The 10 Best Chinese Shopping Sites That Ship to the US

Most internet users will be familiar with AliExpress, but it’s far from being the only Chinese website that ships to the US. While you might not be able to find luxury items from the world’s top brands, Chinese shopping sites are great for cheap electronics, basic clothing, and items for around the home.

Here are the best Chinese shopping sites that ship to the United States.

1. AliExpress

AliExpress is arguably the most well-known Chinese commerce website. With revenues of $40 billion, it’s also the largest; it earns almost four times more money than eBay.

Unlike Amazon, AliExpress doesn’t sell any products itself. Instead, it’s an e-commerce platform; it connects you with third-party sellers. The sellers are predominantly based in China, but there are also vendors in other South-East Asian countries.

Many vendors offer free shipping, but deliveries will take longer to arrive. You can also use DHL, UPS, FedEx, and other international couriers.

If you’re thinking about making a purchase on AliExpress, make sure you check out our guide to avoiding scams on the service before you hit the “Buy” button.

2. Banggood

We spoke about Banggood when we reviewed the best sites for buying cheap electronics. Although electronics is the site’s main focus, you will also find sports equipment, fashion accessories, jewelry, and health products.

The business itself has been around since 2004, making it one of the older Chinese sites that ships to the United States.

Orders above $25 qualify for free shipping. Again, however, be warned that free deliveries can take a long time to arrive. We’re talking months, not weeks.

Banggood is well-blessed when it comes to payment methods. Credit cards, wire transfers, and PayPal are all supported, as are a host of third-party options like iDEAL and Dotpay.

3. GearBest

GearBest is much newer than the two sites we have looked at so far. It has only existed since 2014.

The site has close ties with Chinese smartphone manufacturer Xiaomi and offers much better deals on the company’s products than you would be able to find in a domestic store.

Other categories that the site covers include Baby and Kids, Home and Garden, Appliances, and Electrical and Tools.

GearBest is also great for non-US residents. The only two countries that it will not ship to are Palestine and South Sudan.

The site offers four shipping methods: unregistered, registered, priority, and expedited shipping. American residents can use all four plans. Unregistered shipping is free and takes up to 40 days. The price of the fastest option—expedited—is calculated by weight. It takes three to seven days.

GearBest does have US-based warehouses which can significantly reduce the time and improve the security of non-registered deliveries.

4. DHgate

Headquartered in Beijing, DHgate is primarily a fashion site (though it does have some limited electronic and home items available). If you’re looking for cheap shoes, wedding outfits, watches, hair and grooming products, or bags, DHgate should be your first port of call.

The site ships worldwide. If you live in the United States, you can use DHL or one of DHgate’s many local couriers. DHL should get your order to you within a week. Some of the lesser-known carriers such as China Post Air and Singapore Post can take more than a month.

5. YesStyle

Sticking with the fashion theme, YesStyle sells menswear, womenswear, childrenswear, and lifestyle products. You’ll find everything from maternity clothes to cosplay outfits.

Unlike some of the other sites in this list, YesStyle sells mainstream brands. However, they are predominantly Japanese and Korean labels, so may not be instantly familiar to western audiences.

People who have a particular fondness for fashion in Japan and Korea will like the site; it has sections dedicated to the latest looks in each country.

If you spend more than $35, you will qualify for free shipping.

6. LightInTheBox

LightInTheBox, along with sister site MiniInTheBox, ships to more than 200 countries around the world. It sells products across three core categories: clothing, small gadgets, and home and garden.

The company was founded in 2007 and has gone from strength to strength. In 2013, it even listed on the New York Stock Exchange.

You can choose from several shipping options, all of which charge by weight. There is no free shipping. If you want to use a courier, LightInTheBox offers DHL, UPS, FedEx, and TNT.

7. Shein

Shein specializes in women’s fashion, though there are also some menswear and children’s products available.

The site is a great way to find outfits for specific looks; the products are sub-categories into styles such as Preppy, 90s Grunge, Faux Fur, Elegant, and so on. The site also has a considerable array of plus size outfits.

Shein only offers standard shipping and express shipping to the United States. Standard shipping costs $3.99 per order. If you order exceeds $49, shipping is free. Express shipping costs $12.90 but is free on orders above $99.

Residents of Puerto Rico, Hawaii, and Alaska cannot use the express option.

Note: If you would like some fashion advice, check out our list of apps that can help you choose which outfit to wear.

8. GeekBuying

GeekBuying is an electronics store. You’ll find Android phones, streaming boxes, wearables, smart security systems, tablets, and more. Like GearBest, it offers exclusive rates on Xiaomi smartphones.

The site also has some “fun” electronics. For example, there’s a section dedicated to remote control cars and another dedicated to electric scooters.

If you visit the site, make sure you check the Flash Deals section on the right-hand side of the page. You’ll find incredible bargains on products such as tablets, fitness bands, and TVs.

Shipping is free if you use standard delivery. DHL and TNT are also available.

9. RCMoment

RCMoment has a very specific focus—remote-controlled devices. You’ll find gadgets like drones, cars, boats, planes, and robots.

The site has great deals on the DJI Mavic Air drone, which we loved when we reviewed the product back in February 2018.

Some products qualify for free shipping. If you want the fastest shipping, head to the US Warehouse section of the sites to see which products are already held on American soil.

10. DealExtreme

DealExtreme is up there with AliExpress in terms of popularity. It’s been in operation since 2006 and ships its products straight from its Hong Kong warehouse.

Almost all the products are electronic. The breadth of products is impressive; you’ll find everything from glucose monitors to tattoo guns.

The site also sells a lot of branded products. There are devices from SanDisk, Lenovo, Sony, Asus and more.

DealExtreme offers free worldwide shipping on all its items. You can ship express with couriers for an added fee.

Where Else Can You Find Great Deals Online?

To find more companies that sell quality products for a bargain price, check out our article on the best sites for deals on video games and our list of sites that offer better deals than eBay.

