8 Ways to Email Large Attachments

Many email servers prevent you from sending (or the recipient from receiving) messages over a certain size. When this problem happens most users don’t know how to send large files. To send large files via email, you can either upload your attachment to cloud storage and get a link to email the recipient or use a file sharing service.

Whatever method you choose, in the long run, you won’t be restricted by size limits and you can reduce the clutter from your inbox too. We’ll show you some easy ways to send large files for free.

1. Google Drive: Use With Gmail

With Gmail, you can send attachments limited to 25MB and receive files of up to 50MB. It makes sense to use the built-in Google Drive to send big files. Open your Gmail account and click the Compose button. Click the Google Drive icon at the bottom of the compose window.

The Insert files using Google Drive window appears. Select the files you want to attach. At the bottom of the page, decide how you want to send the file.

• Drive link works for any files stored in Drive, including files created using Google Docs, Sheets, Slides, or Forms.
• Attachment only works for files that weren’t built using Docs, Sheets, or Slides.

Then click Insert.

Gmail checks to see if your recipients have access to the file. If they don’t, it’ll prompt you to change the sharing settings of your file stored in Drive before sending the message. You can set permissions to prevent the file from getting misused and send them to selected recipients.

2. OneDrive: For Outlook and Outlook.com

When you try to attach one or more files that are over 33MB in size, Outlook.com will prompt you to upload the files to your OneDrive account. If you follow this prompt, the file gets uploaded to the OneDrive Email attachments folder. The recipient will receive a link to the file instead of the file. You can also share a file from OneDrive with a limit of 2GB.

Once the file gets uploaded, choose if people can edit the file or only view it. Select Change permissions and decide what you want to do with a file you just shared. There are two options you can choose from.

• Recipient can view: Others can copy or download your file without signing in.
• Recipient can edit: Others can edit, add or delete files in a shared folder.

3. Dropbox: Integrate With Gmail

If you use Dropbox, then the Dropbox for Gmail Chrome extension can let you send, preview files and links without leaving your Gmail window. The extension adds a Dropbox icon to the compose window. Click the Dropbox icon and choose the file from your Dropbox account. A link gets attached, instead of a file in the email message.

As a recipient, you get rich previews of all Dropbox links shared in emails. Just like attachments, you can use these links to download the files directly from Gmail or add it to your Dropbox. With a free Dropbox account, you get a maximum file size limit of only 2GB.

If your file transfer fails, then it could be due to multiple reasons— your shared link or request could have generated a large amount of traffic or exceeded the bandwidth and download limits. For more details, see the Dropbox bandwidth restrictions page.

4. iCloud Mail Drop: Use With Apple Mail

If you want to send large files via email, you can use iCloud Mail Drop feature. When you send an email of size more than 20MB, Mail Drop automatically kicks in. Instead of sending the file through the Apple email server, it uploads the file to iCloud and posts a link or preview to your recipients. The link is temporary and will expire after 30 days.

If the recipient also has macOS 10.10 or later, the attachment gets quietly auto-downloaded in the background. And if you’re sending it to another email provider, the message contains an indication of the file’s expiration date and a Click to Download link.

With Mail Drop, you can send big files up to 5GB in size. You can send them from Apple Mail, the Mail app on iOS, and iCloud.com on Mac and PC. Mail Drop support every file types and attachments don’t count against your iCloud storage. For more details, see Apple’s Mail Drop limits page.

5. Firefox Send: Use With Any Web Browser

Firefox Send is a useful option to transfer big files with people who don’t want to rely on Google, Microsoft, or Apple. It lets you upload and encrypt large files (up to 1GB) to share online. To use Firefox Send, you don’t have to install an add-on. Point your web browser to the Firefox Send homepage and click the Select a file to upload button.

Once the uploading gets completed, Send creates a link which you can then send it via email. At a time, you can send a link to 20 recipients (one download per recipient). You can also set a password to encrypt the file. Each link created by Send will expire after 24 hours. The file also gets deleted from the Mozilla server and leaves no traces.

6. pCloud Transfer: Simple Encrypted File Transfer

pCloud Transfer is a part of the pCloud storage that lets you send large files for free without any registration. Go to pCloud Transfer page and add your files using the Click here to add files option.

You can email large files up to 5GB, and every single file should not exceed 200MB. Then click Encrypt Your Files option and set a password.

pCloud will not send the password to your recipient on your behalf. You can share your files with 10 recipients at once. Type in their email addresses in the Send to field. Type an optional message and click Send Files. Your recipients will receive an email link after a few hours. The link remains valid for seven days. You’ll get a reminder a day before the expiration date.

7. DropSend: Send Large Files From Any Device

DropSend allows you to quickly send large files from its homepage without signing up. Type the recipient’s and your email address, browse to the file location, and click the Send Your File button.

Before sending the file, make sure to complete the verification procedure. The free plan gives you a maximum file size limit of 4GB and five sends per month. The link remains valid for seven days.

The premium plan increases the limit to 8GB with 15–45 sends per month. There is no limit on the downloads, and you can specify the validity of the link from 1–14 days. DropSend uses 256-bit AES security to keep your files secure.

The paid plan also gives you access to DropSend Direct. It’s a nifty drag-and-drop uploader for Mac and PC to upload and send large files. DropSend also offers Outlook plugin and mobile apps for Android and iOS.

8. SendThisFile: End-to-End Encrypted Transfers

SendThisFile is a different kind of file sharing service. It places limits on the number of transfers you do rather than on the individual file size itself. Create a free account and click the Send Files button to start uploading files. Type in the recipient email address and click Send. The free plan lets you send files up to 2GB with unlimited file transfer.

