John Chen to stay on as BlackBerry CEO through 2023

BlackBerry today announced it reached an agreement to keep CEO John Chen in his current position through 2023. Chen joined the company in 2013 and is responsible for leading the company’s recovery as it left smartphones and embraced services.

When Chen took over the company, the company was struggling on all fronts. Its time as the smartphone leader was done but it still had a strong brand in key markets. Chen lead the company to a modest turn around and has seemingly found its footing. The company stock is up 89.9% over the last 12 months and nearly level with the stock price when Chen took over during its decline five years ago.

“The BlackBerry Board of Directors has tremendous confidence in John Chen. John engineered a successful turnaround and has the company repositioned to apply its strengths and assets to the Enterprise of Things, an emerging category with massive potential,” said Prem Watsa, Lead Director and Chair of the Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee of the BlackBerry Board, in a released statement. “John’s leadership is critical and the Board has determined that it is in the best of interests of BlackBerry and its shareholders to continue his service through November 2023.”

Going forward Chen’s compensation is weighted towards longterm goals. His salary will stay the same. He will be award 5 million restricted share units vested over five years if and when the company’s share price amounts from USD $16 to $20. A performance-based cash award will vest and become available if the company’s share price hits $30, resulting in BlackBerry’s market capitalization hitting $16.1 billion, an increase of 134% from current levels.

It’s painful to watch iconic companies die. BlackBerry was dying and Chen managed to keep the boat afloat through cuts and redirection. If there’s anyone who’s able to keep the company moving forward, it’s John Chen and BlackBerry’s board clearly felt he was the right person for the job.

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6 Free Mind Map Apps for Mac to Get Your Creative Juices Flowing

Mind mapping is a terrific visual method for capturing thoughts and ideas. For business or personal use, a mind map is ideal for brainstorming sessions and helps you organize your concepts easily.

If you own a Mac and want a stellar mind map app, the App Store has plenty. The problem is that most are paid and expensive at that. But luckily there are several free apps that have great features and are a breeze to use.

1. SimpleMind

Getting started with SimpleMind Lite is just as the name implies: simple. The app has an intuitive interface that lets you create a mind map in a snap.

First, pick your style. You can choose from a variety of options like bright colors, chart, grayscale, and colors on black. Then to add nodes, you can either click the plus sign on your current node or the Add Child Topic button from the toolbar. To insert text into a node, click the T on the current node or double-click inside the shape.

Other features include:

• Undo and redo buttons
• Print and zoom options
• Freeform or horizontal layouts
• Color palettes and custom colors
• Easy deletion and clipboard options

You can use SimpleMind Lite for free and without ads. But if you would like additional features like Dropbox and Google Drive sync, media and document options, or app customizations, check out the paid version.

Download: SimpleMind Lite (Free)
Download: SimpleMind ($30)

2. XMind: ZEN

If you want an app that lets you begin with a template, check out XMind: ZEN. You can choose from over 25 templates that offer different colors, layouts, and diagram styles.

To add nodes, click either the Topic or Subtopic buttons from the toolbar. To insert text, just double-click inside the shape. You can freely move the nodes without losing their connections or turn subtopics into main topics.

Other features include:

• Full set of icons such as priority, numbers, tasks, stars, and symbols
• Stickers for education, business, travel, sports, weather, and more
• Zen mode for full-screen mode with a night-view option
• Ability to add notes or summaries to nodes
• Sharing via local file save, social media, or URL

Xmind: ZEN gives you awesome features for free. But if you would like to unlock the iOS or full versions, you can check out the in-app subscription plans. You might also take a peek at mind map apps specifically for iOS.

Download: XMind: ZEN (Free)

3. QMindMap

QMindMap Lite is a little more limited with its free features. But this completely freeform tool lets you create main topic nodes with a click of the toolbar button.

To add subtopic nodes, click inside the current node and select either the branch or the box and then drag. You can type in your text by double-clicking the shape.

Other features include:

• Branch or freehand lines
• Ability to add media to nodes
• Color adjustments for nodes, lines, and text
• Hiding and unhiding of nodes
• Cross connections between nodes

QMindMap Lite lets you create basic mind maps for free. But like similar apps, you can purchase the full version if you would like features such as exporting and iCloud support.

Download: QMindMap Lite (Free)
Download: QMindMap ($13)

4. Junkyard

Junkyard is another cool and easy mind mapping app for Mac. What’s nice about Junkyard is that you receive all features for free. There is a small ad at the bottom of the window that you can remove with an inexpensive in-app purchase. But if you don’t mind the ad, then this is a great freebie.

To create a node, click the Settings (gear icon) button on the sidebar. To add a child node, do the same and then drag the arrow from the parent to it to form the connection. And you can enable full-screen mode for more canvas space.

Other features include:

• Outline view of your mind map
• Many font options and five color palettes
• Shapes, colors, and borders for the appearance, lines, and groups
• Automatic alignment guides
• Connection line labels

Download: Junkyard (Free)

5. Mydea

Mydea Lite is a good free mind mapping app if you enjoy adding icons, symbols, and even links to your diagrams. You can choose from five layout options like mind map or fish bone and select a style which applies colors and shapes to your mind map.

The toolbar is intuitive and lets you create topics and subtopics with a click. Double-click inside a node to add the text. If you want a number or progress symbol, just hit the Assets button. Move all nodes freely and zoom in or out for different views.

Other features include:

• Ability to add notes to nodes
• Ability to include hyperlinks in nodes
• Hide and unhide nodes or groups of nodes
• Add tags that you can attach to nodes

Mydea Lite lets you add up to 20 nodes per mind map. If you would like to add more, you can look at the paid version which also provides support for XMind documents and importing or exporting in Markdown format.

Download: Mydea Lite (Free)
Download: Mydea ($8)

6. SimpleMindMap

One final app to check out on your Mac is SimpleMindMap. This one offers a host of interesting and useful features.

For basic mind maps, click the plus sign inside a node to add a child. Or use the blue and pink plus sign buttons in the toolbar for brother and child nodes. You can then double-click a node to add text or use the text box in the toolbar. You can move and resize the nodes and diagram freely while keeping the connections.

Other features include:

• Click a node’s minus sign to hide all child nodes
• Change the line and fill color of nodes
• Choose node and child node shapes
• Add objects like emojis and symbols
• Modify the canvas with grid and snap features

SimpleMindMap lets you create mind maps with a limit of 80 items for free. For simple maps, this is ideal. But if you need more, you can upgrade via in-app purchase to the full version for unlimited items.