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5 Windows 10 Bugs to Avoid in the October 2018 Update

Windows updates are never easy, but with Windows 10 we’re entering new territory. Not a single major update for this version of Microsoft’s operating system has gone by without making headlines.

With the Windows 10 version 1809 (“October 2018”) update, things are looking worse than ever before. Here are five bugs you might have had with Windows Update, as well as how to avoid them.

1. The Windows 10 Update Deletion Bug

Although you’ll find many new features in the Windows 10 October 2018 update some bad bugs have also been included. Probably the most famous and widely experienced bug is the accidental deletion of data.

Your data.

As Microsoft informed users on its support site:

“We have paused the rollout of the Windows 10 October 2018 Update (version 1809)* for all users as we investigate isolated reports of users missing some files after updating.”

When Microsoft refers to “some files”, it means personal data, saved files, and other documents saved to your personal profile.

Unfortunately, this didn’t come as a complete surprise to some. Previous updates (such as February 2018) had a small number of similar issues, and it seems little was done to investigate the cause of these deletions. At the time of writing, weeks after the update was released (and subsequently paused) there is no solution.

If you were prepared, a backup of your data could be installed. Meanwhile, if you’re particularly lucky, the Windows System Restore tool will have created a restore point that you can return to. If this is working correctly, your data files will be restored.

2. HP Users Get BSOD After October Update

Once upon a time, the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) haunted Microsoft Windows users. It would typically appear following memory or driver errors and necessitated a reboot of your PC. With the release of Windows 8, it became far less common, but it isn’t gone completely.

Affecting HP machines, this new occurrence of the BSOD was linked to a keyboard driver, HpqKbFiltr.sys. This has since been fixed, with users encouraged to remove the driver. The driver has also been dropped from Windows Update.

There are two ways to deal with this. The first is to hope Windows reboots and runs long enough for you to manually delete the driver. Begin by clicking Start and entering Device Manager in the search box. Then click the first result.

Here, expand Keyboards, looking for the HP keyboard driver. Right-click and select Properties > Driver to check the version—you’re looking for version 11.0.3.1. If you find it, click Roll Back Driver and wait for the previous driver to be reinstated.

If this doesn’t work for you, a Windows Recovery is required to reset your system.

A similar issue has hit machines from Dell. Checking the website of your computer’s manufacturer for Windows Update-related issues is a good idea.

3. Brightness Control Problems on Surface Go Tablets

Even owners of Microsoft-produced hardware have been hit by Windows 10 Update issues. The Surface Go tablet (a budget version of the Surface Pro) has been hit by problems with the display brightness.

A firmware update has been released for the Surface Go, although you can try restarting your tablet or reinstalling the Intel graphic drivers first.

Dell XPS laptops have been similarly affected, and again, this isn’t the first time that a bug from a Windows Update has been spotted in earlier releases or on an Insider Preview release. Dell users should try reinstalling the graphic drivers to fix this.

4.Zip Tool Overwrites Older Versions

While many people use third-party tools to create and unpack ZIP archives, Windows has its own built in utility. Unfortunately, with the Windows 10 October 2018 Update, this has stopped working correctly.

The usual behavior for this tool when extracting archives is that it will check for previous versions of the files. It then informs you, asking for confirmation to overwrite.

Thanks to the October 2018 update, however, this action has vanished. Instead, files are simply overwritten. Worse still, it seems that it’s another example of an older bug that has been overlooked or ignored by Microsoft.

New 1809 bug is making rounds in the media, re: zip files and files not getting replaced. Not as serious.

Few scattered reports, dating back to ~1-3 months ago. pic.twitter.com/ORZnBnMkwv

— Rafael Rivera (@WithinRafael) October 22, 2018

While this may not affect that many users, it remains an annoying problem with the update. Looking for a solution to this? Use a third-party ZIP utility, such as WinZIP or 7-ZIP.

5. Font Substitution Doesn’t Work

This is the bug that perhaps highlights just how shoddy this whole situation is. Font substitution is a system where the correct Unicode character is displayed when entering text. When it breaks, however, any input or displayed text just looks a total mess.

Specifically, the characters are the black and white star symbols, known officially as Unicode 2605 and Unicode 2606. These no longer appear as intended, but as empty rectangles.

Nothing says “this operating system is dud” better than something as simple as broken font substitution.

While Microsoft Office is unaffected, older apps that rely on the Windows 10 OS to perform font substitution look ridiculous. If you want to fix this manually, switching to a different font in Windows (and hoping for the best) is your best option.

Oh, and it’s a bug that was reported at least two months before the October 2018 release.

How to Avoid Windows Update Bugs

These bugs range from devastating to frustrating, and really shouldn’t be happening to a software publisher with a 40-year legacy.

You’ve probably spotted the pattern of bugs having been reported before the update was released, and it’s worth noting that in 2014, Microsoft abandoned in-house software testing for Windows 10 in favor of crowdsourcing bugs via the Windows Insider evaluation program.

That business decision doesn’t seem to be working out so well, does it?

So, what is the answer? Well, until things settle down, it’s a good idea to avoid installing the update. Thanks to how Windows Update works in Windows 10, however, this is easier said than done. There is no simple “disable updates” button.

What you can do, however, is employ some of the other features to delay updates. We’ve looked at seven ways to delay Windows 10 updates, so try one of these methods to avoid updating. Eventually, the update issues will be resolved, and it will be safe to upgrade. Having said that, it might be worth delaying future updates as well…

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7 iCloud Mail Tips for Better a Email Experience

Apple hands out free email addresses with every new Apple ID registered. It might not be the powerhouse that is Gmail, but iCloud Mail is still a useful email service to have at your disposal.

If you already use your iCloud Mail address, make sure you’re familiar with features like aliases and mail rules. If you’ve avoided using your iCloud address because you’re convinced it’s useless, these tips might change your mind.

