Pew: mobile and social media users in emerging markets have more diverse social networks

The latest study from Pew Research Center takes a look at the impact mobile technology, including the use of smartphones and social media, is having on the diversity of people’s social network in emerging markets. For the purpose of the study, Pew surveyed mobile users in eleven key markets: Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, South Africa, Kenya, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon. It found that users in these markets had broader social networks than those without smartphones and social media.

In the U.S., we’ve been concerned with social media’s ability to create “filter bubbles” — meaning how we surround ourselves online with people who hold the same opinions as us, which is then reinforced by social media’s engagement-focused algorithms. This leads us to believe, sometimes in error, that what we think is the most correct and most popular view.

According to Pew’s study, emerging markets are experiencing a somewhat different phenomenon.

Instead of isolation, the study found that smartphone users in these markets, and particularly those who also used social media, were more regularly exposed to people with different racial and ethnic backgrounds, different religious preferences, different political parties, and different income levels, compared to those without a smartphone.

In Mexico, for example, 57% of smartphone owners regularly interacted with people of other religions, while only 38% of those without a smartphone did. And more than half (54%) interact with people who supported different political parties. They were also 24% more like to interact with people of different income levels, and 17% more likely to interact with people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds.

These sorts of trends help up across the nations studied, Pew noted, with a median of 66% saying they interacted with people with different income levels, 51% saying they interacted with a those of different race or ethnicity, 50% saying they interacted with those having different religious views, and a median 44% saying they interacted with those who supported a different political party.

The use of social media and messaging apps was found to be a huge contributor here, as it made people more likely to encounter people different from them, the study also said.

The report, however, isn’t claiming that smartphone and the related social media use are the cause of this increase in diversity in these people’s lives. There may be other reasons for that. Smartphone owners, in general, may have more resources and money — they own a smartphone, after all — and this alone could help expose them to a more diverse group of people.

That said, smartphones are helping people stay connected to distant family and friends, and build out online networks of people they don’t ever see in person.

More than half of people in most of the surveyed countries said that only see half — or fewer — of the people they call or text in person. 93% said they keep in touch with far-flung contacts. And a median of 46% said they see their few or none of Facebook friends regularly.

All this connecting isn’t seen as being fully positive, however.

An earlier Pew report found that users in these 11 countries believe the internet and social media are making people more divided in their opinions and only sometimes more accepting of different views. Exposure to diversity and acceptance of it are different things.

The new report also gets into how smartphones are used. For example, a median of 82% said they texted, 69% took photos or videos, 61% looked up health information, 47% looked up news and political information, and 37% looked up information about government resources.

It also examined smartphones’ impact on digital divides, noting that people with access to these devices and social media, as well as younger people, those with higher levels of education and men, were gaining more benefits than others.

The study is based on in-person interviews conducted by D3 Systems, Inc. and the results are based on national samples, notes Pew.

The full report is available here, with deeper dives on activities and data by individual countries.

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Pew: mobile and social media users in emerging markets have more diverse social networks

The latest study from Pew Research Center takes a look at the impact mobile technology, including the use of smartphones and social media, is having on the diversity of people’s social network in emerging markets. For the purpose of the study, Pew surveyed mobile users in eleven key markets: Mexico, Venezuela, Colombia, South Africa, Kenya, India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Tunisia, Jordan, and Lebanon. It found that users in these markets had broader social networks than those without smartphones and social media.

In the U.S., we’ve been concerned with social media’s ability to create “filter bubbles” — meaning how we surround ourselves online with people who hold the same opinions as us, which is then reinforced by social media’s engagement-focused algorithms. This leads us to believe, sometimes in error, that what we think is the most correct and most popular view.

According to Pew’s study, emerging markets are experiencing a somewhat different phenomenon.

Instead of isolation, the study found that smartphone users in these markets, and particularly those who also used social media, were more regularly exposed to people with different racial and ethnic backgrounds, different religious preferences, different political parties, and different income levels, compared to those without a smartphone.

In Mexico, for example, 57% of smartphone owners regularly interacted with people of other religions, while only 38% of those without a smartphone did. And more than half (54%) interact with people who supported different political parties. They were also 24% more like to interact with people of different income levels, and 17% more likely to interact with people of different ethnic or racial backgrounds.

These sorts of trends help up across the nations studied, Pew noted, with a median of 66% saying they interacted with people with different income levels, 51% saying they interacted with a those of different race or ethnicity, 50% saying they interacted with those having different religious views, and a median 44% saying they interacted with those who supported a different political party.

The use of social media and messaging apps was found to be a huge contributor here, as it made people more likely to encounter people different from them, the study also said.

The report, however, isn’t claiming that smartphone and the related social media use are the cause of this increase in diversity in these people’s lives. There may be other reasons for that. Smartphone owners, in general, may have more resources and money — they own a smartphone, after all — and this alone could help expose them to a more diverse group of people.

That said, smartphones are helping people stay connected to distant family and friends, and build out online networks of people they don’t ever see in person.

More than half of people in most of the surveyed countries said that only see half — or fewer — of the people they call or text in person. 93% said they keep in touch with far-flung contacts. And a median of 46% said they see their few or none of Facebook friends regularly.

All this connecting isn’t seen as being fully positive, however.

An earlier Pew report found that users in these 11 countries believe the internet and social media are making people more divided in their opinions and only sometimes more accepting of different views. Exposure to diversity and acceptance of it are different things.

The new report also gets into how smartphones are used. For example, a median of 82% said they texted, 69% took photos or videos, 61% looked up health information, 47% looked up news and political information, and 37% looked up information about government resources.

It also examined smartphones’ impact on digital divides, noting that people with access to these devices and social media, as well as younger people, those with higher levels of education and men, were gaining more benefits than others.

The study is based on in-person interviews conducted by D3 Systems, Inc. and the results are based on national samples, notes Pew.

The full report is available here, with deeper dives on activities and data by individual countries.

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Tumblr’s next step forward with Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg

After months of rumors, Verizon finally sold off Tumblr for a reported $3 million — a fraction of what Yahoo paid for the once might blogging service back in 2013.

The media conglomerate (which also owns TechCrunch) was clearly never quite sure what to do with the property after gobbling it up as part of its 2016 Yahoo acquisition. All parties has since come to the conclusion that Tumblr simply wasn’t a good fit under either the Verizon or Yahoo umbrella, amounting to a $1.1 billion mistake.

For Tumblr, however, the story may still have a happy ending. By all accounts, its new home at Automattic is far better fit. The service joins a portfolio that includes popular blogging service WordPress.com, spam filtering service Akismet and long-form storytelling platform, Longreads.

