May
21

How to free up space on an iPad that's running out of storage, in 4 different ways

Under the graph of your iPad's storage space, you'll see a list of every app on the device, listed in order from largest — taking up the most space — to smallest.

The numbers displayed for each app include both the app itself and any data files the app is using. For example, the Music app might be near the top of the list, because while the app itself is lightweight, the music files it stores tend to take up a relatively large amount of space. You might also see your video apps near the top, because videos are large.

For details on any app, tap it. On the app's details page, you can see how much space it's taking up and have the option to delete the app and all of its data, or just delete the app and leave the data behind.

Tap "Delete App" to remove everything — app and data. This recovers the most space possible, and is good if you need to reclaim a lot of space in a hurry. Unfortunately, you will lose your data in the process, though. Tap "Offload App" to delete the app from the iPad, but leave the data behind. If you later reinstall the app, the data will still be on the iPad and you can carry on as if nothing happened. This is a good option to choose if you only need to reclaim some space temporarily and plan to reinstall the app later — and the app is large but the data doesn't take up a lot of room. You won't see much benefit from offloading a music or video app and leaving the files on the iPad.
Original author: Dave Johnson

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May
21

How to undock, move, and split the keyboard on an iPad, to type however works best for you

You don't need to accept the tyranny of the keyboard. Apple gives you a lot of control over where and how the keyboard appears on the iPad screen, so if you aren't taking advantage of that, you are missing on an important way to make your iPad fit your personal preferences.

One caveat: These tricks don't work on either the 11-inch or 12.9-inch iPad Pro models. If you have any other model, though, feel free to move the keyboard around.

How to move the keyboard on your iPad

You can undock the keyboard, which is usually locked at the bottom of the screen, and put it somewhere else, such as the middle or at the top of the screen.

1. Open an app that uses the keyboard and make the keyboard appear. For example, you could open the Mail app and create a blank email. Tap in the blank message to display the keyboard.

2. Tap and hold the Minimize Keyboard button, which is the one in the lower right corner of the keyboard.

3. When the menu appears, slide your finger up to "Undock." The keyboard will slide up into the middle of the screen.

When you tap and hold the Minimize Keyboard button, you get a menu with the option to undock or split the keyboard. Apple

4. If you want to move the keyboard to a different spot, lightly tap the Minimize Keyboard button again and then immediately drag the keyboard up or down to where you'd like to put it.

How to split the keyboard on your iPad

Not many people realize that you can actually split the keyboard in two — the keyboard will break in half and hug either side of the screen, making it easier to type with two hands while holding the iPad as if it were an oversized phone.

1. Open the keyboard by using an app that makes the keyboard appear and tap in a blank field.

2. Tap and hold the Minimize Keyboard button in the lower right corner of the keyboard.

3. When the menu appears, slide your finger up to "Split."

The iPad keyboard splits to make it easier to type two handed. Dave Johnson/Business Insider

4. You can move a split keyboard, too. Lightly tap the Minimize Keyboard button and immediately drag the keyboard up or down to where you'd like to put it.

How to return the keyboard to the bottom of the screen

Anything you do to the keyboard can be undone.

1. With the keyboard on screen, tap and hold the Minimize Keyboard button in the lower right corner of the keyboard.

2. If you want to undo the split keyboard, slide your finger up to "Merge."

3. If you want to move the keyboard back to the bottom of the screen, slide up to "Dock" or "Dock and Merge."

Original author: Dave Johnson

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Mar
23

How to make the Vaulting Pole, the most important new tool in 'Animal Crossing: New Horizons' that lets you access the rest of your island

Google's Android operating system (OS) may be open source, but as we have been reminded this week, the tech giant has complete control over the apps and services that make its platform so valuable.

Google's firm grip on the Android ecosystem was on full display Sunday when Reuters reported the company would revoke its Android license from the Chinese manufacturing-giant, Huawei. The decision was reportedly made to comply with President Trump's order barring trade with certain blacklisted Chinese companies.

In one-fell-swoop, Google was able to restrict new Huawei devices in markets around the world from accessing its Google Play store and Google Play Services. That means, as long as Trump's ban remains, Huawei manufactured devices will be allowed to run the open source version of Android's OS, but they won't benefit from system-level integration with popular apps and services — like Chrome, Gmail, or YouTube — or from regular upgrades and security updates, not to mention the loss of access to Google's tremendous app store.

Google did say existing Huawei users would still be able to access the Google Play app store and its built-in malware protection. On Tuesday, following the US government's decision to grant Huawei a 90-day reprieve from the blacklist, Google said it would follow suit as well.

"Keeping phones up to date and secure is in everyone's best interests and this temporary license allows us to continue to provide software updates and security patches to existing models for the next 90 days," a Google spokesman told Business Insider in a statement.

Despite the grace period, the impending blow could be catastrophic for Huawei's smartphone business — which, as of earlier this month, was the second-largest in the world. Without access to an app store or services like Google's Search or Maps, the options are grim.

The company said back in March that the company was developing its own operating system, should sanctions be placed against them by the US. And on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported that Huawei has been in talks with European carriers and developers, pitching them on optimizing apps for the manufacturing giant's native platform.

Read more:Huawei developed a 'plan B' operating system for smartphones in case it was banned by the US government from using Google products. Here's what we know about it so far.

But the likelihood of Huawei attracting developers to build applications for its OS — especially apps that are on the level that Google provides today — is unlikely, according to Carolina Milanesi, Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies.

"You can build a different OS... but what are consumers going to do for search, for maps, for YouTube?" Milanesi told Business Insider in a recent interview. "All of these things have alternatives, but why would I do that? It's not like Huawei's phones are that amazing that I would forego all the services I've been using for years."

There are actually two different Androids out there

The situation in which Huawei finds itself shines a light on Google's incredible power in the smartphone industry.

Though it's widely known that the tech giant's Android platform has captured a mind-blowing share of the OS market — more than 85% of smartphones worldwide run on Android according to a recent IDC report— there are actually two different Androids: There's the official, Google version of Android that the company regularly updates (the latest version, Android Q, is currently in beta testing) and there's Android Open Source Project (or, AOSP).

Android Open Source is freely available for anyone to take, tinker with, and customize as they see fit.

But if you want the version of Android that comes with all the latest security patches, integrated access to cutting-edge Google services like Assistant, and other benefits, you need to obtain a license from Google. (Though, it is important to note that the flow of Android updates is largely controlled by phone manufacturers and wireless carriers, who generally decide which devices get which patches, and when.)

"There's a phonetics issue here," Forrester analyst Frank Gillett told Business Insider. "There's open-source, as in everyone can see the code and can contribute. And then there's the — can you use it regardless of what Google thinks? And the answer is, no. You need permission from Google to use this stuff."

