Android app reviews may slow to over a week due to COVID-19 impacts, Google warns developers

Google this week warned Android developers that Play Store app review times will be much longer than normal due to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Developers should expect app reviews to take up to a week or even longer, the company informed its community by way of an alert on the Google Play Console.

This slowdown in moderation efforts isn’t something that’s just impacting Google Play.

Yesterday, YouTube announced it would more heavily rely on its automated systems during this time, which meant more videos will likely be taken down by machine learning-powered systems before they received a review from a human moderator.

In both cases, the slowdowns are related to the reduced in-office staffing levels — a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting employee scheduling at Google and elsewhere.

Up until now, Google Play had a fairly quick app review process.

For years, the company differentiated its Play Store from Apple’s App Store by allowing developers to publish without a lengthy review. This, of course, led to issues as the store was over-filled with low-quality and sometimes even malicious apps. In 2015, Google revealed it had begun to utilize an internal team of reviewers to analyze apps for policy violations prior to publication.

Despite the change in process, apps were being approved within hours instead of days, Google said at the time.

That changed last year, however, as the company implemented a more stringent review. It then began to advise developers to plan for review times of at least three days between submission and the app going live. But the length was reduced for established, trusted developers who continued to see faster reviews, Google had noted.

Review times of a week or even longer are unprecedented, much like the COVID-19 crisis itself.

News of the increased app reviews was first reported by Android Police.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the delay to TechCrunch, saying: “Due to adjusted work schedules at this time, we are currently experiencing longer than usual review times. While the situation is currently evolving, app review times may fluctuate, and may take 7 days or longer.”

The delay is also confirmed in the Play Console’s Help documentation.

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Android app reviews may slow to over a week due to COVID-19 impacts, Google warns developers

Google this week warned Android developers that Play Store app review times will be much longer than normal due to the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. Developers should expect app reviews to take up to a week or even longer, the company informed its community by way of an alert on the Google Play Console.

This slowdown in moderation efforts isn’t something that’s just impacting Google Play.

Yesterday, YouTube announced it would more heavily rely on its automated systems during this time, which meant more videos will likely be taken down by machine learning-powered systems before they received a review from a human moderator.

In both cases, the slowdowns are related to the reduced in-office staffing levels — a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, which is impacting employee scheduling at Google and elsewhere.

Up until now, Google Play had a fairly quick app review process.

For years, the company differentiated its Play Store from Apple’s App Store by allowing developers to publish without a lengthy review. This, of course, led to issues as the store was over-filled with low-quality and sometimes even malicious apps. In 2015, Google revealed it had begun to utilize an internal team of reviewers to analyze apps for policy violations prior to publication.

Despite the change in process, apps were being approved within hours instead of days, Google said at the time.

That changed last year, however, as the company implemented a more stringent review. It then began to advise developers to plan for review times of at least three days between submission and the app going live. But the length was reduced for established, trusted developers who continued to see faster reviews, Google had noted.

Review times of a week or even longer are unprecedented, much like the COVID-19 crisis itself.

News of the increased app reviews was first reported by Android Police.

A Google spokesperson confirmed the delay to TechCrunch, saying: “Due to adjusted work schedules at this time, we are currently experiencing longer than usual review times. While the situation is currently evolving, app review times may fluctuate, and may take 7 days or longer.”

The delay is also confirmed in the Play Console’s Help documentation.

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Google postpones the online version of Cloud Next until further notice

A few weeks ago, Google canceled the in-person version of Cloud Next, its largest conference of the year, amid a flurry of similar coronavirus-related cancellations of major events. Originally, Cloud Next was scheduled to run from April 6 to 8. Like other companies, Google at the time said it would hold an online version of the show, but as the company announced today, it is now also postponing that. The company did not announce a new date.

“Right now, the most important thing we can do is focus our attention on supporting our customers, partners, and each other,” Alison Wagonfeld, Google Cloud’s Chief Marketing Officer, writes. “Please know that we are fully committed to bringing Google Cloud Next ‘20: Digital Connect to life, but will hold the event when the timing is right. We will share the new date when we have a better sense of the evolving situation. ”

Chances are we will see a few more of these announcements in the coming weeks. As companies move to remote work, states enact curfews and social distancing has become a word everybody suddenly knows, even putting on a streamed keynote is getting harder. From a more cynical point of view, it’s also worth noting that tech companies are also now facing a world where there isn’t all that much interest in their announcements during a relentless news cycle that prioritizes other topics. Over the last few days, we’ve seen a number of companies postpone their pre-planned announcements, most of which weren’t public yet, and more are sure to come.

Google cancels Cloud Next because of coronavirus, goes online-only

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Apple now says its retail stores are closed “until further notice”

Apple appears to be expecting a longer disruption to shopping at its physical retail stores as a result of the public health crisis posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Earlier this week, in a press release, the iPhone maker said it would be closing retails stores outside China until March 27. A note on its website now says the shut down is open ended. Apple writes that the bricks-and-mortar stores “are closed until further notice” — so at very least it’s signalling to customers to expect ongoing disruption to its retail business as usual.

Those looking to buy Apple products are told to shop on the website. Service and support is also offered online or via telephone.

We’ve reached out to Apple to ask for confirmation on a policy change.

In its March 13 missive, the company wrote that it is committed to paying all its hourly workers as if the stores remained open, and also said it was expanding its leave policies to “accommodate personal or family health circumstances created by COVID-19”.