1. Access Mail From Anywhere With iCloud.com

Probably the best way to use iCloud Mail is through a browser. If you log in at iCloud.com using your Apple ID and select Mail, you get access to a few other features that a traditional mail client cannot provide (including Apple Mail).

This version of iCloud Mail has a decent search engine and filtering options at the bottom of the screen for only showing unread messages. You can also drag and drop messages into folders you have created in the left-hand sidebar.

Nearly all the other tips listed here rely on the web version of iCloud Mail. Unfortunately you can’t access this version from a mobile device, so you’ll need to log in from a desktop browser on your Mac or PC.

2. iCloud Mail Aliases Can Deal With Spam

Aliases allow you to create up to three dummy @icloud.com email addresses. You will receive any email sent to these alias addresses until you decide to deactivate them. You can also filter your inbox by alias to remove unwanted messages from showing up.

Aliases provide a fairly useful barrier against spam (without needing a disposable email service). If you’re concerned about handing out your real email address when signing up for a service or entering a competition, you can hand over an alias instead. You’ll still be able to use the service or claim your prize, and you can disable the alias at a later date (or simply filter it out).

To create an alias, log in to iCloud.com and click Mail. Click on the cog icon in the bottom-left hand corner of the screen and select Preferences. Choose Accounts followed by Add an alias, then pick a suitable alias name. You can only register @icloud.com email aliases.

3. Create Rules for iCloud Mail

Rules are one of the features that makes Gmail such a powerful mail client. These allow you to route mail to specific folders or skip the inbox altogether. You can filter by criteria like subject line, originating email address, or whether it’s addressed to one of your aliases.

You can create rules in iCloud Mail by logging into iCloud.com and clicking Mail. Next click on the cog icon in the bottom-left corner, then choose Preferences. Select Rules and click Add a Rule. Now set your incoming mail criteria followed by the desired action, then save it with Done.

These rules apply to all your devices going forward. That means that even though you can’t set up rules on your iPhone Mail client or in Apple Mail for macOS, iCloud will still adhere to these rules on the server side.

4. Send Large Files With Mail Drop

Did you know you can send files up to 5GB in size using iCloud Mail? Using a feature called Mail Drop, iCloud Mail stores your file in the cloud and lets the recipient download it using a link contained in your email. Apple doesn’t state how big the maximum attachment is before Mail Drop kicks in. Any files you deliver using Mail Drop will only be available for download for 30 days.

You may need to turn on this feature before you can use it. Log in to iCloud.com and click Mail. Click on the cog in the bottom-left corner then choose Preferences. Under Composing, enable Use Mail Drop when sending large attachments.

To attach a file to your email message, simply drag and drop it onto your message while composing. You can also click on the Attach button (it looks like a paper clip) and select a file using this method. If email doesn’t cut it, check out a few other ways you can send large files.

5. Forward Mail Elsewhere

One of the most useful mail rules is the ability to forward all incoming mail to another email address. This means you never have to check your iCloud mail, and can instead use it as an alias for your other accounts.

You can easily set this up using iCloud Mail rules. Log in to iCloud.com and click on Mail. Click on the cog icon in the bottom-left corner, then choose Rules. Under If a message choose is addressed to, then input your iCloud Mail email address in the first field.

In the next field under Then choose Forward to an Email Address and Mark as Read, then input the email address at which you want to receive your messages in the field below. Now all your incoming iCloud mail will be forwarded to your main email account.

Using Gmail, you can filter these incoming messages further. And if you’re using your iCloud Mail as an alias and start receiving spam, you can always delete this rule.

6. Set Up an Autoresponder in iCloud Mail

What’s an email client without an autoresponder? Apple’s iCloud Mail autoresponder is pretty barebones, but it gets the job done. You can’t set a daily autoresponder that kicks in while you’re out of the office, but you can set up a vacation autoresponder that replies to messages while you’re way.

Login to iCloud.com and click on Mail. In the bottom-left corner click on the cog followed by Preferences. Next click on Vacation, enable Automatically reply to messages when they are received, and input the dates during which you’ll be away.

Finally, add the message you want to send anyone who tries to contact you during this period.

7. Download Your Entire Mail History

If you want to download the entire contents of your iCloud Mail for archival purposes, you can do so by requesting a copy of your data from Apple. You could also configure a regular desktop email client to pull everything down, and then archive it using that instead.

To make a data request head to privacy.apple.com and log in with your Apple ID. Underneath Obtain a copy of your data, click Get started, then scroll to the bottom of the page and check iCloud Mail. If you want a copy of any other data, like your iCloud Drive contents, iCloud Photo Library, or personal data that Apple keeps on its servers, add it to the download.

Hit Continue, then specify a download size for the archive files Apple will deliver. Finally, hit Complete request and wait. Apple will take a few days to prepare the data, then you’ll get an email notifying you that your download is ready. You can then log back in to Apple’s privacy mini-site to start the download.

Not the Worst Email Service in the World

iCloud Mail is a no-frills email service, but it works well enough. The rules you set up are followed regardless of which device you use. Mail Drop is a genuinely useful way of sending large files. And if you’re not fond of Apple’s mail service, you can use it as another alias with automatic forwarding.

Using Apple Mail to access your iCloud Mail account? Check out our top Apple Mail tips for Mac users.

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Why YouTube TV Is the Best Cable Replacement for Cord Cutters

The Zortrax Apoller safely smooths 3D prints

qZortraxApoller, a Smart Vapor Smoothing device that uses solvents to smooth the surface of 3D-printed objects. The resulting products look like they are injection molded and all of the little lines associated with FDM printing will disappear.

The system uses a microwave-like chamber that can hold multiple parts at once. The chamber atomizes the solvent, covering the parts, and lets the solvent do its work. Once its done it then sucks the excess vapor back into a collection chamber. The system won’t open until all of the solvent is gone, ensuring you don’t get a face full of acetone. This is an important consideration since this is sold as a desktop device and having clouds of solvent in the air at the office Christmas party could be messy.

