It’s been a long year for Nintendo fans waiting on Mario Kart Tour to come to mobile and, unfortunately, more patience is required after the game’s launch was moved back to this summer.
The key passage sits within Nintendo’s latest earnings report, released today, which explains that additional time is needed “to improve [the] quality of the application and expand the content offerings after launch.”
The checkered flag has been raised and the finish line is near. A new mobile application is now in development: Mario Kart Tour! #MarioKartTour Releasing in the fiscal year ending in March 2019. pic.twitter.com/8GIyR7ZM4z
It’s frustrating but, as The Verge points out, you can refer to a famous Nintendo phrase if you are seeking comfort.
Shigeru Miyamoto, who created the Mario and Zelda franchises, once remarked that “a delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.”
There’s plenty riding on the title — excuse the pun. Super Mario Run, the company’s first major game for the iPhone, showed its most popular IP has the potential to be a success on mobile, even though Mario required a $9.99 payment to go beyond the limited demo version. Mario Kart is the most successful Switch title to date, so it figures that it can be a huge smash on mobile if delivered in the right way.
Google today announced that Cloud Firestore, its serverless NoSQL document database for mobile, web and IoT apps, is now generally available. In addition, Google is also introducing a few new features and bringing the service to ten new regions.
With this launch, Google is giving developers the option to run their databases in a single region. During the beta, developers had to use multi-region instances and while that obviously has some advantages with regard to resilience, it’s also more expensive and not every app needs to run in multiple regions.
“Some people don’t need the added reliability and durability of a multi-region application,” Google product manager Dan McGrath told me. “So for them, having a more cost-effective regional instance is very attractive, as well as data locality and being able to place a Cloud Firestore database as close as possible to their user base.”
The new regional instance pricing is up to 50 percent cheaper than the current multi-cloud instance prices. Which solution you pick does influence the SLA guarantee Google gives you, though. While the regional instances are still replicated within multiple zones inside the region, all of the data is still within a limited geographic area. Hence, Google promises 99.999 percent availability for multi-region instances and 99.99 percent availability for regional instances.
And talking about regions, Cloud Firestore is now available in ten new regions around the world. Firestore launched with a single location when it launched and added two more during the beta. With this, Firestore is now available in 13 locations (including the North America and Europe multi-region offerings). McGrath tells me Google is still in the planning phase for deciding the next phase of locations but he stressed that the current set provides pretty good coverage across the globe.
Also new in this release is deeper integration with Stackdriver, the Google Cloud monitoring service, which can now monitor read, write and delete operations in near-real time. McGrath also noted that Google plans to add the ability to query documents across collections and to increment database values without needing a transaction soon.
It’s worth noting that while Cloud Firestore falls under the Googe Firebase brand, which typically focuses on mobile developers, Firestore offers all of the usual client-side libraries for Compute Engine or Kubernetes Engine applications, too.
“If you’re looking for a more traditional NoSQL document database, then Cloud Firestore gives you a great solution that has all the benefits of not needing to manage the database at all,” McGrath said. “And then, through the Firebase SDK, you can use it as a more comprehensive back-end as a service that takes care of things like authentication for you.”
One of the advantages of Firestore is that it has extensive offline support, which makes it ideal for mobile developers but also IoT solutions. Maybe it’s no surprise then that Google is positioning it as a tool for both Google Cloud and Firebase users.
A new mobile banking startup called Step wants to help bring teenagers and other young adults into the cashless era. Today, cash is used less often, as more consumers shop online and send money to one another through payment apps like Venmo. But teenagers in particular are still heavily burdened with cash — even though they, too, want to spend their money on things that require a payment card, like Amazon.com purchases or mobile gaming, for example.
The company aims to address the needs of what it believes is an underserved market in mobile banking — the 75 million children and young adults under the age of 21 in the U.S., who are still being forced to use cash.
“We’re building an all-in-one banking solution that primarily focuses on teens and parents,” he says. “We want it to be a teen’s first bank account. We want to be a teen’s first spending card. And we want to teach financial literacy and responsibility firsthand.”
MacDonald, along with CTO Alexey Kalinichenko, previously of Square and financial services startup Token, founded Step in May 2018. The 10-person team also includes several prior Gyft employees.
Last summer, Step closed on $3.8 million in seed funding from Sesame Ventures, Crosslink Capital and Collaborative Fund. Crosslink general partner Eric Chin sits on the board.
While there are a number of mobile banking apps out there today — like Chime, Monzo, Simple, Revolut and others — Step will specifically target teens, 13 and up, and other young adults with its marketing. Teens under 18 still need parents’ approval to sign up, of course. But the goal is to encourage the teens to bring the idea to their parents — not the other way around.
The mobile banking service Step provides will also aim to be more comprehensive than just a debit card. It will offer a combination of checking, savings and a Visa card that works as both credit and debit.
The card includes Visa’s Zero Liability Protection on all purchases from unauthorized use, and allows parents to set spending limits.
Parents will also be able to connect their own bank accounts to Step to instantly transfer in funds, which can then be distributed to kids’ accounts for things like allowances and chores, or other everyday spending needs. Step’s bank account itself is backed by Evolve Bank, so it’s FDIC-insured up to $250,000.
Unlike Current, which charges a subscription to use its service, Step aims to be a fee-free bank for consumers. Users don’t have to pay for their account, and there are no fees for things like overdrafts. Instead, Step’s plan is to generate revenue through traditional means — like interchange fees and by way of lending practices, once it has established a deposit base.
The company pays a 2.5 percent interest rate on deposits, offers a round-up savings feature and a range of budgeting tools and supports free instant transfers between Step accounts. It also provides access to a network of 35,000 ATMs with no fees.
Beyond simply facilitating mobile banking, Step’s bigger goal is to teach teens to become financially responsible.
