Everyone has to have a podcast, apparently. Even Facebook. The social network this week launched its second-ever original podcast series, and its first one in the U.S. An arm of Facebook’s business operation, the new show “Three and a Half Degrees” will focus on entrepreneurship – specifically the lessons learned, challenges faced, and other insights from successful business leaders.
The name is a reference to how technology has made it easier to connect – today, people are no longer six degrees apart, but only three and a half degrees, the company says.
“I consider it part of our mission to help the businesses we work with learn from one another,” explains David Fischer, Facebook’s VP of Business and Marketing Partnerships. “One way we’re doing this is with the new podcast ‘Three And A Half Degrees: The Power of Connection.’ Through the podcast, we hope to celebrate the journeys of entrepreneurs and business leaders on our platform, and scale their inspiring life lessons and learnings to other entrepreneurs and leaders,” he says.
Facebook today has over 90 million businesses using its platform, so it makes sense that it wants to further establish itself as a place where established businesses can share their knowledge with newcomers. Those smaller businesses could then grow to become a more active part of Facebook’s larger business network, which keeps the cycle – and the ad dollars – flowing.
Fischer will serve as podcast host, and kicks off the first episode with an interview with the creator of TOMS, Blake Mycoskie, who is introduced on the show to Bryan and Bradford Manning. The Mannings say they were inspired by TOMS to start their own charitable business, Two Blind Brothers. The overall focus for the episode is on brands that prioritize their social mission over profit and growth.
Future episodes will include Monique & Chevalo from Charleston Burger Co. & Chris Kempcziski from McDonald’s (ep 2); Stephanie McMahon from WWE & Gary Vaynerchuk from Vayner Media (ep 3); ictor Lezama from PC Landing Zone & Jake Wood from Team Rubicon (ep 4); Suzanne Gildert from Sanctuary and Kindred AI & Beth Comstock, formerly with GE (ep 5); Antionette Carroll from Creative Reaction Lab & Jonathan Mildenhall from TwentyFirstCenturyBrand (ep 6); Ben Rattray from Change.org & Advisor Chip Conley (ep 7).
This first season includes just these seven episodes and fourteen guests, with new episodes arriving every two weeks.
It’s not a long season, and Facebook hasn’t yet confirmed plans to do another, we understand. That makes the “podcast” a bit more like a marketing initiative rather than a serious attempt at entering the podcasting market.
The podcast is also not monetized. The company has no plans to sell ad space within the podcast, either. It will be marketed across Facebook and Instagram.
Though this is the first time Facebook has done a podcast in the U.S., it has experimented in this space previously. Last summer, it tried a similar effort in Australia where leading marketers talked about connecting with consumers, in a podcast called Face 2 Face. That one seems to have even more of a tie to Facebook’s own bottom line. (Connect with consumers? Social ads, of course!).
This one is takes a step back from the nitty-gritty of reaching consumers through spending on marketing and ads, but rather on the business leaders themselves.
The vibe of the podcast is one of a highly-produced effort. It doesn’t begin as a sit-down, informal back-and-forth chat, but one where pre-recorded interviews are intercut with host narration and storytelling. It’s not until nearly halfway through before the introduction between Mycskie and the Mannings is made. At that point, it shifts from being a sort of NPR-Lite style effort, and one where you’re listening to a conversation – albeit one with a polished, media-trained exec like Mycskie.
Unfortunately, this more compelling part of the program is far too short, and quickly wrapped up with the host summarizing the learnings.
The new U.S. podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, and TuneIn.
Netflix is raising its prices again, and this time it’s the biggest price hike in Netflix’s history. Netflix hasn’t officially explained its reasons for raising prices, but the streaming service produces more original content than ever, and that isn’t cheap.
Netflix Raises Prices to Pay for Change
Netflix has evolved massively over the years. It once focused on sending DVDs through the mail, but now that’s a small part of its business. It has also switched from delivering old content for people to rewatch to delivering new content exclusive to Netflix.
To deliver these changes Netflix has had to raise its prices regularly. Its most recent price hike was in 2017, when the Standard and Premium plans both became more expensive. Now, all three of Netflix’s subscription plans are going up in price.
How Much Is Netflix Raising Prices By?
According to the Associated Press, Netflix is raising its prices by between 13 percent and 18 percent, depending on which subscription plan you’re on. This represents the biggest price increase Netflix has enacted since launching its streaming service.
Netflix is raising prices for all of its U.S. subscribers. It's most popular plan will go from $11 to $13 per month. The company says the price increase will help pay for original shows and finance debt. https://t.co/JMiAIcTehc
The Basic plan (SD on one device) jumps from $7.99/month to $8.99/month. The Standard plan (HD on two devices) jumps from $10.99/month to $12.99/month. And the Premium plan (4K on four devices), jumps from $13.99/month to $15.99/month.
Everyone in the U.S. and most of Latin America will be hit with the price rises, as it’s set to affect everyone who Netflix bills in U.S. dollars. New subscribers will be hit immediately, with the price increases rolling out to existing subscribers over the next few months.
Are Netflix’s Price Hikes Justified?
In a statement, Netflix said, “We change pricing from time to time as we continue investing in great entertainment and improving the overall Netflix experience”. The question is whether subscribers will be happy to pay extra for the original content.
While Netflix’s price hikes are currently limited to the U.S. and its close neighbors, the chances are other countries will follow. We’ve previously argued that you should be happy to pay more for Netflix, but the higher the prices climb, the harder they are to justify.
Our verdict of the Librem 13:
A slimline ultraportable MacBook rival with the tightest security and privacy you'll see on any commercially available computer, the Librem 13 is one of the most stunning laptops you'll ever use. Unique security features push the price up, but if you're happy to use Linux, this is ideal.810
Concerned by failings in digital privacy and security? Feel as though you’re constantly at the mercy of cybercriminals, creepy corporations, and sinister government departments? Your data is vital: you are the product. Short of going offline, there’s nothing you can do about it.
Or is there?
Linux hardware manufacturer Purism has released a pair of laptops with a focus on security. The Librem 13 and Librem 15 run the PureOS distro, and feature hardware security features.
To find out more, we got hold of the Librem 13, a lightweight ultrabook that retails direct from Purism for $1399.00.
