Google makes moving music and videos between speakers and screens easier

Google today announced a small but nifty feature for the Google Assistant and its smart home devices that makes it easier for you to take your music and videos with you as you wander about the different rooms in your home.

‘Stream transfer’ as Google prosaically calls it, allows you to simply ask the Assistant to move your music to a different speaker, or — if you have the right speaker group set up — to all speakers and TVs in your home. All you have to say is “Hey Google, move the music to the bedroom speaker,” for example. In addition to your voice, you can also use the Google Home app or the touchscreen on your Google Nest Home Hub.

This will work with any source that can play to your Chromecast-enabled speakers and displays.

It’s all pretty straightforward — to the point where I’m surprised it took so long for Google to enable a feature like this. But maybe it just needed to have enough devices in peoples’ homes to make it worthwhile. “Now that millions of users have multiple TVs, smart speakers and smart displays (some in every room!) we wanted to make it easy for people to control their media as they moved from room to room,” Google itself explains in today’s announcement.

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Google makes moving music and videos between speakers and screens easier

Google today announced a small but nifty feature for the Google Assistant and its smart home devices that makes it easier for you to take your music and videos with you as you wander about the different rooms in your home.

‘Stream transfer’ as Google prosaically calls it, allows you to simply ask the Assistant to move your music to a different speaker, or — if you have the right speaker group set up — to all speakers and TVs in your home. All you have to say is “Hey Google, move the music to the bedroom speaker,” for example. In addition to your voice, you can also use the Google Home app or the touchscreen on your Google Nest Home Hub.

This will work with any source that can play to your Chromecast-enabled speakers and displays.

It’s all pretty straightforward — to the point where I’m surprised it took so long for Google to enable a feature like this. But maybe it just needed to have enough devices in peoples’ homes to make it worthwhile. “Now that millions of users have multiple TVs, smart speakers and smart displays (some in every room!) we wanted to make it easy for people to control their media as they moved from room to room,” Google itself explains in today’s announcement.

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Microsoft adds per-app time limits to its parental controls

Microsoft is following Apple and Google’s lead with today’s launch of per-app and per-game time limits in its parental control software. Already, the company allows parents to limit screen time across Windows 10, Xbox One, and Android via the Microsoft Launcher. However, it hadn’t yet allowed parents to limit the amount of time a child would spend in a specific app or game, as its competitors do.

Instead, its existing controls allowed parents only to dole out a set amount of hours of screen time. Parents could choose to either leave the time up to the kids to manage, or limit it at the device level — like, only allowing one hour of Xbox time but permitting more screen time on the PC, for example.

However, the current trend in screen time management is not to approach all screen time as unproductive and unhealthy. Instead, it’s about configuring limits on the more addictive apps and games that eat up increasing amounts of children’s time, while permitting educational tools to have fewer limits.

For older kids and teens, social media apps like TikTok or Instagram could be the culprit, while younger kids may just be spending too much time “hanging out” in virtual worlds like Roblox and Fortnite. Problems on this front have gotten pretty bad. Mobile games are under fire for using gambling tactics like loot boxes to engage children. And Fortnite is now the subject of a lawsuit that claims that, in part, that the game’s addictive nature is due to its use slot machine-like mechanics and variable reward systems, which manipulate children’s brains.

Without being able to limit these apps directly, kids may end up using all of their allotted screen time on just the one app or game they’re obsessed with at the moment.

Apple had already allowed per-app time limits with the launch of its screen time controls in iOS 12. And Google more recently updated its own Family Link software, now preinstalled on new Android devices, to include a similar feature.

With today’s update, Microsoft is now on board, too.

The new app and game limits parents set will apply across Windows 10, Xbox and Android devices running Microsoft Launcher. In other words, kids can’t get more game time just by switching devices.

The controls also allow parents to offer more screen time on certain days — like weekends, for instance — than others.

To use this feature, parents will need to create a family group and make Microsoft accounts for all the kids.

Once enabled, kids will get a warning about their screen time 15 minutes before the limit is reached, and then again at 5 minutes. Since kids will often beg for a few more minutes, Microsoft made it easy for parents to grant or deny more time via email or via a Microsoft Launcher notification on their own Android phone.

The per-app time limits are launching today in preview within Microsoft’s existing family settings.

“Ultimately, our goal is for the app and game limits feature to provide flexible and customizable tools to meet each family’s unique needs,” the company explains in an announcement. “You as parents know what’s best for your children — no technology can ever replace that — but we’re hoping these tools can help you to strike the right balance,” it says.

 

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Facebook’s Workplace hits 3M paying users, launches Portal app in a wider push for video

The rapid rise of Slack — which has recently broken the 100,000 mark for paying businesses using its service — has ushered in a rush of competition from other companies across the worlds of social media and enterprise software, all aiming to become the go-to conversation layer for businesses. Today, Workplace, Facebook’s effort in that race, announced a milestone in its growth along with a bigger push into video services and other improvements.

The service — priced at $1.50 per month per employee — now has passed 3 million paying users, adding in 1 million workers from mostly enterprise businesses in the last eight months.

And to capitalize on Facebook’s growing focus on video in its consumer service, Workplace is announcing several steps of its own into video: it’s releasing a special app that can be used on the Portal, Facebook’s video screen; and alongside that it’s announcing new video features: captioning at the bottom of videos; auto-translating starting with 17 languages; and a new P2P architecture that will speed up video transmission for those who might be watching videos on Workplace in places where bandwidth is constrained.

The features and milestone number are all being announced today at Flock, the Workplace user conference that Facebook puts on each year. Alongside all these, Facebook also announced several other features for its enterprise app (more on the other new features below).

The push to video comes at an interesting time for Workplace on the competitive front. Karandeep Anand, who came to Facebook from Microsoft and currently heads up Facebook with Julien Codorniou managing business development, has made a point of differentiating Workplace from others in the field of workplace collaboration by emphasizing how it’s used by very large enterprises like Walmart (the world’s largest single employer) to bring together not just white-collar knowledge workers but also frontline workers on to a single communication platform.

The company says that today, its customers include 150 companies with over 10,000 active users apiece, with other names on its books including Starbucks, Spotify, AstraZeneca, Deliveroo and Kering.

The push to video follows that trajectory: it’s a way for Workplace (and Facebook) to differentiate the experience and use cases for the product to businesses, who might already be using Slack but might consider buying this as well, if not migrating away from the other product altogether. (Teams is a different ballgame, of course, since it has a strong video component of its own and also likes to position itself as a product for all kinds of employees, too.)

