Grammarly now supports Google Docs. Over the course of the last few years, Grammarly has made a name for itself as one of the better grammar and spelling checkers on the market. As a Chrome extension, it neatly integrates with virtually every major online tool and social media site, but until now, Google Docs remained a blind spot.
Because of its real-time collaboration features, the Google Docs editor isn’t just a straight-up text field, after all, so the Grammarly team had to do a bit of extra work to make its service work there. Once you have installed the extension, though, it’ll now work just like in any other web app.
The feature has actually been available as a beta to paying premium users for a little while, but now everybody can give it a try.
It’s interesting to see Grammarly come to Google Docs now. In July, after all, Google announced that it was bringing its own grammar checker to Google Docs, too. Google’s twist here is that it is basically using the same kind of machine learning techniques that power its translation software to check for errors in your documents. My sense is that Grammarly actually offers a more comprehensive set of tools for keeping you from embarrassing yourself with bad grammar (including help with punctuation, for example), but Google’s tool remains in private beta, so I haven’t been able to give it a try yet.
Grammarly’s paid plans start at $29.95 per month, but you get a discount if you pre-pay for three months or a full year (and the company also regularly offers discounts to its free subscribers). There also is a team plan for businesses that starts at $10/month/members (with a minimum of three subscribers).
If you’re having trouble finding the right match for you, why not turn to online dating? Any stigma online dating had in the past is gone, with dozens of apps to choose from and thousands of couples crediting their love to these apps.
In this article we’ll show you the best free dating apps for young adults (anyone 18 to 25), along with some advice for using them. If you’re older, check out our list of dating sites for mature singles instead.
A Warning on Age Restrictions
Before we continue, it’s important to note that due to laws in the U.S. and elsewhere, there are legal issues with under-18s using dating apps. Therefore, none of the apps below allow users under 18 years old to join, but of course, these measures aren’t foolproof.
While using any dating apps, we advise you to take caution with regards to age. Don’t take anyone’s age at face value, and be careful of predators looking to take advantage of apps aimed at younger people. We’ll share some safety tips after we discuss the apps.
To be clear: We don’t condone anyone under 18 using these apps.
1. OKCupid
For an all-around free dating app, OKCupid is the gold standard. The site uses powerful algorithms to find you the right matches.
OKCupid asks you to answer a large amount of personality questions when you sign up. As you do, you also select the answers you’d find acceptable in a partner. These questions range from the serious, like the importance of religion in your life, to the silly, like what crime you’d most likely be thrown in jail for.
By browsing others’ public answers, you can get a good idea of whether they’re a good fit for you. Messaging on OKCupid is free for everyone. This is great because you don’t have to pay to talk to someone you like, but it opens the door for unsolicited creepy messages.
The DoubleTake features offers a Tinder-like swiping interface for easy match evaluation, while Discovery highlights matches from variety of criteria. You can upgrade to the paid A-List plan to see who liked you, add more search filters, and more.
Overall, OKCupid is a good fit for people who want to try standard online dating without paying. It’s also less focused on hookups than some other options. Check out how OKCupid compares to some other dating apps if you’re interested.
Download: OKCupid for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
2. Tinder
You can’t have a discussion about dating apps for young adults with talking about Tinder. The app arguably popularized the dating app scene (succeeding past website-only dating services) and is still going strong.
Its interface is simple: swipe right if you like someone, and swipe left if you’re not interested. If two people swipe right on each other, they have the opportunity to exchange messages. But you can’t send messages to anyone without matching first—we’ve covered what to do after you match on Tinder previously.
That’s really all there is to it. The vast majority of Tinder users are under 35, so it’s a great choice for younger people. However, Tinder is heavily geared towards hookup culture. While it’s not impossible to find a long-term partner on Tinder, those looking for a serious relationship should keep that in mind.
Since Tinder matches you locally, there’s less chance that you’ll get matched with people hundreds of miles away like in other apps. The free version of Tinder limits the number of right swipes you get; upgrade to Tinder Plus or Tinder Gold to unlock more features.
Download: Tinder for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
3. PlentyOfFish
PlentyOfFish (POF) is another well-known free dating site. Its sheer size makes it a good option for finding a match, though sorting through all the noise can be a bit tough.
POF offers several ways to connect. Like OKCupid, it’s free to message anyone. You can also use the Nearby tab to look through other mobile users who are near you.
Of course, the service also brings you matches based on a chemistry test. Meanwhile, the Meet Me section brings the familiar Tinder-like interface of swiping on profiles.
An upgraded POF membership offers extended profiles, priority in Meet Me, username search, and more. A minor drawback is that PlentyOfFish’s interface is pretty dated and a bit cluttered, especially on the web. But it’s certainly worth a try.
Download: PlentyofFish for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
4. Bumble
If you like the idea of Tinder but want to shake it up a bit, Bumble is for you. This app uses the same swiping gestures and simple profiles as Tinder, but with one crucial difference: women always make the first move.
Once two people swipe-right on each other, the woman can choose whether or not to start a conversation. If she doesn’t do so within 24 hours, the match disappears. In a same-sex match, either person can initiate the conversation.
To help combat abuse, Bumble has a photo verification feature. This asks you to upload a selfie in a specific pose, which a real person reviews. Doing so adds a check mark to your account, letting others know you’re a legitimate profile.
Bumble offers a paid Bumble Boost service, which adds additional features.
Download: Bumble for Android | iOS (Free, subscription available)
5. Coffee Meets Bagel
If you find the onslaught of matches in other apps overwhelming, Coffee Meets Bagel (CMB) is for you. The app takes a curated approach: at noon each day, the app sends you a handful of matches (“bagels”). Thus, instead of swiping through tons of people’s profiles, you can check out a few and see if you’re interested in them.
Men receive pre-selected matches, while women only receive bagels that have expressed interest. Once you match, you’ll be able to start a conversation. CMB even provides some starter questions to ease you in.
Upgrading to CMB’s premium plan adds information about how often your matches respond to chats, read receipts, plus more features.
After you connect and chat in an app for a while, you’ll eventually want to meet your potential match in person. This is great, but it’s important to take care when doing so.
You should always meet in a public place, like a restaurant or coffee shop. Having lots of other people around reduces the chance of your date threatening you or something similar.
