NES Classic loaded with classic manga games raises hopes for other special editions

Japanese gamers and manga aficionados and every combination thereof will get a treat this summer with the release of a NES Classic Edition loaded with games from the pages of Weekly Jump. The beloved manga mag is celebrating its 50th anniversary and this solid gold Famicom is part of the festivities.

There’s basically no chance this Jump-themed NES will get a release in the US — first because hardly any Americans will have read any of these manga (with a couple exceptions) and second because even fewer will have played the Famicom games associated with them.

Familiar… and yet…

That said, this nurtures the hope inside me that we will at some point see other themed NES Classics; the original has, of course, a fantastic collection — but there are dozens more games I would have loved to see on there.

You can hack the thing pretty easily and put half the entire NES library on it, but Nintendo’s official versions will have been tested and perhaps even tweaked to make sure they run perfectly (though admittedly emulation problems aren’t common for NES games).

Review: The NES Classic Edition and all 30 games on it

More importantly it’s possible these hypothetical themed consoles may come with new accessories that I desperately need, like a NES Advantage, Zapper (not sure how it would work), or NES Max. Perhaps even a Power Glove?

In the meantime, at least if you missed the chance to buy one the first time around, you can grab one come the end of June.

Nintendo’s NES Classic will return to U.S. retail stores on June 29

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Tinder’s upcoming location-based feature seems a bit creepy

Do you want random Tinder users to see where you’ve been? Uh, no? Well, great news: an upcoming Tinder feature called Places will allow for just that. According to screenshots detailing Tinder Places uncovered by The Verge, the dating app is developing a feature that tracks your location via its app, then shows potential matches where you’ve been. The idea is to allow people to come across their real-life missed connections, similar to how the dating app Happn works today.

There are some caveats about the new feature. For starters, this is something Tinder has in testing – the way it works at launch could be different. Also, the feature can be shut off, the documentation says – a toggle in the app’s settings let you turn it on or off at any time. And we’ve learned that, thankfully, this feature will be opt-in.

However, that’s a decision you should approach with caution.

Above: Places documentation, image credit: The Verge

The way Tinder has implemented the location feature is concerning. Instead of allowing users to explicitly “check in” to a given place – like their favorite coffee shop or a cool restaurant or bar – Tinder continuously tracks users’ location with its app, then makes a determination about which of your “places” it will show to your potential matches.

The company, at least, thought to remove things like doctors, dentists, banks, and the place where you live or work from this automated location-sharing option. It also won’t add a place to your list until after you’ve left – though it doesn’t say how long it waits to do so. (The documentation hedges on the timeframe by saying things like “we’ll wait a while” or “it’ll take some time.”)

While Tinder says your recent places will expire after 28 days – meaning, other Tinder users won’t be able to see where you’ve been past that point – the company does appear to be keeping a wider history of users’ location and travels for itself. The documentation explains that Tinder will use this Places information in order to improve the product – by learning which places lead to matches, which users are always deleting, and it will use the data to improve its ability to show users better matches.

Above: Tinder Places, image credit: The Verge

In other words, Tinder will be tracking you, as well as giving potential matches the ability to narrow down the parts of the city you frequent – right down to your daily habits. That means potential matches could figure our things like which bar you regularly hit up for after-work drinks, where you work out, what your favorite breakfast spot is, and so on.

The advantage to daters gaining access to this information about other Tinder users is fairly limited. After all, simply hitting up the same Starbucks in the morning isn’t any sort of signal about someone’s potential as a love match.

But it does put a lot more data into the hands of potential stalkers, while offering Tinder access to a massive treasure trove of location data – the selling of which, even anonymized and in aggregate, could be a big business. Even if Tinder doesn’t aim to sell the data directly, it clearly paves the way for the company to show more specific location-based ads in its product.

It also lets Tinder group users into cohorts regarding their interests – without explicitly asking for that data, like Facebook does. For example, Tinder would know if someone shows up at church every week, or regularly takes their dog to a dog park – things it could use to classify users and match them accordingly.

That’s useful to some extent, in a handful of cases – but just because you have a dog, doesn’t mean you need to date someone with a dog, too. In the end, it’s less useful to have “things” in common with people – it’s more useful to share the same values, experts say. And those values are more important than the initial attraction (which fades as the hormones wear off), and more important than a set of common interests – those can be negotiated in a relationship.

In the end, there’s far more for Tinder to gain here, than users to gain from the Places feature – especially with the downside regarding its potential for harassment or stalking.

One serious concern was whether Places would be opt out or opt in – the documentation The Verge found didn’t make this clear. However, we’re relieved to hear (from people familiar with product) that Places is an opt-in experience.

That this feature’s launch is nearly is not a surprise. Tinder already said it was working on rolling out a new location feature this year during its earnings calls, something it described as having the potential to bring in a new audience and “expand the definition of dating.” That could imply the company wants to make Places more of a social networking, or friend-finding feature, rather than just an option for finding dates.

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Say hello to Google One

Google is revamping its consumer storage plans today by adding a new $2.99/month tier for 200 GB of storage and dropping the price of its 2 TB plan from $19.99/month to $9.99/month (and dropping the $9.99/month 1 TB plan). It’s also rebranding its storage service as ‘Google One.’

Going forward, you’ll also be able to share your storage quota with up to five family members.

That by itself would be interesting, given how easy it is to max out 100 GB with 4K videos and high-res images these days, but there is one other feature here that explains the new brand name: free one-tap access to Google Experts for help with any Google consumer product and service.

That access to live experts — not some barely functional AI chatbot — comes with every Google One plan, including the $1.99/month 100 GB plan. In the U.S., these experts will be available 24/7 over chat, email and phone. In other countries, this lineup of support options may vary, but the company tells me that its objective is “to provide users with great one tap support and constantly improve it over time.”

Google already offered 24/7 support for paying business users with a G Suite account, but this is the first time it actively offers live support for consumers.

It’s worth stressing that the existing free quota of 15 GB will remain,

In addition to access to experts, the company also promises to provide subscribers with other benefits. Google One’s director Larissa Fontaine told me that those could include discounts on hotels you find in Google Search, preferred rates for other Google services, or credits on Google Play. “We hope to build those out over time,” she noted.

Brandon Badger, Google’s group product manager for Google One, told me that the team looked at how people use the storage plan. Users now have more devices, shoot more 4K video and share those files with more family members, who in turn also have more devices. “We are looking with this plan to accommodate that,” he said.

In addition, Fontaine noted that users with paid storage accounts also tend to be heavy Google users in general, so combining storage and support seemed logical.