Workplace’s video efforts here will mark the first time that Facebook is positioning Portal as a product for businesses. This is notable, when you consider that there has been some adoption of Amazon’s Alexa in workplace scenarios, too; and that there has been some pushback from consumers about the prospect of having a Facebook video device sitting in their homes. This gives Facebook’s $179 hardware (which will be sold at the same price to businesses) a new avenue for sales.

Video has been a cornerstone of how Workplace has been developing for a while now, with companies using it as a way for, say, the big boss to send out more personalised communications to workers, and for people in workgroups to create video chats with each other. A dedicated screen for video chats takes this idea to the next level, and plays on the fact that video conferencing services like Zoom have caught on like wildfire in modern offices, where people who work together often work in disparate locations.

There is another way that Portal could find some traction with businesses: videoconferencing solutions tend to be very expensive, in part because of the hefty hardware investments that need to be made. Offering a device at $179 drastically undercuts that investment. Codorniou declined to comment on whether Facebook might make a more concerted effort to push this as a cost-effective videoconferencing alternative down the line, but he did point out that today Facebook and Zoom have a close relationship.

The other video features that Workplace is announcing today will further enhance the experience: Facebook will now give users the option to incluce automatic captions at the bottoms of videos, with the added bonus of translation, initially in 17 languages. And the improved video quality for those with limited bandwidth is significantly not something that Facebook has rolled out in its consumer app: the aim is to improve the quality of broadcasting in scenarios where bandwidth might not be as strong but there are simultaneous people watching the same event: something you could imagine applying, say, at a company all-hands or townhall event with remote participants.

Alongside all of these video features, Workplace is adding in a host of other features to expand the use cases for the product beyond basic chatting:

New learning product. This is not about e-learning per se, but Workplace is now offering a way for HR to add onboarding teaching and videos into Workplace for new employees or new services at the company. No plans right now to expand this to educational content, Codorniou said.

Surveys are also coming to Workplace. These will be set by administrators — not any worker at any time — and it seems that for now there will be no anonymity, so that will mean it’s unlikely that these will cover any sensitive topics, and might in any case see a chilling effect in how people feel they can respond.

Frontline access is getting overhauled in Workplace, where people who do not use company email addresses will now be able to create accounts using generated codes.

Those admins that are trying to track how well Workplace is actually working for them will also be able to track engagement and other metrics on the platform.

In addition to these, Workplace is also adding in some gamification features to the platform, where people can publicly thank people, set and follow workplace goals, and award badges to individuals who have achieved something in areas like sales, anniversaries or other positive milestones.

As with the video features, the idea is to bring services to Workplace that you are not necessarily getting in Slack and other competitive products. That is the maxim also when the features are replicas of features you might have seen elsewhere, but not all in one consolidated place.

Asked what he thought about the claims that Facebook is too much of a “copycat” when it came to building new features, Codorniou was defensive. “I think Workplace itself is getting to a market that has been untouched before. When it comes to badges or goals, for example, yes people have but these before, but the difference is that we are offering them to a wide network of people. If you have to use a separate app, it’s not a great experience.

“Everything that we ship is the result of customer feedback and requests. If they tell us they want these, it means they’re not finding what they needed on the market.”

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Google’s Grasshopper coding class for beginners comes to the desktop

Google today announced that Grasshopper, its tool for teaching novices how to code, is now available on the desktop, too, in the form of a web-based app. Back in 2018, Grasshopper launched out of Area 120 as a mobile app for Android and iOS and since then, Google says, ‘millions’ have downloaded it.

A larger screen and access to a keyboard makes learning to code on the desktop significantly easier than on mobile. In the desktop app, for example, Google is able to put columns for the instructions, the code editor and the results next to each other.

Google also today added two new classes to Grasshopper, in addition to the original ‘fundamentals’ class on basic topics like variables, operators and loops. The new classes are Using a Code Editor and Intro to Webpages, which teaches you more about HTML, CSS and JavaScript.

In case you are wondering why a “Using a Code Editor” class is useful, it’s worth noting that most of the coding experience in the first few courses is more about clicking short code snippets and putting them in the right order than typing out code by hand.

After completing all courses, users will be able to build a simple webpage and ready to take on more complex courses on other platforms like Codecademy, for example.

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Lawyers for former Tinder execs file to dismiss defamation lawsuit

Last week, former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt filed a defamation lawsuit against Sean Rad and Rosette Pambakian, who are part of a group of Tinder founders and former executives who accused Blatt (pictured above) of sexual harassment and assault as part of a broader suit.

Now Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys have filed their own motion to dismiss the suit, arguing that it “seeks to chill protected speech through costly litigation” — in other words, that it’s the kind of lawsuit prohibited under California’s anti-SLAPP law.

“This lawsuit is intended to muzzle Rosette and Sean from telling the truth about how [IAC chairman] Barry Diller and Greg Blatt stole from their employees and covered up sexual assault allegations,” said Rad and Pambakian’s attorney Orin Snyder in a statement. “Unfortunately, unlawful retaliatory lawsuits like this one designed to silence victims and violate their First Amendment rights are all too common in the #metoo era.”

In the filing, Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys also argued that Blatt filed the suit “solely to launch a public smear campaign against Pambakian and the person who reported the assault to Match, Sean Rad. At the same time, and now that Blatt’s public court filings have served his media objective, Blatt says that the complaint that he himself chose to file in court should actually be sent to private arbitration.”

In response, Blatt’s attorney Vineet Bhatia sent the following statement:

We fully expected this run-of-the-mill, procedural smoke screen to be made by Rad and Pambakian. These arguments are legally wrong and we expect to prevail in Court. The bottom line is, Rad and Pambakian conspired to defame Mr. Blatt and should be held responsible.

Both Blatt’s suit and the new filing seek to connect the case to the broader #metoo movement (which, as Snyder alluded to, has seen number of high-profile figures accused of sexual assault, and who then fought back through defamation lawsuits).

Blatt’s lawyers argued that “Rad and Pambakian have attempted to weaponize an important social movement, undermining the plight of true victims of sexual abuse by making false accusations in cynical pursuit of a $2 billion windfall.”

In contrast, Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys said the “ensuing crescendo of retaliation — reminiscent of many Hollywood #MeToo cases — included [Tinder’s parent company] Match circling the wagons around Blatt, publicly belittling Pambakian by chalking up the assault to ‘consensual cuddling,’ and firing her months later after she refused to sign an NDA.”

In a lawsuit filed in the summer of 2018, Rad (Tinder’s co-founder and former CEO), Pambakian (who was then the company’s vice president of marketing and communications), Rad’s fellow co-founders Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen and others sued Match and its controlling shareholder IAC, accusing them of manipulating financial data and removing Rad as CEO in order to create a “fake lowball valuation” and strip the founders and executives of their stock options.

