How to share photos from Google Photos

Sharing photos is easy whether you want to upload to Facebook or just share with one person.

Google Photos is a great way to store your photos and ensure that you never accidentally delete something that holds value to you. But as we all know, half of the fun of photos in the social media age is the ability to easily share them. Thankfully, Google makes things really easy to share your best photos on Instagram, or just your best friends hassle-free. We’ve got all the details for you here.

Share photos to friends and social media

The easiest way to share our photos with the world is by posting them to social media. This lets your friends and family discover them on their own time whenever they check their feeds. This method allows you to share a single photo with specific friends, or directly to social media. It’s simple, it’s easy, and it will let you have complete control over who sees your photo.

Open Google Photos
Tap on the photo that you want to share
Tap the share icon at the bottom left of your screen.
Tap on the icon for your social media of choice, or choose a person to send the photo to

Share an album

There are times that sharing a single photo just isn’t going to cut it. Whether you want to share snaps from your latest adventure or photos from a recent party, sharing an album may be the most convenient way to go about it. You get some more options when you share an album, and retain control over who can see it at all. This option may be the best idea for folks who have a dozen or more photos to share, or who want to allow friends to add more photos to the album through collaborative features.

Open Google Photos
Tap the album icon in the bottom right corner

Tap on the album you would like to share.

Tap the overflow icon in the upper right corner, it looks like 3 vertical dots.
Adjust the album sharing options and copy the link
Send the share link to those you want to share this album with.

Check to see what you’ve shared

In some cases you might want to double check who you have shared a specific album or photo with and Google has you covered. In the album section of the app, you’ll find an area called ‘Shared’. Within it are the albums and photos you have shared, along with whom you have shared those photos with. This is an easy way to check whether you’ve shared a specific photo before, and ensure you’ve shared it with all of the appropriate people.

Open Google Photos
Tap the album icon in the bottom right corner
Tap on Shared
Double check on shared content

Sharing made simple

Google Photos delivers tons of great options when it comes to sharing the moments that matter to you. It doesn’t matter whether you want to share them with just one person, a select group, or everyone following you on Instagram, Google has you covered. You can share, adjust settings, and even see who you shared past photos and albums with all from within the Google Photos app.

Are you a fan of sharing using Google Photos? Be sure to drop us a line below and tell us about it!

The Moto G5 Plus is coming to the U.S. March 31 for $229

One of the best mid-range phones of the year is coming to the U.S. at the end of March.

When we first picked up the Moto G5 Plus at Mobile World Congress, it was very clear that under Lenovo, the Plus version of Motorola’s venerable mid-range darling was meant to stand on its own in 2017. While it resembles the smaller, cheaper G5, it has a completely different build and set of internals, and it’s one of the more exciting mid-range devices to launch so far this year.

And now we know when it will hit the market.

The company has announced that the Moto G5 Plus will come to the U.S. on March 31 starting at $229 for the 2GB/32GB version. There will also be a 4GB/64GB model for $299. Pre-orders for both variants begin March 24, and the phone will be available at a variety of retailers, including Amazon, Best Buy, B&H, Costco, Flash Wireless, Fry’s, Motorola.com, Newegg, Republic Wireless, Target, Ting, and Walmart. The phone is unlocked and works with all four major U.S. carriers.

Moto G5 Plus specs

The phone will also be available through Amazon’s Prime Exclusive program, which discounts a select set of devices in exchange for a modicum of pre-loaded Amazon software and a lockscreen ad experience that pushes Amazon’s commerce agenda. We think it’s a pretty good compromise, and if you’re looking to get what appears to be the best mid-range phone of the year for less, this is likely the way to do it. If you’re into that idea, Amazon has the 2GB/32GB model for $184.99, while the 4GB/64GB version goes for $239.99, a $60 discount from the MSRP.

Motorola, on the other hand, will allow a certain amount of customization with its Moto G5 Plus (the regular Moto G5 isn’t coming to the U.S. at all) through its own e-commerce store. The phone is available in two colors, Lunar gray and Fine Gold (though a blue model has been rumored).

Will you be buying the Moto G5 Plus when it goes on sale?

See at Motorola

The Galaxy Tab S3 is worth buying just for its S Pen

Samsung has once again graced the tablet world with the presence of its S Pen. Here’s why the Galaxy Tab S3 is worth it simply for its pressure sensitive stylus.

