Google Search’s new featured snippet panel saves you more clicks

Google is introducing an additional format for featured snippets in its search results today. For years, these snippets have appeared at the top of the search results page and featured both images and text that Google thinks are relevant to your query. They are all about Google saving you a click. Today, Google is going beyond this single answer for some queries and introducing a panel that also features relevant subtopics, saving you even more clicks.

Google’s canonical example for a query to trigger this new panel is ‘quartz vs. granite.’ This query brings up the usual snippet, plus subtopics like cost, benefits, weight and durability. Those topics are automatically chosen based on what Google’s algorithms understand about this topic.

You don’t need a [vs.] query to trigger this, though. If you look for something like ’emergency funds,’ you’ll also see a similar panel.

For now, I was only able to trigger these new panels on mobile, but Google says it is rolling this feature out over the coming days, so it may be a while before you spot one in the wild. I was also unsuccessful in triggering them with any other query I tried, but maybe you are luckier than me.

Google notes that today’s announcement is part of an ongoing effort to provide more comprehensive results to your questions. This February, for example, Google started showing multiple featured snippets when its systems think that a query has multiple interpretations.

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7 Cool Bluetooth DIY Projects That’ll Upgrade Your Old Gadgets

Bluetooth is among the most widely accepted ways for two devices to communicate with each other. Every phone, tablet, and laptop comes with Bluetooth built in, as do several peripherals. So with a little do-it-yourself (DIY) tinkering, you can do some wonderful things with this technology.

For any project in this list, you will need to know the basics of DIY electronics and have the necessary tools at hand. Some projects require specialized tools, as noted. And of course, always remember to take all the necessary safety precautions before you begin.

1. Connect an Arduino to Arduino via Bluetooth

The basic project you need to master is setting up Bluetooth on an Arduino microcontroller, and making it talk to another Arduino board wirelessly. Martyn Curry has an excellent step-by-step guide for this, connecting two Arduino boards as master and slave.

Naturally, you’ll need two Arduino boards and two Bluetooth receiver modules for this. To begin, start with his basic tutorial where he teaches you how to remote control an LED light on the slave Arduino via the master Arduino.

Then move on to the more advanced project, where the slave gauges the temperature outside and sends the signal to the master inside, which in turn displays the reading on a screen.

Learning the basics of setting up Bluetooth on two Arduino devices will open up a slew of possibilities for you, from beginner Arduino projects to outright weird Arduino projects.

2. Wireless Notice Board for Phone Messages

This might be the easiest and most useful project to start with. With an Arduino board, a few wires, and an LCD screen, you can type text on your phone and display it on the screen. Just like that, you’ll have a wireless notice board.

This project requires no soldering or any advanced skills, you will only be connecting cables to parts. Even the code for the Arduino board is ready to download, and there’s a handy Android app you can grab from the Play Store. The whole thing should take no more than half an hour, and is the ideal way to get started on DIY electronics projects.

3. Add Bluetooth to Old Wired Headphones

If you have a pair of old wired headphones that have broken, don’t throw them out. This cool DIY tutorial shows you how to turn them into wireless headphones by adding a Bluetooth, while also giving you a new plug to connect a standard 3.5mm cable.

You’ll need a mini Bluetooth receiver, adapters for a DC jack and a 2.5mm to 3.5mm jack, and that pair of old headphones. You’ll also need a soldering iron and a multimeter, both of which you can find at any hackerspace.

In the project, you will be taking apart the headphones and the receiver, and then soldering them together. Then you fit everything into the speaker, make a hole for the 3.5mm jack and the charging cable.

The whole thing won’t cost you more than $10, which is cheaper than even the best budget Bluetooth headphones we can recommend.

4. Add Bluetooth to Any Car Stereo

Most car stereos today come with Bluetooth, but if you have an older car, you’ll need to figure out other ways to play music from your phone to the car stereo. Generally, a simple Bluetooth FM transmitter can get the job done. But that means you get an extra device in the car, instead of an invisible Bluetooth car stereo. For the DIY enthusiast, there’s a better way.

The stereo in your car actually has enough space in it to add a Bluetooth module. It costs about $10 on eBay. All you need to do is pry open the stereo, hook up the module, and do a bit of soldering.

A few people who tried this also said they managed without soldering, but it would depend on your car stereo model. And well, nothing against the original uploader, but you might want to read our guide to soldering before you try and copy him.

5. Smart Bluetooth Helmet

Unlike a car, there is no stereo for your two-wheeler. But hey, Patrick Panikulam has figured out a way to upgrade a motorcycle helmet by adding Bluetooth speakers inside it.

You’ll need old headphones and a Bluetooth receiver module to take apart, a 3.5mm audio male pin, and some thin flat wires. And of course, a full-face helmet. It’s actually a pretty easy hack to put together, with minimal soldering and some make-do adjustments like sticking the speakers with double-sided tape.

But while this adds some much-needed features, remember, safety first. Don’t text and drive, don’t turn up the volume such that you can’t hear others, and generally do everything you can to keep your attention on the road.

6. Arduino Bluetooth RC Car

Who doesn’t love a good remote controlled toy? Instead of going to the store to buy one, you can actually make your own RC car with an Arduino board and Bluetooth.

For this project, you’ll need a custom PCB designed by the maker. You can order it directly from EasyEDA or download the bill of materials and schematics to make your own. It’s probably wiser to order it.

Along with that, you’ll need an old RC car’s chassis as well as the cheap Arduino Nano, and other odds and ends like the Bluetooth module. This project requires some soldering too, so be ready for that. Once you’re done, install the Android app on your phone and start zooming around everywhere with your remote controlled Bluetooth car.

