21 October 2019

Shine Bathroom raises $750K for a smart home add-on that flushes away your toilet doldrums


One ongoing theme in the world of smart homes has been the emergence of gadgets and other tools that can turn “ordinary” objects and systems into “connected” ones — removing the need to replace things wholesale that still essentially work, while still applying technology to improve the ways that they can be used.

In the latest development, a smart home startup from Santa Barbara called Shine Bathroom has raised $750,000 in seed funding to help build and distribute its first product: an accessory that you attach to an existing toilet to make it a “smart toilet.”

It’s a dirty business, but someone had to do it.

Shine’s immediate goal is to flush away the old, ecologically unfriendly way of cleaning toilets; and to provide the tools to detect when something is not working right in the plumbing, even helping you fix it without calling out a plumber.

The longer-term vision is to apply technology and science to rethink the whole bathroom to put less strain on our natural resources, and to use it in a way that lines up with what we want to do as consumers, using this first product to test that market.

“Bathrooms are evolving from places where we practice basic hygiene to where we prepare ourselves for the day,” said Chris Herbert, the founder and CEO of Shine. “Wellness and self care will be happening more in the home, and this is a big opportunity.”

Intro

Shine’s first injection of money is coming from two VCs also based in Southern California: Entrada Ventures (like Shine also in Santa Barbara), and Mucker Capital, an LA fund specifically backing startups not based in Silicon Valley (others in its current porfolio include Naritiv, Everipedia and Next Trucking).

The Shine Bathroom Assistant, as the first product is called, is currently being sold via Indiegogo starting at $99, with the first products expected to ship in February 2020.

It’s a fitting challenge for a hardware entrepreneur: toilets are a necessary part of our modern lives, but they are unloved, and they haven’t really been innovated for a long time.

Herbert admitted to me (and I’m sure Freud would have something to say here, too) that this has been something of a years-long obsession, stretching back to when he made a trip to Japan as a sophomore in high school and was struck by how companies like Toto were innovating in the business, with fancy, all-cleaning (and all-singing and dancing) loos.

“We thought to ourselves, how could we make a better bathroom?” he said. “We decided that the answer was through software. When you take a thesis like that, you can see lots of opportunity.”

Sized similar to an Amazon Echo or other connected home speaker, Shine’s toilet attachment is battery operated and comes in three parts: a water vessel, a sensor and spraying nozzle that you place inside your toilet bowl, and a third sensor fitted with an accelerometer that you attach to the main line that fills up the toilet’s tank. The vessel is filled with tap water (which you replace periodically).

That water is passed through a special filter that electrolyzes it (by sending a current through the water) and then sprays it with every flush to clean and deodarize. Shine claims this spraying technique is five times as powerful as traditional deodarizing spray, and as powerful as bleach, but without the harsh chemicals: the water converts back into saline after it does its work. (And to be clear, there are no soaps or other detergents involved.)

Alongside the cleaning features, the second part of the bathroom assistant is Sam, an AI on your phone. Linked up to the hardware and sensors, Sam identifies common toilet problems, such as leaks that trickle out hundreds of gallons of water, by measuring variations in vibrations, and when it does, it sends out a free repair kit to fix it yourself.

Users can also link up Sam to work with Alexa to order the machine to clean, check water levels, and do more in future.

AlexaAskSam

The solution of monitoring vibrations is notable for how it links up with a past entrepreneurial life for Herbert and some of his team.

Herbert was one of two co-founders of Trackr, a Tile-like product that also played on the idea of making “dumb” objects smart: Trackr’s basic product was a small fob with Bluetooth inside it that could be attached to keys, wallets, bags and more to find their location when they were misplaced.

The company’s longer term goals extended into the area of IoT and how “dumb” machines could be made smarter by attaching sensors to them to monitor vibrations and sounds to determine how they were working — concepts that never materialised at Trackr but have found a new life at Shine.

On the other hand, Trackr is a cautionary tale about how a good idea can be inspiring, but not always enough.

The startup in its time raised more than $70 million, from a set of investors that included Amazon, Revolution, NTT, the Foundry Group and more. Ultimately, the basic concept was too commoditized (trackers are a dime a dozen on Amazon), Tile emerged as the market leader among the independents — a position it’s used to evolve its product — but even so, that’s before we’ve even determined if there really is a profitable business to be had here, and if platform companies potentially make their move to upset it in a different way.

Eventually, Trackr’s team (including Herbert) scattered and a new leadership team came in and rebranded to Adero. Now, even that team is gone, with the CEO Nate Kelly and others decamping to Glowforge. Multiple attempts to contact the company have been unanswered, although from what we understand, it’s not down for the count just yet. (Watch this space.)

“There is still something there, and I hope they can do something,” Herbert said of his previous startup.  

Meanwhile, he and several of his ex-Trackr colleagues have now turned their attention to a new shiny challenge, the toilet and the bigger bathroom where it sits, and investors want in.

“We were impressed by Shine’s vision for a bathroom to better prepare us for our day head and saw a massively overlooked opportunity in the bathroom space” said Taylor Tyng from Entrada Ventures.


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YouTube founder secretly building sports fan game GreenPark


Chad Hurley is hunting for what comes after fantasy sports. He envisions a new way for fans to play by watching live and cheering for the athletes they love. Beyond a few scraps of info the YouTube co-founder would share and his new startup’s job listings revealed, we don’t know what Hurley’s game will feel like. But the company is called GreenPark Sports, and it’s launching in Spring 2020.

“There is an absence of compelling, inclusive ways for large masses of sports fans to compete together” Hurley tells me. “The idea of a ‘sports fan’ has evolved – it is now more a social behavior than ever before. We’re looking at a much bigger, inclusive way for all fans of sports and esports teams to play.”

GreenPark Sports Chad Hurley

 

Hurley already has an all-star team. One of GreenPark’s co-founders Nick Swinmurn helped start Zappos, while another Ken Martin created marketing agency BLITZ. Together they’ve raised an $8.5 million seed round led by SignalFire and joined by Sapphire Sports and Founders Fund. “With this team’s impeccable track record and vision for the future of fandom, this was an investment we had to make,” said Chris Farmer, founder and CEO of SignalFire.

It all comes down to allegiance — something Hurley, Swinmurn, and Martin truly understand. Everyone is seeking ways to belong and emblems to represent them. In an age when many of our most prized possessions from photographs to record collections have been digitized, we lack tangible objects that center our individuality. Culture increasingly centers around landmark events, with what we’ve done mattering more than what we own.

GreenPark could seize upon this moment by helping us to align our identities with a team. This instantly unlocks a likeminded community, a recurrent activity, and a unified aesthetic. And when reality gets heavy, people can lose themselves by hitching their spirits to the scoreboard.

