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12
Feb

How to transfer or sync your calendar from iPhone to Android


nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (13 of 26)

Gone are the days when switching between platforms was a long, complicated process we all tried to avoid. Your digital life is much simpler now, thanks to the implementation of the cloud and other great tools you can use to make your migration easier.

Of course, one of the most popular transitions is going from an iOS to Android. We have already shown you how to transfer your music and contacts, so it’s time to tackle another main factor – that calendar!


nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (12 of 26)See also: 10 reasons why Android is still better than iOS300

Use Google

Want to import things manually? Be my guest, but that has become unnecessary in modern times. You can take care of everything with the cloud, and it’s actually really easy to transfer your contacts from any iPhone to your Google calendars.

  1. On your iPhone, go to Settings.
  2. Select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.
  3. Select your Google account (if you have it in your phone; if not, add it).
  4. Go to “Calendars” and switch the toggle on.
  5. This will sync all your calendars automatically. Done!

google-search Denys Prykhodov / Shutterstock.com

How about iCloud?

Some of you may not even store your calendars directly to your iPhone, and instead have chosen to go with iCloud. If this is the case, you kind of do have to do things manually, but it’s still a simplified process.

  1. Go to your iPhone’s Settings menu and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  2. Select Add Account and set-up or log in to your iCloud account.
  3. Allow your iPhone to sync your local calendar files to iCloud.
  4. On your PC’s Web browser, open www.icloud.com and login to your iCloud account.
  5. Click the Calendar icon to open the Calendar interface.
  6. On the left pane, click the Share Calendar button beside the calendar that you want to export.
  7. export-calendarIn the popup balloon, tick “Public Calendar.” Copy the sharing URL that appears below it.
  8. On a new Web browser tab or window, paste the copied URL.
  9. Change webcal in the URL to http and press the Enter key to open the address.
  10. Your Web browser will download a file with random characters as file name. This file is actually a copy of your iCloud Calendar entries.
  11. Save the file to a convenient folder on your computer. For convenience, you may rename the file and add the ics extension (e.g., calendar.ics).
  12. Open and login to Google Calendar on your Web browser.
  13. On the left pane of the Google Calendar interface, click the menu arrow at the right of Other Calendars.
  14. Select Import Calendar.
  15. import-calendarSelect the exported calendar file that you downloaded from iCloud. You can also choose the destination Google calendar (if you have more than one) in the same dialog.
  16. Click the Import button to upload the file. Once importing is finished, you should be able to see the imported entries in the Google Calendar web interface. The new entries will also be synced to your Android device.

This method provides an easy way to transfer all of your iCloud Calendar data to your Google account. However, it is a one-way affair. It does not sync your iPhone and Android’s calendars, which means that if you add or remove entries in your iCloud Calendar, the change won’t be reflected in Google Calendar unless you go through the export-import process again.

iCloud

Third-party applications

There’s plenty of apps out there that promise to transfer your contacts across platforms, and they likely do so, but I happen to be a fan of one. Let’s check it out.

SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar app

The second method works perfectly if you are planning to completely abandon the world of iPhone and enter the world of Android. But, if you intend to use both iPhone and Android, you better have a way to sync calendars between your two phones.

Thankfully, there’s the SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar app by Marten Gajda. It lets you establish an iPhone-to-Android connection for instantaneous calendar syncing from iPhone to Android — but not vice-versa. There’s no need for exporting, file downloads, uploads, or importing via web-based interfaces. Just set up the app, configure it, and it’s good to go.

how-to-transfer-sync-calendar-iphone-android-0023

You can get the app from the Google Play Store for $2.86, which, I think, is a reasonable price for smooth and seamless syncing of your iPhone calendar to your Android device.

To use the app, first setup your iCloud account on your iPhone and allow it to backup your calendar to the cloud.

After that, run SmoothSync on your Android device and login to your iCloud account within the app.

Then, select which iCloud calendars to sync to your Android device. Once the connection is active and properly setup, and for as long as iCloud remains active on your iPhone, any change that you make in your iPhone calendar will be automatically reflected in your Android device.

Download SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar

nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (21 of 26)

Conclusion

We live in a fast-paced world in which switching to something new may be intimidating, due to all the hassles and learning curves this may imply, but today we show you that the process is no longer as complicated. In fact, many of us would argue that switching has become a pretty easy process.

No excuses, guys. Want to jump into the awesome world of Android? Just do it! It will take but a few minutes to get your calendar on that shiny Android device you have been eyeing.