Sadly, this isn’t an immediate change. Over the course of the next few months, Google will upgrade all existing storage plans to Google One accounts, starting in the U.S., with a global rollout following after that. Google also tells me that it will roll out a new Android app to help users manage their plan (not their files).

While the focus of today’s announcement is on storage, it’s hard not to look at this new offering in the context of the additional support and other bonus features that Google promises. Google One is clearly about more than simply a better storage plan offering. Instead, it feels like the beginning of a new, more ambitious offering that could be expanded to include other services over time. Maybe a single subscription to all Google consumer services including Drive, YouTube Red and Play Music (or whatever becomes of that)? Despite its name, Google One is currently only one of many subscription services the company offers, after all.

Google

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Uber lets you rate mid-ride before you forget feedback

“Last year was pretty hard, I’m not gonna lie” says Peter Deng, Uber’s head of rider experience. But as part of new CEO Dara Khosrowshahi’s push to rebrand Uber around safety, “we’ve seen the company shift to more listening”.

That focus on hearing users’ concerns prompted today’s change. Have a bad Uber ride when you’re busy and you might neglect to rate the driver or accidentally rush through giving them 5 stars. Forcing users to wait until a ride ends to provide feedback deprives them of a sense of control while decreasing the number of accurate data points Uber has to optimize its service.

I had just this experience last month, leading me to tweet that Uber should let us rate trips mid-ride:

Uber & Lyft could let us rate drivers mid-ride, but only apply the ratings 5 minutes after a ride ends in case something goes better/worse before the end of the trip.

— Josh Constine (@JoshConstine) April 25, 2018

Uber apparently felt similarly, so it’s making an update. Starting today, Uber users can rate their trip mid-ride, providing a star rating with categorized and written feedback, plus a compliment or tip at any time instead of having to wait for the trip to end. “Every day 15 million people take a ride on Uber. If you can capture incrementally more and better feedback . . . we’re going to use that feedback to make the service better” says Deng. Lyft still won’t let you rate until a ride is over.

Specifically, the data will be used to “recognize top quality drivers . . . through a new program launching in June”, Uber tells me. “We’re going to be celebrating the drivers that provide really awesome service” Deng says, though he declined to say whether that celebration will include financial rewards, access to extra driver perks, or just a pat on the back.

But Uber will also now use the feedback options that appear when you give a less-than-perfect rating to tune the technology on its backend. So that way, if you say that the pickup was the issue, it might be classifed as a “PLE – pickup location error”, and that data gets routed to the team that improves exactly where drivers are told to scoop you up. To ensure there’s no tension between you and the driver, Uber won’t share your feedback with them anonymously until the ride ends.

I asked if reminding users to buckle their seat belts would be in that Safety Center and Uber tells me it’s now planning to add info about buckling up. It’s been a personal quest of mine to dispel the myth that professionally driven vehicles are invulnerable to accidents. That idea, propagated by heavy-duty Ford Crown Victoria yellow cabs piloted by life-long drivers in cities they know, doesn’t hold up given Ubers are often lightweight hybrids often operating in places less familiar to the driver. 

The launch follows the unveiling of Uber’s new in-app Safety Center last month that gives users access to insurance info, riding tips, and emergency 911 button. After a year of culture and legal issues, Uber needs to recruit users who deleted it or check an alternative first when they need transportation.

Enhanced safety and feedback could earn their respect. As competition for ride sharing heats up around the world, all the apps will be seeking ways to differentiate. They’re already battling for faster pick-ups and better routing algorithms. But helping riders to feel like their complaints are heard and addressed could start to work some dents out of Uber’s public image.

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Intel’s Spectre Vulnerability Returns Like a Ghost from the Past

The massive Spectre/Meltdown revelations the opened 2018 shook the computing world. While the vulnerabilities are now firmly out of the main news cycle, that is about to change. Security researchers have uncovered eight new Spectre-style vulnerabilities affecting Intel CPUs—propelling Spectre back into the security limelight.

Let’s take a look at the new Spectre vulnerabilities, how they differ from the existing issues, and what, if anything, you can do.

Spectre Next Generation

German publication Heise reports that security researchers have found eight new vulnerabilities in Intel CPUs. The new vulnerabilities, dubbed “Spectre Next Generation” (or Spectre-NG) confirm fundamental flaws in all modern processors. Heise claims that Intel has classified four of the new vulnerabilities as “high risk,” while the other four are classified “medium.”

Seems that 2018 is shaping up to be the year of CPU vulnerabilities. Say bye bye to increasing CPU speeds.https://t.co/4OujvxPtCf

— Martin Thompson (@mjpt777) May 3, 2018

At the current time, it is thought the Spectre-NG vulnerabilities have a similar risk and chance of attack to the original Spectre. There is, however, one exception to that.

One of the new Spectre-NG exploits simplifies an attack vector “to such an extent that we estimate the threat potential to be significantly higher than with Spectre.” An attacker can launch exploit code within a virtual machine and directly attack the host machine from within the VM. The example given is a cloud hosting server. The virtual machine could be used to attack other customers VMs in the search for passwords and other sensitive credentials.

Who Discovered Spectre-NG?

Just like Spectre/Meltdown, Google’s Project Zero first discovered Spectre-NG. Project Zero is Google’s attempt at finding and responsibly disclosing zero-day vulnerabilities before nefarious individuals. That they have found at least one of the new Spectre-NG flaws means there could well be security patches in the near future as the Project Zero team are renowned for sticking to the 90-day disclosure deadline. (The 90-days is meant to give a company ample time to address issues.)

But after that time, the Project Zero team will release details of the vulnerability, even without a working patch.

When Your System Be Patched?

Unfortunately, there is no solid timeline for when your system will receive a security patch for Spectre-NG. Given that this vulnerability is a) completely new and b) difficult to take advantage of, engineers will take some time to make sure patches resolve the issue.

In fact, Intel reportedly asked the researchers for an additional 14-days preparation before disclosing the flaws. However, the research team continued with their disclosure timeline. Intel was set to issue a patch on the 7^th May. However, the additional 14-day period, taking the patch to the 21^st May, also looks set to fall by the wayside. But given their request for additional time, Intel customers should expect a patch shortly.

The scope of Spectre-NG (and Spectre/Meltdown before this) make patching the vulnerability difficult.

The previous series of patches for Spectre didn’t meet universal praise. As the Spectre patches began to roll out, users noticed issues with their systems. Glitches, newly created bugs, slower CPU clock speeds and more were all reported. As such, some companies withdrew their patches until they could be optimized. But with such a vast number of vulnerable CPUs providing a single Band-Aid was highly unlikely. Especially at the first attempt.

