11 March 2019

Twitter’s new prototype app ‘twttr’ launches today


Twitter’s new prototype application is rolling out to the first group of testers starting today, the company announced this afternoon by way of a tweet. The app, which Twitter is calling “twttr” as a throwback to its original name, was first introduced at the CES conference this January. It aims to offer Twitter a more experimental testing space where the company can try out new ideas outside of its existing public network, gain feedback from testers, then develop new features as a result of what it learns.

Initially, the new twttr app will focus on testing new designs for conversations. As the company demonstrated at CES, the prototype app will show a different format for replies, where conversations themselves have a more rounded chat-like shape and are indented so they’re easier to follow. Engagements, sharing options and other tweet details are hidden from view in order to simplify reading through longer threads.

And, most notably, the different types of replies are color-coded to designate those from the original poster as well as those Twitter users you personally follow. This is meant to offer better visual cues to readers who are trying to follow a lengthier thread where often, side conversations take place, or the original poster jumps in to clarify things or respond to individual tweets.

Over time, Twitter may use the prototype app to test out other changes it wants to make to the product. For instance, the company has experimented with ideas around status update fields and icebreakers as your pinned tweet to encourage conversations.

Twitter has said not everyone will be accepted to the prototype app testing program. Only a couple of thousand of English and Japanese speakers will be invited, provided they follow Twitter’s Rules. However, no one is under NDA so testers will be able to discuss what they’re seeing on Twitter itself, which opens up the ideas to more feedback.

Twitter says the first group of testers will receive an email invite sometime over the next few days. Once received, users have to click a link to confirm their participation, then await another email invite from Apple’s TestFlight.

They can then download the new twttr app and use it instead of the main Twitter app, while tweeting about the new look using the hashtag #LetsHaveAConvo. Testers can also submit feedback through an online form.

The twttr app was already spotted in the wild before today’s announcement, but it hadn’t rolled out in large numbers at that time.

After all these years, Twitter is still trying to figure out how to improve conversations on its platform. Not only are they challenging to follow, visually speaking, they often devolve into trolling and abuse. That’s something other changes to the product may try to tackle, from enhanced reporting procedures to Twitter’s latest development of a “hide tweet” button.

The new prototype app isn’t immediately looking to solve the problems around online abuse – though as a side effect of redesigned conversation threads, comments that contribute to instead of detract from an online conversation could be better highlighted, perhaps.

But largely the app will focus on product changes where user feedback is critical, as in the redesign of conversations.

“The spirit of the [prototype testing program] is: can we just develop more in the public and bring people in earlier?,” explained Sara Haider, Twitter’s director of product management, in January. “We need more signal in the development process.”

As Twitter’s email to testers explains, the app will be “very much work in progress.”

“These test builds will not always have all the functionality you’re used to, and you’ll see some things appear — and maybe disappear,” it notes. A further FAQ about the program is here.

Twitter says those who haven’t yet applied to test the new app can still do so. Applications opened up last month, and remain open today.


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How to Create a Wiki: 7 Sites That Make It Easy and Painless


wikipedia-tools-alternatives

Do you want to create a wiki? There are quite a few web apps that can help. Some require you to pay for the service; others let you make a free wiki.

If you’re wondering how to create a wiki, here are several sites you should check out today because they’ll make the process a lot easier.

1. MediaWiki

MediaWiki is one of the most popular wiki platforms on the web. It is entirely open source and lets you create a free wiki.

Originally used on Wikipedia, the site now also provides the backend for many other common wiki sites, including Wiktionary, Wikimedia Commons, and Wikidata.

The platform’s biggest selling point is its impressive customization options. There are more than 1,900 extensions, 900 configuration settings, and support for 300 languages.

Other notable features include support for rich content, edit tracking, namespaces (so multiple pages can exist with the same name), and templates.

To use MediaWiki, you need to have a server that runs PHP and a compatible SQL database.

2. SlimWiki

slimwiki page

Lots of people don’t have the time nor the technical expertise to use a complex wiki platform like MediaWiki.

If you want a more straightforward way to create a wiki, check out SlimWiki. The site makes it easy to make a wiki for your company, group, or project.

The wiki owners can choose who is able to change the content—other users can either be editors or have read-only permissions.

Content on SlimWiki follows a Collections to Pages hierarchy. You can group as many pages as you want into a Collection.

SlimWiki is free for up to three users. Thereafter, each user costs $5 per month. Paid accounts also offer custom domains, page exports, public pages, and 1 GB of storage space per user.

3. Wikidot

wikidot prices

If you want to create your own wiki but you don’t have any knowledge of HTML, PHP, JavaScript, et al., Wikidot is another site worth looking at. After its launch in 2006, Wikidot is now one of the largest wiki sites in the world.

Under the hood, Wikidot is a wiki hosting service—a.k.a., a “wiki farm”. On a wiki farm, a single instance of the wiki’s code runs on an array of servers. The site’s admins are responsible for maintaining the servers and managing individual wiki’s spaces.

Let’s talk about features. Wikidot offers unlimited pages, an unlimited number of revisions, custom CSS themes, backups, and an unlimited number of members of public wikis.

The free version supports five private users. Each user gets 300 MB of storage space in the free version. For $49.90 per month, the storage limit rises to 30 GB, and the number of private users increases to 10.

The most expensive plan costs $239.90 per month. It offers an unlimited number of users and 200 GB of storage.

4. Tiki Wiki

tiki wiki management screen

Tiki Wiki is a Open Source wiki-based content management system like MediaWiki.

If you’re using Tiki Wiki to make your own wiki, you’ll be able to enjoy a WYSIWYG editor, complete revision history retention, revision comparison tools, and wiki RSS feeds.

You can organize pages by category and/or tag. Tiki Wiki also lets you organize groups of pages into a hierarchy. If needed, the wiki’s admins can lock particular pages to prevent further editing.

As you’d expect, you can embed content, easily manage backlinks, and manage user permissions. You can adjust the permissions based on the type of material to be edited.

You don’t need HTML knowledge to create a wiki on Tiki Wiki, but if you have the skills, HTML editing is available.

Tiki Wiki has an impressive library of plugins. If you need to add extra functionality to your wiki, you should be able to find what you need amidst the hundreds of extensions.

Tiki Wiki is free to use.

5. DokuWiki

dokuwiki template

At first glance, DokuWiki is very similar to MediaWiki and Tiki Wiki. However, it boasts a much easier learning curve. If you’re not tech savvy and you value ease-of-use, this could be the wiki platform for you.

Toolbars and access bars make editing pages a breeze, breadcrumbs are supported for easy navigation, and there’s a vast number of plugins to extend a wiki’s functionality.

DokuWiki boasts some cool automated features. They include future links (pages that don’t yet exist are highlighted in red), backlinks, tables of contents, and indexing.

