09 September 2019

Assessing the Quality of Long-Form Synthesized Speech




Automatically generated speech is everywhere, from directions being read out aloud while you are driving, to virtual assistants on your phone or smart speaker devices at home. While much research is being done to try to make synthesized speech sound as natural as possible—such as generating speech for low-resource languages and creating human-like speech with Tacotron 2—how does one evaluate if the generated speech sounds natural or not? The best way to find out is to ask people, who are very good at telling if something sounds natural or not.

In the field of speech synthesis, subjects are routinely asked to listen to samples of synthesized speech and rate their quality. Yet, until now, evaluation of synthesized speech has been done on a sentence by sentence basis. But often one wants to know the quality of a series of sentences that belong together, such as a paragraph in a news article or a turn in a conversation. This is where it gets interesting, as there is more than one way of evaluating sentences that naturally occur in a sequence, and, surprisingly, a rigorous comparison of these different methods has not been carried out. This in turn can hinder research progress in developing products that rely on generated speech.

To address this challenge, we present “Evaluating Long-form Text-to-Speech: Comparing the Ratings of Sentences and Paragraphs,” a publication in which we compare several ways of evaluating synthesized speech for multi-line texts. We find that when a sentence is evaluated as part of a longer text involving several sentences, the outcome is influenced by the way in which the audio sample is presented to the people evaluating it. For example, when the sentence is presented by itself, without any context, the rating people give on average is substantially different from the rating they give when they listen to the same sentence with some context (while the context doesn't have to be rated).

Evaluating Automatically Generated Speech
To determine the quality of speech signals, it is common practice to ask several human raters to give their opinion for a particular sample, on a 1-to-5 scale. This sample can be automatically generated, but it can also be natural speech (i.e., an actual person saying a sentence out loud), which serves as a control. The scores of all reviewers rating a particular speech sample are averaged to get a Mean Opinion Score (MOS).

Until now, MOS ratings were typically collected per sentence, i.e., raters listened to sentences in isolation to form their opinion. Instead of this typical approach, we consider three different ways of presenting speech samples to raters—both with and without context—and we show that each approach yields different results. The first, presenting the sentence in isolation, is the default method commonly used in the field. An alternative method is to provide the full context for the sentence. In this case, the entire paragraph to which the sentence belongs is included and the ensemble is rated. The final approach is to provide a context-stimulus pair. Here, rather than providing full context, only some context is provided, such as the preceding sentence(s) from the original paragraph.

Interestingly, these three different approaches for presenting speech give different results even when applied to natural speech. This is demonstrated in the figure below, where the MOS scores are presented for natural speech samples rated using the three different methods of presentation. Even though the sentences being rated are identical across the three different settings, the scores are different on average, depending on the context in which they were presented.
MOS results for natural speech from a dataset consisting of news articles. Though the differences appear small, they are significant between all conditions (two-tailed t-test with α=0.05).
Examination of the figure above reveals that raters rarely give top scores (a five) even to recorded human speech, which may be surprising. However, this is a typical result seen in sentence evaluation studies and probably has to do with a more generic pattern of behavior, that people tend to avoid using the extreme ends of a scale, regardless of the task or setting.

When evaluated synthesized speech, the differences are more pronounced.
MOS results for synthesized speech on the same news article dataset used above. All lines are synthesized speech, unless indicated otherwise.
To see if the way context is presented makes a difference, we tried several different ways of providing it: one or two sentences leading up to the sentence to be evaluated, provided as generated speech or real speech. When context is added, the scores get higher (the four blue bars on the left) except when the context presented is real speech, in which case the score drops (the rightmost blue bar). Our hypothesis is that this has to do with an anchoring effect—if the context is very good (real speech) the synthesized speech, in comparison, is perceived as less natural.

Predicting Paragraph Score
When an entire paragraph of synthesized speech is played (the yellow bar), this is perceived as even less natural than in the other settings. Our original hypothesis was a weakest-link argument—the rating is probably as bad as the worst sentence in the paragraph. If that were the case, it should be easy to predict the rating of a paragraph by considering the ratings of the individual sentences in it, perhaps simply taking the minimum value to get the paragraph rating. It turns out, however, that does not work.

The failure of the weakest-link hypothesis may be due to more subtle factors that are difficult to tease out with such a simple approach. To test this, we also trained a machine learning algorithm to predict the paragraph score from the individual sentences. However, this approach, too, was unable to successfully predict paragraph scores reliably.

Conclusion
Evaluating synthesized speech is not straightforward when multiple sentences are involved. The traditional paradigm of rating sentences in isolation does not give the full picture, and one should be aware of anchoring effects when context is provided. Rating full paragraphs might be the most conservative approach. We hope our findings help advance future work in speech synthesis where long-form content is concerned, such as audio book readers and conversational agents.

Acknowledgments
Many thanks to all authors of the paper: Rob Clark, Hanna Silen, Ralph Leith.

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Microsoft debuts a new version of its To Do app as Wunderlist founder expresses remorse


Microsoft several years ago acquired the popular iOS app Wunderlist with the intention of building out its own list-making productivity app that brings the best of Wunderlist’s feature set to a larger group of mobile consumers. This is a similar path as Microsoft took with email app Accompli, which later became Microsft Outlook for mobile devices. In the case of Wunderlist, Microsoft didn’t just rebrand the app — it built a new one called Microsoft To Do. With Wunderlist up and running for years alongside To Do, its founder wants to know if he can just have it back.

