Deal: Get certified as a social media marketing specialist for just $20

More than two-thirds of the U.S. population has a profile on at least one social networking site. You might have even found yourself on this page via clicking on a tweet.

Social media marketing is fast becoming the best way to reach customers. It’s how politicians win elections, and how businesses reach new customers. More people will see a viral Facebook post than a television advert, and the Facebook post is way cheaper to produce.

The balance is still shifting too, so experts in social media marketing are in increasingly high demand. Today’s deal is an extremely cheap way to get fully trained in this field, and it’s also the biggest price drop on a learning kit we’ve seen in a long time.

Get the professional techniques you need to impress in an interview.

The Silicon Valley Social Media Marketing Certification Course is 38 hours of online video training. While it suits all levels, you probably know a thing or two about social media already. After all, most of us use it every day. This bundle gives you a chance to become a professional, and then get certified to validate your training.

As well as the technical side, you’ll also become fluent in marketing psychology. These tricks will ensure you can optimize campaigns across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, and more.

Some social media marketing highlights:

• Access 12 modules and 38 hours of content 24/7.
• Learn how to increase social media reach, attract more clients, and sell more products.
• Study strategic social media marketing content, objectives, and goals through videos, quizzes, and learning resources.
• Understand market psychology to optimize campaigns across Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Pinterest, Reddit, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and more.
• Qualify for a larger salary with a certification from the Silicon Valley Digital Marketing Institute.
• Receive feedback from highly certified instructors whenever you need it.

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The Silicon Valley Digital Marketing Institute offers this bundle for almost $4,000 on their site. However, right now you can sign up for just $19.99. It’s a remarkable discount, and it’s a small investment for a big upgrade on your resume.

The deal times out this weekend, so if you’re ready to become a specialist follow the link below to enroll.

Check it out!

The AAPicks team writes about things we think you’ll like, and we may see a share of revenue from any purchases made through affiliate links. To see all our hottest deals, head over to the AAPICKS HUB.

Source: Android Zone

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Get Digital Wellbeing on any Android device with ActionDash

Google’s Digital Wellbeing initiative is excellent, but it’s limited to Pixel and Android One handsets. Fortunately, Chris Lacy, the developer behind Action Launcher and other apps, just released ActionDash, bringing most of Digital Wellbeing’s features to every Android device.

Just like with Digital Wellbeing, ActionDash is a cleanly-design app that provides you with phone and app usage statistics. You can view screenshots of the app below.

ActionDash is split into five main sections. First, you get an overview of your usage in the form of a pie chart and several data points. Swiping over to the other tabs, you will find detailed information about how much time you’ve spent in each app, how many times you’ve opened an app, the number of notifications that have shown up on your phone, and how many times you’ve unlocked the handset. 

Editor’s Pick

A few days in with Digital Wellbeing, and it’s already changing my life

I’ll admit that when Google first announced Digital Wellbeing during Google I/O 2018, I just kind of shrugged. Even though I write for a website dedicated to smartphones, I really don’t feel like I use …

Comparing this to Google’s Digital Wellbeing, you aren’t going to miss out on any usage data. The primary differentiator is the fact that Digital Wellbeing is baked into Android and can be used to limit the usage of various apps. ActionDash is primarily there to show you the data and allow you to reshape your usage yourself. 

You can download ActionDash for free from the Play Store using the button below. You can unlock the app’s premium features such as the ability to backup and restore data, enable a dark mode, view more than seven days of data, and much more with an in-app purchase of $6.99.

ActionDash

Source: Android Zone

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How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step)

Looking to switch from Wix to WordPress?

Wix is a popular website builder that lets you create a simple website, fast. However, many Wix users soon realize that their options are limited and adding extra features can become quite expensive.

If you want more features and flexibility without the high costs, then switching to self-hosted WordPress is the best choice. WordPress powers over 32% of all websites on the internet because it’s extremely powerful. In this article, we will show you how to properly move from Wix to WordPress and grow your website with complete freedom.

After reviewing various different ways to move from Wix to WordPress, we believe the easiest method is by importing your blog posts via RSS.

In this step by step guide, we will walk you through the process of transferring your Wix website to WordPress. Depending on how many pages you have on your Wix site, the migration can take upto an hour.

Here are the steps to migrate from Wix to WordPress:

1. Sign up for WordPress web hosting
2. Setup your new WordPress site
3. Customize your site’s style and appearance
4. Import your blog posts via RSS
5. Convert your Wix pages to WordPress
6. Create your main navigational menu
7. Redirect Wix to WordPress

Ready to switch from Wix to WordPress? Let’s get started.

Step 1: Signup for WordPress Web Hosting

To start a WordPress blog, the first thing you’ll need is a web hosting account for your website.

Web hosting is your website’s home on the internet. This is where all of your files and data is stored.

You will also need a domain name (such as www.yoursite.com). This is your website’s address on the internet.

