Google Faculty Research Awards 2018

Posted by Maggie Johnson, VP, Education and Negar Saei, Program Manager, University Relations

We just completed another round of the Google Faculty Research Awards, our annual open call for proposals on computer science and related topics, such as quantum computing, machine learning, algorithms and theory, natural language processing and more. Our grants cover tuition for a graduate student and provide both faculty and students the opportunity to work directly with Google researchers and engineers.

This round we received 910 proposals covering 40 countries and over 320 universities. After expert reviews and committee discussions, we decided to fund 158 projects. The subject areas that received the most support this year were human computer interaction, machine learning, machine perception, and systems.

Congratulations to the well-deserving recipients of this round's awards. More information on how to apply for the next round will be available at the end of the summer on our website. You can find award recipients from previous years here.

coParenter helps divorced parents settle disputes using A.I. and human mediation

A former judge and family law educator has teamed up with tech entrepreneurs to launch an app they hope will help divorced parents better manage their co-parenting disputes, communications, shared calendar, and other decisions within a single platform. The app, called coParenter, aims to be more comprehensive than its competitors, while also leveraging a combination of A.I. technology and on-demand human interaction to help co-parents navigate high-conflict situations.

The idea for coParenter emerged from co-founder Hon. Sherrill A. Ellsworth’s personal experience and entrepreneur Jonathan Verk, who had been through a divorce himself.

Ellsworth had been a presiding judge of the Superior Court in Riverside County, California for 20 years and a family law educator for ten. During this time, she saw firsthand how families were destroyed by today’s legal system.

“I witnessed countless families torn apart as they slogged through the family law system. I saw how families would battle over the simplest of disagreements like where their child will go to school, what doctor they should see and what their diet should be — all matters that belong at home, not in a courtroom,” she says.

Ellsworth also notes that 80 percent of the disagreements presented in the courtroom didn’t even require legal intervention – but most of the cases she presided over involved parents asking the judge to make the co-parenting decision.

As she came to the end of her career, she began to realize the legal system just wasn’t built for these sorts of situations.

She then met Jonathan Verk, previously EVP Strategic Partnerships at Shazam and now coParenter CEO. Verk had just divorced himself and had an idea about how technology could help make the co-parenting process easier. He already had on board his longtime friend and serial entrepreneur Eric Weiss, now COO, to help build the system. But he needed someone with legal expertise.

That’s how coParenter was born.

The app, also built by CTO Niels Hansen, today exists alongside a whole host of other tools built for different aspects of the coparenting process.

That includes those apps designed to document communication like OurFamilyWizard, Talking Parents, AppClose, and Divvito Messenger; those for sharing calendars, like Custody Connection, Custody X Exchange, Alimentor; and even those that offer a combination of features like WeParent, 2houses, SmartCoparent, and Fayr, among others.

But the team at coParenter argues that their app covers all aspects of coparenting, including communication, documentation, calendar and schedule sharing, location-based tools for pickup and dropoff logging, expense tracking and reimbursements, schedule change requests, tools for making decisions on day-to-day parenting choices like haircuts, diet, allowance, use of media, etc., and more.

Notably, coParenter also offers a “solo mode” – meaning you can use the app even if the other co-parent refuses to do the same. This is a key feature that many rival apps lack.

However, the biggest differentiator is how coParenter puts a mediator of sorts in your pocket.

The app begins by using A.I., machine learning, and sentiment analysis technology to keep conversations civil. The tech will jump in to flag curse words, inflammatory phrases and offense names to keep a heated conversation from escalating – much like a human mediator would do when trying to calm two warring parties.

When conversations take a bad turn, the app will pop up a warning message that asks the parent if they’re sure they want to use that term, allowing them time to pause and think. (If only social media platforms had built features like this!)

 

When parents need more assistance, they can opt to use the app instead of turning to lawyers.

The company offers on-demand access to professionals as both monthly ($12.99/mo – 20 credits, or enough for 2 mediations) or yearly ($119.99/year – 240 credits) subscriptions. Both parents can subscribe for $199.99/year, each receiving 240 credits.

“Comparatively, an average hour with a lawyer costs between $250 and upwards of $200, just to file a single motion,” Ellsworth says.

These professionals are not mediators, but are licensed in their respective fields – typically family law attorneys, therapists, social workers, or other retired bench officers with strong conflict resolution backgrounds. Ellsworth oversees the professionals to ensure they have the proper guidance.

All communication between the parent and the professional is considered confidential and not subject to admission as evidence, as the goal is to stay out of the courts. However, all the history and documentation elsewhere in the app can be used in court, if the parents do end up there.

The app has been in beta for nearly a year, and officially launched this January. To date, coParenter claims it’s already helped to resolve over 4,000 disputes and over 2,000 co-parents have used it for scheduling. 81 percent of the disputing parents resolved all their issues in the app, without needed a professional mediator or legal professional, the company says.

CoParenter is available on both iOS and Android.

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Facebook says its new A.I. technology can detect ‘revenge porn’

Facebook on Friday announced a new artificial intelligence powered tool that it says will help the social network detect revenge porn – the nonconsensually shared intimate images that, when posted online, can have devastating consequences for those who appear in the photos. The technology will leverage both A.I. and machine learning techniques to proactively detect near nude images or videos that are shared without permission across Facebook and Instagram.

The announcement follows on Facebook’s earlier pilot of a photo-matching technology, which had people directly submit their intimate photos and videos to Facebook. The program, which was run in partnership with victim advocate organizations, would then create a digital fingerprint of that image so Facebook could stop it from ever being shared online across its platforms. This is similar to how companies today prevent child abuse images from being posted to their sites.

The new A.I. technology for revenge porn, however, doesn’t require the victim’s involvement. This is important, Facebook explains, because victims are sometimes too afraid of retribution to report the content themselves. Other times, they’re simply unaware that the photos or videos are being shared.

While the company was short on details about how the new system itself works, it did note that it goes beyond simply “detecting nudity.”

After the system flags an image or video, a specially trained member of Facebook’s Community Operations team will review the image then remove it if it violates Facebook’s Community Standards. In most cases, the company will also disable the account, as a result. An appeals process is available if the person believes Facebook has made a mistake.

In addition to the technology and existing pilot program, Facebook says it also reviewed how its other procedures around revenge porn reporting could be improved. It found, for instance, that victims wanted faster responses following their reports and they didn’t want a robotic reply. Other victims didn’t know how to use the reporting tools or even that they existed.

Facebook noted that addressing revenge porn is critical as it can lead to mental health consequences like anxiety, depression, suicidal thoughts and sometimes even PTSD. There can also be professional consequences, like lost jobs and damaged relationships with colleagues. Plus, those in more traditional communities around the world may be shunned or exiled, persecuted or even physically harmed.

Facebook admits that it wasn’t finding a way to “acknowledge the trauma that the victims endure,” when responding to their reports. It says it’s now re-evaluating the reporting tools and process to make sure they’re more “straightforward, clear and empathetic.”

