Facebook’s use of Onavo spyware faces questions in EU antitrust probe — report

Facebook’s use of the Onavo spyware VPN app it acquired in 2013 — and used to inform its 2014 purchase of the then rival WhatsApp messaging platform — is on the radar of Europe’s antitrust regulator, per a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reports that the Commission has requested a large volume of internal documents as part of a preliminary investigation into Facebook’s data practices which was announced in December.

The WSJ cites people familiar with the matter who told it the regulator’s enquiry is focused on allegations Facebook sought to identify and crush potential rivals and thereby stifle competition by leveraging its access to user data.

Facebook announced it was shutting down Onavo a year ago — in the face of rising controversial about its use of the VPN tool as a data-gathering business intelligence dragnet that’s both hostile to user privacy and raises major questions about anti-competitive practices.

As recently as 2018 Facebook was still actively pushing Onavo at users of its main social networking app — marketing it under a ‘Protect’ banner intended to convince users that the tool would help them protect their information.

In fact the VPN allowed Facebook to monitor their activity across third party apps — enabling the tech giant to spot emerging trends across the larger mobile ecosystem. (So, as we’ve said before, ‘Protect Facebook’s business’ would have been a more accurate label for the tool.)

By the end of 2018 further details about how Facebook had used Onavo as a key intelligence lever in major acquisitions emerged when a UK parliamentary committee obtained a cache of internal documents related to a US court case brought by a third party developer which filed suit alleging unfair treatment on its app platform.

UK parliamentarians concluded that Facebook used Onavo to conduct global surveys of the usage of mobile apps by customers, apparently without their knowledge — using the intel to assess not just how many people had downloaded apps but how often they used them, which in turn helped the tech giant to decide which companies to acquire and which to treat as a threat.

The parliamentary committee went on to call for competition and data protection authorities to investigate Facebook’s business practices.

So it’s not surprising that Europe’s competition commission should also be digging into how Facebook used Onavo. The Commission also been reviewing changes Facebook made to its developer APIs which affected what information it made available, per the WSJ’s sources.

Internal documents published by the UK parliament also highlighted developer access issues — such as Facebook’s practice of whitelisting certain favored developers’ access to user data, raising questions about user consent to the sharing of their data — as well as fairness vis-a-vis non-whitelisted developers.

According to the newspaper’s report the regulator has requested a wide array of internal Facebook documents as part of its preliminary investigation, including emails, chat logs and presentations. It says Facebook’s lawyers have pushed back — seeking to narrow the discovery process by arguing that the request for info is so broad it would produce millions of documents and could reveal Facebook employees’ personal data.

Some of the WSJ’s sources also told it the Commission has withdrawn the original order and intends to issue a narrower request.

We’ve reached out to Facebook and the competition regulator for comment.

Back in 2017 the European Commission fined Facebook $122M for providing incorrect or misleading information at the time of the WhatsApp acquisition. Facebook had given regulator assurances that user accounts could not be linked across the two services — which cleared the way for it to be allowed to acquire WhatsApp — only for the company to u-turn in 2016 by saying it would be linking user data.

In addition to investigating Facebook’s data practices over potential antitrust concerns, the EU’s competition regulator is also looking into Google’s data practices — announcing a preliminary probe in December.

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What if the poor were part of city planning? | Smruti Jukur Johari

What if the poor were part of city planning? | Smruti Jukur Johari

Almost a billion people worldwide live in informal communities and slums, often without basic infrastructure like clean water, toilets or adequate roads. Urban planner Smruti Jukur Johari breaks down myths about these communities and shares examples of simple, common-sense solutions that arise when governments and architects work together with the residents themselves -- instead of around them.

Click the above link to download the TED talk.

Facebook’s use of Onavo spyware faces questions in EU antitrust probe — report

Facebook’s use of the Onavo spyware VPN app it acquired in 2013 — and used to inform its 2014 purchase of the then rival WhatsApp messaging platform — is on the radar of Europe’s antitrust regulator, per a report in the Wall Street Journal.

The newspaper reports that the Commission has requested a large volume of internal documents as part of a preliminary investigation into Facebook’s data practices which was announced in December.

The WSJ cites people familiar with the matter who told it the regulator’s enquiry is focused on allegations Facebook sought to identify and crush potential rivals and thereby stifle competition by leveraging its access to user data.

Facebook announced it was shutting down Onavo a year ago — in the face of rising controversial about its use of the VPN tool as a data-gathering business intelligence dragnet that’s both hostile to user privacy and raises major questions about anti-competitive practices.

As recently as 2018 Facebook was still actively pushing Onavo at users of its main social networking app — marketing it under a ‘Protect’ banner intended to convince users that the tool would help them protect their information.

In fact the VPN allowed Facebook to monitor their activity across third party apps — enabling the tech giant to spot emerging trends across the larger mobile ecosystem. (So, as we’ve said before, ‘Protect Facebook’s business’ would have been a more accurate label for the tool.)

By the end of 2018 further details about how Facebook had used Onavo as a key intelligence lever in major acquisitions emerged when a UK parliamentary committee obtained a cache of internal documents related to a US court case brought by a third party developer which filed suit alleging unfair treatment on its app platform.

UK parliamentarians concluded that Facebook used Onavo to conduct global surveys of the usage of mobile apps by customers, apparently without their knowledge — using the intel to assess not just how many people had downloaded apps but how often they used them, which in turn helped the tech giant to decide which companies to acquire and which to treat as a threat.

The parliamentary committee went on to call for competition and data protection authorities to investigate Facebook’s business practices.

So it’s not surprising that Europe’s competition commission should also be digging into how Facebook used Onavo. The Commission also been reviewing changes Facebook made to its developer APIs which affected what information it made available, per the WSJ’s sources.

Internal documents published by the UK parliament also highlighted developer access issues — such as Facebook’s practice of whitelisting certain favored developers’ access to user data, raising questions about user consent to the sharing of their data — as well as fairness vis-a-vis non-whitelisted developers.

According to the newspaper’s report the regulator has requested a wide array of internal Facebook documents as part of its preliminary investigation, including emails, chat logs and presentations. It says Facebook’s lawyers have pushed back — seeking to narrow the discovery process by arguing that the request for info is so broad it would produce millions of documents and could reveal Facebook employees’ personal data.

Some of the WSJ’s sources also told it the Commission has withdrawn the original order and intends to issue a narrower request.

We’ve reached out to Facebook and the competition regulator for comment.

Back in 2017 the European Commission fined Facebook $122M for providing incorrect or misleading information at the time of the WhatsApp acquisition. Facebook had given regulator assurances that user accounts could not be linked across the two services — which cleared the way for it to be allowed to acquire WhatsApp — only for the company to u-turn in 2016 by saying it would be linking user data.