Because of Android's open-sourced nature, smartphones and tablets running the AOSP version can leave users with mixed, and sometimes sub-par, experiences.

Packaging its services and restricting access to the official version, Gillett said, is Google's way of creating more consistent interactions across the Android ecosystem. The introduction of Google Play Services in 2012 for example, allowed Google to instill organization and standards on one part of the Android world, while also ensuring that Google maintained tremendous power over the platform.

"From a developers perspective, [Android] is open source," Milanesi said. "But Google puts a lot of extra work on it to optimize for its services in a way that benefits them."

Little to no options for Huawei

In China today — where trade restrictions in the US are already in place — Huawei phones are running on a customized version of AOSP. Under the hood, it's all Android, but it has a proprietary look and feel that the company developed in-house.

Users of those phones in China have some access to apps, like Gmail, but the devices lack other valuable services, like managed updates and security upgrades. For those users, little will change because of Google's break with Huawei.

But on a global market, where Huawei sells a huge amount of its products, Huawei phones run the Google version of Android, along with all the Google app consumers want, like Search, Maps, and Youtube. Those global consumers aren't going to accept a stripped-down experience, said Ben Bajarin, Principal Analyst at Creative Strategies.

Shayanne Gal/Business Insider

"[Huawei is] going to have to do something if this doesn't get resolved," Bajarin told Business Insider in a recent interview. "They're obviously not going to not sell phones. But they're not going to have any success with a skinned version of Android."

Should Huawei move forward with reports that it's going to create an Android alternative, history is not on its side. Samsung most recently tried its hand at creating its own OS — called Tizen— but the phones and its Linux-based platform haven't caught on. In a review of Samsung's Tizen, Ars Technica wrote that "it felt like a hollow copy of Android without any apps."

The lack of viable options for Huawei to find (or build) an alternative OS have some questioning if Google's Android should be considered a monopoly over the smartphone industry. If Google can cripple the second largest handset manufacturer with one, simple decision, than those concerns seem justified.

Google has been subject to the recent "techlash," as politicians like Senator Elizabeth Warren have called for it to break off parts of its business that dominate industries, like Search. Regulating or breaking up Android, however, was not mentioned by Warren.

Perhaps this week's events will put increased pressure on Google to loosen its control over Android, or force other operating systems to ramp up their reach. In the end, though, President's Trump blacklisting of Huawei could just be a bargaining chip in his broader trade wars with China. By next week, the order in the smartphone world may be restored.

If not, things are about to get interesting.

Original author: Nick Bastone

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May
21

Microsoft hasn't said a word so far about Huawei's ban in the US, but it removed Huawei laptops from its stores (MSFT)

Microsoft removed Huawei laptops from the Microsoft online store last weekend, likely in response to the US government blacklisting Huawei.

Huawei laptops are still being sold in physical Microsoft stores that still have the computers in stock, according to The Verge.

Microsoft hasn't made an official statement regarding its relationship with Huawei. Business Insider has asked Microsoft for comment, but the company didn't immediately reply. Other outlets have also requested comment from the company to no avail.

Last week, the US Commerce Department added Huawei to its "entity list," which means that any companies wishing to sell or transfer technology to Huawei must obtain government permission. Microsoft and its products, including its Windows operating system, are subject to those regulations.

Preventing Microsoft from licensing its software and other products to Huawei would essentially ruin Huawei's laptop business, as all of Huawei's laptops run on the Windows operating system.

Read more: Why Huawei smartphones are so popular all over the world — except in the US, where stores don't sell them.

Google is also restricting Huawei's access to Google Play, the primary app store for the Android mobile operating system, although Google put its Android suspension on hold on Tuesday. Without Google Play, Huawei smartphones would inevitably be significantly less appealing to the global market, and the company's position as the second- or third-biggest smartphone maker would be in serious jeopardy.

Huawei could develop its own computer operating system, as it's doing for its smartphones.

Still, even if Huawei develops its own operating systems for computers and mobile devices, consumers won't get access to the apps they're used to. Without the apps they want, consumers aren't likely to buy Huawei devices.

Separate apps need to be developed for individual operating systems, and it's unlikely that many popular app makers would make their apps available for Huawei's own mobile operating system. US-based app makers, for example, likely wouldn't be allowed to do business with Huawei under the terms of the US sanctions against the company.

Huawei devices running the company's own operating systems might be a solution in China, where apps from companies like Google are already banned, but the rest of the world probably wouldn't want Huawei devices without popular apps people already know and love.

Richard Yu, Huawei's head of consumer electronics, summed it up best when he told The Information that the company is going through "really a very tough time."

Original author: Antonio Villas-Boas

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May
21

Facebook's former security chief says Mark Zuckerberg has too much power and needs to step down as CEO (FB)

Mark Zuckerberg should step aside for a new CEO at Facebook, Alex Stamos, the company's former chief security officer, said on Tuesday.

The move would curtail Zuckerberg's power and allow him to focus on what he likes best — developing the company's products, Stamos said at the Collision conference in Toronto. It would also be a sign that he's serious about changing the culture at Facebook, he said.

"There is a legitimate argument that he has too much power," Stamos said. "He needs to give up some of that power. And if I was him, I would go hire a new CEO for the company."

CNBC previously reported Stamos' comments.

Stamos has a candidate in mind for whom Zuckerberg should choose to replace him: Microsoft President Brad Smith. Smith helped the software giant make peace with government regulators when it was under similar scrutiny in the early 2000s over its business practices, as Facebook is now.

"My recommendation would be Brad Smith from Microsoft," he said. "But some adult who has gone through this before at another company."

Facebook representatives did not immediately respond to an email seeking a comment on Stamos' remarks.

Facebook and Zuckerberg have been under scrutiny for much of the past three years, starting with the social-networking company's role in the spread Russian misinformation and propaganda during the 2016 US presidential election. The company then became embroiled in a series of privacy and security mishaps last year, including the Cambridge Analytica scandal.

In recent months, there's been a growing call for regulations that would curtail the company's power and restrict how it does business in addition to calls for antitrust enforcement that would break it up.

Read this: The $5 billion fine Facebook expects to pay the FTC is a joke — on all of us

There are legitimate legal arguments for splitting up the company — and for splitting off YouTube from Google, Stamos said. Those arguments are based on the impact Facebook and Google's power has on competition in their respective markets.

But breaking up the companies would not address the fundamental threats and dangers they pose to their users and society, such as their effect on users' privacy and the spread of misinformation, he said.