“Schools do not teach kids about money. A lot of families don’t talk about money. And it’s a crucial life skill that’s not really addressed properly when people are growing up,” says MacDonald, who says he was lacking in life skills in this area, even as a young college grad.
“There were ‘Money 101’ skills that I had not learned — that no one had talked to me about. Things like building credit, how many credit cards you should have, debt to income ratio,” he continues. “A lot of people get released into the real world without experience [in those areas],” he says.
Long-term, after solving the needs associated with everyday banking transactions, Step wants to layer on other products and services — like tools that allow a family to save together for college, for example.
The company is launching the banking service under an invite-only system to scale up.
Today, it’s opening a waitlist and referral program. When you invite a friend, you each receive one dollar. Access will then be rolled out on a first-come, first-serve basis this spring. Users can join Step through the website, iOS or Android application.
An advertising pitch deck used by fast-growing short form video sharing app TikTok has leaked, providing a snapshot of usage in its biggest markets in Europe.
The pitch deck was obtained by Digiday which says it was sent to a large (unnamed) European ad agency.
Metrics and gender breakdowns for the UK, France, Germany, Spain and Italy are included in the deck. The slides are dated November 2018.
Germany and France come out as the top European markets for the video sharing app, according to the deck, with 4.1M+ and 4M+ monthly active users respectively, and an average of 6.5BN and 5BN video views.
Next is the UK, with 3.7M+ users (and 5BN video views); followed by Spain with 2.7M+ users (and 3BN video views); and Italy with 2.4M+ users (and 3BN views).
Last summer Beijing’s ByteDance, the company behind TikTok, said the app had passed 500 million monthly active users worldwide.
Analyst estimates suggest it’s had around 800M total downloads in total since launch in fall 2016.
Although usage stepped up in 2017, after Bytedance shelled out to acquire rival lip-sync video app, Musical.ly — paying between $800M and $1BN to bag and merge its 60M (mostly US) users.
In the UK, France and Germany TikTok users open the app an average of 8 times per day, according to the leaked deck, vs 6 times in Italy and Spain.
While UK users clock up the most time spent in the app, with an average of 41 minutes per day; followed by France (40 minutes); Germany (39 minutes); Italy (34 minutes); and Spain (31 minutes).
Users of the app skew female across all five markets but the skew is greatest in Italy and Spain, which both have a 65:35 female to male ratio.
The smallest skew is in Germany where the female to male ratio of users is 54:46.
The pitch deck also details ad formats TikTok is selling in the region, covering four ad products and how they are measured.
The listed ad products are: Brand takeover; in-feed native video; hashtag challenge; and Snapchat-style 2D lens filters for photos — with 3D and AR lenses listed as “coming soon” (2019, per another slide).
The slides do not include prices for the ad formats but Digiday cites one media buyer who told it the company is charging $10 CPMs for fixed buys. Though it says another media exec told it agencies are being given different rates, noting the person had heard higher prices for the brand takeover ad unit for example.
We already knew Google+ was shutting down, but we now know exactly when and how Google+ will be disappearing from our lives. To be fair, most of us have already moved on from Google+, but this is important for the few people who still use the social network.
In October 2018, Google disclosed that Google+ had suffered a data leak. And as a result, the company announced the consumer version of Google+ is shutting down. And now we know all of the important dates, including when your Google+ account will disappear.
Download and Save Your Google+ Data ASAP
According to this Google Support page, Google+ will be shutting down on April 2, 2019. This is when “your Google+ account and any Google+ pages you created will be shut down and we will begin deleting content from consumer Google+ accounts”.
Before that, however, on February 4, 2019, you will “no longer be able to create new Google+ profiles, pages, communities or events.” This is also the date when the Google+ Sign-in button on sites and apps will start to be replaced by a Google Sign-in button.
You can, of course, download and save your Google+ content, but you’ll have to do so before April. Thankfully, you can download all of your Google+ data, “including your Google+ circles, Communities, Streams, and +1’s” at once by following these instructions.
It should be noted that all of this only applies to personal users, as the enterprise version of Google+ is sticking around. In fact, Google is planning to roll out “a new look and new features” for G Suite customers in the coming months.
A Sad End for Another Failed Social Network
This is a sad day for a social network that once boasted a passionate userbase. Unfortunately for fans of Google+, not enough people cared. So in the end, Google+ will go down in history as another in a long line of social media platforms that flopped.
Our verdict of the One Netbook One Mix 2S:
The One Mix 2S has fantastic build quality, high specs, and is beautifully designed. Its let down only by the poor Wi-Fi and a steep learning curve keyboard.710
Recently there has been a flurry of small form factor laptops making their way to market. Is the humble netbook making a comeback? The One Mix 2S is the latest offering from One Netbook, but has it got what it takes to replace your laptop and let the netbook rise from the ashes?
Read on to find out more about the One Mix 2S, and at the end of this review, we’re giving our test model away to one lucky reader.
One Netbook One Mix 2S Specifications
CPU: Intel Core M3-8100Y, Dual Core up to 3.4GHz
GPU: Integrated Intel HD GRaphics 615
RAM: 8GB DDR3
Storage: 256GB PCIe SSD
Screen: 7″ IPS @ 1920 X 1200px, capacitive touchscreen
Battery: 6500mAh (3-4 Hours)
OS: Windows 10 Home
Wi-Fi: 2.4 + 5Ghz / 802.11a/b/g/n/ac
Bluetooth: 4.0
Ports: Headset / microSD / USB 3.0 Type-C / Micro HDMI / USB 3.0 Type-A
Weight: 1.14 pounds (520 grams)
Dimensions: 7.17 x 4.33 x 0.66 inches (182 x 110 x 17mm)
Other: Fingerprint Scanner / Stylus Support / Hinged screen for tablet mode operation
You may recall a period where companies like Acer and Asus brought the netbook to the world. You may also recall that they had both a brilliant form factor and a rather short shelf life. This came down mainly to how underpowered and awfully slow they were, as well as the advent of the iPad.
