Daily Crunch: Facebook shows off an aspirational redesign

The Daily Crunch is TechCrunch’s roundup of our biggest and most important stories. If you’d like to get this delivered to your inbox every day at around 9am Pacific, you can subscribe here.

1. Facebook pivots to what it wishes it was

Facebook is rolling out what could be called an aspirational redesign known as FB5. Rather than polishing what Facebook was, it’s designed to spotlight what the company wants to be.

“This is the biggest change we’ve made to the Facebook app and site in five years,” said CEO Mark Zuckerberg at the company’s F8 developer conference.

2. Uber now lets you buy transit tickets in Denver

Uber, which is days away from going public, has added in-app ticketing to its transit offering in Denver. This comes a few months after Uber first launched transit integration in the city.

3. Spotify launches voice-enabled ads on mobile devices in a limited US test

The ads will encourage the listener to speak a verbal command in order to take action on the ad’s content. Initially, the audio ads will direct listeners to a branded Spotify playlist or a podcast.

4. A 30-mph e-bike to compete with cars in cities? Investors just bet $20 million on it

Bond Mobility is a three-year-old startup that says its “high-performance” dockless electric bikes will leave e-scooters in the dust.

5. Google now lets you auto-delete your app activity, location and web history

Google says you can now auto-delete your location history and web and app activity by setting a time limit for how long Google can save this data.

6. Acast launches Acast Access to make paywalled podcasts available on any player

With Acast Access, publishers should be able to create versions of their podcasts that are only available to subscribers, but are still accessible from any app.

7. Nine lessons on how Niantic reached a $4B valuation

Greg Kumparak has been taking readers on a deep dive into the Niantic story, and now he’s highlighting the key themes he found in his reporting. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

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Squarespace vs. WordPress: Which One Is Right for You?

In the world of web hosting and site building, the two biggest names are WordPress and Squarespace. Both are popular choices that offer lots of functionality for anyone who wants to run their own site. But how do you decide between the two?

Here’s everything you need to know about the differences between Squarespace and WordPress, and which one you should pick for your skill level and website needs.

Why Squarespace vs. WordPress Isn’t a Fair Fight

When comparing Squarespace and WordPress, it’s important to remember that the two serve different purposes.

WordPress is a content management system that’s freely downloadable from WordPress.org and can be hosted on any web server. On the other hand, Squarespace is a packaged hosting solution that’s only available on their own servers. In this sense, Squarespace is more like a managed WordPress hosting solution, except using their own platform and not WordPress.

The differences will become clearer as we go through this article. To help you decide which one to use, we’ll outline the differences between Squarespace and WordPress, looking at customizability, ease of use, pricing, and a number of other factors.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Customizability

This is a hands-down win for WordPress. While anyone can start running a site right out of the box, the biggest selling point of WordPress is the massive selection of themes and plugins that let you customize your site with ease.

You can choose from thousands of themes (both free and paid), thousands of plugins (both free and paid), use a standard website or a blog format, and dig into the backend code of your site to change whatever you want (if you have PHP web development experience).

Squarespace offers fewer customization options. You can choose a theme from the limited number of options they give to you, and you can add an online store that will process payments. You can do basic tweaking of colors and fonts, but nothing more major than that, such as altering the CSS or digging into the HTML elsewhere on your site. You can’t insert fancy JavaScript scripts or install plugins that add functionality to your site.

There is a developer version of Squarespace, but it’s significantly more technical than WordPress. If you want maximum control over your site, you want WordPress.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Ease of Use

Of course, the customizability of WordPress comes at a cost: While WordPress isn’t exactly difficult to use, Squarespace is significantly easier to learn and use for anyone who doesn’t have extensive web hosting experience.

Squarespace is made to be as easy as possible. You can get a professional-looking website up and running in a few minutes. You can do the same in WordPress, but your site most likely won’t have the same level of polish as it would with Squarespace.

Take setting up a new theme, for example. In WordPress, the best-case scenario is that you search for a theme in the marketplace, download it, and click Install. That’s not bad. But you very well may find a theme somewhere else, which means you’ll need to download it, possibly pay for it, upload it to your server, and then install it.

And there’s no guarantee that it will work how you want it to. There’s a reason why “troubleshoot WordPress theme” is a commonly searched query on Google.

Squarespace lets you browse their (admittedly smaller) selection of themes and switch over to a new one with a click, and each theme is beautiful right out of the box. Their formatting tools are also easy to use, and the editing interface couldn’t be simpler. Click the item you want to edit, type, and click Save. That’s all there is to it.

WordPress has a lot of power, but you’ll spend some time getting used to it (our full guide to setting up a WordPress site). Squarespace is much easier right from the start.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Pricing

Squarespace has a number of pricing options:

• $16/mo for a personal site
• $26/mo for a business site
• $30/mo for a basic online store
• $46/mo for an advanced online store

Each comes with different features. Most users will be fine with a personal site or basic online store.

WordPress isn’t as clear-cut. If you download WordPress yourself, all you need is a web server to put it on. There are a few acceptable free web hosts out there, as well as a number of cheap web hosts for beginners that won’t cost more than a few bucks per month.

You could also host your site on WordPress.com, which is WordPress’s own site hosting service that’s easier to use than regular WordPress, but slightly more limited in what it can do. The current pricing for WordPress.com is:

• $0/mo for a basic WordPress.com subdomain site
• $3/mo for a blogging site
• $5/mo for a personal site
• $8/mo for a premium site
• $25/mo for a business site
• $45/mo for an e-commerce site

Note: Only the business and e-commerce plans allow third-party themes and plugins.

What do we recommend? WordPress is great because it’s free, but can be a headache to set up if you don’t have much experience. That’s why we love WP Engine, which handles all the administrative nuances of running a WordPress site and allows you to focus on your content. We use WP Engine for our sister sites.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: E-Commerce

WordPress can easily power an online store. There are a number of solutions that you can pair with your WordPress website to sell whatever you want.

But that’s the catch: you need to pair your WordPress site with something else to power your online store.

And Squarespace has that power built in from the beginning. Both can handle a wide variety of products, and with the thousands of plugins, there’s a good chance you can get better store customization with WordPress.

The default Squarespace store looks really nice, though, and when you set up a Squarespace site, you automatically have access to an online store. You may, however, have to pay transaction fees, depending on the level of subscription you have.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Site Structure

Because of the flexibility built into WordPress, you can use it for huge sites that contain many levels of navigation, different types of organization, and complicated category and tag structures.

MakeUseOf is built on WordPress, for example. Our site has tons of categories and tags that are all handled nicely by WordPress, and WordPress is flexible enough that you can create your own custom data types with a bit of coding.

Squarespace is best suited for smaller sites with only one or two levels of navigation. The interface looks better with a smaller number of pages, and trying to create a more complex site adds difficulty for creators and users.

WordPress powers some of the biggest websites in the world. Squarespace’s customer page focuses on smaller sites, like personal and professional sites of celebrities, restaurant pages, and the like. But there’s also a smaller site built by Nike hosted on Squarespace.

If you want a big site, WordPress is best. It might also be more efficient to use WordPress for multiple sites, as you can manage them from the same installation without paying more (if you’re self-hosting). Squarespace requires additional subscriptions per site.

Squarespace vs. WordPress: Aesthetics

The flexibility of WordPress means you can find themes that match any aesthetic you want. Professional, artsy, avant-garde, modern, and traditional looks abound. It can be formatted like a blog, a more standard website, a portfolio… the possibilities are endless.

Squarespace offers a smaller number of templates (fewer than 100 as of this writing). Almost all of them are very stylish and require large, high-resolution images. If you want a great-looking, modern website, Squarespace has a template for you.

WordPress has a seemingly infinite number of themes, and Squarespace has less than 100. Are you willing to put in the time to find the perfect WordPress theme? Or do you want Squarespace to filter them for you?

