iOS 13 brings many much needed quality-of-life improvements

In developer lingo, quality-of-life updates are all about refining things that already work. Thanks to these incremental improvements, it should make the end user experience much more enjoyable. And with iOS 13, it feels like Apple’s main focus is on this concept.

Dark Mode is basically the only new flashy feature of iOS this year. But that’s not a bad thing. From my experience, all the tiny refinements across the board are really convincing. iOS 13 is a much more interesting release than iOS 12 for instance.

I’ve been playing with early beta versions of iOS 13, so here’s what you should be looking for.

Dark Mode is gorgeous

Dark Mode is here, and it looks great. It’s a system-wide trigger that completely transforms the look and feel of your iPhone — you have to play with it to really feel the difference. The easiest way to activate it is by opening the Control Center panel, long pressing on the brightness indicator and turning it on.

While you can trigger it manually, you can also select an automated mode in the settings. Right now, my phone becomes dark at night and lights up in the morning. iOS uses your current location to time the change with the sunset and sunrise.

Widgets, notifications and menus now use black or transparent black as much as possible. You can choose new Apple wallpapers that change when you turn on Dark Mode, or you can optionally dim your custom wallpapers at night.

Apple has updated all its apps to support Dark Mode, from Notes to Mail, Messages, Safari and more. And it works really well with those apps.

But the issue is that many third-party apps haven’t been updated for Dark Mode yet. So it’s a disappointing experience for now, but I’m sure many app developers will update their apps before the final release of iOS 13.

Many apps already support have a dark version that you can trigger in the app settings. But Apple really wants third-party developers to follow the system-wide option going forward. So those apps will have to be updated as well.

Low-level improvements

iOS still looks like iOS. But if you carefully pay attention to your first experience of iOS 13, you’ll notice two things. First, animations have been sped up — it feels like unlocking your phone, opening and closing an app or swiping on a notification are much faster. It’s hard to know if those actions have been optimized or if it’s just Apple hitting the fast-forward button.

Second, Face ID is better. It’s not a dramatic change, but your phone recognizes you a tiny bit faster than before. iPhone users will appreciate that they don’t have to buy a new phone for this free improvement.

The two other iOS 13 changes that you can experience in any app is that the keyboard now supports swipe-to-type and the share sheet has been updated. It is now separated in three areas: a top row with suggested contacts to send photos, links and more depending on your most important contacts.

Under that row of contacts, you get the usual row of app icons to open something in another app. If you scroll down, you access a long list of actions that vary from app to another.

Siri and the Shortcuts app have been improved and now work more closely together. In addition to a more natural Siri voice, Shortcuts is now installed by default with iOS, which is great news for automation and scripting on your phone.

And I was surprised to see all my voice-activated Siri Shortcuts in the Shortcuts widget. For instance, since iOS 12, I’ve been able to say “Hey Siri, I’m heading home with Citymapper” to launch Citymapper with directions to my home. There’s now a button in the Shortcuts app to trigger that Siri Shortcut.

More interestingly, you can now create automated triggers to launch a shortcut. For instance, you can create scenarios related to CarPlay, a location or even a cheap NFC tag. Here are some examples:

• Launch a music playlist when I connect my phone to CarPlay or to my car using Bluetooth.
• Dim my screen and turn on low power mode when I activate airplane mode.
• Turn off my Philips Hue lights when I put my phone on an NFC sticker on my nightstand.

App improvements

All first-party apps have been improved in one way to another. Some changes are small, but a few apps have received a massive update.

Photos looks completely different with a new main tab. Instead of relatively boring looking grid of photos, you now get four sub-tabs that should help you navigate your photo library more efficiently.

‘Years’ lets you jump straight to a specific year. The ‘Months’ view is the most interesting one as iOS tries to sort your photos in smart albums based on dates and locations. When you open an event, you get the best photos of this event in the ‘Days’ tab. Some photos, such as duplicates are hidden by default.

And the last tab, ‘All Photos’ features the traditional never-ending grid of all your photos in your camera roll. Everything is still there. Live photos and videos now automatically play by default in some views. I’ve never been a fan of autoplaying videos but I guess that’s what people like.

The camera has been slightly improved, especially when it comes to Portrait mode with better segmentation of hair. And photo editing has been redesigned — it looks more like VSCO now.

Maps is getting a gradual update with better mapping data. But most people won’t see any change for a while. You can see real-time transit data, your flight status and share lists of places with friends though. It might not replace Citymapper, FlightLogger or Mapstr, but more contextual data is key when it comes to competing with Google Maps.

Talking about Google Maps, there’s a new Look Around feature that could have been called Apple Street View. I recommend trying the feature in San Francisco because it’s stunning. This isn’t just 360 photo shots — those are 3D representations of streets with foregrounds and backgrounds.

Messages is getting some much needed improvements. You can now choose a profile name and profile picture and share it with your contacts. I hate the default grey avatar, so it’s great to let people push a profile picture to other people.

If you have a Memoji-compatible device, you can now share Memoji stickers. If you’ve used Bitmoji in the past, this is Apple’s take on Bitmoji. And finally, search has been improved and is now actually useful. You can find an address or a specific message in no time.

Health has been redesigned but features more or less the same data. But it’s worth noting that Apple now lets you track, visualize and predict your menstrual cycle from the Health app.

Privacy

iOS 13 has a big emphasis on privacy as well thanks to a new signup option called “Sign In with Apple”. I couldn’t try it as I couldn’t see the option in any app. But Sarah Perez already wrote a great explainer on the topic.

In a few words, this button will let you create an account for a service without inputing an email address and password, and without connecting with your Google or Facebook account. Apple keeps as little data as possible — it’s all about creating a unique identifier and storing that in your iCloud keychain.

Apple is adding more ways to control your personal information. If an app needs your location for something, you can now grant access to your location just once. The app will have to ask for your permission the next time. Similarly, iOS 13 can tell you when an app has been tracking your location in the background with a map of those data points.

But I didn’t realize iOS 13 also blocks Bluetooth scanning by default in all apps. Many apps scan for nearby Bluetooth accessories and compare that with a database of Bluetooth devices around the world. In other words, it’s a way to get your location even if you’re not sharing your location with this app.

