Finally dark mode arrives to soothe your 3am WhatsApps

Facebook-owned WhatsApp is finally giving users’ eyes a break by rolling out a dark mode setting to the messaging app — years after some other tech giants figured out how to offer a ‘dimmer pixels’ switch.

The messaging giant says the feature is rolling out globally in the “coming days” to the latest version of WhatsApp on both Android and iOS.

The setting can be enabled via system settings for users running the most recent versions of the respective smartphone OSes — or via the WhatsApp settings option on Android:

Users on Android 10 and iOS 13 can use dark mode by enabling it in system settings. Users on Android 9 and below can go into WhatsApp Settings > Chats > Theme > select ‘Dark’.

We’re told iPhone users not running the latest OS are out of luck. “Dark Mode will only be available to users on iOS 13 and above,” said a spokesman.

WhatsApp says the eye-soothing option has been the most requested feature from users everywhere.

Nonetheless it’s taken its sweet time to jump aboard the dark mode bandwagon.

YouTube, for example, announced a dark mode for its iOS app a full two years ago. While Twitter added an even darker mode to its dark mode more than a year ago. Google was also showing off a system-wide dark mode for Android Q last May. In June Apple followed suit, previewing iOS 13’s eye-soothing setting.

Apparently Facebook has low interest in moving fast and soothing things. But, er, it got there in the end…

In a blog post about the launch, WhatsApp writes that it spent its time “researching and experimenting” how to design a dark mode that would ensure “readability” and maintain “information hierarchy”.

Which is a fancy way of saying it didn’t want to reduce eye-strain so much that users might actually remember they need to fall asleep, rather than carry on WhatsApping through the night.

“When choosing colours, we wanted to minimise eye fatigue and use colours that are closer to the system defaults on iPhone and Android respectively,” it writes, before reversing the intent by expressing the counter design: “We wanted to help users easily focus their attention on each screen. We did this by using colour and other design elements to make sure the most important information stands out.”

Perhaps it’s clear why it took the company so long to ‘fix’ eye strain after all.

The Android flavor of the dark mode (below) also appears a smidge less dark on the contacts screen view vs the iOS version (pictured at the top of this post) — though that may be to do with differences in how the two OSes handle dark mode at the system level since WhatsApp said it wanted to reflect those choices.

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When local news dies, so does democracy | Chuck Plunkett

When local news dies, so does democracy | Chuck Plunkett

Nearly 1,800 newsrooms have shuttered across the US since 2004, leaving many communities unseen, unheard and in the dark. In this passionate talk and rallying cry, journalist Chuck Plunkett explains why he rebelled against his employer to raise awareness for an industry under threat of extinction -- and makes the case for local news as an essential part of any healthy democracy.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Mega Modz Makes the PS4 Controller Even Better (Review and Giveaway!)

Our verdict of the Mega Modz PS4 Macro Remap Controller:
It doesn't quite do as much as an Xbox Elite controller, but if you're looking to customize your PlayStation 4 gaming experience, this controller from Mega Modz is one of your best options.810

Earlier this year, Sony released the DualShock 4 Back Button attachment. As the name implies, this lets you add two remappable buttons to the back of the PlayStation 4’s DualShock 4 controller. This can be handy, but it’s a little cumbersome when compared to something like the Xbox Elite Wireless Controller.

Could it be though? That’s the question that Mega Modz seems to be answering with its new modded PlayStation 4 controllers. These take the idea of what you could do with Sony’s back button attachment and run with it, adding a whole lot of style in the process.

What’s in the Box?

Mega Modz doesn’t make these controllers in the same way a third-party controller manufacturer would. Instead, it takes Sony’s official DualShock 4 controllers, makes various modifications to them, then resells them. Because of that, the box these come in is exactly the same as an official PlayStation 4 controller.

The only thing you’ll find when you open the box is the controller itself. You might not even find a manual, though one is included. In my case, the PS4 Macro Remap Controller Operational Guide was included but wouldn’t fit in the box as it’s rather large. The size of the manual is a neccessity, as we’ll see later.

Specs and Features

Before we dive into actually using the Mega Modz modded PlayStation 4 controller, we’ll take a quick look at the basic specs and some of its various features.

• Official Sony DualShock 4 Wireless Controller
• 2 Extra Remappable Buttons
• 4 Additional LED Status Lights
• Macro button for programming extra buttons
• Custom finish

That doesn’t necessarily look like a lot on paper, but once you start putting the controller to work, the benefits become quite clear. Before we get to that, let’s look at the care that Mega Modz puts into these controllers.

Build and Design

Third-party controllers aren’t known for being the nicest to hold or look at, which is one of the reasons it’s nice that this isn’t a third-party controller. Everything you’ve come to known and love about Sony’s iconic controller shape is here, only with a snazzier finish and some extra functionality. If you hate the DualShock 4, you won’t like this either.

One of the most surprising aspects of the Mega Modz PS4 Macro Remap Controller is how little it feels like a modded controller. The added buttons both look and feel like something added at the factory. Even the plastic and the embossed K2 and K4 markings on the buttons look exactly the same as they do on the L2 and R2 buttons, which can’t have been easy.