The founder of Wunderlist maker 6 Wunderkinder, Christian Reber, recently tweeted a desire to buy his app back from Microsoft just as the company is launching a new version of To Do. 

According to the tweets, Reber says he’s serious about reacquiring Wunderlist and wants to make it open-source and free. He even tweeted a list of upgrades he’d like to build, including features like shared folders and cross-team collaboration, among other things.

The founder doesn’t come across as having sour grapes exactly. He just says he’s sad that his plans for Wunderlist didn’t work out, but he’s grateful for the Microsoft exit.

If anything, it seems to be just remorse over the fact that Wunderlist itself will be shut down.

Microsoft had said years ago this was its intention, but also that it would hold off until it felt it has a competitive product that Wunderlist’s users would love.

On Monday, Microsoft unveiled another upgrade for Microsoft To Do, which hints that the Wunderlist shut down could be nearing.

The upgrade delivers a more polished look-and-feel with a wider range of backgrounds, including the Berlin TV tower theme that was popular in Wunderlist.

To Do 2b

The app also includes smart lists and a personalized daily planner that offers smart suggestions of tasks that need to be accomplished, Microsoft reminded its users, and it’s supported across a variety of platforms including iOS, Android, Windows, and Mac.

The app is now also integrated with other Microsoft apps like Outlook, Microsoft Planner, Cortana, and Microsoft Launcher on Android, among others. And it works with Alexa, if you prefer.

With the release, Microsoft is again pushing users to migrate from Wunderlist to To Do to gain access to these features.

It did not, however, give an end-of-life date for Wunderlist, which is remarkably still a top 100 Productivity app in the U.S. App Store, according to data from App Annie, over four years after its acquisition.

We’ve asked Microsoft if it will share more details around its plans for Wunderlist and if it has any response to Reber’s request. We’ll update if the company comments.


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Drivetime nabs $11M from Makers Fund, Amazon and Google to build voice-based games for drivers


Fully autonomous cars may (or may not) be just around the corner, but in the meantime, a startup that’s building in-car apps to help human drivers pass the time when behind the wheel has raised a round of funding.

Drivetime — which makes voice-based trivia quizzes, games and interactive stories that people can play while driving — has raised $11 million in funding led by Makers Fund (a prolific investor in gaming startups), with participation from Amazon (via the Alexa Fund) and Google (via its Assistant investment program).

The startup today has eight “channels” on its platform consisting of games and stories that you can access either within a limited free-to-play tier or via a paid subscription ($9.99 a month or $99.99 a year). The plan is to use the funding to continue expanding that catalog, as well as investing in deeper integrations with its new big-name strategic investors, who themselves have longstanding and deep interests in bringing more voice services and content to the in-car experience.

Co-founder and CEO Niko Vuori told TechCrunch that his ultimate ambition is for Drivetime to become “the Sirius XM of interactive content” for cars, with hundreds of different channels of content.

In keeping with those plans, along with the funding, Drivetime is today announcing a key content deal.

It has teamed up with the long-running, popular game show Jeopardy to build a trivia channel for the platform, which lets drivers test their own skills and also play against other drivers and people they know. The Jeopardy channel will source content from the TV show’s trove of IP and come with another familiar detail: it will be narrated by Alex Trebek, with a new quiz getting published every weekday for premium users.

That social element of the Jeopardy game is not a coincidence. The San Francisco-based startup is founded by Zynga alums, with Vuori and his co-founders Justin Cooper and Cory Johnson also working together at another startup called Rocket Games since leaving the social games giant and exiting that to gaming giant Penn National for up to $170 million. That track record goes some way to explaining the strong list of investors in the new startup.

“Social and interactive formats are the next frontier in audio entertainment,” said Makers Fund founding partner Jay Chi, in a statement. “Niko, Justin Cooper and Cory Johnson, with a decade-long history of working together and a proven track record in building new platforms, is the best team to bring this idea to life.”

“Gaming and entertainment are among customers’ favorite use cases for Alexa, and we think those categories will only grow in popularity as Alexa is integrated into more vehicles,” said Paul Bernard, director of the Alexa Fund at Amazon, in a separate statement. “Drivetime stands out for its focus on voice-first games in the car, and we’re excited to work with them to broaden the Alexa Auto experience and help customers make the most of their time behind the wheel.”

In addition to the three investors in this latest round, prior to this Drivetime had raised about $4 million from backers that include Felicis Ventures, Fuel Capital, Webb Investment Network (Maynard Webb’s fund) and Access Ventures.

Vuori declined to say how many installs or active users the app has today — although from the looks of it on AppAnnie, it’s seeing decent if not blockbuster success on iOS and Android so far.

Instead, the company prefers to focus on another stat, its addressable market, which it says is 110 million drivers in North America alone.

Meanwhile, adding a Jeopardy channel is building on what has worked best so far. The most popular category at the moment is trivia, with Tunetime (a “name that tune” game) coming in second and storytelling a third.

