Announcing the Third Workshop and Challenge on Learned Image Compression

Posted by Nick Johnston, Software Engineer, Google Research

With the large amount of media content being downloaded and streamed across the internet, minimizing bandwidth while maintaining quality remains a constant challenge. In 2015, researchers demonstrated that neural network-based image compression could yield significant improvements to image resolution while retaining good quality and high compression speed. Continued advances in compression and bandwidth optimization techniques were stimulated in part by two successful workshops that we hosted at CVPR in 2018 and 2019.

Today, we are excited to announce the Third Workshop and Challenge On Learned Image Compression (CLIC) at CVPR 2020. This workshop challenges researchers to use machine learning, neural networks and other computer vision approaches to increase the quality and lower the bandwidth needed for multimedia transmission. This year’s workshop will also include two challenges: a low-rate image compression challenge and a P-Frame video compression challenge.

Similar to previous years, the goal of the low-rate image compression challenge is to compress an image dataset to 0.15 bits per pixel while maintaining the highest possible quality. Finalists will be selected by measuring their performance against the PSNR and MS-SSIM evaluation metrics. The final ranking will then be determined by a human evaluated rating task.

This year we are also introducing a P-Frame compression track, the first video compression task in this series. In this challenge, participants must first generate a transformation between two adjacent video frames. In the decompression part of the task, participants then use the first frame and their compressed representation to reconstruct the second frame. This challenge will be ranked based solely on the MS-SSIM performance score.

If you are doing research in the field of learned image compression or video compression, we encourage you to participate in CLIC, whether in the two competitions or the paper-only track for publications to be presented at the workshop at CVPR 2020. The validation server is currently available for submissions. The deadline for the final submission of the test set is March 23rd, 2020. For more details on the competition and an up-to-date schedule, please refer to compression.cc. Additional announcements and answers to questions can be found on our Google Groups page.

Acknowledgements
This workshop is being jointly hosted by researchers at Google, Twitter and ETH Zurich. We’d like to thank: George Toderici (Google), Nick Johnston (Google), Johannes Ballé (Google), Eirikur Agustsson (Google), Lucas Theis (Google), Wenzhe Shi (Twitter), Radu Timofte (ETH Zurich) and Fabian Mentzer (ETH Zurich) for their contributions.

Daily Crunch: Facebook’s profits disappoint

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

1. Facebook hits 2.5B users in Q4 but shares sink from slow profits

In its latest quarterly earnings report, Facebook said it now reaches 2.5 billion monthly users, up 2% from Q3 2019. And it brought in $21.08 billion in revenue, up 25% year-over-year.

But profits aren’t growing as quickly as Wall Street would like. One big source of those expenses? Headcount grew 26% year-over-year to 44,942, and Facebook now has over 1,000 engineers working on privacy.

2. Avast shuts down marketing analytics subsidiary Jumpshot amid controversy over selling user data

It was recently revealed that the Czech-based cybersecurity specialist was cultivating another controversial revenue stream: harvesting and selling user data, some of it amassed by way of its security tools.

3. Study of YouTube comments finds evidence of radicalization effect

The study, carried out by researchers at Switzerland’s Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne and the Federal University of Minas Gerais in Brazil, found evidence that users who engaged with “Alt-lite”/”Intellectual Dark Web” right-wing content migrated to commenting on the most fringe far-right content.

4. Microsoft shares rise after it beats revenue, profit expectations, Azure posts 62% growth

Microsoft reported its fiscal 2020 second quarter (calendar Q4 2019) results yesterday, including revenue of $36.9 billion (up 14%), net income of $11.6 billion (up 38%) and diluted earnings per share of $1.51.

5. Snapchat launches Bitmoji TV: zany 4-min cartoons of your avatar

Snapchat is betting that narcissism will drive viewership for its new weekly videos that put you and your friends’ customizable Bitmoji avatars into a flurry of silly animated situations. Bitmoji TV will premiere on Saturday morning.

6. Practice Fusion, once backed by top VCs, pushed doctors to prescribe opioids in kickback scheme

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Practice Fusion solicited and received pay from an (unnamed for now) major opioid company in exchange for using its EHR software to influence doctors in the act of prescribing opioid pain medications.

7. Where top VCs are investing in travel, tourism and hospitality tech

To get a temperature check on the state of the travel market, the outlook for fundraising and which sub-sectors might present the most attractive opportunities for startups today, we asked five leading VCs at firms spanning early to growth stages to share what’s exciting them most and where they see opportunity in travel, tourism and hospitality tech. (Extra Crunch membership required.)

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Social media boosting service exposed thousands of Instagram passwords

A social media boosting startup, which bills itself as a service to increase increase a user’s Instagram followers, has exposed thousands of Instagram account passwords.

The company, Social Captain, says it helps thousands of users to grow their Instagram follower counts by connecting their accounts to its platform. Users are asked to enter their Instagram username and password into the platform to get started.

But TechCrunch learned this week Social Captain was storing the passwords of linked Instagram accounts in unencrypted plaintext. Any user who viewed the web page source code on their Social Captain profile page could see their Instagram username and password in plain sight, so long as they had connected their account to the platform.

Making matters worse, a website bug allowed anyone access to any Social Captain user’s profile without having to log in — simply plugging in a user’s unique account ID into the company’s web address would grant access to their Social Captain account — and their Instagram login credentials.

Because the user account IDs were for the most part sequential, it was possible to access any user’s account and view their Instagram password and other account information with relative ease.

A security researcher, who asked not to be named, alerted TechCrunch to the vulnerability and provided a spreadsheet of about 10,000 scraped user accounts. (A recent court ruling found that scraping websites does not fall foul of U.S. computer hacking laws.) The spreadsheet contained about 4,700 complete sets of Instagram usernames and passwords. The rest of the records contained just the user’s name and their email address.

The data also showed if the accounts were free trial or paid premium accounts. Only about 70 accounts were paying customers, the data said, but many of those premium accounts also contained the customer’s billing addresses.

We verified the bug by creating a dummy Instagram account and connecting it to a new Social Captain account, and viewing the web page source code of our profile page on Social Captain.

Users were asked to connect their Instagram accounts to the service by entering their username and password. Despite the claim it was “secure,” passwords were collected and stored in plaintext. (Image: TechCrunch)

After TechCrunch reached out, Social Captain confirmed it had fixed the vulnerability by preventing direct access to other users’ profiles.

But passwords and other account information are still visible in the web page source code of a user’s profile page.

“Early analysis indicates that the issue was introduced during the past weeks when the endpoint, meant to facilitate integration with a third-party email service, has been temporarily made accessible without token-based authentication,” said Anthony Rogers, chief executive at Social Captain.

“As soon as we finalize the internal investigation we will be alerting users that could have been affected in the event of a breach and prompt them to update the associated username and password combinations,” he said.

Rogers did not say how long that investigation would take.

Instagram said the service breached its terms of service by improperly storing login credentials.

“We are investigating and will take appropriate action. We strongly encourage people to never give their passwords to someone they don’t know or trust,” said an Instagram spokesperson.

Users who signed up to Social Captain should change their Instagram passwords immediately.