It’s also launching “Not Without My Consent,” a victim-support hub in the Facebook Safety Center that was developed in partnership with experts. The hub will offer victims access to organizations and resources that can support them, and it will detail the steps to take to report the content to Facebook.

In the months ahead, Facebook says it will also build victim support toolkits with more locally and culturally relevant info by working with partners including the Revenge Porn Helpline (UK), Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (US), Digital Rights Foundation (Pakistan), SaferNet (Brazil) and Professor Lee Ji-yeon (South Korea).

Revenge porn is one of the many issues that results from offering the world a platform for public sharing. Facebook today is beginning to own up to the failures of social media across many fronts – which also include things like data privacy violations, the spread of misinformation, and online harassment and abuse.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced a pivot to privacy, where Facebook’s products will be joined together as an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network – but the move has shaken Facebook internally, causing it to lose top execs along the way.

While changes are in line with what the public wants, many have already lost trust in Facebook. For the first time in 10 years Edison Research noted a decline in Facebook usage in the U.S., from 67 to 62 percent of Americans 12 and older. Still, Facebook still a massive platform with its over 2 billion users. Even if users themselves opt out of Facebook, that doesn’t prevent them from ever becoming a victim of revenge porn or other online abuse by those who continue to use the social network.

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Google filed a folding phone patent application, too

Does a patent application mean a company is particularly serious about a technology? No.

Is every company that makes a phones at least toying around with a folding model? Yes, probably.

It’s tough to know from a series a crude drawings and technical details filed with the USPTO how seriously an individual company is taking these plans. Honestly, most companies are understandably most likely taking a wait and see approach to the tech.

A new patent application spotted by Patently Mobile likely falls into the the latter camp. Google, after all, outsources a lot of its Pixel and other hardware to other device manufacturers — and, notably, doesn’t make its own displays. Even so, the filing shows off a device that folds a bit like a wallet.

“FOLDABLE DISPLAY NEUTRAL AXIS MANAGEMENT WITH THIN, HIGH MODULUS LAYERS” is pretty simple, on the face of it, especially when compared to already announced and soon to be launched offerings from Samsung and Huawei (not to mention the Xiaomi concept that got everyone all excited). It does Google in the same boat as Apple and Motorola, however, as companies that, have at the very least, flirted with the idea of a foldable.

Google, notably, has been on board with the category, at least from a software perspective. The company made a joint announcement with Samsung last year that it would support devices like the Galaxy Fold via Android. So someone, somewhere deep in the bowels of Mountain View has likely been toying with concepts.

As far as consumers are concerned, of course, foldables are still mostly a curiosity, with prices however around $2,000 — double the cost of other flagships. Relatively low barriers of entry have long been among the appeals of the Pixel line, so it’s tough to imagine Google rushing into a $2K foldable this year.

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The 10 Best Workout Apps to Get in Shape

It’s never a bad time to start doing more exercise. After a few short weeks of regularly working out, you’ll lose weight, look better, feel more confident, and have a greater zest for life.

Luckily, neither Android nor iOS users are short of options when it comes to workout apps. It doesn’t matter whether you’re an experienced triathlete or just beginning your fitness journey; there are apps suitable for your level.

Interested? Keep reading to discover the best workout apps for your smartphone.

1. CrossFit btwb

CrossFit btwb—short for “beyond the whiteboard”—is the official CrossFit workout tracker. The app is free of charge and is thus one of the best free workout apps you’ll find.

Features include a massive workout library with more than eight million exercises, body progress tracking, worldwide leader boards, macro tracking, and “squads” for monitoring your friends’ results. You can even use the app to create your own workouts.

Download: CrossFit btwb for Android | iOS (Free)

2. Tone It Up

Tone It Up is one of the best workout apps for women. As the name suggests, the app’s main focus is on body toning rather than cardio and endurance. Exercises revolve around yoga, cardio, barre, boxing, kettlebell, and strength training. There are even special pregnancy workouts.

Every day you will receive a new workout routine. These routines are formulated by top fitness trainers.

The app also has a vibrant community of women, all of whom are more than happy to offer advice and guidance for exercising newbies.

Download: Tone It Up for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)

3. Couch to 5K

If you’d prefer to focus on cardio rather than strength, check out the Couch to 5K app. According to the plan, you need to run for 30 minutes, three times per week, for nine weeks. At the end of the nine weeks, you’ll be ready to run a 5K race.

The app includes four virtual coaches, route tracking with GPS, workout tracking, and personal best monitoring. Unfortunately, although this is one of the best workout apps for men and women, it is not free to download.

Download: Couch to 5K for Android | iOS ($3)

4. Skimble Workout Trainer

Skimble Workout Trainer is another of the best free workout apps. The app caters to a wide range of users—its workout library covers gym exercises, home exercises, and even workouts you can do in hotel rooms when traveling.

The workouts on the app have adjustable difficulty levels. Photos and videos accompany each exercise so you can make sure your form is correct.

Additionally, there’s a pro subscription for the app. It costs $7 per month and provides access to 100 multi-week training programs and exclusive workouts. In our opinion, though, this is unnecessary.

Download: Skimble Workout Trainer for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

5. JEFIT Workout Tracker

We think that JEFIT is one of the best workout tracker apps. It is quite feature-rich. You can set your exercises, track the weights and reps you achieved, plan your training goals, log your body measurements, organize your gym schedule, add notes to your workouts, and a whole lot more.

JEFIT also includes useful integrations such as rest timers, interval timers, and support for supersets and circuit training. A pro plan adds advanced training reports and stat comparison with other users, plus it removes the ads. This costs $3.33 per month.

Download: JEFIT Workout Tracker for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

6. Aaptiv

Aaptiv brands itself as an “audio fitness app.” In practice, that means that a music playlist accompanies each of the 3,000 individual workout routines. The tracks are predominantly modern chart hits.

Despite the marketing gimmicks, Aaptiv is still a top workout app for Android and iOS. It’s designed to let you work out anywhere. Some sessions are as short as seven minutes; others offer a complete routine for an hour or more.

The classes themselves cover the full spectrum of workout routines; you’ll find everything from cycling and yoga to HIIT (high-intensity interval training) and stretching. A monthly Aaptiv subscription costs $15.

Download: Aaptiv for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)

7. Freeletics

If you live in a cramped apartment, Freeletics is the best workout app you’ll find. It has a special filter to find exercises you can perform in a 2×2 yard space.

Aside from the space filter, you’ll find all the usual fitness content. That includes 900 workouts, customized 10-30 minute routines based on your body weight, a fitness planner, and a workout coach.

The coach, along with some community benefits, are locked behind a paywall.

Download: Freeletics for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

8. Daily Burn

Daily Burn has a few unique features that make it an awesome workout app for men and women alike.

Most notably, there’s a live daily workout that you can stream directly from your device. The live show is at 9am EST every day, though you can watch it at any time for the following 24 hours. It’s also straightforward to access the content via Android TV and Roku so you can follow on your larger TV screen.