“Vapor-smoothed models get the look of injection-molded parts with a glossy or matte finish depending on the filament used. With a dual condensation process, a 300ml bottle of solvent can be used for smoothing multiple prints instead of just one. This efficiency means that the combined weekly output of four typical FDM 3D printers can be automatically smoothed within one day without loss of quality,” the company wrote.

Given the often flimsy structural quality of FDM prints, this smoothing is more cosmetic and allows you, in theory, to create molds from 3D printed parts. In reality these glossy, acetone smoothed parts just look better and give you a better idea what the finished product – injection-molded or milled – will look like when all is said and done.

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The Most Awesome Online Teachers for Learning Web Development

For the past few months, I have been on a learning spree looking to enhance my existing coding skills and also learn new programming languages and frameworks. In this process, I have watched a countless number of video tutorials and online courses that pertain to programming and, specifically, web development.

In my quest to become a better developer, I’ve come across several awesome “teachers” who aren’t just excellent programmers but awesome educators and have the art of explaining complex and difficult concepts.

Learn Modern Web Programming with the Best Online Teachers

This is an attempt to highlight the best instructors on the Internet for JavaScript, React, Redux, Node.js, Firebase (database and storage), Docker, Google Golang, Typescript, Flutter (for mobile app development), Dart, Git, Webpack and Parcel bundler.

I’ve taken courses by every single instructor mentioned here (PDF) and recommend them highly.

Language / Platform	Teacher / Course
React.js	Andrew Mead, Maximilian Schwarzmüller, Stephen Grider, Ryan Florence, Scott Tolinski, Elijah Manor, Brian Holt, Dave Ceddia, Kirupa Chinnathambi
Advanced JavaScript / ES6 / ES2017	Anthony Alicea, Wes Bos, Mark Zamoyta, Tyler McGinnis,  Mosh Hamedani, Kent C. Dodds, Kyle Simpson, Kyle Robinson Young, Brandon Morelli, Cody Seibert
Redux	Dan Abramov, Shaun Pelling, Bucky Roberts, Cory House
Dart & Flutter	Mary Xia & Matt Sullivan, Stephen Grider, Maximilian Schwarzmüller, Filip & Emily Fortuna
Docker / Kubernetes	Jake Wright, Stephen Grider, James Lee
Webpack / Parcel web bundler	Andrew Mead, Lawrence Whiteside, Sean Larkin, Petr Tichy, Brad Traversy, Max Schwarzmüller
Node.js	Maximilian Schwarzmüller, Stephen Grider, Andrew Mead, Azat Mardan, Anthony Alicea, Samer Buna
Git & Github	Trevor Miller, Alex Garret-Smith, Tom Preson-Werner, Daniel Shiffman
Go Language	Todd McLeod, Stephen Grider, Derek Banas, Jon Calhoun, Harrison Kinsley
TypeScript	Todd Motto, John Lidquist, Basarat Ali Syed, Marius Schulz
Firebase / Firestore	David East, Doug Stevenson, Shaun Pelling, Todd Kerpelman, Steve Kinney
Google Chrome Dev Tools	Paul Irish, Surma, Umar Hansa, Jon Kuperman
GraphQL	Andrew Mead, Stephen Grider

Also see: Learn How to Code Online

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Challengers

Challengers

Flickr Limits Free Users to 1,000 Photos

In April 2018, SmugMug acquired Flickr from Oath for an undisclosed sum of money. Now, six months on, SmugMug is making changes to Flickr in order to make a return on its investment. Which is good news for Pro users, and bad news for free users. Naturally.

Flickr Puts a Price on Ambition

The new owners of Flickr describe the photo-sharing site as “a place to connect, to discover, and to evolve as photographers and lovers of photography.” And claim that “this newly-independent community can shape the future of photography itself.”

Unfortunately, such heady ambitions come at a price. That price being the $5.99/month or $49.99/year it costs to use Flickr Pro. Because while Flickr Pro members are getting new features to use, free members are being shunted to the sidelines.

Flickr Makes Changes to Pro and Free

Flickr Pro members will now enjoy unlimited storage at full resolution, ad-free browsing, advanced statistics, premier customer support, and partner discounts. Furthermore, increased exposure, a 5K resolution option, and 10 minute videos are arriving in 2019.

In contrast, free users will now be limited to storing just 1,000 photos. Which is a huge drop from the 1TB previously offered. This will apply from day one for all new users signing up for an account, but is also being applied to existing users.

If you’re a free user who already has over 1,000 photos stored on Flickr you have until January 8, 2019 to delete some content. And on February 5, 2019, Flickr will actively start deleting your photos (starting with the oldest) until you fall in line.

There Are Alternatives to Flickr…

For the new owners of Flickr, shifting focus (and resources) to Pro users makes sense. That is, after all, where the money is, and they want people to pay to use the service. However, Flickr is making it clear that free users are second class citizens, and that sucks.

If you need to remove content from Flickr in order to get under the new limit, here’s how to download your Flickr photos at their original resolutions. And if this makes you want to ditch Flickr altogether there’s always Amazon Photos or Google Photos.

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Reef-rejuvenating LarvalBot spreads coral babies by the millions

The continuing die-off of the world’s coral reefs is a depressing reminder of the reality of climate change, but it’s also something we can actively push back on. Conservationists have a new tool to do so with LarvalBot, an underwater robot platform that may greatly accelerate efforts to re-seed old corals with healthy new polyps.

The robot has a history going back to 2015, when a prototype known as COTSbot was introduced, capable of autonomously finding and destroying the destructive crown of thorns starfish (hence the name). It has since been upgraded and revised by the team at the Queensland University of Technology, and in its hunter-killer form is known as the RangerBot.

But the same systems that let it safely navigate and monitor corals for invasive fauna also make it capable of helping these vanishing ecosystems more directly.

