How to Play Almost Any Video Game on a Raspberry Pi

You’ve got a Raspberry Pi. You’ve probably entertained the idea of using it for retro gaming. But what if we told you that you don’t need to stop there—that you can play a massive selection of games, past and present, using a Raspberry Pi?

You probably don’t believe us, but it’s totally true. Save for a handful of modern console games, you can play almost any video game on a Raspberry Pi. Here’s everything you need to know about it.

6 Ways to Play Video Games on Raspberry Pi

Incredibly, you have six options for gaming on your Raspberry Pi. You’re not limited to Linux titles, or to games intended for x86 systems (like standard PCs). As long as you do it right, a massive library of games can be enjoyed on your Raspberry Pi:

1. Retro gaming with RetroPie, RecalBox, and Lakka
2. Play Raspberry Pi-exclusive games
3. Install classic games directly on Raspberry Pi
4. Play classic PC games with DOSBox
5. Play PC games on Raspberry Pi with Exagear and Wine
6. Stream modern PC games to Raspberry Pi with Parsec

Each of these six options will deliver some great gaming action to your Raspberry Pi. Let’s look at each in turn.

1. Retro Gaming With RetroPie, RecalBox, and Lakka

You probably already know about the possibilities of retro gaming with a Raspberry Pi. It’s one of the little computer’s most popular uses! While individual emulators can be installed on a per-platform basis, it’s a good idea to use one of the retro gaming suites, which include support for all emulators, including MAME for arcade machine emulation.

While these can be installed as full disk images, some are also available as apps to run on Raspbian (or your preferred Raspberry Pi operating system). All in all, there are several retro gaming systems for Raspberry Pi worth checking out.

Once installed, you’ll be able to copy your favorite retro gaming ROMs to your Raspberry Pi. In the video above, I demonstrate how to run Dreamcast games on Raspberry Pi 3. Note that as Raspberry Pi computers become more sophisticated, the more platforms are added as emulators.

Be sure to only use ROMs that you own the physical copy of, in order to avoid charges of copyright theft.

2. Play Raspberry Pi-Exclusive Games

Several games that have been designed to run on the Raspberry Pi are also available. You probably already know about Minecraft PE, which comes preinstalled with Raspbian (or even set up a Raspberry Pi as a Minecraft server).

Most games designed to run natively on the Raspberry Pi are written in Python. You can find a great selection of Python games at pygame.org. Meanwhile, you’ll find games that run on the Raspberry Pi via the Add/Remove Software tool.

3. Install Classic Games Directly on Raspberry Pi

An impressive collection of classic games has been re-released as open source over the past few years, enabling them to be ported to other platforms. Often, this means Linux, but typically only with x86 support. Fortunately, it can also mean ARM, which means Raspberry Pi compatibility.

Titles such as Doom, Quake III, and even Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast have all been ported to the Raspberry Pi. All you need to do is download, install, and start playing! Our guide to running Doom on Raspberry Pi will give you a good idea of how simple this is.

4. Play Classic PC Games With DOSBox

Another option for playing classic games on your Raspberry Pi is with DOSBox. This is an emulator for Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system, which precedes Windows (but was packaged with Windows 95 and 98). Almost all classic PC games can be installed in DOSBox, and the software can run on Raspberry Pi.

So, you can expect to revisit (or discover!) classics like F117A Stealth Fighter, the original Sim City and Civilization games, and many more. It’s estimated that over 2,000 titles were released for MS-DOS, so you’ll have plenty to keep you entertained!

Note: You’ll find most of these old PC games require keyboard and mouse, not a modern game controller.

5. Play PC Games on Pi With Exagear and Wine

Incredibly, you can even run some Windows games on a Raspberry Pi thanks to Wine. While the popular Windows application layer software for Linux is not designed to be run on ARM systems, Exagear’s software makes it possible.

The result is an ever-growing collection of Windows PC games that will run on your Raspberry Pi, with a bit of tweaking. Admittedly, these are not recent titles, but given that many older Windows games won’t work in modern versions of the operating system, running them on a Raspberry Pi instead seems like a good alternative.

Need some help? Check our guide to installing Windows software on a Raspberry Pi with Exagear.

6. Stream Modern PC Games to Pi With Parsec

Finally, and perhaps most surprisingly, you can stream games from Windows, macOS, and Linux PCs to your Raspberry Pi. While this will require a powerful PC in the background to run the game, this changes everything.

You’ll need a reliable network and a Raspberry Pi 3 or later, but with Parsec set up on the PC and on Raspbian, it’s simple to stream whatever is running on your computer to your Raspberry Pi. We’re not talking retro gaming anymore, either.

The latest titles, as long as they run on your PC, can be streamed to your Pi. This makes the Raspberry Pi an alternative to the Steam Link. Our guide to using Parsec with Raspberry Pi shows you how to make this happen.

Raspberry Pi: A Surprisingly Versatile Gaming Device!

Amazing, isn’t it? The Raspberry Pi is an incredibly versatile machine, capable not only of letting you play your favorite retro games, but also current games thanks to streaming technology.

Better still, you can retain your existing retro game emulators at the same time as running Exagear or Parsec. In short, each of the six options listed here can be set up on a single Raspberry Pi 3 or later. Given the price of the Raspberry Pi, this surely makes it the most amazing gaming computer currently available!

All of this makes it the ideal gaming device, perfect for installing in a gaming cabinet!

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Google Assistant Can Now Help You Plan Your Day

Google may have just given you a reason to check Google Assistant every day. This is thanks to its latest innovation, called Visual Snapshot, which is designed to give you an at-a-glance overview of your day ahead. Leaving you to worry about other things.

Google Assistant is a virtual helper, and Google’s answer to Amazon’s Alexa and Apple’s Siri. Assistant is one step up from Google Now, and it has evolved massively since it first launched in May 2016. And Google is continuing to add new features…

Putting Your Information to Good Use

Unsurprisingly, Google Assistant is all about information, whether Assistant is answering your questions, updating you on local traffic, or keeping tabs on your appointments. And the new Visual Snapshot collates all of this information into one easy-to-read tab.

Your Visual Snapshot will give you, well, a visual snapshot of your day ahead. On Android all you need to do is tap the new icon in the top, right-hand corner of the screen. On iOS your Visual Snapshot should appear as soon as you open Google Assistant.

