Rakuten has SoftBank in its sights

This week, I’ve tried to do something new at TechCrunch with this experimental column — getting obsessed about a topic broadly in tech and writing a continuous stream of thoughts and analysis about it.

With my research consultant and contributor Arman Tabatabai, we’ve covered two topics: Form Ds, the filing that startups usually submit to the SEC after a venture round closes (although increasingly do not), and SoftBank, which faces all kinds of strategic pressure due to its debt binging. If you missed the other episodes, here are links to the editions from Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

We are experimenting with new content forms at TechCrunch. This is a rough draft of something new – provide your feedback directly to the authors: Danny at danny@techcrunch.com or Arman at Arman.Tabatabai@techcrunch.com if you like or hate something here.

Today, one final round of thoughts on SoftBank and Rakuten (heavily written by Arman) and a lengthy list of articles for your weekend reading.

The Rakuten factor complicates SoftBank’s strategy

BEHROUZ MEHRI/AFP/Getty Images

Understanding SoftBank’s competitive strategy requires a bit of a deep dive into Japanese ecommence giant Rakuten.

Rakuten has been struggling to compete with Amazon and others like SoftBank’s Yahoo! Japan. So at the end of 2017, Rakuten announced it would be entering the telco space, hoping that operating its own network could generate user growth through better incentives around mobile shopping, streaming and payments.

Today, Japan’s telco space is a relatively cozy oligopoly dominated by NTT DoCoMo, au-KDDI and SoftBank. A major reason why Rakuten feels it can succeed where others have failed to break in is because it has the government on its side.

Rakuten’s plan to offer prices at least 30% lower than incumbent rates has led to favorable treatment from prime minister Shinzo Abe’s government, which has been looking for ways to stimulate market competition to force the country’s high phone prices lower.

Though a new entrant hasn’t been approved to enter the telco market since eAccess in 2007, Rakuten has already gotten the thumbs up to start operations in 2019. The government also instituted regulations that would make the new kid in town more competitive, such as banning telcos from limiting device portability.

Rakuten’s partnerships with key utilities and infrastructure players will also allow it to build out its network quickly, including one with Japan’s second largest mobile service provider, KDDI.

Just last week, Rakuten and KDDI announced an agreement where Rakuten will help KDDI utilize its payment and logistics infrastructure as KDDI turns its head towards e-commerce and payments, while KDDI will give Rakuten access to its network and nationwide roaming services, allowing Rakuten to provide nationwide service as its builds out its own infrastructure.

The agreement with KDDI is especially scary for SoftBank, the country’s third biggest telco and one of Rakuten’s e-commerce competitors, and whose customers seem most vulnerable to churn. The partnership also makes it seem even more likely that SoftBank’s competitors are looking to push it out of the market or turn its upcoming mobile segments IPO into a dud.

While Rakuten’s head-first dive into the market won’t ease investors into an IPO, it’s important we note that Rakuten is targeting a much smaller market share than the incumbents, targeting 10 million subscribers by 2028, a number lower than the company’s original 15 million subs goal and significantly lower than the 76 million, 52 million and 40 million subscribers NTT, KDDI and SoftBank hold currently. And even with its agreements, Rakuten faces a serious and expensive uphill battle in building out its network infrastructure quickly enough to compete.

Ultimately, Rakuten’s telco initiative is a splash, but one that seems like it will merely make its competitors wet and not drown them. For SoftBank, it is an annoying distraction on its telco IPO roadshow, but a distraction that is easily explained to potential investors.

SoftBank growth over the past two decades

Rajeev Misra. Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Changing gears from Rakuten, emails from readers this week asked us to look deeper into SoftBank’s performance over the last two decades. As we did so, it became clear that SoftBank has had a long history of price competitions and new entrants across its businesses, and it has proven its ability to operate and consistently grow earnings.

Since 2000, SoftBank has grown earnings at a ~30% CAGR and experienced revenue growth in all but one year. When eAccess did enter the telco market and picked up four million subscribers, SoftBank bought it and integrated it into its own system.

As we discussed earlier this week, despite having always held on to a clunky amount of debt, SoftBank has managed to deliver consistent growth by making sure its revenue and operating growth outpaced the upticks in its debt and interest expense.

A great example of this came after SoftBank’s acquisition of Vodafone in 2006, when it saw a huge spike in its interest expense, but also in its operating income.

Over the following five years, SoftBank managed to reduce its interest expense at an annual rate of 12% while growing its operating income at 16%. And regardless of its debt balances, SoftBank has always seemingly been able to secure funding one way or another, as shown by its ability to raise $90+ billion for the Vision Fund in less than a year from when plans for the fund were first reported.

The Vision Fund itself started as a way for SoftBank to continue to invest while its balance sheet was tight due to nearly back-to-back massive acquisitions of Sprint and Arm. Just look at how Rajeev Misra, who oversees the Vision Fund, discussed its creation in an interview with The Economic Times:

We had just bought ARM in June for $32 billion and Masa felt we are on the cusp of a technology revolution over the next 5-10 years with machine learning, AI, robotics and the impact of that in disrupting every industry – from healthcare to financial services to manufacturing.

We felt the world was going through a new industrial revolution. We were constrained financially given that we just did a $32-billion acquisition.

SoftBank, historically over the last 20 years, has invested from its own balance sheet. So, we had two options.

Either monetise some of the gains we made in Alibaba which we decided has a lot more upside… Alibaba has more than doubled in the last 12 months. So we decided to keep it which turned out to be good decision. The second option was to go out and raise money and co-invest with others. We prepared a presentation, went out, and by god’s grace we raised the fund.

Even before the Vision Fund, SoftBank has always had a strategy to make big bets in industries of the future. And while many have failed, the several that have paid off, like its $20 million investment in Alibaba, had massive cash outs that have driven consistent earnings growth for decades. SoftBank seems to be banking its future on the same strategy and frankly, it’s unclear how much they even care about how competitive their telco is, as shown by this exchange in the same interview with Misra:

Question: What about sectors like telecom?

Misra: Let the dust settle.

What’s next

Our obsession with SoftBank this week is probably going to subside, and we are in the market for our next deep dive topic in tech and finance. Have ideas? Drop us a line at danny@techcrunch.com and arman.tabatabai@techcrunch.com

Thoughts on Articles (i.e. Weekend Reading)

Photo by Darren Johnson / EyeEm via Getty Images

The CIA’s communications suffered a catastrophic compromise. It started in Iran. — This is a great follow-up from Yahoo News’ Zach Dorfman and Jenna McLaughlin on one of the most important espionage stories this past decade. The CIA, using an internet-based communications system to connect with spies and sources in the field, failed to keep the security of the system intact, leading to the dismantling of its Iranian, Chinese, and potentially other espionage rings. This article advances the story as we know it from the New York Times’ original piece, and Foreign Policy’s excellent follow up also written by Zach Dorfman. Definitely worth a read from a security/technical audience. (3,200 words)

The $6 Trillion Barrier Holding Electric Cars Back – Don’t read — the answer is infrastructure. (1,000 words, but should be one)

The Rodney Brooks Rules for Predicting a Technology’s Commercial Success – a good reminder that some technologies are much closer to reality than others, and that the key difference between them is our collective experience handling the technology. Rodney Brooks is the right person to cover this subject, although one can’t help but feel that every example is Musk-inspired. (2,800 words)

Uber’s economics team is its secret weapon by Alison Griswold & Soon there may be more economists at tech companies than in policy schools by Roberta Holland, both in Quartz — Griswold does a great job giving an overview of how Uber is using economists not just to improve its product for end users, but also to shape the discussion of public policy around the company. Clearly, Uber is not alone; as Holland notes in her piece, academic economists are very popular in Silicon Valley right now, with salaries that can match the top machine learning experts. (2,750 words and 1,200 words, respectively)