Other companies took a different approach. For instance, Microsoft now offers up to $250,000 in their bug bounty program for Spectre flaws.

Will Spectre-NG Exploit Your System?

One of the saving graces to the first round of Spectre vulnerabilities was the extreme difficulty of actually using one of the exploits against a target successfully. The average attacker wouldn’t be able to make use of Spectre (or Meltdown) because of the overwhelming amount of knowledge required. Unfortunately, this particular Spectre-NG exploit appears easier to implement—though still not an easy task, by any stretch of the imagination.

meltdown, spectre, branchscope and now spectre-NG… from a security standpoint Intel's silicon looks like a burning pile of shit. I hope they and the industry get their act together and stop cutting corners to boost benchmarks. ^HU

— Whonix (@Whonix) May 6, 2018

The simple fact of the matter is that there are other much easier exploitable avenues available to an attacker. Or at least the type of online attack that the majority of us would encounter day-to-day.

Still, that isn’t to diminish from the fact that the vast majority of CPUs around the globe have some form of Spectre/Meltdown or Spectre-NG vulnerability. The first round of patches is the tip of an iceberg that is unfathomably deep. Patches are obviously necessary. But an endless stream of patches with sometimes unpredictable results? That won’t do.

Check Your System Spectre/Meltdown Vulnerability Status

The InSpectre: Check Spectre and Meltdown Protection tool is a quick way to find out if your system is vulnerable. Follow the link above and download the tool. Next, run the tool and check out your level of protection. As you can see below, my laptop has Meltdown protection but is vulnerable to Spectre.

You can scroll down to find out more your PCs security situation and what Spectre/Meltdown mean.

Are AMD CPUs Vulnerable to Spectre-NG?

At the time of writing, more research into AMD CPUs is underway. There is no definitive answer. The general conjecture seems to lean toward AMD CPUs being unaffected by this particular set of vulnerabilities. But again, this isn’t a final answer.

The previous round of vulnerabilities was thought to have passed by AMD, only for the CPU manufacturer to later realize the opposite is true. So, right now; sure, you’re okay. But in a week, after more significant testing? You could well find your AMD system is vulnerable, too.

Spectre Continues to Loom Large

The Spectre-NG set of vulnerabilities adds to the list of worrying CPU-level vulnerabilities. Does Intel need to fix them? Of course, without a doubt. Can Intel fix them without redesigning their CPU architecture? This is the more difficult question to answer. The consensus is that no, Intel cannot completely eradicate the Spectre vulnerability without significantly altering their CPU design.

After all, it’s not like Intel can recall and manually fix the billions of CPUs in circulation. In that, Spectre will continue to loom large, even if it is difficult to exploit.

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7 Techniques to Help You Start Learning Photoshop

Adobe Photoshop is the doorway to many careers. Graphic design and photography being the most common. Front-end developers and production assistants can also go far with their Photoshop skills. But how do you learn and master Photoshop skills?

The simplest answer is in that old piece of wisdom, “How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.”

Yes, it’s a starting point but it could also lead you astray down a few rabbit holes. Since everyone has to begin somewhere, let’s look at a few ideas that will help you learn Photoshop without getting overwhelmed in the process.

1. Learn the Basics of Graphic Design First

It is easy to take graphic design for granted. After all, you hardly notice concepts like alignment, contrast, negative space, rhythm etc. unless they go wrong. Art school isn’t necessary grounding for a graphic designer’s job if you roll up your sleeves and go through the grind of mastering the fundamental principles of good design.

There are countless free and paid resources to learn the nuances of design. You won’t have to buy Photoshop just yet. If you are rushed for time, try the Canva Design School. Also, HackDesign has an excellent newsletter course that will pull you in every week.

Are you in a rush? Then focus on improving your color perception in under an hour.

2. Get to Know the Photoshop Workspace

Adobe itself will take you around the workspace in Photoshop. The Get Started with Photoshop tutorials show you how to utilize the workspace. Open the sample image provided and follow the instructions in the video.

Keep the Workspace basics support page bookmarked if you need to refer to a tool. Also, Photoshop features Rich Tooltips which give you a text description and a video lesson to help understand the function of each tool. Just hover the mouse pointer over a tool.

3. Pick One Tool a Day

The palette of Photoshop tools on the left may be narrow and long. But there are more hidden tools once you click the little arrow under some of them. There are nearly 65 tools organized for selection, cropping and slicing, retouching, painting, drawing, and for type. So, here’s an experiment you can try to familiarize yourself with each of them:

Pick one tool every day. Search for a basic tutorial that shows you how it is used in an actual project.

For instance, a simple query like “tutorial magic wand tool photoshop” will net you many step-by-step lessons on YouTube. The Rich Tooltips in Photoshop are a good starting point too. Use the Search feature within Photoshop to find relevant links.

By learning Photoshop one tool at a time, you won’t feel overwhelmed. Also, it is a good way to memorize the Photoshop keyboard shortcuts right from the onset.

4. Focus on a Photoshop Microskill

Adobe Photoshop is the software photographers must learn to process their images. According to the Adobe Blog:

“Over the past 21 years, Photoshop has meant many different things to many different people. Whether it is used to tell a story, put ideas into motion, imagine something new, visualize science or any of its other many uses.”

But did you know that you can even edit videos here? Or create wonderful typography posters? You can even design an email, HTML newsletter, or T-shirt too. Maybe, your boss wants you to design 3D mockups. You have so many opportunities to pick up a skill or area you are interested in and get acquainted with Photoshop.

Tip: Photoshop is designed around three core workspaces (Essentials, Photography, Graphic and Web). But you can create your own custom workspace and use that to focus on a microskill.

5. Follow a Photoshop Expert

The easiest way to learn Photoshop is from an expert. A real-world mentor can be difficult to find, but virtual mentors are far easier to get hold of. Decide on the area you want to master and search for the online experts who specialize in that niche.

For instance, when you want to learn digital painting, find a digital artist who offers a digital painting tutorial.

Adobe’s own Photoshop Experts such as Julieanne Kost and Terry White can help you get started. You can find them and others on Adobe TV as well. Sites like Lynda.com, HowNow, KelbyOne, and PluralSight offer instructor-led courses from the top names in the field.

6. Challenge Yourself With Microjobs

You can start out with a rough idea of how to monetize your Photoshop skills in the future. Microjob sites like Fiverr and DesignCrowd can help you earn some money in your spare time. But you may not be ready for a competitive project yet. So, why not use the simpler ones as a testing ground and see if you can meet the challenge head-on.

