Instagram denies it’s building Regramming. Here’s why it’d be a disaster

Instagram tells me Regramming, or the ability to instantly repost someone else’s feed post to your followers like a retweet, is “not happening”, not being built, and not being tested. And that’s good news for all Instagrammers. The denial comes after it initially issued a “no comment” to The Verge’s Casey Newton, who published that he’d seen screenshots of a native Instagram resharing sent to him by a source.

Regramming would be a fundamental shift in how Instagram works, not necessarily in terms of functionality, but in terms of the accepted norms of what and how to post. You could always screenshot, cite the original creator, and post. But the Instagram has always about sharing your window to the world — what you’ve lived and seen. Regramming would legitimize suddenly assuming someone else’s eyes.

And the result would be that users couldn’t trust that when they follow someone, that’s whose vision would appear in their feed. Instagram would feel a lot more random and unpredictable. And it’d become more like its big brother Facebook whose News Feed has waned in popularity – Susceptible to viral clickbait bullshit, vulnerable to foreign misinformation campaigns, and worst of all, impersonal.

Photographer: Andrew Harrer/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Newton’s report suggested a Instagram reposts would appear under the profile picture of the original sharer, and could regrams could be regrammed once more in turn, showing a stack of both profile thumbnails of who previously shared it. That would at least prevent massive chains of reposts turning posts into all-consuming feed bombs. It could certainly widen what appears in your feed, which some might consider more interesting. It could spur growth by creating a much easier way for users to share in feed, especially if they don’t live a glamorous life themself. And Instagram’s algorithm could hide the least engaging regrams.

These benefits are why Instagram has internally considered building regramming for years. CEO Kevin Systrom told Wired last year “We debate the re-share thing a lot . . . But really that decision is about keeping your feed focused on the people you know rather than the people you know finding other stuff for you to see. And I think that is more of a testament of our focus on authenticity”.

See, right now, Instagram profiles are cohesive. You can easily get a feel for what someone posts and make an educated decision about whether to follow them from a quick glance at their grid. What they share reflects on them, so they’re cautious and deliberate. Everyone is putting on a show for Likes, so maybe it’s not quite ‘authentic’, but at least the content is personal. Regramming would make it impossible to tell what someone would post next, and put your feed at the mercy of their impulses without the requisite accountability. If they regram something lame, ugly, or annoying, it’s the original author who’d be blamed.

Instagram already offers a demand release valve in the form of re-sharing posts to your Story as stickers

Instagram already has a release valve for demand for regramming in the form of the ability to turn people’s public feed posts into Stickers you can paste into your Story. Launched in May, you can add your commentary, complimenting on dunking on the author. There, regrams are ephemeral, and your followers have to pull them out of their Stories tray rather than having them force fed to them via the feed. Effectively, you can reshare others’ content, but not make it a central facet of Instagram or emblem of your identity. And if you want to just make sure a few friends see something awesome you’ve discovered, you can send them people’s feed posts as Direct messages.

Making it much easier to repost to feed instead of sharing something original could turn Instagram into an echo chamber. It’d turn Instagram even more into a popularity contest, with users jockeying for viral distribution and a chance to plug their SoundCloud mixtapes like on Twitter. Personal self-expression would be overshadowed even further by people playing to the peanut gallery.

Newton is a great reporter, and I suspect the screenshots he saw were real, but I think Instagram should have given him the firm denial right away. My guess is that it wanted to give its standard no comment because if it always outright denies inaccurate rumors and speculation, that means journalists can assume they’re right when it does ‘no comment’.

But once Newton published his report, backlash quickly mounted about how regramming could ruin Instagram. Rather than leaving users worried, confused, and constantly asking when the feature would launch and how it would work, the company decided to issue firm denials after the fact. It became worth diverging from its PR playbook. Maybe it had already chosen to scrap its regramming prototype, maybe the screenshots were just of an early mock-up never meant to be seriously considered, or maybe it hadn’t actually finalized that decision to abort until the public weighed in against the feature yesterday.

In any case, introducing regramming would risk an unforced error. The elemental switch from chronological to the algorithmic feed, while criticized, was critical to Instagram being able to show the best of the massive influx of content. Instagram would eventually break without it. There’s no corresponding urgency fix what ain’t broke when it comes to not allowing regramming.

Instagram is already growing like crazy. It just hit a billion monthly users. Stories now has 400 million daily users and that feature is growing six times faster than Snapchat as a whole. The app is utterly dominant in the photo and short video sharing world. Regramming would be an unnecessary gamble.

Instagram’s CEO on vindication after 2 years of reinventing Stories

Read Full Article

The 8 Best iPhone Apps for Following Soccer

How to Set Up a Kid-Friendly Amazon Fire Tablet

Spotify Invites Indie Artists to Upload Their Own Music

Spotify is now enabling independent artists to upload their own music to the streaming service. This will allow indie artists to take control of the process for themselves, with no need to go through a label or pay to use a third-party service.

Spotify for Artists

While most of us exclusively use Spotify to stream music, artists use Spotify in a different way. With the exception of Taylor Swift and a few others, artists want their music on the platform so that they can make money every time someone plays one of their songs.

This is why Spotify for Artists exists, as it enables the streaming music service to deal with artists directly. And while the popular artists have record labels doing the donkey work, independent artists are expected to do everything themselves.