So I set my Google Assistant to tell me a joke everyday at 7.45 p.m. Rarely disappoints me ? pic.twitter.com/W40b0Hnenv

— aspasia (@_aspaaa_) July 13, 2018

Your Visual Snapshot will show you estimated travel times between where you are and where you need to be, your agenda for the day, reminders of appointments, restaurant reservations, any bills due to be paid, packages due to be delivered, and more besides.

Google is promising to add more useful features to Visual Snapshot in the coming months. This includes “an overview of your notes and lists from Google Keep, Any.do, Bring!, Todoist and others” and “personalized recommendations for music and podcasts”.

Helping You Manage Your Busy Schedule

Visual Snapshot is rolling out to Google Assistant on Android and on iOS right now. While it will be available to everyone, you will only be able to get the most out of Visual Snapshot if you already use Google apps to manage your busy schedule.

There is a lot more to Google Assistant than meets the eye, and we’ve previously tried to help you get the most out of the app. So here are some things you didn’t know Google Assistant could do, and some amazing IFTTT applets to supercharge Google Assistant.

Image Credit: Aaron Yoo/Flickr

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Google confirms it will appeal $5 billion EU antitrust fine

Google has confirmed the expected, that it will indeed appeal the record $5 billion fine that it was handed today by European antitrust regulators for abusing the dominance of its Android operating system.

The European Commission announced that it is fining the U.S. firm for “three types of restrictions that [it] has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine.”

The press conference announcing the investigation, which has been eight years in the making, remains ongoing as of writing, but Google has already issued a short statement that confirms its intention to appeal.

“Android has created more choice for everyone, not less. A vibrant ecosystem, rapid innovation and lower prices are classic hallmarks of robust competition. We will appeal the Commission’s decision,” it said in a tweet.

We’re breaking out the specific details as we learn them in this post, but here’s the core gist.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager tweeted details of the penalty and explained more in an initial statement:

Today, mobile internet makes up more than half of global internet traffic. It has changed the lives of millions of Europeans. Our case is about three types of restrictions that Google has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine. In this way, Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.

In particular, the EC has decided that Google:

• Has required manufacturers to pre-install the Google Search app and browser app (Chrome), as a condition for licensing Google’s app store (the Play Store);
• Made payments to certain large manufacturers and mobile network operators on condition that they exclusively pre-installed the Google Search app on their devices
• And has prevented manufacturers wishing to pre-install Google apps from selling even a single smart mobile device running on alternative versions of Android that were not approved by Google (so-called “Android forks”).

The decision also concludes that Google is dominant in the markets for general internet search service, licensable smart mobile operating systems, and app stores for the Android mobile operating system.

In a more detailed blog post, Google doubled down on its position to argue that Android has helped bring choice to the market by enabling 1,300 different companies to develop 24,000 smartphones, and bringing over one million apps to users.

Google argued that phone makers aren’t obligated to pre-load its apps and that, even if they do, there are alternatives that have racked up significant download numbers. In particular, the company namechecked browser apps Opera Mini and Firefox, both of which have over 100 million downloads, and UC Browser, which has been downloaded more than 500 million times.

The company did, also, warn that the European ruling may mean that it is forced to charge OEMs to use Android for the first time, a move that could pass on additional costs for consumers.

“We’ve always agreed that with size comes responsibility. A healthy, thriving Android ecosystem is in everyone’s interest, and we’ve shown we’re willing to make changes. But we are concerned that today’s decision will upset the careful balance that we have struck with Android, and that it sends a troubling signal in favor of proprietary systems over open platforms,” the company said in its closing argument.

Google gets slapped $5BN by EU for Android antitrust abuse

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EU’s Google Android antitrust decision incoming…

A decision in a long running EU antitrust probe of Google’s Android OS is due to land shortly.

European Commission officials are trailing a press conference with competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager — to announce an “antitrust decision” at 1pm CET, with a link to watch the event streamed live.

Press conference with Commissioner @vestager today at 13h00 CET on an antitrust decision – follow it live here: https://t.co/cN0JhSI5Yw

— Ricardo Cardoso (@RCardosoEU) July 18, 2018

Bloomberg is reporting the EU’s fine for Android will be in the region of $5BN — which would be the largest ever antitrust penalty handed down by the Commission.

The case focuses on whether Google has abused its market dominance and crowded out rivals by taking steps to ensure its own-brand apps and services are pre-loaded on Android devices.

In April, Reuters reported on a 2016 document it had reviewed which said the Commission planned to levy a large fine against Google and would also order the company to stop giving revenue-sharing payments to smartphone makers to pre-install only Google Search. Reuters also reported then that Google would be ordered to stop requiring its own Chrome browser and other apps to be installed alongside Google’s Play store.

The Commission will confirm the full details of its Android decision in the next few hours.

Stay tuned for more as we get it… 

Update: Full report here.

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7 Helpful Websites for Learning About the Countries of the World

Though the world holds nearly 200 countries, most of us haven’t visited more than a few. Knowledge of our home nation comes easy, but have you ever wondered about the culture, society, or history of other countries?

We’ve gathered a set of websites for learning about any country you have interest in. Whether you want to brush up before you travel or just want to pick up some new information, you’ll learn something new and useful with these.

1. CountryCode.org: Calling Codes

This site provides at-a-glance basic information about the world’s countries. On the homepage, you’ll find the Country Code for placing calls to that region. It also includes ISO (International Organization for Standardization) codes for each country. Concluding the basic info, you’ll find the country’s area and GDP.

Search for a country using the top bar to open more details about it. This includes the current time and time zone, weather, currency, and what languages are spoken in that country. You’ll even see the type of electrical plugs they use!

Overall, CountryCode.org provides a great quick reference for any country. It’s a must-visit when you plan on calling internationally for the first time.

2. GeographyFieldwork.com: World Capitals

This simple page collects the capital cities of the world’s countries into an easy-to-search table. Simply scroll through the list or use Ctrl + F to open your browser’s Find menu to locate the country you’re interested in.

By default, the list sorts in alphabetical order by country. You can click the Capital City heading to sort by those instead. Use the Switch Columns button if you’d like to change the order.

If you’re trying to memorize all the world capitals, creating flash cards is a good way to study them.

3. Geology.com: World Maps

Geology.com’s World Maps page lets you examine the map of any region.

Click a region on the main map to jump to a list of countries in that area. Once you select a country, you’ll see its political map showing major roads, boundaries, and cities. Continue scrolling for satellite images, natural resources, and other information.

If you select the United States, you can pick an individual state to view its counties, as well as maps of elevation, rivers, and more.

This might seem elementary, but many people don’t even know where some countries are located. Learning where they are in relation to others can help you become a more cosmopolitan person.