Netbooks were typically optimized for low weight and low cost, and as such omitted features like optical drives. By the end of 2012, many companies stopped producing them, and they’ve been replaced by devices such as the Chromebook.
Chromebook’s however, run the slimmed down Chrome OS. This means you can’t use applications that are designed for full-fledged Windows 10. Over the last few years, this is where the 7″ netbook space has really come to life. Hopefully, this second coming of the netbook is here to stay ,as many people prefer the form factor but aren’t willing to compromise on the spec or the OS.
Honey, I Shrunk the MacBook
The One Mix 2S is the second iteration of this product, and it was released around six months after its predecessor. This might seem quite rather soon, but there are a few improvements that make this version a little more special.
The One Mix 2S looks like someone took a shrink ray to a MacBook. This isn’t a bad thing in the slightest. Its chassis is CNC’d aluminum, and the keys are recessed perfectly to ensure they don’t leave ugly marks on the screen. Build quality is also fantastic, with the 2S feeling premium and well built.
The hinges are another indication of the excellent build quality. They’re stiff enough to keep the screen at the same angle when using the touch screen, but not so tough as to make opening and closing feel like a workout. The back features a fan vent, with a speaker grill and rubber feet on the bottom.
The port selection on the 2S is nothing short of exceptional. There’s a combination headphone jack, microSD card slot, mini HDMI and USB 3.0 Type-A. There is also a USB Type-C port which is where the One Mix 2S gets its juice, as well as being able to connect a dongle if you’d like to add more ports. I can’t fault the design or the port selection on the 2S. Full marks!
Form factor is obviously a focus here, and many will find the size of the 2S appealing. It can fit easily in a back pocket or a handbag if that’s your thing. The One Mix also has a yoga hinge, meaning it can transform from a laptop to a tablet in a matter of seconds.
One of the things that they removed from the first iteration is the backlit keyboard. It would have been better if they kept this in, but considering the upgrades, it’s a worthy trade-off.
Performance
The One Mix 2S is not just a pretty face. Spec wise it packs quite a punch for its size. Even compared to the 12″ MacBook which is near double in price! The 2S features an 8th Gen Core M processor which tops out at 3.4 GHz. There’s 8GB of DDR3 RAM and a blisteringly fast 256GB PCI Express (PCIe) SSD.
The PCIe SSD is one of the major upgrades from the previous generation. It is very important because boot up times and even just general usage are an absolute breeze for the 2S. This might sound like something mediocre, but for someone as impatient as I am, the One Mix 2S definitely has it where it counts. Machines that have even slightly delayed loading times are extremely frustrating, and there was no sign of that on the 2S.
The 7″ IPS display is pleasantly bright and sharp and has great viewing angles. Because the display is so small, you need to set the scale to at least 125% so you can comfortably see all the text on screen. Also, remember to turn on tablet mode in Windows if you’re turning the 2S into a tablet.
Another item that is lightning fast is the fingerprint sensor. It makes a huge difference to the experience that the One Mix 2S provides and in this day and age should be on every laptop!
Touch Screen
The capacitive touch screen is responsive and accurate, but the glass does feel like it has a little too much resistance. Having a touch screen on a laptop is actually very intuitive. In fact, after moving to another laptop I found that I missed having one.
As mentioned the hinge is very well built so while in laptop mode the screen’s angle doesn’t shift if you touch the screen. One Netbook also offers an optional stylus which does have different pressure levels. The stylus makes note taking on the 2S a cinch. If you’re an occasional Bob Ross, there are a few painting apps available as well.
The stylus does badly scratch the screen, however, so I highly recommend getting the optional screen protector if you’re planning on getting the stylus. This is one of the issues with the 2S which takes us neatly into the next section.
It’s Not Perfect
The One Mix 2S has got a lot going for it but there are a few issues. First and foremost, the fans can get very loud, very quickly. This is always the case for small fans and there is a workaround. Pressing the keyboard backlight key, which is an artifact from the previous model, slows down the fans. This will limit the CPU speed, but under normal workloads, you shouldn’t notice any difference.
The trackpoint touch based mouse is usable but it’s not great. If you need to scroll across the screen you need to pick your finger up and swipe a few times. The 2S also lacks a scroll button which can sometimes get a little annoying. A regular rubber trackpoint would’ve been perfect in this position.
The Wi-Fi, unfortunately, isn’t great. Both in terms of signal strength and throughput. Running a speed test on the 2S against any other machine illustrates how much room for improvement there is. Hopefully this is a simple software fix and not because the Wi-Fi antennae are of lesser quality.
The worst part of about this device though is the keyboard. Things like TAB being next to the number one, backspace being next to the letter P and the period and comma keys being half width makes the learning curve quite steep for this keyboard. I found myself making lots of errors and having to look down at the keyboard frequently. This isn’t indicative of the quality of the keyboard which is fantastic.
Verdict
It’s always good to validate when a product can be used as opposed to a hypothetical scenario. Fortunately, I had the opportunity to put the One Mix 2S to the test on site. During a relatively large Ubiquiti install, I had to work in the network cabinet on a ladder.
The form factor as well as having full Windows 10 on the One Mix 2S made this so much easier as opposed to having to carry a laptop everytime I had to move up and down the ladder. I’m sure many system administrators might appreciate this.
If you type a lot, however, the keyboard does not make for a compelling choice. Especially if you’re using this as a secondary machine, as you’d get used to one keyboard and have difficulty switching. If you’re planning on making this your daily driver I would suggest having a monitor, mouse, and keyboard to which your One Mix 2S connects.
