10 Game Servers You Can Run on a Raspberry Pi

Gaming on the Raspberry Pi is surprisingly multi-faceted, supporting both native and emulated games.

But what if you wanted something more impressive, yet game-related, from the device?

Well, how about setting it up as a game server? Just imagine, hosting LAN parties wherever you are, thanks to the pocket-sized Raspberry Pi! All you need to do is ensure you have an Ethernet cable, a suitable power adapter and game server software.

Here are 10 games that you can host on your Raspberry Pi game server.

1. Host QuakeWorld LAN Parties on Your Raspberry Pi

You may be familiar with Quake, the awesome multiplayer deathmatch game from id Software released in 1996. QuakeWorld is the internet multiplayer version (as opposed to NetQuake, the LAN-based multiplayer release).

The source code was released under the GPL license in 1999 and is available to install on your Raspberry Pi. QuakeWorld supports local network (LAN) multiplayer action and is not intended for use on a public server.

While compatible with a Model B Raspberry Pi, the best results can be enjoyed with a Raspberry Pi 2 or later. QuakeWorld uses less than 32MB of RAM, ensuring optimum performance. It supports up to 16 players, but the optimum experience can be enjoyed with 6-8 players.

For the best results, ensure the Pi is connected to your router via Ethernet, rather than wireless.

2. AssaultCube Server

For more online shooting action, take a look at AssaultCube. This free online multiplayer FPS game plays out in realistic environments, with efficient bandwidth usage ideal for the Raspberry Pi. With its low latency, AssaultCube can even be run over a 56Kbps connection!

If you don’t have anyone to play against, AssaultCube also has a single player “bot” mode. You’ll find several multiplayer modes, meanwhile. These include Deathmatch, Survivor, Pistol Frenzy, Last Swiss Standing, Capture the Flag, Hunt the Flag, and One-Shot One-Kill. Each of these has a team version, too.

Many maps are included in the game—an in-game map editor is also available.

Head to the assault.cubers.net website for full details of the game. You can download the code from GitHub and compile the game server on your Pi in just a few minutes.

3. Host a Minecraft Server on Your Raspberry Pi

Minecraft and the Raspberry Pi are perfect bedfellows. After all, Minecraft Pi Edition is included in Raspbian. But what about a Minecraft game server?

The results are best enjoyed on a Raspberry Pi 3 or later, but a Raspberry Pi 2 should also work. You’ll find the best results from this Minecraft server will be enjoyed on your home network. It’s not suitable for hosting Minecraft environments on the public internet.

However, within your home network, you’ll have a Minecraft world ready to be built and rebuilt at your convenience! This can be accessed via the Minecraft games installed on a Windows PC, Android or iOS device.

To get started, check our guide to setting up a Minecraft server on Raspberry Pi.

4. Host Civilization Multiplayer With FreeCiv

Based on Sid Meier’s Civilization, FreeCiv is open source and available in client and server flavors. FreeCiv draws from CivNet and Civilization II, as well as elements from the many other versions of Civilization.

Installation is as simple as:

sudo apt install -y freeciv-server freeciv-client-gtk

You can then start the server with:

freeciv-server

The game server will then be available to connect to from any other device running the FreeCiv game client. Given how long games of Civilization can take, having a server to keep the game running on makes perfect sense!

Check the Server Manual at the FreeCiv wiki for configuration details.

5. Host Doom Multiplayer on Raspberry Pi

Quake has a network multiplayer option for the Raspberry Pi—so what about Doom?

Thanks to the Quake On LAN team (also behind QuakeWorld for the Pi), Doom On LAN is now an option. This uses the Zandronum port as a game client, which supports up to an immense 64 players. Several gameplay modes are available, and there’s support for many mods.

There’s also the addition of jumping and free looking (both unavailable in the original), as well as custom key bindings. As ever, the game will work best with a direct Ethernet connection to your router. Now all you have to do is find 63 other people to play with.

6. Set Sail With a Windward Game Server

A fascinating, ship-based game about trade and pirates, Windward is a rarity in this list. It is one of just two titles that aren’t open source. You’ll find it available from Steam for just under $10, and the game plays in both single and multiplayer modes.

Setting up is a little time-intensive; you’ll need to install Mono (the open-source implementation of Microsoft .NET) on your Pi.

Once installed you’ll find the Windward server in the Lobby screen of the game client. Note that this set up installs copying some data from the game folder on your PC. Time to set sail!

7. Terraria Server for Raspberry Pi

This 2D adventure sandbox was first released on Windows in 2011 but has since been ported to Linux and macOS. If you own Terraria, then you’ll be able to host a game on your Raspberry Pi.

Using a Raspberry Pi 2 or later, you can setup the Terraria server on Raspbian, again installing Mono as a prerequisite. Next, you’ll use TShock, the Terraria game server, which is available from GitHub. Once up and running, anyone who wants to play will find the Terraria server in their version of the game. Although connecting to the server from a local network is best, Terraria can also be played over the internet.

8. Crossfire

A multiplayer arcade adventure game, Crossfire is reminiscent of Gauntlet and rogue-like games. With 3,000 maps, an elaborate magic system, and 150 monster types, Crossfire’s world is suitable for individual or team play.

Client and server software are available for Crossfire, both available from the website. Once the server is set up on your Raspberry Pi, gamers on any of the other client platforms can join.

Beware, Crossfire is massive, engaging… and fun! There’s a lot to learn, like a traditional dungeon game—check the website for help with the magic system.

9. The Battle for Wesnoth

A massive open-source turn-based strategy game with a fantasy theme, The Battle for Wesnoth has been around since 2003. You’ll find versions for popular desktop systems Linux, Microsoft Windows, and Macintosh (up to and including macOS).

Clients for iOS and Android are also available—fans of BeOS and AmigaOS can even play. There’s a browser option, too!

LAN and internet multiplayer options are available, and the game features 46 multiplayer maps. Like many games in this list, The Battle for Wesnoth has a built-in game server. All you need to do is install the game on your Pi, then set it to host a game. You can invite players from within the game.

Look out for a load of player-made content, such as campaigns, new factions, and original multiplayer maps.

10. OpenTTD Game Server

We’ll finish with this great favorite of the desktop strategist. OpenTTD is an open source version of the 1995 game Transport Tycoon Deluxe. Expanded beyond the limits of the original, OpenTTD can be configured as a dedicated game server on the Raspberry Pi.

Like FreeCiv, OpenTTD takes a while to play; you’re probably going to be playing a particular map for a while. Installation and setup is straightforward. Begin with the standard OpenTTD installation:

sudo apt install openttd

Once this done, run the server with:

openttd -D

Game clients on Windows, Linux, macOS, other Pis and mobile devices should then be able to connect to the game server. Connect using device name or IP address. Note that you can also use the launch option:

openttd -f

This will run OpenTTD in the background, with output sent to the openttd.log file. Tips for server setup can be found in the OpenTTD wiki.