Daily Burn includes 150 workouts for all fitness levels. There are also audio workouts (in case you need musical motivation). The exercises themselves primarily revolve around yoga, high-intensity cardio, and strength training.

Download: Daily Burn for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

9. Strava

Strava is the best workout tracker app for people who like cardio exercises such as jogging, swimming, and cycling.

The app has three primary functions:

• Tracking and analyzing your distance, pace, speed, elevation gained, and calories burned.
• A map of jogging routes and cycling trails for thousands of locations around the world.
• Monthly challenges and competitions to keep you motivated.

And if you log into the web app, you’ll also have access to the vast community of members, route-building features, and local group workout activities.

Download: Strava for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

10. Sworkit

Sworkit is the perfect app for people who often find themselves short of time for a full workout. You tell the app what type of workout you want to do and how long you want to do it for, and you’ll get a list of personalized recommendations.

There are more than 200 workout exercises, many of which use your body weight for resistance. Thus, you won’t need additional equipment. You can also create an unlimited number of your own custom workouts.

While the app used to be free, it now costs $30 per quarter.

Download: Sworkit for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)

Other Ways to Stay Fit Using Tech

If you want to get in shape, technology can have a massive role to play. To learn more, check out our list of the best body weight exercise apps and the best fitness trackers that can monitor your heart rate.

Read the full article: The 10 Best Workout Apps to Get in Shape

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5 Unique YouTube Cooking Channels Worth Watching

Cooking is a skill that you can expand greatly by watching a variety of chefs to gain new ideas. Because of this, YouTube lends itself well to content based around preparing food.

In this article, we highlight some of the most interesting cooking channels on YouTube. Skip the boring tutorials and spice it up with far more interesting cuisine-based content.

1. Cooking With Dog

This channel isn’t what you first think about when you hear the name; there’s no chowing down on dogs here. Instead, this one revolves around a Japanese chef (known only as “Chef”) and her dog Francis. While Chef cooks and occasionally speaks in Japanese, Francis “narrates” the cooking instructions in English.

Many of the dishes prepared are Japanese cuisine, but some videos cover food from other regions. Unfortunately, Francis died in 2016, and the channel’s content has slowed down since then. Newer videos use a toy dog in place of the real Francis, but they’re still enjoyable.

This video is the newest one at the time of writing. It shows the preparation of Tai Kobujime, a fish and seaweed-based dish. Make sure to check the link in the description to get step-by-step instructions if you need more help after watching the video.

While this next highlighted video is older, you of course have to check out one that features Francis. Watch in amazement how he manages to narrate the process even when he’s sleeping.

2. Binging With Babish

Our next highlighted channel serves an interesting combination of food and entertainment. Binging with Babish is all about creating foods from movies and TV shows. Since a lot of these dishes are outlandish, the results are quite enjoyable.

Babish’s high-quality videos and calming demeanor make this an excellent channel in all regards. Unfortunately, you’ll have to recreate the dishes yourself if you want to taste them.

In the above clip, Babish makes one of his most-requested foods: spaghetti tacos from the Nickelodeon show iCarly. It’s a zany mix that actually turns out pretty well. As you’ll notice, each episode of the show includes a brief clip of the source material so you can see where the food originated.

If you like the style of his videos but don’t care much about seeing movie/TV foods, check out the Basics with Babish series. This runs alongside the main videos and teaches simple lessons for kitchen newbies.

3. Epic Meal Time

Looking for some foods that are a little less… normal? Epic Meal Time is all about creating completely ridiculous mega-foods loaded with calories and other unhealthy goodness. You’ll find foods that have been fried dozens of times, meals that weigh a hundred pounds, and much more.

It can be a bit gross, and you’d have to be crazy to follow any of these videos and make these foods on your own. But for a bit of wild fun with food, you can’t beat it.

Do you like granola bars? You’ll be blown away by how big they can make one in this video.

It’s no surprise to see McDonald’s, Burger King, and other fast foods shown across the channel. In the above video, the guys create a giant burrito consisting of hundreds of McDonald’s burgers, fries, and more. Watch in awe as the calorie counter climbs in real-time.

4. English Heritage

Here’s a channel that’s dedicated to the history of England. Not all of its videos are related to cooking, but we’ve included it for its series of videos called The Victorian Way.

In this series, you get to enjoy a historical impersonator playing a Mrs. Crocombe, who walks you through the preparation of traditional British dishes from the Victorian era. Not only are the dishes right out of the period, but most of the utensils and the kitchen itself fit the time perfectly. It’s a great mix of history and cooking.

The newest video at the time of writing walks through the baking of custard pudding. We think you’ll agree that the end result is quite pleasing to the eyes.

Not interested in dessert? Check out the above video preparing turbot, a dish popular among the wealthy of the era.

5. America’s Test Kitchen

Our last channel offers something a little different. Instead of straightforward cooking videos, America’s Test Kitchen features all sorts of different looks at cooking. You’ll find videos on the science of different preparation methods, product recommendations for kitchen utensils, blind taste test comparing various brands, and more.

If you’re interested in some of the “behind the scenes” aspects of cooking like these, you’ll have some fun here.

Here’s an example of a topic you might not have considered before, but which definitely makes a difference when preparing seafood. It’s a glance into the science behind cooking, which not every channel talks about.

For something a little more fun, have a look at this taste-testing of various whipped cream brands. Maybe it will help you decide which one to use in your own baking.

Get Cooking With YouTube!

These channels all bring something unique to the art of cooking. Whether you want to see unbelievable foods from your favorite TV shows brought to life or learn how to cook like it’s 1850, you’ll find plenty to enjoy here.

For more on cooking, check out these smart recipe sites and apps.

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Microsoft Nags Users to Upgrade to Windows 10

If you’re still using Windows 7, prepare to be informed of its imminent demise. This is because Microsoft is planning to remind you of the need to upgrade to Windows 10 using notifications on your PC. Yes, the hated nag screen is making a comeback.

After Windows 10 launched, Microsoft nagged Windows 7 users to upgrade. And because it was free, millions of people did so. However, for those who didn’t upgrade to Windows 10, those nag screens became a source of frustration. And now they’re back.

The End of Support for Windows 7 Is Nigh

To be fair to Microsoft, the company appears to have learned its lesson from last time. These aren’t nag screens begging Windows 7 users to upgrade to Windows 10. Instead, they’re merely informing users that support for Windows 7 is coming to an end.

As a reminder, Microsoft is ending support for Windows 7 on January 14, 2020. After which, Windows 7 users will be on their own, with no more security updates incoming. It’s entirely possible to carry on using Windows 7 after this date, but it’s risky.

Thinking about upgrading to Windows 10?

Great! ? Let's go over some FAQs to make sure you have all the info you need.https://t.co/adwtGwkJIw pic.twitter.com/D2ZHOI4dek

— Microsoft Support (@MicrosoftHelps) January 12, 2019

To prepare Windows 7 users for the end of support, Microsoft is “reaching out with information and resources”. So, from April 2019, Windows 7 users can “expect to see a notification appear” on their PCs. This is billed as “a courtesy reminder”.

