This Week in Apps: Photoshop for iPad bombs, Google Play’s new rewards program, iOS bug fixes

Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the Extra Crunch series that recaps the latest OS news, the applications they support, and the money that flows through it all. What are the developers talking about? What Do app publishers and marketers need to know? How is international politics playing out in the App Store? What apps is everyone using?

As November kicks off, we’re looking at a number of big apps launches from Microsoft and Adobe — as well as what went wrong. We’re also looking at the iOS bug-squashing release, a bunch of data about app install trends around the world, Google Play’s new loyalty program and what it means for developers, the continued scrutiny of Chinese apps by the U.S. government, and more.

Fast Facts

eMarketer remindS us that it recently put out a big report on app installs with a ton of insights. It’s actually been live for a few months, but ICYMI, here are some of the key data points and highlights:

• The average iPhone user in the U.S. downloaded 47 apps in 2018, up from 44 in 2017.
• The average number of apps installed is rising — up 15% from 2016. In the U.S., Japan, South Korea, and Australia, users had more than 100 apps downloaded in 2018.
• Smartphone users spend the most time using their top 5 apps. In 2017, the top 5 accounted for 87% of usage. Now (Apr. 2019) it’s 83%. The No. 1 app had a 49% share of the time spent, now it’s 44%.
• The number of smartphone users in the U.S. will grow just 3% in 2019, compared with 13.2% in India and 12.1% in Indonesia.
• Related, app downloads grew 165% in India from 2016 to 2018. In China, 70%. In Indonesia, 55%. And in Brazil, 25%. The U.S. app downloads grew just 5%.
• In June 2019, the App Store had 1.8 million apps compared with Google Play’s 3.1 million.
• 43% of iOS app install referrals came from Facebook properties, and only 6.6% came from Google properties.
• Apple Search Ads drove 12% of non-organic installs in May 2019.
• In-app video ads outperform display ads. Install-to-register rates for video were 35.1% in Q1
  2019 on the Liftoff network, compared with 28.5% for display ads.
• App engagement drop-off rates after day one are the biggest in shopping apps. (25% engagement after the first day, but 8% at 30 days). Travel also sees a big drop-off. (20% after the first day and 6% after 30 days).

Headlines

iOS Bug Squashing: Apple fixed the iOS bug that killed your background apps. Apple this week finally squashed a very annoying bug in iOS 13 that made the OS overly aggressive about killing background apps and tasks. Apps like Safari, YouTube, Overcast and others were impacted, leading users to lose emails or the video they were watching just when they switched away for a few seconds. What Apple can’t fix is a growing concern that Apple has “lost the plot” following a series of extremely buggy software updates across its product line, which made users hesitant to upgrade to macOS Catalina, and bricked people’s HomePods.

Google admits it can’t secure the Play Store on its own: Google this week announced partnerships with security firms ESET, Lookout, and Zimperium to form what it has branded the “App Defense Alliance.” The goal, the company says, is to unite the security industry to fight malicious apps across Android’s ecosystem of 2.5 billion devices. Basically, Google will integrate its own detection systems with each partner’s scanning engine to help it uncover potential risks and threats. However, the fact that Google is now essentially outsourcing security to a partner ecosystem is an admission of failure, to some extent, about its abilities to keep the Play Store free from bad actors on its own. (But of course, we all knew that already, right?)

Photoshop for iPad is tanking: Adobe released its most important mobile app ever with this week’s launch of Photoshop for iPad. But fans panned the app because it’s missing several key features. Like RAW support! The app now has 2 stars out of 5…yikes. So what went wrong?

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5 Apps and Sites to Find Reddit’s Best Posts and Favorite Recommendations

Reddit has so many people talking about so many things across so many subreddits. How can you get the best recommendations easily? Well, there are a few sites and apps that collect the best of Reddit.

You can always sort any subreddit by top posts for the day, week, month, year, or all-time. But that’s not what we’re talking about here. These apps have a different outlook. Some collect posts based on how much time you’ll take to read them, others track recommendations across different subreddits.

But the idea, in the end, is the same: to get you the best content and recommendations.

1. Walnut TV (Web, Android): Best Videos on Reddit

People share a lot of YouTube videos on Reddit. Walnut.TV collects all of them in one place to give you the top videos currently being talked about and upvoted on Reddit. It’s a useful and eye-pleasing interface.

On the left, you’ll see a playlist of all the videos coming up. Click any to watch it, or let the endless stream of videos keep auto-playing. You can also skip forward or go back with the left and right arrow keys.

At the top, you’ll see tabs that curate videos from different subreddits, based on topics. At the moment, categories include curious, science, documentaries, music, activities, food, and crafts. You can also search for your favorite subreddit to automatically create a playlist of all YouTube videos shared in it.

There is also an Android app, but it’s mainly the web version where Walnut.TV shines.

Download: Walnut.TV for Android (Free)

2. Shortly (Android, iOS): Curated Short Stories for 5 Minutes of Reading

The subreddit r/writingprompts gives anyone with a flair for writing a chance to exercise their creative muscles. One user will set a premise, and other community members then write whatever short story they come up with, based on that premise. Shortly gives you the cream of the crop in a fantastic interface.

When you start the app, Shortly will give you a quick test to determine your reading speed. Then, you have to choose a story based on how much time you have to read. Options include one-minute, three-minute, and five-minute stories. And just like that, you’ll get a well-formatted short story in a neat font and a pleasing grey background.

If you want to develop a fiction-reading habit, Shortly is an excellent way to begin. Not every story is amazing, but these are the most upvoted short stories on the subreddit, which has been active for several years. So you’re bound to get many winners.