7. Bluetooth Padlock

Wouldn’t it be cool if you could open a lock with your phone? The Bluetooth padlock is awesome, but it is also the most advanced project in this list. It requires some special equipment like a milling machine, a 3D printer, a laser cutter, and other things that you will find in your school or a local hackerspace.

Don’t be intimidated though. The maker, Kirand1, has written a clear set of instructions that take you through the steps of creating a housing, the shackle and locking pin, the faceplace, and then inserting the electronics (based on an Arduino board).

The final version will let you lock and unlock the padlock with the tap of a button on an app. It even works on a smartwatch.

Beware of Bluetooth Flaws and Security Risks

As convenient as Bluetooth technology is, it has a few flaws that you need to know about. In fact, the open and common nature of the wireless standard makes it a routine target for miscreants. If you’re doing any of these Bluetooth DIY projects, please read about Bluetooth’s security risks.

Read the full article: 7 Cool Bluetooth DIY Projects That’ll Upgrade Your Old Gadgets

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Crimson Hexagon regains Facebook data access

Analytics company Crimson Hexagon says Facebook has reinstated its data access to Facebook and Instagram.

That access was suspended last month, with Facebook saying it was investigating whether the company had violated any of its data use policies. (The social network, of course, has been dealing with the fallout from a separate controversy over user data.)

In this case, the issue appears to be related to some of Crimson Hexagon’s contracts with the U.S. government, with Facebook saying it wasn’t aware of those contracts when contacted by The Wall Street Journal.

What followed, according to a blog post by Crimson Hexagon Dan Shore, was “several weeks of constructive discussion and information exchange.” It seems that Facebook was satisfied with what it learned and ended Crimson Hexagon’s suspension.

Shore said that government customers make up less than 5 percent of the company’s business, adding, “To our knowledge, no government customer has used the Crimson Hexagon platform for surveillance of any individual or group.”

“Over time we have enhanced our vetting procedures for government customers,” he said. “Nevertheless, we recognize it is important to go beyond vetting by monitoring these government customers on an ongoing basis to ensure the public’s expectations of privacy are met. As governments and government-sponsored organizations change how they use data, we too must change.”

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15 Free Open-Source Mac Apps You Must Install

The trend of open source software is growing on Mac, and there’s no shortage of quality apps. You might be familiar with some common ones, like VLC, Firefox, LibreOffice, Handbrake, and more.

Here’s a list of some less popular open-source Mac apps you should try. You may be surprised by how useful they can be.

1. IINA

IINA is a modern audio and video player for Mac. It has an entirely new design and supports Force Touch, the Touch Bar, and picture-in-picture. When you open a video, it automatically adds other videos in that folder to a playlist. If you’re listening to an audiobook or podcast, then IINA lets you quickly navigate between MP3 chapters.

The player is minimal, with buttons for a playlist, music mode, picture-in-picture, and settings. It can automatically fetch subtitles for movies, provided you log in with an OpenSubtitles account.

It also offers many customization options, including changing the interface theme, tweaking audio/video settings, customizing the subtitle look, and configuring new key bindings.

Download: IINA

2. Cyberduck

Cyberduck is an FTP client for Mac. It lets you connect, browse, and manage the content stored on SFTP, WebDAV, Dropbox, Amazon S3, Backblaze B2, and more. The interface works like a browser and mimics common navigation and sorting features.

The outline view lets you browse large folder structures efficiently, while the Quick Look feature can preview files without downloading them. You can also organize bookmarks with drag and drop and check the history of all visited servers.

Uploading files is a one-step procedure. Drag and drop bookmarks to Finder and drop files onto bookmarks to upload. You can even sync local directories with a remote server.

Download: Cyberduck

3. Cryptomator

One of the best features of Cyberduck is the integration with Cryptomator. It works by creating a vault directory in the cloud storage and encrypts files and folders with AES-256 cipher keys. Anything you put inside this vault will encrypt transparently.

That means no hidden backdoors from third parties, and greater privacy when using cloud services. The app is easy to use. All you have to do is create a new vault and enter a name and passphrase to secure it.

Download: Cryptomator

4. Skim PDF Reader

The built-in Preview app has exceptional support of PDFs and images, but alternative PDF reader Skim goes one step ahead. It has built-in support for AppleScript, LaTeX, BibDesk, and more. The left side of the main window lets you view page thumbnails or the table of contents. Meanwhile, the right side has a note panel that allows you to see all the annotations and notes you created.

Skim includes a feature called the reading bar to help you concentrate. And the content pane has a powerful built-in search feature: it highlights the search term on relevant pages and groups them by density and sheet.

If the book has thousands of pages, you can take a snapshot for reference or split the PDF into two halves. In combination with thumbnails/table of contents, you can skim the book faster. And finally, you can export all notes and annotations as a text file.

Download: Skim PDF Reader

5. BibDesk

Creating a bibliography is a tough job; it’s easy to make formatting errors. That’s where the BibDesk app can help. Just get the BibTeX citation of a source and put it in the app to create a well-organized library. If you work in different LaTeX editors, then you can write and cite with BibDesk effortlessly.

Using the app is easy. Create a library and search for papers on Google Scholar, ACM, arXiv, JSTOR, Springer Link, and more. Every publication offers a cite key with details like the article type, author, year, and more. Copy the cite key, and BibDesk will automatically retrieve all the details.

You can also drag and drop the PDF and fill in the details. The app supports exporting the bibliographic information to various formats, such as BibTeX, XML, HTML, and more. Or if you prefer, simply copy the details and paste them into your documents instead.