On the Windows Blog, Microsoft explains that you’ll see this notification “a handful of times in 2019,” ensuring “you have time to plan and prepare for this transition”. Thankfully, there will be an option allowing you to stop the notifications after the first one.

Is It Time to Upgrade to Windows 10?

Microsoft obviously hopes that most Windows 7 users will now choose to upgrade to Windows 10. To that end, the notification will direct users to this page which waxes lyrical about all of the ways Windows 10 is better than Windows 7.

In all honesty, now is probably the right time to upgrade to Windows 10. Even in 2015, there were some compelling reasons to upgrade to Windows 10. And because Windows 10 is the last version of Windows ever, this should be the last time you have to upgrade.

Image Credit: Imilyas/Flickr

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How to Modify and Manage the Hosts File on Linux

There’s a single file on your computer that serves as a small gateway between you and the web. It’s called the hosts file. If you need to block websites or create personalized web shortcuts on Linux, you can tackle these jobs by adding or tweaking a few lines in the hosts file.

What’s the Linux Hosts File?

The hosts file is a plain text file that all operating systems use to translate hostnames (also known as web addresses or URLs) into IP addresses. When you type in a hostname, such as wikipedia.org, your system will look into the hosts file to get the IP address needed to connect to the appropriate server.

If you open the hosts file, you’ll quickly notice that it doesn’t have the directory of the entire internet in there. Instead, there might be just a couple lines and that’s it. What gives?

Turns out, your system will check the hosts file first before looking up a site on the DNS servers defined in your network settings (usually your ISP’s DNS servers).

This means that you can use the hosts file to add to what the DNS servers can’t provide (such as aliases for locations on your local network, which is otherwise only possible if you have a DNS server set up within your local network) or override the IP addresses that your DNS servers would normally provide.

For example, if you ask for wikipedia.org, the DNS servers will return Wikipedia’s IP address to your computer. But if you wanted to block Wikipedia on that computer, you can add an entry in the hosts file that tells your computer that wikipedia.org points to some other IP address that’s different from Wikipedia’s actual IP address.

There are many other things you can do with the hosts file, but these are just some basic examples and other uses highly depend on your needs.

The Linux Hosts File’s Location

On Linux, you can find the hosts file under /etc/hosts. Since it’s a plain text file, you can open the hosts file using your preferred text editor.

However, since the hosts file is a system file, you’ll need administrative rights to save changes. So to edit the file using a Linux terminal-based text editor such as nano, you will need to first type sudo to gain superuser access:

sudo nano /etc/hosts

To use a graphical text editor such as gedit, you can try gksu instead:

gksu gedit /etc/hosts

You have to use the terminal so you can launch the appropriate application with administrative rights. Just replace nano or gedit with your favorite terminal-based or graphical text editor. With nano, once you’re done editing the file, hit Ctrl + X, and then y to confirm overwriting the changes.

How to Add Sites to the Hosts File

In the hosts file, each entry has its own line. The syntax is simple. Type the IP address you want the hostname to translate to, press the tab key on your keyboard, and then type the hostname.

For example, to block Wikipedia, you’d type (remembering to use the tab key rather than the spacebar):

127.0.0.1        wikipedia.org

127.0.0.1 is the loopback IP address that will always point back to your own system. Since the web isn’t stored on your machine, your browser will say the site can’t be found. It is now effectively blocked.

If you feel intimidated by the terminal, check out Linux Mint’s Domain Blocker application (also known as mintnanny). It will add entries into the hosts file that point the hostnames you specify to 127.0.0.1. But to do anything else, you will still need to make changes with a text editor.

Download: Domain Blocker (Free)

Create Shortcuts in the Hosts File

If you have a computer on your home network (say with an IP address of 192.168.1.10) that has a simple website that does something useful for you, you can type the following in your hosts file:

192.168.1.10        homeserver

Then, if you open your browser and just type in http://homeserver, it’ll automatically redirect to 192.168.1.10. And that’s much easier than typing in the IP address every time.

Alternatively, you can use the hosts file to create shortcuts to certain sites on the web. Use a command such as nslookup to find a website’s IP address, then add it to your hosts file alongside the desired shortcut, just as in the example above. But this only works on websites with dedicated IP addresses. It probably won’t work with most of the sites you visit.

Potential Issues With the Hosts File

So we’ve established how to make changes to the host file, but you may still run into issues when using Google Chrome. This web browser tends to ignore the hosts file unless you do one of two possible things:

1. Type http:// at the beginning of each address. For example, if you have Wikipedia blocked in the hosts file, then Chrome will circumvent the block if you just type wikipedia.com into the address bar. If you type http://wikipedia.com into the address bar, it will follow the hosts file.
2. Disable “Use a web service to help resolve navigation errors” in Chrome’s settings and then you won’t have to type http:// at the beginning every time. This is one of several Google Chrome privacy tips worth doing anyway.

How Will You Change the Hosts File?

The hosts file offers an easy way to block access to certain websites on your computer. Since many versions of Linux don’t come with parental control software baked in, this knowledge can come in handy if you decide to start your kids off with a Linux PC.

Image Credit: Oleksiy Mark/Shutterstock

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Insta360 EVO Is a Tiny, Foldable 3D and VR Camera

For anyone looking to create content for virtual reality, the Insta360 EVO is here to make the process far easier. But it’s not just about ease of use, because the EVO camera is also all about capturing beautiful footage and images in either full 360-degree shots or stunning 180-degree 3D.

For content creators, this ultra-compact camera could truly be a game-changer, as it’ll make capturing 3D footage easier than ever, and shockingly, the Insta360 EVO is able to do it all at a fairly reasonable price.

Insta360 EVO Features

The foldable EVO works in two different ways. First, folding it over allows it to capture 360-degree photos and videos. Opening it up allows the two lenses to work in tandem to capture a 180-degree, 3D image from the front. As the image is captured in 3D, this means you’ll be able to shoot with much more depth than you’d get from a traditional camera, even when looking at the image in 2D. This gives you options when it comes to creating content.

As far as resolution goes, the EVO is able to shoot in 5.7k for video with am 18MP sensor for capturing still images. There’s also support for HDR, which will create brighter images with deeper colors.

One of the most exciting aspects of the Insta360 EVO is the integration with virtual reality headsets. Rather than being forced to convert videos on a computer, EVO is able to connect to Oculus GO, HTC Vive Focus, or Samsung Gear VR through Wi-Fi and send videos directly to the headset. That makes it much easier to watch back the content you create while fully immersed in the VR world.

Even if you don’t have a VR headset, Insta360 is actually offering a 3D phone case called Holoframe that goes over the screen for $29.99. When in place, it allows for glasses-free 3D, which is quite cool. Right now, the case is available for iPhone X, XS, XS Max, and iPhone XR. Support for Galaxy S8, S8+, S9, S9+, and Note 8 is coming at a later date.