When you use Wix, they host your website for you which is also the reason why it’s quite limited. On the other hand, WordPress is a free software, so you’ll need a place to install it. That’s why you need to purchase web hosting and a domain name.

We highly recommend that you use Bluehost because they are an official WordPress.org recommended hosting provider.

They have agreed to give WPBeginner readers a free domain and over 60% off discount on web hosting when you use our special Bluehost coupon code.

→ Click here to Claim this Exclusive Bluehost offer ←

If you want to look at more options, then we have a list of the best WordPress hosting providers that you can choose from.

Some other companies that we recommend are SiteGround and HostGator.

In this tutorial, we’ll use Bluehost for screenshot and examples.

If you’ve already registered a domain name with Wix, that’s no problem. When signing up with Bluehost, you can enter your existing domain under the “I have a domain name” option.

Later on in this guide, we’ll walk you through how to transfer your domain when your new WordPress site is ready.

Step 2: Setup Your New WordPress Site

After purchasing your new hosting plan, you’ll need to install and setup WordPress.

If you signed up with Bluehost, then they automatically install WordPress for you, and you can simply login to your WordPress dashboard from your hosting account.

Upon login, you will see your WordPress admin dashboard:

All other WordPress hosting companies also offer 1-click WordPress installers from their hosting dashboard. If you need help installing WordPress, then you can refer to our step by step guide on how to install WordPress for beginners.

Once you login to WordPress admin area, it’s a good idea to set your WordPress permalinks.

Your permalink settings will determine the address of each blog post. For example, instead of publishing a blog post to:

www.yourblog.com/2017/10/blog-post-title

You can publish it to:

www.yourblog.com/blog-post-title.

You can change your permalink settings by navigating to Settings » Permalinks in your WordPress dashboard. Once you have selected the structure you want, click on the Save Changes button at the bottom.

For more details about permalinks, you can check out our post on SEO-friendly URL structures in WordPress.

Step 3: Customize Your Site’s Design

Next, you should customize the appearance of your website. It’s easy to do that using WordPress themes.

WordPress themes are similar to Wix templates, they control the appearance and display of your WordPress website.

There are thousands of free WordPress themes available for you to use. Some themes are very basic and minimalist, while others will add a lot of new features to your site.

As a WordPress beginner, you may want to start with a simple theme that’s easy to use. We have a list of recommended simple WordPress themes you can take a look at to get started.

Wondering how to decide on a theme? You can check out our article on selecting the perfect WordPress theme for tips and advice.

Once you have found a theme you like, you can install it by following our guide on how to install a WordPress theme.

Remember, you can easily change your theme in the future, so it’s important that you don’t spend too much time on this step.

You can even use the default WordPress theme and start with the migration process. Because the most important part is moving all of your content from Wix to WordPress.

Step 4: Import Your Wix Blog Posts to WordPress

In this step, we’ll transfer your Wix blog posts over to your new WordPress site.

Wix is a closed platform, and they don’t provide an easy way for users to migrate their content away from Wix.

But we can still automate the process by importing your Wix RSS feed, instead of recreating each blog post manually.

To get started, you’ll need to download your Wix RSS file.

You can locate the file by adding /feed.xml to your Wix website URL.

If you don’t have a custom domain with Wix, then you can find your RSS feed at username.wixsite.com/blogname/feed.xml, where “username” is your Wix username and “blogname” is the name of your blog.

If you have a custom domain such as www.yourwixblog.com, then you can find your RSS feed at www.yourwixblog.com/feed.xml.

After navigating to the proper URL, you should see a page full of code.

Go ahead and right-click anywhere on the page and click Save As to save the file in your computer.

Now that you have your RSS file, you can log in to your WordPress dashboard and click on Tools » Import.

Next, click the Install Now link under the RSS heading.

After a few seconds, you’ll see a link at the top of the page to Run Importer. Go ahead and click the link.

Next, you need to click the Choose File button and select the feed.xml file that saved to your computer. Once selected, you can click the Upload file and import button.

If you have a lot of blog posts to import, then it can take several minutes to import them all.

When it’s done, you’ll see a confirmation message.

To check on your blog posts and make sure they were exported from Wix correctly, you can navigate to Posts » All Posts and click View underneath each post.

At this point, the content of your blog posts has been transferred, but there’s one problem: any images in your post are still hosted with Wix.

Luckily, there’s an easy way to fix this and move your images over to WordPress.

All you need to do is install and activate the Auto Upload Images plugin.

Plugins are like apps for WordPress that allow you to add new features. We have a step by step guide on how to install a WordPress plugin.

After installing and activating the plugin, you’ll need to re-save each post that contains images, and the plugin will import images inside it.

It would be time-consuming to edit each post one by one, but we have a handy trick that you can use to quickly re-save all WordPress posts at once.