Librem 13 Specifications
Available from the Purism website and starting at $1399.00, the Librem 13 has configurable RAM, storage, and wireless options. Our review device spec is as follows:
Operating system: PureOS
Battery life: Roughly 7 to 9 hours
Processor: Intel Core i7 6500U (Skylake)
RAM: 4GB (available up to 16GB) DDR4 at 2133 MHz
Storage: 120GB (available up to 4TB; M.2 storage up to 2TB is also an option)
Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 520
Display: 13.3″ IPS
Chassis: Black anodized aluminum with low noise fan
Webcam: 720p 1.0 megapixel
Dimensions: 325×219×18mm
Weight:1.4kg
Wireless: Atheros 802.11n dual antenna (no wireless option is available)
Audio port: 1 headphone/line output jack
USB ports: 2x USB 3.0 Ports (1x type C),
External output: 1 HDMI Port (4K capable)
Card reader: 2-in-1 SD/MMC
In addition, there’s a backlit keyboard with two brightness settings, and an impressive Elantech multitouch trackpad.
We’ll be looking at the Librem 13’s security and privacy credentials later. At this stage, however, you should know that it has Trusted Platform Module (TPM), a special chip that adds security features.
You’ll also find two kill switches, which we’ll look at below.
In the box is a power supply and a Quick Start Guide. I’ve had a few brand-new laptops over the past decade, and I can’t remember that last time I saw such a guide, so this is a welcome inclusion from Purism.
Purism? Who?
Registered as a Social Purpose Corporation, Purism was founded by Todd Weaver in 2014 and manufacturers devices with a focus on three important values:
Software freedom
Computer security
Internet privacy
Purism declares that “profit maximization is not the purpose” of its business, but that it cannot have charitable status due to selling hardware and maintaining lines of credit.
To find out more, Purism has published the relevant sections of its Articles of Incorporation. You might be interested in statements such as “The Corporation will only use and distribute free/libre and open source software” and “respects users’ rights to privacy, security, and freedom.”
The Librem 13 laptop is one of several Purism devices designed to this end. They rely on trusted hardware and run without proprietary firmware and drivers. For example, the Librem 13 uses the Coreboot firmware, in place of the Intel Management Engine. It’s basically a lightweight, secure BIOS, the implications of which are outlined on the Purism website.
Does This Linux Laptop Allay Online Security Concerns?
Staying secure online, and safeguarding your privacy, has become as important as ensuring you have the latest device and the fastest internet.
Over recent years, an increasing amount of responsibility for online security has been placed your hands. Beyond the comparatively basic implementations of the latest wireless networking standards, it’s left to you and your operating system to make your PC or laptop secure.
Along with antivirus software, there’s the option of keeping your connection secure with a VPN and employing a set of habits to ensure you stay safe online.
You know the sort of thing: avoid ransomware, don’t open unsolicited email attachments, don’t share your login details, etc.
But that doesn’t have to be where it ends.
Purism’s website describes the Librem 13 as “The first 13-inch ultraportable designed to protect your digital life”. But what does that mean, and how does the laptop live up to it?
Respecting Your Rights to Privacy and Security
Purism describe the computer as having been “designed chip-by-chip, line-by-line, to respect your rights to privacy, security, and freedom. Every hardware and software component—and everything we do—is in line with our belief in respecting your rights to privacy, security, and freedom.”
This is demonstrated in several ways. Most obvious are the kill switches, mounted on the left side of the notebook, next to the audio port. The two switches are for radio (wireless and Bluetooth) and the webcam and built-in mic.
All you need to do is ensure these switches are set to off if you’re not using those features.
Another key security feature is the browser, PureBrowser, which is based on Mozilla Firefox.
Underlying all of this is TPM. The Trusted Platform Module is a chip on the Librem 13 motherboard that helps to integrate various features on the computer. These include GPG encryption, tamper detection, and the kill switches.
It’s a Linux Laptop: Ultra-Secure PureOS
If you’ve used Linux before, you’ve almost certainly used Ubuntu.
Like Ubuntu, PureOS is based on Debian and features the GNOME 3 desktop. However, PureOS is quite different from Ubuntu. While it might look the same, under the hood it’s a bit different.
For example, if you fancied running some games on the Librem 13, you wouldn’t be able to grab them from Steam. The digital distribution service has a Linux version, but it won’t run on PureOS due to the unavailability of some packages.
On the other hand, this isn’t a gaming laptop, so that might not kill the deal for you. After all, you could install a different operating system.
While PureOS comes pre-installed on the Librem 13, you can install a whole new Linux operating system. This might be using the entire disk, or dual booting from two partitions. There’s also the option to dual boot using a secondary drive, such as the M.2 disk.
Purism tell us they encrypt the root and swap partitions on the HDD, leaving the /boot partition unencrypted for dual booting.
Better still, if you opted to reinstall PureOS, the default settings re-enable encryption on the root and swap partitions, so no additional configuration is required.
In general, the choice is clear: PureOS for a more secure computing experience, or install a new distro for flexibility.
First use of PureOS requires you to set an encryption password. After this, you won’t be able to boot the laptop without the password, which is separate to the standard user account. This degree of security permeates throughout the Librem 13 experience.
Librem 13 Body and Design
The black anodized aluminum finish on the Librem 13 is cool to touch, giving the laptop a feeling of quality that matches the internals.
With the now-traditional ultraportable wedge shape, the Librem 13 is remarkably slim, measuring just 0.7-inch at the thick end of the wedge. It’s slim enough to fit into all but the most compact of tablet and laptop bags; along with the internals, this fulfills Purism’s description of the Librem 13 as “The Road Warrior.”
As beautiful as the body is, it really attracts finger grease. Within five minutes of opening the Librem 13, you could see exactly where my fingers had been; my palms, too. This is nothing new for anodized aluminum finishes, however, and can be dealt with using a damp, lint-free cloth.
One of the key weaknesses of laptop computers—beyond the ease with which they can be stolen—is the hinge. If this goes wrong or breaks, the computer is pretty much useless. There are ways to prolong the life of a laptop hinge, such as opening with two hands, one at each corner, or top open slowly from the center of the lid.
Keeping these in mind, the Librem 13 has a “super sturdy hinge” which Purism claims keeps the laptop “shut when shut”. It also keeps the chosen screen angle, anywhere within a 130-degree arc.
Is the Keyboard Fit for Purpose?
When it comes to using the laptop, you’re first presented with a responsive keyboard, comfortable, with everything within easy reach. Sure, there’s no number pad, but the FN button can help there as the number pad keys have been replicated on the right of center of the keyboard.
I have quite large hands, but despite the size of the computer (noticeably smaller than my main notebook), the keyboard seemed to suit me perfectly. As with any keyboard it will take some getting used to, but I was up to my usual typing speed within a few minutes. This is always a good sign!
It should be noted, however, that there are no Caps Lock or Number Lock LEDs. This means if you’re typing in the wrong case, you’ll have to rely on what’s on screen to tell you. It’s not ideal.
This isn’t to say there aren’t any LEDs on the keyboard, however. The Wi-Fi indicator, battery charging light, and the main power LED are found in the upper right.