Choose the Best Website Solution for You

Both Squarespace and WordPress have significant advantages and some drawbacks. In general, WordPress is best for large or complex sites, while Squarespace is best for smaller sites that have a great attention to physical detail.

If you want the best of both worlds, consider managed WordPress hosting with WP Engine. You get all the power of WordPress without the headache of setting it up yourself, and its affordability is on par with Squarespace!

Read the full article: Squarespace vs. WordPress: Which One Is Right for You?

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The Microsoft Office for Mac Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Keyboard shortcuts save time no matter what type of computer you use. To help you work faster, here is a list of commonly-used shortcuts for Microsoft Office on Mac. We have included OneNote, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint, Word, and some basic universal shortcuts to start with. We’ll even show you how to create your own custom keyboard shortcuts.

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So, if you’ve been wondering which Mac Excel shortcuts can help you move through spreadsheets quicker or which Mac Word shortcuts can help you format text faster, we’ve got you covered.

Shortcut (Mac)	Action
Basic Shortcuts Across Applications
Cmd + P or Ctrl + P	Print
Cmd + F	Find
Cmd + X or Ctrl + X	Cut
Cmd + C or Ctrl + C	Copy
Cmd + V or Ctrl + V	Paste
Cmd + S or Ctrl + S	Save
Cmd + Z or Ctrl + Z	Undo
Cmd + Y or Ctrl + Y or Cmd + Shift + Z	Redo
Cmd + Ctrl + R	Minimize or maximize the ribbon
Microsoft OneNote
Option + Tab	Switch between notebook sections
Cmd + Shift + Up Arrow	Move selected paragraphs up
Cmd + Shift + Down Arrow	Move selected paragraphs down
Cmd + Shift + Left Arrow	Move selected paragraphs left
Ctrl + Tab [ + Use arrow keys to move up or down]	Switch between pages
Shift + Return	Insert a line break
Cmd + D	Insert the current date
Cmd + Shift + Down Arrow	Insert the current date and time
Cmd + K	Insert a link
Option + Delete	Delete the word to the left
Fn + Option + Delete	Delete the word to the right
Ctrl + G	View a list of open notebooks
Cmd + Option + F	Search all notebooks
Cmd + N	Create a notebook page
Cmd + Shift + M	Move a page
Cmd + Shift + C	Copy a page
Microsoft Outlook - Email
Cmd + N	Create a message
Cmd + S	Save the open message to Drafts
Cmd + Return	Send the open message
Cmd + E	Add an attachment to the open message
Cmd + K	Send and receive all messages
Cmd + R	Reply to the message
Shift + Cmd + R	Reply to all
Cmd + J	Forward the message
Microsoft Outlook - Calendar, Notes, Tasks, and Contacts
Cmd + N	Create an event, note, task, or contact
Cmd + O (letter O)	Open the selected event, note, task, or contact
Delete	Delete the selected event, note, task, or contact
Shift + Ctrl + [	Navigate to the previous pane
Shift + Ctrl + ]	Navigate to the next pane
Cmd + T	Switch the calendar view to include today
Cmd + J	Send the note as an email
Microsoft Outlook - Flagging Messages, Tasks, and Contacts
Ctrl + 1	Today
Ctrl + 2	Tomorrow
Ctrl + 3	This week
Ctrl + 4	Next week
Ctrl + 5	No due date
Ctrl + 6	Custom due date
Ctrl + =	Add a reminder
0 (zero)	Mark complete
Microsoft Excel
Ctrl + Shift + =	Insert cells
Cmd + - or Ctrl + -	Delete cells
Cmd + Shift + K	Group selected cells
Cmd + Shift + J	Ungroup selected cells
Cmd + K or Ctrl + K	Insert a hyperlink
Cmd + D or Ctrl + D	Fill down
Cmd + R or Ctrl + R	Fill right
Ctrl + ; (semicolon)	Enter the date
Cmd + ; (semicolon)	Enter the time
Cmd + Shift + * (asterisk)	Select only visible cells
Shift + Delete	Select only the active cell when multiple cells are selected
Shift + Spacebar	Select the row
Ctrl + 9	Hide rows
Ctrl + Shift + (	Unhide rows
Ctrl + Spacebar	Select the column
Ctrl + 0 (zero)	Hide columns
Ctrl + Shift + )	Unhide columns
Shift + Return	Complete an entry and move up
Tab	Complete an entry and move right
Shift + Tab	Complete an entry and move left
Esc	Cancel an entry
Shift + F2	Insert, open, or edit a comment
Ctrl + Delete	Scroll to the active cell in a worksheet
Tab	Move between unlocked cells on a protected worksheet
Ctrl + Page Down or Option + Right Arrow	Move to the next sheet in a workbook
Ctrl + Page Up or Option + Left Arrow	Move to the previous sheet in a workbook
Home or Fn + Left Arrow	Move to the beginning of the row
Ctrl + Home or Ctrl + Fn + Left Arrow	Move to the beginning of the sheet
Ctrl + End or Ctrl + Fn + Right Arrow	Move to the last cell in use on the sheet
Page Up or Fn + Up Arrow	Move up one screen
Page Down or Fn + Down Arrow	Move down one screen
Option + Page Up or Fn + Option + Up Arrow	Move left one screen
Option + Page Down or Fn + Option + Down Arrow	Move right one screen
Microsoft PowerPoint
Cmd + N	Create a presentation
Cmd + O (letter O)	Open a presentation
Cmd + W	Close a presentation
Cmd + P	Print a presentation
Cmd + S	Save a presentation
Cmd + Shift + N or Ctrl + N	Insert a slide
Cmd + Shift + Return	Play from the first slide
Cmd + Return	Play from the current slide
Esc or Cmd + . (period) or - (hyphen)	End the slide show
Ctrl + H	Hide the pointer
Cmd + 1	Normal view
Cmd + 2	Slider sorter view
Cmd + 3	Notes page view
Cmd + 4	Outline view
Cmd + Ctrl + F	Full screen view
Option + Return	Presenter view
B	Turn the screen black while in presentation mode
W	Turn the screen white while in presentation mode
Microsoft Word
Cmd + E	Center a paragraph
Cmd + J	Justify a paragraph
Cmd + L	Left align a paragraph
Cmd + R	Right align a paragraph
Cmd + Shift + >	Increase font size
Cmd + Shift +	Decrease font size
Cmd + Shift + A	Apply all capital letters
Cmd + B	Apply bold
Cmd + I (letter I)	Apply italics
Cmd + U	Apply underline
Cmd + Shift + D	Apply double underline
Cmd + 1	Single-spacing
Cmd + 2	Double-spacing
Cmd + 5	1.5 line-spacing
Shift + Return	Insert a line break
Shift + Enter	Insert a page break
Cmd + Shift + Enter	Insert a column break
Option + G	Insert a copyright symbol
Option + 2	Insert a trademark symbol
Option + R	Insert a registered trademark symbol
Option + ; (semicolon)	Insert an ellipsis
Cmd + Shift + N	Apply style - Normal
Cmd + Shift + L	Apply style - List
Cmd + Option + 1	Apply style - Heading 1
Cmd + Option + 2	Apply style - Heading 2
Cmd + Option + 3	Apply style - Heading 3

Create or Delete a Custom Shortcut in Word

Microsoft Word allows for updates to the keyboard shortcuts, unlike the other Office 2016 applications. And, the process is simple as well as sensible if you use Word regularly.

Open a Word document and—on the Mac menu, not the menu within Word—select Tools > Customize Keyboard. Then choose a category and a command. If a current shortcut exists, it will display in the Current Keys area.

To delete it, just select it and click Remove. To add a new shortcut, enter your desired keys to the Press new keyboard shortcut section. You can decide to save your changes in your current document or the Word document template. Then hit OK.

