On what would have been her 90th birthday, Google has unveiled a new way to learn about Anne Frank. An online exhibit details Frank’s childhood, with numerous photos to study. And Street View imagery lets you virtually explore Anne Frank’s childhood home.
An Introduction to Anne Frank
Frank was born in Germany on June 12, 1929. However, being Jewish meant her and her family were forced to move to Amsterdam to avoid persecution by the Nazis. They were then forced into hiding, and it was during this time that Frank wrote her famous diary.
The Franks, and the other Jewish people hiding with them, were eventually discovered, and sent off to concentration camps. Anne Frank died in 1945 at the tender age of 15, and yet her legacy has lived on thanks to the diary she penned while in hiding.
Learn More About Anne Frank
In partnership with the Anne Frank House, Google Arts and Culture has delved deep into the archives to create an online exhibit detailing Anne Frank’s short life. This is available on the Google Arts and Culture website, or on the app for Android and iOS.
As detailed on The Keyword, the online exhibit tells the story of how Anne Frank came to be hiding in a secret annex in a house in Amsterdam. It also recounts what happened to Anne and her family and their friends after they were found by the Nazis.
As part of the exhibit, you can also explore Anne Frank’s childhood home through indoor Street imagery. The flat has been restored to its original 1930s style, which means you’ll get a sense of the surroundings Frank grew up in before being forced into hiding.
The Street View imagery is particularly interesting. Because, while the Anne Frank House is worth a visit, it’s always busy and isn’t easily accessible to everyone. Thanks to Google Arts and Culture you can now pay the Anne Frank House a virtual visit.
Download: Google Arts and Culture on Android | iOS
With a Little Help From Google
Anne Frank is just one of millions of people who lost their lives as a result of World War II, but her story is an important one that should be required reading. Now, more people have the opportunity to learn about Anne Frank, with a little help from Google.
Job searching is sort of like hunting for gold. If you play your cards right, you can strike it rich and land a career. If you mess up, you can blow your chances with that company.
The ways in which you can contact the companies you want to work for are multiplying, and one of the methods is through email. Here’s how to structure your resume and cover letter for an email application, so you put your best foot forward and don’t blow your chances.
1. Do Your Research
The biggest thing you need to do before you even apply is to do your research.
This research applies to the company itself and how they want you to send your application. Some companies don’t allow you to apply via email, and if you try that method you’ll be automatically rejected.
Once you figure out if you’re allowed to email them, follow the instructions on that job posting to the letter. If they have strange requests for the wording in your application, or they tell you to structure your subject line a certain way, do it. If they tell you to address the cover letter to a specific person, do that too.
Those instructions are a test to see if you follow orders properly. They also want to know if you have an eye for detail—both valuable skills in the workplace.
2. Subject Line
The subject line of your email is probably one of the most important parts of your application. It can mean the difference between the company opening the email or thinking it’s spam and throwing it out.
If you don’t have specific instructions for the subject line, it’s best to include a reference to the general purpose of your email.
In this example, something like “JOB APPLICATION: Entertainment Writer” is a good place to start. It’s a nice, quick way to clearly state what the content of your email is about. It also a good place for keywords.
In other cases, you’ll be sending an email to a shared inbox, but you know who to address the email to. In situations like these, you can add something like “ATTN: [Insert Name]” at the beginning of the subject line. That way anyone who is viewing the inbox will know whom to forward it to.
3. Introductions
When you’re introducing yourself and addressing the person who will be reading your application, there are a few things you absolutely need to get right. You need to:
Spell their name or title correctly.
Set the appropriate “tone” with your introduction.
Before you apply, research what the company’s public “face” looks like. What sort of culture are they trying to put out to the world?
Are they fun-loving and casual? Are they serious? If they’re casual, then it’s probably okay to go with a simple “hello” and address the hiring manager by their first name—but only if you know their name to begin with.
If the person you’re contacting has a specific title they want to be addressed by, use that.
When the company is more serious, you can use “Dear [insert name]” or something similar. It should be noted that titles like “Mr.” and “Mrs.” has fallen out of style in recent years, as you can’t always guess a person’s marital status or gender by their online profile.
All of this is to say that when you introduce yourself, you want to make sure your introduction matches the company on a corporate, cultural level. If you don’t, it can be a red flag that you may clash with their workplace values.
4. Put Your Cover Letter in the Body of Your Email
When you’re sending your application via email, it’s best to put your cover letter into the body of the email itself.
This is because when you send an email, that email is your cover letter. It’s the first thing the hiring manager will see, so you need to put your best foot forward.
Another reason why you should try this approach: you don’t want the hiring manager to read your cover letter twice. Remember that these people are short on time.
If they read a pared down introduction in your email, followed by the full cover letter in an attachment, they may get frustrated. It’s a little too much redundancy.
If they request that you attach a copy of your cover letter, however, follow their instructions exactly.
5. If You Attach Anything, Make It a PDF
Some companies do not accept attachments, and if you attach a file to your application it will go straight to junk mail. If a company does not accept attachments, they’ll usually let you know in the job posting itself.
If you can’t use attachments, or you’re worried that your application won’t go through with those attachments, make sure you provide links to an online version of your resume, such as your LinkedIn profile. Make sure the anchor text you’re using for those links is descriptive enough that people know what they’re clicking on.
If you can send attachments, it’s usually a safe bet to send those attachments as PDFs. They’re a very universal file format that can be opened with a number of different programs and modern browsers too. This makes it easy for people to view your resume whenever and wherever they can.