It’s the latest security incident to hit Instagram users, even if Facebook-owned social media giant was not directly culpable for the lapse. Last year, Instagram expanded its bug bounty to include misuse of account data just months after an Indian social media firm scraped the contact information of Instagram influencers on a massive scale. Instagram also last year cut off a trusted ad partner for secretly collecting and storing the locations and other data on millions of users.

Instagram kills off fake followers, threatens accounts that keep using apps to get them

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EU lawmakers take fresh aim at Apple’s Lightning connector with latest e-waste push

The European parliament has voted overwhelmingly for tougher action to reduce e-waste, calling for the Commission to come up with beefed up rules by July 2020.

Specifically, the parliament wants the Commission to adopt the delegated act foreseen in the 2014 Radio Equipment Directive by that deadline — or else table a legislative measure by the same date, at the latest.

The resolution, which was approved by 582 votes to 40, points out that MEPs have been calling for a single charger for mobile devices for more than a decade now. But the Commission has repeatedly postponed taking steps to force an industry-wide shift. Subtext: We’re tired of the ongoing charging cable nightmare.

The parliament says there is now “an urgent need” for EU regulatory action on the issue — to shrink e-waste, empower consumers to make sustainable choices, and allow EU citizens to “fully participate in an efficient and well-functioning internal market”.

The resolution notes that around 50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated globally per year, with an average of more than 6 kg per person.

While, in Europe in 2016, the figure for total e-waste generated was 12.3 million metric tonnes, equivalent to 16.6 kg on average per inhabitant — with the parliament asserting this represents “an unnecessary environmental footprint that can be reduced”.

To date, the Commission’s approach to the charger e-waste issue has been to lean on industry to take voluntary steps to reduce unnecessary variety. Which has resulted in a reduction of the number of charger types on the market — down from 30+ in 2009 to just three today — but still no universal charger which works across brands and device types (phones, tablets, e-readers etc).

Most notably, Apple continues to use its own Lightning port charger standard — while other device makers have switched to USB-based charging (such as the newest, USB-C standard).

When news emerged earlier this month of the parliament’s intention to vote on tougher measures to standardize mobile chargers Apple attacked the plan — arguing that regulation would ‘stifle innovation’.

But the tech giant has had plenty of years to chew over clever ways to switch from the proprietary charging port only it uses to one of two USB standards used by everyone else. So the ‘innovation’ argument seems a pretty stale one.

Meanwhile Apple has worked around previous EU attempts to push device makers to standardize charging on Micro USB by expanding its revenue-generating dongle collection — and selling Europeans a Lighting to Micro USB adaptor. Thereby necessitating even more e-waste.

Perhaps picking up on Apple’s ‘innovation’ framing sidestep, i.e. to try to duck the e-waste issue, the parliament also writes:

… that the Commission, without hampering innovation, should ensure that the legislative framework for a common charger will be scrutinised regularly in order to take into account technical progress; reiterates the importance of research and innovation in this domain to improve existing technologies and come up with new ones;

It also wants the Commission to grapple with the issue of wireless chargers — and take steps to ensure interoperability there too, so that wireless chargers aren’t locked to only one brand or device type.

Consumers should not be obliged to buy new chargers with each new device, per the resolution, with the parliament calling on the Commission to introduce strategies to decouple the purchase of chargers from a new device alongside a common charger solution — while making sure any decoupling measures do not result in higher prices for consumers.

It also wants the Commission to look at legislative options for increasing the volume of cables and chargers that are collected and recycled in EU member states.

We’ve reached out to the Commission for comment.

Per Reuters, officials in the executive are in agreement that the voluntary approach is not working and have said they plan to introduce legislation for a common charger this year.

Read Full Article

EU lawmakers take fresh aim at Apple’s Lightning connector with latest e-waste push

The European parliament has voted overwhelmingly for tougher action to reduce e-waste, calling for the Commission to come up with beefed up rules by July 2020.

Specifically, the parliament wants the Commission to adopt the delegated act foreseen in the 2014 Radio Equipment Directive by that deadline — or else table a legislative measure by the same date, at the latest.

The resolution, which was approved by 582 votes to 40, points out that MEPs have been calling for a single charger for mobile devices for more than a decade now. But the Commission has repeatedly postponed taking steps to force an industry-wide shift. Subtext: We’re tired of the ongoing charging cable nightmare.

The parliament says there is now “an urgent need” for EU regulatory action on the issue — to shrink e-waste, empower consumers to make sustainable choices, and allow EU citizens to “fully participate in an efficient and well-functioning internal market”.

The resolution notes that around 50 million metric tons of e-waste is generated globally per year, with an average of more than 6 kg per person.

While, in Europe in 2016, the figure for total e-waste generated was 12.3 million metric tonnes, equivalent to 16.6 kg on average per inhabitant — with the parliament asserting this represents “an unnecessary environmental footprint that can be reduced”.

To date, the Commission’s approach to the charger e-waste issue has been to lean on industry to take voluntary steps to reduce unnecessary variety. Which has resulted in a reduction of the number of charger types on the market — down from 30+ in 2009 to just three today — but still no universal charger which works across brands and device types (phones, tablets, e-readers etc).

Most notably, Apple continues to use its own Lightning port charger standard — while other device makers have switched to USB-based charging (such as the newest, USB-C standard).

When news emerged earlier this month of the parliament’s intention to vote on tougher measures to standardize mobile chargers Apple attacked the plan — arguing that regulation would ‘stifle innovation’.

But the tech giant has had plenty of years to chew over clever ways to switch from the proprietary charging port only it uses to one of two USB standards used by everyone else. So the ‘innovation’ argument seems a pretty stale one.

Meanwhile Apple has worked around previous EU attempts to push device makers to standardize charging on Micro USB by expanding its revenue-generating dongle collection — and selling Europeans a Lighting to Micro USB adaptor. Thereby necessitating even more e-waste.

Perhaps picking up on Apple’s ‘innovation’ framing sidestep, i.e. to try to duck the e-waste issue, the parliament also writes:

… that the Commission, without hampering innovation, should ensure that the legislative framework for a common charger will be scrutinised regularly in order to take into account technical progress; reiterates the importance of research and innovation in this domain to improve existing technologies and come up with new ones;

It also wants the Commission to grapple with the issue of wireless chargers — and take steps to ensure interoperability there too, so that wireless chargers aren’t locked to only one brand or device type.

Consumers should not be obliged to buy new chargers with each new device, per the resolution, with the parliament calling on the Commission to introduce strategies to decouple the purchase of chargers from a new device alongside a common charger solution — while making sure any decoupling measures do not result in higher prices for consumers.

It also wants the Commission to look at legislative options for increasing the volume of cables and chargers that are collected and recycled in EU member states.

We’ve reached out to the Commission for comment.

Per Reuters, officials in the executive are in agreement that the voluntary approach is not working and have said they plan to introduce legislation for a common charger this year.