Download: BibDesk

6. SelfControl

If you find yourself slipping into procrastination and wasting time on distracting sites, then this app will prove useful. Add the website you want to block in the blacklist window. Move the slider to decide the duration of the block (the minimum is 15 minutes). Click Start, then type your password to start the block.

Download: SelfControl

7. Katana

Katana is a simple screenshot utility that lives in your menu bar. Take a screenshot with a hotkey, and the app will then upload the file to several image hosts, including Imgur and Pomf. If you wish to shorten the link, copy the URL and press another of the app’s hotkeys.

Download: Katana

8. Kap

QuickTime Player comes with screen recording capabilities, but they’re pretty limited. Kap is a great alternative that sits in your menu bar for easy access.

The crop tool menu has six preset layouts, including 1:1, 4:3, 16:9, and more. You can also manually insert custom values or capture the entire window of an app—the layout guidelines will always remain visible. Kap even lets you record mouse movements.

If you have an attached microphone, you can add your voice to the recording. Finally, you can export your screeencast in different file formats, such as GIF, MP4, WebM, and APNG.

Download: Kap

9. SlowQuitApps

Most Mac users know that Cmd + W key closes a window or tab, while the Cmd + Q quits the entire app. The problem is that since those keys are near each other, it’s easy to quit an app by mistake.

This app adds a delay to Cmd + Q to prevent accidental closures. When you press Cmd + Q, a countdown overlay will appear above the current window. This puts the quit action on hold until the countdown completes. You can increase the delay from one second to, say, five seconds with this Terminal command (the time is in milliseconds):

defaults write com.dteoh.SlowQuitApps delay -int 5000

Download: SlowQuitApps

10. MarkText

MarkText is a cross-platform Markdown app (what’s Markdown?) designed with simplicity. It supports both CommonMark Spec and the GitHub Flavored Markdown Spec. The app has all the features of a typical Markdown app, including support for both light and dark themes. The standard preview window that replaces markdown syntax symbols with their proper formatting is here too.

It includes different modes to help you focus on writing, whether it’s an article or code. MarkText also has an autocomplete feature to pair brackets, supports emojis, and has built-in support of MathJax. You can export your draft as HTML or PDF if you like.

Download: MarkText

11. CotEditor

CotEditor is a lightweight text and code editor. It features a clean and straightforward interface that lets you quickly change line endings, file encoding, and syntax coloring. It supports nearly 60 programming languages, so you can choose the syntax coloring as needed.

The built-in Info side panel lets you view detailed information about the file, including text encoding, character count, and more. It has excellent support of regular expressions, a powerful feature for finding and replacing text usually found only in paid editors.

It also lets you split the window into two halves, so you can keep one window for reference while you work in another. If you work with a lot of text, this is a handy app to have.

Download: CotEditor

12. KeePassXC

KeePass is a popular password manager for Windows. Unfortunately, it’s not available for macOS. One Mac alternative is KeePassX, but it rarely gets updated. KeePassXC is a community fork of KeePassX and the best way to use this tool on your Mac.

KeePassXC uses the KDBX password database format. That means you can share your database with KeePass without worrying about compatibility issues. It also natively integrates with any browser. Just press a hotkey to autofill username and password fields.

You can organize passwords into different groups, plus it has a password generator that allows you to generate long and secure passwords. By default, the app will lock after 30 seconds, but you can increase that duration. When you copy a password, the clipboard will clear itself after 10 seconds for security.

Download: KeePassXC

13. Sloth

Longtime Mac users have likely seen an annoying error message that a particular file, process, or port is in use. For example, you can’t unmount a disk because some unspecified files are in use. This type of error is difficult to troubleshoot.

The lsof Terminal command lists all open files, processes, directories, devices, and more on your device. But using this command is tough. That’s where this app can pitch in.

Sloth offers a GUI built on top of lsof with additional useful features. You can filter the output, kill a file’s owner process, display file info, and more. This makes it easier to inspect what apps are using which files and sockets.

Download: Sloth

14. Fluor

Apple’s keyboard (aside from MacBook Pro models with the Touch Bar) has a row of function keys at the top. These keys perform dual functions; as well as shortcuts like changing your screen brightness and volume, they can also act as standard function keys. The Fn modifier key adjusts this behavior.

Fluor lets you change the behavior of the function keys on a per-app basis. It detects the active app and changes the behavior of the keys in the background. In the app, the circle icon represents the default option. The sun icon is for the key’s shortcut, whereas the Fn button acts as standard function keys (F1, F2, etc.).

Download: Fluor

15. Karabiner-Elements

Karabiner-Elements lets you remap the entire keyboard. You can remap a single function key or make complex modifications. If you switch between Windows and macOS often, this app will help you create a consistent experience.

Some rules are available for download, so you get a feel for the capabilities of this app. I use it to assign complex modifier keys to a single function key and media keys to different functions. The app also lets you set up profiles or create rules for input devices.

Download: Karabiner-Elements

Open-Source Mac Apps Are Awesome

These open-source apps for Mac showcase some of the best options available, and they’re all free to boot. Chances are you can find an app that does just what you need and doesn’t cost anything.

If this list has intrigued you, check out our guide to living an open-source life.

Read the full article: 15 Free Open-Source Mac Apps You Must Install

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Twitter company email addresses why it’s #BreakingMyTwitter

It’s hard to be a fan of Twitter right now. The company is sticking up for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, when nearly all other platforms have given him the boot, it’s overrun with bots, and now it’s breaking users’ favorite third-party Twitter clients like Tweetbot and Twitterific by shutting off APIs these apps relied on. Worse still, is that Twitter isn’t taking full responsibility for its decisions.

