Dropbox beefs up mobile collaboration in latest release

Dropbox announced several enhancements today designed to beef up its mobile offering and help employees on the go keep up with changes to files stored in Dropbox.

In a typical team scenario, a Dropbox user shared a file with a team member for review or approval. If they wanted to check the progress of this process, the only way to do it up until now was to send an email or text message explicitly asking if the person looked at it yet — not a terribly efficient workflow.

Dropbox recognized this and has built in a fix in the latest mobile release. Now users can can simply see who has looked at or taken action on a file directly from the mobile application without having to leave the application.

In addition, those being asked to review files can see those notifications right at the top of the Home screen in the mobile app, making the whole feedback cycle much more organized.

Photo: Dropbox

Joey Loi, product manager at Dropbox says this is a much more streamlined way to understand activity inside of Dropbox. “With this feature, we think about the closing loop on collaboration. At its heart, collaboration is feedback flows. When I change something on a file, there are a few steps before [my co-worker] knows I’ve changed it,” Loi explained. With this feature that feedback loop can close much faster.

The company also changed the way it organizes and displays files putting the files that you opened most recently at the top of the Home screen, which is somewhat like Recents in Google Drive. It also provides a way to favorite a file and puts those files that are most important at the top of the list, making it easier to find the files that are likely most important to you more quickly when you access the mobile app.

Finally you can now drag and drop a file from an email into a Dropbox folder in a mobile context.

While none of these individual updates are earth shattering changes by any means, they do make it easier for users to access, share and work with files in Dropbox on a mobile device. “All the features are to help teams collaborate and be efficient on mobile,” Loi said.

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Circle Invest lets you buy the cryptocurrency market

Circle Invest is one of the easiest products when you want to get started with cryptocurrencies. When Circle first launched the app, I compared it to Coinbase. And Circle is making it even easier to get started as you can just “buy the market” now.

Circle Invest started with just a handful of cryptocurrencies — Bitcoin, Bitcoin Cash, Ethereum, Ethereum Classic and Litecoin. But now, the company has added Monero and Zcash. If you don’t know anything about cryptocurrencies, it’s hard to know where you should put your money.

That’s why Circle has created a button that lets you buy all coins available on Circle Invest, weighted depending on their respective market capitalization. The total market cap of Bitcoin is much higher than the total market cap of Zcash, so you’ll end up with more Bitcoin than Zcash.

Circle Invest is available on the App Store and Play Store in the U.S. except in except in NY, MN, HI and WY. The company plans to launch in Europe at some point.

The app only supports market orders. ACH transfers are free and you can buy instantly for transfers below $10,000 before the money arrives on Circle’s bank account.

Circle says you can expect a bit of spread between the buy and sell price, just like on other exchanges. But the company doesn’t add any fee on top of that.

Disclosure: I own small amounts of various cryptocurrencies.

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Starbucks’s mobile payment service is slightly outpacing Apple’s

People really love getting their coffee more quickly. Starbucks, which has operated its own mobile payments service since 2011, is the market leader in terms of mobile payments users, beating out Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay, according to a new reporter from eMarketer out this morning. However, Starbucks’ lead over Apple Pay is only a small one – in 2017, it had 20.7 million users compared with Apple Pay’s 19.7 million. And that gap will remain small this year, with 23.4 million using Starbucks’ mobile payments compared with 22 million using Apple Pay.

The wide adoption of the Starbucks mobile payment service is not only due to speed and convenience that the barcode-based payment system offers – it’s also because payments are tied to loyalty, and the Starbucks app is where customers can monitor and manage their card balance and their “star rewards.” In addition, Starbucks has the benefit of being able to offer a consistent payments experience across its stores – there’s never a question in consumers’ minds as to whether they can use its mobile payments service. They know they can.

Other mobile proximity payment services don’t have the same advantage, as many retailers still don’t offer payment terminals that support the tap-to-pay services like Apple Pay and Google Pay.

According to eMarketer’s forecast, 23.4 million people ages 14 and older will use the Starbucks app to make a point-of-sale purchase at least once every six months, compared with 22 million who will use Apple Pay, 11.1 million who will use Google Pay, and 9.9 million who will use Samsung Pay.

Those numbers will increase across the board through 2022, but the rankings will remain the same – with Starbucks then seeing 29.8 million users to Apple Pay’s 27.5 million.

However, this forecast appears to be discounting the impact of the recent expansion of Apple Pay, which will allow users to send payments to friends through iMessage. When you receive this money, it’s added to an Apple Pay Cash card in your iPhone’s Wallet, which can then be used in stores, in addition to in apps or online. This built-in payments service inside one of the largest messaging platforms could prompt more users to adopt Apple Pay, even if they hadn’t before.

Another note: it seems which services are more popular than others is also tied to how long they’ve been around.

Apple Pay launched before Samsung and Google Pay, and is now accepted at more than half of U.S. merchants. Google Pay isn’t as widely accepted, but is pre-installed on Android, which will help it grow. Samsung Pay, meanwhile, has the lowest adoption in terms of users, but is most accepted by merchants, says eMarketer.

The rankings of the various payment services wasn’t the only notable finding from eMarketer’s new report.

The analysts also found that this year, for the first time, more than 25 percent of U.S. smartphone users ages 14 and older, will have used a mobile payment service at least once every six months. The number of payments users will increase by 14.5 percent to reach 55 million by the end of 2018, the firm estimates.