Other Features:

• FlowState stabilization keeps 3D and 360-degree video smooth while in motion – 6-axis gyroscope
• Timeshift mode alters perspective and time
• Integrated with Adobe Premiere Pro for easy editing
• F2.2 aperture
• Weighs 113g
• 65 minutes of runtime on a charge

Insta360 EVO Release Date and Price

The Insta360 EVO is available to order right now and it comes with a price tag of $419.99, which isn’t too bad considering what the camera is capable of.

Now, you’ll just need to snag yourself a newly-released Vive Focus, Oculus Go, or Samsung Gear VR to take full advantage of that the camera can do.

Read the full article: Insta360 EVO Is a Tiny, Foldable 3D and VR Camera

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7 Free Tools for Live Website Visitor Tracking

If you run your own website, it’s important to know who’s on your website right now. That’s why you need real-time visitor tracking.

Let’s have a look at why website visitor tracking is important and which tools you can use on your site.

The Benefits of Live Website Visitor Tracking

Live website visitor tracking (a sub-set of web analytics), gives you a way to instantly see what people are doing on your site in real-time.

Depending on the tool you use, some of the benefits include:

• Knowing if your new content is immediately popular.
• Information about which social media posts/networks are driving visitors.
• Insight into how a visitor travels through your site.
• See which products and sales deals are garnering the most attention.
• Real-time notifications if a particular person/company visits your site.
• Learn which pages generate the most sales leads.

Visitor Tracking on Other Sites

Before we dive into the tools, a quick note about website visitor tracking on sites you don’t own.

Any tool which claims to be able to show you live data on third-party sites is not being truthful. Sites like Alexa can give you a few clues about the headline visitor numbers, but no external tool can see a site’s real-time visitors without the owner’s consent.

Okay, let’s have a look at some web visitor tracking tools.

1. Google Analytics

Google Analytics is the most well-known website visitor tracking tool. The app has many different features, but for the sake of today’s rundown, we’re only interested in Real-Time.

If you use Real-Time, you will be able to use event tracking to monitor usage of your site’s mobile app, watch the performance of any promotions you’re running, and monitor your goals in line with site changes.

Google Analytics is entirely free to use. To get set up, you need to add a tracking code to your site. You can manually place the code after the <head> tag on each page you want to track. Some backends such as WordPress offer plugins that’ll add the code automatically.

Check out our list of Google Analytics apps for iOS if you need to check website data while you’re on-the-go.

2. Live Traffic Feed

You might not need the complexity that Google Analytics offers. Although anyone can use it, it may be overkill if your site doesn’t have huge amounts of traffic.

For a more straightforward way to check how many visitors are on your website right now, you could consider using the free Live Traffic Feed tool. It provides a live feed of people who visit your site. The data includes the visitor’s location and the page they viewed.

To use Live Traffic Feed, you can either grab the HTML code and paste it into your site manually or download the WordPress plugin. There are several customization options, including color, time zone, counters, size, and more.

For the tool to work correctly, you need to need to make sure it is in the top 30 percent of your site’s page. If it is below the 30 percent line, it will only update in real-time for three minutes. You will need to refresh the page to reactivate it.

Note: Anyone who visits your site will be able to see the live feed. Don’t use the tool if that makes you uncomfortable.

3. Hitsteps

Hitsteps specializes in real-time website visitor tracking.

From the main dashboard, you can see which country the visitor is in, how they found you, what page they are looking at, which browser they are using, which operating system they are using, and a whole lot more.

And if a visitor fills out a form on your site (like a newsletter subscription, a comment, or a contact form), Hitsteps can automatically connect the visitor’s identity to the person’s form details. It allows you to build up a more complete picture of who is visiting your site.

Other Hitsteps features include keyword analytics, cross-device tracking, website heatmaps, a page speed analysis, and real-time ad blocker detection.

The free version of Hitsteps is available to sites with fewer than 2,000 monthly visitors. For 10,000 per month, it costs $4.99. The top plan costs $49.99 and supports up to one million visitors.

4. Whos.Amung.Us

Whos.Amung.Us is one of the best free website visitor tracking tools.

Even though it’s free, the tool will be enough for most users. It supports unlimited page views, unlimited visitors, and an infinite number of websites.

Different widgets are available. You can add a live map to your site or choose from a selection of visitor counters widgets.

To install the widget on your site, you need to copy and paste the HTML code from the Whos.Amung.Us website. You need to insert it onto every site that you want to track; it is not enough to only run it on your homepage.

The tool is ad-supported.

5. Supercounters

Supercounters is another site that offers a variety of visitor tracking-themed widgets that you can add to your site.

The widgets are divided into seven broad categories:

• Hit counters
• Tab widgets
• Online counters
• Visitor trackers
• Visitor maps
• Flag counters
• IP address trackers

Each of the seven categories has multiple widget styles available.

Of course, none of these widgets are going to provide professional-grade analytics, but they are a fun way to show who’s visiting your site if you’re not interested in fine-tuning every aspect of your page.

All the website visitor tracking widgets are free to use.

6. Clicky

Clicky lets you track website visitors in real-time.

You can use it to track individual visitors and their per-session actions, view visitor locations on a map, and see other data such as operating system, browser, ISP, language, and even the visitor’s screen resolution.

There are also some non-live features such as Google Search ranking data, HTTPS tracking, website heatmaps, and an uptime monitor.

Clicky’s free plan lets you track one site with a maximum of 3,000 daily page views. The pro plan increases the limit to one million views.

7. Web-Stat

The Web-Stat homepage doesn’t look too impressive, but don’t let that put you off. The tool can record all the visitors to your website—not just the ones who have JavaScript enabled.

In addition to the real-time stats, Web-Stat can show details of individual visitors, precisely measure the duration of visits (rather than extrapolating the data from a sample), see visitors click-paths and conversions, and measure your referrals.

Web-Stat is also worth considering if you are a privacy fanatic. Unlike services like Google Analytics—which share your data with third-parties and use it for targeted advertising, Web-Stat does not sell or release any of your data.

Other Ways to Monitor Your Website

The seven tools we have discussed will all help you to gain a deeper understanding of how your website is performing and how your visitors interact with the content.

But these tools are just one part of the puzzle. If you would like to learn about some other options, read our article on the best sites to track a website’s traffic.

Read the full article: 7 Free Tools for Live Website Visitor Tracking

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Apple ad focuses on iPhone’s most marketable feature — privacy

Apple is airing a new ad spot in primetime today. Focused on privacy, the spot is visually cued, with no dialog and a simple tagline: Privacy. That’s iPhone.

In a series of humorous vignettes, the message is driven home that sometimes you just want a little privacy. The spot has only one line of text otherwise, and it’s in keeping with Apple’s messaging on privacy over the long and short term. “If privacy matters in your life, it should matter to the phone your life is on.”

The spot will air tonight in primetime in the U.S. and extend through March Madness. It will then air in select other countries.