Drivetime’s premise is an interesting one. Drivers are a captive audience, but one that has up to now had a relatively limited amount of entertainment created for it, focusing mainly on music and spoken word.

However, the rise of voice-based interfaces and interactivity using natural language — spurred by the rise of personal assistant apps and in-home hubs like Amazon’s Echo — have opened a new opportunity, developing interactive, voice-based content for drivers to engage with more proactively.

You might think that this sounds like a recipe for a car accident. Won’t a driver get too distracted trying to remember the fourth president of the United States, or who was known as the father of the Constitution? (Hint: It’s the same guy.)

Vuori claims it’s actually the reverse: Having an interactive game that requires the driver to speak out loud can focus him or her and keep the driver more alert.

“We are double-dipping in safety,” he said. “On the one hand, we embody the safety aspects of Alertness Maintaining Tasks (AMTs). But we also act as a preventative, meaning that while players engage with Drivetime, they are not engaging with anything else.”

While the content today may serve as a way of keeping drivers from doing things they shouldn’t be doing while in a car, there is another obvious opportunity that might come as drivers become less necessary and will need other things to occupy themselves.

Longer term, the Jeopardy deal could usher in other channels based on popular game shows. Sony Pictures Television Games, which owns the rights to it, also owns Wheel of Fortune and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

“We are thrilled to work with Sony Pictures Television Games to bring Jeopardy, the greatest game show on the planet, to an underserved audience that desperately needs interactive entertainment the most – the 110 million commuters in North America driving to and from work by themselves every day,” said Vuori said in a statement.

Interestingly, despite the growth of “skills” for Alexa or apps for Google Home and other home hubs, and the overall popularity of these as a way of interacting with apps and sourcing information, Vuori says that he hasn’t seen any competition emerge yet from other app developers to build voice-based entertainment for drivers in the way that Drivetime has.

That gives the company ample opportunity to continue picking up new users — and more deals with publishers and content companies looking for more mileage (sorry) for their legacy IP and new business.

“Drivetime is one of the early pioneers in creating safe, stimulating entertainment for drivers in the car,” Ilya Gelfenbeyn, founding lead of the Google Assistant Investments Program, noted in a statement. “More and more people are using their voice to stay productive on the road, asking the Google Assistant on Android and iOS phones to help send text messages, make calls and access entertainment hands free. We share Drivetime’s vision, and look forward to working with their team to make the daily commute more enjoyable.”


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Apple tweaks its App Store algorithm as antitrust investigations loom


That Apple has used its App Store to offer itself a competitive advantage is nothing new. TechCrunch and others have been reporting on this problem for years, including those times when Apple chose to display its apps in the No. 1 position on the Top Charts, for example, or when it stole some of the App Store’s best ideas for its own, banned apps that competed with iOS features, or positioned its apps higher than competitors in search. Now, in the wake of antitrust investigations in the U.S. and abroad as well as various anticompetitive lawsuits, Apple has adjusted the App Store’s algorithm so fewer of its own apps would appear at the top of the search results.

The change was reported by The New York Times on Monday, who presented Apple with a lengthy analysis of app rankings.

It even found that some searches for various terms would display as many as 14 Apple-owned apps before showing any results from rivals. Competitors could only rank higher if they paid for an App Store search ad, the report noted.

That’s a bad look for Apple which has recently been trying to distance itself and its App Store from any anti-competitive accusations.

In May, for example, Apple launched a new App Store website designed to demonstrate how it welcomes competition from third-party apps. The site showed that for every Apple built-in app, there were competitors available throughout the App Store.

But availability in the store and discoverability by consumers are two different things.

Apple admitted to The NYT that for over a year many common searches on the App Store would return Apple’s own apps, even when the Apple apps were less popular or relevant at times. The company explained the algorithm wasn’t manipulated to do so. For the most part, Apple said its own apps ranked higher because they’re more popular and because they come up in search results for many common terms. The company additionally said that one feature of the app’s algorithm would sometimes group apps by their maker, which gave Apple’s own apps better rankings than expected.

Screen Shot 2019 09 09 at 11.29.20 AM

Above: via The NYT, the average number of Apple apps that returned at the top of the search results by month

Apple said it adjusted the algorithm in July to make it seem like Apple’s own apps weren’t receiving special treatment. According to the NYT, both Apple VP Philip Schiller, who oversees the App Store, and SVP Eddy Cue, who oversees many of Apple’s apps, confirmed that these changes have not fully fixed the problem.

The issue, as Apple explains it, is that its own apps are so popular that it had to tweak its algorithm to pretend they are not. Whether or not this is true can’t be independently verified, however, as Apple doesn’t allow any visibility into metrics like searches, downloads, or active users.

Maybe it’s time for Apple’s apps to exit the App Store?

The report, along with the supposed ineffectiveness of the algorithm’s changes, begs the question as to whether Apple’s apps should show up in the App Store’s charts and search results at all, and if so, how.

To be fair, this is a question that’s not limited to Apple. Google today is facing the same problem. Recently, the CEO of a popular software program, Basecamp, called Google’s paid search ads a “shakedown,” arguing that the only way his otherwise No. 1 search result can rank at the top of the search results page is to buy an ad. Meanwhile, his competitors can do so — even using his brand name as the keyword to bid against.