But over the next several years, these top four services will see their share of the mobile payments drop, even as their user numbers grow. That’s because they’ll face increased competition from other new payment apps, including those from merchants themselves.

“Retailers are increasingly creating their own payment apps, which allow them to capture valuable data about their users. They can also build in rewards and perks to boost customer loyalty,” eMarketer forecasting analyst Cindy Liu says.

eMarketer’s forecast (paywalled) is based on an analysis of third-party data, including Forrester, Juniper Research, and Crone Consulting’s data.

 

 

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Instagram now lets you mute accounts

Instagram today introduced a way to mute accounts, giving users a way to continue following accounts without seeing their posts all the time.

Muted accounts will not be made aware that they’ve been muted, and users can unmute accounts at any time. Users can still see posts on the muted account’s profile page and get notified about comments or posts they’re tagged in.

Users can mute accounts by tapping the “…” in the corner of the post and choosing between muting posts, stories, or posts and stories.

First and foremost, this continues Instagram’s effort to block bullying and harassment on the social network. While users have had the ability to block accounts for a long time, muting is a next step in blocking out someone without any of the consequences that might come from blocking them.

This could also come in handy for folks going through a break-up or some other social split, as they don’t necessarily want to see every single post from their ex but don’t want to be seen unfollowing them either.

Of course, the broader demographic will simply have more control over Instagram’s algorithmic feed, which prioritizes accounts and posts it thinks you will like (read: promotes engagement at all costs).

The algorithmic feed has added a layer of complexity to Instagram, making users think more cautiously about the way they throw around likes. Posts, and accounts, that you like may very well get top billing in your feed because of it, even if you only liked the post to show friends some love.

Muting gives users a bit more control over what they see regardless of what they’ve liked or what Instagram’s algorithm deems relevant.

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Email client Spark becomes collaborative

Readdle, the company behind popular email client Spark, is releasing a major new version of Spark on iOS and macOS. Spark is expanding beyond a personal email client. You can now work on emails with your team.

While some of the features made me think about Front, the company says that it wasn’t the inspiration for this update. Front lets you share inboxes, such as jobs@yourcompany.com so that the entire HR team can collaborate on inbound emails. With Spark, you can’t share inboxes altogether.

But you can create links and invite people to an email thread. After that, it works pretty much like Google Docs. Multiple people can write and edit emails in real time. You can comment and have a private chat about the email before writing a reply.

Along the launch of those new collaboration features, Readdle is launching a new premium subscription. Existing features remain free forever. You’ll get limited access to the new collaboration features. It works pretty much like Slack’s free plan — comments search history is limited to one month, your team is limited to 5GB of storage, etc.

You’ll be able to pay $6.39 to $7.99 per user per month to unlock everything. Each team member will get 10GB of storage to share files in comments, you will be able to add more collaborators to an email thread, etc.

It’s a software-as-a-service business model, and it’s good to see that Readdle finally plans to make money with Spark. A sustainable business model is essential if you expect support and updates over the coming years.

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Finally, Readdle added new features for everyone. There is a new calendar view on macOS. It displays your calendar and you can input new events using natural language, like in Fantastical. And because Spark is an email client, when you write “Lunch with John at 1pm”, it’ll add John’s email address to the calendar invite automatically.

While Readdle says that Front and Spark have nothing in common, it feels like they’re tackling the same issue but starting from two different ends. Spark started as a personal email client and is getting more collaborative. Front started as a collaborative email client and wants to become the only email client you need, including for your personal needs.

Eventually, it’s a win for the end user as it’s hard to find an email client that fits your needs.

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Read This Before You Buy Any Udemy Course

Looking to learn coding this summer? Well, there are plenty of free resources on the Internet to quickly get you started but if you prefer proper instructor-led video courses, go with Udemy. If you are new here, Udemy is an online marketplace where you’ll find courses on everything from calligraphy to photography to programming.

I’ve purchased more than two dozen Udemy courses around web development from different instructors – the list includes courses on React, Redux, JavaScript, Node.js, ES6, Express, Webpack, Firebase, TypeScript – and have been really impressed with the overall quality of the training content. You pay a one-time fee for any course and, unlike Pluralsight or Lynda LinkedIn Learning that charge a monthly subscription, your Udemy course will be yours forever.

Most video courses on Udemy are priced between $20 and $200 but before you key in the credit card, ready this.

Avoid Impulse Buying

Udemy offers massive discounts almost every week and the $150 course you are looking to buy could be available for as low as $10 the next day, or even the next hour.

Do not make ‘impulse’ purchases on Udemy. Add the Udemy course to your wish list or place it in your shopping cart and you could soon have an email from Udemy itself saying that course has gone on sale.

Support the Instructor

Udemy has a simple revenue-sharing agreement with instructors. If the instructor brings the student to Udemy through their own links, Udemy’s commission is mere 3% of the sale price. If a student finds a course by directly searching on Udemy, the instructor’s share is only 50% of the sale.

Check the blog, Twitter or Facebook pages of the Udemy teacher. Buy the course through links shared by Udemy teachers on their social media pages and you’ll be indirectly helping them as they’ll get most of the sale proceeds.