Simply go to Posts » All Posts page and then click on the Screen Options button at the top.

You need to increase the number to 999 in the ‘Number of items per page field’ field and click on the Apply button.

WordPress will reload the page, and this time it will show 999 posts at a time.

Next, you need to select all your posts and then select Edit under the bulk actions menu.

After that, you need to click the Apply button. WordPress will show you a quick edit box with all selected posts. You just need to click on the Update button, and WordPress will update all your posts.

See our guide on importing external images in WordPress for more detailed instructions.

Step 5: Import Your Wix Pages to WordPress

After you have imported your blog post, next we’ll need to transfer your Wix pages over to your WordPress site.

Wix doesn’t provide any automated way to do this, so we’ll have to recreate each page in WordPress one by one.

First, you can navigate to the Wix page you want to transfer to WordPress. Highlight all the content (except for the page title). Then you can right click and click on Copy.

After that, you need to login to your WordPress dashboard and navigate to Pages » Add New to recreate the page. At the top of the page, you can type in the page title. Then you can right-click and and click on Paste to recreate the content.

For help with styling your pages, you can check out our article on add new post or page in WordPress.

When you’re finished styling your page, you can click the Publish button to publish your page on your new WordPress site.

While you can follow the above method for all text based pages, it won’t work for certain pages like your contact page.

You’ll need to install a contact form plugin like WPForms to create a contact page. We have a step by step guide on how to create a simple contact form.

Now that you’ve converted all your content, it’s a good idea to carefully review your posts and pages to make sure everything is working right and looks the way it’s supposed to.

Step 6: Create Your Main Navigational Menu

Next, you’ll want to make sure your visitors can easily navigate through your new website using your primary menu.

You can create a navigational menu by going to Appearance » Menus. Type in a name for your menu, and click one of the Create Menu buttons.

Next, you can select whichever pages you want to add to your main menu, and click the Add to Menu button. When you’ve added all the pages you want, select the menu position.

Finally, click the blue Save Menu button on the right.

Now your menu has been created and is live on your website.

Step 7: Redirect Wix to WordPress

Your new WordPress site is complete, and you’re ready to let your readers know about your move.

It’s important to not only announce your move to your readers but to setup proper redirection.

You want all visitors of your old site to land on exactly the same page on the new site. This will also let search engines know that your old site has moved to a new location.

Note: You can only redirect users to your new WordPress site if you had a custom domain on Wix. Unfortunately, if you were using a wixsite subdomain, then you cannot redirect users to your WordPress site.

First you need to open a plain text editor like Notepad and paste this code:

var hashesarr = { 
"#!about-us/c1it7":'/about/',
"#!contact/ce54":'/contact/',
"#!random-article/c1mz":'/random-article/'
 };

for (var hash in hashesarr) {
    var patt = new RegExp(hash);
    if (window.location.hash.match(patt) !== null) {
        window.location.href = hashesarr[hash];
    }
}

In this code we have added three example URLs in the following format:

"#!about-us/c1it7":'/about/',

The first part of the line looks for a string in the URL. This will be the URL your Wix users will be coming from. The second part in the line is the WordPress slug for the same page.

Unfortunately, you will have to manually add each URL in this format. Once you are finished, you need to save this file as redirects.js.

Next, you need to upload this file to your WordPress theme’s /js/ directory using an FTP client.

If your theme does not have a /js/ directory, then you need to create one.

Now you need to edit your theme’s functions.php file and add this code at the bottom of the file:

function wpb_wixjs () { 
wp_enqueue_script( 'wixredirect', get_stylesheet_directory_uri() . '/js/redirects.js', array(), '1.0.0', true);
} 
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'wpb_wixjs');

Don’t forget to save your changes.

That’s all, you can now try visiting a URL from your old Wix site to see the redirect in action.

Note: These redirects will not redirect search engines and are not very SEO friendly.

Lastly, don’t forget to inform your readers of your new address. You can do this by announcing your move on social media, writing a blog post about it, and sending out a notice to your email newsletter.

Step 8: Add Essential WordPress Plugins

WordPress plugins allow you to add more features to your site. Plugins work like Wix apps. There are hundreds of plugins available, free and paid. You can check out our archive of articles about the best WordPress plugins if you’re not sure where to start.

We also have a list of the must have WordPress plugins for all websites.

If you’re looking for a Wix style drag & drop page builder, then we recommend using one of these best drag & drop WordPress page builder plugins.

That’s it! We hope this tutorial helped you switch from Wix to WordPress without a lot of hassle.

We would like to welcome you to the WordPress community. To get started with WordPress, please take a look at our beginner’s guide section and our WordPress beginner videos.

If you have a friend still using Wix, then you can show them your new WordPress site and our comparison on WordPress vs Wix and convince them to switch over.

If you liked this article, then please subscribe to our YouTube Channel for WordPress video tutorials. You can also find us on Twitter and Facebook.

