This Week in Apps: Layoffs at VSCO, Google Play’s new guidelines, TikTok rolls out parental controls

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019, according to App Annie’s “State of Mobile” annual report. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.

In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps, delivered on a weekly basis.

This week we’re continuing to look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world of mobile applications, including a dig into Houseparty’s big surge, layoffs at VSCO, Google’s launch of a “Teacher Reviewed” tag, Bumble’s virtual dating, plus changes to Instagram in support of small business and live streaming, among other things. Also this week, Google changed its Play Store guidelines, TikTok launched parental controls, a report suggested Apple may be expanding its Search Ads and more.

Coronavirus Special Coverage

Instagram adds features for supporting small businesses during pandemic

Read Full Article

What is contact tracing?

One of the best tools we have to slow the spread of the coronavirus is, as you have no doubt heard by now, contact tracing. But what exactly is contact tracing, who does it and how, and do you need to worry about it?

In short, contact tracing helps prevent the spread of a virus by proactively finding people at higher risk than others due to potential exposure, notifying them if possible, and quarantining them if necessary. It’s a proven technique, and smartphones could help make it even more effective — but only if privacy and other concerns can be overcome.

Contact tracing, from memory to RAM

Contact tracing has been done in some form or another as long as the medical establishment has understood the nature of contagious diseases. When a person is diagnosed with an infectious disease, they are asked whom they have been in contact with over the previous weeks, both in order to determine who may have been infected by them and perhaps where they themselves were infected.

Until very recently, however, the process has relied heavily on the recall of people who are in a highly stressful situation and, until prompted, were probably not paying special attention to their movements and interactions.

This results in a list of contacts that is far from complete, though still very helpful. If those people can be contacted and their contacts likewise traced, a network of potential infections can be built up without a single swab or blood drop, and lives can be saved or important resources better allocated.

You might think that has all changed now what with modern technology and all, but in fact contact tracing being done at hospitals right now is almost all still of the memory-based kind — the same we might have used a hundred years ago.

It certainly seems as if the enormous digital surveillance apparatus that has been assembled around us over the last decade should be able to accomplish this kind of contact tracing easily, but in fact it’s surprisingly useless for anything but tracking what you are likely to click on or buy.

While it would be nice to be able to piece together a contagious person’s week from a hundred cameras spread throughout the city and background location data collected by social media, the potential for abuse of such a system should make us thankful it is not so easy as that. In other, less dire circumstances the ability to track the exact movements and interactions of a person from their digital record would be considered creepy at best, and perhaps even criminal.

But it’s one thing when an unscrupulous data aggregator uses your movements and interests to target you with ads without your knowledge or consent — and quite another when people choose to use the forbidden capabilities of everyday technology in an informed and limited way to turn the tide of a global pandemic. And that’s what modern digital contact tracing is intended to do.

Bluetooth beacons

All modern mobile phones use wireless radios to exchange data with cell towers, Wi-Fi routers, and each other. On their own, these transmissions aren’t a very good way to tell where someone is or who they’re near — a Wi-Fi signal can travel 100 to 200 feet reliably, and a cell signal can go miles. Bluetooth, on the other hand, has a short range by design, less than 30 feet for good reception and with a swiftly attenuating signal that makes it unlikely to catch a stray contact from much further out than that.

We all know Bluetooth as the way our wireless earbuds receive music from our phones, and that’s a big part of its job. But Bluetooth, by design, is constantly reaching out and touching other Bluetooth-enabled devices — it’s how your car knows you’ve gotten into it, or how your phone detects a smart home device nearby.

Bluetooth chips also make brief contact without your knowledge with other phones and devices you pass nearby, and if they aren’t recognized, they delete each other from their respective memories as soon as possible. But what if they didn’t?

The type of contact tracing being tested and deployed around the world now uses Bluetooth signals very similar to the ones your phone already transmits and receives constantly. The difference is it just doesn’t automatically forget the other devices it comes into contact with.

Assuming the system is working correctly, what would happen when a person presents at the hospital with COVID-19 is basically just a digitally enhanced version of manual contact tracing. Instead of querying the person’s fallible memory, they query the phone’s much more reliable one, which has dutifully recorded all the other phones it has recently been close enough to connect to. (Anonymously, as we’ll see.)

Those devices — and it’s important to note that it’s devices, not people — would be alerted within seconds that they had recently been in contact with someone who has now been diagnosed with COVID-19. The notification they receive will contain information on what the affected person can do next: Download an app or call a number for screening, for instance, or find a nearby location for testing.

The ease, quickness, and comprehensiveness of this contact tracing method make it an excellent opportunity to help stem the spread of the virus. So why aren’t we all using it already?

Successes and potential worries

In fact digital contact tracing using the above method (or something very like it) has already been implemented with millions of users, apparently to good effect, in east Asia, which of course was hit by the virus earlier than the U.S. and Europe.

In Singapore the TraceTogether app was promoted by the government as the official means for contact tracing. South Korea saw the voluntary adoption of a handful of apps that tracked people known to be diagnosed. Taiwan was able to compare data from its highly centralized healthcare system to a contact tracing system it began work on during the SARS outbreak years ago. And mainland China has implemented a variety of tracking procedures through mega-popular services like WeChat and Alipay.

Outrunning COVID-19 twice

While it would be premature to make conclusions on the efficacy of these programs while they’re still underway, it seems at least anecdotally to have improved the response and potentially limited the spread of the virus.