It’s been years since a major tablet release from Samsung came bundled with a stylus. The last S Pen-equipped device was the Galaxy Note 10.1 2014 Edition (say that in one breath). But now that the Microsoft Surface and Apple iPad Pro have become mainstays with their stylus-equipped tablets, Samsung is throwing its S Pen back into the ring.

The S Pen became an attractive reason to choose a larger Galaxy Note smartphone over smaller devices, and now that technology has been bundled with the Galaxy Tab S3. If you’re considering a tablet with a stylus in tow for your next purchase, here are a few reasons to consider Samsung’s latest tablet over the competition.

It’s compatible with a ton of apps

The most important thing to know about the S Pen is that it’s compatible with any mobile application that supports the stylus input. I tested it with apps like Microsoft OneNote, Google Keep, and Adobe Draw and all three applications recognized the S Pen’s pressure sensitivity, though not all of them registered it fully. Drawings apps will be more precise than productivity-focused ones, for instance, because they’re programmed to recognize the nuance in the direction of the S Pen. The point is, you can get professional-grade work done with this tablet.

The Galaxy Tab S3 also comes with its own Samsung Notes, which is good for quick hits and jotting down random notes when other apps aren’t immediately available. But I preferred to use the S Pen with OneNote, which is where I typically scrawl notes throughout the work day. I appreciated, too, that the S Pen’s 0.7mm tip helps make it one of the most accurate styluses I’ve ever used.

Program it, however you like

Maybe you don’t want to use the actions set by default in the S Pen’s Air Command — that’s fine! You can program the Air Command menu as you like, whether to pin oft-used apps and services or to rearrange the order of some of the S Pen’s default abilities. You can add up to a maximum of ten shortcuts or as few as one — the one shortcut to rule them all.

Easily translate words

Translate the language on screen with just a hover of the S Pen.

I like to read German website and I’m continuing my education in my parent’s native language. It helps to have a built-in translation feature that doesn’t require I copy and paste text into another app, as is typically the case with using Google Translate.

On the Galaxy Tab S3, you can enable a mode that translates the language on screen with just a hover of the S Pen over the word. The feature works in most apps with clear text, including Texture, the magazine reading app. I like to use this feature when I’m reading Romanian websites because then I can translate any of the words I’m stumbling on without having to translate the entire page into English. It forces me to practice.

Make animated GIFs

Use this feature to extract text from an image.

This isn’t a necessary feature per se but it is a fun feature to have readily available. You can hover over the screen and select Smart select from the Air Command window to create an animated GIF from a non-DRM video file. It works fine with YouTube videos and most videos displayed in the tablet browser, though you won’t be able to use it inside apps like Netflix and Hulu — that’s considered copyrighted content.

You can also use Smart select to crop out a portion of the screen and save it as a separate image file. This is helpful if, for instance, you need to share quick information with coworkers through chat. You can even use this feature to extract text from an image and then paste it into another note taking app. These are helpful multitasking abilities to have built into the interface.

Write with the screen off

The Galaxy Tab S3 doesn’t actually work when its screen is off, but it does come enabled with a feature that lets you easily pen a note without having to endure unlock hell. Simply grab the S Pen, click its button, tap it to the screen, and get to writing. The note will be saved in the Samsung Notes app, where you can then export it to other applications as you need. It’s a good feature to have if you’re living a life that’s constantly on the go.

Would you like a stylus?

Would you like a stylus with your next tablet? Got any other questions about the S Pen’s abilities? Sound off in the comments!

You should probably start looking for an alternative to Hangouts

The dream of mobile messaging without SMS is dead. At least, for now.

Hangouts is dropping SMS support on May 22, according to an email sent to G Suite administrators. Starting March 27, Hangouts users will get a message explaining the change so there’s time to choose a new app. Weirdly, Google is trying to frame this feature removal as an improvement.

Last year, we announced several improvements to the most popular features of Google Hangouts, such as the new video meetings experience and better group chat messaging. As a part of that ongoing effort, we will be removing carrier SMS text messaging from Hangouts on Android after May 22, 2017.

The email continues on to explain that Google Voice users will not be affected by this change, which in turn means Project Fi users are also clear to continue using Hangouts for now, but honestly why bother? It’s not hard to see where this is going.

Perhaps most important, this change and its future consequences makes it clear Google isn’t pursuing a world where it is the universal identifier anymore.