"You can't solve climate change by breaking up ExxonMobil and making 10 ExxonMobils, right?" he said. "You have to address the underlying issues."

Got a tip about Facebook or another tech company? Contact this reporter via email at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., message him on Twitter @troywolv, or send him a secure message through Signal at 415.515.5594. You can also contact Business Insider securely via SecureDrop.

Original author: Troy Wolverton

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May
29

June 4 – 488th 1Mby1M Mentoring Roundtable for Entrepreneurs - Sramana Mitra

Accel is, perhaps, not a household name but it has backed some of the most famous and successful entrepreneurs in the world.

It has ploughed money into global successes like Facebook, Supercell, and Spotify over the years. Now, its European arm has just raised a huge new fund of $575 million to hand out to European entrepreneurs across the continent. The new fund will focus on automation, financial technology, and healthcare. Accel aims to be the first institutional investor in startups.

Sonali de Rycker, partner at Accel, has led investments into some of the company's most high-profile partners. She will have heard pitches from celebrity entrepreneurs such as Spotify's Daniel Ek.

She told Business Insider the company prides itself on picking out the "crème de la crème" of startups. That's evidenced by earlier big-name successes, plus rising stars such as UiPath, which is now the most valuable AI company in the world, and UK banking startup Monzo, a beloved challenger to the high street bank. The fund also invested in Deliveroo, the UK food delivery company that just raised funding from Amazon.

De Rycker said Accel takes about 3,000 initial calls or meetings with startups every year, and that whittles down into about 1,000 second calls or meetings. The team then narrows that down further to 50 to 75 companies, and finally chooses to invest in 10 or 15 companies a year. In other words, an entrepreneur who makes initial contact with Accel has a 0.3% chance of being funded.

De Rycker talked to Business Insider about the three qualities that makes entrepreneurs stand out in pitch meetings.

The ability to create a market where there was none

"We like entrepreneurs who can join the dots in a different way, they can see around corners," said De Rycker.

As an example, she points to Spotify, the streaming company which rivals Apple Music and went public last year. Spotify had a radically different view on music consumption and piracy, billing themselves as a competitor to piracy rather than a competitor to physical records.

CEO and cofounder Daniel Ek pushed this narrative hard in the face of criticism that he was undercutting musicians. It's better, he reasoned, that people pay something for Spotify and Spotify pays artists, than people paying nothing at all for pirated, low-quality music. His goal was to make it easier to stream music from a reliable platform than to pirate music and, largely, it worked. Piracy fell thanks to streaming services.

"It's building a company that no one through they needed, the ability to create a market," added De Rycker. "How do you know that? It's just about the way they talk about the industry. You feel, 'Wow, that's so compelling.'"

Maintain humility

De Rycker said Accel also backs entrepreneurs who are capable of leaving their own egos at the door and outsourcing critical decisions to their team.

"The reason I think humility [is important] is it's a foundation for building a company that has a shot at leaving a legacy," she said. "It's about durability. It's important because it's not all about them, it's really about the stakeholders, the team, the culture. How they think about investors and customers, and the way they do it not being about them and their profile."

De Rycker said founders from Nordic startups had a strong culture of humility, where "everyone is accountable to everyone."

She points to Ilkka Paananen, the CEO of gaming company Supercell. Supercell is probably best known for its casual game "Clash of Clans," and the company is an oft-cited example of European tech success.

Paananen, De Rycker said, trusted his team so much that they killed a game that Supercell had worked on for months. "It was so close to meeting their metrics for launching games, but they killed it without calling him," she said. They then came up with "Hay Day," another of its more popular casual mobile games.

Come up with the grand narrative for your startup

Investors really love the grand narrative. When Uber pitched investors, its tagline wasn't just "Order a taxi on demand."

Its original pitchdeck tagline was: "Make transportation as reliable as running water." By the time of its IPO, that had changed to "Igniting opportunity by setting the world in motion."

The grand narratives can sometimes feel overblown — or even untrue in the worst cases — but venture capitalists want to see global ambition in founders. It's that sales pitch which ultimately wins you the funding and the talent you need to grow a successful business, according to De Rycker.

"It's great to be humble, but if you can't get money and great people...you need the ability to tell a good story which is a combination of vision, passion, commitment, all those attributes," she said. "Founders have to do the impossible in every area of the business, from hiring to customers, and to be a phenomenal storyteller."

Original author: Shona Ghosh

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Jun
02

Elon Musk says he's taking a break from Twitter

TikTok is the most downloaded social media app on the planet, surpassing Instagram in 2018 in volume of downloads, according to App Annie.

The company hit one billion downloads last year, charming users with its injection of pure, often surreal entertainment in a social media market beset by humblebragging, polarisation, and misinformation.

The app is similar to Vine, the now-defunct looping video service. TikTok opens into an infinite feed of short videos, usually showing people dancing, lip-syncing, or doing some other choreographed action to music. There is no introduction or explanation, and the videos often border on the extremely weird.

That weirdness seems to have fostered a sense of creative freedom in its users, with videos showing everything from American teens showing off cheerleader-style moves in their bathrooms to wholesome videos showing four generations of moms and dads, to a quirky viral video showing a gummy bear Adele singing "Someone Like You" to a big gummy bear crowd.

TikTok's parent company is a Chinese firm called Bytedance, one of the most valuable private companies in the world. It gained a bigger reach in the West when it acquired another short-form video app, Musical.ly, in 2017.

The app has created a whole new generation of influencers, and they're quite different from the pranksters on YouTube or the highly polished Instagram influencer. They're also highly savvy about the money-making potential on the platform — and they come a lot cheaper than YouTubers.

"It just kept spiking, I was going viral all the time"

Amardeep Singh Dhanjal, aka Magic Singh, is a British magician who has found fame on TikTok with short, entertaining videos showing his capabilities. Each video regularly gets tens of thousands of likes, and his most popular was liked 2.1 million times.

He's almost exclusively famous on TikTok. Though he now has 27,000 subscribers on YouTube, he only experienced an explosion in subscribers six months after joining TikTok, according to SocialBlade analytics.

For the most part, Dhanjal uses social media like any other business — to persuade more people to book him for shows, birthday parties, or other events.

"Perhaps in the last five years I started taking social media a bit more seriously," Dhanjal told Business Insider in an interview. "Facebook, then YouTube, then Instagram, I was just popping up videos for promotion really to get more work. And it was working.

"Then at the beginning of 2019, when TikTok was still called Musical.ly, they got in touch with me via Instagram. I thought it was spam and ignored it — but they got in touch again and asked me to sign up for an account, which I did."