You now get a standard permission popup for apps that actually need to scan for Bluetooth devices — Mobike uses Bluetooth to unlock bikes or Eve uses Bluetooth to interact with connected objects for instance. But the vast majority of apps have no reason to scan for Bluetooth devices. You can decline Bluetooth permission and use Bluetooth headphones normally.

Random tidbits

Let’s go through some tiny little updates:

• App updates are smaller because iOS doesn’t download everything from their servers — only files that are relevant to your current device.
• Files works with Samba file servers, and you can zip/unzip files.
• Safari features a new site settings popup to request the desktop site, disable a content blocker or enable reader view. This is much cleaner than before.
• Notes has a new gallery view.
• Mail lets you customize font style, size and color. You can also indent text, create bulleted lists, etc.
• Find My iPhone and Find My Friends have been merged in a new Find My app. It also theoretically can help you find misplaced devices using other Apple devices from other people around your device — everything is supposed to be end-to-end encrypted.

Things I couldn’t try

• CarPlay has been redesigned for the first time in years. But I don’t own a car.
• You can store security camera footage in iCloud if your camera is HomeKit-compatible. But I don’t own a security camera.
• ARKit has been improved and can detect people in the real world.
• You can install custom fonts from the App Store and manage them from the settings. You can then use those fonts in any app.
• Lyrics in the Music app now scroll just like in a karaoke. I haven’t tried that.
• The Reminders app has been redesigned but I wasn’t using the app before. It feels like a full-fledged task manager now. Maybe I should use it.

Overall, iOS 13 feels like a breath of fresh air. Everything works slightly better than it used to. None of the changes are outrageous or particularly surprising. But they all contribute to making iOS a more enjoyable platform.

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Apple just released the first iOS and iPadOS 13 beta to everyone

This is your opportunity to get a glimpse of the future of iOS — and iPadOS. Apple just released the first public beta of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, the next major version of the operating systems for the iPhone and iPad. Unlike developer betas, everyone can download those betas without a $99 developer account. But don’t forget, it’s a beta.

The company still plans to release the final version of iOS and iPadOS 13.0 this fall (usually September). But Apple is going to release betas every few weeks over the summer. It’s a good way to fix as many bugs as possible and gather data from a large group of users.

As always, Apple’s public betas closely follow the release cycle of developer betas. And Apple released the second developer beta of iOS and iPadOS 13 just last week. So it sounds like the first public beta is more or less the same build as the second developer build.

But remember, you shouldn’t install an iOS beta on your primary iPhone or iPad. The issue is not just bugs — some apps and features won’t work at all. In some rare cases, beta software can also brick your device and make it unusable. Proceed with extreme caution.

I’ve been using the developer beta of iOS and it’s still quite buggy. Some websites don’t work, some apps are broken.

But if you have an iPad or iPhone you don’t need, here’s how to download it. Head over to Apple’s beta website and download the configuration profile. It’s a tiny file that tells your iPhone or iPad to update to public betas like it’s a normal software update.

You can either download the configuration profile from Safari on your iOS device directly, or transfer it to your device using AirDrop, for instance. Reboot your device, then head over to the Settings app. In September, your device should automatically update to the final version of iOS and iPadOS 13 and you’ll be able to delete the configuration profile.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in iOS 13. This year, in addition to dark mode, it feels like every single app has been improved with some quality-of-life updates. The Photos app features a brand new gallery view with autoplaying live photos and videos, smart curation and a more immersive design.

This version has a big emphasis on privacy as well thanks to a new signup option called “Sign in with Apple” and a bunch of privacy popups for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi consent, background location tracking. Apple Maps now features an impressive Google Street View-like feature called Look Around. It’s only available in a handful of cities, but I recommend… looking around as everything is in 3D.

Many apps have been updated, such as Reminders with a brand new version, Messages with the ability to set a profile picture shared with your contacts, Mail with better text formatting options, Health with menstrual cycle tracking, Files with desktop-like features, Safari with a new website settings menu, etc. Read more on iOS 13 in my separate preview.

On the iPad front, for the first time Apple is calling iOS for the iPad under a new name — iPadOS. Multitasking has been improved, the Apple Pencil should feel snappier, Safari is now as powerful as Safari on macOS and more.

iOS 13 brings many much needed quality-of-life improvements

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Apple just released the first iOS and iPadOS 13 beta to everyone

This is your opportunity to get a glimpse of the future of iOS — and iPadOS. Apple just released the first public beta of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13, the next major version of the operating systems for the iPhone and iPad. Unlike developer betas, everyone can download those betas without a $99 developer account. But don’t forget, it’s a beta.

The company still plans to release the final version of iOS and iPadOS 13.0 this fall (usually September). But Apple is going to release betas every few weeks over the summer. It’s a good way to fix as many bugs as possible and gather data from a large group of users.

As always, Apple’s public betas closely follow the release cycle of developer betas. And Apple released the second developer beta of iOS and iPadOS 13 just last week. So it sounds like the first public beta is more or less the same build as the second developer build.

But remember, you shouldn’t install an iOS beta on your primary iPhone or iPad. The issue is not just bugs — some apps and features won’t work at all. In some rare cases, beta software can also brick your device and make it unusable. Proceed with extreme caution.

I’ve been using the developer beta of iOS and it’s still quite buggy. Some websites don’t work, some apps are broken.

But if you have an iPad or iPhone you don’t need, here’s how to download it. Head over to Apple’s beta website and download the configuration profile. It’s a tiny file that tells your iPhone or iPad to update to public betas like it’s a normal software update.

You can either download the configuration profile from Safari on your iOS device directly, or transfer it to your device using AirDrop, for instance. Reboot your device, then head over to the Settings app. In September, your device should automatically update to the final version of iOS and iPadOS 13 and you’ll be able to delete the configuration profile.

Here’s a quick rundown of what’s new in iOS 13. This year, in addition to dark mode, it feels like every single app has been improved with some quality-of-life updates. The Photos app features a brand new gallery view with autoplaying live photos and videos, smart curation and a more immersive design.

This version has a big emphasis on privacy as well thanks to a new signup option called “Sign in with Apple” and a bunch of privacy popups for Bluetooth and Wi-Fi consent, background location tracking. Apple Maps now features an impressive Google Street View-like feature called Look Around. It’s only available in a handful of cities, but I recommend… looking around as everything is in 3D.

Many apps have been updated, such as Reminders with a brand new version, Messages with the ability to set a profile picture shared with your contacts, Mail with better text formatting options, Health with menstrual cycle tracking, Files with desktop-like features, Safari with a new website settings menu, etc. Read more on iOS 13 in my separate preview.