Rather than just tabulating results after the match like in fantasy sports, GreenPark wants to be entwined with the spectacle as it happens. “We’re going to be working with a mix of ways to visualize the live game – from unique gamecast-like data to highlight clips. The social viewing experience can be much more than just the straight live video” Hurley explains.

GreenPark Sports Logo

He came up with GreenPark after selling assets of his video editing app Mixbit to BlueJeans a year ago. Hurley already had an interactive relationship with sports…though one that’s reserved for the rich: he’s part owner of the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Football Club. Meanwhile, Swinmurn co-founded the Burlingame Dragons Football Club affiliated with San Jose’s team, and is on the board of Denmark’s FC Helsingør.

Those experiences taught them the satisfaction that comes from a deeper sense of ownership or allegiance with a team. GreenPark will give an opportunity for anyone to turn fandom into its own sport. “We shared a love of sports and set out to look into opportunities around legalized sports betting in the US” Hurley tells me.” But quickly they found “it was obvious the regulated space wouldn’t allow us to innovate as quickly as we wanted” and they saw a more opportunity amidst a younger mainstream audience.

“We’re not ready to disclose publicly the exact detailed gameplay yet” Hurley says. But here’s what we could cobble together from around the web.

GreenPark Sports lets you “Destroy the other teams’ fans” to “climb the leaderboards”, its site says cryptically. According to job listings, it will pipe in live game data, starting with the NBA and expanding to other leagues, and offer cartoon characters with facial expressions and full-body gestures to let users live out the highs and lows of matches. Don’t expect trivia questions or player stat memorization. It almost sounds like a massively multiplayer online fan arena. 

As with blockbuster games Fortnite or League Of Legends, GreenPark is free-to-play. But a mention of virtual clothing hints at monetization, where you could spruce up avatars with digital team apparel. Hurley tells me “We are in the perfect storm of the thirst for innovation at the traditional league level, the next level of maturing for esports, investment in sports betting and overall dire need to better understand today’s largest populace of sports fans – Millenial / Gen Z.” The closed beta launches in the Spring.

Screen Shot 2019 10 21 at 9.45.29 AM

There’s a massive hole to fill in the wake of the Draft Kings / FanDuel marketing sure a few years ago. Most apps in the space just carry scores or analysis, rather than community. “What’s amazing about being a fan of a team or player is the common bond you have with other fans” Hurley explains, “where even if you don’t know the other fans of your team – you are all in it to win it – together.”

Publications like The Athletic have proven there are plenty of fans willing to pay to feel closer to their favorite teams. The most direct competitor for GreenPark might be Strafe, that lets you track and predict the winners of esports matches.

People already spend tons of time on building fictional worlds like Minecraft and money outfitting their Fortnite avatar with the coolest clothes. If GreenPark can create a space for sports’ fan self-expression, it could create the online destination for legions of IRL enthusiasts that see who they root for as core to who they are.


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YouTube founder secretly building sports fan game GreenPark


Chad Hurley is hunting for what comes after fantasy sports. He envisions a new way for fans to play by watching live and cheering for the athletes they love. Beyond a few scraps of info the YouTube co-founder would share and his new startup’s job listings revealed, we don’t know what Hurley’s game will feel like. But the company is called GreenPark Sports, and it’s launching in Spring 2020.

“There is an absence of compelling, inclusive ways for large masses of sports fans to compete together” Hurley tells me. “The idea of a ‘sports fan’ has evolved – it is now more a social behavior than ever before. We’re looking at a much bigger, inclusive way for all fans of sports and esports teams to play.”

GreenPark Sports Chad Hurley

 

Hurley already has an all-star team. One of GreenPark’s co-founders Nick Swinmurn helped start Zappos, while another Ken Martin created marketing agency Blitz. Together they’ve raised an $8.5 million seed round led by SignalFire and joined by Sapphire Sports and Founders Fund. “With this team’s impeccable track record and vision for the future of fandom, this was an investment we had to make,” said Chris Farmer, founder and CEO of SignalFire.

It all comes down to allegiance — something Hurley, Swinmurn, and Martin truly understand. Everyone is seeking ways to belong and emblems to represent them. In an age when many of our most prized possessions from photographs to record collections have been digitized, we lack tangible objects that center our individuality. Culture increasingly centers around landmark events, with what we’ve done mattering more than what we own.

GreenPark could seize upon this moment by helping us to align our identities with a team. This instantly unlocks a likeminded community, a recurrent activity, and a unified aesthetic. And when reality gets heavy, people can lose themselves by hitching their spirits to the scoreboard.

Rather than just tabulating results after the match like in fantasy sports, GreenPark wants to be entwined with the spectacle as it happens. “We’re going to be working with a mix of ways to visualize the live game – from unique gamecast-like data to highlight clips. The social viewing experience can be much more than just the straight live video” Hurley explains.

GreenPark Sports Logo

He came up with GreenPark after selling assets of his video editing app Mixbit to BlueJeans a year ago. Hurley already had an interactive relationship with sports…though one that’s reserved for the rich: he’s part owner of the Golden State Warriors and Los Angeles Football Club. Meanwhile, Swinmurn co-founded the Burlingame Dragons Football Club affiliated with San Jose’s team, and is on the board of Denmark’s FC Helsingør.

Those experiences taught them the satisfaction that comes from a deeper sense of ownership or allegiance with a team. GreenPark will give an opportunity for anyone to turn fandom into its own sport. “We shared a love of sports and set out to look into opportunities around legalized sports betting in the US” Hurley tells me.” But quickly they found “it was obvious the regulated space wouldn’t allow us to innovate as quickly as we wanted” and they saw a more opportunity amidst a younger mainstream audience.

“We’re not ready to disclose publicly the exact detailed gameplay yet” Hurley says. But here’s what we could cobble together from around the web.

GreenPark Sports lets you “Destroy the other teams’ fans” to “climb the leaderboards”, its site says cryptically. According to job listings, it will pipe in live game data, starting with the NBA and expanding to other leagues, and offer cartoon characters with facial expressions and full-body gestures to let users live out the highs and lows of matches. Don’t expect trivia questions or player stat memorization. It almost sounds like a massively multiplayer online fan arena. 

As with blockbuster games Fortnite or League Of Legends, GreenPark is free-to-play. But a mention of virtual clothing hints at monetization, where you could spruce up avatars with digital team apparel. Hurley tells me “We are in the perfect storm of the thirst for innovation at the traditional league level, the next level of maturing for esports, investment in sports betting and overall dire need to better understand today’s largest populace of sports fans – Millenial / Gen Z.” The closed beta launches in the Spring.

Screen Shot 2019 10 21 at 9.45.29 AM

There’s a massive hole to fill in the wake of the Draft Kings / FanDuel marketing sure a few years ago. Most apps in the space just carry scores or analysis, rather than community. “What’s amazing about being a fan of a team or player is the common bond you have with other fans” Hurley explains, “where even if you don’t know the other fans of your team – you are all in it to win it – together.”