Which, thanks to Spotify’s new initiative, even includes uploading their own music.

Upload Your Own Music

On the Spotify for Artists Blog, the streaming service explains how the option for artists to upload their own music has been the most requested feature. So, in collaboration with a handful of artists and labels, Spotify has developed the necessary tools.

Now in Beta: Upload your music in Spotify for Artists. https://t.co/cNe1R2Wf0X pic.twitter.com/fJJcCymlri

— Spotify for Artists (@spotifyartists) September 20, 2018

The option to upload your own music is currently in betam and therefore limited to a few hundred U.S. artists. These include Noname, Michael Brun, VIAA, and Hot Shade. However, Spotify promises to expand the invite to more artists and labels in the future.

This means that, if you yourself are an indie artists looking to start streaming, you could one day have your music available to play on Spotify. The music streaming service suggests interested parties join the Spotify for Artists mailing list.

A Win-Win for All Concerned

This is a win-win for all concerned. Spotify gets more music on its service, and with minimal effort on its part, and the indie artists get a new platform to build a following, and the potential to make some money in the process.

If you’re not an ambitious indie artist, and just want to stream music all day, every day, check out our unofficial guide to Spotify.

Read the full article: Spotify Invites Indie Artists to Upload Their Own Music

Read Full Article

6 Ways to Get Your Computer Ready for Halloween

Boo! It’s nearly time for Halloween, the spookiest time of year where we dress up, carve pumpkins, and scare each other. Don’t leave your computer out of the fun—there’s loads of ways you can customize your Windows 10 computer for Halloween.

Whether it’s changing your wallpaper, applying sounds, or altering your cursor, we’ve got you covered to make sure you’ll have the ghastliest computer around. Be sure to share your own Windows 10 Halloween tips in the comments afterwards!

1. Change Your Wallpaper

Press Windows key + I to open Settings and go to Personalization > Background.

Use the Background dropdown to select Picture. Click Browse to navigate to a saved image and double click it to set it. Use the Choose a fit dropdown to adjust the dimensions, if necessary.

You can also select Slideshow on the first dropdown to cycle between a selection of images. Click Browse and double click a folder to use the images within. The Change picture every dropdown and Shuffle options give you more control over this.

If you want to change the image on your lock screen, use the left-hand menu to click Lock screen. Here you can use the Background dropdown to set it to Picture and customize the image as you did above.

To get some great Halloween wallpapers, check out websites like Wallpaper Abyss, Wallpaper Stock, and HD Wallpapers. For even more, see our selection of creepy Halloween wallpaper images.

2. Set a Theme With Halloween Colors

A quick way to get into that Halloween spirit is by changing the color scheme of your computer. To begin, press Windows key + I to open settings and go to Personalization > Colors.

One option is to tick Automatically pick an accent color from my background. This is a nice idea if you have your wallpaper on a rotation, since it’ll constantly keep the color fresh.

Alternatively, beneath Windows colors, click the color you want. Perhaps opt for a pumpkin orange, a blood red, or a monstrous green. If none of the default choices suit, click Custom color to get specific.

Scroll down and you can choose to apply the color to Start, taskbar and action centre and Title bars.

To take it a step further, switch your default app mode to Dark to change the color of modern Windows apps. This doesn’t change everything, like your browser or File Manager, but Microsoft are working on this for future updates.

3. Apply a Halloween Screensaver

Screensavers might seem like something from the past, but they’re still a fun way to add some Halloween horror to your computer when you’re not using it.

A good source of mostly free Halloween screensavers can be found at Screensavers Planet. Download from their site, run the EXE, and go through the quick installation wizard.

You’ll be taken to the Windows screensaver settings window. You can access this at any time by pressing Windows key + I to open Settings and going to Personalization > Lock screen > Screen saver settings.

Here you can set the Wait time, which is how much inactivity must pass before the screensaver displays. Click Settings… to adjust specifics of the screensaver and Preview to test it out.

4. Set Some Spooky Sounds

You can use WAV files to change the sounds your system makes for certain actions, like shut down or errors. A good source of free Halloween sounds is Sound Bible.

Download the sounds you want, then press Windows key + I to open Settings and go to Ease of Access > Audio > Other sound settings.

Select the Program Event you want to change the sound for. Click Browse..., navigate to the Halloween sound on your computer, and double click it.

Once you’ve changed all the events you want to, click Save As… beneath Sound Scheme. Enter a name and click OK. This will save the theme so that you can switch between it and the Windows defaults with ease.

5. Kick It Up With Halloween Icons

Icons appear all over Windows 10, representing programs, drives, folders, and more. Here we’ll look at changing the desktop icons, but see our guide on how to customize any icon in Windows if you want to take it further.

To get started, you of course need some suitable Halloween images in the ICO format. Happily, Find Icons has you sorted with a great selection. Download the ones you want.

Right click an icon on your desktop and click Properties. You should be on the Shortcut tab. Click Change Icon… and then Browse…. Navigate to where the ICO file is and double click it to select it. Click OK to save your changes.

6. Change to a Halloween Cursor

Let’s get rid of that boring white cursor and turn it into something more appropriate for Halloween.

You need CUR (static) or ANI (animated) files to adjust your cursor. RW Designer and Cursors 4U both offer a great selection of free Halloween cursors. Download the ones you want from their websites.

Press Windows key + I to open Settings. Go to Devices > Mouse > Additional mouse options. Switch to the Pointers tab.