It’s also wise to drive yourself to the date (don’t let them pick you up). Let some friends or family know where you’re going and how long you expect to be, just in case something happens. You should also avoid drinking alcohol the first few times you meet to avoid that layer of complication.
Avoid Common Scams
Unfortunately, the free nature of many dating apps opens them widely to scams. Always be on the lookout for signs that a profile is looking to rip you off:
Their photos are edited or stolen
They jump all over the place in conversation
They ask you to chat on another app or via email right away
Aside from avoiding scams, you should also take steps to protect your privacy while using dating apps. Don’t use the same profile picture you have set everywhere, which makes it easy to find you online. Avoid linking to your social media accounts, and be careful what photos you include.
Will Online Dating Find Your Match?
Online dating sounds like a magic bullet, but it’s not easy. It’s a tough balance of expressing yourself, chatting with matches, and avoiding the potential dangers that come along with dating apps. Don’t be afraid to block people if they get creepy, and remember that building connections takes time.
We’re just hours away from Apple’s big iPhone event and it looks like the company may have leaked its own news. AllThings.how spotted the names of future Apple products on Apple’s own website.
According to AllThings.how, Apple updated the product sidemap file minutes before taking the Apple Store down to add the new product pages. And this sitemap pointed to pages of unreleased products.
In particular, you could see links to products pages for the iPhone Xs, the iPhone Xs Max and the iPhone Xr. It lines up with previous rumors.
According to previous rumors, Apple is going to update the iPhone X with better components. In addition to this rumored iPhone Xs, there will be a bigger version of this device — a gigantic 6.5-inch iPhone Xs Max. Finally, Apple is going to replace the iPhone 8 with the iPhone Xr, a 6.1-inch device with an LCD display and a design inspired by the iPhone X.
Based on this sitemap file, the iPhone Xs and Xs Max should come in space gray, silver or gold. You’ll get to choose between 64GB, 256GB and 512GB. The iPhone Xr should be available in black, white, red, yellow, coral or blue. Storage starts at 64GB as well, and you can pay a bit more to get 128GB or 256GB of storage.
In addition to iPhone names, the updated XML file contains interesting information about the new Apple Watch. A previous leaked image obtained by 9to5Mac showed a new edge-to-edge display.
And it looks like the Apple Watch display will be slightly larger indeed. According to today’s leak, the small Apple Watch will feature a 40mm display (instead of 38mm). The bigger version will sports a 44mm display (instead of 42mm). It doesn’t sound like a huge increase, but you should also see an improved screen resolution.
Finally, the sitemap doesn’t indicate any change in the iPad and Mac lineups. Maybe Apple won’t mention those products at all. The company might also talk about updates that will be available later this year. Or Apple could unveil updated devices in the coming months.
Again, this is just a sidemap and it doesn’t necessarily reflect the final names of those products. But given the timing of this leak, it sounds more than plausible.
Aclima, a San Francisco-based startup building Internet-connected air quality sensors has announced plans to integrate its mobile sensing platform into Google’s global fleet of Street View vehicles.
Google uses the Street View cars to map the land for Google Maps. Starting with 50 cars in Houston, Mexico City and Sydney, Aclima will capture air quality data by generating snapshots of carbon dioxide (CO2), carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxide (NO), nitrogen dioxide (NO2), ozone (O3), and particulate matter (PM2.5)while the Google cars roam the streets. The idea is to ascertain where there may be too much pollution and other breathing issues on a hyper local level in each metropolitan area. The data will then be made available as a public dataset on Google BigQuery.
Aclima has had a close relationship with Google for the past few years and this is not its first ride in Street View cars. The startup deployed its sensors in London earlier this year using Google’s vehicles and three years ago started working with the tech giant to ascertain air health within Google’s own campus as well as around the Bay Area.
“All that work culminated in a major scientific study,”Aclima founder Davida Herzl told TechCrunch, referring to a study published in Environmental Science and Technology revealing air pollution levels varied in difference five to eight times along a city street. “We found you can have the best air quality and the worst air quality all on the same street…Understanding that can help with everything from urban planning to understanding your personal exposure
That initial research now enables Aclima to scale up with Google’s Street View cars in the hopes of gathering even more data on a global basis. Google Street View cars cover the roads in all seven continents and have driven over 100,000 miles in just the state of California collecting over one billion data points since the initial project began with Aclima in 2015.
The first Street View cars with the updated Aclima sensors will hit the road this Fall in the Western United States, as well as in Europe, according to the company.
“These measurements can provide cities with new neighborhood-level insights to help cities accelerate efforts in their transition to smarter, healthier cities,” Karin Tuxen-Bettman, Program Manager for Google Earth Outreach said in a statement.
The European Parliament has just voted to back controversial proposals to reform online copyright — including supporting an extension to cover snippets of publishers content (Article 11), and to make platforms that hold significant amounts of content liable for copyright violations by their users (Article 13).
Plenary adopts it’s negotiating position on copyright rules for the digital single market. Negotiations with Council will begin soon. pic.twitter.com/hJOhClrZyf
Today’s plenary vote in the European parliament was on amended proposals that had been rejected by MEPs in a vote in July with parliamentarians arguing for a fuller debate and more balanced measures.
The vote is a major victory for MEP Axel Voss who has been driving the copyright reform.
MEPs largely backed Voss’ amended proposals today which had narrowed the scope of the rejected text, such as, in the case of Article 11, by allowing for links to contain individual words from the linked to publishers’ content — an attempt to respond to critics’ contention that the measure would outlaw hyperlinks (which can often contain the headline of an article).
On Article 13 Voss’ amended proposal had reduced the scope to platforms that both host “significant” amounts of content and also “promote” them. It also includes an exception for small businesses.
As the votes were announced a visibly delighted Voss beamed, clapped and hugged his seat neighbours, as well as giving a broad thumbs up to all those watching.
But critics and free speech advocates described it as a catastrophe.
MEP Marietje Schaake expressed disappointment with the result, telling us: “The Parliament squandered the opportunity to get the copyright reform on the right track. This is a disastrous result for the protection of our fundamental rights, ordinary internet users and Europe´s future in the field of artificial intelligence. We have set a step backwards instead of creating a true copyright reform that is fit for the 21st century.”