The same holds true for the App Store, but on a smaller scale than the entirety of the web. That also makes Apple’s problem easier to solve.

For example, Apple could simply choose to offer a dedicated section for its own software downloads, and leave the App Store as the home for third-party software alone.

This sort of change could help to eliminate concerns over Apple’s anti-competitive behavior in the search results and chart rankings. Apple might balk against this solution, saying that users should have an easy way to locate and download its own apps, and the App Store is the place to do that. But the actual marketplace itself could be left to the third-party software while the larger App Store app — which today includes a variety of app-related content including app reviews, interviews with developers, app tips, and a subscription gaming service, Apple Arcade — could still be used to showcase Apple-produced software.

It could just do so outside the actual marketplace.

Here’s how this could work. If users wanted to re-install an Apple app they had deleted or download one that didn’t come pre-installed on their device, they could be directed to a special Apple software download page. Pointers to this page could be in the App Store app itself as well as in the iOS Settings.

An ideal spot for this section could even be on the existing Search page of the App Store.

With a redesign, Apple could offer a modified search screen where users could optionally check a box to return a list of apps results that would come only from Apple. This would indicate intentional behavior on the consumer’s part. That is, they are directly seeking an Apple software download — as opposed to the current situation where a user searches for “Music” and sees Apple’s own music app appear above all the others from rivals, like Spotify and Pandora.

Alternately, Apple could just list its own apps on this page or offer a link to this dedicated page from the search screen.

And these are just a few variations on a single idea. There are plenty of other ways the App Store could be adjusted to be less anti-competitive, too.

As another example, Apple could also include the “You Might Also Like” section in its own apps’ App Store listings, as it does for all third-party apps.

Image from iOS 1Above: Apple Music’s App Store Listing

This section directs users to other apps that match the same search query right within the app’s detail page. Apple’s own apps, however, only include a “More by Apple” section. That means its keeping all the search traffic and consumer interest for itself.

Image from iOS

Above: Spotify’s App Store Listing

Or it could reduce the screen space dedicated to its own apps in the search results — even if they rank higher — in order to give more attention to apps from competitors while still being able to cater to users who were truly in search of Apple’s software.

But ultimately, how Apple will have to behave with regard to its App Store may be left to the regulators to decide, given Apple’s failure to bake this sort of anti-competitive thinking into its App Store design.

 


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How we can turn racism into a solvable problem -- and improve policing | Phillip Atiba Goff

How we can turn racism into a solvable problem -- and improve policing | Phillip Atiba Goff

When we define racism as behaviors instead of feelings, we can measure it -- and transform it from an impossible problem into a solvable one, says justice scientist Phillip Atiba Goff. In an actionable talk, he shares his work at the Center for Policing Equity, an organization that helps police departments diagnose and track racial gaps in policing in order to eliminate them. Learn more about their data-driven approach -- and how you can get involved with the work that still needs to be done. (This ambitious plan is part of the Audacious Project, TED's initiative to inspire and fund global change.)

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Spotify users can now share music and podcasts to Snapchat


Spotify users can now share their favorite music and podcasts with friends on Snapchat, the company announced this morning, with added support for sharing a song, playlist, artist profile, or podcast either directly to your friends on Snapchat or to your Snapchat Story.

Snapchat is now one of several destinations that Spotify users can share to, along with WhatsApp, Messages, Messenger, Twitter, Instagram Stories, and as of just last week, Facebook Stories.

Using the new feature is same as with any other sharing option — you tap the three-dot share menu in the top right of the app’s interface, and choose Snapchat from the dropdown list. Snapchat will open with a new Snap and the full album art included. You can then edit and send the Snap as usual.

Recipients of your Snap will be able to tap the context card to listen to the music or podcast you’ve shared.

In addition to simply sharing music with friends, the feature will also make it possible for Spotify artists and their teams to promote their music to Snapcat’s 203 million daily users — most of who are well-within the coveted teen to young adult demographic that Spotify’s artists are hoping to reach.

The feature itself is powered by Snap’s Creative Kit (a part of Snap Kit), which lets users share media from a developer’s app or website.

Spotify is now one of over 200 apps that have integrated with Snap Kit following the June 2018 debut of the platform, which aims to offer a more private alternative to Facebook. In many cases, however, support for Snapchat is being added to other apps and sites alongside their existing support for Facebook and Instagram — as in the case here.

The expansion to Spotify’s sharing feature comes at a time when the streamer is looking for growth — especially in light of growing competition from rivals like Amazon Music and Apple Music. The former benefits from integrations with Prime and Alexa while the latter from its preinstallation on Apple devices. (And possibly a new bundle with Apple TV+, as we’ll find out tomorrow at Apple’s iPhone event.)

Spotify, meanwhile, notably missed its user estimates in its Q2 2019 earnings, with 8 million new subscribers in the quarter instead of the expected 8.5 million. With expanded social sharing options, it hopes to reach millions more users who may later convert to paying customers.


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The 5 Best Apps for Screen Sharing on Android and iPhone

How to Connect AirPods to Your MacBook, iPhone, PC, or Android


connect-airpods-devices

Apple’s AirPods are one of the best wireless headphones on the market. This is thanks to the reasonable price, long battery life, and strong sound quality. The headphones should be at the top of your list, whether or not you own any other Apple devices.