Late yesterday six Bay Area countries issued a ‘shelter in place’ order to restrict potential spread of the novel coronavirus. Additional measures seem likely in the coming days.

Multiple countries in European Union have already ordered the closure of non-essential shops — instructing residents to stay at home unless they need to venture out to obtain essential supplies or are required to work and cannot work from home.

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Oura raises $28 million for its health and sleep tracking ring

Smart rings are still a relatively young category in the wearable hardware world, but the Oura Ring seems to be a standout in terms of early success. The Oura Ring hardware is sleek and packed with sensors, allowing it to measure a user’s sleep patterns, take your body temperature and track activity, and now Oura has raised $28 million in Series B funding to bring on new key hires and product updates.

In a Medium post announcing the raise, Oura CEO Harpreet Singh Rai revealed that to date, the company has sold over 150,000 of its rings since launch (which was in early 2018) and that its team has grown to over 100 people globally. The Series B funding comes from Forerunner Ventures, which has a strong track record when it comes to direct-to-consumer product company investments, as well as from Gradient Ventures and Square.

Along with the investment, Oura gains two new board members, and one new board observer all with expertise in different aspects of the startup’s business: Forerunner’s Eurie Kim and Square’s hardware lead Jesse Dorogusker are the new board members, and Gradient partner (and former VP of engineering at Google) Anna Patterson joins as the observer.

Oura will be revamping its website and adding a new web-based portal for Oura Ring users that offers “actionable insights,” the company says, and it’s going to be doing more in terms of collaborating with academic researchers on ensuring its products measurements and guidance remain as accurate and useful as possible.

Oura prioritizes the role of sleep in terms of its contribution to health, and has also recently ventured into the realm of meditation, but it acts as a general fitness tracking device as well. It has attracted a number of fans among the plugged-in tech elite, too, including Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey. The company deserves kudos for delivering a solid, attractive and feature-rich gadget in a category that seemed like a tough sell in the early offing, and this new funding is a good vote of confidence.

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Oura raises $28 million for its health and sleep tracking ring

Smart rings are still a relatively young category in the wearable hardware world, but the Oura Ring seems to be a standout in terms of early success. The Oura Ring hardware is sleek and packed with sensors, allowing it to measure a user’s sleep patterns, take your body temperature and track activity, and now Oura has raised $28 million in Series B funding to bring on new key hires and product updates.

In a Medium post announcing the raise, Oura CEO Harpreet Singh Rai revealed that to date, the company has sold over 150,000 of its rings since launch (which was in early 2018) and that its team has grown to over 100 people globally. The Series B funding comes from Forerunner Ventures, which has a strong track record when it comes to direct-to-consumer product company investments, as well as from Gradient Ventures and Square.

Along with the investment, Oura gains two new board members, and one new board observer all with expertise in different aspects of the startup’s business: Forerunner’s Eurie Kim and Square’s hardware lead Jesse Dorogusker are the new board members, and Gradient partner (and former VP of engineering at Google) Anna Patterson joins as the observer.

Oura will be revamping its website and adding a new web-based portal for Oura Ring users that offers “actionable insights,” the company says, and it’s going to be doing more in terms of collaborating with academic researchers on ensuring its products measurements and guidance remain as accurate and useful as possible.

Oura prioritizes the role of sleep in terms of its contribution to health, and has also recently ventured into the realm of meditation, but it acts as a general fitness tracking device as well. It has attracted a number of fans among the plugged-in tech elite, too, including Twitter and Square CEO Jack Dorsey. The company deserves kudos for delivering a solid, attractive and feature-rich gadget in a category that seemed like a tough sell in the early offing, and this new funding is a good vote of confidence.

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A fascinating time capsule of human feelings toward AI | Lucy Farey-Jones

A fascinating time capsule of human feelings toward AI | Lucy Farey-Jones

How comfortable are you with robots taking over your life? Covering a wide range of potential applications -- from the mundane (robot house cleaner) to the mischievous (robot sex partner) to the downright macabre (uploading your brain to live on after death) -- technology strategist Lucy Farey-Jones shares data-backed evidence of how our willingness to accept AI may be radically changing.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

ReMarkable’s redesigned e-paper tablet is more powerful and more papery

It’s no secret I’m a fan of the reMarkable, a tablet with a paper-like display that’s focused on text and sketching rather than rich media and games. The sequel to the original, announced today, looks to make a good thing even better.

Designed for the creation and consumption of monochromatic content like long documents, ebooks, notes and sketches, the reMarkable set itself apart as a more minimalist alternative (or complement) to the likes of the iPad or Surface. The device was crowdfunded and has sold more than 100,000 units; meanwhile the company has grown and attracted a $15 million A round. One sees in retrospect that the money helped launch this successor.

Sony and reMarkable’s dueling e-paper tablets are strange but impressive beasts

The most obvious change is to the design. It has a bold asymmetrical look with a chrome band along the left side, indicating the tablet’s main use as an alternative to a paper notebook: Hold it with your left hand and write with your right. Sorry, lefties.

The new tablet is just 4.7 mm (0.19 in) thick, thinner than the iPad Pro and Sony’s competing Digital Paper tablets, both of which are 5.9 mm. Let’s be honest — at these levels of thinness it’s getting hard to tell the difference, but it’s an accomplishment nevertheless.

Probably the best thing about the original reMarkable, however, was how good it felt to write and draw on, and the company has spent the last few years improving that wherever they can. For one thing, the already very small delay of about 40 ms between touching the screen with the stylus and a line appearing has been nearly cut in half.