In addition to investigating Facebook’s data practices over potential antitrust concerns, the EU’s competition regulator is also looking into Google’s data practices — announcing a preliminary probe in December.

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Now Write your Google Scripts using Modern JavaScript ES6

Google Apps Script has received a significant upgrade ever since it was first released to the public more than a decade ago. Apps Script now uses the V8 JavaScript Engine - it is the same runtime that is used inside the Google Chrome browser and the popular Node.js environment.

This essentially means:

• Developers can write code using modern JavaScript syntax like Arrow Functions, Classes, Array Destructuring, Template Literals and more.
• The V8 Engine is fast, powerful and continuously improving, It will likely improve the performance and memory utilization of your Google Scripts.
• Developers can use new JavaScript ES6 features like Symbols, Iterators, Generators, Promises, Maps, Sets and Proxies that weren’t available in the previous version of Google Apps Script.

Chrome V8 JavaScript Engine

Any new projects that you create inside the Google Apps Script editor automatically use the new V8 runtime.

If you would like to upgrade any old project to use V8, go to the Run menu and choose “Enable new Apps Script runtime powered by V8.” If you do not see this option yet, add a new runtimeVersion field in your project’s manifest file with the value of V8. You can set the value to DEPRECATED_ES5 to switch to the old version that uses the Mozilla’s Rhino JavaScript engine.

Tip: Type script.new in your browser to quickly create a new Google Apps Script project in your browser. (Source)

ES6 Modules - The Missing Part

ES6 introduced the concept of modules in JavaScript which allows developers to write reusable code that is also easier to refactor and maintain. You can break your program into separate files (modules) and then import them into other modules using import-export statements.

The new Google Apps Script environment doesn’t support ES6 modules.

The other big change is that functions become available based on the sequence of files in the script editor. Let me explain.

Say your Apps Script project has a lot of files and you have created two functions of the same name but they are located in different files. Apps Script won’t complain but when you can call this function, the one that is defined in the bottom-most file of the project will be invoked.

If you prefer the ease of working with ES6 Modules, the Apps Script Starter kit can help. You can write code locally inside Visual Studio Code, bundle the modules into a single file with Webpack and then push the bundle to the cloud automatically with Clasp.

The starter kit has also been updated to use the new V8 Runtime. Watch this YouTube video to learn how to develop with Google Scripts using the Starter Kit.

Learn Modern JavaScript ES6

Coming back to Javascript, I do have a few recommendations that will help improve your understanding of ECMAScript 6.

• Understanding ES6 - This online book covers all the new features that have been added to the JavaScript language since ES6.
• ES6 Udacity - A detailed video course that covers all aspects of ES6, complete with quizzes and doesn’t cost a penny.
• Exploring ES6 - Deep dive into the core features of ES6.
• Mozilla Docs - Once you are comfortable with the core concepts, this is the best reference site for ES6 with examples.
• If you prefer premium courses, check out the ones by Maximilian Schwarzmüller and Wes Bos.

Also see: The Best Online Teachers for Web Development

Google Maps adds more crowdsourced transit data and gets a new navigation bar

Google is updating Google Maps on Android and iOS with a revamped tab bar at the bottom, a new icon and a couple of new features. In particular, the company is putting more emphasis on user-generated content and recommendations.

At the bottom of the app, you now get five icons — Explore, Commute, Saved, Contribute and Updates. You could already save places and add more information to a Google Maps listing, but those features are now more visible. They’re no longer hidden in a side menu.

The Saved tab lets you easily access your saved places, lists and maps. You can also access the creepy timeline of all your past activity from the same menu now — you can disable location history in your Google account settings.

With the Contribute tab, you can see all your past contributions (reviews, photos, etc.) but also add content directly from that menu. In addition to reviews and photos, you can now directly suggest an edit and add a place from that menu instead of searching for a place and then adding or editing a place.

Finally, the Updates tab combines two existing features in a single view — a feed of recommendation (“For You”) as well messages from businesses. Google added the ability to message businesses in November 2018, but the inbox was a bit buried.

As for crowdsourced transit data, Google is expanding transit data beyond crowdedness reports. Google Maps prompts users to give more information about your bus or train ride at the end of the trip.

Users will now get prompts about the temperature, accessibility features and the presence of security cameras or security guards. In some regions, you’ll be able to say if there’s a women’s section. In Japan, Google Maps will offer you to pick a route with more carriages. Those features will roll out in March.

The company is also announcing some improvements to Live View, the feature that lets you see your route using augmented reality. For instance, you’ll be able to see a pin with your destination so that you get a better sense of where you should be headed.

Finally, Google is updating the Google Maps logo. It’s a more minimalistic Google-colored pin.

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Google Maps adds more crowdsourced transit data and gets a new navigation bar

Google is updating Google Maps on Android and iOS with a revamped tab bar at the bottom, a new icon and a couple of new features. In particular, the company is putting more emphasis on user-generated content and recommendations.

At the bottom of the app, you now get five icons — Explore, Commute, Saved, Contribute and Updates. You could already save places and add more information to a Google Maps listing, but those features are now more visible. They’re no longer hidden in a side menu.

The Saved tab lets you easily access your saved places, lists and maps. You can also access the creepy timeline of all your past activity from the same menu now — you can disable location history in your Google account settings.

With the Contribute tab, you can see all your past contributions (reviews, photos, etc.) but also add content directly from that menu. In addition to reviews and photos, you can now directly suggest an edit and add a place from that menu instead of searching for a place and then adding or editing a place.

Finally, the Updates tab combines two existing features in a single view — a feed of recommendation (“For You”) as well messages from businesses. Google added the ability to message businesses in November 2018, but the inbox was a bit buried.

As for crowdsourced transit data, Google is expanding transit data beyond crowdedness reports. Google Maps prompts users to give more information about your bus or train ride at the end of the trip.

Users will now get prompts about the temperature, accessibility features and the presence of security cameras or security guards. In some regions, you’ll be able to say if there’s a women’s section. In Japan, Google Maps will offer you to pick a route with more carriages. Those features will roll out in March.

The company is also announcing some improvements to Live View, the feature that lets you see your route using augmented reality. For instance, you’ll be able to see a pin with your destination so that you get a better sense of where you should be headed.

Finally, Google is updating the Google Maps logo. It’s a more minimalistic Google-colored pin.

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Qualcomm faces fresh competition scrutiny in Europe over RFFE chips for 5G

Qualcomm is facing fresh antitrust scrutiny from the European Commission, with the regulator raising questions about radio frequency front-end (RFFE) chips which can be used in 5G devices.