The trackpad, meanwhile, isn’t as slick as some others (there’s no glass, for example), but it feels robust and clicks well. The trackpad and PureOS support various gestures, such as tapping two fingers to display the (right-click) context menu or dragging two fingers up and down to scroll.
A notebook computer can live or die based on the quality of the keyboard and touchpad. The Librem 13 passes with an above adequate touchpad and surprisingly comfortable keyboard.
What’s Inside the Librem 13?
Inside the anodized black shell you’ll find a powerful collection of hardware. The Skylake Intel Core i7 6500U processor is accompanied by 4GB of DDR4 RAM, with 120GB of storage. There’s the option of fast M.2 storage too, up to 2TB. M.2 is an SSD form factor that connects directly to the motherboard and offers enhanced storage speeds.
Graphics comes courtesy of the Intel HD Graphics 520, displayed on the surprisingly good 13.3-inch IPS display, with an anti-reflective matte finish.
You’ll also find the usual connectivity options. Along with wireless networking, the Librem 13 has two USB 3.0 ports, a USB Type-C port, headphone port, standard HDMI-out (with 4K support), and an MMC/SD card reader.
On the left side you’ll find the radio and multimedia kill switches.
Librem 13 Linux Software and Updates
Using PureOS is straightforward. You’ll see the GNOME desktop when you log in, which is almost ubiquitous across Linux these days. A rectangle “super” key is labeled with a white rectangle, matching the Purism logo. It opens the overview, where open apps, the search box, dock, and additional desktops can all be accessed.
New apps can be found via the Software tool, which lists applications, utilities, and games that can be run on PureOS. Installing software is easy: simply search, select, and click Install. It’s also possible to install software via the command line, as usual with Linux.
Built in software includes LibreOffice, ToDo, Kodi, a Document Viewer compatible with PDF, and PureBrowser. Rather than something new, it’s basically Mozilla Firefox with the HTTPS Everywhere and uBlock Origin extensions preinstalled.
It’s worth noting some sites won’t work by default in this browser. YouTube, for instance, won’t play videos without disabling uBlock Origin.
Battery Life: Can You Stay Secure on the Move?
Purism’s website states the Librem 13 offers “roughly 7 to 9 hours” battery life.
Our review device was used regularly over a week, mainly for web browsing and word processing on the move. I’d say the battery life is in the stated area, perhaps a little less. It’s certainly good enough to not worry about three-hour trips to your favorite cafe without the mains adapter.
While it might need to chug along for intensive tasks, overall the Librem 13 is ideal for “road warrior” use.
Meanwhile, full disk encryption means that if the laptop is stolen while you’re out, no one can access your data.
Do You Need a Librem 13?
It’s ultra-secure and ultraportable, lightweight, powerful, easy to use. Sure, there are a few grumbles if you want to use closed source software, but overall the Librem 13 is one of the sexiest laptops available.
Sexy AND running Linux? No, really.
With a reliable, comfortable keyboard, stunning IPS display, responsive trackpad, a range of storage options and a frankly impressive battery, this is probably the best laptop I’ve ever used. It’s not a desktop replacement, it’s not a gaming laptop, but it is powerful enough to sit alongside a Dell XPS or MacBook Air and look like the best option.
Now, the security options might not be for you. You might like the look of the Librem 13 but not fancy Pure OS. That’s fine, as it can be replaced, although you’ll lose TPM support, and the kill switches won’t necessarily work.
From my point of view as a laptop user, Linux fan, and security writer, this is a superb machine that does pretty much everything I need, wherever I am.
When it comes to laptops, you can’t ask for more than that.
Can I run it? That’s probably the first question you ask when considering a new PC game. Whether you’re eyeing up the hottest new big-budget title or just want to enjoy some classics or indie games, having a powerful enough computer is vital.
But how do you know if you can run it? We’re here to help. Let’s look at some resources and how to determine if your PC can run a game manually.
Consult System Requirements Lab
System Requirements Lab’s Can I Run It? tool is a fantastic resource for checking if your PC can run a game. At the site’s homepage, simply search for a game and click the Can You Run It button. After you do, you’ll see a basic description of the game along with its minimum and recommended requirements.
However, the real strength of this site is that it will scan your computer to detect your system specs and let you know if you can run the game. Click the Can You Run It button again on the game’s page to start. This will download a small Detection.exe file, which you need to run.
After a moment, you’ll see the results of the scan. You can choose to view how your system compares to the Minimum or Recommended requirements. The site displays a green check for each category that passes. Note that it’s not perfect, so you may see Info or other generic placeholder text for some of the requirements. See below for how to check these manually.
Once you’ve run the scan, you can click My Computer Details at the top of the site any time to review your specs. Click Rank My Computer to see how your system stacks up against others. The site also has pages for the most popular games, showing what percentage of computers passed the requirements check.
While using this site, however, you should avoid clicking any of the links offering to update your drivers. Driver update sites are often unsafe; follow our guide to updating drivers instead.
Visit Game Debate
Game Debate offers similar functionality to the above site. It lets you see the specs for any PC game so you can see how your system stacks up.
You can search for a game using the search bar at the top. On a game’s page, you’ll see its official minimum and recommended requirements at the top.
Like System Requirements Lab, it’s easier to run the automated scanner so you can compare your system specs with ease. Visit Game Debate’s Can You Run It? page to start.
Click the Download Our GD hardware scanner button. Run the file that downloads and proceed through the installer. Unlike System Requirements Lab’s tool, Game Debate’s installs to your system. This makes it less ideal for a quick scan, but it does give you a desktop tool for the job if you prefer that.
Unfortunately, in our testing the app remained blank, so we couldn’t properly check it out. Instead, you can select a game on the Can I Run It? page and manually enter your computer’s specs below.
Can My Computer Run It? Find Out Manually
If you don’t want to use one of these automated tools to see what games you can run, or just want to check yourself, you can compare specs by hand. You can find this information in various parts of Windows, but installing an app like Speccy makes it easy to see all in one place.
(Note that Speccy is made by Piriform, the same company who makes CCleaner. We recommend you don’t use CCleaner anymore, but using Speccy for this purpose is fine.)
After you’ve installed Speccy’s free version, open it to see your system specs at a glance. The Summary tab contains all you need for our purposes. For games, you should pay particular attention to your CPU model and speed, amount of RAM in GB, and your Graphics card information.
Of course, you’ll also need enough storage space to install the game. You can open This PC in a File Explorer window to see how much free space your drive has.
Once you know this, simply visit a game’s page to see what it requires. Steam has this information at the bottom of every game’s description, and you’ll usually find it on a game’s website as well. If you can’t find it, consult a site like the ones above.
Some Cautions
You should beware of running games at the minimum requirements. Often these are the bare necessities to even get the game running, so it will likely play poorly at this level. You may want to hold off on buying a game if you barely meet the minimums, because it likely won’t be too fun of an experience.