Download: SimpleMindMap (Free)

How Do You Mind Map on Your Mac?

These free mind map tools are great for basic diagrams and help you get the job done. Whether you like modest mind maps with just a few nodes or those that go a bit further and contain many, there is sure to be an app here that you will like.

If you would rather use Microsoft Office, then check out how to turn Word documents into mind map apps. Or take a look at these helpful mind map templates for Microsoft Word.

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John Chen to stay on as BlackBerry CEO through 2023

BlackBerry today announced it reached an agreement to keep CEO John Chen in his current position through 2023. Chen joined the company in 2013 and is responsible for leading the company’s recovery as it left smartphones and embraced services.

When Chen took over the company, the company was struggling on all fronts. Its time as the smartphone leader was done but it still had a strong brand in key markets. Chen lead the company to a modest turn around and has seemingly found its footing. The company stock is up 89.9% over the last 12 months and nearly level with the stock price when Chen took over during its decline five years ago.

“The BlackBerry Board of Directors has tremendous confidence in John Chen. John engineered a successful turnaround and has the company repositioned to apply its strengths and assets to the Enterprise of Things, an emerging category with massive potential,” said Prem Watsa, Lead Director and Chair of the Compensation, Nomination and Governance Committee of the BlackBerry Board, in a released statement. “John’s leadership is critical and the Board has determined that it is in the best of interests of BlackBerry and its shareholders to continue his service through November 2023.”

Going forward Chen’s compensation is weighted towards longterm goals. His salary will stay the same. He will be award 5 million restricted share units vested over five years if and when the company’s share price amounts from USD $16 to $20. A performance-based cash award will vest and become available if the company’s share price hits $30, resulting in BlackBerry’s market capitalization hitting $16.1 billion, an increase of 134% from current levels.

It’s painful to watch iconic companies die. BlackBerry was dying and Chen managed to keep the boat afloat through cuts and redirection. If there’s anyone who’s able to keep the company moving forward, it’s John Chen and BlackBerry’s board clearly felt he was the right person for the job.

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Airtable raises $52M to give non-coders tools to build complex software

A massive company probably has plenty of engineers on staff and the resources to build a complex backbone of interconnected information that can contain tons of data and make acting on it easy — but for smaller companies, and for those that aren’t technical, those tools aren’t very accessible.

That’s what convinced Howie Liu to create Airtable, a startup that looks to turn what seems like just a normal spreadsheet into a robust database tool, hiding the complexity of what’s happening in the background while those without any programming experience create intricate systems to get their work done. Today, they’re trying to take that one step further with a new tool called Blocks, a set of mix-and-match operations like SMS and integrating maps that users can just drop into their systems. Think of it as a way to give a small business owner with a non-technical background to meticulously track all the performance activity across, say, a network of food trucks by just entering a bunch of dollar values and dropping in one of these tools.

“We really want to take this power you have in software creation and ‘consumerize’ that into a form anyone can use,” Liu said. “At the same time, from a business standpoint, we saw this bigger opportunity underneath the low-code app platforms in general. Those platforms solve the needs of heavyweight expensive use cases where you have a budget and have a lot of time. I would position Airtable making a leap toward a graphical user interface, versus a lot of products that are admin driven.”

Liu said the company has raised an additional $52 million in financing in a round led by CRV and Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Freestyle Ventures and Slow Ventures. All this is going toward a way to build a system that is trying to abstract out even the process of programming itself, though there’s always going to be some limited scope as to how custom of a system you can actually make with what amounts to a set of logic operation legos. That being said, the goal here is to boil down all of the most common sets of operations with the long tail left to the average programmers (and larger enterprises often have these kinds of highly-customized needs).

All this is coming at a time when businesses are increasingly chasing the long tail of small- to medium-sized businesses, the ones that aren’t really on the grid but represent a massive market opportunity. Those businesses also probably don’t have the kinds of resources to hire engineers while companies like Google or Facebook are camping out on college campuses looking to snap up students graduating with technical majors. That’s part of the reason why Excel had become so popular trying to abstract out a lot of complex operations necessary to run a business, but at the same time, Liu said that kind of philosophy should be able to be taken a step further.

“If you look at cloud, you have Amazon’s [cloud infrastructure] EC2, which abstracted the hardware level and you can build on existing machine intelligence,” Liu said. “Then, you get the OS level and up. Containers, Heroku, and other tools have extracted away the operation level complexity. But you have to write the app and modal logic. Our goal is to go a big leap forward on top of that and abstract out the app code layer. You should be able to directly use our interface, and blocks, all these plug and play lego pieces that give you more dynamic functionality — whether a map view or an integration with Twilio.”

And, really, all these platforms like Twilio have tried to make themselves pretty friendly to coding beginners as-is. Twilio has a lot of really good documentation for first-time developers to learn to use their platforms. But Airtable hopes to serve as a way to interconnect all these things in a complex web, creating a relational database behind the scenes that users can operate on in a more simplistic matter that’s still accurate, fast, and reliable.

“Obviously MySQL is great if you want to use code or custom SQL queries to interface with the data,” Liu said. “But, ultimately, you’d never as a business end user consider using literally a terminal-based SQL prompt as the primary interface to and from your data. Certainly you wouldn’t put that on your designs. Clearly you would want some interface on top of the SQL level database. We basically expose the full value of a relational database like Postgres to the end user, but we also give them something equally but more important: the interface on the top that makes the data immediately visible.”

There’s been a lot of activity trying to rethink these sort of fundamental formats that the average user is used to, but are ripe for more flexibility. Coda, a startup trying to rethink the notion behind a word document, raised $60 million, and all this points towards moves to try to create a more robust toolkit for non-technical users. That also means that it’s going to be an increasingly hot space, and especially look like an opportunity for companies that are already looking to host these kinds of services online like Amazon or Microsoft and have the buy-in from those businesses.

Liu, too, said that the goal of the company was to go after all potential business cases right away by creating a what-you-see-is-what-you-get one size fits all platform — which is usually called a horizontal approach. That’s often a very risky move, and it’s probably the biggest question mark for the company as there’s an opportunity for some other startups or companies to come in and grab niches of that whole pie in specific areas (like, say, a custom GUI programming interface for healthcare). But Liu said the opportunity for Airtable was to go horizontal from day one.