Download: Shortly for Android | iOS (Free)

3. Top Trend Books and Top Talked Books (Web): Book Recommendations From Reddit

There are two book recommendation engines that try to find what Redditors are reading. Both do a good job and there’s no real reason to select one over the other, so try them both out.

Top Trend Books calls itself a data-driven recommendation engine, which collects all comments and posts about a book. It then assigns “trend points” based on upvotes, number of references, and the date. Based on that, you can look through categories like tech, comic, free ebooks, fantasy, and more, and sort the recommendations based on time. You can also search for authors or topics.

Top Talked Books isn’t restricted to Reddit alone, and also includes data from Hacker News and Stack Overflow. You can restrict yourself to Reddit-based sources, but why would you want to do that? Check New, Best of the Best, and even articles. The Explore tab lets you sort by categories and tags.

If you like these, you should also check out these essential “best book” lists to see how many of them you have read.

4. Things On Reddit (Web): Reddit’s Favorite Product Recommendations

On every subreddit, there are experts who will share their favorite products. Some products are shared often by multiple contributors, and gain a reputation for being a favorite and a must-buy. Things On Reddit collects all such favorites in one website.

The Featured Things highlights a few products, while you can jump to any of the popular topics or subreddits to find items from that community. Once you’re viewing items in a topic or subreddit, you can further sort them by mentions, karma, or date. There’s also a short blurb from the best-voted post, often describing why it’s recommended.

Each item on Things On Reddit includes an affiliate link to Amazon or some other store, which helps pay for the website.

5. Unreadit (Email): Get Newsletter Digests of Favorite Subreddits or Topics

Unreadit gives you the best of Reddit without needing you to visit the website or the app. It’s a series of newsletters that curate content from multiple subreddits to create a digest, and send it straight to your inbox.

Here’s an example. If you’re interested in technology, subscribe to the Tech newsletter. Sent every Monday, a human editor handpicks the best posts of the week from r/Tech, r/TechNews, r/Gadgets, r/HackerNews, and r/Apple. And just like that, you’re caught up with what people are discussing and sharing on Reddit. Currently, there are such newsletters for self-improvement, tech, geek, entrepreneur, design, frontend, and indie makers.

Unreadit also offers automated newsletters, which aren’t handpicked by a human editor. These are a bit of a hit-or-miss affair, but they might be worth it nonetheless. It’s a much wider range of topics, such as writing, travel, fiction, blockchain, cinema, gaming, etc.

Awesome Reddit Apps and Extensions

All these apps and sites make it easy to find good recommendations from Reddit without diving into the forums. In fact, you can entirely skip ever visiting Reddit if you use these well.

But then you’re missing out on so much. Reddit is full of great content and helpful communities. If you’ve found it overwhelming or disliked the experience, you might not be using it right. Have you tried these awesome Reddit apps and extensions for a better experience?

Read the full article: 5 Apps and Sites to Find Reddit’s Best Posts and Favorite Recommendations

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Instagram to test hiding Like counts in US, which could hurt influencers

“We will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s well-being and health” says Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri. To that end, next week Instagram will expand its test of hiding Like counts from everyone but a post’s creator to some users in the United States. But there are major questions about whether the change will hurt influencers.

Mosseri revealed the plan at the Wired25 conference today, saying Instagram “We have to see how it affects how people feel about the platform, how it affects how they use the platform, how it affects the creator ecosystem.”

Instagram’s CEO explained that “The idea is to try to depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition, and give people more space to focus on connect ing with the people they love and things that inspire them.” The intention is to “reduce anxiety” and “reduce social comparison”.

Elsewhere during the talk that also featured actor and CEO Tracie Ellis Ross, Mosseri discussed Instagram’s growing interest in shopping, and how it can provide new revenue streams to influencers. He also described Instagram’s three-pronged approach to well-being where it identifies and addresses acute problems such as hate speech, finds positions where it can lead as with fighting bullying, and rethinks fundamentals of how the platform works as with Like count hiding.

Instagram began testing this in April in Canada and expanded it to Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand in July. Facebook started a similar experiment in Australia in September.

While it seems likely that making Instagram less of a popularity contest might aid the average user, Instagram has to be mindful that it doesn’t significantly decrease creators’ or influencers’ engagement and business success. These content makers are vital to Instagram’s success, since they keep their fan bases coming back day after day, even If  users’ friends are growing stale.

A new study by HypeAuditor reported by Social Media Today found that influencers across tiers of follower counts almost unanimously saw their Like counts fall in countries where the hidden Like count test was active. Likes fell 3% to 15% in all the countries for influencers with 5,000 to 20,000 followers.

Only in Japan, and only for influencers with 1,000 to 5,000 or 100,000 to 1 million followers did the change lead to a boost in Likes — of about 6% in both groups. Meanwhile, influencers saw the biggest loss of Likes in the Brazilian market. Those trends could relate to how users in certain countries might feel more comfortable Liking something if they don’t know who else is too, while in other nations users might rely on more herd mentality to know what to Like.

If Instagram finds the impact of the test to be too negative on influencers, it may not roll out the change. While Mosseri stated the company wasn’t afraid to hurt its own bottom line, impairing the careers of influencers may not be acceptable unless the positive impacts on well-being are significant enough.

Instagram CEO Announces Platform Will Test Hiding Likes in the US

WATCH: Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri announces that the platform will start hiding likes for US audiences starting next week. It's the latest step in Instagram’s quest to become the safest place on the internet. Learn more: https://ift.tt/36NdTcx

Posted by WIRED on Friday, November 8, 2019

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Instagram to test hiding Like counts in US, which could hurt influencers

“We will make decisions that hurt the business if they help people’s well-being and health” says Instagram’s CEO Adam Mosseri. To that end, next week Instagram will expand its test of hiding Like counts from everyone but a post’s creator to some users in the United States. But there are major questions about whether the change will hurt influencers.