The future’s so bright, I gotta wear blinders – a short piece by Nicholas Carr fighting back against the notion that computing is still “at the beginning.” Many of our devices and pieces of software are already decades old — if they haven’t had an effect on human behavior or productivity, when are they going to? A useful antidote to some ideas we hear from the Valley every single day. (900 words)

The future of photography is code – Yes, yes, I am very late to this – blame Pocket disease. TechCrunch’s own Devin Coldewey writes a candid essay on the transition from improving photography through hardware like lenses to improving photos through computation. The future is looking very bright for beautiful photos, indeed. (2,400 words)

Freedom on the Net 2018 | Freedom House – and if you are looking for some depressing news, Freedom House’s report (which I am also a bit late to) is dreary. China is now increasingly the source of authoritarian internet control technology, and countries across the world are backtracking on internet freedom (including the U.S.) Sobering, but with so much riding on the openness of the internet, we all need to pay attention and build the kind of future for this technology that we want. (32 page PDF with exec summary)

Reading docket

What we are reading (or at least, trying to read)

Articles

• Tech C.E.O.s Are in Love With Their Principal Doomsayer – Nellie Bowles writes about Yuval Noah Harari.
• The New Yorker piece called “Why Doctors Hate Their Computers” (which has been delayed since my paper copy of the New Yorker got eaten by the USPS).
• A new report about China’s military and its deep connections into American academic research

Books

• Eliot Peper’s new science fiction novel Borderless
• Daniel J Hopkins’ The Increasingly United States (about how U.S. elections are more national and less local than ever before).

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Vine Is Returning as Byte, Launching in 2019

Dom Hofmann, the co-creator of Vine, has officially announced its spiritual successor. It’s called Byte, and it’s a new looping video app that has emerged from his efforts to create Vine v2. And if everything goes according to plan Byte will arrive in Spring 2019.

A Brief History of Vine

Vine arrived on the scene in 2012. It offered a simple way of recording short looping videos of up to six seconds long. Vine caught so much early buzz that Twitter also acquired it in 2012, even before it had officially launched.

After launch, Vine gained an impressive userbase, and by 2015 boasted 200 million active users. Unfortunately, Twitter got cold feet, and in 2016, Twitter killed Vine. However, Dom Hofmann, one of Vine’s co-creators, seems determined to bring it back.

The New Vine Is Called Byte

Hofmann has been working on Vine v2 since November 2017, building a community of fans to help him. Unfortunately, in May 2017, Hofmann postponed Vine v2 indefinitely, citing “financial and legal hurdles” and claiming the “legal fees have been overwhelming”.

However, Hofmann has obviously persevered with Vine v2, which is now called Byte. Byte is described as “a new looping video app by the creator of Vine,” but how similar it will be to Vine remains to be seen. Twitter obviously won’t look kindly on an exact copy.

our new looping video app is called byte. launching spring 2019 pic.twitter.com/C3FMvkcIwc

— dom hofmann (@dhof) November 8, 2018

Byte already has a website, but don’t expect much from it. At the time of writing there’s just a logo, links to Byte’s social media accounts, and a link to the Vine v2 community. However, you can sign up by email for forthcoming updates all about Byte.

Byte Is Still a Work in Progress

Beyond the new name and the planned launch date, details are thin on the ground. We know this is going to be a looping video app in the same vein as Vine. We also know that Byte is the Vine v2 Hofmann has been developing for over a year. But nothing beyond that.

Despite only being around for a few years, Vine changed the social media landscape. Short videos are now everywhere, and some early Vine celebrities are still with us. Including Logan Paul. And even before Byte launches, there are some good Vine alternatives.

Read the full article: Vine Is Returning as Byte, Launching in 2019

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The Fastest File Transfer Methods Between PCs and Mobile Devices

Remember when files had to be split between multiple floppy disks to move them between computers? Or the inconvenience of burning and ripping data from rewritable discs? Fortunately, we’ve moved on from such primitive methods.

While file transfers have never been faster than they are today, for many of us, file transfers still feel like they take forever to complete. Why can’t there be a quick and easy way to transfer files from phone to phone or between PC and mobile devices?

Well, here are a few solutions you should check out. You may be surprised by how quickly you’ll be able to move files from now on.

Transferring Files From Windows to Windows

The best method for a Windows-to-Windows data transfer depends on how often you will make those transfers. For one-time file transfers, you’re better off using something like Bluetooth or Wi-Fi Direct.

For Bluetooth to work, both the sending and receiving Windows computer must be Bluetooth-compatible. Wi-Fi Direct is similar to Bluetooth, except files are sent and received directly over Wi-Fi instead. Wi-Fi Direct is much faster than Bluetooth, but the downside is that it isn’t as universally available across devices like Bluetooth is.

On the other hand, if you need to transfer lots of files every single day—maybe it’s part of your regular office routine or workflow—then it’ll be more convenient to set up a shared folder or shared external drive on your network that other computers can access and pull files on demand. See our intro to network-attached storage drives for details.

Transferring Files Between Windows, Mac, and Linux

In this situation, the main obstacle is that each PC may have its own unique way of storing file data. For example, most modern Windows computers use NTFS, while Mac computers use APFS or HFS+ and Linux computers use EXT3 or EXT4. (What is a file system?) Unfortunately, converting data between file systems is not always easy.

But in the case of a Windows-to-Mac data transfer, things aren’t so bad. Starting with Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard), Macs have been able to read and write in NTFS format, as long as the user makes one necessary system setting change. This means you can share a folder between Mac and Windows, then use that folder for transferring files.

See our tutorial on sharing files between Mac and Windows for more details.

The same concept can be applied to Windows-to-Linux data transfers, but the process is a little more involved.

Each computer must set up a folder for the other system to access, and you’ll need to install cifs-utils on Linux (to access Windows folders) and samba on Windows (to access Linux folders). HTG has a wonderful sharing guide that explains how to do this.

Transferring Files Between Windows and iOS

For the most part, you’ll rarely need to transfer anything between Windows and iOS except maybe music, in which case you can just go ahead and use iTunes to synchronize your media library—but iTunes tends to be a frustrating mess on Windows. The good news is, there’s a better way!

FileApp is an app, available on both iPhones and iPads, that acts as a mobile file manager. With it, you can browse and open any file that resides on the device you’re using, including formats like PDF, DOC, XLS, and PPT. (You get to decide which app the file opens in.)

But what we’re really interested in is FileApp’s ability to share files over Wi-Fi. It essentially turns your mobile device into an FTP server, allowing any computer to connect (using an FTP client) and download files.

Head over to our guide on sharing files with FileApp for step-by-step directions on how to get it set up. Note that anyone who connects will be able to view ALL files on the device!

Transferring Files Between Windows and Android

Like FileApp above, Android has several apps available on the Google Play Store that can turn any Android device into an FTP server. While FTP is active, any computer can connect, browse the Android file system, and download files on demand.

I prefer to use WiFi FTP Server by Medha Apps. It doesn’t look all that special, but it’s incredibly simple and allows you to use password-protected SFTP connections, which are more secure than plain FTP.

If you prefer to send individual files rather than opening up your device as a full-blown file server, consider using PushBullet to send files over the network to any connected computer at the tap of a button. PushBullet’s free plan has a 25MB cap on file size for transfers, but there are many alternatives to PushBullet that are worth using, including AirDroid and Send Anywhere.

