5 Apps to Fulfill Your New Year’s Resolutions and Stay on Track

The start of the new year makes you look at your life and try to make a few changes. Such new year’s resolutions are notoriously hard to keep, so let these apps motivate you and keep you on track.

Some of these apps will help you figure out what your goals and resolutions should be, guiding you to find what matters and where you’re faltering. Others will ensure you are focussed on following through with the steps you want to take.

This Next Year (Web): Figure Out Resolutions By Writing to Yourself

If you haven’t figured out what resolutions to set, or if you want to do a self-assessment, then go to This Next Year. Through a series of questions, you will find goals for each aspect of your life.

The website asks you how you feel about your career, personal interests, relationships, and health, as well as dreams and moonshot goals. In each, you will have to rate how you see yourself right now and write actionable steps to improve or maintain things. For some guidance, have a look at the common habits of successful people.

All of this is turned into a letter, which will be sent to you at the end of the year. That way, you can compare what you wanted to do with what you actually did. More importantly, the process of just writing this out clarifies your targets.

This Next Year is available in the letter-writing format till January 14. After that, the website will still be active to figure out goals for yourself, but you won’t get the auto-sent letter at the end of the year.

Omnicalculator’s Resolutions Calculator (Web): Is It Realistic?

Once you know what your resolution is going to be, you still need to figure out whether it’s realistic or not. If you have never hit the gym and think you’re going to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger in a year, you have another thing coming.

Omnicalculator’s New Year’s Resolutions Calculator helps you figure out how long it will take to achieve your goal, realistically. It has a series of different resolutions, like exercise more, eat healthier, learn a new skill, and so on. Each of these has further sub-goals, like “swimming” under “learn a new skill”. Next, choose the desired level of achievement you want at the end of the year.

Omnicalculator then asks for the number of hours a week you will dedicate to your task. And boom, it will calculate whether you will achieve your goal or not. If it’s a no, you either need to choose a new goal, a different level, or increase the number of hours you’ll spend on it. No matter what, a little fiddling around will reveal exactly what it takes to achieve your resolution.

Make Yourself Great Again (Web): Are You Wasting Time?

When you are assessing your own self, you tend to be a little lenient. If you crunch everything down into actual numbers, you might have a fairer and more objective view of yourself. How do you do that? Try it with Make Yourself Great Again.

This app asks you where you are spending time. The activities are divided into distractions and investments. Distractions include things like social media, watching TV, going out, commuting, and so on. Investments include things like working out, family/friend time, learning new skills, and so on. You can also add your own other distractions and investments to the equation.

For each aspect, add how many hours a week you spend doing it. A rough estimate is fine, and the distractions have an average human’s time for each activity.

Once you’re done, you’ll get an instant picture of how much time you spend on distractions as compared to investments. The multiplier can be a little shocking at times, but it’ll help you figure out where you need to make a change.

Habitify (Android, iOS, macOS): Habit Tracking and Accountability

Every productivity expert and scientific study has one common piece of advice about meeting your goals, which is to track every step of the journey. A nifty app for that is Habitify, which was available for Apple users for some time, but is now also on Android.

Habitify simplifies the process of forming a new habit by dividing up your steps into different parts of the day, different days of the week, and so on. For example, you might want to form a habit of getting up early every day, going to the gym three times a week, and reading a book once a week. It’s easy to key all that into Habitify, and then get reminders at the appropriate time.

It includes productivity favorites like habit streaks, statistics to see how well you are doing, and even a selection of “small wins” to keep you motivated to achieve more. It’s a wonderful app that gets most things right about what you need to form new habits.

Download: Habitify for Android | iOS (Free)

Download: Habitify for macOS ($9.99)

Intent (Web): Email-Based Motivation and Challenges

If you don’t want a habit-tracking app with all its maintenance and constant notifications, but still want some tool to keep you on track, try Intent. It’s an email-based service that gives you a daily motivational or inspirational boost.

Here’s how it works. When you sign up for Intent, you are asked to write one thing you want to focus on for the new year. Intent will then send you a daily email with some article that talks about your area of interest, and how to improve yourself on it.

Intent also issues a weekly challenge for your overall goal. Meet those goals and earn Karma Coins, and more importantly, keep your winning streak intact.

It’s a simple and easy way to track your resolutions and meet them, without installing anything.

Habit Apps to Meet Resolutions

With these apps, you will find different methods to set and meet your resolutions. They are best to start a new year with, but that doesn’t mean you can’t use them in the rest of the year. Whenever you want to make a change for the better, use any of these for a boost.

Apart from Habitify, there are plenty of other habit-tracking and motivational apps that push you to achieve the targets you have set. Try these five new habit apps to actually reach your goals.

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Swarms of tiny satellites could act like one giant space telescope

It won’t be long before the James Webb Space Telescope is launched, an enormous and complex feat of engineering — but all one piece. That’s a good thing for now, but new research suggests that in the near future giant telescopes like the Webb might be replaced (or at least augmented) by swarms of tiny spacecraft working in concert.