In a company email it shared today, Twitter cited “technical and business constraints” that it can no longer ignore as being the reason behind the APIs’ shutdown.

It said the clients relied on “legacy technology” that was still in a “beta state” after more than 9 years, and had to be killed “out of operational necessity.”

This reads like passing the buck. Big time.

It’s not as if there’s some other mysterious force that maintains Twitter’s API platform, and now poor ol’ Twitter is forced to shut down old technology because there’s simply no other recourse. No.

Twitter, in fact, is the one responsible for its User Streams and Site Streams APIs – the APIs that serve the core functions of these now deprecated third-party Twitter clients. Twitter is the reason these APIs have been stuck in a beta state for nearly a decade. Twitter is the one that decided not to invest in supporting those legacy APIs, or shift them over to its new API platform.

And Twitter is the one that decided to give up on some of its oldest and most avid fans – the power users and the developer community that met their needs – in hopes of shifting everyone over to its own first-party clients instead.

The problem isn’t that the API is old and buggy (which it was), the problem is that the replacement API is unavailable.

— Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) August 16, 2018

The company even refused to acknowledge how important these users and developers have been to its community over the years, by citing the fact that the APIs it’s terminating – the ones that power Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Tweetings and Talon – are only used by “less than 1%” of Twitter developers. Burn! 

Way to kick a guy when he’s already down, Twitter.

But just because a community is small in numbers, does not mean its voice is not powerful or its influence is not felt.

Hence, the #BreakingMyTwitter hashtag, which Twitter claims to be watching “quite often.”

The one where users are reminding Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about that time he apologized to Twitter developers for not listening to them, and acknowledged the fact they made Twitter what it is today. The time when he promised to do better.

This is…not better:

When I built our push notification server, I added the ability to send a message to every device in case of emergency. Today is the first time I’ve used it. pic.twitter.com/edgkver2Nh

— Craig Hockenberry (@chockenberry) August 15, 2018

The company’s email also says it hopes to eventually learn “why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps.”

Its own apps?

Oh, you mean like TweetDeck, the app Twitter acquired then shut down on Android, iPhone and Windows? The one it generally acted like it forgot it owned? Or maybe you mean Twitter for Mac (previously Tweetie, before its acquisition), the app it shut down this year, telling Mac users to just use the web instead? Or nearly maybe you mean the nearly full slate of TV apps that Twitter decided no longer needed to exist?

And Twitter wonders why users don’t want to use its own clients?

Or perhaps, users want a consistent experience – one that doesn’t involve a million inconsequential product changes like turning stars to hearts or changing the character counter to a circle. Maybe they appreciate the fact that the third parties seem to understand what Twitter is better than Twitter itself does: Twitter has always been about a real-time stream of information. It’s not meant to be another Facebook-style algorithmic News Feed. The third-party clients respect that. Twitter does not.

Yesterday, the makers of Twitterific spoke to the API changes, noting that its app would no longer be able to stream tweets, send native push notifications, or be able to update its Today view, and that new tweets and DMs will be delayed.

It recommended users download Twitter’s official mobile app for notifications going forward.

In other words, while Twitterific will hang around in its broken state, its customers will now have to run two Twitter apps on their device – the official one to get their notifications, and the other because they prefer the experience.

A guide to using Twitter’s app for notifications, from Iconfactory

“We understand why Twitter feels the need to update its API endpoints,” explains Iconfactory co-founder Ged Maheux, whose company makes Twitterrific. “The spread of bots, spam and trolls by bad actors that exploit their systems is bad for the entire Twitterverse, we just wish they had offered an affordable way forward for the developers of smaller, third party apps like ours.”

“Apps like the Iconfactory’s Twitterrific helped build Twitter’s brand, feature sets and even its terminology into what it is today. Our contributions were small to be sure, but real nonetheless. To be priced out of the future of Twitter after all of our history together is a tough pill to swallow for all of us,” he added.

The question many users are now facing is what to do next?

Continue to use now broken third-party apps? Move to an open platform like Mastodon? Switch to Twitter’s own clients, as it wants, where it plans to “experiment with showing alternative viewpoints” to pop people’s echo chambers…on a service that refuses to kick out people like Alex Jones?

Or maybe it’s time to admit the open forum for everything that Twitter – and social media, really – has promised is failing? Maybe it’s time to close the apps – third-party and otherwise. Maybe it’s time to go dark. Get off the feeds. Take a break. Move on.

The full email from Twitter is below:

Hi team,

Today, we’re publishing a blog post about our priorities for where we’re investing today in Twitter client experiences. I wanted to share some more with you about how we reached these decisions, and how we’re thinking about 3rd party clients specifically.

First, some history:

3rd party clients have had a notable impact on the Twitter service and the products we build. Independent developers built the first Twitter client for Mac and the first native app for iPhone. These clients pioneered product features we all know and love about Twitter, like mute, the pull-to-refresh gesture, and more.

We love that developers build experiences on our APIs to push our service, technology, and the public conversation forward. We deeply respect the time, energy, and passion they’ve put into building amazing things using Twitter.

But we haven’t always done a good job of being straightforward with developers about the decisions we make regarding 3rd party clients. In 2011, we told developers (in an email) not to build apps that mimic the core Twitter experience. In 2012, we announced changes to our developer policies intended to make these limitations clearer by capping the number of users allowed for a 3rd party client. And, in the years following those announcements, we’ve told developers repeatedly that our roadmap for our APIs does not prioritize client use cases — even as we’ve continued to maintain a couple specific APIs used heavily by these clients and quietly granted user cap exceptions to the clients that needed them.