On the iPad front, for the first time Apple is calling iOS for the iPad under a new name — iPadOS. Multitasking has been improved, the Apple Pencil should feel snappier, Safari is now as powerful as Safari on macOS and more.

iOS 13 brings many much needed quality-of-life improvements

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5 really, really good reasons to attend TC Sessions: Mobility

It’s stunning how fast emerging new technologies can coalesce around a simple human need and suddenly change everything, not to mention spur billions in investment.

That’s what has happened in the past five years to the basics of humans getting around town, or “mobility” in the shorthand of Silicon Valley. And that’s the first of the five reasons TC Sessions: Mobility is a must: The Mobility category is too momentous to walk on by. Arguably no tech category has invoked a bigger spectrum of emerging technology to deliver results that touch more lives.

The second reason? Mobility is still the Wild West any way you look at it. Very little is settled on either the tech or business front. What is true vehicle autonomy, for example, and when will we have it? At TC Sessions: Mobility, attendees like Waymo CTO Dmitri Dolgov, Zoox co-founder Jesse Levinson and Lia Theodosiou-Pisanelli from Aurora, among others, will be weighing in on those topics — and many more.

Keeping those onstage interviews real when it comes to demanding topics is always a challenge, which brings us to the third reason: TechCrunch has some of the most respected editors anywhere when it comes to covering mobility. TechCrunch’s  Kirsten Korosec, Megan Rose Dickey and Matt Burns built this show and will handle most of the interviews onstage. You can trust them to ask the right questions.

Fourth, please check out the amazing agenda for the show. It really speaks for itself. There is no hot mobility topic — from autonomy to VC investing trends, from micro-mobility to mobility-first city design, to safety and security — that the agenda does not touch.

And the last reason, but perhaps most valuable of all: Consider who you will meet at this show, and how easily you will make new connections. Thanks to our CrunchMatch system, attendees can easily discover each other based on interests and arrange to meet at the show. At every TechCrunch event, literally thousands of new connections arise through CrunchMatch.

And here’s a bonus reason: The sponsors organizing breakout sessions and exhibits at this show are recognized mobility leaders and will have top team leads on site. Catch up with ABB, AAA, Merchants Fleet, Waymo and many more — see the breakout lineup here.

We hope to see you there! 

$295 tickets are still available. Book yours today as prices go up at the door. Bringing a group of four or more? Save 15% with a group discount here.

Psst – if you’re a student you can book a $45 ticket with this link.

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Trash uses AI to edit your footage into a fun, short videos

Motivated Reasoning Olympics

Motivated Reasoning Olympics

Trash uses AI to edit your footage into a fun, short videos

Climate change, AI and ethical leadership in ‘big tech’, with Amazon principal UX design lead Maren Costa

“I just want to be proud of the company that I work for,” Maren Costa told me recently.

Costa is a Principal UX Design Lead at Amazon, for which she has worked since 2002. I was referred to her because of her leadership in the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group I covered earlier this week for my series on the ethics of technology.

Like many of her peers at Amazon, Costa has been experiencing a tension between work she loves and a company culture and community she in many ways admires deeply, and what she sees as the company’s dangerous failings, or “blind spots,” regarding critical ethical issues such as climate change and AI.

Indeed, her concerns are increasingly typical of employees not only at Amazon, but throughout big tech and beyond, which seems worth noting particularly because hers is not the typical image many call to mind when thinking of giant tech companies.

A Gen-X poet and former Women’s Studies major, Costa drops casual references to neoliberal capitalism running amok into discussions of multiple topics. She has a self-deprecating sense of humor and worries about the impact of her work on women, people of color, and the Earth.

If such sentiments strike you as too idealistic to take seriously, it seems Glass Lewis and ISS, two of the world’s largest and most influential firms advising investors in such companies, would disagree. Both firms recently advised Amazon shareholders to vote in support of a resolution put forward by Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and its supporters, calling on Amazon to dramatically change its approach to climate issues.

Glass Lewis’s statement urged Amazon to “provide reassurance” about its climate policies to employees like Ms. Costa, as “the Company’s apparent inaction on issues of climate change can present human capital risks, which have the potential to lead to the Company having problems attracting and retaining talented employees.” And in its similar report, ISS highlighted research reporting that 64 percent of millennials would be reluctant to work for a company “whose corporate social responsibility record does not align with their values.”

Amazon’s top leadership and shareholders ultimately voted down the measure, but the work of the Climate Justice Employees group continues unabated. And if you read the interview below, you might well join me in believing we’ll see many similar groups crop up at peer companies in the coming years, on a variety of issues. All of those groups will require many leaders — perhaps including you. After all, as Costa said, “leadership comes from everywhere.”

Maren Costa: (Apologizes for coughing as interview was about to start)

Greg Epstein: … Well, you could say the Earth is choking too.

Costa: Segue.

Epstein: Exactly. Thank you so much for taking the time, Maren. You are something of an insider at your company.

Costa: Yeah, I took two years off, so I’ve actually worked here for 15 years but started 17 years ago. I actually came back to Amazon, which is surprising to me.

Epstein: You’ve really seen the company evolve.

Costa: Yes.

Epstein: And, in fact, you’ve helped it to evolve — I wouldn’t call myself a big Amazon customer, but based on your online portfolio, you’ve even worked on projects I personally have used. Though find it hard to believe anyone can find jeans that actually fit them on Amazon, I must say.

Costa: [My work is actually] on every page. You can’t use Amazon without using the global navigation, and that was my main project for years, in addition to a lot of the apparel and sort of the softer side of Amazon. Because when I started, it was very super male-dominated.

I mean, still is, but much more so. Jeff literally thought by putting a search box that you could type in Boolean queries was a great homepage, you know? He didn’t have any need for sort of pictures and colors.

(Photo: Lisa Werner/Moment Mobile/Getty Images)

Epstein: My previous interview [for this TechCrunch series on tech ethics] was with Jessica Powell, who used to be PR director of Google and has written a satirical novel about Google. One of the huge themes in her work is the culture at these companies that are heavily male-dominated and engineer-dominated, where maybe there are blind spots or things that the-

Costa: Totally.

Epstein: … kinds of people who’ve been good at founding these companies don’t tend to see. It sounds like that’s something you’ve been aware of and you’ve worked on over the years.