That’s an area where every milli-unit counts. The lag on a real pen and paper is zero, of course, and while the reMarkable was good, there was still a very slight lag, especially when making large gestures or lines. As ?????? explained to me:

The hardware to further push the latency down further did not exist, so we decided to invent the technology ourselves. We redesigned both the hardware and software architecture that controls the display through a completely new display controller that changes how the display itself is electrically controlled, down to the voltages and electrical currents applied in complex waveforms to each individual pixel, millions at a time. The result is a 20ms latency, smoother ink flow with less jitter, and a completely uncontested digital writing experience perfected.

I intend to investigate this myself once I get my hands on one of the new devices. The company worked with E Ink, the main manufacturer and investor in e-paper type displays, to accomplish the new display, which has the same specs as the previous one otherwise: 10.3 inches, monochrome, 1872×1404 resolution for 226 DPI.

Here’s the inevitable, yet well-executed, aspirational promo video:

The software running on the reMarkable has received several major updates since the product made its debut, adding things like handwriting recognition, a new interface, better performance and so on. But one of the most requested features is finally coming with the new device: saving articles from the web.

Unfortunately they didn’t answer my specific request of adding Pocket integration, deciding instead to roll their own with a Chrome plugin that sends a reformatted webpage to the device. Unfortunately I use Firefox, but I can make an exception for this.

The company is claiming a 3x boost to battery life, using the same 3000 mAh battery, based on performance improvements throughout and a more efficient (but more powerful) dual-core ARM processor. That means two weeks of use and 90 days of standby. This is welcome news, because frankly the battery life and power management on the last one were not great.

Lastly, the “Marker” itself is getting an upgrade I’ve desperately wanted since the first day I tried the tablet: an eraser. You could always erase by selecting that tool, of course, but now one of the tips of the stylus will activate it automatically, a feature borrowed from Wacom and accomplished in collaboration with them. Of course, the eraser-enabled “Marker Plus” costs $99, $50 more than the plain one. They both stick onto the tablet via magnet, though.

“We’ve worked closely with Wacom the last two years to create Marker Plus, the most beautiful pen we have ever made,” reMarkable co-founder and CEO Magnus Wanberg told TechCrunch. “In addition to premium materials and design, it features an end-cap eraser that works seamlessly with the reMarkable software. We’ve fined-tuned the eraser sensor in collaboration with Wacom’s engineering team to make sure it looks and feels like just a real eraser on paper.”

But overall you’re looking at a much cheaper package. The reMarkable, for all its merits, was not cheap at $700. The reMarkable 2 will sell for $399 if you pre-order, and comes with a Marker and a nice folio case. For anyone who was on the fence about the first one, the sequel may prove irresistible.

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Master the Fundamentals of Video Editing With This $15 Final Cut Course

Whether you want to become the next Spielberg or create something for YouTube, knowing how to edit video is essential. As a complete beginner, professional software can seem pretty daunting. But with the Complete Final Cut Pro X Course, you get four hours of expert guidance. Designed to take you from beginner to intermediate, this training is the perfect introduction for aspiring content creators. You can get it now for just $14.99 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Master the Fundamentals

From No Country for Old Men to The Social Network, many of the best movies of the past 20 years have been edited using Final Cut. Likewise, many top YouTubers and professional creatives utilize the software.

Rated at 4.4 stars on Udemy, this course helps you come to grips with Final Cut Pro X. Through 38 tutorials, you discover how to put together slick reports, presentations, films, and more.

Delivered by top-rated instructor Joe Parys, the training starts with a tour of Final Cut Pro X before diving into key techniques. Along the way, you discover how to import and trim footage, insert transitions, and add audio including voiceovers.

The advanced videos look at color grading, from adjusting exposure to choosing your hues. You also discover how to work with LUTs and masks, and add cool effects.

Lifetime Access for $14.99

This course is normally priced at $200, but you can grab it now for just $14.99 with lifetime access included

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5 Email-Cleaning Ways to Organize and Manage Your Inbox

Is email taking up more time than it should? There are better ways to organize and tame your inbox so that you have more energy and space for other things.

Gmail is the world’s biggest email service today, and that’s why most of the methods and apps in this article focus on Gmail users. However, the tricks here can easily be applied in other email apps, and most tools have a how-to for that on their website.

1. You vs. Your Inbox (Web): 4 Strategies for Inbox Management

Everyone has their own cool trick to get control of their inbox. Forge magazine started an insightful series called You vs. Your Inbox to highlight some of the best strategies. Currently, there are four articles with different ideas about tackling inbox overload. Read them all, they offer different perspectives on dealing with email.

One article talks about how the secret is sending better emails. If you compose emails that make it clear what the response should be, there will be less confusion and fewer ambiguous messages sent back and forth. Another talks about how you should check email in sessions, and have a purpose assigned to each session.

The third email management system is about triaging your inbox with labels, making it easier to sort and filter the messages. And finally, one strategy talks about how it’s not important to have inbox zero, which has one of the best pieces of advice: “It’s important to remember that email itself isn’t work.”

2. Instaclean (Android, iOS): Find Senders and Subscriptions You Don’t Open

Instaclean is one of the best free apps to manage your inbox. It lets you delete and block unwanted newsletters. And it shows you senders who are clogging up your inbox when you don’t even read their messages.

Bulk Delete sorts emails by sender, showing you how many of their messages are in your inbox and how many of them you have ever opened. If someone is sending you many emails and you open 0-1% of them, you might want to block that sender and delete all their messages still in your inbox. Emails can be sorted by sender or size.