Read Full Article

An end to parasitic worms | Ellen Agler

An end to parasitic worms | Ellen Agler

Parasitic worms date back thousands of years, causing diseases that limit human potential. But today, effective treatment against them requires just a few pills, taken once or twice a year. With more than 1.5 billion people at risk of infection, Ellen Agler and her team at the END Fund are imagining a world without disease caused by worms. Learn about how they're seeking to lower treatment costs, amplify prevention, support governments and nurture local leadership. This ambitious plan is a part of The Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change. (Voiced by Ama Adi-Dako)

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

OpsRamp raises $37.5M for its hybrid IT operations platform

OpsRamp, a service that helps IT teams discover, monitor, manage and — maybe most importantly — automate their hybrid environments, today announced that it has closed a $37.5 million funding round led by Morgan Stanley Expansion Capital, with participation from existing investor Sapphire Ventures and new investor Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

OpsRamp last raised funding in 2017, when Sapphire led its $20 million Series A round.

At the core of OpsRamp’s services is its AIOps platform. Using machine learning and other techniques, this service aims to help IT teams manage increasingly complex infrastructure deployments, provide intelligent alerting, and eventually automate more of their tasks. The company’s overall product portfolio also includes tools for cloud monitoring and incident management.

The company says its annual recurrent revenue increased by 300 percent in 2019 (though we obviously don’t know what number it started 2019 with). In total, OpsRamp says it now has 1,400 customers on its platform and alliances with AWS, ServiceNow, Google Cloud Platform and Microsoft Azure.

OpsRamp co-founder and CEO Varma Kunaparaju

According to OpsRamp co-founder and CEO Varma Kunaparaju, most of the company’s customers are mid to large enterprises. “These IT teams have large, complex, hybrid IT environments and need help to simplify and consolidate an incredibly fragmented, distributed and overwhelming technology and infrastructure stack,” he said. “The company is also seeing success in the ability of our partners to help us reach global enterprises and Fortune 5000 customers.”

Kunaparaju told me that the company plans to use the new funding to expand its go-to-market efforts and product offerings. “The company will be using the money in a few different areas, including expanding our go-to-market motion and new pursuits in EMEA and APAC, in addition to expanding our North American presence,” he said. “We’ll also be doubling-down on product development on a variety of fronts.”

Given that hybrid clouds only increase the workload for IT organizations and introduce additional tools, it’s maybe no surprise that investors are now interested in companies that offer services that rein in this complexity. If anything, we’ll likely see more deals like this one in the coming months.

“As more of our customers transition to hybrid infrastructure, we find the OpsRamp platform to be a differentiated IT operations management offering that aligns well with the core strategies of HPE,” said Paul Glaser, Vice President and Head of Hewlett Packard Pathfinder. “With OpsRamp’s product vision and customer traction, we felt it was the right time to invest in the growth and scale of their business.”

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What Is Thermal Paste and How Does it Keep Your Processor Cool?

When you’re building a PC, you’re more excited about the new processor, graphics card, and RAM instead of the tube of thermal paste you bought. However, thermal paste is vital for your computer’s health; without it, your PC won’t stay on for very long!

Let’s explore what thermal paste is and how it works.

What Is Thermal Paste?

Thermal paste (also known as thermal grease or thermal compound) is a substance applied between the processor and the heat sink. You can buy small tubes of thermal paste at electronics stores, sometimes accompanied by a small shovel-like tool called an applicator.

When you’re building a PC, you’ll need a tube of thermal paste for your PC to run smoothly. Some CPU heat sinks come with thermal paste pre-applied to it so you can install it and go. Some hardware enthusiasts, however, will swear by and manually apply their favorite brand of thermal paste.

The role of thermal paste is to help transfer heat away from the CPU and into the heat sink. The heat sink then expels the heat away from the hardware. This keeps the CPU cool, especially when it’s hard at work processing tasks.

You may also find the term “stock thermal paste.” This kind is thermal paste applied by the manufacturer, such as on a pre-built machine. However, some manufacturers skimp out on the thermal paste and use a compound that’s not very effective at conducting heat.

As such, enthusiasts will often replace this stock thermal paste with their preferred brand of “aftermarket” paste—the stuff you buy off the shelves.

How Does Thermal Paste Work?

CPUs can get very hot, so it’s essential to draw heat from it as quickly as possible. Unfortunately, air is a terrible conductor of heat, so there needs to be as little air as possible between the CPU and the heat sink for optimum transfer.

If you’ve prodded around inside a computer, you’ll know that the heat sink presses tightly against the CPU. This seal may seem good enough to stop air from getting in; unfortunately, even a tight squeeze isn’t enough to keep air out.

The surface of the CPU and the heat sink’s contact plate is covered in tiny grooves and gaps. If not properly sealed up, these gaps allow air between the processor and the heat sink, reducing the heat transfer efficiency between the two.

This is where thermal paste comes in. Not only is thermal paste a good conductor of heat, but it can get into those small gaps and grooves on the surfaces of the hardware. This creates an air-tight seal and increases the rate of heat transfer.

Over time, the thermal paste will get old and dry. The dryness reduces its effectiveness and causes the CPU to get toasty. This occurrence is why people suggest re-applying the thermal paste to prevent a computer from overheating.

Do You Need Thermal Paste?

You may think that thermal paste isn’t as essential in a PC build than the processor or power supply. While a computer will boot without thermal paste, the problem will be keeping it alive while you use it!

Without thermal paste, there isn’t optimal heat transfer between the CPU and the heat sink. As such, the CPU gets a lot hotter than it would be if you had used paste. If the CPU gets too hot, it will overheat; this results in stuttering from throttling, blue screens, and random shutdowns.

While buying thermal paste is the least exciting part of a computer build, it’s a must-have. It allows the heat sink to do its job better and protects your computer from burning out and shutting down.

If you’re wondering if you need thermal paste because you’re worried about messing up your brand new expensive processor with gray goop, try getting a heat sink with paste pre-applied. The paste may not be the best kind on the market, but it does make installation easier.

How Do You Apply Thermal Paste?

Given the importance of thermal paste, there’s a disturbingly volatile debate on the best way to apply it. If you scour the internet, you’ll find theorems, strategies, and passed-down advice for application. The above video shows how varied these paste application patterns can get.

The simplest method of application is to place a pea-sized drop on the middle of the processor. Then, attach the heat sink to the processor, applying pressure on the four corners equally. This ensures the thermal paste is squashed and distributed evenly along the surface.

If your thermal paste comes with an applicator, you can use it to get an even spread of paste. Some people like this method to ensure the spread is perfect before they clamp the heat sink down on the processor.

Some methods talk about a line-based application that spans across the cores of the processor. Of course, you’ll need to know where the cores are on the processor, so it’s not for everyone.

In our guide on how to choose and mount a CPU fan, we link to an Artic Silver application website that tells you the ideal paste application method depending on the CPU model. This is great for studying different ways and choosing the method that suits your hardware best.

Regardless of what method you pick, it’s important to ensure no bubbles or gaps occur in the paste. These allow pesky air to get in and hinder heat distribution.

What’s the Best Thermal Paste Brand?

Selecting the best thermal paste is pretty tricky, as everyone has different opinions on which one works best for them. However, you can choose the best brands by looking at test results and basing your decision off of raw data.

To examine thermal paste efficiency, a tester first measures a computer’s idle temperature. Then, they apply a brand of thermal paste to the processor. The computer is then put through a stress test.