Of course, you could always plug your Android device straight into your computer with a USB cable, as explained in our guide to transferring files between PC and Android.

Transferring Files Between Any Two Devices

In addition to all of the above methods, there are a few other techniques and services you can use that will likely work regardless of which devices you’re trying to bridge.

Dropbox is a strong choice. Dropbox is a cloud storage service that stores your files on their servers, and makes them accessible from any Dropbox-supported device, including Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, iOS, and any web browser. Use the provided Public folder for easy sharing of files.

The drawback of using Dropbox—or any other cloud storage service—is that your files must travel through a middleman, which is inherently less secure and less private. Plus, you have to first upload from the source device to Dropbox, then download from Dropbox to the target device. It’s a minor inconvenience, but an inconvenience nonetheless.

Another option is to transfer files over email using a file transfer service like FileMail, which is free, requires no registration, and allows files up to 50GB in size. If FileMail doesn’t work for you, there are other methods for sending large email attachments.

But the best alternative is to use a cross-platform direct file transfer app called Feem. This awesome tool is “like Bluetooth but 50X faster,” allowing you to transfer files directly from device to device as long as both devices are connected to the same Wi-Fi network. Yes, it works even if the internet doesn’t actually work.

Feem is available for Windows, Mac, Linux, Android, and iOS devices. There are a few other features too, which you can learn more about in our overview of Feem for file transfers. The one drawback is that Feem is ad-supported, and costs $5 to remove ads on up to 4 devices or $10 for up to 19 devices.

Any Other Ways to Transfer Files?

If you’re frequently shuffling files around, I’d go with Feem. If you’re working with the same files across multiple workstations, I’d stay in sync using Dropbox. But if you just need a one-off transfer, I’d go with one of the more device-specific solutions.

You should now be equipped to transfer any and all files between any two devices. If you’re also interested in quickly sending files to someone else, check out these no-nonsense ways to share files over the web.

Read the full article: The Fastest File Transfer Methods Between PCs and Mobile Devices

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LinkedIn Learning now includes 3rd party content and Q&A interactive features

LinkedIn, the Microsoft-owned social network for the working world with some 580 million users, took a big step into professional development and education when it acquired Lynda.com for $1.5 billion and used it as the anchor for LinkedIn Learning. Now, with 13,000 courses on the platform, LinkedIn is announcing two new developments to get more people using the service. It will now offer videos, tutorials and courses from third parties such as Treehouse and the publishing division of Harvard Business School. And in a social twist, people who use LinkedIn learning — the students and teachers — will now be able to ask and answer questions around LinkedIn Learning sessions, as well as follow instructors on LinkedIn, and see others’ feedback on courses.

Unlimited access to LinkedIn Learning comes when a person pays for LinkedIn’s Premium Career tier which costs around $30/month, or when a company takes an enterprise team subscription for the Learning service. Today, LinkedIn tells me that it has around 11,000 enterprise customers, and it doesn’t break out how much traffic is has overall on LinkedIn, but says that there has been a 64 percent growth in paid learners since the start of 2017 — number that it’s clearly looking to boost with these new features.

James Raybould, the director of product for LinkedIn Learning, said that the third-party expansion will come slowly at first with a handful of partners getting access to integrate with LinkedIn Learning. Over time, this could expand to be a public API for anyone to integrate content, he added, but for now LinkedIn is doing the curating.

Notably, he also said that LinkedIn itself is not planning on curtailing the amount of content it will continue to produce for Learning: it’s currently adding on average more than 70 new courses each week on average, he said.

The content in this first wave of third-party providers feels like a natural extension of the Influencer-based content that LinkedIn has been running in its main newsfeed: it runs the gamut from actual courses to learn new skills in specific disciplines, to the more nebulous area of professional development.

The first group includes Harvard ManageMentor (leadership development courses from Harvard Business School’s publishing arm); getAbstract (a Blinkist-style service that provides 10,000+ non-fiction book summaries plus TED talks); Big Think: 500 short-form videos on topics of the day (these are not so much ‘courses’ as they are ‘life lessons’ — subjects include organising activism and an explainer on how to end bi-partisan politics); Treehouse with courses on coding and product design skills; and Creative Live with courses and tutorials for professionals in the creative industries to improve their skills and business acumen.

The fact that LinkedIn is adding in more learning material that’s a natural extension of the kind of content it already offers to users in their timelines is not the only parallel between main LinkedIn and LinkedIn Learning. Raybould said that to help users discover content that might be most interesting to them, it uses data about what users browse and click on in the regular site.

“We have rich information about the network, including on engagement,” he said, and that helps LinkedIn’s algorithms suggest what to populate in individual learning libraries.

This is also, presumably, one of the reasons why third parties will want to integrate: to get new audiences that are more targeted to the kind of content they are producing:

“At Harvard Business Publishing, we work to create the world best learning experiences to help organizations discover new ways to solve their most pressing leadership development challenges,” said Rich Gravelin, Director, Partnerships and Alliances, at Harvard Business Publishing, in a statement. “As an inaugural partner in the LinkedIn Learning Content Partner Program, we are bringing rich leadership development content to professionals across the globe, helping them navigate today’s complex business landscape. Thanks to the robust platform that LinkedIn Learning has built, we’re able to meet learners where they are and provide them with the unique and personalized learning experiences they need to succeed in their organizations.”

The social features also follow this model. Last year, LinkedIn rolled out a mentorship product across selected markets to pair users with people who can give them steers on their career development. That product set out a precedent for how LinkedIn might use its wider social network and communication features to engage users in different ways, in the name of professional development.

The new addition of Q&A features follows on from that, giving those taking courses or watching videos a way of interacting and following up with those who are doing the teaching. Adding that in could see more engagement across the whole of the Learning product.

It’s a surprise, in a way, that it’s taken this long for LinkedIn to add an interactive Q&A feature in, considering that direct messaging and users interacting with each other has been a cornerstone of the product. On the other hand, it will be interesting to see if it proves to be a compelling enough feature to bring in more users to LinkedIn, luring them away from Udemy’s and Skillsofts of the world.

 

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Sneaker marketplace GOAT announces an AR-centric Black Friday giveaway

Black Friday giveaways have become a tradition for online sneaker marketplace GOAT. Today it’s announcing the details of this year’s campaign, which will be its first to incorporate augmented reality.

Director of Communications Liz Goodno described this as “the largest digital sneaker event of the year.” The company says it will be offering more than 1,000 prizes, including sneakers like the Air Jordan 1 Retro High OG Shattered Backboard, KAWSx Air Jordan 4 Retro Black, Pharrell x BBC x NMD Human Race Trail Heart/Mind, plus curated sneaker packs and up to $10,000 in GOAT credit.

You can enter the drawing anytime between now and 11:59pm Pacific on Thursday, November 22, with the winners notified at noon on Black Friday.

All participants will receive 100 tickets, but you can earn bonus tickets by visiting locations on an interactive GOAT map, which will highlight spots around the world that are tied to all-time great athletes and to sneaker history. Those locations really are global, and they include “Sneaker Street” in Hong Kong, San Francisco’s Moscone Center (where the iPhone debuted) and the location of Muhammad Ali’s historic victory over George Foreman in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Also on the list are the New York and Los Angeles locations of Flight Club, the famous sneaker retailer that GOAT merged with earlier this year. And you can earn even more tickets by sharing augmented reality graphics that superimpose a “Greatest of All Time” message, or a newspaper highlighting sneaker history, on real-world imagery.