“Members of the house, a heartfelt thanks for the job that we have done together. This is a good sign for the creative industries in Europe,” said Voss after the vote, as he asked for the report to be sent back to committee to begin institutional negotiations with Member States, via the European Council.
MEPs duly obliged.
There was just one interruption prior to that last vote, with a single MEP standing up to denounce the result as “an enormous strike against freedom of speech on the Internet”. Proceedings continued.
Other amendments that had been tabled by MEPs but were rejected by the parliament as a whole included ditching the reforms entirely and leaving the current law as is.
Welcoming the parliament’s vote in a statement, the European Commission’s VP for the Digital Single Market Andrus Ansip and commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Mariya Gabriel, put out this joint statement:
We welcome today’s vote at the European Parliament. It is a strong and positive signal and an essential step to achieving our common objective of modernising the copyright rules in the European Union.
Discussions between the co-legislators can now start on a legislative proposal which is a key element of the Digital Single Market strategy and one of the priorities for the European Commission.
Our aim for this reform is to bring tangible benefits for EU citizens, researchers, educators, writers, artists, press and cultural heritage institutions and to open up the potential for more creativity and content by clarifying the rules and making them fit for the digital world. At the same time, we aim to safeguard free speech and ensure that online platforms – including 7,000 European online platforms – can develop new and innovative offers and business models.
The Commission stands ready to start working with the European Parliament and the Council of the EU, so that the directive can be approved as soon as possible, ideally by the end of 2018. We are fully committed to working with the co-legislators in order to achieve a balanced and positive outcome enabling a true modernisation of the copyright legislation that Europe needs.
Also very happy with the result a swathe of creative industries.
The European Publishers Council welcome the adoption of the Publisher’s neighbouring right. In a statement its exec director, Angela Mills Wade, said: “Today, we give credit to MEPs who voted for press freedom, democracy, professional journalism and European values. We thank the Rapporteur, Axel Voss, MEP, for working tirelessly to achieve a balanced outcome.”
While the parliament has now agreed its position on the reform the process is not yet over. There will be trilogue negotiations with Member State representatives, via the European Council, and a final vote — likely early next year.
Now that Parliament and Council have adopted their positions, we will have one final chance to reject #UploadFilters and #LinkTax in the final vote on the directive after trilogue, probably in the spring. Talk to your governments meanwhile! #SaveYourInternet
Commenting on the parliament’s vote, the Computer & Communications Industry Association, which is also not a supported of the reforms, urged the Council and Parliament to “come to a balanced outcome in final negotiations”.
“We regret that a majority of Members of the European Parliament today ignored the warnings of the online sector, academics, innovative publishers, research institutions and civil rights groups on the real threats this proposal causes,” said its senior policy manager, Maud Sacquet, in a statement.
BEUC, the European Consumer Organisation, also denounced the result of the plenary vote, warning that if the plans MEPs backed today become EU law the “benefits of the Internet for consumers will be at risk”.
“It is beyond comprehension that time and again EU policy makers refuse to bring copyright law into the 21st century. Consumers nowadays express themselves by sampling, creating and mixing music, videos and pictures, then sharing their creations online. MEPs have decided to thwart this freedom of expression which is dangerous for creativity and innovation,” said Monique Goyens, director general of BEUC, in a statement.
“The consequence of this vote is clear. Platforms will have no other option than to scan and filter any content that consumers want to upload. Experience shows that this will lead to many uploads being unjustifiably blocked. This is not the type of internet consumers need or expect. This protectionist reform will only benefit the copyright industry at the expense of consumers.”
Adobe Illustrator is a popular design choice when creating infographics. If you need to incorporate a table into your designs, there’s a handy setting that makes creating tables pretty simple.
To create a table in Adobe Illustrator, open a new document and do the following:
Click on the Rectangle tool or use the keyboard shortcut M.
If you know the exact dimensions for your table, click anywhere in the canvas and enter the width and height of your rectangle. You can also just freehand draw the rectangle if you prefer.
With your rectangle selected, you can change the fill and stroke color with the top Illustrator menu.
Once you’ve made those selections, with the rectangle still selected, go to Object > Path > Split into Grid
In the dialog box that opens, you can choose the following: the number of rows and row height; the number of columns and column width; the gutter between your rows and columns; and the total size of your table. If you want to see how your table will look before committing to your settings, make sure that Preview is checked.
Once you’ve made your selections, click OK.
The resulting table will actually be a series of separate squares or rectangles depending on your dimensions. If you want to move or resize your table, be sure to select all the shapes using Ctrl/Cmd + A and grouping them together using the keyboard shortcut Ctrl/Cmd + G.
You can make changes to your table after the fact. Just select the entire table and go through the same steps above to change the number of rows and columns, or to change the fill and stroke of your cells.
You can also manually change the dimensions of the table by selecting all the sells and dragging the anchor points to make the entire table (or specific rows/columns) narrower or wider.
The European Union’s executive body is doubling down on its push for platforms to pre-filter the Internet, publishing a proposal today for all websites to monitor uploads in order to be able to quickly remove terrorist uploads.
The Commission handed platforms an informal one-hour rule for removing terrorist content back in March. It’s now proposing turning that into a law to prevent such content spreading its violent propaganda over the Internet.
For now the ‘rule of thumb’ regime continues to apply. But it’s putting meat on the bones of its thinking, fleshing out a more expansive proposal for a regulation aimed at “preventing the dissemination of terrorist content online”.
As per usual EU processes, the Commission’s proposal would need to gain the backing of Member States and the EU parliament before it could be cemented into law.
One major point to note here is that existing EU law does not allow Member States to impose a general obligation on hosting service providers to monitor the information that users transmit or store. But in the proposal the Commission argues that, given the “grave risks associated with the dissemination of terrorist content”, states could be allowed to “exceptionally derogate from this principle under an EU framework”.
So it’s essentially suggesting that Europeans’ fundamental rights might not, in fact, be so fundamental. (Albeit, European judges might well take a different view — and it’s very likely the proposals could face legal challenges should they be cast into law.)