Can You Use Raspberry Pi 4 as a Game Server?

Different models of Raspberry Pi are suited to different tasks. For example, you could run a print server with the original Raspberry Pi—it wasn’t as suited to multiplayer gaming.

While game servers will run on a Raspberry Pi 2 or 3, the Raspberry Pi 4 is far more powerful. This opens a whole host of new game server options for the Raspberry Pi. At the time of writing, the 11 Raspberry Pi gaming servers listed here are all that are available.

However, there is every chance that the Raspberry Pi 4 could run a World of Warcraft (classic) server. It might even be suited to running an ARK server. As with everything else in this list, it depends as much on the generosity of the game developers as it does the Raspberry Pi 4’s hardware.

Set Up a Raspberry Pi Gaming Server Today

It’s amazing, but the low-power Raspberry Pi—considerably less powerful than your desktop PC—can host online gaming sessions! Sure, modern games are not available, but the choice of 10 games is reason enough to investigate further.

Want more Raspberry Pi gaming ideas? Here’s how to play almost any game on your Raspberry Pi.

Read the full article: 10 Game Servers You Can Run on a Raspberry Pi

Read Full Article

Colorblind Windows Users: Try This Trick to Better Distinguish Colors

Windows 10 offers a bundle of accessibility features that make the OS easier to use for people with various kinds of disabilities. One of these is the Windows 10 colorblind mode, which allows you to adjust the on-screen colors for several different types of color blindness.

If you have deuteranopia or protanopia (the two types of red-green color blindness) or tritanopia (blue-yellow color blindness), here’s how to enable a colorblind mode in Windows 10 and make colors easier to distinguish.

How to Enable the Colorblind Filter in Windows 10

To turn on the colorblind filter modes in Windows 10:

1. Go to Settings > Ease of Access.
2. On the left sidebar, select Color filters under the Vision section.
3. Enable the Turn on color filters slider.
4. Depending on what kind of color blindness you have, select from the following:
   1. Red-green (Deuteranopia)
   2. Red-green (Protanopia)
   3. Blue-yellow (Tritanopia)
5. As you change the filter, you can use the colors on the below wheel to make sure they all look distinct.

If you check the Allow the shortcut key to toggle filter on or off button, you can press Win + Ctrl + C to turn the color blind filter on or off at any time.

You’ll notice that this changes all the colors on your computer, not just Windows UI elements. You thus won’t need any further dedicated color blind monitor settings unless you have a different kind of color blindness.

Other Windows Resources for Colorblind People

Unfortunately, there’s no equivalent Windows 7 color blind mode. If you still use that OS, you can use high-contrast mode, which helps you differentiate on-screen items. If the Alt + Left Shift + Print Screen shortcut doesn’t work, head to Control Panel > Ease of Access Center > Make the computer easier to see.

Here, make sure that the High Contrast shortcut is enabled, then click Choose a High Contrast theme to change it if you’d like. As another option, you can also install the Colorblind—Dalton Chrome extension to enable colorblind filters in Chrome.

If a color blind screen filter isn’t what you needed, have a look at our overview of the accessibility options in Windows 10.

Read the full article: Colorblind Windows Users: Try This Trick to Better Distinguish Colors

Read Full Article

The 7 Best Imgur Alternatives for Uploading and Sharing Images

If you’ve ever used Reddit (what is Reddit and how does it work?), you will have heard of Imgur. The image sharing site was developed in 2009 by Alan Schaaf and was initially designed to be a gift to the Reddit community.

Imgur became instantly popular, racking up 1,000 hits per day in the first weeks and blossoming to one million hits within the first five months. Today, it is a Top-100 website, according to Alexa.

However, Imgur is not without its drawbacks. So, if you’re fed up with some of the site’s restrictions, here are some Imgur alternatives for uploading and sharing images.

1. Postimage

Postimage is a free service that’s primarily aimed at people who want to post images on forums. It also allows you to create permanent links for Facebook, Twitter, and more.

Anonymous uploaders and free accounts have file sizes restricted. Your picture cannot exceed 12MB or 10,000 x 10,000 pixels. If you pay for a premium account, the limit is raised to 24MB. You can upload images individually or in bulk. Bulk uploads are limited to 1,000 at a time.

Best of all, there’s no limit to the number of images you can upload to your account. However, Postimage does reserve the right to levy a charge if you host tens of thousands of images on the site but never use your content in a way that allows Postimage to earn advertising revenue (for example, images embedded into links leading back to the site).

2. Kek.gg

If you’re looking for bells and whistles, Kek.gg is not the site for you. The interface is basic; the homepage is nothing more than a glorified uploading tool.

However, if you value privacy, Kek.gg could be the site you’re looking for. You don’t need to create an account to upload content.

The site is also committed to free speech; there are virtually no restrictions on the types of images you can store on its servers. As long as the image is legal in the United States, it will be accepted. As such, if you need to post NSFW content, it’s an excellent choice.

Kek.gg is ad-free. Uploads are limited to 5MB.

3. UltraIMG

UltraIMG supports uploading multiple images at once with a maximum size of 10MB-per-file. The site supports JPEG, GIF, BMP, and PNG files, and there is no time limit on how long UltraIMG will store your files for.

If you create an account, you get access to additional features. They include URL shortening tools, marking your uploads as NSFW, and dynamically resizing your images.

After a successful upload, you’re given a choice of short URLs, direct links, HTML, or BBcodes for the file. Clicking on a thumbnail of an image will show its filename, size, and dimensions.

UltraIMG also offers extensions for Chrome and Firefox.

4. ImgBox

ImgBox has some key benefits, including unlimited storage space and infinite storage time. It also supports hotlinking and is faster than some of the other sites we’ve included in this list.

Like all the sites, ImgBox enforces a maximum file size—in this case, it’s 10MB. JPEG, GIF, and PNG files are supported. Once you have finished uploading your content, you can organize it into galleries. Each gallery can contain a maximum of 50 items.

ImgBox is also an excellent TinyPic alternative. The once-popular but now-defunct site used to provide a video uploading service. ImgBox provides the same functionality.

Finally, if you wish, you can upload content without creating an account. Just click on the Upload Images button and choose the file in the popup window.

5. Unsee

Unsee is unique among the sites on the site. It allows the uploader to add an expiration date to the image. You can make the image automatically delete itself after the first viewing, in 10 minutes, in 30 minutes, in one hour, or in one day. Just make your selection from the drop-down menu on the homescreen.

To further enhance the security, the IP address of everyone who views the file is watermarked into the image. It means the uploader can check who has seen it, and it is less likely to be reshared.

Each image also has its own unique QR code. It contains the image’s unique ID, an upload timestamp, and an encrypted IP of the image uploader. Unsee has access to the AES encryption private key.

6. PicPastePlus

A great Unsee alternative is PicPastePlus; it operates in a similar way to the previously discussed tool.