Costa: Absolutely, yes. It was actually a great opportunity, because it made my job pretty easy.

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Google’s new media literacy program teaches kids how to spot disinformation and fake news

Google announced this morning it’s expanding its two-year-old digital safety and citizenship curriculum for children, “Be Internet Awesome,” to now include media literacy — specifically, the ability to identify so-called “fake news” and other false content. The company is launching six new media literacy activities for the curriculum that will help teach kids things like how to avoid a phishing attack, what bots are, how to verify that information is credible, how to evaluate sources, how to identify disinformation online, spot fake URLs, and more.

The new media literacy classes — which frankly, some adults should read through as well — were developed in collaboration with Anne Collier, executive director of The Net Safety Collaborative, and Faith Rogow, Ph.D., co-author of The Teacher’s Guide to Media Literacy and a co-founder of the National Association for Media Literacy Education.

“We need the right tools and resources to help kids make the most of technology, and while good digital safety and citizenship resources exist for families, more can be done for media literacy,” writes educator and teachmama.com founder Amy Mascott, in an announcement on Google’s blog today. “I’ve worked alongside dozens of educators who believe that media literacy is essential to safety and citizenship in the digital age, but agree that it’s a topic that can be tough to cover.”

The courses offer kids not only instruction, but also a combination of activities and discussion starters aimed at helping them develop critical thinking skills when it comes to pursuing online resources.

Its overall theme, the course material explains, is to help kids understand that the content they find online isn’t necessarily true or reliable  — and it could even involve malicious efforts to steal their information or identity.

The kids learn how phishing works, why it’s a threat, and how to avoid it. They then practice their anti-phishing skills by acting out and discussing reactions to suspicious online texts, posts, friend requests, pictures, and emails.

In the bots section, they learn about how A.I. works and compare and contrast talking to a bot versus talking to a human being.

In the following media literacy sections, kids learn what a credible source is, how to figure out what a source’s motives are, and learn that “just because a person is an expert on one thing doesn’t make them an expert on everything.”

In a related classroom activity, the kids pick a question related to something they’ve seen online or are learning in class and try to get the answers online, while figuring out if the sources are credible.

They also learn to fact check credible sources with other credible sources as a way to look for a variety of sources.

“If you can’t find a variety of credible sources that agree with the source you are checking, you shouldn’t believe that source,” the curriculum explains.

Kids are additionally taught how to spot fake information using clues like deceptive URLs as well as checking the sources for credibility. They’re told that some people don’t know how to do this, and share fake information online — which is how it spreads.

“There are a lot of people and groups who are so passionate about what they believe that they twist the truth to get us to agree with them. When the twisted information is disguised as a news story, that’s disinformation,” the curriculum says.

Kids are also informed that some of the fake news organizations are hard to spot because they use names that sound like they’re real.

And the course delves into various tricks some websites use — like using photos that don’t relate to the story, using clickbait words like “shocking” or “outrageous” which they know make people curious,” using bold, underline, exclamation points or ALL CAPS, to convince you to agree with them.

This section concludes with an online game, Reality River, that asks kids to use their best judgment in order to cross the river rapids. This takes place in Interland, the game developed as a companion to Google’s digital safety and citizenship curriculum.

The overall goal of the media literacy course is to encourage the kids to make checking all news and information a habit — not just those they think seem suspicious.

Google says the new curriculum is available online for both teachers and families alike to use, and are offered in English, Spanish and eight other languages.

Google is partnering with the YMCA and National PTA across multiple cities to host online safety workshops, as well.

 

 

 

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The 6 Best Game Launchers to Launch and Organize Your PC Games

When Valve’s Steam launcher took off, we briefly enjoyed being able to launch nearly every PC game from one place. Then every company seemed to introduce its own launcher. Now there are too many game launchers to keep track of, and you probably own games across all of them.

If you own a sizable collection of PC games, it can be tough to remember which game is installed on which launcher. Fortunately, there are a few different ways that you can launch all of your PC games without hopping between game launchers.

1. Discord

If you prefer single-player games to multiplayer, you may not have had much interaction with Discord. For the uninitiated, Discord is the best free voice chat for gamers, but if you’re not chatting, why would you use it?

In 2018, Discord became a whole lot more like Steam when it added a game store. In addition to this, it added a feature it calls the Discord Universal Library. This will scan your computer for games and add them to your Discord library. When you go to launch the game, it will boot the required launcher if necessary and run the game.

This feature is fairly barebones right now. For example, you can’t manage your game library in other launchers. Some users have also complained that it doesn’t find some games despite finding others stored in the same place. That said, if you’re a Discord fan and have the app installed, it’s worth trying before you install any other apps.

2. Razer Cortex

Unlike some of the other apps on this list, Razer Cortex claims to do a lot of various things. It’s a game performance booster, system performance booster, system cleaner, and more. It also offers up a library of all of your installed games across different launchers.

In our testing and in reading user feedback, Razer Cortex seems to find games very well. The only problem is that you don’t have a lot of options in how it displays your game library. With some more options for sorting and how your games are displayed, we’d be even happier with it.

Razer Cortex does have one killer feature that no other app on this list has. The app will find deals on games, no matter which launcher they use, and offer them up to you. If you’re looking to expand your game collection while saving a few bucks, this feature alone makes the app worth installing.

3. LaunchBox

Unlike the other apps on this list, LaunchBox started out with a much smaller goal than what it became. Initially, the launcher was just a front end for the DOSBox emulator. Over time, the developers added feature after feature and now it’s one of the more advanced launchers you’ll find.

This has both positives and negatives. On one hand, LaunchBox is incredibly configurable. If you like to tweak settings, you’ll find a whole lot to customize to your liking. On the other hand, the app doesn’t have some of the automation that other apps on this list have.

Depending on the launcher, your games might not always turn up in a scan. You can always add them manually, but it would be nice if you didn’t have to do this. Still, if you’re looking for a launcher that can handle Pitfall just as well as the latest Tom Clancy game, Launchbox is worth a look.

4. Playnite

Despite being one of the newer options on this list, Playnite is also one of the most polished. The team has done a fantastic job combining thorough scanning, a good variety of features, and an easy to navigate user interface.

Part of this comes down to the open source nature of the project. Playnite has a lot of contributors and this has had a lot to do with the fast pace of its development. In addition to launchers, Playnite supports a lot of emulators, so it handles your retro gaming needs nicely.