The site also offers templates. First-time wiki makers will find them useful.

DokuWiki is Open Source and free to use.

6. Fandom

fandom mario page

Fandom (known as Wikia until early 2019) is another easy-to-use wiki site for anyone who wants to create a free wiki.

The wikis are powered by the MediaWiki backend. This allows users to benefit from many of the platform’s benefits without worrying about hosting and other technical issues.

Fandom accepts wikis on any subject matter, but the majority of wikis on the site coalesce around books, films, video games, and TV series.

The original Wikia was founded back in 2004 by Jimmy Wales—the same person who launched Wikipedia. Indeed, Wikia (and thus Fandom) has often been referred to as the commercial, for-profit arm of the non-profit Wikipedia site.

It is free to create a wiki on Fandom.

7. Make Your Own Wikipedia Page

Anyone can register as a Wikipedia editor and create a Wikipedia page.

It’s easy to create content for a page that’s missing (denoted by a red link). Just log in with your account, add the necessary material and sources, and hit Publish Changes.

Of course, just because anyone can edit Wikipedia doesn’t mean there is a free-for-all. The site’s other editors will swiftly remove articles about yourself, your company, your band, your family, your sports team, etc. Before you know it, you might have a Wikipedia edit war on your hands.

Remember, new pages need to be noteworthy enough to go into an encyclopedia. Aside from personal pages, content such as essays and original research will not be accepted.

Create Your Own Personal Wiki With OneNote

Although it’s not a website, you might consider using OneNote if you want to make a personal wiki. The app offers many of the same features as the dedicated wiki sites, including wiki syntax, page linking, and tables of contents.

We’ve written a complete guide on how to create a wiki with OneNote if you would like to learn more.

Read the full article: How to Create a Wiki: 7 Sites That Make It Easy and Painless


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4 Ways to Organize and Manage Web Content on Your iPad


manage-web-content-ipad

Web browsing is something most people do every day on their iPad. But many don’t utilize the comprehensive set of tools iOS offers to organize web content. We open dozens of Safari tabs, which sit around eating up precious memory and slowing down our critical thinking process.

There are many superior approaches you can try. Which one to use depends on what action you want to take with a web page. We’ll show you how you can take advantage of these tools to organize web content on your iPad and become a productivity superhero.

1. Save Links to Read Later Apps

Read later apps have two essential purposes. First, they let you curate resources from the vast ocean of the web and organize them in any way you want. Second, they save pages offline so you can review the resources anytime.

Reading List for iOS

Reading List is a built-in feature of iOS. To save a web page for later review, tap the Share button and choose Add to Reading List from the Share menu. In many apps, including Safari, you can touch and hold a link to send it to the Reading List. To later access your reading list, tap the Bookmarks button and then the Reading List tab.

view the reading list on iPad

In the Reading List, tap the content you want to read. You can also read the article offline; go to Settings > Safari, scroll down, and toggle the Automatically Save Offline switch to enable this. If you read a lot on your iPad, making a reading list will help you understand the value of curation.

save article offline in reading list

Read Later Apps: Pocket, Instapaper, and Pinboard

At their core, read later apps are advanced bookmarking services. They extract the main content from a page and present you in a pretty layout. And they let you tailor the reading experience with customizable font styles and sizes, along with different formatting options.

Pocket lets you tag a bookmark for future reference and helps you to elaborate mentally about the information. Instapaper enables you to organize bookmarks in folders and annotate articles for knowledge management. Pinboard, in particular, allows you to take notes on web pages with the built-in deep search.

To add a web page, tap the Share button and choose Pocket or Instapaper. Both apps let you tag or organize bookmarks into folders from the share extension. In the case of Pinboard, you’ll find many third-party apps that sync with the Pinboard API, like Pinner for Pinboard.

save to instapaper

Use IFTTT to Organize Web Links

Even with read later apps, if you don’t take any actionable steps, your reading list will quickly turn into a cluttered mess. To prevent this, set aside time in the day to clear your reading list. Also, make a plan of action you want to take with the web content.

We’ll set up some IFTTT applets to automatically organize and manage web links. This is just one use of the powerful service; see our ultimate IFTTT guide for much more.

Example 1:

This applet saves any video you like on YouTube to Instapaper.

youtube likes to instapaper

Example 2:

Our next applet copies a new post from an RSS feed to an Instapaper folder. You might want to do this for blogs you follow regularly.

Example 3:

Save Instapaper archives to a OneNote notebook with this applet.

Example 4:

This applet appends Instapaper highlights to a Google Docs document.

These are just a few examples to highlight the power of automation in organizing web links. Once you have those links in OneNote, take advantage of a OneNote wiki system and the app’s powerful note-taking features to further expand your knowledge.

2. Take Advantage of Shelf Apps

It’s not always practical to save articles in a read later app. Maybe the content was clickbait or no longer of interest to you. In some situations, you may wish to drop the same data into multiple places over a short period. A shelf app can solve these problems.

These serve as a temporary resting place for content, meaning you can quickly stash links and review them later. Shelf apps use the system-wide iPad drag-and-drop mechanism to quickly move text, images, links, and files from one app to another.

Gladys

Gladys is a drag-and-drop shelf app that holds items you want to set aside, like text, links, images, files, and more. It works with any app that supports drag-and-drop. You can add the content either by action extension or through Slide Over mode.

Unique features of this app include:

  • It can inspect multiple RAW components of a particular file. For example, you can extract the URL of an image link instead of the web page, add a new image, or edit the title.
  • Ability to tag the link with space for adding notes.
  • Powerful integration with the Files app.
  • You can export Gladys content as a ZIP file.

Download: Gladys (Free, premium version available)

Yoink

Yoink is another shelf app with a full-fledged Mac counterpart. It accepts almost every type of content, such as text, links, and files. And within a few moments, it’ll show you a rich preview of the material. You can use Yoink via Slide Over or by action extension.

The app’s standout features are:

  • A plus button in the upper-left corner which lets you manually add content from the system, including Add from Clipboard, Add from Photos, Browse Files, and more.
  • The lock button in the bottom-left corner shows different behavior when dragging items out of it. If the padlock is closed, content gets copied and vice-versa.
  • You can combine multiple files, links, or text into a single stack. The stack helps you organize the content and declutter the interface.

Download: Yoink ($6)

3. Organize Web Content in Apple Notes

Apple Notes has become a much better note-taking app over the past few years. Apart from its main features, the major advantage of Notes is its tight integration between macOS and iOS.