What is being suggested would also apply to any hosting service provider that offers services in the EU — “regardless of their place of establishment or their size”. So, seemingly, not just large platforms, like Facebook or YouTube, but — for example — anyone hosting a blog that includes a free-to-post comment section.
Websites that fail to promptly take down terrorist content would face fines — with the level of penalties being determined by EU Member States (Germany has already legislated to enforce social media hate speech takedowns within 24 hours, setting the maximum fine at €50M).
“Penalties are necessary to ensure the effective implementation by hosting service providers of the obligations pursuant to this Regulation,” the Commission writes, envisaging the most severe penalties being reserved for systematic failures to remove terrorist material within one hour.
It adds: “When determining whether or not financial penalties should be imposed, due account should be taken of the financial resources of the provider.” So — for example — individuals with websites who fail to moderate their comment section fast enough might not be served the very largest fines, presumably.
The proposal also encourages platforms to develop “automated detection tools” so they can take what it terms “proactive measures proportionate to the level of risk and to remove terrorist material from their services”.
So the Commission’s continued push for Internet pre-filtering is clear. (This is also a feature of the its copyright reform — which is being voted on by MEPs later today.)
Albeit, it’s not alone on that front. Earlier this year the UK government went so far as to pay an AI company to develop a terrorist propaganda detection tool that used machine learning algorithms trained to automatically detect propaganda produced by the Islamic State terror group — with a claimed “extremely high degree of accuracy”. (At the time it said it had not ruled out forcing tech giants to use it.)
What is terrorist content for the purposes of this proposals? The Commission refers to an earlier EU directive on combating terrorism — which defines the material as “information which is used to incite and glorify the commission of terrorist offences, encouraging the contribution to and providing instructions for committing terrorist offences as well as promoting participation in terrorist groups”.
And on that front you do have to wonder whether, for example, some of U.S. president Donald Trump’s comments last year after the far right rally in Charlottesville where a counter protestor was murdered by a white supremacist — in which he suggested there were “fine people” among those same murderous and violent white supremacists might not fall under that ‘glorifying the commission of terrorist offences’ umbrella, should, say, someone repost them to a comment section that was viewable in the EU…
Safe to say, even terrorist propaganda can be subjective. And the proposed regime will inevitably encourage borderline content to be taken down — having a knock-on impact upon online freedom of expression.
The Commission also wants websites and platforms to share information with law enforcement and other relevant authorities and with each other — suggesting the use of “standardised templates”, “response forms” and “authenticated submission channels” to facilitate “cooperation and the exchange of information”.
It tackles the problem of what it refers to as “erroneous removal” — i.e. content that’s removed after being reported or erroneously identified as terrorist propaganda but which is subsequently, under requested review, determined not to be — by placing an obligation on providers to have “remedies and complaint mechanisms to ensure that users can challenge the removal of their content”.
So platforms and websites will be obligated to police and judge speech — which they already do do, of course but the proposal doubles down on turning online content hosters into judges and arbiters of that same content.
The regulation also includes transparency obligations on the steps being taken against terrorist content by hosting service providers — which the Commission claims will ensure “accountability towards users, citizens and public authorities”.
The Commission envisages all taken down content being retained by the host for a period of six months so that it could be reinstated if required, i.e. after a valid complaint — to ensure what it couches as “the effectiveness of complaint and review procedures in view of protecting freedom of expression and information”.
It also sees the retention of takedowns helping law enforcement — meaning platforms and websites will continue to be co-opted into state law enforcement and intelligence regimes, getting further saddled with the burden and cost of having to safely store and protect all this sensitive data.
(On that the EC just says: “Hosting service providers need to put in place technical and organisational safeguards to ensure the data is not used for other purposes.”)
The Commission would also create a system for monitoring the monitoring it’s proposing platforms and websites undertake — thereby further extending the proposed bureaucracy, saying it would establish a “detailed programme for monitoring the outputs, results and impacts” within one year of the regulation being applied; and report on the implementation and the transparency elements within two years; evaluating the entire functioning of it four years after it’s coming into force.
The executive body says it consulted widely ahead of forming the proposals — including running an open public consultation, carrying out a survey of 33,500 EU residents, and talking to Member States’ authorities and hosting service providers.
“By and large, most stakeholders expressed that terrorist content online is a serious societal problem affecting internet users and business models of hosting service providers,” the Commission writes. “More generally, 65% of respondent to the Eurobarometer survey considered that the internet is not safe for its users and 90% of the respondents consider it important to limit the spread of illegal content online.
“Consultations with Member States revealed that while voluntary arrangements are producing results, many see the need for binding obligations on terrorist content, a sentiment echoed in the European Council Conclusions of June 2018. While overall, the hosting service providers were in favour of the continuation of voluntary measures, they noted the potential negative effects of emerging legal fragmentation in the Union.
“Many stakeholders also noted the need to ensure that any regulatory measures for removal of content, particularly proactive measures and strict timeframes, should be balanced with safeguards for fundamental rights, notably freedom of speech. Stakeholders noted a number of necessary measures relating to transparency, accountability as well as the need for human review in deploying automated tools.”
If you do a lot of selling on eBay, you might end up paying out a small fortune in shipping fees. It doesn’t have to be that way. You can save yourself some money by combing your shipping into a single delivery!
Before You Combine Shipments on eBay
Of course, eBay is not like Amazon. Goods are not dispatched from a central warehouse. Instead, you sell products to individual buyers all over the globe—and you are responsible for organizing the shipping.
Therefore, you cannot expect to combine shipping for an item sent to a buyer in China and an item sent to a buyer in the United States.
Indeed, the ability to combine shipping on eBay is only available if you’re selling multiple items to the same person. Still, if someone has put in several orders over the course of a few days, you might find the trick useful.
How to Combine Shipping on eBay
To combine shipping on eBay into a single delivery, follow the instructions below:
Log into your eBay account.
In the top left-hand corner of the window, navigate to My eBay > Selling.
In the expandable menu on the left-hand side of the screen, go to Sell > Sold.
Mark the checkboxes next to the names of the items you want to combine into a single delivery.
Enter the new shipping charge when requested.
And finally, click on Send Invoice email the latest information to the buyer.