The post How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step) appeared first on WPBeginner.

Source: Wordpres

The post How to Properly Switch From Wix to WordPress (Step by Step) appeared first on TuneMaster.ml.

We asked, you told us: Slider phones aren’t for you

In the quest to get rid of bezels, smartphone companies have made countless attempts to redesign smartphones. While most companies are now moving towards hole-punch displays, some are experimenting with sliding phones.

This design concept separates the screen portion of the phone from the rest of the handset. By doing this, the screen can include minimal amounts of bezel as the front-facing camera and other sensors are located behind the display on the main part of the device.

The primary issue with this design is that there are moving pieces. Whether the sliding mechanism is done automatically with a motor or the user has to slide the two pieces apart physically, something could break or get damaged. If that happens, you lose access to the camera and any other sensor hidden behind the display.

So with phones like the OnePlus 7 rumored to be using a slider mechanism, we decided if you would buy a slider phone. Here are your answers.

Would you buy a slider phone?

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Results

Surprisingly, the results are almost split down the middle. While a majority of the 1,800+ voters who voiced their opinion on the website stated that they would buy a slider phone, the polls from Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube all skewed to “no.”

As outlined above, it appears that most people are against the slider form factor because there’s a chance that something might break. But on the other side, a lot of people said they were all for the change in style since it would stop companies from introducing phones with notches and hole-punch cameras.

Noteworthy comments

Here are some of the best comments from last week’s poll explaining why they voted the way that they did:

• I’d prefer a simple bezel, instead of making the phone more complex, fragile and expensive.
• I prefer the slider option over a notch or a punch hole in the display, and it could work as way to protect the front camera.
• i would rather to not have front camera and no slider
• Yeah why not, i rarely use the front camera anyway
• Pros : • you can play with your slider • possible jack revival ( or sacrificed again for extra something ) • no notch, so full screen ( perhaps with small chin )
  Cons : • No IP Rating • possible broken slider cuz’ u playin it a lot

That’s it for this week, everyone. As always, thanks for voting, thanks for the comments, and don’t forget to let us know what you thought of the results below.

Source: Android Zone

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Deal: Become an Adobe expert for under $30

The Adobe suite is the gold standard when it comes to photo editing and graphic design software. To build a successful career in almost any creative industry, mastering these programs is a must.

Today’s deal is the perfect way to become an expert in the Adobe suite. The Complete Adobe CC Training Bundle contains seven learning kits to give you creative skills that the great artists of yesteryear could only dream about.

The bundle has masterclasses in both Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator – two of the most popular pieces of photography and graphic design software ever created. If you want to be that guy who gets paid crazy money to design the latest corporate logo, this is where to start.

The Complete Adobe CC Training Bundle:

This package contains over 65 hours and 200 online video tutorials on the world’s leading creative suite. You have access 24/7 for a year, so you can work through it at your own pace. It could be just a hobby to make your Instagram pictures pop, but there’s potential for a whole lot more.

Ignore the $673 retail value, as there’s currently a steep price drop on the whole bundle. Right now you can pick it up for just $29. The offer only lasts until Monday though, so don’t hang about if you’re interested.

Over 18,000 people have already enrolled. To join them, hit the button below.

Check it out!

The AA Picks team writes about things we think you’ll like, and we may see a share of revenue from any purchases made through affiliate links. To see all our hottest deals, head over to the AAPICKS HUB.

Source: Android Zone

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Galaxy S10 case renders seemingly confirm three variants and hardware features

Every year Samsung releases a new generation of Galaxy S smartphones and every year they leak out early. While we’ve already seen a good number of photos appear online, Evan Blass has now shared case renders of the South Korean company’s entire Galaxy S10 lineup.

The below renders reportedly show the Galaxy S10E (previously known as the Lite version), S10, and S10 Plus.

Samsung Galaxy S10E, S10, and S10+ (L to R), encased pic.twitter.com/Pk2gpXkXxn

— Evan Blass (@evleaks) January 19, 2019

If you turn the contrast up on the renders, you can spot a number of additional features. First, it’s quite clear that the Galaxy S10E and S10 each sport a single hole punch camera sensor while the S10 Plus includes a dual-camera setup.

Second, the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus feature three cameras around back while the S10E only has two. Thanks to a previous leak, it’s rumored that the three rear sensors will include a 12MP primary camera with an f/1.5 to f/2.4 variable aperture, a 16MP wide-angle sensor, and a 13MP camera with a telephoto lens. We’re not sure what two sensors will be available on the S10E.

Third, while the Galaxy S10 and S10 Plus will likely include an in-display fingerprint sensor in addition to face unlocking technology, the cheaper S10E model will not. Instead, it appears as though Samsung is going to add a side-mounted fingerprint sensor that doubles as the power button.