Sharing Links to Notes

When you come across a useful resource, tap on the Share button and choose Add to Notes. You can add text, links, voice memos, and information from third-party apps. In the dialog that appears, enter any additional text and choose to either make a new note or add it to an existing note. Then tap Save.

add web pages to notes app

Use Advanced Notes Features

You can even put two apps side-by-side in Split Screen mode. Using this, you can dock the Notes app next to Safari, then drag and drop links, text, or images from Safari to Notes.

drag and drop notes in split screen mode

And if you use tags to organize your notes, put a hashtag at the beginning or end of the note to easily locate it later. Swipe down to open Spotlight, then enter the hashtag along with the search term. Spotlight searches your notes and pinpoints the tags to their actual location in a note.

search tages in notes app through spotlight

At the end of your research, you can quickly browse the web links you’ve added through the Attachment browser. The button lives at the bottom-left of the Notes list. If you’ve added dozen or more links, and want to know their actual location in a note, then tap and hold the link and choose Show in Note.

attachment browser in notes app

4. Organize Web Content With OneNote

Apple Notes isn’t my first choice for stashing research material and managing web content. But the best note-taking app is often the one you’re comfortable with, as long as it has a variety of features. It should facilitate research, provides you quick access to notes, and lets you construct knowledge through connections and collaboration.

If you’re not satisfied with Apple Notes, Microsoft OneNote is a great alternative for this.

Share Links to OneNote

To add a web page, tap the Share button and choose OneNote. From the popup that appears, choose a location, add the title (and a note if you like), and tap Send. OneNote will add a link and a screenshot of the article to the page.

But if you want to save dozen or more links, this method significantly slows down the capture process. We’ll look at a better way.

share web page with OneNote

Use Advanced OneNote Features

There is a way to replicate the desktop OneNote Clipper extension for iOS. To do so, we’ll set up a OneNote iOS bookmarklet for Safari.

To create a bookmarklet, tap Share > Add to Bookmark to make a new bookmark. Set the title as OneNote Clipper. Leave the address field as it is, set the location of the bookmark to Favorites, and tap Save.

add a bookmark in safari

Then select the following JavaScript code and copy it to your clipboard:

javascript:(function()%7Bvar%20jsCode=document.createElement('script');jsCode.setAttribute('src','https://www.onenote.com/Clipper/Root?ClipperId=ON-95a88c52-50d6-4c35-b134-2bdd4f682242&ClipperType=Bookmarklet&ClipperVersion=2.0.2');jsCode.setAttribute('id','oneNoteCaptureRootScript');jsCode.setAttribute('type','text/javascript');document.body.appendChild(jsCode);%7D)()

Tap the Bookmarks button, then hit Edit. Then find the bookmark you just saved with the name OneNote Clipper. Tap the bookmark, then paste the JavaScript code into the Address field. Tap the Save button.

add the javascript code for OneNote clipper

While you’re on any web page, tap the bookmarklet. You can choose to save the link as a bookmark or clip the entire article. Choose a location for it and tap Clip.

OneNote clipper in action

You can also drag and drop text, links, and images to OneNote. Dock OneNote next to Safari, then start saving your web links. For some reason, this doesn’t support files, including Word documents and PDFs.

drag and drop link to OneNote

Learn to Use the Dock for Better Multitasking

Organizing and managing web content on an iPad shouldn’t be a tedious task. You just have to follow a particular approach and stick with it. If you’re just getting started, start with read later apps to save web links and use a note-taking app for research. It doesn’t matter if you use OneNote, Evernote, or something else.

With iOS 11 and later, your iPad offers gestures to help you switch between apps and even lets you use multiple apps at once. The trick is to learn how to use the Dock effectively.

Read the full article: 4 Ways to Organize and Manage Web Content on Your iPad


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The Chrome OS Cheat Sheet: Every Chromebook Keyboard Shortcut


chromeos-shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are the key to unlocking enhanced productivity on any device. While the mouse is handy, you can accomplish tasks in a fraction of the time without your hands ever leaving the keyboard.

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Even though a Chromebook offers a slimmed-down experience compared to Windows or a Mac, it still packs plenty of keyboard shortcuts. Some of them are identical to Chrome offers on other platforms, but plenty of others are unique to Chrome OS.

We’re here to help with a mega-cheat sheet of Chromebook shortcuts. With these, you can edit text, access Chrome’s various functions, swap apps, and much more. We even have some shortcuts that use the trackpad if you just can’t let go of the mouse. Let’s take a look!

The Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts Cheat Sheet

Shortcut Action
Basic Chrome Functions
Ctrl + P Open Print dialog
Ctrl + S Save the current webpage
Ctrl + R Refresh the page
Ctrl + Shift + R Refresh the page without loading cache
Ctrl + O Open a file
Ctrl + H View History
Ctrl + J Open Downloads
Ctrl + D Bookmark current page
Ctrl + Shift + D Bookmark all open tabs
Ctrl + Shift + B Toggle bookmarks bar
Alt + E Open Chrome's menu
Search + Esc Open Task Manager
Ctrl + U View page source
Ctrl + Shift + I Open the Developer Tools panel
Navigating Tabs and Windows
Ctrl + N Open new window
Ctrl + Shift + N Open new incognito window
Ctrl + T Open new tab
Ctrl + W Close current tab
Ctrl + Shift + W Close current window
Ctrl + Shift + T Reopen last closed tab
Ctrl + 1 — Ctrl + 8 Switch to tab 1-8
Ctrl + 9 Switch to last tab
Ctrl +Tab Move to next tab
Ctrl + Shift + Tab Move to prior tab
Ctrl + Click Open link in a new tab
Ctrl + Shift + Click Open link in a new tab and switch to it immediately
Shift + Click Open link in a new window
Apps and Shelf
Alt + 1 — Alt + 8 Open shelf apps 1-8
Alt + 9 Open last app on the shelf
Alt + Tab Switch to last-opened app; keep pressing to cycle through apps
Alt + Shift + Tab Switch to least recently opened app; keep pressing to cycle through apps
Alt + [ Pin current app to the left side of the screen
Alt + ] Pin current app to the right side of the screen
Alt + Equals (=) Maximize current window
Alt + Minus (-) Minimize current window
Search + Alt + M Move window between screens (when using multiple monitors)
Webpage Navigation
Ctrl + Plus (+) Zoom in
Ctrl + Minus (-) Zoom out
Ctrl + 0 (Zero) Reset zoom to 100%
Ctrl + F Search the current page
Alt + Left Go back one page
Alt + Right Go forward one page
Alt + Up Scroll up page. Equivalent to Page Up key in Windows
Alt + Down Scroll down page. Equivalent to Page Down key in Windows
Ctrl + Alt + Up Jump to top of page. Equivalent to Home key in Windows
Ctrl + Alt + Down Jump to bottom of page. Equivalent to End key in Windows
Chrome OS System
Shift + Alt + N Show notifications
Ctrl + Forward Slash (/) Open Help
Ctrl + Alt + Forward Slash (/) Show Chrome OS shortcuts reference window
Search + L Lock screen
Ctrl + Shift + Q (twice) Sign out of Google account
Ctrl + Shift + Plus (+) Increase screen resolution
Ctrl + Shift + Minus (-) Decrease screen resolution
Ctrl + Shift + Zero (0) Reset screen resolution
Alt + Brightness Up/Down Increase/decrease keyboard backlight (if applicable)
Ctrl + Window Switcher Take screenshot of the entire screen
Ctrl + Shift + Window Switcher Take screenshot of selected region
Ctrl + Full Screen Toggle external monitor modes (if applicable)
Text Editing
Alt + Search Toggle Caps Lock
Alt + Backspace Delete next character. Equivalent to Delete key on Windows
Ctrl + Backspace Delete previous word
Ctrl + Alt + Backspace Delete next word
Ctrl + A Select all
Ctrl + L Select all text in the address bar
Ctrl + Right/Left Move the cursor to the next/previous word
Ctrl + Shift + Right/Left Select next/previous word
Shift + Search + Right/Left Select all text to the end/beginning of the current line
Ctrl + Search + Right/Left Jump to the end/beginnning of a text field/document
Ctrl + C Copy
Ctrl + X Cut
Ctrl + V Paste
Ctrl + Shift + V Paste without formatting
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Y Redo
Trackpad Shortcuts
Alt + Click Equivalent to a right-click
Click with three fingers Equivalent to a middle-click
Swipe up or down with two fingers Scroll up or down on the page
Swipe right/left with two fingers Go forward/back one page
Swipe down with three fingers Equivalent to the Window Switcher key
Swipe right/left with three fingers Move between open Chrome tabs
Accessibility/Advanced Navigation
Shift + Alt + B Highlight bookmarks bar; use arrows to navigate
Shift + Alt + T Highlight the icons in the address bar row
Shift + Alt + S Highlight the status area at the bottom-right
Shift + Alt+ L Highlight the first shelf icon
Ctrl + Back Move to previous keyboard-accessible area on screen
Ctrl + Forward Move to next keyboard-accessible area on screen
Shift + Search + Volume Up Opens right-click menu for highlighted element
Search + Ctrl + H Toggle high contrast mode
Search + Ctrl + M Magnify the entire screen
Search + Ctrl + D Magnify part of the screen
Ctrl + Alt + Z Toggle ChromeVox, the built-in screen reader
Miscellaneous
Ctrl + Enter Add "www." and ".com" to text in the address bar and open page
Ctrl + Period (.) Show hidden files in Files app
Search + 1 — Search + Equals (=) Use F keys (F1 through F12)
Ctrl + Alt + Period (.) Switch to next user (if applicable)
Ctrl + Alt + Comma (,) Switch to previous user (if applicable)
Ctrl + Shift + Space Cycle between keyboard languages (if applicable)
Alt + Shift + M Open Files app

Taking Shortcuts on Your Chromebook

Don’t be overwhelmed if this seems like a lot. You don’t have to commit to learning all these Chrome OS shortcuts at once. Pick a few that integrate into your workflow and will save you the most time. Once you’ve mastered those, you can add more into your routine.

Even once you’ve mastered keyboard shortcuts, there’s still more to learn about your Chromebook. Check out our ultimate Chromebook how-to guide and how to multitask like never before in Chrome OS.

Read the full article: The Chrome OS Cheat Sheet: Every Chromebook Keyboard Shortcut


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7 Ultimate Typing Games If You Want to Type Really Fast


typing-games

Learning to type quickly and accurately is an essential skill. Whether you are learning for the first time, upgrading to touch typing or an alternate keyboard layout, repetition is key to improvement. But repetition with practice can feel like a drag.

Let’s face it—playing games is way more fun. So we went out and picked seven excellent typing games that will challenge you.

Why Should You Play These Typing Games?

There are numerous websites and pieces of software to help improve your keyboard skills. Many of them employ game mechanics, but can’t claim to be computer games. Many typing games are lacking in content and do not give a satisfying experience when compared to mainstream games—but there are exceptions.

This article will focus on fully fledged games that feature typing. Some are speed typing games, others are word games requiring fast keyboard skills, and there are even some arty indie typing experiences.

1. Typefighters

Typefighters multiplayer typing game

Singleplayer: Yes (Play against A.I.)

Multiplayer: LAN and Online

By far the most traditional typing game on this list, Typefighters takes a well-worn idea and does it well. While there are several modes to choose from, the general gameplay stays the same.

Type the words on the screen faster than your AI or real life opponent to gain points. Whoever reaches a certain point cap or who is scoring highest when the time is up wins.

This game is pure typing. You can even navigate the menus by typing, which feels incredibly satisfying for those who know keyboard shortcuts for everything!

Multiple modes can be played against friends online and over LAN. What this game provides in comparison to standard typing instruction software is game feel. Every keystroke has a satisfying sound, and completion of words shakes the text and the screen giving excellent user feedback.

Available on Steam: Typefighters

2. God Of Word

God Of Word - Wordplay Adventure

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: Online

God Of Word is a wordplay and typing game of epic proportions. You play a young actor, tasked with recreating famous battles of history for the gods of Olympus. Weapons, potions, and upgrades are all essential to progress. But without quick wits and fast fingers you won’t get far!

The core gameplay consists of word scramble puzzles, along with speed typing challenges to defeat groups of enemies. Each boss (a computer controlled enemy) brings a mechanic that needs more impressive wordplay and tactics. The campaign plays out over 5 acts, with two endless modes.

The multiplayer mode allows online play against friends or other strangers and comes with a separate upgrade system to customize your character.

Available on Steam: God Of Word

3. The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia

The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: No

Do you like Bullet Hell games, horror movie themes, and adult humor? The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia is all of these things, along with being an incredibly challenging typing game. You play the titular role, a self-styled exorcist/detective tasked with investigating a string on strange possession cases.

Each battle consists of dodging vast numbers of enemy attacks while typing the words required to banish each demon. Failing to avoid attacks causes you to drop your prayer book, and you can’t continue the incantation until it is retrieved. The game is challenging from the get-go, and the ramp up to “full on bullet hell while typing Latin” is severe. Be prepared for a challenge.

Fantastic pixel artwork and pumping electronic soundtrack add to the experience. The story is incredibly dark yet comical, and this game is most certainly NSFW! Nevertheless, this is one of the most original typing games ever created, and a must for any quick-fingered gamer.

Available on Steam: The Textorcist: The Story of Ray Bibbia

4. The Typing Of The Dead: Overkill

Typing of the Dead: Overkill

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: Local Co-op

We couldn’t make a list like this without including The Typing Of The Dead. It was one of the most unusual arcade games ever devised. A near direct adaption of the popular House Of The Dead 2 from Sega, the arcade cabinets shuns guns for computer keyboards.