It’s well built, quick, and is packed with features. Features that machines in a much higher price bracket just don’t include. Hopefully, the Wi-Fi issues can be fixed and there’ll be a better keyboard layout they can improve on. For now, I’ve got my eyes on what One Netbook is bringing in the future!
Use the coupon code makeuse6 to get grab the One Mix 2S for $659.99 for a limited time; or, enter our giveaway below to win one!
7 Days. 7 Emails: It’s Time to Change Your Email Security Forever.
Email is vital to communication, so why leave your accounts exposed? Over just seven days, this free, practical email course will help you turn your inbox security from a wet blanket into a fortress.
You will learn:
Why your password sucks.
How to spot scam, spam, and fraudulent email.
How you stop spammers stealing your email address.
How to securely lock down your inboxes and send secure email.
And the biggest mistakes every email user makes—they might not be what you think!
Your inbox is the key to your digital kingdom. Don’t sit around wondering what you could have done.
Social media platforms are being urged to be far more transparent about how their services operate and to make “anonymised high-level data” available to researchers so the technology’s effects on users — and especially on children and teens — can be better understood.
The calls have been made in a report by the UK parliament’s Science and Technology Committee which has been looking into the impacts of social media and screen use among children — to consider whether such tech is “healthy or harmful”.
“Social media companies must also be far more open and transparent regarding how they operate and particularly how they moderate, review and prioritise content,” it writes.
Concerns have been growing about children’s use of social media and mobile technology for some years now, with plenty of anecdotal evidence and also some studies linking tech use to developmental problems, as well as distressing stories connecting depression and even suicide to social media use.
Although the committee writes that its dive into the topic was hindered by “the limited quantity and quality of academic evidence available”. But it also asserts: “The absence of good academic evidence is not, in itself, evidence that social media and screens have no effect on young people.”
“We found that the majority of published research did not provide a clear indication of causation, but instead indicated a possible correlation between social media/screens and a particular health effect,” it continues. “There was even less focus in published research on exactly who was at risk and if some groups were potentially more vulnerable than others when using screens and social media.”
The UK government expressed its intention to legislate in this area, announcing a plan last May to “make social media safer” — promising new online safety laws to tackle concerns.
The committee writes that it’s therefore surprised the government has not commissioned “any new, substantive research to help inform its proposals”, and suggests it get on and do so “as a matter of urgency” — with a focus on identifying people at risk of experiencing harm online and on social media; the reasons for the risk factors; and the longer-term consequences of the tech’s exposure on children.
It further suggests the government should consider what legislation is required to improve researchers’ access to this type of data, given platforms have failed to provide enough access for researchers of their own accord.
The committee says it heard evidence of a variety of instances where social media could be “a force for good” but also received testimonies about some of the potential negative impacts of social media on the health and emotional wellbeing of children.
“These ranged from detrimental effects on sleep patterns and body image through to cyberbullying, grooming and ‘sexting’,” it notes. “Generally, social media was not the root cause of the risk but helped to facilitate it, while also providing the opportunity for a large degree of amplification. This was particularly apparent in the case of the abuse of children online, via social media.
“It is imperative that the government leads the way in ensuring that an effective partnership is in place, across civil society, technology companies, law enforcement agencies, the government and non-governmental organisations, aimed at ending child sexual exploitation (CSE) and abuse online.”
The committee suggests the government commission specific research to establish the scale and prevalence of online CSE — pushing it to set an “ambitious target” to halve reported online CSE in two years and “all but eliminate it in four”.
A duty of care
A further recommendation will likely send a shiver down tech giants’ spines, with the committee urging a duty of care principle be enshrined in law for social media users under 18 years of age to protect them from harm when on social media sites.
Such a duty would up the legal risk stakes considerably for user generated content platforms which don’t bar children from accessing their services.
The committee suggests the government could achieve that by introducing a statutory code of practice for social media firms, via new primary legislation, to provide “consistency on content reporting practices and moderation mechanisms”.
It also recommends a requirement in law for social media companies to publish detailed Transparency Reports every six months.
It is also for a 24 hour takedown law for illegal content, saying that platforms should have to review reports of potentially illegal content and take a decision on whether to remove, block or flag it — and reply the decision to the individual/organisation who reported it — within 24 hours.
In Germany social media platforms can be fined up to €50 million if they fail to comply with the NetzDG law, as its truncated German name is known. (The EU executive has also been pushing platforms to remove terrorist related material within an hour of a report, suggesting it too could legislate on this front if they fail to moderate content fast enough.)
The committee suggests the UK’s media and telecoms regulator, Ofcom would be well-placed to oversee how illegal content is handled under any new law.
It also recommends that social media companies use AI to identify and flag to users (or remove as appropriate) content that “may be fake” — pointing to the risk posed by new technologies such as “deep fake videos”.
More robust systems for age verification are also needed, in the committee’s view. It writes that these must go beyond “a simple ‘tick box’ or entering a date of birth”.
Looking beyond platforms, the committee presses the government to take steps to improve children’s digital literacy and resilience, suggesting PSHE (personal, social and health) education should be made mandatory for primary and secondary school pupils — delivering “an age-appropriate understanding of, and resilience towards, the harms and benefits of the digital world”.
Teachers and parents should also not be overlooked, with the committee suggesting training and resources for teachers and awareness and engagement campaigns for parents.
We’ve written extensively about LG’s struggling mobile business, which has suffered at the hands of aggressive Chinese Android makers, and now that unit has dragged its parent company into posting its first quarterly loss for two years.
The Korean electronics giant is generally in good health — it posted a $2.4 billion profit for 2018 — but its smartphone business’s failings saw it post a loss in Q4 2018, its first quarterly negative since Q4 2016.
Overall, the company posted a KRW 75.7 billion ($67.1 million) operating loss as revenue slid seven percent year-on-year to KRW 15.77 trillion ($13.99 billion). LG said the change was “primarily due to lower sales of mobile products.”