Lastly, thanks to the case being clear, we can see that all three phones should include a 3.5mm headphone jack, USB-C port, and a bottom-facing speaker. Additionally, there had some talk that Samsung might use a sound-emitting screen similar to the Vivo Nex phone, but the renders do appear to show a minuscule cutout for an earpiece at the top of the display.

Editor’s Pick

Samsung Galaxy S10: All the rumors in one place (Updated January 10)

Update, January 10, 2019 (10:38 EST): The article has been updated to indicate that Samsung has confirmed it will announce the Galaxy S10 on February 20 at a press event in San Francisco.

In 2019, Samsung will …

Based on previous leaks, it’s believed that the Galaxy S10E will have a 5.8-inch display, the S10 will have a 6.1-inch screen, and the S10 Plus will be the largest at 6.4-inches. It’s also rumored that the class on the two larger models will be curved on the side like with previous Samsung handsets while the S10E will be flat, but it’s hard to tell if that’s exactly true in these renders.

One thing to note here is that case renders aren’t always the most reliable. Occasionally, the accessory manufacturers like to sprinkle on additional details that won’t be seen when the handset is released. But as these images look realistic and they were leaked by Blass, we find them trustworthy.

What do you think about these renders? Which one of the Galaxy S10 variants are you most interested in? Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below!

Source: Android Zone

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The Onkyo G3 Smart Speaker is now under $100 (deal ends tomorrow)

OK Google, how can I combine a booming sound system with Google Assistant? The answer is the beautifully designed Onkyo G3 Smart Speaker. We were excited to find out that it’s temporarily available today for only $94.99.

As a speaker, the weighty G3 is quite a beast. It has a custom woofer with massive magnet, soft-dome tweeter, and powerful switching amp in a resonance-tuned wood cabinet. The result is crystal clear highs and punchy, deep bass, with the casing specially designed to maximize sound quality.

The Onkyo G3 Smart Speaker has Google Assistant and Chromecast built-in, giving you extra bang for your buck. At the most basic level, you can just tell it what music to play without lifting a finger. This is the tip of the iceberg though because as your home gets smarter, the G3 can really start to compliment every aspect of your day.

You could be controlling your TV, getting your coffee made, or just looking up baseball stats. This smart speaker can do the hard work for you, all while banging out your favorite tunes.

The Onkyo G3 Smart Speaker at a glance:

• Comes with Google Assistant and Chromecast built-in for voice-automated media streaming to Chromecast-enabled speakers
• Features voice control for home automation with compliant devices
• Crafted for premium high-fidelity sound with 5Ghz/2.4Ghz Wi-Fi for stable audio streaming
• Non-resonant, computer-modeled wood enclosure with gloss finish and robust and stylish baffle grille for protection
• Custom woofer with massive magnet and balanced dome tweeter produces deep bass, rich mid-range, and clear high-frequency sound
• Efficient and powerful switching amplification system with noise reduction technology

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The retail price of the Onkyo G3 is almost $300, but for the next 36 hours or so it’s available for just $94.99 at Tech Deals. It’s available in black or white.

The deal expires on Saturday night, and we don’t know when it will be back. To find the offer, hit the button below.

Check out the deal!

The AAPicks team writes about things we think you’ll like, and we may see a share of revenue from any purchases made through affiliate links. To see all our hottest deals, head over to the AAPICKS HUB.

Source: Android Zone

The post The Onkyo G3 Smart Speaker is now under $100 (deal ends tomorrow) appeared first on TuneMaster.ml.

Is it dumb that everything is “smart?”

Among the trends we see year in and year out at CES, is the tendency for companies to make “smart” products that don’t really need to be smart. “Better living through data”, we’re told, as the smart toothbrushes, smart locks, and smart sex toys are shoved at us. But is that really the case? We don’t think so. It seems a little cliche to dunk on weird smart gadgets, but the annual electronics show in Las Vegas has become synonymous with ill-conceived smart tech in recent years.

Also read: Weird CES: The bizarre things we didn’t expect to see

While it’s true that the best way to learn about how people use a product is to collect data about it, sometimes you really don’t need to overthink how you use certain tools. Sometimes, making a perfectly-functioning tool “smart” is pretty stupid.

The quest for funding

With tech booming, countless companies are popping up, hoping to snatch the attention of consumers and investors alike. To fund a business that relies on development and manufacturing, it’s hard to contextualize just how much money is typically involved. Small businesses burn through truckloads of cash to make a viable product, especially if it’s to compete with larger tech giants. There are countless stories of companies receiving funding through investors and crowdfunding alike, only to burn through it with a bad product, poor business strategy, or even just bad luck.

The pressure to succeed early is enormous for startups, so it’s no surprise that many of them wind up at the orgy of tech exhibitors looking to sell some product. It’s generally here that the reporters find the more entertaining products to cover, and over the years it’s become a sort of sport among journalists to find the craziest gadget for people to gawp at.

