IRL pivots into virtual event calendar In Remote Life

What do you do if you’re an event discovery startup and suddenly it’s illegal to attend events? You lean into the cultural shift and pivot. Today, $11 million-funded calendar app IRL is morphing from In Real Life to In Remote Life. It will now focus on helping people find, RSVP for, plan, share, and chat about virtual events from livestreamed concerts to esports tournaments to Zoom cocktail parties.

Coronavirus could make IRL relevant to a wider audience because before an event “only mattered if it was around you. But now with In Remote Life, content has no geographical limitations” says IRL co-founder and CEO Abe Shafi. “The need is exponentially greater because everyone’s routines have been shattered.” IRL ranked #138 in US App Store today, making it the top calendar app, even above Google’s (#168).

Robinhood’s Josh Elman joins IRL

IRL has some fresh product development talent to lead it through the transition. The startup has hired stock trading app Robinhood’s VP of Product Josh Elman. The former Greylock investor is well known for his product chops from jobs at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Elman joined Robinhood in early 2018 but left late last year, notably before its rash of recent outages that enraged users.

“I just realized more than anything that the company needed people who had 110% to give, and it wasn’t clear that was going to be me” Elman said of Robinhood, now valued at $7.6 billion and struggling to scale. “My first passions and all the things I’ve talked about over the years have been social and media.”

For now, IRL is a part time gig where he’ll be heading up a Secret Projects division. While most apps “try to suck more of our time”, he sees IRL as a chance to give this precious resource back to people. Though he insists “Robinhood’s great I’m a very happy shareholder.

Events without borders

“We were on a tear, hitting a stride with usaging and growth related to real life events” says Shafi. “Then this happened”, motioning on our Zoom call to the COVID-19 reality we’re now stuck in. “We realized we had to pull all of our content because it wasn’t happening.”

Today IRL’s iOS app launches a redesign of its Discover homescreen content to center on virtual events people can attend from home. There’s now tabs for gaming, podcasts, TV, and EDU, as well as music, food, lifestyle, and a catch-all ‘fun’ section. Each event can be added to your calendar that syncs with Google Cal, or Liked to add it to your profile that friends and fans can follow. You can also instantly launch a group chat about the event in IRL, or share it to Instagram Stories or another messaging app.

If you can’t find something public to do, you can make plans with friends using the composer with suggestions like “Let’s video chat”, “Zoom workout”, “gaming sesh”, or “Netflix party”. That instantly sets up a calendar event you can invite people to. And if you’re not sure when you want to host, IRL’s “soon” option lets you keep the schedule vague so you and friends can figure out when everyone’s available. 50% of IRL plans start out as “Soon” Shafi reveals, identifying a gap in rigid time/date calendars.

Beyond individual events, IRL also wants to make it easier to develop habits by letting you subscribe to workout, meditation, and other schedules. With sports seasons suspended, IRL lets people sync with calendars of hip-hop album releases and more instead. Or you can subscribe to an influencer’s life and digitally accompany them to events. The goal is that IRL will be able to merge offline events back into its content recommendations as social distancing subsides.

The biggest challenge for IRL will be tuning its event recommendation algorithm. It’s lost a lot of the traditional relevance signals about events like how close they are to your home, how much they cost, or if they’re even in your city. Transitioning to In Remote Life means a global range of happenings is now available to everyone, and since they’re often free to host, many lonely low-quality events have sprung up. That makes it much tougher for IRL to determine what to show.

For now, it’s basing recommendations on what you engage with most on its homescreen, but I found that can make the initial experience very hit-or-miss. The top events in each category were rarely exciting. But IRL is planning to beef up its onboarding process to ask about your interests, and integrate with Spotify so it knows which musicians’ online concerts you’d want to attend.

Still, Shafi thinks IRL is already better than asocial alternatives. “Our main age range is 13 to 25, college and post-college metropolitan areas and across college campuses. Our average user has never used a calendar before, or they’re just used a default calendar like Gcal or iCal.

A cure for loneliness

Hopefully, IRL will take a more serious swing at helping friends realize they’re free at the same time and can hang out. While Down To Lunch failed in this space, now Facebook Messenger and Instagram are exploring it with their auto-status feature, and location apps like Snap Map and Zenly could adapt to share not just where you are, but if you have the intention to hang out.

“How can we use just a little bit of nudging, transparency or suggestion to get people to just do one more thing per month?” Shafi asks. IRL is trying to figure out how to let you passively share that “I have 2 hours free” in a way that “never makes you feel rejected if they don’t respond.”

Facebook did launch a standalone Events calendar app back in 2016, but later paired down the calendaring features, folded it in with restaurant recommendations and renamed it Local. “As big as Facebook is, it can only do so many things insanely well” Elman says of his old employer. “They could do more [on Events], but it’s never been the juggernaut like photos.”