It is slightly more flexible than its rival. You can individually set both the number of times the image can be viewed (one, two, three, four, five, 10, 20, 50, 100, 1,000, unlimited) and the amount of time for which the image is viewable (one minute, 10, 20, 30 minutes, one hour, six hours, one day, two weeks, one month, one year, unlimited).

And there’s even an auto-lock feature. Use it to keep the image on the servers but prevent more people from looking at it. The settings available are 30 seconds, one minute, 10 minutes, one hour, and never.

7. ImgPile

The final site on our list is ImgPile. It offers free hosting and unlimited storage, meaning the site is an ideal alternative to Imgur for people who want to share images on Reddit, Facebook, Twitter, etc. using permanent links.

ImgPile supports hotlinking and lets you upload images up to 100MB in size. The service supports uploads from your computer and via URL. You do not have to create an account to use the service, but if you do, you will be able to access your upload history and a few other useful features.

Learn More About Sites Like Imgur

The Imgur alternatives we’ve covered in this article can be split into two types: the general sharing sites and the privacy-focused services. The best service for you will depend on the nature of the content you are uploading.

Of course, these are far from being the only ways to upload photos and images to the web. You could also use a service like Google Drive or OneDrive. If you would like to learn more, read our analysis of Google Photos vs OneDrive as the best photo backup tool.

Read the full article: The 7 Best Imgur Alternatives for Uploading and Sharing Images

Read Full Article

Yes, Get Microsoft Word for Free: Here’s How

As far as word processors go, Microsoft Word is still the king. But you don’t have to pay for the expensive Microsoft Office suite to use it. Here are all the ways to get Microsoft Word free.

Of course, MS Word is more than a simple word processor. It has a plethora of tools and applications, and even today, we keep discovering hidden Word features that make our lives easier. Whether it’s on a computer or on a phone, it’s the best software for creating, editing, and managing documents. And you can download Microsoft Word for free.

Unlock the "Essential Microsoft Office Shortcuts" cheat sheet now!

This will sign you up to our newsletter

Enter your Email

Read our privacy policy

Word Mobile for Windows 10

For a long time, Microsoft offered a free program called Word Viewer to open any DOCX file without paying for the full version of Office. But Word Viewer was retired a few years back. What you have instead is the new Word Mobile.

The program can be installed on any Windows laptop, desktop, tablet, or phone. But if you install this free Microsoft Word Mobile on a desktop, laptop, or a large tablet, you can’t create nor edit files with the app. You can only open documents and read them.

To grab the app, head to the Microsoft Store and search for Word Mobile. Otherwise, click the link below to open it in a browser tab, and then the Download button to open it in Microsoft Store on your Windows computer. Proceed to download it like any app.

Download: Word Mobile for Windows (Free)

Microsoft Office for Android and iOS

Microsoft has a new all-in-one Office suite for both major mobile operating systems. It combines Word, Excel, and PowerPoint in one app, and is completely free.

Perhaps the best part about the free Microsoft Word on mobile is how well it represents documents filled with charts and graphics. This has historically been a problem on most mobile office suites, but such files show up perfectly on Word Mobile, scroll through smoothly without lagging, and are smartly optimized for mobile screens.

The app also features a strong dictation mode. Apart from turning your voice into text, you can make lists, add punctuation, change lines, and much more. Not bad considering you’re getting Microsoft word for free.

Download: Microsoft Word for Android | iOS (Free)

Use the Android App on Chromebooks

This is also the best method to download Microsoft Word free on Chrome OS. All Chromebooks now run Android apps, so go to the Play Store and download the same Microsoft Word for Android linked above. It will work as if you were using a tablet. The app works fine with a keyboard, and you can keep using the regular keyboard shortcuts you are accustomed to.

But in the end, that’s a mobile version of Word, not the proper desktop one. For something closer to the desktop Word experience on a Chromebook, you’re better off using Office Online.

Office Online

If you have an active internet connection, you can use the free Office Online instead in your browser. All you need is a Microsoft account, which you can register for free, and then choose the Word app.

We can think of a few reasons why you should use Office Online instead of paying Microsoft to use Word. For starters, you can access documents anywhere through the 5GB of free OneDrive storage you get with a Microsoft account. It also accurately retains Microsoft Word formatting, unlike other apps. And it autosaves your work so you don’t lose it.

Office Online also makes it easier to share documents and work with others. Like with Google Docs, you and your friends can collaborate on the same document in this free Microsoft Word online app. It’s an easy step to cloud computing for anyone who is already hooked into the Microsoft Office ecosystem.

However, you can’t use Office Online without an internet connection. When you need an offline office suite, fully installed on your own PC, then the good old Office is still your best bet.

Office 365

If you temporarily need the full version of Microsoft Word for free on your PC or Mac, get a trial subscription to Office 365. Until a few years ago, buying Microsoft Office was a one-time cost, but a hefty one. Now, Microsoft has embraced the subscription model, which actually increases the price but makes a lot of sense if you are using Office on multiple computers for your whole family. Plus, there are some cool freebies packaged with it.

Once you have finished your trial period, you need to make a decision whether to stick with one of the aforementioned Microsoft Word free versions or pay for the full version. The new Office 365 subscription model not only gets you Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Access, and Publisher, but it also adds 1TB of OneDrive storage and 60 Skype world minutes.

The Office 365 Home package is available for $9.99 per month or $99.99 per year. If you plan on sharing your Office with members of your family, this is the best value-for-money deal you can get. It basically applies to five users; so you can install Office offline on five computers (PC or Mac), five tablets, five phones, and get the aforementioned 1TB storage and 60 Skype minutes for five users each. And you also get some additional features for Word Mobile on your smartphone:

The cheaper Office 365 Personal package costs $6.99 per month or $69.99 per year but supports only one user for the storage and Skype minutes, and offline installation on one computer, one tablet, and one phone.

If you don’t like the new subscription model, you can purchase Office at a one-time cost varying from $149.99 to $399.99.

Before you make a decision, check out these methods to get cheap Microsoft Office and Word licenses.

For Students and Non-Profits

Students can get Office 365 for free if your school supports it. You can check out eligibility on the official site. However, be warned that the 1TB of OneDrive storage is associated with your school’s account, which means a school administrator can change permissions and access.

Like students, non-profit organizations can get Office 365 Nonprofit for free.

Still Nothing? Microsoft Word Alternatives

Microsoft Word has always been a fantastic word processor. Maybe you have moved away from it because of its price. Though these alternatives aren’t the full-fledged Office suite that you expect to grab for free, you can still rely on these methods and use them for your productivity.

Otherwise, you might want to consider these fresh alternatives to Microsoft Office. You never know which of those free or cheap alternatives will work out for you.

Read the full article: Yes, Get Microsoft Word for Free: Here’s How

Read Full Article

How to Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive to Your PC

Whether you’ve stopped using your Xbox 360 or you need to backup data, there’s a good chance you’ve considered connecting the Xbox hard drive to your PC.