One Other Custom Keyboard Shortcut Option

Many choose to add keyboard shortcuts to their Mac and apply them to specific applications, which can be done only if there are no conflicts. You can do this by going to System Preferences > Keyboard > Shortcuts > App Shortcuts. You then click the plus sign, select your application, enter a menu command, and include the shortcut.

However again, this will only work if there is no conflict and personally, I have not been successful at using this method, yet.

Some Keyboard Shortcuts We Can’t Live Without

It would be amazing if we could all memorize hundreds of keyboard shortcuts. This is not possible for most, so we stick with those we use constantly. They become such a habit that it is almost automatic. But it’s also always great to learn new ones.

For additional shortcuts, check out these most useful Mac keyboard shortcuts.

Image Credit: Dedi Grigoroiu/Shutterstock

Read the full article: The Microsoft Office for Mac Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

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6 Simple Ways to Grow Your Podcast Audience

Podcasting is a fun medium that’s more accessible than blogging. You might have already started a podcast, hoping you would grow your podcast audience quickly and easily.

However, that isn’t always the case. Perhaps you have struggled to find an audience of any description. Or perhaps growth has stalled, and you’re stuck with the same listeners.

This article seeks to help you fix that. Figuring out what has gone wrong and showing you how to grow your podcast audience.

The Reason Your Podcast Has Stalled

There’s a lot of reasons why your podcast might have stalled. Listening to podcasts takes more time than reading a blog post. And for your listeners, there are only so many hours in a day.

Growing your audience may have stalled because you’re talking about a popular subject in an overcrowded market with a lot of competition. Additionally, your marketing may have failed to attract the right crowd. Worse yet, your episodes might be boring.

Podcasting isn’t just about doling out information—it needs to be entertaining information. If you work in a crowded field you need to understand that your listeners will listen (and keep on listening) for the way you describe content, not just the content itself.

With that in mind, here are some simple ways to grow your podcast audience…

1. Study Your Strengths and Weaknesses

One thing you can do to diagnose the reasons why you lack an audience is to write an honest report on what the strengths and weaknesses or your podcast are.

It doesn’t need to be fancy, just functional. Figure out:

• What you do well.
• The assets you have.
• The areas where you’re weak, and how you can address them.

If you’re podcasting about a subject in an overcrowded field, think of what you can do to stand out from the crowd. And when your marketing isn’t working, think of how you can adjust it to better reach your target audience.

If your episodes are boring, think of ways that you can present your content in a more entertaining manner. Even the audio equipment you’re using could have an impact, so check out the best podcasting equipment for beginners.

2. Target a Niche

As mentioned, one of the core issues that may be plaguing your growth is that you’re not standing out in a crowded market. In cases like these, it’s best to have a smaller engaged audience than a larger unengaged one, as they’ll be more likely to evangelize your show.

By targeting a niche—YA (Young Adult) fantasy novels, for example, or board games—you’ll do better with long-term search results. This is because you’ll be better suited to position yourself as a verified expert, or a big name fan on a subject.

The trick is to be niche but not too niche. If your scope is too narrow, not enough people will be searching for the topic. This will lead you to yet another problem with the same end result: no (or very few) listeners.

3. Network With Other Podcasters

One of the best things you can do for yourself and your audience is to network with other podcasters. And that doesn’t mean treating them like a number. We mean that you have to network with people genuinely.

These are your peers, or possibly your friends and mentors. They’re people you look up to, or at the very least respect.

When you network with other podcasters, you can share tips on what worked and what didn’t in terms of audience growth. If you like each other’s content, you can also recommend each other on your separate shows. There’s nothing wrong with propping up the people you like, and it will help you create good networks.

4. Bring Guests Onto Your Show

Another way you can build your audience is by bringing guests onto your show.

These guests might be experts in their field, or members of a community with a big following. If they’ve got their own following, their listeners will absolutely want to hear their thoughts.

They might enjoy your show long enough to stick around for a couple of episodes.

To approach guests, know what you’re looking for in a potential third party. Know what they’re an expert in when you approach them, and be respectful of their time. It’s a professional relationship, and you’ll want to keep it as such, albeit friendly.

Additionally, it’s also recommended that you keep your expectations realistic.

If you’re a small podcast and you want to talk about Game of Thrones, for example, you might be able to get a TV blogger or fantasy fiction expert on your show. But one of the main actors? It’s highly unlikely.

5. Be a Guest on Other Shows

You can also be a guest on other podcasts.

This is where your connections with fellow podcasters will come in handy. Sometimes other podcasts will approach you unannounced, but if you’re on friendly terms with each other you can discuss doing mutual shows together.

You’ll find a lot of folks are willing to engage in this sort of approach, so long as everything is transparent and the topic you’re discussing is relevant to their audience.

6. Engage With the Listeners You Already Have

Lastly, and probably the most important thing you can do, is engage with the audience you already have.

A big reason why people are drawn to podcasts is the conversational nature of them. For listeners, it can feel like they’re part of a chat with close friends. To keep them around, you need them to feel like they’re personally invested in the product.

Solicit questions from your listeners, and answer then on-air. When they comment on your posts, engage with those comments. Give special shoutouts to people who review your work or donate to keeping your podcast running.

Your listeners will become more engaged, and in turn, more likely to recommend your show to others. The power of grassroots networking cannot be overstated.

Good Luck and Happy Podcasting

If you put all these steps into play—and it doesn’t even need to be in this order—you’ll be well on your way to creating a long-term, sustainable audience. Heck, you might be doing some of these steps already, and if so you’re already ahead of the game.

Are you looking for other ways to attract an audience to your podcast? One simple-but-effective way is by using branding. And with that in mind here’s how to create a podcast cover using Photoshop.

Read the full article: 6 Simple Ways to Grow Your Podcast Audience

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How to Customize Popular Kodi Skins

Popular Kodi skins like Confluence, Aeon Nox, fuse(neue), and Arctic Zephyr let you change the way your Kodi system appears. But did you know you can completely change the way Kodi looks?

In this article we’ll show you how to customize popular Kodi skins to make Kodi look exactly as you want it to look.

Customize the Kodi Home Screen

The home screen is the first thing you see when you open Kodi, so you should customize it to show your most-used features or add-ons.

To do this, go to Settings then to Skin settings. This panel will vary slightly from theme to theme. Find an option called Home, Home window, or Main menu items in the menu.

This will bring up a panel where you can customize what items appear on your home screen. You’ll see options like Movies, TV shows, Settings, and Power here. Each of these items will appear as a main menu item on the home screen.

You can reorder the items, remove items, or add new items. One handy item to add to your main menu is your Favorites, so you can quickly find the shows, movies, or albums you go to the most.

In some themes you can change what appears as the sub-menu options for each item here too. Find an option called Submenu or Add-on shortcuts. From here you can select whether you want submenu items to include folders, specific albums or movies, or particular add-ons.

Once you’re done making your changes, exit out of the customize screen and your changes will be automatically saved and applied to your skin.

Add Art to Your Kodi Home Screen

Another fun way to customize Kodi is to use the large cover images of your favorites movies, shows, and albums that appear on your home screen.

In Kodi, these cover images are called fanart. They are displayed as a rotating wallpaper on themes like Arctic Zephyr and Confluence.

Add Fanart to Confluence or Aeon Nox

Go to System then to Settings. Select Interface and then Skin. Choose Configure skin… Now go to Background Options in the left-hand menu and make sure the Hide background fanart and Hide fanart in full screen visualizationcheckboxes are set to Off.

Add Fanart to Arctic Zephyr

To enable fanart in Arctic Zephyr, go to Settings and then to Skin settings. Choose Background from the side menu and then check the Show fanart box to enable this feature.