Mosseri revealed the plan at the Wired25 conference today, saying Instagram “We have to see how it affects how people feel about the platform, how it affects how they use the platform, how it affects the creator ecosystem.”

Instagram’s CEo explained that “The idea is to try to depressurize Instagram, make it less of a competition, and give people more space to focus on connect ing with the people they love and things that inspire them.” The intention is to “reduce anxiety” and “reduce social comparison”.

Instagram began testing this in April in Canada and expanded it to Ireland, Italy, Japan, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand in July. Facebook started a similar experiment in Australia in September.

While it seems likely that making Instagram less of a popularity contest might aid the average user, Instagram has to be mindful that it doesn’t significantly decrease creators’ or influencers’ engagement and business success. These content makers are vital to Instagram’s success, since they keep their fan bases coming back day after day, even If  users’ friends are growing stale.

A new study by HypeAuditor reported by Social Media Today found that influencers across tiers of follower counts almost unanimously saw their Like counts fall in countries where the hidden Like count test was active. Likes fell 3% to 15% in all the countries for influencers with 5,000 to 20,000 followers.

Only in Japan, and only for influencers with 1,000 to 5,000 or 100,000 to 1 million followers did the change lead to a 6% boost in Likes. Meanwhile, influencers saw the biggest loss of Likes in the Brazilian market. Those trends could relate to how users in certain countries might feel more comfortable Liking something if they don’t know who else is, while in other nations users might rely on more herd mentality to know what to Like.

If Instagram finds the impact of the test to be too negative on influencers, it may not roll out the change. While Mosseri stated the company wasn’t afraid to hurt it’s own bottom line, impairing the careers of influencers may not be acceptable unless the positive impacts on well-being are significant enough.

https://ift.tt/32tWUbK?xts[0]=68.ARCnhigtpUX2ohjQeN9KIlum_5cxn4DOJYlqFOXPwWo4ndBn7QBKOYXIv8ulLQY2jz2qYbkJxzVzGI-uyPS5oQ5wpoDbDRsM9Rj2qzemd1YriP7AScwpYoE6oozTUowaSTEqqsP5EciyVLvpbSgtIysbCzILMmnyr-0mIq7v-6dKuk3SlRiYTXU7R3dUXCcQfktwP41b7QN4JVagnHrfWg2Ag5xAkvmcdJw7z01CmGmTzp_2D_bVpZHJw73r0S9KvYOW6emyrrZAu61r4u5ZDjKf8yw8vHyKWWFT9mz5dS9oUC8uCpDBpL2CKDg3MzLOgGoRJtXtTtGCAF_dt40Ewr4C&tn=-R

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YouTube Makes Its Homepage Easier to Use

YouTube is rolling out a new homepage. This is designed for desktop users, plus tablet users on both Android and iOS. The homepage has been redesigned so that it’s cleaner, clearer, and easier to find the videos you actually want to watch.

Discover 70+ Awesome YouTube Tricks With Our FREE YouTube Cheat Sheet!

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Exploring the YouTube Homepage

While most of us open YouTube specifically to watch a particular video, the YouTube homepage is well worth exploring. If you’re signed into your Google account you’ll find recommended videos YouTube thinks you’ll enjoy watching.

Unfortunately, the YouTube homepage isn’t perfect. The size of the thumbnails and lack of descriptions make it hard to know what to watch. And controls to help you customize YouTube are hidden from view. Which is why YouTube has redesigned its homepage.

How to Use the New YouTube Homepage

YouTube introduced the new-look homepage in a post on The Official YouTube Blog. YouTube explains that the new-look homepage, which is rolling out now, is designed to “help you find the next great video to watch.” Which is becoming increasingly difficult.

Notice anything different? We gave YT Home on web and tablet apps some remodeling. Check out this cleaner layout with:
?? Larger thumbnails
?? Longer titles and channel icons
?? Higher resolution previews pic.twitter.com/eWY9qMgSt5

— YouTube (@YouTube) November 7, 2019

The most obvious change to the YouTube homepage is the new look. Rather than rows of five videos with small thumbnails, you’ll now see rows of four videos with larger thumbnails. High-resolution previews and channel icons will help you find videos.

Once you’ve found the videos you want to watch, you can now add them to your queue on desktop right from the homepage. Just hover your cursor over a video thumbnail and tap the Add to Queue icon. These will then play in the order you added them to your queue.

On the other hand, if you find that YouTube keeps recommending a channel you have no interest in watching, you can now remove those suggestions. Just click the three-dot menu next to a video on the homepage, and tap Don’t Recommend Channel.

Our YouTube Starter Kit for Beginners

These changes should make it easier to use the YouTube homepage. Which should, in turn, keep you watching YouTube videos for longer. And YouTube is promising more features to come. In the meantime, here’s our YouTube starter kit full of entertaining channels.

Image Credit: Rego Korosi/Flickr

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Run Windows on Your Mac With Parallels Desktop 15

Compared to the dark old days, we’re rich with options when it comes to running Windows programs on macOS. There was a time when even Mac diehards might have had to keep a Windows PC around in order to use a key piece of software. Now we have Boot Camp, but that might be overkill if you only need to run a few applications.

Parallels Desktop not only lets you run Windows programs in an environment they recognize, but blend them in with your Mac like they’ve been there all along.

Who Is Parallels 15 For?

Parallels is for anyone who needs to run Windows apps on a Mac, from beginners to power users. For beginners, the software walks you all the way through installing Windows on your Mac. Parallels even automatically downloads Windows for you, so you don’t need to go through the trouble of downloading it yourself.

Power users will appreciate how much you can tweak the software. You can customize exactly how much of your system resources are available to Windows on your Mac. This can help you keep battery use in check, or conversely offer up as much power to hardware-intensive applications.