But east Asia is a very different place from the U.S.; we can’t just take Taiwan’s playbook and apply it here (or in Europe, or Africa, etc.), for myriad reasons. There are also valid questions of privacy, security, and other matters that need to be answered before people, who for good reason are skeptical of the intentions of both the government and the private sector, will submit to this kind of tracking.

Right now there are a handful of efforts being made in the U.S., the largest profile by far being the collaboration between arch-rivals Apple and Google, which have proposed a cross-platform contact tracing method that can be added to phones at the operating system.

Q&A: Apple and Google discuss their coronavirus tracing efforts

The system they have suggested uses Bluetooth as described above, but importantly does not tie it to a person’s identity in any way. A phone would have a temporary ID number of its own, and as it made contact with other devices, it exchanges numbers. These lists of ID numbers are collected and stored locally, not synced with the cloud or anything. And the numbers also change frequently so no single one can be connected to your device or location.

If and only if a person is determined to be infected with the virus, a hospital (not the person) is authorized to activate the contact tracing app, which will send a notification to all the ID numbers stored in the person’s phone. The notification will say that they were recently near a person now diagnosed with COVID-19 — again, these are only ID numbers generated by a phone and are not connected with any personal information. As discussed earlier, the people notified can then take whatever action seems warranted.

MIT has developed a system that works in a very similar way, and which some states are reportedly beginning to promote among their residents.

Naturally even this straightforward, decentralized, and seemingly secure system has its flaws; this article at the Markup gives a good overview, and I’ve summarized them below:

• It’s opt-in. This is a plus and a minus, of course, but means that many people may choose not to take part, limiting how comprehensive the list of recent contacts really is.
• It’s vulnerable to malicious interference. Bluetooth isn’t particularly secure, which means there are several ways this method could be taken advantage of, should there be any attacker depraved enough to do so. Bluetooth signals could be harvested and imitated, for instance, or a phone driven through the city to “expose” it to thousands of others.
• It could lead to false positives or negatives. In order to maintain privacy, the notifications sent to others would contain a minimum of information, leading them to wonder when and how they might have been exposed. There will be no details like “you stood next to this person in line 4 days ago for about 5 minutes” or “you jogged past this person on Broadway.” This lack of detail may lead to people panicking and running to the ER for no reason, or ignoring the alert altogether.
• It’s pretty anonymous, but nothing is truly anonymous. Although the systems seem to work with a bare minimum of data, that data could still be used for nefarious purposes if someone got their hands on it. De-anonymizing large sets of data is practically an entire domain of study in data science now and it’s possible that these records, however anonymous they appear, could be cross-referenced with other data to out infected persons or otherwise invade one’s privacy.
• It’s not clear what happens to the data. Will this data be given to health authorities later? Will it be sold to advertisers? Will researcher be able to access it, and how will they be vetted? Questions like these could very well be answered satisfactorily, but right now it’s a bit of a mystery.

Contact tracing is an important part of the effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and whatever method or platform is decided on in your area — it may be different state to state or even between cities — it is important that as many people as possible take part in order to make it as effective as possible.

There are risks, yes, but the risks are relatively minor and the benefits would appear to outweigh them by orders of magnitude. When the time comes to opt in, it is out of consideration for the community at large that one should make the decision to do so.

Read Full Article

This Week in Apps: Layoffs at VSCO, Google Play’s new guidelines, TikTok rolls out parental controls

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support and the money that flows through it all.

The app industry is as hot as ever, with a record 204 billion downloads in 2019 and $120 billion in consumer spending in 2019, according to App Annie’s “State of Mobile” annual report. People are now spending 3 hours and 40 minutes per day using apps, rivaling TV. Apps aren’t just a way to pass idle hours — they’re a big business. In 2019, mobile-first companies had a combined $544 billion valuation, 6.5x higher than those without a mobile focus.

In this Extra Crunch series, we help you keep up with the latest news from the world of apps, delivered on a weekly basis.

This week we’re continuing to look at how the coronavirus outbreak is impacting the world of mobile applications, including a dig into Houseparty’s big surge, layoffs at VSCO, Google’s launch of a “Teacher Reviewed” tag, Bumble’s virtual dating, plus changes to Instagram in support of small business and live streaming, among other things. Also this week, Google changed its Play Store guidelines, TikTok launched parental controls, a report suggested Apple may be expanding its Search Ads and more.

Coronavirus Special Coverage

Instagram adds features for supporting small businesses during pandemic

Read Full Article

What is contact tracing?

One of the best tools we have to slow the spread of the coronavirus is, as you have no doubt heard by now, contact tracing. But what exactly is contact tracing, who does it and how, and do you need to worry about it?

In short, contact tracing helps prevent the spread of a virus by proactively finding people at higher risk than others due to potential exposure, notifying them if possible, and quarantining them if necessary. It’s a proven technique, and smartphones could help make it even more effective — but only if privacy and other concerns can be overcome.

Contact tracing, from memory to RAM

Contact tracing has been done in some form or another as long as the medical establishment has understood the nature of contagious diseases. When a person is diagnosed with an infectious disease, they are asked whom they have been in contact with over the previous weeks, both in order to determine who may have been infected by them and perhaps where they themselves were infected.

Until very recently, however, the process has relied heavily on the recall of people who are in a highly stressful situation and, until prompted, were probably not paying special attention to their movements and interactions.

This results in a list of contacts that is far from complete, though still very helpful. If those people can be contacted and their contacts likewise traced, a network of potential infections can be built up without a single swab or blood drop, and lives can be saved or important resources better allocated.

You might think that has all changed now what with modern technology and all, but in fact contact tracing being done at hospitals right now is almost all still of the memory-based kind — the same we might have used a hundred years ago.