But is the Xbox 360 disk drive compatible with a PC? How can you connect it and view the files? And would you really want to?

Here’s how to connect your Xbox 360 hard drive to a Windows PC.

Why Connect Your Xbox 360 HDD to a PC?

It’s not immediately obvious, but the Xbox 360 hard disk drive (HDD) is a standard 2.5-inch SATA storage device. You’ll find a similar drive in your PC or laptop. As such, it can be connected to any PC either using an adapter cable or via a HDD docking station.

But why go to the trouble of connecting your Xbox HDD to a computer?

• You need to back up your Xbox 360 HDD (e.g., the HDD is about to die)
• You want to read the Xbox 360 files on your PC
• You want to reuse the disk drive for data storage

Reading the Xbox 360 disk drive isn’t simple, however.

The Reality of Reading an Xbox 360 HDD on Your PC

With some work, the HDD from any Xbox 360 can be connected to a Windows computer. But connecting an Xbox 360 disk drive to your PC might not have the results you’re expecting.

The problem comes with reading the device.

If you’re looking for a way to view Xbox 360 files on your PC, things get tricky without a dedicated utility. Incredibly, Windows cannot read an Xbox 360 disk drive. Instead, you’ll be prompted to format the device upon connection without Windows giving you a suitable option to read it.

Currently, the best tool for reading your Xbox 360 drive is FATXplorer.

This utility is available for Windows Vista SP2 and later. It can be downloaded in 32-bit and 64-bit versions but costs $25. Fortunately, it also has a seven-day trial.

Download: FATXplorer ($25)

Note that some antivirus software displays FATXplorer as malware. However, this is a false positive, so you can install the utility safely.

Once installed and running, FATXplorer will let you view files on your Xbox 360 (and Xbox original) hard disk drive. You just need a way to connect your Xbox 360 HDD to your PC.

Can You Use an Xbox 360 HDD Transfer Cable?

Before spending time hacking your old Xbox 360 HDD case, consider the Xbox 360 Hard Drive transfer cable.

Xbox 360 Hard Drive transfer cable Xbox 360 Hard Drive transfer cable Buy Now On Amazon

It is designed for copying the contents of one HDD to another and it also works with a PC. So, connect the Xbox 360 hard disk case to the transfer cable and plug the USB cable into your PC. FATXplorer should then detect the device to read the Xbox 360 files on Windows.

If you don’t want to use the official transfer cable (or similar devices) you can try a DIY solution. However, you need to remove the hard drive from your Xbox 360 first.

Removing the Xbox 360 Hard Drive

Before connecting the hard drive to a PC you must remove it from your Xbox 360. Three models of Xbox 360 were released:

• Original Xbox 360 (2005)
• Xbox 360 S (2010)
• Xbox 360 E (2013)

Each requires a different set of steps for removing the hard disk drive

Before proceeding, ensure that the Xbox 360 console is shut down and the device disconnected from the mains.

Remove the HDD from an Xbox 360 Original

To remove the HDD from the original model of the Xbox 360, you’re going to need two TORX screwdrivers. Specifically, TORX T-6 and T-10. If you don’t already own these, they can be easily picked up on Amazon.

Torx Screwdriver Set Torx Screwdriver Set Buy Now On Amazon $18.99

You should also consider buying an anti-static wrist strap. Learn about the risks of static electricity to find out more.

On the original Xbox 360, the HDD connects to the side (or top if you stand your console upright). It’s housed in a sealed case, designed to match the shape of the Xbox 360 in profile.

To proceed, eject the case by pressing the release button.

If you plan to access the HDD with a transfer cable, connect this to the prominent black plug. To open the drive, turn it over and remove the Microsoft seal.

Be aware that this voids all and any warranty that you have left on your Xbox 360’s hard drive. If it breaks after the procedure, you’ll have to buy a new one.

Don’t worry too much though, the warranty on your Xbox 360 console will remain intact, nonetheless.

Look for four visible screws (one was under the seal)—remove these with the TORX T-6 screwdriver.

After that, remove the top gently. You might need to use a plastic knife or guitar pick to help.

Don’t pull too hard, just start at the rounded side and pull it open slowly. The square end should give way too, in the end.

Inside you’ll discover four more TORX screws. Use the T-10 this time.

After you’ve removed them, pull away the thin metal cover to reveal the 2.5-inch hard drive.

Unplug the cable, then lift the drive to pull it free from the caddy.

(You might need to lift the drive first to get enough space to remove the cable.)

Remove the HDD From an Xbox 360 S

Things are simpler with the Xbox 360 S. With the console positioned horizontally, facing you, find the hard drive cover release on the right-hand side. You’ll find it near the back of the console.

Slide the release toward you, opening the hard drive cover as you do.

Remove the hard drive by pulling the tab.

With the drive removed, remember to close the cover.

Eject the Hard Drive From the Xbox 360 E

For the Xbox 360 E, hard drive removal is almost as simple.

Again, with the console laid horizontally and facing you, locate the hard drive cover release on the right.

This time, the release slides diagonally, down and toward you. Pull the hard drive door open at the same time.

Once again, pull the tab to remove the HDD.

Connecting Your Bare Xbox 360 Hard Drive to Your PC

With the HDD removed from your Xbox 360, you’re ready to connect it to your PC. You have three ways to do this.

• SATA to USB cable
• SATA to USB HDD docking station
• Install the disk inside your PC

Let’s look at those options in more detail.

Connect the HDD to Your PC With a SATA to USB Cable

To hook up the HDD with your PC, the easiest solution is a SATA to USB adapter. These are affordable cables with a power supply that you’ll find on Amazon.

Safer than opening your computer, this solution is also tidier. You can reuse the cable later for other spare drives, too.

Connect the Xbox 360 HDD to a Docking Station

Using a hot-pluggable USB docking station, you can easily connect SATA devices to your PC without opening it.

Various options are available. The Olmaster USB 3.0 SATA hard drive docking station features an eject button. It’s also compatible with 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives.

Olmaster USB 3.0 docking station Olmaster USB 3.0 docking station Buy Now On Amazon $20.99

Alternatives might have multiple slots to handle more than one drive at a time. You could also use an empty external hard disk drive case to read the contents of the Xbox 360 HDD.

Install the Xbox 360 HDD Inside Your PC

As noted, the Xbox 360 HDD is a simple 2.5-inch SATA drive, so connect it like you would any other. Most computers open easily, and you can access the interior by removing just two screws.

Inserting the drive in your PC will require a SATA data cable connected from your computer’s motherboard. It will also require a SATA power cable from your computer’s power supply.

Secure the HDD in a free bay with two or more screws if you’re planning to leave it connected long-term.