Parallels Desktop’s main competition comes in the form of VMWare Fusion. We’ve looked at VMWare Fusion before, and while it offers powerful functionality, Parallels is more flexible in some ways. We’ll get to exactly how in the next section.

Parallels Desktop Features

Parallels for Mac focuses heavily on making Windows apps blend in seamlessly with the underlying macOS system. This means you get copy and paste between macOS and Windows, as well as support for drag and drop. If you use an app like 1Password on your Mac and need to paste a password in Windows, for example, this is quite handy.

Coherence Mode

Parallels Desktop can take this even further with its Coherence mode. In this mode, you don’t get the standard full virtualized desktop. Instead, Windows runs in the background, while only the applications you run via Parallels are displayed. This is handy if you just need to run one key app that only works on Windows.

You can take this even further. If you need to open an app all the time, you can keep it in your Dock as you would with any macOS app. When you go to launch the Windows app, Parallels quietly runs the virtual machine in the background.

Full Screen Mode

On the other hand, if you need the full Windows desktop experience, Parallels for Mac can handle that as well. The software offers a full screen mode, which essentially lets you run Wondows on Mac just as you would if you had installed Windows via Boot Camp.

As we’ve looked at before, there are plenty of advantages to virtual machines instead of dual booting.

External Drive Support

Parallels supports mounting external hard drives. This is handy since macOS doesn’t support writing to NTFS drives by default, and even the existing options can be risky. Running a full-fledged instance of Windows 10 lets you access the files on these drives without worry.

All you need to do in order to access these drives is boot Windows 10 via Parallels, then open up File Explorer. From here you’ll be able to work with the files as normal. You can also move macOS files to and from the drive, using Parallels as a middleman of sorts.

What’s New in Parallels 15?

As the version number hints at, Parallels 15 is optimized for macOS 10.15 Catalina. That said, you don’t need to have Catalina installed in order to run Parallels 15. This is great if you need to run an older version of macOS for compatibility purposes. You can run Parallels Desktop on macOS versions as old as 10.12 Sierra.

Parallels Desktop 15 adds support for DirectX 11, as well as DirectX 9 and 10, via Apple Metal. This means you can run software like Autodesk 3ds Max 2020 or games like Fallout 4, all while taking advantage of your Mac’s hardware. For this to work, you’ll need to be running macOS 10.14 Mojave or later.

It isn’t all about macOS-exclusive features, either. Parallels Desktop 15 allows you to use your iPad as well. The software can make full use of Sidecar (a feature that arrived in Catalina), which hooks up your iPad as a second monitor. It even supports using the Apple Pencil on your iPad in order to use Windows touchscreen and pen functionality.

Finally, Parallels Desktop 15 has improved performance in various areas. The Parallels website claims that Microsoft Office applications launch up to 80 percent faster. That’s not all: 3D graphics have also received improvements and can run up to 15 percent faster than previous versions of the Parallels Desktop software.

Parallels Desktop vs. Parallels Desktop Pro

When you’re ready to buy, Parallels Desktop comes in two different varieties. First is the standard Parallels Desktop, which costs $79.99. Your other option is Parallels Desktop Pro Edition, which sells for $20 more at $99.99. It’s not much more, but do you need the Pro Edition?

The answer is probably no, unless you’re a developer. The vast majority of the extra features in the Pro Edition are aimed at developers creating Windows apps on Mac computers. These include a Visual Studio plugin, as well as an easy install of a Windows 10 development environment.

Other features include a Parallels Vagrant plugin and the ability to natively manage Docker virtual machines, and that’s just the beginning. If you’re just a regular Mac user or even a power user, chances are good that you’ll get along just fine with the standard Parallels Desktop license.

That said, not all of the features in the Pro Edition are aimed solely at developers. The Pro Edition adds Force Touch trackpad support to the virtual Windows environment, which can be handy. It also enables Cortana support. These aren’t features everyone will need, but they’re also not developer-only features.

Not Sure? Try Parallels for Free

Different people have various needs when it comes to virtual machines. Parallels Desktop can take some getting used to, especially if you’re coming from a similar service. The good news is that there’s a 14-day free trial that lets you try the app before you buy it. That should be plenty of time to know whether the app is right for you.

If you need another solution, take a look at the other ways to run Windows programs on Mac.

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How to Send Websites to Kindle so You Can Read Later

The Amazon Kindle is the best device for reading. It has a special screen that doesn’t strain your eyes and has a range of handy features for readers such as the ability to highlight passages and offline dictionaries.

So why would you limit it to just books? Here’s how to send and read web articles to your Kindle.

1. Send to Kindle

Amazon offers an official browser extension for adding online stories to your Kindle library. Whenever you come across an article you’d like to send, all you need to do is click the Send to Kindle button and your Kindle will immediately begin downloading the file.

The tool also lets you edit the document’s content and how it should appear by default on your device. You can customize the title, author, font size and face, margin heights, color mode, and more. Instead of the entire web page, you have the option to only send the selected text as well.

It’s not restricted to Kindle readers either. You can push the article to any device such as your phone or tablet if it has the Kindle app installed. The extension comes with a bunch of keyboard shortcuts you can use to instantly dispatch the article.

Download: Send to Kindle for Google Chrome (Free)

2. Push to Kindle

Amazon hasn’t updated its Send to Kindle extension in ages. Therefore, it often struggles to render articles that have modern web design elements such as interactive slideshows. Thankfully, there is a slew of alternative third-party tools you can rely on.

Push to Kindle is one of them. It’s a straightforward utility for forwarding online content to your Kindle. But since it’s not owned by Amazon, you have to supply your personal Kindle address and approved email ID. You’ll find these details on Amazon’s Manage Your Content & Devices page.