The premium plan starts with 25GB encrypted file transfer and remains valid for six days. The paid plan also includes Outlook plugin, option to use password protected download capabilities, and embed files on your website with access control features. All plans include AES–256 encryption and 128-bit TLS encryption for end-to-end-transmission.

Managing Large Email Attachments

When you want to send large files via email, it’s always wise to rely on specialized, secure cloud storage and transfer tools. The services discussed in this article are some of the best ways to send large files without any issues and for basic use they’re free.

Also, remember that emails travel across multiple servers on its way to the recipient. An attachment you send from an email service can get rejected by another email provider. If you use Apple Mail, make sure to read this piece on how to avoid common issues with attachments.

Image Credit: Fenton/Depositphotos

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Google’s Game of the Year Tests Your Knowledge of 2018

How well do you think you know what trended in 2018? If you think you have your finger on the pulse of popular culture you should play Google’s Game of the Year 2018. This short and simple quiz tests you on what people searched for on Google through 2018.

2018 has been a rather strange year, with Trump’s tweets, Musk’s meltdown, Facebook’s failings, and more besides. Lots of people, places, objects, and phrases have also trended upwards. And it’s all on show in Google’s Game of the Year for 2018.

Play Google’s Game of the Year 2018

The quiz is conducted by a virtual host, which is nothing more than a set of colored shapes. However, you can customize the unnamed host by changing the speed and pitch of his voice before you start. Doing so will elicit a series of sarcastic responses.

Google’s Game of the Year is a series of questions related to what people searched for in 2018. You’ll be asked up to 20 questions, plus play some bonus rounds. However, you only have three lives, so once you’ve answered three questions incorrectly you’re out.

The questions all pitch various things together and ask you to identify which one people searched for more in 2018 than in 2017. And it’s a lot harder than you might imagine, especially when Google asks you to choose from more than just two things.

Once you’ve been knocked out you’ll be awarded a score, and Google will invite you to share it on Facebook or Twitter. I’d recommend playing the quiz a few times first though, as you’re bound to score more highly the second or third time of playing.

Google’s Top Searches of 2018

If you play Google’s Game of the Year 2018 and score badly, you should check out Google’s top searches of 2018 before giving it another go. After all, who better to know what was trending in 2018 than Google itself. Because Search is literally its business.

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How to Read a Mac Formatted Drive in Windows: 6 Methods

Do you need to read a Mac drive on Windows? Unfortunately, it’s not a straightforward process; you can’t just connect the Mac drive and expect it to work. Here’s everything you need to know to get it working.

Why Can’t Windows Read Mac Drives?

Windows and macOS use different file systems. Windows uses the NTFS file system for its internal drives, whereas Apple replaced HFS+ with its successor—Apple File System (APFS)—in early 2017. Today, APFS is used on Macs, iPhones, iPads, and Apple TVs.

External hard disks and USB drives are generally formatted with the Windows FAT32 file system for maximum compatibility. Most devices, including Macs, can read and write from FAT32 devices. There’s even a way to make a Mac read an NTFS drive.

All new Macs will be formatted with APFS. Older Mac drives may still be formatted with the HFS+ file system. Windows can’t read either file system by default.

We’ll show you how to access your Mac-formatted APFS or HFS+ drive on Windows.

How to Read APFS on Windows

Firstly, let’s look at how to read the newer Apple File System format on Windows. All these apps will allow you to read drives from any updated Apple device, not just Macs.

1. MacDrive

MacDrive has been one of the go-to apps for a long time. The first version was released way back in 1996. If you’re prepared to spend some money, you don’t need to look elsewhere.

The app works with APFS drives and HFS+ drives.

Unlike some of the options we’ll discuss later, MacDrive lets you read and write data to your Mac-formatted drive directly from Windows.

The app is focussed around the freshly redesigned Disk Management Window. It acts as a hub for all the Mac drives connected to Windows.

You will also be able to see your APFS or HFS+ drive directly within File Explorer, allowing easy integration with the rest of the Windows operating system.

Other useful features include the ability to create and partition Mac disks direct from your PC, a powerful disk repair feature, and robust security tools.

The standard version costs $49.99. There’s also a Pro version. It adds several extra features, including automatic file defragmentation, support for RAID setups, and a way to create Mac ISO files.

A five-day free trial is available.

Download: MacDrive ($49.99)

2. Paragon APFS for Windows

Paragon APFS for Windows is another paid app. It is the main competitor of MacDrive.

The app provides read and write access to APFS-formatted partitions, read and write access to compressed and cloned files, and read-only support for encrypted volumes.

It supports disk auto-mounting at start-up, but doesn’t have MacDrive’s partition tools.

MacDrive has one big advantage over Paragon’s app: HFS+ support. Paragon APFS for Windows only supports APFS-formatted drives. If you have some older Mac drives lying around that are still running HFS+, you would need to separately purchase Paragon HFS+ for Windows. MacDrive, therefore, is a more economical option.

One license—which costs $49.95—works on three Windows PCs.

Download: Paragon APFS for Windows ($49.95)

3. UFS Explorer Standard Access

Our third and final recommendation for reading APFS drives on Windows is UFS Explorer Standard Recovery. Once again, it’s a paid option. The app will cost you €21.95.

UFS Explorer Standard Recovery is the most versatile app on this list. It can read the two formats we care about—APFS and HFS+—as well as NTFS, FAT, FAT32, exFAT, SGI XFS, Linux JFS, Unix/BSD, UFS/UFS2, and VMware VMFS.

As such, this is the app you should choose if you find yourself hopping between lots of different operating systems during your day.