The tester checks the max temperature the processor hits during the stress test. They then compare the stress test temperature to the idle temperature from before. The smaller the difference between the idle temperature and the stress test temperature, the better the thermal paste is at removing heat.

To see the best thermal paste brands, try this benchmark spreadsheet and look for the compound with the lowest change in temperature. The spreadsheet will also note if a brand of paste is hard to apply, so be sure to note that if you’ve never used thermal paste before.

Keeping Your PC Cool

While thermal paste isn’t required to boot up a computer, it’s very useful for keeping temperatures down. As such, you should always apply thermal paste when building a computer, even if the internet can’t agree on the best way to distribute it!

If you want to keep your processor chilly, why not check out the best cooling systems for your PC?

Read the full article: What Is Thermal Paste and How Does it Keep Your Processor Cool?

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How to Track Your Friends Using Google Maps

You can now share your real-time location using Google Maps. This also means you can track the location of your friends as they go about their business. Most people will love this functionality, but privacy advocates may have some reservations.

To get the most out of modern technology you have to give up some of your privacy. So, while it’s entirely possible to use it anonymously, allowing Google Maps to see your location makes it come alive. And Google Maps’ latest trick makes that truer than ever…

How to Track Your Friends Using Google Maps

In March 2017, Google added the ability to share your real-time location in Google Maps. The feature was detailed in a post on The Keyword, with Google explaining how it works. Essentially, you can share your location with friends, and vice versa.

To share your real-time location on Google Maps, first, make sure your Location services are enabled. Then, open Google Maps, and find the blue dot showing where you are. Click that blue dot, and Google Maps will give you several different options.

Tap, “Share Your Location”, and choose how long you want to share your location for. This can be for a certain amount of time, or until you turn location sharing off. Then, choose the person or people you want to share your location with, and click “Share”.

You can share your location with your Google contacts, or send a link through your favorite messaging apps. Once you have shared your location with a friend or friends, they have the option to reciprocate. Which is how you can track your friends using Google Maps.

This could be useful if you and your friends are on a night out together or on a trip somewhere. By all sharing your location with each other, you can keep track of everyone in the group, and arrange to meet up in one central location. All through Google Maps.

All the while you’re sharing your location with others, you’ll see an icon on your own map reminding you you’re sharing your location. Google will also email you regular reminders that you’re sharing your location to make sure you don’t forget.

Turn Google Maps Into a Real-Life Marauder’s Map

Google addresses any privacy concerns right up front, making it clear that you’re always in control of sharing your location. The company has also put various safeguards in place to prevent you from forgetting. However, this is unlikely to appease privacy advocates.

This feature turns Google Maps into a real-life Marauder’s Map. Which, for the uninitiated, is a magical map from the Harry Potter series which tracks the location of everyone within Hogwarts. And with that in mind, here are the best Harry Potter apps for your phone.

Read the full article: How to Track Your Friends Using Google Maps

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Adobe InDesign vs. Canva: Which Is Best?

There are tons of graphic design programs available, and which program you use depends a lot on your budget. So, in this article, we pit Adobe InDesign vs. Canva to find out which is best.

Adobe InDesign is a subscription-based service, and one of the most popular apps on the market. On the other hand, you have Canva, a website that allows you to create printable documents for free.

So we decided to pit Adobe InDesign vs. Canva to see which is best across a range of different categories. Here is a list of pros and cons for both programs, to help you decide which to use.

What Is Adobe InDesign?

Adobe InDesign is Adobe’s desktop publishing software specifically tailored for graphic designers. For $20.99/month, you can subscribe to the Adobe InDesign Single App plan.

You can also get it bundled with the rest of Adobe Creative Cloud—including Photoshop—for $52.99/month.

Through Adobe InDesign, you can create printable documents. These documents include but are not limited to:

• Posters
• Books
• Magazines
• Restaurant Menus

The major upside to Adobe InDesign is that it’s a versatile program with a massive font library. The downside? The subscription to Adobe InDesign can get expensive. There is definitely a price tag attached.

What Is Canva?

Canva is a relative newcomer to the graphic design scene. Like InDesign, its primary goal is to help you make graphic designs for a variety of different projects, both online and printed.

The big difference with Canva is that it’s a free-to-use website that simply requires you to create an account. You can also upgrade to Canva Pro at a later date if you need to.

Canva templates are what the website is most well-known for, and this is because it is geared towards people who have little to no experience with graphic design.

If you feel overwhelmed by the idea of starting something from scratch, Canva is there to walk you through the process.

Through the website, you can:

• Browse templates for calendars, cards, and Canva resumes, among others.
• Use one of these templates as-is, or adjust the colors and text within a template to make it match your needs.
• You can also create a document from scratch through the tools being offered, and save your Canva design to your personal library.

Canva also has an expansive library of fonts. If you upgrade to the Pro version, you get access to the Brand Kit, which allows you to upload and use your own fonts, too.

However, Canva’s font library is not as large as Adobe Fonts. This is where the main trade off happens. While it’s free, Canva has fewer options.

Let’s go through the pros and cons of each program, to decide which one is best…

Adobe InDesign vs. Canva: What Can They Do?

1. Templates

The first thing we did was compare the two programs in terms of templates. Surprisingly—despite being a free program—Canva comes out on top.

This is because the main point of Canva is to use templates to make the design process easier. As such, they have a massive catalog for every design purpose under the sun.

Adobe InDesign does have templates, and you can download additional templates from third-party sources. However, pre-made templates are not the app’s only focus.

Rather, it is there to help you design your own templates from the ground-up.

Winner: Canva

2. Interface

Canva has a clear, easy-to-use interface. There are also multiple tutorials on how to navigate the website. This includes some of our own, like how to make a flyer using Canva.

Once you get used to the basic controls, you’ll almost be able to use the website in your sleep.

While Adobe InDesign offers more versatility, it also has a more complicated interface. You are not going to learn how to use it in the first couple of minutes of an InDesign Tutorial, or even the first couple of hours.

This makes the learning curve for the program—and the time you have to invest in it—much steeper.

Winner: Canva

3. Font Packages

For a free program, Canva actually has a lot of options for pre-installed fonts. With Canva Pro you get access to 1000+ fonts, which is even more than the standard Canva.

However, both of these options are not as expansive as Adobe InDesign, which gives you access to Adobe’s font collection. You can also download third-party fonts and install them for use in the program.

Winner: Adobe InDesign

4. Access to Stock Images

Canva does give you access to stock photos if you go to the Canva Photos page. These photos can be inserted directly into your designs, depending on the licensing for those photos. Overall, the stock photos are pretty cheap.

Adobe InDesign also gives you easy access to Adobe Stock Photos by allowing you to search for photos directly through the program.

However, these photos can run on the pricier side due to who they are catering to: typically professional designers working as contractors, or employees for third-party clients.

Winner: Tie

5. Price

To no one’s surprise, Canva knocks this one out of the park because it’s free. As mentioned, there is Canva Pro, but we should stress that Canva Pro is optional. You can still do a lot without it.