In-game, the characters also had keyboards (with rucksack mounted computers no less), and gun-play is replaced with typing at speed to stop the invading hordes. A mixture of quick-fire words, and (sometimes bizarre) phrases need constant vigilance to avoid getting eaten.

While the original release is now hard to run, Sega released a modern addition in 2013 in the form of The Typing Of The Dead: Overkill. The newer version retains the original’s gameplay but updates the graphics for modern hardware. There is plenty of content to keep you busy after the primary campaign, with cheap DLC bundles which add to the base game.

Available on Steam: The Typing Of The Dead: Overkill

5. Secret of Qwerty

Secret Of Qwerty

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: No

Lovers of all things retro will find plenty to like about Secret of Qwerty. This loving indie recreation of old school RPGs (right down to the dodgy translation of dialogue) has a crucial difference. You guessed it—typing replaces standard combat.

Like the much-loved adventure RPGs of old, you must explore a fantasy world, clear dungeons, and survive random encounters. Each battle rewards the player with XP and Gold which can be used to buy more powerful items to help you on your quest to defeat an evil wizard arch enemy. This game is a nod to much adored old games, and at a “Pay What You Like” cost, is worth your time.

Available on Itch.io: Secret of Qwerty

6. Monologue

Monologue - Browser Typing Game

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: No

Monologue is the only browser game on this list, and what it lacks in game depth it makes up for in charm and humor. You play as the antagonist who has placed their foe in the path of an oncoming train. Rush to finish your victory speech before they escape! You must type your speech correctly, as any mistake knocks you back to the start of the current word, thus wasting precious time.

Fun but straightforward graphics, jaunty old west music, and the mumbles and coughs of the player character complement the hilarious randomly generated speech. Monologue was an entry in the 2015 Train Game Jam and is free to play online.

Available at Itch.io: Monologue

7. Epistory – Typing Chronicles

Epistory - Typing Chronicles

Singleplayer: Yes

Multiplayer: No

There are few typing games which can boast gorgeous 3d graphics, a story, voice acting, and puzzle-based gameplay. In this third-person RPG, you play as a girl riding a three-tailed fox through a series of beautifully Origami-like stylized worlds. All interaction happens by typing words. The game adapts to your typing speed as you clear enemies and environmental elements.

The player gathers XP through exploration, trials with waves of enemies, and memory puzzles which also unlock new areas. You can buy new skills with experience points that grant movement speed increases and aids to combat. A particularly nice touch comes in the form of languages you cannot speak until a skill is learned.

The game adds harder words if your going is too easy. This game also supports alternate keyboard layouts including AZERTY, Dvorak, and Colemak. If you are looking for a full game experience in a typing game, Epistory – Typing Chronicles is one of the strongest contenders around.

Available on Steam: Epistory – Typing Chronicles

A Twist on the Usual Touch Typing Games

Good typing games can seem to be thin on the ground. But there are some great examples out there. Mixing games into your practice will improve your typing skills. And a good routine always reinforces good habits, and a good mechanical keyboard while not essential really improves the typing experience.

Of course, you need to learn those good habits in the first place, and learning the proper touch typing technique is just as important as its practice.

Read the full article: 7 Ultimate Typing Games If You Want to Type Really Fast


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Online platforms need a super regulator and public interest tests for mergers, says UK parliament report


The latest policy recommendations for regulating powerful Internet platforms comes from a U.K. House of Lord committee that’s calling for an overarching digital regulator to be set up to plug gaps in domestic legislation and work through any overlaps of rules.

“The digital world does not merely require more regulation but a different approach to regulation,” the committee writes in a report published on Saturday, saying the government has responded to “growing public concern” in a piecemeal fashion, whereas “a new framework for regulatory action is needed”.

It suggests a new body — which it’s dubbed the Digital Authority — be established to “instruct and coordinate regulators”.

“The Digital Authority would have the remit to continually assess regulation in the digital world and make recommendations on where additional powers are necessary to fill gaps,” the committee writes, saying that it would also “bring together non-statutory organisations with duties in this area” — so presumably bodies such as the recently created Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (which is intended to advise the UK government on how it can harness technologies like AI for the public good).

The committee report sets out ten principles that it says the Digital Authority should use to “shape and frame” all Internet regulation — and develop a “comprehensive and holistic strategy” for regulating digital services.

These principles (listed below) read, rather unfortunately, like a list of big tech failures. Perhaps especially given Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s repeat refusal to testify before another UK parliamentary committee last year. (Leading to another highly critical report.)

  • Parity: the same level of protection must be provided online as offline
  • Accountability: processes must be in place to ensure individuals and organisations are held to account for their actions and policies
  • Transparency: powerful businesses and organisations operating in the digital world must be open to scrutiny
  • Openness: the internet must remain open to innovation and competition
  • Privacy: to protect the privacy of individuals
  • Ethical design: services must act in the interests of users and society
  • Recognition of childhood: to protect the most vulnerable users of the internet
  • Respect for human rights and equality: to safeguard the freedoms of expression and information online
  • Education and awareness-raising: to enable people to navigate the digital world safely
  • Democratic accountability, proportionality and evidence-based approach

“Principles should guide the development of online services at every stage,” the committee urges, calling for greater transparency at the point data is collected; greater user choice over which data are taken; and greater transparency around data use — “including the use of algorithms”.

So, in other words, a reversal of the ‘opt-out if you want any privacy’ approach to settings that’s generally favored by tech giants — even as it’s being challenged by complaints filed under Europe’s GDPR.

The UK government is due to put out a policy White Paper on regulating online harms this winter. But the Lords Communications Committee suggests the government’s focus is too narrow, calling also for regulation that can intervene to address how “the digital world has become dominated by a small number of very large companies”.

“These companies enjoy a substantial advantage, operating with an unprecedented knowledge of users and other businesses,” it warns. “Without intervention the largest tech companies are likely to gain more control of technologies which disseminate media content, extract data from the home and individuals or make decisions affecting people’s lives.”

The committee recommends public interest tests should therefore be applied to potential acquisitions when tech giants move in to snap up startups, warning that current competition law is struggling to keep pace with the ‘winner takes all’ dynamic of digital markets and their network effects.

“The largest tech companies can buy start-up companies before they can become competitive,” it writes. “Responses based on competition law struggle to keep pace with digital markets and often take place only once irreversible damage is done. We recommend that the consumer welfare test needs to be broadened and a public interest test should be applied to data-driven mergers.”

Market concentration also means a small number of companies have “great power in society and act as gatekeepers to the internet”, it also warns, suggesting that while greater use of data portability can help, “more interoperability” is required for the measure to make an effective remedy.