UFS Explorer Standard Recovery also comes with RAID support as standard. The app has a built-in RAID builder, so you can customize it for your array.

There is a free version of the app with no time limits, but it will only let you copy files smaller than 256KB in size.

Download: UFS Explorer Standard Access (€21.95)

How to Read HFS+ on Windows

If your Mac-formatted drive is still running HFS+, use one of these three methods instead.

1. Install Apple HFS+ Drivers

If you only need read access, you can install the Apple HFS+ drivers for Windows. Be sure to remove Paragon or MacDrive before proceeding.

Download the correct Windows driver package, then follow these steps:

1. Copy the ApplsHFS.sys and AppleMNT.sys files to C:\Windows\System32\drivers
2. Merge the Add_AppleHFS.reg file with your Windows registry.
3. Restart your system.

The video above also demonstrates the process.

After restarting, your Mac-formatted drive should show up under This PC. This method only gives you read access to the drive. If you would like to edit or delete files, try one of the alternative methods below.

2. HFSExplorer

HFSExplorer is completely free. You can use it to access Mac file systems from Windows without paying a dime. The developer hasn’t updated it since October 2015 due to the arrival of APFS, but it still works on older systems.

HFSExplorer requires Java. We generally recommend against having Java installed, but it’s necessary here unless you want to spend money. You also need to run the app as an Admin.

This tool is simple to use. Connect your Mac-formatted drive to your Windows system, open HFSExplorer, and click File > Load File System From Device. HFSExplorer can automatically locate any connected devices with HFS+ file systems and open them. You can then extract files from the HFSExplorer window to your Windows drive.

Note that HFSExplorer is read-only, so you can’t modify or delete files on your Mac drive. It also doesn’t integrate with Windows File Explorer—files are available in the HFSExplorer application and you must copy them elsewhere.

Download: HFSExplorer (Free)

3. Paragon HFS+ for Windows

Paragon HFS+ for Windows is a paid application, but it distinguishes itself with additional features.

Unlike HFSExplorer, Paragon HFS+ for Windows provides full read/write access to Mac drives and promises high performance. It even integrates HFS+ file systems with Windows Explorer or File Explorer on Windows. Any Windows program can read from or write to the Mac drive.

The app costs $19.95, but it also offers a 10-day free trial. If you just need to recover files from a drive, 10 days is plenty of time to install this file system driver, copy your files over, and uninstall it.

Paragon HFS+ doesn’t need Java to work.

Download: Paragon HFS+ for Windows ($19.95)

Or Format the Mac Drive for Windows

If you have a Mac drive lying around and you no longer have a Mac, you’re not stuck with the Mac file system forever. After recovering the files from your drive with one of the tools above, you can then format the drive and convert it to a standard FAT32 partition that will work with most devices.

Formatting will erase all the files on your drive, so make sure you have backed up your files. To format the drive, just use the dialog that appears when you connect the drive to your computer.

Check out our guide to learn more about using FAT32.

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WhatsApp Web: How to Use WhatsApp on Your PC

WhatsApp Web is a quick and easy way to use WhatsApp messages on your computer. It gives you most of the features of WhatsApp that you love, but on your desktop or laptop.

Here’s how to use WhatsApp Web on your PC.

What You Will Need

Largely speaking, it’s a simple process and you’ll have the necessary items at hand. But for the sake of thoroughness, here’s the list.

1. An Android phone or an iPhone with a working rear camera.
2. A laptop or desktop computer with any modern web browser, like Google Chrome.
3. An active internet connection for both your phone and your PC.
4. The updated latest version of WhatsApp.

Download: WhatsApp for Android | iOS (Free)

How WhatsApp Web Works

WhatsApp Web does not have all the features of the mobile app. In fact, it can’t work without the mobile app. You will need your phone to connect, and then to use it.

This is, in essence, a clone or a mirror of what’s happening on your phone. If a message comes to your phone, you’ll see it in WhatsApp Web. If your phone doesn’t get a message because it doesn’t have an active connection or it’s switched off, then you won’t see it in WhatsApp Web either.

This is inferior to other chat apps, but in some ways, it also makes the app more secure.

How to Set Up WhatsApp Web

Once you have these elements ready, setting up WhatsApp Web is a snap.

1. Open the browser on your PC and go to web.whatsapp.com.
2. On your WhatsApp mobile app, tap Menu > WhatsApp Web to start the QR code reader.
3. Point your phone’s rear camera to the QR code on your PC screen.

As soon as WhatsApp reads the QR code, it will connect the phone to the PC. In a jiffy, WhatsApp Web and WhatsApp mobile will be synced.

What You Can Do With WhatsApp Web

• Use your keyboard to type.
• Access media (photos, videos, audio) in-line. You can also download any media directly to your PC.
• Start a new conversation with any contact, or search for existing conversations.
• View contact info.
• Start a new group chat, talk in group chats, and view group info.
• Connect multiple computers to your phone and save them for future. You can also remotely disconnect any browser from your phone.
• Get or mute desktop alerts and sounds.
• Share photos and videos, documents, and contacts.
• Send emojis, GIFs, and stickers, as well as voice notes.
• View WhatsApp Status updates from any contact.
• Select multiple messages, and clear messages.
• Reply, forward, star, or delete messages.
• Change your profile.

What You Can’t Do With WhatsApp Web

• You can’t send a WhatsApp Broadcast.
• You can’t make or receive WhatsApp Voice calls nor WhatsApp Video calls.
• You can’t post new WhatsApp Status updates.
• You can’t share maps or your current location.
• You can’t change media download settings, so all photos and videos sent to you are downloaded automatically.
• You can’t use two browsers at the same time. While you can add multiple browsers/PCs to your phone, you can only use one at a time.
• Settings are limited to notifications through WhatsApp Web and chat wallpapers.