The chipmaker has been expanding into selling RFFE chips for 5G devices, per Reuters, encouraging buyers of its 5G modems to also buy its radio frequency front-end chips, rather than buying from other vendors and integrating their hardware with its 5G modem chips.

A European Commission spokeswomen confirmed the action, telling us: “We can confirm that the Commission has sent out questionnaires, as part of a preliminary investigation into the market for radio frequency front end.”

We’ve reached out to Qualcomm for comment.

The chipmaker disclosed the activity in its 10Q investor filing — where it writes that the regulator wrote to request information in early December: “notifying us that it is investigating whether we engaged in anti-competitive behavior in the European Union (EU)/European Economic Area (EEA) by leveraging our market position in 5G baseband processors in the RFFE space”.

Qualcomm says it’s in the process of responding to the request for information.

It’s not yet clear whether the investigation will move to a formal footing in future. “Our preliminary investigation is ongoing. We cannot comment on or predict its timing or outcome,” the EC spokeswoman told us.

“It is difficult to predict the outcome of this matter or what remedies, if any, may be imposed by the EC,” Qualcomm also writes in the investor filing, adding: “We believe that our business practices do not violate the EU competition rules.”

If a violation is found it also warns investors that the EC has the power to impose a fine of up to 10% of its annual revenues, and could also issue injunctive relief that prohibits or restricts certain business practices.

The preliminary probe of Qualcomm’s 5G modem business is by no means the first antitrust action the chip giant has faced in Europe.

Last summer Europe’s competition commission fined Qualcomm close to $270M — following a long-running antitrust investigation into whether it used predatory pricing when selling UMTS baseband chips, with the regulator concluding Qualcomm had used predatory pricing to force a competitor out of the market.

Two years ago the Commission also fined the chipmaker a full $1.23BN in another antitrust case related to its dominance in LTE chipsets for smartphones, and specifically related to its relationship with iPhone maker, Apple.

In both cases Qualcomm is appealing the decisions.

It is also battling a major competition case on its home turf: In 2017 the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) filed charges against Qualcomm — accusing it of using anticompetitive tactics in an attempt to maintain a monopoly in its chip business.

Last year a US court sided with the FTC, agreeing the chip giant had violated antitrust law — and warning that such behavior would likely continue, given Qualcomm’s key role in making modems for next-gen 5G cellular tech. But, again, Qualcomm has appealed — and the legal process is continuing, with a decision on the appeal possible this year.

Its investor filing notes it was granted a motion to expedite the appeal against the FTC in July — with a hearing scheduled for February 13, 2020.

Most recently, in August, the chipmaker won a partial stay against an earlier court decision that had required it to grant patent licenses to rivals and end its practice of requiring its chip customers sign a patent license before purchasing chips.

“We will continue to vigorously defend ourself in the foregoing matters. However, litigation and investigations are inherently uncertain, and we face difficulties in evaluating or estimating likely outcomes or ranges of possible loss in antitrust and trade regulation investigations in particular,” Qualcomm adds.

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Huawei files patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon Communications

Huawei has filed two patent infringement lawsuits against Verizon Communications in U.S. District Court.

The Chinese telecommunications equipment giant wants Verizon to compensate it for the use of technology it says are covered by 12 Huawei patents, including ones related to networking, security and video communications. Before the lawsuits were filed, Huawei claims it negotiated with Verizon in a series of meetings from February 2019 to January 21, but was unable to reach a license agreement.

(Disclosure: TechCrunch is owned by Verizon Media, a division of Verizon Communications).

Huawei technology is used by telecommunication companies around the world. In a press release about the lawsuits, it says it puts about 10% to 15% of its revenue into research and development each year, and has spent about $70 billion on R&D over the last decade, including about $15 billion in 2018 alone.

This resulted in Huawei receiving more than 80,000 patents around the world, including 10,000 in the U.S.

In its filings, Huawei claims Verizon has “profited greatly” from infringing on its patents, noting that Verizon Communication’s total revenue for its wireline division in 2018 was $29.8 billion.

Huawei maintains a close relationship with many other tech companies, including some competitors, through licenses. It says that it has received more than $1.4 billion in patent license fees since 2015 and in addition to providing access to its own technology, has also paid over $6 billion for licensing patents from other companies, with more than 100 license agreements signed with vendors in the U.S., Europe, Japan and South Korea.

In its press release, Huawei’s chief legal officer Song Liuping said “Verizon’s products and services have benefitted from patented technology that Huawei developed over many years of research and development.”

“For years now we have successfully negotiated patent license agreements with many companies. Unfortunately, when no agreement can be reached, we have no choice but to see a legal remedy,” Song added. “This is a common practice in the industry. Huawei is simply asking that Verizon respect Huawei’s investment in research and development by either paying for the use of our patents, or refraining from using them in its products and services.”

TechCrunch has contacted Verizon Communications for comment.

The patent infringement lawsuit is taking place against the backdrop of Huawei’s legal entanglements with the U.S. government, which claims it is a national security threat, a charge Huawei denies.

The Pentagon pushes back on Huawei ban in bid for ‘balance’

Huawei has been on a U.S. trade blacklist since the last May and is suing the government over what it says is an unconstitutional ban on the use of its products by federal agencies and contractors. Huawei’s technology is used by many telecom companies around the world, however, and its close ties with U.S. supply chains were underscored last month when the Defense and Treasury Departments reportedly put pressure on the Commerce Department over the ban.

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Become a Photoshop Expert With 5 In-Depth Video Courses for $25

If you are serious about photography or you want to start a career in design, it’s pretty important to know Photoshop CC. This powerful app can be daunting at first, but anyone can pick up image editing skills with the right training. The Essential Adobe Photoshop CC Bundle helps you do just that, with five beginner-friendly courses and 14 hours of video instruction. Right now, you can get the bundle for just $25 at MakeUseOf Deals.

Become a Photoshop Expert

From processing RAW photos to designing logos, there are many things you can do with Photoshop CC. This bundle helps you explore the potential of the software, with tutorials starting from scratch.

The training begins with a tour of the app, before you get acquainted with all the major features. Through hands-on videos, you discover how to make image adjustments, retouch photos, and work with vector tools.

You also learn tips and tricks used by creative pros, helping you complete projects faster. This training is a great starting point for any aspiring creative, and you can claim a certificate of completion to add to your résumé.

Five Courses for $25

Order now for $25 to get lifetime access to all five courses, worth $199.

