Instagram has launched a new resource for the parents of teenagers who use Instagram. Called A Parent’s Guide, this is Instagram reaching out to parents who may be starting to wonder whether social media apps like Instagram are a bad influence on their children.
With most teenagers spending every waking moment on their smartphones, parents are becoming increasingly worried about what they’re doing online. And with Instagram being extremely popular with teenagers, Instagram is attempting to calm parents’ fears.
Helping Parents Understand Instagram
Instagram’s A Parents Guide is “designed to help parents and guardians learn more about how teens are using Instagram and to ensure they’re using the app in a positive way.” To that end, Instagram has focused on how to manage privacy, comments, and time.
Manage Privacy details how teenagers can choose to make their account public or private, and what having a private Instagram account means. It also details how to block unwanted interactions, which stops people seeing their posts.
We feel a great responsibility to make sure Instagram is a supportive community for teens to do and share what they love, and now we have a new resource to make sure parents feel informed and empowered to help guide them at https://t.co/eJlkwDf72rpic.twitter.com/MzmGXWCHyS
Manage Comments details the “Comment controls” section of the app. It also details how teens can block comments, report comments and/or accounts that violate Instagram’s policies, and filter out comments containing certain words and phrases.
Manage Time details how teenagers (or their parents) can monitor and manage their time spent on Instagram. Instagram now lets you set daily reminders and mute push notifications All of which should help prevent social media addiction.
Stop, Collaborate, and Instagram
Instagram has crafted A Parent’s Guide in collaboration with organizations including the National PTA, Scholastic, ConnectSafely, Boys & Girls Clubs of America, and the National Bullying Prevention Center. Which adds a touch of authority to the document.
Posted by Alexander Gutkin, Software Engineer, Google AI
This is the fourth episode in the series of posts reporting on the work we are doing to build text-to-speech (TTS) systems for low resource languages. In the first episode, we described the crowdsourced acoustic data collection effort for Project Unison. In the second episode, we described how we built parametric voices based on that data. In the third episode, we described the compilation of a pronunciation lexicon for a TTS system. In this episode, we describe how to make a single TTS system speak many languages.
Developing TTS systems for any given language is a significant challenge, and requires large amounts of high quality acoustic recordings and linguistic annotations. Because of this, these systems are only available for a tiny fraction of the world's languages. A natural question that arises in this situation is, instead of attempting to build a high quality voice for a single language using monolingual data from multiple speakers, as we described in the previous three episodes, can we somehow combine the limited monolingual data from multiple speakers of multiple languages to build a single multilingual voice that can speak any language?
Building upon an initial investigation into creating a multilingual TTS system that can synthesize speech in multiple languages from a single model, we developed a new model that uses uniform phonological representation for all languages — the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA). The model trained using this representation can synthesize both the languages seen in the training data as well as languages not observed in training. This has two main benefits: First, pooling training data from related languages increases phonemic coverage which results in improved synthesis quality of the languages observed in training. Finally, because the model contains many languages pooled together, there is a better chance that an “unseen” language will have a “related” language present in the model that will guide and aid the synthesis.
Exploring the Closely Related Languages of Indonesia
We applied this multilingual approach first to languages of Indonesia, where Standard Indonesian is the official national language, and is spoken natively or as a second language by more than 200 million people. Javanese, with roughly 90 million native speakers, and Sundanese, with approximately 40 million native speakers, constitute the two largest regional languages of Indonesia. Unlike Indonesian, which received a lot of attention by the computational linguists and speech scientists over the years, both Javanese and Sundanese are currently low-resourced due to the lack of openly available high-quality corpora. We collaborated with universities in Indonesia to collect crowd-sourced Javanese and Sundanese recordings.
Since our corpus of Standard Indonesian was much larger and recorded in a professional studio, our hypothesis was that combining three languages may result in significant improvements over the systems constructed using a “classical” monolingual approach. To test this, we first proceeded to analyze the similarities and crucial differences between the phonologies of these three languages (shown below) and used this information to design the phonological representation that allows maximum degree of sharing between the languages while preserving their crucial differences.
Joint phoneme inventory of Indonesian, Javanese, and Sundanese in International Phonetic Alphabet notation.
The resulting Javanese and Sundanese voices trained jointly with Standard Indonesian strongly outperformed our corresponding monolingual multispeaker voices that we used as a baseline. This allowed us to launch Javanese and Sundanese TTS in Google products, such as Google Translate and Android.
Expanding to the More Diverse Language Families of South Asia
Next, we focused on the languages of South Asia spanning two very different language families: Indo-Aryan and Dravidian. Unlike the languages of Indonesia described above, these languages are much more diverse. In particular, they have significantly smaller overlap in their phonologies. The table below shows a superset of the languages in our experiment, including the variety of orthographies used, as well as modern words related to the Sanskrit word for “culture”. These languages show considerable variation within each group, but also such similarities across groups.
Descendants of Sanskrit word for “culture” across languages.
In this work, we leveraged the unified phonological representation mentioned above to make the most of the data we have and eliminate scarcity of data for certain phonemes. This was accomplished by conflating similar phonemes into a single representative phoneme in the multilingual phoneme inventory. Where possible, we use the same inventory for phonologically close languages. For example we have an identical phoneme inventory for Telugu and Kannada, and another one for West Bengali and Odia. For other language pairs like Gujarati and Marathi, we copied over the inventory of one language to another, but made a few changes to reflect the differences in their phonemic inventories. For all languages in these experiments we retained a common underlying representation, mapping similar phonemes across different inventories, so that we could still use the data from one language in training the others.
In addition, we made sure our representation is driven by the phonology in use, rather than the orthography. For example, although there are distinct letters for long and short vowels in Marathi, they are not contrastive in a linguistic sense, so we used a single representation for them, increasing the robustness of our training data. Similarly, if two languages use one character that was historically related to the same Sanskrit letter to represent different sounds or different letters for a similar sound, our mapping reflected the phonological closeness rather than the historical or orthographic representation. Describing all the features of the unified phoneme inventory is outside the scope of this post, the details can be found in our recent paper.
Diagram illustrating our multilingual text-to-speech approach. The input text queries are processed by language-specific linguistic front-ends to generate pronunciations in a shared phonemic representation serving as input to the language-agnostic acoustic model. The model then generates audio for the respective queries.
Our experiments focused on Indian Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Urdu. For most of these languages, apart from Bengali and Marathi, the recording data and the transcriptions were crowd-sourced. For each of these languages we constructed a multilingual acoustic model that used all the data available. In addition, the acoustic model included the previously crowd-sourced Nepali and Sinhala data, as well as Hindi and Bangladeshi Bengali.
The results were encouraging: for most of the languages, the multilingual voices outperformed the voices that were constructed using traditional monolingual approach. We performed a further experiment with the Odia language, for which we had no training data, by attempting to synthesize it using the South Asian multilingual model. Subjective listening tests revealed that the native speakers of Odia judged the resulting audio to be acceptable and intelligible. The resulting voices for Marathi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam built using our multilingual approach in collaboration with the Speech team were announced at the recent “Google for India” event and are now powering Google Translate as well as other Google products.