Read or Reuse Your Xbox 360 Disk Drive on Windows

Accessing the contents of your Xbox 360 hard drive is straightforward with a dedicated transfer cable. Or you can rely on SATA adapters, or simply install the disk in your PC. You’ll also need a tool like FATXplorer to read the contents on Windows. Alternatively, format the disk and reuse it.

Perhaps the biggest challenge is removing the HDD from your Xbox 360. Fortunately, this gets easier with each subsequent version of the console. If you’re moving on from the old Microsoft console, here’s how to play Xbox 360 games on your Xbox One.

Read the full article: How to Connect Your Xbox 360 Hard Drive to Your PC

Read Full Article

How to Spot Facebook Pyramid Schemes and Avoid Being Scammed

While pyramid schemes have been around for some time and suffered from plenty of negative press, the age of social media has revitalized them for a new generation.

If you aren’t aware of Facebook pyramid schemes, you might end up falling for a scam that costs you both time and money.

So, in this article, we look at what pyramid schemes are, how they work, why they’re so prevalent on Facebook, and how to stay spot them in order to stay safe.

What Is a Pyramid Scheme?

A pyramid scheme is a business setup that relies on participants recruiting more members into the scheme. The organizers claim that each participant will make additional money as they bring more people into the business.

They’re called “pyramids” because as they develop, an exponentially increasing number of participants are required to keep the scheme alive. As you can see in the illustration below (which assumes each member has to recruit six new people), this forms a pyramid shape with larger amounts of people towards the bottom.

It’s easy to see how this becomes unsustainable. At level 11, the number of participants is larger than the US population. And once you reach level 13, you need more people than exist in the world! Thus, all pyramid schemes eventually collapse.

The people at the top typically make the most money from these schemes, while those at the bottom pay in but never receive much back.

How Do Pyramid Schemes Work?

A “naked pyramid scheme” refers to a setup where no products are sold. In this format, the director might ask 10 people for $100 each to participate in a “business opportunity.” He then tells the initial 10 people to each recruit 10 more people and get $100 from them, and it goes from there.

A more common form today, especially with Facebook pyramid schemes, involves products. In this setup, the director recruits 10 people, who each pay him $300 for a starter kit of products like energy drinks, cosmetics, or similar. The director gets a cut of the profits for any products the people under him sell, which continues down the line.

However, the focus is usually on bringing other people in by recruiting them to buy starter kits. Participants are encouraged to do this so they can make money from everyone below them.

Pyramid Schemes vs. Ponzi Schemes

People often use the terms “pyramid scheme” and “Ponzi scheme” interchangeably. While similar, they are different types of scams.

As we’ve seen, pyramid schemes are built around members recruiting others and eventually fail because the world runs out of people. A Ponzi scheme, however, involves a central schemer using a series of phony “investments” where he uses people’s money to pay off earlier participants.

In a simple example of this scam, the organizer takes money from Alice on the basis that he has an investment opportunity for her. However, he next goes to Bob and tells him about the same “opportunity.” When Bob pays in, the organizer takes a cut for himself, then uses some of Bob’s money to pay Alice “dividends”.

This continues to grow until the organizer runs away with the money or the participants want their full “investment” back. The key difference is that Ponzi schemes are built around a central schemer, while pyramid schemes involve members bringing in new participants on their own.

What About Multi-Level Marketing?

In any discussion of pyramid schemes, you’re likely to see mention of multi-level marketing, or MLM. This is a business strategy where the main company makes money through individuals that sell its products, while participants make money both from selling products and taking a cut of earnings from those beneath them.

There are endless debates about whether or not MLM is just another type of pyramid scheme. The main difference is that a “legitimate” MLM setup allows you to make money through selling products, not just recruiting people under you.

Many MLM schemes skirt this line. They might not require you to recruit new people, but offer bonuses, such as waived fees, if you bring in new people. And sometimes, if you fail to grow your “downline” (the salespeople beneath you), the MLM company urges you to take part in expensive training seminars.

MLMs vs. Pyramid Schemes

While many people defend MLM as a legitimate alternative to pyramid schemes, there’s no denying that the two have some deep similarities. MLM business operate across the US, and are not illegal.

However, we recommend reading the FTC’s guide to MLM businesses and pyramid schemes for some important considerations. For instance, you need to consider your sales plan and risks, as well as research the product, if you decide to enter a MLM business.

Particularly concerning is an FTC report which found that 99 percent of people who join MLM schemes lose money. That statistic alone should give you pause for thought.

Modern-Day Pyramid Schemes on Facebook

The core of pyramid schemes really hasn’t changed much in the decades since their inception. What has changed are the methods that people use to recruit others.

Before the internet, you had to go out and talk to people in person to sign them up under you in a pyramid scheme. Now, you can share a post on Facebook and reach thousands of potential “business partners” or “clients” with a few clicks.

The problem is that we often let our guard down with people we consider friends. We’re much more likely to trust and even meet up with someone we know, even if we haven’t talked to them in some time. Someone who’s desperate to bring new people into a pyramid scheme will likely take advantage of any familiarity they have with you.

As you know, a lot of social media is selling an image to the world, even if it’s not accurate to your actual life. Those deep into MLM businesses often try to project an image of their perfect business that makes them a ton of money with little work, with barely any focus on the actual product.

In reality, using your friends in this way could end up burning a lot of bridges. Even if the MLM someone asks you to join is legitimate, you probably won’t want anything to do with a “friend” who only reaches out because they want to make money from you.

Facebook Pyramid Schemes: The Warning Signs

Let’s look at some common signs of pyramid schemes and dubious MLM offers. Like the other ways people use Facebook to scam you, being able to spot Facebook pyramid schemes will help you protect yourself.

First, you should be wary of old friends whom you haven’t talked with in years suddenly reaching out. If they dive into a discussion about a business they work in after a bit of small talk, they’re almost certainly looking to get you involved in a scheme.

If you receive an invite to an event that’s vaguely worded, and mentions business opportunities without any specifics, it’s probably a pyramid scheme. Also remember that people don’t typically invite acquaintances into their home or out for lunch, so you should press a bit to make sure you don’t commit your afternoon to a seedy sales pitch.

In case you end up discussing the offer, be wary of these telltale signs that you should stay away:

• The other person drums up how great the opportunity is, but doesn’t discuss details clearly.
• There’s an emphasis on recruiting new people instead of the actual product.
• Pressure, where the host suggests that you should only pass this up if you don’t want easy money and cool perks.
• Promises of extravagant prizes if you meet certain goals.
• Confusing compensation setups.
• Reassurance that other members have done their research and that this is all legitimate.

If you’re really not sure, don’t sign up straight away. Take a step back to do more research; you’ll likely find valuable information online.

Google the name of the company with “scam” or “complaint” and see what others have said. If you know the names of the company founders, look them up and see if they’ve ever been involved in legal trouble. This should help you weed out shady companies.