Mirror text or reversed text isn’t something you would think of using in a professional Microsoft Word document. But this feature could have interesting cosmetic applications. Maybe, you want to make a drop cap letter more interesting or want to design a prettier printable invite with a horizontal flip of the text.
The important thing is that you do so in Microsoft Word and we see how in the steps below.
How to Reverse or Mirror Text in Microsoft Word
You do not get to click a single button to reverse text in Microsoft Word. Instead, you have to take the help of the Text box and the Format Shape controls to flip text around. These steps work across Office 365 and Office 2016 tools like Word, PowerPoint, Excel, and Outlook.
To insert a text or even a single letter, go to Insert > Text Box. Now, type your text and then format it.
With the box selected, right-click the box and click Format Shape.
The Format Shape panel is displayed on the right. Click on the second icon for Effects.
Under 3-D Rotation, in the X Rotation box, enter 180 degrees to mirror the text. You can also set other rotations as 0 degrees and the Y Rotation to 180 and make the text mirrored and flipped upside down.
As a finishing touch, select the text box shape and set Shape Fill to “No Fill” and Shape Outline to “No Outline”.
Apple is holding a keynote today on its new and shiny campus in Cupertino, and the company is expected to unveil new iPhones, an updated Apple Watch and maybe some other things. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.
Apple’s September is the company’s most anticipated event. And that’s because Apple releases new iPhone models every September. Rumor has it that the company should unveil three new devices, including an updated iPhone X, a bigger version of this phone and a new model to replace the iPhone 8 with a notch design.
If you have an Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. The app icon has been updated a few days ago for the event.
And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed has always worked in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And just like this year’s WWDC keynote, the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:
Safari on the Mac or iOS.
Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on the Mac or Windows 10.
An Apple TV with the Apple Events app in the App Store.
Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.
Apple is holding a keynote today on its new and shiny campus in Cupertino, and the company is expected to unveil new iPhones, an updated Apple Watch and maybe some other things. At 10 AM PT (1 PM in New York, 6 PM in London, 7 PM in Paris), you’ll be able to watch the event as the company is streaming it live.
Apple’s September is the company’s most anticipated event. And that’s because Apple releases new iPhone models every September. Rumor has it that the company should unveil three new devices, including an updated iPhone X, a bigger version of this phone and a new model to replace the iPhone 8 with a notch design.
If you have an Apple TV, you can download the Apple Events app in the App Store. It lets you stream today’s event and rewatch old events. The app icon has been updated a few days ago for the event.
And if you don’t have an Apple TV, the company also lets you live-stream the event from the Apple Events section on its website. This video feed has always worked in Safari and Microsoft Edge. And just like this year’s WWDC keynote, the video should also work in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox.
So to recap, here’s how you can watch today’s Apple event:
Safari on the Mac or iOS.
Microsoft Edge on Windows 10.
Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox on the Mac or Windows 10.
An Apple TV with the Apple Events app in the App Store.
Of course, you also can read TechCrunch’s live blog if you’re stuck at work and really need our entertaining commentary track to help you get through your day. We have a big team in the room this year.
Have you ever wanted to see one of your “hate-reads” stretched out to feature-film length? If so, you’ll want to watch HBO’s new documentary, “Swiped,” which takes a depressing, trigger-inducing and damning look at online dating culture, and specifically Tinder’s outsized influence in the dating app business.
The film evolved from journalist Nancy Jo Sales’ 2015 Vanity Fair piece, entitled “Tinder and the Dawn of the ‘Dating Apocalypse,” which was criticized at the time for its narrow focus on 20-something, largely heterosexual women in an urban setting. The piece had extrapolated out their personal dating struggles and turned them into condemnation of the entire online dating market.
But the VF piece was actually more memorable for Tinder’s response.
In a 30-tweet tirade (that’s still some of the best of the internet, mind you), the company lost its ever-lovin’ mind on both Vanity Fair and Nancy Jo Sales alike.
One sample tweet from the Tinder meltdown: “@VanityFair: Little know fact: sex was invented in 2012 when Tinder was launched.”
Ah, take that! Right?! Right?
Despite the complete PR buffoonery, Tinder had a point.
The VF piece wasn’t representative of Tinder’s larger user base, only a sliver. And the complaints from a few users couldn’t be used to make a point about the entire industry.
Besides, what exactly was unique about those complaints?
Was it truly swipe culture to blame for the mistakes made in dating and sexual experimentation, when you’re young? Don’t you at least once or twice have to choose the wrong person, so you can begin to triangulate on what’s right?
Unfortunately, the film doesn’t fully correct the article’s problem in terms of its demographic samplings.
It still mostly relies on anecdotes told by (usually drunk) 20-somethings, which are then spliced up by the occasional expert commentary.
And the subjects are often really, really drunk.
There’s one scene where a young woman is so wasted, it’s hard to believe she gave the filmmaker informed consent to use her footage.
(Not the one below. But I’m pretty sure those Solo cups aren’t filled with lemonade.)
Meanwhile, the expert commentary has its highlights, too.
There’s one expert – April Alliston, a Princeton professor – who breastfeeds her baby on camera while giving her commentary on pornography. (Oh yes, please discuss rape porn while the baby suckles your breast, thank you very much.)
Look how cool and progressive we are! is the unspoken subtext, even as the film continues to subtly vilify casual sex among young adults, or act as if Tinder itself is somehow entirely responsible for the callous behavior of its users.
Unlike the magazine article, the film does slightly expand its cast of characters to include gender non-conforming and other LGBTQ people, more people of color, and – well, it’s Tinder! – a couple interested in threesomes.
But the general slice of the Tinder user base interviewed remains young, urban, and, in some cases, fairly vapid.
As for “Swiped’s” milieu, much of its action is in the city.
Specifically, scene after scene in the film is labeled, “New York, New York,” as if the experiences of people in this competitive and unique market – a place where leveling up to something better is a way of life – could somehow represent a universal truth applicable to all of Tinder’s estimated 50 million users.
The film does, however, cover nearly everything that’s awful about dating apps – from young men ordering girls to their door as if it’s a meal from Seamless, to the overwhelming sense of dread and the depression that results from being on dating apps – or really, the internet itself – for too long.