You’d have to be hiding under a rock not to have noticed Apple positioning privacy as a differentiating factor between itself and other companies. Beginning a few years ago, CEO Tim Cook began taking more and more public stances on what the company felt to be your “rights” to privacy on their platform and how that differed from other companies. The undercurrent being that Apple was able to take this stance because its first-party business relies on a relatively direct relationship with customers who purchase its hardware and, increasingly, its services.

This stands in contrast to the model of other tech giants like Google or Facebook that insert an interstitial layer of monetization strategy on top of that relationship in the forms of application of personal information about you (in somewhat anonymized fashion) to sell their platform to advertisers that in turn can sell to you better.

Turning the ethical high ground into a marketing strategy is not without its pitfalls, though, as Apple has discovered recently with a (now patched) high-profile FaceTime bug that allowed people to turn your phone into a listening device, Facebook’s manipulation of App Store permissions and the revelation that there was some long overdue house cleaning needed in its Enterprise Certificate program.

I did find it interesting that the iconography of the “Private Side” spot very, very closely associates the concepts of privacy and security. They are separate, but interrelated, obviously. This spot says these are one and the same. It’s hard to enforce privacy without security, of course, but in the mind of the public I think there is very little difference between the two.

The App Store itself, of course, still hosts apps from Google and Facebook among thousands of others that use personal data of yours in one form or another. Apple’s argument is that it protects the data you give to your phone aggressively by processing on the device, collecting minimal data, disconnecting that data from the user as much as possible and giving users as transparent a control interface as possible. All true. All far, far better efforts than the competition.

Still, there is room to run, I feel, when it comes to Apple adjudicating what should be considered a societal norm when it comes to the use of personal data on its platform. If it’s going to be the absolute arbiter of what flies on the world’s most profitable application marketplace, it might as well use that power to get a little more feisty with the bigcos (and littlecos) that make their living on our data.

I mention the issues Apple has had above not as a dig, though some might be inclined to view Apple integrating privacy with marketing as boldness bordering on hubris. I, personally, think there’s still a major difference between a company that has situational loss of privacy while having a systemic dedication to privacy and, well, most of the rest of the ecosystem which exists because they operate an “invasion of privacy as a service” business.

Basically, I think stating privacy is your mission is still supportable, even if you have bugs. But attempting to ignore that you host the data platforms that thrive on it is a tasty bit of prestidigitation.

But that might be a little too verbose as a tagline.

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Facebook loses CPO Chris Cox and WhatsApp VP Chris Daniels

13-year Facebook veteran, Chief Product Officer, and the spirit animal of the social network Chris Cox is departing the company after two years of seeking to do something new. Cox’s exit is part of a big executive reshuffle as Facebook embarks on prioritizing privacy through messaging, groups, Stories, and integration of its chat features.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the departure of his long-time friend, saying “For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else . . . But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward. At this point, we have made real progress . . .  As we embark on this next major chapter, Chris has decided now is the time to step back from leading these teams.”

VP of WhatsApp Chis Daniels leaves Facebook

Cox bowing out after so long is understandable, but more surprising is today’s departure of Chris Daniels, an 8-year employee who was moved from being head of Internet.org to VP of WhatsApp just last May in a major re-org. Daniels always felt like a strange choice to oversee international chat leader WhatsApp and its struggles with misinformation in India given he’d led Internet.org when its zero-rated Free Basics app was banned in India for violating net neutrality.

The changes solidify that Facebook is entering a new era as it chases the trend of feed sharing giving way to private communication. Cox and Daniels may feel they’ve done their part advancing Facebook’s product, and that the company needs renewed energy as it shifts from a relentless growth focus to keeping its users loyal while learning to monetize a new from of social networking.

Here’s the breakdown of the executive changes:

• Chris Cox will depart Facebook, but hasn’t revealed plans for what’s next. He will not be immediately replaced
• Chris Daniels will leave WhatsApp, and Facebook declined to provide any details on why or the circumstances
• Will Cathcart wil go from running the main Facebook app to VP of WhatsApp
• Fidji Simo who was the VP of Product for Facebook video, news, and advertising will take over Cathcart’s role running Facebook’s main app
• Javier Olivan who was Facebook’s VP of growth will oversee integration of Facebook’s products, including the plan to unify the backend of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram direct to expand encryption and allow cross-app messaging that some see a shield against Facebook being broken up.
• Instagram VP Adam Mosseri, Messenger’s VP Stan Chudnovsky, Simo, and Cathcart will now report directly to  Zuckerberg, while Chief Marketing Officer Antonio Lucio reports to COO Sheryl Sandberg

Cox was one of Facebook’s first 15 engineers, joining in 2005 after Zuckerberg convinced him to drop out of a Stanford grad program. He became Facebook’s Director of Human Resources and then in 2008, its VP of product. He was promoted to CPO in 2014 and aided in Facebook’s clean up after the 2016 presidential election, working on misinformation and at-risk countries to deter future attacks on democracy. Over the years, he remained a fixture of Zuckerberg’s inner circle of friends and liutenants. Oh, and he’s a wicked keyboardist who plays is a very respectable reggae band.

Known for his hit talk revealing the Timeline profile at F8 2011 and giving rousing orientation speeches to each batch of new Facebook employees, Cox’s departure could drag on Facebook’s already-shaky morale. Some staffers saw him as a preferred replacement for Zuckerberg should he ever leave the CEO role. That leaves the line of succession an open question at Facebook, with Sandberg, Olivan, and Mosseri as the most likely candidates. Cox was seen as so essential that Facebook filed an 8-K disclosure with the SEC about his departure.

The change in priority from growth to sustainability through privacy is cemeted by Olivan’s move. While rarely in the spotlight, his team was seen as one of the most important and powerful at the company. His talents will be applied to making Facebook’s apps work together to prevent churn of its enormous user base, which will take careful product design and a savvy understanding of people’s expectations. Instagram and WhatsApp have become golden geese for Facebook, and Olivan will have to ensure they’re not tarnished through deeper connections to Facebook’s battered brand.

Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post:

Hey everyone — I want to share some important updates as we organize our company to build out the privacy-focused social platform I discussed in my note last week. Embarking on this new vision represents the start of a new chapter for us.

As part of this, I’m sad to share the news that Chris Cox has decided to leave the company. Chris and I have worked closely together to build our products for more than a decade and I will always appreciate his deep empathy for the people using our services and the uplifting spirit he brings to everything he does. He has played so many central roles at Facebook — starting as an engineer on our original News Feed, building our first HR teams and helping to define our mission and values, leading our product and design teams, running the Facebook app, and most recently overseeing the strategy for our family of apps. Along the way, Chris has helped train many great leaders who are now in important roles across the company — including some who will now take on bigger roles in our new product efforts.