Prices subject to change

Read the full article: Become a Photoshop Expert With 5 In-Depth Video Courses for $25

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Google Launches a Hub for the 2020 Oscars

Google has launched a dedicated hub for the 92nd Academy Awards, more commonly known as the 2020 Oscars. The hub is the perfect companion for anyone who’s interested in Hollywood. And you can reach it by searching “Oscars 2020” on your smartphone.

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The hub gives you an overview of the event, lists of the nominees and last year’s winners, plus news, videos, and trending topics. It places everything you need to know about the 2020 Oscars in one place. Thus preventing you from clicking around different sites.

How to Find Google’s 2020 Oscars Hub

To trigger the hub on Google, just search “Oscars 2020” on your smartphone. The hub will appear at the top of the results, allowing you to learn all about the 92nd Academy Awards. The tab open by default will be Overview, which offers an overview of the event.

The other tabs to explore are Nominees (a list of the nominees), News (self-explanatory), Trending Now (the nominees that are trending), Last Year’s Winners (self-explanatory), Videos (on YouTube), and People Also Search For (similar subjects on Google).

As well as the 2020 Oscars hub on Google Search, Google has a number of other ways for movie fans to keep up to date with the 92nd Academy Awards. This includes discovering where to watch the Oscar-nominated films by Googling, “What to Watch”.

Deciding on which Oscar-nominated movies to watch before the winners are announced? Find all of this year’s nominees when you search “what to watch” ? https://t.co/4m8kQTF1nV pic.twitter.com/eeNRcSM2fp

— Google (@Google) February 5, 2020

As detailed in a post on The Keyword, you can also watch short-form videos from nominees, browse a Google Trends page dedicated to the 2020 Oscars, learn how to share GIFs from the event using Tenor, and ask the Google Assistant questions about the Oscars.

Further Reading for Fans of Filmmaking

The 92nd Academy Awards, hosted by John Cho and Issa Rae, are being held on Sunday, February 9th, 2020. Oscars will be presented in 24 different categories. These include Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Original Screenplay.

Google’s 2020 Oscars hub is aimed at movie buffs who love Hollywood and the film industry. If that describes you then you here are some YouTube channels which analyze films and the art of filmmaking. All of which will help you understand the craft.

Read the full article: Google Launches a Hub for the 2020 Oscars

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How to Create a Custom List in Microsoft Excel

Do you frequently have to fill in the same sets of data into your Microsoft Excel spreadsheets? You can easily create a custom list in Excel. Then the next time you need it, let AutoFill do the heavy lifting.

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Once you set up this Excel feature, you can quickly fill a range of cells with your own list items, like department names, clients, age ranges, and any other list you might need.

Let’s look at how you can create your own custom lists in Excel and how to use them with AutoFill.

How to Create a Custom List in Excel

You can use the custom list feature to create and store lists you use often. These lists can be used as headings for columns and rows or to populate dropdown lists for faster, more accurate data entry.

Create a custom list on Windows

1. Click the File tab.
2. Select Options on the left.
3. In the Excel Options dialog box, click Advanced.
4. Scroll down to the General section on the right and click Edit Custom Lists.

In the Custom lists box, you’ll see the predefined lists of days of the week and months of the year.

Create a custom list on Mac

1. Click Excel > Preferences from the menu bar.
2. Select Custom Lists.

Like on Windows, you’ll see built-in lists like abbreviated days of the week and months of year.

There are three ways you can create your own custom list in Excel on both Windows and Mac: enter your list directly, import worksheet cells, or import from a named cell range.

1. Enter Your List Directly

The first way to create your own custom list is to enter it directly on the Custom Lists dialog box. This is the easiest way if you have a short list not included on any of the worksheets in your workbook.

1. Make sure that New List is selected in the Custom lists box.
2. Type your list items into the List entries box, one item per line, and click Add.

You’ll then see that list display in the Custom lists box.

2. Import Cells From a Worksheet

The second way to create a custom list is to import them from cells in one of your worksheets. This method makes it simple to add a custom list that you already have in cells in your workbook.

1. Click the cell selector button on the Import list from cells box.
2. The Custom Lists dialog box shrinks down to just the Import list from cells box. Select the worksheet containing the list you want to import. Then, select the range of cells containing the items in the list and click the button on the right side of the Import list from cells box.
3. The Custom Lists dialog box expands again. You may notice that the title of the dialog box changes to Options. It’s still the same dialog box, though. Click Import to add the list items from the worksheet to the List entries box.

3. Import a List From a Named Cell Range

The third way to create a custom list is to import a list from a named range of cells. This method makes it easy to add them as custom lists available in any new or existing workbook.

1. Before opening the Custom Lists dialog box, enter each item in your list in a separate cell either in one column or one row in a spreadsheet.
2. Select the cells, enter a name for the range of selected cells in the Name Box, and press Enter.
3. Open the Custom Lists dialog box, enter an equal sign (=) followed by the name you assigned to the range of cells into the Import list from cells box. For example, we named our cell range Sides, so we entered =Sides.
4. Click Import.

Note: When you import a custom list from a named cell range on a worksheet, the list on the Custom Lists dialog box is not linked to the original list in the worksheet. So if you change the list on the worksheet, the custom list will not change and vice versa.

How to Use AutoFill in Excel

As you’ve seen when creating your own, Excel includes several built-in lists including days of the week. Let’s look at a simple example to see how AutoFill works.

Type Sunday into a cell and then put the cursor over the lower-right corner of the cell until it turns into a plus sign. Drag to the right and you’ll see that the cells will fill with the subsequent days of the week. Release when you finish with the cells you want to fill.

How does Excel know what to put in the cells? Since the days of the week is a predefined list, you can enter any of the list items in a cell and drag across or down to automatically fill in the rest. If you drag across more than six more cells for the days of the week, for example, Excel starts back at the beginning of the list.

After you create your own custom list, you can do the same thing to automatically fill adjacent cells with your list items.

3 Examples of Custom Excel Lists

There are many uses for custom lists in Excel, and we can’t cover all of them here. But, here are just a few examples of how you can use custom lists to make data entry easier and more efficient in Excel.

1. If you create spreadsheets with data for departments in your company, you can create a custom list containing the department names. For example, Accounting, HR, Marketing, Development, and Technical Support.
2. If you’re a teacher, you can create a custom list of all your student names. Then easily insert that list into a row or column for keeping track of information like grades or attendance.
3. If you track clothing inventory, you might want lists for sizes (S, M, L, XL, and XXL), styles (crew neck, V-neck, mock neck), and colors (Black, White, Gray, Blue, Red,). From these lists, you can quickly create consistent dropdown lists containing these options.

Create Your Own Custom Lists

The custom lists feature in Microsoft Excel allows you to easily and quickly customize your spreadsheets to fit your needs. Once you add a custom list to Excel, it’s available in all new and existing spreadsheets.