The suit also accused Blatt — who served as an executive at IAC and as CEO of Match before replacing Rad as CEO of Tinder — of sexually harassing Pambakian at a company holiday party in 2016.

IAC and Match have called this suit meritless. And in Blatt’s defamation lawsuit, his attorneys said the encounter between Blatt and Pambakian at the holiday party was consensual and that Rad and Pambakian subsequently “conspired to make false allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against Blatt with the specific intent to damage Blatt’s good name, personal and professional reputation, and credibility.”

In a footnote, Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys say that because they’re making a free speech argument, their motion to dismiss Blatt’s suit does not require the court to “delve into the facts.” However, they add:

Blatt’s false narrative — that this was consensual, and that Pambakian and Rad concocted the assault allegations to aid their valuation lawsuit — is patently false and offensive. The evidence shows that Blatt admitted being drunk at the holiday party, making inappropriate comments to Pambakian, and “snuggling and nuzzling” her in a hotel bed. It further shows that Blatt apologized to Pambakian the following week, and later offered to resign over his misconduct. These are not the actions of an innocent man, nor is it the first time Blatt has been accused of mistreating women in the workplace.

To back that up that up, the motion points to a Gawker article describing supposed harassment and verbal abuse by an unnamed “CEO of a major dating site” owned by a corporation “in a glass building on the far side of town” (subsequent coverage has suggested that the piece was about Blatt).

Pambakian withdrew from the initial suit due to an arbitration agreement, but is now suing Blatt and Match for wrongful termination and sexual assault.

You can read the full motion below.

View this document on Scribd

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The transformative power of video games | Herman Narula

The transformative power of video games | Herman Narula

A full third of the world's population -- 2.6 billion people -- play video games, plugging into massive networks of interaction that have opened up opportunities well beyond entertainment. In a talk about the future of the medium, entrepreneur Herman Narula makes the case for a new understanding of gaming -- one that includes the power to create new worlds, connect people and shape the economy.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Lawyers for former Tinder execs file to dismiss defamation lawsuit

Last week, former Tinder CEO Greg Blatt filed a defamation lawsuit against Sean Rad and Rosette Pambakian, who are part of a group of Tinder founders and former executives who accused Blatt (pictured above) of sexual harassment and assault as part of a broader suit.

Now Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys have filed their own motion to dismiss the suit, arguing that it “seeks to chill protected speech through costly litigation” — in other words, that it’s the kind of lawsuit prohibited under California’s anti-SLAPP law.

“This lawsuit is intended to muzzle Rosette and Sean from telling the truth about how [IAC chairman] Barry Diller and Greg Blatt stole from their employees and covered up sexual assault allegations,” said Rad and Pambakian’s attorney Orin Snyder in a statement. “Unfortunately, unlawful retaliatory lawsuits like this one designed to silence victims and violate their First Amendment rights are all too common in the #metoo era.”

In the filing, Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys also argued that Blatt filed the suit “solely to launch a public smear campaign against Pambakian and the person who reported the assault to Match, Sean Rad. At the same time, and now that Blatt’s public court filings have served his media objective, Blatt says that the complaint that he himself chose to file in court should actually be sent to private arbitration.”

In response, Blatt’s attorney Vineet Bhatia sent the following statement:

We fully expected this run-of-the-mill, procedural smoke screen to be made by Rad and Pambakian. These arguments are legally wrong and we expect to prevail in Court. The bottom line is, Rad and Pambakian conspired to defame Mr. Blatt and should be held responsible.

Both Blatt’s suit and the new filing seek to connect the case to the broader #metoo movement (which, as Snyder alluded to, has seen number of high-profile figures accused of sexual assault, and who then fought back through defamation lawsuits).

Blatt’s lawyers argued that “Rad and Pambakian have attempted to weaponize an important social movement, undermining the plight of true victims of sexual abuse by making false accusations in cynical pursuit of a $2 billion windfall.”

In contrast, Rad and Pambakian’s attorneys said the “ensuing crescendo of retaliation — reminiscent of many Hollywood #MeToo cases — included [Tinder’s parent company] Match circling the wagons around Blatt, publicly belittling Pambakian by chalking up the assault to ‘consensual cuddling,’ and firing her months later after she refused to sign an NDA.”

In a lawsuit filed in the summer of 2018, Rad (Tinder’s co-founder and former CEO), Pambakian (who was then the company’s vice president of marketing and communications), Rad’s fellow co-founders Justin Mateen and Jonathan Badeen and others sued Match and its controlling shareholder IAC, accusing them of manipulating financial data and removing Rad as CEO in order to create a “fake lowball valuation” and strip the founders and executives of their stock options.

The suit also accused Blatt — who served as an executive at IAC and as CEO of Match before replacing Rad as CEO of Tinder — of sexually harassing Pambakian at a company holiday party in 2016.

IAC and Match have called this suit meritless. And in Blatt’s defamation lawsuit, his attorneys said the encounter between Blatt and Pambakian at the holiday party was consensual and that Rad and Pambakian subsequently “conspired to make false allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault against Blatt with the specific intent to damage Blatt’s good name, personal and professional reputation, and credibility.”

In a footnote, Rad and Pambakian’s attorney say that because they’re making a free speech argument, their motion to dismiss Blatt’s suit does not require the court to “delve into the facts.” However, they add:

Blatt’s false narrative — that this was consensual, and that Pambakian and Rad concocted the assault allegations to aid their valuation lawsuit — is patently false and offensive. The evidence shows that Blatt admitted being drunk at the holiday party, making inappropriate comments to Pambakian, and “snuggling and nuzzling” her in a hotel bed. It further shows that Blatt apologized to Pambakian the following week, and later offered to resign over his misconduct. These are not the actions of an innocent man, nor is it the first time Blatt has been accused of mistreating women in the workplace.

To back that up that up, the motion points to a Gawker article describing supposed harassment and verbal abuse by an unnamed “CEO of a major dating site” owned by a corporation “in a glass building on the far side of town” (subsequent coverage has suggested that the piece was about Blatt).

Pambakian subsequently withdrew from the initial suit due to an arbitration agreement, but is now suing Blatt and Match for wrongful termination and sexual assault.

You can read the full motion below.

View this document on Scribd

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CBS News is bringing a 60 Minutes-inspired news show to streaming service Quibi

Jeffrey Katzenberg’s streaming service Quibi, due to launch in April, has partnered with CBS News to modernize “60 Minutes”-style programming for the era of bite-sized video. Instead of an hour-long newsmagazine, CBS News will launch “60 in 6,” which will condense original news stories into 6-minute long episodes, designed for consumption on mobile devices.

The deal will see 60 Minutes producing one original story per week, as part of Quibi’s licensing agreement.