Great Barrier Reef coral spawn yearly in a mass event that sees the waters off north Queensland filled with eggs and sperm. Researchers at Southern Cross University have been studying how to reap this harvest and sow a new generation of corals. They collect the eggs and sperm and sequester them in floating enclosures, where they are given a week or so to develop into viable coral babies (not my term, but I like it). These coral babies are then transplanted carefully to endangered reefs.

LarvalBot comes into play in that last step.

“We aim to have two or three robots ready for the November spawn. One will carry about 200,000 larvae and the other about 1.2 million,” explained QUT’s Matthew Dunbabin in a news release. “During operation, the robots will follow preselected paths at constant altitude across the reef and a person monitoring will trigger the release of the larvae to maximise the efficiency of the dispersal.”

It’s something a diver would normally have to do, so the robot acts as a force multiplier — one that doesn’t require food or oxygen, as well. A few of these could do the work of dozens of rangers or volunteers.

“The surviving corals will start to grow and bud and form new colonies which will grow large enough after about three years to become sexually reproductive and complete the life cycle,” said Southern Cross’s Peter Harrison, who has been developing the larval restoration technique.

It’s not a quick fix by any means, but this artificial spreading of corals could vastly improve the chances of a given reef or area surviving the next few years and eventually becoming self-sufficient again.

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GoPro shares are tanking after disastrous Q3

GoPro stock is currently down 15% in after-hours trading and is falling after reporting its third quarter earnings. The company saw revenues dive 13%.3 percent.

Overall GoPro reported a net loss of $27.1 million, or 19 cents per share, in the quarter that ended on Sept. 30. Is compared with a profit of $14.7 million, or 10 cents per share, from the previous year. Likewise, GoPro saw revenue fell to $285.9 million from $329.8 million.

Developing…

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Instagram’s next cash cow: instant Promote ads for Stories

Instagram hopes dollars from long-tail of small businesses and social media stars can help it pull its weight in the Facebook family. A new ad type called “Promote” for Stories allows Instagram business pages to show their ephemeral slideshows to more users without doing much work. Admins can choose to auto-target users similar to their followers, people in a certain location, or use all of Instagram’s targeting parameters to inject their Story into the Stories queue of more users as an ad that can also link to business’ Instagram profile or website.

Facebook confirms to TechCrunch that Promote for Stories works similarly to Facebook’s Boost option that lets them pay to instantly show their feed posts to more users. “I can confirm that we are testing this feature globally. We don’t have an immediate timeline for 100% rollout, but will keep you posted” an Instagram spokesperson told me. Screenshots of Promote were first shared by social consultant Matt Navarra.

Instagram tests new Promote Stories ads. Image Credit: Matt Navarra

Instagram already has 2 million active advertisers, compared to Facebook’s 6 million. But designing and targeting ads, especially full-screen video Stories ads can be daunting to small businesses and public figures. Promote offers an easy way to turn their existing Stories into ads.

The feature could unlock more spend at crucial time when Facebook’s revenue growth is in massive decline. It dropped from 59 percent year-over-years revenue growth in Q3 2016 to 49 percent in Q3 2017 to 33 percent in Q3 2018 as it hits saturation in lucrative developed countries and runs out of News Feed space. Facebook warned Wall Street about revenue deceleration as sharing shifts from feeds to Stories and advertisers have to adapt, but turning local merchants and influencers into paying customers could smooth that transition.

Instagram Analytics Launches In Beta

In other Instagram business news, today it launched Instagram Analytics in beta as part of Facebook Analytics. The tool goes beyond Instagram’s existing Insights tool that just counted different types of engagement with an account and its content, such as new followers, website clicks, post impressions, and Story exits. With Instagram Analytics, business accounts can track life time value and retention rates for people who do or don’t interact with their content, and create audience segments to see if people who commented on a particular post generate more value for them. They can also analyze how their Instagram audeince overlaps with people who visit their site, download their app, or Like their Facebook Page.

The more Instagram analytics businesses have access to, the better they’ll be able to prove that their investment in the platform is paying off. Being able to see exactly how followers move through a conversion funnel will result in higher confidence in campaigns and translate into more ad and content spend.

IGTV Hopes For Virality With Stories Previews

And there’s one final piece of Instagram news for the day. IGTV hasn’t quite blown up like Instagram Stories since launching in June, but a combination could bring some much needed attention to the app’s longer form video hub. Instagram today launched the ability to share preview image of an IGTV video to your Instagram Story. Friends can tap through to actually watch the full video on IGTV.

Now you can share your favorite IGTV videos to your story. Tap the paper airplane at the bottom of the video you want to share. When friends see your story, they can tap the preview to watch the whole video in IGTV. pic.twitter.com/oaatUoOqZY

— Instagram (@instagram) November 1, 2018

The IGTV previews don’t actually play, they’re just a static sticker. Shazam launched its own Instagram Stories integration today works similarly to the IGTV previews as well as SoundCloud and Pandora’s partnerships. Shazam lets you share a preview image of a song to your Instagram Story, but to actually hear any music you have to click through to Shazam. That makes these integrations inferior to Instagram’s own native music sharing feature that actually lets you add a soundtrack to your Stories that friends can hear as they watch.

Shazam now can share song preview images to Instagram Stories, but you have to tap through to hear anything

IGTV has also recently added a History tab that shows what you’ve recently watched. This could be helpful for getting back to your favorite clips or jumping to a new episode of a show you’re hooked on.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday’s earnings call that “People really want to watch a lot of video”, and the company plans to invest more in premium Facebook Watch content. But so far, it’s niether publicly announced any deals to pay for IGTV content, nor has opened any direct monetization options to creators. With viewership taking time to grow, there just aren’t enough incentives for creators to invest to producing polished, longer-form vertical video when there’s nowhere else to put it but IGTV. Virality through these previews could convince them there’s big fan base growth opportunities available if they stick with IGTV.