12
Feb

How to transfer or sync your calendar from iPhone to Android


nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (13 of 26)

Gone are the days when switching between platforms was a long, complicated process we all tried to avoid. Your digital life is much simpler now, thanks to the implementation of the cloud and other great tools you can use to make your migration easier.

Of course, one of the most popular transitions is going from an iOS to Android. We have already shown you how to transfer your music and contacts, so it’s time to tackle another main factor – that calendar!


nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (12 of 26)See also: 10 reasons why Android is still better than iOS300

Use Google

Want to import things manually? Be my guest, but that has become unnecessary in modern times. You can take care of everything with the cloud, and it’s actually really easy to transfer your contacts from any iPhone to your Google calendars.

  1. On your iPhone, go to Settings.
  2. Select “Mail, Contacts, Calendars”.
  3. Select your Google account (if you have it in your phone; if not, add it).
  4. Go to “Calendars” and switch the toggle on.
  5. This will sync all your calendars automatically. Done!

google-search Denys Prykhodov / Shutterstock.com

How about iCloud?

Some of you may not even store your calendars directly to your iPhone, and instead have chosen to go with iCloud. If this is the case, you kind of do have to do things manually, but it’s still a simplified process.

  1. Go to your iPhone’s Settings menu and select Mail, Contacts, Calendars.
  2. Select Add Account and set-up or log in to your iCloud account.
  3. Allow your iPhone to sync your local calendar files to iCloud.
  4. On your PC’s Web browser, open www.icloud.com and login to your iCloud account.
  5. Click the Calendar icon to open the Calendar interface.
  6. On the left pane, click the Share Calendar button beside the calendar that you want to export.
  7. export-calendarIn the popup balloon, tick “Public Calendar.” Copy the sharing URL that appears below it.
  8. On a new Web browser tab or window, paste the copied URL.
  9. Change webcal in the URL to http and press the Enter key to open the address.
  10. Your Web browser will download a file with random characters as file name. This file is actually a copy of your iCloud Calendar entries.
  11. Save the file to a convenient folder on your computer. For convenience, you may rename the file and add the ics extension (e.g., calendar.ics).
  12. Open and login to Google Calendar on your Web browser.
  13. On the left pane of the Google Calendar interface, click the menu arrow at the right of Other Calendars.
  14. Select Import Calendar.
  15. import-calendarSelect the exported calendar file that you downloaded from iCloud. You can also choose the destination Google calendar (if you have more than one) in the same dialog.
  16. Click the Import button to upload the file. Once importing is finished, you should be able to see the imported entries in the Google Calendar web interface. The new entries will also be synced to your Android device.

This method provides an easy way to transfer all of your iCloud Calendar data to your Google account. However, it is a one-way affair. It does not sync your iPhone and Android’s calendars, which means that if you add or remove entries in your iCloud Calendar, the change won’t be reflected in Google Calendar unless you go through the export-import process again.

iCloud

Third-party applications

There’s plenty of apps out there that promise to transfer your contacts across platforms, and they likely do so, but I happen to be a fan of one. Let’s check it out.

SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar app

The second method works perfectly if you are planning to completely abandon the world of iPhone and enter the world of Android. But, if you intend to use both iPhone and Android, you better have a way to sync calendars between your two phones.

Thankfully, there’s the SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar app by Marten Gajda. It lets you establish an iPhone-to-Android connection for instantaneous calendar syncing from iPhone to Android — but not vice-versa. There’s no need for exporting, file downloads, uploads, or importing via web-based interfaces. Just set up the app, configure it, and it’s good to go.

how-to-transfer-sync-calendar-iphone-android-0023

You can get the app from the Google Play Store for $2.86, which, I think, is a reasonable price for smooth and seamless syncing of your iPhone calendar to your Android device.

To use the app, first setup your iCloud account on your iPhone and allow it to backup your calendar to the cloud.

After that, run SmoothSync on your Android device and login to your iCloud account within the app.

Then, select which iCloud calendars to sync to your Android device. Once the connection is active and properly setup, and for as long as iCloud remains active on your iPhone, any change that you make in your iPhone calendar will be automatically reflected in your Android device.

Download SmoothSync for Cloud Calendar

nexus 6p vs iphone 6s plus aa (21 of 26)

Conclusion

We live in a fast-paced world in which switching to something new may be intimidating, due to all the hassles and learning curves this may imply, but today we show you that the process is no longer as complicated. In fact, many of us would argue that switching has become a pretty easy process.