Assignments are usually simple. For instance, someone may ask you to remove the background from a batch of photos. Or restore a damaged photo. This is the “sink or swim” approach to learning Photoshop, but it comes with a degree of responsibility.

Of course, as a beginner your portfolio may not attract attention. But you have to start somewhere. Alternatively, you can use the skills advertised by others as a template for your own education.

Tip: Seek out virtual volunteering opportunities. Platforms like OnlineVolunteering.org and Creatives Without Borders can not only help you learn Photoshop skills but also give you valuable alternative work experience.

7. Do a 30-Day Challenge

The duration of the challenge matters less than the habit of learning you put yourself through. I like the 30-day span because it is not too long but not too short. Plus, a month is easier to track than a whole year.

But what you will take on during this 30-Day sprint?

If you like structure, then CreativeLive has a 30-Day Bootcamp course on Photoshop. Udemy has several free courses and its most popular course on Photoshop will set you back just a few dollars.

If you like free, then Photoshop Essentials has a well-organized tutorial website with YouTube videos and PDF downloads. Envato’s Tuts+ has a superb section called Learning Guides which will guide you well. And if you love YouTube you can try the excellent Photoshop Training Channel.

There’s no shortage of Photoshop tutorials online. Just don’t let your persistence flag.

A Shortcut to Learning Photoshop

Learning the keyboard shortcuts will amp your productivity. But that’s the only shortcut Photoshop offers you. There are many different ways to learn the software, but none of them are easy. However, it can be a whole lot of fun if you approach the grind with a goal.

Don’t forget the value of deliberate practice. Pick a few tutorials, duplicate them, and then try to modify them with your own creativity. See what the process teaches you.

If, after reading this article, you decide to start learning Photoshop then I’ve done my job. So why not start right now. There’s a lot you can learn about Photoshop in an hour.

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The Best Mac Text Editors to Use in 2018

Text editors are notoriously divisive. Everyone has their own preferences, and each of those opinions are valid. What works for one person, task, or project might not work for another. We all find productivity in different places.

That’s why coming up with a list of the “best” Mac text editors is quite hard. There’s a chance we’ll miss your favorite, or include a cut-price freebie that doesn’t do half the tasks you need on a daily basis.

But that’s OK, because you can tell us all about it in the comments at the end.

Free Text Editors

The following is a list of completely free text editors, with no paid upgrades or extra purchases. You might think that free means “lacking in features,” but that’s not the case with these.

Atom

Atom tries to be a bit of everything, and for the most part it succeeds. It’s a project from hosting and version control maestro GitHub, and it’s completely open source and free to use. Don’t let the price tag put you off; Atom has some serious potential under the hood.

Describing itself as “a hackable editor for the 21st century,” Atom is a great starting point for beginners. It’s a basic text editor out of the box, with optional packages that add more complex functionality. These include a full integrated development environment (IDE) known as Atom-IDE.

There’s support for Git and GitHub, with no need for additional packages. When you want to add features and language support, there’s a package manager which makes this easy. You can also customize the interface to your liking, another important aspect of any such serious tool.

One standout package is Teletype for Atom, a real-time collaboration feature that allows you to work on projects with others. Atom is also cross-platform, so you can transfer operating systems while maintaining familiarity with your favorite editor.

Download: Atom

TextWrangler

TextWrangler is one of the most user-friendly examples of a text editor, with a price tag to match. Now hosted on the Mac App Store, TextWrangler offers an old-school feel, rock-solid performance, and the option of graduating to a more powerful yet familiar tool (BBEdit, below) if you feel the need.

It’s another great entry point for learning to code or use text editors in general, whether you’re writing simple AppleScript projects, editing CSS, or building a website in HTML. It’s also a good choice if macOS’ built-in editor TextEdit comes up short when editing plain text.

The app isn’t just a stripped-down freebie though. It offers a wealth of powerful tools like grep pattern matching, multi-file search and replace, varied themes, and syntax coloring options. You can also work on files remotely via FTP and SFTP.

It lacks some of the fancier features seen in the premium packages, notably a preview pane to view changes in real time. It feels and behaves like a native macOS app, which makes it particularly user-friendly compared to some of the other examples on this list.

Download: TextWrangler

Vim

Now for something completely different: Vim is a command line-based text editor that comes with macOS. Simply open Terminal, type vim, and hit Enter. You’re now using one of the most respected text editors of all time, but it’s not without a steep learning curve.

Fortunately, Vim comes with a stack of documentation to help you learn how to use it. This includes quick reference and help documents, plus a 30-minute tutorial to get you up and running. Be warned: even figuring out how to access the tutorials is a lesson for those unfamiliar with the command line.

Like other powerful-yet-complex applications, you can accomplish a lot with Vim if you know how to use it properly. This knowledge won’t come overnight, but in a few years you’ll likely be able to accomplish more than in a comparable GUI-based application.

Despite Vim being built into the OS, you might also be interested in MacVim. This is a slightly more user-friendly port, with full menu bar controls for functions and a more up-to-date version of Vim than that maintained by Apple. You can open, save, and access recent documents like you would in other GUI-based editors, which makes it slightly less intimidating for newbies.

Download: MacVim

GNU Emacs

Another great free option with an off-putting learning curve, GNU Emacs is the “free as in libre” version of the Emacs text editor. First released in 1976, Emacs is one of the longest-running open source projects, and it still receives updates today.

Emacs is known for its unique methods of getting work done. It relies on a programming language known as Emacs-Lisp, a fork of the Lisp language that was originally specified in 1958. You’ll need to use Emacs-Lisp for even the most basic functions of editing, but it’s also used to expand the editor beyond its humble text-based roots.

These expansions include an email client, news reader, file manager, and games like Snake and Tetris. Under the hood, though, it’s still a basic text editor with features like context-aware editing and support for syntax coloring. There’s full Unicode support and a packaging system for adding new features.

Like Vim, Emacs requires a commitment to learn to use it long before you understand why so many people swear by it. While GNU Emacs is one fork, XEmacs is another that’s worth investigating if you like the sound of this command line editor.

Download: GNU Emacs | XEmacs

Visual Studio Code

Like Atom, Visual Studio Code is a relative newcomer in the text editing space. Not to be confused with Visual Studio, Microsoft’s full-power IDE with a price tag to match, Visual Studio Code is a lightweight text and script editor built around the concept of expanding support with plugins.

There are plugins for writing and running shell scripts in Code, for penning markdown documents, and even writing AppleScript. That’s right; you can use Microsoft’s text editor to create scripts that will only work on Apple machines.