Over the full year, LG Mobile posted a $700 million loss (KRW 790.1 billion) but the company claimed things are improving thanks to “better material cost controls and overhead efficiencies based on the company’s platform modularization strategy.”
LG used CES to showcase a range of home entertainment products — that division is doing far better than mobile, with a record annual profit of $1.35 billion in 2018 — so we’ll have to wait until Mobile World Congress in February to see exactly what LG has in mind. Already, though, we have a suggestion and it isn’t exactly set-the-world-on-fire stuff.
“LG’s mobile division will push 5G products and smartphones featuring different form factors while focusing on key markets where the LG brand remains strong,” the company said in a statement.
It will certainly take something very special to turn things around. It seems more likely that LG Mobile head Brian Kwon — who also heads up that hugely-profitable home entertainment business — will focus on cutting costs and squeezing out the few sweet spots left. Continued losses, particularly against success from other units, might eventually see LG shutter its mobile business.
Samsung’s forecast was also dour, at least for the first half of the year. It said annual earnings will decline thanks to continuing weak demand for chips, but expects demand for memory products and OLED panels to improve during the second half.
The company’s fourth-quarter operating profit was 10.8 trillion won (about $9.7 billion), a 28.7 percent decrease from the 15.15 trillion won it recorded in the same period one year ago. Revenue was 59.27 trillion won, a 10.2 percent drop year over year.
Broken out by business, Samsung’s semiconductor unit recorded quarterly operating profit of 7.8 trillion won, down from 10.8 trillion won a year ago. Its mobile unit’s operating profit was 1.5 trillion won, compared to 2.4 trillion won a year ago.
Smartphone makers, including Samsung rival Apple, have been hit hard by slowing smartphone sales around the world, especially in China. Upgrade cycles are also becoming longer as customers wait to buy newer models.
This hurt both Samsung’s smartphone and chip sales, as “overall market demand for NAND and DRAM drop[ped] due to macroeconomic uncertainties and adjustments in inventory levels by customers including datacenter companies and smartphone makers,” said the company’s earnings report.
Samsung expects chip sales to be sluggish during the first quarter because of weak seasonality and inventory adjustments by its biggest customers. The company was optimistic about the last two quarters of 2019, when it expects demand for chips and OLED panels to pick up thanks seasonal demand and customers finishing their inventory adjustments.
iRobot, the company known for making the Roomba, some of the best robotic vacuum cleaners out there, is looking to jump into the lawn care game with the announcement of Terra. Much like the company’s selection of indoor cleaners, this device will automatically cut its way around your yard, making for one less chore that you need to do manually.
The main thing iRobot is touting about its new robot lawn mower is the high-end mapping and navigation technologies. The company talked about its iRobot’s Imprint Smart Mapping tech, which allows the device to mow the grass in the same way people do—with a straight back and forth pattern. It will also remember where it is in the yard, and how much space in the yard it has left to do.
Like Roomba vacuums, Terra will automatically return to its base to recharge when the battery runs low, and then it will resume cutting where it left off.
As far as what makes this stand out from other robotic lawn mowers already on the market, iRobot said in a press release that it eliminates “the need for costly and labor-intensive boundary wires.”
Instead, the setup process actually sounds pretty painless and doesn’t seem like it will require any professional installation. Apparently, you just need to place several wireless beacons around the outside of the yard, drive Terra around the edge of the yard once, and then schedule it to mow.
In the press release, Colin Angle, chairman and CEO of iRobot, spoke about the future of robotic lawn care:
iRobot is building an ecosystem of robots and technologies that help people do more both inside and outside of the home. The robot mower segment is well established in EMEA and has tremendous room for growth in other markets, including North America. With its ease of use and premium mowing features, Terra is poised to give consumers a whole new way to think about how they take care of their lawn.
When Can You Buy the iRobot Terra and How Much Will It Be?
Unfortunately, iRobot didn’t release any pricing information as of the time of this writing, though we certainly wouldn’t expect Terra to be very budget-friendly, based on the prices of Roomba vacuums.
However, we do know that it’ll be available in Germany and as a beta program in the U.S. this year, though the company didn’t narrow down exactly when to expect it in 2019. Logically, one would think they’d want to release it before the summer in the northern hemisphere since that’ll be the time when people would actually use a device like this.
Don’t forget about the robot vacuum we actually called one of the best—the iLife a7.
People have been arguing that size doesn’t matter for a long time. And it turns out that at least in terms of movies on streaming services, this old adage is demonstrably true. In a nutshell, Netflix boasts more hit movies than Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO.
In this instance, “hit” means critically acclaimed. Rotten Tomatoes maintains a list of movies which have been Certified Fresh. This means a film has a score of 75 percent or more, has been reviewed by Top Critics, and has a minimum number of reviews overall.
And Netflix has a higher number (and a higher percentage) of movies Certified Fresh than Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and HBO Now…
Streaming Services by the Numbers
Streaming Observer is responsible for running the numbers. And they found that while Amazon Prime Video offers the highest number of movies overall, Netflix boasts more movies beloved by the critics. At least according to Rotten Tomatoes’ ratings.
Check out our newest report here, comparing the quality of Netflix's movie library to Amazon Prime, Hulu, and HBO. https://t.co/V78DOmx1zB
The truth is revealed in two charts ranking Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Hulu, and HBO Now according to both the total number of movies offered, and the number of Certified Fresh movies offered. While Amazon Prime Video tops the first, Netflix tops the second.
The Total Number of Movies:
Amazon Prime Video: 17,461
Netflix: 3,838
Hulu: 2,336
HBO Now: 815
The Number of Movies Certified Fresh:
Netflix: 596 (15.5%)
Amazon Prime Video: 232 (1.3%)
Hulu: 223 (9.6%)
HBO Now: 38 (4.7%)
Essentially, this comes down to quality vs. quantity. According to the numbers, Amazon has filled Prime Video with lots of films, the vast majority of which aren’t very good. Netflix, on the other hand, offers a lot less movies, with a higher percentage of decent films.