This lists all the different cursors that your system uses, like Normal Select or Busy. Click the one you want to change and click Browse… to navigate to your downloaded cursor. Double click it to select it.

Once you’ve applied all your changes, click Save As… beneath Scheme. Enter a name and click OK. This will let you use the Scheme dropdown to switch between your new Halloween cursor set and the Windows defaults.

Read our guide for customizing your mouse in Windows 10 for more tips.

Trick Or Treat? Even More Halloween Effects

Hopefully now your Windows computer has the full Halloween makeover, with pumpkins, witches, and ghouls abound. Be careful not to scare yourself when you log in after going trick or treating.

If you want to go one step further with your customizations, check out our guide for applying spooky Halloween effects with Rainmeter.

Read the full article: 6 Ways to Get Your Computer Ready for Halloween

Read Full Article

Unfulfilling Toys

Unfulfilling Toys

Real Journalist or Fake News Blogger? 5 Red Flags to Look For

There are a lot of bloggers who self-describe as “journalists.” Unfortunately, the majority of them write articles that lack most of the fundamentals that make an article journalistic.

Before casting serious stones, it’s important to set the guidelines for what journalistic writing actually looks like. We’ll outline some common mistakes bloggers make, and look at a few examples of articles that fail the “good journalism” litmus test.

What Is Good Journalism?

The best guidelines for good journalism come from the American Press Association and their publication Principles of Journalism.

In 1997, a team of journalists worked for four years holding public forums, studying journalism history, an surveying journalists around the country. The group finally published nine principles of journalism they called a Statement of Shared Purpose.

Project for Excellence in Journalism (PEJ) Director Tom Rosenstiel and PEJ Senio Counselor Bill Kovach cowrote a book based on those principles, titled The Elements of Journalism.

There are nine principles of journalism in total, but in this article we’ll be focusing on the five most important ones.

1. Journalism’s First Obligation Is to the Truth

Journalists should work hard on “assembling and verifying facts.” The Statement of Share Purpose calls this a discipline because it takes immense discipline to take the time to verify facts. This is especially true if the facts turn out to disprove your own previously held beliefs.

As the Statement explains:

“Journalists should be as transparent as possible about sources and methods, so audiences can make their own assessment of the information.”

The best journalism identifies sources or research methods, and doesn’t try to misrepresent research findings to support a belief, by leaving out important facts.

One example of this is an article published on The Next Web that covered a report released by Stripe called “The Developer Coefficient,” which detailed how companies may not be fully leveraging their existing population of developers.

A source link to the actual report is never provided. Halfway through the article, the author begins opining about Brexit:

“This [lack of developer talent] is something that’s been made even more acute by the UK’s impending departure from the European Union. With the prospect of a hugely damaging hard Brexit, and an uncertain visa regime for EU-27 citizens, Britain has never looked more unattractive to foreign talent.”

This is odd, considering the report itself says the main takeaway from the report shouldn’t be lack of talent, but leveraging existing talent:

“This underscores the most important point about developers as force-multipliers: It’s not how many devs companies have; it’s how they’re being leveraged.”

If you read the actual study [PDF], you’ll see that Brexit is only mentioned once. And it’s at the very bottom of a list of reasons C-Level executives offered for which factors threatening the success of a business the most:

The top reasons were actually security and data breaches, increased regulation, and disruption from the tech industry.

Red flags: Lack of source links and a misrepresentation of facts.

2. Journalism’s First Loyalty Is to Citizens

Journalists must remain loyal to citizens, accurately reporting truths that serve citizen’s best interests, even if those interests go against the interests of the journalist’s own employer.

One example of a failure of this principle was Buzzfeed’s use of native advertising. Articles portrayed as news often became indistinguishable from advertisements:

It didn’t take long for the site to come within the crosshairs of journalistic watchdog groups. In 2016, British ad regulator ASA ruled that one of Buzzfeed’s posts breached UK advertising regulations.

It should come as no surprise, then, that in July of 2018, Buzzfeed News finally stripped away native advertising for news articles altogether.

Red flags: Articles that overtly (or even subtly) promote a specific brand without providing much evidence. Such articles often avoid doing any hard comparisons with any other brands at all.

3. Journalism’s Essence Is Discipline of Verification

Verification of information is something that has fallen by the wayside in recent years. We have Twitter and Facebook to blame for fake news—people can easily put forth all sorts of unverified claims as fact.

These get shared and forwarded as fact, until someone finally decides to verify:

The problem is that many bloggers often jump on the same bandwagon and write stories without properly verifying claims.

The APA describes the importance of verification for journalists.

“It called, rather, for a consistent method of testing information […] precisely so that personal and cultural biases would not undermine the accuracy of their work. The method is objective; not the journalist.”

The APA goes on to explain steps journalists should take to verify claims.

• Interviewing multiple witnesses
• Revealing as much as possible about your sources
• Asking for comments from both sides, especially for controversial issues

One of my own articles failed in this respect. Back in 2012, I’d read some claims made on forums published by former Mormons, and so decided pay one of my writers to do an article on weird Mormon beliefs:

This is why many bloggers fail. I paid a blogger a paltry fee to take my brief research and do a writeup. She did not interview Mormons, and it’s this lack of obtaining viewpoints from the opposite side that made this piece fail as a work of journalism. Many Mormons commented on the article, and it was a hard lesson to learn—but an important one.