Using crowd-sourcing in data collections was interesting from a research point of view and rewarding in terms of establishing fruitful collaborations with the native speaker communities. Our experiments with the Malayo-Polynesian, Indo-Aryan and Dravidian language families have shown that in most instances carefully sharing the data across multiple languages in a single multilingual acoustic model using deep learning techniques alleviates some of the severe data scarcity issues plaguing the low-resource languages and results in good quality voices used in Google products.
This TTS research is a first step towards applying speech and language technology to more of the world’s many languages, and it is our hope is that others will join us in this effort. To contribute to the research community we have open sourced corpora for Nepali, Sinhala, Bengali, Khmer, Javanese and Sundanese as we return from SLTU and Interspeech conferences, where we have been discussing this work with other researchers. We are planning on continuing to release additional datasets for other languages in our projects in the future.
Twitter is launching a new feature that allows users to create audio-only broadcasts directly from Twitter itself, as well as Twitter’s Periscope. The feature, which Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey confirmed in a tweet this morning, is available from the same interface where you would normally launch live video. It’s currently accessible on the Twitter for iOS app, as well as on Periscope.
Now, instead of only having the option to record video after you tap “Live,” there’s a button you can tap to pick audio-only broadcast.
The feature was seen in beta testing in recent weeks, but @Jack’s tweet – along with the mobile app’s update log – indicates it has now rolled out to all.
Twitter also confirmed to TechCrunch the feature is currently available only on the Twitter app for iOS and on Periscope for the time being. It hasn’t provided a time frame for when it will reach other platforms.
While those users will only be the ones at present who can record audio, all Twitter users across platforms will be able to see the recordings and play them back.
As the update text explains, the feature is valuable for those times when you want viewers to hear you but not see you. This could allow people to share live news on Twitter of an audio-only nature, record sharable mini-podcasts, or post something to their followers that takes longer than 280 characters to explain.
Similar to live video, audio broadcasters will be able to view their stats, like number of live viewers, replay viewers, time watched and other metrics.
The company plans to share the news through an official Twitter Engineering blog post shortly.
Update: Twitter has now tweeted the news on its own account, as well.
Sometimes you just want to talk, without being on camera. We’re launching audio-only broadcasting, so your followers can hear, but not see you.
You’ve seen the news reports, and read about it on Facebook. Perhaps you know someone who has lost all of their data because of it.
Ransomware.
It sounds bad, because it is. But are you really doing all you can to avoid losing your data to digital extortion? Here are some common sense ways to prevent yourself being hit by ransomware…
1. Use a Modern Firewall Utility
This may come as a surprise to you, but firewalls play an important part in reducing the spread of all sorts of malware. This includes ransomware.
While ransomware often infects machines via email attachment, malicious ad (more below), or infected media (such as a USB stick), it can also move across a network with surprising speed. To combat this, you need to ensure that you have blocked port 445. This is an internal port, and if blocked on all devices on your network, will prevent propagation of ransomware and other malware.
Although this should be blocked by default, you should check regardless. If you don’t know how to do this, consult your firewall software’s documentation. Also, keep in mind that most ransomware communicates with a remote server. An up-to-date firewall can assist in restricting this access.
In addition, you should ensure that you are using a reliable antivirus tool. Indeed, the firewall and antivirus software might be bundled together. What is important is that you are using them. Better still, if your antivirus solution has ransomware detection (typically this protects personal folders from access by newly installed software), this should be activated.
You probably wont find these features on free antivirus, however. For a good idea of what is available, check our guide to the best security software currently available.
2. Ensure Your Data Isn’t Only Stored on Your PC
Ransomware prevents you from accessing your own data, forcing you to pay the ransom to regain access. Because ransomware encrypts your data, there is often no way to circumvent this.
If no ransomware decryption tools are available, your best option is to revert to a backup of your data. Creating regular backups of your data is important, but where you store them is equally vital. Making a backup and then storing it on your PC is pointless. Ransomware can find backups and encrypt these.
The solution, therefore, is to store your backups on a different device. This might be an external hard disk drive, or an optical disk. It might even be a modest USB flash device. As long as the device is removable, it will keep your data free from ransomware.
However, if struck by ransomware, you should not restore the backup immediately. Instead, you will need to remove the infection using your antivirus software. If this isn’t possible, a full reformat of your HDD or SSD is required, followed by a fresh install of the operating system.
Only when this is correctly configured should you consider restoring your backed up data.
3. Don’t Use Your Computer’s Administrator Account for Daily Use
There’s a very good chance that the main account you use on your computer has administrator privileges. Ransomware can take advantage of this level of access to wreak havoc.
For daily use, you should consider using a guest account on your computer. This should have limited privileges, preventing software installation, for example. By taking this precaution, you prevent many types of malware and ransomware from being able to install on your system.
Whenever you need to install software, or update your operating system, it should be simple to log out, switch to the Administrator account, and make the necessary changes.
Fo Windows users, one attack vector (which basically means “a way in”) for malware is via Microsoft Office. While the suite of office tools itself isn’t insecure, the way macros are used (particularly in Microsoft Excel) is.
While macros are disabled by default, you should ensure you maintain this state of affairs.
However, if you want to disable macros now, head to File > Options > Trust Centre > Trust Centre Settings. Under Macro Settings choose Disable all macros except digitally signed macros.
5. Improve Browser Security, Audit Outdated and Insecure Extensions
If you’ve been using the same browser without updating it, or any plugins you have installed, then you risk infection from ransomware.
While this isn’t such a problem with Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge, which all update automatically, it can lead to issues with older browsers. Similarly, older plugins that have not been updated pose a risk.
Not only is it a good idea to remove older plugins, you should also look for plugins that can be disabled. Things like Java and Silverlight, for example, should be deactivated or uninstalled until they’re needed. Meanwhile, Adobe Flash should also be deactivated; if you use sites that require it, set it to only activate when prompted.
Meanwhile, go through all of your plugins and add-ons/extensions. Discard any of these you don’t use, and update the ones you do.
It isn’t just browser extensions that pose a vulnerability. If your browser’s security is set too low, ransomware developers can exploit this weakness.
Of course, this differs from browser to browser.
To give you the best chance of avoiding ransomware through your browser, check our comparison to find out which browser is the most secure.
6. Limit Malicious Ads and Avoid “Dodgy” Websites
Ransomware has been served in malicious ads (“malvertising”), which is why you should avoid certain sites.
Sites offering illegal downloads, and links to illicit material, are particularly likely to serve malvertising. However, from time to time, such malicious ads make their way onto mainstream websites.
As such, you should take steps to negate the impact of ads on your browser. While we wouldn’t recommend a total block (many websites rely on ads for their livelihood), you have options to control how ads are displayed.
