Getting more people to open your emails

Julian Shapiro Contributor

Julian Shapiro is the founder of BellCurve.com, the growth marketing team that trains startups in advanced growth, helps you hire senior growth marketers, and finds you vetted growth agencies. He also writes at Julian.com.

More posts by this contributor

• What’s the right way to sponsor a YouTube influencer?
• How to get people to open your emails

We’ve aggregated the world’s best growth marketers into one community. Twice a month, we ask them to share their most effective growth tactics, and we compile them into this Growth Report.

This is how you’re going stay up-to-date on growth marketing tactics — with advice you can’t get elsewhere.

Our community consists of 600 startup founders paired with VP’s of growth from later-stage companies. We have 300 YC founders plus senior marketers from companies including Medium, Docker, Invision, Intuit, Pinterest, Discord, Webflow, Lambda School, Perfect Keto, Typeform, Modern Fertility, Segment, Udemy, Puma, Cameo, and Ritual.

You can participate in our community by joining Demand Curve’s marketing webinars, Slack group, or marketing training program. See past growth reports here, here, here and here.

Without further ado, onto the advice.

---

Improving engagement for drip emails

Based on insights from Matt Sornson of Clearbit. Lightly edited with permission.

Personalizing your marketing emails increases conversion. But doing so at scale takes a lot of effort. Here’s how to get around that:

• Run lead generation ads to your blog posts and to other long-form content on your site. Then tag users based on the posts they’ve read. Plus, prompt them to fill out useful quizzes. Store their quiz answers.
• Push their engagement data into an automated emailing platform like Customer.io. And enrich their contact details with Clearbit to discover their job title and the industry they work in.
• Now you can send automated yet personalized drip emails based on a person’s role, company, and interests. This results in higher conversion rates. Show recipients you know who they are and what they care about, and you’ll seem a whole lot less like spam.

Improving cold email response rates

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Google takes AMP to the OpenJS Foundation

AMP, Google’s somewhat controversial project for speeding up the mobile web, has always been open-source, but it also always felt like a Google project first. Today, however, Google announced that the AMP framework will join the OpenJS Foundation, the Linux Foundation-based group that launched last year after the merger of the Node.js and JS foundations. The OpenJS Foundation is currently the home of projects like jQuery, Node.js and webpack, and AMP will join the Foundation’s incubation program.

Large companies like Google tend to donate open-source projects to foundations once they become stable — and that’s definitely the case with the four-year-old AMP project, which developers have now used to create billions of pages on more than 30 million domains, according to Google. Late last year, Google introduced a Technical Steering Committee to help oversee the development of AMP and it was this committee that also agreed to bring the project to the OpenJS Foundation.

“Now in our fourth year, AMP is excited for the next step on our journey,” said Malte Ubl, Member of the AMP Project Technical Steering Committee, in today’s announcement. “We’ve been considering the best home for AMP for some time. We decided on the OpenJS Foundation because we feel it’s the best place for us to help us to cater to our diverse group of constituencies. This step builds on previous moves we’ve made toward open governance and helps us focus on transparency and openness.”

Google also notes that the OpenJS Foundation’s goal of promoting JavaScript and related technologies is a good fit for AMP’s mission of providing “a user-first format for web content.” The company also notes that the Foundation allows projects to maintain their identities and technical focus and stresses that AMP’s governance model was already influenced by the JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation.

Google is currently a top-level platinum member of the OpenJS Foundation and will continue to support the project and employ a number of engineers that will work on AMP full-time.

The Node.js and JS foundations want to merge

Read Full Article

Getting more people to open your emails

Julian Shapiro Contributor

Julian Shapiro is the founder of BellCurve.com, the growth marketing team that trains startups in advanced growth, helps you hire senior growth marketers, and finds you vetted growth agencies. He also writes at Julian.com.

More posts by this contributor

• What’s the right way to sponsor a YouTube influencer?
• How to get people to open your emails

We’ve aggregated the world’s best growth marketers into one community. Twice a month, we ask them to share their most effective growth tactics, and we compile them into this Growth Report.

This is how you’re going stay up-to-date on growth marketing tactics — with advice you can’t get elsewhere.

Our community consists of 600 startup founders paired with VP’s of growth from later-stage companies. We have 300 YC founders plus senior marketers from companies including Medium, Docker, Invision, Intuit, Pinterest, Discord, Webflow, Lambda School, Perfect Keto, Typeform, Modern Fertility, Segment, Udemy, Puma, Cameo, and Ritual.

You can participate in our community by joining Demand Curve’s marketing webinars, Slack group, or marketing training program. See past growth reports here, here, here and here.

Without further ado, onto the advice.

---

Improving engagement for drip emails

Based on insights from Matt Sornson of Clearbit. Lightly edited with permission.

Personalizing your marketing emails increases conversion. But doing so at scale takes a lot of effort. Here’s how to get around that:

• Run lead generation ads to your blog posts and to other long-form content on your site. Then tag users based on the posts they’ve read. Plus, prompt them to fill out useful quizzes. Store their quiz answers.
• Push their engagement data into an automated emailing platform like Customer.io. And enrich their contact details with Clearbit to discover their job title and the industry they work in.
• Now you can send automated yet personalized drip emails based on a person’s role, company, and interests. This results in higher conversion rates. Show recipients you know who they are and what they care about, and you’ll seem a whole lot less like spam.

Improving cold email response rates

Read Full Article

Get ready to see more looping videos on Spotify, as Canvas launches into beta

Spotify is opening up its Canvas feature to more artists, the company announced this morning, which means you’ll see a lot more of those looping videos on the app starting soon. The feature has been in limited testing before today with select artists. When available, you don’t just see the album artwork behind the player controls — you see a moving, visual experience that plays in a short loop.

So far, Canvas has had mixed reviewers from Spotify users. Some find the looping imagery distracting while others simply prefer seeing the album art. Some people seem to like the feature. But others only like it with certain content and artists.