Shafi is happy to have the opportunity in such a foundational space. He describes the concept of the calendar as one he’s sure will outlive him, so it’s worth the effort to make it social no matter how long it takes — though I’m sure his investors like Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and Floodgate hope it’ll find a way to monetize eventually.

Revenue could come in the form of selling access to events through the app, or letting promoters and local businesses pay for enhanced discovery. For now, though, IRL is building a deeper connection with event and content publishers with the upcoming launch of its free Add To Calendar button they can build into their sites and emails. Elman says several services charge for these buttons that integrate with Apple and Google’s calendars, but IRL hopes giving them away will help fill its app with things to do, whatever that might be.

“Our tagline is ‘live your best life’. It’s not judgmental. If your best life is playing video games on your couch with your homies, we don’t judge you for that.”

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IRL pivots into virtual event calendar In Remote Life

What do you do if you’re an event discovery startup and suddenly it’s illegal to attend events? You lean into the cultural shift and pivot. Today, $11 million-funded calendar app IRL is morphing from In Real Life to In Remote Life. It will now focus on helping people find, RSVP for, plan, share, and chat about virtual events from livestreamed concerts to esports tournaments to Zoom cocktail parties.

Coronavirus could make IRL relevant to a wider audience because before an event “only mattered if it was around you. But now with In Remote Life, content has no geographical limitations” says IRL co-founder and CEO Abe Shafi. “The need is exponentially greater because everyone’s routines have been shattered.” IRL ranked #138 in US App Store today, making it the top calendar app, even above Google’s (#168).

Robinhood’s Josh Elman joins IRL

IRL has some fresh product development talent to lead it through the transition. The startup has hired stock trading app Robinhood’s VP of Product Josh Elman. The former Greylock investor is well known for his product chops from jobs at Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. Elman joined Robinhood in early 2018 but left late last year, notably before its rash of recent outages that enraged users.

“I just realized more than anything that the company needed people who had 110% to give, and it wasn’t clear that was going to be me” Elman said of Robinhood, now valued at $7.6 billion and struggling to scale. “My first passions and all the things I’ve talked about over the years have been social and media.”

For now, IRL is a part time gig where he’ll be heading up a Secret Projects division. While most apps “try to suck more of our time”, he sees IRL as a chance to give this precious resource back to people. Though he insists “Robinhood’s great I’m a very happy shareholder.

Events without borders

“We were on a tear, hitting a stride with usaging and growth related to real life events” says Shafi. “Then this happened”, motioning on our Zoom call to the COVID-19 reality we’re now stuck in. “We realized we had to pull all of our content because it wasn’t happening.”

Today IRL’s iOS app launches a redesign of its Discover homescreen content to center on virtual events people can attend from home. There’s now tabs for gaming, podcasts, TV, and EDU, as well as music, food, lifestyle, and a catch-all ‘fun’ section. Each event can be added to your calendar that syncs with Google Cal, or Liked to add it to your profile that friends and fans can follow. You can also instantly launch a group chat about the event in IRL, or share it to Instagram Stories or another messaging app.

If you can’t find something public to do, you can make plans with friends using the composer with suggestions like “Let’s video chat”, “Zoom workout”, “gaming sesh”, or “Netflix party”. That instantly sets up a calendar event you can invite people to. And if you’re not sure when you want to host, IRL’s “soon” option lets you keep the schedule vague so you and friends can figure out when everyone’s available. 50% of IRL plans start out as “Soon” Shafi reveals, identifying a gap in rigid time/date calendars.

Beyond individual events, IRL also wants to make it easier to develop habits by letting you subscribe to workout, meditation, and other schedules. With sports seasons suspended, IRL lets people sync with calendars of hip-hop album releases and more instead. Or you can subscribe to an influencer’s life and digitally accompany them to events. The goal is that IRL will be able to merge offline events back into its content recommendations as social distancing subsides.

The biggest challenge for IRL will be tuning its event recommendation algorithm. It’s lost a lot of the traditional relevance signals about events like how close they are to your home, how much they cost, or if they’re even in your city. Transitioning to In Remote Life means a global range of happenings is now available to everyone, and since they’re often free to host, many lonely low-quality events have sprung up. That makes it much tougher for IRL to determine what to show.

For now, it’s basing recommendations on what you engage with most on its homescreen, but I found that can make the initial experience very hit-or-miss. The top events in each category were rarely exciting. But IRL is planning to beef up its onboarding process to ask about your interests, and integrate with Spotify so it knows which musicians’ online concerts you’d want to attend.

Still, Shafi thinks IRL is already better than asocial alternatives. “Our main age range is 13 to 25, college and post-college metropolitan areas and across college campuses. Our average user has never used a calendar before, or they’re just used a default calendar like Gcal or iCal.

A cure for loneliness

Hopefully, IRL will take a more serious swing at helping friends realize they’re free at the same time and can hang out. While Down To Lunch failed in this space, now Facebook Messenger and Instagram are exploring it with their auto-status feature, and location apps like Snap Map and Zenly could adapt to share not just where you are, but if you have the intention to hang out.