In an interview, this week, Automattic founder and CEO Matt Mullenweg discussed Tumblr’s history and the impact of the poorly received adult content restrictions. He also shed some light on where Tumblr goes from here, including a potential increased focused on multimedia such as podcasting.

Brian Heater: I’m curious how [your meetings with Tumblr staff] went. What’s the feeling on the team right now? What are the concerns? How are people feeling about the transition?

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Reliability concerns raised over pi-top’s STEM learning laptop

TechCrunch has learned of a safety issue and a number of product reliability questions being raised about a modular computer made by a London edtech startup that’s intended for children to learn coding and electronics.

The product, called the pi-top 3, is a Raspberry Pi-powered laptop with a keyboard that slides out to access a rail for breadboarding electronics.

A student at a US school had to be attended by a nurse after touching a component in the device which had overheated, leaving them with redness to their finger.

A spokesperson for Cornell Tech confirmed the incident to us — which they said had happened in June. We’ve withheld the name of the school at their request.

In an internal pi-top email regarding this incident, which we’ve also reviewed, it describes the student being left with “a very nasty finger burn”.

Cornell Tech’s spokesperson told us it has stopped using the pi-top 3 — partly in response to this incident but also because of wider reliability issues with the device. They said some of their grad students will be working on a project with the K-12 team next semester with the aim of creating an alternative that’s more reliable, affordable and safe.

We have also been told of concerns about wider reliability issues with the pi-top 3 by a number of other sources.

We asked pi-top for comment on the safety incident at Cornell Tech and for details of how it responded. The company provided us with a statement in which it claims: “pi–top incorporates all possible safeguards into our products to ensure they are safe.”

“As soon as we became aware of this incident we immediately investigated what had happened,” it went on. “We discovered that the incident was a one-in-a-million occurrence. The user dropped a piece of metal, with a specific size and shape, under the unit. This fell in such a way that it touched a particular pin and caused a linear regulator to heat up. They received a small minor burn to the tip of one finger when they tried to recover that piece of metal.”

“This is the only reported incident where a user has been hurt whilst using one of our products,” pi-top added.

It is not clear how many pi-top 3 laptops have been sold to schools at this stage because pi-top does not break out sales per product. Instead it provided us with a figure for the total number of devices sold since it was founded in 2014 — saying this amounts to “more than 200,000 devices in 4 years which have been used by more than half a million people”.

pi-top also says it has sold products to schools in 70 countries, saying “thousands” of schools have engaged with its products. (The bright green color of the laptop is easy to spot in promotional photos for school STEM programs and summer camps.)

The London-based DIY hardware startup began life around five years ago offering a ‘3D-print it yourself‘ laptop for makers via the Kickstarter crowdfunding platform before shifting its focus to the educational market — tapping into the momentum around STEM education that’s seen a plethora of ‘learn to code’ toys unboxed in recent years.

pi-top has raised more than $20M in VC funding to date and now sells a number of learning devices and plug-in components intended for schools to teach STEM — all of which build on the Raspberry Pi microprocessor.

pi-top adds its own layer of software to the Pi as well as hardware additions intended to expand the learning utility (such as a speaker for the pi-top 3 and an “inventors kit” with several electronics projects, including one that lets kids build and program a robot).

The pi-top 3 — its third device — was launched in October 2017, priced between $285-$320 per laptop (without or with a Raspberry Pi 3).

The distinctively bright green laptop is intended for use by students as young as eight years old.

Unusual failure mode

In the internal email discussing the “Cornell failure diagnosis” — which is dated July 16 — pi-top’s head of support and customer success, Preya Wylie, conveys the assessment of its VP of technology, Wil Bennett, that the “unusual failure mode was likely caused by an electrical short on the male 34-pin connector on the underside of the protoboard”.

She goes on to specify that the short would have been caused by the metal SD-card removal tool that’s bundled with the product — noting this was “reported to have been somewhere underneath the protoboard at the time”.

“[Bennett] has recreated the same conditions on his bench in China and has seen the pi-top enter similar failure modes, with an electrical short and subsequent overheating,” she writes.

An additional complication discussed in the email is that the component is designed to stay on at all times in order that the pi-top can respond to the power button being pressed when the unit is off. Wylie writes that this means, if shorted, the component remains “very hot” even when the pi-top has been shut down and unplugged — as heat is generated by the pi-top continuing to draw power from the battery.

Only once the battery has fully depleted will the component be able to cool down.

In the email — which was sent to pi-top’s founder and CEO Jesse Lozano and COO Paul Callaghan — she goes on to include a list of four “initial recommendations to ensure this does not happen again”, including that the company should inform teachers to remove the SD-card removal tool from all pi-top 3 laptops and to remove the SD card themselves rather than letting students do it; as well as advising teachers/users to turn the device off if they suspect something has got lost under the protoboard.

Another recommendation listed in the email is the possibility of creating a “simple plastic cover to go over the hub” to prevent the risk of users’ fingers coming into contact with hot components.

A final suggestion is a small modification to the board to cut off one of the pins to “greatly reduce the chance of this happening again”.

We asked pi-top to confirm what steps it has taken to mitigate the risk of pi–top 3 components overheating and posing a safety risk via the same sort of shorting failure experienced by Cornell Tech — and to confirm whether it has informed existing users of the risk from this failure mode.

An internal pi-top sales document that we’ve also reviewed discusses a ‘back to school’ sales campaign — detailing a plan to use discounts to “dissolve as much pi-top [3] stock as we can over the next 8 weeks”.

This document says US schools will be targeted from mid August; UK schools/educators from early September; and International Schools Groups from early September. It also includes a strategy to go direct to US Private and Charter Schools — on account of “shorter decision making timelines and less seasonal budgets”.

It’s not clear if the document pre-dates the Cornell incident.

In response to our questions, pi-top told us it is now writing to pi-top 3 customers, suggesting it is acting on some of the initial recommendations set out in Wylie’s July 16 email after we raised concerns.

In a statement the company said: “Whilst it is highly unlikely that this would occur again, we are writing to customers to advise them to take a common-sense approach and switch off the unit if something has got lost inside it.  We are also advising customers to remove the SD card tool from the unit. These simple actions will make the remote possibility of a recurrence even less likely.”

In parallel, we have heard additional concerns about the wider reliability of the pi-top 3 product — in addition to the shorting incident experienced by Cornell.

One source, who identified themselves as a former pi-top employee, told us that a number of schools have experienced reliability issues with the device. One of the schools named, East Penn School District in the US, confirmed it had experienced problems with the model — telling us it had to return an entire order of 40 of the pi-top 3 laptops after experiencing “a large volume of issues”.