7. Delete Spam Emails Immediately
Spam emails will typically go directly into your junk email folder. But this doesn’t always happen. In addition, you should regularly check the folder for emails that have been accidentally moved (whether by you, or by your anti-spam software/webmail provider).
The result is that your exposure to spam emails is higher than it really should be. Whether encountering then in your main inbox or browsing through your spam folder for important messages, there is a good chance that you could be taken in by a scam message.
One wrong click, and you’ve downloaded ransomware. The answer here is a simple, two-step approach:
Never click links in suspicious/spam emails
Never download attachments from unknown senders
Stick to this, and in conjunction with anti-spam software, you should protect yourself from ransomware affecting your system via email.
Defeat Ransomware by Being Proactive
It should be clear by now that combating ransomware requires more than an antivirus suite and some spare cash, just in case.
You need to be proactive in monitoring and auditing your data, creating backups for storage elsewhere, and avoiding links in spam messages. In total, we’ve looked at seven ways to reduce your chances of being struck by ransomware:
Use a good firewall
Keep backups stored elsewhere
Restrict your administrator account to installation tasks
Disable macros in Microsoft Office
Remove old browser extensions
Limit malicious ads
Delete spam immediately
By following these steps, you can ensure the safety of your data. Be vigilant, and understand the risks of ransomware.
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that Tim Armstrong is in talks to leave Verizon as soon as next month.
Armstrong heads up the carrier giant’s digital and advertising division, Oath (formerly AOL, prior to the Yahoo acquisition and the subsequent merger of the two units). Oath also happens to be TechCrunch’s parent, of course.
We reached out to our corporate overlords for a confirm or deny on the newspaper report. A Verizon spokesperson told us: “We don’t comment on speculation and have no announcements to make.”
The WSJ cites “people familiar with the matter” telling it Armstrong is in talks to leave, which would mean he’s set to step away from an ongoing process of combining the two business units into a digital content and ad tech giant.
Though he has presided over several rounds of job cuts already, as part of that process.
Building an ad giant to challenge Google and Facebook is the underlying strategy. But as the WSJ points out there hasn’t been much evidence of Oath moving Verizon’s growth needle yet (which remains tied to its wireless infrastructure).
The newspaper cites eMarketer projections which have Google taking over a third of the online ad market by 2020; Facebook just under a fifth; and Oath a mere 2.7%.
Meanwhile, Verizon’s appointment of former Ericsson CEO, Hans Vestberg, as its new chief exec in June, taking over from Lowell McAdam (who stepped down after seven years), suggests pipes (not content) remain the core focus for the carrier — which has the expensive of 5G upgrades to worry about.
Given that picture, it’s less clear how Oath’s media properties mesh with its plans.
The WSJ’s sources told the newspaper there were recent discussions about whether to spin off the Oath business entirely — but said Verizon has instead decided to integrate some of its operations more closely with the rest of the company (whatever ‘integrate’ means in that context).
There have been other executive changes at Oath earlier this year, too, with the head of its media properties, Simon Khalaf, departing in April — and not being replaced.
Instead Armstrong appointed a COO, K Guru Gowrappan, hired in from Alibaba, who he said Oath’s media bosses would now report to.
“Now is our time to turn the formation of Oath into the formation of one of the world’s best operating companies that paves a safe and exciting path forward for our billion consumers and the world’s most trusted brands,” Armstrong wrote in a staff memo on Gowrappan’s appointment obtained by Recode.
“Guru will run day to day operations of our member (consumer) and B2B businesses and will serve as a member of our global executive team helping to set company culture and strategy. Guru will also be an important part of the Verizon work that is helping both Oath and Verizon build out the future of global services and revenue,” he added, saying he would be spending more of his time “spread across strategic Oath opportunities and Verizon… leading our global strategy, global executive team, and corporate operations”.
At the start of the year Oath also named a new CFO, Vanessa Wittman, after the existing officer, Holly Hess, moved to Verizon to head up the aforementioned cost-saving program.
Reaction to the rumour of Armstrong’s imminent departure has sparked fresh speculation about jobs cuts on the anonymous workplace app Blind — with Oath/AOL/Yahoo employees suggesting additional rounds of company-wide layouts could be coming in October.
Knowing what’s going on in your warehouses and facilities is of course critical to many industries, but regular inspections take time, money, and personnel. Why not use drones? Vtrus uses computer vision to let a compact drone not just safely navigate indoor environments but create detailed 3D maps of them for inspectors and workers to consult, autonomously and in real time.
Vtrus showed off its hardware platform — currently a prototype — and its proprietary SLAM (simultaneous location and mapping) software at TechCrunch Disrupt SF as a Startup Battlefield Wildcard company.
There are already some drone-based services for the likes of security and exterior imaging, but Vtrus CTO Jonathan Lenoff told me that those are only practical because they operate with a large margin for error. If you’re searching for open doors or intruders beyond the fence, it doesn’t matter if you’re at 25 feet up or 26. But inside a warehouse or production line every inch counts and imaging has to be carried out at a much finer scale.
As a result, dangerous and tedious inspections, such as checking the wiring on lighting or looking for rust under an elevated walkway, have to be done by people. Vtrus wouldn’t put those people out of work, but it might take them out of danger.
The drone, called the ABI Zero for now, is equipped with a suite of sensors, from ordinary RGB cameras to 360 ones and a structured-light depth sensor. As soon as it takes off, it begins mapping its environment in great detail: it takes in 300,000 depth points 30 times per second, combining that with its other cameras to produce a detailed map of its surroundings.
It uses this information to get around, of course, but the data is also streamed over wi-fi in real time to the base station and Vtrus’s own cloud service, through which operators and inspectors can access it.
The SLAM technique they use was developed in-house; CEO Renato Moreno built and sold a company (to Facebook/Oculus) using some of the principles, but improvements to imaging and processing power have made it possible to do it faster and in greater detail than before. Not to mention on a drone that’s flying around an indoor space full of people and valuable inventory.
On a full charge, ABI can fly for about 10 minutes. That doesn’t sound very impressive, but the important thing isn’t staying aloft for a long time — few drones can do that to begin with — but how quickly it can get back up there. That’s where the special docking and charging mechanism comes in.
The Vtrus drone lives on and returns to a little box, which when a tapped-out craft touches down, sets off a patented high-speed charging process. It’s contact-based, not wireless, and happens automatically. The drone can then get back in the air perhaps half an hour or so later, meaning the craft can actually be in the air for as much as six hours a day total.
Probably anyone who has had to inspect or maintain any kind of building or space bigger than a studio apartment can see the value in getting frequent, high-precision updates on everything in that space, from storage shelving to heavy machinery. You’d put in an ABI for every X square feet depending on what you need it to do; they can access each other’s data and combine it as well.
This frequency and the detail which which the drone can inspect and navigate means maintenance can become proactive rather than reactive — you see rust on a pipe or a hot spot on a machine during the drone’s hourly pass rather than days later when the part fails. And if you don’t have an expert on site, the full 3D map and even manual drone control can be handed over to your HVAC guy or union rep.