Conversely, the Adobe InDesign price is $20.99/month as a single app subscription. You can try out the Adobe InDesign free trial, but after that trial runs out, the costs will add up.

Winner: Canva

6. Professionalism

While Canva has a lot going for it, it is unfortunately not the most industry-friendly option on this list. This is because Canva pushes its pre-made templates. If you’re a designer, you’re expected to know how to design these templates on your own.

For many years, Adobe InDesign was also known as the program for desktop publishing. So on top of its focus with designing-from-scratch, it has a well-earned reputation to support it.

Knowing how to use it is considered a valuable and transferable skill.

Winner: Adobe InDesign

Adobe InDesign vs. Canva: Which Is Better?

And our overall winner? In the battle of Adobe InDesign vs. Canva, Canva comes out on top, but by the slimmest of margins!

While these two programs come out in almost a dead tie, Canva edges it thanks to both being free and aimed at everyday readers. If you’re someone who needs to do some occasional graphic design—instead of designing as your full-time job—then this is the tool for you. It’s free, easy-to-use, and has basically no learning curve.

However, if you are a graphic designer, you should still go with Adobe InDesign. This is thanks to its versatility, its large font library, and the fact that it’s an industry-standard tool which will stand you in good stead for the future.

Things You Can Create Using Canva

Despite Canva winning, both of these programs are brilliant. So, if you can afford it, we recommend checking out Adobe InDesign as well as Canva. And if you’re looking for ideas on what to do with Canva, here are some things you can create in Canva with zero effort.

Read the full article: Adobe InDesign vs. Canva: Which Is Best?

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How to Reset Your Apple Watch and Its Passcode

Your Apple Watch stores a lot of private information, such as Apple Pay credit cards, health and fitness information, app data, and much more. Setting a passcode lock provides a great way to help protect that information in case the device is ever lost or stolen.

But sometimes you might forget your Apple Watch passcode. The good news is that there’s no need to worry. We’ll show you how to reset your Apple Watch and not lose any data.

How to Reset an Apple Watch Using Your iPhone

If you’ve forgotten the Apple Watch passcode, the first way to reset the device is by using your iPhone. Open up the companion Watch app on your phone, then select the My Watch tab. Select General and scroll down to the very end of the page. At the bottom, choose Reset.

On the Reset page, select the first option: Erase Apple Watch Content and Settings. Because it is impossible to undo this, you’ll have to confirm that option one more time to begin the reset process.

If you have a GPS + Cellular Apple Watch model, you’ll see a final dialog box where you can choose to keep or remove your cellular plan. If you’re keeping the Apple Watch, you should save the cellular plan.

Since you’re doing this to troubleshoot your Watch and/or iPhone, all your carrier information will remain on the device. The only reason to delete your cellular plan information is if you want to sell or trade in your Apple Watch for a new model.

As a final step, you’ll have to enter your Apple ID password to deactivate the Activation Lock security feature. Before the watch completely erases and resets, a full backup will automatically save on your iPhone.

You’ll need to be patient as the entire process takes a substantial amount of time, especially on older Apple Watch models.

Just to note: if you forgot your Apple Watch passcode, the reset process with an iPhone is the same no matter what model of Watch you have.

How to Factory Reset an Apple Watch Without an iPhone

If you don’t have your iPhone handy, there’s no need to worry. Let’s look at how to factory reset an Apple Watch without a phone nearby.

Most importantly, keep your Apple Watch on its charger to make sure that your device won’t run out of power. Here’s the rest of the process:

1. Press and hold the Side Button on the Apple Watch until you see a screen with three options: Power Off, Medical ID, or Emergency SOS.
2. Instead of toggling the Power Off slider, firmly press the button and then quickly lift your finger off the screen.
3. You should then see an option to Erase all content and settings. Select that option. Just like when using an iPhone, to erase the Apple Watch, you’ll have to enter the Apple ID and password.
4. Select whether you want to keep or remove the cellular plan, if applicable.

The watch will then begin the erasure process. Keep in mind that this method won’t make a new backup made before it wipes the Apple Watch. That means when you restore the backup data, it could be a few days old.

How to Restore Your Apple Watch

Now that you’ve wiped your Apple Watch, it’s time to restore it with a backup. To start the process, bring your iPhone and Apple Watch near each other. The watch screen will say Bring iPhone near Apple Watch.

On your iPhone, a dialog box will appear that says Use your iPhone to set up this Apple Watch. Select Continue.

You’ll then see a special image on the Apple Watch. Line up the image on the watch with your iPhone screen using the camera to begin the pairing process. If you run into problems, take a look at these fixes to try if your Apple Watch won’t pair.

Next, you’ll choose whether to set up the Watch as new or use a backup. As long as you regularly back up your iPhone, there should be data to restore for the Apple Watch.
After signing in with your Apple ID and password, you’ll have a few different settings to select, including activating Siri.

Next, it’s time to create a new passcode of anywhere from four to 10 digits. You can select to not have a passcode, but it is required if you add any Apple Pay information. And it’s generally a good security practice to help protect all your data.

Finally, as long as you didn’t remove the cellular plan from the Watch, you’ll reconfirm that information.

The syncing process will then begin. Expect it to take some time. You can wear the Apple Watch, but make sure to keep your iPhone handy. The watch will make a noise to inform you when it’s ready to use.

Don’t Worry If You Forget Your Apple Watch Passcode

Just like an iPhone or iPad, forgetting your Apple Watch passcode isn’t the end of the world. As long as you have an iPhone handy, you can get your Watch back up and running with just a bit of work.

And now that you’ve reset your Apple Watch and added a new passcode, there’s a great way to make sure the same problem doesn’t happen again in the future. Make sure to take a look at these great iPhone password managers to store your Apple Watch passcode for safekeeping.

Read the full article: How to Reset Your Apple Watch and Its Passcode

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8 Cheapest Cloud Storage Providers

Whether you’re interested in cloud storage to sync files across devices or because you don’t have enough local space, you probably want to find the cheapest cloud storage possible. After all, who wants to pay more than necessary?

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Let’s take a look at the cheapest online storage options available. We’ll look at the pricing in both absolute terms and per-gigabyte so you can choose what’s best for you.

1. The Most Generous Free Cloud Storage: Google Drive

Pricing: 15GB for free

The cheapest online storage doesn’t get any more cost-effective than free. If you don’t want to pay, Google Drive provides the most storage at no charge with a generous 15GB.

However, you should note that this storage is shared across your Google account. Thus, if you also use Gmail or Google Photos, you may find your storage disappears faster than you’d like.

If that’s the case, give pCloud a look. The service provides 10GB of free space, but you can easily increase that to 15GB by completing simple tasks after signing up. These include verifying your email address, downloading the software on your computer and phone, and enabling automatic photo upload.

2. The Best Budget Cloud Storage: iCloud

Pricing: 50GB for $0.99/month ($0.0198 per GB)

Our next category is budget cloud storage, meaning the lowest price you can pay (aside from free) for any amount of storage. That distinction goes to iCloud, which is the only major cloud storage provider to offer a 50GB plan.