It is now time to make the hard decision to end support for these legacy APIs — acknowledging that some aspects of these apps would be degraded as a result. Today, we are facing technical and business constraints we can’t ignore. The User Streams and Site Streams APIs that serve core functions of many of these clients have been in a “beta” state for more than 9 years, and are built on a technology stack we no longer support. We’re not changing our rules, or setting out to “kill” 3rd party clients; but we are killing, out of operational necessity, some of the legacy APIs that power some features of those clients. And it has not been a realistic option for us today to invest in building a totally new service to replace these APIs, which are used by less than 1% of Twitter developers.

We’ve heard the feedback from our customers about the pain this causes. We check out #BreakingMyTwitter quite often and have spoken with many of the developers of major 3rd party clients to understand their needs and concerns. We’re committed to understanding why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps. And we’re going to try to do better with communicating these changes honestly and clearly to developers. We have a lot of work to do. This change is a hard, but important step, towards doing it. Thank you for working with us to get there.

Thanks,

Rob

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Google Firebase adds in-app messaging, JIRA integration, new reports and more

Firebase is now Google’s default platform for app developers and over the course of the last four years since it was acquired, the service has greatly expanded its feature set and integrations with our Google services. Today, it’s rolling out yet another batch of updates that bring new features, deeper integrations and a few design updates to the service.

The highlight of this release is the launch of in-app messaging, which will allow developers to send targeted and contextual messages to users as they use the app. Developers can customize the look and feel of these in-app notifications, which are rolling out today, but what’s maybe even more important is that this feature is integrated with Firebase Predictions and Google Analytics for Firebase so that developers can just react to current behavior but also Firebase’s predictions of how likely a user is to spend some additional money or stop using the app.

Developers who use Atlassian’s JIRA will also be happy to hear that Firebase is launching an integration with this tool. Firebase users can now create JIRA issues based on crash reports in Firebase. This integration will roll out in the next few weeks.

Another new integration is a deeper connection to Crashlytics, which Google acquired from Twitter in early 2017 (together with Fabric). Firebase will now let you export this data to BigQuery to analyze it — and then visualize it in Google’s Data Studio. And once it’s in BigQuery, it’s your data, so you’re not dependent on Firebase’s retention and deletion defaults.

Talking about reports, Firebase Cloud Messaging is getting a new reporting dashboard and the Firebase Console’s Project Overview page has received a full design overhaul that’ll allow you to see the health and status of your apps on a single page. The Latest Release section now also features live data. These features will start rolling out today and should become available to everybody in the next few weeks.

Firebase Hosting, the service’s web content hosting service, is also getting a small update and now allows you to host multiple websites within one project. And when you push an update, Firebase Hosting now only uploads the files that have changed between releases, which should speed up that process quite a bit.

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Twitter company email addresses why it’s #BreakingMyTwitter

It’s hard to be a fan of Twitter right now. The company is sticking up for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, when nearly all other platforms have given him the boot, it’s overrun with bots, and now it’s breaking users’ favorite third-party Twitter clients like Tweetbot and Twitterific by shutting off APIs these apps relied on. Worse still, is that Twitter isn’t taking full responsibility for its decisions.

In a company email it shared today, Twitter cited “technical and business constraints” that it can no longer ignore as being the reason behind the APIs’ shutdown.

It said the clients relied on “legacy technology” that was still in a “beta state” after more than 9 years, and had to be killed “out of operational necessity.”

This reads like passing the buck. Big time.

It’s not as if there’s some other mysterious force that maintains Twitter’s API platform, and now poor ol’ Twitter is forced to shut down old technology because there’s simply no other recourse. No.

Twitter, in fact, is the one responsible for its User Streams and Site Streams APIs – the APIs that serve the core functions of these now deprecated third-party Twitter clients. Twitter is the reason these APIs have been stuck in a beta state for nearly a decade. Twitter is the one that decided not to invest in supporting those legacy APIs, or shift them over to its new API platform.

And Twitter is the one that decided to give up on some of its oldest and most avid fans – the power users and the developer community that met their needs – in hopes of shifting everyone over to its own first-party clients instead.

The problem isn’t that the API is old and buggy (which it was), the problem is that the replacement API is unavailable.

— Paul Haddad (@tapbot_paul) August 16, 2018

The company even refused to acknowledge how important these users and developers have been to its community over the years, by citing the fact that the APIs it’s terminating – the ones that power Tweetbot, Twitterrific, Tweetings and Talon – are only used by “less than 1%” of Twitter developers. Burn! 

Way to kick a guy when he’s already down, Twitter.

But just because a community is small in numbers, does not mean its voice is not powerful or its influence is not felt.

Hence, the #BreakingMyTwitter hashtag, which Twitter claims to be watching “quite often.”

The one where users are reminding Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey about that time he apologized to Twitter developers for not listening to them, and acknowledged the fact they made Twitter what it is today. The time when he promised to do better.

This is…not better:

When I built our push notification server, I added the ability to send a message to every device in case of emergency. Today is the first time I’ve used it. pic.twitter.com/edgkver2Nh

— Craig Hockenberry (@chockenberry) August 15, 2018

The company’s email also says it hopes to eventually learn “why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps.”

Its own apps?

Oh, you mean like TweetDeck, the app Twitter acquired then shut down on Android, iPhone and Windows? The one it generally acted like it forgot it owned? Or maybe you mean Twitter for Mac (previously Tweetie, before its acquisition), the app it shut down this year, telling Mac users to just use the web instead? Or nearly maybe you mean the nearly full slate of TV apps that Twitter decided no longer needed to exist?