Push to Kindle has a few more useful options. You can download the article as a document in EPUB, MOBI, or PDF format. You can alter the article’s title and then transfer them to up to five devices at once. Apart from Chrome, it’s available on Firefox, Opera, and Safari.

Download: Push to Kindle for Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox | Opera | Safari (Free)

3. Send to Reader

This is for those who find Push to Kindle’s feature set limiting. Send to Reader is a more exhaustive solution for reading articles on your Kindle.

Send to Reader’s biggest highlight is its RSS feed integration. You can configure a publication of your choice and the service will automatically forward every new post to your e-reader.

Send to Reader can also send you bundles once every day which will include a bunch of recent articles from the sites you’ve subscribed to. In addition, there’s an e-book creator that you can employ to manually bundle the articles you’ve been meaning to read. Like the rest, you can send individual pieces and text directly to your device through the personal Kindle email address.

The majority of Send to Reader’s abilities, however, are not free. The free tier allows you to merely dispatch documents to your Kindle one at a time. The $6 monthly plan—which you can try for 15 days—gives you access to premium features like RSS subscriptions and the e-book editor.

Visit: Send to Reader (free, $6/month)

4. Connect Read-for-Later Services With Your Kindle

Most of us already have an endless pile of articles we want to get through on one of the many read-for-later services like Pocket and Instapaper. You can easily connect this feed to the Kindle too so that the articles you bookmark are instantly available on your e-reader.

Connect Instapaper With Your Kindle

Instapaper has a built-in facility for integrating your Kindle account. To set it up, go into the Settings and under the Kindle section, enter your Kindle email address. Next, you will need to append Instapaper’s sender ID to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List on Amazon. Hit Save Kindle Preferences and you’re done.

Once you’ve configured these options, there will be a few more functions available in the Kindle section. You can ask Instapaper to automatically forward your saved articles by enabling the Kindle Automatic Delivery switch. Alternatively, Instapaper can deliver a handful of your pending stories daily or once every week.

Connect Pocket With Your Kindle

Pocket has a long list of features but unfortunately, you will have to depend on a third-party service like P2K for Kindle integration. It works like Instapaper’s native solution. You have to submit your Kindle address and whitelist P2K in your Amazon content settings.

P2K can migrate some articles automatically to your Kindle on a daily or weekly basis. Instead of a routine, it lets you manually pick and transfer pieces. P2K has a couple of more perks that require a premium account such as the ability to mail articles with a specific tag and create multiple delivery systems.

In case you don’t want to pay for accessing your Pocket entries on a Kindle, you can also look into IFTTT applets.

Visit: P2K (Free, $2.99/month for Premium, $4.99 for Platinum subscription)

5. Send Articles From Your Android or iOS Phone to Kindle

You don’t have to switch on your computer every time you’d like to add an interesting article to your Kindle’s library. You can do it right on your phone.

The extension we discussed earlier, Push to Kindle has an Android and iOS client. It brings a new Kindle option in the sheet that appears when you tap a share button. This allows you to forward articles from any browser app on your phone. Just like other utilities, you will have to first punch in your Kindle and approved personal email address.

Amazon’s own Kindle app offers this functionality but at the time of writing, it was broken and always threw an unexpected error.

Download: Push to Kindle for Android | iOS ($1.99)

Get the Most Out of Your Kindle

It’s best to read web articles, especially the longreads on your Kindle since it won’t damage your eyesight. There is a range of more benefits and features you may not be aware of. Here’s how to get the most out of your Amazon Kindle e-reader.

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How to Use Your Android Phone as an IP Webcam

Looking for a way to put your old Android phone to use? Need an IP camera to stream live footage of events over the internet, but can’t afford an actual IP camera?

Several apps are available to turn your Android device into an IP webcam. Within minutes, you’ll be using it to share video footage across the internet to friends, family, or maybe just yourself.

Use Android as an IP Webcam

A typical Android smartphone, old or new, comes with at least one camera. Meanwhile, the Android operating system lets developers create apps that do almost anything. This makes Android an ideal platform for use as an IP webcam.

All you need to do is enable Wi-Fi, find the right app, set it up, then position your Android device as required. The result is a steady IP webcam picture streamed across the web. You can view the footage in any browser.

Webcam vs. IP Webcam: What’s the Difference?

It’s possible to set your phone up as a standard webcam, as well as an IP webcam. But what is the difference?

Well, a webcam is a camera that’s connected via USB or built into your computer or other device. Its purpose is to record video and photos, either for local use or on a video chat program like Skype. On a secure system, the webcam cannot be accessed over the web without your permission. Interestingly, you can also use your Android device as a PC webcam.

An IP camera, meanwhile, is a device intended for streaming video footage across the internet. For example, this might be a traffic cam or another static camera that’s publicly accessible. Alternatively, it could be a security camera you can access remotely.

The difference is clear: a webcam can have multiple purposes, whereas an IP camera is intended for remote viewing.

Keep reading to learn how to turn your Android phone into an IP camera.

How to Use Android as an IP Webcam With an App

Several IP camera apps are available for Android. For this project, we’ve determined that the most useful option is IP Phone Camera, by Deskshare. If your phone has an internet connection, this app will turn the device into an IP camera.

IP Phone Camera has in-app purchases, but you don’t need these for the basic IP camera functionality.

Download: IP Camera (Free, in-app purchases available)

IP Phone Camera’s Key Features

Using IP Phone Camera? You’ll see it offers three options:

1. Wi-Fi: Directly broadcast to any browser-equipped device on the same network
2. Mobile hotspot: If your Android phone supports wireless tethering (it probably does), broadcast over your ad-hoc mobile hotspot
3. Mobile data: This paid feature lets you view the webcam from anywhere in the world

The app also offers control options, allowing you to manipulate the camera from the browser. You can:

• Adjust brightness
• Enable flashlight
• Zoom in/out
• Auto-focus
• Rotate
• Switch between front and back cameras

These are all useful remote configuration tools to help you get the best picture possible from your Android IP webcam.