“We had initially purchased 40 pi-tops for middle level computers classes,” assistant superintendent Laura Witman told us. “I met one of the owners, Jesse, at a STEM conference. Conceptually the devices had promise, but functionally we experienced a large volume of issues. The company tried to remedy the situation and in the end refunded our monies. I would say it was learning experience for both our district and the company, but I appreciate how they handled things in the end.”

Witman did not recall any problems with pi-top 3 components overheating.

A US-based STEM summer camp provider that we also contacted to confirm whether it had experienced issues with the pi-top 3 — a device which features prominently in promotional materials for its program — declined to comment. A spokesman for iD Tech’s program told us he was not allowed to talk about the matter.

A separate source familiar with the pi-top 3 also told us the product has suffered from software reliability issues, including crashes and using a lot of processor power, as well as hardware problems related to its battery losing power quickly and/or not charging. This source, who was speaking on condition of anonymity, said they were not aware of any issues related to overheating.

Asked to respond to wider concerns about the pi-top 3’s reliability, pi-top sent us this statement:

pi–top is a growing and dynamic company developing DIY computing tools which we believe can change the world for the better. In the past four and a half years we have shipped hundreds of thousands of products across our entire product range, and pi–top hardware and software have become trusted assets to teachers and students in classrooms from America to Zimbabwe. pi–top products are hard at work even in challenging environments such as the UN’s Kakuma refugee camp in Northern Kenya.

At the heart of our products is the idea that young makers can get inside our computers, learn how they work and build new and invaluable skills for the future. Part of what makes pi–top special, and why kids who’ve never seen inside a computer before think it’s awesome, is that you have to build it yourself straight out of the box and then design, code and make electronic systems with it. We call this learning.

The nature of DIY computing and electronics means that, very occasionally, things can fail. If they do, pi–top’s modular nature means they can be easily replaced. If customers encounter any issues with any of our products our excellent customer support team are always ready to help.

It is important to say that all electronic systems generate heat and Raspberry Pi is no exception. However, at pi–top we do the very best to mitigate thanks to the cutting-edge design of our hardware. Faults on any of our products fall well below accepted thresholds. Although we are proud of this fact, this doesn’t make us complacent and we continually strive to do things better and provide our customers with world-class products that don’t compromise on safety.

Thousands of schools around the world recognise the fantastic benefits the pi–top [3], pi–top CEED, and pi–top [1] brings as a Raspberry Pi-powered device. Our new flagship products, the pi–top [4] and our learning platform, pi–top Further, take coding education to the next level, as a programmable computing module for makers, creators and innovators everywhere. We are proud of our products and the enormous benefits they bring to schools, students and makers around the world.

Internal restructuring

We also recently broke the news that pi-top had laid off a number of staff after losing out on a large education contract. Our sources told us the company is restructuring to implement a new strategy. pi-top confirmed 12 job cuts at that stage. Our sources suggest more cuts are pending.

Some notable names departing pi-top’s payroll in recent weeks are its director of learning and research, William Rankin — formerly a director of learning at Apple — who writes on LinkedIn that he joined pi-top in March 2018 to “develop a constructionist learning framework to support pi-top’s maker computing platform”. Rankin left the business this month, per his LinkedIn profile.

pi-top’s chief education and product officer, Graham Brown-Martin — who joined the business in September 2017, with a remit to lead “learning, product design, brand development and communication strategy” to support growth of its “global education business, community and ecosystem” — also exited recently, leaving last month per his LinkedIn.

In another change this summer pi-top appointed a new executive chairman of its board: Stanley Buchesky, the founder of a US edtech seed fund who previously served in the Trump administration as an interim CFO for the US department for education under secretary of state, Betsy DeVos.

Buchesky’s fund, which is called The EdTech Fund, said it had made an investment in pi-top last month. The size of the investment has not been publicly disclosed.

Buchesky took over the chairman role from pi-top board member and investor Eric Wilkinson: A partner at its Series A investor, Hambro Perks. Wilkinson remains on the pi-top board but no longer as exec chairman.

The job cuts and restructuring could be intended to prepare pi-top for a trade sale to another STEM device maker, according to one of our sources.

Meanwhile pi-top’s latest device, the pi-top 4, represents something of a physical restructuring of its core edtech computing proposition which looks intended to expand the suggestive utility it offers teachers via multiple modular use-cases — from building drones and wheeled robots to enabling sensor-based IoT projects which could check science learning criteria, all powered by pi-top’s encased Raspberry Pi 4.

Out of the box, the pi-top 4 is a computer in a box, not a standalone laptop. (Though pi-top does plan to sell a range of accessories enabling it be plugged in to power a touchscreen tablet or a laptop, and more.)

pi-top is in the process of bringing the pi-top 4 to market after raising almost $200,000 on Kickstarter from more than 500 backers. Early backers have been told to expect it to ship in November.

While pi-top’s predecessor product is stuck with the compute power of the last-gen Raspberry Pi 3 (the pi-top 3 cannot be upgraded to the Raspberry Pi 4), the pi-top 4 will have the more powerful Pi 4 as its engine.

However the latter has encountered some heat management issues of its own.

The Raspberry Pi Foundation recently put out a firmware update that’s intended to reduce the microprocessor’s operating temperature after users had complained it ran hot.

Asked whether the Foundation has any advice on encasing the Raspberry Pi 4, in light of the heat issue, founder Eben Upton told us: “Putting the Pi in a case will tend to cause it to idle at a higher temperature than if it is left in the open. This means there’s less temperature ‘in reserve’, so the Pi will throttle more quickly during a period of sustained high-intensity operation.”

“In general, the advice is to choose a case which is appropriate to your use case, and to update firmware frequently to benefit from improvements to idle power consumption as they come through,” he added.

TechCrunch’s Steve O’Hear contributed to this report

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US cell carriers team up to combat robocalls — but no deadline set

Twelve cell carriers, including the four largest — AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, and Verizon — have promised to make efforts to prevent spoofed and automated robocalls.

Announced Thursday, the pledge comes after 51 U.S. attorneys general brokered a deal that would see the telecom giants roll out anti-robocalling technologies, including a way of cryptographically signing callers to wipe out phone number spoofing. Known as STIR/SHAKEN, the system relies on every customer phone number having a unique digital signature which, when checked against the cell networks, validates that a caller is real. The carrier near-instantly invisibly approves the call and patches it through to the recipient.

Robocalls are a billion-dollar industry, but illegal. Many of these automated, robot-dialed calls imitate the area code to convince unsuspecting victims into picking up the phone. Often robocalls try to sell a product — or worse, try to trick victims into signing up for services they don’t need or con them out of cash.

The hope is that STIR/SHAKEN would weed out most robocalls. The system would verify real callers while the billions of illegal or spoofed robocalls made every year would fail.