The challenge is in designing a video loop that works well. That means it shouldn’t be an attempt to try to lip sync to a part of a song. It shouldn’t include intense flashing graphics or text, nor should it distract people from being able to see the player controls and track information.

Spotify also suggests trying to tell a full story in the loop rather than just drastically trimming a music video down to the time allotted (3- or 8-second clips). Other recommended Canvas experiences are those that help develop the artists’ persona across their profile and tracks, or those that are updated frequently. Billie Eilish, for example, uses the feature to share animated versions of fan art.

Since launching, Canvas has been seen by millions of users, Spotify says. But the company seems to acknowledge the impact varies, based on how the Canvas is designed. When it works, it can “significantly increase” track streams, shares, and artists page visits. But Spotify didn’t say what happens when the feature fails to engage fans.

However, based on social media discussions about the feature and how-to guides detailing how to turn the thing off, it would seem that some users choose to opt out of the experience entirely.

Today, Spotify says Canvas will no longer be limited to select artists, as it’s opening more broadly to artists in an expanded beta. With the beta, Spotify hopes artists will treat Canvas as a critical part of their release strategy, and will continue to use it across their catalog.

“It’s a way to get noticed and build a vision — and an excellent way to share more of who you are with your listeners, hopefully turning them into fans,” the company writes in an announcement. “The goal is for you to have richer ways to express yourself and to allow listeners to engage with you and your music even more deeply. We’re continuing to work on additional features, as well as more tools and metrics to help you better understand how your art is reaching your audience,” the company says.

It’s hard not to comment on the timing of this launch. At the end of September, Google announced that YouTube Music would not be preinstalled on new Android devices, taking the place of Google Play Music. With YouTube Music, streamers gain access to a visually immersive experience where they can watch the music videos, not just listen to the audio, if they prefer.

Spotify, however, has traditionally been a place to listen — not to watch. That’s not to say there aren’t music videos on Spotify, they’re just not well highlighted by the app nor a core part of the Spotify experience.

The company says it’s now sending artists their invites to join the beta. Those who haven’t received the invite can instead make a request to be added here.

 

Read Full Article

Google takes AMP to the OpenJS Foundation

AMP, Google’s somewhat controversial project for speeding up the mobile web, has always been open-source, but it also always felt like a Google project first. Today, however, Google announced that the AMP framework will join the OpenJS Foundation, the Linux Foundation-based group that launched last year after the merger of the Node.js and JS foundations. The OpenJS Foundation is currently the home of projects like jQuery, class="crunchbase-link" href="https://ift.tt/2MsITVT" target="_blank" data-type="organization" data-entity="node">Node .js and webpack, and AMP will join the Foundation’s incubation program.

Large companies like Google tend to donate open-source projects to foundations once they become stable — and that’s definitely the case with the four-year-old AMP project, which developers have now used to create billions of pages on more than 30 million domains, according to Google. Late last year, Google introduced a Technical Steering Committee to help oversee the development of AMP and it was this committee that also agreed to bring the project to the OpenJS Foundation.

“Now in our fourth year, AMP is excited for the next step on our journey,” said Malte Ubl, Member of the AMP Project Technical Steering Committee, in today’s announcement. “We’ve been considering the best home for AMP for some time. We decided on the OpenJS Foundation because we feel it’s the best place for us to help us to cater to our diverse group of constituencies. This step builds on previous moves we’ve made toward open governance and helps us focus on transparency and openness.”

Google also notes that the OpenJS Foundation’s goal of promoting JavaScript and related technologies is a good fit for AMP’s mission of providing “a user-first format for web content.” The company also notes that the Foundation allows projects to maintain their identities and technical focus and stresses that AMP’s governance model was already influenced by the JS Foundation and Node.js Foundation.

Google is currently a top-level platinum member of the OpenJS Foundation and will continue to support the project and employ a number of engineers that will work on AMP full-time.

The Node.js and JS foundations want to merge

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App revenue climbs 23% year-over-year to $21.9B in Q3

Global app revenue continues to climb, thanks to the growth in mobile gaming and the subscription economy. In the third quarter of 2019, consumer revenue grew 22.9% year-over-year from $17.9 billion to reach an estimated $21.9 billion across both the App Store and Google Play worldwide, according to new data from Sensor Tower.

Notably, the App Store continues to account for the large majority of this revenue, the report found, making up 65% of total spending compared with just 35% on Google Play.

App Store users spent $14.2 billion, up 22.3% from the $11.6 billion they spent in Q3 2018. Google Play generated $7.7 billion in revenue, up 24% from the $6.2 billion spent in the year-ago quarter.

Sensor Tower’s revenue estimates are a bit lower than those provided by App Annie’s recent report, which said the quarter saw $23 billion in consumer spending, not ~$22 billion.

App Annie also estimated nearly 23 billion downloads in Q3, while Sensor Tower claimed 29.6 billion.

In both cases, Google Play is still said to be the main source for downloads, with nearly three times more first-time installs than the App Store. In Q3, the total number of downloads was up 9.7% year-over-year to 29.6 billion, said Sensor Tower, with Google Play accounting for 21.6 billion of those.

Despite the overall growth, one big app market — China — saw a slight decline, Sensor Tower found. Its installs dropped 6% year-over-year to 2.2 billion in the quarter. But its revenue grew by 26.9% to $4.1 billion, up from $3.2 billion the year prior. This could be attributed to the nine-month game license freeze in China which, though now lifted, had slowed momentum.

Sensor Tower’s charts don’t include third-party app stores, so it’s not a full picture of the Chinese app market, it’s worth noting.

The top money-making (non-game) app in the quarter was again Tinder, which generated $233 million in consumer spending, up 7% over the prior quarter. Netflix was No. 2 and YouTube clocked in at No. 3, at $164 million in Q3.

App Annie has a slightly different ranking. It has Tinder and Netflix leading the top-grossing charts, but puts IQIYI ahead of YouTube. This could be because App Annie has a bigger window into the Chinese app market.