Red flags: You can recognize this form of failed journalism when the quotes you read only come from one side of the controversy, or comments from the other side are immediately dismissed by the blogger.

4. Journalists Must Maintain Independence

Probably one of the hardest things for journalists to do is maintain independence from the story. Many people misunderstand this as meaning “neutrality,” but that’s not it. It’s a journalist’s ability to use “intellectual fairness” and fully inform the audience about both sides of an issue.

Even professional journalists fail here. There’s no clearer example of this than past US Presidential elections.

During the 2016 election, most mainstream news outlets believed Hillary Clinton had the election wrapped up. There was no chance that someone like Donald Trump could ever win. But on election night, once it became clear Donald Trump had actually won, the shock, anger, and disbelief became clear:

In the video above, at 6:00, one MSNBC journalist tries to correlate a 700-point drop in the stock market to Trump’s win. At 6:45, they deem Trump the “apparent” winner for Florida.

Around 7:20, an MSNBC journalist loudly makes an “uuugh” disgusted sound after announcing Trump’s growing lead. The 13:45 mark shows a CBC News panelist reacting to Trump’s win by saying “America’s religious values and moral center is also nonsense, just like the polls were.”

The same was true years earlier during President Obama’s re-election. Have a look at how FOX journalists responded when Obama won that election:

The Statement of Shared Purpose describes this as follows.

“While editorialists and commentators are not neutral, the source of their credibility is still their accuracy, intellectual fairness and ability to inform, not their devotion to a certain group or outcome.”

Politics is one area where even professional journalists break down and fail in their duty to adhere to the principles of journalism.

Red flags: Keep an eye out for emotionally-charged words like “terrible,” “tragedy,” or other words that invoke a powerful emotional response. When writers use this kind of language, it’s always to convey their own emotions rather than straight reporting of news.

5. Keep the News Comprehensive and Proportional

Biased language also comes into play in how writers sensationalize stories, or make their coverage of something extremely negative or positive.

The Statement of Shard Purpose describes how many journalists fail this principle.

“Inflating events for sensation, neglecting others, stereotyping or being disproportionately negative all make a less reliable map.”

What does this look like in the real world? Across the blogosphere, this is most common. Especially in coverage of heated debates, like the constant war between iPhone and Android advocates:

One example of this is an article on Cramber.com, where the author starts out by saying “I am not an Apple hater,” then proceeds to use language like the following throughout the article:

• ” …why the iPhone still beats Android are pathetic at best…”
• “…Not convincing at all…”
• “…it should be a no-brainer…”
• “…Apple goes through a tedious process..”
• “…has common sense just flown out the window…”
• “…Are you serious?…”
• “…It’s thievery…”

Journalism is about thoroughly exploring both sides of an argument in an unbiased way, and presenting the results of that research as thoroughly and fairly as possible. There’s nothing fair about using emotionally charged words to try and influence the reader to lean toward your own point of view.

Red flags: Emotionally charged words used throughout the article.

Other Principles of Journalism

Even though we haven’t discussed the remaining principles of journalism in full here, they are still important. They include all of the following:

• Serves as an independent monitor of power
• Provides a forum for public criticism and compromise
• Strives to make the significant interesting and relevant
• Its practitioners must be allowed to exercise their personal conscience

So if you’re a blogger hoping to “do journalism,” or you’re a reader looking to follow bloggers who really do follow all of the principles of journalism, use the guide above to help you identify the best ones to follow.

Also, remember that fact-checking responsibility often falls on you as a reader. Especially given the fake news and shoddy writing that proliferates the internet these days. We have a great list of fact checking sites you can use to get started.

Read the full article: Real Journalist or Fake News Blogger? 5 Red Flags to Look For

Read Full Article

7 Powerful Apps for Continuity Between Android and Mac

BenQ EX3203R Is the Ultimate 144Hz HDR Curved Gaming Monitor

12 New Amazon Products That’ll Make Your Home Smarter

How to Create a Dropdown List in Google Sheets

If you worked with shared Google Sheets, it can get frustrating if people are entering the wrong data. If you want to make sure that only certain data can be added, you can easily restrict entries with dropdown lists. These dropdown lists can also be an easy way to make data entry faster and more streamlined.

There are two main options for adding a dropdown list to your Google Sheet:

• Create a new spreadsheet in Google Sheets
• Select the cell(s) where you want your dropdown list to appear. You can select entire rows or columns if you’d like.
• Click Data > Data Validation.
• The first field Cell Range will already be filled with the range of cells you selected. You can make manual changes to it by clicking the table icon in the Cell Range field.  
• In the Criteria field, there are two options for determining what will be included in your dropdown list.
  • List from a range: You can select a range of cells in your spreadsheet to enter the items that would be included in the dropdown list.
    • Create a second sheet by clicking the plus icon in the bottom left corner (optional).
    • With the cursor in the Criteria field, you can select the cells where you want the dropdown menu to appear. Click and drag to choose multiple cells, or select entire rows or columns. A window will pop up where you can also manually enter the range of cells. 
    • You can then enter your list of items that will be included in the dropdown menu using this range of cells. You can easily add and remove items by going back to this sheet.
  • List of items: If you don’t anticipate your criteria changing too frequently, you can just manually enter the list of items using this feature. 
    • Enter the list of items separated by commas.
• Make sure Show dropdown list in cell is checked.
• You have two choices for how incorrect information is added: by showing an error message or simply rejecting the entry.
• Click Save.