Lastly, don’t pester people once you’ve sent off your application. Don’t email them asking if they’ve read it yet. If you do, your correspondence might soon be viewed as spam.
Some companies send out auto-replies to confirm that they’ve received your application. Others don’t.
Sometimes these companies will take a long time to get back to you because the application process is still open. They might not respond at all. This is just the nature of the game.
If the company does email you back to ask you more questions—but doesn’t offer an interview—be polite and personable.
If you answer their questions and they don’t email you back after several weeks, it’s okay to send a quick email asking them if they have any more questions. You can also let them know you’re still available for an interview.
However, if the company doesn’t respond to this follow-up, or they respond in the negative, don’t send them more emails after this. Understand that some online applications simply don’t work out. You can always try your hand at another company elsewhere.
Email With Care
Sending a resume via email can be nerve-wracking, but if you follow these basic steps you’ll be on the right track. At the very least, you can be assured that your application will be judged on the amount of experience you have—not on some obvious mistake in your application.
When you’re upgrading to a new PC, you might wonder what to do with your old hardware. You could sell it or keep it as an emergency backup machine, but you could also put it to more creative uses.
Here are several DIY projects to repurpose and reuse an old PC.
1. Media Center
One of the most useful things you can do with an old PC is to move it into your living room and repurpose it as a media center. You can watch movies and TV, listen to music, and play games by installing and setting up Kodi or similar software on your machine.
Kodi is designed to be used with a remote control, so you can link up your old computer to your TV and browse from the comfort of your couch.
A nice benefit is that media center software is lightweight and doesn’t require a lot of system resources, so you can use it even on very old hardware.
2. Build a Home Server
If you live with housemates or family, it’s great to be able to share your music, videos, and photos with them. Even if you live on your own, you can benefit from having a place to store all your media.
This is where a home server comes in. You can use your old PC to host your media and other files and access them whenever you need. This is handy if you only have a limited amount of hard drive space on your new PC.
You can also give access to the home servers to other users on your network, allowing you to share your files with them.
3. Set Up a Web Server
Alternatively, what if you want to host files on the internet? If you have your own website, you can host your site yourself from home instead of paying for hosting or using free hosts which can be bad for your site.
You can set up your old PC as a web server relatively easily. Once the web server is set up, you can host your own and your friends’ websites.
You can also set up the web server for FTP use if you want to share files over the internet but not create a specific website. When you or your friends want to access the FTP server, you can use Windows Explorer as an FTP client.
4. Run a Games Server
If you’re a gamer, a really neat feature of the Steam client is the Steam Stream option. This allows you to install games on one machine and then stream these games to other devices on your network.
This means you can host your games on your old PC and play them from a media center or other device in your living room. Or you can pick up a small and fairly cheap device called a Steam Link which plugs into your TV or monitor and streams the content from your server.
If you build PCs often, or if you frequently benchmark components, then a test rig is extremely useful to have on hand.
It’s easiest to use if you have an open test bench, so you can swap parts in and out quickly. And you can buy a solid, well-made test bench if you’re a serious builder. But you can also throw together your own test bench from metals, bits of wood, or whatever else you have on hand if you want a cheap option.
Once you have a bench, you can transfer parts from your old PC onto it, safe in the knowledge that all the parts are good and working. This will let you troubleshoot new components easily.
6. Build a Frame PC
A PC isn’t just a functional object: it can be art as well. This unusual project puts your PC into a picture frame which you can hang on your wall.
Using Wi-Fi sync functions, you can modify your framed PC and send and receive files. And you can power the PC with a single power cord from the bottom of the frame.
You will need to do some modifications to your components and to your frame to allow for issues like air flow, so this is a project suited to the handy and experienced system builder.
7. Wall Mounted PC
If you like the idea of a frame PC but you want something a little easier to put together, try a wall-mounted PC. This example uses the Thermaltake Core P1 case which holds standard components but is designed to be wall-mountable.
You can buy just the case on its own, transfer the parts from your old PC to the new case, then hang it on the wall. The case is open-sided which is great for airflow but does mean you need to be aware of dust. But it’s a fun way to turn your PC into an art piece.
8. Home Security System
If you have a simple webcam, you can connect it to your old PC to make your own home security system. Using software that detects motion and triggers an alert, you can get a notification or set off an alarm if there is unexpected movement in your home.
Follow this tutorial to turn your computer into a video surveillance system.
9. Desk PC
If you’re feeling really ambitious, you can build you old PC components into a custom desk. You fit components in to a compartment below the desk level and then put glass or clear plastic on top.
This way you can see your components beneath the surface of your desk. This looks absolutely amazing, but be warned – it’s not an easy project!
You’ll need to design and build your own desk with a compartment big enough to fit all your components. And before you begin, you should know that getting the layout right and performing maintenance on a desk PC is a big hassle.
But if you have the time and the patience, your own custom desk PC is an incredible and unique project.
10. Mineral Oil Cooled PC
Another impractical but stunning PC project is to build a mineral oil-cooled PC.
Because mineral oil is not electrically conductive, you can submerge many components into it without damaging them. In fact, it will increase their lifespan by lubricating them. And you can get terrific cooling performance as the oil dissipates the heat.
This is another case in which maintenance is a real pain though, and trying to re-use parts which have been in mineral oil requires an enormous amount of cleaning. So it’s better as a show PC rather than being your everyday workhorse.