Using Multiple WhatsApp Accounts

Some folks have two numbers associated to two different WhatsApp accounts. You can still use them both on a single PC.

To do that, you will need to open WhatsApp Web in two different browsers, such as Chrome and Opera. Alternately, you can open WhatsApp Web in an incognito window, but that logs out after an hour.

What Makes WhatsApp Web Special

So why should you use WhatsApp Web when it’s more limited than the phone? Because of the keyboard, of course.

If you want to engage in long conversations with someone, it’s easier to type on the keyboard. In fact, WhatsApp Web also works with WhatsApp Business, and you’ll be glad that you can take care of multiple customers through it.

You can use keyboard shortcuts too. The most useful two to remember are Ctrl + Shift + [ to go to the previous chat, and Ctrl + Shift + ] to go to the next chat.

How Safe Is WhatsApp Web?

While it initially got some flak for its lack of security, WhatsApp now boasts end-to-end encryption for all its messages. This extend to WhatsApp Web as well.

Still, it’s a good idea to employ the best security practices for WhatsApp, whether you’re using it on the web or on your mobile. For example, if you have to use WhatsApp Web on a different computer, then open it through an incognito window.

How to Log Out of WhatsApp Web

If you are using WhatsApp Web on your own computer, you can stay logged in even when you are done. It’s convenient.

If you are using it on someone else’s computer, then it’s best to log out after you are done. It’s best to do this on both the computer and your mobile app.

1. To log out of WhatsApp Web on desktop, go to Menu > Log out.
2. To log out of WhatsApp Web from all devices that your phone is connected to, go to Menu > WhatsApp Web > Log out from all devices.

More WhatsApp Web Tips and Tricks

The more you know about WhatsApp Web, the more astounded you will be by what you can achieve with it. In fact, we prefer it to official desktop apps for WhatsApp since WhatsApp Web is more feature-filled, and even offers extensions.

And finally, here’s one hack that you’ll love. You can actually read messages without marking them with blue ticks. It’s a sneaky one, but if you want to learn how to do that and more, check out the best WhatsApp Web tips and tricks.

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Megabit (Mb) vs. Megabyte (MB): We Make It Less Confusing

Do you know the difference between a megabit (Mb) versus a megabyte (MB)?

While the two sound the same and have the same abbreviation, they’re actually very different. And they’re both quite important, as they determine the speed of data, such as your internet connection (that you’re paying big bucks for) and the size of data on storage devices, like hard drives.

Yes, it’s a little confusing, but today we’re going to explain everything you need to know about the megabit (Mb) and the megabyte (MB).

What Is a Megabit and a Megabyte?

First, we need to go back to the piece that starts it all—the bit. A bit is a binary digit, which is a very small unit of digital, computerized data. Eight of these bits composes a byte. A megabit contains about 1 million of those bits, and eight (8) megabits makes up a single megabyte.

For the most part, data sizes for hard drives and files are usually measured with “bytes,” whereas data for broadband goes by “bits.”

You may be more familiar with gigabytes (GB) or even terabytes (TB), as they are more commonly used these days in terms of data storage. A gigabyte holds about 1000 megabytes of data, and a terabyte is 1000 gigabytes.

When you look at it that way, a terabyte is just a lot of bits in one place. Pretty crazy when you think about it, right?

What’s the Difference Between the Abbreviations?

The abbreviations are also very important to take note of. Since a megabit is a smaller unit than a megabyte, it features the lowercase “b,” making it’s abbreviation “Mb.” Megabyte is larger, therefore it gets the capital “B” in “MB.”

Both megabits and megabytes are commonly used to indicate the data transfer speed of something, such as hard drives or internet connections. If you’re just referring to hard drives, then the abbreviation remains “Mb” or “MB.”

But in terms of internet speeds, you refer to the amount of megabits or megabytes that are transferred each second, thus creating the abbreviations “Mbps” and “MBps,” with the “ps” standing for “per second.”

Why You Should Know Both Megabit and Megabyte

We all need internet access at home, and these days, it’s always about broadband from the cable company. Often times, they feature packages where you can get speeds of “up to 50Mbps” or “100Mbps” and the like. It’s important to know what exactly you’re paying for.

You may think that a 100Mbps package sounds like super fast speeds, and while you won’t be wrong (it’s still plenty fast), don’t expect to just download a 100MB file in a second.

That’s because when internet Service Providers (ISP) sell you an “up to 100Mbps” connection, that is actually referring to 100 megabits per second, and not 100 megabytes per second. In fact, we even have a whole guide on understanding internet speeds, because it’s a tricky topic.

In fact, if you have a 100Mbps connection, that’s actually a 12.5MBps, which doesn’t sound as impressive. You get this calculation from dividing 100 by 8, since eight bits go into one megabit. I have a 400Mbps connection at home, which translates to 50MBps. Again, the first number is a lot more impressive than the smaller one, right?

Marketing Tactics

ISPs use megabits as a marketing tactic to make their packages sound more enticing to potential customers. That’s because these numbers are larger, and look more monumental than the smaller counterparts.

They also say that you can get up to those speeds, so it’s not guaranteed all the time, especially during peak hours.

Services like SpeedTest provide you with a simple test of your internet speed, and they always deliver results in Mbps, since it’s standard of the industry. However, you can change the setting of your speed test service to have it say MBps instead of Mbps.

Say you’re wanting to download a 750MB file. This file is also the same as 6000Mb (6000 divided by 8 is 750). If you have a 50Mbps connection, that file would be downloaded in two minutes. A slower connection, say 10Mbps, would take 10 minutes to download the same file.