We’re looking at how to connect AirPods to a wide variety of different devices so you can start rocking out.

How to Connect AirPods to an iPhone or iPad

Thanks to a special chip, you can connect AirPods with your iPhone or iPad in just a few seconds.

Open your AirPods case and make sure both headphones are inside. Bring them near your iPhone or iPad, and make sure the iOS device is at the home screen.

You’ll then see a dialog box on the screen. Just hit Connect. That’s it. There’s no need to worry about a pairing mode or diving into setup screens.

how to pair AirPods with iPhone

One of the best features of the second-generation AirPods is the ability to interact with Siri without needing to tap one of the headphones. If you haven’t already set up the “Hey Siri” functionality on your iPhone, you can go through the setup process in just a few steps. You just need to say a few phrases to help the devices better understand your voice.

Another great plus is that if you use iCloud, your AirPods are now ready to use with your other devices. They’ll work with any other iPhone, iPad, or Apple Watch where you’re signed in with the same Apple ID.

What to Do When You Can’t Connect AirPods

If for some reason your AirPods don’t connect, there’s no reason to worry.

First, open up Control Center on your iPhone or iPad by swiping up from the bottom (iPhone 8 and earlier) or swiping down from the top-right corner (iPhone X and later). Make sure that Bluetooth is turned on. Then place both AirPods back in the case and close the lid. Wait 15 seconds and then open the lid again.

The AirPods status light should flash white. That means they are ready to connect. On the wireless charging case, the status light is on the front of the case. In the regular charging case, look for the status light in the space between the AirPods.

How to connect AirPods: case status lights

If you’re still having problems pairing AirPods, turn the case around and hit the small Setup button on the back of the case. Hold the button until you see the status light flash white, then amber, and then flash white continuously.

Open the case again, then place it near your iPhone or iPad. It should pair the AirPods properly.

Can AirPods Connect to Android?

Apple has made sure that Android users aren’t left out of the party. Take a look here to find out how to connect AirPods to Android.

How to Connect AirPods to a MacBook

Connecting your AirPods to a MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air, or desktop Mac requires few more steps.

If you’ve already set up your AirPods with an iOS device, and your Mac uses the same iCloud account, place both AirPods in your ears. Select the Bluetooth menu or the Volume Control slider from the menu bar. Then select your AirPods from the list.

You’ll need to know how to pair your AirPods manually if they don’t appear in either of those locations. To do this, select System Preferences from the Apple menu and choose the Bluetooth entry. Confirm that Bluetooth is on.

airpods pairing mac

Place both AirPods back in the case and open the lid. Next, press and hold the Setup button on the back of the case until the status light flashes white. You should then see the name of the AirPods appear in the Devices list. Click Connect. That process should connect your AirPods.

For some reason, if your AirPods do appear in the Devices list but don’t work, you can delete them and then re-pair them with your Mac. To do that, select them from the list and click the X to the right of the AirPods.

We’ve looked more closely at how to use Bluetooth on your Mac if you’re interested.

How to Connect AirPods to a PC

With a Windows PC, the AirPods act just like any other wireless Bluetooth headphones. So let’s look at the process on how to set up AirPods in that situation.

On your PC, first make sure that Bluetooth is on so you can pair your AirPods. Press Win + A to open the Action Center and check the panels at the bottom if you’re not sure. Then, open the AirPods case and press the Setup button until it flashes white.

Head back to your Bluetooth settings menu at Settings > Devices > Bluetooth & other devices and choose Add Bluetooth or other device. Walk through the steps and select your AirPods to complete the connection.

Bluetooth settings Windows 10

How to Connect AirPods to an Apple Watch

If you’ve already connected your AirPods to the same iPhone that’s paired to your Apple Watch, we’ve got some good news. The wireless headphones should already be available as an audio source when you start playback on your watch.

To start, swipe up from your watch face to bring up the Control Center. Select the AirPlay icon and then the name of your AirPods. Your audio will begin to play.

Apple Watch AirPods

If they don’t appear as an option, scroll down on the same AirPlay page and select Connect a Device. Put the AirPods in pairing mode by pushing the Setup button until the status light flashes white. Then select them from the list to connect.

How to Connect AirPods to an Apple TV

You might not know, but it’s also possible to pair AirPods (and any other Bluetooth headphones) to the Apple TV. That makes it easy to listen to movies, TV shows, and other media without disturbing anyone around you.

Using the Siri Remote, head to Settings > Remote and Devices. Then click on Bluetooth.

How to pair AirPods with Apple TV

Begin the pairing process on the AirPods by pressing the Setup button until the status light flashes white. Your AirPods should appear on the Other Devices screen. Select the name to pair your AirPods.

Connecting Your AirPods to Anything

As you can see, you can pair AirPods with much more than just an iPhone or other Apple device. Enjoy using the completely wireless headphones to listen to music, podcasts, and anything else you desire.

Now that you are connected and ready to go, make sure to look at these tips to help get the most out of your AirPods.