For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else. He is one of the most talented people I know and he has the potential to do anything he wants. But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward. At this point, we have made real progress on many issues and we have a clear plan for our apps, centered around making private messaging, stories and groups the foundation of the experience, including enabling encryption and interoperability across our services. As we embark on this next major chapter, Chris has decided now is the time to step back from leading these teams. I will really miss Chris, but mostly I am deeply grateful for everything he has done to build this place and serve our community.

At the same time, as we embark on this new chapter, Chris Daniels has also decided to leave the company. Chris has also done great work in many roles, including running our business development team, leading Internet.org, which has helped more than 100 million people get access to the internet, and most recently at WhatsApp, where he has helped define the business model for our messaging services going forward. Chris is one of the clearest and most principled business thinkers I’ve met and the diversity of challenges he has helped us navigate is impressive. I’ve really enjoyed working with Chris and I’m sure he will do great work at whatever he chooses to take on next.

While it is sad to lose such great people, this also creates opportunities for more great leaders who are energized about the path ahead to take on new and bigger roles.

I’m excited that Will Cathcart will be the new head of WhatsApp. Will is one of the most talented leaders at our company — always focused on solving the most important problems for people and clear-eyed about the challenges and tradeoffs we face. Most recently he has done a great job running the Facebook app, where he has led our shift to focusing on meaningful social interactions and has significantly improved the performance and reliability of the app. In his career here, Will has helped lead our teams focused on security and integrity, and he believes deeply in providing end-to-end encryption to everyone in the world across our services.

I’m also excited that Fidji Simo will be the new head of the Facebook app. She is one of our most talented product and organizational leaders — passionate about building community and supporting creativity, and focused on building strong teams and developing future leaders. She has played key roles in building many aspects of the Facebook app, including leading our work on video and advertising. She believes deeply in helping people get more value out of the networks they’ve built. She has already led this team for much of last year while Will was out on parental leave, and she is the clear person to lead these efforts going forward.

Our family of apps strategy has been led jointly by Chris Cox and Javier Olivan. Chris managed the leaders of the apps directly and Javi has been responsible for all of the central product services that work across our apps, including safety and integrity, analytics, growth, and ads. Javi will now lead identifying where our apps should be more integrated. Javi is an incredibly thoughtful, strategic and analytical leader, and I’m confident this work will continue to go well. Since we have now decided on the basic direction of our family of apps for the next few years, I do not plan on immediately appointing anyone to fill Chris’s role in the near term. Instead, the leaders of Facebook (Fidji Simo), Instagram (Adam Mosseri), Messenger (Stan Chudnovsky), and WhatsApp (Will Cathcart) will report directly to me, and our Chief Marketing Officer (Antonio Lucio) will report directly to Sheryl.

This is an important change as we begin the next chapter of our work building the privacy-focused social foundation for the future. I’m deeply grateful for everything Chris Cox and Chris Daniels have done here, and I’m looking forward to working with Will and Fidji in their new roles as well as everyone who will be critical to achieving this vision. We have so much important work ahead and I’m excited to continue working to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. 

Chris Cox’s Facebook Post

It is with great sadness I share with you that after thirteen years, I’ve decided to leave the company.

Since I was twenty-three, I’ve poured myself into these walls. The pixels, the code, the products we’ve built together, the language, the culture, the values, the big ideas, and most of all, the people. Most all my personal highs and lows of the last decade have been tied up in the journey of this company, with Mark, and with so many of you. This place will forever be a part of me.

On Monday I gave my last orientation at Facebook to a hundred new faces. For over a decade, I’ve been sharing the same message that Mark and I have always believed: social media’s history is not yet written, and its effects are not neutral. It is tied up in the richness and complexity of social life. As its builders we must endeavor to understand its impact — all the good, and all the bad — and take up the daily work of bending it towards the positive, and towards the good. This is our greatest responsibility.

As Mark has outlined, we are turning a new page in our product direction, focused on an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network. It’s a product vision attuned to the subject matter of today: a modern communications platform that balances expression, safety, security, and privacy. This will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.

I’m proud of the team who will succeed me: Fidji, Will, Adam, Stan, and Antonio. They are strong leaders, serious thinkers, good managers, craftspeople, and most importantly, deeply good people. I trust that, along with Mark, they will carry on the work of building out our platforms in a way that honors the responsibilities we have to the billions of people who rely upon our tools each day.

Mark, thank you for creating this place, and for the chance to work beside a dear friend for over thirteen years. Thank you Sheryl, Schrep, and Javi for your partnership, and for showing me what a wise and dedicated team is meant to be. And to the company: thank you for your creativity, humanity, resilience, and sleepless nights. It has been an honor to work alongside you and I will miss you dearly.

-Chris

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Facebook loses CPO Chris Cox and WhatsApp VP Chris Daniels

13-year Facebook veteran, Chief Product Officer, and the spirit animal of the social network Chris Cox is departing the company after two years of seeking to do something new. Cox’s exit is part of a big executive reshuffle as Facebook embarks on prioritizing privacy through messaging, groups, Stories, and integration of its chat features.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg explained the departure of his long-time friend, saying “For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else . . . But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward. At this point, we have made real progress . . .  As we embark on this next major chapter, Chris has decided now is the time to step back from leading these teams.”

VP of WhatsApp Chis Daniels leaves Facebook

Cox bowing out after so long is understandable, but more surprising is today’s departure of Chris Daniels, an 8-year employee who was moved from being head of Internet.org to VP of WhatsApp just last May in a major re-org. Daniels always felt like a strange choice to oversee international chat leader WhatsApp and its struggles with misinformation in India given he’d led Internet.org when its zero-rated Free Basics app was banned in India for violating net neutrality.

The changes solidify that Facebook is entering a new era as it chases the trend of feed sharing giving way to private communication. Cox and Daniels may feel they’ve done their part advancing Facebook’s product, and that the company needs renewed energy as it shifts from a relentless growth focus to keeping its users loyal while learning to monetize a new from of social networking.

Here’s the breakdown of the executive changes:

• Chris Cox will depart Facebook, but hasn’t revealed plans for what’s next. He will not be immediately replaced
• Chris Daniels will leave WhatsApp, and Facebook declined to provide any details on why or the circumstances
• Will Cathcart wil go from running the main Facebook app to VP of WhatsApp
• Fidji Simo who was the VP of Product for Facebook video, news, and advertising will take over Cathcart’s role running Facebook’s main app
• Javier Olivan who was Facebook’s VP of growth will oversee integration of Facebook’s products, including the plan to unify the backend of Facebook Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram direct to expand encryption and allow cross-app messaging that some see a shield against Facebook being broken up.
• Instagram VP Adam Mosseri, Messenger’s VP Stan Chudnovsky, Simo, and Cathcart will now report directly to  Zuckerberg, while Chief Marketing Officer Antonio Lucio reports to COO Sheryl Sandberg

Cox was one of Facebook’s first 15 engineers, joining in 2005 after Zuckerberg convinced him to drop out of a Stanford grad program. He became Facebook’s Director of Human Resources and then in 2008, its VP of product. He was promoted to CPO in 2014 and aided in Facebook’s clean up after the 2016 presidential election, working on misinformation and at-risk countries to deter future attacks on democracy. Over the years, he remained a fixture of Zuckerberg’s inner circle of friends and liutenants. Oh, and he’s a wicked keyboardist who plays is a very respectable reggae band.