Buying a New Hard Drive

If you are in the market for a new hard drive for your computer, or perhaps even an external hard drive or other storage device, then you should also pay attention to the capacity. However, for drive sizes, few display the capacity as megabytes as most use gigabytes nowadays.

When you shop for drives, you’ll usually find sizes like 256GB, 500GB, 750GB, 1TB, and so on. With these numbers, they translate into 256000MB, 500000MB, and 750000MB, respectively.

Since 1TB is 1000GB, that means about 1000000MB. The formula for finding out how many megabytes something holds is to multiply the gigabyte value by 1000.

Usually, to talk about how fast a connection is, you just use bits (Mb for most internet speeds). Bytes (MB, GB, TB, etc.) are used mostly when you are referring to storage and file sizes.

How Do I Calculate Megabit and Megabyte Again?

It’s simple enough to remember: a megabyte (MB) contains eight (8) megabits (Mb). Whenever you see something in MB, just multiply that by eight to find how many megabits it is.

For the purpose of conversions, let’s make x stand for MB and y represent Mb.

xMB x 8 = yMb

If you want to convert megabits (Mb) into megabytes (MB), then divide it by eight.

yMb / 8 = xMB

To figure out how long it should take to download a file (based on the speed cap you pay for), try this formula, where p stands for the speed you’re paying for and t is your download time.

(xMB x 8) / pMbps = t (in seconds)

Then of course, you’ll want to convert those seconds into minutes for a better representation of how long it will take.

If you’re going from gigabytes to megabytes, times the gigabyte number (let’s go with a for gigabyte) by 1000 to find out how many megabytes that is.

aGB x 1000 = xMB

It’s highly recommended to use Google’s search engine to convert digital storage units too, if you’re not good with math.

Megabits and Megabytes Are Not the Same

Yes, it’s slightly confusing when you see Mb and MB used often, and you thought they were interchangeable. It couldn’t be farther from the truth. Hopefully you now understand the differences between a megabit (Mb) and megabyte (MB), and can convert them easily.

Memory sizes can be tricky to explain, but we’ve covered them all, as well as their context, too!

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Microsoft Remote Desktop: How to Access Windows From Your Mac

It’s easy to access and work on your Windows PC from a Mac. Microsoft offers a free tool to do the job. Read on to learn how to set up and use Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac.

Remote Desktop for Mac is relatively simple to set up. It lets you use your Windows apps, work with files, or doing anything else you’d normally do on Windows directly from your MacBook or other macOS machine.

Step 1: Prepare Your Windows PC

Microsoft Remote Desktop requires Windows 10 Pro or Enterprise, or Windows Server. The software runs on Microsoft’s proprietary RDP protocol, which isn’t available on the standard Windows 10 Home Edition. If you need to connect to a PC running Home, one of the best remote access tools will help you out.

The first steps to set up Remote Desktop for Mac occur on your Windows computer.

On your Windows 10 machine, open the Start menu and go to Settings > System > Remote Desktop. Set Enable Remote Desktop to On, and click Confirm when prompted.

Your PC needs to be on and awake for you to connect remotely. You might therefore want to activate the Keep my PC awake option. To do this, click Show settings alongside it and set Sleep to Never. You should probably only do this if you need constant remote access to the computer. If you don’t, then allowing it to sleep is wise.

Next, scroll down to User accounts. By default, the account you’re logged into will automatically have remote access permissions. To allow other users to log in remotely, click Select users to add their usernames.

Get Your PC Name and IP Address

Finally, you need to grab a couple of pieces of info before you switch over to your Mac. On the same Remote Desktop menu, under How to connect to this PC, make a note of your PC name.

If the current name is generic and you’d like to make it something that’s easier to remember, switch to the About tab and click Rename this PC.

Next, you need to find your computer’s IP address on your network. Go to Settings > Network & internet. Select Wi-Fi (or Ethernet if you using a wired connection), then click on the network you’re connected to.

This opens the network connection properties screen. Scroll to the bottom of the page and locate the IPv4 address in the list. Make a note of this number.

Step 2: Install Microsoft Remote Desktop for Mac

Now, switch to your Mac and install Microsoft Remote Desktop, available free in the Mac App Store. Microsoft also offers versions of the app for iOS and Android.

The instructions for those platforms are the same as the ones we use here.

Step 3: Add Your PC to Microsoft Remote Desktop

Launch the Remote Desktop client on your Mac. Click Add Desktop to begin.

In the dialog box that opens, type in the PC Name that you checked earlier. If you find that you’re unable to connect with this name, use the IP address you made note of instead.

By default, User Account is set to Ask me every time. This means it will prompt you for a username and password each time you connect. If you don’t want this, click the dropdown list and select Add account.

Add your username in the format domain\[username]. You can add your password as well, for an automatic login. Leave it blank and you’ll get a prompt to enter it each time.

That’s all you need to do to set up a connection. Click Save and you can connect. However, you might want to adjust a few other settings before you go any further.

Step 4: Configure Your Remote Connection

Click Show More to change your settings. Here, you’re able to configure how your remote connection works:

• In the General tab, add a Friendly Name to make a computer recognizable if you’ve got more than one connection set up.
• Under the Display tab, click Fit session to window if you aren’t planning on using the remote connection in full screen mode. Also, set Optimize for Retina Displays if you’re working on a high-res monitor.
• In the Sound tab, choose which computer should play sound (if either), and whether you want to be able to use your Mac’s microphone.

However, the most important option is Local Resources.

