps are 3D Touch friendly, so give them a squeeze to jump right to specific features. Depending on the app, these include starting a new note or document, creating an alarm, adding a new contact, or quickly sharing the app with someone.

6. Undo That Last

Shake your iPhone at any time to undo an action. It’s most useful for typing mistakes or accidental deletions, but you can also use it in apps like Mail to undo actions like archiving or moving.

7. Typing and Keyboard Shortcuts

If you have an iPhone that supports 3D Touch, you can use your iPhone keyboard to accurately control your cursor. Simply 3D Touch, then slide your finger around to move the cursor. It’s super-accurate, and it’s a real life-changer when you consider how tedious cursor manipulation once was.

The iOS keyboard is pretty great in that it puts so many special characters, accents, and symbols within easy reach. If you tap and hold a key, you’ll see variations of that keystroke appear. You can access accented letters like é or ö, and some useful symbols like º (hold the zero key) and (hold the period key).

iOS 3D Touch Keyboard

To quickly access the keyboard settings, or jump to any other keyboard you have installed, tap and hold the emoji button. This may appear as a globe icon if you have other languages installed, but they function the same. You can also use this shortcut to justify the keyboard left or right to help with one-handed typing.

8. Text Expansion

Text expansion allows you to create your own text-based shortcuts to larger snippets. A common use for text expansion is to create a snippet for your full email address, with an alias that looks something like mygmail. Thus, when you type mygmail, your phone auto-expands it to your real email address.

This can save you huge amounts of time typing on a small touchscreen, and the uses are limitless. Create expansions for your home address, tax file number, or even common email sign-off lines or chat messages (“how are you doing” could be “howru” for example). You can create your own shortcuts with ease under Settings > General > Keyboards > Text Replacement

If your iPhone keeps auto-correcting unique spellings or profanity, you can use text expansion to enforce your own rules.

9. Safari Shortcuts

Safari has a few useful shortcuts to master, not least the ability to swipe left and right from either edge of the screen to go forward and backward. If you’d like a better look at the history specific to this tab, you can tap and hold the forward and back buttons to bring up a list.

iOS Safari Tab History

You can also hold the Bookmarks button to quickly add a bookmark or add the current page to Safari’s Reading List. Hold the Tabs button to see options for mass-closing your currently open tabs and opening a private browsing session. In tab view (tap the Tabs button once) you can tap and hold the New Tab button for a list of recently closed tabs—it’s Command + Shift + T for your iPhone!

The address bar also has a few tricks, beyond being able to enter Reader mode to reformat the text on the page. You can also Paste and Search or Paste and Go depending on the contents of your clipboard, which will save you a tap. If you tap and hold the Refresh button you’ll find a handy shortcut for requesting the desktop site too.

iOS Safari Paste and Go

And don’t forget about 3D Touch on the web. Squeeze a link a little harder to peek at the web page or image without leaving the page you’re currently on. If you’re a heavy Safari reader on your iPhone, make sure you familiarize yourself with all the best tips and tricks.

Go Even Further With Widgets and Workflows

These shortcuts are handy, but by no means the be-all and end-all of productivity on iOS. You should also organize your apps and save yourself even more time with a few custom workflows.

Workflow is an iOS app that was bought by Apple and made available for free. You can use it to speed up common tasks by chaining actions, then launching them from your Today screen. The possibilities are ever-expanding, so check out our full guide to getting started with Workflow to learn more.