IT Manager Clint Arndt, CEO Eddy Lu

GOAT showed off the AR capabilities at an event with Apple last week at Flight Club New York. The AR elements were built using Apple’s ARKit, and it sounds like the startup plans to do more with the technology in the future.

“We’ve always wanted to incorporate augmented reality technology,” Goodno said, but the challenge, until ARKit, was integrating the technology into the GOAT app. “As a sneaker marketplace there are so many use cases for AR.” (Nike has also been using AR to connect with sneakerheads through its SNKRS app.)

At the event, co-founder and CEO Eddy Lu also talked about the company’s plans beyond AR, saying that “next year, international is a huge thing for us” — which means it’ll be doing more to localize its apps. In addition, it’s getting ready to open its next Flight Club store, this time in Miami.

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Children are being “datafied” before we’ve understood the risks, report warns

A report by England’s children’s commissioner has raised concerns about how kids’ data is being collected and shared across the board, in both the private and public sectors.

In the report, entitled Who knows what about me?, Anne Longfield urges society to “stop and think” about what big data means for children’s lives.

Big data practices could result in a data-disadvantaged generation whose life chances are shaped by their childhood data footprint, her report warns.

The long term impacts of profiling minors when these children become adults is simply not known, she writes.

“Children are being “datafied” – not just via social media, but in many aspects of their lives,” says Longfield.

“For children growing up today, and the generations that follow them, the impact of profiling will be even greater – simply because there is more data available about them.”

By the time a child is 13 their parents will have posted an average of 1,300 photos and videos of them on social media, according to the report. After which this data mountain “explodes” as children themselves start engaging on the platforms — posting to social media 26 times per day, on average, and amassing a total of nearly 70,000 posts by age 18.

“We need to stop and think about what this means for children’s lives now and how it may impact on their future lives as adults,” warns Longfield. “We simply do not know what the consequences of all this information about our children will be. In the light of this uncertainty, should we be happy to continue forever collecting and sharing children’s data?

“Children and parents need to be much more aware of what they share and consider the consequences. Companies that make apps, toys and other products used by children need to stop filling them with trackers, and put their terms and conditions in language that children understand. And crucially, the Government needs to monitor the situation and refine data protection legislation if needed, so that children are genuinely protected – especially as technology develops,” she adds.

The report looks at what types of data is being collected on kids; where and by whom; and how it might be used in the short and long term — both for the benefit of children but also considering potential risks.

On the benefits side, the report cites a variety of still fairly experimental ideas that might make positive use of children’s data — such as for targeted inspections of services for kids to focus on areas where data suggests there are problems; NLP technology to speed up analysis of large data-sets (such as the NSPCC’s national case review repository) to find common themes and understand “how to prevent harm and promote positive outcomes”; predictive analytics using data from children and adults to more cost-effectively flag “potential child safeguarding risks to social workers”; and digitizing children’s Personal Child Health Record to make the current paper-based record more widely accessible to professionals working with children.

But while Longfield describes the increasing availability of data as offering “enormous advantages”, she is also very clear on major risks unfolding — be it to safety and well-being; child development and social dynamics; identity theft and fraud; and the longer term impact on children’s opportunity and life chances.

“In effect [children] are the “canary in the coal mine for wider society, encountering the risks before many adults become aware of them or are able to develop strategies to mitigate them,” she warns. “It is crucial that we are mindful of the risks and mitigate them.”

Transparency is lacking

One clear takeaway from the report is there is still a lack of transparency about how children’s data is being collected and processed — which in itself acts as a barrier to better understanding the risks.

“If we better understood what happens to children’s data after it is given – who collects it, who it is shared with and how it is aggregated – then we would have a better understanding of what the likely implications might be in the future, but this transparency is lacking,” Longfield writes — noting that this is true despite ‘transparency’ being the first key principle set out in the EU’s tough new privacy framework, GDPR.

The updated data protection framework did beef up protections for children’s personal data in Europe — introducing a new provision setting a 16-year-old age limit on kids’ ability to consent to their data being processed when it came into force on May 25, for example. (Although EU Member States can choose to write a lower age limit into their laws, with a hard cap set at 13.)

And mainstream social media apps, such as Facebook and Snapchat, responded by tweaking their T&Cs and/or products in the region. (Although some of the parental consent systems that were introduced to claim compliance with GDPR appear trivially easy for kids to bypass, as we’ve pointed out before.)

But, as Longfield points out, Article 5 of the GDPR states that data must be “processed lawfully, fairly and in a transparent manner in relation to individuals”.

Yet when it comes to children’s data the children’s commissioner says transparency is simply not there.

She also sees limitations with GDPR, from a children’s data protection perspective — pointing out that, for example, it does not prohibit the profiling of children entirely (stating only that it “should not be the norm”).

While another provision, Article 22 — which states that children have the right not to be subject to decisions based solely on automated processing (including profiling) if they have legal or similarly significant effects on them — also appears to be circumventable.

“They do not apply to decision-making where humans play some role, however minimal that role is,” she warns, which suggests another workaround for companies to exploit children’s data.

“Determining whether an automated decision-making process will have “similarly significant effects” is difficult to gauge given that we do not yet understand the full implications of these processes – and perhaps even more difficult to judge in the case of children,” Longfield also argues.

“There is still much uncertainty around how Article 22 will work in respect of children,” she adds. “The key area of concern will be in respect of any limitations in relation to advertising products and services and associated data protection practices.”

Recommendations

The report makes a series of recommendations for policymakers, with Longfield calling for schools to “teach children about how their data is collected and used, and what they can do to take control of their data footprints”.

She also presses the government to consider introducing an obligation on platforms that use “automated decision-making to be more transparent about the algorithms they use and the data fed into these algorithms” — where data collected from under 18s is used.

Which would essentially place additional requirements on all mainstream social media platforms to be far less opaque about the AI machinery they use to shape and distribute content on their platforms at vast scale. Given that few — if any — could claim not to have no under 18s using their platforms.

She also argues that companies targeting products at children have far more explaining to do, writing: 

Companies producing apps, toys and other products aimed at children should be more transparent about any trackers capturing information about children. In particular where a toy collects any video or audio generated by a child this should be made explicit in a prominent part of the packaging or its accompanying information. It should be clearly stated if any video or audio content is stored on the toy or elsewhere and whether or not it is transmitted over the internet. If it is transmitted, parents should also be told whether or not it will be encrypted during transmission or when stored, who might analyse or process it and for what purposes. Parents should ask if information is not given or unclear.

Another recommendation for companies is that terms and conditions should be written in a language children can understand.

(Albeit, as it stands, tech industry T&Cs can be hard enough for adults to scratch the surface of — let alone have enough hours in the day to actually read.)

Photo: SementsovaLesia/iStock

A recent U.S. study of kids apps, covered by BuzzFeed News, highlighted that mobile games aimed at kids can be highly manipulative, describing instances of apps making their cartoon characters cry if a child does not click on an in-app purchase, for example.

A key and contrasting problem with data processing is that it’s so murky; applied in the background so any harms are far less immediately visible because only the data processor truly knows what’s being done with people’s — and indeed children’s — information.

Yet concerns about exploitation of personal data are stepping up across the board. And essentially touch all sectors and segments of society now, even as risks where kids are concerned may look the most stark.

This summer the UK’s privacy watchdog called for an ethical pause on the use by political campaigns of online ad targeting tools, for example, citing a range of concerns that data practices have got ahead of what the public knows and would accept.

It also called for the government to come up with a Code of Practice for digital campaigning to ensure that long-standing democratic norms are not being undermined.

So the children’s commissioner’s appeal for a collective ‘stop and think’ where the use of data is concerned is just one of a growing number of raised voices policymakers are hearing.