There are also scenes touching nearly every Tinder trope:
The sending of dick pics; men posing with fish in their profile photos; that supposedly happy couple “looking for a third” (spoiler alert: they’re not happy and are broken up by end of film); the “DTF?” come-ons; and basically every other reason people delete these apps in the first place.
Where the film is somewhat stronger is when it talks about the very real psychological tricks Tinder and other dating apps have adopted to keep users engaged and addicted to swiping.
Tinder, it’s pointed out, uses gamification techniques: Brain tricks like intermittent variable rewards that are proven to work on pigeons, no less!
You see, if you don’t know when you’re getting the reward – a treat, a match, etc. – you end up playing the game more often, the psychologists explain.
One of the better quotes on this topic comes from Tinder co-founder and CSO Jonathan Badeen, where he essentially compares the act of using Tinder to doing drugs or gambling.
“We have some of these game-like elements, where you almost feel like you’re being rewarded,” says Baden. “It kinda works like a slot machine, where you’re excited to see who the next person is, or, hopefully, you’re excited to see ‘did I get the match?’ and get that ‘It’s a Match’ screen? It’s a nice little rush,” he enthuses.
Yeah.
Yikes.
Of course, these are concerns that extend beyond the online dating app industry.
Apple and Google, for example, have just launched screen time controls aimed at giving us a chance at fighting back at the dangerous dark patterns and brain hacks these apps use. (Apple’s toolset is only arriving in iOS 12 – which is just now getting to the public.)
It’s certainly fair to criticize companies like Tinder and Bumble for bringing these gamification tricks into delicate areas like those where the focus is supposedly on forming real human connections or “finding love.” But it’s disingenuous to act as if this is something unique to Tinder (et al) and not just, generally, the god-awful state of the tech industry as a whole at present.
The only other worthwhile part to “Swiped” is where the film points out that no one knows if any of these addictive apps actually succeed in helping people find real relationships.
Dating app companies don’t have any data on how many lasting relationships result from their app’s usage, “Swiped” finds. It’s odd, as tech companies are usually data hungry beasts. And success rates would seemingly be the exact kind of metric a company claiming to solve issues around relationship-finding would want to track.
Though everyone today seems to know someone who “met on an app,” it’s unclear what portion of the user base is actually finding long-term success with those relationships. The dating app companies have no idea, either, the film proclaims.
Asked how many people who met on Tinder got married or ended up in committed relationships, Jessica Carbino, a sociologist at Tinder, tells the filmmaker: “we do not have that information available.” She then adds she’s “inundated with emails” from Tinder users getting married and having babies.
(She also hilariously defends casual hookups as something that people go to church to pursue, too, so don’t blame Tinder for that! I mean, sometimes this film is just comedy gold, I swear.)
Of course, with a user base in the tens of millions, a good handful of happy emails should be expected. It’s definitely not evidence that Tinder is any better than the alternative – bars, blind dates, introductions through friends, etc.
The film then drives this particular point home by citing user studies by both Tinder and the more relationship-focused dating app Hinge, which seem indicate that swiped-based dating doesn’t work.
“80% of Tinder users are looking for a serious relationship,” says one Tinder survey. The text then fades, and the next statistic, this time from Hinge, appears.
“81% of users have never found a long-term relationship on any swiping app,” it says.
By the end of the film, it’s clear you’re expected to delete Tinder and all the other dating apps off your phone and get on with your life.
However, as with Facebook and social media, backlash doesn’t mean abandonment.
Tinder’s swipe culture is the new normal. It’s right to hold it accountable in areas it can do better – reporting and abuse, for example – but it’s not going away anytime soon.
As you’re probably already aware, Apple is holding an iPhone press event (at 10am PDT) on September 12. During the press conference, subtitled “Gather Round”, Apple is expected to announce new iPhones, a new Apple Watch, and potentially a new iPad and AirPods.
You may be planning to watch the event through your web browser. However, you can now watch it on Twitter instead, with Apple teasing that it’s going to be live streaming the whole thing on the social network for the first time in its history.
Apple Invites Twitter Users to Gather Round
Like no other company in existence Apple likes to make a big song and dance about its product launches. Other companies try, but compared to the number of people who turn up to, and tune into, Apple events they may as well not bother.
In previous years Apple has been unnecessarily strict on the ways ordinary punters can watch Apple events. Until WWDC earlier this year you had to use either Safari or Edge, or watch on your Apple TV. Then Chrome and Firefox users were invited to the party.
Join us September 12 at 10 a.m. PDT to watch the #AppleEvent live on Twitter. Tap ?? below and we’ll send you updates on event day. pic.twitter.com/i9mGHTKhvu
Now, Apple is even letting the reprobates who hang out on Twitter all day watch the unveiling of its new iPhone. We know thanks to the promotional tweet above inviting you to tap Like in order to receive updates on the day.
The wording of the tweet strongly suggests the event will be live streamed on Twitter as well. And TechCrunch has since confirmed that this is indeed the case. So, no matter where you are tomorrow you can watch Apple unveil its newest shiny shiny to the world.
For the Legion of Apple Fans Around the World
For those of you with no interest in new iPhones, iPads, and Apple Watches this will mean very little. However, for the legion of Apple fans keen to be first in line on launch day, being able to watch the Apple iPhone event live on Twitter will be an exciting prospect.
The Chrome 69 update brought with it a raft of changes. Most were positive and well received. There were one or two eye-raisers, though. For instance, Google has unilaterally decided to remove certain important features of the familiar URL, in line with their overall reduction in clutter around the browser address bar.
Google claims the change only removes “trivial” characters that most people don’t pay attention to. But does removing the supposedly trivial characters actually increase your chance of landing on the wrong website? Let’s take a look.
Google Chrome 69 Removes “WWW” From URLs
Google Chrome 69 rolled out in September 2018 with a few interesting changes. Two things have grabbed the headlines:
Chrome 69 does away with the green “https://” protocol notifier, replacing it with a simple green padlock. The green padlock represents a secure, HTTPS site and is meant to make it easier to check if your data is secure quickly.
Also, as part of the same update, Chrome 69 drops URL subdomain information. In many cases, this means removing “www” from the URL.