Avoid Coupon Sites

Search for “Udemy Discount Coupons” on Google and a million websites will pop-up. The problem is the 99.9% of these sites offer outdated/expired coupons and their sole purpose is to serve ads or get their own cookie in your browser.

Use Browser, not Mobile Apps

You can buy Udemy courses on their website or through their mobile apps. The interesting thing is that the same course may be priced differently depending on the platform you are on. It’s just like some airline company showing higher prices to people who are browsing on an iPhone.

I simultaneously searched for React.js courses on Udemy on iOS, Android, and Chrome and the prices varied everywhere. The prices displayed were lowest when I opened Udemy on the desktop in Chrome’s incognito mode.

Udemy Website on Chrome

Udemy Android App

Udemy iPad App

Udemy Website – Incognito mode

The bottom line is that you should never purchase Udemy courses at the list price and always use a desktop to complete the purchase. They probably have to pay Google / Apple a share in the sale and hence the courses are priced higher inside Udemy’s mobile apps.

The post Read This Before You Buy Any Udemy Course appeared first on Digital Inspiration.

Sony shrinks its Digital Paper tablet down to a more manageable 10 inches

I had a great time last year with Sony’s catchily-named DPT-RP1, an e-paper tablet that’s perfect for reading PDFs and other big documents, but one of my main issues was simply how big the thing is. Light and thin but 13 inches across, the tablet was just unwieldy. Heeding (I assume) my advice, Sony is putting out a smaller version and I can’t wait to try it out.

At the time, I was comparing the RP1 with the reMarkable, a crowdfunded rival that offers fantastic writing ability but isn’t without its flaws. Watch this great video I made:

The 10-inch DPT-CP1 has a couple small differences from its larger sibling. The screen has a slightly lower resolution but should be the same PPI — it’s more of a cutout of the original screen than a miniaturization. And it’s considerably lighter: 240 grams to the 13-inch version’s 350. Considering the latter already felt almost alarmingly light, this one probably feels like it’ll float out of your hands and enter orbit.

More important are the software changes. There’s a new mobile app for iOS and Android that should make loading and sharing documents easier. A new screen sharing mode sounds handy but a little cumbrous — you have to plug it into a PC and then plug the PC into a display. And PDF handling has been improved so that you can jump to pages, zoom and pan, and scan through thumbnails more easily. Limited interaction (think checkboxes) is also possible.

There’s nothing that addresses my main issue with both the RP1 and the reMarkable: that it’s a pain to do anything substantial on the devices, such as edit or highlight in a document, and if you do, it’s a pain to bring that work into other environments.

So for now it looks like the Digital Paper series will remain mostly focused on consuming content rather than creating or modifying it. That’s fine — I loved reading stuff on the device, and mainly just wished it were a bit smaller. Now that Sony has granted that wish, it can get to work on the rest.

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Progressive advocacy groups call on the FTC to ‘make Facebook safe for democracy’

A team of progressive advocacy groups, including MoveOn and Demand Progress, are asking the Federal Trade Commission to “make Facebook safe for democracy.” According to Axios, the campaign, called Freedom From Facebook, is set to launch a six-figure ad campaign on Monday that will run on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter, among other platforms.

The other advocacy groups behind the campaign are Citizens Against Monopoly, Content Creators Coalition, Jewish Voice for Peace, Mpower Change, Open Markets Institute and SumOfUs. Together they are calling on the FTC to “break up Facebook’s monopoly” by forcing it to spin-off Instagram, WhatsApp and Messenger into separate, competing companies. They also want the FTC to require interoperability so users can communicate across competing social networks and strengthen privacy regulations.

Freedom From Facebook’s site also includes an online petition and privacy guide that links to FB Purity and the Electronic Frontier Foundation’s Privacy Badger, browser extensions that help users streamline their Facebook ad preferences and block online trackers, respectively.

The FTC recently gained a new chairman after President Donald Trump’s pick for the position Joseph Simons was sworn in early this month, along with four new commissioners also nominated by Trump. Simons is an antitrust lawyer who has represented large tech firms like Microsoft and Sony. The FTC is currently investigating whether or not Facebook’s involvement with Cambridge Analytica violated a previous legal agreement it had with the commission, but many people are wondering if it and other federal agencies are capable of regulating tech companies, especially after many lawmakers seemed confused about how social media works during Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s congressional hearing last month.

Despite its data privacy and regulatory issues, Facebook is still doing well from a financial perspective. Its first-quarter earnings report showed strong user growth and revenue above Wall Street’s expectations.

TechCrunch has contacted Freedom From Facebook and Facebook for comment.

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Are algorithms hacking our thoughts?

Facebook and Qualcomm will bring fast WiFi to cities in mid-2019

Facebook’s been talking Terragraph since way back during its 2016 F8 keynote. The social media giant’s ambitious plan to bring fast Wifi to cities is taking another key step toward real world trials with the addition of Qualcomm. The chipmaking giant announced today that it will add the 60Ghz tech to its future chipsets, with plans to start trials in the middle of next year.

“It is based on the pre-802.11ay standard with enhancements provided by the Qualcomm Technologies’ chipset and the integrated software between Facebook and Qualcomm Technologies to support efficient outdoor operation and avoid interference in dense environments,” Qualcomm writes in the announcement.