In terms of downloads, TikTok is continuing to disrupt Facebook-owned apps’ dominance over the top of the charts. In Sensor Tower’s rankings, WhatsApp was No. 1 and Messenger was No. 3, but Facebook and Instagram dropped to No. 4 and No. 5, respectively. And TikTok reached No. 2.

This isn’t the first time TikTok has passed Facebook, Sensor Tower said — it did so back in Q4 2018 and in Q1 2019, before dropping to No. 4 again last quarter. But with 177 million downloads in Q3, it’s inching its way up to the top.

App Annie, on the other hand, sees TikTok having just a bit more of climb, sticking it at No. 3 in the quarter, behind Messenger and Facebook. It also called out some Q3 break-out hits, like the return of FaceApp’s popularity (No. 9 in downloads) and the growing subscription revenue of Google One (No. 7 in non-game revenue). Sensor Tower put FaceApp at No. 6 instead, but agreed on Google One.

Mobile gaming continues to generate most of the cash, and did so again in Q3 with $16.3 billion in mobile game gross revenue — or 74% of the total in-app spending, the new report said. The App Store accounted for $9.8 billion of that figure, with Google Play users spending $6.5 billion.

Game downloads across both Google Play and the App Store increased by 17.6% in Q3 from 9.5 billion last year to 11.1 billion.

The top three games in the quarter by downloads were Fun Race 3D (123M downloads), PUBG Mobile (94M), and newcomer Mario Kart Tour, which hit 86 million downloads despite only launching in late September.

PUBG Mobile was the top-grossing game with $496 million in revenue, up 652% over last year. The No. 2 title, Tencent’s Honor of Kings, and No. 3 Aniplex’s Fate/Grand Order generated $377 million and $354 million, respectively.

Image credits: Sensor Tower

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How we're using DNA tech to help farmers fight crop diseases | Laura Boykin

How we're using DNA tech to help farmers fight crop diseases | Laura Boykin

Nearly 800 million people worldwide depend on cassava for survival -- but this critical food source is under attack by entirely preventable viruses, says computational biologist and TED Senior Fellow Laura Boykin. She takes us to the farms in East Africa where she's working with a diverse team of scientists to help farmers keep their crops healthy using a portable DNA lab and mini supercomputer that can identify viruses in hours, instead of months.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

New Vector scores $8.5M to plug more users into its open, decentralized messaging Matrix

New Vector, a European startup founded in 2017 by the creators of an open, decentralized communications standard called Matrix to drive adoption and grow an ecosystem around an alternative messaging protocol for instant messaging and VoIP apps, has raised an $8.5 million Series A funding round.

Investors in New Vector’s Series A round include enterprise tech specialists Notion Capital and Dawn Capital, along with European seed fund Firstminute Capital.

The team has been showing what’s possible when you think outside the proprietary silo of the usual (messaging giant) suspects for several years now — launching a Slack rival called Riot.IM back in 2016, which runs on Matrix — to offer an open, customizable and secure alternative. (Secure because unlike Slack Riot does offer end-to-end encryption. Though not yet everywhere — but expanding e2e encryption is part of the plan for the Series A.)

Users of Riot can also choose to run the app on their own server so they’re in full control of data hosting. And the app includes a bridging feature to integrate with mainstream chat app rivals like Slack. So it’s a ‘cake and eat it’ approach to modern messaging tech: Control plus interoperability and transparency.

“Slack and WhatsApp have shown just how important instant messaging is for workplace productivity but combining this convenience with total sovereignty and security over data is more valuable than ever,” said firstminute capital’s Brent Hoberman, commenting on the funding in a supporting statement.

“Over the last few years it feels like we have gone backwards with communication platforms like Slack and WhatsApp that are walled gardens where users have very understandable concerns over whether their data is secure and how it is being used,” added Notion Capital’s Jos White in another statement. “At last the market has an alternative with the New Vector services that are based off the Matrix protocol offering open standards and delivering complete data ownership and security.”

New Vector’s Series A fast follows $5M it raised last year — when the team took in a strategic investment from an Ethereum-based secure chat and crypto wallet app called Status.

Earlier dev work on the Matrix protocol was funded with support from a large multinational telecoms infrastructure company for whom the founding team had previously built messaging apps. But that funding dried up as of August 2017, which was when they started casting around for alternatives — initially pitching supporters for donations.

Fast forward a couple of years and with growing momentum for their approach — the Matrix network has expanded to more than 11M users and 40,000 deployments this year, growing daily active users 400% since 2018 — they’ve landed a big chunk of VC in the bank.

This isn’t so surprising when you see some of the users they’re able to name check. Such as the US government; the French government (which forked Riot to launch its own messaging app called Tchap earlier this year, and has chosen Matrix to be its official comms platform); Wikimedia; KDE; and RedHat, to name a few. It also says it’s working with the UK’s National Heath Service and with Mozilla.

The plan for the Series A is thus to step on the gas and scale their hosting platform, burnish the product experience and beef up the protocol to be able to support more governments and enterprises seeking digital sovereignty, messaging autonomy and strong encryption to keep their secrets in increasingly volatile geopolitical times.

Just last week officials from the US, UK and Australian governments leaned on Facebook publicly, calling on the company not to expand its use of end-to-end encryption — unless or until it can ensure access to decrypted comms on warranted demand.

WhatsApp’s e2e encryption is highly respected. But it’s also only as strong as Facebook’s implementation of it. Which isn’t exactly reassuring when the company is coming under high level pressure from its own government to backdoor its apps. So there’s both a security and privacy logic to wanting to eschew data centralization — even if it’s robustly encrypted.

Certainly for a certain type of highly security conscious enterprise and public sector user, which is where Matrix is intended to plug in.

If data is centralized it risks becoming a sitting duck for powerful interests to try to get at, as well as generating a wealth of metadata that the controlling commercial entity can absolutely data-mine. So a robust, decentralized messaging standard that doesn’t demand such trade offs will have obvious appeal to those with resources to custom fit and deploy their own apps.