One thing is clear: Calls to quantify what big data means for society — to ensure powerful data-mining technologies are being applied in ways that are ethical and fair for everyone — aren’t going anywhere.

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Master Microsoft Office with 38 Hours of Training for $29

If you work behind a desk, chances are you have to use Microsoft Office every day. But how many of us have actually mastered the software? If you want to improve your skills, the A to Z Microsoft Office Bundle is a great place to start. This learning library provides eight courses and over 38 hours of video instruction, covering Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, and other key apps. Right now, it’s just $29 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Office Skills

As digital skills continue to grow in importance, many companies are looking to recruit people with good Microsoft Office skills. If you want to jump the queue, this bundle can help.

Through concise video tutorials, you learn how to format perfect documents in Word, and crunch the numbers with Excel formulas. This includes the basics, along with lessons on advanced features such as Vlookup, PivotTable and macros.

The bundle can also help you to design eye-catching PowerPoint presentations; set up and manage large data sets with Microsoft Access; and produce compelling visualizations using Microsoft Power BI. These skills are particularly valuable if you plan to work in marketing, sales, or business.

Each track starts from scratch, and you can learn at your own pace. What’s more, you can claim a certificate of completion for every course — a great addition to any résumé.

38 Hours for $29

These courses are worth $1,592 in total, but you can grab the bundle now for just $29.

Read the full article: Master Microsoft Office with 38 Hours of Training for $29

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Flickr Promises Not to Delete Creative Commons Photos

Flickr’s new owners have promised not to delete photos uploaded under a Creative Commons license. So, while SmugMug has taken flak for limiting free Flickr users to 1,000 photos, the company deserves credit for not gutting the Commons archive.

Flickr Recognizes the Value of Commons Photos

In a Flickr blog post, Don MacAskill, the CEO of SmugMug, explains that photos uploaded under a Commons license are safe from the chop. Flickr Commons Photos will not be deleted, and Creative Commons photos uploaded before November 1, 2018, are also safe.

Thank you to @DonMacAskill @SmugMug for their commitment to preserving the millions of CC licensed photos on @Flickr
We look forward to seeing how communities continue to grow on the platform, working together for a more equitable and innovative future.https://t.co/txh6xTtAWg

— Creative Commons (@creativecommons) November 7, 2018

The caveat is that if a free user has more than 1,000 photos, they won’t be able to upload any more photos, CC license or not, unless and until they upgrade to a Pro account. Thankfully, Flickr is offering free Pro accounts to charitable organizations.

Ryan Merkley, the CEO of Creative Commons, said:

“We’ll be working with Flickr to look for ways to continue growing and archiving the commons. When Flickr users apply CC licenses to their works, they are inviting everyone to use their works freely and with very few restrictions. That’s an incredible gift to the world, and that generosity should be acknowledged and preserved into perpetuity for everyone to enjoy.”

Unfortunately, this offer only applies to photos uploaded with a CC license before November 1, 2018. Which means you can’t suddenly switch all of your Flickr photos to a CC license in order to circumvent the new limit on free accounts.

While we can understand Flickr’s reasons for this, it’s actually a bit of a shame. Waiving the 1,000 photos limit for all CC-licensed images, no matter when they were uploaded, could have led to an influx of photos being offered under a CC license.

Act Now Before Flickr Starts Deleting Your Photos

Keeping photos licensed under The Flickr Commons or Creative Commons online and available to everyone is important. Especially as many of us have already used these images on our websites, and so don’t want to see them suddenly disappear from view.

Assuming you haven’t uploaded your photos under a Commons license you may need to download your Flickr photos at their original resolutions before the new limits come into force. Because, come February 2019, Flickr is set to start actively deleting your photos.

Read the full article: Flickr Promises Not to Delete Creative Commons Photos

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Facebook’s Portal Video Chat Devices Are Now Available

Google walkout organizers aren’t satisfied with CEO’s response

Organizers of the massive walkouts at Google last week are — rightfully so — not letting up on their demands. Earlier this morning, Google CEO Sundar Pichai responded to some of their demands, outlining how Google is getting rid of forced arbitration for sexual harassment and sexual assault claims, offering more transparency around those investigations and more.

While Google did make some changes, the company did not address all of the organizers’ demands. For example, Google failed to elevate its chief diversity officer to report directly to Pichai and also ignored the organizers’ request to add an employee representative to the board of directors.

In the Medium post today, the organizers commended Google’s process while also noting how Pichai’s response did not address many of the core demands. In the post, they write:

However, the response ignored several of the core demands — like elevating the diversity officer and employee representation on the board — and troublingly erased those focused on racism, discrimination, and the structural inequity built into the modern day Jim Crow class system that separates ‘full time’ employees from contract workers. Contract workers make up more than half of Google’s workforce, and perform essential roles across the company, but receive few of the benefits associated with tech company employment. They are also largely people of color, immigrants, and people from working class backgrounds.

“The process by which we build a truly equitable culture must center the voices of black women, immigrants, and people of color — those who too often pay the most in the face of these intersecting problems,” Google employee and walkout organizer Demma Rodriguez said in the Medium post. “We are committed to making this happen, because true equity depends on it.”

The worldwide walkout of 20,000 Google employees and contractors came in response to a damning New York Times report regarding Google’s handling of sexual harassment investigations. Moving forward, the organizers say they will not let up on the demands “most urgent for women of color: an employee representative on the board, elevating the chief diversity officer, greater transparency on and an end to opportunity inequity at Google and beyond” and looks “forward to meeting with Google leadership in working to meet all of our demands.”

I’ve reached out to Google and will update this story if I hear back.

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SpaceX’s Starlink aims to put over a thousand of its communications satellites in super-low orbit

SpaceX’s planned communication satellite constellation, known as Starlink, will now be targeting a much lower orbit than originally planned, at least for over a thousand of the satellites, the company revealed in an FCC filing. The move should help mitigate orbital debris and provide better signal for the company’s terrestrial users as well.

Starlink plans to put 1,584 satellites — about a third of the 4,409 the company aims to launch — in an orbit just 550 kilometers about the surface of the Earth. For comparison, many communications satellites are in orbits over twice as high, and geosynchronous orbits are more than 20 times further out (around 36,000 miles).

At that distance orbits decay quickly, falling into the atmosphere and burning up after a handful of years. But SpaceX isn’t daunted; in fact, it writes in its application, lower orbits offer “several attractive features both during nominal operation and in the unlikely event something goes wrong.”

In the first place, orbital debris problems are naturally mitigated by the fact that anything in that low orbit will fall to Earth quickly instead of cluttering up the orbit. Second, it should shorten the amount of time it takes to send and receive a signal from the satellites — ping time could be as low as 15 milliseconds, the company estimated. 500 fewer kilometers means there will be less spreading for beam-based communications, as well.

The satellites will have to do more work to stay at their optimal altitude, since atmospheric drag will be higher, and each one will be able to see and serve less of the planet. But with thousands working together, that should be manageable.

SpaceX successfully launches Falcon 9 carrying Starlink demo satellites

The decision was informed by experimental data from the “Tintin” test satellites the company launched earlier this year. “SpaceX has learned to mitigate the disadvantages of operating at a lower altitude and still reap the well-know and significant benefits discussed above,” it wrote.

This change could lead to competitive advantages when satellite communications are more widely used, but it will also likely lead to a more intensive upkeep operation as Starlink birds keep dropping out of the air. Fortunately a third benefit of the lower orbit is that it’s easier to reach, though probably not so much easier that the company breaks even.