One thing to remember is that when using old parts, you’ll need to clean them very thoroughly before submerging them in oil. Or else any dust or grime left on them will float around in the oil, and that’s no good.
Don’t Throw Out Your Old PC Parts—Put Them to Use!
Just because your components are outdated doesn’t mean they’re not useful any more. Working but old hardware is ideal for using in experimental and unusual projects. Or the hardware can be repurposed in a more practical way and turned into a server.
Google’s Area 120 team, the company’s in-house incubator for some of its more experimental projects, today launchedGame Builder, a free and easy to use tool for PC and macOS users who want to build their own 3D games without having to know how to code. Game Builder is currently only available through Valve’s Steam platform, so you’ll need an account there to try it.
After a quick download, Game Builder asks you about what screen size you want to work on and then drops you right into the experience after you tell it whether you want to start a new project, work on an existing project or try out some sample projects. These sample projects include a first-person shooter, a platformer and a demo of the tool’s card system for programming more complex interactions.
The menu system and building experience take some getting used to and isn’t immediately intuitive, but after a while, you’ll get the hang of it. By default, the overall design aesthetic clearly draws some inspiration from Minecraft, but you’re pretty free in what kind of game you want to create. It does not strike me as a tool for getting smaller children into game programming since we’re talking about a relatively text-heavy and complex experience.
To build more complex interactions, you use Game Builder’s card-based visual programming system. That’s pretty straightforward, too, but also takes some getting used to. Google says building a 3D level is like playing a game. There’s some truth in that, but it’s not an easy game, necessarily.
One cool feature is that you can also build multiplayer games and even create games in real-time with your friends.
Traditionally, drag-and-drop game builders often feel pretty limited. The Area 120 team is trying to overcome this by also letting you use JavaScript to go beyond some of the pre-programmed features. Google is also betting on Poly, its library of 3D objects, to give users lots of options for creating and designing their levels.
It’s no secret that Google is taking games pretty seriously these days, now that it is getting ready to launch its Stadia game streaming service later this year. There doesn’t seem to be a connection between the two just yet, but I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw Game Builder on Stadia, too.
Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.
The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.
“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook.
Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.
Filling Your Social Calendar
In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.
IRL CEO Abe Shafi
Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.
IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.
The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.
IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.
Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”
Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.
My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.
Why is there no app where you can follow party animals, concert snobs, or conference butterflies for their curated suggestions of events? That’s the next phase of social calendar app IRL that’s launching today on iOS to help you make and discuss plans with friends or discover nearby happenings to fill out your schedule.
The calendar, a historically dorky utility, seems like a strange way to start the next big social network. Many people, especially teens, either don’t use apps like Google Calendar, keep them professional, or merely input plans made elsewhere. But by baking in an Explore tab of event recommendations and the option to follow curators, headliners, and venues, IRL could make calendars communal like Instagram did to cameras.
“There’s Twitter for ‘follow my updates’, there’s Soundcloud for ‘follow my music’, but there’s no ‘follow my events'” IRL CEO Abe Shafi tells me of his plan to turbocharge his calendar app. “They’re arguably the best product that’s been built for organizing what you’re doing but no one has Superhuman’d or Slack’d the calendar. Let’s build a super f*cking dope calendar!” he says with unbridled excitement. He’ll need that passion to persevere as IRL tries to steal a major use case from SMS, messaging apps, and Facebook.
Finding a new opportunity for a social network has attracted a new $8 million Series A funding round for IRL led by Goodwater Capital and joined by Founders Fund and Kleiner Perkins. That builds on its $3 million seed from Founders Fund and Floodgate, whose partner Mike Maples is joining IRL’s board. The startup has also pulled in some entertainment and event CEOs as strategic investors including Warner Bros president Greg Silverman, Lionsgate films president Joe Drake, and Classpass CEO Fritz Lanman to help it recruit calendar influencers users can follow.
Filling Your Social Calendar
In Shafi, investors found a consumate extrovert who can empathize with event-goers. He dropped out of Berkeley to build out his recruitment software startup getTalent before selling it to HR platform Dice where he became VP of product. He started to become disillusioned by tech’s impact on society and almost left the industry before some time at Burning Man rekinkled his fever for events.
IRL CEO Abe Shafi
Shafi teamed up with PayPal’s first board member Scott Banister and early social network founder Greg Tseng. Shafi’s first attempted Gather pissed off a ton of people with spammy invites in 2017. By 2018, he’d restarted as IRL with a focus on building a minimalist calendar where it was easy to create events and invite friends. Evite and Facebook Events were too heavy for making less formal get-togethers with close friends. He wisely chose to geofence his app and launch state by state to maximize density so people would have more pals to plan with.
IRL is now in 14 states with a modest 1.3 million monthly active users and 175,000 dailies, plus 3 million people on the waitlist. “50% of all teens in Texas have downloaded IRL. I wanted to focus on the central states, not Silicon Valley” Shafi explains. Users log in with a phone number or Google, two-way sync their Google Calendar if they have one, and can then manage their existing schedule and create mini-events. The stickiest feature is the ability to group chat with everyone invited so you can hammer out plans. Even users without the app can chime in via text or email. And unlike Facebook where your mom or boss are liable to see your RSVPs, your calendar and what you’re doing on IRL is always private unless you explicitly share it.