“There’s this assumption that software has to involve literally writing code,” Liu said. “It’s sort of a difficult thing to extricate ourselves from because we have built so much with writing code. But when you think about what goes into a useful application, especially in the business-to-business internal tools in a company use case which forms the bulk of software that’s consumed in terms of lines of code written, most of them are primarily a relational database model, and the relational database aspect of it is not an arbitrary format.

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How to Make Themed Movies in Google Photos

In February 2018, Google rolled out a new feature in its Photos web app: themed movies. It lets you create a film based on important people or special events. The tool will edit all the images together into a seamless show and allow you to add a background audio track.

If you have a keen eye, you might have noticed that Google Photos created themed movies automatically for you in the past–the difference is you can now create one whenever you wish.

Lots of different themes are available. For example, you can create a memorial video for someone who’s recently passed, a collage of your selfies, or a video of cat photos. So, how do you use the new feature? Let’s take a closer look.

How to Make Themed Movies in Google Photos

To make a themed movie in Google Photos, just follow the simple step-by-step instructions below.

1. Navigate to photos.google.com and enter your Google credentials.
2. In the panel on the left-hand side of the Photos window, select Assistant.
3. Under Create New, click on Movie.
4. Choose the type of themed movie you want to create.
5. Google will make suggestions about the type of content it will include. For example, the Smiles of 2017 theme “works best if you have lots of photos with smiles”.
6. Click on Create Movie.

The process could take a long time, depending on the number of photos you’re adding to the movie. When it’s ready, you will receive an on-screen notification. You will find your video in the Photos section of the web app.

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How to Fix Issues in Chrome and Firefox With a Browser Reset

Having extreme issues with your browser? Many people know the annoyance of having a browser slowly grind to a crawl over time. The speedy experience you had at first eventually becomes a distant memory.

Whether you’re sick of dealing with annoying issues in Chrome or find that Firefox is running slowly, a reset can clear up those issues and return your browser to defaults. Here’s how to reset Chrome or Firefox.

How to Completely Reset Chrome

1. Open Chrome and click the three-dot Menu button in the upper-right. Choose Settings.
2. Scroll down to the bottom of the Settings page and click Advanced to show more options.
3. Next, scroll all the way down through the new options to find the Reset header.
4. Click the Reset button and you’ll see the prompt.
5. Hit the Reset button to reset your start and new tab pages, search engine, and pinned tabs. This also disables extensions and removes cookies, but won’t delete bookmarks, history, or saved passwords.

How to Completely Reset Firefox

1. Open Firefox.
2. Enter about:support in a new tab. This will open a page with technical information about your browser that’s useful for troubleshooting.
3. You’ll see a Refresh Firefox button on the right side at the top of this page. Click it and confirm to close Firefox and perform a refresh.
4. This refresh removes any installed add-ons, custom settings, search engines, download actions, and security certificate settings. It doesn’t remove your bookmarks, passwords, open windows, and similar info.

If your issues persist after the reset, it’s a good idea to uninstall the browser from your PC and grab a fresh copy from the official sites.

These resets aren’t terribly invasive, but they will remove a good number of settings from your browser. Before you proceed with them, make sure you’ve checked our tips in the articles above and have ruled out a network problem.

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How to Allow Editing of a Restricted Word Document

When you don’t want to work alone, Microsoft Word 2016 makes it easy to collaborate. Even then, you may not want to allow anyone to make any changes to the document. You can enable protection in word and share them as read-only documents or open them to comments only.

Then, there is a third type of protection where you can allow changes to only certain parts of the document.

How to Make Changes in a Restricted Word Document

Here, you switch on the protection but also mark areas of the document which can be changed by your collaborator.

1. Go to the Ribbon > Review > Protect group > Restrict Editing.
2. Under Editing restrictions, select the checkbox for Allow only this type of editing in the document.
3. Select No changes (Read only) from the dropdown.
   
4. Now, you want to protect the document but also allow some parts of it to be editable by your team. Select the part of the document where you want to allow changes. You can select several parts of the document at the same time. First, select the part that you want, then hold down the CTRL and select more parts.
5. The Exceptions setting helps you to choose between anyone who opens the document or specific users to edit the part that you selected. So, select the checkbox for Everyone or click on More users and type in the usernames or email IDs of specific team members.
6. Go to Start enforcement and click the button for Yes, Start Enforcing Protection.
7. The Start Enforcing Protection dialog box is displayed with an option to set a password. Users who know the password can remove the password and work on the entire document. If not, they can edit only the selected parts that are open to them.
   

This becomes a restricted document. When someone receives the Word file, they can make changes to a specific part of the document if they have the permission to do so. The Restrict Editing task pane has navigation buttons for moving to the regions of the document that they have permission to change.

Image Credit: dennizn/Depositphotos

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Robinhood hires Josh Elman as VP of product, who’ll stay at Greylock

Zero-fee stock trading app Robinhood is getting some product firepower as it dives into cryptocurrency and weighs platform aspirations. Investor Josh Elman will join Robinhood as its VP of product while remaining at Greylock, though in a reduced capacity as a venture partner instead of as a general partner like before.

With 4 million registered users, $176 million raised and a $1.3 billion valuation, the five-year-old fintech startup is shifting from a period of finding product-market fit to building a serious business. Elman’s experience with rapidly rising companies like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn could help guide Robinhood toward maturity.

“In January, I started talking with a few of my partners about how I want to spend the next decade of my professional life. What gets me the most energized is when I can dig in on product with a hyper-growth company. To that end, I’m joining Robinhood to lead product, where we will continue building powerful tools to give everyone broader access to our financial system,” Elman tells TechCrunch. “I am going to continue my role at Greylock as a venture partner, and will continue to represent Greylock on the boards in my portfolio. I am grateful to my partners for their support, and excited for what is next.”

Greylock has always been known as a fund run by veteran operators like Reid Hoffman, who joined as a partner while still the CEO of LinkedIn. A Greylock spokesperson tells me, “Josh is a sharp product-thinker who has backed excellent entrepreneurs and innovative companies that we are proud to have as part of the Greylock portfolio. We are supportive of Josh as he takes on this new operating role, and look forward to continuing our work with him as a venture partner.”

That term “venture partner” typically means someone who isn’t a full-time permanent member of the firm like a “general partner” as Elman was before. Some might view the shift as a demotion, or the start of a transition out of the firm. Greylock tells me Elman can still lead deals, though.