Given that this is coming from a company, not a random Etsy seller, I knew to expect a certain amount of fit and finish, but I was still surprised at how nicely this was done. The new holes for the Macro button and the four status LEDs look like they’ve always been there. If it weren’t for the somewhat wild colors, I’d easily believe this was some sort of Sony prototype.

Ergonomics and Feel

Companies like Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft spend a lot of time developing their controllers. I can’t speak from experience, but I imagine something like adding new buttons requires several signatures on several different pieces of paper, not to mention hours upon hours of testing.

With that in mind, the location of the extra buttons on this controller works surprisingly well. I can’t imagine where else they would go. In my case, the L4 and R4 buttons fall right below where either my middle fingers or ring fingers would go on the back of the controller, depending on how many fingers I have on the shoulder buttons.

The action of pressing the buttons feels nice too, with enough resistance that you don’t end up accidentally pressing them. That said, they don’t feel like they require too much pressure to press down either. I can’t speak for how well they hold up as I’ve only had a few weeks with the controller, but they still feel as good as they did the day I took the controller out of the box.

Otherwise, everything else is exactly as you would expect from a Dual Shock 4. As I mentioned before, if you don’t like Sony’s standard controller, you’re not going to like this one either. That said, there is a reason Sony has left this design largely the same since the first DualShock controller debuted for the original PlayStation.

Getting Up and Running

Unlike some other modded and macro controllers, programming the Mega Modz controller doesn’t require plugging it into a computer. Everything is done using the Macro button combined with other buttons on the controller.

At the simplest level, assigning one of the rear paddle buttons is quite easy. Simply make sure the controller is turned on, hold down the Macro button plus whichever of the R4 and L4 buttons you wish to assign for two seconds, then tap the button you want to map to the macro button.

That’s it, but effectively moving a button to a different spot on the controller can make a huge difference. For example, many first-person shooters have alternate control options that put melee attacks or jumping on the shoulder buttons for more movement options. In this case, you wouldn’t need to swap control options in-game, just set it up on the controller.

For me, one of the most useful aspects of this basic remap feature was to move the R3 and L3 buttons from the thumbsticks to the extra buttons. Games often map running or other actions to these, and I happen to hate how they feel to press. Moving the “run” button to the L4 button made a few games much more enjoyable to play.

Getting More Out of the Custom Buttons

Moving a button to another location on the controller is just the beginning of what you can do with the Mega Modz Macro Remap controllers. These also let you simulate multiple button presses by holding down a button, great for firing semi-automatic weapons more like their automatic counterparts in shooters. You can also tap a button to simulate holding it down, which can be handy for hand-cramping control combinations.

Using different sub-modes, you can further customize how this works. Sub-mode 1 is simple remap mode, perfect for rebinding the thumbstick buttons as I mentioned before. Sub-mode 2 functions as a turbo mode, letting you hold down a button to simulate rapidly pressing another button. For this mode, you can adjust the timing to get it just right.

Sub-mode 3 functions as an auto double-tap mode, with adjustable timing between the two taps. Sub-mode 4 is similar, though this is a triple-tap mode instead of a double-tap mode, with the same adjustable timing. Finally, sub-mode five is continuous press mode, letting a simple tap simulate holding down a button for an amount of time you specify.

You control these by entering programming mode with a combination of the Macro button and the Home button, then adjusting timing with the shoulder buttons. It takes a little getting used to, and there is some trial and error involved, but after a short while you’ll find programming the controller to be quite easy.

What Can’t the Mega Modz PS4 Remap Controller Do?

One thing you can’t do is program multi-button macros to a single remappable button. This means you can’t take a complex string of inputs for a fighting game, create a macro, then automatically pull off complex moves with a single button press every time you feel like it. If you require that functionality there are other controllers than can handle that, but that doesn’t seem to be a focus for Mega Modz.

You might wonder if the extra macro functionality is cheating, or if Sony is going to ban you for using it. While I can’t promise anything, Sony offers much of this same functionality with its add-on, and I’m there are plenty of third-party controllers with turbo modes for buttons. As far as Sony is concerned, this is probably on the same level as upgrading the storage capacity of your PlayStation 4, which the company allows.

Are the Extras Worth the Price?

I found a certain subset of the functionality this controller offers to be very useful. I find it so useful in fact that I’d definitely consider buying one, and that’s just because I really dislike clicking the thumbsticks. These mods do plenty more, and it’s likely that you would find your own “killer app” for this controller. In that case, this is definitely worth the price.

Considering the price of a standalone DualShock 4 plus Sony’s Back Button attachment, the Mega Modz take on that controller is reasonably priced. Add in all the style and personalization options available, and it’s certainly an attractive option. Put it up against an Xbox Elite controller and it doesn’t look quite as good, but it’s a solid alternative for PlayStation gamers.

If this isn’t your cup of tea but you need to replace that aging DualShock 4, take a look at our list of our favorite PlayStation 4 controllers.

Enter the Competition!