San Jose has already been floated as a potential testing ground for the technology. It’s not the biggest U.S. city, but the Silicon Valley hub should prove a solid testing ground with its tech savvy population. The companies say the tech will be useful in lowering the cost of high-speed wireless and helping deliver connectivity to populated areas with significant obstacles, including those densely packed with buildings.

The latter, naturally, makes Terragraph a natural for urban environments, where digging up the ground for fiber is a nuisance, to say the least. Facebook is also looking to service more rural spots with its Antenna Radio Integration for Efficiency in Spectrum (ARIES) system, a technology that was unveiled at the same F8 event.  

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HMD raises $100 million to bring even more Nokia phones to market

HMD Global has been one of the mobile world’s biggest surprise hits in recent years. Founded by former Nokia execs, the Finnish company has made a name for itself reviving the dearly departed brand on Android smartphones to great effect. And it just managed to raise another $100 million, led by Ginko Ventures’ Alpha Ginko VC branch.

The new round puts the company’s valuation at over $1 billion, according to a HMD. It’s set to use this latest round to push even more “aggressively” into the mobile category with its branded devices, “doubl[ing] down on expanding channel reach in strategic markets while continuing to deliver innovation where it matters most to consumers.”

Not that the company’s been cautious in its push thus far, of course. HMD already has A LOT of options out there for a business that’s essentially been in existence for a year and a half. At MWC back in February, it announced five new phones sporting the legacy brand, including a reboot of the 8110. The company has also been positioning itself in developing markets, where the Nokia name still has a fair amount of cache, by wholeheartedly adopting Google’s Android One program.

It’s a tricky line to walk, between an embrace of retro appreciation and an attempt to offer innovation. Continuing its successful run is going to require more than just playing upon user nostalgia for a bygone brand.

The question moving forward is whether HMD will be able to reassert Nokia as a truly bleeding-edge brand, as it continues to flood the market with branded devices. After all, the smartphone market is starting to plateau and much of the competition has begun to scale back their releases.

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The Ultimate How-To Guide for Chromebook Beginners

Chromebooks have deservedly earned a reputation for being easy-to-use, even for people who aren’t technologically savvy. Chromebooks aren’t just perfect for students, they’re also solid options for seniors.

But just because the operating system is straightforward, it doesn’t mean there aren’t some parts of it that require further explanation. Without further ado, here’s an ultimate how-to guide for your Chromebook.

How to Take a Screenshot on a Chromebook

Chromebooks offer two ways to take screenshots natively. You can either capture the full screen or a part of a screen.

To capture the entire screen on your Chromebook, hold down Control and press the Switch Window key. It’s on the top row of your keyboard in what would be the F5 position on a non-Chromebook device.

Note: If you own a Chromebook with a 360-degree hinge, you can also press Power + Volume Down, just like an Android device.

To capture part of your screen, press Control + Shift + Switch Window. The mouse cursor will change into a crosshair. Just click and drag the crosshair over the part of the screen you want to save.

If your screengrab was successful, you will see a notification pop up in the lower right-hand corner.

You can find all your screenshots in the Download folder. They are not automatically saved into Google Drive.

How to Right-Click on a Chromebook

As with screenshots, there are two ways to perform the right-click action on your Chromebook.

The most common method is to use the trackpad. Move the mouse to whatever item you want to right-click on, then tap the trackpad with two fingers at the same time.

The lesser-known method uses the keyboard. Press and hold the Alt key then tap one finger on the trackpad instead of two.

Of course, technically, there’s a third way—use a USB mouse!

How to Rotate the Screen on a Chromebook

Depending on the model of Chromebook you own, there might be times when it’s more practical to use your machine in portrait rather than landscape view.

It’s also a useful trick to know in case you ever need to flip your screen 180-degrees, for example, if you are trying to show something to someone sat on the opposite side of the table.

Rotating the screen is easy. You can move through four 90-degree turns by pressing Control + Shift + Refresh.

You can only rotate in a clockwise motion.

How to Copy and Paste on a Chromebook

We won’t dwell on this one for too long. Most users will already know how to copy and paste, but it still perplexes new Chromebook users who expect the process to be widely different to what they are used to.

In practice, the process is exactly the same as the method you’d use on Windows. Use Control + C to copy, Control + V to paste, and Control + X to cut. You can also use the right-click context menu.

How to Print on a Chromebook

Printing has always been the Chromebook’s Achilles heel. It’s never been a straightforward process.

Before beginning, you need to know if your printer is “Cloud Ready.” Check Google’s list of compatible printers if you’re not sure.

If it is Cloud Ready, follow the instructions below:

1. Open Chrome and type chrome://devices in the address bar.
2. Locate your printer in the New Device section of the page.
3. Click on Register.

If it’s not Cloud Ready but has Wi-Fi capabilities, follow these instructions instead:

1. Open Chrome on a Windows or Mac operating system.
2. Type chrome://devices in the address bar.
3. Click Add Printer in the Classic Printers section of the page.
4. Mark the checkbox next to the printer you want to add.
5. Select Add Printer.

After completing either of the above processes, you can go to your Cloud Print portal to ensure setup was successful.

Lastly, if you want to add a local printer without using the Cloud Print app, use these guidelines:

1. Open the Chromebook’s Settings menu (accessible through the system tray).
2. Scroll down and click on Advanced.
3. Go to Printers > Add Printer.
4. Give the printer a name and enter its IP address.
5. Click on Add.