The Visual Studio Code marketplace turns the app into a Swiss Army knife of code, text, and script editing. A reliance on plugins means the app is lightweight and responsive from the start, as you’re not lugging around features and functionality you’re never going to use.

Code uses an attractive dark theme, and it doesn’t feel like a lazy port of the Windows version either. It’s worth a shot, particularly if you don’t get on with the likes of Vim and Emacs. Check out our top tips for boosting productivity in Visual Studio Code to learn more.

Download: Visual Studio Code

Premium Text Editors

If you’re looking for a text editor to use at work, or you’re at a stage where your tools can have a serious impact on your productivity and paycheck, you should consider one of these. Luckily they all come with a decent free evaluation period, so you can try before you buy.

TextMate

Powerful, simple, and lightweight, TextMate is the preferred choice of many Mac professionals, and it’s not hard to see why. This editor has support for a range of languages and syntax, tabs, and a language-specific approach that can save you time and effort.

TextMate incorporates snippets, macros, and scoping features that vastly speed up workflow without stepping into full IDE territory. The developer aimed to bring “Apple’s approach to operating systems into the world of text editors” and that’s a fairly good summation of why so many love TextMate.

Despite development stalling from time to time, TextMate maintains a die-hard following of professional users. This has given way to an extensive database of documentation and screencasts, which should help new users get up to speed.

It’s a simple tool to start using, with a clean UI and fair price point. You can download TextMate free for evaluation purposes, though the app doesn’t seem to bother you for registration credentials or a serial number.

Download: TextMate ($60)

Sublime Text 3

Sublime Text is a self-described “sophisticated text editor” that markets itself as a code, markup, and prose editor. It’s probably overkill for the simplest text editing tasks though, considering it costs $80 for a license.

For those who need a powerful tool, Sublime Text delivers a wealth of features and functions. Some of these are hallmarks of the app, like Goto Anything which lets you open a file and quickly navigate to the relevant line in record speed.

The app creates a project-wide index of all classes used for references, and supports multiple selections so you can change more than one element at a time. To cut down on the time you spend in menus, developers devised the Command Palette for rarely-used functions, and fast project switching with no save prompts.

There’s a vast amount of customizability at your fingertips. Many favor the app for its smooth performance under load and attractive UI. It’s also cross-platform, and you only need a single license to use the app across all your machines and platforms.

Download: Sublime Text 3 ($80)

BBEdit

BBEdit wouldn’t have earned a place on this list were it not for a large userbase that’ll defend it to the death. And that’s just fine, since BBEdit is a mature and powerful text editor that prioritizes performance and reliability above all else.

It’s the quintessential Mac text editor, from the developers who bought you TextWrangler. Despite lacking the freshness of Atom or the crisp UI seen in Sublime Text, BBEdit is built from the ground up for macOS, optimized for macOS, with a macOS approach to text editing.

That means keyboard shortcuts that make sense to the average Mac user, and an approach to text editing that follows many of Apple’s design sensibilities. It also bakes in support for Mac technologies like Bonjour. This removes some barriers for entry seen in other apps, but results in a slightly more cumbersome UI than its rivals.

BBEdit is perfect for HTML and text editing, with support for remote editing via FTP/SFTP. The app is highly customizable, from syntax coloring to menu options, user-defined functions, keyboard shortcuts, and macOS Terminal support right in the app.

Download: BBEdit ($50)

Espresso

Not everyone uses their text editor for building websites, but many who do gravitate toward Espresso. It’s an editor that’s aimed squarely at web developers, and it’s got powerful features to make creating websites a more productive experience.

The big one is a live preview browser, so you can see your changes in real time. The app incorporates Xray layout tools, and CSSEdit visual styling for colors, gradients, shadows, and more. It supports HTML, CSS, LESS, JavaScript, CoffeeScript, Apache, and XML out of the box. More languages are available through plugins.

There’s a laundry list of features that keep users coming back, like customizable snippets and UI, a clean modern design, custom spacing and indentation to keep your code clean, support for tabs, templates and custom templates, powerful find and replace, and multi-line editing for making changes in multiple locations at once.

It’s not cheap at $79, but you can download a trial and see how it works before you commit. It’s a great tool for web developers, but lacking in other areas when it comes to scripting and coding.

Download: Espresso ($79)

So Many Text Editors

There are so many text editors available that we couldn’t possibly include them all, but we thought these were worth a mention if you’re still on the hunt:

• Coda 2 ($80): Another web development-focused text editor like Espresso; worth a look if you’re in need of such a tool.
• PhpStorm (from $90): A PHP-focused IDE with a $90 yearly subscription model; ideal for PHP developers but overkill for many other applications.
• Smultron ($10): A better-than-free text editor with a tidy interface that won’t break the bank.

Remember: The text editor with the most tools isn’t necessarily the best. The best text editor is the one that suits you and meets your expectations. It’s the editor that allows you to get more done. It’s the editor that falls away into the background, allowing you to concentrate on your work rather than the software you use to get your job done.

But you’ve probably got your own favorites in mind already (if you don’t prefer an IDE). We’d love to hear which text editor you get on with the best, and why it works for you. Please add your own suggestions in the comments below!

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Apple’s App Store redesign improved app discovery, report finds

When Apple introduced its completely redesigned App Store last fall, one of its goals was to improve app discovery by placing a larger emphasis on editorial content – including things like “app of the day” picks, lists, how-to’s and even interviews with app developers, among other things. Now, a new study from Sensor Tower reveals those changes appear to have been working.

According to Sensor Tower’s findings, more apps are being discovered by way of browsing the App Store following the redesign launched in September.

Before, browse-driven downloads accounted for around 10 percent of all downloads. With the new App Store, they’ve grown to more than 15 percent. And that increase has held steady into 2018, even as the initial excitement around the App Store revamp has worn off.

Despite the growth in app discovery by browsing, searching for app by typing keywords into the search box is still, by far, the primary way consumers are finding and downloading new apps. Today, search accounts for 65 percent of downloads – well ahead of browse, referrals, or other methods.

Sensor Tower based its findings on data collected on app downloads between May 2017 and April 2018, it says.

The report also delved into the differences between how consumers discover apps and games.

As it turns out, browsing plays a much more significant role in game discovery than it does for non-game apps. Only 56 percent of game downloads came from search, compared with 69 percent for non-games. Meanwhile, browse contributed to 24 percent of game downloads, compared to just 9 percent of non-game downloads.