For more help with your next new workbook, take a look at these Excel document settings you should check.

Image Credit: albertyurolaits/Depositphotos

Read the full article: How to Create a Custom List in Microsoft Excel

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The 5 Best Free Dynamic DNS Providers

First off, what is a Dynamic DNS? A Dynamic DNS (DDNS or DynDNS) is a system of mapping domain names to IP addresses. This allows a single web address to point to a changing IP address, which is great for home users since IP addresses don’t always stay the same.

If you want to remote connect to your PC or set up a home web server, then a dynamic DNS is one of the easiest ways to set things up.

So what are the best free dynamic DNS options? Are they worth using? Here’s everything you need to know.

The Best Free Dynamic DNS Providers

DynDNS was always a top mention for free dynamic DNS services. But now that it’s gone, are there any good alternatives that have sprung up? Let’s look at five DNS providers who can be worthy contenders for setting up your home network.

1. Dynu

Dynu’s dynamic DNS service allows both top-level domains (using your own domain) and third-level domains (grabbing a subdomain on dynu.com). Top-level domains will work no matter which country the domain belongs to. Coupled with its convenience features, Dynu is easily the best free dynamic DNS service today.

The great thing is that Dynu makes setup easy by providing a Dynu Client that runs on your computer in the background. Any time your IP address changes, the client will automatically update Dynu so you don’t ever have to worry about being out of sync.

Free accounts can have up to 4 subdomains. Upgrade to a paid account for $9.99 per year to unlock 500 subdomains total and advanced Dynu features like unlimited web redirect, unlimited MX records, unlimited custom DNS records, DNSSEC, backup and restore, and much more.

2. afraid.org

Don’t let the strange name of afraid.org scare you away. This free dynamic DNS service—they also offer other kinds of free hosting as well—is easily one of the best free dynamic DNS services out there.

You get five free subdomains on afraid.org’s domain options. You can also use an unlimited number of your own domains if you want, plus 20 subdomains for each one. Account setup takes less than five minutes, DNS pointing is instant, and there are over 55,000 domains to choose from thanks to their shared domain pool. Free URL redirection is available as well.

Premium accounts, which start at $5 per month, get an additional 50 subdomains, a wildcard DNS, and three stealth flags to hide your domains from any kind of sharing mechanism through the service. If you pay for the higher premium options ($10, $25, $50) you can also increase your subdomain and stealth flags further. The $25 and $50 per month tiers offering professional branding too.

3. DuckDNS

DuckDNS is a free DDNS service built using Amazon’s AWS infrastructure. Their website is extremely basic, but that’s fine because dynamic DNS is such a simple service that it doesn’t really call for extravagance. DuckDNS is really one of the best free dynamic DNS providers.

That being said, the weak design of their website is indicative of what they offer: DuckDNS only does one thing and they focus all of their efforts on it. It makes sense once you realize that DuckDNS is only run by two software engineers (albeit engineers with a lot of industry experience).

What’s great is that they have a bunch of written tutorials that will help you get DuckDNS set up on a variety of platforms ranging from Windows, OS X, and Linux all the way to DD-WRT, Amazon EC2, and even Raspberry Pi.

Accounts can have up to five subdomains on duckdns.org. Plus, they keep as little of your data as possible and store all necessary details in a private database that will never be sold.

4. No-IP

No-IP was always one of DynDNS’s biggest competitors in the free dynamic DNS market (DynDNS launched 1998, No-IP launched 1999), and when DynDNS went down it was in a good position to take the crown. Unfortunately, it has slowly shifted toward becoming a premium service in the past few years.

Free users get three subdomains on a limited selection of domain name options. But these subdomains will never expire as long as you confirm activity every 30 days. You also get port forwarding and URL forwarding, which can be useful depending on your use case. It’s a pretty basic but robust package.

For $24.95 per year, you can upgrade to 25 subdomains on 80+ domain names options and eliminate the need to confirm activity to keep your subdomains. If you want to use your own domain, you’ll need to upgrade to the $29.95 per year package, which also bumps the subdomains total up to 50.

5. Securepoint DynDNS

While the Securepoint DynDNS website isn’t easy to navigate, their free dynamic DNS service is worth the effort. You’ll see what they offer right on the front page: free and secure dynamic DNS for absolutely free, even if you aren’t a Securepoint customer.

As a free user, you’ll be able to create up to 5 hosts using Securepoint DynDNS. And you have the option of 10 different domains as the base for your dynamic DNS addresses. Securepoint DynDNS uses an update token system for security (only the host who knows the update token can update dynamic DNS settings) and supports IPv6 addresses.

All in all, it’s a pretty simple service without any bells or whistles. Note that Securepoint is a German company, which won’t affect you in terms of the efficacy of dynamic DNS, but you’ll still have to navigate around some basic German.

Which Free Dynamic DNS Service Is Right for You?

If you ever want to set up some kind of server on the web using a home box, there’s a good chance you’ll have to deal with a dynamic IP address that could change at any moment. Just remember that a dynamic DNS allows you to use one single address that can point to you regardless of what your IP address actually is. (Need to know more? Check out our intro to DNS servers.)

There are plenty of options out there for a free dynamic DNS, so why not give one of these a try? And if you run into any issues, you may want to check out our guide to diagnosing home network problems.

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ML-fairness-gym: A Tool for Exploring Long-Term Impacts of Machine Learning Systems

Posted by Hansa Srinivasan, Software Engineer, Google Research

Machine learning systems have been increasingly deployed to aid in high-impact decision-making, such as determining criminal sentencing, child welfare assessments, who receives medical attention and many other settings. Understanding whether such systems are fair is crucial, and requires an understanding of models’ short- and long-term effects. Common methods for assessing the fairness of machine learning systems involve evaluating disparities in error metrics on static datasets for various inputs to the system. Indeed, many existing ML fairness toolkits (e.g., AIF360, fairlearn, fairness-indicators, fairness-comparison) provide tools for performing such error-metric based analysis on existing datasets. While this sort of analysis may work for systems in simple environments, there are cases (e.g., systems with active data collection or significant feedback loops) where the context in which the algorithm operates is critical for understanding its impact. In these cases, the fairness of algorithmic decisions ideally would be analyzed with greater consideration for the environmental and temporal context than error metric-based techniques allow.

In order to facilitate algorithmic development with this broader context, we have released ML-fairness-gym, a set of components for building simple simulations that explore potential long-run impacts of deploying machine learning-based decision systems in social environments. In “Fairness is not Static: Deeper Understanding of Long Term Fairness via Simulation Studies” we demonstrate how the ML-fairness-gym can be used to research the long-term effects of automated decision systems on a number of established problems from current machine learning fairness literature.