The app also finds all the subscriptions you are getting emails from, which aren’t being sent to spam. In a few taps, you can block all such emails you no longer want to receive. It doesn’t delete all subscriptions, and you’ll have to do multiple passes. In a way, that’s good because you don’t want to accidentally remove something you like.

Each action (delete or block) rewards you with coins. Once you collect 1000 coins, you can use them for a good cause by asking Instaclean to plant a tree on your behalf. You can also earn coins by referring the app to friends.

Download: Instaclean for Android | iOS (Free)

3. Paced Email (Web): Get Frequent Emails as Batches and Summaries

Not every newsletter is unwanted, but it might be coming to you too often. Similarly, even if a colleague is trigger-happy with sending bulk emails on the office chain, you can’t ignore them. Paced Email lets you turn frequent messages into batches, so they land in your inbox when you want.

Register at the website to get your personal email alias, for example, john.doe@daily.paced.email. Then go to the newsletter, chain, or service that is mailing too often, and change your email address to this alias. Paced will then batch all emails from it and send it as a daily digest. If you want an email sooner, login to the website and trigger an immediate digest.

You also can also specify how often you want to receive emails from that service. By default, it’s daily as the email alias indicates, but you can change it to “weekly” or “monthly”. Paced will then send batches according to your preferences.

4. Slimbox (Web): Batch All Newsletters in Gmail

More than anything else, email newsletters are probably clogging up your inbox. Slimbox is an easy way to turn them into a single batched message, without having to unsubscribe or delete them.

There are a few reasons that make Slimbox better than the average app for batching. First, it’s verified by Google, so you can sign in to your Gmail or Google Apps inbox with the assurance that your data is safe. Second, Slimbox doesn’t make you change your email address in other services like Paced requires.

Once you’re logged in, the app will scan all your messages and prepare a list of frequent newsletters. You can choose to continue having them sent to your inbox or to put them into the daily Slimbox blast. Slimbox will send that email once a day (you can set your timezone), which hosts all the other emails you missed. It doesn’t affect your existing Gmail filters.

You can check your Slimbox at any time by signing into the site, change which senders go to the inbox or Slimbox, and so on. The service is free for a month to test it out, after which it costs $1 per month.

5. gfeed (Android, iOS): Scrolling Feed for a Faster Inbox

Try out gfeed and you’ll wonder why Gmail doesn’t have this option already. The app turns your inbox into a continuous scrolling feed of messages, like any social network. Images show up in preview, with the first few lines of the message below it.

To expand a message, tap the image, subject, or “more” link. There, you can reply to (or reply all) and forward that message through gfeed itself. This is good for basic text replies, but you’re mostly better off replying through the official Gmail app.

Every time you scroll past a message, gfeed will automatically mark it as read or archive it, depending on your settings. You can also star a message, or tag it with a label to add a filter. When you open Gmail, you can see those messages under that filter.

If you spend too much time going through your inbox, gfeed is among the best apps to speed up how you organize email.

Download: gfeed for Android | iOS (Free)

Archive Old Emails for Inbox Zero

Through one of these apps or a combination of multiple methods, that cluttered mess of emails should finally become much more manageable. Whether you’re aiming for inbox zero or a more organized inbox, don’t forget to check out the tools already available.

For example, the most overlooked feature is the “Archive” button in email apps. It’s an excellent way to free up your inbox while still keeping emails available for search later. Here’s how you can archive old mails and reach inbox zero.

Read the full article: 5 Email-Cleaning Ways to Organize and Manage Your Inbox

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The Best Online Tools To Know Everything About a Website

How do I contact the owner of a website? Where is a particular website hosted? What other websites are hosted on that same server? Is the site using WordPress or Gatsby? Which ad networks are they using to monetize a site? Is my site accessible from China?

Here are some of the most useful online tools that will help you know every single detail of any website.