One advance, from Ben Gurion University in Israel, is a leap in the capabilities of what are called synthetic aperture systems. It’s a technique where a single small camera moves across a space, capturing images as it goes, and by very careful analysis of the data it collects, it can produce imagery like that created by a much larger camera — essentially synthesizing a bigger aperture.

As documented in a paper published today in Optica, the team leapfrogs existing methods in an interesting way. Two satellites move in synchrony around the edge of a circle, collecting data as they go and beaming it to a third stationary one; this circle describes the synthetic aperture the two cameras are creating.

“We found that you only need a small part of a telescope lens to obtain quality images,” explained BGU grad student Angika Bulbul, who led the research, in a news release. “Even by using the perimeter aperture of a lens, as low as 0.43 percent, we managed to obtain similar image resolution compared to the full aperture area of mirror/lens-based imaging systems.”

In other words, they were basically able to get the results of a camera 50 times the size. That would be impressive anywhere, but up in space it’s especially important. Putting something as huge and complex as the Webb into orbit is an incredibly complicated and drawn out endeavor. And it’s putting a lot of eggs in one (very carefully checked and rechecked) basket.

But if you could instead use a handful of satellites working together, and just replace one if it fails, that really opens up the field. “We can slash the huge cost, time and material needed for gigantic traditional optical space telescopes with large curved mirrors,” Bulbul said.

One of the challenges of space telescopes, however, is that they need to take measurements with extreme precision. And keeping a satellite perfectly still is hard enough, to say nothing of having it move perfectly to within fractions of a millimeter.

To keep on track, right now many satellites use reliable fixed sources of light, like bright stars, as reference points when calculating various things relating to their operations. Some astronomers have even used lasers to excite a point high in the atmosphere to provide a sort of artificial star for these systems to use.

These methods both have their strengths and weaknesses, but MIT researchers think they’ve found a more permanent, high-precision solution: a “guide star” satellite that would sit thousands of miles out and train a strong laser on the Earth and its orbital region.

This light source would be reliable, steady, and highly visible; satellites could use it to calculate their position and the minute changes to their imaging apparatus caused by heat and radiation, perhaps to a degree not possible with actual stars or atmospheric dots.

Both these intriguing technologies are still very much in the lab, but theory is where all big advances start, and it could be that in a few years, swarms of satellites will be sent into space not to provide terrestrial communications, but to create a massive synthetic telescope looking out on the universe.

 

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Dell’s New Latitude 7400 2-in-1 Detects Nearby Users and Wakes Up Automatically

It’s almost time for the Consumer Electronics Show, which means we’re going to hear about all kinds of exciting new technology! Dell is getting out ahead of the big event with the announcement of its new commercial Latitude 7400 2-in-1 laptop. The device actually features a proximity sensor that’ll wake the computer up automatically when someone comes near it, speeding up the login process.

Business laptops are not usually known for their flashy and exciting features, but this one is definitely an exception to that rule!

Latitude 7400 2-in-1 Features And Specs

Obviously, the main selling point of the laptop is the proximity sensor, which Dell calls “ExpressSign-In”. Basically, it detects a nearby user and wakes the computer up. It then uses Windows Hello to log them in by detecting their face once the laptop is opened.

Normally, a laptop wakes up when the screen is opened or when the power button is pressed, depending on the power settings. With this new feature, the computer will already be awake by the time you lift the screen, shaving a few seconds off the login process.

The Latitude 7400 also comes with several enterprise features like Cat 16 Gigabit LTE, a fingerprint reader, and the FIPS 201 Smart Card Reader.

According to Dell, this is the smallest commercial 14-inch 2-in-1 laptop on the market right now. It’s 25 percent smaller than the previous model and weighs in at a slim 3 pounds.

There’s a new cooling system that Dell calls “intelligent thermal responsiveness.” Essentially, this means that it’ll cool differently depending on whether you’re using the laptop on your lap or on a desk.

Dell promises that the impressive laptop features a battery life of up to 24 hours depending on how it’s used, which is quite solid.

Here’s a look at some of the specs for the Latitude 7400:

• 8th-gen Intel Core Whiskey Lake Processor
• Up to 16GB LPDDR3 SDRAM
• 256GB up to 2TB SSD
• 2 USB 3.1 ports, 2 Thunderbolt 3 ports, SD 4.0 memory card reader
• Fingerprint reader, FIPS 201 Smart Card Reader, NFC, Windows Hello IR
• Stereo Speaker with MaxxAudio Pro

When Does the Latitude 7400 Come out And how Much Will It Be?

Dell says that its new laptop will release in March of 2019, so interested buyers won’t have to wait too long to get their hands on one. It’ll start at $1600 for the base model and go up from there. Dell hasn’t released how much it’ll be for the top-of-the-line model.

Not sure if a 2-in-1 is for you? Here are five reasons to buy a Windows 10 2-in-1 laptop.

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The 6 Best Free Video Editing Apps for iPhone and iPad

How to Find Information on Someone Online: 7 Simple Steps

If you want to track a person down, the web is awash with potential resources. You can find anyone online with the help of search engines, social networks, and public records among other tools.