Configure the IP Phone Camera App

As noted above, you have a few options, but it’s worth using Wi-Fi first to get to grips with the app.

So with IP Phone Camera installed, select Wi-Fi on the main screen (or in the Settings menu), then hit Start Broadcasting. Use the Plus and Minus buttons to zoom in and out of the subject.

Note some of the other options in the Settings screen. Here, you can set the app to automatically Start broadcasting on app launch, as well as Broadcast in grayscale mode to save bandwidth. There’s also a Require password option, but that’s only available with the Premium subscription for the app.

To upgrade, tap the menu button, then Upgrade. There’s a free seven-day trial, then the option to pay $2.49 a month or $21.49 per year.

Access Your IP Webcam via Any Browser

If you’re viewing the Android IP webcam from within your wireless network, use the URL displayed on the broadcast screen. This is formatted as an IP address with a port number, such as 192.168.1.103:6677.

There’s also a secondary option, in case you use Deskshare’s Security Monitor Pro desktop software for Windows. This premium app gives additional functionality, but in most cases, you probably won’t need the $70 software.

For the mobile internet streaming option, meanwhile, the URL to visit is ipphonecamera.deskshare.com.

All you need to do is copy the URL into any browser on your computer or other network-connected device. If you’re using the mobile internet option for streaming, the app will display the credentials needed to access the feed.

Controlling the IP Webcam Remotely

The app’s browser console includes an easy-to-use touch-friendly panel of controls. Here you can control the zoom and brightness level, rotate the camera, and enable the camera light if necessary.

You can also hit Switch Camera to flip between front and back cameras on your Android device. You’ll spot a Record Video feature, too, but this is limited to users of Security Monitor Pro.

Positioning Your IP Camera

With everything set up, you’ll need to position the smartphone carefully. You have several options here:

• Basic desktop stand: Use this to place your phone on a flat surface
• Smartphone tripod: Provides a steady picture
• Smartphone tripod with flexible legs: Intended to let you place your phone anywhere
• Windshield-mounted phone holder: Usually found in cars, ideal for attaching your phone to glass or metal surfaces

Narrow down your options with our guide to the best smartphone tripods.

Your Android IP Webcam Is Ready to Use

With the software installed, the phone carefully positioned, and it streaming video across the web, your IP camera is ready to use. Perhaps you’re using it to observe your property, or you might have it set up as a baby monitor. Or perhaps you just want to capture events outside your home or in the street, and share them with the world.

Note that there is lag using this app; the local network lag is less than viewing IP webcam footage over mobile internet. Using your Android IP camera as a security cam? Here’s how to build a full security camera network with smartphones.

Read the full article: How to Use Your Android Phone as an IP Webcam

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How to Make Flash Games Run Faster: 8 Tips That Work

Find that Flash games are running slow on your computer? While Flash has long been a popular platform for browser games thanks to its ubiquity, it often suffers from poor performance as well.

If you experience hang-ups and crashes while playing, we’ll explain how to make Flash games run faster so you can enjoy your favorites at a normal frame rate.

1. Toggle Hardware Acceleration

Flash Player, like many pieces of software, supports a function called hardware acceleration. This allows the GPU inside your video card to handle certain functionality instead of software doing it through the CPU.

In many cases, this is helpful, as your GPU is more powerful and can more efficiently complete these tasks. But if you have a weak graphics card, it could limit your performance and be a reason why Flash is running slowly.

To enable or disable hardware acceleration for Flash Player, right-click on a Flash game and select Settings. On the window that appears, click the far left tab that shows a play button inside a monitor. You’ll see a single option labeled Enable hardware acceleration here.

If it’s enabled and you’ve experienced problems, uncheck the box and see if that helps speed up Flash games. On most modern systems, hardware acceleration should work well, but it’s worth testing it both ways to see which feels better.

2. Adjust the Quality Level

When wondering how to speed up Flash games, you might have overlooked another built-in setting Flash Player offers. After right-clicking on Flash content, you’ll see a Quality entry in the menu. This allows you to choose from High, Medium, and Low graphical quality.

In our experience, this option doesn’t appear all the time. For instance, it didn’t show up when right-clicking the main menu of Rogue Soul, but it did appear when we right-clicked the introduction of Frog Fractions.

Thus, you may need to play around with your game to make it appear. Any computer that’s even somewhat modern should be able to play games on High, but it’s worth adjusting if Flash games still run poorly for you.

3. Play in Another Browser

One of the common causes for low game FPS is having too many programs running in the background. The same principle holds true when playing Flash titles in your browser.

If Flash games are lagging in Chrome, it might be because you have dozens of tabs open and loads of extensions installed. These all eat up resources that your game could otherwise use.

Cleaning up your browser is never a bad idea; even fully closing and reopening it can have a positive effect. But if you don’t want to bother with this, an easier way is to try playing in another browser. You might find that’s all it takes to speed up Flash games. Then you can keep that browser in a vanilla state and reserve it just for playing Flash games.

Note that Google Chrome blocks Flash by default. You’ll need to enable Flash in Chrome to play games in that browser.

4. Review In-Game Settings

Some Flash games offer visual options inside their menus. These may be overall Quality selectors, or perhaps allow you to turn off certain graphical elements. Give these a look if your game performance is still poor.

Fancy visual effects like enhanced shadows aren’t necessary to play a game, so you should disable them for a better experience.