For more interesting charts, check out some mesmerizing real-time world maps.

4. Countries-of the-World.com: Country Flags and More

When you watch the Olympics, you probably see several flags you’re not familiar with. You can get acquainted with the flags of the world using this page. Like others, you can use Ctrl + F to search since everything is on one page.

A country’s flag is an important symbol, and often contains elements from its history. Learning to recognize flags is fun!

But this site isn’t limited to just flags. It contains pages on world currencies, world time zones, and even country website domains. It’s a well-rounded resource.

5. OfficeHolidays.com: World Holidays

Everyone is familiar with the days they get off in their country, and your calendar might even include holidays from different regions. But there are a lot more holidays to learn, and this site is a great place to do so.

At the top, you’ll see holidays occurring today, if any. Below, a slideshow highlighting some major holidays plays. The home page concludes with a calendar of the current month’s festivities.

Use the search bar or countries page to see all the holidays for a particular nation. They’re all listed with comments or regions where appropriate. You can even change years to see when holidays fell last year or will occur next year.

6. Commisceo Global: Culture Guides

A lot of what we’ve covered so far is cold factual information. But what if you want to get a feel for what society is like in a different country? You need to check out the country guides from Commisceo Global.

It provides basic informational guides for more than 80 countries around the world. Each one contains big points like culture, food, etiquette, and business practices. Of course, these are only guidelines and can’t cover every little aspect of a culture.

It’s fascinating to read about life in another country, and this can provide vital information if you’re planning to travel to another region soon.

7. CIA World Factbook: Statistics Galore

The CIA’s World Factbook page includes a lot of the information we’ve mentioned from other sites, like maps and flags. Its most interesting feature, though, is the Country Comparisons page. This allows you to see how the world’s countries compare in a variety of areas.

Expand a category, like People and Society, and you’ll see a variety of entries inside, such as Median age. This allows you to see how the countries stack up in all sorts of ways.

Select a country, and you can view its page with even more info. Expand categories like Government, Energy, and Geography to see the country’s ruling structure, energy usage, and land information.

Learn More About the World: Languages

The world is a vast place, and there’s always something new to discover outside the region you live in. Use these resources to decide where you want to visit next, or just learn a few basics to familiarize yourself more on a global scale.

You can learn a lot more about the world if you can communicate with its residents. The best language learning apps can help you speak a new language and enable you to talk with so many more people.

Read the full article: 7 Helpful Websites for Learning About the Countries of the World

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Is Your iPhone Volume Not Working Like It Should? Try This

The Printable Markdown Cheat Sheet for Beginners and Experts

Markdown is an easy-to-learn markup language that’s used to format plain text documents. Even if you have no previous experience with it, Markdown is so simple that it can be learned in under 10 minutes.

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For example, if you want to make a word appear italicized, just surround it with asterisks (e.g. *test* becomes test). This also works for entire sentences or even paragraphs. If you want to make a bulleted list, just start each line with a hyphen character. Simple, right?

There are all kinds of Markdown editor apps out there, and you can even use Markdown in Microsoft Word. If you’re still a bit confused, check out our beginner’s introduction to Markdown. Otherwise, refer to the Markdown cheat sheet below for a quick overview of what you can do with it.

The Markdown Cheat Sheet

Format Type	Markdown Syntax
Basic Elements
H1 to H6 Headings	# Heading Text ## Heading Text ### Heading Text #### Heading Text ##### Heading Text ###### Heading Text
Italics	*This text is italicized*
Bold	**This text is bold**
Blockquote	> Blockquote paragraphs must have > a right-arrow bracket at the start > of every single line. > > Use a blank line for multiple paragraphs.
Unordered List	- Bullet list item - Bullet list item - Bullet list item   - Use a two-space indent for nested lists
Ordered List	1. Bullet list item 2. Bullet list item 3. Bullet list item   1. Ordered lists can also be nested
Mixed List	1. Can you mix list types?   - Yes, you can!
Horizontal Line	--- *** ___ Note: Either three hyphens, asterisks, or underscores.
Hyperlink	This is an [example link](//www.makeuseof.com)
Image	
Ignore Markdown	Prefix Markdown characters with \*backslashes\* to ignore formatting.
Extended Elements
Code (Inline)	`This is inline code`
Code (Block)	``` This is a block of code It supports multiple lines ```
Strikethrough	~~This text is crossed out~~
Hard Line Break	This is some text\ This text is a new line, not a new paragraph
Table	| First Header | Second Header | | ------------ | ------------- | | Content cell 1 | Content cell 2 | | Content column 1 | Content column 2 | Note: Preceding blank line is necessary.
Task Lists	- [x] Completed task item - [ ] Unfinished task item - [ ] \(Optional) Mark parentheses to be ignored
Mention	You can mention @users and @teams on GitHub. Mainly useful when submitting or commenting on bugs and issues.
Emoji	:emojicode: Note: Emoji codes can be found in the emoji cheat sheet.

Note: Nearly all flavors of Markdown support the basic elements, but the extended elements are only supported by more advanced forms of Markdown, including CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown.

What Are Markdown Flavors?

The original Markdown specification came about in 2004. However, as innovative as it was, many users felt that the original Markdown’s feature set was too limited for anything more than simple document formatting.

As various sites adopted Markdown as their preferred method for inputting text (e.g. blog posts, comments, forum posts, etc.), they began adding and supporting their own elements of Markdown markup. Notable sites include Reddit, GitHub, Stack Exchange, and more.

Eventually, users began pushing for a standardized set of formatting elements, leading to the creation of even more Markdown flavors like CommonMark, MultiMarkdown, Markdown Extra, GitHub Flavored Markdown, and more.

Long story short: Once you learn the basic elements set forth by the original Markdown specification, you’ll be able to pick up any other flavor of Markdown with ease. The variations are subtle and often only useful in very specific use-cases.

Read the full article: The Printable Markdown Cheat Sheet for Beginners and Experts

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Microsoft to launch new Xbox hardware next month

Microsoft is teasing new Xbox hardware and accessories will launch at Gamescom in Germany next month. Details are limited. The word comes from a Microsoft blog post about the event in which it lists the date and time of the August 21 event, which will feature “lots of news, all-new Xbox hardware and accessories, and features on upcoming titles.”

Don’t expect the successor to the Xbox One, though.