Publications like The Athletic have proven there are plenty of fans willing to pay to feel closer to their favorite teams. The most direct competitor for GreenPark might be Strafe, that lets you track and predict the winners of esports matches.

People already spend tons of time on building fictional worlds like Minecraft and money outfitting their Fortnite avatar with the coolest clothes. If GreenPark can create a space for sports’ fan self-expression, it could create the online destination for legions of IRL enthusiasts that see who they root for as core to who they are.


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Should we rethink the politics of ‘blocking’?


Years ago, I wrote a piece criticizing a cover story by a well-known writer and political commentator that I’d met a few times, with whom I’d occasionally sparred on Twitter. The piece wasn’t merely a representation of my own views, but pulled in snarky tweets from other journalists disparaging her work too. It was a pile-on, and not my proudest moment.

The writer wasn’t exactly thin-skinned; in fact, quite the contrary: She was a brash, sometimes obnoxious feminist with strong opinions, unafraid to speak her mind. I often agreed with her, even when I found her delivery abrasive. Still, after a couple of years with me as a thorn in her side, she decided she’d had enough — and so she did something that many readers will find familiar: She blocked me on Twitter.

The block button is an important tool that allows women and other vulnerable people to have some semblance of the same Twitter experience that the average white man might, free from constant harassment. I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve used it over the years to drown out nasty ad hominems, sea lions and, of course, sexual harassment — and worse. 

Twitter wasn’t always the “hell site” we know it as today. Many early users like me found professional advancement and lasting friendship in 140-character missives. But as the site grew, so did its potential for misuse. By 2014 — two years shy of its tenth anniversary — Twitter had become central to the GamerGate controversy, ostensibly a dispute about issues of sexism and progressivism in gaming but on Twitter, a free-for-all of harassment and doxing of any woman even tangentially involved in the discussion. The harassment was so severe that it drove some women off the site permanently.

Out of GamerGate emerged better tools for blocking, tools like BlockTogether that allow individual users to share a list of people they’ve blocked. The idea behind these tools is that harassers are likely to have multiple targets, so why not make it easier for potential targets of harassment to block numerous would-be harassers all at once?

But BlockTogether and similar tools are not without flaws. Once you’re on a blocklist, it can be hard to get your name removed, and if you end up, for whatever reason, on one created by a prominent or well-respected user, you may find yourself blocked by people you don’t know and would’ve enjoyed following. Some might call this reasonable collateral damage.

Numerous journalists and others have complained of finding themselves on a blocklist after a disagreement with an individual who uses them. I’m unfortunately on one used by a number of journalists. Why, you might ask, was I blocked in the first place? I remember quite clearly: It was for disagreeing with someone about the life sentence handed to Ross Ulbricht, the creator of the Silk Road website. For my opinion, I’ve lost the ability to follow or interact with dozens of journalists whose work I read.

Despite that, I don’t blame women or other minorities who’ve experienced harassment for using the block button liberally. Blocking someone isn’t a matter of free speech (unless of course the blocker in question is an elected official), as some of my harassers have claimed — rather, it’s often a matter of preserving one’s sanity. The block button, along with blocklists, are useful tools for curating space — not a safe space per se, but one free from random harassers, spammers and the like. Think of it more as a large invite-only event, as opposed to a New York City street.

And yet, I can’t help but wonder if our liberal use of the block button prevents us from experiencing the kind of reconciliation that can happen in our offline communities. We often remove someone from our life, only for them to apologize their way back in later on. Even the Amish, who practice shunning as a matter of faith, allow for the repented to return.

twitter logo sketch wide inverted

Twitter’s architecture has changed over time, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse. Presently, its algorithm sometimes surfaces replies — from people you do follow, to tweets from individuals you don’t — based on some assumption that you might find them interesting. Occasionally, it will surface a reply from a friend to someone with a locked account or, in rare cases, to someone who blocks you, as it did for me the other day. Someone I follow had replied with an interesting comment to a tweet from The Writer — a tweet that, of course, I couldn’t see without logging out and going directly to her profile. And so I did.

What I found was someone who, with that same fierce energy, seemed a lot more thoughtful, with views more similar to mine than I remembered. I felt a momentary pang of sadness for the camaraderie that might have been. I realized the obvious: That we’ve both grown, alongside the backdrop of the horrific political environment that’s accompanied us through the past half-decade. “Have you thought about reaching out to her?” a friend asked.

Therein lies the rub: In the case of The Writer, I could reach out to her; we’ve met in person a few times, and we retain mutual friends. She might respond favorably, or with a “thanks but no thanks,” but either way, it’s unlikely she would deem my approach to be harassment. But there’s this other journalist I’ve never interacted with, who no doubt signed up to a blocklist that I happened to be on. I discovered that she blocked me when I went to read a tweet someone had DM’d me, and was disappointed — but reaching out to her through some other channel would seem weird, invasive. It isn’t worth it.

I recently reviewed my own list of blocked accounts (you can do so through your settings), a list that numbers well into the hundreds. Most aren’t worth revisiting — there ares sexual harassers and transphobes, Bahraini bots and Roseanne Barr, some Trumpites and a few high-profile right-wing accounts. But among them, close to the bottom of the list (coinciding with the early days of the block button), I spotted a few outliers, and decided to give them a second chance.

Technology is constantly changing and progressing and yet, the block button — and blocklists — remain in rudimentary form. They’re simply not priorities for companies whose focus is on profit. But were we to redesign them, perhaps we could find a way to make blocks time-limited, or at least provide users with more nuanced options. One such existing feature is Facebook’s “snooze” button, which allows users to “mute” another person for 30 days, with a reminder when that time period is up; I found that one particularly handy last summer while a friend was going heavy on self-promotion. I use Twitter’s “mute” function to rid my feed of people with whom I have to interact professionally and thus can’t block.

And then there’s the “soft block” — a feature or bug, it isn’t clear — wherein one can block and unblock someone quickly on Twitter so that the user no longer follows them…at least until they wise up (this feature/bug is made easier by the fact that Twitter seems to be perpetually plagued by an “unfollow bug”). These tools are helpful, but with all the riches these companies have, they could design something — with input from those most affected by harassment — that is less blunt, more elegant, more thoughtful.

Ultimately, the block button is an imperfect solution to a pervasive problem, and therefore remains as necessary as ever. I know that I’ll continue to use it as long as I’m on social media. But don’t we deserve something better?


The Los Angeles Fire Department wants more drones


As it looks to modernize its operations, the Los Angeles Fire Department is turning to a number of new technologies, including expanding its fleet of drones for a slew of new deployments.