Mega Modz Macro Remap PS4 Controller Giveaway

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The 6 Best Android Apps for Music Production

Nowadays, music production isn’t limited solely to expensive production studios. It’s now entirely possible to create a complete song using just your smartphone or tablet.

Android has a wide range of apps that can help you achieve your dream of becoming a music producer. This allows you to produce on the fly and gives you plenty of options to hone your production skills.

We’ve pulled together and highlighted several apps that you should install if you’re serious about becoming a music producer.

1. FL Studio Mobile

FL Studio is a full-blown DAW (digital audio workstation). This means that you have a complete software-based music studio at your fingertips—excellent news if you want to produce music as you travel or have limited funds. It’s also useful if you don’t have the space for racks filled with hardware.

FL Studio is a powerful application. It comes loaded with instruments, effects, musical loops and samples. This way, you can start making music immediately, regardless of your style. Upon launching the app, you are presented with a blank canvas upon which you “draw” your music. Once completed, this can be saved down as high-quality audio files such as WAV and FLAC.

As mentioned, the app comes with several instruments to get you moving in the right direction. Once you’ve mastered the app’s pre-loaded instrument package, purchase further modules to take your production to the next level. You’ll be sounding like Avicii before you know it!

Download: FL Studio Mobile ($14.99)

2. Ninja Jamm

If you’re after something a little simpler (and perhaps a little more fun) than a full DAW, then Ninja Jamm should be right up your street. The app has been developed by Coldcut, founders of the globally renowned Ninja Tune record label and masters of the “cut-and-paste” sample technique of music production.

As the name suggests, the app is designed for “jamming.” This allows you to learn an easy production processes with music loops and samples from world-renowned artists. You can then move onto creating your own in a full DAW. With Ninja Jamm you can glean an understanding of how loops work in combination with each other.

As it is native to smart devices, you can also use a range of gestures to manipulate the sound. Shaking or tilting your device, for example, adds different effects to the sound, giving you a range of options to customize your jam.

The app features a paid-for version which opens up a host of additional loops and samples, as well as the apps “Share+” option. This allows you to record and save your music as lossless audio, and you can even upload to SoundCloud.

Download: Ninja Jamm (Free, premium version available)

3. Bandcamp

So, you’ve crafted the perfect collection of tracks and you feel like the world needs to hear them. But how are you going to make this happen? In this instance, Bandcamp is your friend. Bandcamp is an online music marketplace that allows artists to upload their music direct to the site. Alongside artwork and liner notes, this gives you a comprehensive digital release without having to deal with publishers and distributors.

You can release music as a free Bandcamp stream, add a “pay what you like” option to your tracks, or give the tracks set prices. This is an excellent way to monetize your music and Bandcamp take only a small percentage from each sale, so you don’t need to worry about receiving micro-payments for simply streaming your music via alternatives such as Spotify or YouTube. All of your releases are fully shareable via social media, and tracks can be embedded using the handy share widget.

Another advantage of Bandcamp is the weekly chart that they release for different genres. No matter what your style, if your music is good enough to be selected, then you could potentially see it shared to the entire Bandcamp userbase. In turn you may see an increase in sales. Bandcamp is becoming an increasingly popular platform and it treats the artists that use the service fairly and respectfully.

Download: Bandcamp (Free)

4. Yousician

If you are thinking of learning a string instrument, want to improve your singing, or fancy a go at playing the piano, then you can’t go wrong with Yousician. The app is great, because it covers everything from the beginner basics right through to professional-level musicianship.

Acting as a digital music tutor, Yousician features a huge tutorial library, songs and exercises that make learning music fun. One really cool feature of the app is the feedback element. The application will listen to you play and will offer constructive criticism on where you need to improve. Then you can go away and work on those tough barre chords or hard-to-reach upper octaves.

The advantage of self-teaching an instrument is that you can do it in your own way. Yousician is perfect for this method of learning as you can pick up your guitar, for example, when you have a spare 30 minutes, and quickly get busy adding new tricks to your repertoire.

Download: Yousician (Free, premium version available)

5. Ultimate Guitar: Chords and Tabs

One exclusively for the axe-wielders out there, Ultimate Guitar is (as you undoubtedly expect) a resource for guitar and bass players. I used this app endlessly when teaching myself to play guitar and found it very useful for learning the songs I wanted to learn. Once you have basic chord shapes nailed down, you’re good to go with learning some actual songs.

The most impressive feature of Ultimate Guitar: Chords and Tabs is the ridiculously vast collection of songs available in their library. Not only that, but it is a community-based app, meaning that other guitarists and bass players will upload chords or tablature, which are then rated for accuracy and quality by other users.

The Pro version of the app boasts a wealth of additional features, including playing along with a backing track, a guitar tuner, and interactive tabs to allow you to learn while the app plays notes at a speed comfortable for you.

Download: Ultimate Guitar: Chords and Tabs (Free, premium version available)

6. Roland ZenBeats

If you are producer, then you are likely to have heard of Roland’s line of famed drums and hardware synths. What you may not have heard of, though, is their Zenbeats app. Zenbeats allows you to create music using a range of sounds made famous by their bassline and drum synthesizers.