The committee also examined online platforms’ current legal liabilities around content, and recommends beefing these up too — saying self-regulation is failing and calling out social media sites’ moderation processes specifically as “unacceptably opaque and slow”.

High level political pressure in the UK recently led to a major Instagram policy change around censoring content that promotes suicide — though the shift was triggered after a public outcry related to the suicide of a young schoolgirl who had been exposed to pro-suicide content on Instagram years before.

Like other UK committees and government advisors, the Lords committee wants online services which host user-generated content to be subject to a statutory duty of care — with a special focus on children and “the vulnerable in society”.

“The duty of care should ensure that providers take account of safety in designing their services to prevent harm. This should include providing appropriate moderation processes to handle complaints about content,” it writes, recommending telecoms regulator Ofcom is given responsibility for enforcement.

“Public opinion is growing increasingly intolerant of the abuses which big tech companies have failed to eliminate,” it adds. “We hope that the industry will welcome our 10 principles and their potential to help restore trust in the services they provide. It is in the industry’s own long-term interest to work constructively with policy-makers. If they fail to do so, they run the risk of further action being taken.”


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US threatens to reduce intelligence sharing if Germany doesn’t ban Huawei


The U.S. government is threatening to reduce the amount of intelligence it shares with Germany if Huawei wins a contract to build the country’s next-generation 5G network.

That’s the takeaway from a letter sent by the U.S. ambassador to Germany, Richard Grenell, to Germany’s economics minister, as reported by The Wall Street Journal. Grenell, appointed by President Trump last year, said the U.S. would not be able to continue sharing the same level or amount of classified intelligence over fears of Chinese spying.

It comes just days after Germany’s federal cybersecurity agency announced its 5G security requirements, but did not outright ban Huawei from the contract-bidding process.

It’s the latest move — if not a significant escalation — by the Trump administration to pressure its allies into dropping the Chinese networking gear maker over its links to the Chinese military.

The U.S.’ anti-Huawei cabal has so far seen CanadaAustraliaNew Zealand, Japan and most of Europe drop plans to use Huawei gear, which governments and phone networks have said is both cheap and reliable, but necessary for the anticipated explosion in 5G interest.

But Germany has — like the British — seen little conclusive evidence to show that Beijing is behind the scenes pulling the strings — only that the company could be compelled to spy in the future once use of the technology has been firmly established.

Neither representatives for the Department of State nor the Germany federal government responded to requests for comment.

The U.S. and Germany have worked to try to repair their intelligence sharing relationship following the Edward Snowden disclosures after allegations that the National Security Agency was caught tapping into the phone of German chancellor Angela Merkel. Germany is one of dozens of countries that obtain classified signals intelligence from the U.S. intelligence community, as both a member of NATO and the so-called 14 Eyes alliance of European countries, which rely on the data sharing alliance for counterterrorism efforts. Germany suffered several terrorist attacks in the past two years, most of which inspired by Kurdish extremists and supporters of the so-called Islamic State.

The European Commission is set to rule on a potential bloc-wide ban of Huawei gear in the coming weeks, per reports.

Meanwhile, Germany is expected to launch its 5G spectrum as early as next week, sparking the beginning of the country’s first foray into the next-generation mobile network.


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Don’t break up big tech — regulate data access, says EU antitrust chief


Breaking up tech giants should be a measure of last resort, the European Union’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has suggested.

“To break up a company, to break up private property would be very far reaching and you would need to have a very strong case that it would produce better results for consumers in the marketplace than what you could do with more mainstream tools,” she warned this weekend, speaking in a SXSW interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher. “We’re dealing with private property. Businesses that are built and invested in and become successful because of their innovation.”

Vestager has built a reputation for being feared by tech giants, thanks to a number of major (and often expensive) interventions since she took up the Commission antitrust brief in 2014, with still one big outstanding investigation hanging over Google.

But while opposition politicians in many Western markets — including high profile would-be U.S. presidential candidates — are now competing on sounding tough on tech, the European commissioner advocates taking a scalpel to data streams rather than wielding a break-up hammer to smash market-skewing tech giants.

“When it comes to the very far reaching proposal to split up companies, for us, from a European perspective, that would be a measure of last resort,” she said. “What we do now, we do the antitrust cases, misuse of dominant position, the tying of products, the self-promotion, the demotion of others, to see if that approach will correct and change the marketplace to make it a fair place where there’s no misuse of dominant position but where smaller competitors can have a fair go. Because they may be the next big one, the next one with the greatest idea for consumers.”

She also pointed to an agreement last month, between key European political institutions on regulating online platform transparency, as an example of the kind of fairness-focused intervention she believes can work to counter market imbalance.

The bread and butter work regulators should be focused on where big tech is concerned are things like digital sector enquiries and hearings to examine how markets are operating in detail, she suggested — using careful scrutiny to inform and shape intelligent, data-led interventions.

Albeit ‘break up Google’ clearly makes for a punchier political soundbite.

Vestager is, however, in the final months of her term as antitrust chief — with the Commission due to turn over this year. Her time at the antitrust helm will end on November 1, she confirmed. (Though she remains, at least tentatively, on a shortlist of candidates who could be appointed the next European Commission president.)

The commissioner has spoken up before about regulating access to data as a more interesting option for controlling digital giants vs breaking them up.

And some European regulators appear to be moving in that direction already. Such the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) which last month announced a decision against Facebook which aims to limit how it can use data from its own services. The FCO’s move has been couched as akin to an internal break up of the company, at the data level, without the tech giant having to be forced to separate and sell off business units like Instagram and WhatsApp.

It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a massive plan to merge all three services at the technical level just last week — billing the switch to encrypted content but merged metadata as a ‘pro-privacy’ move, while clearly also intending to restructure his empire in a way that works against regulatory interventions that separate and control internal data flows at the product level.

The Competition Commission does not have a formal probe of Facebook or the social media sector open at this point but Vestager said her department does have its eye on how social media giants are using data.

“We’re sort of hoovering over social media, Facebook — how data’s being used in that respect,” she said, also flagging the preliminary work it’s doing looking into Amazon’s use of merchant data. (Also still not yet a formal probe.)

“The good thing is now the debate is really sort of taking off,” she added, of competition regulation generally. “When I’ve been visiting and speaking with people on The Hill previously, I’ve sensed a new sort of interest and curiosity as to what can competition achieve for you in a society. Because if you have fair competition then you have markets serving the citizen in our role as consumer and not the other way around.”

Asked whether she’s personally convinced by Facebook’s sudden ‘appreciation’ of privacy Vestager said if the announcement signifies a genuine change of philosophy and direction which leads to shifts in its business practices it would be good news for consumers.