Additionally, just because your computer meets the recommended specs doesn’t necessarily mean you can run it at maximum settings. Meeting the recommended requirements means you should have a good experience at standard settings.
Finally, remember that game optimization plays a role in performance too. A poorly optimized game may run like trash even if your PC is powerful enough to run it. You should consult reviews before buying a game to make sure it’s not broken. And make sure you’ve optimized your PC for gaming, too.
Can’t Run It? Here’s What to Do
If your PC can’t run a game that you want to play, don’t despair. As long as you have a relatively modern machine, you can upgrade a desktop fairly easily. It’s not as simple on a laptop, but you still have options.
Based on your findings above, decide what component is the bottleneck keeping you from running a game. If you don’t meet the graphics requirements, shop for a new graphics card. Add more RAM if you’re low and have free slots available. Upgrading your CPU is a bit more intensive, but it’s still possible.
We should note that using integrated graphics (which appears as Intel HD Graphics in Speccy), severely limits what games you can play. You should add a dedicated graphics card as soon as possible. On a laptop, you can look into an external graphics card.
If you’ve decided that your current system is too old and you want to start from scratch, check out our guide to building a new gaming PC.
Can You Run It? Now You Know
We’ve looked at how to see what game you can run, how to determine your system’s specs, and what to do if you can’t play a particular game. Having the ability to customize your build is one of the best parts of PC gaming, but can be frustrating when you don’t have a powerful enough machine for a particular game.
The week following CES is probably as good a time as any to launch a Kickstarter campaign for your strange new smartphone. After all, a company like Doogee’s going to have difficulty rising above the din during a CES or MWC, even with an idea as interesting as the rugged, modular S90.
The Chinese manufacturer has no shortage of interesting concepts, of course. And while the S90 appears to be a bit of a niche, it’s already surpassed its (admittedly modest) goal several times over.
The product modular concept is pretty in line with Motorola’s Moto Z offerings, with a series of plates that snap onto the back of the handset, delivering different hardware features through a multi-pin connector.
Many of the mods should prove familiar, too, including an extra battery (5,000mAh) and a gamepad. Though, in addition to the rugged handset, you’ve also got some add-ons specifically tailored to those looking for a device to use in the field. Among those listed are a night vision camera and a walkie-talkie, which extends the handset’s communication abilities where cellular networks don’t reach.
Doogee is shooting for a February delivery for the new handset.
Almost every word in the name of TAG Heuer’s new watch – the Carrera Calibre Heuer 02T Tourbillon Nanograph – is important. Carrera connects it to TAG’s long history of chronographs while Calibre suggests a handmade watch made with some technical prowess. Tourbillon means you can expect this thing to cost more than a car (about $25,000 when it goes on sale) and Nanograph suggests that this thing is doing something quite unique. And it is.
TAG Heuer loves experimenting with new materials and the Nanograph features a new hairspring design that is unique to TAG. The hairspring, which is made of carbon-composite, is lightweight and unaffected by gravity or shock. It also offers “perfect concentric oscillations” and is completely antimagnetic. Couple that with the rotating tourbillon and the suggestion is that this watch will remain accurate under all sorts of pressure.
Further, rest of the movement includes carbon fiber and aluminum which reduces the effects of temperature and looks pretty darn cool. It doesn’t do much – it basically shows elapsed time – but it does it in a decidedly sexy way.
It is quite fascinating to note the range materials that went into this little mechanical marvel are surprisingly new. Not many manufacturers are using carbon fiber in this way and the fact that it’s going into a chronograph mechanical watch for less than $100,000 is surprising. Now you just have to convince yourself to spend $25,000 on a watch.
Pandora today announced the launch of its own, in-app voice assistant which you can call up at any time by saying “Hey Pandora,” followed by a request to play the music or podcasts you want to hear. The feature will allow you to not only control music playback with commands to play a specific artist, album, radio or playlist, but will also be capable of delivering results customized to you when responding to vague commands or those related to activity or mood. For example, you’ll get personalized results for requests like “play something new,” “play more like this,” “play music for relaxing,” “play workout music,””play something I like,” and others.
The company reports strong adoption of its service on voice-activated speakers, like Amazon Echo devices, where now millions of listeners launch Pandora music by speaking – a trend which inspired the move to launch in-app voice control.
“Voice is just an expected new way that you engage with any app,” notes Pandora Chief Product Officer Chris Phillips. “On the mobile app, we’re doing more than just your typical request against the catalog… asking: ‘hey, Pandora,’ to search and play or pause or skip,” he says. “What we’re doing that we think is pretty special is we’re taking that voice utterance of what someone asks for, and we’re applying our personalized recommendations to the response,” Phillips explains.
That means when you ask Pandora to play you something new, the app will return a selection that won’t resemble everyone else’s music, but will rather be informed by your own listening habits and personal tastes.
The way that result is returned may also vary – for some, it could be a playlist, for others an album, and for others, it could be just a new song, a personalized soundtrack, or a radio station.
“Play something new” isn’t the only command that will yield a personalized response, Pandora says. It will also return personalized results for commands related to your mood or activity – like workout music, something to relax to, music for cooking, and more.
For podcasts, it can dig up episodes with a specific guest, play shows by title, or even deliver show recommendations, among other things.
Voice commands can be used in lieu of pressing buttons, too, in order to do things like add songs to a playlist or giving a song you like a thumbs up, for instance.
The new feature, called “Voice Mode,” taps into Pandora’s machine learning and data science capabilities, which is an active battleground between music services.
Spotify, for example, is well known for its deep personalized with its Discover Weekly and other custom playlists, like its Daily Mixes. But its own “voice mode” option is only available for its Premium users, according to a FAQ on the company’s website.
Pandora, meanwhile, is planning to roll out Voice Mode to all users – both free and paid.
For free users, the feature will work in conjunction with an existing ad product that allows users to opt in to watch a video in order to gain temporary access to Pandora’s on-demand service.
While this option is not live at launch, the plan is to allow any user to use the “Hey Pandora” command, then redirect free users with a request to play music on demand to instead play the opt-in ad first.
Pandora Voice Mode will launch today, January 15 to a percentage of the iOS and Android user base – around a million listeners. The company will track the speed, accuracy and performance of its results before rolling it out more broadly over the next couple of months.
Users with a Google Home device can also cast from their Pandora app to their smart speaker, and a similar feature will arrive on Alexa devices soon, the company believes.
Pandora works with Siri Shortcuts, too. That means you can now use voice to launch the app itself, then play a personalized selection of music without having to touch your phone at all.
Voice Mode will be available in the Pandora app via the search bar next to the magnifying glass.