The app is available via three payment tiers, each one offering greater degrees of functionality as you progress through price-points. The basic free version has all you need to get started with making music, however. Features include unlimited audio tracks, nine instruments, several effects to manipulate the sound. You can even share your songs!

Roland Zenbeats has a nice, clean user interface, which is easy to navigate and simple to operate. This app is essential if you are looking to make electronic music with an authentic sound; one that comes straight from one of the most recognised names in the industry.

Download: Roland ZenBeats (Free, premium version available)

The Best Apps for Android Music Production

Android has a wide range of music production applications on offer – these are just a few. If you plan to start producing, you’re likely to need some headphones so you can listen to the output from your chosen app and tailor it if required; check out our guide to the best wired headphones to keep your productions sounding crisp and tight.

Read the full article: The 6 Best Android Apps for Music Production

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Sensel raises a $28M Series A to bring pressure sensing tech to more mobile devices

I was honestly a surprised to find out from Sensel that the company is only just recently raising its Series A. The Sunnyvale-based hardware startup has been around since 2013, bringing its first product, the modular music and computing Morph peripheral, to market a few years back.

Over the past few years, however, the company’s been undergoing a bit of a slow motion pivot. As fascinating as the Morph has been, the multiple touch input device has proven to be something more akin to a proof of concept for Sensel. I’ve met with co-founder and CEO Ilya Rosenberg at CES the last couple of years and watched as it changed its outward facing focus from standalone hardware offering to smartphone/tablet components.

The new $28 million Series A brings its total funding up to $38 million, courtesy of Susquehanna International Group, Morningside Group, SMiT, Palm Commerce Holdings Co. Ltd, Chariot Gold Limited, SV Tech Ventures and Innolinks Ventures. A big part of this funding will no doubt be used to play a role in that shift, as Sensel works with OEMs to bring its advanced sensing technology to different devices.

“Since Sensel’s founding in 2013, we’ve worked tirelessly to create a sensor that outperforms existing touch technologies on every metric and at a lower overall cost,” Rosenberg says in a release. “This financing brings us closer to our ultimate goal of improving how people experience the products they rely on every single day.”

Sensel notes that it will “continue supporting the Morph,” but the language seems to pretty heavily imply that the device will no longer be a focus — something the company more or less confirmed with me during our most recent meeting. But working with OEMs to implement its technologies on third-party device is potentially a much more lucrative way forward.

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Datastax acquires The Last Pickle

Data management company Datastax, one of the largest contributors to the Apache Cassandra project, today announced that it has acquired The Last Pickle (and no, I don’t know what’s up with that name either), a New Zealand-based Cassandra consulting and services firm that’s behind a number of popular open-source tools for the distributed NoSQL database.

As Datastax Chief Strategy Officer Sam Ramji, who you may remember from his recent tenure at Apigee, the Cloud Foundry Foundation, Google and Autodesk, told me, The Last Pickle is one of the premier Apache Cassandra consulting and services companies. The team there has been building Cassandra-based open source solutions for the likes of Spotify, T Mobile and AT&T since it was founded back in 2012. And while The Last Pickle is based in New Zealand, the company has engineers all over the world that do the heavy lifting and help these companies successfully implement the Cassandra database technology.

It’s worth mentioning that Last Pickle CEO Aaron Morton first discovered Cassandra when he worked for WETA Digital on the special effects for Avatar, where the team used Cassandra to allow the VFX artists to store their data.

“There’s two parts to what they do,” Ramji explained. “One is the very visible consulting, which has led them to become world experts in the operation of Cassandra. So as we automate Cassandra and as we improve the operability of the project with enterprises, their embodied wisdom about how to operate and scale Apache Cassandra is as good as it gets — the best in the world.” And The Last Pickle’s experience in building systems with tens of thousands of nodes — and the challenges that its customers face — is something Datastax can then offer to its customers as well.

And Datastax, of course, also plans to productize The Last Pickle’s open-source tools like the automated repair tool Reaper and the Medusa backup and restore system.

As both Ramji and Datastax VP of Engineering Josh McKenzie stressed, Cassandra has seen a lot of commercial development in recent years, with the likes of AWS now offering a managed Cassandra service, for example, but there wasn’t all that much hype around the project anymore. But they argue that’s a good thing. Now that it is over ten years old, Cassandra has been battle-hardened. For the last ten years, Ramji argues, the industry tried to figure out what the de factor standard for scale-out computing should be. By 2019, it became clear that Kubernetes was the answer to that.

“This next decade is about what is the de facto standard for scale-out data? We think that’s got certain affordances, certain structural needs and we think that the decades that Cassandra has spent getting harden puts it in a position to be data for that wave.”

McKenzie also noted that Cassandra provides users with a number of built-in features like support for mutiple data centers and geo-replication, rolling updates and live scaling, as well as wide support across programming languages, give it a number of advantages over competing databases.