Starlink is aiming for the first real launches of its systems early next year, though that timeline may be a little too ambitious. But SpaceX can do ambitious.

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Gift Guide: 11 picture perfect gifts for your photographer friends

Photographers are tricky to get gifts for because every one of them has preferences they may already have spent years indulging. But we have blind spots, we photographers. We will spend thousands on lenses but never buy a proper camera bag, or properly back up our shots, or splurge for a gadget that makes certain shots ten times easier. Scroll on for gift recommendations that any photographer can appreciate.

Gnarbox or Western Digital backup drive

Okay, these are definitely expensive, so keep scrolling if you’re on a budget, but they can also totally change how someone shoots. If your photographer/loved one tends to travel or go out into the wilderness when they shoot, a backup solution is a must. These drives act as self-contained rugged backup solutions, letting you offload your SD card at the end of a shoot and preview the contents, no laptop required.

They’ve been around for years but early ones were pretty janky and “professional” ones cost thousands. The latest generation, typified by the Gnarbox and Western Digital’s devices, strike a balance and have been pretty well-reviewed.

The Gnarbox is the better device (faster, much better interface and tools), but it’s more expensive — the latest version with 256 GB of space onboard (probably the sweet spot in terms of capacity) costs $400. A comparable WD device costs about half that. If you and a couple friends want to throw down together, I’d recommend getting the former, but both do more or less the same thing.

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Microfiber wipes

On the other end of the price spectrum, but no less important, are lens and screen wipes. One of the best things I ever did for myself was order a big pack of these things and stash them in every jacket, coin pocket, and bag I own. Now when anyone needs their glasses, lens, phone, laptop screen, or camera LCD cleaned, I’m right there and sometimes even give them the cloth to keep. I’ve been buying these and they’re good, but there are lots more sizes and packs to choose from.

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SD cards and hard cases

Most cameras use SD cards these days, and photographers can never have too many of them. Anything larger than 16 GB is useful — just make sure it’s name brand. A nice touch would be to buy an SD card case that holds eight or ten of the things. Too many photographers (myself included) keep their cards in little piles, drawers, pockets and so on. A nice hardcase for cards is always welcome — Pelican is the big brand for these, but as long as it isn’t from the bargain bin another brand is fine.

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Moment smartphone lens case

The best camera is the one you have with you, and more often than not, even for photographers, that’s a phone. There are lots of stick-on, magnet-on, and so on lens sets but Moment’s solution seems the most practical. You use their cases — mostly tasteful, fortunately — and pick serious lenses to pop into the built-in mount.

Moment lenses — the DSLR killer?

The optics are pretty good and the lenses are big but not so big they’ll weigh down a purse or jacket pocket. Be sure to snoop and figure out what model phone your friend is using.

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Waxed canvas camera bag (or any good one really)

Every photographer should have a padded, stylish bag for their gear. I’m partial to waxed canvas, and of the ones I recently reviewed I think the ONA Union Street is the best one out there as far as combination camera/day trip bags go. That said everyone is into these Peak design ones as well.

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Lomo’Instant Automat or Fujifilm SQ6 instant film camera

Everyone shoots digital these days, but if it’s a party or road trip you’re going on and capturing memories is the goal, an instant film camera might be the best bet. I’ve been using an Automat since they raised money on Kickstarter and I’ve loved this thing: the mini film isn’t too expensive, the shooting process is pleasantly analog but not too difficult, and the camera itself is compact and well designed.

If on the other hand you’d like something a little closer to the Polaroids of yore (without spending the cash on a retro one and Impossible film) then the Fujifilm SQ6 is probably your best bet. It’s got autofocus rather than zone focus, meaning it’s dead simple to operate, but it has lots of options if you want to tweak the exposure.

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Circular polarizer filter

Our own photo team loves these filters, which pop onto the end of a lens and change the way light comes through it. This one in particular lets the camera see more detail in clouds and otherwise change the way a scene with a top and bottom half looks. Everyone can use one, and even if they already have one, it’s good to have spares. Polaroid is a good brand for these but again, any household name with decent reviews should be all right.

The only issue here is that you need to get the right size. Next time you see your friend’s camera lying around, look at the lens that’s on it. Inside the front of it, right next to the glass, there should be a millimeter measurement — NOT the one on the side of the lens, that’s the focal length. The number on the end of the lens tells you the diameter of filter to get.

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Wireless shutter release

If you’re taking a group photo or selfie, you can always do the classic 10 second timer hustle, but if you don’t want to leave anything to chance a wireless remote is clutch. These things basically just hit the shutter button for you, though some have things like mode switches and so on.

Unfortunately, a bit like filters, shutter release devices are often model-specific. The big camera companies have their own, but if you want to be smart about it go for a cross-platform device like the Hama DCCSystem. These can be a bit hard to find so don’t feel bad about getting the camera-specific kind instead.

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Blackrapid strap (or any nice custom strap)

Another pick from our video and photo team, Blackrapid’s cross-body straps take a little time to get used to, but make a lot of sense. The camera hangs upside-down and you grab it with one hand and bring it to shooting position with one movement. When you’re done, it sits out of the way instead of bumping into your chest. And because it attaches to the bottom plate of your camera, you don’t have the straps in the way pretty much from any angle you want to hold the camera in.

If you feel confident your photographer friend isn’t into this unorthodox style of shooting, don’t worry — a nice “normal” strap is also a great gift. Having a couple to choose from, especially ones that can be swapped out quickly, is always nice in case one is damaged or unsuitable for a certain shoot.

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Adobe subscription

Most photographers use Adobe software, usually Lightroom or Photoshop, and unlike back in the day you don’t just buy a copy of these any more — it’s a subscription. Fortunately you can still buy a year of it for someone in what amounts to gift card form. Unfortunately you can’t buy half a year or whatever fits your budget — it’s the $120 yearly photography bundle or nothing.

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Print services

Too many digital photos end up sitting on hard drives, only to be skimmed now and then or uploaded to places like Facebook in much-degraded form. But given the chance (and a gift certificate from you) they’ll print giant versions of their favorite shots and be glad they did it.

I bought a nice printer a long while back and print my own shots now, so I haven’t used these services. However I trust Wirecutter’s picks, Nations Photo Lab and AdoramaPix. $30-$40 will go a long way.

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Facebook removed 14 million pieces of terrorist content this year, and the numbers are rising

Facebook must exert constant vigilance to prevent its platform from being taken over by ne’er-do-wells, but how exactly it does that is only really known to itself. Today, however, the company has graced us with a bit of data on what tools it’s using and what results they’re getting — for instance, more than 14 million pieces of “terrorist content” removed this year so far.

More than half of that 14 million was old content posted before 2018, some of which had been sitting around for years. But as Facebook points out, that content may very well have also been unviewed that whole time. It’s hard to imagine a terrorist recruitment post going unreported for 970 days (the median age for content in Q1) if it was seeing any kind of traffic.

Perhaps more importantly, the numbers of newer content removed (with, to Facebook’s credit, a quickly shrinking delay) appear to be growing steadily. In Q1, 1.2 million items were removed; in Q2, 2.2 million; in Q3, 2.3 million. User-reported content removals are growing as well, though they are much smaller in number — around 16,000 in Q3. Indeed, 99 percent of it, Facebook proudly reports, is removed “proactively.”

Something worth noting: Facebook is careful to avoid positive or additive verbs when talking about this content, for instance it won’t say that “terrorists posted 2.3 million pieces of content,” but rather that was the number of “takedowns” or content “surfaced.” This type of phrasing is more conservative and technically correct, as they can really only be sure of their own actions, but it also serves to soften the fact that terrorists are posting hundreds of thousands of items monthly.