Whether it’s a lost friend, a rogue landlord, or an old teacher, you should be able to locate them with a bit of digging. Here are steps to finding information about someone online.

Step 1: Check Google Search

Google should always be your first port of call. A simple search could reveal all sorts of information about a person, including their job, family, and the city they live in.

If the person in question has a common name, try using some of Google’s Boolean search operators to narrow your focus.

It’s also worth checking out Google News. It will reveal any recent notable achievements or infamous scandals.

Step 2: Set Up a Google Alert

If you can’t find any information using Google, try setting up some Google Alerts. If something about the person you are looking for appears on the web in the future, you’ll receive a notification in your email inbox.

To set up a Google Alert, head to google.com/alerts and enter the person’s name in the search box. Click on Show Options to customize settings such as language, region, and notification frequency.

Step 3: Check Other Search Engines

Google isn’t the only show in town. There are lots of search engines out there. They all have differing search algorithms, meaning you’ll be able to dig up alternative nuggets of information by using them.

Check out our roundup of Google alternatives to learn more.

Step 4: Check Mainstream Social Networks

Estimates suggest that in 2018, 77 percent of people in the United States have at least one social media profile.

Although that’s down from the all-time high of 80 percent in 2017 (thanks to the #DeleteFacebook movement), there’s still a strong chance that the person you want to track down is out there somewhere.

You should scan all the usual haunts such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. But make sure you don’t overlook LinkedIn. Some professionals may maintain their LinkedIn profile as their only social media presence.

Step 5: Check Public Records

“Public records” is a broad term. Which records are available online is hit-and-miss. If you’re in luck, you might be able to find a person’s birth certificate, marriage license, divorce decree, and more.

You also be able to check documents such as land use certificates and company registers to see if the person has any entries connected to their name.

Sites to look at include:

Zabasearch

Zabasearch is a good starting point, but it will return a massive amount of information. It pulls information from openly available records like court records, voter registration information, and Yellow Pages etc. To manage the deluge of information, you can narrow it down to a state for starters.

Most of the information is available free of charge and you should exhaust all your search options before taking the paid route.

VitalRec

VitalRec will help you find birth certificates, death records, marriage licenses, and divorce decrees for every state, county, and town records office in the United States.

The site also has some international records. Countries covered include Australia, Austria, Canada, Czech Republic, the U.K., Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, and Sweden.

The National Sex Offender Public Website

The National Sex Offender Public Website—or NSOPW for short—is the U.S. list of registered sex offenders.

It contains the databases for all 50 states as well as the District of Columbia, U.S. territories, and Indian Country.

Military Records

Veterans’ Service Records are available through the National Archives in the United States. It includes photos, documents, and searchable databases are available.

Note that the data is not exhaustive. The National Archive’s curators admit the majority of the information is not available online. That’s especially true for pre-World War I records.

Copyright Records

If the person you’re trying to find is a writer, musician, or otherwise involved in the creative arts, you might find a reference to them in the United States Copyright Office. The department’s records are all searchable online.

You can search for both personal names and corporate names.

Other countries maintain their own equivalent searchable databases.

Patent Records

Similarly, if the person you want to track down is a scientist or inventor, you might find them in the United States Patent and Trademark Office’s public records.

You can search by name, design mark, keywords, and more.

Again, other countries have comparable databases.

Federal Bureau of Prisons

There’s a chance that the person is incarcerated. After all, almost one in every 100 American adults is behind bars.

If they’re a convicted criminal, they might not show up on social media or in some of the other sites we’ve discussed.

You can check the nationwide list of detainees on the official Federal Bureau of Prisons website.

Step 6: Check Niche Search Engines

Still no luck? Don’t worry; you’re not out of options yet. Next up, check out some niche search engines. They specialize in specific industries, regions, and social networks.

Some niche search engines that will help you find someone online:

PeekYou

PeekYou scans people’s social media accounts along with references to a person’s username on other sites and blogs.

You need a name and (optionally) a phone number to begin.

Pipl

Pipl is excellent at uncovering phone numbers, addresses, and links to public records. You can refine your search by city, state, and zip code to get a narrower selection of hits.

Find a Grave

If the person you’re looking for is deceased, you could head to the Find a Grave website. It is the world’s most extensive database of information about graves and tombstones. It is a collection of user-submitted photos and content.

At the time of writing, there are 170 million memorials you can search through. There is a mix of ordinary deceased people and departed famous people.

Interment.net

In the same vein, Interment.net has millions of official cemetery records from thousands of cemeteries around the world.

Data is available for the United States, Belgium, Brazil, Cuba, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, and Poland.

Step 7: Check Niche Social Networks

Lastly, it’s worth poking around on a few niche social networks. You’d be surprised at the diversity in the number of smaller sites out there. There are networks for investors, beer lovers, neighborhood communities, and more.

We’ve written about some of the best niche social networks. Read the list to find out which ones we recommend.

Even More Sites to Find People Online

The diverse array of tools we have covered should help you get up and running in your bid to find information about someone online.

For even more avenues to explore, check out our list of websites to find people on the internet.