You also get a playtime counter that can import your stats from GOG and Steam, customizable themes, and support for extensions. This means users can add features we haven’t even begun to imagine yet.

5. GameRoom

GameRoom may share a name with an ill-fated Microsoft project, but don’t let that discourage you. This launcher supports Steam, Origin, Uplay, GOG, Battle.net, and the Microsoft Store, with promises to support more. With the rise of the Epic Launcher spurred on by the popularity of Fortnite, that’s a good thing.

Development seems to have slowed somewhat as of late, but if the above launchers hold most of your game library it shouldn’t matter. GameRoom also supports emulators, so you can collect your favorite retro games alongside the modern games you’re playing.

GameRoom lets you easily set custom launch options for games. Whether you like to run with custom arguments or just need a few flags to keep an old game running, this is very handy.

6. Photon

Photon isn’t the only commercial launcher on this list, but it is the only one that charges. While version 3 was free, version 4 costs £10 (roughly $12) to use with more than five games. You can pay more if you like, which helps support the developer.

While most of the features are roughly the same as other launchers on this list, a few are intriguing. For example, Photon claims to be able to download and apply patches for older games. Many launchers do this, but Photon claims to be able to do this for older games on its own via online databases. We haven’t been able to try this, but it could be handy.

If you’re looking for a specific feature and haven’t found it in the other launchers, it can’t hurt to try Photon. It’s not the most popular launcher out there but its features may make it worth the low price.

Other Game Launchers Are Available

While the above apps can help you manage your PC game collection, they’re not the only option. For example, an update is coming to GOG’s Galaxy launcher that will let it launch games from other launchers. If you’d rather stick to Steam, you can add other games to it manually. This takes some work but doesn’t require any third-party software.

That said, launching your emulated games is a major strength of these apps. This is important if you’re a fan of retro gaming. If you’re wondering how to get started, we have a guide detailing how to play retro games on your PC, legally.

Read the full article: The 6 Best Game Launchers to Launch and Organize Your PC Games

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The 5 Best Music Streaming Apps for Apple Watch Users

Controlling your music is one of the top features of the Apple Watch. Since the release of the Apple Watch Series 3 in 2017, the device lets you stream music directly from your watch without needing an iPhone or iPod.

This is a game-changer for runners and fitness enthusiasts, as well as casual music listeners who don’t want to carry two devices for their music. But to use this, you’re going to need a music app.

Let’s take a closer look at some of the best music apps available for your Apple Watch.

1. Apple Music

The Apple Music app works well as a method for syncing your iPhone music library, and it’s likely the first app new Apple Watch owners will turn to. You can control your playback as well as accessing songs, albums, and playlists right from your wrist. If you have an Apple Watch model with cellular support and an Apple Music subscription ($10/month) you can stream directly from your watch.

Apple makes this incredibly easy. By default, your iPhone will automatically sync Apple’s weekly playlists: New Music, Chill Mix, and Favorites Mix. It will also upload Heavy Rotation, which is a collection of albums and playlists that you frequently play. You can manually add playlists and albums using the Watch app on your iPhone.

The app offers basic music controls to pause and skip forward or back, and you can use the digital crown to control the volume. Siri voice control is also available—just raise your wrist and ask Siri to play, pause, skip, or play the previous song. Be warned, however—if you ask Siri to play a particular song, album, or playlist, it will do so through your iPhone rather than your Apple Watch. This is the case unless you have the LTE model.

With the cellular apple watch, you can ask Siri to play any of the 50 million songs in the Apple Music library. The app also has some great complications that will show you the currently playing song with a glance at your wrist.

If you’re an Apple Music subscriber, the app does just about everything you could want it to. The Siri integration makes it a great option for hands-free music when you’re working out.

Download: Apple Music (Free, subscription available)

2. Spotify

If you’re a Spotify Premium subscriber ($10/month) hoping that you can to leave your iPhone behind, you’re in for disappointment. Even with the LTE Apple Watch, you still can’t stream Spotify directly from the wearable.

That doesn’t take away from the positives of this service on your Apple Watch, however. With your iPhone nearby, the Spotify app is a handy way of controlling your music without needing to pull out your phone.

You’ll find recently played albums and playlists, as well as a link to your library which includes Spotify’s excellent Discover Weekly playlist. Further, you can play, pause, skip forward, and skip back with the app’s playback controls. The app also has support for adding songs to your favorites, as well as changing output devices.

There’s also information about the currently playing playlist or album, but it only shows the first two or three songs, so this isn’t very useful. The Apple Watch complications are also disappointing; even the largest doesn’t show your currently playing music.

If Spotify is your go-to music service on your iPhone, then the Spotify app for your Apple Watch should transfer some of the same useful features to your wrist. Haven’t subscribed yet? See why we think Spotify Premium is worth the cost.

Download: Spotify (Free, subscription available)

3. Pandora

Pandora is another music alternative for Apple Watch owners in the US. You can play music on the go, even without your iPhone. Unlike Spotify, Pandora includes offline playback as an option. Recent content automatically uploads to your watch when your iPhone connects to the same network, too.

In order to take advantage of offline playback, you’ll need to sign up to one of the paid subscriptions. The Premium subscription ($1o/month) provides offline access to 10 of your most recent playlists, songs, or albums. Alternatively, the Plus subscription ($5/month) will only let you listen to your three most recent stations when offline.

The app shows currently playing songs, with a prominent play/pause icon and adjustable volume ring. Swiping right takes you to the selection screen, where you can choose the music you want to play. How many choices you have here will depend on the level of your subscription. If you’re a free user, you’ll only see the last song that played on your iPhone.

If you already have a Pandora subscription then this is a useful app that gives you access to offline content. But it lacks the deeper integration of the Apple Music app, and there’s no option to stream with the cellular Apple Watch. Thus, you’re limited to what you can listen to without your iPhone.

Download: Pandora (Free, subscription available)

4. Deezer

Deezer is another subscription-based service for Apple Watch users to try. For Deezer Premium subscribers ($10/month), there are no limitations on how you can use the app. Free users have the same limitations as in the iPhone app—you can only play in Shuffle Mode and skip up to six tracks an hour.

Beware, however—there’s no option for downloading offline content with the Deezer app. There’s also no way to stream directly to your watch. You’ll need to have your iPhone on hand if you want to listen to music.