The first change makes sense, at least in some ways. Combining the “Secure” tag, the existing padlock, and the “https://” protocol notifier into a single padlock does make it easier for almost everyone to spot if the site is secure or not. And when you visit a site that isn’t secured with HTTPS, the “Not secure” notification still displays. (The “Not secure” notifier will turn red in Chrome 70.)
The second change—to remove subdomain information from URLs—doesn’t make sense. Removing “www” from the URL is at best irksome and silly, and at worst could cause unsuspecting users to land on completely different sites. Worse still, Google removed the subdomains without mentioning it beforehand.
What Does Removing “WWW” From URLs Mean?
Subdomains are really important to how the internet functions.
On a basic level, “makeuseof.com” and “www.makeuseof.com” are different. They are different URLs, that could lead to different sites and even have separate DNS records.
The change also affects “m.” subdomains. For instance, m.facebook.com becomes just regular facebook.com but still shows the mobile site. The system works for Facebook. Other sites, not so much. Been to m.tumblr.com recently? Not likely, because it isn’t the Tumblr mobile site, despite how the URL looks. Rather, it is someone’s personal Tumblr domain, named “m.”
“People have a really hard time understanding URLs,” Chrome engineering manager Adrienne Porter Felt told Wired. “They’re hard to read, it’s hard to know which part of them is supposed to be trusted, and in general I don’t think URLs are working as a good way to convey site identity. So we want to move toward a place where web identity is understandable by everyone: They know who they’re talking to when they’re using a website, and they can reason about whether they can trust them. But this will mean big changes in how and when Chrome displays URLs. We want to challenge how URLs should be displayed and question it as we’re figuring out the right way to convey identity.”
Why Shouldn’t Google Remove Subdomains?
The unexpected changes have met backlash across the internet. And for a range of reasons, too. Here are some of the main talking points.
1. Google Is Trying to Destroy the URL
Is Google using Chrome as an experimental URL-killing battleground? Some commenters think so. URLs are an important part of most internet users browsing experience removing the security that comes with a clear URL will expose more users to phishing attacks.
Despite what Adrienne Porter Felt said in the Wired interview, the “https://www.” aspect of a URL isn’t the difficult bit to read, it is just regular internet nomenclature that requires basic education. The difficult to understand bits of a URL come from the pathnames that follow the initial domain name, including cryptic file names and extensions.
Without being demeaning, the internet is a vital part of life and is now 25 year’s old. Learning to read and understand a domain name is important.
2. Google Wants AMP to Replace All URLs
Critics of Google’s AMP Project think that the move to obliterate subdomains from URLs, and therefore any Chrome address bar on any device, is a ploy to further the mobile optimizer. Google AMP essentially caches web pages and serves them as optimized mobile sites.
While many sites now have functional mobile sites, the AMP service basically forces publishers to let Google take control of their page views. Why would they do this? Otherwise, the publisher’s articles are extremely unlikely to appear in the Top Stories section of Google mobile search. Oh, and in the process, Google takes control of the monetization process, too. The user experience is great, mind, and it does cut down on malvertising and rogue advertising networks.
Google AMP critics posture that by hiding the “amp.” subdomain from users, Google will eventually funnel all web content through the service, ergo becoming the overlords of internet content. (As if they are not already.)
Head to chrome://flags/#omnibox-ui-hide-steady-state-url-scheme-and-subdomains (you might have to copy and paste the link into Google Chrome, and the specific link only works if you are using Google Chrome 69). Using the dropdown box, select Disabled, then relaunch your browser for the change to take effect.
However, if you don’t want to make the change back but do want to double-check you’re using the correct URL, just click the Chrome address bar. The full URL will display, along with its (hopefully) https:// protocol notifier.
Is This the End of the URL as We Know It?
Back in 2013, Google ran an experiment in Chromium, Google’s open-source Chrome project. The “origin chip” experiment switched the traditional browser address bar for a cleaner design, shifting domain details (including bits like the issuing certificate authority) over to the right. The idea received a fair amount of backlash from Chromium users and didn’t continue for long, but that didn’t stop it appearing in Chrome 38 back in 2014.
The Wired article (linked earlier in this article) was telling in many ways. URLs are definitely set to change. Parisa Tabriz, director of engineering at Chrome, said that “Whatever we [Google] propose is going to be controversial […] But it’s important we do something because everyone is unsatisfied by URLs. They kind of suck.”
It’s easier than ever to create music on your iPhone, even if you don’t have a musical background. You don’t need to know how to read music, play an instrument, or even understand musical concepts like chords and scales.
There are apps for every skill level, every budget, and (virtually) every genre of music you wish to create. Try your hand at shiny pop songs, complex breakcore, or even string-heavy cinematic scores.
Today we won’t focus on individual instruments, but all-in-one workstations, playthings, and musical tools to get the job done.
1. Auxy
Auxy is the best music production app on the iOS platform. While many apps try to rewrite the rules when it comes to creating beats and loops, Auxy only tries to simplify the process. The result is a free app that’s approachable, while offering serious power to those who know how to use it.
Use the piano roll editor to write looping melodies and bass lines, and create intricate drum patterns using pre-set or custom drum instruments. You can then arrange your patterns in scenes to create finished productions. Share them to SoundCloud, or export as uncompressed WAVs for further tweaking in your desktop digital audio workstation (DAW).
Auxy is free to download, with $5 monthly subscription to unlock additional instruments, thousands of samples, and the ability to import your own sounds. There’s more than enough here to keep you happy for a few weeks while you figure out how to use the app before you open your wallet.
GarageBand is one of Apple’s best-known pieces of software. The Mac version has been used by artists like Rihanna, Justice, and Oasis as part of their creative process. It’s now available for free, in the palm of your hand, and makes great use of the touchscreen.
The app includes a great range of virtual instruments. You’ll find everything from drums and drum machines, to stringed instruments like violins, virtual pianos and keyboards, and even virtual amplifiers for use with real guitars. With these tools and the sequencer you can create songs that sound great in very little time.
Then there’s Apple’s library of royalty-free samples, available to use however you see fit. You can fuse these with your own creations, record a rough vocal mix with your iPhone’s microphone, and create demos using just your phone. Learn how to use GarageBand with our step-by-step guide.