(For the record, Matrix says its e2e encryption is based on the Double Ratchet Algorithm popularised by Signal but which has been extended to support encryption to chat rooms containing thousands of devices. It also says it uses Olm and Megolm cryptographic ratchets, which are specified as an open standard with implementations released under the Apache license, and which have been independently audited by NCC Group.)

New Vector CEO and Matrix co-founder Matthew Hodgson tells us that growth for Matrix is coming primary from the public sector and adjacent industries (which need to be able to communicate securely with government departments); from open source projects; cryptocurrencies; and activists and NGOs.

“The factors which drive decentralisation here are wanting to be able to have full autonomy and control over your conversations with zero dependencies on a megacorp like Facebook, Google or Slack… without wanting to create an isolated island, but participating in a wider global open Matrix network like the Web itself,” he says. “Also, developers wanting (at last!) an open platform to build communication apps on like the Web, rather than being locked into proprietary communication platforms from a big corp.”

Hodgson points out that governments are “highly decentralized” by nature (i.e. between different departments, ministries, citizens etc) — adding that they “really like end-to-end encryption, especially within a wider open network”.

Or, well, at least the bits of governments that aren’t calling for Facebook to backdoor its apps…

“We are the primary choice for an encrypted yet decentralised communication platform which can span multiple government departments — enforcing different security levels on different servers as needed, with zero vendor lock-in thanks to Matrix,” he continues. “It lets you get the entire public sector — be that academic, healthcare, military, citizens and their adjacent organisations (and adjacent countries!) on the same network, without surrendering control to Facebook, Google, Telegram or anyone else.”

“France and the US Department of Public Safety are already live, and several other countries are in the pipeline,” he adds on public sector deployments. “We expect Matrix to become the backbone for secure intra- and inter-governmental communication in the future.”

In France’s case the government has rolled Matrix out across all 16 ministries — to 5.5M users.

Talking of the future, the plan for the Series A is four-fold. Firstly: Invest in improving the user experience in Riot for the app to be, as Hodgson puts it, “properly mainstream” — aka: “a genuine alternative to WhatsApp and Slack for groups who need secure communication which is entirely within their control, rather than run by Facebook or Slack”.

Second, they’ll be turning on end-to-end encryption by default for all private conversations.

“Decentralised e2e encryption is Hard,” he says with emphasis. “But we are tantalisingly close to having the missing ingredients (cross-signed key verification; E2E-capable full text search; E2E-capable bots) finished — which means we can turn it on across the whole public network by default for private rooms. This is a huge deal, especially given the increasingly obvious risks of centralised end-to-end encryption (a la WhatsApp and Signal).”

Thirdly, the funding will go on building out their flagship Matrix hosting platform (Modular.im) and building it into Riot — “so that groups of users can easily hop onto their own self-sovereign servers”. 

“We already have folks like the Wikimedia Foundation, KDE and GNOME using Modular today (and hopefully Mozilla and NHSX in future), and we’ll be using the funding to get as many people on Modular as possible to help scale Matrix going forwards,” he adds. 

Finally they intend to work on combating abuse. As with any comms platform, there can be a dark side to the stuff people want to share. Throw in e2e encryption and decentralization and the question of how you moderate hateful communications could easily get overlooked. But New Vector is at least thinking about this problem.

“Matrix is a fascinating microcosm of the wider open internet, and the 11M addressable users spans the full spectrum of humanity,” says Hodgson. “We have some really interesting work going on here to empower users to filter out content they don’t want to see (rather than using centralised algorithms to do so), which could be applicable to the wider internet.”

“We’re hoping that the Matrix.org Foundation (the non-profit which control the Matrix protocol) will drive this work but it’s something which is very much on New Vector’s radar too,” he adds.

Asked about Matrix’s security and stability, Hodgson says this was the focus with the big 1.0 release in June — when the protocol exited beta.

“We launched a formal Security Disclosure Policy and hall of fame (https://matrix.org/security-disclosure-policy/) and the protocol has a pretty good security record — other than the drama over the launch of Tchap in France,” he says, referring to the security flaw that was found in the app immediately it launched.

“The researcher who found the flaw made an extremely loud noise about it, but in practice it wasn’t a flaw in the Matrix protocol itself — it was specific to the French deployment’s configuration, and was found prior to launch, and we addressed it within a few hours of being reported,” he adds. “Obviously it should have been spotted before being exposed to the internet, but subsequently France set up a successful bug bounty programme (https://yeswehack.com/programs/tchap) as well as a dedicated audit to avoid problems going forwards.

“Meanwhile we got our E2EE successfully audited by NCC Group back in 2016 (it hasn’t changed substantially since), and together with the E2EE-by-default work mentioned before, we’re continuing to focus on security & stability.”

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How to Combine Multiple Data Sets in Microsoft Excel Using Power Query

Microsoft Power Query is a useful tool to work with data inside of Microsoft Excel. It comes with a lot of features that make managing data sets simple yet powerful.

Power Query is most useful when working with multiple sets of data, rather than just one. It acts as a bridge between sets of data and Microsoft Excel.

To prove it, we’ll walk you through a common task where Power Query shines: combining two different data sets into one.

What Is Microsoft Power Query?

Microsoft Power Query is a tool included in Microsoft Excel for Windows. It’s only included in 2016 or newer versions, so check those versions to begin using. New users should make sure they’re pretty comfortable in Excel before starting to use Power Query.

What Power Query allows you to do is load data from a number of different sources, edit that data, and then import it into an Excel worksheet. Learn more about why you should start using Microsoft Power Query.

One of the source types from which you can pull data is other Excel sheets. To get the data for this Power Query demonstration, we are going to use two different Excel worksheets containing similar data sets, and then combine them into one.