Read the full article: How to Find Information on Someone Online: 7 Simple Steps

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How to Make More Money With Google Rewards

Warning: Android Malware Can Empty Your PayPal Account

It’s no surprise that the end of 2018 had its fair share of cybersecurity stories. As ever, there’s so much going on in the world of online privacy, data protection, and cybersecurity that keeping up is tricky.

Our monthly security digest will help you keep tabs on the most important security and privacy news every month. Here’s what happened in December 2018!

1. Android Malware Steals From PayPal Accounts

Midway through December security experts at ESET announced the discovery of a new Android malware that steals money directly from PayPal accounts—even with two-factor authentication turned on.

ESET security researchers released the above video detailing how the malware works.

What you see in that video is the researcher logging into a test account with their 2FA code. As soon as the researcher enters their 2FA code, the account automates a payment to a pre-configured account. In this case, the payment failed because it was a test account without enough funds to process the payment.

The malware poses as a battery optimization app, called Optimization Android. Tens of other battery optimization apps use the same logo, as well as featuring similarly unobtrusive names.

Once installed, Optimize Android requests the user to turn on a malicious access service disguised as “Enable statistics.” If the user enables the service, the malicious app checks the target system for the official PayPal app and if found, the malware triggers a PayPal notification alert prompting the victim to open the app.

“Once the user opens the PayPal app and logs in, the malicious accessibility service (if previously enabled by the user) steps in and mimics the user’s clicks to send money to the attacker’s PayPal address.” The ESET research blog elaborates on the 2FA evasion, too.

“Because the malware does not rely on stealing PayPal login credentials and instead waits for users to log into the official PayPal app themselves, it also bypasses PayPal’s two-factor authentication (2FA). Users with 2FA enabled simply complete one extra step as part of logging in,—as they normally would—but end up being just as vulnerable to this Trojan’s attack as those not using 2FA.”

2. Chinese Military Hackers Breach Private EU Diplomat Communications

US security outfit Area 1 detailed how a People’s Liberation Army cyber campaign has had access to private European Union communications for several years.

“In late November 2018, Area 1 Security discovered that this campaign, via phishing, successfully gained access into the computer network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Cyprus, a communications network used by the European Union to facilitate cooperation on foreign policy matters,” Area 1 explained in a blog post.

“This network, known as COREU, operates between the 28 EU countries, the Council of the European Union, the European External Action Service, and the European Commission. It is a crucial instrument in the EU system of foreign policymaking.”

The hack itself appears to have been very basic. Hackers stole credentials from network administrators and other senior staffers. They used the credentials to gain high-level access to the network where they installed the PlugX malware, creating a persistent backdoor to steal information from.

After exploring the network and moving from machine to machine, the hackers found the remote file server storing all diplomatic cables from the COREU network.

The New York Times elaborates on the content of the cables, including EU worries regarding President Trump, as well as European-wide concerns regarding Russia, China, and Iran.

3. Save the Children Charity Hit by $1m Scam

The US wing of the British charity, Save the Children, was scammed out of $1 million through a Business Email Compromise (BEC) attack.

A hacker compromised an employee email account and sent several fake invoices to other employees. The hacker pretended that several payments were required for a solar panel system for a health center in Pakistan.

By the time Save the Children’s security team realized what was going on, the money had been deposited in a Japanese bank account. However, thanks to their insurance policy, Save the Children recovered all but $112,000.

Unfortunately, Save the Children are far from alone in losing money through a Business Email Compromise.

The FBI estimates that businesses lost over $12 billion between October 2013 and May 2018. Charities make a ripe target, too, with many hackers assuming that the non-profits will have basic or lax security practices.

The UK government found that 73 percent of U.K.-based charities with incomes larger than £5 million had been targeted within the past 12 months. Finally, security researchers at Agari uncovered the makings of a massive BEC scam that used commercial lead generation services to identify 50,000 executives to target.

Need some email security pointers? The free MakeUseOf email security course is about to get up and running. Sign up right here!

4. Amazon Customers Suffer Pre-Christmas Phishing Campaign

Christmas is a difficult time for consumers. A lot is going on. Cybercriminals sought to exploit the confusion and stress that many people feel in the build-up by launching a massive malicious spam campaign centered around Amazon Order Confirmation emails.

Researchers for EdgeWave discovered the campaign and quickly realized that the end-goal was to trick unsuspecting Amazon customers into downloading the dangerous Emotet banking Trojan.

Victims receive a standardized Amazon Order Confirmation form, containing an order number, payment summary, and an estimated delivery date. These are all fake, but the spammers rely on the fact many people order multiple packages from the shopping giant and won’t pay attention.

The emails, however, have one difference. They do not display the items that are being shipped. Instead, the scammers direct the victim to hit the Order Details button. The Order Details button downloads a malicious Word document named order_details.doc.

You can see the differences in the image above. Also note the misaligned Amazon Recommendation and Amazon Account links in the email.

When the victim opens the document, Word shows the user a Security Warning, advising that “some active content has been disabled.” If the user clicks through this warning, a macro triggers that executes a PowerShell command. The command downloads and installs the Emotet Trojan.