Before I became horribly addicted to Auxy, Figure was my musical toy of choice. It’s an insanely easy to pick up musical plaything, and I’ve created hundreds of loops with it. I attribute most of Figure’s allure to its rigidly restrictive three instrument setup.
You get one drum machine, one lead synth, and one bass synth. There are a multitude of instruments for each element, which you can mix and match. Record synth parts by tapping, holding, and swiping the XY pads. Adjust the range of the scale, change the key, and fine-tune the sound till you’re happy.
You can free-hand the drums or use the built-in quantization to effortlessly build beats, then blend it all together. Figure used to cost $1, but it’s now a free app. Download it right now and have a play, or check out some of the mixes people have created with Figure.
KORG’s lineup of iOS apps is almost as impressive as its range of hardware instruments. Gadget is a fully fledged audio workstation, featuring lead and bass synthesizers, analog and sample-based drum machines, and a sampler for recording external sound. The app was previously iPad-only, but now works flawlessly on the small iPhone screen too.
The app includes a powerful sequencer to tie all your gadgets together, with full automation and MIDI support. There’s also a built-in community, allowing you to share your creations and listen to what others have made for inspiration.
KORG Gadget is a full-featured iPhone and iPad musical workstation, and it’s not cheap. Fortunately there’s a light version to sample before you buy, though it limits you to three gadgets over three tracks. Advanced features like MIDI export, exporting to Ableton, Audiobus support, and more are disabled until you upgrade.
If you’re interested in creating chiptune, SunVox is the best iOS app for the job. Fair warning though: this app isn’t for the faint of heart. SunVox is a fully fledged pattern-based sequencer that uses a tracker interface.
The app includes numerous modular synthesizers and effects processors, including an analog generator, a drum synthesizer with 120 built-in sounds, echo, distortion, reverb, vocal filter, and a module for building your own synths and effects.
If you’re going to jump into SunVox (and there’s a lot to get stuck into) be sure you familiarize yourself with the user manual. You can also download SunVox for Windows, Linux, and macOS for free.
Just like Figure, iKaossilator is a musical tool that breaks down the boundaries. It’s based on KORG’s pricey Kaossilator hardware, which uses an XY touchpad to manipulate the 150 built-in sounds to create weird and wonderful pieces of music.
The provides you with five channels of sound, which you can toggle at will. You can then take these channels, remix them across your projects, and control your loops in real time. iKaossilator is as much of a performance tool as it is a creative one.
It’s probably most valuable when generating ideas, rather than creating finished productions. It’s possible to export your creations, or upload them directly to SoundCloud if you’re into that.
AudioBus isn’t a music making app, but it’s instrumental in many productions. The app allows you to route audio from one source to another, so you can take the output from a synthesizer or drum machine, add effects with an audio processor, then record it in your workstation.
AudioBus 2 is the cheaper, more linear version, but it hasn’t seen an update since 2017. Meanwhile, AudioBus 3 is currently maintained and does everything AudioBus 2 does. It has more options for routing multiple apps, plus full support for MIDI.
Many apps on this list, like GarageBand and KORG Gadget, already support AudioBus. Check out the full list of AudioBus-compatible apps on the AudioBus website. Check out AUM ($19) if you’re looking for a similar app with baked-in recording abilities.
Loopy is the original looping sampler app for iPhone; Loopy HD works on the iPad too. The app’s premise is incredibly simple, and it’s won praise over the years for its reliable construction and low-latency approach to recording audio.
Loopy offers six, nine, or 12 blank loops, onto which you can record and layer sounds. These can come from your device’s microphone, other apps using AudioCopy and AudioBus, or recording interfaces like guitar inputs.
You can then manipulate and tweak your sounds, chance the tempo, merge tracks together, and overdub recordings on top of others. There’s MIDI control for using Loopy with a foot pedal, making it an ideal tool for live musicians and street performers.
This is a small sample of the huge number of apps that enable you to use your mobile device to create music. We’ve avoided dedicated synthesizer and instrument apps in favor of apps that make creating music more accessible.
The sophisticated head-tracking system like the one built into the iPhone X may have been intended for AR and security purposes, but it may also turn out to be very useful for people with disabilities. A proof of concept app from an eBay intern shows how someone with very little motor function can navigate the site with nothing but head movements.
Muratcan Cicek is one such person, and relies on assistive technology every day to read, work, and get around. This year he was interning at eBay and decided to create a tool that would help people with motor impairments like his to shop online. Turns out there are lots of general-purpose tools for accessibility, like letting a user control a cursor with their eyes or a joystick, but nothing made just for navigating a site like eBay or Amazon.
His creation, HeadGaze, relies on the iPhone X’s front-facing sensor array (via ARKit) to track the user’s head movements. Different movements correspond to different actions in a demonstration app that shows the online retailer’s daily deals: navigate through categories and products by tilting your head all the way in various directions, or tilt partway down to buy, save, or share.
You can see it in action in the short video below:
It’s not that this is some huge revolution in interface — there are some apps and services that do this, though perhaps not in such a straightforward and extensible way as this.
But it’s easy to underestimate the cognitive load created when someone has to navigate a UI that’s designed around senses or limbs they don’t have. To create something like this isn’t necessarily simple, but it’s useful and relatively straightforward, and the benefits to a person like Cicek are substantial.
Considering this was a summer project by an intern, there’s not much of an excuse for companies with thousands of developers to not have something like it available for their apps or storefronts. And it’s not like you couldn’t think of other ways to use it. As Cicek writes:
HeadGaze enables you to scroll and interact on your phone with only subtle head movements. Think of all the ways that this could be brought to life. Tired of trying to scroll through a recipe on your phone screen with greasy fingers while cooking? Too messy to follow the how-to manual on your cell phone while you’re tinkering with the car engine under the hood? Too cold to remove your gloves to use your phone?
He and his colleagues are also looking into actual gaze-tracking to augment the head movements, but that’s still a ways off. Maybe you can help.
In 
The sending of dick pics; men posing with fish in their profile photos; that supposedly happy couple “looking for a third” (spoiler alert: they’re not happy and are broken up by end of film); the “DTF?” come-ons; and basically every other reason people delete these apps in the first place.