The problem is that most of this could be handled with SMS and a more popular calendar. That’s why IRL is doubling-down on event discovery through influencers, which you can’t do anywhere else at scale. With the new version of the app launching today, you’ll be recommended performers, locations, and curators to follow. You’ll see their suggestions in the Explore tab that also includes sub-tabs of Nearby and Trending happenings. There’s also a college-specific feed for users that auth in with their school email address. Curators and event companies like TechCrunch can get their own IRL.com/… URL people can follow more easily than some janky list of events of gallery of flyers on their website. Since pretty much every promoter wants more attendees, IRL’s had little resistance to it indexing all the events from Meetup.com and whatever it can find.
IRL is concentrating on growth for now, but Shafi believes all the intent data about what people want to do could be valuable for directing people to certain restaurants, bars, theaters, or festivals, though he vows that “we’re never going to sell your data to advertisers.” For now IRL is earning money from affiliate fees when people buy tickets or make reservations. Event affiliate margins are infamously slim, but Shafi says IRL can bargain for higher fees as it gains sway over more people’s calendars.
Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”
Yet the biggest challenge will be rearranging how people organize their lives. A lot of us are too scatterbrained, lazy, or instinctive to make all our plans days or weeks ahead of time and put them on a calendar. The beauty of mobile is that we can communicate on the fly to meet up. “Solving for spontaneity isn’t our focus so far” Shafi admits. But that’s how so much of our social lives come together.
My biggest problem isn’t finding events to fill my calendar, but knowing which friends are free now to hang out and attend one with me. There are plenty of calendar, event discovery, and offline hangout apps. IRL will have to prove they deserve to be united. At least Shafi says it’s problem worth trying to solve. “I know for a fact that the product of a calendar will outlive me.” He just wants to make it more social first.
Target Circle and TapHeaven have announced that they’re merging into a single company under the Target Circle brand.
TapHeaven co-founder and CEO Chris Hoyt, who is becoming chief growth officer at the combined organization, said the two companies have been “trying to solve the same problem” — namely, eliminating many of the inefficiencies in the mobile advertising business.
Hoyt said that for Target Circle, that meant trying to “unify this fragmented ecosystem into a single dashboard for contracts, invoices and offers.” And for TapHeaven, that meant a focus on automation, resulting in the launch of what the company calls a “command center” for user acquisition, where advertisers can optimize their ad campaigns “at the source level, by country” while getting high-quality traffic without fraud.
The companies are also complement each other geographically — Target Circle is headquartered in Oslo, Norway, while TapHeaven is headquartered in San Francisco.
According to Hoyt, they first came across each other because they were talking to the same mobile studio about supporting the launch of a new game, and it became clear they “both had the same vision for our businesses, the same future with a unified dashboard wrapped in automation and machine learning to simplify and help the ecosystem perform for these advertisers.”
Target Circle founder and CEO Heiko Hildebrandt will continue to serve as chief executive for the combined companies — in the announcement, he said TapHeaven allows the company to “strengthen and expand its technology in the automation of advertising and fraud prevention and resolution.” Meanwhile, TapHeaven executives Brian Krebs and Jeremy Jones will become CIO and chief of user experience, respectively.
The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. Moving forward, Hoyt said Target Circle will continue to support its existing products while focusing on the new UA Command Center as “the future of our business.” He also suggested that the platform could help advertisers move away from Facebook and Google, allowing them to get the performance they need from other ad networks.
“What impact this is going to have on the market is really lifting up the rest of the ecosystem,” he said. “I feel like Facebook and Google have had their day, a little bit … With the serious things that are going on with these companies, advertisers are desperate for the answers to where [else] can they spend their money and diversify their portfolio.”
AT&T has cancelled early orders for the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Tom’s Guide first reported the cancellation, noting that AT&T said the Galaxy Fold would be available again to order as soon as Samsung announces a new launch date.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold was originally scheduled to launch on April 26. However, early reviews indicated that there were issues with the phone, which Samsung initially said was the fault of reviewers. The company eventually decided to postpone the launch and get back to the drawing board.
Earlier this week, a Samsung rep told Cnet that it would announce timing on the nearly $2,000 phone “in the coming weeks.”
However, AT&T’s move here suggests that it may be a while before the Galaxy Fold resurfaces, if at all.
Samsung itself asked customers who pre-ordered to confirm that they still want the device following the review period. On May 24, Best Buy cancelled all pre-orders of the phone.
AT&T has cancelled early orders for the Samsung Galaxy Fold.
Tom’s Guide first reported the cancellation, noting that AT&T said the Galaxy Fold would be available again to order as soon as Samsung announces a new launch date.
The Samsung Galaxy Fold was originally scheduled to launch on April 26. However, early reviews indicated that there were issues with the phone, which Samsung initially said was the fault of reviewers. The company eventually decided to postpone the launch and get back to the drawing board.
Earlier this week, a Samsung rep told Cnet that it would announce timing on the nearly $2,000 phone “in the coming weeks.”
However, AT&T’s move here suggests that it may be a while before the Galaxy Fold resurfaces, if at all.
Samsung itself asked customers who pre-ordered to confirm that they still want the device following the review period. On May 24, Best Buy cancelled all pre-orders of the phone.
If you think about it, the basic concept of a toothbrush hasn’t evolved since… forever. Sure, many people have switched to an electric toothbrush, but it remains a stick with a brush at the end.
Willo thinks that’s not good enough. The company has developed an oral care device to improve brushing with a focus on plaque. The company says that basic brushing only cleans 42 percent of dental plaque, while electric brushes clean 46 percent of dental plaque.