And Twitter wonders why users don’t want to use its own clients?

Or perhaps, users want a consistent experience – one that doesn’t involve a million inconsequential product changes like turning stars to hearts or changing the character counter to a circle. Maybe they appreciate the fact that the third parties seem to understand what Twitter is better than Twitter itself does: Twitter has always been about a real-time stream of information. It’s not meant to be another Facebook-style algorithmic News Feed. The third-party clients respect that. Twitter does not.

Yesterday, the makers of Twitterific spoke to the API changes, noting that its app would no longer be able to stream tweets, send native push notifications, or be able to update its Today view, and that new tweets and DMs will be delayed.

It recommended users download Twitter’s official mobile app for notifications going forward.

In other words, while Twitterific will hang around in its broken state, its customers will now have to run two Twitter apps on their device – the official one to get their notifications, and the other because they prefer the experience.

A guide to using Twitter’s app for notifications, from Iconfactory

“We understand why Twitter feels the need to update its API endpoints,” explains Iconfactory co-founder Ged Maheux, whose company makes Twitterrific. “The spread of bots, spam and trolls by bad actors that exploit their systems is bad for the entire Twitterverse, we just wish they had offered an affordable way forward for the developers of smaller, third party apps like ours.”

“Apps like the Iconfactory’s Twitterrific helped build Twitter’s brand, feature sets and even its terminology into what it is today. Our contributions were small to be sure, but real nonetheless. To be priced out of the future of Twitter after all of our history together is a tough pill to swallow for all of us,” he added.

The question many users are now facing is what to do next?

Continue to use now broken third-party apps? Move to an open platform like Mastodon? Switch to Twitter’s own clients, as it wants, where it plans to “experiment with showing alternative viewpoints” to pop people’s echo chambers…on a service that refuses to kick out people like Alex Jones?

Or maybe it’s time to admit the open forum for everything that Twitter – and social media, really – has promised is failing? Maybe it’s time to close the apps – third-party and otherwise. Maybe it’s time to go dark. Get off the feeds. Take a break. Move on.

The full email from Twitter is below:

Hi team,

Today, we’re publishing a blog post about our priorities for where we’re investing today in Twitter client experiences. I wanted to share some more with you about how we reached these decisions, and how we’re thinking about 3rd party clients specifically.

First, some history:

3rd party clients have had a notable impact on the Twitter service and the products we build. Independent developers built the first Twitter client for Mac and the first native app for iPhone. These clients pioneered product features we all know and love about Twitter, like mute, the pull-to-refresh gesture, and more.

We love that developers build experiences on our APIs to push our service, technology, and the public conversation forward. We deeply respect the time, energy, and passion they’ve put into building amazing things using Twitter.

But we haven’t always done a good job of being straightforward with developers about the decisions we make regarding 3rd party clients. In 2011, we told developers (in an email) not to build apps that mimic the core Twitter experience. In 2012, we announced changes to our developer policies intended to make these limitations clearer by capping the number of users allowed for a 3rd party client. And, in the years following those announcements, we’ve told developers repeatedly that our roadmap for our APIs does not prioritize client use cases — even as we’ve continued to maintain a couple specific APIs used heavily by these clients and quietly granted user cap exceptions to the clients that needed them.

It is now time to make the hard decision to end support for these legacy APIs — acknowledging that some aspects of these apps would be degraded as a result. Today, we are facing technical and business constraints we can’t ignore. The User Streams and Site Streams APIs that serve core functions of many of these clients have been in a “beta” state for more than 9 years, and are built on a technology stack we no longer support. We’re not changing our rules, or setting out to “kill” 3rd party clients; but we are killing, out of operational necessity, some of the legacy APIs that power some features of those clients. And it has not been a realistic option for us today to invest in building a totally new service to replace these APIs, which are used by less than 1% of Twitter developers.

We’ve heard the feedback from our customers about the pain this causes. We check out #BreakingMyTwitter quite often and have spoken with many of the developers of major 3rd party clients to understand their needs and concerns. We’re committed to understanding why people hire 3rd party clients over our own apps. And we’re going to try to do better with communicating these changes honestly and clearly to developers. We have a lot of work to do. This change is a hard, but important step, towards doing it. Thank you for working with us to get there.

Thanks,

Rob

 

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SNES.party lets you play Super Nintendo with your friends

Hot on the heels of the wonderful NES.party comes Haukur Rosinkranz’s SNES.party, a site that lets you play Super Nintendo with all your buds.

Rosinkranz is Icelandic but lives in Berlin now. He made NES.party a year ago while experimenting with WebRTC and WebSockets and he updated his software to support the SNES.

“The reason I made it was simply because I discovered how advanced the RTC implementation in Chrome had become and wanted to do something with it,” he said. “When I discovered that it’s possible to take a video element and stream it over the network I just knew I had to do something cool with this and I came up with the idea of streaming emulators.”

He said it took him six months to build the app and a month to add NES support.

“It’s hard to say how long it took because I basically created my own framework for web applications that need realtime communication between one or more participants,” he said. He is a freelance programmer.

It’s a clever hack that could add a little fun to your otherwise dismal day. Feel like a little Link to the Past? Pop over here and let’s play!

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How to Add Bluetooth to a Computer: 3 Great Bluetooth Adapters for PC

How to Make Your Own Adobe Premiere Pro Presets

Are you fed up with performing the same repetitive tasks in Premiere Pro? Do you often find yourself getting bored and wasting time with mundane and repetitive edits, instead of the fun and creative challenge of producing a video?