It certainly seems as if the enormous digital surveillance apparatus that has been assembled around us over the last decade should be able to accomplish this kind of contact tracing easily, but in fact it’s surprisingly useless for anything but tracking what you are likely to click on or buy.

While it would be nice to be able to piece together a contagious person’s week from a hundred cameras spread throughout the city and background location data collected by social media, the potential for abuse of such a system should make us thankful it is not so easy as that. In other, less dire circumstances the ability to track the exact movements and interactions of a person from their digital record would be considered creepy at best, and perhaps even criminal.

But it’s one thing when an unscrupulous data aggregator uses your movements and interests to target you with ads without your knowledge or consent — and quite another when people choose to use the forbidden capabilities of everyday technology in an informed and limited way to turn the tide of a global pandemic. And that’s what modern digital contact tracing is intended to do.

Bluetooth beacons

All modern mobile phones use wireless radios to exchange data with cell towers, Wi-Fi routers, and each other. On their own, these transmissions aren’t a very good way to tell where someone is or who they’re near — a Wi-Fi signal can travel 100 to 200 feet reliably, and a cell signal can go miles. Bluetooth, on the other hand, has a short range by design, less than 30 feet for good reception and with a swiftly attenuating signal that makes it unlikely to catch a stray contact from much further out than that.

We all know Bluetooth as the way our wireless earbuds receive music from our phones, and that’s a big part of its job. But Bluetooth, by design, is constantly reaching out and touching other Bluetooth-enabled devices — it’s how your car knows you’ve gotten into it, or how your phone detects a smart home device nearby.

Bluetooth chips also make brief contact without your knowledge with other phones and devices you pass nearby, and if they aren’t recognized, they delete each other from their respective memories as soon as possible. But what if they didn’t?

The type of contact tracing being tested and deployed around the world now uses Bluetooth signals very similar to the ones your phone already transmits and receives constantly. The difference is it just doesn’t automatically forget the other devices it comes into contact with.

Assuming the system is working correctly, what would happen when a person presents at the hospital with COVID-19 is basically just a digitally enhanced version of manual contact tracing. Instead of querying the person’s fallible memory, they query the phone’s much more reliable one, which has dutifully recorded all the other phones it has recently been close enough to connect to. (Anonymously, as we’ll see.)

Those devices — and it’s important to note that it’s devices, not people — would be alerted within seconds that they had recently been in contact with someone who has now been diagnosed with COVID-19. The notification they receive will contain information on what the affected person can do next: Download an app or call a number for screening, for instance, or find a nearby location for testing.

The ease, quickness, and comprehensiveness of this contact tracing method make it an excellent opportunity to help stem the spread of the virus. So why aren’t we all using it already?

Successes and potential worries

In fact digital contact tracing using the above method (or something very like it) has already been implemented with millions of users, apparently to good effect, in east Asia, which of course was hit by the virus earlier than the U.S. and Europe.

In Singapore the TraceTogether app was promoted by the government as the official means for contact tracing. South Korea saw the voluntary adoption of a handful of apps that tracked people known to be diagnosed. Taiwan was able to compare data from its highly centralized healthcare system to a contact tracing system it began work on during the SARS outbreak years ago. And mainland China has implemented a variety of tracking procedures through mega-popular services like WeChat and Alipay.

Outrunning COVID-19 twice

While it would be premature to make conclusions on the efficacy of these programs while they’re still underway, it seems at least anecdotally to have improved the response and potentially limited the spread of the virus.

But east Asia is a very different place from the U.S.; we can’t just take Taiwan’s playbook and apply it here (or in Europe, or Africa, etc.), for myriad reasons. There are also valid questions of privacy, security, and other matters that need to be answered before people, who for good reason are skeptical of the intentions of both the government and the private sector, will submit to this kind of tracking.

Right now there are a handful of efforts being made in the U.S., the largest profile by far being the collaboration between arch-rivals Apple and Google, which have proposed a cross-platform contact tracing method that can be added to phones at the operating system.

Q&A: Apple and Google discuss their coronavirus tracing efforts

The system they have suggested uses Bluetooth as described above, but importantly does not tie it to a person’s identity in any way. A phone would have a temporary ID number of its own, and as it made contact with other devices, it exchanges numbers. These lists of ID numbers are collected and stored locally, not synced with the cloud or anything. And the numbers also change frequently so no single one can be connected to your device or location.

If and only if a person is determined to be infected with the virus, a hospital (not the person) is authorized to activate the contact tracing app, which will send a notification to all the ID numbers stored in the person’s phone. The notification will say that they were recently near a person now diagnosed with COVID-19 — again, these are only ID numbers generated by a phone and are not connected with any personal information. As discussed earlier, the people notified can then take whatever action seems warranted.

MIT has developed a system that works in a very similar way, and which some states are reportedly beginning to promote among their residents.