Qualcomm has had a patent lawsuit against Apple dismissed by a court in Mannheim, Germany, as groundless (via Reuters).
The chipmaker had argued Intel-powered iPhones infringed a transistor switch patent it holds. But in an initial verbal decision the court disagreed. Qualcomm has said it will appeal.
In a statement, Don Rosenberg, Qualcomm’s executive VP and general counsel, said: “Apple has a history of infringing our patents. While we disagree with the Mannheim court’s decision and will appeal, we will continue to enforce our [intellectual property] rights against Apple worldwide.”
We’ve reached out to Apple for comment.
The pair have been embroiled in an increasingly bitter and global legal battle in recent years, as Apple has shifted away from using Qualcomm chips in its devices.
Two years ago the FTC also filed charges against the chipmaker accusing it of anticompetitive tactics in an attempt to maintain a monopoly (Apple is officially cited in the complaint). That trial began early this month.
While the latest court decision in Mannheim has gone in Apple’s favor, a separate ruling in Germany late last year went Qualcomm’s way. And earlier this month Apple was forced to withdraw the iPhone 7 and 8 from its retail stores in Germany, after Qualcomm posted €1.34BN in security bonds to enforce the December court decision — which related to a power management patent.
Although the affected iPhone models remain on sale in Germany via resellers. Apple is also appealing.
Qualcomm also recently secured a preliminary injunction banning the import and sales of some older iPhone models in China. Again, Apple is appealing.
Facebook plans to make a significant investment in local news over the next three years, with $300 million going to a variety of initiatives and organizations.
The company has had a rocky relationship with news publishers recently. While it’s funded programming from partners like CNN and Fox News, it’s also played a role in some of the industry’s most dispiriting trends, like the so-called “pivot to video” — and several of the digital publishers that bet big on the platform have been struggling (to say the least).
So initiatives like this one (and a similar investment that Google announced last year) can seem like attempts to ameliorate the damage that the big digital platforms have already done to the news ecosystem. Or perhaps they’re simply protecting an important content source at a time when the local news business is under tremendous pressure.
Regardless of motivation, if it helps, it helps.
As for why Facebook is focusing on local news specifically, Vice President of Global News Partnerships Campbell Brown said in a blog post that after examining “what kind of news people want to see on Facebook” and talking to industry partners, “We heard one consistent answer: people want more local news, and local newsrooms are looking for more support.”
Brown said the investments will go into two broad areas — supporting journalists and newsrooms in the newsgathering process, and helping them build sustainable business models. More specifically, the company says it will invest:
$5 million in the Pulitzer Center (with a $5 million matching gift from Emily Rauh Pulitzer) to launch “Bringing Stories Home,” an initiative offering reporting grants to cover topics that affect local communities.
$2 million in Report for America, an initiative to place 1,000 journalists in local newsrooms across America over the next five years.
$1 million for the Knight-Lenfest Local News Transformation Fund, which is trying to create a hub for evaluating and improving how technology is used in U.S. newsrooms.
a $1 million investment in the Local Media Association and the Local Media Consortium, to helping their 2,000-plus member newsrooms develop branded content revenue streams (both on and off Facebook).
a $1 million commitment to the American Journalism Project, which is using “venture philanthropy” to support local news organizations.
$6 million for the Community News Project, which is partnering with U.K. publishers to recruit trainee “community journalists” and place them in local newsrooms over a two-year period.
More than $20 million to expand Facebook’s Accelerator program to help local publishers with their membership and subscription models.
“We are grateful for Facebook’s commitment to helping us meet the challenges of today’s journalism, especially in smaller cities where the survival of news outlets depends on new models of reporting and community engagement,” said Pulitzer Center founder and executive director Jon Sawyer in a statement. “We also applaud Facebook’s commitment to the editorial independence that is absolutely essential to our success.”
ByteDance, the world’s most-valued startup, just launched a new social media product under its Douyin brand in what many people see as a serious attempt to challenge WeChat.
Tencent has long dominated China’s social networking space with WeChat and QQ. WeChat claims to have one billion monthly active users worldwide, most of whom are in China. Its older sibling QQ managed to survive the country’s transition from PC to mobile and still have a good chunk of 800 million MAUs at last count.
Over the years Tencent has drawn contenders from all fronts. Ecommerce behemoth Alibaba was one, whose app “Laiwang” to take on WeChat later pivoted to a Slack-like product for enterprise communication.
Now ByteDance is in the spotlight with its new brainchild, Duoshan. The app comes as a mix of TikTok, which is called Douyin in China, and Snap, to bet on a 5G-powered future in which new generations prefer using ephemeral videos to communicate.
Unlike TikTok, which incentivizes users to follow celebrities and strangers, Duoshan is built for private messaging. It offers a dazzling selection of special effects and filters as most other short-video apps do these days. The twist is that videos disappear after 72 hours to provide stress-free, off-the-cuff sharing, a need that WeChat also noticed and prompted the giant to come up with its own Snap-like Stories feature recently.
Screenshots of Duoshan. Image: ByteDance
“We are seeing more and more Douyin users share their videos through other social media platforms and channels,” Douyin’s president Zhang Nan said in a statement. “With the launch of Duoshan, we are creating our first video-based social messaging app to allow users to share their creativity and interact directly with their family and friends.”
You may not know ByteDance, but its suite of media apps are turning heads all over the world thanks to millions of dollars spent on advertising. TikTok, which swallowed up Musical.ly last year, claims to have more than 250 million daily active users with MAUs reaching 500 million. That solid user base will surely help Duoshan during its initial user acquisition as the app allows easy login for existing Douyin users.
While TikTok is not a direct threat to WeChat — for it’s built for media consumption and WeChat is more of a tool for communication and a platform to run daily errands — Tencent did respond with a dozen of video apps over the past year to play catch-up. Now, Duoshan appears to be going after WeChat’s core — instant messaging.
“We hope WeChat doesn’t see [Duoshan] as a competitor. What they do in essence is to build an ‘infrastructure’. We, on the other hand, is only going after people who are closest to you,” Chen Lin, the newly appointed chief operating officer of ByteDance’s news app Jinri Toutiao said at a press event today.
Two other high-profile entrepreneurs are joining ByteDance to roll out their own social apps today. Smartisan, who backed a WeChat rival that turned out to be a blip, is announcing the product tonight in China. The other challenger is Wang Xin, a pioneer in China’s online video-streaming space who was sentenced to jail in 2016 after being charged with providing easy access to pornography. His take on social media — Matong — is already live and is greeted with such warm reception that its server went down.
Duoshan has got many people excited. Some of the top trending words on Weibo, China’s closest answer to Twitter, today are linked to ByteDance’s move, such as “social”, “waging a war” and “Zhang Yiming,” who founded ByteDance in 2012.