No excuses, guys. Want to jump into the awesome world of Android? Just do it! It will take but a few minutes to get your calendar on that shiny Android device you have been eyeing.

12
Feb

Google will reportedly enter the VR fray with a stand-alone headset


According to a report in the Wall Street Journal, sources close to Google have indicated that the tech giant is working on a stand-alone Virtual Reality headset that will be independent of a phone, computer, or gaming console. Google is apparently ready to take on the likes of Oculus, and offerings from Sony, HTC, and Samsung with their new headset that may debut later this year. A VR headset that works independently of another system would be a first in the VR field, and possibly give Google a leg up on its competition.

Since the beginning we’ve been about making VR available for everyone. We’ll have some more to share later in the year

Clay Bavor, Google’s new VR Chief

A source familiar with Google’s plans has indicated that the new headset will include a screen, high-powered processors, and outwardly facing cameras. Google will reportedly use chips from Movidius Inc. to power the headset. The chips will tap into the cameras on the headset to check the camera’s feeds and check the position of the user’s head. This would be different from other VR headsets that use an accompanying computing device, like a desktop computer or gaming console, to track the movements of users’ heads.

Nothing has been confirmed yet, and we’re only getting information from sources close to the project. This isn’t uncommon for an unreleased device. We see leaks almost every day for devices like the Samsung Galaxy S7 and the LG G5 that have yet to see the light of day. What is different about this situation is that we’re talking about an entirely new device from Google.

Virtual Reality is an area where Google has dipped their toes in the water (Google Cardboard), but has yet to commit to go swimming. It’s entirely possible that Google begins to go down this path, and either finds it too difficult or too costly and cancels the project. It could turn out similarly to projects like Google Wave or Google Buzz that saw limited beta releases, then were shuttered.

cardboard-01

There are also reports coming out that Google is working on an updated version of Google cardboard. The new version would be made out of plastic, and while it would continue to rely on a user’s smartphone screen, it would include computer chips and sensors. Cardboard started as an experiment for Google, but after 5 million units shipped, the project may have convinced Google that Virtual Reality is a revenue stream waiting to be tapped.

Keep your eyes peeled to Google I/O 2016 for a possible announcement.

Source: Wall Street Journal via The Verge

The post Google will reportedly enter the VR fray with a stand-alone headset appeared first on AndroidGuys.

12
Feb

AT&T gets ready to test 5G technologies this 2016


AT&T has been working on possible 5G technologies, such as millimeter waves, for years. Now that it’s time to get serious, it’s teaming up with Ericsson and Intel to ramp up its development in the lab in the second quarter of the year. After that, it’s moving its 5G endeavors out of the lab and into the field, starting with outdoor tests over the summer.

The carrier says 60 percent of its mobile traffic in 2015 came from video. It’s moving forward with its 5G plans, because emerging technologies like virtual reality, 4K video, robots, Internet of Things and self-driving cars will be even more demanding. As AT&T’s Chief Strategy Officer John Donovan notes, those technologies “will be immersive, pervasive and responsive to customers. 5G will help make them a reality.”

5G internet could be anywhere from 10 to 100 times faster than LTE, with users observing downloads going gigabits (yes, gigabits) per second. Imagine being able to finish downloading a TV show for less than three seconds. That’s nowhere near enough time to get up and microwave some popcorn. AT&T believes its 5G network will even be able to start streaming videos much, much faster — just 1 to 5 milliseconds from the moment you press play — than an LTE connection.

If everything goes well, some parts of Austin, Texas will be able to test out Ma Bell’s 5G tech by the end of this year. The company says it’s conducting tests in a way that enables it to deploy the network commercially as soon as 5G standards are set. You’d have to wait a while for that to happen, though. 3GPP, the international consortium in charge of hashing out network standards, is working on it right now. However, phase one (of two) won’t be completed until the first half of 2018. By the way, AT&T isn’t the only US carrier gearing up to test its next-gen mobile network: Verizon will soon begin its 5G wireless service trials, as well.

[Image credit: Mike Mozart/Flickr]

Source: AT&T

12
Feb

Gear S2 update brings unread notifications on watch face, new apps, and more


samsung gear s2 review aa (7 of 9)

Samsung’s well-received Gear S2 smartwatch is getting a small update that brings new apps, functionality additions, and performance improvements.