The new role could create some conflicts, though. Greylock recently invested in cryptocurrency exchange Coinbase’s August Series D. But Robinhood just launched its own cryptocurrency trading platform in December, undercutting Coinbase’s 1.5 percent to 4 percent fee on trades in the U.S. by charging zero commission. Coinbase might worry that plans it shares with Greylock could make it back to Robinhood.

Read our post on the roll-out of Robinhood Crypto

Elman has dealt with this before, having hyped text fiction app Hooked whose seed round Greylock funded before it backed competing app Yarn’s parent company Mammoth Media with Elman joining its board. Elman declined to comment about the matter.

Josh Elman at TechCrunch Disrupt SF

An eye for interfaces

Elman began his career after a bachelor’s degree in symbolic systems with a focus on human computer interaction at Stanford in 1997. Elman worked on product for music company RealNetworks, and growth and job boards for LinkedIn before joining custom merchandise startup Zazzle. His big break came working on the launch of the Facebook Connect platform. He was then a PM at Twitter until joining Greylock as a partner in 2011.

In my experience, Elman is one of the best investors at spotting emerging social trends and helping companies find winning product strategies. Despite being in his 40s, he’s quick to dive into teen-focused social apps, understanding and funding them before they blow up. He was on the boards of Musically (sold to Toutiao) and SmartThings (sold to Samsung), plus was one of the few investors in honest feedback app tbh, which sold to Facebook. He’s currently on the boards of Medium, Houseparty and Discord — which are redefining blogging, video chat and video game communities.

Robinhood’s Bay Area HQ

Robinhood could use Elman’s skills as it tries to unite the traditional stock and cryptocurrency worlds using free trades up front while monetizing with subscription bonus features. The way Facebook and Twitter turned friends and thought leaders into a feeds of content to consume, Elman could assist as Robinhood does the same to financial markets.

Robinhood founders Baiju Bhatt (left) and Vladamir Tenev (right)

“I’ve known Josh for a couple years now and he’s always struck me as one of the most thoughtful product builders,” says Robinhood co-founder and co-CEO Baiju Bhatt. (Disclosure: I know Bhatt and his co-founder Vlad Tenev from

college). “We’re lucky to have him lead our product initiatives and join our leadership team as we take Robinhood to the next level.” Robinhood now has 170 team members across the Bay Area and Orlando, Florida. It’s planning to hire a VP for engineering and for customer support while scaling those teams, as well as legal and biz dev.

Having jumped the regulatory and engineering hurdles to offer cost-efficient stock trading, Robinhood has a huge opportunity to become the backbone of a new generation of fintech apps. The company declined to comment, but the startup could one day build APIs so other products could interact with your Robinhood balance and bank account. Elman worked with Facebook to let partners piggyback on your identity, and he might have ideas for turning Robinhood into a fintech platform.

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Nest’s video doorbell is now shipping

Back in September of last year, Nest announced its first smart doorbell. When it would actually ship, however, was left sort of up in the air; all the company said at the time was to expect it sometime in Q1 of 2018.

Turns out, that means today. The Nest doorbell — or the Nest Hello, as it’s known — is now shipping for $229.

Nest also mentioned a few other bits of news:

• The front door lock/touchpad they built in partnership with Yale, also announced back in September of last year, is now shipping
• They’re now making external, wireless, battery-powered temperature sensors for the Nest Thermostat (previously, the thermostat only really cared about the temperature of whichever room it was in). You can add up to six sensors. One sensor will cost $39, or a three pack goes for $99. The sensor (pictured at the bottom of this post) is a simple white puck, just a bit over an inch wide.

Not unlike the now Amazon-owned Ring, the Hello’s primary purpose is to let you know when someone rings the doorbell, and to let you see and communicate with them by way of the built-in camera/microphone/speaker rig. Out of the box, sans subscriptions, Nest will store the video of who rang your doorbell for 3 hours; if you want to access it beyond that, you’ll need a monthly Nest Aware subscription.

In most cases, hooking up the Hello should be a matter of popping out your old doorbell and wiring up the new one; it pulls its power from the same wiring setup that most doorbells use, and it should play friendly with any in-door chimes you probably already have in place.

Its got a 3-megapixel camera (with infrared night vision) for 1600×1200 video at 30 frames per second, a 160º field of view, and 802.11 a/b/g/n WiFi. Unlike some competitors, it doesn’t have a battery — so you’ll need that aforementioned power line.

With that said, it’s got a few tricks I haven’t seen with others in the space, like a “Quiet time” mode for when you (or, say, your baby) are sleeping. It’ll still buzz your phone, but in-door chimes won’t go ringin’ away. Pre-recorded messages, meanwhile, let you communicate with delivery people and anyone else who might be hanging around your porch during those times when shouting “PLEASE LEAVE THE PACKAGE ON THE PORCH I’LL GRAB IT SHORTLY” might feel a bit weird.

We should have one to check out before too long, so expect a review as soon as we’ve put it through the paces.

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3 Tips for Browsing Reddit Like a Pro

From keyboard shortcuts to URL tricks, there are a lot of ways you can get through the ton of time-wasting posts on Reddit you know you don’t want to miss, and get back to doing other things. Here are just a few.

1. Quickly Jump Between Subreddits

The Chrome extension Reddit Hyper Jump makes it easy to jump between subreddits without having to scroll around the page.

Once it’s installed, just go to Reddit, use the keyboard shortcut Alt + R and type in the name of the subreddit you want to go to and hit enter.

The subreddit you’re trying to pull up will be opened up immediately.

2. Skip Around Comments and Posts

Reddit Enhancement Suite, available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Opera, has a ton of cool keyboard shortcuts and features that will make it easy to browse Reddit even faster. These features include:

• Show or hide images with keyboard shortcut Shift + X.
• Move to the next post or comment with keyboard shortcut J, move to the previous comment with keyboard shortcut K.
• Skip to the end of the subreddit or reddit page with keyboard shortcut Shift + J, and jump to the top of the page with keyboard shortcut Shift + K.
• Toggle comments on any post open with the keyboard shortcut C.
• Skip back to a parent comment with keyboard shortcut P.
• Upvote comments with keyboard shortcut A, and downvote a comment with keyboard shortcut Z.

There’s plenty this handy Reddit extension can do to make your Reddit experience better.

3. Combine Subreddits

A native feature that doesn’t require any additional extensions is the ability to combine subreddits into one master feed. You can do this by opening up the lefthand menu. If it’s collapsed, just click the bar on the left of the screen.