Since launch, Google Chrome has tried to protect users from the worst elements of the web. This is why you no longer see pop-ups, and are warned when you navigate to a site containing malware. And now Google Chrome will filter out the worst online advertising.
Essentially, as part of the Coalition for Better Ads, Google applies a set of standards, and filters out ads that don’t abide by the rules. If a website is found to be employing bad ads, Google will block all ads on that site until it cleans up its act.
Expanding Chrome’s Ad-Blocking
Chrome already filters ads in North America and Europe, but on the Chromium Blog, Google announced it’s expanding its Better Ads Standards worldwide. So, beginning on July 9, Chrome will punish sites serving bad ads to users, regardless of location.
"If you operate a website that shows ads, you should consider reviewing your site status in the Ad Experience Report" https://t.co/YjrGMPzLcB
All being well, users won’t notice anything different. When you navigate to a site Google will check to see if it’s abiding by the rules. If not, you’ll see a message saying all ads are blocked on the domain. It’s then up to you if you want to allow ads on the site.
If you own a website in a country outside North America and Europe, Google recommends you run the Ad Experience Tool. This will test the ads displayed on your site, and if issues are discovered, give you the opportunity to resolve them.
Google Wants to Improve Online Ads
To be clear, this isn’t an ad blocker designed to block all ads from the internet. Instead, it’s Google trying to improve the quality of ads. By making online advertising more tolerable, Google wants to ensure ads remain a part of the web for decades to come.
A new study is making waves in the worlds of tech and psychology by questioning the basis of thousands of paper and analyses with conflicting conclusions on the effect of screen time on well-being. The researchers claim is that the science doesn’t agree because it’s bad science. So is screen time good or bad? It’s not that simple.
The conclusions only make the mildest of claims about screen time, essentially that as defined it has about as much effect on well-being as potato consumption. Instinctively we may feel that not to be true; technology surely has a greater effect than that — but if it does, we haven’t found a way to judge it accurately.
The paper, by Oxford scientists Amy Orben and Andrew Przybylski, amounts to a sort of king-sized meta-analysis of studies that come to some conclusion about the relationship between technology and well-being among young people.
Their concern was that the large datasets and statistical methods employed by researchers looking into the question — for example, thousands and thousands of survey responses interacting with weeks of tracking data for each respondent — allowed for anomalies or false positives to be claimed as significant conclusions. It’s not that people are doing this on purpose necessarily, only that it’s a natural result of the approach many are taking.
“Unfortunately,” write the researchers in the paper, “the large number of participants in these designs means that small effects are easily publishable and, if positive, garner outsized press and policy attention.” (We’re a part of that equation, of course, but speaking for myself at least I try to include a grain of salt with such studies, indeed with this one as well.)
In order to show this, the researchers essentially redid the statistical analysis for several of these large datasets (Orben explains the process here), but instead of only choosing one result to present, they collected all the plausible ones they could find.
For example, imagine a study where the app use of a group of kids was tracked, and they were surveyed regularly on a variety of measures. The resulting (fictitious, I hasten to add) paper might say it found kids who use Instagram for more than two hours a day are three times as likely to suffer depressive episodes or suicidal ideations. What the paper doesn’t say, and which this new analysis could show, is that the bottom quartile is far more likely to suffer from ADHD, or the top five percent reported feeling they had a strong support network.
In the new study, any and all statistically significant results like those I just made up are detected and compared with one another. Maybe a study came out six months later that found the exact opposite in terms of ADHD but also didn’t state it as a conclusion.
This figure from the paper shows a few example behaviors that have more or less of an effect on well-being.
Ultimately what the Oxford study found was that there is no consistent good or bad effect, and although a very slight negative effect was noted, it was small enough that factors like having a single parent or needing to wear glasses were far more important.
Yet, and this is important to understand, the study does not conclude that technology has no negative or positive effect; such a broad conclusion would be untenable on its face. The data it rounds up are (as some experts point out with no ill will towards the paper) simply inadequate to the task and technology use is too variable to reduce to single factor. Its conclusion is that studies so far have in fact been inconclusive and we need to go back to the drawing board.
“The nuanced picture provided by these results is in line with previous psychological and epidemiological research suggesting that the associations between digital screen-time and child outcomes are not as simple as many might think,” the researchers write.
Could, for example, social media use affect self-worth, either positively or negatively? Could be! But the ways that scientists have gone about trying to find out have, it seems, been inadequate.
In the future, the authors suggest, researchers should not only design their experiments more carefully, but be more transparent about their analysis. By committing to document all significant links in the dataset they create, whether they fit the narrative or hypothesis or go against it, researchers show that they have not rigged the study from the start. Designing and iterating with this responsibility in mind will produce better studies and perhaps even some real conclusions.
What should parents, teachers, siblings, and others take away from this? Not anything about screen time or whether tech is good or bad, certainly. Rather let it be another instance of the frequently learned lesson that science is a work in progress and must be considered very critically before application.
Your kid is an individual and things like social media and technology affect them differently from other kids; it may very well be that your informed opinion of their character and habits, tempered with that of a teacher or psychologist, is far more accurate than the “latest study.”
Starting in the next few days, the Google Assistant on Android and iOS will be able to check you in to your flights. For now, you’ll only be able to use this feature for domestic flights on United Airlines, though, but the promise is to expand this to other airlines over time. To give this a try, you just say “Hey Google, check in to my flight” and off you go, ready to enjoy your stroopwafel once you step on board.
The Assistant will walk you through the check-in process, so it’s not all 100 percent automatic, but it still looks like a good user experience overall. If you’re all about being in control, changing your seats and checking the status of your upgrades, though, chances are you’ll still want to stick with the airline’s own app.In addition to now being able to check you in to your flights, the Assistant can now also book hotels for you. To do this, Google has partnered with Choice Hotels, AccorHotels, InterContinental Hotels Group, Priceline, Mirai and Travelclick. To do that, you already need to know where you want to stay and which hotel you want to book, so I’m never quite sure how useful a feature like this really is in day-to-day life. If you’re regularly staying at the same hotel on every trip, though, and maybe don’t care to shop around, then I guess this could save you a few clicks.
This year’s CES 2019 team at MakeUseOf ran eight members strong, and it was the perfect size to cover all the nooks and crannies of the event within the four days it ran. For half of us, CES 2019 was the very first CES we’ve ever experienced, while the rest of us have had a taste and already knew what to expect.
We thought it’d be interesting to hear what our team thought of CES 2019 and what we took away from it as the booths wound down and came to a close.