Read more: This futuristic flying taxi startup took a giant leap towards making $70 rides a reality within 6 years

Dhanjal found that interest in his videos spiked. He liked the platform's simplicity, and its focus on setting videos to music. "It just kept spiking, and I was going viral all the time," he said. "It felt like it was the new Vine. Except that it utilises the whole frame of your phone, which is nice, there's music, titles, stickers, lots of fun things. And you can edit videos on the app as well which is cool. There's just more available."

Dhanjal says he is increasingly recognised as "that guy on TikTok," even getting clocked by a Deliveroo rider dropping off a takeaway.

His TikTok channel is a marketing tool, a way for him to drive real-world bookings. As yet, it's not a moneymaker in and of itself. He says he did earn some money when TikTok flew him to Spain as part of a marketing campaign for Sony. He's open to other brand deals if big advertisers come knocking. "I've been focusing on my live shows but definitely, if someone does approach me, I'm up for doing it."

Dhanjal's wife Pavan also happens to be a TikTok star, and equally alive to the commercial opportunities it offers.

TikTok stars Magic Singh and Pavan Henna. Pavan Dhanjal/Amardeep Singh Dhanjal

Pavan Dhanjal, posting on TikTok as PavanHenna, runs henna bars offering henna art services in the style of a brow bar. Her quickfire videos show henna artists painting patterns on people's hands, neck, and even pregnant bellies.

Her main bar is in Selfridges, the upmarket London department store, and she says she often sees TikTok fans visiting the store. What makes TikTok users stand out is that they are younger than the average Selfridges customer.

"The first time was last summer," Pavan Dhanjal told Business Insider. "I had a young girl come to the henna bar, she was 14 and came with her parents. She had henna done — and said that she followed me on TikTok. And I just thought that was amazing, just to be able to drive customers into the henna bar."

TikTok stars don't earn very much yet, but the company is cultivating them carefully

As its popularity in Western markets has grown, TikTok has started playing with pre-roll ads. Scroll past the videos of miming schoolgirls, and ads for casual games and phone wallpapers pop up.

Nico Cary, who runs an influencer agency called Influentially, said it's pretty early days and that it's clear TikTok is slowly developing its ad product.

For now, he said, TikTok influencers come cheaper than YouTube stars, earning around $2,000 to appear at a brand event and to create content around it.

Individual posts come in at about £500. An established YouTuber can earn ten times as much, Cary said. The most influential Instagram stars, celebrities like Kylie Jenner, can earn as much as $1 million per post.

"There isn't much money in the ecosystem," Cary said. "We have done brand deals with companies that can't command too much budget."

Part of the reason is that TikTok is yet to develop sophisticated analytics, which are available to advertisers and influencers on YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook. "You can see the high-level engagement of likes, but you want to know the demographics of who's seeing posts," added Cary.

He says TikTok cultivates its influencers carefully, not only handpicking them from other platforms but continually talking to them. "They have group chats with influencers," Cary said. "It's different to the other platforms, they're quite involved."

TikTok's London office has a team dedicated to keeping on top of pop culture trends and keeping an eye out for new, potentially popular influencers, as well as keeping the current crop of influencers happy.

As yet, Business Insider understands there are no immediate plans to offer a YouTube-style partner programme where creators can make money from ads.

"We are still a relatively young business, we have launched in the UK in August 2018. At the moment we are focused on building the best possible experience for our users," a spokeswoman told Business Insider.

Original author: Shona Ghosh

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May
18

How to use Prime Pantry to get groceries and household staples delivered to your door

Insider Picks writes about products and services to help you navigate when shopping online. Insider Inc. receives a commission from our affiliate partners when you buy through our links, but our reporting and recommendations are always independent and objective.

Why go to the grocery store when you could just go to your computer? Proving, once again, that it really can be your one stop shop for every need you may have is Amazon's Prime Pantry.

It may just be the easiest way to get your kitchen and grocery necessities — particularly those of the boxed variety like cereals, peanut butter, bread, and other packaged goods. As Amazon notes, the service is perfect for getting "snacks, breakfast foods, beverages, beauty and personal care items, and household products."

While there are plenty of other grocery delivery services these days, few have the geographic reach or selection that Amazon can provide, and of course, few are quite as affordable.

If you're considering treating yourself to Prime Pantry in advance (or in honor) of Amazon Prime Day, here's what you'll need to know about using the service.

In order to use Prime Pantry, you'll have to be a Prime member. Signing up is easy — just click this link. You'll get 30 days for free, and if you're hooked by the two-day free shipping, access to Prime Video, and of course, access to Prime Pantry, you'll have to pay $119 per year to continue this membership (or $12.99 per month).

Just head over to the Prime Pantry homepage, where you'll be prompted to try out the service for free for 30 days. After that, you'll be billed $4.99 a month for continued access.

3. Set your delivery zip code.

While Prime Pantry is widely available across the United States, actual items available for purchase vary by location. Be sure to set your delivery location to ensure that the items you want are in stock near you.

4. Start shopping.

After activating your membership, you can start your grocery shopping spree. You'll be able to identify eligible Pantry items, as they're all marked with the Prime Pantry logo beneath their prices. Prime Pantry members are also eligible for special deals, coupons, and promotions not available to other Prime members.

5. Proceed to Checkout.

When you're ready to go, just click "Proceed to Checkout." You'll receive free shipping on any orders over $10 (which is quite easy to reach). If you don't hit this threshold, you'll have to pay a flat $5.99 shipping fee.

If you're interrupted mid-shop, never fear! You can easily save the contents of your order by clicking "Save all Prime Pantry items for later." You'll be able to return to your box whenever you're ready to proceed.

We should note that there is a 45-pound limit to your Prime Pantry box. After all, the service is meant for smaller, more convenient orders. Moreover, given the size and weight of these boxes, Amazon utilizes ground shipping, which means that they could take anywhere from one to four days to arrive. And alas, Prime Pantry does not deliver to dorms.

Original author: Lulu Chang

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May
18

The history of how Uber went from the most feared startup in the world to its massive IPO

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

Ten years ago, a company called UberCab made a splash in San Francisco by letting you hail a car with your smartphone. Since then, the company — now known just as Uber — has spread like wildfire across the globe.

But the road hasn't been easy.

While its valuation continued to climb over the years, Uber has also fought rivals and regulators as it has transformed from a black-car service into a sprawling empire going after the markets for both food delivery and self-driving cars. It has confronted threats from the taxi industry, endured backlash from its drivers and users both, and weathered internal strife and scandal, including the ouster of controversial former CEO Travis Kalanick.

Now, in the wake of Uber's IPO, we take a look at how we got here.

This is an update to a story originally published in 2016.