Though she said she’s not simply taking Zuckerberg at his word at this point. “It may be a little far-reaching to assume the best,” she said politely when pushed by Swisher on whether she believed a sincere pivot is possible from a company with such a long privacy-hostile history.

Big tech, small tax

The interview also delved into the issue of big tech and the tiny amounts it pays in tax.

Reforming the global tax system so digital businesses pay a fair share vs traditional businesses is now “urgent” work to do, said Vestager — highlighting how the lack of a consensus position among EU Member States is pushing some countries to move forward with their own measures, given resistance to Commission proposals from other corners of the bloc.

France‘s push for a tax on tech giants this year is “absolutely necessary but very unfortunate”, Vestager said.

“When you do numbers that can be compared we see that digital businesses they would pay on average nine per cent [in taxes] where traditional businesses on average pay 23 per cent,” she continued. “Yet they’re in the same market for capital, for skilled employees, sometimes competing for the same customers. So obviously this is not fair.”

The Commission’s hope is that individual “pushes” from Member States frustrated by the current tax imbalance will generate momentum for “a European-wide way of doing things” — and therefore that any fragmentation of tax policies across the bloc will be short-lived.

She also she Europe is keen for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to “push forward for this” too, remarking: “Because we sense in the OECD that a number of places in the world take an interest also in the U.S. side of things.”

Is the better way to reset inequalities related to big tech and society achieved via reforming the tax system or are regulators doomed to have to keep fining them “into the next century”, wondered Swisher.

“You get a fine when you do something illegal. You pay your taxes to contribute to society where you do your business. These are two different things and we definitely need both,” responded Vestager. “But we cannot have a situation where some businesses do not contribute and the majority of businesses they do. Because it’s simply not fair in the marketplace or fair towards citizens if this continues.”

She also made short shrift of the favored big tech lobbyist line — to loudly claim privacy regulation helps big guys because it’s easier for them to fund compliance — by pointing out that Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation has “different brackets” and does not simply clobber big and small alike with the same requirements.

Of course small businesses “don’t have the same obligations as Google”, said Vestager.

“I’d say if they find it easy, I’d say they can do better,” she added, raising the much complained about consumer rights issue of consent vs inscrutable T&Cs.

“Because I still find that it’s quite tricky to understand what it is that you accept when you accept your terms and conditions. And I think it would be great if we as citizens could really say ‘oh this is what I am signing up to and I’m perfectly happy with that’.”

Though she admitted there’s still a way to go for European privacy rights to be fully functioning as intended — arguing it’s still too hard for individual consumers to exercise the rights they have in law.

“I know I own my data but I really do not know how to exercise that ownership,” she said. “How to allow for more people to have access to my data if I want to enable innovation, new market participants coming in. If that was done in large scale you could have an innovative input into the marketplace and we’re definitely not there yet,” she said.

Asked about the idea of taxing data flows as another possible means of clipping the wings of big tech Vestager pointed to early signs of an intermediate market spinning up in Europe to help individual extract value from what corporate entities are doing with their information. So not literally a tax on data flows but a way for consumers to claw back some of the value that’s being stripped from them.

“It’s still nascent in Europe but since now we have the rights that establishes your ownership of your data we see there is a beginning market development of intermediaries saying should I enable you yourself to monetize your data, so it’s not just the giants who monetize your data. So that maybe you get a sum every month reflecting how your data has been passed on,” she said. “That is one opportunity.”

She also said the Commission is looking at how to make sure “huge amounts of data will not be a barrier to entry in a marketplace” — or present a barrier to innovation for newcomers. The latter being key given how tech giants’ massive data pools are translating into a meaty advantage in AI R&D.

In another interesting exchange, Vestager suggested the convenience of voice interfaces presents an acute competition challenge — given how the tech could naturally concentrate market power via preferring quick-fire Q&A style interactions which don’t support offering lots of choice options.

“One of the things that is really mindboggling for us is how to have choice if you have voice,” she said, arguing that voice assistance dynamic doesn’t lend itself to multiple suggestions being offered every time a user asks a question. “So how to have competition when you have voice search?.. How would this change the marketplace and how would we deal with such a market? So this is what we’re trying to figure out.”

Again she suggested regulators are thinking about how data flows behind the scenes as a potential route to remedying interfaces that work against choice.

“We’re trying to figure out how access to data will change the marketplace,” she added. “Can you give a different access to data because the one who holds the data, also holds the resources for innovation. And we cannot rely on the big guys to be the innovative ones.”

Asked for her worst case scenario for tech 10 years hence, she said it would be to have “all of the technology but none of the societal positive oversight and direction”.

On the flip side, the best case would be for legislators to be “willing to take sufficient steps in taxation and in regulating access to data and fairness in the marketplace”.

“We would also need to see technology develop to have new players,” she emphasized. “Because we still need to see what will happen with quantum computing, what will happen with blockchain, what other uses are there for all if that new technology. Because I still think that it holds a lot of promise. But only if our democracy will give it direction. Then you will have a positive outcome.”


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Don’t break up big tech — regulate data access, says EU antitrust chief


Breaking up tech giants should be a measure of last resort, the European Union’s competition commissioner, Margrethe Vestager, has suggested.

“To break up a company, to break up private property would be very far reaching and you would need to have a very strong case that it would produce better results for consumers in the marketplace than what you could do with more mainstream tools,” she warned this weekend, speaking in a SXSW interview with Recode’s Kara Swisher. “We’re dealing with private property. Businesses that are built and invested in and become successful because of their innovation.”

Vestager has built a reputation for being feared by tech giants, thanks to a number of major (and often expensive) interventions since she took up the Commission antitrust brief in 2014, with still one big outstanding investigation hanging over Google.

But while opposition politicians in many Western markets — including high profile would-be U.S. presidential candidates — are now competing on sounding tough on tech, the European commissioner advocates taking a scalpel to data streams rather than wielding a break-up hammer to smash market-skewing tech giants.

“When it comes to the very far reaching proposal to split up companies, for us, from a European perspective, that would be a measure of last resort,” she said. “What we do now, we do the antitrust cases, misuse of dominant position, the tying of products, the self-promotion, the demotion of others, to see if that approach will correct and change the marketplace to make it a fair place where there’s no misuse of dominant position but where smaller competitors can have a fair go. Because they may be the next big one, the next one with the greatest idea for consumers.”

She also pointed to an agreement last month, between key European political institutions on regulating online platform transparency, as an example of the kind of fairness-focused intervention she believes can work to counter market imbalance.

The bread and butter work regulators should be focused on where big tech is concerned are things like digital sector enquiries and hearings to examine how markets are operating in detail, she suggested — using careful scrutiny to inform and shape intelligent, data-led interventions.

Albeit ‘break up Google’ clearly makes for a punchier political soundbite.