You can see lots more examples of ABI in action at the Vtrus website. Way too many to embed here.
Lenoff, Moreno, and third co-founder Carlos Sanchez, who brings the industrial expertise to the mix, explained that their secret sauce is really the software — the drone itself is pretty much off the shelf stuff right now, tweaked to their requirements. (The base is an original creation, of course.)
But the software is all custom built to handle not just high-resolution 3D mapping in real time but the means to stream and record it as well. They’ve hired experts to build those systems as well — the 6-person team already sounds like a powerhouse.
The whole operation is self-funded right now, and the team is seeking investment. But that doesn’t mean they’re idle: they’re working with major companies already and operating a “pilotless” program (get it?). The team has been traveling the country visiting facilities, showing how the system works, and collecting feedback and requests. It’s hard to imagine they won’t have big clients soon.
Unbound founders Polly Rodriguez and Sarah Jayne Kinney have long and varied careers. Rodriguez worked for U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill on Capitol Hill before heading to Deloitte Consulting and dating startup Grouper. Kinney was a graduate of University of Cincinnati worked at Puma and then at Esquire and O, Oprah’s magazine. She worked shooting products for fashion houses in New York.
The duo met in 2014.
Now they make fashion-forward vibrators. Their latest, the Palma, is the most fashion-forward yet and it just launched at TechCrunch Disrupt.
“Unbound is closing the very real orgasm gap by putting knowledge and product in the hands of women all over the world,” said Rodriguez. “Unbound is the first brand taking sexual wellness mainstream through elevated design and accessible pricing.”
The new device masquerades as a ring, offers multiple speeds, and is completely waterproof. It’s made of surgical grade steel and comes in silver or gold. Further, the team plans to add accelerometer features to the device. It will ship in 2019.
The team has raised $3.3 million in seed funding to date and are on track to hit $4 million in revenue in 2018.
They’ve been working on improving the state of the art when it comes to vibrators. They are, it seems, tired of the status quo.
“It’s important to note that vibrators are used in one of the most absorbent parts of the body and not regulated by the FDA. The lack of regulation results in manufacturers using carcinogens in their materials like parabens and phthalates. Unbound only uses medical grade silicone,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez’s message is simple: she wants to destroy the negative stereotypes around sex and health. And she has good reason.
“Each of us is motivated to change the stigmas associated with sexual health for different reasons. For me, it was going through menopause at 21 as a result of radiation treatment for cancer and ending up at a seedy shop on the side of the highway trying to buy lube and a vibrator. My doctors didn’t tell me I was going through menopause, only that I wouldn’t have children. As I got older, I realized that had I been a man, that conversation would have gone very differently… because we view male sexuality has a health need and female sexuality as a vice,” she said. “To put it in perspective, think about the fact that Bob Dole, a former presidential candidate was the spokesperson for Viagra. Can you imagine Hillary Clinton being the spokesperson for a vibrator brand? That’s the difference in how we view male vs. female (cis, femme, non-gender identifying) sexuality.”
“Our dream at Unbound is for female sexual health to be viewed through the same lens as male sexuality — as a part of our overall health that deserves a conversation, platform, and shopping experience that doesn’t feel like a flaming pile of garbage,” she said.
This is officially a trend. This afternoon, Slack reported connectivity issues through its official status channel. We can confirm. Roughly half of our messages are going through. And yes, it’s super duper annoying.
We're very sorry for the interruption. We're currently investigating connectivity problems, and we're working as quickly as we can to get everything back to normal. Thanks for bearing with us. https://t.co/57xBUk3XdT
“We’re investigating problems with connectivity at this time,” the company writes. “We’re sorry for the interruption and will keep you posted as soon as we have an update”
This is the third large connection issue the popular chat service has experienced in roughly a month or so. We’ll report back as we hear more.
Update: Seems things are back to normal, at least according to Slack’s internal monitors. Still. we’ll see if we can get more information about what’s been making the chat service unreliable of late. Here’s what Slack has to say,
Things should be back to normal now. Thanks for your patience, and we’re extremely sorry for the disruption to your day. Our team is continuing to investigate this issue to ensure it doesn’t happen again.
Twitter is testing a new experience for web users, the company announced in a tweet on Thursday. A small number of Twitter users will see the updated version of Twitter for web, which will include access to Twitter’s Bookmarks feature, and scrolling through Twitter’s Explore section, the tweet said and a spokesperson confirmed.
However, Business Insider grabbed screenshots of the opt-in pop-up that appears when you’re invited to test the revamped website, which promises other features like night mode, data saver and more.
The differences appear to be more subtle, as it turns out. For example, Night Mode is now a toggle switch, as is Data Saver, instead of an option to click on from your settings menu.
Trends also shifted from one side of the home page to the other, underneath the “Who to follow” suggestions, which gives the interface a cleaner, more organized appearance.
Love to use Bookmarks and want it on web? Into scrolling through Explore to see what's happening?
We are testing out a new Twitter for web, which a small number of people will see today. Love it? Missing something? Reply and tell us. Don't have the new experience? Stay tuned. pic.twitter.com/w4TiRrVFHU
The “Compose Tweet” pop-up looks different as well. Instead of a boxed-in rectangular area to write in, it’s more of an open space with an underline. The “Location” button is missing on Compose, too, and the “Tweet” button has moved to the top.
The addition of Bookmarks to the web client is the biggest and most welcome change. The feature publicly launched in February of this year on mobile platforms, but had not yet made it to the web. None of the other tweaks seem to be radical changes, though — not like the update that turned Twitter’s stars into hearts, for instance, or the one that introduced threads.
Twitter declined to say how many users were being opted in at present, or when the experience would roll out more broadly. But if you’re being offered the opt-in, you’ll see it.
Google’s Pixel 3 and Pixel 3 XL are hardly a secret at this point, having leaked out again and again over the last few weeks. But they’re still not quite official.
The phones just took one big step closer to real, with Google sending out invites for a “Made By Google” event that will almost certainly focus on the phones.
The invite itself doesn’t say much, besides that it’ll happen at 11 am on October 9th in New York. They also use a “3” (as in Pixel 3) to make a heart in “I <3 NY”, presumably no accident.
The rumor mill, meanwhile, has said plenty. Like that the Pixel 3 will likely have a Snapdragon 845 processor, 4GB of ram, and as 12.2 megapixel camera behind a 5.5″ display. The beefier Pixel 3 XL, meanwhile, is said to bump things up to a 6.71″ display (complete with the always controversial camera cutout) and 6GB of ram.
Twitter has finally put an end to the ongoing controversy over how it has refused to completely shut down the accounts of Alex Jones and his online media site Infowars after a number of people complained about abusive content posted by both: it has finally banned both, on Twitter and its video platform Periscope.
“Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope,” the Twitter Safety account Tweeted moments ago. “We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations.
“As we continue to increase transparency around our rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case. We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts, for their privacy.