Read the full article: How to Connect AirPods to Your MacBook, iPhone, PC, or Android


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How to Deactivate or Delete Your Telegram Account

5 Ways the Librem 5 Phone Has Impacted Linux Desktops


The Purism Librem 5 phone has been a long time coming and the device’s impact can already be felt on the Linux desktop.

This effect is most noticeable if you use the GNOME desktop environment, found on the default versions of Ubuntu or Fedora. GNOME is also the interface that ships on laptops from Purism, System76, and Dell. Here are five ways you may have been touched by Purism’s device.

1. GNOME Apps Are More Adaptive

GNOME Web adapting to different window sizes

GNOME 3’s designers wanted to create an interface that was usable on touchscreens. The Activities Overview and app windows are meant for fingers as much as mouse cursors. It has always been part of the vision for apps to adjust across various form factors, but there hasn’t yet been a small touchscreen device that comes with GNOME.

The Librem 5 runs largely the same version of GNOME that comes on a Purism laptop. To make this work, Purism’s team and upstream developers have worked to make various GNOME apps work on a display smaller than six inches.

The most prominent example is GNOME Web, the project’s default web browser. If you install the latest version of Web on your desktop and shrink the window down, you will see the navigation and menu buttons jump to the bottom of the window. This is how the app looks on a Librem 5.

2. Desktop-Compatible Mobile Apps Are Here

GNOME Linux apps with a mobile-inspired design

Apps have started to appear on Flathub that are clearly designed with mobile devices in mind. Take GNOME Authenticator, a two-factor authentication app. It will run on your desktop, but the window defaults to the size of a phone app.

GNOME Podcasts will let you take audio feeds with you when you leave the house, but you can already use it as your desktop podcast client today.

GNOME Feeds is an RSS reader with a narrow interface that happens to scale wider if you stretch out the window. The same can be said for GNOME Password Safe, a password manager. If you visit the latter’s GitLab page, you can view the app running inside a mockup of the Librem 5.

A number of these apps only appeared in the last year or two, and each is a gift to those of us who like GNOME’s design language and prefer to use apps that integrate well.

Download: GNOME Authenticator (Free)

Download: GNOME Podcasts (Free)

Download: GNOME Feeds (Free)

Download: GNOME Password Safe (Free)

3. Improvements Submitted to Upstream Projects

The Purism Librem 5 attached to a monitor

Purism is submitting patches to various GNOME projects to make components more adaptive to different screen sizes. This includes core system components such as GNOME Settings, GNOME Help, and the file open dialog. Then there’s work that’s gone into GNOME Contacts and GNOME Clocks. You can find such details in the company’s Librem 5 status updates. Some changes have also made their way into the Linux kernel.

In short, much of the work Purism has done for the Librem 5 makes life easier for future projects looking to bring Linux-powered phones to market. In the process, a few tweaks are making their way to the desktop as well.

It’s important to emphasize this point. Much of the cost of the Librem 5 goes toward research and development, including software development. The company’s philosophy is to submit changes upstream when possible, rather than maintain separate patches or forks.

As a company that works upstream, when Purism hires a new employee to work on interface design, that impacts everyone that uses GNOME software. Purism joins other companies such as System76 and elementary that are directly invested in improving the user experience of Linux interfaces and submitting their changes upstream.

4. More Options for Private Communications

Librem One apps

Purism doesn’t think it’s enough to offer people a smartphone with privacy-oriented software. The company knows that what many people care about today aren’t the apps, but the services a device can support. That’s why before the launch of the Librem 5, Purism rolled out the Librem One suite.

Librem One includes private chat, mail, social networking, and VPN. While these services first launched with Android and iOS as their targets, you can run many of them on your Linux desktop. Librem Mail works with Thunderbird. Librem Tunnel runs fine after you set it up in the command line. Librem Social offers Mastodon instances that you can feel relatively safe are going to stay up and running.

As we’ve discussed before, Librem One doesn’t offer groundbreaking new functionality. The bundle provides a way to more easily use technology that already exists. But there are many people who will never own a Librem 5 that can receive some benefit from that.

5. Hardware Kill Switches Are Spreading

Hardware kill switches for wireless, camera, and audio

A big part of the appeal of Purism devices is the inclusion of hardware kill switches. If you’re concerned that someone is connecting to your device via Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, you can flip a switch to guarantee that they aren’t. Rather than cover your camera with a piece a tape, a switch on your device will cut the camera and block the microphone as well.

The Librem 5 phone merely continues the tradition that the Librem 13 and 15 started. But now that the standard has been set, the functionality is spreading to other laptops. Pine Microsystems has baked similar functionality into the Pinebook Pro, which comes with a Linux desktop pre-installed.

While that laptop doesn’t include actual switches, the device still severs connections at the hardware level rather than software via function keys on the keyboard.

You Don’t Need a Librem 5 to Enjoy What’s Happening

The Librem 5 is not the only GNU-powered smartphone entering the market. Many desktop Linux users are excited about the PinePhone, a smartphone from Pine Microsystems that costs under a quarter of the price (and also includes hardware kill switches). Yet it remains to be seen which interfaces will be the most functional or gain the most traction on that device.

In the meantime, Purism is heavily invested in the software experience of the Librem 5, which uses GNOME. It contributes to GNOME, and various parts of the GNOME community are able to contribute back. We’re already benefiting from this relationship.