Setting Up Your Data

Let’s take two Excel workbooks, one titled “Cars.xlsx” and one titled “Trucks.xlsx”. The contents of these sheets are simple. Each sheet contains a table describing certain vehicles categorized by columns: “Make”, “Model”, “Color”, and “Year”.

We are also creating a blank workbook titled “Vehicles.xlsx” that we will do our work in.

To keep things simple we are using two data sets with the same header information. Our objective here is to create a new table with both car and truck information.

Now that these workbooks are saved to the computer, let’s get to work with Power Query!

Loading Data Into the Power Query Editor

To begin, all you need to do is open the workbook you want to contain the finished data. In this case, the workbook is “Vehicles.xlsx”.

Power Query is so easy, you don’t even have to open the workbooks containing data to extract what you need. In “Vehicles.xlsx” navigate to the “Data” tab of your workbook options.

You will see the “Get Data” option in your toolbar. This option is the entry to Power Query and will allow you to choose your source of data.

You want to work with an Excel workbook, so choose the “From File” options followed by “From Workbook”.

”

The editor will open a file explorer and you can navigate to a workbook anywhere on your PC. You are going to choose the “Cars.xlsx” file first.

Once you select your file, the Power Query Navigator menu will load to show you a preview of the sheet you selected. Notice the file “Cars.xlsx” as well as the sheet is displayed in the Navigator. Click on the sheet and the table will load on the menu just as it appears in your worksheet! Click on “Transform Data” to open the data in the editor.

Using the Power Query Editor

The Power Query editor is packed with a lot of options, don’t worry about those right now while you get familiar with the basics. At first glance, the data has been uploaded properly! It looks just like an Excel table. Data is organized in rows and columns, with named headers at the top.

On your right is a menu called “Query Settings” which contains an “Applied Steps” window. Steps are just changes made to your table. Keep an eye on this for later.

On the far left clicking on the “Queries” icon will expand the menu and show the name of the table you are currently working in. Power Query can take multiple tables at one time and will display them all in this toolbar.

In order to append two tables together, they both need to be uploaded into Power Query. You have one, let’s grab the other.

Adding a Second Data Source

Inside of the editor, at the top right corner, is the “New Source” button. This button allows you to select an additional data source and add it to the Power Query Editor.

Choose “File” and then “Excel” to open the file explorer. Navigate to “Trucks.xlsx” to select the file for importing.

Just like the first Query, the Navigator will pop up allowing you to choose your table from the worksheet. Select the worksheet click “OK”. You will now see both the tables from the cars and trucks worksheets in the Queries toolbar. Clicking on either table will display the data contained in that worksheet.

Appending the Data Tables

Once you’ve done all the preparation, combining the data tables is actually quite simple. Click onto the “cars” table, and in the toolbar select “Append Queries” within the “Combine” section.

The Append window will pop up and prompt for a table that you wish to join to your selected table. Remember that you are on the “cars” table and appending the “trucks” table to it. Click on the trucks table under “Table to append” and choose “OK”

Here is the result:

Notice that all the car data and truck data are together on the same table. The data sets are now joined! Also notice the Power Query has created a new “step” in your list, an “Appended Query” step.

Loading the Data to Your Worksheet

The last thing to do is take this data stored on the Power Query editor and load it onto your worksheet.

In the top left corner click on “Close & Load” to place the newly created table onto the Vehicles sheet in table format. Upon clicking, the following will happen:

• The editor will save your Query steps and exit
• The Workbook will appear with the data loaded as an Excel Table
• Excel will also open the Workbook Queries menu on the right side of your sheet

You’re ready to work with your brand new table, all without ever opening up the worksheets.

More Things You Can Do With Microsoft Excel

Now that you’ve learned how to append data using Power Query you have a powerful new tool to simplify data. Now that data is loaded into Excel to use you can work with it just like any table. You can create graphs and charts from Excel tables or summarize data using Pivot Tables.

Read the full article: How to Combine Multiple Data Sets in Microsoft Excel Using Power Query

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Get a Complete Education in Programming From Top-Rated Instructors for $45

There are many different careers you can choose to pursue in code. While some focus on specific skills, many of these roles demand a good overall understanding of development. If you want to get educated, the Complete Computer Programmer Super Bundle is a great place to start. This huge learning library brings together 12 hand-picked courses from the web’s top instructors, including Rob Percival. Right now, you get all 121 hours of training for just $45 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Complete Coding Courses

Although some programmers manage to find work specializing in particular languages, most developers have at least two or three strings to their bow. This bundle sets you up for a career in code by covering all the hottest languages and frameworks.

Through 1,330 video tutorials, you learn how to start building programs with Python, C++, C#, C, Ruby, and Java. The training also dives into the world of cybersecurity, shows you how to handle data with SQL, and introduces Alexa development. You even get a beginner’s guide to the Linux command line.

All the courses are delivered by true experts, and you get plenty of hands-on practice.

121 Hours for $45

These courses are worth $2,400 all together, but you can grab the bundle now with lifetime access included for just $45.

Read the full article: Get a Complete Education in Programming From Top-Rated Instructors for $45

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Creators of modern rechargeable batteries share Nobel prize

If you had to slip a couple AAs into your smartphone every morning to check your email, browse Instagram, and text your friends, chances are the mobile revolution would not have been quite so revolutionary. Fortunately the rechargeable lithium-ion battery was invented — a decades-long task for which three men have just been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

The prize this year honors M. Stanley Whittingham, John Goodenough, and Akira Yoshino, all of whom contributed to the development of what is today the most common form of portable power. Without them (and of course those they worked with, and those who came before) we would be tied to even more wasteful and/or stationary sources of energy.

Lead-acid batteries had been in use for nearly a century by the time people really got to thinking about taking things to the next level with lithium, a lightweight metal with desirable electrical properties. But lithium is also highly reactive with air and water, making finding suitable substances to pair it with difficult.