What this seems to indicate is that iOS users are turning to the App Store and its editorial recommendations in greater numbers to learn about what new game to try next. Plus, the fact that games can now include a video preview, and labels like “Editor’s Choice” are better highlighted in the new App Store also likely help people get a better sense of which ones to install, as they browse.

Sensor Tower’s findings about game downloads line up with research released last month where it found that games that were featured as the “Game of the Day” could see their downloads increase by 802 percent, compared to the week prior to being featured. Apps, by comparison, saw boosts of 685 percent.

The new report’s findings are good news for Apple which had a sizable challenge to tackle with its App Store redesign. Its app marketplace had grown almost over-crowded over the years. And even after the big app cleanup, it still stands at over 2 million apps. Finding a way to better introduce favorites and newcomers to iOS users at this scale was a tall order, but the growth in apps discovered by way of browsing indicates Apple has seen some success on this front. 

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How to Automate Repetitive Tasks in Google Sheets With Macros

Record a task, save that task, and run the task whenever you want.

Macros are finally available to Google Sheets users. Macros allow you to automate repetitive tasks in documents and spreadsheets without having to learn to write code.

They have been a core productivity tool in Microsoft Office for a long time. Excel users have long been able to use macros to save time and now you can bring the same time-saving benefits to Google Sheets.

While Google Sheets has long allowed users to write their own Apps Script functions, macros open up this kind of functionality to all Google Sheets users—no coding experience required.

Macros are particularly useful if you find yourself dealing with multiple sheets over and over with similar data or information. For instance, any kind of monthly trackers with elaborate functions to collate data will benefit from the of macros.

How to Create a New Macro in Google Sheets

Google Sheets macros are remarkably easy to create.

1. Click Tools > Macros > Record Macro.
2. Run through the steps you want to automate.
3. Choose Absolute References if you want the macro to operate in the exact same cell you record. Choose Relative References if you want the macro to operate in the cell you select and nearby cells.
   
4. Click Save.
5. Enter the name of the macro and an optional keyboard shortcut key.

Now obviously, step two in the list above could involve a lot more steps, but more on that later.

How to Edit a Macro in Google Sheets

If you want to edit your Macro, do the following:

1. Go to Tools > Macros > Manage Macros.
2. In the list of Macros that opens up, click the menu button (three dots) next to the macro you want to edit.
   
3. Click Edit Script.

To edit the macro, you’re going to have to actually edit the code, so if this is something you’re not comfortable with, it may be easier to simply re-record the macro.

How to Run a Macro in Google Sheets

To run the macro, open the sheet you want to use it, and click Tools > Macros and select the macro from the list. Or if you assigned a keyboard shortcut to your macro, you can use that instead.

Below, you’ll find a few simple examples of the various ways you can use macros in Google Sheets.

Example 1: Format Your Spreadsheet With a Macro

Any sort of repetitive formatting that you have to apply to several Google sheets can easily be done with macros.

Basic Formatting

If you have multiple sheets with similar information, you can record macros for any or all of the following: bold/italic/underline formatting, font size, text alignment, text wrapping, background fill color, and more.

Conditional Formatting

With Google Sheets, you can also get pretty meta, by adding an extra layer of automation on top of basic automation with Conditional Formatting.

You can use Conditional Formatting to format cells using the same methods listed above. The difference is that you can create a rule that formats the text based on specific criteria:

• If the cell contains or does not contain a specific keyword.
• If the cell contains a number equal to, greater than, or less than a specific number
• If the cell contains a specific date/a date after/a date before your specification.

So let’s say you’re using Google Sheets as a way to keep track of your tasks, and have assigned due dates to your tasks. You can use conditional formatting to highlight anything that is due today:

1. After clicking Record, select the cells you want to apply conditional formatting to.
2. Go to Format > Conditional Formatting.
3. In the sidebar that opens, click Add new rule.
4. Under Format Cells if select Date is.
5. In the second dropdown menu that opens, select Today for tasks due today.

If you want to highlight anything that is past due, repeat steps 1 to 3 and then do the following:

1. Under Format Cells if select Date is before.
2. In the second dropdown menu that opens, select Today.

Example 2: Create Reports and Charts

There are plenty of ways you can generate reports in Google Sheets including Pivot tables, graphs, and charts.

Pivot Tables in Google Sheets

Pivot Tables are extremely useful if you’re looking to calculate totals of various items in your spreadsheet. You can use a Pivot Table to understand large amounts of data and summarize it into a brief digestible report. Since it is based on the spreadsheet data, you can use conditional formatting, charts, and graphs to visualize the data too.

For instance, if you’re using a Google Sheet for your spending habits, you can use a pivot chart to calculate totals. This is a great way to really get a handle on just how much you’re spending at Starbucks.

1. After clicking Record, go to Data > Pivot Table.
2. The Pivot Table Editor will open up in a side panel where you can add the items you want to that appear in your table.
   
3. Under Rows click Add, and select the column containing the information you want to collate: expense category or location for example.
4. Under Values, click Add and select the column containing the amounts you’re spending per category.

This is a very simple example of how a pivot table can be used. There are far more elaborate uses, where macros will make life much easier for you in Google Sheets.

Graphs and Pie Charts in Google Sheets

Rather than scroll through row upon row of data, you can also summarize all of that information visually.

Again, if you have multiple sheets with similar data, you can create the same chart across several different sheets.

For example, if you’re tracking your monthly sales, you could create a pie chart that breaks down sales by product.

• Select the column(s)/row(s) containing the data you want to visualize.
• After clicking the Record button, go to Insert > Chart.
• In the panel that opens up, select the chart type (Line chart, bar chart, pie chart etc.)

Run that macro on other sheets with similar data for quick visualizations. Google Sheets will also make suggestions for the most suitable chart based on the data.

Example 3: Run Complex Functions With Macros

This is probably one of the most useful and powerful ways you can use macros in Google Sheets—but while complex functions can be complicated, they’re made simple with macros.

There are plenty of existing functions such as the COUNTIF formula or the Lookup Functions. You can also can take it a step further and create your own Google Sheets functions.

Once you have your function figured out, just record your macro running through the steps.

Example 4: Make Your Data Easier to View

If you have a large amount of data saved in a Google spreadsheet, it helps to freeze the first row and first column.

That way when you’re looking at a spreadsheet full of numbers or information, keeping the first row or column in view is essential if you want context for what you’re looking for.

1. After clicking the Record button, go to View > Freeze > One Row and View > Freeze > One Column.
2. Click Save.
3. Enter a name for the macro and click Save again.

Start a Macro and Stop Repetitive Work

Because of the collaborative nature of Google Sheets, you can run macros while other people are continuing to enter their information, and no longer have to download sheets and open them up in another program to run a macro.