“We will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and will take action if content that violates our rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.
The last 24 hours of Jones’ Twitter feed, which you can still see in its cached form on Google, include Tweets calling CNN fake news, criticism of Marco Rubio and Bob Woodward, and questioning the authenticity of the anonymous source writing in the New York Times about the turmoil in the Trump White House. This is, in one regard, relatively mild compared to some of what Jones has put out in the past.
But the last 24 hours also saw CEO Dorsey appear on Capitol Hill, interrogated by the House Energy Committee over its policies of “shadow banning” and general attitude to conservative politics. The company agreed yesterday to a civil rights audit and abuse transparency reports, so this might potentially be seen as Twitter finally trying way of getting ahead of the process, in what has already become a messy and very tough situation for the company.
The company and Dorsey have been roundly criticised by people in recent weeks, who believed that the company was not being strict enough with enforcing its abusive content policies when it came to Jones. While Dorsey had said that he was doing it in the name of “free speech,” cynics believed it was more related to a reluctance to alienate supporters who make up a substantial chunk of Twitter users. (And to be fair, the criticism has been going on for years at this point, with many people quitting the platform in protest.)
Instead, Twitter took incremental steps to try to handle the situation, including 7-day read-only bans and longer explanations to justify why it was not doing more.
Twitter was essentially the last holdout among a throng of social media platforms — including Facebook and YouTube — that had stopped allowing Jones and Infowars from peddling what many believed not just to be “fake news”, but outright damaging and dangerous false information.
Now valued at $5.6 billion, zero-fee stock trading app and cryptocurrency exchange Robinhood is starting preparations to go public. Just a year and a half ago, it was still largely under the radar. But then it raised a $110 million Series C at a $1.3 billion valuation in April 2017 and then just a year later scoring a $363 million Series D, both led by Russian firm DST Global. Combined with the growth of its premium subscription for trading on margin called Robinhood Gold, the startup now has the firepower and revenue to make a viable Wall Street debut.
Today during Robinhood CEO Baiju Bhatt’s talk at TechCrunch Disrupt SF, he revealed that his company is on the path to an IPO and has begun its search for Chief Financial Officer. It’s also undergoing constant audits from the SEC, FINRA, and its security team to make sure everything is kosher and locked up tight.
The CFO hire could help the five-year-old Silicon Valley startup pitch itself as the cheaper youthful alternative to E*Trade and traditional stock brokers. They’d also have to convince potential investors that even though cryptocurrency prices are in a downturn, allowing people to trade them for cheaper than competitors like Coinbase is a powerful user acquisition funnel.
Robinhood now has 5 million customers tracking, buying, and selling stocks, options, ETFs, American depositary slips receipts of international companies, and cryptos like Bitcoin and Ethereum. That’s twice as many customers as its incumbent competitor E*Trade despite it having 4000 employees compared to Robinhood’s 250.
The startup has raised a total of $539 million to date from presitigious investors like Andreessen Horowitz, Kleiner Perkins, Sequoia, and Google’s Capital G, allowing it to rapidly role out products before its rivals can react. This rapid rise in valuation can go to some founders’ heads, or crush them under the pressure, but Bhatt cited “friendship” with his co-CEO Vlad Tenev as what keeps him sane.
The startup has three main monetization streams. First, it earns interest on money users keep in their Robinhood account. Second, it sells order flow to stock exchanges who want more liquidity for their traders. And it sells Robinhood Gold subscriptions which range from $10 per month for $2000 in extra buying power to $200 per month for $50,000 in margin trading, with a 5 percent APR charged for borrowing over that. Gold was growing its subscriber count at 17 percent per month earlier this year, showing the potential of giving trades away for free and then charging for extra services.
But Robinhood is also encountering renewed competition as both startups and incumbents wise-up. European banking app Revolut is building a commission free stock trading, and Y Combinator startup Titan just launched its app that lets you buy into a managed portfolio of top stocks. Finance giant JP Morgan now gives customers 100 free trades in hopes of not being undercut by Robinhood.
Over on the crypto side, Coinbase continues to grow in popularity despite its 1.4 percent to 4 percent fees on trades. It’s rapidly expanding its product offering and the two fintech startups are destined to keep clashing. Robinhood may also be suffering from the crypto downturn, which is likely dissuading the mainstream public from dumping cash into tokens after seeing people lose fortunes as Bitcoin and Ethereum’s prices tumbled this year.
There’s also the persistent risk of a security breach that could tank Robinhood’s brand. Meanwhile, the startup uses both human and third-party software-based systems to moderate its crypto chat rooms to make sure pump and dump schemes aren’t running rampant. Bhatt says he’s proud of making cryptocurrency more accessible, though he didn’t say he felt reponsible for prices plummeting which could mean many of Robinhood Crypto’s users have lost money.
Fundamentally, Robinhood is using software to make the common but expensive behavior of stock trading much cheaper and more accessible to a wider audience. Traditional banks and brokers have big costs for offices and branches, trading execs, and TV commercials. Robinhood has managed to replace much of that with a lean engineering team and viral app that grows itself. Once it finds its CFO, that could give it an efficiency and growth rate that has Wall Street seeing green.
Uber is rolling out a host of new safety features which are designed to help both riders and drivers stay safe. These features suggest Uber has actually started listening to users, for whom safety is, and has to be, the number one priority.
It’s fair to say Uber doesn’t boast the best track record on safety. Uber drivers have been accused of all kinds of misdemeanors, and riders aren’t much better. However, Uber is now looking to salvage its reputation, and it’s hoping these new safety features help.
Uber Gets Serious About Safety
Rider Safety arrives in the form of Ride Check. This utilizes Uber’s existing use of GPS to know where and when you are while you’re in an Uber. The technology can detect possible crashes, and make sure everyone is OK. This can also flag up other potential irregularities which suggest something untoward is occurring.
Driver Safety comes in the form of Hands-Free Pickups and an Emergency Button. With Hands-Free Pickups, drivers can interact with the Uber app using just their voice. The Emergency Button which already exists for riders is now being extended to drivers too. And it means they can connect directly to 911 through the app.
Safety is at the core of everything we do. Check out the latest features that can help give you peace of mind at every turn: https://t.co/EgiE7HP9ID
Digital Safety is being bolstered by Address Anonymization and Two-Step Verification. The former conceals pickup and dropoff addresses in the driver’s trip history. The latter is an extension of the two-step verification already offered by Uber. This means you can now request a code be sent to you every time you log in to the Uber app.
Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi writes, “You can expect to see these features in your app over the coming months, and there’s more to come. That’s because when it comes to safety, our work is never done. Uber has a responsibility to help keep people safe, and it’s one we take seriously.”
Ensuring Everyone Stays Safe
Are these new features guaranteed to keep Uber drivers and riders safe from harm? No, obviously not. However, they’re all solid efforts from Uber, and based on the words of its CEO, the first in a line of similar efforts designed to ensure everyone stays safe.