Original author: Avery Hartmans and Paige Leskin

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Jun
02

A Lime investor predicts only 2 or 3 scooter players will win after COVID-19, meaning there's going to be a major crunch in Europe

San Francisco has long dealt with a homelessness crisis, exacerbated in part by the region's technology boom and housing shortage, but a new street count of the city's homeless shows just how bad it's gotten.

An early summary of a one-night tally taken in January cast San Francisco's homeless population at 8,011 — up 17% from two years ago, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. A key cause of the increase is a 45% rise in people living out of vehicles in the last two years.

But even the 8,011 count may not tell the whole story.

Federal guidelines are used to calculate these preliminary totals, not city guidelines, which include more nuanced classifications of homelessness, according to the Chronicle. So the actual count will likely be higher — like it was in 2017 when a preliminary street count of 6,858 preceded a more complete total of 7,499.

There were, however, a few positive changes in the preliminary report — the number of homeless veterans decreased by 14% and the number of homeless youths went down by 10%.

Nevertheless, the data is a grim reminder that San Francisco's homelessness problem is not improving, especially at a time when another wave of wealth is expected to soon wash over the city. Multiple tech companies, including ride-sharing giant Uber, are gearing up for their 2019 IPOs, which could potentially result in a widened existing income inequity gap.

San Francisco has drummed up a number of solutions in recent years to battle its homelessness crisis. A bill passed in November, Proposition C, is expected to raise $300 million for homeless programs by raising taxes on tech companies. And plans for a 200-bed homeless shelter is in talks to go up along the city's Embarcadero, angering some nearby neighbors who are protesting its construction.

The state of California as a whole is also grappling with a homelessness problem — 24% of the total homeless population in the US lives in California.

Original author: Katie Canales

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May
18

Apple CEO Tim Cook urges college grads to 'push back' against algorithms that promote the 'things you already know, believe, or like'

Since being named CEO of Apple in 2011, Tim Cook has made it a point to ensure that Apple leaves its mark on the world in ways that stretch far beyond the company's business practices. Under his leadership, for example, Apple has boosted its sustainability efforts and now runs on 100% renewable energy.

When addressing graduates at Tulane University on Saturday, Cook encouraged students to similarly tackle big-picture problems and consider "what we owe" to one another.

"In a world where we obsessively document our own lives, most of us don't pay nearly enough attention to what we owe one another," Cook said. "It's about recognizing that human civilization began when we realized that we could do more together."

Cook stressed the importance of listening to others and being open to seeing the world in a different way. In what could have been a reference to Facebook, which has been under scrutiny in recent years over how it chooses the information displayed in its News Feed, the Apple CEO urged students to open their eyes.

"Today, certain algorithms pull you toward the things you already know, believe, or like, and they push away everything else," he said. "Push back. It shouldn't be this way. But in 2019 opening your eyes and seeing things in a new way can be a revolutionary act."

Facebook has been criticized for being an echo chamber in the past, especially when the company changed its algorithm in 2016 to focus more closely on updates from friends. That lends itself to the argument that Facebook creates a "filter bubble" in which users are only exposed to the content and ideas that align with their own beliefs.

Apple has notably pursued human curation for its Apple News app.

Cook has been vocal about his stance on the importance of climate change, and he touched on this topic again in his commencement speech, urging graduates to "look for those who have the most to lose" when solving problems.

"When you do that, the political noise dies down and you can feel your feet firmly planted on solid ground," he said. "After all, we don't build monuments to trolls, and we're not going to start now."

Cook admitted that this is something his generation needs to get better at.

"In some important ways, my generation has failed you in this regard," he said. "We spend too much time debating. We've been too focused on the fight and not focused enough on progress."

Watch the video of Cook's full speech below.

Original author: Lisa Eadicicco

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May
18

Here's the pitch deck this 23-year-old Croatian entrepreneur used to raise 2 million euros to turn its smart benches into a worldwide ad network

When Ivan Mrvoš founded Include in 2014, he had an idea — and not a whole lot else.

The Croatian-born entrepreneur thought there was a market for taking the kind of benches you find in bus stops and city parks and making them "smart" by adding charging stations for tech products and other features. But he was young, with no experience and little money.

"When I started at 19, I didn't know anything about business," Mrvoš, founder and CEO of the Croatian-based manufacturing startup, told Business Insider in a recent interview.

He ended up getting a loan from his grandmother and sold his electric guitar and used the money to produce his first smart bench. He and his nascent company started by making ones with cell phone chargers. The product soon became a hit in Europe. Five years later, Mrvoš and his team at Include, which now has more than 30 employees, has sold more than 1,000 smart benches across 260 cities worldwide.

Include has been upgrading the benches since Mrvoš, now 23, made the first one. Over the years, it's added Wi-Fi hotspots, electric bike chargers, and security cameras that can be used by customers such as city governments and shopping malls. The latest Include benches feature display screens for advertisements.

Include’s latest smart bench, called Monna, comes equipped with a Wi-Fi hub, street light, and a charging station for an electric bike. Include

Include makes money from selling the benches. In the future, it plans to expand its lineup to include bus stops and trash cans that will also be able to display ads. It eventually hopes to make money from selling advertisements and from offering companies access to the software it's built to run and manage ads on its products' displays. Mrvoš envisions creating an advertising network in the physical world that has the reach that Facebook or Google has online today.

He and the Include team recently raised 2 million euros to pursue that goal. The funds came from a combination of private and venture-capital investment, and a crowdfunding campaign on the equity investing platform, Funderbeam. Mrvoš hopes to raise another 2 million euros to close out Include's Series A round.

Read more: Here are the pitch decks that helped hot startups raise millions

Mrvoš said it's critical for founders to show investors their dedication to their projects.

"If you show to investors that you're only in it for easy and really fast money, they're not going to invest," he said. "If you don't invest all of your time, your money, your willingness, everything — if you don't show that you're ready almost to die for this project, then no one is going to invest in it."

Here's the pitch deck that helped Include recently raise 2 million euros:

Original author: Nick Bastone

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May
18

The rise and fall of Amtrak, which has been losing money since 1971

150 years ago this month, the United States completed one of the most impressive engineering feats of the time (and to this day): a single railroad, connecting sea to shining sea.

In the decades following, American trains — carrying both freight and passengers — would flourish. Railroads shuttled passengers between thriving urban centers, and streetcars criss-crossed towns around the country. By 1916, 98% of all intercity travel took place on rail, according to US Census Bureau statistics.

But by the 1940s, American's insatiable appetite for automobiles had begun to take shape.

Railroads' share of the travel market began to shrink drastically as the government began to incentivize road building and airport investments. And by 1970, the last year that America's rail network was privately controlled in its entirety, the total miles traveled on trains had fallen to less than 100,000.