1. Under Multireddits, click Create.
2. Enter the name of your Multireddit and click the Create button.
3. By default, your Multireddit is private but you can share it publicly if you want to.
4. On the right, under Subreddits in this multi, you can enter the names of the subreddits you want to add.
5. Subreddits can be removed by clicking the X next to the name.

You can also see other combined subreddits created by other users in Multihub.

Another way to view multiple subreddits at the same time is to simply type into the URL. If you want to view the Photography and Videography subreddits at the same time just type this into the URL:

http://ift.tt/2IpFELY

And don’t stop there. There are a ton more great extensions you can use to enhance your Reddit experience in every way!

Image Credit: Eva Blue/Flickr

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Google explores how light fields shape VR environments in new free app

Lighting can make or break the right photo — when it comes to static environments inside virtual reality that users can move around in, this becomes exponentially more true.

Today, Google released a new app for VR devices focused on helping users make sense of “light fields.” They’ve also got a blog post running down some of the research work they’re doing.

Light fields — in a practical sense — are basically different perspectives of a point in space based on how that lighting looks from that angle. If you look at something like your phone screen, part of what makes it look realistic are how images reflect off of it. Most physical objects don’t offer so clear a mirror of the world around it, but even things like your own skin can have a dramatically different looking texture based on where your eyes are.

In a game engine-rendered world, if you have enough compute power you can reflect the hell out of everything to varying levels of success. When it comes to light fields based on real-world camera capture, companies like Google are using multiple cameras to capture multiple perspectives of objects and infer the perspectives between the lenses. With this you can get perspective of objects that move with you with lighting that changes as you move your head.

It’s a complicated way of saying that real-world scenarios look a lot more realistic and just… better. That’s just my take on it, but if you want to read more on how the Google sees Google’s new app, “Welcome to Light Fields” seeks to educate users on what exactly light fields are and how important the technology could be to unlocking more pleasant-feeling virtual reality experiences. The app seems to consist of a number of fairly simple scenarios where users can walk around and observe how light changes these environments.

The app is available for the HTC Vive, Oculus Rift and Windows Mixed Reality platforms. If you’re wondering why the company left out its own Daydream platform, it’s because you really need positional tracking in order to see what’s happening with light fields. Daydream will be gaining that tracking soon with the launch of Lenovo’s standalone 6DoF headset, but we’re still waiting on that one to go on sale.

Light fields present a number of technical issues for developers that go beyond just capturing them; chief among the issues is bandwidth. Light fields turn every file into a potentially massive endeavor to ship easily. For the photo environments Google seems to be playing with here, it’s still difficult enough, but video files that are just a few minutes long can stretch into the terabytes quite quickly, so there are clearly still some things to figure out here.

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Cryptocurrency ad bans are a step in the right direction

Google just banned cryptocurrency and ICO ads, a move that follows Facebook’s decision to do the same. The language is stark: You are no longer allowed to advertise “Cryptocurrencies and related content (including but not limited to initial coin offerings, cryptocurrency exchanges, cryptocurrency wallets, and cryptocurrency trading advice).”

This is good news.

In the Wild West of crypto things can head in one of two ways. First, the industry can ignore rationality and decorum and pump and dump ICOs all day long until the SEC, the FBI and European authorities shut down every single one. Or, if the industry takes the slow and steady route, builds self-regulatory bodies and avoids scammy pump-and-dump tactics, then perhaps the industry can grow into maturity.

Currently the methods for token sale marketing are ridiculous. Most recently I spotted a token advertisement that featured a scantily clad young lady in a compromising position — all in an effort to see financial instruments. Further, “crypto geniuses” like James Altucher have polluted all of our feeds for the past few months with strange claims and spurious product offerings. Enough is enough.

The sad part is that cryptocurrencies have to become boring before they can work. I always go back to the early days of Linux. There were flame wars, screeds and practitioners of dark FUD. No one could agree if KDE or Gnome was a better desktop environment and woe were you if you picked the wrong one. The world was full of angry, aggressive and passionate people.

Fast-forward a few decades and now those same people are typing softly in cubicles making millions of dollars. Their early zeal, while seemingly silly, paid off. And now Linux is completely boring, a tool programmers use to spin up and down servers in a heartbeat.

Cryptocurrency has to head in this same direction.

Until it is hidden, until it is unclear where the blockchain stops and the rest of the world starts, and until we rid ourselves of the get-rich-quickers and the outright scams, the industry will not rise to the rank it deserves. Fools and their money are soon parted. Google and Facebook are right to do something to protect them.

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France takes legal action against Apple and Google for their app stores

France’s Economy Minister Bruno Le Maire criticized Apple and Google for the way they run the App Store and Play Store. According to him, Google and Apple have too much power against app developers. Le Maire will ask a court to look at it and fine tech giants if necessary.

“When developers want to develop their apps and sell them through Google or Apple, those companies set the prices, Google and Apple get back some data, Google and Apple can unilaterally modify contracts with developers,” Le Maire told RTL. “All of this is unacceptable, this isn’t the economy that we want.”

This isn’t the first time French officials have paid attention to the App Store and Play Store. Last month, ARCEP president Sébastien Soriano shared a report that said that net neutrality should go beyond carriers and internet service providers. The ARCEP thinks that big tech companies also have a responsibility when it comes to the neutrality of the internet.

“This report has listed for the first time ever all the limitations you face as a smartphone user,” Soriano told me at the time. “By users, we mean both consumers and developers who submit apps in the stores.”

It’s clear that developers have no choice but to comply with App Store and Play Store rules. They have no choice but to pay Apple and Google 30 percent of their sales (or 15 percent for subscriptions).

If Apple or Google remove an app from their respective store, developers can’t take legal action because they signed a contract with them. But at the same time, they don’t have a say when it comes to negotiating the terms of those contracts.

“I’m going to take legal action against Google and Apple with the Paris Commercial Court for abusive business practices,” Le Maire said. Google and Apple shouldn’t really be worried as he expects a fine of a few million euros. But it’s an interesting case anyway.

As for the upcoming European tax plans on big tech companies, Le Maire said that it will become effective by the end 2018. Earlier this month, he said that we will hear more about this in the coming weeks.

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Digg Reader Is Shutting Down… RIP RSS

Digg Reader is shutting down on March 26. And while users are being assured they can export their feeds after Digg Reader has gone, this is still the end of another RSS feed reader. The options for RSS fans are dwindling by the day. So, is this RIP RSS?