5. Let Flash Games Store More Information

Another variable worth changing in the Flash settings menu is the Local Storage option. This allows you to set how much information Flash content can store on your machine.

Again, right-click inside a Flash game and choose Settings. For this option, select the tab that has a folder and green arrow. You’ll see a prompt allowing you to confirm or deny permission for the site to store info on your computer.

Flash is also supposed to show you a panel here that allows you to adjust the amount of storage it uses. However, this only appears at certain times; it didn’t show this in our testing. You can visit the Adobe Flash Player Global Storage Settings page to adjust this value universally.

Select the icon showing a folder with a globe behind it, then drag the slider to choose how much space websites can use. The default is 100KB, but you can increase this to 1MB, 10MB, or even Unlimited.

6. Try Zooming In

While a bit unconventional, zooming in your display can sometimes help make Flash games run faster. The idea is that the less you can see in the game, the less information your computer has to process. It’s the same reason why a game runs smoother at 1080p than 4K.

In most browsers, you can zoom in by holding Ctrl and either pressing the Plus (+) key or scrolling the mouse wheel up. To go back, you can hold Ctrl and hit Minus (-) or scroll the mouse wheel down to zoom back out. Hit Ctrl + 0 (zero) to reset the zoom back to default.

You’ll notice that some Flash games restrict the game window size but allow you to zoom the contents of the game in or out. This might not have a great effect on every game, but it’s worth a try if nothing else has worked yet. A lot of the time you don’t need to see the whole screen anyway, so it becomes a useful workaround.

7. Clear the Flash Cache

As a further troubleshooting step, you can clear the data that Flash stores to start anew. This will obviously remove any data sites have saved for games, which may include preferences and game progress such as high scores.

To clear Flash data, type Control panel into the Start menu to open it. If you see Category in the top-right, click that and change it to Small icons or Large icons. Next, select Flash Player from the list.

On the Storage tab, click Local Storage Settings by Site to view all sites that have saved Flash info. Select one and hit Remove to erase all its data. To clear everything at once, hit Delete All on the main Storage page and confirm your choice.

Try your chosen Flash game again after this and see if it runs any better.

8. Try Downloading the Flash Game

The two major factors leading to poor Flash performance are Flash Player itself and the browser it’s running in. We’ve shared some tips for both, but you can eliminate the browser from the equation by downloading Flash content and running it offline.

See our guide on downloading Flash games and playing them locally to give this a try.

Why Do Flash Games Run So Slow? Now You Know

We’ve gone over several ways to make browser Flash games run faster. However, you should keep in mind that Flash is an aging technology.

On one hand, this is good news because pretty much all modern computers have the power to smoothly run Flash games. Thus, if Flash games still run slowly for you after applying these tips, you may need to upgrade your computer.

However, Adobe plans to retire Flash at the end of 2020. Because the runtime is on its way out, Flash will continue to fall out of favor, and Flash games will become harder to access.

As a replacement, check out fun HTML5 browser games that don’t require Flash.

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The 7 Best Home Wireless Intercom Systems and Devices

Yelling down the stairs to attract the attention of your family or housemates is a thing of the past. Today, there are plenty of wireless intercom systems and devices that are ideal for home use.

But which products are the best? Which wireless intercom system should you buy? Here are the best home wireless intercoms for your home.

1. Amazon Echo Show

Amazon Echo Show Amazon Echo Show Buy Now On Amazon $129.99

It’s easy to overlook the intercom capabilities of an Amazon Echo Show. In truth, in-home wireless communication is not the device’s main purpose. Instead, it is primarily designed to be a visual interface for Alexa. You can use it to see feedback from your smart home, watch videos, and even follow the news.

However, if you have more than one Echo Show in your home, you can use them to not only talk to each other but to also see a live video feed of what’s going on in another room. The downside is the price. The new Echo Show 8 costs more than $100. If you plan to put a screen in all your most-used rooms, the bill could quickly spiral.

2. Hosmart Wireless Intercom System

Hosmart Wireless Intercom System Hosmart Wireless Intercom System Buy Now On Amazon $199.99

If you’d prefer a more traditional approach to intercoms, check out the Hosmart Wireless Intercom System. You get six units in the box and can place them wherever you want in the home. Unlike the Amazon Echo Show, it does not rely on Wi-Fi to work.

Instead, it operates on its own frequency range; 462.62 to 467.61 MHz. Each unit has a range of half a mile. As such, the Hosmart product is one of the best wireless intercom systems to use if you have a large plot of land and want to create a network between lots of different points within it.

The system allows private unit-to-unit communications, or you can use a single unit to broadcast a message to all the other boxes simultaneously. The boxes can also be used as an always-on baby monitor. You don’t even need to put it near a wall connection; they have built-in batteries that last for 10 hours on a single charge.

3. Qniglo Wireless Intercom System

Qniglo Wireless Intercom System Qniglo Wireless Intercom System Buy Now On Amazon $54.95

The Qniglo Wireless Intercom System is similar to the Hosmart Wireless Intercom System. It has a half-mile range, nine channels, and a built-in microphone and speaker. The big difference is that you can buy the Qniglo product on a unit-by-unit basis. For people who just want to hook together a couple of rooms, that’s preferable to shelling out on six Hosmart units, so you will be able to save some money.

Other notable features include an automatic answer mode (so a unit will accept a call instantly and without ringing) and an always-on hands-free VOX function (so you don’t need to press the call button to start communicating). There’s also a group calling feature. It lets you broadcast to all the units in your intercom simultaneously, even if the individual units are running on different channels. Such functionality could be vital in the case of an emergency.

4. VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor

VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor Buy Now On Amazon $27.99

Most people are familiar with the concept of a baby monitor. They let new parents keep an eye on their youngsters without needing to be in the same room as them around the clock. However, have you ever considered the benefits of using a baby monitor as a regular wireless intercom system?