There are also currently no complications for the Deezer app. The only way that you can launch the app is via the mass of icons on the home screen. All the other apps in this list can be launched directly from your watch face, so this is something to consider if Deezer is your preferred service.

You have four options for choosing music—Flow, My Music, Favorite Tracks, and the most recently played song. Flow is Deezer’s personalized playlist based on your listening habits, which includes your favorites mixed with new music suggestions. My Music lets you select from recent songs and favorite tracks as well as playlists, albums, and podcasts. You also have the option to add to your favorites or remove a song from your Flow.

If you have a Deezer account then the app is a must-have. But without offline content and no option for direct streaming, you’ll need to keep your iPhone close by.

Download: Deezer (Free, subscription available)

5. TuneIn

If you prefer your music from radio stations rather than your own albums and playlists, TuneIn has you covered. You can listen to more than 100,000 radio stations from around the world, as well as podcasts. If you sign up for a Premium subscription ($10/month) you’ll also get access to live NFL, MLB, NBA, and NHL games.

The TuneIn Pro Apple Watch app is really just a controller for the iPhone app. You can choose from a selection of your most recent station. From there, the app shows controls to play or pause your current station, as well as skip backward or forwards 30 seconds (which is great for podcasts). There’s no way of searching for additional stations through the app.

There are some complications available, but they’re not supported on every Apple Watch face. The largest complications will show the currently playing station, while the smallest provides a shortcut for the app.

Like some of the other apps on this list, TuneIn doesn’t work on your Apple Watch independently of your iPhone. If you want to stream music through your Apple Watch only, you’ll need to use the Apple Radio app.

Note that TuneIn Premium is an ongoing subscription to access premium content. TuneIn Pro is a one-time purchase that removes ad banners and lets you record content for offline listening.

Download: TuneIn (Free, subscription available) | TuneIn Pro ($10, subscription available)

Choosing the Right Music App for Your Apple Watch

A big part of deciding which music app you’ll use on your Apple Watch is your music subscription. If you’re already invested in Spotify, the wide music choice should prove satisfying on your watch too. You’ll find similar experiences with the Pandora, Deezer, and TuneIn apps.

If you’re subscribed to Apple Music, or if you want to stream your music without your iPhone nearby, then you should choose Apple Music. You can then start to create an Apple Music playlist to listen to your favorite artists.

Read the full article: The 5 Best Music Streaming Apps for Apple Watch Users

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Carrefour sale shifts the balance of power in China’s new retail battle

Facebook makes another push to shape and define its own oversight

Facebook’s head of global spin and policy, former UK deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, will give a speech later today providing more detail of the company’s plan to set up an ‘independent’ external oversight board to which people can appeal content decisions so that Facebook itself is not the sole entity making such decisions.

In the speech in Berlin, Clegg will apparently admit to Facebook having made mistakes. Albeit, it would be pretty awkward if he came on stage claiming Facebook is flawless and humanity needs to take a really long hard look at itself.

“I don’t think it’s in any way conceivable, and I don’t think it’s right, for private companies to set the rules of the road for something which is as profoundly important as how technology serves society,” Clegg told BBC Radio 4’s Today program this morning, discussing his talking points ahead of the speech. “In the end this is not something that big tech companies… can or should do on their own.

“I want to see… companies like Facebook play an increasingly mature role — not shunning regulation but advocating it in a sensible way.”

The idea of creating an oversight board for content moderation and appeals was previously floated by Facebook founder, Mark Zuckerberg. Though it raises way more questions than it resolves — not least how a board whose existence depends on the underlying commercial platform it is supposed to oversee can possibly be independent of that selfsame mothership; or how board appointees will be selected and recompensed; and who will choose the mix of individuals to ensure the board can reflect the full spectrum diversity of humanity that’s now using Facebook’s 2BN+ user global platform?

None of these questions were raised let alone addressed in this morning’s BBC Radio 4 interview with Clegg.

Asked by the interviewer whether Facebook will hand control of “some of these difficult decisions” to an outside body, Clegg said: “Absolutely. That’s exactly what it means. At the end of the day there is something quite uncomfortable about a private company making all these ethical adjudications on whether this bit of content stays up or this bit of content gets taken down.

“And in the really pivotal, difficult issues what we’re going to do — it’s analogous to a court — we’re setting up an independent oversight board where users and indeed Facebook will be able to refer to that board and say well what would you do? Would you take it down or keep it up? And then we will commit, right at the outset, to abide by whatever rulings that board makes.”

Speaking shortly afterwards on the same radio program, Damian Collins, who chairs a UK parliamentary committee that has called for Facebook to be investigated by the UK’s privacy and competition regulators, suggested the company is seeking to use self-serving self-regulation to evade wider responsibility for the problems its platform creates — arguing that what’s really needed are state-set broadcast-style regulations overseen by external bodies with statutory powers.

“They’re trying to pass on the responsibility,” he said of Facebook’s oversight board. “What they’re saying to parliaments and governments is well you make things illegal and we’ll obey your laws but other than that don’t expect us to exercise any judgement about how people use our services.

“We need as level of regulation beyond that as well. Ultimately we need — just as have in broadcasting — statutory regulation based on principles that we set, and an investigatory regulator that’s got the power to go in and investigate, which, under this board that Facebook is going to set up, this will still largely be dependent on Facebook agreeing what data and information it shares, setting the parameters for investigations. Where we need external bodies with statutory powers to be able to do this.”

Clegg’s speech later today is also slated to spin the idea that Facebook is suffering unfairly from a wider “techlash”.

Asked about that during the interview, the Facebook PR seized the opportunity to argue that if Western society imposes too stringent regulations on platforms and their use of personal data there’s a risk of “throw[ing] the baby out with the bathwater”, with Clegg smoothly reaching for the usual big tech talking points — claiming innovation would be “almost impossible” if there’s not enough of a data free for all, and the West risks being dominated by China, rather than friendly US giants.

By that logic we’re in a rights race to the bottom — thanks to the proliferation of technology-enabled global surveillance infrastructure, such as the one operated by Facebook’s business.