This enables you to make certain folders on your Mac accessible within your remote Windows session. You can access these folders through the Windows File Explorer, where you’ll find them under This PC. You can work on files stored on your Mac in a Windows app, or copy files between the machines.

It’s all contained within the remote session, however. Sharing a folder in this way does not make the folder accessible on the physical Windows computer.

Click Save to finish setting up your connection.

Step 5: Connect!

You’re now ready to connect. Your PC must be turned on and awake, and connected to the same network as your Mac.

The Remote Desktop app will list your computer, with a thumbnail preview, under Saved Desktops. Double-click it to connect.

If you didn’t change the settings, you’ll need to enter your username and/or password now. Remember, the username must be in the format domain\[username]. Click OK.

Security Warning

You’ll now see a security warning relating to an unverified certificate. If you’re at home, or working on a small business network, you can click Continue and ignore the message. If you’re on a large network with public access, be wary about doing this.

Once You’re Connected

When your Mac establishes the remote desktop connection, your Windows PC will lock and switch to the login screen. If anyone tries to use the PC, your remote session will end. You can’t have two people using the same computer at once.

Using Windows on Your Mac

Unless you changed the setting, your remote desktop session opens in full screen. To use it in a window instead, move your mouse pointer to the top of the screen and click the green window button at the top-left.

Using Windows through Remote Desktop is pretty much the same as using it on a dedicated computer. One of the few changes—and a possible point of confusion—is that the app maps the keyboard shortcuts for cut, copy, and paste to the ones used in macOS, using the Command key. However, some other shortcuts continue to use the Control key as they do in Windows.

You can launch apps, work on files, or even play games if you want to. There may be a little lag during heavy use, but most of the time it’s fast and responsive.

You can’t drag and drop files between Mac and Windows. They share the clipboard by default, though, so you can copy and paste between them instead.

For a greater level of file sharing, set up a shared folder using the Local Resources setting, as we outlined above.

Disconnecting and Deleting Your Desktop

To disconnect and end the session, simply close the Remote Desktop window on your Mac. You can edit your settings at any time by hovering your mouse over the thumbnail in Saved Desktop and clicking the Pen icon.

To delete a desktop, right-click on it and select Delete.

Remotely Access Your Computer From Anywhere

Microsoft Remote Desktop is an easy way to access Windows from a Mac. But what if you need to do it the other way around, or perhaps need to bring a Linux computer or a Chromebook into the mix?

The quickest solution here is to set up Chrome Remote Desktop, Google’s remote access tool that runs on any desktop computer that has Chrome installed. We’ve also shown how to remote access your Mac from any platform.

Read the full article: Microsoft Remote Desktop: How to Access Windows From Your Mac

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Why Android Tablets Suck (And What to Buy Instead)

The Very Slow Movie Player shows a film over an entire year

It seems someone took Every Frame a Painting literally: The Very Slow Movie Player is a device that turns cinema into wallpaper, advancing the image by a single second every hour. The result is an interesting household object that makes something new of even the most familiar film.

The idea occurred to designer and engineer Bryan Boyer during one of those times we all have where we are sitting at home thinking of ways to celebrate slowness.

“Can a film be consumed at the speed of reading a book?” he asked himself, slowly. “Slowing things down to an extreme measure creates room for appreciation of the object… but the prolonged duration also starts to shift the relationship between object, viewer, and context. A film watched at 1/3,600th of the original speed is not a very slow movie, it’s a hazy timepiece. A Very Slow Movie Player (VSMP) doesn’t tell you the time; it helps you see yourself against the smear of time.”

The Very Slow Movie Player is an e-paper display attached to a Raspberry Pi board; you load a movie onto the latter, and it processes and displays a single frame at a time, updating the screen with a new one every two and a half minutes.

That adds up to 24 frames per hour, as opposed to the usual 24 frames per second — 3,600 times slower than normal viewing, and producing a (perhaps) 7-or-8,000-hour tableau you view over the course of a year or so.

“It is impossible to ‘watch’ in a traditional way because it’s too slow. In a staring contest with VSMP you will always lose,” writes Boyer in a post explaining the project. “It can be noticed, glanced at, or even inspected, but not watched.”

He compares it to the work of Bill Viola, whose super-slow-motion portraits are similarly impossible to watch from start to finish (unless you’re very, very patient) and therefore exist in a sort of limbo between motion picture and still image.

The image itself leaves something to be desired, of course: e-paper is essentially 1-bit color depth — black and white. So the subtleties of color you might see in any film, color or no, will be lost to dithering.

The way it’s done helps highlight the contrasts and zones of a scene, though if you really want to appreciate Rear Window as cinema, you can watch it any time you like. But if you want to appreciate it as a process, as a relationship with time, as an object and image that exists in the context of the rest of the world and your life… for that, you have the Very Slow Movie Player.

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911 emergency services go down across the US after CenturyLink outage

911 emergency services in several states across the U.S. remain down after a massive outage at a CenturyLink datacenter.

The outage began after 12pm ET on Thursday, according to CenturyLink’s status page, and continues to cause disruption across 911 call centers. Some states have seen their services restored. CenturyLink has not said what caused the outage beyond an issue with a “network element,” but said in its latest update — around 11am ET on Friday — that the company said that it was “seeing good progress, but our service restoration work is not complete.”

In a tweet, CenturyLink added that it was “working tirelessly” until it gets its affected systems back up and running.

CenturyLink, one of the largest telecommunications providers in the U.S., provides internet and phone backbone services to major cell carriers, including AT&T and Verizon. Datacenter or fiber issues can have a knock-on effect to other companies, cutting out service and causing cell site blackouts.