One of the largest fire departments in the U.S., next to New York and Chicago, the LAFD has a budget of roughly $691 million, employs more than 3,500 and responded to 492,717 calls in 2018.

The department already has a fleet of 11 drones to complement its fleet of 258 fire engines, ambulances and helicopters.

However, Battalion Chief Richard Fields, the head of the department’s Unmanned Aerial Systems program, would like to see that number increase significantly.

Los Angeles has become an early leader in the use of drones for its firefighting applications thanks in part to an agreement with the Chinese company DJI, which the department inked back in April.

At the time, the Chinese drone manufacturer and imaging technology developer announced an agreement to test and deploy DJI drones as an emergency response preparedness tool. The company called it one DJI’s largest partnerships with a fire-fighting agency in the U.S.

“We are excited to be strengthening our partnership with the LAFD, one of the nation’s preeminent public safety agencies, to help them take advantage of DJI’s drone technology that has been purpose-built for the public safety sector,” said Bill Chen, Enterprise Partnerships manager at DJI, in a statement at the time. “Through our two-way collaboration, DJI will receive valuable insight into the complexities of deploying drones for emergency situations in one of the most complex urban environments in the nation.”

Now, roughly five months later, the program seems to have been successful enough that Battalion Chief Fields is looking to double the fleet.

“Our next iteration is to start using our drones to assist our specialized resources,” said Fields. Those are firefighters and support crews that deal with hazardous materials, urban search and rescue, marine environments and swift water rescues, Fields said.

33734266774 bf1485b00d k

The LAFD Swift Water Rescue Team. Photo courtesy of Flickr/ LAFD Mike Horst

The technologal demands of the fire department extend beyond the drone itself, Fields said. “There are a lot of technologies that allows us to make the drone more versatile… the most valuable tool isn’t the drone; it’s the sensor.”

So far, the most useful application has been using infrared technologies to balance what’s visible and combine it with the heat signatures the sensors pick up.

Training to become a drone pilot for the LAFD is particularly intense, Fields says. The typical pilot will get up to 80 hours of training. “Our training is nation-leading. There’s nothing out there in the commercial market that beats it,” according to Fields.

For now, the entire LAFD fleet is composed of DJI drones, something that has given military and civilian officials pause in the past few years.

Concerns have been growing over the reliance on Chinese technology in core American infrastructure, extending from networking technology companies like Huawei to drone technology developers like DJI.

Back in 2018, the Department of Defense issued a ban on the acquisition and use of commercial drones, citing cybersecurity vulnerabilities. The ban came a year after officials from the Department of Homeland Security and members of Congress called out DJI specifically for its potential to be used by the Chinese government to spy on the United States.

However, the rule isn’t set in stone, and many branches of the military continue to use DJI drones, according to a September Voice of America News report.

In Los Angeles, Fields says he takes those concerns seriously. The department has worked closely with regulators and advocacy groups like the American Civil Liberties Union to craft a strict policy around what gets done with the data the LAFD collects.

“The way that we establish our program is that the drone provides us with our real-time situational awareness,” said Fields. “That helps the incident commander get a visual perspective of the problem and he can make better decisions.”

The only data that is recorded and kept, says Fields, is data collected around brush fires so the LAFD can do a damage assessment, which can later be turned into map layers to keep records of hotspots.

As for data that could be sent back to China, Fields says that any mapping of critical infrastructure is done without connecting to the internet. “It’s being collected on the drone and 90% of that information is how the drone is operating. There is some information of where the drone is and how it is and the [latitude] and [longitude] of the drone itself… That’s the data that’s being collected,” Fields says. 

From Fields’ perspective, if the government is so concerned about the use of drones made by a foreign manufacturer, there’s an easy solution. Just regulate it.

“Let’s come up with a standard. If you use them in a federal airspace these are the check marks that you have to pass,” he says. “Saying that DJI drones are bad because they come from China [and] let’s throw them all out… that’s not an answer either.”


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Apple’s control over the App Store is no longer sustainable


Last week, Apple caved to the Chinese government and pulled an app called HKmap.live that was being used by Hong Kong protestors to crowdsource the location of police forces.

While Apple CEO Tim Cook defended Apple’s stance, the move is a reminder that Apple is the only judge and jury regarding what’s acceptable in the App Store — but as mobile devices are integrated into more aspects of our lives, it’s getting harder to justify such tight control over their software.

The current state of the App Store is a great example of the risks of running a marketplace that becomes too big. It also shows that we can expect wide-ranging marketplace regulation in the near future.

The App Store as video game console

Before Apple introduced the App Store in 2008, companies could distribute third-party apps and web services without oversight; consumers could buy floppy disks, download software from the internet or connect to any website.

But with the App Store, Apple decided to control the user experience from approval to distribution. And it has been a massive economic success. There are more than 2.2 million apps in the App Store that have generated over 130 billion downloads.

In many ways, the iOS app ecosystem works more like a video game console than a computer — developers submit games and apps to the maker of the platform, which starts a review process to see if third-party content complies with guidelines. If so, developers may list their game or app on the platform.

The PlayStation 4 has been around for six years and Sony has approved 2,294 games in total, around 380 games per year. Due to the sheer size of the App Store, Apple has faced challenges that console manufacturers have never faced.

Review guidelines are poorly enforced

Apple has written the App Store Review Guidelines, a lengthy document intended to answer all questions about what’s acceptable — but those rules are not enforced consistently, and the App Store isn’t a level playing field, discrepancies I’ve pointed out in the past.

As an example: rule 4.3, titled “Spam:”

Don’t create multiple Bundle IDs of the same app. If your app has different versions for specific locations, sports teams, universities, etc., consider submitting a single app and provide the variations using in-app purchase. Also avoid piling on to a category that is already saturated; the App Store has enough fart, burp, flashlight, and Kama Sutra apps already. Spamming the store may lead to your removal from the Developer Program.

And yet, customers can find plenty of categories with app duplicates and companies trying to game the App Store. For example, I found 13 different VoIP apps released by four companies. Each company had multiple versions of the same app in order to pick different names, keywords and categories to optimize search results.

When I pointed this out to Apple, they removed most of the duplicates in less than 24 hours, but it can’t remain the single source of truth if it doesn’t enforce its own rules properly.

Similarly, as Under the Radar recently pointed out, some developers will always find ways to abuse the App Store. For instance, shady developers acquire apps with a lot of positive ratings, transfer those apps to their own developer account, push updates with expensive weekly recurring subscriptions and take advantage of Apple’s obscure process to cancel subscriptions.

Economic interests first

In its most recent earnings release, Apple reported that Greater China represented 17% of the company’s revenue. The company also manufactures the vast majority of its products in Chinese factories. Apple has a lot to lose in China.