More Money Means Better Movies
It should be noted that you gain access to Prime Movies as a result of an Amazon Prime membership. Whereas Netflix is a standalone service with its own subscription fee. And given that Netflix has raised its prices again, it’s no wonder it can afford better movies.
Roughly half of Instagram’s users 1 billion users now use Instagram Stories every day. That 500 million daily user count is up from 400 million in June 2018. 2 million advertisers are now buying Stories ads across Facebook’s properties.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Stories the last big game-changing feature from Facebook, but after concentrating on security last year, it plans to ship more products that make “major improvements” in people’s lives.
During today’s Q4 2018 earnings call, Zuckerberg outlined several areas where Facebook will push new products this year:
Encryption and ephemerality will be added to more features for security and privacy
Messaging features will make Messenger and WhatsApp “the center of [your] social experiences”
WhatsApp payments will expand to more countries
Stories will gain new private sharing options
Groups will become an organizing function of Facebook on par with friends & family
Facebook Watch will become mainstream this year as video is moved there from the News Feed, Zuckerberg expects
Augmented and virtual reality will be improved, and Oculus Quest will ship this spring
Instagram commerce and shopping will get new features
Zuckerberg was asked about Facebook’s plan to unify the infrastructure to allow encrypted cross-app messaging between Facebook Messenger, Instagram, and WhatsApp, as first reported by NYT’s Mike Isaac. Zuckerberg explained that the plan wasn’t about a business benefit, but supposedly to improve the user experience. Specifically, it would allow Marketplace buyers and sellers in countries where WhatsApp dominates messaging to use that app to chat instead of Messenger. And for Android users who use Messenger as their SMS client, the unification would allow those messages to be sent with encryption too. He sees expanding encryption here as a way to decentralize Facebook and keep users’ data safe by never having it on the company’s servers. However, Zuckerberg says this will take time and could be a “2020 thing”.
Facebook says it now has 2.7 billion monthly users across the Facebook family of apps: Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp. However, Facebook CFO David Wehner says “Over time we expect family metrics to play the primary role in how we talk about our company and we will eventually phase out Facebook-only community metrics.” That shows Facebook is self-conscious about how its user base is shifting away from its classic social network and towards Instagram and its messaging apps. Family-only metrics could mask how teens are slipping away.
Facebook managed to beat Wall Street’s estimates in its Q4 earnings amidst a constant beat down in the press. Facebook hit 2.32 billion monthly users, up 2.2 perecent from 2.27 billion last quarter, speeding up its growth rate. Facebook climbed to 1.52 billion daily active users from 1.49 billion last quarter for a 2 percent growth rate that dwarfed last quarter’s 1.36 percent.
Facebook earned $16.91 billion off all those users with a $2.38 GAAP earnings per share. Those numbers handily beat Wall Street’s expectations of $16.39 billion in revenue and $2.18 GAAP earnings per share, plus 2.32 billion monthly and 1.51 billion daily active users. Facebook’s daily to monthly user ratio, or stickiness, held firm at 66 percent where it’s stayed for years, showing those still on Facebook aren’t using it much less.
Facebook shares had closed today at $150.42 but shot up over 11 percent following the record revenue and profit announcements to hover around $167. A big 30 percent year-over-year boost in average revenue per user in North America fueled those gains. Yet that’s still down from $186 where it was a year ago and a peak of $217 in July.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg went beyond his usual intro to the earnings report where he assures investors things are going well and highlights new opportunities. This quarter he noted “We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”
Squeezing Money From The Olds
Facebook managed to grow its DAU in both the critical US & Canada and Europe markets where it earns the most money after stagnation or shrinkage in previous quarters. The fact that Facebook is no longer dwindling it its most lucrative markets is surely contributing to its share price climb. Facebook’s monthly active user plateaued in North America but roared up in Europe. That was shored up by a reversal of last quarter’s decline in Rest Of World average revenue per user, which fell 4.7% in Q3 but bounced back with 16.5 percent growth in Q4.
Facebook raked in $6.8 billion in profit this quarter as it slowed down hiring and only grew headcount 5 percent from 33,606 to 35,587. It seems Facebook has gotten to a comfortable place with its security staff-up in the wake of election interference, fake news, and content moderation troubles. Its revenue is up 30 percent year-over-year while profits grew 61 percent, which is pretty remarkable for a 15-year old technology company.
Earnings Call
Facebook’s plan to concentrate on product innovation in 2019 after focusing on security in 2018 was the core of today’s earnings call. Zuckerberg laid out a product roadmap for more ephemerality and encryption, how unifying the infrastructure of Facebook’s messaging apps will better connect Marketplace to WhatsApp, Groups will become an organizing function for more of the Facebook experience, and shopping features will crop up across the family of apps.
New stats included 500 million daily Instagram Stories users and 2 million advertisers on Stories. Zuckerberg said he was pleasantly surprised by Facebook Portal sales but didn’t give specifics. He revealed 2.7 billion people now use Facebook’s family of apps each month. However, CFO David Wehner warned the company would eventually stop sharing Facebook-only stats, presumably to mask the shift of younger users to its other apps. He also cautioned that due to the shift of users from feeds to Stories that Facebook has less experience monetizing, and targeting headwinds due to increased privacy scrutiny, Facebook predicts mid-single digit revenue growth rate reductions each quarter this year.
t morale isn’t quite as rosy. It’s been a brutal quarter for Facebook At least its swifter user growth rates show Facebook survived its biggest ever data breach without scaring off too many people. Meanwhile it’s continuously struggled with scandals like hiring opposition research firm Definers, and it saw its new teen app Lasso largely flop. Facebook will have to convince investors it knows how to win back the next generation, or at least keep squeezong a lot more money out of the last one like it did in Q4.