Naturally even this straightforward, decentralized, and seemingly secure system has its flaws; this article at the Markup gives a good overview, and I’ve summarized them below:

• It’s opt-in. This is a plus and a minus, of course, but means that many people may choose not to take part, limiting how comprehensive the list of recent contacts really is.
• It’s vulnerable to malicious interference. Bluetooth isn’t particularly secure, which means there are several ways this method could be taken advantage of, should there be any attacker depraved enough to do so. Bluetooth signals could be harvested and imitated, for instance, or a phone driven through the city to “expose” it to thousands of others.
• It could lead to false positives or negatives. In order to maintain privacy, the notifications sent to others would contain a minimum of information, leading them to wonder when and how they might have been exposed. There will be no details like “you stood next to this person in line 4 days ago for about 5 minutes” or “you jogged past this person on Broadway.” This lack of detail may lead to people panicking and running to the ER for no reason, or ignoring the alert altogether.
• It’s pretty anonymous, but nothing is truly anonymous. Although the systems seem to work with a bare minimum of data, that data could still be used for nefarious purposes if someone got their hands on it. De-anonymizing large sets of data is practically an entire domain of study in data science now and it’s possible that these records, however anonymous they appear, could be cross-referenced with other data to out infected persons or otherwise invade one’s privacy.
• It’s not clear what happens to the data. Will this data be given to health authorities later? Will it be sold to advertisers? Will researcher be able to access it, and how will they be vetted? Questions like these could very well be answered satisfactorily, but right now it’s a bit of a mystery.

Contact tracing is an important part of the effort to curb the spread of the coronavirus, and whatever method or platform is decided on in your area — it may be different state to state or even between cities — it is important that as many people as possible take part in order to make it as effective as possible.

There are risks, yes, but the risks are relatively minor and the benefits would appear to outweigh them by orders of magnitude. When the time comes to opt in, it is out of consideration for the community at large that one should make the decision to do so.

Read Full Article

5 Job Boards to Find Work From Home Gigs and Remote Jobs

The COVID-19 pandemic is doing a number on the world’s economy. If you are facing job cuts, layoffs, or have a similar reason to look for new work, these new websites are helping ease COVID-affected unemployment.

Businesses both big and small have to cut costs in this economic climate. But working from home, remote jobs, and even part-time gigs can smoothen the bumps. While it’s a tough situation, don’t wait for things to get worse. Be proactive from today.

These free websites will help you handle layoffs and find current job boards. You can also search Twitter for job postings and learn how to get into one of the longest-lasting “work online” job types—transcription.

1. Candor (Web): Layoff Hiring List and a Guide to Handle Layoffs

Before making another move, check Candor’s guide to company layoffs. You’ll learn what you can expect, the legal aspects, your final pay and severance check, and other details that HR might not tell you. All of this is part of Candor’s larger goals to help people get paid what they should be.

Then register on Candor’s Layoffs List. It asks for basic details like your name, location, role, past companies, a short bio, and a photo. Add a resume as an attachment or link to your LinkedIn page. Candor becomes a job board for recruiters looking to do their bit by hiring someone affected by the global economic downturn.

Finally, check out Candor’s Hiring Freezes List. It hosts a regularly updated spreadsheet of companies, their current status about whether they’re hiring, have frozen hiring, or have layoffs. You’ll also find user-contributed notes and a link to their job profile pages.

2. Levels.FYI Still Hiring (Web): World Map With Verified Checks of Who’s Hiring

Salary comparison engine Levels.FYI has also curated a list of companies that are still hiring. In a heartening move, the team behind it is checking regularly with companies on it to ensure the list is up-to-date. Outdated listings are a common problem and this is an excellent effort to avoid wasted time for applicants.

In one glance at the list, you can see the company, the roles it is hiring for, and the locations. Each company has a “last updated” timestamp so you know when the team has checked in. You’ll find a direct application link as well. You can sort the list by roles, or use the powerful search function to find keywords.

Interestingly, Levels.FYI has a world map showing where these roles are available. While work-from-home is a necessity right now, in the near future, you should be able to go back to the office when required. This map shows you opportunities by their location, for both remote and non-remote jobs.

3. WFH Pad (Web): Entry Level Jobs for Work-From-Home Applicants

Entry-level jobs are difficult to come by, especially those that let you work from home. If there’s one positive to this forced isolation, it’s that people and companies are realizing they don’t need an office. WFH Pad rounds up work-from-home opportunities in entry-level positions.

WFH Pad divides its boards into two types of jobs. “Always Hiring Gigs” lists opportunities for short-term work to tide you over during the pandemic, or earn a side-income in tough times. Short-term gigs are best if you don’t live in the USA, as you will find a wider variety of “work from anywhere” positions.

“Long-Term Jobs” is for those who want to shift completely to online or remote working, but are still new in their chosen profession. Usually, these positions are available for US or Canadian citizens, but there are a few exceptions.

4. Find Me Gigs (Web): Automated Twitter Search for Job Postings

Not every recruiter or company posts jobs online. A lot of bosses look at the unfolding situation and tweet about their requirements. You must have come across these #hiring posts from time to time, but there must be so many that you’re missing. Find Me Gigs is here to save the day.

This smart web app sends you a daily newsletter with jobs you’re interested in. While signing up, you’ll have to add search terms for jobs that you’d like to check out. You can restrict them to remote jobs or be open to local gigs. Go through the tips for search terms before you start to add the right keywords for your interests.

Every day, Find Me Gigs will send an email with tweets about jobs that match your criteria. The tweet excerpt is in the email, but it’s always a good idea to visit it to see the replies. Job posters often clarify further needs as people interact and ask questions.

The basic plan is free and gives you five jobs a day. You can pay for 100 job listings per day in the unlimited or job seeker packages.

5. Transcription Essentials Forum (Web): Leads for Transcription Jobs and How-Tos

One of the most common work-from-home jobs on the internet is transcription. This includes audio and video transcription, as well as subtitling work for YouTube creators and other content makers. Before you jump into it, register at the Transcription Essentials Forum and heed their advice.

The forum has a number of how-to guides, recommended tools, tips and tricks, and job postings. Whether you’re starting with a catch-all mass transcription website like Rev or looking for a specific field, you should know what you’re getting into. The community is helpful, but do read the sticky and essential posts before asking new questions.