So far to date, AT&T and Comcast have tested the new anti-robocalling system, and AT&T and T-Mobile have also teamed up to use the technology to fight robocalls. But the system works best when every carrier uses the technology, allowing calls to be checked even as they traverse between networks. By getting Verizon (which owns TechCrunch), Sprint and the other cell giants on board, the attorneys general hopes the cooperation will vastly reduce the number of robocalls each year..

CenturyLink, Charter, and U.S. Cellular have also signed up to the pledge.

There’s a catch: No deadline was set, allowing the carriers to take as long as necessary to roll out the technology. That may not be good news for those seeking immediate relief. Although all of the major networks have already made some progress in testing the new anti-robocalling system, few have said exactly when their service will be ready to roll out to consumers across the country.

The Washington Post first reported the news ahead of Thursday’s announcement.

The pledge comes just weeks after the Federal Trade Commission and the Justice Department took coordinated action against close to a hundred individuals and companies accused of making more than a billion illegal robocalls.

How to stop robocalls spamming your phone

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How do you build a secure startup? Find out at TechCrunch Disrupt SF

Security is everything — more so than ever in startup land. But with the constant pressures to launch and scale, how do you build a secure startup from the ground up without slowing growth?

Whether you’re starting out small or you’re a multinational unicorn, your customers and their data will be your greatest asset. We’re excited to announce three cybersecurity industry experts who know better than anyone how to keep their organizations safe from phishing emails to nation-state attackers — and everything in between.

We’ll be joined by Google’s Heather Adkins, IOActive’s Jennifer Sunshine Steffens, and Duo’s Dug Song, who will discuss those startup security questions at TechCrunch Disrupt SF.

Adkins, a 16-year Google veteran, runs Google’s information security shop. As an early employee, Adkins built a global team responsible for maintaining the safety and security of Google’s networks, systems and applications as the company has ballooned in size. Her extensive background in network and systems administration has led her to work to build and secure some of the world’s largest infrastructure.

Steffens, who has spent over a decade at penetration testing and ethical hacking company IOActive, knows all too well how to build a security company. Her team go into enterprises large and small and find the weak spots in their security in an effort to fix the flaws before bad actors exploit them. Having worked during the early stages at several successful startups, Steffens brings a world of corporate and security knowledge to the table.

And, Song, who co-founded security giant Duo, led one of the most successful exits in Silicon Valley security startup history following the company’s $2.35 billion acquisition by Cisco last year. Song is a leading voice in the security community with broad experience in developing security solutions for the enterprises.

How do these cybersecurity leaders keep ahead of the bad guys — and the insider threats? Join us on the Extra Crunch stage to find out. Tickets to the show, which runs October 2 to October 4, are available here.

Did you know Extra Crunch annual members get 20% off all TechCrunch event tickets? Head over here to get your annual pass, and then email extracrunch@techcrunch.com to get your 20% off discount. Please note that it can take up to 24 hours to issue the discount code.

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Daily Crunch: Apple plans Pro iPhones

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. Apple reportedly launching new iPhone Pro and iPads with better cameras, 16-inch MacBook Pro and new AirPods

Here come the leaks around Apple’s fall hardware event (rumored to be scheduled for September 10). According to Bloomberg, we’ll get new iPhones — including a new Pro model that replaces the XS line and adds a third, wider angle rear camera.

Beyond 2019, Apple also reportedly has plans for iPhones that support 5G in the next year, plus a more affordable HomePod.

2. Google ditches desserts as Q becomes Android 10

Google’s official reasoning is more diplomatic than, “we couldn’t think of anything that started with ‘Q.’ ” Instead, it says that the desserts simply weren’t universal enough for the 2.5 billion active devices it has deployed around the world.

3. Our 12 favorite startups from Y Combinator’s S19 Demo Day 2

Over the course of two days, the TechCrunch team witnessed more than 160 on-the-record startup pitches, spanning healthcare, B2B services, augmented reality and life extension. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

Image via Working Partnerships USA / Jeff Barrera

4. Hundreds of Uber and Lyft drivers to launch a protest caravan across California

Over 200 drivers in more than 75 cars plan to drive south to north — with more drivers joining along the way — to take dramatic action in advocating for California State Legislature bill AB5, and for a drivers’ union.

5. Eminem’s publisher accuses Spotify of copyright infringement in new lawsuit

Eight Mile Style has filed a lawsuit against Spotify, accusing the service of “blatant copyright infringement” in streaming “Lose Yourself” and other Eminem songs.

6. Splunk acquires cloud monitoring service SignalFx for $1.05B

SignalFx provides real-time cloud monitoring solutions, predictive analytics and more. The acquisition should make Splunk a far stronger player in the cloud space.

7. Google proposes new privacy and anti-fingerprinting controls for the web

If fully realized, this initiative will make it harder for online marketers and advertisers to track you across the web.

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How to Turn Off Facebook Live Notifications on Any Platform

6 Ways to Unblock Websites From Behind a Firewall

Sometimes you’ll go to visit a site on the internet and find that it’s blocked. You won’t be able to access the site, even though your internet connection is working.

You can check whether the site is working using a checking tool which will tell you if the site’s servers are down. If not, the site could be blocked. If a site you want to visit is blocked, here’s how to unblock websites.

Why Do Sites Get Blocked?

There are a number of reasons you might see an error saying “This webpage has been blocked!” The site could be restricted so that it is only available in certain regions. Or the network you are connected to might have a firewall which puts limitations on which sites you can visit. You can check a site’s status using a tool like Down For Everyone Or Just Me.

You may need to unblock sites if you run into problems with automatic spam detection software. Many sites will block access to ranges of IP addresses if they believe them to be the source of spam requests. But sometimes innocent users can get caught up by these filters even if they’re not doing anything wrong.

How to Unblock Websites

To unblock websites from behind a firewall, you have several options. You can try switching to a different network or restarting your modem. Or you can visit a site’s IP address instead of its URL. If just you need to view the page, you can use the Google cache. And if you have access to a VPN or proxy server, you can use this to access the site. Finally, you can try unblocking the site by using the Tor browser.

1. By Switching From Wi-Fi to Mobile Data

Sometimes you’ll find a web page blocked due to restrictions such as a firewall on Wi-Fi networks. If you’re connected to Wi-Fi at school or at work, for example, the network administrator may restrict which sites can be accessed. Sites which are considered inappropriate might be blocked, as might those that require a lot of bandwidth, like YouTube.

If you find a firewall blocking websites, the simplest way to unblock a site is to disconnect from the Wi-Fi network and use another way to access the internet. If you’re on your phone, you can use your mobile data to try and access the site instead. If you can access the site using 3G but not with Wi-Fi, you know that the problem is with restrictions on the Wi-Fi network.