There are several options here and most signs point to a new Xbox Elite controller. Rumors have been swirling that the updated controller will feature USB-C charging, Windows 10 compatibility and updated mechanisms for the triggers and buttons. The timing is right, too. If announced in the middle of August, Microsoft will have plenty of time to get the expensive controller into retail stores for the holiday season.

Microsoft just released the 4K Xbox One X last year. This model is still competitive with the latest Playstation 4. A lower price, or a redesigned low-end Xbox One S, could also be on tap.

Whatever is announced on August 21 at Gamescom, we’ll pass along the word.

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Software Development

Software Development

Samsung rumored to be releasing a folding screen smartphone in early-2019

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before. Samsung’s working on phone with a folding screen. And it’s arriving soonish. You’d be entirely forgiven if you rolled your eyes at that one, or at the very least took the whole thing with a sufficiently massive grain of salt.

This particular rumor has been floating around for about as long as Samsung’s been in the smartphone game, but The Wall Street Journal appears to have it on good authority that such a device may finally come to fruition early next year.

What’s more, those “people familiar with the matter” say the seven-inch handset is currently sporting the codename “Winner,” which sounds a bit like something Donald Trump would nickname his smartphone.

The design sounds more like a classic clamshell handset than the novel — though not particularly practical — dual-screen ZTE Axon M that arrived late last year. To be fair, that was more two screens fused together, rather than a “folding screen.” When the Samsung device is closed, on the other hand, it apparently sports cameras on either side and “a small display bar on the front.”

The phone will reportedly be released in smaller quantities than most Samsung smartphones/tablets at first, with wider availability later in the year. A lower than expected demand for the company’s latest flagship, the Galaxy S9 is said to be a driving force behind Samsung’s push to get this product out the door.

The category has long been a white whale for a smartphone industry intent on cramming the largest screen into the smallest footprint possible. The ability to fold it up and shove it in a pocket would certainly be a way to accomplish this. There have, however, been all manner of technical constraints along the way. 

A representative for the company offered TechCrunch a fairly boilerplate statement in response to the rumors, “ “It is Samsung’s policy to not comment on rumors and speculation.”

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How to Use iPhone Vibration Patterns to Make Alerts More Interesting

Google’s Cloud Launcher is now the GCP Marketplace, adds container-based applications

Cloud Launcher has long been Google’s marketplace for cloud-based application from third-party vendors that lets you deploy them in Google’s cloud with just a few clicks. That name never quite highlighted that Cloud Launcher also included commercial applications and that Google cloud handle the billing for those and combine it with a user’s regular GCP bill, so the company has now decided to rebrand the services as the GCP Marketplace.

That’s not all, though. With today’s update, Google is also adding both commercial and open source container-based applications to the service that users can easily deploy to the Google Kubernetes Engine (or any other Kubernetes service). Until today, the marketplace only featured traditional virtual machines, but a lot of customers were surely looking for container support, too.

As Google rightly argues, Kubernetes Engine can take a lot of the hassle out of managing containers, but deploying them to a Kubernetes cluster is still often a manual process. Google promises that it’ll only take a click to deploy an application from the marketplace to the Kubernetes engine or any other Kubernetes deployment.

As Google Cloud product manager Brian Singer told me, his team worked closely with the Kubernetes Engine team to make this integration as seamless as possible. The solutions that are in the marketplace today include developer tools like GitLab, graph database Neo4j, the Kasten data management service, as well as open source projects like WordPress, Spark, Elasticsearch, Nginx and Cassandra.

 

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How to Fix Error Code 0xC0000225 in Windows 10

Seeing the 0xc0000225 error on Microsoft Windows 10 when you try to boot your PC? This common error is a huge pain because it prevents your PC from booting at all.

Thankfully, you can usually fix this error with a bit of work. We’ll show you how to fix error code 0xc0000225 on Windows 10.

What Is Error Code 0xC0000225?

You’ll see this error code when you try to boot your PC. Windows displays it with a message saying Your PC needs to be repaired and the vague An unexpected error has occurred. Sometimes it also says A required device isn’t connected or can’t be accessed.

Microsoft Windows throws this error when it can’t find the correct system files for booting. This vital information is known as Boot Configuration Data, or BCD. When you turn on your PC, it tells Windows how to boot properly.

This error is more common on disks that use the newer UEFI specification with the GPT partition scheme than older setups.

Windows’ message about it is a little vague, so we’ll need to put on our Windows troubleshooting caps to solve it.

What Causes Error Code 0xC0000225?

Since this error deals with corrupted system files, it often pops up after an OS upgrade (such as upgrading from Windows 7 to Windows 10).

It can also occur if your PC shuts down during an important update, from malware attacking system files or even from faulty hardware.

Follow the below steps to hopefully fix your issue, no matter the cause.

Step 0: Create a Windows 10 Install Disk

Like other boot errors, you can’t troubleshoot this from inside Windows. Thus, you’ll need to have a Windows 10 install disk handy so you can run repair tools from there. Follow our guide to creating Windows 10 installation media to obtain the needed disk.

You’ll need a flash drive with at least 8GB of space, or a DVD. Note that creating the Windows 10 disk will erase everything present on the drive, so we recommend using a blank flash drive or DVD.

Once you’ve created your install media, insert it into your computer. Press the appropriate key to open the boot menu, and load the Windows 10 disk from your external device.

Step 1: Windows Automatic Repair

First, you’ll want to try Windows 10’s built-in troubleshooter. This has the system automatically check for issues and attempt to fix them on its own. Hopefully, it will repair your corrupted BCD so you can get back to work.

After booting from your Windows 10 install disk, wait until you see the Windows Setup screen. Confirm your language options, then click Next. When you see the Install now screen, click the Repair your computer link in the bottom-left instead.

You’ll see a menu of options; select Troubleshoot then Advanced options. From the Advanced options menu here, select Automatic Repair. Let the process go through, then restart your computer when it’s done.

Try to boot normally again. If error code 0xc0000225 doesn’t pop up, you’ve fixed the issue!

Step 2: Run Manual SFC and Check Disk Scans

If Windows’s automatic repair didn’t work, you can try a few important system scans yourself. To do so, repeat the above process to open the Advanced options menu, but don’t select Automatic Repair. Instead, choose Command Prompt to open a command line interface.

First, run the System File Checker (SFC) command, which checks for corrupt or missing Windows system files and tries to repair them:

sfc /scannow

After this completes, run the Disk Check scan to check for errors on your hard disk. Use the following command, replacing c: with the letter of your main partition if you’ve changed it:

chkdsk c: /r

Once you’ve run both of these scans, reboot and try to load up your PC normally again. Hopefully, the error won’t pop up anymore.