Combined, these updates show that the departure of Instagram’s co-founders hasn’t slowed down the company’s innovation. Former Facebook News Feed VP Adam Mosseri kept up a brisk pace of product launches, and now with Instagram he seems determined to keep users, creators, and businesses glued to what’s quickly becoming the social giant’s premier property.

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Instagram’s next cash cow: instant Promote ads for Stories

Instagram hopes dollars from long-tail of small businesses and social media stars can help it pull its weight in the Facebook family. A new ad type called “Promote” for Stories allows Instagram business pages to show their ephemeral slideshows to more users without doing much work. Admins can choose to auto-target users similar to their followers, people in a certain location, or use all of Instagram’s targeting parameters to inject their Story into the Stories queue of more users as an ad that can also link to business’ Instagram profile or website.

Facebook confirms to TechCrunch that Promote for Stories works similarly to Facebook’s Boost option that lets them pay to instantly show their feed posts to more users. “I can confirm that we are testing this feature globally. We don’t have an immediate timeline for 100% rollout, but will keep you posted” an Instagram spokesperson told me. Screenshots of Promote were first shared by social consultant Matt Navarra.

Instagram tests new Promote Stories ads. Image Credit: Matt Navarra

Instagram already has 2 million active advertisers, compared to Facebook’s 6 million. But designing and targeting ads, especially full-screen video Stories ads can be daunting to small businesses and public figures. Promote offers an easy way to turn their existing Stories into ads.

The feature could unlock more spend at crucial time when Facebook’s revenue growth is in massive decline. It dropped from 59 percent year-over-years revenue growth in Q3 2016 to 49 percent in Q3 2017 to 33 percent in Q3 2018 as it hits saturation in lucrative developed countries and runs out of News Feed space. Facebook warned Wall Street about revenue deceleration as sharing shifts from feeds to Stories and advertisers have to adapt, but turning local merchants and influencers into paying customers could smooth that transition.

Instagram Analytics Launches In Beta

In other Instagram business news, today it launched Instagram Analytics in beta as part of Facebook Analytics. The tool goes beyond Instagram’s existing Insights tool that just counted different types of engagement with an account and its content, such as new followers, website clicks, post impressions, and Story exits. With Instagram Analytics, business accounts can track life time value and retention rates for people who do or don’t interact with their content, and create audience segments to see if people who commented on a particular post generate more value for them. They can also analyze how their Instagram audeince overlaps with people who visit their site, download their app, or Like their Facebook Page.

The more Instagram analytics businesses have access to, the better they’ll be able to prove that their investment in the platform is paying off. Being able to see exactly how followers move through a conversion funnel will result in higher confidence in campaigns and translate into more ad and content spend.

IGTV Hopes For Virality With Stories Previews

And there’s one final piece of Instagram news for the day. IGTV hasn’t quite blown up like Instagram Stories since launching in June, but a combination could bring some much needed attention to the app’s longer form video hub. Instagram today launched the ability to share preview image of an IGTV video to your Instagram Story. Friends can tap through to actually watch the full video on IGTV.

Now you can share your favorite IGTV videos to your story. Tap the paper airplane at the bottom of the video you want to share. When friends see your story, they can tap the preview to watch the whole video in IGTV. pic.twitter.com/oaatUoOqZY

— Instagram (@instagram) November 1, 2018

The IGTV previews don’t actually play, they’re just a static sticker. Shazam launched its own Instagram Stories integration today works similarly to the IGTV previews as well as SoundCloud and Pandora’s partnerships. Shazam lets you share a preview image of a song to your Instagram Story, but to actually hear any music you have to click through to Shazam. That makes these integrations inferior to Instagram’s own native music sharing feature that actually lets you add a soundtrack to your Stories that friends can hear as they watch.

Shazam now can share song preview images to Instagram Stories, but you have to tap through to hear anything

IGTV has also recently added a History tab that shows what you’ve recently watched. This could be helpful for getting back to your favorite clips or jumping to a new episode of a show you’re hooked on.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said on Tuesday’s earnings call that “People really want to watch a lot of video”, and the company plans to invest more in premium Facebook Watch content. But so far, it’s niether publicly announced any deals to pay for IGTV content, nor has opened any direct monetization options to creators. With viewership taking time to grow, there just aren’t enough incentives for creators to invest to producing polished, longer-form vertical video when there’s nowhere else to put it but IGTV. Virality through these previews could convince them there’s big fan base growth opportunities available if they stick with IGTV.

Combined, these updates show that the departure of Instagram’s co-founders hasn’t slowed down the company’s innovation. Former Facebook News Feed VP Adam Mosseri kept up a brisk pace of product launches, and now with Instagram he seems determined to keep users, creators, and businesses glued to what’s quickly becoming the social giant’s premier property.

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Google walkout organizer: ‘I hope I still have a career in Silicon Valley after this’

Shouting “women’s rights are worker’s rights” and a number of other #TimesUp and #MeToo chants, upwards of 1,000 Google employees gathered in San Francisco’s Harry Bridges Plaza Thursday to protest the company’s handling of sexual harassment and misconduct cases.

Staffers from all of Google’s San Francisco offices were in attendance. An organizer, who declined to be named, told TechCrunch there were 1,500 Google employees across the globe that participated in the 48-hour effort to arrange a worldwide walkout. The effort was a major success. More than 3,000 Googlers and supporters of the movement attended the New York City walkout alone. As many as 1,000 Googlers and others came out for the San Francisco walkout, which the organizers said, was double the number they expected.

Cathay Bi, a Google employee in San Francisco and one of the walkout organizers, told a group of journalists at the rally that she was conflicted with participating in the walkout and ultimately decided not to go public with her own story of sexual harassment.

“I experienced sexual harassment at Google and I didn’t feel safe talking about it,” said Bi, pictured above. “That feeling of not being safe is why I’m out here today. I’d love it if everyone felt safe talking about it.”