“How can we use just a little bit of nudging, transparency or suggestion to get people to just do one more thing per month?” Shafi asks. IRL is trying to figure out how to let you passively share that “I have 2 hours free” in a way that “never makes you feel rejected if they don’t respond.”

Facebook did launch a standalone Events calendar app back in 2016, but later paired down the calendaring features, folded it in with restaurant recommendations and renamed it Local. “As big as Facebook is, it can only do so many things insanely well” Elman says of his old employer. “They could do more [on Events], but it’s never been the juggernaut like photos.”

Shafi is happy to have the opportunity in such a foundational space. He describes the concept of the calendar as one he’s sure will outlive him, so it’s worth the effort to make it social no matter how long it takes — though I’m sure his investors like Goodwater Capital, Founders Fund, Kleiner Perkins, and Floodgate hope it’ll find a way to monetize eventually.

Revenue could come in the form of selling access to events through the app, or letting promoters and local businesses pay for enhanced discovery. For now, though, IRL is building a deeper connection with event and content publishers with the upcoming launch of its free Add To Calendar button they can build into their sites and emails. Elman says several services charge for these buttons that integrate with Apple and Google’s calendars, but IRL hopes giving them away will help fill its app with things to do, whatever that might be.

“Our tagline is ‘live your best life’. It’s not judgmental. If your best life is playing video games on your couch with your homies, we don’t judge you for that.”

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Estimote launches wearables for workplace-level contact tracing for COVID-19

Bluetooth location beacon startup Estimote has adapted its technological expertise to develop a new product designed specifically at curbing the spread of COVID-19. The company created a new range of wearable devices that co-founder Steve Cheney believes can enhance workplace safety for those who have to be colocated at a physical workplace even while social distancing and physical isolation measures are in place.

The devices, called simply the “Proof of Health” wearables, aim to provide contact tracing – in other words, monitoring the potential spread of the coronavirus from person-to-person – at the level of a local workplace facility. The intention is to give employers a way to hopefully maintain a pulse on any possible transmission among their workforces and provide them with the ability to hopefully curtail any local spread before it becomes an outsized risk.

The hardware includes passive GPS location-tracking, as well as proximity sensors powered by Bluetooth and ultra-wide band radio connectivity, a rechargeable battery, and built-in LTE. It also includes a manual control to change a wearer’s health status, recording states like certified health, symptomatic, and verified infected. When a user updates their state to indicate possible or verified infection, that updates others they’ve been in contact with based on proximity and location-data history. This information is also stored in a health dashboard that provides detailed logs of possible contacts for centralized management. That’s designed for internal use within an organization for now, but Cheney tells me he’s working now to see if there might be a way to collaborate with WHO or other external health organizations to potentially leverage the information for tracing across enterprises and populations, too.

These are intended to come in a number of different form factors: the pebble-like version that exists today, which can be clipped to a lanyard for wearing and displaying around a person’s neck; a wrist-worn version with an integrated adjustable strap; and a card format that’s more compact for carrying and could work alongside traditional security badges often used for facility access control. The pebble-like design is already in production and 2,000 will be deployed now, with a plan to ramp production for as many as 10,000 more in the near future using the company’s Poland-based manufacturing resources.

Estimote has been building programmable sensor tech for enterprises for nearly a decade and has worked with large global companies, including Apple and Amazon. Cheney tells me that he quickly recognized the need for the application of this technology to the unique problems presented by the pandemic, but Estimote was already 18 months into developing it for other uses, including in hospitality industries for employee safety/panic button deployment.

“This stack has been in full production for 18 months,” he said via message. “We can program all wearables remotely (they’re LTE connected). Say a factory deploys this – we write an app to the wearable remotely. This is programmable IoT.

“Who knew the virus would require proof of health vis-a-vis location diagnostics tech,” he added.

Many have proposed technology-based solutions for contact tracing, including leveraging existing data gathered by smartphones and consumer applications to chart transmission. But those efforts also have considerable privacy implications, and require use of a smartphone – something that Cheney says isn’t really viable for accurate workplace tracking in high-traffic environments. By creating a dedicated wearable, Cheney says that Estimote can help employers avoid doing something “invasive” with their workforce, since it’s instead tied to a fit-for-purpose device with data shared only with their employers, and it’s in a form factor they can remove and have some control over. Mobile devices also can’t do nearly as fine-grained tracking with indoor environments as dedicated hardware can manage, he says.

And contact tracing at this hyperlocal level won’t necessarily just provide employers with early warning signs for curbing the spread earlier and more thoroughly than they would otherwise. In fact, larger-scale contact tracing fed by sensor data could inform new and improved strategies for COVID-19 response.

“Typically, contact tracing relies on the memory of individuals, or some high-level assumptions (for example, the shift someone worked),” said Brianna Vechhio-Pagán of John Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Lab via a statement. “New technologies can now track interactions within a transmissible, or ~6-foot range, thus reducing the error introduced by other methods. By combining very dense contact tracing data from Bluetooth and UWB signals with information about infection status and symptoms, we may discover new and improved ways to keep patients and staff safe.”