Also see: The Essentials Tools for Programmers

• just-ping.com — Use Just Ping to determine if a particular website is accessible from other countries. Just Ping has monitoring servers across the world including Turkey, Egypt, and China so if the ping results say 100% Packet Loss, most likely the site is inaccessible from that region.
• who.is — If you like to know the contact address, email and phone number of the website owner, this free whois lookup service will help. This is a universal lookup service meaning it can simultaneously query the whois database of all popular domain registrars.
• whoishostingthis.com — Enter the URL of any website and this online service will show you the name of the company where that website is hosted. This may come handy if you need the contact information of the web hosting provider for writing a DMCA Notice or if you are looking to switch web hosts.
• chillingeffects.org — When there’s a copyright-related complaint against a website, a copy of that letter is archived in the Chilling Effects database. Anyone can query this public database to know about all the copyright infringement complaints against a particular website.
• myip.ms — MyIP.ms offers a comprehensive report of any website or I.P. Address. You get to know about the hosting provider, the physical location of a website, the IP Address change history of a website and the DNS information. Netcraft also offers similar reports.
• reversewhois.com — The reverse whois lookup will help you determine other websites of someone. You can search the whois database by the email address or name of the domain registrant.
• builtwith.com — Use BuiltWith to know the technology stack of any website. It helps you figure out the mail service provider of a domain, the advertising partners, the tracking widgets that are installed on a website and whether the site is using any CDN like Amazon S3 or Google Cloud. See example.
• ssllabs.com - The certificate diagnostics tool will verify your site’s SSL certificate and ensure that it is correctly installed, trusted and does not show errors to any of your site visitors.
• semrush.com — If you wish to analyze your competitor’s website, this is the tool to go with. SEM Rush will help you figure what organic keywords are people using to find a website, what is the site’s traffic and which are the competing websites.
• dnsmap.io — When you buy a new domain or switch from one host to another, the DNS records for the domain changes and it may take a while to propagate these changes worldwide. The tool checks the DNS records from various geographic locations and it can check your domain’s A, CNAME, TXT and MX records. whatsmydns.net is also a good alternative.
• toolbox.googleapps.com — If email messages, including those sent via Mail Merge, from your domain are not reaching the recipient’s mailbox, use this Google tool to confirm that DMARC, DKIM and SPF records are properly configured for your domain.
• browserstack.com - Check your website’s responsive design on multiple desktops, tables, iOS and Android phones running different versions of operating systems.
• screenshot.guru - If a website is inaccessible, use Screenshot Guru, hosted on the Google Cloud, to confirm if the website is down or not.
• thinkwithgoogle.com - A mobile speed tool developed by Google that will help you determine how fast your websites will load on mobile phones on 3G and 4G network. You can also compare your mobile speed score with other websites.
• testmysite.io - A simple site testing tool from Netlify that will measure and rank your site’s loading time from different regions around the world.
• developers.google.com — Find the Page Speed score of any website on both desktop and mobile devices. The higher this number, the better. The Google tool also offers suggestions on how the score can be improved.
• httparchive.org — The HTTP Archive is a repository of all performance-related metrics for a website. It keeps a record of the size of pages, their average load time and the number of failed requests (missing resources) over time.
• Website Monitor - Use this open-source Google Sheets based website monitoring tool to get alerts when your domain goes down or is inaccessible.
• Flush DNS - Use this tool to flush the Google DNS cache for a domain. If you changed the DNS servers for your domain, by changing registrars or DNS hosting in the last few days, flush your main domain name first before you flush any subdomains. OpenDNS also has a web tool for refreshing the DNS cache.
• DomainTools - The tool monitors one or more web domains and sends email alerts when the domain is expiring, the domain gets renewed, the nameservers change or when the registrant information is updated for the domain.

Also see: 101 Most Useful Websites

Facebook, Reddit, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Twitter and YouTube issue joint statement on misinformation

In an unprecedented move to reassure customers and flag the potential for misinformation about COVID-19 on their platforms, all of the major social media companies and their parent corporations issued a joint statement on their efforts.

“We invite other companies to join us as we work to keep our communities healthy and safe,” the statement read.

Joint Industry Statement from @Facebook, @google, @LinkedIn, @Microsoft, @reddit, @Twitter and @YouTube https://t.co/8H1XVFt2N0 pic.twitter.com/GGJdX7mFKb

— Facebook Newsroom (@fbnewsroom) March 17, 2020

Last week, U.S Chief Technology Officer Michael Michael Kratsios held a remote meeting with representatives from major tech companies on how to coordinate various efforts related to COVID-19, including fighting disnformation. The Washington Post and Politico reported that the White House asked Google, Facebook, Amazon, Microsoft, Apple, IBM, Cisco and Twitter for help.

The World Health Organization’s director-general said last month that disinformation is as dangerous as COVID-19. During an address at the Munich Security conference on Feb. 15, almost a month before the WHO officially declared COVID-19 a pandemic, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said “We’re not just fighting an epidemic; we’re fighting an infodemic. Fake news spreads faster and more easily than this virus, and is just as dangerous.”

But tech companies aren’t just battling the spread of questionable posts by the public. They also have to contend with misleading information in several of President Donald Trump’s public statements on COVID-19, including his tweets and Facebook posts.

TechCrunch has contacted each of the companies in the joint statement for more details, and will update this post as we hear back from them.

In response to an email, a LinkedIn spokesperson directed TechCrunch to a post published by the company on March 13, with links to information about finding trustworthy news sources and working remotely.

Facebook’s efforts to fight disinformation about COVID-19 have included information cards on Instagram and Facebook, that redirect to sources like the World Health Organization or local health authorities.

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TransferWise partners with Alipay for international money transfers

TransferWise, the London-headquartered international money transfer service most recently valued by investors at $3.5 billion, has partnered with China’s Aliplay for international transfers.

The launch enables TransferWise’s now 7 million-plus users to be able to send Chinese yuan from 17 currencies to users of Alipay, which serves more than 1.2 billion people worldwide including via its local e-wallet partners.

Promising “instant” money transfers — under 20 seconds, apparently — TransferWise users simply need the recipient’s name and Alipay ID to initiate a money transfer. The money will then be sent to the bank account linked to the recipient’s Alipay profile.

It could be a potentially smart bit of business by TransferWise, which has sometimes struggled to secure the kind of partnerships that can accelerate its customer base and increase transaction volume. According to a 2019 report, the fintech is citing, China is projected to be one of the top remittance recipient countries in the world, with £54bn expected to be sent back home by Chinese expats and migrants living abroad.

“The partnership is a major expansion for TransferWise as it reaches a new, additional market of people managing their money via the Alipay platform,” says the company.

With that said, Alipay is the second meaningful partnership that TransferWise has announced in the last few months. In November, it joined forces with GoCardless, the London fintech that lets customers pay via recurring bank payments (known as Direct Debits in the U.K.). GoCardless is used by more than 50,000 businesses worldwide, spanning multinational corporations to SMBs, and the partnership sees its own FX functionality powered by TransferWise.