Google wants Hangouts Meet and Hangouts Chat to be the video and messaging services for G Suite (business) customers, and for Allo and Duo to be what consumers use. It has been made clear that Google is going to stop anyone from using Hangouts — at least for now — but it couldn’t be more clear that Hangouts isn’t going to be an included app in Android for much longer.

That means the people using Hangouts simply because it’s there aren’t going to go looking for it to install it, which means the number of people that aren’t Android nerds available to you on Hangouts is going to drop rapidly. I give it a year tops after that change until it’s easier to find people on Facebook Messenger than Hangouts, which isn’t great for several reasons.

I’m not using this, and you can’t make me.

Perhaps most important, this change and its future consequences makes it clear Google isn’t pursuing a world where it is the universal identifier anymore. Hangouts was convenient because every Android user has a Google account, which meant the Gmail address offered multiple ways to quickly communicate with people. As Google shifts to messaging services that are only linked by phone numbers and fewer services that identify by email, the ubiquity of a Google account has the potential to rapidly lose its significance to those all in on the ecosystem this company has created.

Google might kill Hangouts’ text messaging feature

Google might soon begin implementing some big changes to Hangouts, now that the service’s purpose has been redefined. According to an email reportedly sent to GSuite admins, you’ll stop being able to send and receive text messages through the app on May 22nd, unless you’re a Google Voice user. The email says the big G will prepare you for it by notifying everyone who’s been using their apps to text on March 27th with details on what will happen going forward.

If you’ve designated Hangouts as the default messaging app, you’ll be asked to select another one to take its place. The prompt will take you to the Play store if you don’t have any installed, but if you do, then your messages will be transferred to app you choose. In case you’re a Google Voice user, you’ll get a notification telling you that you can’t send and receive messages with your carrier number anymore. You can still text through Hangouts, but you’ll have to use your Voice number after May 22nd.

Seeing as Mountain View has several messaging apps ready to download and use, it’s not surprising that it wants to remove some Hangouts features and add in new ones to differentiate it from the others. In the email posted in its entirety on Reddit, it says this is part of ongoing effort — Google might have more changes planned for Hangouts in the future.

Via: 9to5google

Source: thereisonlyoneme (Reddit)

Experimental music video changes every time you play it

Artists and scientists say breakthroughs are often “lucky accidents,” but one band is basing an entire music video on that premise. The song Midnight Oil from UK-based Shaking Chains uses algorithms to select semi-random bits of video from the hundreds of hours uploaded every minute on YouTube. The result is a music video that’s completely different every time you view it.

“I sought to obliquely reframe the stuff we subject ourselves to (whether beautiful, distressing, mundane, frivolous or eroticized) and algorithmically cut them into a new context,” band member Jack Hardiker tells Vice Creators.

The algorithms select footage based on keyword searches chosen by the band, though it declined to name what they are except for one — “Black Friday Fights,” the Thanksgiving brawls that happen in stores across the US over flat-screen TVs. Still, “the search terms are not fully fixed either — it’s an evolving list … the content can come from anywhere,” says Hardiker.

I sought to obliquely reframe the stuff we subject ourselves to (whether beautiful, distressing, mundane, frivolous or eroticized) and algorithmically cut them into a new context.

Once the machine selects the video, it assembles into a complete montage set to the music, just a few moments before you play it. “What follows has the potential to fascinate, or could well be routine — but each time is different,” the page reads.

The videos I watched included images like twerking, runway models, puppies and makeup videos, animal documentaries, security camera images, child beauty contests and disasters and war footage. As such, it gives a kind of strange snapshot of the current zeitgeist “through my search terms and the viewers’ attempts to make sense of the sequence,” Hardiker says.

He also notes that while they’re a new, small band, they hope the film lives on beyond the cycle of the song itself. “What might it become a year from now? It would be dependent on what’s happening a year from now, on what the internet holds for us then.” You can check it out here.

Via: Vice Creators

Source: Midnight Oil Film

SoundCloud borrows $70 million to keep going

When a startup is in the ascendancy, there’s a near-endless line of investors ready to back it in the hope of future returns. When that road to success gets riskier, the investors dry up and the business has to run to the bank because it’s the only place to get more cash. Apropos of nothing, BusinessInsider is reporting that SoundCloud has secured itself a $70 million loan from a group of financial institutions.