With the ultimate duration of measures like physical distancing essentially up-in-the-air, and some predictions indicating they’ll continue for many months, even if they vary in terms of severity, solutions like Estimote’s could become essential to keeping essential services and businesses operating while also doing the utmost to protect the health and safety of the workers incurring those risks. More far-reaching measures might be needed, too, including general-public-connected, contact-tracing programs, and efforts like this one should help inform the design and development of those.

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Google Cloud launches a managed Memcached service

Google today announced the beta of Memorystore for Memcached, a new service that provides a fully managed in-memory datastore that is compatible with the open-source Memcached protocol. It will join Redis in the Memorystore family, which first launched in 2018.

As Gopal Ashok, Google’s product manager for Memorystore notes in today’s announcement, Redis remains a popular choice for use cases like session stores, gaming leaderboard, stream analytics, threat detection and API rate limiting, while Memcached is typically used as a caching layer for databases. Developers also regularly use Memcached as a session store and with this new service, developers can scale their clusters up to 5TB of memory per instance.

Since the service is fully compatible with Memcached, developers should be able to take any of their applications that use the protocol and migrate them over to Google Cloud and its Memorystore platform. As a fully managed service, Google will handle all of the routine tasks like monitoring and patching. Figuring out the right size of a cache remains a bit of an art, though, but Google Cloud argues that its detailed metrics will allow developers to easily scale their instances up and down as needed to optimize the service for their specific use cases. Those metrics, the company notes, are exposed in Cloud Monitoring, Google Cloud’s centralized monitoring dashboard, and the Cloud Console.

Currently, Memorystore for Memcached can be used for applications that run on Compute Engine, Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), App Engine Flex, App Engine Standard and Cloud Functions.

It’s worth noting that Amazon, with ElastiCache for Memcached, and specialized startups like MemCachier. And Redis Labs, too, is offering a fully managed Memcached service that can run on AWS, Azure and Google Cloud.

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T-Mobile customers on unlimited wireless family plans get a free year of Quibi

T-Mobile this morning officially announced its exclusive partnership with the new streaming service, Quibi, set to launch on April 6. The service will be made available for free for a year to T-Mobile customers on its unlimited wireless family plans.

The streaming service, founded by Hollywood media mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg, has been specifically built for on-the-go viewing on mobile devices. Its “shows” can be watched in 10 minutes or less and take advantage of the mobile device’s ability to be held different ways to enable seamless switching between portrait and landscape modes.

Thanks to Katzenberg’s industry connections, Quibi original content will feature A-Listers and other big names, including Jennifer Lopez, Chrissy Teigen, Chance the Rapper, Liam Hemsworth, Sophie Turner, Lena Waithe, Nicole Richie, Reese Witherspoon and others.

Typically, Quibi subscriptions are offered at $4.99 per month for its ad-supported plan or $7.99 per month for its ad-free option.

Quibi had confirmed last October that a deal with T-Mobile was in place, in statements made to various news outlets. But the details of the deal itself were not yet announced nor confirmed by T-Mobile at that time.

According to T-Mobile’s release, Magenta and ONE plans with taxes and fees included will be eligible for the free Quibi add-on, as will discounted First Responder, Military and Magenta Plus 55 plans, and small business customers with up to 12 lines.

T-Mobile customers can go to mytmobile.com now through July 7 to sign up, or they can use the T-Mobile Android or iOS app beginning on April 6 to add Quibi.

In addition, until April 3, T-Mobile customers who use the T-Mobile Tuesdays app for Android or iOS can get early access to three bonus episodes of the new Jennifer Lopez series, “Thanks a Million” when it launches on April 6. That means customers will have a total of 6 episodes to watch at launch. And on April 7, five people who enter the T-Mobile Tuesdays sweepstakes will win a free Google Pixel 4 XL.

“T-Mobile customers have always been ahead of the curve – streaming more data, watching more mobile video – so when we first heard about Quibi, we knew our customers would love it,” said Mike Sievert, President and CEO of T-Mobile, in a statement. “And, with more of us staying home right now, Quibi’s never been more needed. It comes on the scene with a totally different experience, made for mobile, quick to watch and as entertaining as anything you’ve ever seen!”

Teaming up with a mobile carrier to gain traction among customers for a streaming service is a viable strategy. Disney+ did it with Verizon, which ultimately accounted for 20% of its early customers.

However, Quibi isn’t Disney — it’s not a known brand with pent-up consumer demand for a streaming service. What’s more, its initial marketing no longer makes sense in the post-COVID-19 era.

Quibi has had to reposition its service in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak as something that works for at-home viewing. But in reality, the service had been intended to fill those empty moments in your on-the-go lifestyle — like riding the subway, standing in line, sitting in a waiting room before an appointment, and more. Now, with people stuck at home in government lockdowns and home quarantines, the minutes stretch out endlessly. There’s plenty of time to watch long-form content and the living room TV has more draw over the small phone screen. 