Transcription services are ideal for anyone with a grasp of legal or medical experience. These two fields form a large percentage of online transcription services, and you’ll get more assignments if you’re making fewer mistakes. Needless to say, you also need to be able to research new terms and proof-read what you write.

The Best Companies and Boards for Remote Jobs

Sure, there are new websites to help you tackle the uncertain job market during this global pandemic, but you can also rely on the classics. Job boards like Remote.co and We Work Remotely have been listing work-from-home opportunities for years now.

In fact, a lot of leading companies across the world also hire remote workers. This includes big names like Apple, Wikimedia, GitHub, DuckDuckGo and others. Check out this list of the best companies that offer remote working jobs to find your next gig.

Read the full article: 5 Job Boards to Find Work From Home Gigs and Remote Jobs

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Where to Live Stream Wild and Cute Animals in Real-Time

The internet makes the world smaller, but there’s something about watching live creatures that makes it seem even smaller. While there are cat videos from all over the world that you can watch on-demand, watching an animal go about its day is a way different experience. It makes you feel connected with the world even when you’re not.

After scouring the web, we found several sites that offer real-time footage of adorable animals. In these animal cameras, you’ll find both domestic and wild animals that you just can’t resist watching.

1. Explore.org

Explore.org gives you a huge variety of live animals to check out. You can watch everything from gorillas, eagles, kittens, pandas, and even honey bees. The homepage displays a large collection of these live cams—just click any of the thumbnails to get started.

If you’re looking for something a little more specific, you can use the handy menu at the top of the page. This allows you to sort animals by the environment they live in, as well as their species.

In case you don’t see what you’re looking for on the homepage, chances are you can find it by browsing through one of those categories. Whether you opt to view live animal cameras in the wild, or check out a zoo exhibit, you’ll find yourself entertained for hours.

2. Monterey Bay Aquarium

The Monterey Bay Aquarium offers high-quality streams of most of its creatures, and that includes jellyfish, penguins, sharks, and a variety of fish. While all of these creatures are awesome, it’s safe to say that the aquarium’s sea otters are definitely the cutest.

When you’re done ogling the otters, the aquarium’s one-million-gallon open ocean tank is also worth a look. Keep in mind that these cams only operate at specific times. All of these cams start streaming at 10am PST, but the ending times vary.

3. International Wolf Center

The International Wolf Center houses several types of majestic wolves. Right now, the center’s Exhibit Pack consists of one northwestern gray wolf, one Great Plains gray wolf, and two Arctic gray wolves. You can view a live stream of this pack right from the International Wolf Center’s site.

Scroll down the page, and you’ll see two more live streams. These streams keep tabs on the Retired Pack, which currently consists of one wolf.

If you don’t immediately see a wolf as you watch these cams, look closer—they tend to blend in with their environment. To capture wolves and other wild animals in your own backyard, you might want to think about investing in one of these trail cameras for all budgets.

4. Baby Goat Cams

Who doesn’t love baby goats? These baby goat cams come from Goat Milk Stuff, an Indiana farm that raises goats and sells goat milk products.

The site has two live cams: one that streams the goats’ pasture, and one that shows the inside of the baby goat pen. Tune in at the right time, and you’ll get to watch as the baby goats jump, play, and frolic around their enclosure.

5. Georgia Aquarium

If you can’t visit the Georgia Aquarium, its live streams are the next best thing. You can get front row seats to many of its exhibits, all while never leaving your house.

Take a look at its African penguins, puffins, jellyfish, piranhas, sea otters, and gators. The California sea lion cam is also loads of fun to watch—you just can’t beat the cuteness that comes along with sea lions playfully swimming around their tank.

6. Smithsonian’s National Zoo

Smithsonian’s National Zoo offers a handful of amazing animal webcams that get you up close and personal with wildlife. Here, you can check out live footage of naked mole rats, beautiful lions, loveable giant pandas, and even elephants. Personally, I think the best stream on the site is the cheetah cub cam, which shows cute cheetah cubs with their mother.

Some live streams, like the giant panda and naked mole-rat cams, come with two different cams that you can swap between—this way, you can view these creatures from two different angles.

7. EarthCam

Like Explore.org, EarthCam is a hub for live webcams. EarthCam has plenty of live footage that come from zoos and sanctuaries around the world.

Some of these cams will redirect you to the zoo’s website, while others are hosted by EarthCam. For any cams on EarthCam’s site, you have to watch a short ad before you can start viewing. The cam pictured above comes from the meerkat exhibit at Zoo Miami—this is just one example of the intriguing animals you can find on EarthCam.

8. Kansas City Zoo

The Kansas City Zoo is another great source of live animal webcams. With these live cams, you can get a close look at king penguins, gentoo penguins, polar bears, giraffes, otters, and orangutans.

Both penguin streams seem to be the most active of the bunch. On the king penguin stream, you can watch penguins waddle around land, while the gentoo penguin stream gives you an underwater view.

9. Kitten Academy

For a 24/7 live stream of cats and adorable kittens, Kitten Academy is the best place to look. Kitten Academy fosters kittens and their mothers, raising them until they’re ready to get adopted.

The primary stream combines three views of the kittens in one video, allow you to watch them play, sleep, and grow. Cat lover or not, this live stream can cheer up just about anyone. This might even motivate you to monitor your own cats with a pet camera!

10. Warrior Canine Connection

Although you can watch the Warrior Canine Connection’s live stream on Explore.org, it’s still worth singling out. After all, how can you resist watching adorable golden and labrador retriever puppies? This Maryland-based nonprofit organization focuses on raising puppies to become service dogs for veterans.