Trade shows provide an opportunity for even the craziest ideas to get eyes, funding.

Which brings us to smart tech. The allure of smart devices as a small business is quite hard to ignore, as they open all sorts of avenues for monetization. Even if you fail, sometimes you can sell enough user data, ads, or even intellectual property to cover the bills, so smart tech is seen as a decent investment to some people. However, that cuts both ways: the willingness of investors to back unproven tech means this is often a category with more chaff than wheat.

Tools exist to make our lives easier

Easily one of my favorite Twitter follows is @internetofshit. If you’re okay with unsavory language, you can scroll through the countless examples of monumentally moronic implementations of “smart” products that actively defeat the original purposes they served. You can read about WiFi-connected deadbolts locking their owners out of their houses while firmware updates, lights unable to turn off at night for no reason, and refrigerators that can’t be repaired because plumbers generally don’t know how to code. It seems that by requiring a connection to the internet, manufacturers have created limitless new possibilities for failure.

This may seem a little silly to you, and that’s because it is. But all of these events really happen, and they’re more common than you might think. So why on earth do people keep buying these things? There must be a major upside to it, right? Well, probably not.

Hope the firmware isn’t updating!

I’ve long been an outspoken critic of dumb smart devices, but what finally broke me this year was Kohler’s second smart toilet. It’s not that I take issue with soft lighting, intelligent use of water, or even a seat warmer — it’s that I really can’t believe we’re at the point where we’re covering an internet-connected commode for a second time. While a lot of its coverage centered around “haha there’s an Alexa in the crapper,” the truth of the matter is the product probably would be an excellent luxury item if only you didn’t need to control it with Google Assistant or Alexa.

Prolonging everyday tasks isn’t wise

Consider the tale of one Mark Rittman. This gentleman bought a “smart kettle” to upgrade his tea-drinking. Unfortunately, his smart kettle didn’t work so well out of the box, and refused to heat water. Though eventually he got it working after about 11 hours of fighting, he could have been enjoying tea within a minute or two if he had just stuck with the model that has a single switch. His story is one shared by anyone who’s tried to set up a smart home, and a warning to the rest of us.

“Do I need this?” is a pretty high bar to clear, but it’s a good metric to consider the utility of new products. Does the product offer something that makes your life easier, or performs a task better than its predecessor? Does it change the way you interact with your tools, or replace them more effectively? Sometimes smart home devices do this, despite my grumblings and reluctance to acknowledge it. Other times, the devices just make things a little more complex or slower to use via app, voice command, or platform integration.

Updating the firmware on my toothbrush. AMA pic.twitter.com/IuMCX3s7bK

— Andrew Crow (@AndrewCrow) December 17, 2018

As you might expect, a lot of the products that are being shown off at trade shows like CES are very basic items with some sensors and antennas shoved into them. Most even work just as well without the “smart” stuff inside. For example: a deadbolt only needs to be operated when you’re physically at the door, so why bother making it susceptible to failures of remote control? Sure, there are probably a couple situations where it’d be nice to be able to lock it from afar, but is that absolutely necessary?

If your tool doesn’t work, it’s junk. I don’t think that’s a very controversial stance to take, given that when you buy something you expect it to do what it’s supposed to, right? So if you’re not willing to give your toothbrush persistent location access or if your toilet won’t flush unless you accept its EULA, it stands to reason that these are crappy products in more ways than one. Some things just don’t need to be smart, and the pursuit of chasing more efficiency in daily life seems to be complicating it in a few ways.

Maybe there will be a point one day where all the normal tasks we have are automated, but until a regular ol’ hammer isn’t as effective as something with WiFi jammed in it, consider that you may just be better off with the money you save not getting the expensive one.

Unintended consequences

While it’s a bit less of a problem now, the mad dash to flood the market with internet-connected things has lead to some avoidable disasters. For example, so many new manufacturers to the space has led to lapses of ethics, and security. It’s not fair to bash any one company more than others over it, but the fact remains that smart devices can put your personal information in danger by a company just getting its legs under itself in smart tech. Connected devices are a new frontier, and there are so many complicated issues surrounding their implementation that oversights are depressingly far more common than you may realize.

Like every other product category embracing smart tech, headphones have had their fair share of security issues.

Like I said, nobody wants you to become a victim of identity theft or snooping — but a surprisingly high amount of smart devices will make it a lot easier for that to happen. Headphone manufacturers have had a particularly tough time with security, and many smart products straight-up collect user data, like Bose was accused of in 2017.

Other issues that have plagued smart devices is their unintended use as parts of botnets to attack others, inability to ignore recorded voices, and leaking audio that should never have left the house. Depending on the product, you can leak just about any information it might have, including some incredibly sensitive insight into your bedroom. Have a fever? Get ready for some targeted ads while you’re under the weather! Complain in a review? Now your garage won’t open!