Experiments in the ’50s and ’60s laid the groundwork for more targeted investigations, in particular Whittingham’s. He and partner Fred Gamble showed in 1976 that lithium ions, after donating electrons to produce a charge, fit perfectly into a lattice of titanium disulfide — where they sit patiently (in their “van der Waals gaps”) until an electron is provided during recharging. Unfortunately this design also used a lithium anode that could be highly reactive (think fire) if bent or crushed.

John Goodenough and his team soon developed a better cathode material (where the lithium ions rested) with a much higher potential — more power could be drawn, opening new possibilities for applications. This, combined with the fact that the metallic lithium anodes could be highly reactive (think fire) if bent or crushed, led to increased research on making batteries safe as well as useful.

In 1985 research by Akira Yoshino led to the discovery of several materials (whose names won’t mean anything to anyone without domain knowledge) that could perform as well while also being able to be physically damaged and not cause any major trouble.

Many, many improvements have been made since then, but the essentials of the technology were laid out by these teams. And soon after lithium-ion batteries were shown to be safe, capacious, and able to be recharged hundreds of times, they were found in laptops, medical devices, and eventually mobile phones. Today, after three more decades of enhancements, lithium batteries are now taking on gasoline as the energy storage medium of choice for human transportation.

The three scholars whose work most powerfully advanced this technology from theory to commercial reality were awarded equal shares of this year’s Nobel Prize in Chemistry, each taking home a third of the million and, more importantly, the distinction of being recognized in historic fashion.

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You Can Now Download Hulu Shows to Watch Offline

Hulu has finally introduced Downloads. The feature allows some users (but not all) to download thousands of shows and movies to watch offline. Hulu may be late to the party, and there are some extra caveats to consider, but users should still welcome the feature.

In January 2017, Hulu promised that it was working on offering offline downloads, with a timeline of “a few months”. Then, in May 2018, Hulu formally announced its intention to start offering downloads “during the 2018-19 upfront season”.

How to Download Hulu Shows to Watch Offline

Now, as announced in a post on Hulu Press, Hulu is finally delivering on its promises. Which means that some Hulu users will be able to watch Hulu on the go by downloading shows and movies to watch offline. Unfortunately, there are some limitations.

For starters, Downloads are only available to viewers paying for the Hulu (No Ads) plan. This is the premium plan costing $11.99/month as opposed to the standard plan costing $5.99/month. And anyone on the standard plan will be left without Downloads.

Hopping on a flight? Take your TV with you! Hulu (No Ads) subscribers can now download videos on select devices and watch them later without needing Wi-Fi or data.

?? Get the lowdown on downloads here: https://t.co/hh1pi8d3ZV pic.twitter.com/7TEZ9yosa0

— Hulu Support (@hulu_support) October 7, 2019

There are also limitations on the number of titles you can download at once, and how long you’ll have to watch them. You can download up to 25 titles at once, and you’ll have 30 days to watch them. However, once you hit Play you’ll only have two days.

Hulu claims that there are “thousands of shows and movies” available to download. This includes Family Guy and Desperate Housewives, as well as Hulu Originals like The Handmaid’s Tale. You can see more by clicking “See What’s Downloadable” in the app.

Get Started by Exploring the Downloads Tab

Hulu Downloads are available on iOS right now. You just need to update the Hulu app on iOS, and then explore the Downloads tab at the bottom of the screen. Hulu promises that it will be offering Downloads to Android users “soon”. Which is suitably vague.

After several years falling behind its rivals such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video, Hulu finally seems to be getting its act together. You can even now stream Hulu shows in 4K. We can’t help thinking the imminent arrival of Disney+ is behind this sense of urgency.

Read the full article: You Can Now Download Hulu Shows to Watch Offline

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8 Totally Free VPN Services to Protect Your Privacy

While free unlimited VPNs for Windows are scams, there are a number of limited-data free VPNs that really don’t cost anything. This article lists the best.

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However, free VPNs often don’t stick around forever. Sometimes previously free offerings change to a subscription model. Some switch to a freemium mode. And some seem to actively compromise your privacy.

But are there any free VPNs that will simultaneously protect your privacy in a reliable way? Absolutely. Keep reading to find out more.

Note: Free VPNs might be OK here and there, but there is no substitute for a paid service like ExpressVPN. Sign up now and receive three months free!

1. Speedify

Speedify is a unique service. If you live in an area with a poor internet connection, it’s definitely the VPN for you. It can combine all the incoming connections in your home (including cell and Wi-Fi signals) into a single, stable, faster, and more secure access point. This combination works well to offset some of the loss of speed that all VPN users have to endure.

The company’s Starter Plan is entirely free to use. It gives you an allowance of 5GB of data per month. All your traffic is encrypted using ChaCha or AES (depending on the device), and the company does not keep logs.

Other security features include packet loss and error correction protection, and an automatic failover.

Speedify will also never sell your data.

2. CyberGhost for Chrome

CyberGhost has been at the forefront of the VPN industry for many years. It offers various premium models, but the free ad-supported version is adequate for most casual users.

The free version is only available on Chrome and is bandwidth-restricted. It’s not as useful if you watch a lot of Netflix or you’re thinking about cutting the cord.

Most of its servers are in Europe, but there are plenty of US-based ones available too. Interestingly, the app runs on the Ethereum blockchain. It protects against privacy breaches, censorship, fraud, and third-party interference.

Use Firefox? Check out the best free VPNs for Firefox instead.

3. VPNBook

VPNBook is entirely free, there are no bandwidth caps or service limitations, and there is no premium service.

That said, it’s not suitable for beginners. There is no installer, no software, and little guidance. You’re simply given a list of servers, and the rest is up to you.

You have a choice of PPTP VPN or OpenVPN. PPTP VPN is supported on almost all platforms, but it’s easier for governments and content providers to block. OpenVPN is more secure but requires you to download an OpenVPN client along with VPNBook’s configuration and certificate bundles.

The company has servers in the United States, UK, and mainland Europe.

4. Windscribe

Windscribe offers a Chrome browser VPN and a Windows desktop version.