Note: You cannot add a non-Wi-Fi-enabled printer to your Chromebook.

How to Zoom Out on a Chromebook

Chromebooks offer two ways to zoom in and out. It depends whether you want to increase the size of a single page/app, or of your whole screen.

To zoom in and out on a single app, press Control + Plus or Control + Minus accordingly. You can reset your screen’s zoom by pressing Control + 0.

If you’d rather change the zoom level across the entire operating system, press Control + Shift + Plus or Control + Shift + Minus. This shortcut will also change the size of your app dock, thus letting you fit more apps on it if you’re running out of space.

How to Change a Chromebook’s Owner

If you’re planning to sell your Chromebook, or even just give it to another family member, you will need to change the device’s owner.

The only safe and secure way to accomplish this is to do a factory reset AKA Powerwash. Performing a Powerwash will delete all data from the computer, including the users and any data in the download folder. Therefore, ensure you make a backup before proceeding.

To Powerwash your machine, open the Chromebook’s Settings menu and navigate to Advanced > Powerwash > Powerwash.

When it becomes available, click on the Restart button. You will be taken through the device setup screens. The Google Account you enter when prompted will automatically become the Chromebook owner.

How to Invert Colors on a Chromebook

Like almost all operating systems, Chromebooks come with a broad range of accessibility tools. One of them allows you to invert the colors on your screen. In Chromebook-speak, the feature is called “High Contrast Mode,” but the end product is the same.

There are two ways to invert the colors. The simplest method is to use the keyboard shortcut; press Search + Shift + H. However, this shortcut will only work if the Search key is still mapped to the search function; if you’ve assigned it to caps lock, it won’t work.

The alternative approach requires you to dive into the Settings menu. Open the menu and go to Advanced > Manage Accessibility Features. In the display section, slide the toggle next to Use high contrast mode into the On position.

How to Connect to Wi-Fi on a Chromebook

How you connect to Wi-Fi depends on the type of network you want to connect to. Firstly, make sure Wi-Fi is turned on. Click on your profile photo and select No network. Make sure the toggle at the top of the popup window is in the On position.

To connect to a visible network that’s within range, click on the network’s name and enter the password if needed. Meanwhile, to connect to a hidden, unlisted network, repeat the above steps but instead choose Join other network. Enter the network information and hit Connect.

What Else Do You Need to Know About Chromebooks?

The nine queries we’ve covered in this article are some of the web’s most searched Chromebook questions.

However, it’s not an exhaustive guide, so if you still have questions, feel free to reach out in the comments below.

Alternatively, you can keep reading more Chromebook content elsewhere on the site. We’ve covered everything from the most useful Chromebook shortcuts to fixing common Chromebook errors.

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Where to watch Zuckerberg’s meeting with EU MEPs on Tuesday

The Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg’s meeting with elected representatives of the European Union’s ~500 million citizens will be livestreamed after all, it was confirmed today.

MEPs had been angered by the original closed door format of the meeting, which was announced by the EU parliament’s president last week. But on Friday a majority of the political groups in the parliament had pushed for it to be broadcast online.

This morning president Antonio Tajani confirmed that Facebook had agreed to the 1hr 15 minute hearing being livestreamed.

I have personally discussed with Facebook CEO Mr Zuckerberg the possibilty of webstreaming meeting with him. I am glad to announce that he has accepted this new request. Great news for EU citizens. I thank him for the respect shown towards EP. Meeting tomorrow from 18:15 to 19:30

— Antonio Tajani (@EP_President) May 21, 2018

A Facebook spokesperson also sent us this short statement today: “We’re looking forward to the meeting and happy for it to be live streamed.”

When is the meeting?

The meeting will take place on Tuesday May 22 at 18.15 to 19.30CET. If you want to tune in from the US the meeting is scheduled to start at 9.15PT /12.15ET.

Tajani’s announcement last week said it would start earlier, at 17.45CET, so the meeting appears to have been bumped on by half an hour. We’ve asked Facebook whether Zuckerberg will meet in private with the parliament’s Conference of Presidents prior to the livestream being switched on and will update this story with any response.

Where to watch it online?

According to Tajani’s spokesperson, the meeting will be broadcast on the EU parliament’s website. At the time of writing it’s not yet listed in the EPTV schedule — but we’re expecting it to be viewable here.

Who will be meeting with Zuckerberg?

The Facebook founder will meet with EU parliament president Tajani, along with leaders of the parliament’s eight political groups, and with Claude Moraes, the chair of the EU parliament’s Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) committee.

It’s worth noting that the meeting is not a formal hearing, such as the sessions with Zuckerberg in the US Senate and Congress last month. Nor is it a full Libe committee hearing — discussions remain ongoing for Facebook representatives to meet with the full Libe committee at a later date.

What will Zuckerberg be asked about?

In the wake of the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal, MEPs are keen to discuss concerns related to social media’s impact on election processes with Zuckerberg.

Indeed, the impact of social media spread online disinformation is also the topic of an ongoing enquiry by the UK parliament’s DCMS committee which spent some five hours grilling Facebook’s CTO last month. Although Zuckerberg has thrice declined the committee’s summons — preferring to meet with EU parliamentarians instead.

Other topics on the agenda will include privacy and data protection — with Moraes likely to ask about how Facebook’s business model impacts EU citizens’ fundamental rights, and how EU regulations might need to evolve to keep pace, as he explained to us on Friday.