Fact checking has its origin in the early 20th century when magazines began to verify statements made in non-fictional texts prior to publication. But the impact of fake news has soared in recent years. This means that ordinary people are increasingly skeptical of what they read online and hear from others.
So in the age of misinformation and fake news, how do you check your facts? Here are five of the best fact-checking websites so that you can find the truth.
If you were wondering who is there to fact check the fact checkers, that would be MBFC. The website is a bias rating resource and even news apps and extensions like CivikOwl integrate these ratings into their own systems. The site’s reputation means that it has long been a resource that internet users can visit to check the bias in their favorite news websites.
MBFC not only includes reports on the bias of famous fact-checking websites like Snopes and Politifact but also publishes a daily source bias check. It takes into account its own methodology, as well as reports from users. Factors that they consider include sourcing, biased wording, story choices, and political affiliation. If you want a claim checked that hasn’t been covered by other sites, you can submit a request on MBFC.
The site analyzes bias and funding sources and also checks how factual a site’s content is overall. For example, the Washington Post received a bias rating of “left-center”, but a high factual reporting score. This is because while they publish factual information, MBFC says loaded words are used in reporting.
Meanwhile, Fox News is listed as having a right bias and a mixed rating for factual reporting.
Finally, MBFC also has extensive lists on news sources with different biases (right, extreme, left, etc). This includes lists of websites known for conspiracies, pseudoscience and questionable sources.
We’ve included the MBFC News bias rating on each of the fact-checking sites on this list.
PolitiFact is a non-partisan fact-checking website that focuses on claims made in the political sphere in the US. This includes statements by politicians, political topics such as immigration, and general news. A global edition of the site tackles stories from other parts of the world.
PolitiFact is a Pulizter Prize-winning website and was acquired by the Poytner Insitute in 2018—a reflection of the site’s commitment to quality, truthful journalism.
The website has a few unique elements that make it stand out from other fact-checking websites. Firstly, there’s the Truth-o-Meter, which assesses the level of truth in a statement. This scale includes levels such as true, half true, mostly false, and even a “pants on fire” rating at the far end of the meter. The site even has an affiliated app called PolitiTruth that aims to test your political knowledge and susceptibility to fake news.
Snopes started out as a site that mainly dealt with urban legends, myths, common misconceptions, and rumors. However, it has expanded to encompass general fact-checking of viral misinformation, including political statements.
Snopes has been accused of being left-leaning and receiving funding from liberal billionaire George Soros. However, its founder David Mikkelson says all the site’s revenue comes from Facebook advertising.
Meanwhile, FactCheck.org has put its weight behind Snopes; saying it is a reliable source and frequently citing the website in their own fact-checking articles. Meanwhile, CivikOwl gives the site a rating quality of “high”.
Its media bias rating is “center”, which according to AllSides.com “means the source or person rated does not predictably show opinions favoring either end of the political spectrum, conservative or liberal”. So despite the occasional detractors, the site holds a high reputation in the fact-checking community.
Not only is FactCheck.org a fact-checking website with an established history of journalistic rigor, but it is also one of the partners Facebook has recruited to combat viral fake news.
FactCheck is a non-partisan fact-checking website which focusing primarily on US politics. It is also a non-profit project run by the Annenberg Public Policy Center of the University of Pennsylvania—meaning its focus is on information, not the pursuit of profit.
Not only does the site regularly debunk politician claims and viral fake news, but it also lets users submit their own questions to the website.
Google’s search engine can help you find the truth. However, it takes a critical eye to distinguish truth from fiction, especially when digging through hundreds of search engine results. You’ll need to make sure that you’re getting your information from a trustworthy news website and not some conspiracy blog.
However, when it comes to search engine results, there’s also the problem of confirmation bias. People are more likely to lend credence to results that confirm their preconceptions rather than ones that contradict it. This includes clicking on that one search result from a random, unverified source and believing what it has to say, versus the results from sources with verified facts.
Nevertheless, a search engine is a good start. When you are checking facts for your homework, try Google Scholar to find scholarly literature on Google Books.
Google’s snippet previews and information from Google Assistant can also answer questions for users looking for clarification on a topic.
Fact-Checking Is Evolving
As the ways to spread misinformation become more accessible and effective, the news industry and journalists constantly need to find new ways to keep the public informed.
Even blockchain technology is being brought into the mix. We are now seeing the dawn of decentralized news networks and peer-reviewed content. Find out more about this new horizon in the era of news in our piece on how blockchain is changing the media.
Recent headlines at TechCrunch and elsewhere have been filled with news about data breaches, data misuse and other data-related scandals. But has that actually affected how consumers think about their personal data?
A new report from Salesforce Reserach sheds some light on this question. In a survey of 6,723 individuals globally, Salesforce found that 59 percent of of respondents believe their personal information is vulnerable to security breach, while 54 percent believe that the companies with that data don’t have their best interests in mind.
Respondents also said that these feelings will affect their choices as consumers — for example, 86 percent said that if they trust a company, they’re more likely to share their experiences, and that number goes up to 91 percent among millennials and Gen Zers.
At the same time, it sounds like people do want some degree of personalization in their marketing — the same personalization that requires data. Eighty-four percent of respondents said they want to be treated “like a person, not a number,” and 54 percent said current marketing messages aren’t as relevant as they’d like.
Salesforce says that while this might seem like a paradox, personalization and trust are not mutually exclusive. To illustrate this, it notes that 86 percent of respondents said they’re more likely to trust a company with their personal information if it explains how that information leads to a better customer experience, and 68 percent said they’re more likely to trust companies with that info if they’ll use it to fully personalize the customer experience.
“With technologies like AI driving more personalized customer experiences, customer trust needs to be grounded in a deeper understanding of the technologies’ value,” the report says. “Among millennials and Gen Zers, 91% are more likely to trust companies with their persona information if they explain how its use will deliver a better experience — suggesting that strict security and privacy protocols alone may not be enough.”
There are plenty of legitimate reasons for wanting to wipe the slate clean on Twitter without resorting to deleting your entire Twitter account. You might want to avoid your old, embarrassing tweets being unearthed by prying eyes in the future.
Maybe you’re working on “re-branding” yourself on social media. Or perhaps you just want to distance yourself from Twitter in general.
Whatever your motivation for deleting your tweets, there are some reputable services out there to help you bulk delete your tweets.
Disclaimer: Although we’ve tested each of the apps mentioned in this article, granting any of them access to your Twitter account is done at your own risk.
How Many Tweets Does Twitter Store?
It’s often believed that you can only access your most recent 3200 tweets, but this isn’t entirely true. Yes, Twitter limits the number of tweets that appear on your timeline to 3200 (and that’s all that third-party apps can access by default). But that doesn’t mean those older tweets no longer exist.
Every single one of your tweets are searchable via Twitter’s search console, unless they have been deleted. With that in mind you should at least consider deleting all of your old tweets.