In March 2013, Google decided to shutter Google Reader. This was THE biggest and best RSS feed reader available at the time, and people rightfully mourned its death. Thankfully, there were some replacements waiting in the wings. And some newcomers too.

The Beginning and End of Digg Reader

One of these newcomers was Digg Reader, which promised to do everything Google Reader did plus more. It succeeded too, offering the standard elements essential in any RSS feed reader, plus extra elements such as the option to browse popular sources.

RIP Digg Reader.

— Fredrik Svärd (@fredsvard) March 14, 2018

Unfortunately, now, almost five years after it was launched, Digg Reader is being shut down. And users such as myself logging into Digg Reader have been hit with the following message informing us of its impending demise:

“Digg Reader is shutting down on March 26, 2018. Bummer, we know. Export and download your feeds and folders from digg.com/settings and you can add those to another reader product. Don’t worry! You can grab your feeds after Reader is gone. Digg will still exist, and you can contact us at support@digg.com if you have any trouble. We love you.”

Beyond that there’s just a simple post on Digg’s support pages titled “Goodbye to Digg Reader“. This is all about helping Digg Reader users to export their feeds to another RSS reader, with Digg suggesting alternatives including Feedly, Panda, and NewsBlur.

Exporting your feeds from Digg Reader is simple enough. Just go to Digg.com/settings, scroll down to Export, and then download the list of feeds you’re subscribed to. Select where you want to save the OPML XML file, and you’re then all set to switch.

RSS Isn’t Dead, But the End Is Nigh

The problem is that the number of RSS feed readers is dwindling. AOL Reader shut down at the beginning of the year, and more are bound to follow as RSS becomes even less popular than it is now. Which is unfortunate for those of us who still use it on a daily basis.

RSS isn’t quite dead yet, but it’s close to needing life support to keep it breathing. Still, some of the alternatives to Google Reader we recommended in 2013 are still in business, so you might as well make the most of them while you still can.

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10 Lego Machines You Can Build Without a Mindstorms Brain

Ah Lego, the plastic toy enjoyed by adults and children the world over. While we’ve previously written about amazing Lego Mindstorms projects, are you out of luck if you don’t own any sets such as the Mindstorms EV3?

There are plenty of great projects you can build without a Mindstorms brain. Here are some of the best.

1. Great Ball Contraption

This marvellous contraption is the work of YouTuber akiyuky. Featuring pneumatic pumps, conveyor belts, robots, trains, lifts, and much more, it’s a wonderful mix of engineering and ingenuity.

What’s even cooler about this machine is that it appears to be entirely mechanical. There’s no computer or Mindstorms brain to control functions, it’s driven by motors, gears, and timings.

While it is a Rube Goldberg machine, in that it serves no real function other than looking cool, it’s still a brilliant piece of Lego engineering.

2. Coin Pusher Arcade Game

This neat arcade game comes to us courtesy of YouTube channel Let’s Do This. With a simple motor and gear mechanism, you’ll only need a few specialist parts to build this yourself.

Not only does this machine work as a fully functional arcade game, but the video guides you through the various different parts of the machine. Once again, this project is purely mechanical, and requires no programming whatsoever!

3. Drawing Machine

This wonderful pattern drawing machine was built by YouTube channel JK Brickworks. Coming in at around 100 pieces, this design is on the simpler side, but the results are still spectacular.

Using just a motor and some gears, you’ll only need a few non-Lego supplies such as a pen and an elastic band. Detailed full build instructions are available for free, and are so well produced that they could have been written by Lego themselves.

Simpler is always better, so this machine should be on the list for the design alone.

4. Steampunk Walking Ship

This project also comes to us from the skilled hands of YouTube Lego channel JK Brickworks. Based on Theo Jansen’s Strandbeest, this marvelous Lego machine requires no brains to control it.

While purely mechanical, this model does require some specialist parts such as motors and battery packs.

This build is certainly on the complex side, but the creator has once again provided clear detailed instructions on his website. While the build guide does not specify how to build the whole model, it covers the walking mechanism—the most complex part!

5. Remote Controlled Tank

Alright, so this project does cheat a little bit. This project uses an Arduino as its brain. While this may go against the Lego ethos, it still makes for an incredible project.

Featuring live video streaming, suspension, working rubber band guns, headlights and more, this model looks and sounds every bit as real as its full size counterparts.

This project involves some soldering and Arduino programming, but help is at hand, as the author has provided basic schematics and code.

Built by YouTuber Ishaan Gov, we think this is one awesome machine!

6. Full-Size Air-Powered Car

This project by YouTuber Steve Sammartino is one of the most impressive projects we’ve seen. Not only has he built a life size, working car, but it runs on air, and he funded it all through a single Tweet!

Built using standard Lego pieces, this unbelievable contraption uses 256 pistons, and over half a million pieces. The fact that it drives at all is amazing, but this “model” can reach speeds of up to 18 mph!

Next time somebody tells you that Lego is for kids, show them this project!

7. Working Power Station

This fully working Lego power station comes to us from YouTube engineer Hans 56. By using compressed air to move a Pneumatic cylinder connected to a motor, this project generates electricity.

While we’re unsure of how much electricity is produced, you could, in theory, create your own power grid to run your Lego city. Admittedly, you’ll need a constant supply of compressed air, but this project wins points for creativity alone, even if it’s not that efficient.

8. V6 Pneumatic Engine

This V6 engine design comes to us from YouTuber DrDudeNL. Running at 800 RPM, this engine can certainly produce enough torque for basic Lego engineering tasks.

Once again, this design does run on compressed air, so it’s probably cheaper and easier to use an electric motor, but as an engineering project, it’s a good one.

Perhaps you could install this into a model sports car, to give it that realistic look.

9. Automatic Air Compressor

Constructed by YouTube channel 896gerard, this machines compresses air. While this may not sound very cool, it’s more useful than you may think. As we’ve seen above, Lego Pneumatics can be used for a huge number of projects. Pneumatic cylinders however, need a source of compressed air.

What better way to power your other projects than by building a Lego air compressor.

While slightly on the wimpy side, this machine has enough guts for simple Lego tasks. You’ll probably want a real, non-Lego compressor for things like a life-size car, however.

10. Mini Lathe

Our final Lego engineering project comes to us from YouTube channel mawemaggi0815. What better way to end than with a working Lego Lathe.

Lathes are an engineering staple, used to produce all kinds of useful things. This design features adjustable gearing, automatic lead screw, miniature handles, and more. It’s even been built in engineering green!