“This is a perfect opportunity to bring 60 Minutes’ style of storytelling, in-depth reporting, and investigative journalism to a new audience,” said 60 Minutes executive producer Bill Owens, in a statement. “We are excited to launch ’60 In 6,’ as our digital footprint is more important than ever,” he said.

CBS isn’t the first news partner coming to the upcoming streaming service. NBC will build out a full production team exclusively for its Quibi programming, which will include a 6-minute morning and evening news show for the service. The BBC and Quibi, meanwhile, are developing an international news show for millennials, that’s five minutes in length. And ESPN just agreed to do a sports highlights and news show.

“60 Minutes has been, is, and will continue to be the gold standard of storytelling news journalism,” added Jeffrey Katzenberg, Quibi founder and chairman of the board, in a statement. “Bringing their talent and resources to a new form of storytelling could not be more exciting for us at Quibi,” he said.

News programming is only one aspect to Quibi, which will also include a variety of entertainment offerings from big-name talent, like Sam Raimi, Guillermo del Toro, Antoine Fuqua, and producer Jason Blum, among others. Quibi will also feature a show about Snapchat’s founding, an action-thriller starring Liam Hemsworth, a murder mystery comedy from SNL’s Lorne Michaels, a beauty docuseries from Tyra Banks, a Steven Spielberg horror show, a comedy from Thomas Lennon, a car-stunt series with Idris Elba, a comedy series from Trevor Noah, a drama with Queen Latifah, a thriller with Sophie Turner, and more.

Quibi’s premise is taking premium content and chopping it up into “quick bites” (hence the name), and delivering it to mobile viewers in both horizontal and vertical formats. The idea, essentially, is to build a Netflix for the Snapchat generation. This is a risky endeavor, given that the targeted demographic — Gen’s Y and Z — is quite happy with their Netflix subscriptions for higher-production value entertainment, and with YouTube for more casual video viewing from the creator community.

Quibi also seems to ignore the fact that most subscription-based video is still watched on TVs, not mobile devices. Meanwhile, on users’ phones, Quibi will have to compete with a range of other apps and games — including the new titles from Apple Arcade — as well as other time fillers, like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok and Snapchat.

That said, having Katzenberg at the helm has brought a lot of industry support to Quibi. The company has raised $1 billion from Disney, WarnerMedia, 21st Century Fox and others, and was looking to raise more. It also said this summer it had booked $100 million in ad sales pre-launch.

Quibi will launch in April 2020, and “60 in 6” will be available at that time. The service will cost $5 per month, or $8 to go ad-free.

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Robinhood revives checking with new debit card & 2% interest

This time it actually has insurance. Zero-fee stock trading app Robinhood is launching Cash Management, a new feature that earns users 2.05% APY interest on uninvested money in their account with the ability to spend it through a special Mastercard debit card. The waitlist opens today in the US with the first users to be admitted soon. “If you have $5000 in your account while you’re thinking about what to invest in, you’d have an extra $105 at the end of the year” thanks to Robinhood Cash Management’s interest, co-CEO Baiju Bhatt tells me.

The $7.6 billion-valuation startup first attempted something similar in December with Robinhood Checking, promising 3% interest. But the product turned into a PR disaster when the Securities Investor Protection Corporation that was supposed to insure users’ funds declared Robinhood ineligible, with its CEO noting it had never agreed to cover checking account. That led Robinhood to shelve the feature, scrub its site of any mention of Checking, and apologize.

Robinhood Cash Management’s debit cards, featuring the same design from the scrapped Checking launch

Now despite Bhatt claiming “Cash Management is a brand new program built from the ground up”, it will offer the exact same debit card design and network of 75,000 ATMs. It’s even using an identical promo image for its half-translucent green, black, white, and American flag debit card designs. But each user’s funds will be covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation up to $1.25 million. To get around the $250,000 FDIC limit per bank, Robinhood is partnering with five banks that it will spread a user’s cash across as necessary to bundle up to that sum. Robinhood earns money by taking a chunk of the interchange fees from transactions on its debit card run in partnership with Sutton Bank, and from a few paid by the five banks cash gets swept into.

To help it avoid further regulatory missteps, Robinhood yesterday added former SEC commissioner Dan Gallagher as its first independent board member. He joins the startup’s recently hired COO, CFO, Chief Compliance Officer, VP of risk & compliance, and VP of legal & regulatory to bring more supervision to Robinhood.

Baiju Bhatt Vlad Tenev Co- Founders and Co-CEOs (from left): Baiju Bhatt and Vlad Tenev

The opt-in feature prevents users from missing out on earning interest if they keep money in their Robinhood account, and makes funds from stock sales quickly accessible via the debit card for spending or withdrawal. That convenience could give Robinhood an edge as its loses one if its key differentiators. Last week, its top incumbent competitors Charles Schwab, E*Trade, and AmeriTrade all dropped their $4.95 to $6.95 fees on stock trades to match Robinhood’s free offering. That makes Cash Management and Robinhood Crypto even more critical to its continued grow. That’s necessary to justify the $7.6 billion valuation from its recent $323 million Series E raise led by DST Global that brings it to $860 million in total funding.

How Robinhood Cash Management Works

“We decided the best thing to do is giving people the peace of mind that their money is held at these banks, while trying to pay back the very best interest rates” Bhatt tells me. [Disclosure: I know Robinhood’s co-founders from college together]

With Cash Management, once users deposit cash into the Robinhood accounts and opt into the program, they’re eligible to earn interest. Any balance on their account including returns from sales of securities or cryptocurrencies is swept into the FDIC-insured partner banks via Promontory’s debit suite system. If one of those banks folds, the FDIC will make customers whole up for up to $250,000, equaling $1.25 million across all five working with Robinhood.

There the cash earns a variable annual percentage yield (APY) that may fluctuate based on market factors like the Fed funds rate. Currently Robinhood offers a 2.05% APY, but refused to compare it to competitors. However, it ranks relatively high amongst popular banking options like these according to Bankrate, especially given it has no minimum balance:

• BMO Harris – 2.20% APY, $5,000 Minimum Balance
• BBVA – 2.15% APY, $10,000 Minimum Balance
• UFB Direct – 2.15% APY, $25,000 Minimum Balance
• Sallie Mae – 2.00% APY, No Minimum Balance
• State Farm Bank – 2.00% APY, No Minimum Balance
• TIAA Bank – 2.00% APY, $500 Minimum Balance
• Wells Fargo – 1.95% APY, $25,000 Minimum Balance
• Investors eAccess – 1.90% APY, No Minimum Balance

Cash Management users can select from the four debit cards styles that are accepted anywhere that takes Mastercard, plus 75,000 ATMs. It also works with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay. There’s no foreign transaction fees, maintenance fee, or account minimum.