Though I’m not going to tell you that you shouldn’t enjoy a smart device, they do tend to create some problems where none existed before — all completely avoidable by just using the tools we have that already work. The best way to avoid issues with smart tech is to take a deep breath, relax, and ask yourself: “Am I an idiot for buying this?”

Source: Android Zone

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Google Play still has a clone problem in 2019 with no end in sight

Some problems exist for so long they become normal. Sometimes, like Microsoft’s Blue Screen of Death, they become a meme. App cloning and outright fakes that masquerade as legitimate apps in the Google Play Store are problems like this. Clones are everywhere in the Play Store. Fakes are less common, but potentially even more damaging.

The difference between the two is subtle, but important. A clone is an app or game that looks and acts very similarly to an existing app or game, but is not a full copy. Clash of Lords by IGG is basically Clash of Clans by Supercell, with a couple of minor tweaks to the gameplay, name, and graphical assets. These are generally legal, but annoying.

A fake app tries to clone another app in name, looks, and functionality, often also adding something like malware. Despite Google’s best efforts, both types of apps were fairly common in 2018.

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2018 had its fair share of clones

The two biggest mobile games of 2018 were Fortnite and PUBG Mobile. As you can imagine, plenty of other developers wanted in on that action. Battle royale shooters made continuous headlines, garnered millions of downloads, and took the top spots on most mobile game of the year lists. VentureBeat noted that over 100 clones made it to Google Play before either game even launched. The issue hit PUBG Mobile more than Fortnite, as Google actually took steps to prevent clones from stealing Fortnite’s action.

We’d like to say this is a new problem with a quick solution, but it’s not. Every year, a few really big apps or games are followed swiftly by a clone army invasion large enough to make even Palpatine envious. It’s a problem so old we barely even notice it anymore. Most of us simply learned how to wade through the nonsense, or we trust Google enough to put the real version as the top search result.

That didn’t change in 2018.

Fake apps and clones make everything suck more

The threat of fake apps and monotony of game clones affect consumers quite a bit. It causes trust issues and occasionally makes the Play Store confusing and irritating to use. However, if you think consumers are the only ones having problems here, consider what this can do to developers.

There’s an amusing story about how the developers of Blek (a game on iOS) received consistent emails from people complaining about advertising when Blek had no advertising. The people were playing clones and simply didn’t know it, so they complained to the actual developers of the games. Stories like that seem silly and ridiculous, but happen fairly frequently. A well placed clone can cause all kinds of havoc in the Play Store and even Apple’s App Store. In some cases, the clones end up more popular than the actual game, as was the case with the 2048 and Threes.

Fakes can cause some real problems too. In late 2017, a fake Avast app basically farmed phone numbers and five star ratings on Google Play. Google Play removed the real Magisk Manager in mid-2017, and then removed a complete malware-ridden fake in 2018. That same developer had fakes of ZArchiver, Dolphin Emulator, and KKGamer Pro. There was a fad of fake apps using Android device resources to mine cryptocurrency in 2018 as well. You can see where this is going.

Fakes and clones make everything suck and it usually causes at least some sort of damage to both developers and consumers.

Can the problem even be solved?

The problem is a little more complicated than it appears on the surface. Cloning a problem, but in some cases it’s also legal, so Google can’t actually do anything about it. Let’s talk about the biggest problems we face with clones and fakes.

Problem One: Re-publishing is easy

The first major problem is re-publishing. A Google Play account costs a single $25 fee and an App Store developer account is $99 per year. That fee is basically pocket change to a cloner making decent money. If you ban the IP address, they can just use a VPN. If you ban the email address, they can just create another email. You can try to ban the app itself, but developers can just change a few lines of code and the package name to subvert that ban. Short of flying to the cloner’s residence and setting them on fire, there isn’t much Apple or Google can do about cloners other than just banning and removing apps when they can.

A ban or app removal is little more than a temporary annoyance to cloners and fakers.

321Mediaplyer is a clone of the popular VLC media player. That’s usually okay because VLC is open source, but 321Mediaplayer has ads and ads aren’t allowed by VLC’s open source license. It was removed in early 2018, and it’s back on Google Play with over 500,000 downloads. Sometimes it’s just that easy to re-publish a clone and keep it under the radar.

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Problem Two: Legalese

The second major problem is the legality of it. Video game developers can copyright graphics, music, a story, character design, and a bunch of other stuff. However, they cannot currently copyright game mechanics. The reason is rather complicated, but to put it simply, a developer can’t copyright the idea of a health bar, shooting other players, or other super basic things like that. There are some exceptions, but by and large most game mechanics simply can’t be copyrighted.

Games are like paintings. You can copyright the finished work, but that’s it.