While this machine isn’t powerful enough to work anything larger than a Lego brick, it’s still a great example of what you can achieve with a few gears and a motor.

What Will You Make?

We’ve shown that you don’t need to own a Lego Mindstorms brain to build some cool projects. Whether purely mechanical gearing, or with cheaper DIY electronics like the Arduino, the possibilities are endless.

If you’re looking to build your own project, but don’t want to splash out on the Mindstorms brain, consider an Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or other Pi alternative. You could use something like Scratch on the Pi to program your project without writing a single line of code!

Image Credit: Ishaan Gov/YouTube

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10 Chrome Homework Extensions That Really Work for Students

If you mainly use Chrome to do research academic papers, projects, or assignments, why not use handy browser extensions to manage that homework for you?

These learning tools in your browser let you plan your tasks, help you research, and assist with your studies. And best of all, you don’t have to worry about opening a separate application.

Planners for Homework

Homework needs its own routine and habits. Use the right tools to make a plan and stick to it. These Chrome extensions help you organize every class and assignment.

1. Student e-Planner

For assignments, reminders, and a helpful calendar, check out Student e-Planner. With this extremely handy extension, just add your courses, enter your assignments, schedule due dates and times, and mark off items as you complete them.

Extra features include a calendar view of all homework, a tab to see your completed items, the ability to add notes, editable colors per class, an overall theme color, and desktop notifications for reminders. Student e-Planner is a pretty impressive little extension that helps you stay on course.

Download: Student e-Planner

2. myHomework Student Planner

Another great planner to check out is myHomework Student Planner. Track classes, assignments, and projects, receive reminders, and sync between your devices; all with a free account. The button in your toolbar takes you directly to the site where you can manage it all.

Along with the above features, you have options to attach class details like your schedule, syllabus, and files. You can view your task list by class, priority, or type. You can also search for instructors with Teachers.io so that your assignments can be entered by them, making it automatic for you. For tons of extra features, myHomework Student Planner is awesome.

Download: myHomework Student Planner

Lists for Assignments

Quick lists can help you stay on track. These cool tools let you add and mark off items as you go.

3. Homework Tracker

Sometimes simple is sensational. Maybe you just have a basic list of assignments or projects that you want to track. Homework Tracker is ideal for this. Click the toolbar button to add or view your items and see a count of uncompleted tasks with the icon badge.

Enter your class, assignment, and due date (if you have one) and click Add. Then, as you complete your work, hit the Done button. You can sort by due date, so the closest items are right at the top. Homework Tracker is basic yet effective.

Download: Homework Tracker

4. My Homework Reminder

My Homework Reminder is another good assignment list extension for Chrome. Click the toolbar button, add your assignment and due date, and hit Save.

You can sort by assignment or due date, mark the boxes for items you finish, and review your completed assignments easily. If you need to delete an item, just click the trash can and away it goes. Just like Homework Tracker, My Homework Reminder is simple but gets the job done.

Download: My Homework Reminder

Toolbars for Research

Instead of random Googling, try a toolbar built for education. These options get you the results you need quickly.

5. Homework Simplified

Homework Simplified is a cool toolbar that can help you research what you need. What’s nice about it is that in addition to the search box, you can choose from the buttons for Math, Science, English, and History. Each offers tools for the topic.

For example, the Math button lets you pick from calculators and sample problems while the Science tools include a unit converter and periodic table.

Along with the subject tools, you have a Tutor button with resources like Sylvan Learning and Tutor.com plus a button with popular sites such as Britannica and CollegeBoard.

Download: Homework Simplified

6. StudyHQ

Similar but different, the StudyHQ toolbar lets you search and gives you subject buttons, however, the tools are flashcards. So, if you click the History, Language, Math, or Science buttons, you can directly access helpful flashcards on the StudyHQ site. Plus, you can create your own flashcards.

Check out the practice tests button with resources for SAT and AP tests or use the translator button for resources in another language. If flashcards help you study, then combine those tools with a search option and you have StudyHQ.

Download: StudyHQ

Buttons for Searches

When you need to do a fast search, a basic button can be the answer. These Chrome extensions let you search with a click.

7. Google Scholar Button

Google offers a ton of search tools and some are specific to patents, images, and of course, education. The Google Scholar Button lets you search for a topic easily. Click the button in your toolbar, pop in your search term, and then get your results.

You will receive a short number of results within the search window and can select a title to go right to the page. Or to view all results, click the button at the bottom of the pop-up window and a new tab will open for you.

Download: Google Scholar Button

8. Course Hero Search Button

Course Hero is similar to Google Scholar in that you click the button to search for a topic and then head to the site for the results. What’s a bit different is that you need to create an account to obtain the resource. But, you can create one for free in just a few minutes.

Then, you will have access to documents and flashcards relating to your topic. Plus, you can get help from educators. You can also bookmark sources, keep track of your recently viewed items, and download the mobile app to study on-the-go.

Download: Course Hero Search Button
Download: Course Hero for Android | iOS (Free)

Helpers for Focus

Don’t get distracted by social media when you are doing homework. Use one of these awesome tools to help you focus and finish.

9. ReCall Study Time

Set up your study session, mark the pages you want to monitor, and get to work with ReCall Study Time. You can choose from two hours for those quick homework sessions or 24 hours for the all-nighters. Then, select the social media sites to block like Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

If you feel yourself weaken and head to one of the monitored sights, you will instead be greeted with a nasty-gram like the one above. If you have trouble staying away from social media to get your homework done, check out ReCall Study Time.

Download: ReCall Study Time

10. Focus Mode

Focus Mode is another site-blocking tool to use while you are doing your homework. The extension monitors seven sites by default including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. You can choose which to unblock and add a custom blocked site if there is an additional temptation not on that list.

When you start your study or research session, just hit the button in the toolbar and click Activate. Then, when you try to access one of the monitored pages, you will receive a Return to Work message instead. When you finish, click Deactivate and check out your distraction attempts if you’re curious.

Download: Focus Mode

Your Favorite Chrome Extension for Homework?

A simple tool that lets you continue your online work but keep you on track at the same time can be a huge help. Do you use one of these Chrome extensions or prefer a different one for school research and assignments?

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YouTube Gets a Dark Mode on Android and iOS

YouTube for iOS and Android has officially turned to the dark side. But this doesn’t mean YouTubers are suddenly all stormtroopers. Instead, it just means you can now watch YouTube on your smartphone at night without hurting your eyes.