Ahead of the @EUparliament mtg with Zuckerberg Tuesday – GDPR is not the panacea to deal with the "Facebook issue". Creates the highest standards of privacy & data protection in the world but need to look at elements of E-privacy to deal with the Facebook & other business models. https://t.co/LeV35mWOFI

— Claude Moraes MEP (@Claude_Moraes) May 19, 2018

Some of the political group leaders are also likely to bring up concerns around freedom of expression as pressure in the region has ramped up on online platforms to get faster at policing hate speech.

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4 Key Google Slides Tips and Tricks to Know

Google Slides is arguably the leading free slideshow presentation app. Microsoft PowerPoint is more feature-rich, but the excessive cost of an Office 365 subscription means many people have converted to Google’s product. So, if Google Slides forms an important part of your daily workflow, keep reading. We’re going to introduce you to four quick tricks that’ll instantly turn you into a power user.

1. Zoom In and Out

If you like to create beautiful, artistic slides, you might need to focus on one part of a slide in more detail.

It’s easy to do. To zoom in, press Control + Shift + Plus. To zoom out, press Control + Shift + Minus.

2. Dictate Your Slides With Voice

Are you working on a long presentation? It’s no fun to spend all day typing. Why not try dictating your slides instead?

To dictate a slide, go to Tools > Voice type speaker notes. It will bring up a small microphone icon on your screen. Click on it and start talking.

3. Add Sound to Your Presentations

It’s relatively straightforward to add images and videos to one of your slides, but what about audio? There’s no “Insert” button for audio in the same way as there is for other media.

The solution? Just copy and paste the URL of a YouTube video, Spotify song, or other online audio track. The sound will start playing when the slide in question pops up.

4. Present via Chromecast

Who needs HDMI cables these days? As long as you take a Chromecast with you, you present directly from your computer to the screen without a cable in sight.

Go to Present > Present on another screen to get started.

If you’d like to learn more, we’ve got you covered. We’ve given you tips on how to use videos in the Google Slides app, explained how to auto-loop presentations, and a whole lot more.

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How to Keep Your Mobile Browsing Private

Explore the World’s Natural Wonders With Google Earth’s Geography Quiz

Remember when Google Earth Pro used to cost a mind-boggling $400? Google now offers it for free, turning an already beloved product into our go-to method for learning more about Earth and its geographic treasures.

If you love geography and the wonders of the world, then take this opportunity to explore the world from your armchair. Tucked away inside Google Earth is a wonderful little geography quiz in partnership with Atlas Obscura.

Google Earth’s Geography Quiz

The Natural Wonders Quiz on Google Earth is a multiple-choice challenge that will ask you to identify special locations around the world. As the Google Earth blog says,

“Atlas Obscura takes you to some of the most beautiful—and intriguing—places on the planet. Know where Morning Glory Pool is? Or the hot springs of Dallol? See how well you know your planet, and explore these places in Google Earth.”

The questions and the locales are fertile ground for a site like Atlas Obscura. The popular traveler’s guidebook loves to dig up rare and hidden wonders around the world. It’s a perfect blend of history and geography. So, just click on the blue Let’s Go button and hit a spot on the blue orb of Google Earth.

Pick an answer from the multiple choices and Google Earth will give you the answer. Either way, you will get to jump to the specific spot on the 3D globe and explore it further. Go from cool ice caves in Alaska to the blazing salt mines of Ethiopia. Learn about geographical features and romantic legends.

In the end, just walk away with a better appreciation of the world we live in. There are only seven questions in the first edition of this quiz. Google Earth will continue to update the quizzes with other themes as they hint the next one might be about “magnificent castles and palaces”. Until then, don’t miss these Google Earth gems.

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How to Find the Best Mortgage Rates Online

Mortgage rates are complex. And figuring out how to get the best rate is even more so. But with the right tools and a solid understanding of how mortgage rates work, you can find the best rates online.

This guide is available to download as a free PDF. Download How to Find the Best Mortgage Rates Online now. Feel free to copy and share this with your friends and family.

This guide will help you understand:

• What a mortgage rate is
• How mortgage rates are determined and calculated
• How to research today’s mortgage rates
• How to find mortgage forecasts and trends
• How to get the most useful information out of a mortgage rate calculator

What Is a Mortgage Rate?

If you’re just getting started in the mortgage research process, you might not have a great idea of what a mortgage rate actually is. So we’ll clear it up.

A mortgage rate is the rate of interest that you pay on the loan you’ve received to buy a house. It’s the cost you pay to the lender in exchange for giving you the loan.

Your mortgage rate is one of the most significant factors in determining the ultimate cost of your house.

If you’re familiar with other types of loans (like credit cards), it’s important to realize that mortgage rate is not the same as annual percentage rate (APR). Your APR is likely higher than your mortgage rate, as it includes other fees.

Fortunately, APR isn’t usually a lot higher than the mortgage rate, and the loan estimate that you receive from a lender will include both.

In general, you don’t need to worry about your mortgage APR. You can, however, run this mortgage APR calculator to compare loans from different providers.

What Determines Your Mortgage Rate

Several factors affect mortgage rates. The first—and most important—is the current economic climate and trends. Mortgage rates respond to various economic triggers, like the strength of bonds, the rate at which people are buying houses, and wages.