One of the biggest issues with joining Samsung’s Tizen-powered ecosystem is the relative lack of third-party apps. Over the past year, Samsung has worked hard to get developers to create apps for Tizen, ensuring that at least some big names are present on its platform. Clearly, that’s an ongoing effort, as the latest update to the Gear S2 brings three new apps – World Clock, EPSN, and News Briefing.

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The update also adds several watch faces inspired by the work of Italian designer Alessandro Mendini, who also released straps and other accessories for Samsung’s smartwatch back in autumn.

New functionality coming to the Gear S2 is the ability to search through your contacts, a new screen time out session, and an unread notification indicator in the watch face. This last change in particular should prove useful. Also, you can now input emoji with the keyboard.

The 92MB update is rolling out now as an OTA. For more on the Gear S2, check out our review, as well as our follow up impressions.

12
Feb

AT&T joins Verizon on early 5G tests in the U.S. this year


5g-logo-mwc-2015-2

AT&T has confirmed that it, like Verizon, will begin testing 5G networks in the U.S. in 2016, with plans to introduce commercial services for fixed 5G later in the year. This is not to be confused with wireless 5G which won’t be commercially viable until around 2020 (or 2018 if you live in South Korea). But with speeds of 10-100 times that of the fastest 4G/LTE networks, any 5G is good 5G.


5G Huawei -2See also: 4G and 5G wireless: How they are alike and how they differ6

AT&T is looking to test fixed 5G connections as a possible alternative to fiber optic broadband connections in rural areas. “Ultimately as an integrated carrier we have a lot of incentive to (add) any new technology (to our) footprint, particularly if that 5G for fixed usage has better economics than fiber in certain locales,” said John Donovan, AT&T’s chief strategy officer.

Getting in early on a fixed line 5G network will obviously provide an advantage when the cellular version gets standardized in the coming years, with the expectation of an agreed-upon 5G standard for wireless to be worked out in 2018. AT&T is confident that its early forays into 5G networks will pay off in years to come for wireless 5G. As Donovan confided, “when it’s ready, we’re ready.”

AT&T Logo Shutterstock

Verizon announced similar plans last year and has already been cooperating with Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Nokia and Cisco in testing its early 5G network. AT&T announced it will be working with Intel and Ericsson on its first trials, which will begin in the second quarter of this year.

While these efforts to be on the front foot are laudable, it’s important to note that without a formalized standard, what’s called “5G” now might be a long way from what 5G ends up being classified as in two years’ time. The basic themes of 5G (which requires a generational shift from 4G) are: extremely low latency, speed matching, multiple-user and multi-stream connections, pervasiveness and data speeds that are 10-100 times faster than current 4G connections.

The road to 5G

While the concept of pervasiveness means that “true” 5G won’t be true 5G until it is everywhere – with no areas of weak reception or no connection at all – the other themes are already in play in various 5G test that have been conducted for the last several years. T-Mobile is currently the fastest LTE network in the U.S. with download speeds of 12.26 MB/s, whereas 5G download speeds have already been demoed as fast as 3.6 GB/s.

The fastest theoretical LTE speeds currently are 150 MB/s while the various top speeds tossed around in 5G discussions so far have been anywhere from 10 GB/s to 20 GB/s. Of course the average person won’t see these speeds, but even something like 5 GB/s will be light years better than anything most of us have ever imagined.

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AT&T will begin testing its fixed line 5G network in Austin in the next few months, with commercial rollout in the latter half of the year if the tests are successful. Verizon is testing its 5G network in San Francisco and Waltham, Mass.

When do you expect to see 5G? What are you expecting from next-gen data speeds?

12
Feb

What is CPU frequency scaling?


One of the most important (and obvious) characteristics of mobile computing is that mobile devices use batteries rather than being plugged into the mains power. This means that every part of a mobile system needs to be tuned to save as much power as possible yet while offering the best performance available. Normally these two demands (efficiency and performance) are at odds with each other. The higher the performance, the higher the power consumption and heat generated. On the desktop this isn’t so much of a problem as PCs are connected to the mains and have massive cooling fans. However that isn’t the case on mobile.

There is a direct relationship between the amount of power used by a processor and its clock frequency. In a nutshell the quicker all the transistors (gates) are switched in the chip the more power is used. How often the gates are switched is controlled by the clock frequency. You can maybe think of it as akin to the engine revs in a car, the higher the revs the more fuel consumed.