That’s why Apple’s actions in China don’t reflect the company’s principles. Cupertino claims to care deeply about privacy, but it uploads iCloud user data to a state-owned mobile operator in China.

The company says that it cares deeply about privacy but uploads iCloud user data to a state-owned mobile operator in China

Apple first removed HKmap.live from the App Store, then authorized the app again before removing it one more time. The only thing that changed between the first second removal is that the Chinese government started openly criticizing Apple about that specific case.


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The Pros and Cons of Social Media


social-media-pros-cons

What are the pros and cons of social media? This is an especially pertinent question when more people than ever are using social media apps, but when social media is making people unhappy.

Social media has its pros and cons. And in this article we explore both sides of the argument, listing the pros of social media and the cons of social media to help you understand both sides.

The Pros of Social Media

Let’s start by looking at some of the benefits of social media.

Staying in Touch

The original selling point of apps like Facebook and MySpace was to provide a way for you to stay abreast of the goings-on in other people’s lives. This is arguably still the primary advantage of social media today.

It’s easy to use social media to keep in touch with friends and family who you might have otherwise fallen out of contact with. This is especially true if you’ve moved to another city (or even an entirely different country).

Access to News

The availability of news can be listed as both one of the pros and cons of social media. For now, let’s look at the positive side.

Millions of people around the world do not have access to a free press in their countries of residence. Given that all major news companies have social media accounts, apps like Facebook and Twitter give those people a way to stay abreast of news reports from the world’s most reputable newsrooms.

Finding Jobs

linkedin job post example

The job market remains tough for a lot of people.

If you use a professional social network, such as LinkedIn or Xing, you will be able to see automatic job listings that are a perfect fit for the skills you’ve listed on your profile. It’s one of the pros of social media that’s often overlooked.

Planning Events

Very few services can rival Facebook when it comes to planning parties, community events, weddings, conferences, and other mass gatherings. Given just about everyone has a Facebook account, it’s easy to create invites, disseminate event details, and share various materials connected with it.

Growing a Client Base

If you’re starting your own business, one of the biggest benefits of social media is the ability to grow an audience quickly, and by extension, a client base.

Not only does word of mouth spread quickly on social media, you can also run highly targeted ads for considerably less money than you’d pay to advertise on TV, on the radio, or in print media.

Law Enforcement and Civil Protection

Look, we get it, no one wants the government snooping around in our private messages. But at the same time, it remains a fact that criminal networks, terrorist groups, and even would-be mass shooting perpetrators are increasingly using social media to plan and coordinate their attacks.

Providing the police with a means of nipping such issues in the bud remains a key
advantage of social media.

Social Media Is Fun

When assessing the pros and cons of social media, it’s easy to forget that at its core, social media is fun. If it wasn’t, Facebook wouldn’t be able to boast almost three billion users.

Games, chat, interesting articles, memes, videos— there’s plenty of content to keep you entertained for hours, regardless of your interests.

The Cons of Social Media

Alas, it’s not all rosy. There are plenty of negative aspects you need to consider, too. Here are some of the biggest disadvantages of social media.

Cyberbullying and Online Abuse

One of the worst drawbacks of social media is the prevalence of cyberbullying and online abuse. It’s worryingly common for people to be targeted based on their gender, appearance, sexual orientation, religion, disabilities, political beliefs, and a whole lot more. Kids are especially vulnerable.

Addiction Is a Growing Problem

Take a trip to any local restaurant, and you’ll see dozens of patrons with their eyes glued to their smartphones. The majority of them are probably on social media sites. Sadly, too many people are more worried about their number of followers on Instagram than their real-life problems.

It’s not healthy, either physically or mentally. Indeed, it’s one of the most significant negative effects of social media on society.

Privacy Is Non-Existent

Another of the major cons of social media is the lack of privacy. If someone is a heavy social media user, you can often find out everything about them—favorite books, employer, what their baby looks like—with no more than a few minutes of cursory research.

Ads Are Scary

Everyone accepts that ads are part of the modern world. However, advertising on social media is very different from seeing a billboard on the side of a road or TV commercial during a sports game.

The processes going on behind the scenes to show you ads on Facebook etc.—from selling your data in bulk to analyzing your every online move—is straight out of 1984. And it should worry all of us.

Your Data Is Impossible to Delete

delete facebook account options

You can’t talk about the pros and cons of social media without considering the online footprints you’re leaving behind. Yes, you can delete your social media accounts. But what really happens to your data?

Sure, it might not be visible to the public any more. But is Twitter wiping all your tweets from its servers? Does Instagram definitely delete every photo you’ve shared from its records?

The answer is no. There will always be a chance (albeit small) that the data could someday resurface and be used against you.

Growth of Anti-Social Tendencies

Does social media make us less social? Plenty of studies suggest the answer is yes.

There are several reasons—some are linked to the issues we’ve already discussed, like addiction. But consider this example…

Your friend goes on holiday. Before the trip, they post everything about their planning. During the trip, there’s a neverending stream of photos and updates. When they get home, they spend days telling the world what a good time they had.

Is there any incentive for you to reach out and chat about their holiday in person? Probably not.

What Are the Pros and Cons of Social Media for You?

So, we’ve rounded up some of the most commonly cited pros and cons of social media, but we’re sure you can think of more. In which case, let us know in the comments below.

And if you’d like to learn more about the pros and cons of social media, be sure to read our articles discussing the positive effects of social media and the negative effects of social media.

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The 8 Best Minecraft Seeds for Cool Adventures


minecraft-seeds

The first moments of a new Minecraft world send you scrambling to the nearest mountain to check out your surroundings. Can you see a village? A shipwreck? A ravine? You want your new Minecraft seed to give you some excitement. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work like that. So here are the best Minecraft seeds to explore.

What Is a Minecraft Seed?

When you create a new Minecraft world, an algorithm outputs “a pseudo-random value,” which determines the characteristics and features of your world. The algorithm pseudo-random value creates consistent starting points for all players, creating a seed in the process.

Instead of using the automatic random value to create the seed for your Minecraft world, you can enter a unique seed instead. A seed can contain positive or negative numbers, or even a word or phrase. The numbers or words are read into the algorithm, and the player can begin a new Minecraft adventure in a world they created.

Note: For those interested in going behind-the-scenes, here’s how random numbers influence modern gaming.

You should note, however, that the values don’t correlate to the world. Inputting “really awesome Minecraft castle seed” doesn’t guarantee the best Minecraft seed possible.

Furthermore, the Minecraft version you’re using directly alters the outcome of the seed input. What this means is that a shipwreck seed that works with Minecraft version 1.1 will not translate to Minecraft version 1.2, and so on. As the game develops, so does the world generation algorithm.