Add Fanart to Estuary

To enable fanart in Estuary go to System then to Settings. Select Interface and then Skin. Choose Configure skin… Choose Artwork from the left-hand menu and then toggle the Show media fanart as background to On.

Change Your Kodi Theme’s Color Scheme

Another way to personalize your Kodi theme is to change its colors. The (fuse)neue theme, for example, has a striking pink highlight color. To change this, go to Settings then to Skin settings. Choose Colors from the left-hand menu and then hit Select highlight color.

This brings up a panel where you can choose a color from a set of swatches. Pick the color you want then hit Save.

If you use a theme which doesn’t have a highlight color option, you can still tweak your color choices. To do this, go to Settings and to Interface, then select Skin. Now you’ll see an option for Colors. Click this and you can choose from a variety of different color options.

The Estuary theme which comes with Kodi by default has a particularly large range of color choices so you can play with this to make Kodi your own.

Adjust the Zoom on Your Kodi Theme

Here’s a handy tweak if you are using Kodi on a TV screen. Maybe you really like a particular theme, like Aeon Nox, but you find the font hard to read and the images hard to see because your screen is across the room from your couch.

You can change the zoom of a theme to make all the assets, including fonts and images, appear larger. To do this, go to System then to Interface then select Skin.

Now you’ll see an option called Zoom in the menu. You can adjust this to scale the screen larger or smaller for your needs. Bumping zoom up to about 10 percent is usually a good way to let you see all of the menu items.

Enable Kodi’s RSS News Ticker

Finally, there’s an option to use an RSS feed to display a news ticker on your home screen. This option shows the latest headlines scrolling along the bottom of the screen like a news broadcast.

To enable this feature, go to Settings then to Interface. Choose Other from the menu and then set the Show RSS news feeds checkbox to On.

By default, the news ticker will show you news updates about Kodi and its development. But you can change this if you want. You could use it to show the local news in your area, or the latest music or entertainment news.

To change the content of the news ticker, in the same menu hit the Edit option beneath the Show RSS news feeds item. This will direct you to download a Kodi add-on called RSS Editor. Once you have downloaded this add-on, you can use it to select the RSS feed you want displayed on your home screen.

Tweak Even More Kodi Home Screen Options

There are even more tweaks you can make to your Kodi skin in the Skin settings menu. Each skin is a little different, but typically you’ll find options which let you show the current weather in your area on the home screen or enable or disable the clock which shows the current time.

Here you can also look at the Regional settings to change the language and character set that Kodi uses, or go to Screensaver to dim your screen when you’re not using it. You can also download more screensavers if you want to use a fun image or animation, to make Kodi the best media player for you.

The Best Kodi Skins to Choose From

These are just some of the ways you can customize the appearance of Kodi to suit your own style.

From practical changes like tweaking what is shown on the home screen or adding a news ticker, to aesthetic options like changing colors or displaying fanart, Kodi skins are extremely flexible.

To change the look of Kodi even further, you can always download a new skin altogether. And to save you from having to look through them all, here are the best Kodi skins and how to install them.

Read the full article: How to Customize Popular Kodi Skins

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The 6 Best 360-Degree Cameras of 2019

What to expect from Google I/O 2019

Developer season has begun! Next week, Google will be putting on a big party at the pointy outdoor amphitheater in Mountain View. It’s shaping up to be a biggie, too, if this week’s Google earnings call was any indication. Sundar Pichai teased out a number of upcoming offerings from the company that we can expect to see on full display at the show.

From the looks of it, there’s going to be a LOT of news coming hot and heavy out of the South Bay, from new Android and Assistant features, to some rare hardware debuts. Here’s a quick rundown of what we’re expecting from the big show.

More Q

Quiche? Quindim? I had to look up the latter — it’s a “popular Brazilian baked dessert, made chiefly from sugar, egg yolks, and ground coconut” according to Wikipedia. Basically Brazilian custard.

We’re probably not getting a name either way at the event, of course. We will, however, get our best look yet and Pie’s successor. As ever, the latest version of Android will take center stage at I/O. With an expected arrival date of this summer, we’ve already seen some key pieces of Android 10 courtesy of a couple of betas.

So far, the keys are improvements to privacy/permissions and multi-tasking through Bubbles. Expect a lot more here. Rumors include pressure sensitive touch features and across the board dark mode.

Unfolding foldables

It’s admittedly been a tough couple of weeks for the ascendent form fact, thanks almost exclusively to malfunctioning Galaxy Fold units. On this week’s call, however, the company reiterated that it’s still bullish on the tech. And it kind of has to be. Google’s devoted a lot of mind share to making Android more foldable friendly, in hopes of jumpstarting a stagnant smartphone industry.

And while the Fold has been put on hiatus, we do expect a release date soon, along with Huawei’s Mate X and upcoming models from Motorola, Xiaomi, TCL and more. Expect to see the form factor positioned as the future of Android interaction.

The budget Pixel

Like other developer-focused shows, I/O isn’t really much of a consumer hardware event. That’s likely to change this year, however. In an earnings call this week, Sundar Pichai all but confirmed the long rumored arrival of the Pixel 3a. Initially floated as the Pixel Lite, the budget take on the company’s flagship is designed to curb stagnate smartphone sales by offering some flagship features at a lower price point.

Rumors so far have the product somewhere in the neighborhood of $500 and include, among other things, the return of the headphone jack — an acknowledgment that bluetooth headphones are still cost prohibitive. Equally interesting, this would make a push to roughly a six month release cycle for Pixel products, assuming the 4 arrives around an October timeframe.

Google’s made it clear that the Pixel line is about more than just showing off the latest version of Android, and a massive investment in HTC’s hardware team that includes a new Taipei campus certainly demonstrate that it’s not screwing around here.

Gaming

Stadia had its moment back at GDC back in March. The company is harnessing its live-streaming technology to finally help gamers realize the promise going hardware agnostic. Stadia was far and away the buzziest announcement out of the gaming show, but Google held back a lot of detail, only to have Apple reveal its own gaming strategy a couple of weeks later.

Pichai talked the service up during Alphabet’s earnings call, seemingly priming the pump for some stage time at I/O next week.

Smart Home

Growing its smartphone business has been a struggle, but Google’s been firing on all cylinders on the home front. Assistant is a stronger offering than Alexa, and hardware like the Home Mini and Hub have been selling briskly. We’ll undoubtedly see a lot more tricks out of Assistant this time around, including a bit focus on AI and Machine Learning smarts.

In addition to a new Pixel, we may also be getting a smart home piece of hardware from Google in the form of the Nest Hub Max. As the name implies, the device is a bigger take on the smart screen — 10 inches, according to rumors — with a focus on serving as a centralized smart home panel. The device will no doubt be primed to work well with other Google Home and Nest offerings, at a higher price point than Hub.

Etc.

Expect more on the ARCore front at the show. The oft-neglected Wear OS, which just got a nice update this week, could get some love as well. Ditto for Android Automotive. ChromeOS, will be getting some face time, as well, though I’d be surprised to see much in the way of hardware from any of the above.

Whatever comes, we’ll be on-site at Mountain View next week, bringing it to you live.

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Tinder launches ‘Festival Mode’ to connect music festival goers with profile badges

In the latest of a string of products aimed at attracting and engaging a younger demographic, dating app Tinder this morning announced the launch of a new feature called “Festival Mode,” designed to connect singles attending the same music festival. Similar to “Spring Break Mode,” announced this February, “Festival Mode” will also involve the use of badges on user profiles to indicate an upcoming destination.

These badges make it easier to spot, when swiping, those people who are planning to attend the same music festival as you.

Tinder is launching the addition in partnership with two entertainment companies, AEG Worldwide and Live Nation, and will make the feature available to those attending large festivals in the U.S., U.K., and Australia.