2. By Visiting the Site’s IP Address Directly

If you don’t have the option of using mobile data, you can unblock sites by bypassing the URL. The way domain names work is that when you type one into your browser, such as google.com, your browser is directed to a server. That server sends over text, images, or anything else your browser needs to load the site. If the site is blocked when you type in the URL, you can attempt to access it by going straight to the server’s IP address instead.

This works as sometimes blocks only apply to domain names, such as google.com. If you are able to go directly to the server, you can still use the site as normal.

To try this you’ll first need to find out the IP address of the site you want to visit. Go to a page like IPVoid’s Find Website IP tool and enter the domain you want to know the IP address for, such as google.com. Then hit the Find Website IP button.

This will bring up an IP address in the lower text box. In the case of google.com, the IP address is 216.58.215.46.

Now copy this IP address and enter it into your browser. You should be taken to the site you’re looking for, and you may be able to access it even if the domain is blocked.

3. By Viewing a Cached Version of the Site

If a site is down but you still need to access it, you can try using the cache. This is ideal if the site isn’t updated very often and you just need some information from it.

The cache is an older version of the website which Google keeps a copy of as a backup. It can’t show you pages that you need to be logged in for, such as Facebook content. But it can show you older versions of simple text-based sites that don’t require a login.

To use the Google Cache, perform a search for the site you want. You can do this by entering in site:makeuseof.com, for example.

In the Google search results, you’ll see the title of the website, then below that a snippet of the content on the site, then below that the site’s URL. Next to the URL is a link that says Cached. Click the to view the Google Cache version of the site.

Alternatively, you could also try accessing a different version of the site, such as the mobile version or a version in a different language or for a different region. You might find that only one version of the site has been blocked.

4. By Restarting Your Modem

Sometimes your modem will assign you what is called a dynamic IP address. That means that whenever you connect to the internet, you’ll be assigned a temporary IP address to use for that session.

If a website has blocked your IP address, you can get around this by getting a new IP address. The easiest way to do this is to restart your modem and you’ll have a new IP address once your modem reboots.

However, if your ISP assigns you a static IP address, which is more common, then your IP address will remain the same no matter how many times you restart your modem.

5. How to Open Blocked Websites by Proxy or VPN

If you have a static IP address, there is another way to change it. You can use a VPN or a proxy server to access blocked sites by masking your real IP address behind a fake one.

These two tools work slightly differently, but for the purposes of unblocking a website they are the same. You start your proxy or your VPN, and the service assigns you a new IP address. Then, when you send a request across the internet, for example to load a particular page, that request appears to come from the new IP address.

This means you can use a proxy server to open blocked sites. If a site is blocked in your geographical region, as you can connect to a proxy or VPN server which is located in another country.

6. How to Unblock a Website Using the Tor Browser

If all of these methods fail, you can try using the Tor browser. Tor is designed to hide its users’ locations, so they can browse the internet without censorship.

Similar to a VPN or proxy, when you use Tor your real IP address is hidden behind a new IP address assigned to you. That means you can use Tor to access websites even if they are blocked on other browsers.

The downside to using Tor is that it can be slow and it is not compatible with all devices such as iOS devices. But if you’re on desktop or Android and you’re looking for a solution that will let you access text sites from anywhere, it’s worth trying.

Use These Tips to Unblock Websites and Browse Freely

Just because a site is blocked from your browser doesn’t mean it’s impossible for you to access it. Using these methods, you’ll be able to access many sites even if they are blocked at first.

If you’re trying to get around internet censorship, learn more about how to bypass blocked sites and internet restrictions.

Read the full article: 6 Ways to Unblock Websites From Behind a Firewall

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The 10 Best Digital Audio Players for Music Without Your Phone

How to Turn On Bluetooth on Your Mac and Pair New Devices

Chances are that you own at least one Bluetooth accessory. This handy short-range communication standard lets you connect all sorts of devices together.

Today, we’ll look at how to turn on Bluetooth on your Mac and what to do afterward. Let’s examine how to make sure your Mac supports Bluetooth, where to turn the option on, and the basics of pairing a new device.

Does My Mac Have Bluetooth?

All modern Mac computers come with built-in support for Bluetooth. You don’t need to buy anything special to use Bluetooth on your MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or iMac.

Simply follow the below steps to enable Bluetooth on your Mac and get started with it. If you don’t see the relevant Bluetooth options in your System Preferences panel, you likely have an old Mac that doesn’t come with Bluetooth.

In this case, you may be able to purchase an adapter that adds Bluetooth support to your computer. However, most of these are designed for Windows, so make sure you get one that’s listed as compatible with macOS.

How to Turn On Bluetooth on Mac

It’s not difficult to use Bluetooth on your Mac. To turn it on, open the Apple menu at the top-left corner of the screen and choose System Preferences. In the resulting window, select Bluetooth.

On the left side of the Bluetooth panel, you’ll see the Bluetooth icon with the status below it. If it says Bluetooth: Off, click the Turn Bluetooth On button to enable it.

That’s all it takes to turn on Bluetooth on a Mac. While you’re here, we recommend checking the Show Bluetooth in menu bar box, if it’s not already enabled. This will place a Bluetooth icon at the top of your screen, allowing you to easily access Bluetooth connections without going into this panel every time.

How to Connect Bluetooth Devices to Your Mac

Now that you have Bluetooth turned on, let’s look at how to connect devices with it.

Before you use a Bluetooth device with your Mac for the first time, you’ll need to pair it. If you’ve used Bluetooth on other devices before, you should be familiar with the concept of discoverability. Because it’s common for many Bluetooth devices to appear in the same area, you have to manually pair devices for your security. And you can only do this when the device is discoverable (also known as “pairing mode”).

When you have the Bluetooth settings panel open on your Mac, your computer is discoverable.

Pairing New Devices

The specifics of this process depend on the device you want to pair.

Like macOS, most other operating systems (including Windows 10, Android, and iOS) set themselves as discoverable when you have the Bluetooth options open. For devices like Bluetooth keyboards, mice, headphones, and similar, the exact method to enter pairing mode depends on the device. Check the manual for more information.

Once the other device is in pairing mode, you should see its name appear under Devices in the Bluetooth settings of your Mac. Click the Connect button next to the one you want to add.

For many Bluetooth devices, you’ll need to confirm that a provided PIN matches on both devices. Make sure this is correct, especially if you’re in a crowded area with lots of devices. If you have to enter a PIN manually (usually the case only with older devices), this is likely 0000, 1111, or 1234.

Once that’s done, you’ve successfully connected your Mac and the other device via Bluetooth. When they’re turned on and in range of each other (roughly 30 feet), they’ll automatically connect.