James Frew, Staff Writer
CES’s reputation as the world’s largest tech conference is well-established, so as I gathered my belongings for the trip to Las Vegas, I was prepared for an overwhelming experience. The airport was crammed with CES badge pickup booths, so I grabbed my badge and ventured on. This was one of the first times I’d met many of the MakeUseOf team, so even that in itself was worth the trip. I spent most of the conference at the Las Vegas Convention Center, right across the street from our Airbnb. A casual stroll and I was surrounded by some of the newest products from many of the world’s largest technology companies.
I always try to keep a sense of wonder about how far the consumer tech industry has come in the past few decades, but at CES it was easy to feel jaded about the marginal improvements, excessive cost, and marketing gimmicks. That said, looking past the noise, I did find some products that made me genuinely excited. While many of my colleagues had to venture to the other CES venues, I was able to spend most of my time in the largest and experienced some of the best CES had to offer.
Dan Price, Senior Writer
Throngs of people, endless noise, bright lights, and a desire to keep going back for more. Not the casinos of Las Vegas, but the CES technology show which has been in town all week.
CES isn’t for the faint hearted. The traffic is terrible, the lines for public transport stretch as far as the eye can see, and you need elbows made of steel if you want to force your way to the front of the most popular booths.
But in typical Las Vegas style, it also has a strange attraction. Just ask the people who queued for more than two hours to play Google’s gumball machine. The dream? To win a Pixel 3. The reality? Most people walked away with a hat.
Covering the show from a media standpoint also brought its own challenges. The free lunches were surprisingly good. The number of plug sockets and ethernet points, less so.
And what about the tech itself? At one end of the scale, it’s awe-inspiring. Beautiful new laptops, cutting-edge haptics technology, and the latest developments in VR all caught the eye. At the other end, companies selling “unique” iPhone cases in bulk don’t exactly inspire excitement.
So as the world’s tech community spends the next two weeks recovering from “CES-itis” (yes, we all got sick), many people will be left wondering why they even bothered, vowing never to return. But come January 2020, will we all be back? You bet.
Ben Stegner, Deputy Editor
CES 2019 was the first time I’ve experienced a show like this. I expected cutting-edge technology you can’t find anywhere else. In reality, a fair bit of the products on display were copycats of items we’ve seen before, or cheap junk that you’d walk past at your local mall. But there’s something about being here that’s really special.
Cruising the confusing show floor and navigating the app’s map to find the booths you’ve bookmarked, then interviewing the rep and furiously taking notes, is quite a process. But flashing your media badge to waltz into the lounge and get your posts written is a cool feeling. The free lunch helps, too.
As expected, there is some mind-blowing tech to see here. It’s so far off and too expensive to even think about using it in the near future, but cool to see the latest innovations. My favorite products of this show were standard products redone with a focus on making them easy for non-techy people. For instance, we saw a portable hotspot that had great app and simple setup process, as well as new routers with a great app for managing your network.
I’m honored to have been at CES. Finally meeting people who I’ve worked with for nearly five years but never met in person is exciting, and we’ve had such a great time together. My expectations were pretty much met, and I’m glad I came.
Dave LeClair, Hardware News Editor
Last year I wrote a whole article about how underwhelmed I was by everything I saw at the Consumer Electronics Show. In spite of that, I actually came away from this year’s show with a fairly positive outlook on where the technology world is going.
Sure, a lot of what’s out there isn’t coming anytime soon, but this year we saw some pretty impressive advancements in the VR space that are actually available now. We saw drones that work underwater, haptic feedback that’s actually being used in real-world applications, and plenty more. Plus, we’re seeing the early stages of 8K, which could be a game-changer for the home entertainment world.
So while I wasn’t necessarily blown away by much at CES, I can definitely say that I wasn’t underwhelmed either. I’m even more excited to see what 2019 holds. Plus, I got to spend some quality time with my fellow MakeUseOf writers, and that blows away anything on the show floor.
Joel Lee, Editor in Chief
If CES 2019 has confirmed anything for me, it’s to never judge a book (or booth) by its cover. Walking through the show floors each day, it’s amazing how often we were drawn to flashy and impressive booths only to be disappointed by what we found there. In fact, my favorite finds were at some of the most regular-looking booths.
Take underwater drones, for example. One company—the one with a bright and inviting booth—wooed us with their yet-unreleased drone that could dive to a depth up to 40 meters with a slated release price of $2,500. A few steps over, in the most depressing booth I saw at this year’s CES, another company showed off their already-available drone that dove down to 100 meters and had a price tag of $1,500.
This is the kind of thing that happened all throughout the event, with some of our most favorite finds—such as the Jabra Elite 85h wireless noise-canceling headphones—tucked away in the lesser-walked halls of CES.
What a fantastic time we had. So much walking, so much ooh-ing and ah-ing, so many moments of intrigue and novelty. But it was a good wake-up call for me: stop going with the flow and learn to take a step back, to look beyond the surface of what’s presented. Be willing to give the benefit of the doubt, because you never know what you’ll find if you just give that booth a chance.
And it should go without saying, but we have the best team in the world. I thoroughly enjoyed every single day spent with my colleagues, who quickly became my friends.
Tina Sieber, Chief of Operations
2019 was my second CES and my sixth technology trade show overall (3 x IFA and 1 x CeBit). At IFA, the European CES, once the media days are over, the show is open to the public. You’ll see families with kids and groups of teenagers roaming the show floors. Not so at CES.
CES is hardcore business, kids are banned, and the audience is overwhelmingly male. This was a bit of a culture shock for me in 2018. In 2019, however, I noticed a small shift, with more women among the audience. And according to official numbers, four out of nine keynote speakers were women, compared to zero in 2017 and 2018. Progress.
Having family in Vegas (of all places), I’ve come here every few years since I was a kid and it feels like a different city every time. With CES in town, Vegas is even more overwhelming than on a “normal” day. The traffic is insane, the exhibition is packed, and unless you know what you want to see, the amount of mesmerizing tech might leave you paralyzed.
It’s also impossible to see all of CES, even if you’re well organized. While most new products I saw only received incremental improvements, I’m in awe at how close technology has come to the SciFi dreams of my childhood. Drones and robots, man! I’m also most easily impressed by simple products, which is why my favorite item at CES 2019 was a laptop stand.
Thanks to the size of the venues, we easily hit our 10 thousand steps a day and by the end of day 3, my body invoiced me. Like many others who spent a week with poor sleep and rubbing elbows with more than 180 thousand people, I caught a cold. It cost me a night of playing board games with my colleagues.
Unfortunately, multiple Google accounts come with a problem: multiple sign-ins on the desktop and mobile devices. Which one is the default account? And if it’s not the one you want, how can you change the default Google sign-in to the one you want?
Believe it or not, Google has a simple solution.