The startup has worked with actual dentists to design its product. It still sounds a bit mysterious as the company isn’t sharing much about the product. The photo is the only image of the product right now.
But what we know is that the startup has raised a $7.5 million funding round led by Kleiner Perkins, with Bpifrance and Nest co-founder Matt Rogers also participating. The company has been founded by Hugo de Gentile and Ilan Abehassera, and it attended The Refiners accelerator program.
Now let’s see how it actually works, how much it costs and if people are willing to change everything about the way they brush their teeth.
Flying taxis are undoubtedly an exciting concept — one that Uber has put a lot of work into making a reality. In order to these electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles to become a reality, they need to have proper batteries, approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, buy-in from cities, public acceptance and, of course, vehicle partners.
Uber is aiming to start testing these aircrafts next year, and wants to commercially deploy Uber Air in Los Angeles, Calif., Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco, Texas and Melbourne, Australia in 2023.
Right now, the model of Uber Air we may see in the skies will have a pilot on board. The model Uber unveiled at Elevate seats four people and one pilot.
[gallery ids="1841841,1841842,1841843,1841851"]
But there are a lot of moving parts, and the more moving parts there are means more room for error.
Designing the right battery
Let’s start with the batteries. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has repeatedly said that these vehicles need to be all-electric. But the batteries are nowhere close to where they need to be, Uber Director of Engineering for Energy Storage Systems Celina Mikolajczak told TechCrunch at Uber’s third annual Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C. this week.
Within the battery department alone, there are a lot of pieces to it, Mikolajczak said.
“The first thing you want is you want a cell that is capable of achieving the mission, and we’ve been working to try and identify cells that can do this job,” she said.
To be clear, the job is to travel up to at least 60 miles on a single charge, with a cruise speed of 150 mph. Mikolajczak is confident that current battery technology can achieve the mission, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. There are challenges around weight, thermal management and safety.
As Facebook explores ways to generate revenue from WhatsApp, the company is now turning to a startup that already has a lead. The social juggernaut said today it has invested in social-commerce startup Meesho in what is the first time the firm takes equity in an Indian startup.
Neither Facebook nor Meesho, which prior to this announcement had raised about $65 million, shared financial terms of the deal. A source familiar with the matter told TechCrunch the size of the capital was “very significant.”
Meesho, a Y Combinator alumnus, is an online social commerce that connects sellers with customers on social media platforms such as WhatsApp. The four-year-old startup claims to have a network of more than 5 million resellers who largely deal with apparels and electronics items.
These resellers are mostly homemakers, most of whom have purchased a smartphone for the first time in recent years. Meesho has most of its customers in smaller cities and towns, popularly dubbed as India 2 where the next phase of internet users are joining from. These are two things that attracted Facebook to Meesho, Ajit Mohan, VP and Managing Director of Facebook India, told TechCrunch in an interview.
“A platform that is aimed at India 2 and has such a large user base of women — when most people online in India are predominantly men — is a remarkable achievement,” he said. According to several estimates, males account for more than 80% of India’s internet user base.
Meesho claims that it is helping thousands of resellers earn more than Rs 25,000 ($360) each month. In an interview with TechCrunch last year, Meesho co-founder and CEO Vidit Aatrey said the startup, which operates in India currently, planned to enter international markets.
Even as WhatsApp is a crucial play for Meesho, the startup will continue to work with other social media platforms, Facebook’s Mohan said. Last year, Facebook launched its Marketplace, which operates in the same space as Meesho. Mohan said the company does not see Meesho as a vehicle to expand its own family of services.
On the contrary, Facebook is now open to exploring investment in other startups that are building unique solutions for the Indian market. “Wherever we believe there is opportunity beyond the work we do today, we are open to exploring further investment deals,” he said. There is no particular category that Facebook is necessarily focused on, he added.
Even as Facebook has not made any push to make WhatsApp expand beyond a communications service, users in India, the service’s largest market, are increasingly finding ways to incorporate Facebook’s app into their businesses.
Some of the most successful games on the planet right now can be found on mobile and the web. Titles such as Angry Birds and Clash of Clans are very complex, but they are addictive. If you would like to make a living from building games like these, the Zero to Hero HTML5 Game Developer Bundle should be your starting point. This bundle offers eight courses and 24 hours of training — and you can grab it now for just $25 at MakeUseOf Deals.
HTML 5 Games
In times past, developing games was a lengthy and difficult process. But thanks to frameworks like Phaser, anyone with some knowledge of code can now create something cool.
This bundle helps you get started, with eight beginner-friendly courses. The training looks at developing simple games with HTML5, JavaScript and Python that work on multiple platforms. You don’t need any previous experience, and you should come away with a small portfolio.
Through hands-on tutorials, you discover how to build a Zelda-like game with HTML5 and a Mario-style platformer with Phaser 3. Separate courses show you how to code with Python and JavaScript, with a focus on game development. You also learn how to build a tower defense game, create game controls, handle arcade physics, manage sprites, and much more.
24 Hours for $25
Order now for $25 to get lifetime access to all 24 hours of training, worth $1,182.
Google and Apple may be bitter rivals, but just occasionally Android and iOS can work together to keep us all safer. Which is what has happened thanks to Google expanding its new 2-Step Verification method (2SV) to include iOS.
In April 2019, Google unveiled its new 2SV method. This enables you to use your phone as a physical security key. However, at launch, the method required you to be using Google Chrome, and wasn’t compatible with iOS devices. Until now.