That's when the federal government stepped in to create what would become known as Amtrak. Here's the history of America's passenger railroad, which has managed to lose money in every single one of the 48 years since its inception.

Original author: Graham Rapier

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May
18

I tried Barry’s Bootcamp, the intense fitness class that's become a hub of VC networking and tech deals. I walked out with a lot of sweat but no funding.

Lee Edwards, a partner at early-stage venture firm Root Ventures, tweeted Thursday "The 3 B's of venture deals: Barry's, The Battery, and Burning Man."

The mockery was swift, but according to the replies to Edwards' tweet, there was a grain of truth to the first B, which refers to Barry's Bootcamp.

The intense bootcamp-style fitness program was started in Los Angeles in 1998 by fitness trainer Barry Jay, according to the studio's website, because Jay wanted an all-in-one workout that included cardio and weight lifting. Now, Barry's is available in 17 cities across 10 states plus Washington, D.C. The studio also has 10 international locations from Dubai to Stockholm to Melbourne, and has commanded a global following as one of the toughest workouts around.

Barry's studios are also known for the exorbitant cost of classes and branded camouflage gear, its club-like atmosphere, and instructors whose foul-mouthed commands would make a Marine blush.

On its face, Barry's Bootcamp is the Patagonia vest of workouts: it doesn't make a ton of sense to those deemed "outsiders," but for those in the know it's a symbol of rugged toughness and status.

Scroll through Instagram's various Barry's geotags and hashtags and you'll notice that in addition to the expected "fit-fluencer" posts, the page is dotted with tech founders and their teams and other Bay Area notables.

"Data has shown that Founders that opt for double floor tend to focus on short term exits vs. longer term growth, and investors come to take notice" one startup exec joked to Business Insider, referring to the famous "double floor" strength routine at Barry's.

"Furthermore, investors go there looking for signal in the noise of treadmill speed. Early indications show that there is an inverse relationship between treadmill speed and company cash runway," the exec said.

Members of the cult of Barry like to be uncomfortable and to reward themselves with niceties not available at an ordinary CrossFit gym. After a 50-minute burst of activity, many bootcampers report to the "Fuel Bar" for one of the famous $10 protein shakes.

"Exercising at Barry's is very SF - it's super intense and you have a love / hate relationship with it since it's exhausting, but it brings you to a better state and energizes you," said Masha Drokova, founder and general partner at Day One Ventures.

Drokova however prefers something more calm to establish a rapport with founders she works with.

"I haven't taken any meetings at Barry's but I've on occasion brought founders I work with to do yoga with me at Love Story Yoga," she told Business Insider. "It's so fantastic for the body and to clear your mind, and this shared experience brings you closer together since you see each other in vulnerable sweaty environment."

One famous Barry's disciple is Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who was spotted working out at San Francisco Barry's the morning before an Aprile court appearance.

Multiple sources suggested to Business Insider that Keith Rabois, an early PayPal executive who is now a general partner at VC firm Founders Fund, was the inspiration for Edwards' tweet about Barry's importance in the venture scene. When reached for comment, Rabois responded to Business Insider that "this is a quite ludicrous idea for a post," though he declined to comment on Barry's.

I had to see just how ludicrous Barry's was for myself. So I suited up with San Francisco's finest for Barry's signature Full Body workout, and left with less funding and self-doubt than I started with. Here's what it was like:

Original author: Megan Hernbroth

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Mar
24

Imatag inserts invisible watermarks to track images around the web

Swipe to the left of the home screen on a Pixel phone, and you'll see the Discover page, a collection of news articles and updates tailored to fit your interests. During my time using the Pixel, I was pleasantly suprised at how accurate and specific Google's choices were.

The feed included a mix of everything from technology news about the companies and products I follow the most, to updates on my favorite video games and movies, to local news about my neighborhood. Of course, you can tell Google what kinds of updates you'd like to see in Discover, which helps it surface more accurate results.

Plus, the company has the benefit of leveraging the data stored in your Google account to help it pick personalized content.

Because of all of this, I found myself adding Google's Discover feed to the list of apps and services I check first thing when reaching for my phone in the morning.

Google's Discover is also available on the iPhone and other Android devices through the company's main search app. But having it built into the operating system on the Pixel puts it front and center, making it much more useful.

The iPhone has a somewhat comparable offering — when swiping to the left of the home screen you'll find a customizable stream of widgets that includes your next calendar appointment, suggested apps, news stories, and other updates of your choosing.

While they're similar features, they served different purposes for me. I definitely spent much more time scrolling through Google's Discover panel to get up to speed on the topics I'm most interested in, whereas I'd sometimes glance at Apple's feed to see the weather or how long it would take to get home from work.

Original author: Lisa Eadicicco

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Jun
02

Appway raises $37M, its first-ever funding, for financial customer management tools

California hasn't experienced a major, ground-rupturing earthquake in more than a century.

In 1989, the magnitude 6.9 Loma Prieta earthquake killed 63 people in northern California. In August 2014, a magnitude 6 temblor struck Napa, causing $1 billion in damages. But neither of those quakes split the earth — a seismic litmus test for major earthquakes.

The last time the ground split in California was during a magnitude 6.5 quake in 1918 on the San Jacinto fault. According to a recent study, that's an unprecedented hiatus.

The study, published by the US Geological Survey (USGS) last month, says the earthquake interlude in California over the last 100 years has not occurred at any other time in the last millennium.

"It's certainly kept the system holding its breath," Glenn Biasi, a co-author of the new study, told Business Insider.

This hiatus is unlikely to last much longer, according to scientists. They're just not sure when it will end, and keeping tabs on California's mess of faults is challenging.

The San Andreas Fault runs the length of California. Google Maps/Business Insider

"It's like a game of Russian roulette, except the gun has 100 chambers rather than six, and several dozen guns instead of just one," Chris Goldfinger, a paleoseismologist who was not involved in the study, told Business Insider.

California has an errant history of big quakes

Earthquakes most often occur at the junction of two tectonic plates; those boundaries are called faults.

California sits on multiple faults. There's the San Andreas fault of 1906 San Francisco earthquake fame, the Hayward fault that bisects Oakland, and the San Jacinto fault in eastern LA. As a group, these three faults are responsible for most earthquakes that occur on the boundary between the North American and Pacific tectonic plates.

According to the recent USGS study, between these three faults, there should be three or four ground-rupturing quakes — magnitude 6.5 or greater — every century or so.

Yet the period between 1919 and 2018 has been the only 100-year stretch in the last 1,000 years without any major ground-rupturing earthquakes on those three faults. By contrast, in the period from 1800 to 1918, each of the three big faults experienced an average of one major quake every 16 years.