Step 3: Rebuild the BCD

If you’re still having problems, the next step you can try is a command to rebuild the BCD. Since this is often what causes the error, this might be the trick for you.

Again, boot from your Windows 10 installation media and open the Advanced options menu. Select Command Prompt this time, too. Run the following commands one at a time:

bootrec /scanos
bootrec /fixmbr 
bootrec /fixboot 
bootrec /rebuildbcd

The first command scans your disk(s) for compatible installations, which can help it find your “missing” Windows installation. Commands two and three write a new MBR and boot sector to your disk. The final command scans again for Windows installations after the fixes.

Reboot your computer once more and hopefully, this will clear up the error 0xc0000225 message.

Step 4: Set Your Active Partition

Windows allows you to change the active partition so you can tell the system where to boot from. If this somehow becomes incorrect, you can change it to point Windows to the correct partition.

Go through the above to open a Command Prompt from your Windows repair disk. Type the following commands one at a time to open the Disk Partition tool and list your available disks:

diskpart
list disk

You’ll see a series of entries labeled Disk 0, Disk 1, and so on. Your internal hard drive is most likely Disk 0—you can tell by the Size which is which. Type the following one at a time, replacing the X with 0 or whatever the number of your HDD is:

select disk X
list partition

That second command will show all partitions on your internal drive. Your main partition may be 0; it was 4 (marked as Primary) for me.

Then enter these commands, replacing the X with your partition number:

select partition X
active

Exit the Command Prompt, reboot, and see if your issue is fixed.

This marks the partition you have Windows installed on as the one Windows uses to boot. If this somehow changed and resulted in the 0xc0000225 error, this can put everything back the way it was.

Step 5: Check for Faulty Hardware

At this point, you’ve done a good amount of the software troubleshooting to fix this error. If you still can’t boot, you should consider checking your hard disk for physical issues.

Check to make sure the drive cable isn’t damaged, and reseat it if possible. Depending on your computer manufacturer, you also may have some built-in diagnostic tests that can check for drive issues.

Follow our guide to diagnosing a bad hard drive for some tips. Once you’ve confirmed that your hard drive is healthy, you’ll have to resort to…

Step 6: Try System Restore or Reinstall Windows

If this problem started recently, you can try a System Restore from the recovery disk to go back in time. Boot from your install media again, navigate to the Advanced options menu, and select System Restore. Pick a recent restore point and Windows will return to that point without affecting your personal files.

If you don’t have any restore points or the restore doesn’t fix the issue, it’s best to reinstall Windows to replace the broken system files and get everything else fresh. This is time-consuming but it’s your best bet if you’ve gotten this far.

You’ll find a Reset this PC option under Advanced options > System Restore on your recovery disk. Follow our guide to resetting Windows 10 for more information.

Error Code 0xC0000225 Fixed!

Hopefully, one of these methods will clear up error 0xc0000225 on Windows 10 for you. Whether this was caused by a botched upgrade or hardware error, you thankfully have options to combat it.

For more tips like this, check out our guide to solving Windows boot problems.

Read the full article: How to Fix Error Code 0xC0000225 in Windows 10

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Google gets slapped $5BN by EU for Android antitrust abuse

Google has been fined a record breaking €4.34 billion (~$5BN) by European antitrust regulators for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has tweeted to confirm the penalty ahead of a press conference about to take place. Stay tuned for more details as we get them.

Fine of €4,34 bn to @Google for 3 types of illegal restrictions on the use of Android. In this way it has cemented the dominance of its search engine. Denying rivals a chance to innovate and compete on the merits. It’s illegal under EU antitrust rules. @Google now has to stop it

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) July 18, 2018

In a longer statement about the decision, Vestager said: “Today, mobile internet makes up more than half of global internet traffic. It has changed the lives of millions of Europeans. Our case is about three types of restrictions that Google has imposed on Android device manufacturers and network operators to ensure that traffic on Android devices goes to the Google search engine. In this way, Google has used Android as a vehicle to cement the dominance of its search engine. These practices have denied rivals the chance to innovate and compete on the merits. They have denied European consumers the benefits of effective competition in the important mobile sphere. This is illegal under EU antitrust rules.”

This story is developing… refresh for updates… 

The fine is the second major penalty for the ad tech giant for breaching EU competition rules in just over a year — and the highest ever issued by the Commission for abuse of a dominant market position.

In June 2017 Google was hit with a then-record €2.4BN (~$2.7BN) antitrust penalty related to another of its products, search comparison service, Google Shopping. The company has since made changes to how it displays search results for products in Europe.

According to the bloc’s rules, companies can be fined 10 per cent of their global revenue if they are deemed to have breached European competition law.

Google’s parent entity Alphabet reported full year revenue of $110.9 billion in 2017. So the $5BN fine is around half of what the company could have been on the hook for if EU regulators had levied the maximum penalty possible.

The Commission said the size of the fine takes into account “the duration and gravity of the infringement”. It also specified it had been calculated on the basis of the value of Google’s revenue from search advertising services on Android devices in the European Economic Area (per its own guidelines on fines).

Google will have three months to pay the fine but is likely to appeal — and legal wrangling could drag the process out for many years. Although if it does not pay the fine within that timeframe penalty payments of up to 5% of the average daily worldwide turnover of the company can be applied.

We’ve reached out to Google for its reaction.

Prior to the Commission’s record pair of fines for Google products, its next highest antitrust penalty is a €1.06BN antitrust fine for chipmaker Intel all the way back in 2009.

Yet only last year Europe’s top court ruled that the case against Intel — which focused on it offering rebates to high-volume buyers — should be sent back to a lower court to be re-examined, nearly a decade after the original antitrust decision. So Google’s lawyers are likely to have a spring in their step going into this next European antitrust battle.

The latest EU fine for Android has been on the cards for more than two years, given the Commission’s preliminary findings and consistently prescriptive remarks from Vestager during the course of what has been a multi-year investigation process.

And, indeed, given multiple EU antitrust investigations into Google businesses and business practices (the EU has also been probing Google’s AdSense advertising service).

The Commission’s prior finding that Google is a dominant company in Internet search — a judgement reached at the culmination of its Google Shopping investigation last year — is also important, making the final judgement in the Android case more likely because the status places the onus on Google not to abuse its dominant position in other markets, adjacent or otherwise.