This includes the following events: EDC Las Vegas (May 17), Hangout Music Fest (May 17), All Points East (U.K., May 24), Governors Ball (May 31), Parklife (U.K., June 8), Bonnaroo (June 13), Firefly (June 21), British Summer Time (U.K., July 5), Lovebox (U.K., July 12), Faster Horses (July 19), Hard Summer (August 3), and EDC Orlando (November 9).

The company notes the market for music festivals is large, with over 32 million in the U.S. expected to attend at least one. These festivals also put a large number of young single together in one location, which does inspire, um, “new connections.”

Tinder has seen this in its own data first-hand. During Hangout Fest in 2018, app registrations increased by up to 30x. Meanwhile, app activity at Bonnaroo 2018 increased up to 300x, at times.

The launch of Festival Mode speaks to Tinder’s broader strategy.

Following Tinder parent Match’s full acquisition of the relationship-focused dating app Hinge, it no longer sees the need to market Tinder as an app for serious daters looking for a love match. Though that could still happen, of course, the general push for Tinder going forward is to cater to those younger users not ready to settle down, and who instead want to embrace the “single lifestyle.” 

“It’s no secret that Tinder is a must-have app for singles attending music festivals around the world. We consistently see a spike in Tinder use as tens of thousands of music fans come together, so we wanted to create a new experience that makes it easier to connect with other concert-goers before even setting foot on festival grounds,” said Jenny Campbell, CMO of Tinder, in a statement about the launch. “We’ve partnered with some of the biggest names in the entertainment and events industry to make that happen, and we couldn’t be more excited to help Tinder users find their crowd during these events for the rest of 2019.”

Festival Mode launches today and will allow users to add event-specific badges to their profile approximately three weeks before each festival.

It’s not the first feature to cater to younger users in recent months. In addition to Spring Break mode, Tinder has been further developing and expanding its Tinder U product for college students, including with the launch of new features like Rivals Week, and others.

During Match Group’s earnings call with investors in February, CEO Mandy Ginsberg also noted Tinder would soon be rolling out more Tinder U events and marketing tied to the school’s social calendar going forward.

 

 

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Why You Should Never Share Your Wi-Fi Password

Still Using Windows 7? How to Upgrade to Windows 10 Before 2020

While it’s easy to think of Windows 7 as a modern operating system, it actually launched all the way back in 2009. After just over 10 years of support, Microsoft will no longer support Windows 7 after January 14, 2020.

That date will be here sooner than you know it. If you still use Windows 7, here’s what you should know about its end of life and your options for upgrading.

Windows End of Life Explained

Every Windows product has two important expiry dates:

• End of mainstream support.
• End of extended support.

When a Windows version leaves mainstream support, Microsoft no longer adds new features for it, and warranty claims end. This typically lasts for five years after a product’s release.

For the next five years, the Windows product is in extended support. During this time, Microsoft continues to provide bug fixes and security patches but doesn’t actively develop the OS with new goodies.

With Windows 7, Microsoft is actually offering a compromise. Businesses who want to stick with Windows 7 Professional or Enterprise can pay Microsoft for extended support until 2023 thanks to the Extended Security Updates program.

But this isn’t cheap: for Windows 7 Pro machines, it will cost up to $350 for all three years of support. This is much more expensive than a Windows 10 license for a home user, and is only for companies who can’t upgrade yet for whatever reason.

If you’re curious, you can find dates for other products on the Microsoft Lifecycle Policy page.

What Will Happen to Windows 7 After 2020?

Windows 7 won’t suddenly break down or stop working after January 2020. The most important change is that Windows 7 systems won’t receive any more security patches. Over time, this will lead to Windows 7 becoming an insecure OS full of known security holes that Microsoft won’t fix.

Another important consequence to keep in mind is that eventually, major software will stop supporting Windows 7. We’ve seen this with Windows XP; mainstream apps like Dropbox, Spotify, and Microsoft Office don’t work on Windows XP anymore. And you can’t install any modern browsers on Windows XP either.

After some time, these same apps will decide that Windows 7 is not worth supporting anymore. This also goes for hardware. We’ve already seen some modern CPUs fail to work with Windows 7, and this will only get worse as the platform ages further.

How to Disable the Windows 7 Nag Screen

After installing a particular Windows update, Windows 7 users will see a dialog box every so often. This reminds you that Windows 7’s time is limited and prompts you to upgrade (which we’ll talk about in a moment).

Thankfully, this isn’t nearly as annoying as the past Windows 10 upgrade prompt that incessantly bugged you to upgrade. But it’s still annoying, especially if you have your Windows 7 upgrade plan sorted out.

To stop this nag screen, just check the Do not remind me again box in the bottom-left corner. Then close the window and you won’t see this notification any more. You can head to Microsoft’s Windows 7 end of support page to review the linked information if you need.

Your Windows 7 Upgrade Options

Before January 2020 comes, you’ll want to look at one of these upgrade paths in order to get away from Windows 7 and use a supported operating system.

Upgrade Your Current Computer to Windows 10

If your current machine is fairly new, you may be able to upgrade it directly to Windows 10. However, if you’re had your computer since Windows 7 debuted, it’s likely too old to work with Windows 10.

Check the Windows 10 system requirements page to see if your machine is eligible. Note that these are the bare minimums to get Windows 10 running on a computer and don’t necessarily mean you’ll have a good experience. If your PC has a tiny 100GB hard drive or only 2GB of RAM, you’re probably better off getting a new machine.

What’s great about this option, though, is that you can still use a Windows 7 product key to activate Windows 10. If you still have yours handy, you can thus upgrade at no cost. Find out how to create Windows 10 installation media if you go this route.

Buy a New Computer With Windows 10

This is likely the best option for most people. Computers running Windows 7 are at least several years old, so you should have a more powerful machine to run Windows 10.

Thankfully, you don’t need to break the bank to get a decent computer. Have a look at our best laptops under $500 for some great choices.

Upgrade to Windows 8.1

Since Windows 7 and 10 are so popular, it’s easy to forget that Windows 8.1 exists. While mainstream support for that version ended in early 2018, Windows 8.1 will receive extended support until January 10, 2023.

Thus, moving to Windows 8.1 gives you three more years of life after Windows 7 bites the dust. However, we don’t recommend this choice.

First, Windows 10 is a better OS than Windows 8.1. It regularly receives feature updates to improve it, unlike Windows 8.1 which only receives security updates. Windows 8.1 has the much-maligned Start Screen and lacks useful features like multiple desktops.

Further, Microsoft doesn’t sell license keys for Windows 8.1 anymore. You’d have to buy one from Amazon or another aftermarket retailer, which can be shady. And while you’ll find hundreds of machines running Windows 10, it’s difficult to find a pre-built computer with Windows 8.1 on it.

Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 have the same system requirements, so if you’re going to buy a new computer, moving to Windows 10 is the better option. If you upgrade to Windows 8.1, you’ll have to worry about this problem again before 2023.

Switch to Another Platform

If you’ve lost interest in Windows, you can check out an entirely new operating system.

Those on a budget, or who only use a computer for light tasks, should consider a Chromebook. These lightweight devices are great for basic work like emailing and word processing, and are easy to use thanks to automatic updates and built-in security.

If you don’t mind spending more on a premium experience, consider a Mac. MacBooks cost much more than the Windows laptops you’re probably used to, but some say that after experiencing macOS, you’ll never want to go back to Windows.

For something totally different, consider a Linux machine. While Linux often has a reputation for being usable only by advanced users, you’d be surprised how user-friendly modern versions are.

See our guide to choosing your next PC operating system if you can’t decide.

Get to Know Windows 10

We’ve looked at the situation with Windows 7 and your options for upgrading to a modern platform. If you want to stick with Windows, your best option is buying a new computer with Windows 10. This will provide a better experience than upgrading an old machine.