“It’s easy to forget how much Cassandra gives you for free just based on its architecture,” he said. “Losing the power in an entire datacenter, upgrading the version of the database, hardware failing every day? No problem. The cluster is 100 percent always still up and available. The tooling and expertise of The Last Pickle really help bring all this distributed and resilient power into the hands of the masses.”

The two companies did not disclose the price of the acquisition.

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Learn How to Build Mobile Apps With 20 Hours of Beginner-Friendly Training

Apps are big business. In the first half of last year alone, global app revenue reached $39 billion. If you want to jump on this runaway train, the 2020 Mobile App Developers Bundle is a great place to start your journey. This learning library offers 20 hours of beginner-friendly instruction, showing you how to code and design apps from scratch. Right now, the bundle is just $29.99 at MakeUseOf Deals.

App Development

According to Payscale, the average iOS developer earns $85,812. Build a popular app, and you can expect to multiply that figure by ten.

To stand a chance of hitting the jackpot, you need to master certain skills. This bundle helps you get started, with seven premium courses delivered by experienced developers.

Through concise video tutorials, you learn how to build apps from scratch using a variety of key tools. Courses on Swift and Xcode help you get started with iOS, while Flutter covers cross-platform development. You also discover how to code Android apps with Java, SQL, and Kotlin.

Each course offers step-by-step instruction, and you gain plenty of hands-on experience along the way.

Lifetime Learning for $29.99

These courses are worth $350 all together, but you can grab the bundle now for $29.99.

Read the full article: Learn How to Build Mobile Apps With 20 Hours of Beginner-Friendly Training

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5 Apps to Fix YouTube Fails and Overcome Limitations

Tired of how YouTube promotes mainstream media? Or how it removes videos without warning and doesn’t let you listen to podcasts in the background? With the right tools, you can fix all of these YouTube failures and limitations.

Just because YouTube is the biggest video sharing platform in the world doesn’t mean it is free of flaws.

If anything, the list of YouTube annoyances lengthens as it tries to be a place for everyone. This often means it has to kowtow to the demands of big advertisers and brands while sacrificing the experience for the user.

But don’t worry, enterprising users and developers are providing solutions to any restrictions YouTube imposes.

1. De-Mainstream YouTube (Chrome, Firefox): Remove Mainstream Media from YouTube

It’s not your imagination, you do tend to see more content from mainstream media on YouTube these days. In fact, YouTube is often criticized for sidelining independent channels (which made the platform so big in the first place) and promoting mainstream media instead.

De-Mainstream YouTube is a browser extension that hides these mainstream channels. There is a long list of channels from different countries, including everything from BBC to Fox News. Apart from traditional media, you can hide new media like Vox as well as talk show channels like The Late Show or The Daily Show.

Through the browser extension, you can choose which ones you want to block or allow, or click the simple Select All button to hide them all. If a channel you don’t want to see isn’t on the list yet, you can request the developers by going to the extension’s GitHub page and submitting suggestions as a new issue.

Download: De-Mainstream YouTube for Chrome | Firefox (Free)

2. PocketTube (Chrome, Firefox, Android, iOS): Manage YouTube Subscriptions

Once you find trending and awesome YouTube videos, you should subscribe to the channel for more of that. Over time, your subscriptions will pile up. But YouTube offers no easy way to manage and organize subscriptions. So that’s why you need PocketTube.

This is one of those apps that you think YouTube should buy and make it an official part of the interface. With PocketTube, you can create groups in subscriptions and add channels to them. So all your sports subscriptions are in one group, cooking channels in another, and so on. The process of adding channels is as simple as it can be, and makes the app easy to set up and get running.

Once you’ve got your groups, PocketTube makes things even better while browsing YouTube. You can filter these groups, search within them, or switch them on and off so that you get exactly the content you’re browsing for. A tremendously handy switch hides videos you’ve already watched.

The extension offers other ways to make the browsing interface better, like hiding popup windows when hovering on channels. And you can sync your preferences with the PocketTube mobile app for browsing YouTube while on the move.

Download: PocketTube for Chrome | Firefox (Free)

Download: PocketTube for Android | iOS (Free)

3. ListenBox (Web): Turn YouTube Into Podcast

The YouTube app won’t let you listen to a video in the background while on your phone unless you have upgraded to YouTube Premium. But with so many podcasts, lectures, audiobooks, and other great audio content on YouTube, this gets really annoying. ListenBox solves this by turning YouTube videos into audio for your podcast feed.

All you have to do is copy-paste the URL of a YouTube video, channel, or playlist into the box provided. Then, copy your unique podcast RSS feed and add it to your favorite podcast app. While you can use the website without an account, it’s best used by registering so that the feed syncs across devices.

ListenBox has a couple of cool integrations for Android and iOS that add your RSS feed to the Share menu. So when you come across a cool video and want to turn it into a podcast, share it to the ListenBox link and it’ll be automatically added to your podcast feed.

ListenBox is free for adding individual videos and fetches up to 50 videos from channels or playlists. If you want it to fetch more than 50 videos, you’ll need to subscribe to a paid account, which also gets updates for new videos.