50GB isn’t much space, but a dollar per month is the lowest absolute price you’ll find for cloud storage. This is probably enough to back up your iPhone or give you some room to move files between devices. Of course, being an Apple product, it’s best-suited for those who primarily work on Mac, iPhone, and iPad.

Its price per GB is one of the highest on the list, but that’s to be expected for such a small amount. If you purchase one of the plans with more storage, you can share the storage among your family. See the best uses for iCloud storage if you go with that.

3. The Cheapest 100GB or 200GB Cloud Storage: Google One

Pricing for 100GB: $1.99/month ($0.0199 per GB) or $19.99/year ($0.01666 per GB)

Pricing for 200GB: $2.99/month ($0.01495 per GB) or $29.99/year ($0.0125 per GB)

In case 50GB isn’t enough or you don’t use Apple devices, Google Drive (through Google One) provides the cheapest cloud storage for the next step up.

If you’re interested in a 100GB plan, you can save 16% over monthly pricing by signing up for an annual plan and paying just $1.67 per month. Meanwhile, the 200GB tier works out to just $2.50 per month when you pay annually.

As mentioned, Google now provides storage upgrades through its Google One program instead of buying it through Google Drive directly. In addition to the extra storage, this service also grants access to Google experts, the option to add family members to your plan, and “extra member benefits.”

These additional benefits include discounts on hotels, plus a percentage back on purchases made in the Google Store if you upgrade to the 200GB plan or above. This makes it the best cloud storage for heavy users of Google services. And if you need a massive amount of space, Google One plans go all the way up to 30TB.

4. The Cheapest 500GB Cloud Storage: pCloud

Pricing: 500GB for $4.99/month ($0.00998 per GB) or $47.88/year ($0.00798 per GB)

We gave pCloud’s free plan a shout-out earlier, but it’s also the only major cloud storage provider to offer a 500GB plan. This is the first storage tier where prices fall below $0.01 per gigabyte, making it more cost-effective.

Of note is that pCloud limits you to 500GB of download link traffic, which is used when people stream or download content from your public links. As long as you don’t primarily use your cloud storage to host files for others to access, this shouldn’t pose an issue.

We’ve looked at pCloud in detail before, so take a look at that for more info. If you really like it, you can upgrade to a lifetime 500GB plan for a one-time fee of $175.

5. The Cheapest 1TB Cloud Storage: MediaFire

Pricing: 1TB for $5/month ($0.005 per GB) or $45/year ($0.00375 per GB)

Many people use MediaFire primarily for sharing files with others, but it works as a personal cloud storage solution, too. Its 1TB pricing is the cheapest you’ll find, but it unfortunately has some issues that might make you look elsewhere.

MediaFire doesn’t offer desktop apps, so you’ll have to sync everything using the website or mobile apps. Its security and privacy features are lacking compared to other providers, and it skips on some power features that make other cloud storage so handy.

Give it a look if you only care about price, but for most people, there’s a much better option at the 1TB level…

6. The Best 1TB Cloud Storage: Microsoft OneDrive

Pricing: 1TB for $6.99/month ($0.00699 per GB) or $69.99/year ($0.00583 per GB)

If you’re a Microsoft Office user, the best value in cloud storage is Microsoft’s Office 365 Personal plan. In addition to a terabyte of cloud storage through OneDrive, you receive fully featured versions of Office for your PC, Mac, and mobile devices. This includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and Outlook—plus Access and Publisher on Windows only.

Office 365 subscriptions also include 60 minutes of Skype calls per month, in addition to Microsoft tech support. If you were interested in Office anyway, this is a no-brainer.

Families can get an even better value through an Office 365 Home subscription. For $9.99/month or $99.99/year, you’ll receive the above benefits for up to six people.

7. The Cheapest 2TB—4TB Cloud Storage: Sync.com

Pricing for 2TB: $96/year ($0.004 per GB)

Pricing for 3TB: $144/year ($0.004 per GB)

Pricing for 4TB: $180/year ($0.00375 per GB)

Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, pCloud, and lesser-known Sync.com all offer a 2TB plan. They’re close in pricing, but pCloud and Sync.com have the edge at $8/month each.

We’ve spoken about pCloud above, so let’s focus on Sync here for large amounts of cloud storage.

Like pCloud, Sync has a focus on privacy and offers plenty of solid features that make it worth a look. The service places no limits on the amount of data you share per month, and offers an impressive 180 day file recovery (365 days on the 3TB and 4TB plans), compared to 30 days for pCloud.

Since the two services are similar, it’s worth trying a free account for both and seeing which you like better before you decide to upgrade. If you need even more storage, Sync also offers a 3TB plan for $144/year or 4TB for $180/year. Each are the most cost-effective at their tiers.

Note that iDrive, a backup tool (not affiliated with Apple), offers a 2TB plan for $69.50/year, which is a significantly lower cost. However, since it offers cloud backup and not cloud storage, we didn’t include it here. Have a look at the best online backup services if you’re looking for something like that.

8. The Cheapest Massive Cloud Storage: MEGA.nz

Pricing for 8TB: $22.17/month ($0.00277 per GB) or $221.81/year ($0.00231 per GB)

Pricing for 16TB: 500GB for $33.26/month ($0.00208 per GB) or $332.72/year ($0.00173 per GB)

If you need an absolutely massive amount of cloud storage space, the cheapest cloud storage you’ll find is on MEGA.nz. This longtime cloud storage service was once known for offering 50GB of free space. While it no longer does so, it offers the best value at this storage tier.

MEGA might not have quite the level of familiarity as services like Dropbox, but it’s certainly usable and offers solid features. Considering that Google One charges $99.99/month for a 10TB plan, these prices are a steal for the few that need them.

The Cheapest Online Storage for Your Files

Now you know what the cheapest cloud storage provider is at every tier. Whether you’re just looking for free cloud storage or need a huge amount on a budget, you can find the right one for your needs.

While we mainly went by price here, it’s important to consider the ease of use, feature set, and integration of your cloud storage service as well. It might be worth paying a few extra dollars per month for those benefits.

Don’t forget about other options for storage, either. In many cases, buying one of the best NAS units could work out to a lower cost than paying for cloud storage.

Read the full article: 8 Cheapest Cloud Storage Providers

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Get Lifetime Online Backup for Under $50 With Degoo Premium

Think about the files stored on your computer. Would it hurt to lose them? If you have family photos and tax documents saved locally, the answer is probably yes. Some backup solutions are pretty expensive, but not Degoo Premium. With this service, you get more space than with Dropbox, OneDrive, and Google Drive combined. Right now, you can pick up the lifetime 1TB plan for only $49.99 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Simple Yet Effective

You might not have heard of Degoo. This platform does not attract the same attention as Google Drive and iCloud. However, it provides most of the same features at a fraction of the price.

Degoo has apps for Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS. The software runs in the background, automatically uploading new files and updating old ones. For added peace of mind, you can even ask Degoo to perform a secondary backup at the same time.

All your data is protected by AES-256 encryption, and you can choose exactly which files will be backed up. Once your files are online, you can access them via any browser. In addition, Degoo allows you to share files securely with friends, family, and coworkers.