If you think you have downloaded malware, check out the MakeUseOf malware removal guide for tips on how to start saving your system.

5. US Indicts Chinese Hackers

The US has indicted two Chinese hackers with strong links to the Chinese state-backed hacking group, APT10.

The Department of Justice alleges that Zhang Shilong and Zhu Hua have stolen “hundreds of gigabytes” of private data from more than 45 government organizations and other important US-based businesses.

“From at least in or about 2006 up to and including in or about 2018, members of the APT10 group, including Zhu and Zhang, conducted extensive campaigns of intrusions into computer systems around the world,” according to the DoJ release. “The APT10 Group used some of the same online facilities to initiate, facilitate and execute its campaigns during the conspiracy.”

The pair are well known to other Western governments, too. Another series of attacks dating back to 2014 puts the pair hacking into the networks of service providers in 12 different countries.

The day after the Department of Justice announced the indictments, officials in Australia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, and the U.K. published official statements formally blaming China for state-backed hacking of government agencies and businesses in the respective countries.

“These actions by Chinese actors to target intellectual property and sensitive business information present a very real threat to the economic competitiveness of companies in the United States and around the globe,” said a joint statement released by U.S. Secretary of State, Michael Pompeo, and Secretary of Homeland Security, Kirstjen Nielsen.

“We will continue to hold malicious actors accountable for their behavior, and today the United States is taking several actions to demonstrate our resolve. We strongly urge China to abide by its commitment to act responsibly in cyberspace and reiterate that the United States will take appropriate measures to defend our interests.”

December Security Roundup

Those are five of the top security stories from December 2018. But a lot more happened; we just don’t have space to list it all in detail. Here are five more interesting security stories that popped up last month:

• The extremely destructive Iranian-linked Shamoon malware reappeared in Saudi Arabia and the UAE.
• The Australian government implemented its ridiculous encryption backdoor legislation.
• ESET releases research detailing 21 new malware strains [PDF] for Linux operating systems.
• Cybercriminals post dank memes on Twitter to issue commands to active malware.
• NASA discloses a data breach that took place in October 2018; final details of the affected still unknown.

Whew, what an end to the year in security. The world of cybersecurity is constantly evolving. Keeping track of everything is a full-time job. That’s why we round up the most important and most interesting bits of news for you every month.

Check back at the start of February for everything that happened in the first month of 2019.

Still on holiday? Take some time a read about the five biggest cybersecurity threats coming your way in 2019.

Read the full article: Warning: Android Malware Can Empty Your PayPal Account

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Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Which Is Better?

YouTube Music and Google Play Music. Allo and Hangouts. Google Plus and Orkut. Google loves to duplicate its apps and services. The situation is no different for cord cutters and streamers: one company, two completely different solutions.

So, if you’re wondering whether you should buy a Google Chromecast or an Android TV device, keep reading. In this article we pitch the Google Chromecast vs. Android TV to help you determine which one you should buy.

What Is Android TV?

Android TV is the television version of the smartphone operating system. It launched in mid-2014, 12 months later than the Chromecast.

Like the smartphone OS, there’s not a single version of the Android TV platform. Lots of manufacturers have added their own customizations, and there are dozens of Android TV dongles and set-top boxes on the market.

Android TV also powers some smart TVs from manufacturers such as Hisense, Asus, Sharp, and Sony. Google does not produce any in-house Android TV equipment.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Cost

The cost of Chromecast dongles is easy to quantify. The entry-level model costs $35 and the Chromecast Ultra (which supports 4K video) will set you back $69.

Which it comes to Android TV, the situation is considerably more complicated. Because there’s not a single Android TV model, prices can vary wildly.

Fair warning—there are a lot of cheap Android TV boxes flooding the market. Some no-brand Chinese devices can be found for less than $20 on sites like AliExpress. Give them a wide berth.

However, some cheap Android TV boxes are worth recommending. They include the Xiaomi Mi (around $50), the MXQ Android Box ($35), and even a DIY Raspberry Pi solution.

At the other end of the scale, the best-in-class is still the Nvidia Shield. You can buy the 16GB model for $180 and the 500GB version for $300. Confusingly, both Nvidia Shield models come with Chromecast built-in.

Read our list of the best Android TV boxes for more details.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Interface

If you’re the type of person who likes to immerse yourself in an operating system, a Chromecast dongle might not be right for you.

Chromecasts do not have a user interface. Instead, you cast content from your phone, tablet, or computer (via Chrome).

Some apps are Chromecast-enabled; they have a dedicated Cast button which will replicate their visual and audio output on your TV screen. Alternatively, you can mirror your device’s entire screen, but that requires your phone’s screen to remain on, thus chewing through the battery.

Android TV devices have a dedicated user interface that you can control using a remote or a smartphone app. Rather than installing apps on your computer or mobile, you install standalone apps directly on the Android TV device.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Apps

Most of the big players (think Netflix, Spotify, Hulu, etc.) have apps available for the Android TV platform and also make their smartphone apps Chromecast-enabled.