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Windows 10 Now Powers 1 Billion Devices

Windows 10 now powers more than 1 billion devices worldwide. This includes PCs, laptops, tablets, Xbox One games consoles, and HoloLens smart glasses. And while it may have taken Microsoft longer to hit the 1 billion milestone than planned, it’s still an achievement.

How Windows Phone Failed Microsoft

Just before Microsoft launched Windows 10 in July 2015, the company declared that it was hoping to have Windows 10 installed on 1 billion devices “within two to three years after launch”. Unfortunately for Microsoft, that timeline came and went.

This failure was mostly driven by the demise of Windows Phone, as the original target was set when Windows Phone was still providing competition for Android and iOS. However, when Windows Phone failed, Microsoft had to rely on other devices instead.

Windows 10 Hits the Big Milestone

Now, five years on, Microsoft has hit the magic milestone. The company heralded the result on the Windows Blog, saying that “over one billion people have chosen Windows 10 across 200 countries resulting in more than one billion active Windows 10 devices”.

Windows 10: Powering the world with 1 billion monthly active devices https://t.co/XlNjYqi3uA

— Windows Blogs (@windowsblog) March 16, 2020

The reference to people is interesting, as Microsoft has previously always referred simply to devices. The statement suggests that the number of individual users and number of devices are both over 1 billion. Which is a cause for celebration for Microsoft.

In September 2019, Microsoft revealed that Windows 10 was installed on 900 million devices. So the number has jumped up by more than 100 million in under six months. Microsoft ended support for Windows 7 in January, which will have helped.

Upgrading From Windows 7 to Windows 10

The upshot is that “one in every seven people on the planet” now uses Windows 10. The company also heralds the fact that it’s “the only operating system at the heart of over 80,000 models and configurations of different laptops and 2-in-1s”.

With 1 billion people now using Windows 10, it’s probably time for everyone else to follow suit. And with Windows 7 reaching its end of life, it’s definitely time for you to upgrade. So here are the Windows 7 end of life alternatives open to you.

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A Beginner’s Guide to Making Music With Audacity at Home

For many musicians, the cost of paying a professional sound engineer to produce a demo recording is too high. Therefore, many musicians are looking for alternatives.

A much more affordable option is to learn about production and recording techniques yourself. Then use free software, like Audacity, to record music on your own computer.

Audacity is a free piece of software that works on Mac, Windows, and Linux. If you’re a complete beginner, this article will explain how to use Audacity to make music.

Get Audacity for Windows, macOS, or Linux

Before you can start making music, you need to download and install Audacity. Visit the official Audacity website below and follow the instructions to get the latest version for your operating system.

Download: Audacity for Windows | macOS | Linux

Prepare Your Recording Equipment

If you’re a complete beginner to making music, there’s a good chance you don’t have any recording equipment other than your computer and Audacity. That’s fine for now, but to make better recordings in the future you might want to research the best USB audio interfaces and microphones.

If you already have that equipment, make sure it’s working with your computer before you start trying to record any music in Audacity. You should also look into the best methods for recording your particular instruments, including microphone choice and placement.

How to Record Music in Audacity

In Audacity, recording someone’s voice or an instrument is as simple as selecting the correct microphone as an input, then clicking the Record button in the top-left corner.

Select the microphone you want to use (which might be your computer’s Built-in Microphone) from the dropdown menu next to the microphone icon. Select Mono or Stereo from the menu next to it as well—most microphones record in mono.

Before you start recording music in Audacity, it’s a good idea to monitor the level of your microphone. That way you can turn it down to avoid distortion if the instrument you’re recording is too loud. Click the upper- or left-most sound meter in your Audacity window to start monitoring your input.

Now adjust the Recording Volume slider to make sure the instrument you’re recording doesn’t go into the red.

When you’re ready, click the Record button to automatically create a new track and start recording audio. Click Stop or press Space when you want to stop recording.

Multi-Track Recording in Audacity

It’s possible to record multiple tracks at once in Audacity if you have an audio interface with multiple inputs. For most beginners, this isn’t the case, but you can still use Audacity to make music with multiple tracks by recording each track one by one.

If you’re recording a band, it’s a good idea to record all of them together to create a “scratch track.” Each musician can then play along with the scratch track as you record them individually. Make sure the person playing is using headphones so they can still hear the scratch track without the microphones picking it up.

To create new tracks, go to Tracks > Add New from the menu bar. Then use the Select button on each track to choose where you want your new recordings to go. You also need to turn on Transport > Transport Options > Overdub to make sure the scratch track keeps playing in the background while you record.

If a section of the recording is not quite right, click and drag to select it, then go to Edit > Remove Special > Split Delete to delete that section. Create another new track to record that part again.

Make Music in Audacity Without Recording

A lot of people use Audacity to make music without actually recording anything. You can do this by importing other recordings, then editing and mixing them to create your own song. To do this, simply drag and drop an audio file into the Audacity window to import it.

Or you can use virtual instruments to create new music digitally. You get a couple of built-in instruments with Audacity you can use to do this straight away. Go to Generate > Pluck or Generate > Risset Drum from the menu bar to start using them.

How to Edit and Mix Your Song

After making music in Audacity, you usually need to edit and mix the tracks before they sound good together. You might need to remove the ambient noise or tighten up some timings. You probably also need to balance the volume of each track so you can hear every track clearly.

Edit Your Audio Recordings

Most of the editing you usually need to do consists of deleting or silencing sections you don’t need. We covered how to do this in the multi-track section above.