The study authors even calculated the chance of the current hiatus occurring: just 0.3%.

Read More: Scientists discovered a strange movement under the San Andreas fault — and they warn that the 'Big One' quake is long overdue

According to the LA Times, the Bay Area has only experienced three earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater since San Francisco's 1906 quake (which had a magnitude of 7.8). In the 75 years before that, by contrast, there were 14 seismic events of magnitude 6 or greater. Overall, California has experienced 11 earthquakes of magnitude 6 or higher since 1995, but the state experienced 32 quakes above that threshold during the 25 years prior to that.

In the Hollywood blockbuster "San Andreas," the ground swallows cars whole. In reality, such earthquake-caused cracks rarely exceed 6 feet in width. Warner Bros / San Andreas

Clearly, something is amiss — but scientists aren't sure what it is.

Scientists can't explain California's earthquake hiatus

The ground-rupturing aspect of quakes is critical for seismologists because when the Earth's surface cracks along a fault, that relieves pressure for the tectonic plates. In the 1906 earthquake, the ground split by almost 18 feet in Marin County, the LA Times reported.

"We know these big faults have to carry most of the [tectonic] motion in California, and sooner or later they have to slip," Biasi said in a press release. "The only questions are how they're going to let go and when."

San Francisco's Marina district after an earthquake struck during game three of the World Series between the Oakland A's and San Francisco Giants on October 17, 1989. Otto Greule Jr /Getty

One explanation, Biasi suggested, is that the flurry of earthquakes between 1800 and 1918 just relieved all the pressure along the plate boundary.

"It's possible that among them, they just wrung out — in the sense of wringing out a dishrag — a tremendous amount of energy out the system," he said in the release.

Goldfinger suggested another hypothesis (a more disturbing one): Perhaps the three faults have synced up, so their ruptures and hiatus periods all happen synchronously. Biasi agreed that the faults could very well be acting in concert, since it's "unlikely that each fault experiences a gap at the same time independently," he told Business Insider.

Regardless of the reason for the hiatus, the researchers noted, Californians should be ready for a flurry of ground-shattering earthquakes in the near future.

"If our work is correct, the next century isn't going to be like the last one, but could be more like the century that ended in 1918," Biasi said in the press release.

The East Bay will likely experience an earthquake first

According to Goldfinger, the Hayward fault — which runs along the East Bay — is considered to be long overdue for movement.

"Most earthquake geologists rarely use that language about 'being overdue,' but we all agree," he said.

A 2016 USGS report noted that there's a 30% chance that the Hayward fault will experience a magnitude 6.7 or greater quake within 30 years.

"It has built up all the energy it needs for a future event, so it could happen today, but it could also still wait another couple decades and then just have a somewhat larger event because it took longer," Roland Burgmann, a seismologist at the University of California, Berkeley, told KQED last year.

California fire department Urban Search & Rescue teams participate in a mobilization exercise to prepare for earthquakes. Lucy Nicholson

The USGS modeled what would happen if a magnitude 7 earthquake were to occur on the Hayward Fault, with an epicenter just east of Oakland; they call this the "HayWired scenario." The simulation is meant to inform scientists and first responders about potential damages to infrastructure and the challenges of hypothetical search, rescue, and evacuation efforts in the area.

The scenario suggests that East Bay cities like Berkeley, Oakland, San Leandro, and Hayward would be hardest hit. An estimated 800 deaths and 18,000 nonfatal injuries would result from damage to buildings and structures in the greater Bay Area. The scenario also suggests that 2,500 people would need rescue from collapsed buildings, and more than 22,000 may require rescue from stalled elevators.

In such a situation, estimates of property damages suggest a total of $82 billion, given that the Hayward Fault runs beneath the foundations of more than 300 buildings and other structures.

Both Goldfinger and Biasi agree that California has taken a lot of good steps to prepare for an earthquake. But Goldfinger takes issue with the fact that Californian cities are often left to make plans and decisions about preparedness individually.

"It's probably not a good strategy for something as pervasive as an earthquake to be a local solution and not a state-wide one," he said.

Plus, given the unpredictable nature of California's faults, the next big quake might not even occur along the Hayward Fault at all, Goldfinger added.

"We might have one big earthquake from Mexico to North California," he said. "It's not very likely, but the possibility is there because no one can prove it never happened in the past."

Original author: Aylin Woodward

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Jul
27

Who owns your data? Re-imagining data management for Web3

Uber took a $3.5 billion investment from the Saudi Public Investment Fund in 2016, and gave a board seat to its managing director.

Databricks took $33.24 million in 2015 in a round with participation from Future Fund, the Australian sovereign wealth fund.

And Zumper took $45.65 million in a 2018 round led by Axel Springer, the German publishing giant (which also happens to own Business Insider).

Yes, the early days of Silicon Valley were so geographically constricted that many of the most high-profile investments were made by people who worked near each other on the legendary Sand Hill Road. But today, the startup investment ecosystem is global, with large checks being written by foreign allies and adversaries alike.

While investors are eager to open their wallets, taking a foreign investment isn't as simple as cashing a check, said Doreen Edelman, head of Lowenstein Sandler's Global Trade & Policy Group.

As US startup founders consider to whom they want to sell equity, they must also consider a host of legal issues that could come up with foreign investors, she said.

Depending on the circumstances, investments from foreign investors could create delays, extra paperwork, and result in costly fees. In the most extreme cases, the investment may be blocked entirely. Even if the investment has been completed, though, the US government may force a divestiture afterwards.

Sanctions and tariffs can also create problems for companies down the road.

Before any of that happens, these are the five questions Edelman says every tech founder needs to ask themselves when considering a foreign investment.

Original author: Becky Peterson

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Jul
27

Cybersecurity mesh adds decentralized security and swarm AI for remote-first enterprises

Starlink — SpaceX's planned network of thousands of interlinked satellites — may arrive as a functional global internet service provider sooner than expected.

The ultimate goal of the project is to launch nearly 12,000 satellites into orbit around Earth, link them with laser beams, and give customers access to the internet system via flat, pizza-size antennas that SpaceX calls end-user terminals.

If realized, such a floating mesh network could bring access to ultra-high-speed, low-lag internet to pretty much every corner of the world.

This week, SpaceX was scheduled to launch the first 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. But the launch was delayed twice, and now Musk says it will take place in about a week.. The delay, SpaceX said, will allow time for a software update and give engineers a chance to "triple-check everything."