It isn’t just updated versions that provide a different seed. Inputting the same seed in Minecraft Java (the original version) returns a different starting point to Minecraft Bedrock Edition (the Windows 10 version), and the PlayStation 4 version is different again.

When inputting the best Minecraft seeds, check the version information before starting your new Minecraft adventure. And seeing as you can now play Minecraft in your browser starting a new adventure is easier than ever.

1. Villages, Desert Temples, a Pillager Post, Ocean Ruins, and a Shipwreck Seed

minecraft seed 5 villages

Java Seed: 2572387081052773525 | Java Version: 1.14

I took a short trip around this starting location, and it delivers everything the title says—even if I nearly died a few times. Just a few short blocks from the starting spawn, you can find a massive first village to get you up and running. From there, you can adventure forward to a second village, two desert temples, a pillager post, ocean ruins, and a massive sunken shipwreck.

The starting seed is the find of Redditor anica_vdm, who also kindly provided the above overview of how to find each location in the seed.

2. Woodland Mansion Adventure Seed

Java Seed: 458388663589165604 | Java Version: 1.14

Woodland mansions are notoriously difficult to find in Minecraft survival mode, usually spawning tens of thousands of blocks from the spawn point. Of course, in creative mode, you can use the /locate mansion command, but that doesn’t work in survival mode.

Which is why the woodland mansion seed is awesome. The woodland mansion is around 1,000 blocks or so from the spawn point. You won’t rush the woodland mansion straight away. Because you will die repeatedly. Still, once you grab some decent armor and weaponry, you can go and attack the Woodland Mansion and pillage its bountiful loot.

You spawn at block X:-180, Z:-60. Trek across the ocean to X:-1100, Z:500 and behold the Woodland Mansion complete with a village.

3. All Biomes Nearby, Village, Desert Pyramid, Underwater Ruins

minecraft all biome seeds java bedrock

Java and Bedrock Seed: 306959825 | Java Version: 1.14 | Bedrock Version: 1.12

The find of Redditor SnoverMC has a startling number of biomes within distance of your starting point. Check out the above map and you’ll find that it does have it all. The combination of almost every available biome makes this an excellent starting point for survival mode adventurers, allowing to gather every block and resource type to reach the latter stages of the game.

Some comments in the original thread direct Minecraft adventurers to some of the best locations:

  • Village and Desert Pyramid: X:-2746, Z: 1393
  • Bamboo Jungle: X:390, Z: -982
  • Jungle Temple: X:-424, Z:-920
  • Huge Reef:  X:-1924, Z:1493
  • Ocean Monument: X:-712, Z:-328
  • Shipwreck Glacier: X:-1280, Z:-890

There’s a lot more to find, too. The coordinates for these points can vary between Bedrock and Java editions.

4. Shipwreck Survival Island

Java Seed: -782825413 | Java Version: 1.14

Survival mode is great fun, but it can become too easy. Make your next Minecraft adventure a battle with a shipwreck survival seed. Your Minecraft seed adventure starts on a basic island without trees, so no wood to get your mining up and running. The island does, however, feature a shipwreck that you can scour for wood and loot-filled chests.

5. Village, Ravine, and Stronghold

minecraft village with ravine and stronghold

Bedrock Seed: 2065486297 | Bedrock Version: Any

Deep ravines are an awesome starting point for any new Minecraft world. The chances of finding some early game diamond and a mineshaft give your adventure a handy boost. The addition of a village and an underground stronghold makes this Bedrock edition seed an almost perfect spawn point.

You can find the stronghold nestled in the wall of the ravine, which in turn leads under the village and into the depths.

6. Pillager Outpost in Village

minecraft pillager outpost spawn in village

PS4/PS3/Xbox One/Xbox 360 Bedrock Seed: 5882689709838967676 | Bedrock Version: Any

A pillager outpost that spawns in the middle of a village, found by Redditor Ishyaboy The villagers are having a bad time under the oppressive rule of the constantly spawning pillagers. Your Minecraft mission is to clear out the pillager outpost and restore peace to the villagers.

It is an interesting spawn combination, but not unheard of. It does give you an interesting starting point for your Minecraft adventure, with plenty of loot and useful resources lying around to get up to speed quickly.

7. Ocean Ruins, Shipwrecks, Villagers, Desert Pillager Outposts, and More

Bedrock Seed: 343145341 | Bedrock Version: 1.12

This is another great starting point for your Minecraft world, including an ocean ruin, a ground-level shipwreck, ice villages, desert temples, and much more, all within about 1,500 blocks square from the spawn point. I know that sounds like a big area, but in Minecraft terms, its nothing, and makes this Bedrock edition seed well worth exploring.

The wider map also has a lot of potential. There is a vast snowy tundra biome, complete with ice spikes, and beyond that, rolling desert hills. Some key locations to check out include:

  • Shipwreck: X:2927, Z:207
  • Ocean Monuments: X:3299, Z:-111
  • Coral: X:3147, Z:123
  • Desert Pillager Outpost: X:3129, Z:376
  • Snow Pillager Outpost: X:4009, Z:603

There’s a lot more out there, too.

8. Mesa Biome with Two Mine Shafts

Java Seed: 718926700363714 | Java Version: 1.14

The mesa biome is one of the most visually interesting Minecraft has to offer. So, a spawn point slap-bang in the middle of a mesa biome is awesome. Alongside the spawn point are two exposed mineshafts. They are easy to see from the spawn point and contain iron, gold, and if you dig deep enough, diamond and more. The mine shafts also have the standard array of minecart loot boxes, various rail types, and a mob spawner or two.

What Is the Best Minecraft Adventure Seed?

When it comes to Minecraft adventuring, a great seed with an awesome starting point makes a huge difference. If you don’t have to spend hours gathering the rarest of resources, you can jump into the late-game content quicker.

The type of adventure seed you should choose depends on the game you want to play. No matter the adventure you want, taking in the best Minecraft biomes, ruins, villages, shipwrecks, and more makes the world that bit more interesting to explore.

Do you want to run a private Minecraft server for your friends? Then follow our instructions detailing how to set up a Minecraft server on a Raspberry Pi.

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The 5 Best Electric Razors for a Closer Shave


best-electric-razors

When it comes to facial hair management, there are a lot of options out there. One of the most popular shaving methods is with an electric razor. These razors can achieve the same smooth feeling as with a wet shave, but without the hassle of that setup.

Whether you’re new to electric razors, or in search of an upgrade, one of these five will be the best electric razor for you.

1. Philips Norelco 3600

Philips Norelco 3600 Philips Norelco 3600 Buy Now On Amazon $64.95

The Philips Norelco 3600 is one of the best electric razors available today. In a market dominated by expensive devices, the Norelco 3600 is comfortably sub-$100 while still packing in all the essential features. For those who like a bit of choice, there are two shave settings; close and three-day stubble.