Back Up Your Old Tweets First (Optional)
Remember: Once you delete your tweets, there’s no going back. Once they’re gone, they’re gone. So, if you have any worries that you might regret the decision, Twitter does allow you to download your entire Twitter archive. This ZIP file contains every tweet and retweet you have ever sent (apart from those you’ve deleted), so you can store this wherever you like for posterity.
To download your Twitter archive:
Click on your profile picture, then click Settings and privacy.
Scroll to the bottom of the page, and click Request your archive.
You’ll receive an email with a link to a downloadable .zip file containing your archive.
If You Have Fewer Than 3,200 Tweets
TweetDelete is arguably the most popular service created for managing your Tweets. With it, you have the option to bulk delete past tweets, and automatically delete future tweets after they’ve been live for a certain amount of time.
However, due to the third party restriction mentioned earlier, TweetDelete can only delete your most recent 3,200 tweets.
If you have less than 3,200 tweets on your account then, this is likely your best option. You can wipe your timeline clean, and choose to have future tweets deleted after:
One week
Two weeks
One month
Two months
Three months
Six months
One year
The script generally runs every couple of days, locating new tweets that have entered the date period you set, and deleting these automatically. Once deleted there is no way of retrieving them.
If you want TweetDelete to stop deleting your new tweets, you can revoke its access to your Twitter account by going to Settings and privacy and clicking Revoke access next to TweetDelete’s entry.
If You Have More Than 3,200 Tweets
If you’ve accumulated more than 3,200 tweets on your account, the quickest and easiest option for you is to use TweetEraser. Yes, there is a free package available, but as with TweetDelete, this will only allow you to delete up to 3,200 tweets, and it’s not quite as simple as TweetDelete to use.
But if you’re willing to cough up the small fee ($6.99) for 30-day access to TweetEraser’s main service, you can delete as many tweets as you like (for multiple Twitter accounts).
Once you’ve signed up to TweetEraser, go to Tweets and upload your entire Twitter archive (which I explained how to get hold of earlier).
You can then use search filters to find the tweets you want to delete (based on date, hashtags, and keywords), or you can just select all of your tweets if you’re going all in. When you’re ready, click Delete Tweets, confirm your decision, and TweetEraser will start to work its magic (it can be a little slow, but stay patient).
What Happens to Deleted Tweets?
When you bulk delete tweets, the changes can take a while to display on your feed. This is because there is a limit to the number of requests each of these apps can send to Twitter per hour. If you’re deleting several thousands tweets then, this can take a while. It sure beats than doing it manually, though.
When you delete a Tweet, it is removed from your account, the timeline of any accounts that follow you, and from Twitter search results on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, and Twitter for Android.
Retweets of the deleted Tweet will also be removed on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, and Twitter for Android.
If other people have copied and pasted part or all of your text into their own Tweet, their Tweets will not be removed.
If other people have Retweeted your Tweet with a comment of their own, their Tweets will not be removed.
Tweets may be cached or cross-posted on third-party websites, applications, or search engines. We cannot remove Tweets that are not on twitter.com, Twitter for iOS, or Twitter for Android.
Keeping Your Twitter Account Clean
Once you’ve cleaned up your stream of tweets, it’s a good idea to keep it that way. You could either do this by only posting tweets you’re sure you don’t mind being online for a long time (read our guide to avoid embarrassing yourself on social media).
Or, if you don’t want to be so cautious about what you post, simply choose to automatically delete tweets after a certain amount of time. TweetEraser (even the paid version) does not offer this feature, but TweetDelete (free) does.
Cleaning Up Your Twitter Account
By deleting many, if not all, of your past tweets, you stop them from being searchable to the general public, potential employers, and nosey journalists.
Yes, Twitter will still have a record of these deleted tweets in case they need to produce them for legal purposes. But at least they’re away from prying eyes, and you’ll know that less of your data is “out there” in the public domain.
As a speaker I often find myself mumbling into a microphone with little thought about the sound system powering it. While most PAs are massive affairs requiring a soundboard operator and lots of wiring, I’ve also had to hoot into portable PAs, a practice I rarely relish. But who was I to judge the quality of a portable PA system? When JBL asked me to review their new $1,299 JBL Eon One Pro I decided to send it to a real professional, my childhood friend Rick Barr, who helped me tag-team on the review.
The most important reason that Rick liked the Eon One Pro was the built-in battery. Everything else, he said, was icing on the cake.
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Rick is a professional musician, performing shows every weekend, and some weeknights, in a wide variety of venues. His go-to PA is the Bose L1 Model II with the B2 bass unit. It’s a beast in terms of sound quality and immersion, doesn’t take up much floor space, and really soars when used in outdoor environments.
We immediately recognized that a smaller, more portable unit could be extremely useful. He had just recently performed at a new outdoor event that wasn’t well-equipped with power and he had to come up with a makeshift solution. It worked, but the idea of being able to “cut the cord” to avoid all that was certainly appealing.
JBL says you can get up to six hours of battery life from the extended-life lithium-ion. In our tests, he was able to make it through three-hour shows without a problem. Charging it is as simple as plugging in the AC cord to the back. So, in short, we were pleased with the battery performance. Still, going cordless is all well and good, but it’s really the sound that matters. So, let’s take a look at what this unit can do.
The Eon One Pro weighs 37.5 pounds, and it’s all very compact. The 8” subwoofer is right up front, and you fit the 118 dB speaker array directly on top. This, and the two optional spacers, fit nicely in the back of the unit. The overall design of the Eon Pro really is nice. The spacers essentially increase the range of the speaker, so their usefulness is really dependent on your environment.
The 7-channel mixer features 2 Hi-Z inputs, 4 combo ¼” / XLR inputs, a 3.5mm jack, and an RCA input. Each of the 4 combo inputs has controls for volume, treble, bass, and reverb. This allows for very basic mixing, but if you prefer to have more options, it is easy enough to plug in an external mixer and run through that. In our tests, we used the on-board controls.
You can also stream from a mobile device via Bluetooth, or connect directly via USB. Rick connected via his cell phone using Bluetooth and found the overall sound to be extremely good. There is also phantom power for condenser mics and an XLR Pass Thru to other systems, as well as RCA output jacks for a monitor.
So, on to the show. The first venue Rick played in was your typical bar, with a medium-sized square room, wood floors, and a decent crowd. He was able to get set up in just 10 minutes, compared to 20 for my Bose. It took some extra time to adjust levels and once he started playing, just a little more tinkering got him where he needed to be. He did notice that he had to turn the volume up for his Sennheiser 935 mic quite a bit in order to match the guitar level, which leads to an interesting omission: lack of level meters. There are none, so you need to rely solely on your ears to get the right mix.
The speaker did a fine job of filling the room, while the subwoofer provided some nice depth to the overall sound. Rick had some friends out who sat just six feet in front of the speaker who said they weren’t overwhelmed by the volume and others will able to hear the music very clearly outside of the room.