SpaceX stuffed a fleet of 60 Starlink internet-providing satellites into the nosecone of a Falcon 9 rocket for launch in May 2019.Elon Musk/SpaceX via TwitterAhead of the planned launch, SpaceX founder Elon Musk revealed new details about the longterm plan for Starlink. Musk bristled at the notion that launching anywhere close to 12,000 satellite is necessary to establish a fully functional internet service that would make his company money.

"For the system to be economically viable, it's really on the order of 1,000 satellites," Musk said during a call with reporters. "Which is obviously a lot of satellites, but it's way less than 10,000 or 12,000."

Right now, about 2,000 operational satellites orbit Earth (though many thousands of dead satellites exist in "graveyard" orbits). SpaceX plans to launch roughly 60 spacecraft at a time with its workhorse Falcon 9 rockets and is looking to launch at least one Starlink mission a month over the next two years, based on figures provided by Musk.

"I think within a year and a half, maybe 2 years — if things go well — SpaceX will probably have more satellites in orbit than all other satellites combined," he said. "Basically, a majority of the satellites in orbit will be SpaceX's."

But Starlink could be functional even sooner than that. If there are no major issues with the satellites, extensive launch delays, or problems manufacturing end-user terminals, the first customers may get access within the next 12 months.

An "initial" service in the US — one that Musk said SpaceX could sell — should be possible with 400 satellites in orbit, according to Musk. Meanwhile, global and "significant" service should happen with about 800 satellites, he said.

"We'll start selling service, initially, around the 400 satellites," Musk said. "We'll probably start to do some advance sales of connectivity — if things go well — probably later this year or early next year."

The Federal Communications Commission, which regulates the types of frequencies companies like SpaceX can use for telecommunications devices, gave the company deadlines for launching its Starlink satellites.

SpaceX has until April 2024 to deploy half of its 4,400 low-Earth-orbit satellites, and the rest by April 2027. For the remaining 7,500 "very" low-Earth-orbit satellites, SpaceX has until November 2024 to launch half, and November 2027 to send up the rest. If SpaceX doesn't hit those contractual deadlines with the US government, the FCC can opt to freeze the maximum number of satellites at whatever the company has in orbit by that point.

Musk indicated that demand for Starlink would determine how many satellites SpaceX launches. That's because each satellite will have about 1 terabit of functional bandwidth, or enough to serve streaming 4K video to about 1,100 people at once.

If the 1,000 Starlink satellites in orbit that are required to keep the project in the black can't keep up with demand, and the company has to launch more, Musk said that would be "a very good thing."

"It means that there's a lot of demand for the system," he said.

However, Musk repeatedly emphasized that his timeline estimates depend on a lot of things going right, and few things going wrong — especially with the first 60 satellites.

"It's possible that some of these satellites may not work," he said. "So we don't want to count anything until it's hatched."

Original author: Dave Mosher

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May
18

There's a wildly popular conspiracy theory that Facebook listens to your private phone calls, and no matter what the tech giant says people just aren't convinced it's not true (FB)

Back in June 2016, Facebook issued a statement.

"Facebook Does Not Use Your Phone's Microphone for Ads or News Feed Stories," is its headline.

The copy of the post goes into more detail: "Some recent articles have suggested that we must be listening to people's conversations in order to show them relevant ads. This is not true. We show ads based on people's interests and other profile information — not what you're talking out loud about."

It was a direct response to a news story that ran in May 2016 from an NBC outpost in Florida that purported to prove that Facebook was listening to users. "Facebook is not only watching, but also listening to your cell phone. It all starts with enabling your microphone feature in your settings. Once you do, choose your words carefully," the piece says.

The proof in the piece was anecdotal — a professor interviewed by NBC enabled microphone access to her Facebook app, briefly talked aloud about potentially going on a safari, and, "Less than 60 seconds later, the first post on her Facebook feed was a safari story that seemed to pop up out of nowhere."

It's exactly these types of stories that embolden the belief that Facebook is listening to your conversations.

Original author: Ben Gilbert

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May
18

I've owned Amazon's Echo Show for six months now — here's what I use the screen for

I have owned an Amazon Echo Show, the one with the screen, for six months now, and I really enjoy using it. As we see more and more digital assistants with screens attached, I think the overall design just makes sense.

I find it incredibly helpful to see the information that is being presented to me, and having the screen often times provides some additional information you wouldn't hear from Alexa coming from a screen-less speaker.

To give you a better sense of the specific use cases I'm talking about, I decided to shoot video of all the functions that I use my Echo Show for. Throughout all of my videos below, I cut off the beginning prompt where I say "Alexa" so your Echo isn't accidentally triggered when watching.

Upcoming Events

It's great to see everything at a glance with the Echo show. It will rotate through your upcoming events for the day and give you interesting suggestions for how to use Alexa.

Timers

Sometimes it's the simple things that make Alexa so helpful. I often set timers when I have my hands full cooking. Seeing the actual timer count down on the screen is a nice detail.

Flash Briefing & Weather

I think one of the biggest use cases for having a screen is for media outlets to show you the news during their "flash briefing" segments. You will see how CNBC utilizes this at the 53-second mark in this video. NPR also sometimes intros their reporters on camera and shows still photos throughout their reports, however, they did not on the day of this filming.

I also programmed my Echo to tell me the weather and subway status before it starts playing my flash briefing. Seeing the weather on screen adds a lot more context to the report, and you can see a few days at a glance. And note: my subway skill ("New York Subway & Transit Status") has been finicky lately. I have to now tell Alexa "next" to have it go through each subway line. Otherwise, I love it.

Watching Video

Once in a blue moon, I will pull up a video, but for me personally, this is actually not a big use case for me when I have better options in my small apartment. I could see people using this more in a kitchen. Here, I tried screwing around with Hulu (which acted very slow for me) and pulling up YouTube via the Firefox browser on the Echo Show.

Spotify

What's this song? With the screen, it's easy to just glance over and see! And seeing the album art is just a nice touch.

Smart Stuff

I would like to add some more "smartness" to my apartment, but for now, I just control my one free Philips Hue bulb that came free with the Echo bundle I bought and sometimes my smart air conditioner.

Displaying Photos

One of my favorite features of the Echo is just being able to view my photos on a rotating slideshow (mostly of my dog) as my home screen. The downside for me is having to use Amazon Photos to make this work since I am primarily a Google Photos user. I strategically upload whatever recent photos I like Amazon to display on my Echo. It's so nice to be able to actually enjoy my photos instead of taking them and forgetting them almost immediately in my infinite camera roll.

I think these new assistants with screens attached will become the new form factor that becomes the norm as big tech companies continue to infiltrate our personal living space with... well... more screens. But, for me, this little guy has been a helpful asset to my life.

Original author: Justin Gmoser

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