Premiere Pro presets are an excellent way to automate repetitive tasks and to free yourself to work on the creative side of editing. Here’s everything you need to know…

Working with effects in Premiere Pro can be demanding on your computer, so if your computer is struggling to cope you should learn about offline video editing.

Why Use a Premiere Pro Effects Preset?

Effects presets can save you a large amount of time.

If you’re a video editor or YouTube content creator, you may have dozens of effects or common editing tasks you perform on every video. With effects presets, you can speed up your workflow into a one-click process. Here are some common editing tasks I perform when editing some of our review videos here at MakeUseOf:

• Apply EQ, compression and adjust the gain on a voiceover
• Apply a narrow 300 HZ cut to background music
• Animate keyframes for rotation, scale, and position

These edits only take a few minutes each, but over the course of a whole video edit, they can add up to hours. It may sound clichéd, but time is money when it comes to video editing, and saving two to three hours on every video leads to a huge increase in time and productivity over the course of several weeks and months.

How to Make Your Own Presets

In order to save your own presets, you need to use the Effect Controls Panel and perform an initial edit. This could be a speed ramp, a creative transition, or even a simple volume boost.

For this example. I’ve used the Corner Pin effect:

Creating a preset from a single effect is very simple. Right-click on your effect name inside the effect controls panel, and choose Save Preset:

You’ll be prompted to enter a name and description. Enter some suitable text, and leave the Type at the default of Scale. Press OK and you’re done. Your very first preset is complete, in less than 30 seconds.

If you’d like to save multiple effects into one preset, hold the Command key on macOS, or the Control key on Windows, and click to select multiple effects. When an effect is selected, it will turn light gray.

When it’s time to use your preset, you’ll need to open the Effects panel, found in the Window > Effects menu. Expand the Presets folder, or use the search bar to find your preset.

Click and drag your preset onto your clip on the timeline, or select your clip, and then click and drag your preset onto the Video Effects section of the Effect Controls panel. The effects control panel will now show all of the effects, settings, and keyframes you created when you first saved your preset.

Advanced Presets: Setting Anchors to In or Out Points

When creating a preset for the first time, you’re prompted to specify a Type, which defaults to Scale.

This type is only used when you have used keyframes in your preset. It defines the duration and handling of keyframes when the preset is applied.

When you use Scale, Premiere Pro will adjust the effect duration depending on the length of your clip. If you created your effect with a 24-frame duration, and you drag it on to a clip with a 48-frame duration, then Premiere Pro will extend the effect to cover the full 48-frame duration.

This is good most of the time, but it may not always be what you want. The types Achor To In Point, and Anchor to Out Point both anchor the effect to the In or Out point respectively. This will maintain the duration you defined at creation.

If you create a keyframe with a duration of 24 frames and anchor it to the In point when applied, your clip will start the preset at the beginning of the clip, and then continue for 24 frames.

If anchored to the Out point, the preset will begin 24 frames before the end of the clip.

These types are a very powerful way to configure your presets. If you’re still unsure how they work, the best way to learn is to create presets with each of the types selected, and then drag them onto a clip and inspect the keyframes inside the Effect Controls panel.

How to Modify Your Own Presets

If you’d like to change a preset name, type, or description, all you have to do is Right Click on your preset inside the Effects panel, and choose Preset Properties. You’ll be presented with the same menu you used when you originally created the preset.

If you’d like to change effects or effect properties within a preset, you have to create a new preset based on the old one. It’s a straightforward process:

1. Drag your preset onto a clip.
2. Modify the effects properties.
3. Create a new preset with your changed effects.
4. Delete the old preset.

How to Import and Export Your Custom Presets

It’s a very simple process to import or export your custom presets. Start by Right Clicking inside the presets folder in the Effects panel. Choose either Import Presets or Export Presets.

Adobe Premiere Pro will prompt you for a file location. Choose a folder to store your presets (if exporting), or a previously exported file (if importing). Press OK and Premiere Pro will populate your presets folder, or generate a file containing your presets.

How Much Time Will You Save?

Now that you know just how easy it is to use presets with Adobe Premiere Pro, there’s no reason not to use them. From working with LUTs to cutting a video into clips, there are numerous tasks that can benefit from custom preset creation.

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The 5 Best Wi-Fi Light Switches to Save You Time and Money

Blackview BV5800 Pro: Rugged, Affordable, and Great Value For Money

Google One Helps You Get More Out of Google

Google One, Google’s new subscription plan for cloud storage and more, is now available to anyone and everyone in the United States. Google One is Google Drive plus a lot more besides, with subscribers offered a range of extra benefits across Google.

In May 2018, Google announced Google One, a new cloud storage service for consumers. Over the last few months, people with paid Google Drive plans have been upgraded to Google One. And now, Google is making Google One available to everyone.

Google One Is Google Drive Plus More

Google One buys you more Google Drive storage plus the chance to get more out of Google. This is for those people who need more than the 15GB of free storage space all Google Drive users get by default. And then some.

A Google One subscription buys you extra storage. You can buy 100GB for $1.99/month, 200GB for $2.99/month and a massive 2TB for $9.99/month. This extra storage is available across Google Drive, Gmail, and Google Photos.

While storing photos and videos on Google Photos is free, you’re stuck saving the compressed versions. However, paying for a One subscription means you can save the original, high-resolution versions of your photos and videos.

The other benefits include 24/7 access to Google Support, and the option to share your plan with up to five other family members. However, Google is also offering Google Play credits, deals on hotels found on Google Search, and Google Store discounts.

Google One: A Premium Version of Google?