The notable exception is Amazon Prime Video. There’s an Android TV app available, but you cannot easily cast the video to a Chromecast.

There are a few workarounds which let you watch Amazon Prime Video on a Chromecast, but they are not ideal.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Sideloading

Android TV boxes have access to a special version of the Google Play Store. Unfortunately, the selection of apps available is nowhere near as diverse as in the regular smartphone version of the store.

Thankfully, you can negate the issue by sideloading apps on Android TV. If you can get hold of an app’s APK file (check sites like APKPure and APKMirror to see if you can find it), you can install any Android app on the operating system, and it will work.

The biggest drawback to sideloading apps is navigation. Because the apps have not been altered for the Android TV platform, your device’s remote might not work. If your Android TV box has a USB port, you can plug in a mouse. If it doesn’t, you can try pairing your box with a Bluetooth-enabled gaming controller.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Games

If you’re a gamer, Android TV devices are the clear winner. Just make sure you don’t try to save a few bucks by buying an underpowered box.

If you want to use a Chromecast for gaming, you’ll still need to use your mobile device for the controls. That awkwardness, paired with the occasional lag you’ll encounter between your phone and your TV, makes it unsuitable for any fast-paced game. However, more sedate games, like Solitaire or quizzes, will be fine.

In contrast, many Android TV devices can be paired with gaming controllers. If you buy a high-spec box—such as the previously-mentioned Nvidia Shield—you might even find that a gaming controller comes included in the box.

The Android TV version of the Google Play Store hosts a wide variety of popular games, including Grand Theft Auto, Asphalt 8: Airborne, and Badland.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Longevity

It’s fair to question whether Chromecasts have a long-term future in Google’s product line-up.

Yes, they were revolutionary back in 2013 when they brought on-demand internet video streaming to the masses for the first time, but they increasingly look like a technology from yesteryear.

All the Chromecast’s competitors—Amazon Fire TV, Apple TV, Android TV, and Roku—offer a more holistic service for cord cutters. And as we’ve seen from the Nvidia Shield, it’s perfectly possible to bolt Chromecast’s screen mirroring features onto the Android TV OS for on-the-fly casting. The devices from Roku, Apple, and Amazon also all offer their own version of screen mirroring.

We’re not sure what’s preventing Google simply putting the Android TV operating system into a Chromecast-sized dongle and offering it at a similar price point. It’s likely to happen at some point.

Android TV and Kodi Boxes

You’ve probably heard of Kodi boxes. They are set-top devices that automatically launch Kodi upon boot, allowing you to easily access all your content. In simple terms, they turn Kodi into a smart TV operating system.

Although it’s not strictly essential (you could use a Raspberry Pi), almost all Kodi boxes run on Android TV. It’s also the operating system of choice for all those illegal (and they ARE illegal) “fully loaded” Kodi boxes you see popping up on eBay.

We’ve rounded up some of the best Kodi boxes on the market if you would like to learn more.

Google Assistant and Your Smart Home

Chromecasts are not smart devices. You cannot use them to control third-party smart home products around your home. You will need to use your phone’s Google Home app, which is a bit of an effort when you just want to turn off a light.

In contrast, an increasing number of mid-range and top-end Android TV devices now come with Google Assistant built in. As we know, the smart assistant offers an array of smart home integrations, entertainment options, and productivity tools. If you enjoy the benefits of voice control, an Android TV box is the way to go.

What About the Amazon Fire TV?

Don’t forget that Amazon Fire TV devices run their own customized version of Android TV. Sure, it’s unrecognizable from the vanilla operating system, but it still qualifies.

If you want more information, we’ve previously explained what Amazon Fire TV is and how it works.

Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: The Winner Is…

Everything else being equal, the clear winner is Android TV. It has more features, it’s just as easy to use, its future looks more certain, and it’s more flexible. But don’t write off the Chromecast completely.

If you want a highly portable device that’ll work in hotels, for business presentations, and at other people’s houses, they are the best option on the market. They’re also a cost-effective choice for secondary TVs in your home such as in bedrooms and kitchens.

Of course, you could also consider a Roku device. And if you need to know how the Roku stacks up against the Chromecast we have previously written a comparison of Chromecast and Roku.

Read the full article: Android TV vs. Google Chromecast: Which Is Better?

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How to Create Interactive Charts and Graphs on Mac Using Numbers

Charts and graphs are fantastic tools for displaying data. They’re easy to read, simple to understand and provide a clear visual picture of information.

What’s even better than regular, static charts and graphs are those that you can interact with. This lets you display your data differently and gives you the opportunity to focus on specific pieces more easily.

Numbers for Mac offers a feature for creating interactive charts and graphs and here’s how to use it.

What Is an Interactive Chart in Numbers?

In short, an interactive chart in Numbers is one that lets you display your data in stages. You can use a slider or buttons to move through your data elements. For instance, you may view sales by product per month and use the slider to see each month.

This lets you present your data in a way that is easy to understand as well as more focused on each stage.