If you don’t want to wait to get your hands on a Librem 5 or the PinePhone, there are other ways to install other Linux-based mobile operating systems on an Android phone.

Read the full article: 5 Ways the Librem 5 Phone Has Impacted Linux Desktops


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Google Nest Hub Max review


There were two standout features I really appreciated off the bat about the original Nest (nee Google Home) Hub: its compact size and its lack of camera. The new Nest Max has decidedly neither of those things.

After releasing a model that offered an interesting alternative to the Echo Show, Google’s taking Amazon’s flagship smart screen head-on with the Max. It’s a device that leverages the learnings of the earlier, smaller model, while applying new case users.

As far as design goes, Google decided not to mess with a good thing here. The Max is nearly identical to the Hub, albeit scaled up, from seven inches to ten. The form factor is the familiar tablet mounted atop a fabric speaker base. It’s simple, it’s subtle, and it will fit in with most decors. Lenovo’s given Google a run for its money with its own Assistant displays, but so far as I’m concerned the Nest line is still the best looking product in the category.

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The addition of a camera is really the most radical difference here for a few reason. The most immediate is, of course, security. Google successful avoided inserting itself into that conversation with the original Hub. The reason was simple: it was a product designed to live on nightstands. Sure, the topic of privacy is a slippery slope that most of us have already tumbled halfway down, but for many the idea of introducing a cloud-connected camera into the bedroom was understandably a bridge or two too far.

Facebook, notably, stepped into yet another hornets’ nest when it launched its camera-sporting Portal device amid its own privacy scandal(s) — and rightfully so. Google, however, has inserted itself back into that conversation with Hub Max. Put in the company’s position, one would imagine doing as much as possible to ease users’ peace of mind about privacy concerns.

A physical shutter is a pretty quick and easy way to do precisely that. It’s a helpful sort of shorthand — heck, even Facebook included a clip-on shutter in hopes of nipping some of those concerns in the bud. It’s honestly a bit baffling that Google didn’t do the same — a strange oversight it appears to have made largely for aesthetic reasons.

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There is, of course, a switch in the rear, which turns off both the microphone and camera, illuminating a red light to the side of the camera in the process. That a red light can both indicate either camera off or record on different devices is a design conversation for another day, I suppose.

But Google’s decision to include a camera isn’t arbitrary. The truth is that it effectively unlocks a whole slew of new functionality here and further distinguishes Nest Hub products from Amazon’s offerings. And, naturally, it also unlocks further privacy concerns in the process. The biggest piece of the puzzle is a kind of personalization that wouldn’t be accessible through other means.

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During setup, the device walks you through a similar process that smartphones implement to enable unlock. Using your phone’s camera, it grabs a 3D image of your face. When the Nest Hub Max spots you, it will greet you with a note along the lines of “Good afternoon, Brian,” and the image of you associated with your Google profile. When you’re locked in, the device tailors all of its suggestions to you. It’s a clever way of swapping between accounts.

Of course, like so many other things, it feels like a piece of a slippery slope. Google, of course, has already identified the sound of your voice, which it can also use to provide bespoke content, but that’s a less dynamic approach to this kind of implementation. You can certainly opt out, though you’ll be missing out on a reasonably large piece of the puzzle here.

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The camera also brings the ability to video chat through Duo. The Hub Max utilizes a similar zoom feature as Facebook’s Portal — a dynamic pan that was initially positioned as that product’s killer app. Implementation here is similarly effective, moving and zooming out to follow the subject and included additional people at once. The digital zooming does notably degrade image quality, however.

The other big piece of the puzzle is security camera functionality. It is, after all, a Nest device. Given that it’s not a devoted security product, however, Google is positioning that feature as more of a supplement to existing Nest devices. In other words, you place your Nest Cam in key areas and use the Hub Max’s camera to fill in the gaps. It works similarly to those devoted devices (including features like geofencing), though it lacks some features like night vision.

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Handily, the device will let you know when it’s being used as a camera, sporting a “Nest Cam being viewed” notification, for added privacy. And, of course, it can be used with a variety of other connected cameras and smart home devices, serving as a kind of centralized control panel. There are a handful of compatible video services that can be added on set up, including HBO Now and CBS. No Netflix at the moment — and likely no Amazon Prime, ever, though Chromecast functionality addresses that to some degree.

The bottom speaker is bigger, louder and bassier (and stereo, to boot) than the original Home Hub. But it’s probably not sufficient for most as a standalone speaker. That said, the ability to pair it with another Home speaker makes it a nice companion to something like the Home Max, with the inclusion of a screen that displays and serves as a control panel while you’re listening to music.

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Notably, there are only two mics on board — fewer than many comparable smart home devices. In spite of the mics and improved sound, however, Google hasn’t built in the spatial-based level tuning you get on the higher-end Home Max.

At $229 (and available now), the Nest Hub Max is priced to compete with the Echo Show. It’s a stronger entry in most respects, and while the camera carries the aforementioned privacy concerns, it’s a clear sign of how Google’s strengths are coming together to create a superior smart home product.