In case your devices don’t automatically connect, you can always do so manually. In the Bluetooth settings panel (as well as the menu bar icon), you’ll see any devices that you’ve previously paired show up under Devices. Make sure the device is on, then double-click its name to connect to it. If it doesn’t work, disconnect it from any other paired computers first.

To remove a device, right-click it in the list of devices and choose Remove. Once you do this, the device will no longer automatically connect, and you’ll have to pair it again to use it.

Understanding the macOS Bluetooth Icon

If you’ve enabled the Bluetooth menu bar icon as mentioned earlier, you’ll see the Bluetooth logo there all the time. You can click it to quickly toggle Bluetooth, connect to a device, or open the full preferences panel.

As it turns out, the Bluetooth icon also changes to present information:

• A dark icon signifies that Bluetooth is turned on, but no devices are connected to your Mac.
• An icon with three dots over it lets you know that Bluetooth is on and you have one or more devices connected to your Mac.
• A clear icon means that Bluetooth is turned off.
• If you see an icon with a low battery symbol, it means at least one connected device is low on battery. This may not appear for all devices.
• Finally, an icon with a zigzag line over it signifies that Bluetooth is unavailable. Try restarting your Mac to fix it. If this doesn’t work, remove all USB devices and restart once more. Failing this, you’ll need to review troubleshooting steps below.

Turning On Bluetooth Without a Mouse or Keyboard

Many people use a Bluetooth mouse and/or keyboard for their desktop Mac. As you’d imagine, having Bluetooth suddenly turn off can pose a problem here, since you need those devices to access the Bluetooth menu.

Thankfully, for Macs without a trackpad, macOS doesn’t let Bluetooth turn off unless you connect a USB mouse. But in case something ever goes wrong, you can re-enable Bluetooth on your Mac with just a mouse or keyboard.

On a MacBook, you have the built-in keyboard and trackpad, making this a non-issue. But on an iMac, you’ll need to connect a USB mouse or keyboard to do this.

To turn on Bluetooth without a mouse, press Cmd + Space to open Spotlight search. Search for Bluetooth File Exchange and press Return to launch that utility. As soon as the app launches, it will display a window letting you know that Bluetooth is disabled.

Hit Return again to turn Bluetooth on. If you need to open the Bluetooth panel, open Spotlight again and type Bluetooth.

If you don’t have a keyboard, simply use your mouse to access the Bluetooth menu bar icon or System Preferences panel.

As a last-ditch effort, if you don’t have any USB devices handy, try disconnecting everything from your Mac except the power cord. Next, shut it down using the button in the back. Make sure your Bluetooth devices are charged and turned on, then reboot your Mac. It should then trigger the Bluetooth setup wizard and connect your devices again.

Advanced Bluetooth Settings for Mac

To conclude this overview, you should be aware of a few additional Bluetooth settings. You’ll find them under the Advanced button in the Bluetooth System Preferences panel.

The first two options are for pairing convenience. As mentioned above, they make your Mac automatically open the Bluetooth Setup panel if you turn on your computer without a keyboard, mouse, or trackpad connected. This allows you to easily put your Bluetooth accessory in pairing mode and connect it.

Enable the third option if you want Bluetooth devices to wake up the computer. With it on, pressing a key on a keyboard or clicking a mouse button on a connected Bluetooth device will wake up a computer in sleep mode.

Troubleshooting Mac Bluetooth Issues

Having Bluetooth trouble on your Mac? Keep in mind that there’s a practical limit to how many Bluetooth devices you can connect to a computer. If you have more than three or four devices connected at once, you may experience poor performance and won’t be able to add more devices. Try to only pair devices you plan to use regularly.

Also remember that Bluetooth has a distance limit. This is typically around 30 feet, but depends on the exact devices you’re using. Interference from other wireless devices or obstructions can also affect this range.

If you see the “unavailable” icon in your menu bar or run into other problems using Bluetooth on your Mac, your system may have a hardware issue. Follow our Mac Bluetooth troubleshooting guide to get help with your problem.

Enjoy Bluetooth on Your Mac

Now you know everything about turning on Bluetooth on your Mac and how to use it. In most cases, after you pair a device, it should work without much trouble. The convenience of using wireless devices and near-universal support makes Bluetooth an attractive utility.

To learn more, check out our answers to common Bluetooth questions.

Read the full article: How to Turn On Bluetooth on Your Mac and Pair New Devices

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8 Browser Extensions You Should Remove Now Due to DataSpii

A major security issue has been discovered in a number of browser extensions for both Firefox and Chrome. These browser extensions are harvesting your data, and you should remove them immediately.

The extensions are collecting massive amounts of very personal data from people’s web browsers, and selling this data on to third parties. The leak is so serious that it has been termed “catastrophic,” and it’s affecting both companies and individuals alike.

The Browser Extensions You Need to Uninstall

The extensions affected by this vulnerability are available for both Chrome and Firefox, as well as Chromium-based browsers such as Opera and Yandex Browser. And it doesn’t matter what operating system you’re using.

Whether you’re on Windows, macOS, Chrome OS, or even a Linux distribution like Ubuntu. If you have these extensions installed in your browser, they ARE stealing your data.

The affected Firefox extensions are as follows:

• SaveFrom.net Helper
• FairShare Unlock
• SuperZoom

And the affected Chrome extensions include two of the same, plus a number of others:

• FairShare Unlock
• SuperZoom
• Hover Zoom
• SpeakIt!
• PanelMeasurement
• Branded Surveys
• Panel Community Surveys

Of these, both SpeakIt! and FairShare Unlock have more than one million users worldwide. So there are plenty of people who are at risk from this security vulnerability.

It’s worth checking whether your browser could be syncing your extensions as well. For example, if you have sync enabled on Google Chrome, your extensions may be mirrored between all the machines you use. This means an infection can spread from your home computer to your work computer.

What Data Are These Extensions Collecting?

The sheer volume and variety of data that is vulnerable to this issue is scary. If you install any of these extensions in your browser, they could collect information on you such as:

• Usernames
• Passwords
• Credit card information
• Gender
• Personal interests
• GPS location
• Tax returns
• Travel itineraries
• Genealogy
• Genetic profiles

If you install the extensions on a computer at your workplace, they could also collect information about your company, including company memos, firewall access codes, API keys, and more.

This information is hoovered up by the browser extensions. It is then sold on by a company which specializes in data analytics.

How the Extensions Collecting Your Data Work

Some of the extensions which collect data do mention what they are doing in their terms and conditions. In the fine print there are sometimes warnings that an extension will collect browsing data.