But ultimately, Quibi’s success may not come down to its technology, tricks, or episode length. It will come down the quality of its shows and their ability to capture an audience.

 

 

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External Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized? 5 Potential Fixes to Try

Removable disk drives—either USB flash drives or external hard drives—should be easy to use. But in some cases, you may connect your drive to a Windows PC or another device with a USB port and find the external hard drive isn’t showing up.

This problem has several possible causes: partition issues on the external drive, using the wrong file system, dead USB ports, or driver issues in Windows. In a worst-case scenario, the drive itself may be dead.

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Let’s take a look at how to diagnose undetected external drives in Windows. Note that this guide is also available as a video:

Make Sure Your Drive Powers On

This is a preliminary step, but one worth checking. Nearly every flash drive and many external hard drives don’t require a separate power source—they receive power over USB. However, some desktop external drives do have dedicated power cables, or at least a physical power switch.

If this is the case for you and your external hard drive is not showing up, you could have an issue with the power cable. Try plugging it into another power outlet, or swap the cable if possible. Check for flashing lights on the unit that indicate activity before moving on.

External Hard Drive Still Not Showing Up?

When your hard drive is not showing up, try these points in order. First, we’ll check whether Windows detects the hard disk when you plug it in. Plug your removable drive into your computer if it isn’t already.

1. Check the Drive in Disk Management

Open the Disk Management tool. To do so, press Windows Key + X (or right-click the Start button) to open the Power User menu and select Disk Management from the list. You can also open the Run dialog with Windows + R and enter diskmgmt.msc to open this utility.

As the name suggests, Disk Management lets you see all the hard disks connected to your computer. You can review sizes, partitions, and other disk information.

You should see your external drive listed in the Disk Management window, likely below your primary and any secondary disks. Even if it doesn’t appear in the This PC window because it doesn’t contain any partitions, it should show up here as Removable.

If you do see the drive here, jump down to section four, “Create a New Volume and Assign a Drive Letter.” There, you’ll partition and/or format it properly so Windows and other devices can access it.

If your external drive is still not showing up, continue on. You’ll need to determine why your drive isn’t recognized. It’s possible you have a hardware issue, driver problem, or a dead drive.

2. Try Another USB Port and Computer

The problem may not lie with your device, but the port you’re using to connect it to your computer.

Unplug the drive from its current USB port and try plugging it into another port on your computer. If it works in one USB port but not another, you may have a dead USB port.

If you’ve plugged the drive into a USB hub, try connecting it directly to the computer instead. Some USB hubs don’t provide enough power for your external drive to function.

What if the drive doesn’t show up in Disk Management even after trying both of these steps? It’s tough to know for certain whether the drive is bad or your computer is having a problem. If you have another computer nearby, try plugging the hard disk into it to check whether it’s detected.

If the drive doesn’t work on any computer you plug it into, the drive itself is likely dead and you’ll need to replace it. When you try another machine, be sure to check whether it appears in the computer’s Disk Management window, not just This PC, as discussed above.

3. Troubleshoot Driver Issues

If the drive does show up on other computers—or you don’t have another computer around to check—Windows may have a driver problem with your device. You can check for this using the Device Manager.

You’ll find a shortcut to the Device Manager under the same Windows + X menu mentioned earlier. You can also enter devmgmt.msc into the Run dialog to open it.

Expand the Disk drives category and check for any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them. If you see a this symbol, that device has a driver problem.

Right-click the device with the issue, select Properties, and look at the error message. This error message can help you fix the problem; you may want to perform a Google search for the error message you find.

Driver problems are often tricky to fix. If the problem started recently, try running System Restore to roll back the changes.

If this doesn’t work, you can try the Update Driver button to install an updated driver. However, this rarely finds a new driver for generic devices like flash drives. Instead, you may want to check the manufacturer’s website for a specific driver for your external hard drive.

The Driver menu for your drive in the Device Manager has a few other options. Roll Back Driver button will revert any recent driver updates, which probably won’t have an effect if System Restore didn’t work.

As a final resort, use the Uninstall button to remove the device from your system. Hopefully, upon rebooting, Windows will reinstall the driver and configure it correctly when you reconnect the drive.

4. Create a New Drive Volume

If your device showed up in Disk Management in Step 1 or one of the above troubleshooting steps made it show up, you’re ready to initialize the drive so it’s usable. Aside from showing you basic information, the Disk Management tool can fix partition and file system issues with your drive.

If your removable drive shows only Unallocated space, you’ll need to create a new partition on it. This allows Windows and other operating systems to use it. To do so, right-click anywhere on the Unallocated space, select New Simple Volume, and go through the wizard to create a new partition.

If your drive is partitioned (meaning it doesn’t have Unallocated space) and you still can’t see it, ensure it has a drive letter set. This should happen automatically, but if you’ve manually removed the drive letter, the drive may not be accessible in Windows.