Image Credit: alen44/Depositphotos


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Tech Will Save Us raises $4.2M for its tech-focused range of toys, partners with Disney


Tech Will Save Us, the U.K. startup getting kids excited about technology through a range of ‘hackable’ toys, has raised $4.2 million in Series A funding led by Initial Capital. The round also includes Backed VC, SaatchInvest, All Bright, Unltd-inc, and Leaf VC, along with angel investors Chris Lee (co- founder of Media Molecule), Martin […]

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Raspberry Pi Model B+ arrives just in time for Pi Day 2018


It’s March 14, which means it’s Pi Day for math appreciators everywhere (I appreciate math, I just don’t understand it). To mark the occasion, the Raspberry Pi Foundation has a brand new version of its diminutive, affordable computer for DIY computing enthusiasts, the new Raspberry Pi 3 Model B+. This latest iteration has the same […]

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How to Silence Notifications in WhatsApp and Telegram


Notifications seem great at first, but they usually only end up constantly pulling you away from what you’re doing. Nowhere is this more common than with group chats. The more users you have in a group, the more often your phone goes off with another message that you really don’t need to open right away.

Thankfully, you have control over these. Let’s see how you can shut up WhatsApp and Telegram notifications and regain peace.

How to Silence Notifications in WhatsApp

  1. Open WhatsApp and head to Settings > Notifications.
  2. You can uncheck the Conversation tones box to silence all message sounds. However, this is likely too drastic of a step for most people.
  3. Under the Message notifications and Group notifications headers, you’ll see separate entries for the notification tone, vibration, and popup notification options.
  4. If you want to mute group chats but keep notifications for one-on-one messages, tap Notification tone under Group notifications and set None as the sound. This will still show notifications for new messages, but won’t make a sound.
  5. To temporarily mute one chat instead, open the chat and tap the three-dot Menu button in the upper-right. Select Mute notifications, and you can silence them for 8 hours, a week, or a year. You can also choose to show the notifications while keeping them muted.

How to Silence Notifications in Telegram

  1. Open Telegram, slide out the left menu, and go to Settings > Notifications and Sounds.
  2. Here, you’ll find similar separate sections for Message notifications and Group notifications.
  3. You can disable the notification altogether by disabling the Alert slider. Tap Sound and change it to None to silence notifications for group chats instead.
  4. To mute notifications for a particular chat, tap the three-dot Menu button in the chat and choose Mute notifications. Select to mute them for an hour, 8 hours, 2 days, or until you decide otherwise.

Can’t decide which app to use? Check out our comparison of WhatsApp and Telegram!


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How Much Data Does Spotify Use?


Spotify might have changed the way we listen to music, but the various mobile carriers—especially in the United States and Canada—have been slow to adapt the plans they offer to accommodate the shift.

While the rest of the world increasingly moves towards unlimited data plans, data caps remain common in North America. This has forced many people to think about how much data services like Spotify eat through every month. Let’s take a closer look.

How Much Data Does Spotify Use?

How much data Spotify uses while streaming depends on the music quality setting you have chosen. There are three settings to choose from: Normal, High, and Extreme. You can change the setting by opening Spotify and going to Settings > Music Quality > Streaming.

On the Normal setting, a three-minute song will use about 2MB of data. On high, that jumps to 3.5MB, and on Extreme it goes as high as 7.5MB.

On an hourly basis, that translates to 40MB, 70MB, and 150MB, respectively.

Extrapolating that data out further, if you listen to Spotify for an average of 30 minutes a day, you can expect to use 0.5GB in a month on Normal and 2.2GB on Extreme. If you listen to one hour of streamed music, it increases to 1.2GB and 4.5GB. And if you listen to two hours, you’ll need 2.4GB or 9GB respectively.

Lastly, it’s worth noting those figures are significantly more data-friendly than listening to music through YouTube. One hour of music video streaming on the lowest video quality will still eat through 100MB.

Remember, you can download Spotify songs for offline listening. You’re limited to 3,333 songs per device on a maximum of three devices.

To download a song or playlist for offline listening, navigate to its listing in the Spotify app and slide the download toggle into the On position.


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YouTube’s mobile app gets a dark mode


YouTube’s mobile app is getting a dark mode. The company announced this morning its dark theme, first introduced on its desktop site last year, is launching today on the YouTube iOS app and arriving soon after on Android. With the setting enabled, YouTube’s background turns from white to black throughout the YouTube experience as you […]

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