The razors are designed for a close cut and come with Philips’ ComfortCut blade system. This allows for rounded blades to minimize cuts and nicks. The razor comes with a stubble guard that clips onto the razor’s head. This is perfect for those who aren’t interested in a clean-shaven face, opting for a few days of well-groomed stubble instead.

The Lithium-Ion battery provides up to 50 minutes of shaving time, with a five-minute quick charge for a single shave. The Philips Norelco 3600 is a wet and dry razor, and comes with a pop-up trimmer too.

2. Panasonic Arc 5

Panasonic Arc 5 Panasonic Arc 5 Buy Now On Amazon $119.99

The Panasonic Arc 5 is widely regarded as the best value electric razor. The device is more expensive than the Philips Norelco 3600, but it is still good value. Instead of the Philips ComfortCut rounded blades, the Arc 5 comes with five vertically aligned blades. The Arc 5 can achieve up to 14,000 cuts per minute with its 30-degree nanotech blades and ultra-thin Arc foil.

It’s thanks to these blades that the razor achieves the closest shave at this price point. You may be thinking that five linearly arranged blades aren’t going to be useful for the contours of your face. Panasonic has considered that too. The entire shaving head is able to pivot in line with your face.

There’s even a pop-up precision trimmer for tidying up mustaches and sideburns. The Arc 5 also comes with Panasonic’s Shave Sensor, which automatically adjusts power depending on the thickness of your hair. This wet and dry razor can last up to 40 minutes on a single charge.

3. Braun Series 9 9293

Braun Series 9 9293 Braun Series 9 9293 Buy Now On Amazon $220.18

Braun is a well-known name in the personal care market. The company has an established line of electric toothbrushes, personal hygiene, and health devices, alongside their electric razors. The Braun Series 9 9293 is the best electric razor on the market today. There’s no denying it, though; this is an expensive device. However, you do get a premium razor packed with features for your money.

Instead of multiple identical blades, the Series 9 9293 has four cutting elements to give you the best shave possible. These are designed to capture every length and thickness of hair, with two specialized trimmers enclosing the other cutting elements. This is a wet and dry razor too, and is waterproof up to five meters, should you need to shave while deep-sea diving. The blades deliver 40,000 cross-cutting actions per minute, helped along by the motor’s 10,000 micro-vibrations.

The head can move in 10 directions to adjust for the contours of your face, while each blade can also move independently of the others as well. Placing the Braun Series 9 9293 on the accompanying dock charges the device for a 50-minute battery life, with a nine-minute on-razor countdown. There’s a travel lock to prevent the razor from suddenly turning on in your bag too.

4. Remington PG6025

Remington PG6025 Remington PG6025 Buy Now On Amazon $20.99

The devices we’ve looked at so far are designed to give you a clean shave, with some limited tools for facial hair trimming. The Remington PG6025 is not so much an electric razor, as an entire grooming kit. The surgical steel clipper blades can be adjusted using one of the 14 included adaptors. There are eight length settings, a nose trimmer, detail clipper, and three lengths of stubble trimmer.

The Remington PG6025 is no slouch in battery life either; it can last up to 70 minutes on a single charge. All of the attachments can be washed in water for easy cleaning. Once dried, you can be collect them in the included storage pouch. While the PG6025 isn’t the best performing electric razor, it is certainly the most versatile. This makes it ideal for anyone looking to keep their facial hair or beard neat and tidy.

5. THJH Mini Electric Shaver

THJH Mini Electric Shaver THJH Mini Electric Shaver Buy Now On Amazon $18.99

While some people prefer an electric razor, some use it for convenience. That’s where the THJH Mini Electric Shaver comes in. This affordable electric razor isn’t designed for the closest shave or the best battery life. However, the low price and small physical size make it perfect for throwing into your bag when traveling.

Especially if you are away for just a few days, this razor is a replaceable alternative to your regular shaving setup. Although there is an 8,500RPM motor alongside steel blades, it won’t get as close as more expensive models. That said, it only weighs 88 grams, is USB rechargeable, and is IPX5 rated for waterproofing. It makes a great travel companion and may just be the best affordable electric razor out there.

The Best Electric Razor for You

Electric razors are an excellent choice for those of us who don’t want to wet shave. Many of them pack additional features to help you get a closer shave and perfect your facial hair too. We covered five in this list to help you find the best electric razor for your needs.

Once you’ve tamed your facial hair, you might find yourself thinking about getting a new tattoo. Be sure to check out these best sites for free tattoo designs and ideas first, though.

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What to Do When No One Likes Your Facebook Status


facebook-status-tips

Social media has become mainly about validation. We feel better about ourselves when someone likes our posts or photos—and we feel terrible when our posts get negative reactions, or worse, completely ignored.

If it happens more than once, it can get downright frustrating. You did your best to come up with a post and yet nobody appreciated your efforts. What should you do when your Facebook statuses get zero likes, or much fewer than you expected?

Cut Back for a While

Have you been posting too many selfies? Or are you ranting about how your mother in law is always wrong? If you’re posting too many similar posts, you might lose the interest of your audience. Cut back for a while before you post again.

Cull the Herd

If you add just anyone in your list, this might be the reason you’re not getting many likes or comments.

Make sure your friends list mostly consists of people you actually know or at least share similar interests.While it might look cool that you’re friends with a famous local celebrity, there is a slim chance that they will like or comment on your posts.

Make Fewer Controversial Posts

Are you constantly posting your unpopular opinion on sensitive topics such as politics and religion? Sometimes people aren’t very comfortable reacting to something that isn’t well-accepted by everyone. This is especially true if your posts are public.

If they like your public post, it will show up on their friends’ feeds. And this might change their public image.It’s best to post your views in a non-aggressive and gentle way that won’t offend anyone.

Post Native Facebook Videos

If you’re posting videos on Facebook, it’s best to upload the video to Facebook instead of sharing its YouTube link. Native videos start playing automatically when the user scrolls through their feed(unless specifically disabled) and they play inside the app itself instead of redirecting you to the YouTube app. This is why native videos get more likes than YouTube videos on Facebook.

Interact With Others

If you only open Facebook to post something and don’t interact with others, they will start avoiding you. If you think this might be the reason why you aren’t getting any likes on Facebook, learn to reciprocate.

Scroll through your feed and if you find something interesting, you can go ahead and like it and also post a comment. This will build your community presence and people will interact with your posts more.

Sponsor Your Facebook Post

If your Facebook page posts aren’t getting any likes, you can sponsor the posts. This technique is generally used by business pages to reach a wider audience and to make more sales.

However, non-business pages can also promote their posts.Facebook knows that everyone wants an audience for their posts and limits your audience, forcing many people to pay for more views. If you want to reach more people and gain more followers, you can place sponsored posts that will be visible to thousands of people and will generate likes, comments, and shares.