The speaker covers 100 x 50 degrees, and while testing this at his shows, Rick stood slightly behind and to the side. This worked well enough, though in a noisy environment, having a monitor speaker might be helpful. He could hear the music pretty well, but it seems you’d want to be at least 90 degrees on either side, if not a little forward.
The second show we took the Eon One out to was another small bar, fairly narrow but long. It was completely different from the other bar in terms of dimensions, and a really good test of how far the speaker could project. Again, folks sitting up front were just fine with the volume, while people in the back, some 50-60 feet away, could hear it as well (and reported that it sounded very nice).
“I’d played at this venue before but this time, the electrical outlet wasn’t working. The girl at the bar didn’t know how to turn it on. This is something that rarely happens, but if I’d had my Bose or any other kind of amp, I would have been hosed. I hadn’t planned on testing the battery again but in this instance, it saved me,” Rick said.
Given that most offices purchase something like this at some point for broadcasting at meetings or meetups it makes sense to get something that works well for a gigging musician. Rick’s requirements – that this thing be reliable and sound great – is in line with the average desk jockey’s and the built in battery can save the day when it comes to situations where power is unavailable.
Keynote is the simplest way to make a beautiful presentation on your Mac. If you pick a template you like and let the defaults do the trick, you’ll always end up with something decent. But there’s a lot more to Keynote after you’ve mastered the iWork basics.
Keynote sneaks in amazing features for animations, transitions, shared elements, and more. Keep reading to find out the best Keynote tips that will boost your presentations.
1. Master Keynote’s Slide Transitions
Transitions and animations are the two biggest reasons to use Keynote for making a presentation. It’s the subtle effects that will set your presentation apart from others using Microsoft PowerPoint or—heaven forbid—a PDF slideshow.
To add a transition effect, select the slide from the slide navigator on the left. From the right sidebar, click on the Animate tab. Then select the Action option and you’ll see a big blue Add an Effect button. That’s your cue.
When you click on it, you’ll be able to select from more than a dozen effects. Pick something basic like Confetti, or go fancy with a Swish or Swirl.
Once you select a transition, you’ll be able to define the duration, the direction, and the start time.
2. Animate Individual Objects on the Slides
Once you’ve got the right transition effect, you can move on to animating specific parts of the slides. Here, you can do two tasks: animate objects as they come into the slide, and move their position at a later time.
This feature gives you incredible control over exactly when and where the objects show up. You can animate a bullet list to show up one after the other, or have an image bounce in from the right edge of the screen.
To animate objects as they come into the slide, use the Build in section in Animate.
Select the object you want to animate and then from the Build in section, choose Add an Effect and select an animation. Click the Preview button to see how it looks. If you want to animate multiple objects together or one after the other, select all of them when defining the Build in effect.
When multiple objects are involved, click on the Build Order button from the bottom of the sidebar. Here, you’ll be able to define the order in which the objects show up on the screen.
3. Move Objects Within Slides
To make your presentation extra groovy, you can even move objects within slides. Say you’re showing a process chart in your presentation. It would be helpful to actually move an object from one section of the screen to another.
You can do this using the Action tool. In the particular slide, click on the object you want to move. Then from the sidebar, go to the Action tab and select the Move effect.
The object will now duplicate. Move the duplicated object where you want it to end up. You’ll see a line linking both objects. That’s the path the object will take as it animates. Click on the line and drag it from the middle if you want to add a curve to the animation.
From the sidebar, you can define the duration, delay, and acceleration as well.
4. Master Magic Move
Magic Move is a legendary feature. This mind-blowing little utility has been in Keynote for ages.
Magic Move combines the transition and animation features we’ve talked about above. Instead of moving an object from one position to another in one slide, you can directly move an object from one slide to another, with complete control over the animation.
First, place the objects on the slides the way you want. From the Slide Navigator, duplicate the slide by using the Cmd + D shortcut.
Now, change the position of the objects on both slides. The first slide will have objects in the default state. In the second slide, position the elements where you want them to end up.
Select the first of the two slides (not both) and from the sidebar, click on the Animate tab. From the Add an Effect section, choose Magic Move.
Preview it and you’ll instantly see a smooth animation going from one slide to another. Keynote takes care of the transition and animation automatically. But if you want, you can change the duration, match it with text instead of objects, and define when to start the transition.
5. Use Master Slides for a Consistent Design
If you’re working on a big presentation and you want to have a consistent styling, get into the habit of using Master Slides. These let you define particular layouts for designs you use frequently.
Right-click on a slide and click on Edit Master Slides. The content from your slides will swap to the default template. You can now move the default objects around and when you save it, your current presentation’s slides will update to match the template.
If you always fiddle with fonts until the last minute, you’ll appreciate this one. Keynote has a useful feature where you can apply a font change across the entire presentation.
Say you change the font size of a title in one slide and you want it updated everywhere else too. After making the change, click on the Update button next to the text style dropdown. This saves you from tracking down everywhere else you’ve used that style.
7. Embed a YouTube Video in Keynote
Unlike Google Slides, there’s no straightforward way to embed a YouTube Video directly into a Keynote presentation. But you can use a different method. You’ll first need to download the YouTube video, which we can’t help you with here.
Next, create a new blank slide and from the menu bar, select Insert > Choose. Select the video you downloaded and it will instantly show up in the slide. You can use the same steps to embed music as well.
While we’re talking about media, let’s discuss the aspect ratio of Keynote presentations. By default, Keynote formats presentations to a 4:3 aspect ratio. That’s fine if you’re presenting it on a projector. But if you’re using a TV or recording the Keynote as a video, you’ll want to use widescreen instead.
From the sidebar, switch to the Document option and from Slide Size, choose the Widescreen format.
8. Make Your iPhone or iPad a Keynote Remote
Forgot to bring a clicker for your big presentation? Don’t worry, you can use your iPhone or iPad as a remote for your Keynote presentation.
On your Mac, go to Keynote Preferences and choose Remotes. Click on the checkbox next to Enable. Then on your iOS device, click on the remote icon from the top toolbar and press Continue.
Now, on your Mac, you’ll find your iOS device listed in the Remotes section. Confirm the passcode and your devices will link. Simply press Play on your iOS device. You can now control the presentation and read presenter notes as well.
9. Customize Your Toolbar
Once you start working with Keynote more often, you’ll figure out which features you use most. Like with everything else on your Mac, you should take the time to customize it.
Click on View from the menu bar and select Customize Toolbar. You’ll see a huge array of icons. Drag in the features you use often and remove the ones you never touch. While you’re working on this, you may want to customize your keyboard behavior too.
10. Make Use of Action Buttons
There’s a hidden feature in Keynote that lets you turn any object into an interactive button. You can create a shortcut to jump to a particular slide, open a web page, or even end the presentation.
Select a shape and use the Cmd + K keyboard shortcut. From here, select if you want to link to a slide, web page, or an email.
Getting Advanced With iWork
Now that you’ve dug a bit deeper into the world of Keynote, why not dive into our advanced tips for the whole iWork suite? Just like Keynote, there’s a world of customization waiting inside them.