Of course, you don’t have to do this. But whatever you do, make plans to leave Windows 7 behind before January 2020. You don’t want to get stuck on an unsupported OS if you can help it. Hopefully, we can leave Windows 7 behind more quickly than it took for Windows XP to die.

Check out our guide to what you must do after installing Windows 10 to get up to speed.

Read the full article: Still Using Windows 7? How to Upgrade to Windows 10 Before 2020

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5 Super Simple Sites to Create Your Online Portfolio

Whether you’re a writer, an artist, another creative professional, or even a coder, a professional portfolio is a key to success. For freelancers, having a portfolio of your work ready to send to potential clients is essential. And even if you have a full-time job, having a portfolio ready will be a great help next time you’re job hunting.

Designing and building an online portfolio can sound complicated if you’re not technically minded. Fortunately, there are websites which allow you to create a portfolio easily and with no technical knowledge required. These are our recommendations for sites to build a clean, professional-looking portfolio.

1. Clippings.me

Clippings.me is great for hosting articles and posts that you’ve written. It’s good for writers, journalists, bloggers, and others who have a text-heavy portfolio.

The display options are fairly minimal. That means there isn’t a massive amount of customization possible. But the theme used is smart and modern. And you can change the header image and the icon to personalize your portfolio page.

The portfolio site is easy to use with the drag and drop builder. You don’t need any coding or technical knowledge whatsoever. You can simply copy and paste a link to your work and the site will automatically pull the title, display image, and the excerpt from your article for you.

Alternatively, you can manually add entries to the portfolio. And if you have written or other work in a PDF format, you can upload the PDF to your portfolio and have it available for download.

You can also give yourself a title, add a description, and link to your personal website. And you can add links to your social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn.

The free version of the site lets you add up to 16 clippings, or you can pay $10 per month to host unlimited clippings. The free version does have the clippings.me banner at the top of the page but it’s unobtrusive.

Example portfolios on Clippings.me:

• Nicholas Holmes
• Lee Cobaj
• Gaia Manco

2. About.me

About.me is very flexible and can be used by artists, consultants, and other professionals as well as writers. No coding skills are required and you can use the site to generate a simple, smart homepage which has both a desktop and a mobile version.

You can add an image of yourself but you should choose a high resolution image as it is displayed in large format on the desktop version. Supplement it with a title and description of your work. You can also add links to your email address and to social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.

Beneath your image on the home page is a “spotlight button”. You can choose what you most want to link to from here, such as your blog, your YouTube channel, or your podcast.

The free version of the site lets you set up a basic profile. But to set up a full portfolio using the site, you’ll need to pay for the Pro version. That costs $7 per month. This will also give you access to other features like using a domain to access your profile and extra pages like testimonials and video.

Example portfolios on About.me:

• Tony Conrad
• Zac Choi
• Davidae Arnold

3. Muckrack.com

Muckrack.com is a handy resource for journalists and other writers. You can’t customize the way that your profile appears much. However, you can customize the content on it.

The most useful feature is the automatic updating. This works by pulling your articles from around the web and adding them to your profile. You don’t need to do anything to keep your profile up to date. You can also add clippings manually if you have some articles which aren’t automatically located.

MuckRack is also well integrated with Twitter. You can set your Twitter account and your latest tweets will be displayed right in your profile.

A handy extra for journalists is the information about pitching. As the site is used by PR professionals, you can give information on how you like to be pitched. You can specify which topics you do and don’t cover to make the pitches you receive more relevant to you.

The site is free for journalists to use, but you do need to be verified. To get verified you need to have a byline in a well-known website or newspaper.

Example portfolios on MuckRack.com:

• Hadley Freeman
• Josh Halliday
• Jason Burke

4. Tumblr.com

For visual artists and musicians, Tumblr can make a surprisingly great portfolio site. As it’s designed for sharing content of all kinds you can upload images, video clips, audio clips, and links to be displayed on your blog. It’s free to use and posting is very easy.

However, you will need to install a custom theme to make your blog look more like a portfolio. This requires a little bit of technical knowledge, as you’ll need to download a theme from a site and upload it to the Tumblr customization page. This will be easier if you already know HTML and CSS.

If you like web design, you can create your own theme from scratch. This gives you absolute flexibility over the way your posts are displayed. And Tumblr supports jQuery and JavaScript so you can customize the sorting and display options. You can also easily link your domain to your Tumblr site.

If that sounds a bit too technical, though, don’t worry. There are elegant and fun ready-made themes that you can use for free. We already have recommendations for the best free Tumblr themes for creating a portfolio.

Example portfolio themes on Tumblr:

• Ten Toes
• Portfolio
• Genesis

5. WordPress.com

There are a couple of ways to use WordPress as a portfolio. Firstly, you can upload your clippings as blog posts, then display the blog in a portfolio form. Or secondly, if you already have a blog, you can add a separate portfolio page.

The Portfolio Projects option can be enabled in your WordPress settings. It allows you to choose how many projects to display per page and to add new projects such as text, images, or links. If you’re already familiar with writing blog posts in WordPress then adding a portfolio project is a very similar process.

If you add a portfolio projects site to your current blog, your portfolio will appear at yoursite.wordpress.com/portfolio.

Alternatively, if you are starting out and using the blog itself as your portfolio, then check our list of free responsive WordPress themes to use as a portfolio.

Example portfolio themes on WordPress:

• Oshine
• Brooklyn
• Sauron

Quickly and Easily Create a Professional Portfolio

With these sites you can create a professional online portfolio, even if you don’t have a lot of technical knowledge. Clippings.me, About.me, and MuckRack.com require zero coding skills to set up and use. Or if you know some web development, you can use Tumblr or WordPress to present your portfolio in a more customized way.

Alternatively, if you’re creative and want to make your portfolio really stand out, we also have tips on creative ways to show off your work online.

Read the full article: 5 Super Simple Sites to Create Your Online Portfolio

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Become a Certified Cloud Computing Expert With This AWS Training, Now $49

From Adobe to Zynga, millions of companies now rely on the cloud for daily operations. For obvious reasons, cloud computing experts are in demand — seasoned pros earn upwards of $120,000 a year. If you want to make a career in this exciting niche, the AWS Solutions Architect Certification Bundle is a great starting point. The bundle includes six courses, working towards official Amazon exams. You can grab the training now for just $49 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Amazon Web Services

One of the most popular platforms for cloud computing is AWS, or Amazon Web Services. Clients include Samsung, Ricoh, Netflix, Expedia, GE, Vodafone, and countless other multinational firms. If you want to work in cloud computing, it pays to know AWS.

This bundle helps you master the platform, with six courses providing complete prep for two key exams. You don’t need any previous experience, and the courses are delivered by knowledgeable instructors.

The training starts with a tour of AWS, covering all the core services. You then learn how to design fault-resistant apps and automate tasks, before diving into cloud security, networking and storage.

With this knowledge under your belt, you should pass the AWS Certified Cloud Practitioner and Solutions Architect (Associate) exams with flying colours.

32 Hours of Training for $49

These courses are worth $1,649, but you can get the bundle now for $49 with lifetime access included.

Read the full article: Become a Certified Cloud Computing Expert With This AWS Training, Now $49

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Acast launches Acast Access to make paywalled podcasts available on any player

Podcast monetization company Acast is launching a new way for publishers to put their podcasts behind a paywall.

Until now, podcasts have not been well-suited to subscription paywalls, due to the fact that they’re distributed via RSS feeds that can be accessed by any podcast player. So instead we’ve seen workarounds like Substack building a web-based audio player and TechCrunch releasing all our podcasts free while putting transcripts behind the Extra Crunch paywall.

And then there’s Luminary, the subscription podcast app that’s faced serious backlash for including unaffiliated podcasts in a way that some podcasters suspect it was re-hosting their audio files. (The company says it wasn’t doing that.)