A variety of new Cash Management features are being added to the Robinhood app. You can get notifications and emails for all your transactions, and lock the card from your phone if you suspect fraud. You can also opt for location protection, which alerts you if your card is used too far away from your phone. An in-app ATM finder shows users where they can get cash out without a fee.

“Partially we want this to be a good business but we also want this to be a big part of customer’s lives” says Robinhood VP of product Josh Elman. Instead of nickel and diming Cash Management users, the startup monetizes by charging its partners. But the bigger strategy is to get more users on Robinhood in hopes some will subscribe to Robinhood Gold. There users pay a variable monthly fee depending on how much they want to borrow from the startup to trade on margin.

Robinhood co-CEO Baiju Bhatt speaks with TechCrunch’s Josh Constine at Disrupt SF 2018

“I think the main takeaway over the last year has been that since last December, our company has been very committed to building an organization on that has a really strong culture [of compliance]” Bhatt concludes. “We’ve grown the leadership team over the last year with experience from risk and finance backgrounds. We think that’s reflected pretty clearly in how Robinhood operates and the diligence that went into building this new program.”

No longer a scrappy startup, the budding fintech giant must now grapple with much greater regulatory scrutiny. With over 6 million users, the SEC won’t stand for it putting people’s finances in in jeopardy.

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With a possible Apple tag waiting in the wings, Tile unveils Sticker, an adhesive device for tracking objects

We are still waiting to see if Apple officially unveils a new spin on the business of tracking tags — the small devices that you put on ‘dumb’ objects like keys, wallets and other objects you have a habit of losing or leaving places to be able to pinpoint their location — but in the meantime, Tile, one of the pioneers of this technology, is upping its game today with its least-obtrusive device yet: a sticker.

Today, the startup unveiled Sticker, a new, waterproof tracking device that it created in collaboration with 3M, which uses adhesive to attach to objects to be able to track them by Bluetooth to a range of 150 feet, or further using Tile’s community network by way of its app.

Alongside this, the startup is also announcing enhancements to its existing range of Tile tracking devices. The Slim is now in the shape and thinness of a credit card, designed for wallets and other places where you might insert card-shaped information (for example, in luggage ID compartments), and its range has been extended to 200 feet with a battery life of three years.

And the Mate and Pro tags — the square-shaped fobs that Tile is most famous for — are also getting their ranges extended to 400 feet.

All four models are going on sale as of today at a range of prices: Tile Stickers starting from $39.99 for a 2-pack, $59.99 for a 4-pack; Tile Slim at $29.99; Tile Mate at $24.99; and Tile Pro at $34.99. The message here is that Tile is continuing to increase its flexibility and use cases with these updates and new Sticker release.

“Over the years we’ve seen our customers use Tile for a variety of items,” said CJ Prober, Tile CEO, in a statement. “From wallets to remote controls, power tools to backpacks, our customers have shown us they want a Tile for everything. We’ve designed our new product line to empower the Tile community to find literally anything.”

The moves come on the heels of a competitive time for Tile. On the one hand, the business area that it identified early on has clearly caught the attention of a number of other companies, underscoring the opportunity. But the flip side of that is a lot of new competition in an area that is already crowded and has seen some high-profile failures.

On the launch front, in addition to Apple’s reported interest in launching a competitor, earlier this year Verizon (which also owns TechCrunch) also launched its own IoT play in this area, and Google has also created tighter integrations for people to use its Home devices and Android platform to locate objects. At the same time, some of Tile’s earliest competitors have been heavily challenged to make a go of it: Trackr last year rebranded to Adero and just weeks later laid off nearly half its staff, a decline that we’ve heard has not been halted in the months since.

For its part, Tile last summer raised $45 million last summer on the heels of some interesting strategic partnerships with the likes of Comcast — which, similar to Verizon, Apple, and Google, sees an opportunity in doing more with item tracking as part of a bigger end-to-end connected home play. The feeling is that Tile raised the money to help leverage its bigger market profile in the hopes of staving off this wave of competitors and the many others that already existed before that.

Indeed, if you search on something like Amazon for Bluetooth tracking stickers, you’ll see that this is not exactly a new thing, and there are a number of alternatives out there (one of the big reasons why this market has been a challenging one).

One big differentiator with Tile has been the wider network and economies of scale that it promises to its users: once you are out of the Bluetooth range of your tag, you are able to track the object by way of its app and the wider Tile community, which forms a Bluetooth-based P2P network of sorts to be able to locate items. Of course, the premise of this is that enough people are using Tiles to begin with to create the locating network in the first place, which is one reason why forming collaborations with the likes of Google and Comcast can be very critical longer term to Tile’s success.

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Opera’s desktop browser gets built-in tracking protection

Browser maker Opera today announced the launch of version 68 of its flagship desktop browser. The marquee feature of the launch is the addition of a tracker blocker that will make it harder for advertisers and others to track you while you browse the web — and which has the additional benefit of speeding up your browsing session. Indeed, Opera argues that turning on both the tracking protection and the built-in ad blocker can speed up page loads by up to 23 percent.

The new tracking protection feature is off by default (as is the existing ad blocker). The tracking feature uses the EasyPrivacy Tracking Protection List, which has been around for quite a few years now.

“We consider the tracker blocker to be a browser feature which can be kept on at all times, “writes Opera PC product manager Joanna Czajka. “Our browser, however, also has plenty of extended privacy features which come in handy when someone feels the need to increase the privacy of their browsing even further.”

In addition to the new tracking protection, which is increasingly becoming standard among browser vendors (and which is surely putting some additional pressure on Google and its Chrome browser), Opera is also introducing a new screenshotting feature with this update. That’s not an unusual feature, but it’s a pretty full-featured implementation, with the ability to blur parts of a page and draw on the screenshots.

 

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FREE EBOOK: Bitcoin Explained in Simple Terms

Given Bitcoin’s extraordinary growth in the last decade, it’s vital that you understand what it is and how it works. Failure to grasp the basics could see you left behind as the world moves into a decentralized future.

Sadly, many people (wrongly) assume that Bitcoin is a complicated beast that they have no hope of understanding; they don’t even try to learn.

Nothing could be further from the truth. For end-users, the technology is easy-to-understand and readily accessible.

Yes, there are some terms and concepts you might not recognize. But with the right guide, you’ll be able to comprehend the fundamentals in no time.

This free ebook—written by iBek Esengulov, the co-founder of Horizontal Systems, a company specializing in decentralized services—is the guide you’re looking for. It explains all the Bitcoin basics in a concise and jargon-free way.