How to Use Google’s 2-Step Verification on iOS
In a post on the Google Security Blog, Google says you can now “use your Android phone to verify your sign-in on Apple iPads and iPhones”. As previously mentioned, on Chrome OS, macOS, and Windows 10 devices, Google utilizes the Chrome browser.
Things work a little differently on iOS devices. Rather than the Chrome browser, Google utilizes the Smart Lock app. However, once everything has been set up, you’ll be able to use an Android device to verify it’s you trying to log in to Google on an iOS device.
First, you need to add the security key to your Google account:
Add your Google account to your Android phone.
Make sure you’re enrolled in 2-Step Verification.
Visit the 2SV settings and click “Add security key”.
Choose your Android phone from the list of devices.
Now you can start using your Android phone as a security key:
Make sure Bluetooth is switched on on both devices.
Sign into your Google account on iOS using Google Smart Lock.
Check your Android phone for the notification.
Follow the instructions to confirm it’s you signing in.
This will obviously be limited to people who own and use both Android and iOS devices (which is possibly more common than you think). However, if that applies to you then you now have an extra security option open to you. Which surely can’t be a bad thing.
With every month that passes staying safe online seems to get tougher. Using tools such as Google’s 2SV method can help keep you safe. And if you want to learn more about security in a fun way, here are the security tips you can learn from The Avengers.
While adult cartoons used to be limited to a few specialized networks and channels, the genre has now grown massively and moved into the mainstream.
As a result, Netflix has invested in more original animated sitcoms for adults while also snapping up the streaming rights for popular adult cartoons and anime.
The problem with having so many adult animated shows on Netflix to choose from, how do you decide what to watch? Here are the best adult cartoons on Netflix.
Why Adult Cartoons on Netflix?
While animated shows and cartoons are often associated with children, the genre has long had series targeted towards older viewers. These shows are all about blending funny, witty, and thought-provoking depth with a light presentation.
We have handpicked some of the best adult cartoons on Netflix that will both help you laugh and relax, as well as possibly make you question a few of life’s existential quandaries.
1. BoJack Horseman
IMDb Rating: 8.5
This show will: Make you do some deep thinking on your own insecurities and your ways of coping with them.
BoJack Horseman takes the struggles of trying to find your identity in the modern world, but presents it in the whimsical format of a world where anthropomorphic animals and humans live side-by-side.
The show follows fictional 90s sitcom star BoJack Horseman, who grapples with his life as a washed-up actor who has little to show since the cancellation of his TV hit. Still living in Hollywood, you watch as BoJack tries to get back in the limelight while never changing the behavior that made him a pariah in the first place.
The dry, dark comedy of the show creates moments of laughter, but also feelings of pity and disquiet. While the animation is unusual, it doesn’t dull the themes in the show. It is filled with reflections on self-sabotage, the pursuit of fame, and the destructive patterns that can emerge from years of depression.
2. F Is for Family
IMDb Rating: 8
This show will: Remind you to never take the image of the nuclear family or American dream at face value.
Rarely do shows make the protagonist unlikable, while simultaneously making you want to keep watching it. But this is just what F Is For Family does with Frank Miller, a Vietnam veteran raising a family in 1970s America.
While Frank appears to be living the American dream with his wife and three children, it’s immediately clear that this sitcom follows a dysfunctional family grappling with a changing landscape.
The show blends raunchy comedy, 70s nostalgia, and dark moments to create a unique blend of humor. It stands apart from the absurdity of other adult cartoons like Family Guy or American Dad; rather using moments grounded in reality.
3. Castlevania
IMDb Rating: 8.1
This show will: Provide a fresher, more compelling take on the traditional Dracula tale.
Based on the third video game in the Castlevania franchise, this anime series depicts a world where Dracula has waged war against the human race.
Rather than a simple good guys vs. bad guys story, the show delves into Dracula’s motivations—and the fact that superstitious humans burnt his human wife at the stake for her knowledge of medicine.
Meanwhile, the last member of the vampire-hunting Belmont family teams up with a magic wielder and Dracula’s half-human, half-vampire son to save humans from the vampire lord’s wrath.
4. Big Mouth
IMDb Rating: 8.1
This show will: Remind you about the awkwardness of puberty, while simultaneously making it even more embarrassing.
Created by comedian Nick Kroll, Big Mouth is a Netflix original series that explores the journey and missteps of puberty. While young teens are the central focus of the series, the raunchy humor and inappropriate gags mean that this is definitely an adult cartoon.
Rather than simply focusing on the awkwardness of growing up, Big Mouth takes a fantastical look at puberty by introducing colorful characters like hormone monsters, a shame wizard, and even a few ghosts.
5. One Punch Man
IMDb Rating: 8.9
This show will: Give those tired of traditional anime tropes a new kind of hero to root for.
One Punch Man is a refreshing addition to the anime genre, poking fun at the tropes and common formulas we see in so many series. The show is based on the viral hit manga series of the same name.
What makes the ultra-powerful protagonist Saitama different from other anime heroes is that his immense power, which allows him to destroy any enemy with a single punch, has filled him with existential boredom. However, he continues to trudge along since being a hero is his main hobby.
If you’re a fan of the anime genre, but would like a fresh and hilarious take on the typical superhero story, One Punch Man is a great option.
6. Disenchantment
IMDb Rating: 7.2
This show will: Turn the typical fairy tale on its head.
Disenchantment is a Netflix original from Matt Groening, the creator of The Simpsons and Futurama. But this time around, the story takes place in a medieval fantasy land and follows the life of a princess who is anything but your typical fairy tale royalty.