Sometimes you also need to adjust the timing of a recording. The simplest way to do this is to split the audio track into different sections and slide them into place.

Select a piece of audio, then go to Edit > Clip Boundaries > Split New to move that section of audio to its own track. Now select the Time Shift Tool (which looks like two arrows) from the top of Audacity and drag the clip to the right place in the timeline.

Mix Your Tracks Together

On the left side of each track in Audacity, you should see two sliders. The top slider adjusts the volume of that track and the bottom slider adjusts the pan, which moves it from the left speaker to the right speaker.

Play around with the sliders on each of your tracks to create a balanced mix for your song. Learning how to mix music professionally is an entirely separate skill. For now, just focus on making everything easy to hear.

Add Music Production Effects in Audacity

To use effects in Audacity, highlight the section you want to add effects to, then click Effect from the menu bar and choose an effect. When you do so, a separate window opens with all the controls and parameters for that effect.

After you click OK, Audacity reprocesses the selected audio so that it permanently has the effect applied to it. For safety, you might want to create a backup of your tracks by going to Edit > Duplicate first, then Mute the duplicate track.

When you’re first learning how to make a song in Audacity, it’s tempting to use too many effects. Especially when there are so many available to you. But you’re better off sticking to the following options until you’re more comfortable using them well:

• Amplify: Make sections of the recording louder or quieter as needed
• Compressor: Apply compression to create an even volume throughout the track
• Fade In / Fade Out: Smoothly transition from silence to music to avoid extra noise
• Graphic EQ: Change the tone of each track so they create a full sound together
• Noise Reduction: Get rid of background noise from your recording environment
• Reverb: Create a virtual space for the instruments to make them sound more natural

Saving Your Music

Saving Audacity creates a project file with the individual audio tracks inside it. You can open this file again to keep working on your song, but it only opens in Audacity so you can’t add it to your music player yet.

To do that, you need to go to File > Export and choose the audio format you want to export your music in, such as MP3 or WAV. This creates a standard audio file that you can’t change anymore but you can add to your music library.

Try Out Other Free Music Production Software

By now, you should have a pretty clear idea of how to use Audacity to make music. But Audacity isn’t the only option available to you. In fact, there is lots of other free music production software you can use instead.

You might even find some of them easier to use than Audacity.

If you aren’t sure where to start, take a look at our rundown of the best free music production software. All of the options on that list have countless tutorials online showing you how to start making music with them. So there’s no excuse not to give it a go.

Image Credit: Davizro Photography/Shutterstock

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How to Get a Windows XP Download Free From Microsoft, Legally

Want a free Windows XP downloaded from Microsoft? It’s possible using a virtual machine. This article explains how.

Windows XP is old, and Microsoft no longer provides official support for the venerable operating system. But despite the lack of support, Windows XP is still running on 5 percent of all computers around the globe. Why are people still using Windows XP? Mostly due to work, research, or entertainment.

Finding a copy of Windows XP isn’t easy. Finding some hardware to run it on is just as difficult. That’s why the best option is to install Windows XP in a virtual machine so you can keep it on hand at all times. Here’s how you do it!

Is Windows XP Really Available for Free?

Microsoft knows that there are good reasons to jump back into Windows XP. That’s why they supply Windows XP Mode, a full version of XP that runs within Windows 7. However, most of us have long since moved on from Windows 7, making this compatibility fix… well, a little unhelpful.

Luckily for you and me, there’s a relatively easy way to take the Windows XP Mode download and load it up in any virtual machine of your choosing. Before we begin, you need a few things:

1. Download and install the latest version of VirtualBox.
2. Download and install a file archive tool.
3. A copy of Windows XP Mode (see below).

Step 1: Download Windows XP Mode Virtual Hard Disk

Head to the Microsoft Windows XP Mode download page. Select Download. On the next page, select WindowsXPMode_en-us.exe, then hit Next. The Windows XP Mode executable will now download.

When it completes, don’t install it yet!

Instead, browse to the executable, then right-click and select 7-Zip > Open archive > cab from the context menu.

This immediately opens the executable in 7-Zip for you to have a poke around. There are three files:

Open Sources to reveal another three files:

Double-click xpm. This is the XP Mode virtual hard drive folder. It should look the same as the image below:

These are the files you need to create the XP Mode virtual hard disk. Unfortunately, they’re Archive files and not executable files, meaning they’re currently Read-only.

You need to extract these files to a new folder.

Select Extract from the toolbar, then press the ellipsis icon next to the address bar. Browse to where you’d like to extract the files—your C: drive is fine—and select Make New Folder. I’ve called my folder “Windows XP Mode,” but the choice is yours. When you’re ready, press OK, then OK again to start the extraction process. This can take a minute or two.

Head to the folder you created when the extraction process completes. You’ll see the same list of files. The difference is that you can now edit these files as you see fit.

Select the file named VirtualXPVHD. Press F2 to rename. Insert a period between the “P” and the “V,” and press Enter. The file should immediately change into a virtual hard disk, and the icon to boot:

Step 2: Install Windows XP Mode in a Virtual Machine

Before we completed the XP Mode virtual hard disk extraction, I asked you to download and install VirtualBox. VirtualBox is a free app that allows you to run operating systems in a window.

We’re going to install the Windows XP Mode virtual hard drive in VirtualBox.