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The Vivaldi browser lands on Android


Vivaldi has long billed itself as a browser for advanced users who want to be able to customize their browser to their heart’s content. With that mission, it managed to get a foothold in the desktop market, but until now, the browser company co-founded by Opera’s former CEO Jon von Tetzchner, didn’t have a presence on mobile. That’s changing today with the launch of Vivaldi for Android, which retains the browser’s look, feel and speed without getting bogged down in trying to bring all of its myriad features to mobile.

For the most part, I like to use the same browser on desktop and mobile, simply to keep my bookmarks in sync (and Vivaldi says it doesn’t use Google’s servers to sync, in case you’re worried about being tracked). For the longest time, that was one of the reasons why I always switched away from Vivaldi on the desktop again, despite the fact that the browser is essentially made for a user like me. With the mobile version, I think that’ll change.

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The overall browser experience is pretty straightforward. I appreciate the fact that the Vivaldi team put all of the standard UI features (backwards, forward, tab switcher and URL/search) at the bottom. You can still use the address bar at the top of the screen and the menu, too, of course, but in this age of giant screens, I appreciate a browser that can be used with one hand for much of the time.

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As far as features go, Vivaldi covers all the bases, with speed dials and bookmarks, some advanced tab management features that aren’t usually available on mobile, including the ability to clone tabs, and a screenshots feature that lets you capture either the full page or just the visible area. If you regularly use different search engines, you can also use Vivaldi’s shortcuts in the address bar (think ‘d’ for DuckDuckGo, for example). There’s also a reader view and pretty much everything else you expect from a modern mobile browser.

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One area where I’d like to see a bit more work from Vivaldi in general, both on mobile and desktop, is tracking protection. That’s been a focus for Firefox in many of its recent releases and even Microsoft’s new Chrome-based Edge browser is offering the ability to block trackers by default. Vivaldi, at least in its current form, doesn’t yet any tracking protection by default. That’s not much of an issue on the desktop, where you can easily install an extension, but on mobile, I’d like the company to do a bit more.

Overall, Vivaldi on Android is a worthwhile contender. It’s fast and easy to use — and if you’re already using Vivaldi on the desktop, it’s a no-brainer. Even if you’re not, it’s still worth a shot and may just get you to try the desktop version, too.

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Freeda raises another $16 million for its media brand for women


Italian startup Freeda Media has raised a $16 million Series B round. Existing investor Alven is leading the round, with Endeavor Catalyst, UniCredit and others also participating. UniCredit is also granting the company a debt facility of $3 million.

The company has managed to attract millions of followers on Instagram, Facebook and other social media platforms. It runs short videos, quick interviews and articles. In other words, Freeda wants to create a social version of Elle, Teen Vogue, Vanity Fair, Cosmopolitan or Man Repeller.

Freeda is currently live in Italy, Spain and South America. The company currently has 5 million women engaging with their content every day. It reaches 80% of Italian and Spanish women aged 18-34 every month.

On Instagram in particular, the startup says that it is the first female media brand in the world with 100 million interactions in 2019 alone:

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With today’s founding round, the goal is clearly on international expansion. The startup is opening an office in London and plans to launch in the U.K. and other English-speaking markets. There are currently 160 people working for Freeda.

The company is still mostly focused on branded content to monetize its audience. But Freeda wants to expand beyond this revenue stream with a new direct-to-consumer brand. You can expect to be able to buy Freeda-branded products starting in 2020.


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Panasonic ES-LV97: The Best Electric Razor for a Closer Shave


Panasonic ES-LV97 on display at IFA 2019

Never has there been more choice for those looking to keep their facial hair in check. From traditional razors to subscription-based startups, and even electric razors, you have many options to keep your face as hair-free or as well-groomed as you’d like.

Panasonic has been in the electric razor game for some time, but each new release sees the company add more features and increase the comfort of your shave. At IFA 2019, Panasonic was showing off their latest top-of-the-range razor, the Panasonic ES-LV97.

Panasonic ES-LV67 and ES-LV97 at IFA 2019

The unit comes with five arched cutting blades, which can perform up to 70,000 cutting actions per minute. The central blade trims longer hairs down to length and is enclosed between two lifting foils which raise the hairs on end. The foil on the outer blades is just 42 microns thick, aimed at getting the closest shave possible.

The blades are atop a flexible head, that allows you to follow the contours of your face. It can move in up to 16 directions independently too, so you shouldn’t have to work hard to get to all those hard-to-reach areas. The electric razor has a beard density sensor built-in that polls 220 times per second and adjusts the speed of the blades accordingly.

Panasonic ES-LV97 in use at IFA 2019

As anyone who has ever used an electric shaver knows, cleaning and maintenance can be a pain. That’s why the ES-LV97 comes with a cleaning and charging dock. Once you’ve finished shaving, just place the razor head-side down into the dock. The device will start charging immediately, and then you can select whether you want to clean the head, or simply dry it.

The charging dock is convenient and neat, but not altogether necessary; the razor can last up to 50 minutes on a single charge. To replenish the device fully, it only needs one hour in the charging dock.

The Panasonic ES-LV97 will be available from October for €249. If you’d like to keep the cost down, but still get the same excellent shaving performance, the ES-LV67 is the same device, but without the charging dock. The ES-LV67 will also be available from October for €199.

Read the full article: Panasonic ES-LV97: The Best Electric Razor for a Closer Shave


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