Clegg tried to pass all that off as merely ‘communications as usual’, making no reference to the scale of the pervasive personal data capture that Facebook’s business model depends upon, and instead arguing its business should be regulated in the same way society regulates “other forms of communication”. Funnily enough, though, your phone isn’t designed to record what you say the moment you plug it in…

“People plot crimes on telephones, they exchange emails that are designed to hurt people. If you hold up any mirror to humanity you will always see everything that is both beautiful and grotesque about human nature,” Clegg argued, seeking to manage expectations vis-a-vis what regulating Facebook should mean. “Our job — and this is where Facebook has a heavy responsibility and where we have to work in partnership with governments — is to minimize the bad and to maximize the good.”

He also said Facebook supports “new rules of the road” to ensure a “level playing field” for regulations related to privacy; election rules; the boundaries of hate speech vs free speech; and data portability —  making a push to flatten regulatory variation which is often, of course, based on societal, cultural and historical differences, as well as reflecting regional democratic priorities.

It’s not at all clear how any of that nuance would or could be factored into Facebook’s preferred universal global ‘moral’ code — which it’s here, via Clegg (a former European politician), leaning on regional governments to accept.

Instead of societies setting the rules they choose for platforms like Facebook, Facebook’s lobbying muscle is being flexed to make the case for a single generalized set of ‘standards’ which won’t overly get in the way of how it monetizes people’s data.

And if we don’t agree to its ‘Western’ style surveillance, the threat is we’ll be at the mercy of even lower Chinese standards…

“You’ve got this battle really for tech dominance between the United States and China,” said Clegg, reheating Zuckerberg’s senate pitch last year when the Facebook founder urged a trade off of privacy rights to allow Western companies to process people’s facial biometrics to not fall behind China. “In China there’s no compunction about how data is used, there’s no worry about privacy legislation, data protection and so on — we should not emulate what the Chinese are doing but we should keep our ability in Europe and North America to innovate and to use data proportionately and innovat[iv]ely.

“Otherwise if we deprive ourselves of that ability I can predict that within a relatively short period of time we will have tech domination from a country with wholly different sets of values to those that are shared in this country and elsewhere.”

What’s rather more likely is the emergence of discrete Internets where regions set their own standards — and indeed we’re already seeing signs of splinternets emerging.

Clegg even briefly brought this up — though it’s not clear why (and he avoided this point entirely) Europeans should fear the emergence of a regional digital ecosystem that bakes respect for human rights into digital technologies.

With European privacy rules also now setting global standards by influencing policy discussions elsewhere — including the US — Facebook’s nightmare is that higher standards than it wants to offer Internet users will become the new Western norm.

Listening to Nick Clegg on the @BBCr4today answer for the dystopian world of Facebook – from live-streaming massacres to enabling suicides. Zuckerberg hired a former deputy PM so he could “understand Europe.” His proposed remedy? An oversight committee. Pull the other one.

— Tom Watson (@tom_watson) June 24, 2019

Collins made short work of Clegg’s techlash point, pointing out that if Facebook wants to win back users’ and society’s trust it should stop acting like it has everything to hide and actually accept public scrutiny.

“They’ve done this to themselves,” he said. “If they want redemption, if they want to try and wipe the slate clean for Mack Zuckerberg he should open himself up more. He should be prepared to answer more questions publicly about the data that they gather, whether other companies like Cambridge Analytica had access to it, the nature of the problem of disinformation on the platform. Instead they are incredibly defensive, incredibly secretive a lot of the time. And it arouses suspicion.

“I think people were quite surprised to discover the lengths to which people go to to gather data about us — even people who don’t even use Facebook. And that’s what’s made them suspicious. So they have to put their own house in order if they want to end this.”

Last year Collins’ DCMS committee repeatedly asked Zuckerberg to testify to its enquiry into online disinformation — and was repeatedly snubbed…

Zuckerberg again snubs UK parliament over call to testify

Where’s the accountability Facebook?

Zuckerberg rejects facetime call for answers from five parliaments

Collins also debunked an attempt by Clegg to claim there’s no evidence of any Russian meddling on Facebook’s platform targeting the UK’s 2016 EU referendum — pointing out that Facebook previously admitted to a small amount of Russian ad spending that did target the EU referendum, before making the wider point that it’s very difficult for anyone outside Facebook to know how its platform gets used/misused; Ads are just the tip of the political disinformation iceberg.

“It’s very difficult to investigate externally, because the key factors — like the use of tools like groups on Facebook, the use of inauthentic fake accounts boosting Russian content, there have been studies showing that’s still going on and was going on during the [US] parliamentary elections, there’s been no proper audit done during the referendum, and in fact when we first went to Facebook and said there’s evidence of what was going on in America in 2016, did this happen during the referendum as well, they said to us well we won’t look unless you can prove it happened,” he said.

“There’s certainly evidence of suspicious Russian activity during the referendum and elsewhere,” Collins added.

We asked Facebook for Clegg’s talking points for today’s speech but the company declined to share more detail ahead of time.

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Xiaomi’s new Mi CC brand will develop ‘trendy’ smartphones for young people

Huawei may be on the ropes as it battles sanctions from the U.S. government, but fellow Chinese smartphone rival Xiaomi is in expansion mode with the launch of a new brand that’s aimed at winning friends (and sales) among the young and fashionable.

“Mi CC” is the newest brand from Xiaomi. Unveiled on Friday, the phone-maker said it stands for “camera+camera” in reference to its dual-camera feature, but that apparently also segues into “a variety of meanings including chic, cool, colorful and creative.”

The end goal of that marketing bumf is a target customer that Xiaomi describes as “the global young generation.”

Essentially, what Xiaomi is doing here is breaking out a dedicated set of phones for those who care more about aesthetics than performance. To date, the company has built its brand on developing phones that are as good — well, nearly as good — as top smartphone rivals but at a fraction of the cost. The result of that is that a lot of marketing focus is on the technical details, even though Xiaomi has been lauded for some attractive designs, and CC adjusts that balance to target a different kind of audience.

Since Xiaomi has a history of bringing innovation into affordable devices, CC is one to watch out for.

Xiaomi’s CC teaser image doesn’t give much away, apart from the logo

The new division is the result of Xiaomi’s acquisition of the smartphone business belonging to Meitu, a selfie app maker.

Xiaomi bought the business last November to go after new demographics and build on the work of Meitu, which had sold just over 3.5 million after getting into the smartphone business in 2013. Those numbers weren’t enough to justify the continuation of Meitu’s phone business but, evidently, Xiaomi saw promise in that segment. Meitu retains a similarly positive outlook on the fashionable audience and it has a lot to gain financially from the success of CC, too.