How to Set Your Default Google Account
Multiple sign-ins used to be a mess, but now it’s more seamless than ever before. This feature allows you to view the content of your other accounts while logged into one. But you can’t use some of the Google tools from two accounts at one time (e.g. Google Drive) unless you choose one.
Google defaults to the first account you logged in with. This is the rule you will see in action every time. The Google menu at the top-right also suggests the default account when you use multiple sign-ins.
This is what Google says:
“In many cases, your default account is the one you signed in with first. On mobile devices, your default account can vary depending on your device’s operating system and the apps you use.”
So, the solution to set a default account:
Go to any Google site sign-in page in a non-incognito window.
Log out of all your Google accounts. Select your profile picture on the top-right and then click Sign out from the menu.
Go to gmail.com and sign in with the account you want to set as the default account. Remember, the first account you log in to becomes the default always. Test this by signing into any other Google service (like Google Drive) and see for yourself.
After you have signed in to your default account, you can sign in to any other Google account and switch between them.
Again, select your profile image from the top-right. On the menu, choose Add account. Use your credentials to sign in to the account you want to use.
This isn’t a bother for someone who uses a single Google account. But it can be important for those of us who have multiple Gmail accounts separated as work and personal. Remembering the right account can save you time and energy.
Here are a few common scenarios:
One of your accounts might have a different language setting than the others.
You might be using Google Apps on a work account and regular Gmail for personal stuff.
Some of your accounts may have two-factor authentication set up.
You might have different privacy rules for each account.
Do note that Google settings aren’t shared between multiple accounts. Though, there can be a few exceptions like Web & App Activity and Ads Personalization settings.
Extra Tips to Manage Multiple Accounts
Thanks to the easy switch feature, multiple Gmail (or any other Google app) account management is less of a hassle. But a few annoyances do pop up. Maybe, you have tried to open a shared link and Google tells you don’t have permission with the default account.
Here are a few more tips to make managing multiple Google accounts easier and save you a few clicking trips.
Use a distinct profile image with each Google account.
Want temporary access to a Google account other than your default? Use a browser’s Incognito mode to sign-in.
For easy switching, log into your Google accounts in your preferred order when you sit down to work. Then close the tabs for the accounts you don’t need. You can switch anytime without signing in till you log out.
Set up sharing privileges for files and folders you use often between two accounts. You don’t need to keep two accounts open with “edit permissions on a shared file or folder.
Google Backup & Sync allows you to log in with three accounts only. Chose the preferred account and change the Google Drive folder’s location for each so that they do not conflict.
Use different Chrome profiles for different Google accounts. For instance, you might like to operate personal and work accounts with a different set of extensions.
Use a Chrome extension like SessionBox to log into websites with different Google sign-ins.
Toggling Through Multiple Sign-Ins
Staring the day with the default account and then signing into others is a good “Google habit”. Easy account switching also makes it less bothersome. But if you operate with several accounts every day then using different Chrome profiles is the way to go.
On mobiles, your user activity and app preferences are saved in the default account you signed into the device with. So, the right default account is a thought to consider. You can start with a default Google sign-in and then add other accounts.
Flowcharts aren’t just for engineers, programmers, and managers. Everyone can benefit from learning how to make flowcharts, most notably as a way to streamline your work and life, and even to break free from bad habits.
The only problem is, what’s the best flowchart software?
Plenty of top-notch flowcharting apps exist, but they can be pricey. Microsoft Visio, the most popular option, is $300 (standalone) or $13 per month (on top of an Office 365 subscription). ConceptDraw Pro is $200. Edraw Max is $180. MyDraw is $70.
Is it really necessary to spend that much on a flowchart program?
Dia is a free and full-featured flowchart app. It’s also entirely open source under the GPLv2 license, which is great if you believe in the open source philosophy. It’s powerful, extensible, and easy to use.
yEd Graph Editor is an excellent, up-to-date tool for flowcharts, diagrams, trees, network graphs, and more. You can download the app as a JAR file (which requires Java on your system) or an EXE (which includes a Java installer). It’s powerful and versatile, but the trade-off is an ugly, Swing-based interface.
Key features and highlights:
Very little effort for professional-quality charts.
Auto-arrange flowchart elements from messy to clean.
Organic and orthogonal edge routing for connections.
Several export options, including PNG, JPG, SVG, and PDF.
ThinkComposer is a tool for professionals. In addition to flowcharts, it can handle business models, class diagrams, genealogy trees, timelines, use case diagrams, and more. It’s a bit overkill for one or two charts every so often, but a smart choice if you deal with flowcharts on a daily or weekly basis.
Key features and highlights:
Create custom, reusable nodes and connections.
Deep, multi-level diagrams for full visual expression of ideas.
Compositions can combine many different charts and graphs.
Generate PDF, XPS, or HTML reports based on your data.
Pencil Project is an old app that fell out of favor due to a long development hiatus, but things picked back up in 2015 and version 3.0.0 was released in 2017. Everything is now modern and up-to-date, making it an excellent choice for anyone who needs fast, simple diagramming with a minimal learning curve.
Key features and highlights:
Tons of built-in shapes for all types of charts and interfaces.
Create your own shapes or install collections made by others.
Several export options, including PNG, SVG, PDF, and HTML.
Import art from OpenClipart.org for use in charts and diagrams.
LibreOffice is arguably the best free alternative to Microsoft Office for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and even visual diagrams. With LibreOffice Draw, you can easily add shapes, symbols, lines, connections, text, images, and more. It isn’t perfect, but it’s certainly flexible.
Key features and highlights:
Custom page sizes, great for all kinds of chart types.
Page map makes it easy to work on multiple charts.
Advanced object manipulations, including 3D controller.
Can open (but not save to) Microsoft Visio format.
Diagram Designer is somewhat primitive, and that’s partly because it hasn’t been updated since 2015. But don’t let that turn you away! It runs fine on my Windows 10 setup, and it’s more than effective for creating flowcharts that look nice. Could it be better? Of course. But for personal use, it’s great.
Key features and highlights:
Easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface.
No unnecessary features that steepen the learning curve.
Import and export PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, ICO, and more.
PlantUML is unlike all the other apps in this list. Instead of a graphical interface, you create your diagrams using PlantUML’s scripting language. This is an excellent tool for programmers who don’t like mouse-based drag-and-drop. PlantUML requires Java on your system.
Key features and highlights:
Define objects and relationships using PlantUML’s scripting language.
Supports many diagram types: sequence, usecase, class, Gantt, etc.
While desktop apps are ideal for creating flowcharts on a PC, they aren’t travel-friendly. If portability is a key concern, you might fare better with one of these mobile flowchart apps which are designed for diagramming on-the-go.
Would you rather use a web-based flowchart maker? We highly recommend LucidChart, which is best in its class. Or you can try out one of these free online flowchart makers.