However, most users do not read terms and conditions. And it seems likely that that they would not agree to give over so much of their data if the knew about it.

Sam Jadali, the security researcher who discovered the data leak, named it “DataSpii”. Even security measures like authentication or encryption cannot prevent this issue. It works by using browser application interface functions (what are APIs?) which do have legitimate uses. But in this case the API functions are used maliciously.

To avoid detection, the extensions use clever obfuscation techniques like waiting 24 hours after installation before data siphoning began. This means that even if users examine an extension carefully after installing it, they would not spot the nefarious behavior as it would not begin until one day later.

Further, even if a user uninstalled an extension, their data would still be held by the extension and could be sold on to a third party.

What Information Sources Are These Extensions Leaking?

The main source of information that these extensions collect is through shared links. For example, say you are setting up a Skype meeting. You would email a link to the people you want to meet with. Then they click the link to join your meeting.

If you have one of these browser extensions installed, it can intercept that link. When you open a link in your web browser, the extension is able to see your actions. The extension can then even eavesdrop on your meeting. The same thing can happen with other conferencing software like Zoom.

Another scary information source of data leaks is ancestry sites like 23andMe. When you are given a 23andMe report on your DNA, the company sends you a link allowing you to share your results with friends and family. If you click this link then the browser extensions can intercept this page too, collecting information on your family DNA and even biomedical data such as your muscle composition.

A similar data leak can also occur in all sorts of other situations, like when you visit your Apple iCloud account, when you place an order with Apple.com, or when you use the web interface for your Nest surveillance videos. If you use online accountancy services like Quickbooks then the extensions can gather data about your taxes too.

Why It’s Hard to Protect Against These Data Leaks

As the extensions can spy on users through the use of shared links, one person with a compromised browser can inadvertently compromise their friends, family, and colleagues as well.

This makes it very hard for companies and individuals to protect against this kind of data leak. If someone you know has installed one of these extensions and they share a link or a Skype call with you, your data could be compromised even if you have never installed the extension yourself.

As Jadali said in his report on DataSpii:

“Even the most responsible individuals proved vulnerable to DataSpii; with vast budgets and myriad experts on hand, even the largest cybersecurity corporations proved vulnerable to DataSpii. Our data is only as secure as those with whom we entrust it.”

Be Careful When Installing Browser Extensions

This incident demonstrates why you need to be careful when installing browser extensions. Because even an extension that looks harmless could be hiding malicious code or stealing your data.

For this reason, make sure to research the reliability of a browser extension before installing it. Even a quick Google search should help. And here are some popular Firefox extensions you should remove right now to help you get started.

Read the full article: 8 Browser Extensions You Should Remove Now Due to DataSpii

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How to Use TickTick for Productivity: Notes, Read-Later, and Tasks

Verizon is teaming with Boingo to bring 5G inside

We’ve long known that 5G rollout wouldn’t happen overnight. But now that carriers have gotten things started, they’ve been confronted with pushback against the next-gen wireless technology’s limitations. Among the bigger issues is spotty coverage indoors — you know that place where most of us spend most of our time?

Verizon’s looking to address the issue by partnering with Boingo — a name that ought to prove familiar for anyone who’s attempted to get on WiFi at an airport. The carrier (which is, incidentally, also our parent company) says it’s teaming with the wireless provider to expand coverage in hard to reach spots, including stadiums, offices, hotels and those aforementioned airports.

“Verizon and Boingo are working together to architect a hyper-dense network designed for large and small indoor spaces as part of Verizon’s ongoing 5G network expansions,” per the carrier.

There are still plenty of questions, including how quickly and when those rollouts will start. One assumes they begin in cities where Verizon has already begun to deliver 5G in places. That list now includes 10 cities, with greater Phoenix joining the others. The usual caveats of 5G apply here, with the tech still be limited to certain areas/neighborhoods. Those are as follows,

Initially, Verizon 5G Ultra Wideband service will be concentrated in Downtown Phoenix around several well-known landmarks, including: Phoenix Convention Center, Talking Stick Resort Arena, The Orpheum Theatre, CityScape, and Chase Field. It will also be available in Tempe, on the Arizona State University campus.

Tomorrow Verizon also adds another 5G device to its portfolio with its limited time exclusive on the Galaxy Note 10+ 5G.

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The power to think ahead in a reckless age | Bina Venkataraman

The power to think ahead in a reckless age | Bina Venkataraman

In a forward-looking talk, author Bina Venkataraman answers a pivotal question of our time: How can we secure our future and do right by future generations? She parses the mistakes we make when imagining the future of our lives, businesses and communities, revealing how we can reclaim our innate foresight. What emerges is a surprising case for hope -- and a path to becoming the "good ancestors" we long to be.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

On-demand parking startup SpotHero raises $50 million

SpotHero, the Chicago-based company that has developed an on-demand parking app, has raised $50 million in a Series D round led by Macquarie Capital.

Union Grove Venture Partners participated in the round, along with existing investors including Insight Venture Partners, Global Founders Capital, OCA Ventures, AutoTech Ventures and others, according to the company. SpotHero has raised $118 million to date.

SpotHero said Thursday that this new capital will be used to grow into new markets and expand in its existing ones, build out its digital platform and strengthen partnerships with mobility companies.

SpotHero, which has operations in San Francisco, New York, Washington, D.C. and Seattle, initially set out to develop software that connects everyday drivers to parking spots in thousands of garages across North America.

SpotHero has expanded its focus in the eight years since its founding. The company has added other services as urban density has increased and on-street parking has become more jumbled and confused thanks to an increase in traffic, ride-hailing and on-demand delivery services that take up valuable curb space. It has locked in more than 900 distribution partnerships and integrations including Google Assistant, for voice-enabled parking and Waze in-app navigation to parking. Other partners include Hertz and car2go for fleet parking, WeWork, for commuter parking and Moovit, for multi-modal parking.

Most recently, SpotHero launched a new service dubbed “SpotHero for Fleets” that targets shared mobility and on-demand services.

The service aims to be a one-stop shop for car-sharing and commercial fleets to handle all that goes into ensuring there is access and the right number of designated parking areas on any given day within SpotHero’s large network of 6,500 garages across 300 cities. That means everything from managing the relationships between garage owners and the fleet companies to proper signage so car-sharing customers can find the vehicles, as well as flexible plans that account for seasonal demands on businesses.

Under the new service, customers are able to source and secure parking inventory in high-traffic areas across multiple cities and pay per use across multiple parking facilities on one invoice to streamline payments. 

The company has signed on car-sharing companies and other commercial fleets, although it’s not naming them yet.