It’s no secret that Google planned to pull life support from the consumer version of Google+, its failure of a social network, in April. Until now, though, we didn’t know the exact date. That date, Google announced today, is April 2.
On that date, Google will start deleting all content, including Google+ pages, photos and videos, and everything else on the site. If you were one of the last few Google+ users — or you just feel nostalgic about the stuff you posted there — now is the time to download all of that data.
If your company uses Google+ (and there must be some companies that do), then rest assured you will still be able to use it for the foreseeable future. Google is only shutting down the consumer version, as well as all Google+ APIs. Indeed, those APIs, which turned out to be major security liabilities, will shut down on March 7.
And there you have it. That’s the curtain call for Google+, the social network that could’ve been, from an era when Google desperately tried to catch up with Facebook and Twitter and integrated Google+ into every conceivable product. It even went so far as changing its sacred search results based on social signals (which really didn’t work all that well). The result was a bit of a disaster for Google and it took a while to right the ship.
Facebook managed to beat Wall Street’s estimates in its Q4 earnings amidst a constant beat down in the press. Facebook hit 2.32 billion monthly users, up 2.2 perecent from 2.27 billion last quarter, speeding up its growth rate. Facebook climbed to 1.52 billion daily active users from 1.49 billion last quarter for a 2 percent growth rate that dwarfed last quarter’s 1.36 percent.
Facebook earned $16.91 billion off all those users with a $2.38 GAAP earnings per share. Those numbers handily beat Wall Street’s expectations of $16.39 billion in revenue and $2.18 GAAP earnings per share, plus 2.32 billion monthly and 1.51 billion daily active users. Facebook’s daily to monthly user ratio, or stickiness, held firm at 66 percent where it’s stayed for years, showing those still on Facebook aren’t using it much less.
Facebook shares had closed today at $150.42 but shot up over 9 percent following the record revenue and profit announcements to hover around $162. A big 30 percent year-over-year boost in average revenue per user in North America fueled those gains. Yet that’s still way down from $186 where it was a year ago and a peak of $217 in July.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg went beyond his usual intro to the earnings report where he assures investors things are going well and highlights new opportunities. This quarter he noted “We’ve fundamentally changed how we run our company to focus on the biggest social issues, and we’re investing more to build new and inspiring ways for people to connect.”
Squeezing Money From The Olds
Facebook managed to grow its DAU in both the critical US & Canada and Europe markets where it earns the most money after stagnation or shrinkage in previous quarters. The fact that Facebook is no longer dwindling it its most lucrative markets is surely contributing to its share price climb. Facebook’s monthly active user plateaued in North America but roared up in Europe. That was shored up by a reversal of last quarter’s decline in Rest Of World average revenue per user, which fell 4.7% in Q3 but bounced back with 16.5 percent growth in Q4.
Facebook raked in $6.8 billion in profit this quarter as it slowed down hiring and only grew headcount 5 percent from 33,606 to 35,587. It seems Facebook has gotten to a comfortable place with its security staff-up in the wake of election interference, fake news, and content moderation troubles. Its revenue is up 30 percent year-over-year while profits grew 61 percent, which is pretty remarkable for a 15-year old technology company.
But morale isn’t quite as rosy. It’s been a brutal quarter for Facebook At least its swifter user growth rates show Facebook survived its biggest ever data breach without scaring off too many people. Meanwhile it’s continuously struggled with scandals like hiring opposition research firm Definers, and it saw its new teen app Lasso largely flop. Facebook will have to convince investors it knows how to win back the next generation, or at least keep squeezong a lot more money out of the last one like it did in Q4.
It’s no secret that Google planned to pull life support from the consumer version of Google+, its failure of a social network, in April. Until now, though, we didn’t know the exact date. That date, Google announced today, is April 2.
On that date, Google will start deleting all content, including Google+ pages, photos and videos and everything else on the site. If you were one of the last few Google+ users — or you just feel nostalgic about the stuff you posted there — now is the time to download all of that data.
If your company uses Google+ (and there must be some companies that do), then rest assured that you will still be able to use it for the foreseeable future. Google is only shutting down the consumer version, as well as all Google+ APIs. Indeed, those APIs, which turned out to be major security liabilities, will shut down on March 7 already.
And there you have it. That’s the curtain call for Google+, the social network that could’ve been, from an era when Google desperately tried to catch up with Facebook and Twitter and integrated Google+ into every conceivable product. It even went as far as changing its sacred search results based on social signals (which really didn’t work all that well). The result was a bit of a disaster for Google and it took a while to right the ship.
In response to TechCrunch’s investigation of Facebook paying teens and adults to install a VPN that lets it analyze all their phone’s traffic, Senator Mark Warner (D-VA) has sent a letter to Mark Zuckerberg. It admonishes Facebook for not spelling out exactly what data the Facebook Research app was collecting or giving users adequate information necessary to determine if they should accept payment in exchange for selling their privacy. Following our report, Apple banned Facebook’s Research app from iOS and shut down its internal employee-only workplace apps too as punishment, causing mayhem in Facebook’s office.
Warner wrote to Zuckerberg, “In both the case of Onavo and the Facebook Research project, I have concerns that users were not appropriately informed about the extent of Facebook’s data-gathering and the commercial purposes of this data collection. Facebook’s apparent lack of full transparency with users – particularly in the context of ‘research’ efforts – has been a source of frustration for me,”
Warner is working on writing new laws to govern data collection initiatives like Facebook Research. He asks Zuckerberg, “Will you commit to supporting legislation requiring individualized, informed consent in all instances of behavioral and market research conducted by large platforms on users?”