What this means is that by lowering the clock frequency the power consumption is also lowered, and that is vital for mobile computing and especially for smartphones. There is a feature in Android (via the Linux kernel) which allows the clock frequency of the processor to be varied, scaled down when the phone is not being used much and ramped up when needed.

It turns out that when the clock frequency is lower then the chip doesn’t need as many volts to run. So there is a correlation between the clock frequency and the volts needed. Therefore these two can be adjusted in tandem. Whenever the clock frequency is changed then the voltage can be changed as well. Altering them together is known as Dynamic Voltage and Frequency Scaling or DVFS for short.

What does it mean for users?

The biggest benefit for smartphone users is battery life. Since the CPU isn’t running at full power all of the time it means that while you are reading a web page or pondering your next move in a game then the CPU frequency can be scaled down to save power. Once the app needs more performance then the CPU frequency (along with the voltage) will be increased to handle the new demands. However this does show one weakness of DVFS, it is reactive. The frequency is increased as a reaction to the demand for more performance. This means that there is always a slight delay from when the extra performance is needed to when it is delivered. Thankfully that delay is almost imperceptible, however developers using profiling tools might see it, but more about that in the section below. To get around this lag, Android has one little trick, whenever the screen is touched the CPU frequency of one or more cores is boosted in anticipation of some user interface activity.

If you want to see DVFS in action then you can download an app like CPU Z. On the SoC tab you can see lots of information about your device’s processor including the make, model and number of cores. Also listed is some clock speed data. Each core is listed besides its current frequency. If you watch closely then you will see that each core has a changing clock speed. If some of the cores are stopped and the others are running at a low speed (like 300MHz or similar) then touch the screen to see how the cores react.

There is one more thing worth mentioning, the scaling governor. There is component of the Linux kernel which controls the DVFS scaling. It is called the scaling governor. The default governor is called “interactive.” It is in fact the interactive governor which ramps up the CPU frequency when the screen is touched. If you have rooted your phone it is possible to change the governor using programs like Kernel Adiutor (ROOT) or Root Booster.

There is lots of information (and sometimes, misinformation) about changing the governor to get significantly different performance/battery results from your device. If this kind of thing interests you then you could have some fun playing with the governor settings, however you can only change the governor if you have root access. It is also worth remembering that smartphone OEMs spend a lot of time and money building phones with the highest possible performance levels while maintaining a reasonable battery life. If tweaking the governor actually produced better results then you can be sure that the OEMs would do that.

What does it mean for developers?

android-system-trace-systrace-16x9
I mentioned that the CPU scaling is reactive and not proactive. This means that there can be a lag when exiting a low frequency state of around 20 ms. If you use Android System Trace (Systrace) for profiling your apps then you can sometimes see that the first frame may not render in the 16ms time frame needed for 60 frames per second. There isn’t much that you can do about this as a developer, however knowing that this is the expected behavior will stop you chasing your tail if you see a dropped frame when coming out of a low CPU frequency.

Colt McAnlis has a brief video about “CPU Frequency Scaling” on Android. In the video he discusses how DVFS is one of those harsh realities of mobile development that you can’t control, but can have an impact on your app.

There is more…

In the last few years there have also been a number of other advances to help improve battery efficiency while boosting performance. The most important of which is probably Heterogeneous Multi-Processing (HMP) as used in ARM’s big.LITTLE system.  In a HMP processor not all the cores are equal (hence Heterogeneous). In a modern 64-bit processor this would mean that a cluster of Cortex-A57 or Cortex-A72 cores would be used in conjunction with a cluster of Cortex-A53 cores. The A72 is a high performance core, while the A53 has greater energy efficiency.

What this means is that when the workload becomes two much for the LITTLE cores (Cortex-A53 in this example) then the big cores (Cortex-A72) take over. If DVFS is akin to the revs of a car engine, the big.LITTLE is like changing gears.

arm-cortex-chip-die

I have written about and benchmarked big.LITTLE processors quite extensively, if you want to know more about HMP then I can suggest the following articles: Fact or Fiction: Android apps only use one CPU coreUp close and personal: how the Samsung Galaxy S6 uses its octa-core processor, and Exynos 7420: Multitasking, multi-core and multiprocessing.

The initial implementations of the software part for big.LITTLE used the DVFS system to trigger a switch from the LITTLE cores to the big cores. Since then things have become more complex and ARM is currently working on an energy-aware scheduler for Android which will allow the Linux kernel to pick which cores run which tasks based not only on the feedback from the DVFS system but also from the Intelligent Power Allocation (IPA) algorithms and from CPU idle. There are more details in my article Energy-Aware Scheduling for Android.