If you want to remove the dropdown list entirely, select the cell(s) you want to change and click Data > Data Validation > Remove Data Validation.

To add or remove items, you’ll have to select the cells you want to affect, and go to Data > Data Validation and make changes to the entry.

This is one of many ways you can speed up your workflow with Google Sheets, which includes using macros to automate repetitive tasks

Read the full article: How to Create a Dropdown List in Google Sheets

Read Full Article

How to Force Shared Google Calendars to Show Up on iOS

Shared Google calendars are a great way to keep people organized. Whether it’s your household, your kids, or your colleagues, they offer an easy way to know what the people that matter to you are doing.

However, if someone shares a calendar with you and you own an iPhone, iPad, or other iOS device, you might not be able to see the calendar.

And we don’t mean that you have to open the Calendar app and tick checkbox next to the calendars that you want to display. The shared calendar won’t show up there. Worst still, deleting and re-adding your Google Account credentials won’t make any difference; you still won’t be able to see the calendars that were shared with you.

So, what’s the solution?

How to Force Shared Google Calendars to Show Up on iOS

It’s certainly not clear how you’re supposed to get shared calendars to show up on your phone. The solution is not evident at all.

Nonetheless, follow the simple step-by-step instructions below and you’ll be looking at your shared Google calendar in no time:

1. Launch your preferred web browser on your iOS device.
2. Type calendar.google.com/calendar/syncselect in the address bar and hit Enter.
3. Fill in your login credentials.
4. Scroll down to the Shared Calendars section.
5. Mark the checkboxes next to the shared calendars that you want to be visible on your iPhone or iPad.
6. Hit the Save button.

Note: After you make the changes in your Google Account, it can take a few minutes before the calendars appear on your device.

Now close the browser and open the Calendar app on your device. At the bottom of the screen, tap on Calendars. You should now see the calendars you just selected appear. Tap on the appropriate checkboxes to toggle them on or off.

For more cool Google Calendar tricks, check out our article on how the app can save you time in the office.

Image Credit: tomeversley/Depositphotos

Read the full article: How to Force Shared Google Calendars to Show Up on iOS

Read Full Article

How to Enable Favicons in Safari on iPhone and Mac

Eight Roads Ventures targets Southeast Asia deals

Eight Roads Ventures, the investment arm of financial giant Fidelity International, is moving into Southeast Asia where it sees the potential to plug the later stage investment gap.

The firm has funds across the world including the U.S, China and Europe, and it has invested nearly $6 billion in deals over the past decade. The firm has been active lately — it launched a new $375 million fund for Europe and Israeli earlier this year — and now it has opened an office in Singapore, where its managing partner for Asia, Raj Dugar, has relocated to from India.

The firm said it plans to make early-growth and growth stage investments of up to $30 million, predominantly around Series B, Series C and Series D deals. The focus of those checks will be startups in the technology, healthcare, consumer and financial services spaces. Already, it has three investments across Southeast Asia — including virtual credit card startup Akulaku, Eywa Pharma and fintech company Silot.

There’s a huge amount of optimism around technology and startups in Southeast Asia, where there’s an emerging middle-class and access to the internet is growing. A report from Google and Singapore sovereign fund Temasek forecasted that the region’s ‘online economy’ will grow to reach more than $200 billion. It was estimated to have hit $49.5 billion in 2017, up from $30.8 million the previous year.

Despite a growing market, investment has focused on early stages. A number of VC firms have launched newer and larger funds that cover Series B deals — including Openspace Ventures and Golden Gate Ventures — but there remains a gap further down the funding line and Eight Roads could be a firm that can help fill it.

“Southeast Asia has several early-stage and late-stage funds that cater well to the start-ups and more mature companies. The growth-stage companies, looking at raising Series B/C/D rounds have had limited access to capital given the lack of global funds operating in the region. We see phenomenal opportunity in this segment, and look forward to helping entrepreneurs as they scale their business, providing access to our global network of expertise and contacts,” Eightroad’s Dugar said in a statement.

Read Full Article

Sony Is Killing the PlayStation Vita in 2019

Sony is set to stop manufacturing the PlayStation Vita at some point in 2019. At least according to Sony Interactive Entertainment Senior Vice President Hiroyuki Oda. What’s more, the company currently has no plans to release a new handheld console.

A Brief History of the PlayStation Vita

The PlayStation Vita, commonly referred to as the PS Vita, was first launched in 2011. It was the follow-up to the PlayStation Portable, or PSP, which brought Sony into the handheld gaming market to compete with Nintendo and its DS model.

Unfortunately for Sony, unlike the PSP, which sold 80 million units worldwide, the PS Vita failed. To date, Sony has sold just 16 million units. This compares rather unfavorably to the Nintendo 3DS, which has sold 70 million units in the same time period.

Is This the End of the PlayStation Vita?

Now, in an interview with Famitsu (via Gematsu), Hiroyuki Oda has strongly suggested the PS Vita’s days are numbered. Oda said, “In Japan, we will manufacture PlayStation Vita until 2019. From there, shipping will end.” Which sounds definitive.

It isn’t actually clear whether Sony is stopping manufacturing the PS Vita just for the Japanese market or worldwide. However, seeing as the PS Vita has done better in Japan than anywhere else, it’s logical to assume this is the end, period.