Having once argued that websites with dark backgrounds suck, I have now seen the error of my ways. Darker themes put less strain on your eyes at night, and this is why so many apps now other dark modes. And YouTube is the latest app to do so.

YouTube Turns to the Dark Side

The desktop version of YouTube has had a dark mode since 2017. And now YouTube for iOS has joined the party. The same dark mode will be added to YouTube for Android soon, and possibly even by the time you read this, so just update the app to find out.

YouTube’s dark mode offers a simple inversion of colors. So the usual white background turns black, and the other elements—such as the logo, titles, and menu items—turn white. It won’t suit everyone, but it makes it easier to use the app at night.

It’s finally here! ?

Dark theme is rolling out on iOS over the next few days. Toggle it on/off in settings. pic.twitter.com/Mkfl1Dzu3M

— Team YouTube (@TeamYouTube) March 13, 2018

Beyond putting less strain on your eyes, YouTube’s dark mode has a more cinematic feel to it than the default mode. So when you’re actually watching a video the background melts away, allowing you to wholly concentrate on what your favorite vlogger is saying.

To turn on YouTube’s dark mode on iOS, just click on your profile picture in the top, right-hand corner of the app. Then click Settings, and find the Dark Theme option. Click to move the slider across to the On position, and everything will go dark.

Put Your Phone Down Before Bed

As YouTube’s dark mode is so easy to turn on and off you can experiment with it to see if it’s your cup of tea. We recommend turning dark mode on when you’re watching YouTube in bed. Although, ideally, you would be reading a good book instead.

If you’re new to the idea that using technology at night can be bad for you, be sure to read our article detailing how to filter out your phone’s blue light. Especially if you’re always getting tired eyes or headaches caused by eyestrain.

Image Credit: Lars Plougmann/Flickr

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How to Install Kodi on Your Mac

Kodi (formerly Xbox Media Center and XBMC) is the best media center software in the world. It’s free, open source, and always moving forward thanks to constant collaborative development.

It’s also infinitely customizable. You can change the look with skins and UI tweaks, add new sources of media both online and off, or use Kodi as a DVR to record TV shows and other content. If you have an old Mac that you no longer use, Kodi is a great way to breathe new life into old hardware.

How to Install Kodi on Your Mac

The process to install Kodi is as follows:

1. Pick which version of Kodi you want to download.
2. Mount the disk image, install the Kodi application, and create an exception for Gatekeeper to allow Kodi to run.
3. Configure Kodi with your own media, plugins, and startup rules.

Let’s take a look at each of these steps in detail below.

Step 1: Download the Right Version of Kodi

There are three versions of Kodi available for download:

• Stable build: Final releases with few bugs or major problems. This is the one you probably want.
• Nightly build: Experimental builds for the bravest among you. New builds arrive every day, but often have bugs and untested features.
• Monthly build: Somewhere between the two.

Developers warn that if you want a stable media center, you should install only the stable builds. If you’re feeling confident and fancy taking a peek at upcoming Kodi features, that’s when you might want to reach for a nightly or monthly build.

If you do decide to go the nightly/monthly route, you’ll want to make sure to back up Kodi on a regular basis (covered in the final section of this article).

Step 2: Install Kodi and Configure Gatekeeper

Once you’ve downloaded Kodi, double click on the DMG to mount it. In the window that appears, drag the Kodi icon onto the Applications shortcut and wait for the copy to complete.

When it’s done, head to Applications and launch Kodi. You’ll get an error that tells you it can’t be opened because it’s from an unidentified developer.

Head to Settings > Security & Privacy and look at the bottom of the General tab, where you should see the same error and a button that says Open Anyway. Click that, then click Open in the popup that appears and Kodi will launch.

You won’t need to do this again, at least until you reinstall Kodi.

Step 3: Add Media, Plugins, and More

When you first launch Kodi you’ll get a blank screen, with a menu on the left and a notice that your library is empty. To add some media sources:

1. Click on the cog icon to reveal the Settings menu, then choose Media Settings.
2. Under Manage Sources select the type of media you would like to index: video, music, or pictures.
3. Click Add Videos (or other media) to bring up the New Source dialog box.
4. Click Browse to pick a location or sharing protocol (you can add more than one to the same source), give it a name, then click OK.
5. Now specify the type of media you’re adding. For example, for videos you can choose between movies, music videos, and TV shows.
6. Click OK for Kodi to start scanning your media.

Now it’s time to install some plugins. Choose Add-ons from the main menu and select Download to see a list of categories. Pick one and you’ll see a list of plugins you can select and download. On a fresh Kodi install, these plugins come from the official Kodi repository.

You can add more repositories to access even more plugins. You can also download plugins as ZIP files, then install them manually. To do this, click on the cardboard box icon from the Add-ons menu.

Take a look at official Kodi plugin database for some ideas, but we’d recommend the following to start:

• Backup: Does what it says on the tin. Having a backup makes migrating Kodi or installing experimental builds easier.
• Live TV streaming plugins: For any local or national broadcasters you can access.
• Social plugins: Add Reddit as a source, browse Facebook content, or “watch” Twitter live!

Wait, Isn’t Kodi Illegal or Something?

There’s been a lot of news recently about illegal Kodi and Amazon Fire devices, but that doesn’t mean you’re breaking the law by using Kodi. The problem stems from the many methods pirates use to access media, whether it’s the latest blockbuster or geo-restricted content from overseas.

Kodi is not illegal. The add-ons that enable Kodi to access pirated content from IPTV restreams, peer-to-peer filesharing protocols (per Popcorn Time), and foreign sources are not available in the official add-on repository. You’ll need to go out of your way in order to access the content, at which point you’re probably aware that piracy is breaking the law.

Many eBay sellers are profiting from the availability of pirated content by selling pre-configured devices with Kodi installed. These devices aren’t illegal, but they can be used for illegal purposes.

Keep in mind that there’s nothing specific to Kodi when it comes to piracy. You could circumvent geo-blocking or access illegal IPTV on any platform if you really wanted to.

Kodi Complete, Now Don’t Forget the Popcorn

Kodi is a great way to repurpose an old machine. It works as well on an aging MacBook Air plugged into your entertainment center as it does on a shared iMac in your family’s kitchen.

If you want something a little more purpose-built, look to dedicated devices like the Apple TV. You can also DIY yourself a Chromecast from a Raspberry Pi, if you’re up for the challenge!

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