Meanwhile, Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) provided TechCrunch with a fiery statement regarding our investigation. He calls Facebook anti-competitive, which could fuel calls to regulate or break up Facebook, says the FTC must address the issue, and that he’s planning to work with congress to safeguard teens’ privacy:
“Wiretapping teens is not research, and it should never be permissible. This is yet another astonishing example of Facebook’s complete disregard for data privacy and eagerness to engage in anti-competitive behavior. Instead of learning its lesson when it was caught spying on consumers using the supposedly ‘private’ Onavo VPN app, Facebook rebranded the intrusive app and circumvented Apple’s attempts to protect iPhone users. Facebook continues to demonstrate its eagerness to look over everyone’s shoulder and watch everything they do in order to make money.
Mark Zuckerberg’s empty promises are not enough. The FTC needs to step up to the plate, and the Onavo app should be part of its investigation. I will also be writing to Apple and Google on Facebook’s egregious behavior, and working in Congress to make sure that teens are protected from Big Tech’s privacy intrusions.”
The Senators’ statements do go a big overboard. Though Facebook Research was aggressively competitive and potentially misleading, Blumenthal calling it “anti-competitive” is a stretch. And Warner’s questioning on whether “any user reasonably understood that they were giving Facebook root device access through the enterprise certificate” or that it uses the data to track competitors goes a bit too far. Surely some savvy technologists did, but the question is whether all the teens and everyone else understood.
Facebook isn’t the only one paying users to analyze all their phone data. TechCrunch found that Google had a similar program called Screenwise Meter. Though it was more upfront about it, Google also appears to have violated Apple’s employee-only Enterprise Certificate rules. We may be seeing the start to an industry-wide crack down on market research surveillance apps that dangle gift cards in front of users to get them to give up a massive amount of privacy.
Warner’s full letter to Zuckerberg can be found below:
Dear Mr. Zuckerberg:
I write to express concerns about allegations of Facebook’s latest efforts to monitor user activity. On January 29th, TechCrunch revealed that under the auspices of partnerships with beta testing firms, Facebook had begun paying users aged 13 to 35 to install an enterprise certificate, allowing Facebook to intercept all internet traffic to and from user devices. According to subsequent reporting by TechCrunch, Facebook relied on intermediaries that often “did not disclose Facebook’s involvement until users had begun the signup process.” Moreover, the advertisements used to recruit participants and the “Project Disclosure” make no mention of Facebook or the commercial purposes to which this data was allegedly put.
This arrangement comes in the wake of revelations that Facebook had previously engaged in similar efforts through a virtual private network (VPN) app, Onavo, that it owned and operated. According to a series of articles by the Wall Street Journal, Facebook used Onavo to scout emerging competitors by monitoring user activity – acquiring competitors in order to neutralize them as competitive threats, and in cases when that did not work, monitor usage patterns to inform Facebook’s own efforts to copy the features and innovations driving adoption of competitors’ apps. In 2017, my staff contacted Facebook with questions about how Facebook was promoting Onavo through its Facebook app – in particular, framing the app as a VPN that would “protect” users while omitting any reference to the main purpose of the app: allowing Facebook to gather market data on competitors.
Revelations in 2017 and 2018 prompted Apple to remove Onavo from its App Store in 2018 after concluding that the app violated its terms of service prohibitions on monitoring activity of other apps on a user’s device, as well as a requirement to make clear what user data will be collected and how it will be used. In both the case of Onavo and the Facebook Research project, I have concerns that users were not appropriately informed about the extent of Facebook’s data-gathering and the commercial purposes of this data collection.
Facebook’s apparent lack of full transparency with users – particularly in the context of ‘research’ efforts – has been a source of frustration for me. As you recall, I wrote the Federal Trade Commission in 2014 in the wake of revelations that Facebook had undertaken a behavioral experiment on hundreds of thousands of users, without obtaining their informed consent. In submitted questions to your Chief Operating Officer, Sheryl Sandberg, I once again raised these concerns, asking if Facebook provided for “individualized, informed consent” in all research projects with human subjects – and whether users had the ability to opt out of such research. In response, we learned that Facebook does not rely on individualized, informed consent (noting that users consent under the terms of the general Data Policy) and that users have no opportunity to opt out of being enrolled in research studies of their activity. In large part for this reason, I am working on legislation to require individualized, informed consent in all instances of behavioral and market research conducted by large platforms on users.
Fair, robust competition serves as an impetus for innovation, product differentiation, and wider consumer choice. For these reasons, I request that you respond to the following questions:
1. Do you think any user reasonably understood that they were giving Facebook root device access through the enterprise certificate? What specific steps did you take to ensure that users were properly informed of this access?
2. Do you think any user reasonably understood that Facebook was using this data for commercial purposes, including to track competitors?
3. Will you release all participants from the confidentiality agreements Facebook made them sign?
4. As you know, I have begun working on legislation that would require large platforms such as Facebook to provide users, on a continual basis, with an estimate of the overall value of their data to the service provider. In this instance, Facebook seems to have developed valuations for at least some uses of the data that was collected (such as market research). This further emphasizes the need for users to understand fully what data is collected by Facebook, the full range of ways in which it is used, and how much it is worth to the company. Will you commit to supporting this legislation and exploring methods for valuing user data holistically?
5. Will you commit to supporting legislation requiring individualized, informed consent in all instances of behavioral and market research conducted by large platforms on users?
I look forward to receiving your responses within the next two weeks. If you should have any questions or concerns, please contact my office at 202-224-2023.
Step’s focus on this younger demographic puts it in a different space, where there are fewer competitors. Its more direct rivals are not the bigger mobile banks, but rather startups like 
The company pays a 2.5 percent interest rate on deposits, offers a round-up savings feature and a range of budgeting tools and supports free instant transfers between Step accounts. It also provides access to a network of 35,000 ATMs with no fees.