Vestager is, however, in the final months of her term as antitrust chief — with the Commission due to turn over this year. Her time at the antitrust helm will end on November 1, she confirmed. (Though she remains, at least tentatively, on a shortlist of candidates who could be appointed the next European Commission president.)

The commissioner has spoken up before about regulating access to data as a more interesting option for controlling digital giants vs breaking them up.

And some European regulators appear to be moving in that direction already. Such the German Federal Cartel Office (FCO) which last month announced a decision against Facebook which aims to limit how it can use data from its own services. The FCO’s move has been couched as akin to an internal break up of the company, at the data level, without the tech giant having to be forced to separate and sell off business units like Instagram and WhatsApp.

It’s perhaps not surprising, therefore, that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a massive plan to merge all three services at the technical level just last week — billing the switch to encrypted content but merged metadata as a ‘pro-privacy’ move, while clearly also intending to restructure his empire in a way that works against regulatory interventions that separate and control internal data flows at the product level.

The Competition Commission does not have a formal probe of Facebook or the social media sector open at this point but Vestager said her department does have its eye on how social media giants are using data.

“We’re sort of hoovering over social media, Facebook — how data’s being used in that respect,” she said, also flagging the preliminary work it’s doing looking into Amazon’s use of merchant data. (Also still not yet a formal probe.)

“The good thing is now the debate is really sort of taking off,” she added, of competition regulation generally. “When I’ve been visiting and speaking with people on The Hill previously, I’ve sensed a new sort of interest and curiosity as to what can competition achieve for you in a society. Because if you have fair competition then you have markets serving the citizen in our role as consumer and not the other way around.”

Asked whether she’s personally convinced by Facebook’s sudden ‘appreciation’ of privacy Vestager said if the announcement signifies a genuine change of philosophy and direction which leads to shifts in its business practices it would be good news for consumers.

Though she said she’s not simply taking Zuckerberg at his word at this point. “It may be a little far-reaching to assume the best,” she said politely when pushed by Swisher on whether she believed a sincere pivot is possible from a company with such a long privacy-hostile history.

Big tech, small tax

The interview also delved into the issue of big tech and the tiny amounts it pays in tax.

Reforming the global tax system so digital businesses pay a fair share vs traditional businesses is now “urgent” work to do, said Vestager — highlighting how the lack of a consensus position among EU Member States is pushing some countries to move forward with their own measures, given resistance to Commission proposals from other corners of the bloc.

France‘s push for a tax on tech giants this year is “absolutely necessary but very unfortunate”, Vestager said.

“When you do numbers that can be compared we see that digital businesses they would pay on average nine per cent [in taxes] where traditional businesses on average pay 23 per cent,” she continued. “Yet they’re in the same market for capital, for skilled employees, sometimes competing for the same customers. So obviously this is not fair.”

The Commission’s hope is that individual “pushes” from Member States frustrated by the current tax imbalance will generate momentum for “a European-wide way of doing things” — and therefore that any fragmentation of tax policies across the bloc will be short-lived.

She also she Europe is keen for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to “push forward for this” too, remarking: “Because we sense in the OECD that a number of places in the world take an interest also in the U.S. side of things.”

Is the better way to reset inequalities related to big tech and society achieved via reforming the tax system or are regulators doomed to have to keep fining them “into the next century”, wondered Swisher.

“You get a fine when you do something illegal. You pay your taxes to contribute to society where you do your business. These are two different things and we definitely need both,” responded Vestager. “But we cannot have a situation where some businesses do not contribute and the majority of businesses they do. Because it’s simply not fair in the marketplace or fair towards citizens if this continues.”

She also made short shrift of the favored big tech lobbyist line — to loudly claim privacy regulation helps big guys because it’s easier for them to fund compliance — by pointing out that Europe’s General Data Protection Regulation has “different brackets” and does not simply clobber big and small alike with the same requirements.

Of course small businesses “don’t have the same obligations as Google”, said Vestager.

“I’d say if they find it easy, I’d say they can do better,” she added, raising the much complained about consumer rights issue of consent vs inscrutable T&Cs.

“Because I still find that it’s quite tricky to understand what it is that you accept when you accept your terms and conditions. And I think it would be great if we as citizens could really say ‘oh this is what I am signing up to and I’m perfectly happy with that’.”

Though she admitted there’s still a way to go for European privacy rights to be fully functioning as intended — arguing it’s still too hard for individual consumers to exercise the rights they have in law.

“I know I own my data but I really do not know how to exercise that ownership,” she said. “How to allow for more people to have access to my data if I want to enable innovation, new market participants coming in. If that was done in large scale you could have an innovative input into the marketplace and we’re definitely not there yet,” she said.

Asked about the idea of taxing data flows as another possible means of clipping the wings of big tech Vestager pointed to early signs of an intermediate market spinning up in Europe to help individual extract value from what corporate entities are doing with their information. So not literally a tax on data flows but a way for consumers to claw back some of the value that’s being stripped from them.

“It’s still nascent in Europe but since now we have the rights that establishes your ownership of your data we see there is a beginning market development of intermediaries saying should I enable you yourself to monetize your data, so it’s not just the giants who monetize your data. So that maybe you get a sum every month reflecting how your data has been passed on,” she said. “That is one opportunity.”

She also said the Commission is looking at how to make sure “huge amounts of data will not be a barrier to entry in a marketplace” — or present a barrier to innovation for newcomers. The latter being key given how tech giants’ massive data pools are translating into a meaty advantage in AI R&D.

In another interesting exchange, Vestager suggested the convenience of voice interfaces presents an acute competition challenge — given how the tech could naturally concentrate market power via preferring quick-fire Q&A style interactions which don’t support offering lots of choice options.

“One of the things that is really mindboggling for us is how to have choice if you have voice,” she said, arguing that voice assistance dynamic doesn’t lend itself to multiple suggestions being offered every time a user asks a question. “So how to have competition when you have voice search?.. How would this change the marketplace and how would we deal with such a market? So this is what we’re trying to figure out.”

Again she suggested regulators are thinking about how data flows behind the scenes as a potential route to remedying interfaces that work against choice.

“We’re trying to figure out how access to data will change the marketplace,” she added. “Can you give a different access to data because the one who holds the data, also holds the resources for innovation. And we cannot rely on the big guys to be the innovative ones.”

Asked for her worst case scenario for tech 10 years hence, she said it would be to have “all of the technology but none of the societal positive oversight and direction”.

On the flip side, the best case would be for legislators to be “willing to take sufficient steps in taxation and in regulating access to data and fairness in the marketplace”.

“We would also need to see technology develop to have new players,” she emphasized. “Because we still need to see what will happen with quantum computing, what will happen with blockchain, what other uses are there for all if that new technology. Because I still think that it holds a lot of promise. But only if our democracy will give it direction. Then you will have a positive outcome.”


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