The Warrior Canine Connection has several different views of its pups. You can check out the nursery, whelping room, outdoor puppy pen, and the puppy playroom, all of which are equally as cute.

These Live Animal Cameras Will Instantly Cheer You Up

Not only will these live animal cameras satisfy your curiosity, but they’ll also put you in a much better mood. It’s easy to feel happy when you see baby goats, kittens, pandas, and otters on your screen in real-time. That said, these live animal webcams make excellent second-screen companions, especially when work goes later than you planned.

Now that you’ve gotten the chance to check out wildlife from your home, explore the world with these virtual travel experiences your family can enjoy together.

Read the full article: Where to Live Stream Wild and Cute Animals in Real-Time

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The 12 Best Free Fitness Apps for iPhone to Get Healthier

A higher level of fitness is associated with a longer lifespan, better quality of life, and decreased risk of stroke, heart disease, and diabetes. There’s never a bad time to start a new exercise regime, especially if you’re looking for free workout apps or online routines that you can do from home.

Whether you want to lose weight, tone what you have, or increase your overall level of fitness, free tools can help. Here are the best free workout apps for the iPhone, listed in no particular order.

1. RunKeeper

Running is one of the most common activities for those wanting to get fit. RunKeeper, as the name suggests, provides a simple way to establish an exercise routine and stick to it.

This is one of many free fitness apps available that tracks cycling, walking, hiking, and other activities. However, it stands out as one of the best. With access to your location and motion data, RunKeeper can track and plot your progress on a map. You can opt to have frequent audio updates on your progress, or play music from your phone’s internal memory.

While using a treadmill at the gym might not be an option, never fear. RunKeeper can keep track of laps done around your front yard or on a secluded street.

Its basic functionality is free. You can upgrade to RunKeeper Go for $10 a month to get detailed insights, “tailored race-training plans,” and live tracking.

Download: RunKeeper (Free, subscription available)

2. Strava

Strava is similar to RunKeeper, but has an emphasis on cycling. As one of the best fitness apps for iPhone, you can use this app to track running too. However, its primary audience prefers two wheels when breaking a sweat.

Just like RunKeeper, Strava tracks and plots your workouts on a map. This mapping includes important information like elevation, speed, and comparisons with other riders who have taken the same route.

Whether you prefer biking in a gym or on remote cross-country tracks, this will help you measure your workout. The baseline features for Strava are free. You can upgrade to Strava Summit with a monthly or annual plan to get customized training, personal heatmaps, and detailed analyses on your ride data.

Download: Strava (Free, subscription available)

3. Fitbod

Fitbod is one of many apps you can use for bodybuilding, body sculpting, weight lifting, or strength training. The focus here is on creating customized workouts that prioritize muscle groups based on user-generated information.

First, choose your activity type, desired goals, and number of workouts per week. Next, you’ll receive a workout plan that adapts to your level of fitness. In this plan, you’ll get descriptions and videos of the included workout exercises. You can also specify the type of gym equipment that you have available.

While access to proper gym equipment might not be practical for everyone, Fitbod’s ability to create custom workouts without official equipment means that you can still use it at home and on a budget.

The downside is that while you can create several workouts for free, after the trial period you’ll need to buy a Fitbod Elite subscription to get the most out of the app.

Download: Fitbod (Free trial, subscription required)

4. Fitness Point

Fitness Point is another app aimed at strength training. Unlike Fitbod, it serves as a reference for exercises you can do, rather than as an automated planner.

Each exercise in the Fitness Point library has an animation and a description attached to that animation, along with information about which muscles the exercise works.

The animations aren’t as good as Fitbod’s videos, but there are still tons of exercises to choose from. You can create your own workout plans, log progress, and make use of the built-in rest timer while working out.

Unfortunately, while some of the exercises are available for free, you’ll need to upgrade to Fitness Point Pro or Fitness Point Pro Female to see them all. However, the free app should give you enough info to decide whether or not the paid version is worth it.

Download: Fitness Point (Free, subscription available)
Download: Fitness Point Pro ($4.99, in-app purchases available) | Fitness Point Pro Female ($4.99, in-app purchases available)

5. Fitocracy

If you think getting fit is boring, Fitocracy might be the answer. It applies gamification to real-world exercise. As you log your activities, you’re rewarded with points and unlock achievements.

At its core, Fitocracy is a free fitness app and workout tracker combined with a social network. Its workouts range from cardio to strength training and everything in between.

While Fitocracy is free, you can sign up to the Premium Hero subscription for $5 per month to get access to detailed insights, private messaging, virtual “duels” with other members, and additional perks. This app is perfect for anyone who prefers to stay at home but wants to connect with other people through exercise.

Want to gamify your running sessions too? Try these apps to make running and jogging more enjoyable.

Download: Fitocracy (Free, subscription available)

6. Fitbit

While you don’t need a Fitbit tracker to use the Fitbit app for iPhone, it definitely helps. The app functions as an activity and sleep tracker, with running, walking, and hiking monitoring included. You can record your workouts, log your meals, monitor hydration, and set your own goals to motivate yourself, too.

If you do own a Fitbit tracker, the app wirelessly syncs with your wearable Fitbit and automatically logs metrics like sleep quality, daily steps, and heart rate (provided that your tracker supports it). You can also link it with your Aria Smart Scale to log your weight automatically.

All these options make Fitbit one of the most versatile and best free fitness apps on the market.