Stay Safe From Pyramid Schemes on Facebook

Pyramid schemes are illegal in many countries because they’re a scam where most of the participants lose money. Meanwhile, MLM businesses can operate in legitimate ways, but don’t end up profitable for the vast majority of people who join them.

We recommend staying away from both; knowing the signs that one of your Facebook friends is looking to recruit you will greatly help you with this.

If you really want to earn some extra money on the side, there are some legitimate survey websites where you can earn some extra money.

Read the full article: How to Spot Facebook Pyramid Schemes and Avoid Being Scammed

Read Full Article

The 7 Hottest Snapchat Streak Tips for Beginners

Snapchat streaks, officially called Snapstreaks, are much like Reddit karma: utterly useless in the real world, but a source of pride for those who have racked up massive totals.

Whether you’re just starting out on Snapchat or you’re a long-time user who’s been enviously looking at your buddies’ growing Snapstreaks, you have come to the right place.

In this article, we explain everything you need to know about Snapchat streaks, then offer some practical tips to help you maximize your score.

What Are Streaks on Snapchat?

Snapchat primarily introduced Snapstreaks as a way to keep people on its app and within its ecosystem. Snapchat has come under increasing pressure in recent years as Instagram continues to hoover up the company’s userbase via its Snapchat-inspired Stories feature.

We’ll dive into the detail more closely later in the article, but at its most basic, a Snapstreak merely means you have exchanged snaps with another user at least once every 24 hours for several consecutive days.

You can see your live Snap Streaks by checking for the relevant emojis alongside your friends’ names in the conversations tab.

Since their launch, Snapstreaks have become popular among users. They’ve added an element of gamification to the app; groups of friends compete to see who can rack up the longest streak. You don’t win anything (other than an on-screen emoji), but it’s a fun challenge nonetheless.

Snapstreaks are also a great way to improve your Snapchat score. Running lots of concurrent Snap Streaks will see your score rise rapidly.

What Do the Snap Streak Emojis Mean?

Snapchat is full of emojis; you’ll see them pop up frequently to alert you to relationships, events, and celebrities.

However, there are a handful of Snapchat emojis relating to Snapstreaks. These are:

• Fire: You’ll see the fire emoji next to a person’s name emoji when the two of you have been on a Snapstreak for three consecutive days.
• 100: The 100 sign appears when you’ve been on a Snapchat streak for 100 consecutive days.
• Hourglass: The hourglass emoji will be displayed alongside someone’s name when you’re on a Snapstreak which is about to end.
• Mountain: The mountain emoji is something of a unicorn. Several Snapchat users claim they’ve seen it when they’ve been on an exceptionally long Snapstreak. However, Snapchat does not mention the mountain in its official documentation. Does it exist? We can’t confirm or deny it.

All the Snapstreak emojis are accompanied by a number. It represents the total number of consecutive days for which your Snapstreak has been running. It will reset to zero if you miss a day.

I lost My snapstreak with my cousin so i emailed snapchat support (yes I’m extra like that ) let’s just hope they restore our steak !! Pray for me ya’ll ??? pic.twitter.com/DEynpzLx7H

— Nor Alshimary ?? (@Noralshimary) August 7, 2018

What Are the Snapchat Streaks Rules?

The rules sound simple. Both you and your friend must send at least one snap to each other at least once every 24 hours in order to keep the Snapchat streak running. But alas, there are lots of caveats you need to know about.

There are five types of interactions that do not count towards your Snapstreak:

• Chatting: Snapchat isn’t just about sending videos and photos; you can also engage in regular text-based chat. Unfortunately, text conversation between you and your friend will not count towards your Snapstreak.
• Stories: One of Snapchat’s most popular features is the ability to record your daily story. It lets your followers check in to see what fun adventures you’ve been up to every day. Again, they won’t count towards your streak, even if the friend watches the story.
• Memories: Snapchat’s memories vault lets you rekindle old events and share them for a second time. Any memories you share with your buddy will not be considered as an interaction.
• Snapchat Spectacles: Yes, Snapchat Spectacles are still a “thing”. Sadly, if you use them to send content to your friend, you won’t be increasing your Snapstreak.
• Group chats: People who want to start lots of Snapstreaks always have the same thought: throw everyone into a huge group and bulk-Snap all the people at the same time. Sorry, but Snapchat is one step ahead of you—snaps you send to group chats won’t be considered; you need to snap everyone on an individual basis.

In fact, only two types of content will help you increase your Snapchat streak: sending a photo to a friend individually or sending a video to a friend individually.

Tips on How to Do Streaks on Snapchat

You don’t need to do anything special to start a streak on Snapchat; just make sure you send a snap to your friend, and your friend sends a snap to you at least once every 24 hours.

However, if you’re hopeful of developing a long streak, half the battle is starting your Snapstreak off on the right foot. Here are three tips that’ll get your new streak off to a flying start:

1. Find Willing Participants

Not everyone can be bothered to keep a Snapstreak going. Even some of the app’s most avid users might not be interested in sending a snap every single day to the same user.

Therefore, it’s important to make sure you find willing participants.

One way of establishing who is up for the challenge is to use some of Snapchat’s features. For example, take a blank photo with the caption “Snapstreak?” and send it to anyone you think would be interested. No one will know how many people you sent it to.

2. The First Day Matters

It’s also a good idea to start a streak on a special day (such as your birthday or Christmas), you’re more likely to grab the other person’s attention, get a reply, and keep the other person engaged for the long haul.

3. Focus on People With Whom You Frequently Interact

There’s little point in trying to start a Snapstreak with someone you rarely communicate with. Sure, it can be done, but there’s a high risk that the person will lose interest.

Remember, the first few weeks are the hardest. Once you get to a respectable number of consecutive days, both people are invested in the game and it becomes easier. The easiest way to get over the initial hurdle is to start Snapstreaks with people that you already send lots of snaps to.

Tips for Maintaining Your Snapchat Streak

Now that you have established a Snapstreak, here are a few ideas that should help you keep your Snapstreaks going for as long as possible.

1. Use Blank Photos

You don’t need to send high-quality snaps to keep the streak going—no one is judging you. Instead, why not take a blank photo and add a caption that says “Streak”. You can use the same picture every day and your score will keep going up. It’s one of the simplest Snapchat streak ideas out there.

2. Stick to a Particular Time of Day

Broadly speaking, it’s better to start your Snapstreaks later in the day, especially if you only plan on sending one snap per day.

Doing so means you will see the hourglass emoji for a few hours before your time expires. If you send a snap first thing in the morning, the emoji will only be visible during the middle of the night when you’re not using the app.

The flipside of this argument is that one of the most convenient times to send your snaps is when you first wake up; you could even set a reminder as part of your alarm.

You should use whichever approach works for you.

3. Reorganize Your Friends List

Some of your Snapstreaks might be with people who you do not consider to be your best friends. As such, they won’t appear in Snapchat’s automatic Best Friends list.