Right now this is essentially just Google rebranding Google Drive as Google One and changing the pricing plans around a little. Which is nothing to get excited about. Especially as Google Drive users with paid plans have already been upgraded to Google One.

However, the promise of offering extra benefits across Google suggests Google sees Google One growing into something much more significant. It could be that eventually a Google One subscription will offer a premium version of the whole Google experience.

Read the full article: Google One Helps You Get More Out of Google

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How to Compare Microsoft Word Documents Using Legal Blackline

The term “legal blackline” comes from the legal profession where lawyers need to compare two documents. Usually it applies to contracts, but this essential Microsoft Word skill applies to any kind of document.

Comparing two documents side-by-side by eye can be laborious and prone to error. Microsoft Word has a better way tucked inside the Review pane.

How to Compare Microsoft Word Documents

The legal blackline feature compares two documents and shows you only what changed between them. The legal blackline comparison is displayed by default in a new third document.

1. Launch Microsoft Word. Open the two documents that you want to compare.
2. Go to the Ribbon > Review > Compare group > Click on Compare.
   
3. Click Compare two versions of a document (legal blackline). Under Original document, browse and select the original document. Under Revised document, browse and select the other document that you want to compare.
   
4. Click More, and then select the settings for what you want to compare in the documents. Under Show changes, choose whether you want to show character or word level changes. If you do not want to display changes in a third document, choose which document you want the changes to appear in. (The settings you choose here will become the default for any document comparisons from here on.)
5. Click OK.
6. If either version of the document has tracked changes, Microsoft Word displays a message box. Click Yes to accept the changes and compare the documents.

If you selected a new document, Microsoft Office Word opens a third document with the Reviewing Panes on display. Any tracked changes in the original document are accepted, and changes in the revised document are shown as tracked changes. You can control the tracking display from Ribbon > Review > Tracking Group.

What about Microsoft Excel files? Well, there are also methods to compare multiple sheets in Excel.

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How to Record Your Screen With Microsoft PowerPoint

If you’re looking for a simple way to do a quick screen recording or screenshot on your computer, you can look no further than PowerPoint. Yep, that’s right! Microsoft’s software for creating presentations actually has a screen recording function buried in its tools.

How to Record Your Screen With Microsoft PowerPoint

To create a screen recording using Powerpoint, create a new presentation and then do the following:

1. Go to the Insert tab and click Screen Recording.
2. In the dock that appears, click Select Area or use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Shift + A.
3. Using the crosshairs tool that appears, click and drag to select the part of your screen you want to record.
4. By default, both the audio and mouse pointer are recorded. If you don’t want to record them, click the buttons in the dock to switch them off.
5. Click the Record button or use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Shift + R to start recording. You can also use this shortcut to pause and resume recording. You can switch over to a different program or window and PowerPoint will continue to record.
6. After you’ve finished your recording, move your mouse point back to where the dock was and it will reappear. Click the Stop button or use the keyboard shortcut Windows key + Shift + Q to end the recording. (If you want to pin the dock during recording, click the pin icon in the bottom right corner.)
7. To save the recording to your computer, right-click the still shot of the video and select Save Media As.
8. In the dialog box that opens up, you can choose the name and file location, and click Save.

This feature works only on PCs running Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and updated versions of PowerPoint 2013.

How to Take a Screenshot With Microsoft PowerPoint

You can also use PowerPoint to take screenshots. What’s especially convenient about using PowerPoint to take screenshots is that you can easily select any of your open windows to capture, with the click of one button:

1. Create a new presentation and go to Insert > Screenshot.
2. You’ll see a grid of all the open windows on your computer, with the exception of minimized windows.
3. Click the window you want to take a screenshot of. If you’d rather select an area on the screen, click Screen Clipping. This will minimize PowerPoint allowing you to click and drag to take a screenshot of whatever is directly behind the PowerPoint window.
4. The screenshot will appear in PowerPoint. To save it to your computer right-click the image and select Save as picture.
5. In the dialog box that opens up, you can choose the name, file format (e.g. JPG, PNG, PDF, GIF, BMP), and the file location.

This feature works on both Mac and PCs running Microsoft PowerPoint 2016 and updated versions of 2013.

If you don’t already have Microsoft Office, you can consider any one of these desktop screencasting apps.

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How to Change Your eBay Username

Still rocking the eBay username you created when you signed up in 2000? Like your first email address, early eBay usernames are a regret for many. If you’re a seller, unprofessional usernames are particularly unbecoming.

The good news is that you don’t need to suffer any longer. eBay makes it simple to change your username, so you don’t have to be embarrassed when “ThaKewlDude22” wins an auction.

How to Change Your eBay Username

Get started by visiting eBay and signing in using the link in the upper-left if needed. Once you’re logged in, click your name that appears in the same upper-left spot and choose Account settings.

On the resulting page (which is in need of a visual update), click the Personal Information link under My Account on the left sidebar. You’ll see all kinds of details about your account, but we’re interested in the User ID row. Click the Edit link on the far-right side here.

After clicking this, you may need to confirm your login details. Once this is done, you’ll see a Change Your Username field. eBay explains that while this lets you set a username related to what you sell, it can make it harder for others to find you after the name change.

If you only buy on eBay, this shouldn’t be an issue. Enter your new username and click Save. Note that you can only change your username once every 30 days, so make sure you like it before saving.

While you’re on the Personal Information page, you might want to take the time to update your eBay security information. Make sure you’ve set a strong Password and that your secret questions aren’t obvious. We also recommend that you turn on two-step verification at the bottom of the page.

You might even consider avoiding eBay for security reasons.

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