DOWNLOAD: Bitcoin Explained in Simple Terms

Download the Ebook for Free

If you download “Bitcoin Explained in Simple Terms,” you’ll learn about the following topics:

• How does Bitcoin work?
• Why is Bitcoin growing in popularity?
• How to buy Bitcoin with a credit card and on a crypto exchange.
• How to store your Bitcoin safely and securely.
• The three primary types of Bitcoin wallets.
• Bitcoin’s privacy and security features.
• How to buy things with Bitcoin.
• How to get started with Bitcoin mining.

And that’s not all. Throughout the ebook, you’ll find expert insight and analysis from the author, dozens of links to useful external resources, and recommendations on the best Bitcoin services you should use.

So, what are you waiting for? Click here to download your free Bitcoin guide today. You’ll have to complete a short form to access it, but we promise it’s well worth your effort!

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Become an AWS Certified Cloud Computing Expert With This Exam Prep Bundle

If you want to build a career in IT, learning about cloud computing is a good idea. The technology is spreading fast, and folks with specialist knowledge are in demand. To help you catch the eye of recruiters, the AWS Certified Solutions Architect Associate Courses + Tests Bundle prepares you for Amazon’s own cloud computing exams. The bundle has 14.5 hours of content, including video tutorials, quiz questions and mock tests. You can get the lot now for just $9.99 at MakeUseOf Deals.

AWS Certification

Amazon Web Services, or AWS, has quickly become the most popular way to host apps and data in the cloud. From Adobe to Zynga, countless top companies rely on this platform for their daily operations — meaning certified experts are highly sought after.

This bundle helps you master AWS and prove your skills, with 106 video tutorials and over 600 practice exam questions. The videos provide a beginner-friendly explainer of all the key features in AWS, and you can play around in a sandbox lab to figure things out for yourself.

Every student gets full support on anything relating to certification, and you can prepare for the test with seven full mock exams.

Full Prep for $9.99

Order now for $9.99 to get lifetime access to this prep bundle, worth $59.90.

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5 Free Stock Illustration Sites to Download Copyright-Free Designs and Vectors

Whether you’re designing a landing page or a PowerPoint presentation, a few illustrations can go a long way in making it eye-catching. Here’s a collection of websites with stocks of free and royalty-free illustrations and vectors to download.

You can always grab real stock photographs, but plain stock images seem a bit stuffy and old-school now, don’t they? Illustrations add that extra zing to seem modern and trendy. These portals will give you customizable style-packs as well as images that concentrate on diversity and inclusiveness.

Important: Whichever royalty-free image you use, you need to read the fine print. Most of them require you to link back or attribute the source. It’s best to understand copyrights to legally use images on the web. If you don’t do it the right way, you might get sued or penalized for huge amounts.

1. Glaze (Web): Large Library of Free Low-Res Images

Glaze is a stock image library of illustrations from different designers. It has a much larger collection than most libraries. But there’s a catch: you can only download a low-resolution version for free.

That said, for a web publisher, you can get the job done with these low-resolution versions. They are typically larger than 400 square pixels, available as lossless PNG files. And all images require attribution. For $20, you can download the full-size PNG and AI files, and skip attribution.

Glaze has an excellent collection spread across genres like people, backgrounds, business and commerce, teamwork, empty state, places, technology, travel, health and sciences, mindfulness, around the house, working, and animals. It also identifies the artist, so you can get multiple illustrations from the same style set.

2. Ouch.pics (Web): Free Vectors Grouped by Style

Free illustrations and vectors let you easily mix and match two different images. But if you try to combine any two, you’ll end up with something that is jarring or clashing. To avoid that, combine only images from the same style set.

Even using the same artist doesn’t mean you’ll get the same style set. Ouch.pics by Icons8 makes your job easier by grouping these style sets. Scroll to Free Vector Styles to find readymade packs, each describing what you’re likely to find inside.

You don’t need to download the whole pack either. Ouch.pics lets you browse all the illustrations online, and download select pieces. You can use the PNG files with a linkback, or subscribe to Icons8 to use it attribution-free.

3. IconScout’s Free Illustrations (Web): 170 Free High-Resolution Illustrations

IconScout gives you a combination of the best features of both Glaze and Ouch.pics. It hosts a large collection of free high-resolution illustrations and segregates them into style packs in case you want to customize them.

This is one of the few websites that gives you extremely high-resolution illustrations for free. All images are available in 4K resolution, and you can resize them before you download them. You will get them in PNG and EPS formats.

Unregistered accounts can only download five images, so it’s best to sign up. Plus, if you sign up, you can select multiple images while browsing, and then download them all together. It’s a much more user-friendly way to grab what you need.

Most illustrations on IconScout use the CC 4.0 license, which states you can freely use the images for personal or commercial purposes if you attribute the source and indicate the changes.

4. Fresh Folk (Web): Inclusive and Diverse Human Illustrations

Representation matters, and diversity is a key element of how you use images. Fresh Folk is a fantastic set of illustrated humans and other elements. You can mix and match them to create custom images that show inclusiveness.

You’ll need to download the illustration pack to use it offline. It’s a large zip file of over 100 MB. You can then tweak the human models with different skin tones, hair types, clothes, and poses. There are 43 objects that you can use. In the end, you can create any situation or scene that you want, thus representing diversity.

Diversity is one of those things you can forget about in your projects. But when you have the models available, the ability to create any image you want, you can make the final images more inclusive.

Fresh Folk uses the CC 4.0 license, which means you can use them anywhere if you attribute the source.

5. Drawkit (Web): Attribution-Free Illustrations in Two Styles

Even with copyright-free illustrations, you must attribute or linkback to the source. That gets difficult sometimes when you’re using it in commercial spaces. Drawkit removes that problem with free and attribution-free illustrations.

The pack features a total of 54 SVG illustrations, available in two styles: Colored, and Black-and-white. With a good image editor, you can easily change the colored pictures to a palette of your choice.

Designer James Daly updates the set regularly too. Sign up to stay informed of new additions. It’s a cool and diverse range of images, from product shots to people using common objects or and doing common tasks.

If you like the list, check out Daly’s other illustration packs. There are paid packs with more images, usually set around a theme.

How to Stand Out When Using Stock Photos

Like you, there are other designers who are reading this article or discovering the same stock illustrations through various sources. If everyone uses the same files, your images will look alike. How can you avoid this?

The trick is to check out all the above illustration packs, not just the one that seems to fit your needs. With vectors, customization is key. Get the right set together and then make it your own. If you want to stand out from the pack, you need to be creative in how you get the images too, like visiting these lesser-known stock image sites.

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Red Dead Redemption 2 Is Coming to PC

Rockstar Games has announced that Red Dead Redemption 2 will be available on PC on November 5th, 2019. You can pre-purchase the game using the Rockstar Games Launcher. And for a limited time only you’ll get two free Rockstar games for doing so.