Announcing the Google Shopping penality last summer, Vestager made a point of emphasizing that dominant companies “need to be more vigilant” — saying they have a “special responsibility” to ensure they are not in breach of antitrust rules, and also specifying this applies “in the market where it’s dominant” and “in any other market”. So that means — as here in the Android case — in mobile services too.

While a one-off financial penalty — even one that runs to so many billions of dollars — cannot cause lasting damage to a company as wealthy as Alphabet, of greater risk to its business are changes the regulators can require to how it operates Android which could have a sustained impact on Google if they end up reshaping the competitive landscape for mobile services.

At least that’s the Commission’s intention: To reset what has been judged an unfair competitive advantage for Google via Android, and foster competitive innovation because rival products get a fairer chance to impress consumers.

However the popularity and profile of Google services suggests that even if Android users are offered a choice as a result of an EU antirust remedy — such as of which search engine, maps service, mobile browser or even app store to use — most will likely pick the Google-branded offering they’re most familiar with.

That said, an antitrust remedy could have the chance to shift consumers’ habits over time — if, for instance, OEMs start offering Android devices that come preloaded with alternative mobile services, thereby raising the visibility of non-Google apps and services.

Interestingly, Google has been striking deals with Chinese OEMs in recent months — to brings its ARCore technology to markets where its core services are censored and its Play Store is restricted. And its strategy to workaround regional restrictions in China by working more closely with device makers may also be part of a plan to hedge against fresh regulatory restrictions being placed on Android elsewhere. 

Although complainants in the EU’s earlier Google Shopping antitrust case continue to express displeasure with the outcome on that front. And in a statement responding to news that another EU antitrust penalty was incoming for Android, Shivaun Raff, CEO of Foundem, the lead complainant in Google Shopping case, said: “Fines make headlines. Effective remedies make a difference.”

So the devil will be in the detail of the remedies.

 

Android as an antitrust ‘Trojan horse’

The European Commission announced its formal in-depth probe of Android in April 2015, saying then that it was investigating complaints Google was “requiring and incentivizing” OEMs to exclusively install its own services on devices on Android devices, and also examining whether Google was hindering the ability of smartphone and tablet makers to use and develop other OS versions of Android (i.e. by forking the open source platform).

Rivals — banding together under the banner ‘FairSearch‘ — complained Google was essentially using the platform as a ‘Trojan horse’ to unfairly dominate the mobile web. The lobby group’s listing on the EU’s transparency register describes its intent as promoting “innovation and choice across the Internet ecosystem by fostering and defending competition in online and mobile search within the European Union”, and names its member organizations as: Buscapé, Cepic, Foundem, Naspers, Nokia, Oracle, TripAdvisor and Yroo.

On average, Android has around a 70-75% smartphone marketshare across Europe. But in some European countries the OS accounts for an even higher proportion of usage. In Spain, for example, Android took an 86.1% marketshare as of March, according to market data collected by Kantar Worldpanel.

In recent years Android has carved an even greater market share in some European countries, while Google’s Internet search product also has around a 90% share of the European market, and competition concerns about its mobile OS have been sounded for years.

Last year Google reached a $7.8M settlement with Russian antitrust authorities over Android — which required the company to no longer demand exclusivity of its applications on Android devices in Russia; could not restrict the pre-installation of any competing search engines and apps, including on the home screen; could no longer require Google Search to be the only general search engine pre-installed.

Google also agreed with Russian antitrust authorities that it would no longer enforce its prior agreements where handset makers had agreed to any of these terms. Additionally, as part of the settlement, Google was required to allow third parties to include their own search engines into a choice window, and to allowing users to pick their preferred default search engine from a choice window displayed in Google’s Chrome browser. The company was also required to develop a new Chrome widget for Android devices already being used in Russia, to replace the standard Google search widget on the home screen so they would be offered a choice when it launched.

A year after Vestager’s public announcement of the EU’s antitrust probe of Android, she issued a formal Statement of Objections, saying the Commission believed Google has “implemented a strategy on mobile devices to preserve and strengthen its dominance in general Internet search”; and flagging as problematic the difficulty for Android users whose devices come pre-loaded with the Google Play store to use other app stores (which cannot be downloaded from Google Play).

She also raised concerns over Google providing financial incentives to manufacturers and mobile carriers on condition that Google search be pre-installed as the exclusive search provider. “In our opinion, as we see it right now, it is preventing competition from happening because of the strength of the financial incentive,” Vestager said in April 2016.

Google was given several months to respond officially to the antitrust charges against Android — which it finally did in November 2016, having been granted an extension to the Commission’s original deadline.

In its rebuttal then, Google argued that, contrary to antitrust complaints, Android had created a thriving and competitive mobile app ecosystem. It further claimed the EU was ignoring relevant competition in the form of Apple’s rival iOS platform — although iOS does not hold a dominant marketshare in Europe, nor Apple have a status as a dominant company in any EU markets.

Google also argued that its “voluntary compatibility agreements” for Android OEMs are a necessary mechanism for avoiding platform fragmentation — which it said would make life harder for app developers — as well as saying its requirement for Android OEMs to use Google search by default is effectively its payment for providing the suite for free to device makers (given there is no formal licensing fee for Android).

It also couched “free distribution is an efficient solution for everyone” — arguing it lowers prices for phone makers and consumers, while “still letting us sustain our substantial investment in Android and Play”.

In addition, Google sought to characterize open source platforms as “fragile” — arguing the Commission’s approach risked upsetting the “balance of needs” between users and developers, and suggesting their action could signal they favor “closed over open platforms”.

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Google gets slapped $5BN by EU for Android antitrust abuse

Google has been fined a record breaking €4.34 billion (~$5BN) by European antitrust regulators for abusing the dominance of its Android mobile operating system.

Competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager has tweeted to confirm the penalty ahead of a press conference about to take place now. Stay tuned for more detail as we get it.

Fine of €4,34 bn to @Google for 3 types of illegal restrictions on the use of Android. In this way it has cemented the dominance of its search engine. Denying rivals a chance to innovate and compete on the merits. It’s illegal under EU antitrust rules. @Google now has to stop it

— Margrethe Vestager (@vestager) July 18, 2018

This story is developing… refresh for updates… 

The fine is the second major penalty for the ad tech giant for breaching EU competition rules in just over a year — and the highest ever issued by the Commission for abuse of a dominant market position.

In June 2017 Google was hit with a then-record €2.4BN (~$2.7BN) antitrust penalty related to another of its products, search comparison service, Google Shopping. The company has since made changes to how it displays search results for products in Europe.

According to the bloc’s rules, companies can be fined 10 per cent of their global revenue if they are deemed to have breached European competition law.