4. Floating for YouTube (Chrome): Pop-out Panel for YouTube

Sideplayer was one of the best Chrome extensions for YouTube, letting you pop out any video and see it in a floating panel while browsing other tabs. While Sideplayer is no longer available, the Floating for YouTube extension is a worthy replacement.

The Chrome Web Store is filled with several options for this feature but Floating for YouTube does a couple of things really well. Click the icon and the pop-out panel is ready in a jiffy. It stays on top, so when you change tab windows, you don’t have to call it back up. And it’s easy to move around to any part of the screen.

The player also includes basic native controls for YouTube, which several others don’t. You can play/pause, control the volume, enable/disable closed captions, add it to Watch Later, and even share the link. Floating for YouTube doesn’t do anything extraordinary. It delivers the basics perfectly, and that’s what makes it worth using again and again.

Download: Floating for YouTube for Chrome (Free)

5. Deleted Video Finder (Chrome): Find Removed YouTube Videos

Sometimes, you’ll come across a YouTube link while browsing the web. But when you click it, you see only a black screen with a red logo with an emoticon, and a message saying, “This video was removed.” It’s frustrating, right? But well, there’s a way to still view it.

You see, nothing gets deleted on the internet, ever. Websites like Wayback Machine catalog everything ever uploaded online to create a virtual backup of how the internet looked. And one enterprising developer made a neat YouTube extension to find these videos through the Wayback Machine.

After installing the Deleted Video Finder, when you come across any deleted video, right-click it and choose Find Video. It’ll instantly launch a Google search for that URL, as well as another tab with a link to the Wayback Machine archive of the clip. Pretty cool, right?

Download: Deleted Video Finder for YouTube for Chrome (Free)

Now Fix YouTube Recommendations

These apps and tools help to get rid of common YouTube fails, but there’s a bigger problem that needs a deeper fix. If you often find that YouTube doesn’t give good recommendations, you aren’t alone.

YouTube has so much great content but its recommendation algorithm makes some flawed assumptions about you. But you can work to make this algorithm better and get rid of irrelevant YouTube recommendations.

Read the full article: 5 Apps to Fix YouTube Fails and Overcome Limitations

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Apple agrees to settlement of up to $500 million from lawsuit alleging it throttled older phones

Apple Inc. has agreed to pay a settlement of up to $500 million, following a lawsuit accusing the company of intentionally slowing down the performance of older phones to encourage customers to buy newer models or fresh batteries.

The preliminary proposed class action lawsuit was disclosed Friday night and would see Apple pay consumers $25 per phone, as reported by Reuters.

Any settlement needs to be approved by U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who oversaw the case brought in San Jose, Calif.

For consumers, the $25 payout may seem a little low, as a new iPhone can cost anywhere from $649 to $849 (for a lower-end model). The cost may be varied depending on how many people sue, and the company is set to pay at least $310 million under the terms of the settlement.

For its part, Apple is denying wrongdoing in the case and said it was only agreeing to avoid the cost and burden associated with the lawsuit.

Any U.S. owner of the iPhone 6, 6 Plus, 6s, 6s Plus, 7 Plus or SE that ran on iOS 10.2.1 or any of the later operating systems are covered by the settlement. Users of the iPhone 7 and 7 Plus which ran iOS 11.2 or later before Dec. 21, 2017 are also covered by the settlement.

Apple customers said their phone performance slowed down after they installed Apple software updates. The customers contend that Apple’s software updates intentionally degraded the performance of older models to encourage customers to unnecessarily upgrade to newer models or install new batteries.

Lawyers for Apple said that the problems were mainly due to high usage, temperature changes and other issues and that its engineers tried to address the problems as quickly as possible.

In February, Apple was fined $27 million by the French government for the same issue.

As we reported at the time:

A couple of years ago, Apple  released an iOS update (10.2.1 and 11.2) that introduced a new feature for older devices. If your battery is getting old, iOS would cap peak performances as your battery might not be able to handle quick peaks of power draw. The result of those peaks is that your iPhone might shut down abruptly.

While that feature is technically fine, Apple failed to inform users that it was capping performances on some devices. The company apologized and introduced a new software feature called “Battery Health,” which lets you check the maximum capacity of your battery and if your iPhone can reach peak performance.

And that’s the issue here. Many users may have noticed that their phone would get slower when they play a game, for instance. But they didn’t know that replacing the battery would fix that. Some users may have bought new phones even though their existing phone was working fine.

Shares of Apple were up more than 9% today in a general market rally.

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Google cancels Cloud Next because of coronavirus

Google today announced that it is canceling the physical part of Cloud Next, its cloud-focused event and its largest annual conference by far with around 30,000 attendees, over concerns around the current spread of COVID-19.

Given all of the recent conference cancellations, this announcement doesn’t come as a huge surprise, especially after Facebook canceled its F8 developer conference only a few days ago.

Cloud Next was scheduled to run from Apri 6 to 8. Instead of the physical event, Google will now host an online event under the “Google Cloud Next ’20: Digital Connect” moniker. So there will still be keynotes and breakout sessions, as well as the ability to connect with experts.

“Innovation is in Google’s DNA and we are leveraging this strength to bring you an immersive and inspiring event this year without the risk of travel,” the company notes in today’s announcement.