Obviously, the main feature is the VPN network, but from a privacy standpoint, it offers some great additional tools. They include a firewall to prevent exposure of your IP address in case you lose your connection, an ad and tracker blocker, and a Secure link generator. The free package includes all of them.

The free version has a restricted download limit and only offers servers in the United States, the UK, Canada, Hong Kong, France, Germany, Luxembourg, and the Netherlands. The $7.50 per month pro version adds a further 40 countries.

5. Hide.me

Hide.me is a proxy service based in Malaysia and offers free servers in Canada, the Netherlands, and Singapore. The free service supports PPTP, L2TP, IPsec (IKEv1 and IKEv2), OpenVPN, SoftEther, SSTP, and SOCKS.

In mid-2015, the company made the decision not to keep any logs. From a privacy perspective, this is a massive plus point; if there are no logs, there is nothing for unscrupulous authorities to seize if they are trying to track you.

Interestingly, the company also publishes a transparency report—it lists all the authorities that have requested information from them.

6. Opera VPN

Opera VPN is part of the Opera browser. It’s entirely free; there are no data limits or obtrusive ads.

It comes with three main features:

• Hidden IP Address: The software replaces your actual IP address with a virtual IP address, making it harder for sites to track you.
• Unblock Firewalls and Websites: If administrators have blocked certain sites or types of content in your office or school, the Opera VPN will circumnavigate the restrictions.
• Public Wi-Fi Security: The VPN will stop sniffers on public networks from accessing your data.

To turn on the service, go to Menu > Settings > Privacy and Security > Free VPN.

Note: Since April 2018, the Opera VPN app on Android and iOS is no longer available.

7. Hotspot Shield

AnchorFree’s Hotspot Shield has been around for many years. It is still one of the most popular free VPN services among users.

It’s not suitable for users who want to unlock geo-restricted content as well as improving their privacy. The free version only offers US-based servers, and access to services like Netflix, Hulu, and BBC iPlayer is only available to premium users.

However, from a privacy perspective, it’s great. AnchorFree advertises itself as “the world’s largest internet freedom and privacy platform”. They offer lots of privacy tools in addition to the VPN, so you know you’re in safe hands.

8. ProtonVPN

If you’re concerned about your data being leaked to governments and ISPs, ProtonVPN provides a solution. It takes more steps than regular VPN providers to ensure your identity is safe at all times.

For example, it has “Secure Core” architecture. It means all your (encrypted web traffic is first passed through its servers in privacy-friendly countries like Iceland and Switzerland before it heads out to the wider web. As such, even if a VPN endpoint server has been compromised, attackers will still not have access to your IP address. As you would expect, the company does not keep logs.

The company also uses “Perfect Forward Secrecy” in its encryption ciphers. It means that your traffic can never be unencrypted, even if the encryption key is somehow compromised by a hacker at a future date.

Lastly, ProtonVPN is one of the few VPN services to offer a Tor connection. You can send all your traffic through the Tor network with a single click in the ProtonVPN app.

At the time of writing, ProtonVPN has almost 500 servers in 40 countries. Supported countries include the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and India.

Which Free VPN Do You Use?

We hope these services have given you a starting point in your quest to find the perfect privacy-based free VPN provider. Remember, there are a few items you should look for while choosing a VPN provider.

If you’re not sure how to set up the VPN of your choice, check out this guide on setting up a VPN on Windows 10.

Looking for mobile VPNs? We’ve compiled the best VPNs for Android and the best VPNs for iPhone. For your local network, it might even be easier to set up a VPN on your router.

Getting an amazing deal on a safe VPN is almost as good as free. We regularly update this article with exclusive deals from our top VPN choices.

Read the full article: 8 Totally Free VPN Services to Protect Your Privacy

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The Best iPhone Music Apps and Alternative Music Managers for iOS

There are lots of iPhone music players that you can use to listen to your music. In fact, there are so many music apps for your phone that you should never feel stuck with Apple’s built-in Apple Music.

If you want an alternative way of transferring, storing, or playing back your files from your iOS music library, there are a lot options available. The same is true for finding alternative ways to listening to music through streaming.

Here are the best music apps for the iPhone currently on the market.

How Does Music Work on iOS?

Apple’s famous “walled garden” pushes a specific and sometimes outdated approach to media management. Assuming you’re using your own files, you’ll need to import music into your library. Then—when your iPhone is paired with the computer that holds your music—you’ll need to sync, either directly or through Wi-Fi.

The downside to this approach is that you can’t just point your browser at a file and download it. The upside to this centralized music library, however, is that the operating system handles media playback.

Want to learn more? Here’s how to transfer music from an old iPod to your computer or iPhone.

A Word on Apple Music

Apple Music launched a while back, so it’s definitely not the newest app on the market. However, most iOS music apps take Apple Music into account.

Because of this, we’ll focus on music players that integrate with Apple Music, at least in terms of playback.

Free Music Apps for iPhone

If you don’t want to pay, let’s first look at the best free music apps for iPhone.

1. SoundShare

SoundShare is a collaborative app that connects many different services together, including Apple Music, Spotify, and Deezer. It’s a music social network you’ll need to sign up for. Anyone who wants to collaborate with you on playlists will have to do the same.

SoundShare is one of the best music apps for iPhone if you want to share your musical tastes. You can like, comment, and advertise your music recommendations, as well as build a playlist by working with other people.

Unfortunately, SoundShare is not much fun to use if you’re going alone. You’ll need to share with other users to get the most use out of it. Plus, you must have a paid subscription to Apple Music, Spotify, or Deezer in order to connect these services to SoundShare.

Download: SoundShare (Free)

2. VLC for Mobile

VLC is an old-school—and trusted—music player for the iPhone. It’s a good choice if you want to go standalone and plan to ditch Apple Music entirely. Not only does it play most music and video files (including otherwise unsupported formats like FLAC), it has support for multiple audio tracks, too.