Step 1: Populate Your Data

Before you can create an interactive chart in Numbers, you need your data. Complete your spreadsheet and for the best results use column and row headers because these will help your data display properly on the chart. Once you finish preparing your data, the rest is easy.

Step 2: Create Your Interactive Chart

Select your table of data by clicking the small circle on the top left of the sheet. Then, click Chart > Interactive from the toolbar. You’ll see four different types of charts (as in Microsoft Excel too).

1. Vertical column chart: This type of chart works well for comparing values in one category.
2. Horizontal bar chart: Like the above, this type of chart also works well for value comparisons in a single category.
3. Scatter chart: This type of chart is great for comparisons between pairs of values in a data series.
4. Bubble chart: This type of chart is nice for comparisons between three points of data in a series.

When you see these four options, you can use the arrow to move through the additional styles, or color schemes, for each. Click the chart you want to use and it will populate into your sheet with your data.

Step 3: Customize Your Chart

Once you create your chart, you have many options for customizing it. The easiest way to do this is with the sidebar so that you can see your options and changes at the same time. If your sidebar is closed, click Format from the top right to open it.

Now, select your chart and then the Chart tab in the sidebar. You will also see tabs for Axis, Series, and Arrange that you can use for the different types of charts and data series. For our example, we’ll be reviewing the Chart tab and vertical column and horizontal bar charts.

Customization Options

Starting at the top of the sidebar, you have these options:

• Chart Style: These are the same color scheme options you see when you first select your interactive chart.
• Chart Options: You can mark checkboxes to use a Title, Legend, Border, and Hidden Data.
• Chart Font: You can change the font style, format, size, and color.
• Interactive Chart: Choose between using a slider with buttons or just buttons to move through your data. You can also pick Below or Above for the location of the Data Set Name.
• Rounded Corners: You can use the slider to adjust the roundness of the bar corners.
• Gaps: Adjust the percentages for the gaps between the bars and sets.
• Background & Border Style: You can use a color, gradient, or image as a background.
• Chart Type: Select a different type of chart to use. This is a quick and easy way to see how your data would display using another type of chart.

If you use a scatter or bubble chart, you’ll notice that some of these options change. For instance, you won’t have the Rounded Corners feature because you won’t have any bars with corners.

With some slight customizations, you can change the complete look of your chart. This is a great way to match the data you’re presenting with your business, audience, or industry. Look at how these two charts of the same type with the same data can look completely different.

Step 4: Edit Your Data References

As you change data in your table, the chart automatically updates to reflect those changes. You can also make adjustments by clicking on the chart and then the Edit Data References button that displays.

Deleting a Data Series

One advantage of using the button to edit your data is that you can select the exact element you want to change in your chart. For example, you may want to remove certain data from the chart but not from your table.

1. Select the chart and click Edit Data References.
2. Go to your table and click the arrow for the column you want to remove.
3. Click Delete Series.

You will see the data removed from the chart immediately and that column in your table is no longer highlighted as part of the chart. However, your data still remains in your table.

Reversing the Data

Another thing you can do is plot the rows as the series instead of the columns or vice versa.

1. Select the chart and click Edit Data References.
2. Go to your table and click the arrow for a column.
3. Click Plot Rows as Series.

You can see in our example that instead of viewing each month (originally row headers) you can now view each product (originally column headers) in our chart. Basically, these two series were swapped. This allows you to switch the way you want to display your data very quickly, without any hassle, and without creating a brand new chart.

When you finish editing your data references, click the Done button at the bottom of the Numbers window.

Get Interactive With Your Data on Mac

These interactive chart and graph options in Numbers are wonderful tools for presenting your data. And if you’re interested in using Excel for your spreadsheets, you can create graphs and charts there just as easily as interactive Excel charts.

Read the full article: How to Create Interactive Charts and Graphs on Mac Using Numbers

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New Apple voice phishing scam looks just like a real support call

A new voice phishing scam is going after iPhone users with in a clever new way: by making calls seem like they are coming directly from Apple Support.

Brian Krebs reported today that a user, Jody Westby, got a call from Apple Support asking for her to call back. The contact information that came along with the number appeared to be Apple Inc.’s in the identity screen for the call. When she called the 866 number, however, something was clearly amiss.

KrebsOnSecurity called the number that the scam message asked Westby to contact (866-277-7794). An automated system answered and said I’d reached Apple Support, and that my expected wait time was about one minute and thirty seconds. About a minute later, a man with an Indian accent answered and inquired as to the reason for my call.

Playing the part of someone who had received the scam call, I told him I’d been alerted about a breach at Apple and that I needed to call this number. After asking me to hold for a brief moment, our call was disconnected.

No doubt this is just another scheme to separate the unwary from their personal and financial details, and to extract some kind of payment (for supposed tech support services or some such). But it is remarkable that Apple’s own devices (or AT&T, which sold her the phone) can’t tell the difference between a call from Apple and someone trying to spoof Apple.

The exploit is unique because it allows callers to masquerade as other callers essentially by polluting search results with junk information that makes one number look like the contact number for a real company. The number Westby was told to call is a known phishing source. Remember: if anyone calls you claiming that your computer is broken they are most probably lying. After all, support people will never be proactive when it comes to problems with your computers, only reactive (if that).