The solution is to rename your contacts. Snapchat lets you rename any person in your friends list to help you remember who they are (remember, some people have wacky usernames).

To change a friend’s name, start a chat with them, tap on the Menu icon in the top left-hand corner, and select Edit Name.

When choosing the new name, add the prefix of Aaaa. It will force the name to be pinned to the top of your list.

Note: If you want to change your Snapchat username, you need to take a different approach.

4. Check Your Filters

Sometimes, you might forget who you’re in a Snapstreak with, especially if you’re trying to juggle lots of Snapstreaks at the same time.

Luckily, there’s a way to see your streaks without going to your list of friends. Whenever you’re about to send a new snap and swiping through filters, you will see a special Snapchat streak filter. This will show you how many consecutive days you have racked up in big white numbers alongside the flame emoji.

Take Snapchat to the Next Level

Snapstreaks are just one of the many ways that Snapchat offers more than meets the eye. We’ve covered lots of tips and tricks for Snapchat beginners if you would like to learn more.

And remember, if you want to add more color and life to your Snapchat communications, make sure you use one of the many Snapchat filters available.

Read the full article: The 7 Hottest Snapchat Streak Tips for Beginners

Read Full Article

Credit Sesame launches a digital banking service focused on improving credit scores

Credit Sesame is getting into digital banking. The credit and loans company, first launched at TechCrunch Disrupt in 2010, has since grown to 15 million registered users and, in 2016, achieved profitability. To date, its focus has been on helping consumer achieve financial health by taking steps to consolidate debt and raise their credit score. Now, it’s expanding to include digital banking, but with the goal of using its better understanding of its banking customers’ finances to better personalize its credit improvement recommendations.

The new service, Sesame Cash, has many features found in other challenger banking apps, like a general lack of fees, real-time notifications, an early payday option, free access to a sizable ATM network, in-app debit card management, and more. Specifically, Credit Sesame says it won’t charge monthly fees, overdraft fees, and it provides free access to over 55,000 ATMs and a no-fee debit card from MasterCard.

However, the banking app also serves a secondary purpose beyond its plan to take on traditional banks. Because the company has insights into users’ finances and repayment abilities, it will be able to offer personalized recommendations including those for relevant credit products from its hundreds of financial institution partners.

Other features also differentiate Sesame Cash from rival challenger banks, including built-in access to view your daily credit score and a system that rewards consumers with cash incentives — up to $100 per month — for credit score improvements. The banking app includes $1 million in credit and identity theft protection, as well.

In the months following its launch, the company is planning to introduce a smart bill pay service that manages cash to improve credit and lower interest rates on credit balances, plus an auto-savings feature that works by rounding up transactions, a rewards program for everyday purchases, and other smart budgeting tools.

“Through the use of advanced machine learning and AI, we’ve helped millions of consumers improve and manage their credit. However, we identified the disconnect between consumers’ cash and credit—how much cash you have, and how and when you use your cash has an impact on your credit health,” said Adrian Nazari, Credit Sesame Founder and CEO, in a statement. “With Sesame Cash, we are now bridging that gap and unlocking a whole new set of benefits and capabilities in a new product category. This underscores our mission and commitment to innovation and financial inclusion, and the importance we place in working with partners who share the same ethos,” he added.

Credit Sesame today caters to consumers interested in better their credit. The company says 61% of its members see credit score improvements within their first 6 months, and 50% see scores improve by more than 10 points during that time. 20% see their score improve by more than 50 points during the first 6 months.

But one challenge Credit Sesame faces is that after consumers reach their goals, credit-wise, they may become less engaged with the Credit Sesame platform. The new banking app changes that, by allowing the company to maintain a relationship with customers over time.

Credit Sesame is a smaller version of Credit Karma, which was recently acquired by Intuit for $7 billion. Since then, it has been rumored to be another potential acquisition target for Intuit, if it didn’t proceed to go public. The banking service would make Credit Sesame more attractive to a potential acquirer, if that’s the case, as it would offer something Credit Karma did not.

The company says Sesame Cash bank accounts are held with Community Federal Savings Bank, Member FDIC.

The banking service will initially be made available to existing customers, before becoming available to the general public. The Credit Sesame mobile app is a free download for iPhone and Android.

 

Read Full Article

More Efficient NLP Model Pre-training with ELECTRA

Posted by Kevin Clark, Student Researcher and Thang Luong, Senior Research Scientist, Google Research, Brain Team

Recent advances in language pre-training have led to substantial gains in the field of natural language processing, with state-of-the-art models such as BERT, RoBERTa, XLNet, ALBERT, and T5, among many others. These methods, though they differ in design, share the same idea of leveraging a large amount of unlabeled text to build a general model of language understanding before being fine-tuned on specific NLP tasks such as sentiment analysis and question answering.

Existing pre-training methods generally fall under two categories: language models (LMs), such as GPT, which process the input text left-to-right, predicting the next word given the previous context, and masked language models (MLMs), such as BERT, RoBERTa, and ALBERT, which instead predict the identities of a small number of words that have been masked out of the input. MLMs have the advantage of being bidirectional instead of unidirectional in that they “see” the text to both the left and right of the token being predicted, instead of only to one side. However, the MLM objective (and related objectives such as XLNet’s) also have a disadvantage. Instead of predicting every single input token, those models only predict a small subset — the 15% that was masked out, reducing the amount learned from each sentence.

Existing pre-training methods and their disadvantages. Arrows indicate which tokens are used to produce a given output representation (rectangle). Left: Traditional language models (e.g., GPT) only use context to the left of the current word. Right: Masked language models (e.g., BERT) use context from both the left and right, but predict only a small subset of words for each input.

In “ELECTRA: Pre-training Text Encoders as Discriminators Rather Than Generators”, we take a different approach to language pre-training that provides the benefits of BERT but learns far more efficiently. ELECTRA — Efficiently Learning an Encoder that Classifies Token Replacements Accurately — is a novel pre-training method that outperforms existing techniques given the same compute budget. For example, ELECTRA matches the performance of RoBERTa and XLNet on the GLUE natural language understanding benchmark when using less than ¼ of their compute and achieves state-of-the-art results on the SQuAD question answering benchmark. ELECTRA’s excellent efficiency means it works well even at small scale — it can be trained in a few days on a single GPU to better accuracy than GPT, a model that uses over 30x more compute. ELECTRA is being released as an open-source model on top of TensorFlow and includes a number of ready-to-use pre-trained language representation models.