Get Lifetime Backup for $49.99

Lifetime service is worth $900, but you can hop on the 1TB plan now for just $49.99. You can also get the 2TB lifetime plan for $59.99 (worth $1,200), the 3TB lifetime plan for $69.99 (worth $1,500), or the 10TB lifetime plan for $99.99 (worth $3,600).

Degoo Premium: Lifetime 1TB Backup Plan – $49.99

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You can’t beat free! Get $70+ worth of premium Mac apps for free today!

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Snapchat launches Bitmoji TV: zany 4-min cartoons of your avatar

If you were the star of every show, would you watch more mobile television? Snapchat is betting that narcissism drives resonance for its new weekly videos that put you and your friends’ customizable Bitmoji avatars into a flurry of silly animated situations. Bitmoji TV premieres on Saturday morning, and it’s remarkably funny, exciting, and addictive. Think cartoon SNL on fast-forward with you playing a secret agent, a zombie president, or a Moonlympics athlete.

It’s a style of content only Snapchat could pull off that relies on ubiquitous personalized avatars only Snapchat owns. The company says 70% of its daily active users, or 147 million of its 210 million, have made themselves a Bitmoji. Snapchat bought Bitmoji’s parent company Bitstrips in 2016 for a steal at $62.5 million, and it’s paying off. Amidst a sea of premium video and haphazard Stories that blur together across streaming services and social apps, Snapchat finally found something Facebook can’t copy.

“We really believe that we have invented a new category of entertainment. It’s scripted but it’s personalized. You could take that in a million directions” says Bitmoji co-founder and CEO Ba Blackstock who wrote and directed Bitmoji TV. “First and foremost, I hope that everyone who watches this has kind of a mind blowing experience that they’ve never had before.”

Bitmoji TV, which TechCrunch was first to report Snapchat was building last month, will have its own Snapchat Show page where users can subscribe to get notifications and see new episodes on the Discover Page. Users can visit this page on mobile or tap and hold on the Snapcode below while pointing at it with the Snapchat camera to open Bitmoji TV.

The show is designed to be PG-13 with some bleeped out swearing and a little bloody violence. The shows are made out of Bitmoji’s Toronto office and are based on North American TV, film, and advertising. Each episode cuts away and back to a main story, with the first two centered around an America’s Best Bitmoji game show and a Mime Cops hostage negotiation. Interspersed are ‘channel flips’ between shorter single-gag clips that take your avatar into sit-coms, soap operas, action movies, and informercials.

The gags are ridiculous. At the basketball “Moonlympics”, a player jumps up for a dunk, but low gravity causes him to crash through the glass dome and suck all the other players into space. At Cannibal High, an school announcement says “Attention students, we’re all deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Vice Principal Schneider. To honor his legacy, today the cafeteria will be serving Vice Principal Schneider.”

You’re not alone it Bitmoji TV. There’ll be occassional celebrity guests like Randy Jackson, Andy Richter, and Jon Lovitz. But your co-star in these segments is the Bitmoji of whichever person you last interacted with on Snapchat. That lets you control whether you want your best friend, your significant other, or some rando alongside you. That decision will change the way you interpret the jokes and scenes. Your Bitmoji won’t talk, but their’s will.

Getting philosophical, Blackstock explains that “When you say words to me, it’s not just your words in a vacuum. They’re coming from you. You’re the medium . . . In any narrative fiction you learn about the characters, they have a back story, they have relationships that exist under the story that color it.” Who you make your supporting actor lends personal subtext that enriches each story. That’s one reason you can’t download or easily share clips of your version of Bitmoji TV, and Snap instead just lets you share a link to watch the real thing. Blackstock says it just doesn’t have the same effect if you’re not in the spotlight.

One thing you won’t find in Bitmoji TV, at least at first, are advertisements. The initial 10 episode season won’t have them. But that does seem to be the plan. When I asked Blackstock about monetizing the show, he said “You can imagine. Discover has a business model of showing ads.” Since it make Bitmoji TV, Snapchat would get to keep that ad money rather than paying it out with revenue shares to partners or by buying content. Just as we’ve seen music and video streaming apps move to cut royalty expenses by creating content in-house, Snap seems to have the same idea.

Snapchat has yet to monetize Bitmoji directly beyond its merchandise store where you can get yours on t-shirts and mugs. Surprisingly, it doesn’t sell premium or branded clothes and looks for Bitmoji, nor does it allow brands to pay to have their apparel featured.

Snap did recently start letting people mix-and-match clothes for their Bitmoji, and when asked if that could foreshadow a revenue opportunity, Blackstock said “You gotta build the store before you start selling the clothes . . . this was a foundational evolution designed to not only improve the experience for users but to set the stage for things to come.” You and your friends seeing your avatar’s fresh outfit on Bitmoji TV might make people care more about what their digital mini-mes wear.

Having watched the first three episodes, I’m pretty certain Bitmoji TV is going to be a hit. The show embodies the whimsy of Snapchat and the youth culture of the community who uses it. It’s rare to see something so premium but so unabashedly kooky. It’s remininscent of the Rick & Morty ‘Interdimensional Cable’ episodes that similarly feature rapid-fire snippets of fake and absurd TV shows.

Yet “the idea for Bitmoji TV actually precedes Bitmoji. It’s something I’ve been thinking about since those days [before Snapchat acquired it.] In a way it precedes Bitstrips. I’ve been making comics and cartoons since I was a little kid” Blackstock tells me. “How I met two of the co-founders of Bitstrips was passing them comics in class. Even after school when we had jobs I would draw comics of my co-founder that were very compromising and I would fax them to his office to try to get him fired” he recalls with a hearty laugh. Now he has the budget to make them TV-worthy but just as crazy.

Snapchat has a good hunch it’s going to work because it’s been testing a comic-stripped down version called Bitmoji Stories. These still or lightly-animated slide shows use the same idea of starring the avatars of you and your friends, but without full-motion video or constant audio. 130 million people have watched Bitmoji Stories since they launched in late 2018.

Blackstock tells me “They were easier to make at a high volume and release ongoingly, which we could put out as a prelude to get our audience ready for personalized content — but also for us to learn from and see how people responded and figure out our own processes in terms of production.” Snapchat had animators and engineers work hand in hand to build a rendering system for Bitmoji Stories and TV. That helps it rapidly produce the personalizable content that can flex to accomodate any shaped avatar without them clipping into their surroundings.

Tonight, Bitmoji TV will receive an in-person ‘silent disco-style’ premiere at Los Angeles’ Soho House. Guests will scan a code on the big screen, don headphones, and each watch on their own phone with themselves as the star.

Snapchat’s head of original content Sean Mills tells me that “New technology will unlock new kinds of storytelling” citing “the power of bringing a user into the experience with their best friends.” Bitmoji TV has certainly found a way to turn vanity into engagement. It’s more compelling than the mediocre originals on Facebook Watch. And it’s technologically innovative, unlike the planned lineup for Quibi.

If the modern era of visual communication began with the selfie, Snap honed it into a messaging tool. A few words were more interesting with a friend’s face behind it. The original Bitmoji chat stickers let your face say whatever you wanted even without having to get on camera. Snapchat’s new Cameo feature grafts your face into GIFs to express even more complex feelings. And now with Bitmoji TV, an animated version of your face can live out your wildest fantasies or weirdest dreams. That’s something worth tuning into.