While the app is free, there is a Fitbit Premium service for those interested in a more comprehensive experience. The free and subscription versions of the app are both essentially a big ad for owning a Fitbit device, so make sure to ask yourself whether you should buy a Fitbit before purchasing one.

Download: Fitbit (Free, subscription available)

7. C25K 5K Trainer

This is the official app of the Couch to 5k program, stylized as C25K. If you’ve been leading a sedentary lifestyle and want to get off the couch and start moving, then this training app is for you.

Using audio cues and activity monitoring, the app hopes to build up your overall levels of fitness to the point where you can run a 5K nonstop. This realistic training schedule won’t push you too hard. Instead, it focuses on gradual improvements for those of us unfamiliar with an exercise routine.

While the core C25K is free, you can check out its in-app purchases to remove ads or pay for playlists.

Download: C25K 5K Trainer (Free, in-app purchases available)

8. Nike Training Club

Nike Training Club is a free fitness app from Nike. It includes over a hundred workouts covering a range of different “types.” From strength exercises, to cardio and endurance, to mobility and yoga, it’s all here. The program covers all levels of fitness and all types of schedules.

The app also includes personalized workouts based on past routines. This means the more you use it, the better it gets at predicting what you’ll want to do next. Also included are tips from trainers and celebrity-inspired routines.

Overall, the app is ideal for those who can’t pay for a pricey exercise program.

Download: Nike Training Club (Free, subscription available)

9. Fitbit Coach

Fitbit Coach is a personalized training app that lets you work out wherever you are, at any time. First, pick your desired workout, from short seven-minute bursts to hour-long grinds.

Once you do, Fitbit Coach tailors your workouts to your activity level. It also integrates with Fitbit devices to suggest appropriate exercises based on the kind of day you’ve had.

While the base version is free with a limited number of workouts, you can upgrade to Fitbit Coach Premium to unlock the app’s true potential. Use this app if you want the expertise of a fitness coach at home.

Download: Fitbit Coach (Free, subscription available)

10. MyFitnessPal

Diet is an important part of any exercise routine, and tracking macros like carbohydrates, protein, and fat can help you reach your long-term goals.

However, counting calories doesn’t have to be a pen and paper exercise. MyFitnessPal makes it easy to log your meals and snacks, with over six million foods already recorded and a handy barcode scanner to help recognize them.

Using the app, you can:

• Import recipe information.
• Log items from restaurants.
• Use your home recipes to ensure that you’re staying within the boundaries you’ve set.

Best of all, the app also functions as an exercise monitor. You can connect to more than 50 other apps and devices to help incorporate your activity and dietary information into one place.

Although you can get a ton of value out of this app with the free version, you can also upgrade to a MyFitnessPal Premium account for $10 per month. For its wide range of features, this is one of the best free fitness apps for iPhone.

Download: MyFitnessPal (Free, subscription available)

11. Fit Radio

Even if you subscribe to Apple Music or Spotify, it can be hard to find music for listening to every time you work out. That’s where Fit Radio comes in. The app offers coaching for a variety of different workouts. You can also choose to listen to a specific type of music that will fit the activity that you’re doing.

Finally, there’s a running tab that matches your pace to the music: either automatically, or by manually setting a pace that you want to follow.

While Fit Radio is free, you can upgrade to a Fit Radio Premium account with several different payment options to enjoy more mixes, customization, and better recommendations. It’s a great tool to use when setting up a gym environment in your own home.

Download: Fit Radio (Free, subscription available)

12. Pokémon GO

Looking for free iPhone workout apps that venture off the beaten path? While Pokémon GO might not be a fitness app in the traditional sense, it can definitely motivate you to move around.

If you’re finding it difficult to stay energized long enough to go for a walk, Pokémon GO might be the motivation you need. Basically, this game could be the carrot on the end of the string that gets you moving without even realizing that you’re exercising.

You can play this game virtually anywhere, and you don’t need a penny to start playing it, although there are in-app purchases to help you get various items. Check out our Pokémon GO starter tips to give you a leg up.

Download: Pokémon GO (Free, in-app purchases available)

Use One of These Free Fitness Apps to Work Out Anytime

However you choose to get fit—whether it’s by working out at home or by walking outside—these free fitness apps for the iPhone should help you achieve that progress. Not only do they assist with your physical health, but exercise can have a positive secondary effect on your mental health, too.

For more, check out our list of self-care apps to improve your mental health.

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10 Awesome Android and iPhone Apps for Busy Moms

Being a mom is a tough job—whether your child is three months, three years, or 13 years old, they keep you on your toes. To go along with the job of parenting is the task of keeping your household moving smoothly too. So there’s nothing wrong with getting a little help to keep your family and home in check.

Thanks to technology, we moms can get a helping hand when we need it. From keeping the family organized to assigning chores and handling the shopping, here are 10 apps any mom would love.

1. Family Organizer by Picniic

Family organizers are terrific tools for keeping everything in order. And the Family Organizer by Picniic app is a great choice thanks to these features:

• Use the real-time family locator with notifications for leaving and arriving.
• Share your family calendar with import options and reminders.
• Create shareable lists for to-dos and shopping.
• Store recipes and use the meal planner with a handy search feature.
• Use the Info Locker for important items like insurance papers, medical records, and emergency contacts.

Family Organizer by Picniic doesn’t stop there. You can check out integrations with other apps, media reviews, parental controls, and more.