1. Open VirtualBox. Select New. At bottom of the Create Virtual Machine window, select Expert Mode (if your window shows an option for Guided Mode, you’re already using Expert Mode). Now, give your virtual machine a suitable name. If you include “XP” in the virtual machine name, the Version will automatically change to reflect that. Even so, double-check the Version is Windows XP (32-bit).
   
2. Assign the virtual machine some memory. Memory is a shared resource, meaning both the host (your PC) and the guest (the virtual machine) use it concurrently. Luckily, Windows XP is old and doesn’t require buckets of RAM to run. I would advise assigning a minimum of 512 MB (but you won’t need more than 2048 MB).
   
3. Finally, we need to assign a hard disk—the virtual hard disk we extracted from the Windows XP Mode executable earlier. Under Hard disk, select Use an existing virtual hard disk file. Then, hit the folder with the green arrow. Browse to the folder we extracted our files to, select VirtualXP, then Open.
   

When you’re done, your new virtual machine setup should look like this:

Okay? Hit Create.

Step 3: Windows XP Mode Disk Settings

Before you boot up your shiny new Windows XP virtual machine, you need to tweak a few settings.

On the VirtualBox toolbar, press Settings. Head to System. Look at the Boot Order. Uncheck Floppy, and move it down the list. Promote Hard Disk to the top of the pile. Just like your host PC, the virtual machine has a specific boot order. You need the virtual hard disk at the top of the list, so it boots first:

Under Display, increase Video Memory to 128 MB:

Windows XP Virtual Machine Network Settings

Next, check the Windows XP virtual machine network settings. Older versions of VirtualBox required a more manual approach to network configuration. The software is smarter these days (read: automated) and usually picks up your network settings without prompt.

For instance, my Windows XP Mode virtual machine works using the default configuration: using NAT, the VirtualBox-specific adapter, and ensuring Cable Connected is checked.

However, if it doesn’t work (and you’ll realize the good or bad news in a moment when you fire up the virtual machine), you can try an alternative configuration.

1. Set Attached to: Host-only Adapter
2. Set Name: VirtualBox Host-Only Ethernet Adapter
3. Set Promiscuous Mode: Deny
4. Check Cable connected

Using the Start Menu search bar, type “network,” and select the Network and Sharing Centre. In the left-hand column, select Change adapter settings. Hold CTRL and select both your Ethernet/wireless card and the VirtualBox Host-Only Network. Then, right-click and select Bridge Connection.

“Combining” the adapters creates a network bridge, allowing the virtual machine to connect to a network even though it doesn’t have direct access to the router (or alternative switch):

When you enter the virtual machine, you’ll have to update your network adapter settings:

1. Head to Control Panel > Network and internet Connections > Network Connections.
2. Then, right-click the Local Area Connection, and select Properties. Highlight Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), then select Properties.
3. Select Use the following IP address, and enter an available IP address for your home network. For instance, I will enter 192.168.1.10. Enter your Subnet mask and Default gateway.
4. Unsure what they are? On your host machine, press Windows Key + R, then type CMD, and hit Enter. Now, type ipconfig /all. You’ll find the information you need listed under your Ethernet or wireless adapter name.
5. Enter the same DNS server addresses as the host. I use Google DNS, so I’ll enter 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4.
6. Hit OK.

Step 4: Run the Windows XP Virtual Machine

You extracted the virtual hard disk. You created a virtual machine, fiddled with the settings, and now you’re ready to hit the power switch.

Highlight your Windows XP Mode virtual machine on the main VirtualBox window. Double-click it and wait for Windows XP to burst into life:

Looks like you made it!

There is a strong possibility that your mouse will not immediately work with the Windows XP Mode virtual machine. Navigate the operating system installation pages using the Tab key, arrow keys, Spacebar, and Enter key.

Complete the installation. You’ll arrive at a completely black screen. Don’t worry! Press Right Ctrl + R to restart the virtual machine.

When it reboots, you can Cancel the New Hardware Installation and Microsoft Automatic Update wizards. Instead, head to Devices > Install Guest Additions CD Image. The VirtualBox Guest Additions CD Image adds some handy functionality to VirtualBox, including custom resolutions and mouse options. Use the default installation location and wait for the setup to complete:

You might encounter warnings that you are attempting to install unsupported software and/or drivers. Select Continue Anyway. Once the Guest Additions installation completes, select Reboot now.

(If it fails to reboot, restart the virtual machine again.)

And there you have it. A working, fully-featured Windows XP installation to call your own.

What About Windows XP Product Keys?

The Windows XP Mode virtual machine has a temporary license that expires after 30 days.

If you have an old Windows XP license, dig it out and enter it to try to keep the virtual machine alive. I say “try” because the Windows XP activation servers are long offline, but you can try a phone activation.

If you are feeling devious, you could try the old Windows activation loop, whereby you reset the trial license back to its original 30-day counter. However, I haven’t tried that using the Windows XP Mode virtual machine, so you will have to conduct a private experiment.

But the easier solution is to create a snapshot of the Windows XP Mode virtual machine straight after installation. Then, when the license expires, you can revert to your fresh snapshot (but you’ll lose all the data on the virtual machine, so bear that in mind).

Without snapshots, you’ll have to keep reinstalling the Windows XP Mode virtual machine.

Windows XP Is Not Secure

Note that just because you have Windows XP working doesn’t mean you should use it! Windows XP is no longer suitable as a primary operating system because of the security risks. If you are still running Windows XP on your home computer or laptop, you should consider upgrading to a modern operating system. Here’s how you upgrade from Windows XP to Windows 10.

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