Snapchat Cameos edit your face into videos

Read Full Article

Snapchat launches Bitmoji TV: zany 4-min cartoons of your avatar

If you were the star of every show, would you watch more mobile television? Snapchat is betting that narcissism drives resonance for its new weekly videos that put you and your friends’ customizable Bitmoji avatars into a flurry of silly animated situations. Bitmoji TV premieres on Saturday morning, and it’s remarkably funny, exciting, and addictive. Think cartoon SNL on fast-forward with you playing a secret agent, a zombie president, or a Moonlympics athlete.

It’s a style of content only Snapchat could pull off that relies on ubiquitous personalized avatars only Snapchat owns. The company says 70% of its daily active users, or 147 million of its 210 million, have made themselves a Bitmoji. Snapchat bought Bitmoji’s parent company Bitstrips in 2016 for a steal at $62.5 million, and it’s paying off. Amidst a sea of premium video and haphazard Stories that blur together across streaming services and social apps, Snapchat finally found something Facebook can’t copy.

“We really believe that we have invented a new category of entertainment. It’s scripted but it’s personalized. You could take that in a million directions” says Bitmoji co-founder and CEO Ba Blackstock who wrote and directed Bitmoji TV. “First and foremost, I hope that everyone who watches this has kind of a mind blowing experience that they’ve never had before.”

Bitmoji TV, which TechCrunch was first to report Snapchat was building last month, will have its own Snapchat Show page where users can subscribe to get notifications and see new episodes on the Discover Page. Users can visit this page on mobile or tap and hold on the Snapcode below while pointing at it with the Snapchat camera to open Bitmoji TV.

The show is designed to be PG-13 with some bleeped out swearing and a little bloody violence. The shows are made out of Bitmoji’s Toronto office and are based on North American TV, film, and advertising. Each episode cuts away and back to a main story, with the first two centered around an America’s Best Bitmoji game show and a Mime Cops hostage negotiation. Interspersed are ‘channel flips’ between shorter single-gag clips that take your avatar into sit-coms, soap operas, action movies, and informercials.

The gags are ridiculous. At the basketball “Moonlympics”, a player jumps up for a dunk, but low gravity causes him to crash through the glass dome and suck all the other players into space. At Cannibal High, an school announcement says “Attention students, we’re all deeply saddened by the sudden passing of Vice Principal Schneider. To honor his legacy, today the cafeteria will be serving Vice Principal Schneider.”

You’re not alone it Bitmoji TV. There’ll be occassional celebrity guests like Randy Jackson, Andy Richter, and Jon Lovitz. But your co-star in these segments is the Bitmoji of whichever person you last interacted with on Snapchat. That lets you control whether you want your best friend, your significant other, or some rando alongside you. That decision will change the way you interpret the jokes and scenes. Your Bitmoji won’t talk, but their’s will.

Getting philosophical, Blackstock explains that “When you say words to me, it’s not just your words in a vacuum. They’re coming from you. You’re the medium . . . In any narrative fiction you learn about the characters, they have a back story, they have relationships that exist under the story that color it.” Who you make your supporting actor lends personal subtext that enriches each story. That’s one reason you can’t download or easily share clips of your version of Bitmoji TV, and Snap instead just lets you share a link to watch the real thing. Blackstock says it just doesn’t have the same effect if you’re not in the spotlight.

One thing you won’t find in Bitmoji TV, at least at first, are advertisements. The initial 10 episode season won’t have them. But that does seem to be the plan. When I asked Blackstock about monetizing the show, he said “You can imagine. Discover has a business model of showing ads.” Since it make Bitmoji TV, Snapchat would get to keep that ad money rather than paying it out with revenue shares to partners or by buying content. Just as we’ve seen music and video streaming apps move to cut royalty expenses by creating content in-house, Snap seems to have the same idea.

Snapchat has yet to monetize Bitmoji directly beyond its merchandise store where you can get yours on t-shirts and mugs. Surprisingly, it doesn’t sell premium or branded clothes and looks for Bitmoji, nor does it allow brands to pay to have their apparel featured.

Snap did recently start letting people mix-and-match clothes for their Bitmoji, and when asked if that could foreshadow a revenue opportunity, Blackstock said “You gotta build the store before you start selling the clothes . . . this was a foundational evolution designed to not only improve the experience for users but to set the stage for things to come.” You and your friends seeing your avatar’s fresh outfit on Bitmoji TV might make people care more about what their digital mini-mes wear.

Having watched the first three episodes, I’m pretty certain Bitmoji TV is going to be a hit. The show embodies the whimsy of Snapchat and the youth culture of the community who uses it. It’s rare to see something so premium but so unabashedly kooky. It’s remininscent of the Rick & Morty ‘Interdimensional Cable’ episodes that similarly feature rapid-fire snippets of fake and absurd TV shows.

Yet “the idea for Bitmoji TV actually precedes Bitmoji. It’s something I’ve been thinking about since those days [before Snapchat acquired it.] In a way it precedes Bitstrips. I’ve been making comics and cartoons since I was a little kid” Blackstock tells me. “How I met two of the co-founders of Bitstrips was passing them comics in class. Even after school when we had jobs I would draw comics of my co-founder that were very compromising and I would fax them to his office to try to get him fired” he recalls with a hearty laugh. Now he has the budget to make them TV-worthy but just as crazy.

Snapchat has a good hunch it’s going to work because it’s been testing a comic-stripped down version called Bitmoji Stories. These still or lightly-animated slide shows use the same idea of starring the avatars of you and your friends, but without full-motion video or constant audio. 130 million people have watched Bitmoji Stories since they launched in late 2018.

Blackstock tells me “They were easier to make at a high volume and release ongoingly, which we could put out as a prelude to get our audience ready for personalized content — but also for us to learn from and see how people responded and figure out our own processes in terms of production.” Snapchat had animators and engineers work hand in hand to build a rendering system for Bitmoji Stories and TV. That helps it rapidly produce the personalizable content that can flex to accomodate any shaped avatar without them clipping into their surroundings.

Tonight, Bitmoji TV will receive an in-person ‘silent disco-style’ premiere at Los Angeles’ Soho House. Guests will scan a code on the big screen, don headphones, and each watch on their own phone with themselves as the star.

Snapchat’s head of original content Sean Mills tells me that “New technology will unlock new kinds of storytelling” citing “the power of bringing a user into the experience with their best friends.” Bitmoji TV has certainly found a way to turn vanity into engagement. It’s more compelling than the mediocre originals on Facebook Watch. And it’s technologically innovative, unlike the planned lineup for Quibi.

If the modern era of visual communication began with the selfie, Snap honed it into a messaging tool. A few words were more interesting with a friend’s face behind it. The original Bitmoji chat stickers let your face say whatever you wanted even without having to get on camera. Snapchat’s new Cameo feature grafts your face into GIFs to express even more complex feelings. And now with Bitmoji TV, an animated version of your face can live out your wildest fantasies or weirdest dreams. That’s something worth tuning into.

Snapchat Cameos edit your face into videos

Read Full Article