If collaboration and cloud storage isn’t a priority for you, you can always opt for Microsoft Excel to record macros.s

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The 5 Best Free SoundCloud Desktop Apps for Mac

Web apps are fine, but native Mac apps are often better. When you listen to music in your browser, it’s hard to keep track of which tab is playing. Plus, much of the time pressing the Play/Pause key will open iTunes instead of pausing the current track.

SoundCloud is no different. The service unfortunately discontinued its official Mac app a while ago. Fortunately, there are plenty of alternative SoundCloud apps.

1. SoundCleod

Little more than the SoundCloud website in a frame, SoundCleod improves on the web app by providing some of the basic functionality you’d expect from a native app. Aside from moving the app out of the web browser and into the Dock, where it’s easier to find, SoundCleod also restores full media key functionality.

That means you can play, pause, and skip back and forth through your feed without having to first find the right tab. The app also supports some simple shortcuts for liking (L) and reposting (R) tracks.

It’s basic, but works well. The web app’s media controls for scrubbing, shuffling, and repeating tracks appear at the bottom of the frame. You can navigate backwards and forwards using Cmd + Left/Right arrow. You’ll see notifications for track changes just like you would in Safari.

Download: SoundCleod

2. Soundnode

Far from a website running in a frame, Soundnode is a completely native and open source SoundCloud app. The player is available for macOS as well as Windows and Linux, which might explain why it feels a little more developed than some of the other apps on this list.

On first glance you’d be forgiven for mistaking Soundnode for an official app. It uses a suave dark theme with a sidebar for navigation and media controls along the bottom of the window. The rest of the app is dedicated to content, with tracks and playlists presented in large 1×1 squares just like iTunes.

Media controls work as expected, but there are no shortcuts for liking or reposting tracks. There’s no means of uploading music, since Soundnode seems focused on media playback rather than interaction. You can read comments but it’s not possible to view them on the waveform or add your own.

There’s a powerful search feature that queries as you type, and a handy queue button that shows you what’s coming up next. It’s fairly easy to create and view your playlists, and you’ll get a notification complete with artwork each time a new track starts. It’s one of the best SoundCloud apps around, and it’s free.

Download: Soundnode

3. Cumulus

Many popular apps live in the top right-corner of your Mac; these offer so much functionality that created a master list of menu bar apps. It’s about time Cumulus was added to that list.

The app is devilishly simple in its approach and perfectly designed to sit in the Mac menu bar until you need it. Click on the app’s icon at any time to reveal a three-pane window for your Feed, Likes, and Playlists. I couldn’t get the Playlists tab to load, but I never seem to use SoundCloud playlists so I wasn’t phased (keep that in mind if you do).

You can control Cunulus with media keys, and notifications appear for each track change as you’d expect. I couldn’t find any keyboard shortcuts to like or repost tracks, since the app is pretty light on preferences. It’s not perfect by any means; you’ll encounter some occasional stutters and bumps.

Despite these issues, it’s probably the SoundCloud app I’m most likely to keep around purely for the convenience of having access right in the menu bar.

Download: Cumulus

4. VOX

VOX isn’t a native SoundCloud app, but rather a native media player with SoundCloud support. Before you can link your SoundCloud account, you’ll need to create a free VOX account. After this you’ll be asked to spend some money on a premium plan. You don’t need that to play tracks from SoundCloud, though.

Once you’ve logged in and signed up, you’ll see a SoundCloud icon that provides access to your Stream and Likes. There’s no playlist support and no way to view or post comments, but you can like tracks if you hover by the Now Playing area and click on the heart icon.

While playing from SoundCloud, the VOX dock icon will switch to the current track artwork, which can make finding the app tricky at a glance. There’s media key support, but only after you’ve installed an extension to circumvent macOS sandboxing rules. AirPlay support is baked into the app, and not hidden behind a premium account.

VOX works fine for simple playback, but one false click and your web browser launches a new window bugging you to upgrade to a premium account. The player is small enough to live in the menu bar, but instead it’s a floating window. It’s not a bad app, but it’s not amazing either.

Download: VOX

5. BeardedSpice + Safari or Chrome

While technically not a separate SoundCloud app, BeardedSpice takes the SoundCloud web app and fixes a few of its biggest problems. The app’s primary purpose is to allow control of web-based media players and other native apps with your Mac’s media keys.

The app lives in your menu bar and allows you to quickly switch which tab your media keys control. It also comes with a few useful keyboard shortcuts, like Cmd + F6 which focuses the tab BeardedSpice is controlling. That means no more fumbling around for the right tab.

It’s not limited to SoundCloud, and it works with tons of sites including Google Music, Dailymotion, Netflix, and YouTube to name a few. It works out of the box with Safari and Chrome, and the lesser-known web browser Vivaldi.

Download: BeardedSpice

If you encounter issues, make sure you’ve read up on the troubleshooting FAQ and Safari quick fix.

PSA: Don’t Pay for AirPlay

There are premium SoundCloud apps in the Mac App Store, and a few freebies with in-app purchases. Some of these apps lock AirPlay functionality behind an entry fee, but this isn’t a feature you should ever pay for.

While playing music in any of these apps (or the regular web app player), head to System Preferences > Sound. On the Input tab, select an AirPlay receiver and wait. Now all sound produced by your Mac will be sent to the wireless receiver you specified. You can also click on the Volume icon in the menu bar and select an output there.

With so many great free SoundCloud apps, you’re better of putting your money toward a SoundCloud Go subscription instead.

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Favstar says it will shut down June 19 as a result of Twitter’s API changes for data streams

As Twitter develops an ever-closer hold on how it manages services around its real-time news and social networking service, a pioneer in Twitter analytics is calling it quits. Favstar, an early leader in developing a way to track and review how your and other people’s Tweets were getting liked and retweeted by others on the network, has announced that it will be shutting down on June 19 — a direct result, its creator Tim Haines notes, of changes that Twitter will be making to its own APIs, specifically around its Account Activity API, which is coming online at the same time that another API, User Streams, is being depreciated.

Favstar and others rely on User Streams to power its services. “Twitter… [has] not been forthcoming with the details or pricing,” Favstar’s creator Tim Haines said of the newer API. “Favstar can’t continue to operate in this environment of uncertainty.”

Favstar’s announcement was made over the weekend, but the issue for it and other developers has actually been brewing for a year.

Twitter announced back in December that, as part of the launch of the Account Activity API (originally announced April 2017), it would be shutting down User Streams on June 19.