An Example: The Lending Problem
A classic problem for considering fairness in machine learning systems is the lending problem, as described by Liu et al. This problem is a highly simplified and stylized representation of the lending process, where we focus on a single feedback loop in order to isolate its effects and study it in detail. In this problem formulation, the probability that individual applicants will pay back a loan is a function of their credit score. These applicants also belong to one of an arbitrary number of groups, with their group membership observable by the lending bank.

The groups start with different credit score distributions. The bank is trying to determine a threshold on the credit scores, applied across groups or tailored to each, that best enables the bank to reach its objectives. Applicants with scores higher than the threshold receive loans, and those with lower scores are rejected. When the simulation selects an individual, whether or not they will pay the loan is randomly determined based on their group’s probability of payback. In this example, individuals currently applying for loans may apply for additional loans in the future and thus, by paying back their loan, both their credit score and their group’s average credit score increases. Similarly, if the applicant defaults, the group’s average credit score decreases.

The most effective threshold settings will depend on the bank’s goals. A profit-maximizing bank may set a threshold that maximizes the predicted return, based on the estimated likelihood that applicants will repay their loans. Another bank, seeking to be fair to both groups, may try to implement thresholds that maximize profit while satisfying equality of opportunity, the goal of which is to have equal true positive rates (TPR is also called recall or sensitivity; a measure of what fraction of applicants who would have paid back loans were given a loan). In this scenario, machine learning techniques are employed by the bank to determine the most effective threshold based on loans that have been distributed and their outcomes. However, since these techniques are often focused on short-term objectives, they may have unintended and unfair consequences for different groups.

Top:Changing credit score distributions for the two groups over 100 steps of simulation. Bottom: (left) The bank cash and (right) the TPR for group 1 in blue and group 2 in green over the course of the simulation.

Deficiencies in Static Dataset Analysis
A standard practice in machine learning to assess the impact of a scenario like the lending problem is to reserve a portion of the data as a “test set”, and use that to calculate relevant performance metrics. Fairness is then assessed by looking at how those performance metrics differ across salient groups. However, it is well understood that there are two main issues with using test sets like this in systems with feedback. If test sets are generated from existing systems, they may be incomplete or reflect the biases inherent to those systems. In the lending example, a test set could be incomplete because it may only have information on whether an applicant who has been given a loan has defaulted or repaid. Consequently, the dataset may not include individuals for whom loans have not been approved or who have not had access to loans before.

The second issue is that actions informed by the output of the ML system can have effects that may influence their future input. The thresholds determined by the ML system are used to extend loans. Whether people default or repay these loans then affects their future credit score, which then feed back into the ML system.

These issues highlight the shortcomings of assessing fairness in static datasets and motivate the need for analyzing the fairness of algorithms in the context of the dynamic systems in which they are deployed. We created the ML-fairness-gym framework to help ML practitioners bring simulation-based analysis to their ML systems, an approach that has proven effective in many fields for analyzing dynamic systems where closed form analysis is difficult.

ML-fairness-gym as a Simulation Tool for Long-Term Analysis
The ML-fairness-gym simulates sequential decision making using Open AI’s Gym framework. In this framework, agents interact with simulated environments in a loop. At each step, an agent chooses an action that then affects the environment’s state. The environment then reveals an observation that the agent uses to inform its subsequent actions. In this framework, environments model the system and dynamics of the problem and observations serve as data to the agent, which can be encoded as a machine learning system.

Flow chart schematic of the agent-environment interaction loop used in the simulation framework. Agents affect environments via a choice of action. Environments change in response to the action and yield parts of their internal state as an observation. Metrics examine the history of the environment to evaluate outcomes.

In the lending example, the bank acts as the agent. It receives loan applicants, their credit scores and their group membership in the form of observations from the environment, and takes actions in the form of a binary decision to either accept or reject for a loan. The environment then models whether the applicant successfully repays or defaults, and adjusts their credit score accordingly. The ML-fairness-gym simulates the outcomes so that the long-term effects of the bank’s policies on fairness to the applicant population can be assessed.

Fairness Is Not Static: Extending the Analysis to the Long-Term
Since Liu et al.’s original formulation of the lending problem examined only the short-term consequences of the bank’s policies — including short-term profit-maximizing policies (called the max reward agent) and policies subject to an equality of opportunity (EO) constraint — we use the ML-fairness-gym to extend the analysis to the long-term (many steps) via simulation.

Top: Cumulative loans granted by the max reward and EO agents, stratified by the group identity of the applicant. Bottom: Group average credit (quantified by group-conditional probability of repayment) as the simulation progresses. The EO agent increases access to loans for group 2, but also widens the credit gap between the groups.

Our long-term analysis found two results. First, as found by Liu et al., the equal opportunity agent (EO agent) overlends to the disadvantaged group (group 2, which initially has a lower average credit score) by sometimes applying a lower threshold for the group than would be applied by the max reward agent. This causes the credit scores of group 2 to decrease more than group 1, resulting in a wider credit score gap between the groups than in the simulations with the max reward agent. However, our analysis also found that while group 2 may seem worse off with the EO agent, from looking at the Cumulative loans graph, we see that the disadvantaged group 2 receives significantly more loans from the EO agent. Depending on whether the indicator of welfare is the credit score or total loans received, it could be argued that the EO agent is better or more detrimental to group 2 than the max reward agent.

The second finding is that equal opportunity constraints — enforcing equalized TPR between groups at each step — does not equalize TPR in aggregate over the simulation. This perhaps counterintuitive result can be thought of as an instance of Simpson’s paradox. As seen in the chart below, equal TPR in each of two years does not imply equal TPR in aggregate. This demonstrates how the equality of opportunity metric is difficult to interpret when the underlying population is evolving, and suggests that more careful analysis is necessary to ensure that the ML system is having the desired effects.

An example of Simpson's paradox. TP are the true positive classifications, FN corresponds to the false negative classifications and TPR is the true positive rate. In years 1 and 2, the lender applies a policy that achieves equal TPR between the two groups. The aggregation over both years does not have equal TPR.

Conclusion and Future Work
While we focused on our findings for the lending problem in this blog post, the ML-fairness-gym can be used to tackle a wide variety of fairness problems. Our paper extends the analysis of two other scenarios that have been previously studied in the academic ML fairness literature. The ML-fairness-gym framework is also flexible enough to simulate and explore problems where “fairness” is under-explored. For example, in a supporting paper, “Fair treatment allocations in social networks,” we explore a stylized version of epidemic control, which we call the precision disease control problem, to better understand notions of fairness across individuals and communities in a social network.