To change the drive letter, right-click the removable drive’s partition and select Change Drive Letter and Paths. If the device doesn’t already have a letter, click Add and choose one. If it does, click Change and try another one.

Something later in the alphabet, like G or J, is standard for removable drives and will work fine.

5. Format the Drive

If the drive appears partitioned, but you still can’t access it, it’s probably partitioned with a different file system.

For instance, you may have formatted the drive with the XFS file system from Linux or APFS on a Mac. Windows can’t read these file systems. You’ll thus need to reformat the drive with the newer NTFS or older FAT32 file system so Windows will be able to recognize it.

To reformat a partition in the Disk Management utility, right-click it and select Format.

Note that formatting will erase all files on your drive, so you should copy any important files on it to another device before continuing. If you formatted the drive on a Linux or Mac machine, take it to a computer running that OS and back up the files before you format it.

When you format, you can give the drive a new name if you like. Leave Allocation unit size as Default; leaving Perform a quick format checked is fine too. More importantly, you’ll need to select a file system. Which one you should choose depends on the type of drive and what you use it for.

If you have a small flash drive, it likely came formatted as FAT32. In most cases, this is the best choice. While FAT32 can’t save files over 4GB and only supports volumes up to 2TB, it’s unlikely you’ll run into either of these issues using a flash drive. More importantly, FAT32 is compatible with all sorts of devices, such as cameras, media players, game consoles, and more.

NTFS is the modern standard for Windows, but there’s really nothing to gain by using it on a flash drive. Many older devices aren’t compatible with NTFS. Thus, we recommend formatting as FAT32 for flash drives and SD cards, and NTFS for large external hard drives.

You do have two other file system options. exFAT is a Microsoft file system that supports larger files that FAT32, but isn’t as widely compatible. We’ve compared FAT32 and exFAT if you’re interested. FAT is ancient, so you can ignore that one.

Your External Drive, Fixed and Recognized Again

Following this process when external hard drives don’t show up should solve most of the disk recognition issues you’ll encounter. If you’ve tried the drive with multiple computers and it never shows up in the Disk Management window after these steps, the drive is probably dead.

In that case, check out the best portable hard drives you can buy. Just make sure you know the important information about buying a hard drive.

Read the full article: External Drive Not Showing Up or Recognized? 5 Potential Fixes to Try

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A Guide to the Instagram Hashtags No One Understands

Are you #confused by all of the hashtags on Instagram? With a barrage of #instagood, #l4l, #f4f, #photooftheday, and #igers on every social media post, you’re definitely not alone. So what does #fmspad mean? What is #bhfyp’s full form? And what does #iamtb stand for?

In this article we explain the meanings of various Instagram hashtags. Which will help you use them to gain views and likes on your posts. All without annoying your followers.

What Does #instagood Mean on Instagram?

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@diegostevnson If you never chase your dreams, you will never catch them. Adventures are out there. .

A post shared by inspiration feature account (@instagood) on Mar 18, 2020 at 6:04am PDT

#instagood is a widely used hashtag which should be used only on your very best photos. In short, it signifies that the user is especially proud of the photo.

But in practice, many use it on almost any photo. Why?

The obvious reason is that people like every photo they take, so each must deserve the hashtag. The second is that #instagood actually originated with an Instagram account (@instagood) which uses the hashtag to feature the best photos. They also promote a second account, @2instagood, and prompt users to use the new hashtag, #2instagood.

What Does #instamood Mean on Instagram?

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Flying time

A post shared by Welcome ?? (@instamood) on Aug 9, 2014 at 7:10pm PDT

Very much like #instagood, #instamood is also connected to an Instagram account which primarily features photos of flowers, animals, and sunsets. Use the #instamood hashtag if the photo you’ve taken reflects your mood. In practice, all photos reflect some kind of mood, so #instamood can always be applicable, meaning it’s widely used. Since the account is popular, it could be a good way to get your photo noticed.

What Does #photooftheday Mean on Instagram?

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• Winner @jasonmpeterson • Mention @luka04 if you want to be featured

A post shared by Photooftheday (@photooftheday) on Oct 17, 2018 at 1:29pm PDT

This isn’t a meaningless hashtag used by all in an attempt to give more importance to average images. Like many other popular hashtags, it’s connected to an account.

The moderators of @photooftheday find one image each day and share it with the account’s sizable number of followers. Obviously, the chosen photo must bear the #photooftheday hashtag.

Businesses can also use the hashtag to inform followers that they intend to use the platform every day, attracting a dedicated readership. You’ll also see a variation of this, which is #picoftheday.

What Does #igdaily Mean on Instagram?