In October 2018, Rockstar released Red Dead Redemption 2, a direct prequel to the first game, on PS4 and Xbox One. Red Dead Redemption 2 has been a commercial and critical success, breaking various sales records and winning numerous awards.

And now Red Dead Redemption 2 is coming to PC.

How to Pre-Order Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC

Rockstar announced Red Dead Redemption 2 on PC on the Rockstar Newswire. This, the first Red Dead game released on PC, comes with “a range of graphical and technical enhancements” plus “new Bounty Hunting Missions, Gang Hideouts, Weapons and more.”

The PC version will also come with free access to Red Dead Online, including “all previously released improvements and the latest content updates”. Red Dead Online is a living world which you share with other players as you travel around the Wild West.

RED DEAD REDEMPTION 2 is coming to PC November 5thhttps://t.co/ECEqNr9HUI pic.twitter.com/8jg8WeVvQ8

— Rockstar Games (@RockstarGames) October 4, 2019

You can pre-purchase Red Dead Redemption 2 for PC from October 9th. Pre-purchases will be exclusive to the Rockstar Games Launcher until October 23rd, when the game will be available to pre-order from other digital retailers.

As an enticement/reward for pre-purchasing, Rockstar is offering two free games. So anyone pre-purchasing the game through the Rockstar Games Launcher will be able to choose two PC games from Rockstar’s back catalog, which includes older GTA titles.

Read Dead Redemption 2 Is Coming to Google Stadia

As well as being released on PC, Red Dead Redemption 2 is a launch title for Google Stadia. For the uninitiated, Google Stadia is a cloud gaming platform which lets you stream games on multiple devices. And Google Stadia is launching in November 2019.

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The 5 Best Affordable Noise-Cancelling Headphones for Students

Are you looking for cheap noise-cancelling headphones? You don’t have to spend too much these days to get a good set of noise-cancelling earphones or headphones.

The best budget noise-cancelling headphones come in two types: passive and active. Passive noise-cancelling headphones create a physical seal around your ears to block out the noise. If it’s passive affordable noise-cancelling headphones you’re after, you can buy some great ones for relatively little money.

For most people, Active Noise Cancellation (ANC) will be the way to go. Headphones with ANC use microphones to pick up the sound and broadcast their own sound waves to cancel out the noise.

Here are the best noise-cancelling headphones available on a student-friendly budget.

1. Best Budget Noise-Cancelling Headphones:
Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B

Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B Buy Now On Amazon $99.00

The Audio Technica ATH-ANC7B are among the best-reviewed, most-recommended noise-cancelling headphones out there. This model was first released in 2009, and has been regularly refreshed since. They got the formula right, and after successive price drops, it’s the best value-for-money option today.

The ATH-ANC7B headphones are well-reviewed, and many sound experts recommend them too. They can handle high volumes without distortion, deliver deep bass, and excel with mid-range audio. The ear padding has memory foam coated with leather, which holds its closed-back 40mm drivers.

The headphones come with a removable 3.5 mm cord, which is excellent since that’s what breaks headphones. If your wire breaks, you can buy a new one. A single AAA battery powers the noise cancellation unit, which lasts for about 40 hours. The ANC7B continues playing with passive noise-cancellation even when the battery dies, which is a significant bonus.

2. Cheap Noise-Cancelling Headphones:
Anker Soundcore Life Q20

Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Anker Soundcore Life Q20 Buy Now On Amazon $48.99

Anker’s Soundcore audio equipment impresses time and again with the value it offers. The Anker Soundcore Life Q20 are among the cheapest noise-cancelling headphones worth buying. There’s even a Bluetooth connection for wireless playback.

Most reviewers agree that that the Soundcore Life Q20 aren’t the best-sounding set of headphones you can get. However, the sound profile is balanced and pleasing. This pair can also get quite loud if needed. The BassUp feature gives an artificial bass boost. It is nice at times, but it feels unnatural.

The Life Q20 come with ANC, but there’s no ability to adjust the level of noise-cancellation. You also have to switch it on and off manually. But such misses are to be expected with inexpensive noise-cancelling headphones. Overall, it does a good job of filtering out background noise, even if it’s not as good as the Audio Technica set, for example.

The Soundcore Life Q20 has particularly impressive battery life, clocking in 30 hours of music playback on a single charge. That’s incredibly long for cheap noise-cancelling headphones. The memory foam cups on the over-the-ear design ensure you won’t feel uncomfortable during long listening sessions. And, if you run out of battery, you can use the headphones in wired mode instead.

3. Best Budget Noise-Cancelling Earphones:
Phiaton BT 120 NC

Phiaton BT 120 NC Phiaton BT 120 NC Buy Now On Amazon $69.99

Not everyone wants a set of over-ear headphones, but you may still want ANC. The Phiaton BT 120 NC are the best cheap noise-cancelling earbuds set today. As it would be impractical to include the ANC module on the earbuds themselves, it is integrated into the neckband instead. This makes the weight of the earphones more balanced.

Unlike their over-ear counterparts, earphones and earbuds don’t offer the highest-quality ANC. So, you’ll need to be ready for that compromise. Nonetheless, you’ll get decent noise cancellation for continuous sounds like the hum of an airplane. The Phiaton BT 120 NC makes up for the noise-cancelling shortcomings of earphones by offering extra convenience. These cheap wireless earbuds have a battery life of over eight hours with ANC, and double that without ANC.

Reviewers also agree that the sound quality is good, rather than great, and, overall, you won’t have any major complaints. All in all, this is one of those purchases where you get what you’re paying for. If you want better sound quality or stronger noise cancellation, you need to spend more money. But if you are restricted by price, then these are the best budget noise-cancelling earbuds.

4. Best Value Noise-Cancelling Earphones:
TaoTronics TT-BH042

TaoTronics TT-BH042 TaoTronics TT-BH042 Buy Now On Amazon $38.99

The best value products aren’t always the best. Most of the time, we really mean they are the best for that price. That’s what you’d need to say for the TaoTronics TT-BH042. But since we are talking about affordable noise-cancelling headphones, it definitely deserves to be mentioned.

Again, this is a neckband-style pair of cheap noise-cancelling headphones. Honestly, this style is best if ANC is important to you because otherwise, the bulk of the adapter is a turn-off. The noise cancellation is surprisingly good for the price, but only at the lower frequencies.

The sound is probably best described as mediocre. Sure, they aren’t bad, but they don’t stand out either. The bass is often overwhelming, and the higher frequencies come out a little tinny. To include ANC at this price, TaoTronics have compromised, to a degree, on sound quality. But, hey, you also get eight hours of battery life with ANC and a comfortable fit. Overall, it’s a great package… for the price.