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How Oculus squeezed sophisticated tracking into pipsqueak hardware

Making the VR experience simple and portable was the main goal of the Oculus Quest, and it definitely accomplishes that. But going from things in the room tracking your headset to your headset tracking things in the room was a complex process. I talked with Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer (“Schrep”) about the journey from “outside-in” to “inside-out.”

When you move your head and hands around with a VR headset and controllers, some part of the system has to track exactly where those things are at all times. There are two ways this is generally attempted.

One approach is to have sensors in the room you’re in, watching the devices and their embedded LEDs closely — looking from the outside in. The other is to have the sensors on the headset itself, which watches for signals in the room — looking from the inside out.

Both have their merits, but if you want a system to be wireless, your best bet is inside-out, since you don’t have to wirelessly send signals between the headset and the computer doing the actual position tracking, which can add hated latency to the experience.

Facebook and Oculus set a goal a few years back to achieve not just inside-out tracking, but make it as good or better than the wired systems that run on high-end PCs. And it would have to run anywhere, not just in a set scene with boundaries set by beacons or something, and do so within seconds of putting it on. The result is the impressive Quest headset, which succeeded with flying colors at this task (though it’s not much of a leap in others).

Review: Oculus Quest could be the Nintendo Switch of VR

What’s impressive about it isn’t just that it can track objects around it and translate that to an accurate 3D position of itself, but that it can do so in real time on a chip with a fraction of the power of an ordinary computer.

“I’m unaware of any system that’s anywhere near this level of performance,” said Schroepfer. “In the early days there were a lot of debates about whether it would even work or not.”

Our hope is that for the long run, for most consumer applications, it’s going to all be inside-out tracking.

The term for what the headset does is simultaneous localization and mapping, or SLAM. It basically means building a map of your environment in 3D while also figuring out where you are in that map. Naturally robots have been doing this for some time, but they generally use specialized hardware like lidar, and have a more powerful processor at their disposal. All the new headsets would have are ordinary cameras.

“In a warehouse, I can make sure my lighting is right, I can put fiducials on the wall, which are markers that can help reset things if I get errors — that’s like a dramatic simplification of the problem, you know?” Schroepfer pointed out. “I’m not asking you to put fiducials up on your walls. We don’t make you put QR codes or precisely positioned GPS coordinates around your house.

“It’s never seen your living room before, and it just has to work. And in a relatively constrained computing environment — we’ve got a mobile CPU in this thing. And most of that mobile CPU is going to the content, too. The robot isn’t playing Beat Saber at the same time it’s cruising though the warehouse.”

It’s a difficult problem in multiple dimensions, then, which is why the team has been working on it for years. Ultimately several factors came together. One was simply that mobile chips became powerful enough that something like this is even possible. But Facebook can’t really take credit for that.

More important was the ongoing work in computer vision that Facebook’s AI division has been doing under the eye of Yann Lecun and others there. Machine learning models frontload a lot of the processing necessary for computer vision problems, and the resulting inference engines are lighter weight, if not necessarily well understood. Putting efficient, edge-oriented machine learning to work inched this problem closer to having a possible solution.

Most of the labor, however, went into the complex interactions of the multiple systems that interact in real time to do the SLAM work.

“I wish I could tell you it’s just this really clever formula, but there’s lots of bits to get this to work,” Schroepfer said. “For example, you have an IMU on the system, an inertial measurement unit, and that runs at a very high frequency, maybe 1000 Hz, much higher than the rest of the system [i.e. the sensors, not the processor]. But it has a lot of error. And then we run the tracker and mapper on separate threads. And actually we multi-threaded the mapper, because it’s the most expensive part [i.e. computationally]. Multi-threaded programming is a pain to begin with, but you do it across these three, and then they share data in interesting ways to make it quick.”

Schroepfer caught himself here; “I’d have to spend like three hours to take you through all the grungy bits.”

Part of the process was also extensive testing, for which they used a commercial motion tracking rig as ground truth. They’d track a user playing with the headset and controllers, and using the OptiTrack setup measure the precise motions made.

Testing with the OptiTrack system.

To see how the algorithms and sensing system performed, they’d basically play back the data from that session to a simulated version of it: video of what the camera saw, data from the IMU, and any other relevant metrics. If the simulation was close to the ground truth they’d collected externally, good. If it wasn’t, the machine learning system would adjust its parameters and they’d run the simulation again. Over time the smaller, more efficient system drew closer and closer to producing the same tracking data the OptiTrack rig had recorded.

Ultimately it needed to be as good or better than the standard Rift headset. Years after the original, no one would buy a headset that was a step down in any way, no matter how much cheaper it was.

“It’s one thing to say, well my error rate compared to ground truth is whatever, but how does it actually manifest in terms of the whole experience?” said Schroepfer. “As we got towards the end of development, we actually had a couple passionate Beat Saber players on the team, and they would play on the Rift and on the Quest. And the goal was, the same person should be able to get the same high score or better. That was a good way to reset our micro-metrics and say, well this is what we actually need to achieve the end experience that people want.”

the computer vision team here, they’re pretty bullish on cameras with really powerful algorithms behind them being the solution to many problems.

It doesn’t hurt that it’s cheaper, too. Lidar is expensive enough that even auto manufacturers are careful how they implement it, and time-of-flight or structured-light approaches like Kinect also bring the cost up. Yet they massively simplify the problem, being 3D sensing tools to begin with.

“What we said was, can we get just as good without that? Because it will dramatically reduce the long term cost of this product,” he said. “When you’re talking to the computer vision team here, they’re pretty bullish on cameras with really powerful algorithms behind them being the solution to many problems. So our hope is that for the long run, for most consumer applications, it’s going to all be inside-out tracking.”

I pointed out that VR is not considered by all to be a healthy industry, and that technological solutions may not do much to solve a more multi-layered problem.

Schroepfer replied that there are basically three problems facing VR adoption: cost, friction, and content. Cost is self-explanatory, but it would be wrong to say it’s gotten a lot cheaper over the years. Playstation VR established a low-cost entry early on but “real” VR has remained expensive. Friction is how difficult it is to get from “open the box” to “play a game,” and historically has been a sticking point for VR. Oculus Quest addresses both these issues quite well, being at $400 and as our review noted very easy to just pick up and use. All that computer vision work wasn’t for nothing.

Content is still thin on the ground, though. There have been some hits, like Superhot and Beat Saber, but nothing to really draw crowds to the platform (if it can be called that).

“What we’re seeing is, as we get these headsets out, and in developers hands that people come up with all sorts of creative ideas. I think we’re in the early stages — these platforms take some time to marinate,” Schroepfer admitted. “I think everyone should be patient, it’s going to take a while. But this is the way we’re approaching it, we’re just going to keep plugging away, building better content, better experiences, better headsets as fast as we can.”

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