With Acast Access, on the other hand, publishers should be able to create versions of their podcasts that are only available to subscribers, but are still accessible from any app.

Chief Product Officer Johan Billgren said that Acast works with a publisher to create two different podcast feeds — the public feed, which is available to everyone for free, and the “accessed-RSS” feed, which should include all the public content but also extra episodes, episodes released early or episodes with additional bonus content inserted.

Billgren demonstrated the listener process for me, showing how a subscriber could log onto a publisher’s site, visit the podcast page and then click a button that will allow them to subscribe to the paid version of the podcast, choosing the podcast app of their choice. Once you’ve subscribed, you should be able to download and play episodes anytime you want, without any additional login.

Behind the scenes, Billgren said Acast is checking anonymized user data against the publisher’s API to confirm that you really do have permission to access the feed. And apparently it can still cut you off after you cancel your subscription.

Initial Acast Access partners include the Financial Times and The Economist. While it makes sense to launch with larger publishers who can incorporate this into their existing subscription paywalls, Billgren said Acast will also be making this available to smaller partners in the comings months — they’ll be able to release podcasts behind Acast’s own subscription paywall. (The company has already been experimenting with paid content through its Acast+ app.)

“Basically, we want to reach the point where it’s a natural thing to say, ‘This is the public version [of a podcast], press the link to get access to the accessed version,'” he said.

Acast raises $35M to help podcasters make money

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The Best Web Hosting Services: Shared, VPS, and Dedicated

Are you looking for the best web hosting services? Whether you need to host a small personal blog or a major corporate website, this article will help you identify the best web hosts to use.

Finding the best web hosting service isn’t as straightforward as searching Google and going with the one that offers the lowest price. There are a lot of issues to consider, including the reasons why you need hosting and how you intend to use it.

Here’s what you need to consider when choosing the right host for your needs, along with several recommendations of the best and most reputable web hosting services.

In this article, we’ll look at some of the following web hosts:

• WP Engine
• InMotion Hosting
• Bluehost
• Hostinger
• And more!

What Do You Need in a Web Host?

Before choosing your web host, you’ll need to think about your requirements. Consider the following concerns and decide the importance of each item according to what kind of site you’re putting up:

• Speed: How responsive do you need your site to be? It may not matter if your personal site takes a few seconds to load, but if you want to run an e-commerce hub, those few seconds can turn away potential customers.
• Bandwidth: How much data will be transferred every month? This is tied to how many visitors you expect to have on your website at any given time and how many bandwidth-intensive elements you’ll have (e.g. images, videos, file downloads require much more bandwidth than simple text).
• Storage Space: How many pages are on your website? And more importantly, how many images, videos, and documents will reside on your server? You should first consider whether you could use free image hosting services. If you can’t, consider efficiently resizing your images to minimize storage concerns.
• Technical Support: How tech-savvy are you? Is this your first website ever? Do you have trouble figuring out how to make changes to your site? Or do you only need help when the server is down? The more support you need, the more it’ll cost you.

Once you have a clear picture of your needs, you can work your way through the following list and identify which web hosting service is best for you.

The Best Shared Web Hosting Services

When multiple websites are hosted on a single physical server it is called shared web hosting. These plans are ideal for personal blogs or small websites where storage space and low monthly costs are more important than bandwidth and performance.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting is mentioned under every hosting category listed in this article, and for good reason: InMotion offers excellent value plans for all types of hosting needs.

You’ll find the standard shared web hosting offerings, such as unlimited disk space and monthly bandwidth, plus a complimentary domain, data backups, and website transfers. You also get access to cPanel loaded with tools and apps that help you maintain your site.

MakeUseOf readers can get the Launch plan at a special discount of only $3.99/mo (normally $6.39/mo). For more performance, you might consider the Power plan at $5.99/mo (normally $8.49/mo), which allows up to 6 websites on one account, unlimited disk space, and up to 100 subdomains. The Pro plan at $13.99/mo (normally $14.71/mo) offers all that plus unlimited MySQL databases and unlimited websites on one server.

TRY OUR #1 RANKED HOSTING SERVICE: Get up to 50% OFF InMotion Hosting

Bluehost

Want reliable web hosting at rock-bottom cost? Bluehost’s Basic plan gets you 50GB of storage for your site, 5 email accounts with 100MB storage each, and up to 25 subdomains. The Plus plan allows for unlimited websites, unmetered storage, unlimited email accounts, and unlimited domains.

Like most web hosts, Bluehost offers cPanel for management, a simple site deployment feature, and e-commerce support (shared SSL, shopping carts, etc.).

Normally the Basic plan would cost you $3.95/mo for the first year, but MakeUseOf readers can get a special discounted price of $2.95/mo. Similarly, the Plus plan’s normal price of $5.95/mo drops down to $5.45/mo. Get the special discount for these Bluehost plans by using this link.

We’ve compared Bluehost and HostGator if you’re interested in the differences.

Media Temple

Media Temple promises to alleviate short-term traffic-spike concerns with its service. It’s much more expensive, but the peace of mind it offers can’t be understated.

The service has its own control panel (not cPanel), so this may not be ideal for seasoned users who are used to cPanel. But for anyone who is new to web hosting, it’s easy to understand and simple to use.

Starting at $20/mo for the Personal plan, you get 20GB of SSD storage, 1TB of bandwidth that conveniently scales for short-term spikes, up to 100 websites, and comes pre-installed with the software you need to run highly-functional websites, including PHP, Perl, and Python. It comes with CloudFlare, one-click app installations, and better overall hardware.

SiteGround

SiteGround is a solid option if you don’t have much web hosting experience. Start off with the StartUp plan at $3.95/mo to get 10GB of storage and enough bandwidth to handle up to 10,000 visitors a month. You get a free domain name, unlimited emails, cPanel and SSH access, and even CloudFlare support.

If you’re getting around 25,000 visits a month, you can get the GrowBig plan which starts at $5.95/mo for 20GB storage. This includes one free year of SSL certificate, better speed with SuperCacher, and “priority” technical support.

If your site is booming with 100,000 visits a month, the GoGeek plan is available for $11.95/mo. This includes 30GB of space, all the features of the other plans, plus “geeky advanced features” like fewer accounts sharing your server and more advanced hardware for better performance.

Namecheap

Namecheap is one of the best options for first-timers who want to test the waters of web hosting. The Stellar plan starts at an unbeatable price of $2.88/mo.

For that price, you get 20GB of HDD storage, unlimited bandwidth, up to 3 domains and 50 subdomains, cPanel for management, 50 email accounts, support for CloudFlare, and all kinds of other additional software.

When you need to expand, you can upgrade to the Stellar Plus plan for $4.88/mo (unmetered HDD storage and unlimited websites) or the Stellar Business plan for $8.88/mo (50GB of SSD storage).

Not to mention the fact that Namecheap’s support is matchless among budget-level web hosts. And the performance is excellent for what you pay—much better than some web hosts that cost twice as much. It’s why we consider Namecheap to be one of the best cheap web hosting providers.

Hostinger

Hostinger may be lesser known than the other options on this list, but as we noted in our review of Hostinger, you get a number of extra features that usually aren’t included in affordable web hosting plans.

For example, the automated weekly backups can be a lifesaver if something ever goes wrong with your site. Hostinger also offers domain parking, SSH access, support for up to 100 subdomains, their own in-house hPanel for configuration (very similar to cPanel), DNS management tools, and of course, FTP access.

The Single plan starts at $8/mo, which is good for one website, one email account, 10GB of SSD storage, 100GB of monthly bandwidth, and 1 MySQL database.

The Premium plan is available for $12/mo, which is good for unlimited websites, unlimited email accounts, 20 GB of SSD storage, unlimited monthly bandwidth, and unlimited MySQL databases.