While not reaching the cultural phenomenon status of Groening’s other work, the animation is filled with offbeat characters and entertaining, bizarre situations. It’s a generally lighter tone than many of the other adult animations on Netflix, with a tamer 13+ rating.
7. B: The Beginning
IMDb Rating: 7.3
This show will: Keep you guessing on a variety of fronts.
Netflix has been investing far more in anime series to stream, with B: The Beginning being one of their later additions. The show is a blend of the detective, thriller, and fantasy genres. It follows the hunt for Killer B, a serial killer dolling out vigilante justice.
The story is seen through multiple perspectives—the police force hunting Killer B, an investigator with a dark past aiding the search, and Killer B himself. Killer B turns out to have supernatural powers—something that makes him a target for another mysterious group that claims they need him.
There’s mystery on all fronts—including B’s true identity and his connection to investigator Keith Klick.
8. Aggretsuko
IMDb Rating: 8
This show will: Give you a new, fluffy, metalhead icon.
Ever wondered what it would be like if Hello Kitty were a death metal icon? Well, you’d get the ultra-cute, ultra-hardcore red panda Retsuko.
Disillusioned by life as an office worker under the boot of a literal chauvinist pig boss, introvert Retsuko finds relief in her late-night death metal karaoke sessions.
The English dub of the series, available on Netflix, even includes English metal songs—so that you can get the full feel of Retsuko’s existential plight and rage.
9. Love, Death + Robots
IMDb Rating: 8.7
This show will: Make you feel everything from disgust to merriment due to the sheer variety of story topics.
Love, Death + Robots is a sci-fi anthology series; with each episode telling a different story from a different director.
This means that each episode varies not only in its chosen animation style. Rather, tone, themes, and other elements contrast starkly across each episode. Stories range from hyper-violent, hypersexual tales to entertaining, cartoonist reflections on the human condition.
There are a few stand-out episodes praised across the board, with a tale for sci-fi lovers of every taste.
10. Red vs. Blue
IMDb Rating: 8.4
This show will: Make you look at video games plotlines and background lore differently.
The long-running web series Red vs. Blue, which uses in-game scenes and characters from the Halo games to parody the sci-fi video game genre, has found a home on Netflix.
The series is shot using gameplay within Halo multiplayer sessions (treating the characters as puppets), with the addition of entertaining voiceovers to drive the story. The humor is extremely dry, but will likely resonate with people who enjoy watching staged gameplay gags.
As the seasons progress, the quality of the voiceovers and graphics improve along with new releases in the Halo franchise.
11. Tuca and Bertie
IMDb Rating: 7.4
This show will: Remind you that unlikely friendships are sometimes the best.
Tuca and Bertie comes from the same team behind BoJack Horseman, but the anthropomorphic animals are where the similarities end.
The show focuses on best friends Tuca and Bertie, voiced by Tiffany Haddish and Ali Wong respectively. The characters are as different as night and day, which often leads to them enjoying absurd adventures together.
They tackle the challenges of millennial life and being a bird lady in a bird man’s world with all the grace you can expect of maladapted adults.
More Great Shows to Watch on Netflix
Now that you know what the best adult cartoons on Netflix are, you should consider branching out into more genres on Netflix. Luckily, the streaming service has plenty of content to enjoy.
Everyone wants a vanity URL. Today, a custom domain name based on your identity can be quite difficult to get hold of. But it’s not all over yet. You just have to bring out a sheet of paper and brainstorm a few creative domain name ideas that might be still available.
Before looking into domain names, you should evaluate web hosting options. We recommend WP Engine for WordPress sites because it’s reliable, secure, and frees you up to focus on your content. For non-managed web hosting, check out InMotion Hosting and Bluehost. Use these links for discounted hosting plans!
Once that’s squared away, use the simple methods below to find a personal domain name that you like (and that you can register).
Why You Should Get a Personal Domain Name?
Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way and first answer what is a domain name. Yes, that’s the thing you enter in the address bar to go to a website. Now, isn’t it easier to type a name can easily recall rather than falling back on a bookmark? Or, try to recollect if it was “johndoe.com” or “johndoe.wordpress.com”?
Easy of recollection is just of the reasons to find cool domain names that reflect your personality or your online work. Here are a few more:
Your personal domain name is your calling card online.
You can use the name for social branding across Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.
Benefit from a personalized email address like yourname@yourdomain.com instead of a less unique Gmail address.
Get the trust of your readers with a personalized blog domain name even if it is attached to a free web host.
Getting a custom domain name is easy and cheap.
The only difficult part is thinking of creative domain name ideas that reflect you and your work online. Let’s get to it.
1. Use a Domain Name Tool or Two
Top-level domains get taken up with shocking speed. Even the most bizarre combinations of names and words (like “BarackObamaIsYourNewBicycle”) get registered on a regular basis.
You can still manage to finalize a domain with the help of tools like Domai.nr, which generates interesting combinations of names based on keywords you submit. The site also shows whether a particular domain is available for purchase.
NameStudio gives you prefixes and suffixes to combine with a keyword and come up with interesting combinations. Bust a Name will try to come up with words that sound natural.
Also, use a tool like NameChk or KnowEm to see if the domain name you have set your mind upon is available as a username on some of the most common social websites like Facebook or Twitter. That will help you use the same name across the Web and keep your identity consistent.