[gallery ids="1740837,1740838,1740839,1740841,1740840,1740843,1740845"]

“There were many times over the course of the last 24 hours that I emailed the group and said ‘I’m not doing this because I’m scared’ but that fear is something everyone else feels,” she said. “I said to myself last night, I hope I still have a career in Silicon Valley after this.”

Other organizers declined to go on the record.

There were protests around the globe today, including in London, Dublin, Montreal, Singapore, New York City, San Francisco and Cambridge, following a New York Times investigation that revealed Google had given Android co-creator Andy Rubin a $90 million exit package despite multiple relationships with other Google staffers and credible accusations of sexual misconduct made against him. That story, coupled with tech’s well-established issue of harassment and discrimination toward women and underrepresented minorities, was a catalyst for today’s rallies.

At the rally, Googlers read off their list of demands, which includes an end to forced arbitration in cases of harassment and discrimination, a commitment to end pay and opportunity inequity and a clear, inclusive process for reporting sexual misconduct safely and anonymously.

They’re also requesting that the search giant promote chief diversity officer Danielle Brown to a role in which she reports directly to chief executive officer Sundar Pichai, as well as the addition of an employee representative to the company’s board of directors.

Here’s the statement from Pichai Google provided to TechCrunch this morning: “Earlier this week, we let Googlers know that we are aware of the activities planned for today and that employees will have the support they need if they wish to participate. Employees have raised constructive ideas for how we can improve our policies and our processes going forward. We are taking in all their feedback so we can turn these ideas into action.”

Now, employees around the Globe will await Google’s highly-anticipated course of “action.”

“These types of changes don’t happen overnight,” Bi said. “If we expected them overnight we would have the wrong expectations of how these movements take place.”

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Campaign tool supplied to UK’s governing party by Trump-Pence app dev quietly taken out of service

An app that the UK’s governing party launched last year — for Conservative Party activists to gamify, ‘socialize’ and co-ordinate their campaigning activity — has been quietly pulled from app stores.

Its vanishing was flagged to us earlier today, by Twitter user Sarah Parks, who noticed that, when loaded, the Campaigner app now displays a message informing users the supplier is “no longer supporting clients based in Europe”.

“So we’re taking this opportunity to refresh our campaigning app,” it adds. “We will be back with a new and improved app early next year – well in time for the local elections.”

(Bad luck, then, should there end up being another very snap, Brexit-induced UK General Election in the meanwhile, as some have suggested may yet come to pass. But I digress… )

The supplier of the Conservative Campaigner app is — or was — a US-based add developer called uCampaign, which had also built branded apps for Trump-Pence 2016; the Republican National Committee; and the UK’s Vote Leave Brexit campaign, to name a few of the political campaigns it has counted as customers.

Here’s a few more: The (pro-gun) National Rife Association and the (anti-abortion) SBA List.

We know the name of the Conservative Campaigner app’s supplier because this summer we raised privacy concerns about the app — on account of its use of uCampaign’s boilerplate privacy policy, if you clicked to read the app’s privacy policy earlier this year.

The wording of uCampaign’s privacy policy suggested the Conservative Campaigner app could be harvesting users’ mobile phone contacts — if they chose to sync their contacts book with it.

The privacy policy for the app was subsequently changed to point to the Conservative Party’s own privacy policy — with the change of privacy policy taking place just before a tough new EU-wide data protection framework, GDPR, came into force on May 25 this year.

Prior to May 23, the privacy policy of the Conservatives’ digital campaigning app suggests it was harvesting contacts data from users — and potentially sharing non-users’ personal information with entities of uCampaign’s choosing (given, for example, the company’s privacy policy gave itself the right to “share your Personal Information with other organizations, groups, causes, campaigns, political organizations, and our clients that we believe have similar viewpoints, principles or objectives as us”).

This sort of consentless scraping of large amounts of networked personal data — by sucking up information on users’ friend groups and other personal connections — has of course had a massive spotlight thrown on it this year, as a result of the Facebook Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal in which the personal data of tens of millions of Facebook users was extracted from the social network via a quiz app that used a (now defunct) Facebook friends API to grab data on non-users who would not have even had the chance to agree to the app’s terms.

Safe to say, this modus operandi wasn’t cool then — and it’s certainly not cool now.

Politicians all over the globe have been shaken awake by the Cambridge Analytica scandal, and are now raising all sorts of concerns about how data and digital tools are being used (and or misused and abused).

The EU parliament recently called for an independent audit of Facebook, for example.

In the UK, a committee that’s been probing the impact of social media-accelerated disinformation on democratic processes published a report this summer calling for a levy on social media to defend democracy. Its lengthy preliminary report also suggested urgent amendments to domestic electoral law to reflect the use of digital technologies for political campaigning.

Though the UK’s Conservative minority government — and the party behind the now on-pause Conservative Campaigner app — apparently disagrees on the need for speed, declining in its response last week to accept most of the committee’s laundry list of recommended changes.

The DCMS committee’s inquiry into political campaigns’ use (and misuse) of personal data continues — now at a transnational level.

An ethical pause?

Shortly after we published our privacy concerns about the Conservative Campaigner app, the UK’s data protection watchdog issued its own a lengthy report detailing extensive concerns about how UK political parties were misusing personal data — and calling for an ethical pause on the use of microtargeting for election campaigning purposes.

Which does rather beg the question whether the Conservative Campaigner app going AWOL now, until a reboot under a new supplier (presumably) next year, might not represent just such an ‘ethical pause’.

The app is, after all, only just over a year old.

We asked the Conservative Party a number of questions about the Campaigner app via email — after a press office spokeswoman declined to discuss the matter on the telephone.

Five hours later it emailed the following brief statement, attributed to a Conservative spokesperson:

We work with a number of different suppliers and all Conservative party campaigning is compliant with the relevant data protection legislation including GDPR.