There’s not much you can do about these factors other than timing your purchase well. We’ll talk about paying attention to mortgage forecasts and trends in a moment.

The other factor that makes a big difference is your credit rating. Your lender will pull your credit score from all three reporting bureaus.

There’s no hard and fast rule, but if your rating dips into the mid-600s, you may find it difficult to get a mortgage. And you’ll likely get a higher interest rate if you do.

Should you wait and try to raise your credit rating before you get a mortgage? The answer may depend on other trends.

If your credit score is below 700 or so, it’s a good idea to make an effort to get it back up. Use a budgeting service like Mint to get regular credit score updates and monitor your spending and payment habits.

Even if you decide to get a mortgage at a higher rate now, you could refinance to a better rate later if you raise your credit score.

How Mortgage Interest Is Calculated

Most mortgages accrue monthly. Here’s how to calculate mortgage interest on a monthly basis, with an example:

• Divide mortgage rate by 12 (4.75% / 12 = .0039583)
• Multiply remaining mortgage principal by result ($225,000 * 0.0039583 = $890.62)

In this example, the remaining loan balance after accruing interest would be $225,890.62. An amortization schedule can help you understand this information. We’ll talk about those in a moment when we discuss mortgage calculators.

Some loans, called “simple interest mortgages,” accrue interest daily, which means the rate is divided by 365 and added to the total each day. If you’re good about making payments, this shouldn’t cause too much of a problem. But if you’re even a day late, you’ll pay more.

As you start the process of researching mortgage rates, it’s important to understand that there are many factors involved. Take mortgage points, for example.

Mortgage points (also called discount points) let you pay your lender some money up front to reduce the mortgage rate of your loan. This can save you a lot of money in the long run, but it depends on your lender. (For more information, check out Better Money Habits’ primer on mortgage points).

If you have an adjustable-rate mortgage (ARM), your mortgage rate can fluctuate over the life of the loan, which will also change how interest is calculated and how much you’ll pay over the life of the loan.

How Interest Affects Your Mortgage Payments

To see how the interest on your loan accrues over the life of a loan, you can check out an amortization schedule.

We’ll talk more about amortization schedules at the end of this article, but if you want to get started now, I recommend using MortgageCalculator.org to get an idea of how much interest you’re paying.

As you’ll see, your early payments go almost completely to paying off the interest on the loan. Each payment only makes a small dent in the principal balance. Later in the loan period, a larger percentage of your payments start going toward the principal.

Many 30-year loans result in lifetime interest that ends up costing 60% or more of the borrowed amount. That means if you get a $300,000 loan, you may pay back a total of $480,000 or more. It’s a good thing to keep in mind while you’re making a long-term financial plan.

How to Research Current Mortgage Rates

Now that you have a better idea of how your mortgage rate affects what you pay, let’s look at some tools for estimating what your mortgage rate will actually be. It’s important to note that your mortgage rate usually isn’t set until you close on your house.

If you’re not closing for another six months, today’s mortgage rates might not be all that useful. Nonetheless, it’s a good idea to keep an eye on them if you’re considering buying a house anytime soon.

Mortgage News Daily is a great place to start. They provide the results of their survey of lenders and originators to give you an accurate representation of the day’s rates:

Rates are provided for 30-year fixed-rate, 15-year fixed-rate, Federal Housing Authority (FHA) 30-year fixed, jumbo 30-year fixed, and 5/1 ARM. You can scroll down to find a variety of other mortgage rates as well.

Unless you’re planning on getting a mortgage right away, the most useful information is probably the change and the location within the 52-week spread. In the image above, mortgage rates have gone up, and they’re close to as high as they’ve been in a year.

Mortgage News Daily also has a daily report that gives you information on rate changes, suspected changes in the near future, and suggestions on whether you should lock your interest rate.

You can subscribe to the report to get an email update every day with the latest rates and information.

For a simpler view of national rates, head to the Wells Fargo’s Mortgage Rates page.

While these rates only apply to mortgages from Wells Fargo, they’ll give you a quick look at the current rates.

When I checked today, the Wells Fargo rates were higher than those reported by the Mortgage News Daily survey. In some cases, it was a tenth of a percent; in others, it was closer to .05%. So keep that in mind.

Of course, mortgage rates aren’t the same everywhere in the country. To find a sampling of mortgage rates in your area, head to Bankrate’s mortgage page. Here you’ll need to enter the value of the home you’re looking to buy, your down payment, credit score, and ZIP code.

You’ll get a sampling of what different lenders are offering in your area—you’ll see the rate, fees, APR, and monthly payment.

With these sites, you should be able to get a good idea of the average mortgage rate around the country and near where you live.

But is it a good time to get a mortgage, or should you hold off? Let’s take a look at mortgage forecasts to find out.

How to Understand Mortgage Rates Trends and Forecasts

Should you get a mortgage now? Or should you wait to see if rates get better? That’s what the mortgage forecast will tell you. Or try to tell you.

The US economy is volatile and can see large swings in short periods of time. That tends to have an effect on bonds, which in turn affect mortgage rates. So how do you know whether you should get a mortgage now or wait?

Unfortunately, there’s no single place to go to find a simple mortgage rate projection chart that tells you everything you need to know. Instead, you’ll have to look for reports.