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And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you, because the greatest secret are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic, will never find it. @road.and.food . . ??????????? ?????? ? @storiesofdarjeeling #storiesofdarjeeling #merodarjeeling .. . .? ?#darjeeling #lepchajagat #darjeelingtourism #travelgram #shetravels #femaletraveller #beautiful_world #igdaily #igtravel #wowplacestogo #travel #travelblogger #woods #intothewoods #forest #mypixeldiary #mytraveldairy #natgeoyourshot #himgeo #himalayangeographic #indiapictures #darjeelingtown

A post shared by Stories of Darjeeling (@storiesofdarjeeling) on Mar 19, 2020 at 7:33am PDT

This is similar to #photofotheday, albeit with less gravitas. #igdaily means you’re either sharing content every day (add #igdailypic or #igdailyphoto to make this clear) or that your photo includes something that you do daily.

Share a part of your normal routine. Tell people your exercise regime. Let your followers know what you love doing frequently.

What Does #igers Mean on Instagram?

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From London enjoy this architecture photo by @cosplore at @igerslondon ??? #igerslondon #igersUK #igers

A post shared by Igers Instagramers (@igers) on Mar 18, 2020 at 12:33pm PDT

This is one of the more obscure hashtags, but #igers simply means “Instagrammers”. If you tag your photo with this hashtag, it means you’re using Instagram.

It should go without saying, yet the hashtag became popular as a means to build a community. This gave rise to the @igers account.

What Do #tbt and #throwbackthursday Mean?

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My thoughts are back to these beautiful places in Thailand? but for now I am sitting safely at home! #StayAtHome #StayHome . I hope you all have an amazing and safe day!???? _____ ?Wat Pho, Bangkok, Thailand _________________________________ #polishgirl #in #thailand #visitthailand #watpho #bangkokfashion #beautiful #tbt #inlovewiththisplace #whataplace #whataview #bangkok #gtllove #sheisnotlost #femaletravelbloggers #citizenfemme #travelingpost #ladiesgoneglobal #girlsborntotravel #dametravel #darlingescapes #bdteam #travelinspiration #travelbloggers #travel #picoftheday #travelthroughtheworld #discoverunder30k

A post shared by NEL ·Poland·Travel·Fashion· (@nellasloniewska) on Mar 19, 2020 at 6:41am PDT

#tbt and #throwbackthursday are two of the most popular hashtags on social media, but what do they mean?

Throwback Thursday is a great way to wallow in nostalgia by posting old photos. Often, these photos are selfies to show how much you’ve changed in the intervening years. The main problem with this hashtag is that it’s sometimes used as part of those copy-paste hashtag lists, and the photos it’s used on have nothing to do with Throwback Thursday.

It’s so popular, it’s spawned a #flashbackfriday sibling, which includes similar content (for those who missed their opportunity the previous day).

What Does #motivation and #motivationmonday Mean on Instagram?

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#writer #happy #thoughts #quotestoliveby #followforfollowback #storywa #positivevibes #motivation #dailyquotes #writing #words #likes #quotescinta #viral #photooftheday #instadaily #memes #lifestyle #happiness #poem #quotesdaily #loveyourself #goals #shayari #music #instaquotes #motivational #motivationalquotes #quotesoftheday

A post shared by 710 (@domyos007) on Mar 19, 2020 at 5:02am PDT

#motivationmonday first came to prominence on Twitter, used to share inspirational quotes for workers to start a new week feeling energized. It’s used similarly on Instagram, as is #motivation, although it’s increasingly tagged to photos of people at the gym or exercising elsewhere.

Of course, not everyone is motivated by others flexing their muscles, so some users attach the hashtags to images of people working on laptops.

What Does #fmspad Mean on Instagram?

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Day 19 – Black + White. Black Panther pins. #fms_ #photoaday #fmspad #fmsphotochallenge #fms  #photochallenge #marvel #fms_blackandwhite #marvelcomics #littlemomentsapp #fatmumslim #blackpanther #enamelpins #pins #pingame #flair #pinsofig #pinstagram #pincollector #pinlife

A post shared by ccculinista (@ccculinista) on Mar 19, 2020 at 4:41am PDT

This hashtag stands for Fat Mum Slim Photo A Day, and is a challenge set by the Fat Mum Slim blog. Every month, a list of daily hashtags is revealed and anyone taking part needs to think creatively to take the best related photo they can. Be as literal or as figurative as you like. Interpret the hashtags however you wish.

Although it began in January 2012, it remains popular with Instagrammers who keep up-to-date with the latest hashtag challenges. Keep an eye on related hashtags, #fms_, #fmsphotochallenge, and #fatmumslim.

What Does #bhfyp Mean on Instagram?

#bhfyp is automatically generated by Best-Hashtag.com, and means Best Hashtag For Your Post. The site is a research tool to get more likes and followers on Instagram, particularly useful for brands and would-be influencers. #bhfyp is listed last in your posts if you use the service.

If you search for the hashtag, you’ll certainly see an eclectic mix of posts!

What Does #iamtb Mean on Instagram?