Download: Family Organizer by Picniic for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

2. Our Groceries Shopping List

Our Groceries is a definite favorite when it comes to shopping list apps. For groceries, household goods, or gifts, the app offers the features you need to stay on top of your shopping. These include:

• Share lists so anyone in the house can pick up what you need.
• Create multiple lists for various types of shopping.
• Organize items by category or aisle for simpler shopping.
• Add photos and scan bar codes to make sure you get the exact items you want.
• Pop the ingredients for a recipe right onto your shopping list with a tap.

You can easily mark items off your list as you pick them up, then unmark them to put them back for next time. Our Groceries also works with Apple Watch for a hands-free option.

Download: Our Groceries for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

3. ShopSavvy

With ShopSavvy, you can make sure you’re getting the best price for the products you buy. From food to futons, you can search for tons of products, compare prices, and more, including:

• Scan a barcode or QR code, or enter a keyword, for instant details and retailers to compare prices.
• Receive alerts on price drops and discounts from major stores like Walmart, Amazon, Target, and Walgreens.
• Tap to head to the retailer’s online store right from the app.

ShopSavvy can not only help you find the best prices on the products you want or need, but gives you a quick way to catch a great deal.

Download: ShopSavvy for Android | iOS (Free, in-app purchases available)

4. S’moresUp

No one enjoys doing chores, especially kids. Thus, using an app that helps you create recurring chores, assign them, and keep track of everything is essential for many households. This is why you should take a peek at S’moresUp:

• Set up chores or select built-in chores to do once or on a daily or weekly schedule.
• Assign chores and create reminders so nobody forgets.
• Track all chores from assigned to unassigned in one handy spot.
• Manage rewards, awards, and progress for your child’s allowance.

S’moresUp offers extra features you might like, such as a family calendar, separate profile pages for each family member, and a S’moresUp Community to connect with other parents.

Download: S’moresUp for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

5. TaskRabbit

Sometimes that helping hand has to come from someone outside your home; that’s when you need TaskRabbit. The app connects you with “Taskers” who help you get work done, from repairs to errands to shopping. With the app:

• Enjoy a simple process: select a task, see a list of Taskers, choose someone, and you’re done.
• Choose from popular tasks like no-contact errands, shopping, cleaning, moving, furniture assembly, home repair, or yard work.
• Chat with Taskers regarding your task and get same-day help in many cases.

TaskRabbit offers a trusted list of Taskers, clear pricing, and support options via email, chat, and phone.

Download: TaskRabbit for Android | iOS (Free)

6. CareZone

If you have a health condition or care for a loved one who has one, take a look at CareZone. This app helps simplify managing medications for all types of conditions with these features:

• Take photos of medications and have the details automatically populate.
• Receive reminders to take medications or order refills for prescriptions.
• Record health information for sleep, weight, or blood glucose.
• Use the journal for tracking symptoms and sharing updates with family.
• Keep up with appointments and print or share them with the built-in calendar.

CareZone also provides a community for connecting with others, a to-do list for assigning tasks, and a section for contacts like family members, physicians, and pharmacies.

Download: CareZone for Android | iOS (Free)

7. Common Sense Media

If you want to get quick details on whether an app, book, movie, or game is appropriate for your child, get the Common Sense Media app. With it, you can:

• Get ratings and reviews for all types of media, from apps to games to websites, based on age.
• Search by media type or item title.
• Read the guides or check the comments for other parents’ opinions.
• Check out the lists created by the Common Sense Media experts.

For an unknown reason, the app is not available on iOS at the time of writing. Until it’s available again, iPhone and iPad users can visit the Common Sense Media website for the same information.

Download: Common Sense Media for Android (Free)

8. Keepy

Holding onto those amazing drawings and artwork that your child creates can become difficult since these items are easily lost. Keepy is an app that helps parents keep those memories in one safe spot. With Keepy, you can:

• Organize artwork, report cards, and schoolwork and then share privately with other family members.
• Upload photos, videos, and notes for each child.
• Print memories as special gifts for family or friends.
• Invite others to comment and share their love via email, web, or phone.
• View a timeline with your child’s memories that you can enjoy together.

Keepy syncs with Dropbox, offers a private Keepy website for your family, and helps ensure you’ll never lose or forget those physical items.

Download: Keepy for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

9. FitMama

Staying healthy and fit is important, but unfortunately we all don’t have the time for extensive workouts or the money for gym equipment. FitMama is a terrific way to exercise with home workouts you can do in a few minutes:

• Try the five or 10-minute Superset exercises when you have a few minutes of free time.
• Zoom in on what needs the most work from your lower, middle, or upper body.
• Choose the pace that’s best for you from slow, medium, or fast.
• Track your progress and share your achievements on social media.

FitMama gives you audio and video guides with instructions and prompts to help you do the workouts correctly. You can tone, tighten, and shape up your body with just a few minutes each day.

Download: FitMama for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)

10. Sprout Pregnancy

If you have another bundle of joy on the way, keep track of your health and your growing baby with Sprout Pregnancy:

• Read and view daily and weekly information about your baby’s development.
• Enjoy using the personalized pregnancy timeline.
• Use tools to track your weight, count your baby’s kicks, and time your contractions when the day arrives.
• Hold onto all the details with an iCloud backup.

When you’re expecting a little one, keeping track of your baby’s development is not only helpful but exciting. And Sprout Pregnancy gives you an easy way to do that and more.

Download: Sprout Pregnancy for Android | iOS (Free, premium version available)

Mom’s Little Helpers

Each app on this list is useful for any busy mom. Whether you just need help tracking chores or could use a full family organizer, there’s a helper here for you.

For other ways technology can help in your life, check out this list of tech hacks for busy moms or some positivity apps to manage your mental health.

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