Think of it like artwork. A painter can create a painting of an elephant and copyright that painting. However, that copyright doesn’t prevent other people from painting elephants. They can even use the same brush stroke technique, brand of canvas, and color palette, because you can’t copyright that stuff either. As long as it doesn’t look exactly like the original, it’s not legally considered a fake or a clone. You could end up with hundreds of similar looking elephant paintings with the same canvas, brush strokes, paint type, and colors, and that’s perfectly legal. It is very much the same with mobile apps and games.

You could just let developers copyright game mechanics, but this would destroy the game industry. After all, PUBG Mobile is a shooter, which is hardly unique. It’s not the first battle royale game, nor is it the first survival game with a last-person-standing mechanic. PUBG Mobile is a collection of ideas from other games, as are most games these days. We either let the clones live as they are or we start a horrible legal battle where the developers of Doom, Myst, and Canabalt get everybody’s money.

It’s only illegal if it copies assets and code from the original game.

In the true legal sense, a clone or a fake is only truly illegal if it copies the assets directly from another app or game. We call them clones, but we use it as a slang term. Most game clones on Google Play are just iterations taking part in a fad. It’s a lot like why we got two volcano movies in 1997, two movies about meteors destroying Earth in 1998, or why every country music song uses electronic drum tracks now. People follow success, even if it means shamelessly riding coat tails. Unfortunately, that practice is perfectly legal.

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Problem Three: Who’s job is it to fix things?

When I first started writing this article, I was going to follow the popular opinion that Google and Apple simply need to work harder to root out clones. However, Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has a very interesting quote in this Polygon interview:

I don’t think we should fault Google or Apple for the appearance of clones. They operate stores that accept hundreds of thousands of products from the developer community, so it would be impossible to keep track of original authorship, and there’s a reasonable DMCA notice process for developers to inform them when copyright infringement does occur.

He’s right and that’s the problem. It’s not really possible or feasible for Google and Apple to judge every submission against all other submissions and existing products to see if it copies an asset or an idea. With everything we’ve talked about so far, we’d basically be asking Google and Apple to create a system that does all this:

• Sort through hundreds of thousands of submissions annually.
• Match new submissions with assets from other new submissions or existing products without false flagging legitimate use cases.
• Apply the extremely complicated laws for copyright infringement without false flagging.
• Institute a system where developers can appeal false flags that actually works.
• Operate quickly, because it’s unfair for developers to wait weeks for a submission to go live.

We still have this clone problem, even after Google removed over 700,000 apps and games from the Play Store in 2017 alone. Plus, Google doesn’t have the best history of dealing with app developers, even leaving them to deal with vague bot messages that explain nothing. Look a little further to YouTube, and creators frequently get demonetized, demoted in search rankings, and sometimes flat out banned for hidden reasons without much feedback from YouTube. Google’s AI and Search techniques are super powerful, but even they are not powerful or consistent enough to take on such a large endeavor.

Google’s AI is powerful, but so far Google bots haven’t done great with Google Play, Search, or YouTube.

The most logical course of action is crowdsourcing, developer intervention, and diligence. As Sweeney says, Google has a DMCA notice process for developers. There is also a flagging procedure for all of us normal people. It would take less time, effort, and money for developers and consumers to flag apps on our own rather than depending on Google (or Apple) to build, fund, and hire a whole new department to do it for us. Sometimes, the best answer is just good old fashioned hard work, communication, and paying attention.

The good news is blatant fakes are usually easy to spot, and Google is usually willing to remove them once notified. Google also does a good job of removing malware and other types of harmful or dangerous apps long before they reach our devices.

As it stands, any fully implemented system to remove illegal clones from the Play Store would actually change very little. There just isn’t much anybody can do about it unless a law changes at some point.

For now, it’s up to us and developers to root out the problems.

Source: Android Zone

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Smartphone quiz: Do you know what these acronyms mean?

You’re probably familiar with smartphone-related terms such as GPS, NFC, and USB, but do you really know what they mean? Let’s find out.

This week’s quiz revolves around well-known acronyms, and your job is to figure out what they stand for. There are three choices available for each of the 10 questions, only one of which is correct. If you consider yourself an expert in the field of smartphones, you should get most of them right.

Are you up for the challenge? Press the Start button below and show us what you got — and don’t forget to share your result on social media at the end.

Note: There is a widget embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s widget.

Note: If you don’t see a Start button, click here.

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This is the 25th quiz in our regular weekly series. You can take a few of the most popular ones via the links below or check out all of them by clicking here.

• Fortnite vs PUBG: Which one is right for you?
  
• Smartphone quiz: Do you remember these gimmicky features?
• Can you name a smartphone just by looking at it?
• How much do you really know about Android?
• Which phone did it first?
• Name that smartphone!

Let us know which questions you thought were the hardest and share your result with others in the comment section.

Source: Android Zone

The post Smartphone quiz: Do you know what these acronyms mean? appeared first on TuneMaster.ml.