The numbers are hard to contextualize. Is this a lot or a little? Both, really. The amount of content posted to Facebook is so vast that almost any number looks small next to it, even a scary one like 14 million pieces of terrorist propaganda.

It is impressive, however, to hear that Facebook has greatly expanded the scope of its automated detection tools:

Our experiments to algorithmically identify violating text posts (what we refer to as “language understanding”) now work across 19 languages.

And it fixed a bug that was massively slowing down content removal:

In Q2 2018, the median time on platform for newly uploaded content surfaced with our standard tools was about 14 hours, a significant increase from Q1 2018, when the median time was less than 1 minute. The increase was prompted by multiple factors, including fixing a bug that prevented us from removing some content that violated our policies, and rolling out new detection and enforcement systems.

The Q3 number is two minutes. It’s a work in progress.

No doubt we all wish the company had applied this level of rigor somewhat earlier, but it’s good to know that the work is being done. Notable is that a great deal of this machinery is not focused on simply removing content, but on putting it in front of the constantly growing moderation team. So the most important bit is still, thankfully and heroically, done by people.

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Is Apple’s 11-Inch iPad Pro Worth It? 7 Factors to Consider

Apple has always positioned its iPad Pro line as the computing device of the future. That vision continues to take shape with the 2018 models.

Today, we’re taking a look at four reasons to take the plunge and purchase the new 11-inch iPad, plus three reasons Apple’s newest tablet might not be for you.

Reasons to Buy the 11-Inch iPad Pro

While the new iPad Pro might not be for everyone, here are some great reasons to upgrade.

1. It Brings iPhone X Technology to the iPad Line

The iPhone X brought a number of new technologies into the fold, most notably Face ID. Thanks to the next-generation biometric technology, Apple bid farewell to the home button and Touch ID. In its place, Face ID uses special technology to recognize your face and unlock a device.

Despite some initial concern, Face ID works brilliantly and is easily one of the best parts of the iPhone X line. It works as quickly as Touch ID and is even more secure. As a big plus, since there’s no need for a home button and fingerprint scanner, the screen can take up the majority of the device. That means saying goodbye to bezels (mostly).

Now all these advantages are available on the 11-inch iPad Pro. Even though the overall dimensions are similar to the 10.5-inch model, the screen is half an inch larger since Apple didn’t have to worry about the home button.

Unlike the iPhone X line, there’s no notch on the screen for the Face ID sensor. So you’ll be able to use a tablet that’s almost all screen. And another big advantage compared to the iPhone is that Face ID on the iPad will work in both portrait and landscape mode.

2. The USB-C Connection Opens Up a World of New Possibilities

Another big change to the 11-inch iPad Pro is smaller than the screen but easily as important. Instead of a Lightning connector for charging, Apple has made the move to USB-C.

That vastly expands the number of accessories you can use with an iPad. Some of the options include the ability to transfer data to and from devices like cameras; it can even drive up to a 5K external monitor. In fact, you’ll be able to charge an iPhone using the USB-C port on the iPad Pro, as long as you have the correct cable. Just make sure you know how to buy a USB-C cable that won’t destroy your device.

In the future, with updates to iOS, Apple could make the USB-C connection even more useful by supporting external storage devices and maybe even mice. And as USB-C continues to become the standard across the industry, Apple is setting up the iPad Pro to be a true computer replacement now and in the years to come.

3. It’s Made for the Present and the Future

Speaking of the future, the A12X Bionic processor powering the 11-inch (and revamped 12.9-inch) iPad Pro is made for the apps of the present and future. Thanks to a new performance controller, the device can use all eight cores of the processor simultaneously. This offers up to a 90 percent boost compared to the A10X processor in the 10.5-inch iPad Pro. Apple says that the processor is faster than a whopping 92 percent of portable PCs.

On the graphics side of the equation, the GPU provides up to twice the performance of the previous generation processor.

As both the hardware and software continue to mature, and with more true professional-grade apps available for iPad users, the current 11-inch iPad Pro should easily be able to handle the most demanding apps for many years to come.

4. Paired With the Apple Pencil, It’s Perfect for Creative Users

The iPad Pro isn’t the only device that Apple redesigned. One of the best parts of the iPad Pro experience has been the optional Apple Pencil. The first-generation stylus was a perfect way for you to draw, or to enhance your usual note-taking on the tablet.

And the newest model takes the original stylus and adds a number of much-needed improvements. The best news is that the annoying cap and Lightning connector are gone. In its place, the Apple Pencil will now magnetically attach to the tablet for both charging and pairing.

When using the stylus, which now offers a matte finish and a squared edge, you can double-tap to select a different tool or brush. Third-party developers will also be able to integrate the tap gesture into their Pencil-compatible apps.

Reasons Not to Buy the 11-inch iPad Pro

On the other side of the coin, there are some strong arguments why you should not buy the 11-inch iPad Pro and look for another Apple tablet.

1. It’s the Most Expensive iPad Pro Ever

You’re not dreaming; the 11-inch iPad Pro is a big step up in the price category. The 64GB, 256GB, and 512GB flavors of the Wi-Fi-only model are $150 more than the previous generation 10.5-inch iPad Pro. And the new 1TB version tops out at $1,549.

The second-generation Apple Pencil is $129, which is $30 more than the original. An Apple Smart Keyboard Folio, even though it offers complete protection, is $30 more expensive than the Smart Keyboard for the previous iPad Pro.

For a complete package of a Wi-Fi + Cellular 1TB iPad Pro, Apple Pencil, and Apple Smart Keyboard Folio, you’ll be out $2,007. The same 12.9-inch model with all the accessories would be $2,207. That’s a steep price to pay—more than most of Apple’s high-end laptops.

2. iOS Software Lags Behind the iPad Pro Hardware

While the 11-inch iPad Pro hardware is made for the long haul, the same can’t be said for iOS. When Apple unveiled the iPad in 2010, the fact that both the iPhone and tablet used the same operating system (with access to the App Store) helped the iPad become popular so quickly.

Now those same two issues are arguably holding the iPad Pro back. Apple finally took the time to add a number of features specifically for the iPad in iOS 11. Even so, the OS still holds the iPad back from being a true multitasking powerhouse like a Mac.

On the app side, Apple has also been unable to convince developers to bring desktop-class offerings to iOS devices. With the change to subscription apps, that could eventually change. But it’s looking like a slow process.

3. The Future Leaves a Number of Features Behind

The 11-inch iPad Pro offers a number of impressive features. But it also leaves a number of others behind. One of the biggest of these is the headphone jack. Just like with the iPhone line, Apple made the choice to drop the ubiquitous audio port in the name of making the iPad smaller and thinner.

While you can still use wired headphones with the tablet, your purchase doesn’t even include a USB-C to 3.5mm jack adapter. After spending a cool thousand on an iPad, you’ll still need to purchase the $9 adapter separately. When using the adapter, you’ll be unable to charge the tablet. And forget your Lightning cable headphones, as those won’t work with the new USB-C port.

You’ll also have to say goodbye to Touch ID with the 11-inch iPad Pro. While Face ID works just as well, many users have grown fond of the fingerprint-based authentication method. Face ID requires some change as you need to look directly at the screen, so there’s no more unlocking an iPad lying on a table.

So if you’re averse to change, beware this model.

Taking the iPad Pro Name to Heart

If you’re looking for the most bleeding-edge technology in an Apple tablet, and have the money to spend, it’s hard to go wrong with the 11-inch iPad. It should easily meet your needs now and for many years to come.