Mortgage Rate Watch from Mortgage News Daily is a good place to start. Their daily reports often contain projections about where the market will be headed, and the contributions from licensed loan originators provide industry insights.

Bankrate’s Mortgage Trend Index also gathers opinions from industry insiders as to whether the mortgage rate is predicted to rise, fall, or stay the same over the course of the week.

For a more quantitative view of mortgage rate trends, you may want to visit Realtor.com’s trends page. While it won’t make predictions on where rates will be in the future, you can see where they’ve been in the past, and that can give you an idea of what could be coming.

You can also limit the trends to your current location or the place where you’d like to buy to get more detailed information.

In the end, mortgage rate forecasts are just guesses. But they can give you an idea of when you should get the best mortgage rates. It’s always a good idea to talk to a financial advisor (or an independent mortgage broker) to get their opinion on the matter, as well.

Getting the Most Out of a Mortgage Calculator

While signing your mortgage at the right time will go a long way toward getting you the best rate possible, there are a lot of other things to think about, too. And a high-quality mortgage calculator will help you figure those things out.

There are certainly some simple mortgage calculators out there—Google even has one built into its results pages:

These simple calculators let you enter the size of your mortgage, your down payment, and the term. Then you get estimated monthly payments.

But if you want to really understand your mortgage rate and what it means, you’re going to want to use one of the more complicated calculators. They take into account things like fees, closing costs, prepayment penalties, and so on.

MortgageCalculator.org is one of the best mortgage calculators around. Here’s the information you’ll need to use it effectively:

• Home value
• Down payment
• Loan amount
• Interest rate
• Loan term
• Start date
• Annual property tax
• Cost of private mortgage insurance
• Annual home insurance cost
• Monthly HOA Dues

With that, you’ll get a full amortization table that tells you how much you’ll pay per month, when your loan will be paid off, the total amount of interest you’ll pay, the amount of money you’ll save if you pay bi-weekly instead of monthly, and more.

It’ll take you a while to collect all this information, but most of it should be readily available from your bank, the property listing, and your real estate agent.

Once you’ve collected the information and put it in the mortgage calculator, you’ll get a result like this:

This view shows you what you pay each year, and breaks that amount down into taxes and fees, interest, and principal. As you can see, the earlier years of the loan are spent mainly paying back interest, while you start to make a larger dent in the principal later on.

Clicking on View Loan Breakdown will give you total amounts for each over the life of the loan:

Finally, you can view an amortization table, which shows you how your payments break down each month. To get this table on MortgageCalculator.org, scroll down and click Show Amortization Tables, then select monthly or annual:

When you click Calculate again, you’ll get a full breakdown of each payment:

Change your mortgage rate, down payment, or any other number to see how your monthly payment breakdown changes, and you’ll start to really understand your mortgage rate.

You’ll notice that even a small change in your mortgage rate can make a difference over 30 years.

Using a Mortgage Calculator With Prepayments

Want to see how some extra payments would help pay down your mortgage? You need a prepayment mortgage calculator.

One of the best calculators for this purpose is from HSH. Enter the amount of your loan, the loan term, and the interest rate. Then, enter your desired monthly payment or how quickly you’d like to pay the loan off. Click Calculate:

You’ll see how much extra you’re paying (or need to pay), how long it will take to pay off the loan, and how much money you’ll save in interest. As you can see, a couple hundred extra dollars each money can save you a phenomenal amount of money in the long run.

The Best Mortgage Calculator

If you want the absolute best mortgage calculator, you’ll want this Excel spreadsheet from Vertex 42. You’ll need a lot of information to take full advantage of it, including all your mortgage rate information, your tax bracket, planned extra payments, property taxes, home insurance, and a few more things.

But if you can collect all that information, you’ll get everything you could want from a mortgage calculator. You’ll get a full amortization table. The total amount of interest paid. The total amount of tax breaks received. The effect of increased monthly payments or one-time extra payments. Anything you could want.

It takes a while to gather and enter all of the information you need, but this mortgage calculator can’t be beat.

Vertex 42 also has other great mortgage calculators that aren’t quite so complicated. Check out their Mortgage Calculators for Excel page to peruse and download them!

Mortgage Calculator App for On-the-Go Estimates

When you’re thinking about buying a house, you’re going to be on the go a lot. You’ll be looking at houses, visiting banks, checking out new locations, and generally spending a lot of time in the car.

To get a quick calculation of your potential mortgage payments on a house from your phone, try the QuickenLoans Mortgage Calculator app.

While it’s meant to get you to use Quicken for your mortgage, it does have a decent interface for getting this information quickly. You could also upload a mortgage calculator spreadsheet to the Google Sheets app and update it as you go.

Download: QuickenLoans Mortgage Calculator for Android | iOS (Free)

How to Get a Better Mortgage Rate

Armed with all of this information, you’re ready to go out and get the best mortgage rate possible. You’ll know what the average rates are, whether it’s a good time to buy, what you can afford, and what you can expect to pay for it.

With all of that knowledge in hand, you’ll be able to work with a banker to get the best mortgage rate. It could be a banker from one of the banks you found on a mortgage comparison site. Or from your own bank. Or an independent broker.

No matter who you decide to work with, you’ll be able to use this information to make sure you’re getting the best mortgage possible. Just don’t forget that mortgage is a debt and you need to be smart to get out of it.

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