The spokesperson did not engage with the substance of the vast majority of our concerns — such as those relating to the app’s handling of people’s data and the legal bases for any transfers of UK voter data to the US.

Instead the spokesperson reiterated the in-app notification which claims “the supplier” is no longer supporting clients based in Europe.

They also said the party is currently reviewing its campaigning tools, without providing any further detail.

We’ve included our full list of questions at the bottom of this post.

We’ve also reached out to the ICO to ask if it had any concerns related to how the Conservative Campaigner app was handling people’s data.

Similarly, the former deputy director & head of digital strategy for the Conservative party, Anthony Hind, declined to engage with the same data protection concerns when we raised them with him directly, back in July.

According to his LinkedIn profile he’s since moved on from the Conservatives to head up social media for the Confederation of British Industry.

For this report we also reached out to uCampaign’s founder and CEO, Thomas Peters, to ask for confirmation on the company’s situation vis-a-vis European clients.

At the time of writing Peters had not responded to our emails. We’ll update this story with any uCampaign response.

The company’s website still includes the UK Conservative Party listed as a client — though the language used on the webpage does not make it explicit whether or not the party is a current client…

Another graphic on the same page plots the UK flag on a world map depicting what uCampaign dubs its “global platform”, where it’s marked along with several other European flags — including Ireland, France, Germany and Malta, suggesting uCampaign has — or had — multiple European clients.

Here’s the full list of questions we put to the Conservatives about their campaigner app. To our eye it has answered just one of them:

Can you confirm — on the record — the reasons for the app being pulled?

Does the Conservative Party intend to continue working with uCampaign for the new campaign app that will relaunch next year? Or does the party have a new supplier?

If the latter, where is the new supplier based? In the UK or in the US?

Did the Conservative Party have any concerns at all related to using uCampaigner as a supplier? (Given, for example, concerns flagged about its data privacy practices by one of the DCMS committee’s recent reports — following an inquiry investigating digital campaigning.)

If the Conservative Party was aware of data privacy concerns pertaining to uCampaign’s practices can you confirm when the party became aware of such concerns?

Was the party aware that the privacy policy it used for the app prior to May 23, 2018 was uCampaign’s own privacy policy?

This privacy policy stated that the app could harvest data from users’ mobile phone contacts and share that data with unknown third parties of the developer’s choosing — including other political campaigns. Is the Conservative Party comfortable with having its supporters’ data shared with other political campaigns?

What due diligence did the Conservative Party carry out before it selected uCampaign as its app supplier?

After signing up the supplier, did the Conservative Party carry out a privacy impact assessment related to how the app operates?

Please confirm all the data points that the app was collecting from users, and what each of those data points was being used for

Where was app user data being processed? In the US, where uCampaign is based, or in the UK where potential voters live?

If the US, what was the legal basis for any transfer of data from UK users to the US?

Is the Conservative Party confident its use of the campaigner app did not breach UK data protection law?

Earlier this year the former Cabinet Minister Dominic Grieve suggested that the bosses of tech giants involved in the Cambridge Analytica data misuse scandal should be jailed for their part in abusing online data for political and financial gain. Does the Conservative Party support Grieve’s position on online data abuse?

Has anyone been sacked or sanctioned for their part in procuring uCampaign as the app supplier — and/or overseeing the operation of the Conservative Campaigner app itself?

Will the Conservative Party commit to notifying all individuals whose data was shared with uCampaign without their explicit consent?

Can the Conservative Party confirm how many individuals had their personal data shared with uCampaign?

Has the Information Commissioner’s Office raised any concerns with the Conservative Party about the Campaigner app?

Has the Conservative Party itself reported any concerns about the app/uCampaign to the ICO?

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Walmart adds an AR scanner to its iOS app for product comparisons

Walmart is giving augmented reality a shot. The retailer today announced the launch of a new AR scanning tool in its iPhone application which will help customers with product comparisons. However, unlike a typical barcode scanner meant only to compare prices on one item at a time, Walmart’s AR scanner can be panned about across store shelves, offering details on pricing and customer ratings beneath the products it sees.

The technology was first developed by a team at an internal Walmart hackathon using Apple’s ARKit technology. At the time, their idea was to create a scanning experience that worked faster and felt faster when used by customers. They also wanted to build a scanner that offered more than just price comparisons.

“Walmart store shoppers love using our mobile app barcode scanner as a price checker. Our team sees the potential of this product as so much more, though,” explains Tim Sears, Senior Engineering Manager at Walmart Labs, in a post announcing the feature’s launch. “When a customer launches the scanner, they get a direct connection between the digital and the physical world that their screen and camera lens creates for them,” he says.

The team won the hackathon, then went on to further redesign the experience to become the one that’s live today in Walmart’s application.

To use the scanner, you launch the feature in the Walmart app then point it at the products on the shelf you want to compare. As you move the phone between one item and the other, the product tile at the bottom of the screen will update with information, including the product name, price, and the star rating across however many reviews it has received on Walmart.com. A link to related products is also available.

The AR scanner was designed to anchor dots to what you’ve scanned, but uses smaller dots instead of anchoring the entire content to the product itself to overcome the problems that could occur when multiple items are scanned together in a close space.

Despite the supposed advantages of AR scanning over a simpler barcode scan, it still remains to be seen to what extent consumers will adopt the feature now that it’s live.

Walmart isn’t the only retailer to give AR a go. Others have used it in various ways, including Amazon, Target, Wayfair, and many more. But in several cases, AR’s adoption by retailers have been focused on visualizing products in your home, or – in the case of Target’s AR ‘studio,’ makeup on your face.

Walmart’s AR scanner goes after a more practical use.

The AR Scanner is in the latest version of the Walmart iOS app (18.20 and higher), and works on iPhones that run at least iOS 11.3. This latter requirement is due to its use of ARKit 1.5, but will limit the audience largely to those with newer iPhones.

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