5. Cheapest Noise-Cancelling Headphones:
Sony MDR-ZX110NC

Sony MDR-ZX110NC Sony MDR-ZX110NC Buy Now On Amazon

The Sony brand is well-respected in the headphone space, and the Sony MDR-ZX110NC come in at an affordable price too. They are popular enough for the company to upgrade them each year since 2014, too. They are the cheapest noise-cancelling headphones worth buying today, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they are right for you.

The problem is that the MDR-ZX110 only make sense if you absolutely, desperately want noise cancellation but are on a tight budget. That’s a common enough situation as a student. You want to drown out the noise in the dorms, but you also want to eat something other than ramen again, so budgeting for headphones takes a backseat.

So, how does the ANC actually perform on these? A lot of the customer reviews on Amazon and Newegg are from students who say this set of cans did exactly what they wanted it to. Yes, the sound quality isn’t great, and yes, some noises still bleed in. But hey, when it comes to affordable noise-cancelling headphones, they get the job done.

The Best Noise-Cancelling Headphones for You

Even in the quite-recent past, noise-cancelling headphones would have set you back financially. The sets we included above show, though, show that it is possible to get some of the best noise-cancelling headphones without breaking the bank. For those on tight budgets, you can now get affordable, comfortable, and high-quality headphones.

However, the same can’t be said of cheap noise-cancelling true wireless earbuds. There are plenty on the market sub-$100, but you should avoid these. Unless you are willing to spend significant sums, you won’t get high-quality ANC. If it’s true wireless earbuds you are after, you should consider the best true wireless earbuds for going cord-free.

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The 7 Best Sites to Sell Unwanted Gift Cards

We’ve all received unwanted gift cards at some point in our lives. Whether they are for shops you don’t like, services you don’t use, or business that don’t operate in your local area, you’re lumbered with a present that you don’t want.

Unfortunately, unlike regular gifts, most businesses won’t allow you to return a gift card and convert it back into cash. So, what to do? Well, sell them, of course!

Here are the best sites where you can sell unwanted gift cards to other people.

1. Raise

Raise is an online marketplace for buying and selling unused gift cards.

As a seller, it is free to list your cards, and you can receive payment via direct deposit, PayPal, or even check. You can set your own price and can adjust it at any time before a sale.

The site offers gift cards from thousands of brands across categories as diverse as travel, clothing, DIY, and beauty. Everything from Home Depot to Southwest Airlines is available. And yes, you can use Raise to sell Amazon gift cards for cash.

Raise also offers plenty of buyer protections. All orders are protected with a one-year guarantee. If you try to use the gift card within the period and it doesn’t work, you are entitled to a full refund.

You can only use the Raise website to sell gift cards if you live in the US.

2. Cardpool

Cardpool is an online gift card reseller that will buy your unwanted gift cards in both the physical and electronic form.

If you sell a card to Cardpool, you could receive up to 92 percent of its face value in cash. Payments are made via check and will be dispatched to your address within 24 hours of making the sale.

You can easily see how much money your unwanted gift card is worth with no obligation. Just head to the Cardpool site and enter the merchant’s name along with the dollar value of the card. Completing a transaction is a simple process that you can complete in a couple of minutes.

Some of the brands on Cardpool include iTunes, Airbnb, Lowe’s, Starbucks, and Pottery Barn.

Cardpool is available in 17 countries around the world, including the US, UK, and Canada.

3. Gift Card Granny

Another of the best sites to sell gift cards is Gift Card Granny. It’s a well-established name in the sector; the site first went live back in 2009.

From a seller’s standpoint, Gift Card Granny offers two options for offloading your unwanted gift cards:

• Sell it Now: You’ll receive an instant offer, and the money will show up in your account within a couple of days.
• Name Your Price: You can set the price for your card but will have to wait for someone to make an offer. You will not receive any cash until delivery is complete.

The site also offers a bulk selling feature, but you need to go through an application process to get verified.

According to Gift Card Granny’s own literature, the most in-demand gift cards on the site are iTunes, Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart, and Target. If you want to sell an Amazon gift card for cash, this site should be one of your first ports of call.

4. Gameflip

As the name suggests, Gameflip specializes in dealing with gift cards from gaming businesses. If you want to sell an unwanted gift card from Steam, PlayStation Network, Xbox Live, Amazon, iTunes, or Google Play, you should check it out.

Gameflip does impose a few restrictions on the types of gift cards you can sell. It will not accept partially used cards, reloadable gift cards, cards with an expiration date, or cards which are not pre-paid.

Furthermore, the site does not offer an instant buy option. That means you need to set a competitive price for your listing. Gameflip recommends offering a discount of between two and 15 percent. Obviously, the greater the discount, the faster you can expect to have the cash in your hand.

When you sell a card, the money is deposited into your Gameflip wallet. From there, you can choose to withdraw it via PayPal, direct transfer, or in Bitcoin.

5. Card Kangaroo

Card Kangaroo is one of the few sites that let you trade unwanted gift cards with other users (though you can still sell the cards for cash if you prefer).

If you decide to trade, you’ll need to mail your unwanted card directly to Card Kangaroo using the free shipping label. The company will dispatch your new card within 48 hours of receiving your shipment. This means you can have a high level of confidence in the process; at no point are you dealing directly with other users.

If you sell your gift card, you’ll still need to mail it to the company, but it will send either a check or PayPal payment with 48 hours of receipt.

6. Reddit

You can also use a few non-specialist sites to sell unused gift cards. Reddit, for example, has r/redditbay and r/giftcardexchange, both of which let you cut out the middleman and sell your cards directly to other users.

Obviously, Reddit does not have the same buyer protection as dedicated gift card websites, so make sure you trust the buyer before you put anything in the post.

7. eBay

Lots of people recommend selling gift cards on eBay. The size of eBay’s userbase means you’re almost certain to find a buyer, no matter how obscure the merchant is.

However, selling gift cards on eBay also comes with a couple of notable drawbacks. Firstly, the process is not instantaneous; you’ll have to wait for a buyer to come along. That could take days or even weeks.

Secondly, people sell gift cards on eBay for huge discounts (often because they have commandeered them in suspicious ways). You need to be ready to take a hit of between 10 and 20 percent on the face value.

Sell Your Unwanted Gift Cards Today!

If you try the seven sites we’ve discussed, you will be sure to have either cash or a replacement gift card in your hands within a few days.

And remember, you could always consider donating your gift card to a charity; they might be able to use it to buy items that their patrons require.

To learn more about using gift cards on the web, check out our articles on how to recognize gift card scams and how to use your Apple and iTunes gift cards.

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