R.I.P. PlayStation Vita.

It had a long run…in Japan. pic.twitter.com/LktdWvm4iG

— Allie-RX / ????? (@AllieRX) September 20, 2018

What’s more, it seems that this might be the end of Sony’s foray into the handheld console market, with Oda saying, “Currently, we do not have any plans regarding a new handheld device.” While Sony might surprise us all in a few years, it seems unlikely.

What Went Wrong for the PS Vita?

So, what went wrong for the PlayStation Vita? The obvious answer is bad timing. Over the last seven years Sony has not only had to compete with the Nintendo 3DS, but also with the rise of smartphone gaming. Which is now more popular than ever.

While plenty of people still own dedicated handheld consoles, the size of the potential market has shrunk as a result of mobile gaming. And that isn’t going to change anytime soon. Which is probably why Sony’s handheld days are over for good.

Read the full article: Sony Is Killing the PlayStation Vita in 2019

Read Full Article

What Is Bluetooth? 10 Common Questions, Asked and Answered

Almost every device you can buy today supports Bluetooth, but what is Bluetooth? Simply put, Bluetooth is a way for two nearby gadgets to transmit data to each other.

Let’s take a look at what Bluetooth is, trace its roots, discuss its pros and cons, and find out how it differs from other common wireless technologies like Wi-Fi or NFC.

What Is Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard whose purpose is to connect gadgets without a cable. The Bluetooth module is a tiny part of the chip in a device, which lets it wirelessly communicate with a Bluetooth module on any other devices.

Generally speaking, Bluetooth is used to transfer small amounts of data while being efficient with battery usage. Among the various wireless standards (like Wi-Fi), Bluetooth is known for maintaining a stable connection in short distances, and transferring small amounts of data without taking too much power. Yes, you can ignore that old Bluetooth myth about it draining your battery life.

Who Invented Bluetooth?

Bluetooth was invented by a team of engineers working for Ericsson, the networking giant. Ericsson’s Dutch electrical engineer Jaap Haartsen is credited as the inventor of Bluetooth. Haartsen has said he developed the standard in 1994, but hadn’t yet found a name for it.

Why Is It Called Bluetooth?

Although Ericsson had invented it, it still needed other companies to adopt Bluetooth across devices. The name actually came from a partner company, Intel, whose employee Jim Kardach suggested it.

Bluetooth is named after the 10th century king of Denmark and Norway, Harald Bluetooth. The king famously united Danish tribes into one kingdom, much like the Bluetooth technology unites communication protocols.

Who Owns Bluetooth Now?

No one “owns” Bluetooth, but its use and advancement is managed by an entity. To ensure Bluetooth became a universal communications protocol, in 1998 a group of companies came together to form the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG), a not-for-profit group.

Today, the Bluetooth SIG handles the development of new Bluetooth standards, like Bluetooth 5, and licenses the technology to partners and members. Currently, there are over 30,000 members in the Bluetooth SIG.

How Does Bluetooth Work?

Bluetooth works on radio waves, specifically in the 2.4GHz spectrum. This short-range frequency is commonly used by most appliances that need wireless connectivity, including Wi-Fi routers.

What makes Bluetooth different is the use of a technique called frequency hopping. It’s a bit technical, but there’s a simple explanation. Bluetooth uses 79 bands of radio waves in the aforementioned 2.4GHz frequency. When you send data, Bluetooth first divides this data into smaller packets. These packets are sent individually over those 79 bands, and Bluetooth is smart enough to change bands rapidly so that no one line gets clogged.

That’s the main platform of the technology. With the smart “hopping” of data transfers, Bluetooth can simultaneously connect up to eight devices and allow them to talk to each other.

Does Bluetooth Use Data?

This is a commonly asked question, especially since Bluetooth’s competitor Wi-Fi is associated with internet connections. The short answer is No! Bluetooth does not use any data.

When Bluetooth connects two devices, it forms something called a Personal Area Network (PAN). PAN does not require an internet connection or mobile service to transfer files or anything else.

The Specifics of Bluetooth

You can roughly divide Bluetooth into Basic Rate/Enhanced Data Rate (BR/EDR) and Low Energy (LE). The difference between these was more necessary a few years ago, but it’s not something you need to concern yourself with anymore. Most devices bought in the five or so years come with Bluetooth 4.0, 4.1, or 4.2—all of which make Low Energy the priority.

This process of breaking down data into smaller packets and sending them individually is also why Bluetooth is used mainly for small data transfers that don’t need to happen quickly. If you need to transfer large amounts of data quickly, there are better wireless protocols than Bluetooth.

Specifically, Bluetooth 4.2 can send data at up to 1Mbps, which will increase to 2Mbps with Bluetooth 5. The distance between devices is about 11-16 yards with Bluetooth 4.2, which will go up to 44 yards with Bluetooth 5.

What Is the Difference Between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi?

Technically, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth are both wireless standard protocols to let two devices connect without cables. But each technology’s merits and application are different.

Wi-Fi is a stronger and faster connection, which takes more battery. Bluetooth’s focus is on battery efficiency. A side effect of this is that Bluetooth actually maintains a more stable connection, since it interferes less with the same 2.4GHz radio waves that Wi-Fi and other wireless radio signals use.