In this case, the outage affected only cellular calls to 911, and not landline calls.

Some residents of affected areas were sent emergency warnings to their cell phones, warning of the outage.

Who is #CRESA and what does this mean? How is 911 down. I don’t need to call but this is alarming pic.twitter.com/MB7f6iZTnn

— its_lady_kc (@its_lady_kc) December 28, 2018

Among the areas affected include Seattle, Washington and Salt Lake City, Utah. Several other states, including Idaho, Oregon, Arizona and Missouri, are also affected, local news has reported.

Many other police departments tweeted out alternative numbers for 911 in the event of an emergency.

Police in Boston, Massachusetts tweeted that their service was restored this morning.

UPDATE: Technical issues with the 911 system, and the resulting wireless capability outages, have been resolved. Massachusetts callers may resume using 911 from their cell phones for public safety emergencies. https://t.co/6AAeRdVxeN

— Mass State Police (@MassStatePolice) December 28, 2018

Ajit Pai, chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, which regulates and monitors 911 services, said the commission is investigating the outage.

“When an emergency strikes, it’s critical that Americans are able to use 911 to reach those who can help,” said Pai in a statement. “The CenturyLink service outage is therefore completely unacceptable, and its breadth and duration are particularly troubling.”

“I’ve directed the Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau to immediately launch an investigation into the cause and impact of this outage. This inquiry will include an examination of the effect that CenturyLink’s outage appears to have had on other providers’ 911 services,” he said.

TechCrunch will have more when it comes in.

Senate wants emergency alerts to go out through Netflix, Spotify, etc.

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Indonesia unblocks Tumblr following its ban on adult content

Indonesia, the world’s fourth largest country by population, has unblocked Tumblr nine months after it blocked the social networking site over pornographic content.

Tumblr — which, disclaimer, is owned by Oath Verizon Media Group just like TechCrunch — announced earlier this month that it would remove all “adult content” from its platform. That decision, which angered many in the adult entertainment industry who valued the platform as an increasingly rare outlet that supported erotica, was a response to Apple removing Tumblr’s app from the iOS Store after child pornography was found within the service.

The impact of this new policy has made its way to Indonesia, where KrAsia reports that the service was unblocked earlier this week. The service had been blocked in March after falling foul of the country’s anti-pornography laws.

“Tumblr sent an official statement regarding the commitment to clean the platform from pornographic content,” Ferdinandus Setu, acting head of the Ministry of Communication and Informatics Bureau, is reported to have said in a press statement.

Messaging apps WhatsApp and Line are among the other services that have been forced to comply with the government’s ban on “unsuitable” content in order to keep their services open in the country. Telegram, meanwhile, removed suspected terrorist content last year after its service was partially blocked.

While perhaps not widely acknowledged in the West, Indonesia is a huge market, with a population of more than 260 million people. The world’s largest Muslim country, it is the largest economy in Southeast Asia and its growth is tipped to help triple the region’s digital economy to $240 billion by 2025.

In other words, Indonesia is a huge market for internet companies.

The country’s anti-porn laws have been used to block as many as 800,000 websites as of 2017 — so potentially over a million by now — but they have also been used to take aim at gay dating apps, some of which have been removed from the Google Play Store. As Vice notes, “while homosexuality is not illegal in Indonesia, it’s no secret that the country has become a hostile place for the LGBTQ community.”

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Smart speakers hit critical mass in 2018

We already know Alexa had a good Christmas – the app shot to the top of the App Store over the holidays, and the Alexa service even briefly crashed from all the new users. But Alexa, along with other smart speaker devices like Google Home, didn’t just have a good holiday — they had a great year, too. The smart speaker market reached critical mass in 2018, with around 41 percent of U.S. consumers now owning a voice-activated speaker, up from 21.5 percent in 2017.

According to a series of reports from RBC Capital Markets analysts released in December, the near doubling of the adoption rate for smart speakers in the U.S. was driven by growth in both Alexa and Google Home devices, while Apple’s HomePod played only a small role.

The firm found that U.S. penetration of Alexa-enabled devices reached 31 percent this year, compared with 41 percent overall for smart speakers.

It also forecast that Alexa would generate $18 billion to $19 billion in total revenue by 2021 – or ~5 percent of Amazon’s revenue –  through a combination of device sales, incremental voice shopping sales, and other platform revenues. In the U.S., there are now over 100 million Alexa-enabled devices installed – a key milestone for Alexa to become a “critical mass platform,” the report noted.

RBC additionally called out Amazon’s progress with Alexa’s development, with launches like Alexa Guard, which listens for break-ins and smoke detector alarms; plus new features like local voice control for when the internet is down; location-based reminders; advanced routines; email integrations; expanded calling options; and many others.

Alexa’s third-party app ecosystem also grew in 2018, with 150 percent year-over-year growth in skills to reach over 60,000 total Alexa skills by year-end. That’s up from 40,000 skills in May; 25,000 in Q3 2017; and just 5,000 two years ago.

Google Home also gained traction in 2018, with U.S. penetration for Google devices growing to 23 percent, up from 8 percent in 2017. Each household owns around 1.7 devices, which leads a Google Home install base of around 43 million in the U.S., and around 9 million in other Google Home markets, the forecast said.

However, the report doesn’t see as much revenue coming in from Google Home over the next few years, compared with Alexa. Instead, it estimates that Google Home generated $3.4 billion in revenue this year, and will grow that to $8.2 billion by 2021.

But combined with Google’s other hardware products like Pixel, Nest, and Chromecast, the hardware suite will have generated approximately $8.8 billion in 2018, and will grow to $19.6 billion in 2021.