2. Take the Help of a Thesaurus
A dictionary or thesaurus can help you out when English isn’t your strong suit. A thesaurus can help to not only get the spelling right but also help you find lesser-known synonyms of the name you want to go with.
Try the excellent Thesaurus.com or even a reverse dictionary like OneLook to brainstorm a list of words you can play around with. The Visual Thesaurus is paid but the free search limit just might be enough to come up with a valuable related word.
Here’s an offbeat tip. Use ScrabbleFinder to find words that end with a specific set of alphabets. The Scrabble cheat engine allows the use of wildcards and also lists the words by length.
You can use it to come up with creative combinations, especially if you are looking for domain names with non-traditional gTLDs.
3. Think of a Brandable Blog Domain Name Idea
A brandable domain name may not have any meaning. But ensure that it is fairly short and readable. If it’s easy to memorize, that’s a bonus. You can take inspiration from names like “Google”, “Uber”, and “Yahoo” that have no connection to what they actually do.
Artificial intelligence can help you generate catchy brandable domain names. These are easy on the ears and easier to type in the address bar. Be specific with keywords to create the right ones.
Pick tools like Namelix which uses AI. Others like Domainglo and Brandroot have their own search methods. Another site called DomainWheel uses rhymes to come up with creative words close to the one you enter.
Experiment with different combinations like Firstname, Lastname, Nickname, FirstinitialLastname, FirstnameLastinitial, NicknameLastname, NicknameLastinitial, etc.
Combine your name or an actual word with short unrelated word.
Leave out the quirky spellings, unnecessary multiple letters, etc. Such tweaks do seem to work for various companies and services (For example, IFTTT.com), but when used with personal domains, they only increase ambiguity and confusion.
4. Buy a Cheap Expired Domain Name
Expired domain names are re-released after a grace period. Different registrars have different rules but the ballpark figure is around 75 days. Buying one of these domains can work to your advantage if the original domain was popular and generated much traffic when it was in use.
Domain marketplaces like FreshDrop, SnapNames, and a domain name search engine like Expired Domains are just some of the tools you can use to watch over the web.
There are also other domains that are advertised for sale. These can turn out to be expensive, but if you spend some time doing your research, you can find a fair deal on them. The important thing is to stay alert for opportunities that have a chance of giving you a nice, workable URL.
The .com top level domain still rules the SEO game. But with more than a billion websites, it is getting overcrowded and just too difficult to find a name that’s unique.
When the price of a domain name is a factor, you can do a lot with the other top level domain extensions. The non-traditional extensions are being used in clever ways by many startups and brands now.
Here are a few well-known examples:
bit.ly
visual.ly
home.barclays
postach.io
Redbrain.shop
Apple.news
Do check for existing trademarks before you settle on a name because it can lead to copyright problems in the future.
A Good Domain Name Is Important, But…
Don’t focus too much on getting that one SEO rich keyword. A creative domain name that is memorable is more valuable than a boring keyword heavy name any day.
Also, Google started de-ranking EMDs (Exact Match Domain Names) back in 2012. Google’s algorithms are powerful machine learning beasts that weed out spammy sites if they cannot deliver content that the user wants.
Instead of fretting over it, get a domain name you can be proud of and then direct your efforts toward putting up an appealing website and follow it up with interesting content. Building your own brand can take time, but it will pay off in the long run. And then, netizens will trace it back to you even without the help of the right domain name.
Most people are aware of the difference between deleting and deactivating a Facebook account. If you deactivate Facebook you’re temporarily deleting your account, and can reactivate it at any time. If you delete Facebook you’re permanently removing your data.
However, you might not realize that deactivating your Facebook account does not deactivate Facebook Messenger. People will still be able to see you and can attempt to contact you. With that in mind, here’s how to deactivate Facebook Messenger.
How to Deactivate Facebook Messenger
Before you can deactivate Facebook Messenger, you need to deactivate your Facebook account. We’ve previously explained how to deactivate your Facebook account. If you’ve not yet done so, you need to go and do it before continuing.
Once you’re ready to move forward, follow the simple step-by-step instructions below.
Open the Messenger app
Tap on your profile picture in the upper left-hand corner.
Scroll down and select Legal and Policies.
On the next screen, choose Deactivate Messenger.
Enter your password.
Tap on Continue.
To reactivate Facebook Messenger, just log back into the Messenger app using your username and password.
What Happens When You Deactivate Messenger?
Now that you know how to deactivate Facebook Messenger, no one will be able to see your profile in the app, or send you messages in existing conversations.
Reactivating Messenger will also reactivate your main Facebook account. If you only want to keep the Messenger service, you will need to deactivate your Facebook account for a second time.
Keep in mind that if you delete your Facebook account completely, you will lose access to Messenger as well. Sadly, there is no way to keep Messenger without maintaining a Facebook profile.
And remember, you can still appear offline on Facebook Chat without taking the drastic step of deactivating your Facebook account.
Unfortunately without reams of personal data and leading artificial intelligence that Facebook owns, IRL’s in-house suggestions via the Explore tab can feel pretty haphazard. I saw lots of mediocre happy hours, crafting nights, and community talks that weren’t quite the hip nightlife recommendations I was hoping for, and for now there’s no sorting by category. That’s where Shafi hopes influencers will fill in. And he’s confident that Facebook’s business model discourages it moving deeper into events. “Facebook’s revenue driver is time spent on the app. While meaningful to society, events as a feature is not a primary revenue driver so they don’t get the resources that other features on Facebook get.”