Analyze Your Recent Posts

Check your recent posts and see which post got more likes. This will help you understand your audience. If all your friends are meat-eaters and you’ve been sharing vegan recipes, this can be a reason for the lack of likes on your posts.

To get a better idea,go to your friends’ profiles and check their general likes and dislikes.

Add Like-Minded Friends

If your Facebook friends don’t share your interests, it will be difficult to generate any likes. You can add like-minded friends by joining pages and groups of your interest. Start interacting with others on Facebook pages.

Soon, some other members might want to join you and become your friends. These friends will have a lot in common with you and will be more likely to react to your posts.

Start a Facebook Page

If you’re unable to build an audience and don’t want to add strangers on Facebook, you can start a page. For example, if you post memes and they don’t get any likes because your friends list mostly consists of your family, maybe it’s time to start a new meme page.

Aunt Marsha might not understand what’s funny about a frog on a unicycle, but your page followers will love your content.

With a page, you can connect with the audience that has the same interests as yours and you can get your voice heard and “liked.”

Use Hashtags in Your Posts

When you use hashtags, they turn into clickable links. When someone clicks on it, they are taken to that topic and they can see others posting on that topic. Similarly, someone can follow another post and land on your post.

If they like your post, they will react on it and they might even start following you, which means they may like your other posts as well.

Keep in mind that people will only be able to see your public posts. If you use hashtags on the posts that have the Friends visibility setting, they can be seen only by your Facebook friends.

Change Social Media Platforms

And finally, if you cannot generate likes on Facebook,try switching to another platform. For example, if you like posting your views every couple of hours, Twitter will be a better choice than Facebook.

If you mostly want to post your vacation photos, use Instagram. If you’re posting new openings in your office, LinkedIn will be a better choice. Find the right platform for your posts.

Consider Doing a Social Media Detox

If nobody is liking your posts, it’s normal to feel upset. Social media has become an important part of our lives and we cannot ignore its impact on our mood and behavior. There are negative effects to social media, so if you think social media is affecting you poorly, consider doing a social media detox.

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4 Useful Magic Mouse Gestures for Smarter Mac Navigation


magic-mouse-gestures

As a Mac user, you have two options when deciding how you want to control your computer: the Magic Mouse and the Magic Trackpad. Both options provide useful gestures to make operating the many features of macOS easier.

While the Magic Trackpad is great, if you’re more comfortable with a mouse, you’ll benefit from some handy gestures built into Apple’s Magic Mouse. Let’s take a look at these gestures and the ways they can improve your experience on macOS.

Activating Magic Mouse Gestures

To use the gestures built into the Magic Mouse, you’ll first need to activate them in System Preferences. On the menu bar, navigate Apple menu > System Preferences to open it.

Click on Mouse in this menu to open the control panel for your Magic Mouse. For the below gestures to work, you will want to turn on Smart zoom.

macOS Menu Magic Mouse Control Gestures

Next, head over to the More Gestures tab and turn on all three gestures there. You should have Swipe between pages, Swipe between full-screen apps, and Mission Control all activated.

Now that your mouse is set up, let’s look at how to use these useful gestures in macOS.

Performing Magic Mouse Gestures

Gestures on the Magic Mouse all work using simple movements, with either one or two fingers. You should perform them directly on the mouse; the entire surface of the mouse works for these gestures.

It might feel a bit awkward at first. But with some practice, you’ll get more comfortable with these motions and be able to use them without thinking.

1. Utilize Smart Zoom

How to use: Double-tap with one finger to zoom in or out of a web page, image, or PDF.

When you use Smart Zoom on the Magic Mouse, your Mac will perform a quick zoom-in on the area where your mouse pointer sits. This gesture will work in most web browsers, as well as PDFs or pictures you open on your Mac.

The amount zoomed is roughly 50 percent. Once you tap again in the same area, your screen will zoom back out to standard view. Try it on this page by zooming in on a paragraph or image.

Smart Zoom is a neat shortcut that lets you zoom in quickly without using a keyboard shortcut. Additionally, the shortcuts built into web browsers or PDF apps can differ. Smart Zoom allows you to quickly control your window view without looking up different shortcuts for each program.

2. Open Mission Control

Mission Control view displaying all active apps and desktops on macOS

How to use: Double-tap with two fingers to open Mission Control.

Most Mac users are familiar with Mission Control, which provides a quick view of all open windows. Apple’s Magic Keyboard does provide a shortcut to open Mission Control using the F3 key, but you may use a different Mac keyboard that doesn’t have these buttons.

Using the Mission Control gesture, you can open and switch between your working windows with a simple one-hand motion. Since open windows can get out of hand in a hurry when you’re working at a fast pace, this gesture keeps you in control of your apps.

3. Swipe to Navigate Browser Pages

How to use: Swipe left or right with one finger to swipe between pages. Swiping left will show the previous page, while right will show the next page.

Often, you’ll run into a website that has the information you’re looking for on many different pages. You might also need to jump between Google search results rapidly to locate what you need.

Moving your mouse up to the back and forward buttons in your browser every time is a lot of wasted movement. Instead, swiping left or right on your mouse horizontally lets you perform the same actions much more efficiently.

Using this gesture moves between web pages without moving up to the toolbar every time, which can break your focus. It’s a simple concept, but it saves quite a bit of motion and a click when you’re viewing a website.

4. Swipe Between Full-Screen Apps

How to use: Swipe left or right with two fingers to move between full-screen apps.

Full-screen mode on macOS maximizes a single app to fill the entire screen. It’s a great way to eliminate distractions, but can be hard to switch off with ease.

To set a window to full-screen using your mouse, you have to move the pointer to the toolbar in the top-left corner of the window. Click on the green button to set that window to full-screen.

macOS Chrome Toolbar Full Screen Button

You’ll notice macOS doesn’t maximize it over other windows. Instead, it creates a separate screen space that contains only the window you chose to work in. To exit full-screen mode, you have to hover over the top of the window to reveal the toolbar, then click on the green button again to return to your main screen.

This can be a struggle if you need any other windows while you’re working full-screen. But this gesture will solve that problem. Swiping left or right with two fingers moves your screen between your main window and the full-screen window you have open.

Swipe to the left to return to your main screen, then right when you’re ready to work on the full-screen window. You get the best of both worlds by having access to all your apps, plus an enlarged window for distraction-free viewing, all available at a touch thanks to the Magic Mouse.

Putting Your Mac’s Mouse to Good Use

Using gestures on your Magic Mouse is a great way to work smarter on your Mac, whether you use a desktop or laptop model. It comes standard when you purchase a desktop Mac, so you should know these tips to get the most out of it.

Want to unlock even greater efficiency? You must try using three-finger drag on your Mac to save time and clicks.

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