But if you want to spend less money and mostly use your iPad for basic tasks like web surfing or watching videos, the 2018 iPad or the 10.5-inch iPad Pro should be more up your alley.

And even if you’re not ready to spend the cash to upgrade, Apple has continued to add great features to the iOS software. One of the best is the iPad dock that provides a better way to switch apps and multitask.

Read the full article: Is Apple’s 11-Inch iPad Pro Worth It? 7 Factors to Consider

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How to Script a Voice-Sensitive Robot Animation in p5.js

JavaScript is the language of the internet. Working in front-end development without it is impossible. For beginners, kids especially, it can be challenging to get used to the language’s syntax.

To complete novices, even installing and running a local server in the browser can be a stumbling block. What if there was a way to make something cool with JavaScript, without installing anything? Enter p5.js, a coding library designed with creativity in mind.

Here’s how to make a sound reactive animated robot head using some simple coding principles.

What Is p5.js?

The p5.js library was created by Los Angeles Based artist Lauren MacCarthy. It is designed to provide a similar platform to Processing, for creative expression and art. Clear tools go along with well explained tutorials and reference documents to make it perfect for beginners.

Whether you are making animations, music, simple games, or even connecting to external hardware, p5.js can help.

The p5.js Editor

To begin, open your browser window and navigate to the p5.js web editor. Before starting, there are two optional steps.

1. You must be signed in to p5.js to save your sketches, so making an account is advisable. Signing up is free, and you can use your Google or GitHub account to sign in if you wish.

2. Click on the settings cog wheel in the top right corner. Here you can alter the theme and text size for all of you dark theme lovers out there.

The p5.js editor combines a code editor, console, and output window in the same space. So far there are two functions already set up for you.

Basics of p5.js

Every p5.js sketch begins with two elements. The setup() function, and the draw() function. To those of you who have programmed an Arduino before, this will be familiar!

function setup() {
  createCanvas(500, 500);
}

The setup() function runs at the start of your program. In this case, setup creates a 400-pixel square canvas. Change this to (500, 500) for a slightly bigger area to work.

Setup runs only once and is used to create the parts needed for your program, along with initial values for your program.

function draw() {
  background(220);
}

The draw() method is called every frame. This works much like the loop function on Arduino, or the update function in Unity 3D. Anything that needs to change in your sketch happens here. For now, the background gets redrawn every frame. At the top you’ll see two icons, play and stop. Click play.

This is the program so far—a 500×500 canvas with a grey background,

Creating a Shape

Working with shapes in p5.js is a little different to the preset shape objects used the mo.js web animation tutorial. To create a simple ellipse, add this to the code in the draw() method, just below where you set the background color.

function draw() {
  background(220);
  ellipse(250,250,50)
}

The ellipse() method takes several arguments. The first two are its X and Y position on the canvas. Since the canvas is 500 pixels wide, setting these two values to 250 puts the ellipse in the center. The third argument is the width of the circle—in this case, 50 pixels.

So you have a background and a circle, but it doesn’t look all that good. Time to fix that.

Adding Some Style

Begin by changing the background color. The number in the brackets represents a grayscale value. So, 0 is black, and 255 is white, with different shades of grey in between. To make the background black, change this value to 0.

function draw() {
  background(0);
  ellipse(250,250,50);
}

Now when you click play the background will be black. To give the circle some color, we will want to affect its RGB (red green and blue) values individually. Create some variables at the top of your script (right at the start, before the setup function) to store these values.

var r, g, b;

In the setup function, set the value of r to 255, and give the others a value of 0. Its combined RGB color will be bright red!

r=255;
g=0;
b=0;

To apply the color to the circle, add a fill() call to the draw method, just before drawing the circle.

  fill(r,g,b);
  ellipse(250,250,50);

Now click play, and you should see a red circle on a black background.

Making the circle is a good start, but adding interactivity is where it gets really interesting!

Click to Change Color

Adding code to run on a mouse click is quite easy in p5.js. Create a new function below the draw() method.

function mousePressed() {
  r = random(256);
  g = random(256);
  b = random(256);
}

The mousePressed() listens for any mouse presses and carries out the code inside the brackets. The random() function returns a random value between 0 and a given number. In this case, you are setting the r, g, and b values to between 0 and 255 on each mouse press.

Rerun the code, and click the mouse a few times. The circle should change color when you do.

Now your animation is reactive to mouse clicks, but what about using the user’s voice?

Setting Up Voice Control

Using the system mic is made easy with the p5.js sound library. At the top of your script, create a new variable called mic.

var r, g, b;
var mic;

Add these lines to your setup() function to assign mic to the audio input.

mic = new p5.AudioIn()
mic.start();

When you click play now, you will get a dialog box asking permission to access the onboard mic.

Click Allow. Depending on which browser you use, it may remember your choice, or you may have to click a box confirming. Now the mic is set up, and it’s time to put it to use.

Scaling by Volume

To use the volume of the microphone as a value in your program, you’ll need to store it as a variable. Change your draw() method to look like this:

function draw() {
  var micLevel = mic.getLevel();
  background(0);
  fill(r,g,b);
  ellipse(250,250,50 + micLevel * 2000);  
}

At the start of the function, a new variable called micLevel is created, and assigned to the current microphone amplitude.

The ellipse had a fixed width of 50 pixels. Now 50 pixels is the minimum width, added to the micLevel value which updates every frame. The number the micLevel multiplies with will vary depending on the sensitivity of your microphone.

Experiment with higher values—a value of 5000 will create a more dramatic change in scale!

Note: if this does not work for you, your microphone may not be set up correctly. The browser uses the system default microphone, and you may need to modify your sound settings and refresh.

Constructing the Robot

Now you have all the tools needed to create the robot. First, move the ellipse you have created, and add another one to make the eyes.

  ellipse(150,150,50 + micLevel * 2000);  
  ellipse(350,150,100 +micLevel * 2000);

The “teeth” are a series of rectangles extending from the bottom of the screen. Note that the rect() method requires an extra parameter for its fixed width.

    rect(0, 500,100, -100 -micLevel * 5000);
    rect(400, 500,100, -100 -micLevel * 5000);
    rect(100, 500,100, -100 -micLevel * 3000);
    rect(300, 500,100, -100 -micLevel * 3000);
    rect(200, 500,100, -100 -micLevel * 1000);

This time, you only want the height of the teeth to change, and to give the “smiling” effect they must have different sensitivities. The minimum height is -100 (as it comes up from the bottom of the canvas), so the micLevel must also be a negative number.

Click play, and you should see an almost finished robot face!

Once again, you may need to tweak your multiplier numbers for the best results.

Adding Finishing Touches

Add pupils to the eyes with even more ellipse() calls. Use another fill() to make them white. Add this to your draw() method, below the “teeth” you just created.

fill(255);
ellipse(150,150,20 + micLevel * 1000);
ellipse(345,150,30 + micLevel * 1000);

Finally, to give the whole piece a little definition, change the stroke weight in your setup() function

strokeWeight(5);

That’s it!

If anything isn’t working, check your code thoroughly, and you can see the full code from this tutorial in the p5 editor if needed.

Moving Forward With p5.js

This beginner tutorial covers some basic concepts with p5.js, showing just how easy it is to be creative. As always, this project barely scrapes the surface of all that p5.js is capable of.

Spending time creating art with p5.js is time well spent, as you are familiarizing yourself with thinking like a programmer and JavaScript syntax. These are all important skills to take forward if you decide to dive in wholeheartedly and really learn JavaScript!

Read the full article: How to Script a Voice-Sensitive Robot Animation in p5.js

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