We’re excited about the potential of the ML-fairness-gym to help other researchers and machine learning developers better understand the effects that machine learning algorithms have on our society, and to inform the development of more responsible and fair machine learning systems. Find the code and papers in the ML-fairness-gym Github repository.

How to Mirror an iPhone or iPad Screen to a Windows PC

If you have an iPhone, there are a lot of great ways to use it in tandem with a Mac. Staying within the Apple ecosystem lets you access Continuity features like a universal clipboard, handing off Safari links, and more.

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But what if you have an iPhone and Windows PC? Thankfully, you still have options for making them work together. Here’s how to mirror your iPhone to a PC—this also works with iPad!

Screen Mirror Your iPhone to a PC With LonelyScreen

Apple’s AirPlay protocol makes it easy to connect your iPhone to an Apple TV, HomePod, or other Apple devices. But this doesn’t work to for non-Apple devices, so you can’t mirror your iPhone to your laptop running Windows. That’s where LonelyScreen comes in.

This utility allows your Windows computer to accept AirPlay connections, so it’s the key for this process. Head to the LonelyScreen download page. You’ll see a download button under Free Trial Download—go ahead and install that on your system.

Note that LonelyScreen does cost $15/year for personal use. However, if you use its functionality often, it’s a fair price, especially compared to what similar tools charge.

The software should install in seconds. Once it does, you may see a Windows Firewall prompt letting you know that it blocked access to the app. Check the box to allow access through Private networks (like your home). You can also check Public networks (like coffee shops) if you like, but it’s not required (or as secure).

Click Allow Access, then open LonelyScreen if it didn’t open already. You’ll see a warning about using the free trial; click Maybe Later to proceed.

From there, you’ll see the main LonelyScreen window. You can click the LonelyScreen text to change the name of your AirPlay server, if you like. That’s all you need to do on your computer for now.

How to Cast Your iPhone to LonelyScreen

Next, grab your iPhone or iPad that you want to screen mirror to your PC. Open Control Center by swiping down from the top-right corner on iPhone X and later, or an iPad running iOS 12 or later. On older iPhone models, swipe up from the bottom of the screen.

With Control Center open, you should see a Screen Mirroring shortcut among the buttons. Tap that, and you’ll see a list of available AirPlay devices.

If everything went right so far, you should see your LonelyScreen server in the list. Tap it to start mirroring your screen to your PC.

From there, do whatever you’d like on your iPhone and you’ll see it in real time in the LonelyScreen window. You may want to maximize the window for a better view.

Screen mirroring your iPhone to your laptop in this way doesn’t let you control your phone through LonelyScreen, so you can’t click to navigate around your phone. However, it does let you create screen recordings with a built-in tool.

If you don’t see the red button at the bottom of the LonelyScreen window, click the small arrow in the bottom-right corner to expand the bottom panel. When you click the red Record button, LonelyScreen will start recording everything on your iPhone or iPad’s display.

Perform whatever actions you’d like to record, then click the red button again to stop. The app will place the video file inside your user account’s Videos directory.

To close the connection, either deselect LonelyScreen from the Screen Mirroring shortcut in Control Center, or close the LonelyScreen app window on your PC.

What If LonelyScreen Doesn’t Work?

Projecting your iPhone’s screen to a PC is really as easy as running LonelyScreen and connecting your iPhone via AirPlay. However, if it doesn’t work for some reason, you should make sure you have a few items in order:

• Make sure you have LonelyScreen open. You can minimize the LonelyScreen window, but closing it will prevent you from mirroring.
• Confirm that you’ve let LonelyScreen through your firewall. The app displays a small banner on its main window if it can’t get through the firewall. Click Fix to allow it to communicate.
• Make sure you have a compatible device. Nearly all modern iOS devices work with LonelyScreen, but if you have an exceptionally old model that doesn’t support AirPlay, it won’t work.
  • At least an iPhone 4s, iPad 2, original iPad mini, or iPod touch 5 is required.
• Enable Wi-Fi on your iPhone and connect it to the same network as your PC. AirPlay won’t work if your devices are on different networks.
• Reboot your PC and iPhone. Sometimes a quick reboot will fix minor glitches.

Practical Uses for iPhone and iPad Screen Mirroring

Why would you want to mirror your iPhone screen to your PC? Perhaps you’re giving a presentation and need an easy way to show your audience steps on your iPhone. Thanks to LonelyScreen’s built-in recording feature, mirroring is also an easy way to record screencasts on your iPhone.

Aside from this, having your phone’s contents on a larger screen lets someone else watch what you’re doing easily. In a pinch, you could use it to easily play a video on your phone on a bigger screen without transferring the file. It also allows you to monitor an app on your phone without reaching for it constantly.

Note that aside from screen mirroring, you can also use LonelyScreen for casting media. Many apps have the AirPlay symbol, sometimes under the Share menu, that lets you cast them to your PC.

When playing music, for instance, you can open the Control Center and Force Touch on the Now Playing panel to send it to your PC through AirPlay.

Screen Mirroring iPhone and iPad to Your PC: Success!

Now you know how to mirror your iPhone or iPad’s screen right to your laptop or desktop. While it requires an extra program compared to native Mac support, it’s still dead-simple. After using LonelyScreen for our testing, the free trial still worked, albeit with warning boxes every once in a while. For occasional use, then, there’s no reason not to keep it around.

For alternatives, check out more ways to cast your screen to PC. We’ve also shown what to do when your iPhone won’t connect to your computer.

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How to Play PlayStation (PS1) Games on PC

The original PlayStation, also known as PSX or the PS1, boasts an amazing array of games. The PS1 is long out of date, but the games are still lots of fun to play. Thankfully, if your favorite PS1 games are no longer available, you can still play them on your PC.

A PlayStation 1 emulator brings your favorite PS1 games back to life. All you need is an emulator, a PS1 BIOS, and your old PS1 games. Here’s how to play PlayStation One (PS1) games on your PC!

What Is the Best PS1 Emulator?

An emulator is a type of software you install on your PC. It allows you to reproduce physical hardware in a software setting, all from the comfort of your existing computer. Emulators exist for various types of hardware and platforms.

A gaming emulator reproduces a gaming console, allowing you to play anything from a Commodore 64 to an arcade gaming cabinet, from a Nintendo 64 to a PlayStation 1, all without the need for the original console.

There are a lot of PS1 emulators out there. However, ePSXe remains the best option for performance, stability, and additional features. Updates are slow, but ePSXe has over a decade of development under its belt, which makes it a great option to start playing your old PS1 games once more.