The virtual event will be free and in an email to attendees, Google says that it will automatically refund all tickets to this year’s conference. It will also automatically cancel all hotel reservations made through its conference reservation system.

It now remains to be seen what happens to Google’s other major conference, I/O, which is slated to run from May 12 to 14 in Mountain View. The same holds true for Microsoft’s rival Build conference in Seattle, which is scheduled to start on May 19. These are the two premier annual news events for both companies, but given the current situation, nobody would be surprised if they got canceled, too.

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Aurora VP Jinnah Hosein is coming to TC Sessions: Robotics + AI

TechCrunch Sessions: Robotics + AI is tomorrow and we have one more exciting speaker announcement to share.

Jinnah Hosein, the vice president of software engineering at self-driving vehicle startup Aurora, is coming to TC Sessions: Robotics + AI at UC Berkeley on March 3. Hosein will join Ike Robotics CTO and co-founder Jur van den Berg on stage to discuss autonomous vehicles, particularly safety critical software and the various technical approaches being taking to solve this game-changing technology.

If Hosein’s name sounds familiar, it should be. After a 10-year stint at Google, where he rose to director of software engineering, Hosein went to SpaceX. While Hosein was heading up the software engineering at SpaceX, he also was working at Elon Musk’s other company Tesla, where he was interim vp of Autopilot software.

Who else is coming to TC Sessions: Robotics + AI? Nvidia VP of engineering Claire Delaunay, the CEOs of Traptic, Farmwise and Pyka, a packed panel featuring Boston Dynamics’ Construction Technologist Brian Ringley, Built Robotics’ Noah Campbell-Ready, Tessa Lau of Dusty Robotics and Toggle’s Daniel Blank as well as TRI-AD’s CEO James Kuffner and TRI’s VP of Robotics Max Bajrachary. And that’s just a few of the speakers, not to mention demos and exhibits to be found at TC Sessions: Robotics + AI.

Tickets are on sale now for $345; you’ll save $50 when you book now as prices go up at the door.

Student tickets are still available at the super-discounted $50 rate when you book here.

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The companies that will shape the upcoming multiverse era of social media

Throughout this series on the rise of multiverse virtual worlds, I have outlined the collision of gaming and social media into a new multiverse era of social media within virtual worlds due to technological and cultural changes. The result will be a healthier ecosystem of social media than what currently exists and the economic development of these virtual worlds such that many people turn to them as sources of income.

The critical question that remains in this final part of the series: Who will be the dominant companies of this multiverse era who build the most popular virtual worlds? Will one virtual world achieve a monopoly or will there be many worlds we hop between on a daily basis? Will the most influential company be the developer of a certain world or an infrastructure layer underpinning many worlds?

(This is the final column in a seven-part series about “multiverse” virtual worlds.)

There are three categories of competitors in position for this new stage: gaming incumbents, social media incumbents and new virtual world startups.

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Waymo brings in $2.25 billion from outside investors, Alphabet

Waymo, the former Google self-driving car project that is now a business under Alphabet, said Monday it raised $2.25 billion in a fundraising round led by Silver Lake, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, and Mubadala Investment Company.

This is the company’s first external investment, which also included Magna, Andreessen Horowitz, and AutoNation and its parent company Alphabet.

“We’ve always approached our mission as a team sport, collaborating with our OEM and supplier partners, our operations partners, and the communities we serve to build and deploy the world’s most experienced driver,” said Waymo CEO John Krafcik said in blog the company posted Monday. “Today, we’re expanding that team, adding financial investors and important strategic partners who bring decades of experience investing in and supporting successful technology companies building transformative products. With this injection of capital and business acumen, alongside Alphabet, we’ll deepen our investment in our people, our technology, and our operations, all in support of the deployment of the Waymo Driver around the world.”

The round follows a flurry of activity in the past year that illustrated Waymo efforts to ramp up into a commercial enterprise. Much of the activity has focused on mapping and testing its autonomous vehicle technology in new locales such as Florida while continuing to expand its core fleet in Mountain View, Calif., and the Phoenix area.

Waymo has long focused on testing and eventually launching an on-demand ride-hailing service called Waymo One using its autonomous vehicles in the suburbs surrounding Phoenix. In October, Waymo began pulling safety drivers out of some of the vehicles on its Waymo One service.

But here have been other expansions, including a focus on finding new business applications for its autonomous vehicle technology such as delivery and trucking and even a plan to start selling its custom lidar sensors, to companies outside of self-driving cars such as robotics, security and agricultural technology.

In January, Waymo announced that it would begin mapping and eventually testing its autonomous long-haul trucks in Texas and parts of New Mexico.

Waymo has also expanded through acquisitions and partnerships. Waymo acquired in December a U.K. company called Latent Logic that spun out of Oxford University’s computer science department. The company uses a form of machine learning called imitation learning that could beef up Waymo’s simulation efforts. The acquisition marked the launch of Waymo’s first European engineering hub, which will be in Oxford, U.K.