So bottom line, CPU frequency scaling is good, it saves battery. When coupled with big.LITTLE, IPA and energy-aware scheduling then the battery savings are even greater.

12
Feb

The 2016 presidential race according to Facebook ‘likes’


The data-minded folks over at FiveThirtyEight have teamed up with Facebook to find out what parts of the country support which candidate via an interactive map. While FiveThirtyEight stresses that this is in no way a representative sample (Facebook users skew heavily younger, low-income and female, for instance), it’s still interesting to see where candidates stack up in terms of page likes.

My backyard of Kent County in Michigan has Republican neurosurgeon Ben Carson leading the way with 30 percent of likes, Vermont Democrat Bernie Sanders with 29 percent and priapic real estate mogul Donald Trump trailing at 17 percent. But judging by the rest of the map up above, that order isn’t far off from how the rest of the country is leaning.

But if likes translated directly to votes, Sanders would likely beat former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton nationwide by a 3:1 ratio, with Trump picking up more votes than Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio combined.

You can even further drill down and compare candidates on a same-party, state-by-state basis as well, should you so desire. Again, it’s important to note that this isn’t anywhere close to being a scientific prediction of who will win the race for our country’s top office.

FiveThirtyEight says that another factor playing into these numbers is that “only some people on Facebook have liked a presidential candidate’s page.” Meaning, just because you support a candidate, it doesn’t mean you’ve clicked the thumbs up.

Want to do some research before you like or vote? Then give our guide to the candidates a gander.

Source: FiveThirtyEight

12
Feb

Runkeeper is the latest app to be bought by a shoe company


If you’re a sportswear company, then you need your own app-cum-social network to maintain relevant in this modern age. That’s why Asics has just picked up Runkeeper in a deal that’s been announced by the latter firm’s CEO, Jason Jacobs. In a post over on Medium, Jones reveals that the pair have entered into a “definitive agreement” to be bought, although he’s not revealing how much the company will cost. What is interesting, however, is that it made plenty of sense for Asics to buy the company, since Runkeeper’s data said that most of its Shoe Tracker users run with that very same brand of shoe.

Asics was one of the few big names out there that didn’t currently have a digital footprint, a worry when so many of its rivals are tooling up. For instance, Nike has been far ahead of the field with its Nike+ social network and various apps to help running and sneaker buying. Runtastic, meanwhile, was snapped up by Adidas last summer. In addition, Under Armor picked up Endomondo and MyFitnessPal for half a billion dollars combined and is working with HTC on a range of devices. It also raises questions for the last few really well-known fitness apps that are yet to be picked up — making us all wonder what Strava’s gotta do to get some love.

Via: The Next Web

Source: Asics, Medium

12
Feb

Twitter’s out-of-order timeline prompts TfL to narrow travel updates


Transport for London (TfL) runs a whole host of Twitter accounts designed to keep commuters up to date with travel disruptions. The organisation is now changing its approach, however, and reducing its overall tweet output for minor delays and incidents. Why? Well, because of “various changes” that Twitter has made to users’ timelines. The organisation doesn’t blame any specific features, mentioning instead how “selected content on Twitter is (now) shown out of sequence.” In response, certain accounts will soon be tweaked. The handles for the Underground lines, for instance (@bakerlooline, @circleline, etc.) will switch from real-time service updates to focused news and alerts for major disruptions.

In a blog post, TfL has documented some of Twitter’s major experiments and feature additions since 2009. These include the now abandoned Discover tab, the While You Were Away catchup service and Moments. Notably, the list ends with a line on the company’s new timeline option, introduced earlier this week, that promises to show a selection of highly ranked tweets at the top of your feed. The service is opt-in, but with its current approach TfL says it’s still worried only “high impact and important updates would be likely to reach customers.”

It’s true that Twitter has been experimenting with features that weigh heavily on curation and algorithms. These, it hopes, will surface the best of the social network for users that don’t want to be constantly refreshing their feed. The core Twitter experience remains the same though — it’s a list of tweets in chronological order that show you conversations and moments happening right now. As a result, TfL’s minute-to-minute travel updates should still be effective. If, however, it sees Twitter’s new timeline option as a problem (regardless of whether it poses one or not) that could indicate a larger perception problem for Jack Dorsey’s company.

Source: TfL Digital Blog