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TikTok’s quietly launched ‘Lite’ app has reached over 12 million downloads since August

Short-form video app TikTok has been growing in popularity across international markets, including in the U.S. where a merger with Musical.ly has seen the app topping the App Store charts. Facebook and Snapchat have been hastily trying to copy TikTok’s features as a result. A part of TikTok’s ambitious global expansion plan has been its more recent targeting of emerging markets – like India and Indonesia – where the company’s quietly launched “TikTok Lite” app has been gaining ground in the latter half of 2018.

TikTok hasn’t yet made much fuss over its Lite version, which actually consists of two separate apps.

The first was launched on August 6, 2018 in Thailand, but is now available across other primarily Asian markets, including Indonesia where it’s most popular, as well as Vietnam, Malaysia, and the Philippines.

This version of TikTok Lite has grown to 5 million installs since its August debut. (It’s actually written with a lowercase “l” in “Lite” in the Play store, which is how you can tell the difference between this and the other app.)

This version was also briefly live in India, Brazil, and Russia, but now these countries are served by a separate Lite app (written as “Lite” with an uppercase “L”), which launched on November 1, 2018.

This second version of TikTok Lite has now become the larger of the two, thanks to India. It has around 7.1 million total downloads, according to Sensor Tower data.

It has also now been installed across 15 additional non-Asian countries, including Egypt, Brazil, Algeria, Tunisia, Russia, Ecuador, South Africa, Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Kenya, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Nigeria, Angola, and Ghana.

Combined, the two TikTok Lite apps have gained over 12 million downloads in around six months’ time, TechCrunch confirmed with Sensor Tower.

However, TikTok Lite is not being heavily promoted at this time – especially when compared with the outsize marketing that TikTok’s flagship app has been seeing as of late.

This advertising is courtesy of TikTok’s Chinese parent company, ByteDance, which has had an infusion of billions in outside capital recently. The company is valued at $78 billion, as of October.

And it’s spending, apparently:

E.g.:

More expensive promotion of #TikTok, this time in #Dubai. That 3 billion from #Softbank won't last long at this rate #Bytedance pic.twitter.com/A12tUMBgHC

— Matthew Brennan (@mbrennanchina) January 1, 2019

Sensor Tower found that more than half of TikTok Lite’s downloads came over the past month, following TikTok Lite’s return to India. Combined, the two Lite apps’ downloads reached around 6.7 million in December, which was a 158 percent increase over November’s 2.6 million installs, it said.

Despite TikTok Lite’s growth, 12 million+ downloads is only a drop in the bucket when it comes to TikTok’s larger user base. This represents only 4.5 percent of TikTok’s downloads on Google Play since August 2018, and only about 3.6 percent of all TikTok downloads since then across both the iOS and Google Play app stores combined.

To date, TikTok’s main app has been downloaded over 887 million times on Google Play. That doesn’t count the downloads from the Chinese version called Douyin, which is found on third-party Android app stores. That means TikTok’s true install base is even bigger.

ByteDance itself had publicly said last July the TikTok user base had grown to 500 million+ monthly active users – a way of counting who’s regularly using the app, instead of just installing it on their phone.

Given that Facebook Lite grew to 200 million users in under two years‘ time, it seems like a “Lite” version of TikTok, now one of the world’s biggest apps, could be doing a bit better than 12 million installs over a six month period.

The problem seems to stem from a variety of factors, including how TikTok Lite is marketed in the Play Store. The app uses screenshots and a description that make it seem like it’s just another version of TikTok. But according to user reviews, people were disappointed to find it’s a consumption-only app. Many have left reviews complaining about how they can’t make videos. They call it “fake” and “bad” as a result.

TikTok would do better to clarify how its Lite version is different, to eliminate this confusion.

It’s common for major tech companies to offer a “lighter” version of their app for emerging markets where low bandwidth is a concern. These apps tend to be smaller in size, more performant, and sometimes either have reduced capabilities or special features aimed at low-bandwidth users.

Google, for example, has a suite of light apps – the “Go” edition apps – like Gmail Go, YouTube Go, Files Go, Google Go, Google Maps Go, and Google Assistant Go. Uber now offers Uber Lite. Facebook operates apps like Facebook Lite, Messenger Lite, and Instagram Lite – the latter which launched just ahead of TikTok Lite, in fact.

Like most “Lite” apps, TikTok Lite clocks in at a smaller size – it’s only 10MB to 11MB (depending on the version) versus the much larger 71MB of TikTok’s main app.

A rep for TikTok confirmed the company is now offering a Lite version in some markets so users can choose a smaller app if they have concerns around data or the storage space on their phone. No other information about the Lite versions or strategy was provided.

So far, ByteDance’s efforts around TikTok Lite seem more experimental, given it hasn’t put up a proper description on Google Play; runs two separate Lite versions; and had offered the app in some markets briefly, pulled out, then returned with another version. It will be interesting to see what TikTok Lite becomes when it gets the sort of attention that the main TikTok app is receiving today.

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