User Streams are what Favstar, and a number of other apps such as Talon, Tweetbot, Tweetings, and Twitterrific (as pointed out in this blog post signed by all four on “Apps of a Feather”), are built on. Introduced as the Twitter Streaming API for developers, the aim was to provide a way for developers to get continuous updates from a number of Twitter accounts — needed for services that either provided alternative Twitter interfaces or a way of parsing the many Tweets on the platform — in a way that did not slow the whole service down.

The newer Account Activity API provides a number of features to developers to help facilitate tracking Twitter and using services like direct messaging for business purposes:

As you can see, some of the features that the newer API covers are directly linked to functionality you get via Favstar. The crux of the problem, writes Haines, is that Twitter hadn’t given Favstar and other developers that had been working with User Streams (and other depreciating functionality) answers about pricing and other details so that they could see if a retooling of their services would be possible. (Twitter has provided a guide, it seems, but it doesn’t appear to address these points.)

The post on Apps of a Feather further spells out the technical issues:

“The new Account Activity API is currently in beta testing, but third-party developers have not been given access and time is running out,” the developers write. “With access we might be able to implement some push notifications, but they would be limited at the standard level to 35 Twitter accounts – our products must deliver notifications to hundreds of thousands of customers. No pricing has been given for Enterprise level service with unlimited accounts – we have no idea if this will be an affordable option for us and our users.”

One of the consequences is that “automatic refresh of your timeline just won’t work,” they continue. “There is no web server on your mobile device or desktop computer that Twitter can contact with updates. Since updating your timeline with other methods is rate-limited by Twitter, you will see delays in real-time updates during sporting events and breaking news.”

Favstar has been around since 2009 — its name a tip of the hat to the original “like” on Twitter, which was a star, not a heart. Haines writes that at its peak, it had some 50 million users and was a “huge hit” with those who realised how the network could be leveraged to build up audiences outside of Twitter — including comedians and celebrities, tech people, journalists, and so on. It’s also tinkered with its service over time, and added in a Pro tier, to make it more user-friendly.

Somewhat unusual for a popular app, Favstar appears to have always been bootstrapped.

But there have been two trends at play for years now, one specific to Twitter and another a more general shift in the wider industry of apps:

The first, regarding Twitter, is that the company has been sharpening its business focus for years to find viable, diverse and recurring sources of revenue, while at the same time putting a tighter grip around how its platform is appropriated by others. This has led the company to significantly shift its relationship with developers and third parties. In some cases, it has ceased to support and work with third-party apps that it feels effectively overlap with features and functions that Twitter offers directly.

In the case of Favstar, the service rose in prominence at a time when Twitter appeared to completely ignore the star feature. MG once described the Favorite as “the unwanted step child feature of Twitter. Though it has been around since the early days of the service, they have never really done anything to promote its use.”

Fast forward to today, and Twitter has not only revamped the feature replacing the star with a heart (I still prefer the star, for what it’s worth), but Twitter uses those endorsements to help tune its algorithm, and populate your notifications tab, and to provide analytics to users on how their Tweets are doing. In other words, it’s doing quite a bit of what Favstar does.

And if you think of how Twitter has developed its own business model in recent years, with a push for video and working with news organisations and other media brands, the same early users of Favstar as detailed by Haines (celebs, news and other media organizations, etc.) are exactly the targets that Twitter has been trying to connect with, too.

The other, more general, trend that this latest turn has teased out is the one that we’ve heard come up many times before. Building services dependent on another platform can be a precarious state of affairs for a developer. You never know when the platform owner might simply decide to pull the plug on you. Your success could lead to many users, business growth, and even an acquisition by the platform itself — but it could nearly as quickly lead to your downfall if the platform views you as a threat, and decides to cut you off instead.

Interestingly, there could be some life left in Favstar in another galaxy far, far away. We’ve reached out both to Haines and to Twitter for further comment and will update this post as and when we learn more.

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Facebook suspends ~200 suspicious apps out of “thousands” reviewed so far

Did you just notice a Facebook app has gone AWOL? After reviewing “thousands” of apps on its platform following a major data misuse scandal that blew up in March, Facebook has announced it’s suspended around 200 apps — pending what it describes as a “thorough investigation” into whether or not their developers misused Facebook user data.

The action is part of a still ongoing audit of third party applications running on the platform announced by Facebook in the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal where a third party developer used quiz apps to extract and pass Facebook user data to the consultancy for political ad targeting purposes.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced the app audit on March 21, writing that the company would “investigate all apps that had access to large amounts of information before we changed our platform to dramatically reduce data access in 2014, and we will conduct a full audit of any app with suspicious activity”.

Apps that would not agree to a “thorough audit” would also be banned, he said then.

Just under two months on and the tally is ~200 ‘suspicious’ app suspensions, though the review process is ongoing — and Facebook is not being more specific about the total number of apps it’s looked at so far (beyond saying “thousands”) — so expect that figure to rise.

In the Cambridge Analytica instance, Facebook admitted that personal information on as many as 87 million users may have been passed to the political consultancy — without most people’s knowledge or consent.

Giving an update on the app audit process in a blog post, Ime Archibong, Facebook’s VP of product partnerships, writes that the investigation is “in full swing”.

“We have large teams of internal and external experts working hard to investigate these apps as quickly as possible,” he says. “To date thousands of apps have been investigated and around 200 have been suspended — pending a thorough investigation into whether they did in fact misuse any data. Where we find evidence that these or other apps did misuse data, we will ban them and notify people via this website. It will show people if they or their friends installed an app that misused data before 2015 — just as we did for Cambridge Analytica.”

Archibong does not confirm how much longer the audit will take — but does admit there’s a long way to go, writing that: “There is a lot more work to be done to find all the apps that may have misused people’s Facebook data – and it will take time.”

“We are investing heavily to make sure this investigation is as thorough and timely as possible,” he adds.

Where Facebook does have concerns about an app — such as the ~200 apps it has suspended pending a fuller probe — Archibong says it will conduct interviews; make requests for information (“which ask a series of detailed questions about the app and the data it has access to”); and perform audits “that may include on-site inspections”.

So Facebook will not be doing on site inspections in every suspicious app instance.

We’ve asked Facebook a series of follow up questions about the ~200 suspicious apps it’s identified, and more broadly about the ongoing audit process and will update this post with any response.

For instance it’s not clear whether the company will publish a public list of every app that it suspends or deems to have misused user data — or whether it will just notify affected individuals.

Given the likely scale of data misuse by developers on its platform there is an argument for Facebook to publish a public list of suspensions.

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