Making Pre-training Faster
ELECTRA uses a new pre-training task, called replaced token detection (RTD), that trains a bidirectional model (like a MLM) while learning from all input positions (like a LM). Inspired by generative adversarial networks (GANs), ELECTRA trains the model to distinguish between “real” and “fake” input data. Instead of corrupting the input by replacing tokens with “[MASK]” as in BERT, our approach corrupts the input by replacing some input tokens with incorrect, but somewhat plausible, fakes. For example, in the below figure, the word “cooked” could be replaced with “ate”. While this makes a bit of sense, it doesn’t fit as well with the entire context. The pre-training task requires the model (i.e., the discriminator) to then determine which tokens from the original input have been replaced or kept the same. Crucially, this binary classification task is applied to every input token, instead of only a small number of masked tokens (15% in the case of BERT-style models), making RTD more efficient than MLM — ELECTRA needs to see fewer examples to achieve the same performance because it receives mode training signal per example. At the same time, RTD results in powerful representation learning, because the model must learn an accurate representation of the data distribution in order to solve the task.

Replaced token detection trains a bidirectional model while learning from all input positions.

The replacement tokens come from another neural network called the generator. While the generator can be any model that produces an output distribution over tokens, we use a small masked language model (i.e., a BERT model with small hidden size) that is trained jointly with the discriminator. Although the structure of the generator feeding into the discriminator is similar to a GAN, we train the generator with maximum likelihood to predict masked words, rather than adversarially, due to the difficulty of applying GANs to text. The generator and discriminator share the same input word embeddings. After pre-training, the generator is dropped and the discriminator (the ELECTRA model) is fine-tuned on downstream tasks. Our models all use the transformer neural architecture.

Further details on the replaced token detection (RTD) task. The fake tokens are sampled from a small masked language model that is trained jointly with ELECTRA.

ELECTRA Results
We compare ELECTRA against other state-of-the-art NLP models and found that it substantially improves over previous methods, given the same compute budget, performing comparably to RoBERTa and XLNet while using less than 25% of the compute.

The x-axis shows the amount of compute used to train the model (measured in FLOPs) and the y-axis shows the dev GLUE score. ELECTRA learns much more efficiently than existing pre-trained NLP models. Note that current best models on GLUE such as T5 (11B) do not fit on this plot because they use much more compute than others (around 10x more than RoBERTa).

Further pushing the limits of efficiency, we experimented with a small ELECTRA model that can be trained to good accuracy on a single GPU in 4 days. Although not achieving the same accuracy as larger models that require many TPUs to train, ELECTRA-small still performs quite well, even outperforming GPT while requiring only 1/30th as much compute.

Lastly, to see if the strong results held at scale, we trained a large ELECTRA model using more compute (roughly the same amount as RoBERTa, about 10% the compute as T5). This model achieves a new state-of-the-art for a single model on the SQuAD 2.0 question answering dataset (see the below table) and outperforms RoBERTa, XLNet, and ALBERT on the GLUE leaderboard. While the large-scale T5-11b model scores higher still on GLUE, ELECTRA is 1/30th the size and uses 10% of the compute to train.

Model	Squad 2.0 test set
ELECTRA-Large	88.7
ALBERT-xxlarge	88.1
XLNet-Large	87.9
RoBERTa-Large	86.8
BERT-Large	80.0

SQuAD 2.0 scores for ELECTRA-Large and other state-of-the-art models (only non-ensemble models shown).

Releasing ELECTRA
We are releasing the code for both pre-training ELECTRA and fine-tuning it on downstream tasks, with currently supported tasks including text classification, question answering and sequence tagging. The code supports quickly training a small ELECTRA model on one GPU. We are also releasing pre-trained weights for ELECTRA-Large, ELECTRA-Base, and ELECTRA-Small. The ELECTRA models are currently English-only, but we hope to release models which have been pre-trained on many languages in the future.

Facebook’s photo transfer tool opens to more users in Europe, LatAm and Africa

Facebook is continuing to open up access to a data porting tool it launched in Ireland in December. The tool lets users of its network transfer photos and videos they have stored on its servers directly to another photo storage service, such as Google Photos, via encrypted transfer.

A Facebook spokesman confirmed to TechCrunch that access to the transfer tool is being rolled out today to the UK, the rest of the European Union and additional countries in Latin America and Africa.

Late last month Facebook also opened up access to multiple markets in APAC and LatAm, per the spokesman. The tech giant has previously said the tool will be available worldwide in the first half of 2020.

The setting to “transfer a copy of your photos and videos” is accessed via the Your Facebook Information settings menu.

People can access this new tool in their Facebook settings within Your Facebook Information, the same place where you can download your information: https://t.co/H9xYqK7N5h pic.twitter.com/rbBrXjwUzz

— Alexandru Voica (@alexvoica) March 10, 2020

The tool is based on code developed via Facebook’s participation in the Data Transfer Project (DTP) — a collaborative effort starting in 2018 and backed by the likes of Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft and Twitter — who committed to build a common framework using open source code for connecting any two online service providers in order to support “seamless, direct, user initiated portability of data between the two platforms”.

In recent years the dominance of tech giants has led to an increase in competition complaints — garnering the attention of policymakers and regulators.

In the EU, for instance, competition regulators are now eyeing the data practices of tech giants including Amazon, Facebook and Google. While, in the US, tech giants including Google, Facebook, Amazon, Apple and Microsoft are also facing antitrust scrutiny. And as more questions are being asked about antitrust big tech has been under pressure to respond — hence the collective push on portability.

Last September Facebook also released a white paper laying out its thinking on data portability which seeks to frame it as a challenge to privacy — in what looks like an attempt to lobby for a regulatory moat to limit portability of the personal data mountain it’s amassed on users.

At the same time, the release of a portability tool gives Facebook something to point regulators to when they come calling — even as the tools only allows users to port a very small portion of the personal data the service holds on them. Such tools are also only likely to be sought out by the minority of more tech savvy users.

Facebook’s transfer tool also currently only supports direct transfer to Google’s cloud storage — greasing a pipe for users to pass a copy of their facial biometrics from one tech giant to another.

We checked, and from our location in the EU, Google Photos is the only direct destination offered via Facebook’s drop-down menu thus far:

However the spokesman implied wider utility could be coming — saying the DTP project updated adapters for photos APIs from Smugmug (which owns Flickr); and added new integrations for music streaming service Deezer; decentralized social network Mastodon; and Tim Berners-Lee’s decentralization project Solid.

Though it’s not clear why there’s no option offered as yet within Facebook to port direct to any of these other services. Presumably additional development work is still required by the third party to implement the direct data transfer.  (We’ve asked Facebook for more on this and will update if we get a response.)

The aim of the DTP is to develop a standardized version to make it easier for others to join without having to “recreate the wheel every time they want to build portability tools”, as the spokesman put it, adding: “We built this tool with the support of current DTP partners, and hope that even more companies and partners will join us in the future.”

He also emphasized that the code is open source and claimed it’s “fairly straightforward” for a company that wishes to plug its service into the framework especially if they already have  a public API.

“They just need to write a DTP adapter against that public API,” he suggested.

“Now that the tool has launched, we look forward to working with even more experts and companies – especially startups and new platforms looking to provide an on-ramp for this type of service,” the spokesman added.

Read Full Article