Google’s parent entity Alphabet reported full year revenue of $110.9 billion in 2017. So the $5BN fine is around half of what the company could have been on the hook for if EU regulators had levied the maximum penalty possible.

The company will have three months to pay the fine but is likely to appeal — and legal wrangling could drag the process out for many years.

We’ve reached out to Google for its reaction.

Prior to the Commission’s record pair of fines for Google products, its next highest antitrust penalty is a €1.06BN antitrust fine for chipmaker Intel all the way back in 2009.

Yet only last year Europe’s top court ruled that the case against Intel — which focused on it offering rebates to high-volume buyers — should be sent back to a lower court to be re-examined, nearly a decade after the original antitrust decision. So Google’s lawyers are likely to have a spring in their step going into this next European antitrust battle.

The latest EU fine for Android has been on the cards for more than two years, given the Commission’s preliminary findings and consistently prescriptive remarks from Vestager during the course of what has been a multi-year investigation process.

And, indeed, given multiple EU antitrust investigations into Google businesses and business practices (the EU has also been probing Google’s AdSense advertising service).

The Commission’s prior finding that Google is a dominant company in Internet search — a judgement reached at the culmination of its Google Shopping investigation last year — is also important, making the final judgement in the Android case more likely because the status places the onus on Google not to abuse its dominant position in other markets, adjacent or otherwise.

Announcing the Google Shopping penality last summer, Vestager made a point of emphasizing that dominant companies “need to be more vigilant” — saying they have a “special responsibility” to ensure they are not in breach of antitrust rules, and also specifying this applies “in the market where it’s dominant” and “in any other market”. So that means — as here in the Android case — in mobile services too.

While a one-off financial penalty — even one that runs to so many billions of dollars — cannot cause lasting damage to a company as wealthy as Alphabet, of greater risk to its business are changes the regulators can require to how it operates Android which could have a sustained impact on Google if they end up reshaping the competitive landscape for mobile services.

At least that’s the Commission’s intention: To reset what has been judged an unfair competitive advantage for Google via Android, and foster competitive innovation because rival products get a fairer chance to impress consumers.

However the popularity and profile of Google services suggests that even if Android users are offered a choice as a result of an EU antirust remedy — such as of which search engine, maps service, mobile browser or even app store to use — most will likely pick the Google-branded offering they’re most familiar with.

That said, an antitrust remedy could have the chance to shift consumers’ habits over time — if, for instance, OEMs start offering Android devices that come preloaded with alternative mobile services, thereby raising the visibility of non-Google apps and services.

Interestingly, Google has been striking deals with Chinese OEMs in recent months — to brings its ARCore technology to markets where its core services are censored and its Play Store is restricted. And its strategy to workaround regional restrictions in China by working more closely with device makers may also be part of a plan to hedge against fresh regulatory restrictions being placed on Android elsewhere. 

Although complainants in the EU’s earlier Google Shopping antitrust case continue to express displeasure with the outcome on that front. And in a statement responding to news that another EU antitrust penalty was incoming for Android, Shivaun Raff, CEO of Foundem, the lead complainant in Google Shopping case, said: “Fines make headlines. Effective remedies make a difference.”

So the devil will be in the detail of the remedies.

 

Android as an antitrust ‘Trojan horse’

The European Commission announced its formal in-depth probe of Android in April 2015, saying then that it was investigating complaints Google was “requiring and incentivizing” OEMs to exclusively install its own services on devices on Android devices, and also examining whether Google was hindering the ability of smartphone and tablet makers to use and develop other OS versions of Android (i.e. by forking the open source platform).

Rivals — banding together under the banner ‘FairSearch‘ — complained Google was essentially using the platform as a ‘Trojan horse’ to unfairly dominate the mobile web. The lobby group’s listing on the EU’s transparency register describes its intent as promoting “innovation and choice across the Internet ecosystem by fostering and defending competition in online and mobile search within the European Union”, and names its member organizations as: Buscapé, Cepic, Foundem, Naspers, Nokia, Oracle, TripAdvisor and Yroo.

On average, Android has around a 70-75% smartphone marketshare across Europe. But in some European countries the OS accounts for an even higher proportion of usage. In Spain, for example, Android took an 86.1% marketshare as of March, according to market data collected by Kantar Worldpanel.

In recent years Android has carved an even greater market share in some European countries, while Google’s Internet search product also has around a 90% share of the European market, and competition concerns about its mobile OS have been sounded for years.

Last year Google reached a $7.8M settlement with Russian antitrust authorities over Android — which required the company to no longer demand exclusivity of its applications on Android devices in Russia; could not restrict the pre-installation of any competing search engines and apps, including on the home screen; could no longer require Google Search to be the only general search engine pre-installed.

Google also agreed with Russian antitrust authorities that it would no longer enforce its prior agreements where handset makers had agreed to any of these terms. Additionally, as part of the settlement, Google was required to allow third parties to include their own search engines into a choice window, and to allowing users to pick their preferred default search engine from a choice window displayed in Google’s Chrome browser. The company was also required to develop a new Chrome widget for Android devices already being used in Russia, to replace the standard Google search widget on the home screen so they would be offered a choice when it launched.

A year after Vestager’s public announcement of the EU’s antitrust probe of Android, she issued a formal Statement of Objections, saying the Commission believed Google has “implemented a strategy on mobile devices to preserve and strengthen its dominance in general Internet search”; and flagging as problematic the difficulty for Android users whose devices come pre-loaded with the Google Play store to use other app stores (which cannot be downloaded from Google Play).

She also raised concerns over Google providing financial incentives to manufacturers and mobile carriers on condition that Google search be pre-installed as the exclusive search provider. “In our opinion, as we see it right now, it is preventing competition from happening because of the strength of the financial incentive,” Vestager said in April 2016.

Google was given several months to respond officially to the antitrust charges against Android — which it finally did in November 2016, having been granted an extension to the Commission’s original deadline.

In its rebuttal then, Google argued that, contrary to antitrust complaints, Android had created a thriving and competitive mobile app ecosystem. It further claimed the EU was ignoring relevant competition in the form of Apple’s rival iOS platform — although iOS does not hold a dominant marketshare in Europe, nor Apple have a status as a dominant company in any EU markets.

Google also argued that its “voluntary compatibility agreements” for Android OEMs are a necessary mechanism for avoiding platform fragmentation — which it said would make life harder for app developers — as well as saying its requirement for Android OEMs to use Google search by default is effectively its payment for providing the suite for free to device makers (given there is no formal licensing fee for Android).