While Bluetooth is generally the better technology to use for simple, low-power connections between two devices, you can also connect two devices with Wi-Fi Direct. Check out more about the differences between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi Direct.

Does My Computer or Laptop Have Bluetooth?

Bluetooth is a common and mass-used technology which you will find on most smartphones, tablets, laptops, and other wireless consumer devices.

This gets a little more tricky with desktop computers. Some motherboards do come with Bluetooth built-in, but it’s not that common. Have a look at how to set up Bluetooth on Windows 10. If you find your PC doesn’t have it after following those steps, you can add Bluetooth to your computer.

Is Bluetooth Safe?

No technology is fully safe, and the matter only gets more complicated when you’re dealing with something like Bluetooth. Bluetooth places a premium on making it easy to pair two devices, and that’s a double-edged sword as miscreants can exploit this ease to cause harm.

Over the years, security experts have discovered several risks in Bluetooth. The latest big vulnerability was found in 2017, called BlueBorne. The Bluetooth SIG ensures these are patched in good time. But that said, there are a few steps you can take for a little extra security:

1. Change your Bluetooth’s four-digit PIN. It’s usually a simple procedure depending on your device. The most common default PIN is 0000 and hackers know this, so when you can, change it.
2. Switch off Bluetooth when you aren’t using it. It’s the safest change you can make, and using “hidden profiles” and other such tricks have proven not to increase security.

Bluetooth: More Than Phones and Speakers

Now that you know about the technology, and how to stay safe while using it, it’s time to get it working on your gadgets. The most common use of Bluetooth is to connect a phone to Bluetooth speakers or headphones. But there’s a lot more you can do with it.

In fact, if you fancy a bit of DIY tech, you can create a wireless message board for almost no cost. If you car stereo doesn’t have Bluetooth, it’s easy to add it in. And then there’s the ultimate dream of a Bluetooth-powered remote controlled car. For all these and more, check out our selection of the best DIY Bluetooth projects for tech geeks.

Read the full article: What Is Bluetooth? 10 Common Questions, Asked and Answered

Read Full Article

Integrated vs. Dedicated Graphics Card: 7 Things You Need to Know

Google’s fingerprints were all over today’s Amazon event

Hidden amongst the 70 or so announcements Amazon made at today’s big Alexa event was one key hidden presence. Google’s offerings loomed large over much of the news flowing out from the big event.

It’s easy to understand why, of course. Assistant and Home have steadily been making up ground on Amazon over the last couple of years. In fact, just in time for today’s event, a study dropped noting that Google Home Mini was the best selling smart speaker for Q2 of this year, dethroning Amazon’s popular Dot.

As one of the first products unveiled at the event, the newly refreshed Dot certainly bore the mark of Google’s influence. A new, fabric covered design with improved sound promised to put the low cost smart speaker on better footing against the Home Mini. It’s the first big hardware redesign for the product.

While Amazon also beat Google to the punch with the Echo Show, the refreshed version of the product also bears the mark of Google’s influence on the space. The original Show was clearly about function over form. This year at CES, however, Google upped the ante for display-enabled category with its third-party Smart Displays. While the new Show has likely been in the works for some time, it’s hard not to see the influence of products like Lenovo’s.

Amazon does, however, deserve credit for not simply swiping from Google. The company is clearly interested in taking its own approach to the smart assistant category. Rather than, say, introducing a Google Max/HomePod competitor, the company introduced the elements (Sub, Link, et al.) for building a home stereo system, piece by piece. The Echo Auto, meanwhile, finds the company offering a plug and play solution designed to compete with the likes of Android Android.

The rivalry between Amazon and Google that resulted in YouTube being pulled from the Echo Show is clearly a driving force behind many of the decisions on display at today’s event. And it’s clear that things are only going to heat up from here.

Read Full Article

Facebook’s Camera AR platform head is coming to TC Sessions: AR/VR

Augmented reality has the potential to change how we interact with the internet, as these technologies scale you can certainly bet that Facebook is going to be looking to shape what’s possible.

At our one-day TC Sessions: AR/VR event in LA next month, we’ll be joined by Ficus Kirkpatrick, Facebook’s Head of Camera AR Platform, to chat about the company’s strategies in 2018 and beyond for augmented reality.

While the bulk of Facebook’s VR ambitions have taken up residence under the Oculus name, the biggest AR platform available right now are the hundreds of millions of smartphones that people already have. Fortunately, Facebook has quite the presence on mobile but that’s made it even more of a challenge to fit AR ambitions into apps that already have so much going on.

Facebook is not the place most people turn to when they want to take a photo, but the company’s Camera team is hoping to change that by bringing augmented reality face and environment filters deeper into the app.

The Camera Effects AR Platform was Mark Zuckerberg’s hallmark announcement at F8 in 2017, a year when Apple and Google also started getting more verbose in their praise for AR’s potential. In 2018, the company has had some other things keeping it busy, but has continued to bring AR to other areas of the company’s suite of apps with new capabilities.

Right now Facebook is largely focused on the fun and artsy applications of AR, but where will the company take smartphone AR beyond selfie filters towards delivering utility to billions of users? We look forward to chatting with Kirkpatrick about the challenges ahead for the tech giant and the strategies for getting more users to warm up to AR.

$99 Early Bird sale ends tomorrow, 9/21, book your tickets today and save $100 before prices go up, and save an additional 25% when you tweet your attendance through our ticketing platform.