Naturally, there will be a trade-off on features. You’re not going to have multiple channels and half-mile ranges. On the positive side, however, an entry-level baby monitor is considerably cheaper than even the most budget wireless intercom system.

One device worth considering is the VTech DM221 Audio Baby Monitor. It has a 1,000-foot range, support for two-way talking, and DECT 6.0 to help eliminate white noise and interference. VTech also makes more expensive baby monitors, including ones with a screen, in case you’d like a bit of additional functionality.

5. SAMCOM FTAN30A Wireless Intercom System

SAMCOM FTAN30A Wireless Intercom System SAMCOM FTAN30A Wireless Intercom System Buy Now On Amazon $129.90

SAMCOM is another company that makes several home wireless intercom systems. For the perfect balance between price and features, we suggest the SAMCOM FTAN30A. It has a range of 1,500 feet and works across 20 channels. And, like the Hosmart product we discussed earlier, the system has a built-in 2200mAh battery. With a run-time of 27 hours of continuous use, it’s ideal for when you don’t have a nearby electricity source.

The SAMCOM FTAN30A does not require Wi-Fi and is compatible with some of the company’s other intercom models, including the FTAN20AA desktop system and the FPCN10A, FPCN30A, and FPEN10A two-way radios. You can buy the SAMCOM FTAN30A Wireless Intercom System in packs of two, three, six, eight, 12, or 18.

6. Arcshell Rechargeable Two-Way Radios

Arcshell Rechargeable Two-Way Radios Arcshell Rechargeable Two-Way Radios Buy Now On Amazon $64.99

Like baby monitors, two-way radios provide much of the same functionality as a two-way radio at a lower cost. Of course, two-way radios are also portable—they’re ideal for people who like pottering in the garden or fiddling in a garage. The Arcshell Rechargeable Two-Way Radios have 16 channels, 1,500mAh rechargeable batteries, and an eight-hour battery life during continuous usage.

Importantly for an intercom system, they also have VOX mode, meaning you can use the radios as baby monitors or always-on intercoms. The devices even come with earpieces, meaning you can easily chat in private to other people in your home without having your conversations overheard. In ideal conditions (i.e. flat with no obstacles), the radios have a mammoth five-mile range.

7. Nucleus Anywhere Intercom

Nucleus Anywhere Intercom Nucleus Anywhere Intercom Buy Now On Amazon $747.99

The Nucleus Anywhere Intercom is the second system on our list with a screen. Each Nucleus unit includes a 120-degree HD camera that lets you see the whole room and everyone in it. Better still, Nucleus supports Amazon Alexa, which allows you to listen to music in stereo, get the news and weather, and control other smart devices.

You can connect an unlimited number of Nucleus devices to a single system. You can also use the Nucleus to communicate with others outside of your home when they use the free Nucleus mobile companion app.

The Best Wireless Intercom for Your Home

All the best wireless intercoms systems we’ve discussed in the article attend to different needs. Make sure you think about the number of devices you need, where you will use them, the range you need, and the features you need before you hit the buy button.

If you decide to make the best use of tech you already own, make sure you check out how to use your Amazon Echo as an intercom.

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Recombination And Reionization

Recombination And Reionization

Ex-Facebook CPO Chris Cox now advises on climate & campaign tech

Chris Cox’s motivational speeches were at the heart of Facebook’s new employee orientation. But after 14 years at the social network, the Chief Product Officer left in March amidst an executive shake-up and Facebook’s new plan to prioritize privacy by moving to encrypt its messaging apps. No details on his next projects were revealed.

Now the 37-year-old leader will be putting his inspirational demeanor and keen strategy sense to work to protect the environment and improve the government. Today at Wired25 conference, Cox finally shared more about his work advising political technology developer for progressives Acronym, and climate change-tracking satellite startup Planet Labs. He also explained more about the circumstances of his departure from social network’s C-suite.

SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA – NOVEMBER 08: Chris Cox attends the WIRED25 Summit 2019 – Day 1 at Commonwealth Club on November 08, 2019 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Phillip Faraone/Getty Images for WIRED)

On how he felt leaving Facebook, Cox said “part of the reason I was okay leaving was that after 2016 I’d spent a couple years building out a bunch of the teams that I felt were most important to sort of take the lessons that we learned through some of 2016 and start to put in place institutions that can help the company, be more responsible and be a better communicator on some of the key issues.”

As for what specifically drove him to leave, Cox explained that “It wasn’t something where I felt I wanted to spend another 13 years on social media. Mark and I saw things a little bit differently . . . I think we are still investigating as an industry, how do you balance protecting the privacy of people’s information and continuing to keep people safe” Cox said. On whether moving towards encryption was part of that, he said he thinks encryption is “great: and that “It offers an enormous amount of protection” but noted “it certainly makes things more complicated” on the privacy vs safety balance.

Cox was asked about the major debate about whether Facebook should allow political advertising. “We think political advertising can be good and helpful. It often favors up and comers versus incumbents.” Still, on fact-checking, he said “I’m a big fan” even though Facebook isn’t applying that to political ads. He did note that “I think the company should investigate and is investigating micro targeting . . . if there’s hundreds of variants being run of the creative then it’s tricky to get your arms around what’s being said.” He also advocated for more context in the user interface distinguishing political ads. 

Chris Cox speaks at Wired25

Since leaving Facebook, Cox has been advising a group called Acronym which is helping to build out the campaign and messaging technology stack for progressive candidates. Cox has also been working to advise San Francisco startup Planet Labs which is using satellite imagery to track climate change.

Cox concluded that the technology industry can lead on both fronts to create the world we want to live in.

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