Known for his hit talk revealing the Timeline profile at F8 2011 and giving rousing orientation speeches to each batch of new Facebook employees, Cox’s departure could drag on Facebook’s already-shaky morale. Some staffers saw him as a preferred replacement for Zuckerberg should he ever leave the CEO role. That leaves the line of succession an open question at Facebook, with Sandberg, Olivan, and Mosseri as the most likely candidates. Cox was seen as so essential that Facebook filed an 8-K disclosure with the SEC about his departure.

The change in priority from growth to sustainability through privacy is cemeted by Olivan’s move. While rarely in the spotlight, his team was seen as one of the most important and powerful at the company. His talents will be applied to making Facebook’s apps work together to prevent churn of its enormous user base, which will take careful product design and a savvy understanding of people’s expectations. Instagram and WhatsApp have become golden geese for Facebook, and Olivan will have to ensure they’re not tarnished through deeper connections to Facebook’s battered brand.

Mark Zuckerberg’s blog post:

Hey everyone — I want to share some important updates as we organize our company to build out the privacy-focused social platform I discussed in my note last week. Embarking on this new vision represents the start of a new chapter for us.

As part of this, I’m sad to share the news that Chris Cox has decided to leave the company. Chris and I have worked closely together to build our products for more than a decade and I will always appreciate his deep empathy for the people using our services and the uplifting spirit he brings to everything he does. He has played so many central roles at Facebook — starting as an engineer on our original News Feed, building our first HR teams and helping to define our mission and values, leading our product and design teams, running the Facebook app, and most recently overseeing the strategy for our family of apps. Along the way, Chris has helped train many great leaders who are now in important roles across the company — including some who will now take on bigger roles in our new product efforts.

For a few years, Chris has been discussing with me his desire to do something else. He is one of the most talented people I know and he has the potential to do anything he wants. But after 2016, we both realized we had too much important work to do to improve our products for society, and he stayed to help us work through these issues and help us chart a course for our family of apps going forward. At this point, we have made real progress on many issues and we have a clear plan for our apps, centered around making private messaging, stories and groups the foundation of the experience, including enabling encryption and interoperability across our services. As we embark on this next major chapter, Chris has decided now is the time to step back from leading these teams. I will really miss Chris, but mostly I am deeply grateful for everything he has done to build this place and serve our community.

At the same time, as we embark on this new chapter, Chris Daniels has also decided to leave the company. Chris has also done great work in many roles, including running our business development team, leading Internet.org, which has helped more than 100 million people get access to the internet, and most recently at WhatsApp, where he has helped define the business model for our messaging services going forward. Chris is one of the clearest and most principled business thinkers I’ve met and the diversity of challenges he has helped us navigate is impressive. I’ve really enjoyed working with Chris and I’m sure he will do great work at whatever he chooses to take on next.

While it is sad to lose such great people, this also creates opportunities for more great leaders who are energized about the path ahead to take on new and bigger roles.

I’m excited that Will Cathcart will be the new head of WhatsApp. Will is one of the most talented leaders at our company — always focused on solving the most important problems for people and clear-eyed about the challenges and tradeoffs we face. Most recently he has done a great job running the Facebook app, where he has led our shift to focusing on meaningful social interactions and has significantly improved the performance and reliability of the app. In his career here, Will has helped lead our teams focused on security and integrity, and he believes deeply in providing end-to-end encryption to everyone in the world across our services.

I’m also excited that Fidji Simo will be the new head of the Facebook app. She is one of our most talented product and organizational leaders — passionate about building community and supporting creativity, and focused on building strong teams and developing future leaders. She has played key roles in building many aspects of the Facebook app, including leading our work on video and advertising. She believes deeply in helping people get more value out of the networks they’ve built. She has already led this team for much of last year while Will was out on parental leave, and she is the clear person to lead these efforts going forward.

Our family of apps strategy has been led jointly by Chris Cox and Javier Olivan. Chris managed the leaders of the apps directly and Javi has been responsible for all of the central product services that work across our apps, including safety and integrity, analytics, growth, and ads. Javi will now lead identifying where our apps should be more integrated. Javi is an incredibly thoughtful, strategic and analytical leader, and I’m confident this work will continue to go well. Since we have now decided on the basic direction of our family of apps for the next few years, I do not plan on immediately appointing anyone to fill Chris’s role in the near term. Instead, the leaders of Facebook (Fidji Simo), Instagram (Adam Mosseri), Messenger (Stan Chudnovsky), and WhatsApp (Will Cathcart) will report directly to me, and our Chief Marketing Officer (Antonio Lucio) will report directly to Sheryl.

This is an important change as we begin the next chapter of our work building the privacy-focused social foundation for the future. I’m deeply grateful for everything Chris Cox and Chris Daniels have done here, and I’m looking forward to working with Will and Fidji in their new roles as well as everyone who will be critical to achieving this vision. We have so much important work ahead and I’m excited to continue working to give people the power to build community and bring the world closer together. 

Chris Cox’s Facebook Post

It is with great sadness I share with you that after thirteen years, I’ve decided to leave the company.

Since I was twenty-three, I’ve poured myself into these walls. The pixels, the code, the products we’ve built together, the language, the culture, the values, the big ideas, and most of all, the people. Most all my personal highs and lows of the last decade have been tied up in the journey of this company, with Mark, and with so many of you. This place will forever be a part of me.

On Monday I gave my last orientation at Facebook to a hundred new faces. For over a decade, I’ve been sharing the same message that Mark and I have always believed: social media’s history is not yet written, and its effects are not neutral. It is tied up in the richness and complexity of social life. As its builders we must endeavor to understand its impact — all the good, and all the bad — and take up the daily work of bending it towards the positive, and towards the good. This is our greatest responsibility.

As Mark has outlined, we are turning a new page in our product direction, focused on an encrypted, interoperable, messaging network. It’s a product vision attuned to the subject matter of today: a modern communications platform that balances expression, safety, security, and privacy. This will be a big project and we will need leaders who are excited to see the new direction through.

I’m proud of the team who will succeed me: Fidji, Will, Adam, Stan, and Antonio. They are strong leaders, serious thinkers, good managers, craftspeople, and most importantly, deeply good people. I trust that, along with Mark, they will carry on the work of building out our platforms in a way that honors the responsibilities we have to the billions of people who rely upon our tools each day.

Mark, thank you for creating this place, and for the chance to work beside a dear friend for over thirteen years. Thank you Sheryl, Schrep, and Javi for your partnership, and for showing me what a wise and dedicated team is meant to be. And to the company: thank you for your creativity, humanity, resilience, and sleepless nights. It has been an honor to work alongside you and I will miss you dearly.

-Chris

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