It also couched “free distribution is an efficient solution for everyone” — arguing it lowers prices for phone makers and consumers, while “still letting us sustain our substantial investment in Android and Play”.

In addition, Google sought to characterize open source platforms as “fragile” — arguing the Commission’s approach risked upsetting the “balance of needs” between users and developers, and suggesting their action could signal they favor “closed over open platforms”.

Read Full Article

EU’s Google Android antitrust decision incoming…

A decision in a long running EU antitrust probe of Google’s Android OS is due to land shortly.

European Commission officials are trailing a press conference with competition commissioner Margrethe Vestager — to announce an “antitrust decision” at 1pm CET, with a link to watch the event streamed live.

Press conference with Commissioner @vestager today at 13h00 CET on an antitrust decision – follow it live here: https://t.co/cN0JhSI5Yw

— Ricardo Cardoso (@RCardosoEU) July 18, 2018

Bloomberg is reporting the EU’s fine for Android will be in the region of $5BN — which would be the largest ever antitrust penalty handed down by the Commission.

The case focuses on whether Google has abused its market dominance and crowded out rivals by taking steps to ensure its own-brand apps and services are pre-loaded on Android devices.

In April, Reuters reported on a 2016 document it had reviewed which said the Commission planned to levy a large fine against Google and would also order the company to stop giving revenue-sharing payments to smartphone makers to pre-install only Google Search. Reuters also reported then that Google would be ordered to stop requiring its own Chrome browser and other apps to be installed alongside Google’s Play store.

The Commission will confirm the full details of its Android decision in the next few hours.

Stay tuned for more as we get it… 

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Google launches its first WeChat mini program as its China experiments continue

Google is continuing to test new strategies in China after the U.S. search giant released its first mini program for WeChat, the country’s hugely popular messaging app.

WeChat is used by hundreds of millions of Chinese people daily for services that stretch beyond chat to include mobile payments, bill paying, food delivery and more. Tencent, the company that operates WeChat, added mini programs last year and they effectively operate like apps that are attached to the service. That means that users bypass Google Play or Apple’s App Store and install them from WeChat.

Earlier this year, Tencent added support for games — “mini games” — and the Chinese firm recently said that over one million mini programs have been created to date. Engagement is high, with some 500 million WeChat users interacting with at least one each month.

WeChat has become the key distribution channel in China and that’s why Google is embracing it with its first mini program — 猜画小歌, a game that roughly translates to ‘Guess My Sketch.’ There’s no English announcement but the details can be found in this post on Google’s Chinese blog, which includes the QR code to scan to get the game.

The app is a take on games like Zynga’s Draw Something, which puts players into teams to guess what the other is drawing. Google, however, is adding a twist. Each player teams up with an AI and then battles against their friends and their AIs. You can find an English version of the game online here.

Google’s first WeChat mini program is a sketching game that uses AI

The main news here isn’t the game, of course, but that Google is embracing mini programs, which have been christened as a threat to the Google Play Store itself.

‘When in China… play by local rules’ and Google has taken that to heart this year.

The company recently introduced a Chinese version of its Files Go Android device management app which saw it join forces with four third-party app stores in China in order to gain distribution. This sketching game has lower ambitions but, clearly, it’ll be a learning experience for Google that might prompt it to introduce more significant apps or services via WeChat in the future.

Indeed, Google has been cozying up to Tencent lately after inking a patent deal with the Chinese internet giant, investing in its close ally JD.com and combining on investment deals together, including biotech startup XtalPi.

That’s one side of a new initiative to be more involved in China, where it has been absent since 2010 after redirecting its Chinese search service to Hong Kong in the face of government pressure. In other moves, it has opened an AI lab in Beijing and a more modest office in Shenzhen while it is bringing its startup demo day event to China for the first time with a Shanghai event in September.

Finally, in a touch of irony, Google’s embrace of WeChat’s ‘app store-killing’ mini programs platform comes just hours before the EU is expected to levy a multibillion-euro penalty onit for abusing its dominant position on mobile via Android.

Google is quietly formulating a new strategy for China

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Undercover report shows the Facebook moderation sausage being made

An undercover reporter with the UK’s Channel 4 visited a content moderation outsourcing firm in Dublin and came away rather discouraged at what they saw: queues of flagged content waiting, videos of kids fighting staying online, orders from above not to take action on underage users. It sounds bad, but the truth is there are pretty good reasons for most of it and in the end the report comes off as rather naive.

Not that it’s a bad thing for journalists to keep big companies (and their small contractors) honest, but the situations called out by Channel 4’s reporter seem to reflect a misunderstanding of the moderation process rather than problems with the process itself. I’m not a big Facebook fan, but in the matter of moderation I think they are sincere, if hugely unprepared.

The bullet points raised by the report are all addressed in a letter from Facebook to the filmmakers. The company points out that some content needs to be left up because abhorrent as it is, it isn’t in violation of the company’s stated standards and may be informative; underage users and content has some special requirements but in other ways can’t be assumed to be real; popular pages do need to exist on different terms than small ones, whether they’re radical partisans or celebrities (or both); hate speech is a delicate and complex matter that often needs to be reviewed multiple times; and so on.

The biggest problem doesn’t at all seem to be negligence by Facebook: there are reasons for everything, and as is often the case with moderation, those reasons are often unsatisfying but effective compromises. The problem is that the company has dragged its feet for years on taking responsibility for content and as such its moderation resources are simply overtaxed. The volume of content flagged by both automated processes and users is immense and Facebook hasn’t staffed up. Why do you think it’s outsourcing the work?

By the way, did you know that this is a horrible job?

Short film ‘The Moderators’ takes a look at the thankless job of patrolling the web

Facebook in a blog post says that it is working on doubling its “safety and security” staff to 20,000, among which 6,500 will be on moderation duty. I’ve asked what the current number is, and whether that includes people at companies like this one (which has about 650 reviewers) and will update if I hear back.

Even with a staff of thousands the judgments that need to be made are often so subjective, and the volume of content so great, that there will always be backlogs and mistakes. It doesn’t mean anyone should be let off the hook, but it doesn’t necessarily indicate a systematic failure other than, perhaps, a lack of labor.

If people want Facebook to be effectively moderated they may need to accept that the process will be done by thousands of humans who imperfectly execute the task. Automated processes are useful but no replacement for the real thing. The result is a huge international group of moderators, overworked and cynical by profession, doing a messy and at times inadequate job of it.

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