This is the first year the analysts asked about Apple’s HomePod in the consumer survey, and they found its share of the U.S. smart speaker market remains small. Amazon has a 66 percent share to Google’s 29 percent. HomePod had 5 percent, it said.

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Put down your phone if you want to innovate

We are living in an interstitial period. In the early 1980s we entered an era of desktop computing that culminated in the dot-com crash – a financial bubble that we bolstered with Y2K consulting fees and hardware expenditures alongside irrational exuberance over Pets.com. That last interstitial era, an era during which computers got smaller, weirder, thinner, and more powerful, ushered us, after a long period of boredom, into the mobile era in which we now exist. If you want to help innovate in the next decade, it’s time to admit that phones, like desktop PCs before them, are a dead end.

We create and then brush up against the edges of our creation every decade. The speed at which we improve – but not innovate – is increasing and so the difference between a 2007 iPhone and a modern Pixel 3 is incredible. But what can the Pixel do that the original iPhone or Android phones can’t? Not much.

We are limited by the use cases afforded by our current technology. In 1903, a bike was a bike and could not fly. Until the Wright Brothers and others turned forward mechanical motion into lift were we able to lift off. In 2019 a phone is a phone and cannot truly interact with us as long as it remains a separate part of our bodies. Until someone looks beyond these limitations will we be able to take flight.

While I won’t posit on the future of mobile tech I will note that until we put our phones away and look at the world anew we will do nothing of note. We can take better photos and FaceTime each other but until we see the limitations of these technologies we will be unable to see a world outside of them.

We’re heading into a new year (and a new CES) and we can expect more of the same. It is safe and comfortable to remain in the screen-hand-eye nexus, creating VR devices that are essentially phones slapped to our faces and big computers that now masquerade as TVs. What, however, is the next step? Where do these devices go? How do they change? How to user interfaces compress and morph? Until we actively think about this we will remain stuck.

Perhaps you are. You’d better hurry. If this period ends as swiftly and decisively as the other ones before it, the opportunity available will be limited at best. Why hasn’t VR taken off? Because it is still on the fringes, being explored by people stuck in mobile thinking. Why is machine learning and AI so slow? Because the use cases are aimed at chatbots and better customer interaction. Until we start looking beyond the black mirror (see what I did?) of our phones innovation will fail.

Every app launched, every pictured scrolled, every tap, every hunched-over moment davening to some dumb Facebook improvement, is a brick in bulwark against an unexpected and better future. So put your phone down this year and build something. Soon it might be too late.

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This wristband detects an opiate overdose

A project by students at Carnegie Mellon could save lives. Called the HopeBand, the wristband senses low blood oxygen levels and sends a text message and sounds an alarm if danger is imminent.

“Imagine having a friend who is always watching for signs of overdose; someone who understands your usage pattern and knows when to contact [someone] for help and make sure you get help,” student Rashmi Kalkunte told IEEE. “That’s what the HopeBand is designed to do.”

The team won third place in the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Opioid Challenge at the Health 2.0 conference in September and they are planning to send the band to a needle exchange program in Pittsburgh. They hope to sell it for less than $20.

Given the more than 72,000 overdose deaths in America this year a device like this could definitely keep folks a little safer.

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Grab raises fundraising target to $5B as Southeast Asia’s ride-hailing war heats up

Southeast Asian ride-hailing firm Grab is aiming to start the new year with a bang and an awful load of bucks. The company, which acquired Uber’s local business earlier this year, is planning to raise as much as $5 billion from its ongoing Series H round, up from an original target of $3 billion, a source with knowledge of the plan told TechCrunch.

Grab declined to comment for this story.

That Series H round has been open since June. Already, it has seen participation from the likes of Toyota, Microsoft, Booking Holdings and Yamaha Motors who have pushed it close to the original $3 billion target. Prior to raising $150 million from Yamaha, Grab said the round stood at $2.7 billion. While it is true that the company first announced that it was “on track to raise over $3 billion by the end of 2018,” it is not public knowledge that it has set its sights as high as $5 billion.

A big part of that expansion is a planned investment from SoftBank’s Vision Fund which, as TechCrunch reported last week, is aiming to pump up to $1.5 billion into the business. Adding that to the $3 billion total appears to leave a further $500 million allocation for other investors to take up.

Grab is already the most capitalized startup in Southeast Asia’s history having raised around $6.8 billion to date from investors, according to data from Crunchbase. The company was last valued at $11 billion — when Toyota invested the initial $1 billion in this Series H six months ago — and it is unclear how much that valuation will increase when the round is completed.

The company is also one of the widest reaching consumer internet companies in Southeast Asia, a region of 650 million consumers. Grab claims over 130 million downloads and more than 2.5 billion completed rides to date, while it has expanded into fintech and it is going beyond ride-hailing app to offer Southeast Asia a ‘super app’ in the mold of Meituan in China. On the financial side, Grab is assumed to not yet be profitable. But it has said that it made $1 billion in revenue and that it projects that the figure will double in 2019.

Buying Uber’s business made it the dominant ride-sharing operator in the region — a position that saw it pay fines in Singapore and the Philippines — but Uber’s exit also saw Go-Jek, a rival in Indonesia, step up and expand its business into new markets. Go-Jek — which is backed by the likes of Tencent, Meituan and Google — entered Vietnam in August and it has recently launched in Thailand and Singapore as it bids to step into Uber’s shadow.

With Go-Jek aiming to raise $2 billion of its own, it certainly looks like Grab’s extension of its already-enormous Series H round is aimed at increasing its war chest as the competition intensifies in post-Uber Southeast Asia.

Southeast Asia exit deal is a win, not a defeat, for Uber

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