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Pyramid of Khafre. August 2008. * * ?? Piensa siempre a lo grande ?. Éste fue mi primer "gran" viaje cuando empecé a trabajar. * * ??Always think big ?. This was my first "big" trip when I started to work. * * #egypt #pyramids #gizahpyramids #khafrepyramid #wonderful_places #travelmethat #traveltheworld #your_worldcapture #worldwecapture #total_myworld #myplanet_shots #your_worldcapture #asi_es_miplaneta #gowiththeflow #beforeidie #ilovetotravel #globetrotter #wanderlust #adventuretrotters #theartistvision #yomequedoencasa #istayathome #espectacular_shot #total_shot #amazing_shot #iamtb #travelRepost

A post shared by Go With The Flow (@go_with_the_flow_ml) on Mar 19, 2020 at 1:00pm PDT

Given that TB also stands for tuberculosis, this isn’t the ideal hashtag, but it’s an increasingly popular one used by people on vacation.

It means I Am Travel Blogging, so tag this in snaps of exotic locations—although do so after you come home or you risk your security. This is one of the Instagram hashtags you’ll want to follow; it’s a way of seeing the world without leaving the comfort of your living room.

What Does #instagramhub Mean on Instagram?

https://ift.tt/345Lr4G

Think of #instagramhub as the main hub for all sorts of content from all sorts of users. Use this hashtag to attract attention by reaching a wider audience. It’s something many Instagrammers add to every post.

Search #instagramhub and you’ll see a mix of selfies (which some further hashtag as #me), inspirational quotes, travel photos, art, and animals.

What Does #jj Mean on Instagram?

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? Good day JJers! It’s @Arashrimus and Today’s theme at “Thursdays with Arash” in @JJCommunity is “DREAMY” ? . . . ?? Ever dreamt of having the much needed “me time” away from the distractions of life to make peace with yourself? Our forth feature of the day is a dreamy take on such occasion! / A big congratulations to @luzmafer for creating such mesmerizing image and a super thanks to @jj_editor_susanblanda for the initial featuring. ?? . . . ? Do kindly keep tagging your “DREAMY” shots to #jj_forum_2910 as I still have 1 more amazing shot to feature for today’s theme. . . Yours Sincerely, @arashrimus

A post shared by The #JJ Community (@jjcommunity) on Mar 12, 2020 at 9:54am PDT

This is another hashtag that builds a community, this time around photographer, Josh Johnson (@jjcommunity). #jj  is just one in a long list of similar hashtags (e.g., #jj_forum, #jj_daily) which are used to enter all kinds of contests, and to simply become part of this community.

What Does #iphonesia Mean on Instagram?

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#nature #sky #sun #summer #beach #beautiful #pretty #sunset #sunrise #blue #flowers #night #tree #twilight #clouds #beauty #light #photooftheday #love #green #skylovers #dusk #weather #day #red #iphonesia #mothernature

A post shared by @ enictenresimler1 on Mar 19, 2020 at 12:21am PDT

#iphonesia has grown exponentially, but there’s some misunderstanding over what it actually means. Some use it as “iPhone amnesia”, as in an image you’d forgotten you had taken. However, for most Instagrammers, it’s used to build the social media community in Indonesia. Certainly the latter meaning gains credence as it has spawned an account, @iphonesia.

What Does #dogstagram Mean on Instagram?

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Summer is coming ?:@amora.golden.retriever

A post shared by Golden Retrievers World ? (@retrieverglow) on Mar 19, 2020 at 4:16am PDT

Search for #dogstagram or #dogstagramming to find lots of pictures of cute dogs. And yes, looking at gorgeous puppies should tide you over from quite some time.

What Do #l4l, #likeforlike, #lb, and #like4like Mean on Instagram?

There are several variations of these hashtags, all widely popular. In a nutshell, using them on a post means you’re going to like someone else’s photo in exchange for them liking one of yours. Did 30 people like your photos? You’re going to have to like a photo by every single one of those users too. It’s tedious, but if you’re really desperate for likes, it’s one way to get them.

A similar hashtag is #f4f, or #follow4follow, which means you will follow back anyone who follows you. It’s a good way to gain more followers on Instagram.

What Does #tfl Mean on Instagram?

This has multiple meanings, one of which is Tag For Likes—similar to the above #l4l variations. Some of these use #tflers instead.

If you live in the UK, however, it means Transport for London, so you’ll typically see pictures of the underground. Elsewhere, inspirational quotes tagged #tfl stand for Tips For Life.

Don’t Overdo the Instagram Hashtags!

Instagram lets you add up to 30 hashtags to every photo, making it one of the most hashtag-heavy networks available. The copy-and-paste habit of many users also helps the disproportionate proliferation of hashtags on Instagram. Nonetheless, they’re useful to curate content and keep track of the latest developments and interests.

Instagram can be a confusing place, but it has lots of benefits, including letting you stay in touch with friends and family via Direct Messages. If you have any questions, check out our guide to Instagram DMs.

Image Credit: Jeff/Flickr

Read the full article: A Guide to the Instagram Hashtags No One Understands

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