Last spring, Waymo hired more than a dozen engineers from Anki, the robotics startup that shut down in April. The 13 robotics experts includes Anki’s  co-founder and former CEO Boris Sofman, who is leading engineering in the autonomous trucking division.

Waymo also locked in an exclusive partnership with Renault and Nissan to research how commercial autonomous vehicles might work for passengers and packages in France and Japan.

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The 7 Best Social Media Apps for Travelers

There’s no better way to explore a new location than with advice from people who have lived or traveled there before. Social media apps are fast becoming the best way to connect travelers with these experienced insiders.

While existing social media apps may inspire jealousy in your followers, or enable you to share experiences with friends, they aren’t designed for travelers. Thankfully, there are travel social media apps designed specifically for travelers, and these are the best.

1. Foursquare

Foursquare has been a mainstay of online travel planning for many years. The app offers an incredible number of functions, and allows you to search for nearby attractions based on the distance from your destination or current location, rating, or Foursquare’s personalized estimate of your tastes.

The app also offers you the chance to follow travelers who have similar tastes to your own, read reviews from other travelers, and add your own insights to help fellow travelers in the future.

The ability to create and save your information in a profile means that your preferences, saved locations, and information will always be available to you, whether in the planning stages or in the middle of your trip.

Download: Foursquare for iOS | Android (Free)

2. Trover

Trover is one of the best apps available when looking for travel inspiration. The home screen presents you with many different feeds of beautiful images to view, including a feed of the most popular photos, a feed of the latest images, feeds specific to different locations, and feeds based on hashtags that have been assigned by users.

This app focuses more on the travel experiences of individual users and beautiful photographs than providing in-depth reviews or traveler tips. These functions make Trover ideal for conceptualizing a vacation you hope to take, but another app may be required to turn that trip into a reality.

Download: Trover for iOS | Android (Free)

3. Spotted by Locals

Spotted by Locals offers quirky sightseeing and activity ideas handpicked by real locals. When you have no idea what to do or where to eat, you can browse through a ton of helpful guides for over 70 cities. Since all of the suggestions are written by locals, you can expect to find some non-touristy, hole-in-the-wall destinations.

Just keep in mind that you can’t access a full city guide or save spots unless you pay a fee for each guide. The offline version of the app is also only available if you pay. However, it may be worth it if you’re looking for smart travel planning apps to put a unique spin on your trip.

Download: Spotted by Locals for iOS | Android (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. Withlocals

While Spotted by Locals helps you find destinations thanks to guides written by locals, Withlocals connects you with local tour guides. You can use this social travel app to find food tours, walking tours, day trips, night tours, and even bike tours.

When you select a tour you’re interested in, you’ll see a detailed description of the tour along with an itinerary. Scroll down the page to find reviews by other users, and tap Pick Your Local to view each guides’ profile and book your tour. After all, there’s really nothing better than receiving a tour from someone who knows their way around.

Download: Withlocals for iOS | Android (Free)

5. Couchsurfing

The Couchsurfing website and app have been well-used over the past several years by budget-conscious travelers looking for a free place to stay. While the app is entirely free, you can increase your chances of finding a host by paying a fee to verify yourself.

Even if crashing on a stranger’s couch isn’t your preferred style of accommodation, the app can still be a great resource for meeting new people around the world.

Every profile on the website features information about the Couchsurfing hosts, as well as their photo. If you find a host in the area you plan on traveling to, it’s worth sending them a message to see if they’d be willing to meet during your travels.

Download: Couchsurfing for iOS | Android (Free)

6. Travello

Travello is a social media app for travelers and people interested in traveling. When you sign up, you’ll see a feed filled with posts made by people traveling around the world. If you want, you can even connect with the other travelers on the app by commenting on their photos or by messaging them to ask questions.

You can also use Travello to find groups of like-minded travelers. Head to Explore > Groups to find groups such as Solo Travelers, Backpackers Asia, Digital Nomads, Female Travelers, and more.

Once you start traveling, you can start posting your own photos and keeping track of your trips. Make sure you know these key photography tips for beginners before you start posting pictures of the amazing sights you see.

Download: Travello for iOS | Android (Free)

7. TravelBuddy

If you’re looking for a social media app for travel that doubles as a way to find a travel partner, TravelBuddy is for you. The home page presents you with a travel feed that will definitely inspire you to take a vacation. You can also opt to filter posts by location, which can help you find potential sightseeing spots.

To get in touch with a travel buddy, you can hit Find a Buddy on the home page. Simply enter your destination, choose a preferred gender for your buddy, and add your travel dates. TravelBuddy is also a great way to ask locals any questions about your travel destination.

Download: TravelBuddy for iOS | Android (Free)

Social Media Apps Can Improve Your Vacations

You should never be over reliant on technology while traveling. However, while you shouldn’t be glued to your phone the entire trip, these social media apps for travelers can help make your trip better.

Having a few quality social travel apps at your fingertips can improve your experience, and help you find hidden gems throughout your travels. To explore even further, check out these travel apps to help you find unique tourist spots.

Read the full article: The 7 Best Social Media Apps for Travelers

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