Terms of the acquisition deal mean that Meitu will take 10 percent of all profits, with a minimum guaranteed fee of $10 million per year. Big sales could be significant for Meitu, which reported revenue of $406 million in 2018. Notably, two-thirds of that income was from phone sales but Meitu’s smartphone revenue dropped by 51 percent year-on-year. Hence, Xiaomi has come to the rescue with its know-how.

There’s no word on exactly what Mi CC devices will look like or where they will be sold, but Xiaomi is already trumpeting its differentiation.

“Mi CC is created by one of the youngest product teams in Xiaomi, among which half are art majors and are dedicated to creating a trendy design for young consumers,” it wrote in an announcement.

Gavin Thomas plays with a Mi CC phone in a teaser that the brand posted to its Weibo account

The first look is a teaser that features Gavin Thomas — an eight-year-old who went viral in China for his ability to speak Mandarin — but the phone itself is kept hidden in the video thanks to well-placed stickers.

As you’d expect from Meitu, there’s a lot of emphasis on selfies, stickers and other graphics.

Xiaomi has had success with brands, some of which include Redmi — its big-selling budget division — Poco, its ‘performance’-focused division, its gaming brand Shark, which looks much like Razer’s phones.

Outside of mobile, the company develops and sells a range of smart home products, many of which are licensed from third-party partners.

Smart TVs add fuel to Xiaomi’s Q1 earnings

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The power of Ravelry’s stance against white supremacy reaches beyond the knitting community

I am a knitter. It is more than just my hobby. Knitting has been a core part of my identity since I was five years old, when my grandmother patiently taught me how to make my first garter stitch square. I am also a person of color. Over the past few years, it’s been painful to see the empowerment racists derive from the Trump administration, but even more troubling to see how many people insist that taking a stance against racism is “being political.” And I’ve been a member of Ravelry for 11 years.

Today the site, which currently counts eight million members, and is one of the most influential online communities dedicated to knitting and other yarn crafts, enacted a policy that explicitly bans support of Donald Trump and his administration in content posted to the site, including knitting projects, patterns, forum posts and profiles.

Ravelry credits rules enacted last year on roleplaying game site RPG.net for much of the writing in its new policy. At a time when all the biggest social media platforms, including Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, are constantly prevaricating about their role in enabling the spread of racism, hate speech and harassment, it is extraordinarily brave and meaningful for these much smaller—but still influential—sites to take a stance that unequivocally calls out the link between the Trump administration and white supremacy.

To quote from Ravelry’s policy update:

We cannot provide a space that is inclusive of all and also allow support for open white supremacy. Support of the Trump administration is undeniably support for white supremacy.

Policy notes:
• You can still participate if you do in fact support the administration, you just can’t talk about it here.
• We are not endorsing the Democrats nor banning Republicans.
• We are definitely not banning conservative politics. Hate groups and intolerance are different from other types of political positions.
• We are not banning people for past support.
• Do not try to weaponize this policy by entrapping people who do support the Trump administration into voicing their support.
• Similarly, antagonizing conservative members for their unstated positions is not acceptable.

Ravelry states that posts violating this policy will be made invisible or returned to drafts (it adds that the site will never delete project data and will provide any member who is banned with a backup copy).

To be clear, and to reiterate what it says in its policy update, Ravelry has not banned people who support Trump from the site. Instead, they are requesting that they keep their support of Trump and his administration off of Ravelry. This is not the first time the site has taken action against racist, xenophobic and white supremacist sentiment. For example, it does not allow patterns with the Confederate flag and in January removed a pattern for a hat that said “Build the Wall.”

Knitting: more than just another hobby

I have never met the team behind Ravelry, but the site has been a big part of my personal life for more than a decade. Reading commentary about their policy update today felt strange because I am watching decisions made by a team I’ve come to respect and admire for their thoughtfulness dissected by people who are clearly not familiar with Ravelry, and who obviously do not knit.

A lot of comments are incredulous that a “knitting site” can be so opinionated. Others are dismissive of Ravelry’s stance because most of its audience are hobbyists. But the value of knitting, especially hand-knitting, is beginning to be recognized beyond the crafting sphere. For example, researchers are studying the properties of knitted fabric to guide innovation in fields like biomedical engineering and soft robotics.

It is also important to recognize that textile arts have been intertwined with social issues for centuries. For a long time, making garments, bed linens and other essential items were among the few ways women were able to gather for hours and talk by themselves. In “No Idle Hands: The Social History of American Knitting,” published in 1988, Anne L. Mcdonald charts the roles knitters played during both wartime, galvanizing support and providing clothing for troops, and peacetime, supporting political movements across the centuries like American independence, abolition and suffragism. As Julia Bryan-Wilson, the author of “Fray: Art and Textile Politics” and a professor at U.C. Berkeley, wrote, “no one book…could possibly account for the ways that textiles have been used across history for both pacifying and radical causes.”

Protesters march on Pennsylvania Avenue during the Women’s March on Washington on January 21, 2017 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Paul Morigi/WireImage)

One of the most striking recent examples of knitting’s impact beyond its “niche” was the Pussyhat Project. An estimated one hundred thousand hats were made and distributed to participants in the Women’s March by volunteers, creating the sea of pink seen in photos taken at demonstrations across the world.

Knitters have also been at the forefront of many difficult but important conversations. For example, after the Women’s March, discussions arose in crafting groups about how the Pussyhat Project sent an exclusionary message to transgender women and women of color. Many people put the hats they had knit or crochet away to show solidarity. Earlier this year, knitters began talking about racism within the community itself and how discrimination among crafters intertwines with discrimination in other contexts as well. With its policy update today, Ravelry has the potential to launch important discussions about the site that online sites and their moderators have in shaping public discourse, starting within specific groups and spreading further.

Many years ago, knitting designer and teacher Elizabeth Zimmerman wrote, “Properly practiced, knitting soothes the troubled spirit, and it doesn’t hurt the untroubled spirit either.” As a group, knitters, and textile artists in general, have never been afraid of making decisive statements, and decisions like the one Ravelry announced today have the potential to reverberate much, much further. For many knitters and other textile crafters who have struggled to make sense of the past few years, it is a beacon of hope and support in a dark time. For others, it will hopefully serve as a call to reflection.

 

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