So, let’s get started with ePSXe.

How to Download ePSXe

First things first: you need to download the latest version of ePSXe.

Download: ePSXe for Windows (Free)

There is no installation process for ePSXe. You extract the files from the archive and then run ePSXe from the same folder.

Right-click the ePSXe download, select your ZIP program, and extract. Unsure what an archive and a ZIP program are? Read our guide explaining how to extract files from common archives before continuing with this tutorial.

When you run ePSXe for the first time, you may encounter a dialog box asking you to extract additional files. Extract them, then fire up ePSXe.

ePSXe BIOS Configuration

There are several steps to complete before you can play a PS1 game in the ePSXe emulator. Before anything can happen, you need a PlayStation 1 BIOS.

A BIOS is a low-level software that starts when you boot your computer and is usually associated with your PC. The BIOS your PlayStation 1 uses is slightly different from the one your PC uses. Your PS1 BIOS contains information relating to your PlayStation 1 hardware, such as the version, manufacturing region, and more.

ePSXe won’t run without a proper PS1 BIOS. The PlayStation 1 BIOS also dictates which games you can play, depending on its geographical region (such as Europe, North America, Japan, and so on). There are simulated PS1 BIOS files, but they don’t work as well as the real deal.

Disclaimer: While there are PS1 BIOS files available online, the only legal method of obtaining BIOS files is to rip the BIOS from your existing PS1. Check out the following video to understand exactly how to rip your PS1 BIOS. You rip your PS1 BIOS at your own risk.

Once you rip your PS1 BIOS, you need to copy and paste the archive into the BIOS directory. You’ll find the BIOS directory in the ePSXe folder. The location of your ePSXe BIOS folder depends on where you extracted the emulator. For example, my ePSXe BIOS folder is C:\Users\Gavin\Downloads\ePSXe205\bios.

Once you paste the BIOS archive into the correct folder, you must extract the contents. The emulator cannot read the ZIP file, only its contents.

How to Set Up ePSXe

Once the BIOS is in place, you can continue setting up ePSXe.

ePSXe Graphics Configuration

You’ll first come to a menu displaying different graphics options and the suggestions of the ePSXe development team. If you have an AMD or Nvidia graphics card, select Pete’s OpenGL2 GPU core 2.0.0 and click Config.

There are a lot of graphics options here that you could configure. Over time, you can tweak the settings as you become more familiar with what they do. How you tweak your ePSXe experience depends on your graphics card.

Most modern computers outstrip the capabilities of the original PS1, which had a 33.0MHz CPU (yes, megahertz—it was the early 90s!), 2MB RAM, and 1MB VRAM. This means your average PC can make use of the full gamut of ePSXe graphics configuration options.

I would advise running the PlayStation 1 game you want to play first, then making graphics tweaks later. Furthermore, you could also check out our short guide to video game graphics and settings. It details how certain graphics settings affect performance and visual effects for all games, not just ePSXe.

There is an easy graphics tweak option you can make right now. In the bottom-right corner of the configuration options are the Default options. You can select Fast or Nice graphics. Here are the changes after you select Nice graphics:

The difference between the basic and nice graphics is noticeable, even on game loading screens. For example, here is the loading screen for Crash Bandicoot using the default ePSXe graphics settings:

And here is the same Crash Bandicoot loading screen using the Nice graphics options:

You can see that the logo, menu lettering, background, and game character are far smoother in the second image.

ePSXe Sound, Drive, and Controller Configuration

Now for the sound configuration. It is easiest to leave this as the default option as ePSXe handles most PS1 game sound well.

Next up is the CD-ROM plugin. If you’re using Windows 10, select ePSXe CDR WNT/W2K core 2.0.0, then continue.

Finally, you can set up your controllers for use with ePSXe. ePSXe supports several controllers out of the box. Click the drop-down menu in the top-right corner to choose your input type. You can select between a keyboard, keyboard and mouse, Direct Input, and XInput.

If you’re using an Xbox 360 or Xbox One controller, select XInput. It will map your controller automatically, and your game should play without fault. If you’re using a PlayStation DualShock controller, check out the following guide explaining how to use a PS4 controller on a PC or Mac.

There is also a specific guide on how to connect a DualShock controller to ePSXe.

How to Get PS1 Games on to Windows 10

Now that ePSXe is ready, you can pick your favorite PS1 games and fire them up. PlayStation 1 games are freely available online. However, MakeUseOf cannot help you find them. Downloading data files for games that you do not own is piracy.

ePSXe can run files that use the extensions BIN, ISO, CUE, IMG, CD, and a few others. These files relate to the disc images that contain the PS1 game data. You can rip your original PS1 games in the same way you might rip a DVD to your computer. However, you must make sure the output file is an ISO (or one of the other PS1 game file formats ePSXe accepts) or else your PS1 game won’t load.

Once you have your PS1 ISO ready, you can load it up in ePSXe. Head to File > Run ISO, then browse to the PS1 game location. Select the PS1 game file, and it will begin loading. There you have it. You’re now playing a PS1 game on your PC!

Tips on Using ePSXe

From here on out, you can play your PS1 games using whatever control scheme you decide. However, here are a few tips to help your ePSXe experience run smoothly.

• To leave ePSXe’s emulation, press ESC. You’ll return to the main ePSXe screen. From the main screen, you can adjust the emulation settings, controller settings, and much more. To return to the game, head to Run > Continue.
• You can save and load games from the main menu. Head to the Run menu, then Save State or Load State, depending on what you want to do. ePSXe also emulates PlayStation 1 memory cards so that you can create a save file within your game.
• If the game you are playing has multiple discs (such as Final Fantasy 7), you can switch to the next one using File > Change Disc, then selecting the next disc.
• Local multiplayer is available. You can use a combination of gamepads and your keyboard to make sure every person has a controller. ePSXe also simulates Multitap, which allows up to four local players in the same game.

You can enhance ePSXe and your PS1 games with additional plugins. Figuring out which plugins work best with your setup and with whichever games you want to play is tricky at times. However, you can check out the recommended list of ePSXe plugins and figure out which plugins work with your PC.

You Can Now Play the Best PS1 Games on PC

You can now cut loose and play your favorite PS1 games on your PC. The PlayStation 1 has so many classic genre-defining games. It is hard not to look back at the aging console fondly.

Still, the PlayStation 1 isn’t the only old console you can emulate. When you’re done with ePSXe, here’s how to emulate your favorite PlayStation 2 games. Alternatively, if you prefer mobile gaming, you can also emulate Android on your PC.

Image Credit: Graphic farm/Shutterstock, Kevandre/DeviantArt

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