The Business plan is available for $16/mo and is essentially the Premium plan plus daily backups (rather than weekly backups), more computing resources for faster performance, and a free SSL certificate so you can protect your site with HTTPS.

MakeUseOf readers can get discounted hosting plans at Hostinger by signing up using this link!

The Best Virtual Private Server Hosting

When your site starts to get a lot more traffic—we’re talking over 10,000 visits per day—it’s time to move beyond shared hosting to the next step up, which is a virtual private server.

With a VPS, you basically have an entire virtual server to yourself. It isn’t shared with other customers so you get full access to all the CPU and RAM allotted to you, and you get full control of the server so you can install all kinds of third-party software and restart the server whenever you want.

Note: These are managed VPS plans, meaning that the hosting provider’s administrators “manage” the server for you (e.g. regular updates, data backups, reboot crashes, fix issues) so you don’t have to worry. Unmanaged plans are much cheaper but we don’t recommend them because they’re riskier and require a lot more technical know-how.

WP Engine

If the only reason you need web hosting is to run a WordPress site, then we highly recommend WP Engine. As a managed WordPress host, you’re essentially getting all the benefits of a virtualized WordPress instance without the hassles of setting up or administrating the server.

The Startup plan starts at $35/mo and offers 10GB storage, 50GB monthly bandwidth, and up to 25,000 monthly visits. The Growth plan costs $115/mo and the Scale plan costs $290/mo, which may seem excessive but remember that WP Engine handles everything for you and comes with awesome perks like automated daily backups, built-in caching, global CDN, staging sites, free SSL certificates, and more.

MakeUseOf readers can get 20% off your first payment if you sign up for WP Engine using this link. It’s really good, and we know because we use WP Engine to run our sister sites.

InMotion Hosting

Never to be outdone, InMotion Hosting offers SSDs as part of their VPS hosting. There aren’t quite as many customized choices here as you might find with other VPS providers—only three VPS plans—but what you do get is impressive. Uptime is excellent, and response times with tech support are lightning fast.

The VPS-1000HA-S plan offers an impressive 75GB of storage space, 4GB of RAM, and 4TB of bandwidth for $29.19/mo. The VPS-2000HA-S plan bumps it up to 150GB of storage space, 6GB of RAM, and 5TB of bandwidth for $47.39/mo. And the top VPS-3000HA-S plan gives a whopping 260GB of storage space, 8GB of RAM, and 6TB of bandwidth for $69.34/mo.

MakeUseOf readers can get the following special discounted rates: $27.99/mo for the VPS-1000HA-S plan, $44.99/mo for the VPS-2000HA-S plan, and $64.99/mo for the VPS-3000HA-S plan. Get the special discount for these InMotion Hosting plans by using this link.

Media Temple

Media Temple offers users the option to go with an unmanaged Linux-based VPS for $30/mo or managed VPS solutions ranging from $55/mo to $1,500/mo.

Whether you choose managed or unmanaged, you can then pick between six levels of hosting that offer an array of features. Level 1 is the base $55/mo plan with 30GB of storage, 2GB of RAM, and 2TB of bandwidth. The most popular option is Level 3 with 100GB of storage, 8GB of RAM, and 5TB of bandwidth for $150/mo.

The cost may seem prohibitive, but Media Temple is up-front about their prices: the price you sign up with today will be the same price when you renew the following year. No surprises.

DigitalOcean

We praised DigitalOcean as the best unmanaged VPS host for newbies several years ago and we still stand by that today. It’s newbie-friendly for three reasons: excellent support, a massive knowledgebase of helpful articles, and a pay-as-you-use model that’s extremely affordable.

It also comes with a bunch of apps that you can one-click install, including LAMP, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and MediaWiki. The only downside is that you’ll want to learn Linux to make full use of DigitalOcean’s flexibility.

The cheapest plan is only $5/mo and grants 25GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and 1TB of bandwidth. You won’t find many VPS hosts at that price, and the ones you do find won’t be very good. You can also scale up to 3840GB of storage, 192GB of RAM, and 12TB of bandwidth for $960/mo. In other words, lots of room to grow.

You can also turn your server on-and-off at will, which allows you to take advantage of hourly pricing instead of monthly pricing. If you turn your server off for two weeks, for example, you’d only pay for half of the month.

Note: DigitalOcean only offers unmanaged VPS hosting. Unless you have a background or interest in Linux, you may prefer to pay more for a managed VPS.

Linode

Linode is a cloud-based hosting solution that not only lets you immediately deploy a customized Linux VPS in under a minute, but lets you geographically position that server anywhere in the world.

It’s a unique service meant for people who love using Linux, complete with your choice of distributions like Ubuntu, CentOS, openSUSE, and more. You get kernel and root access, a dedicated IP address, easy configuration and disk cloning, two-factor authentication, and other cool features you’re sure to love if you’re a Linux user.

Plans range from $5/mo for the low-end plan (25GB of storage, 1GB of RAM, and 1TB of bandwidth) all the way up to $960/mo for the top plan (3840GB of storage, 192GB of RAM, and 20TB of bandwidth). High RAM plans also exist, with the most expensive being $960/mo for 340GB of storage, 300GB of RAM, and 9TB of bandwidth.

Note: Linode only offers unmanaged VPS hosting. Unless you have a background or interest in Linux, you may prefer to pay more for a managed VPS.

The Best Dedicated Server Hosting

So, you’re getting so much traffic that even VPS hosting isn’t enough to keep your site up? Fear not. That just means you’ve outgrown the VPS tier of web hosting and it’s time to move into the big leagues with dedicated server hosting.

What is a dedicated web hosting plan? Your website is hosted on a private server that’s fully dedicated to your website. No other website shares your machine, not even as a virtual machine. You get all of the CPU, RAM, and system resources.

Of course, this usually comes with a hefty price, so dedicated hosting should only be a concern for serious websites that are pulling in millions of pageviews per month.

InMotion Hosting

InMotion Hosting’s Essential dedicated server plan offers 500GB of SSD (or 1TB of HDD) storage, 8GB of RAM, and 6TB of bandwidth, all for a starting price of $105.69/mo. The Advanced server plan is the next step up with 500GB of SSD (or 2TB of HDD) storage, 16GB of RAM, and 10TB of bandwidth starting at $166.59/mo.

But if you have a booming website with a lot of steady traffic, you can go all the way up to the CC-2000 server plan. This gives you 3x1TB of SSD storage, 64GB of RAM, and 15TB of bandwidth starting at $519.49/mo.

Media Temple

Just as with its shared and VPS hosting solutions, Media Temple offers some of the most powerful dedicated server options at an affordable price. All of them come with an impressive 1TB of SSD storage, 128GB of RAM, and 10TB of bandwidth.

Dedicated hosting starts at $2,000/mo for the self-managed plan, $2,500/mo for the managed plan with Plesk or cPanel, and $2,699/mo for the fully managed plan with 24/7 priority response technical support.

SingleHop

If you need flexibility and options, SingleHop is the hosting service you’ll want.

SingleHop’s dedicated server plans start at $179/mo for 2x240GB of SSD storage, 8GB of RAM, and 10TB of bandwidth. Or bump the specs up to 32GB of RAM for $219/mo. Or go even further with 4x1TB of SSD storage and 64GB of RAM for just $300/mo.

If that’s still not enough, you can always schedule a consultation and customize your dedicated server according to your needs. SingleHop boasts 24-hour technical support, your own dedicated account team, and a 90-minute hardware replacement time.

Choosing the Right Hosting Service for You

When a free or very cheap web hosting plan just isn’t cutting it anymore, it’s time to upgrade to a paid hosting service. This list should give you a head start toward purchasing the best hosting service that’ll ensure your website serves up the best service for all of your visitors.

Read the full article: The Best Web Hosting Services: Shared, VPS, and Dedicated

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