Additional features available in VLC:

• Transfer music through a browser via Wi-Fi, or use cloud services like Dropbox and Google Drive.
• The app supports file sharing over SMB, FTP, and UPnP.
• VLC for Mobile doesn’t need to be open to play media. This allows you to listen to music in the background while working in other apps.

VLC is a pretty extensive program that can handle a lot, so give it a try if you’re a fan of local media.

Download: VLC for Mobile (Free)

3. FLAC Player+

If VLC for Mobile isn’t cutting it, FLAC Player+ should do the trick.

FLAC Player+ is a good free music app for the iPhone if you’re looking for something dedicated to local media playback. It supports FLAC, MP3, AAC, WMA, and RealMedia formats.

The apps lets you group songs by playlist, album, and artist. Just like VLC, you can transfer music via Wi-Fi. However, FLAC Player+ is more of a “true” music player than VLC, so it doesn’t work with video.

The interface also needs a bit of work work, but it’s easy to use and free. You can remove the ads with a small in-app purchase.

Download: FLAC Player+ (Free)

The Best Music Apps for iPhone With Subscription Options

Moving on, let’s take a look at the best music apps for iPhone that offer a subscription for more features.

Note that due to Apple taking a 30% cut of all in-app purchases from iOS apps, many services increase the price of their subscriptions to compensate for this. For example, Spotify on iOS costs $13 per month for Premium instead of the usual $10 per month. As a result, you should avoid subscribing to any service through its iPhone app when possible.

1. Listen

Listen is a good music app for the iPhone if you’re looking to navigate your music collection. The app uses gesture-based controls, and its basic functionality as a music player is completely free. If you want to access local and online radio stations, you’ll need to upgrade with a subscription at $2.99 per month.

Standout features:

• Browse your music library by album, artist, playlist, and the aforementioned radio stations.
• The Now Playing screen allows you to drag music artwork around your display, so you can skip tracks or return them to your collection.

Download: Listen (Free, subscription available)

2. Musixmatch

Musixmatch lyrics finder is an extremely popular music app for the iPhone. This is because it allows you to find the lyrics to songs already synced to your device. It also allows you to connect your Apple Music and Spotify profiles.

The Musixmatch app shows you the lyrics in time with the music, so you can dive deeper into your favorite tracks.

Other Musixmatch features to know:

• Musixmatch can look up lyrics to songs even if they’re not in your library.
• If you can’t remember the title of the song, you can search for individual phrases.
• Built-in support for finding the lyrics to the songs playing around you. We’ve tested Musixmatch and other music ID apps, if you’re curious.

While Musixmatch is free, it offers subscription plans to remove ads and add a few extra features.

Download: Musixmatch (Free, subscription available)

3. Apple Music | Spotify | Deezer

Subscription services like Spotify and Deezer—plus Apple Music itself—offer you another way of listening to music on-the-go. Unfortunately, these come with a drawback. Unless you’ve downloaded it offline, you’ll need to stream your music. This will require a generous data plan for when you’re not on Wi-Fi.

On the flip side, all three of these options are easy-to-use services that allow you to listen to music whenever you want. They’re some of the best music music apps for the iPhone you’ll find. Apple Music even gives you a three-month free trial before requiring a subscription.

Just be wary of the aforementioned data usage when you’re not on Wi-Fi, and these apps will fulfill your music needs.

Download: Apple Music (Free trial, subscription required)
Download: Spotify (Free, subscription available)
Download: Deezer (Free, subscription available)

4. SoundCloud

SoundCloud has always marched to the beat of its own drum compared to other music services. As one of the best free music apps for the iPhone, it offers a great place for anyone to upload their music, remixes, podcasts, or live sessions.

While SoundCloud has been hit by tough competition in recent years, it still provides a place for regular users and emerging artists to share their work.

If you’re willing to pay, SoundCloud Go is a premium plan that offers offline downloads and ad-free music for $5/month. Meanwhile, SoundCloud Go+ for $10/month adds an extended catalog that more closely resembles Spotify or Apple Music.

Download: SoundCloud (Free, subscription available)

5. Google Play Music

Google Play Music allows you to sync 50,000 songs with your Google account for free. This convenience makes it one of the best music apps for the iPhone.

As you’d expect, it also features a uniquely “Google” interface with a few neat features. This includes suggestions for what to listen to and recommendations based upon your previous tastes.

Notes on Google Play Music:

• The free version of Google Play Music uses an ad-based model, so you don’t get uninterrupted listening when streaming radio stations.
• Like other services, if you’re a paid subscriber, you can access a much larger catalog of music.
• You can download your own music for offline listening, but you must subscribe to download other music.

Google Play Music has been on Android for some time, where it has earned a reputation as a go-to music app. You may thus prefer another choice that’s built for iOS.

Download: Google Play Music (Free, subscription available)

Or Try a Paid Music App for iPhone

If none of these free apps work for you, we’ve rounded up a couple of paid music apps for iPhone, too.

1. Ecoute

Ecoute is a paid music app for iPhone that takes play counts and last-played data into consideration. It features an enhanced shuffle tool that allows you to sort music by albums and last played dates to better serve up the tunes.

Download: Ecoute ($0.99)

2. Cs Music Player

Cs Music Player is another paid music app that’s great for anyone yearning for a classic music app experience. It provides a simple, easy-to-use interface that maintains compatibility with Apple Music and locally synced files.

Download: Cs Music Player ($2.99)

3. Stezza

Lastly, Stezza is a one-handed playback app that advertises itself as the best music player for the iPhone if you’re a driver or very active.

Download: Stezza ($2.99)

What’s Your Favorite Music App?

Apple Music is an obvious choice for iPhone owners, but it’s far from your only option. Whether you prefer to sync your own music or stream everything, there’s a music app on iOS for you. Try a few out and see which works best for your use.

If you’d like to create as well as consume, check out some iPhone apps that you can use to create music.

Read the full article: The Best iPhone Music Apps and Alternative Music Managers for iOS

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