Student tickets are just $45 and can be purchased here. Student tickets are good for high/middle school students (with chaperone), 2/4 year college students, and master’s/PhD students.

Read Full Article

The 6 Most Popular Email Providers Other Than Gmail and Yahoo

In 2012, Gmail overtook Hotmail to become the most popular email provider in the world. Since claiming the crown, it’s showing no signs of slowing down. Today, the service boasts more than one billion users.

The other go-to free email provider is Yahoo Mail. Sure, its user numbers pale into insignificance compared with Gmail (it had around 255 million at the start of 2018), but it’s still one of the most recognizable global email brands.

But what other alternatives are out there? If you don’t want a Gmail or Yahoo account, what choices do you have?

1. Microsoft Outlook

Outlook terminology is confusing. Microsoft has done a poor job of differentiating between its free email accounts, its free modern Windows app, and its Office 365 app. Luckily, if you just want a free email account, you don’t need to get bogged down in the details; just head to outlook.com and sign up for an @outlook.com email address.

The service has surpassed Yahoo to become the second most popular free email provider in the world. In mid-2016, Microsoft reported it had more than 450 million active users.

Using an Outlook account comes with significant benefits. Because it’s operated by Microsoft, it’s heavily integrated into the Windows 10 operating system. It also works seamlessly with the Outlook Office 365 app.

If you decide to use either the web client or the desktop client, you’re in good company. 16 percent of all email sent is opened on one of the two apps.

2. GMX Mail

GMX Mail is a subsidiary of United Internet, one of Germany’s largest internet service providers. The free mail service has been gaining in popularity over the last few years, but it’s been around since 1997.

Despite only having 11 million active monthly users, it still comfortably makes the top ten of free email providers in terms of user numbers. It’s a surprising statistic and one which reveals the almost unassailable popularity of services like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook.

Feature-wise, you can expect 1 GB of file storage, a 50 MB attachment limit, and support for both IMAP and POP. Most interestingly, it offers unlimited email storage; you’ll never run out of space again. Unfortunately, it lacks an RSS reader and a conversation view.

3. Zoho Mail

Zoho Mail is one of the newest providers on the list. It’s only been in existence since October 2008.

In its short life, the service has quickly developed into one of the best free email providers outside the Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook troika. Driven by an ad-free web client (even for free users), it’s grown to more than 10 million active users in just nine years.

The app offers everything you’d expect from a free email provider, including multi-level folders, conversation views, drag-and-drop inbox organizing, and filters. One omission is an integrated video chat tool.

Zoho Mail is part of a larger office productivity suite. The service is tightly integrated with Zoho Docs—a Microsoft Office competitor that lets you create, edit, and collaborate on text, presentation, and spreadsheet documents.

4. iCloud

iCloud represents Apple’s venture into free email. Most Mac, iPad, and iPhone users have an account. iCloud itself is a holistic cloud service. It underpins other Apple services such as Find My iPhone, Photo Stream, Keychain, and iCloud Drive. Mail is just one facet of the app.

The app boasts 720 million users, but it’s not clear how many of them are using an @iCloud.com email address.

Like Outlook.com and Microsoft, iCloud integrates seamlessly with the default Apple mail client on both Mac and iOS. On mobile, you can add any number of email providers to the app. On the web client, you can only access your @icloud.com address.

All iCloud users get 5 GB of storage for free. In addition to documents, photos, and other data, any emails you receive count against the limit. As such, you might need to pay for more storage if iCloud is your provider of choice.

Note: There are plenty of other great cloud providers for Apple users.

5. AOL Mail

AOL Mail is the granddad of free email services. It went live in March 1993, making it three years older than Hotmail, four years older than Yahoo Mail, and almost ten years older than Gmail.

Because of its age, it has a huge user base. Nevertheless, the numbers have been decreasing in recent years. In 2006, it had 50 million active monthly users, and as recently as 2010 it was the third-largest email provider in the world. Today, the number of active users is down to 25 million.

Just because AOL Mail is a recognizable brand name with millions of users, you shouldn’t necessarily rush to sign up. In recent years, several pieces of research have hinted at “email bias”. Potential employers are less likely to hire you if you have an AOL or Hotmail address; it suggests you’re stuck in 1996.

6. Elude

We’re going to leave you with something a bit different. Rather than listing another popular mainstream email provider, you should give Elude a chance. Elude is rapidly becoming the most popular email provider on the darknet.

Despite only launching in mid-2017, it’s been hoovering up privacy-conscious users who are desperate to find another secure, anonymous, and simple email provider after the collapse of SIGAINT.

At its peak, SIGAINT had 400,000 users. It’s safe to assume Elude will ultimately have similar numbers.

Elude does not use JavaScript, does not require any phone numbers or other forms of ID at sign up, and encrypts all server traffic.

Because it has a .onion URL, you can only access Elude through the TOR browser.

Which Email Provider Do You Prefer?

We’ve introduced you to six of the most popular email providers other than Gmail and Yahoo. Each has different benefits, but they all have the common theme of being highly popular among certain subsets of users.

If you’d like to learn more about different email providers, check out our articles about the best email services for a clutter-free inbox and the best disposable email address providers.

Read the full article: The 6 Most Popular Email Providers Other Than Gmail and Yahoo

Read Full Article

The 7 Best Bitcoin Wallets and Cryptocurrency Wallets