The “debt funding,” as it’s called, has been supplied by Kreos Capital, Davidson Technology and Ares Capital and was reportedly secured on March 10th. SoundCloud says that it will use the cash to hire staff, build technology and grow itself to be more than twice its current size by the end of 2017. It’s hoped that the moves will enable the company to become “financially sustainable” for “years to come.”

SoundCloud has had a problem with money for a while, admitting in 2015 that it would need to raise cash or risk going under. It managed to score $70 million from Twitter and then spent the bulk of 2016 hinting that it would like to be bought, thank you very much. Spotify spent a while thinking about it before deciding that it was better off steering clear.

Unfortunately, SoundCloud doesn’t necessarily look like a great investment at this point, given its numerous issues. For a start, its SoundCloud Go subscription service was reviewed poorly when it launched, with a meager library and poor design. Then there’s the fact that the majority of the tracks it hosts are user-generated content, remixes and other things you may not expect people to pay for. Between that, and the often onerous terms that come with debt financing, and it’s… it’s not looking great.

Via: TechCrunch

Source: BusinessInsider

Small Sample of iCloud Credentials Provided By Hackers Are Valid, But Questions Remain

On Wednesday we reported that Apple had become the target of a ransom threat, with hackers claiming to have access to more than 600 million iCloud accounts. A group known as the “Turkish Crime Family” said they would reset and wipe the accounts unless Apple paid them $150,000 in Bitcoin by April 7.

Apple responded to the threat by stating that there had not been any breach of its systems, and that if hackers did have access to iCloud accounts then it could only be because of compromised third-party services.

Yesterday, ZDNet said it had received a set of 54 account credentials from the hacker group for “verification” and subsequently reported that all of the accounts were valid, based on a check using Apple’s online password reset function.

The accounts include @icloud.com addresses dating back to 2011, as well as legacy @me.com and @mac.com domains from as early as 2000. The list of credentials is said to contain email addresses and plain-text passwords separated by a colon. According to Troy Hunt, data breach expert and owner of notification site Have I Been Pwned, this would suggest the data could have been aggregated from various sources.

ZDNet worked to contact each account holder via iMessage to confirm their password, and found that many of the accounts are no longer registered with Apple’s messaging platform. However, of those that could be contacted, 10 people – all based in the U.K. – confirmed that the passwords were accurate, and they have changed them as a result.

When pressed about the original source of the data, the hackers claimed that it was “handled in groups” without explaining how or why. The hackers also refused to hand over a U.S.-based sample of accounts.

All of the people with compromised accounts said that until now, they had never changed their iCloud passwords before. One person said that the password he confirmed with ZDNet was no longer in use as of about two years ago, which narrows down the possible date of a breach or multiple breaches to somewhere between 2011 and 2015.

Most of the people confirmed that they used their iCloud email address and password on other sites, such as Facebook and Twitter. However, three people said that their iCloud email address and password were unique to iCloud, and were not used on any other site. Also, two people claimed someone had tried to reset their iCloud passwords in the past day.

It’s unclear if the sample provided is representative of the wider pool of credentials the hackers claim to have, but based on its communications with the group, ZDNet suspects that its members are “naïve and inexperienced” and primarily seeking publicity.

Given that Apple has denied a breach, the account information may have been obtained from a major hacking incident, such as the one that befell Yahoo. iCloud users who have the same username and password that was used for both a hacked site and for iCloud should change their passwords immediately.

Anyone else concerned about the hacking claims should change their password and consider using two-factor authentication to secure their Apple ID credentials. Apple has said that it is “actively monitoring to prevent unauthorized access to user accounts and are working with law enforcement to identify the criminals involved”.

Tag: iCloud
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Twitter Considering Paid Subscription Tier for Professional Users on TweetDeck at $20/Month

Twitter is said to be “considering” whether to implement an all-new paid subscription tier that would be introduced in a premium package for TweetDeck, Twitter’s popular desktop client, and be aimed directly at professionals (via Reuters). If enacted, this would be the first time Twitter charges users for any part of its social media services, which began eleven years ago in March of 2006.

A mockup of what the premium TweetDeck subscription service could look like
Twitter is looking at providing a professional experience for people on TweetDeck that would pack in advance tools and features not found anywhere else on the service. The premium package would cost $19.99 per month, be accessible on both desktop and mobile, and include the following features:

– Exclusive news/alerts summaries personalized for you
– Content management tools like bookmarks, to-do lists, and ‘save for later’
– Cross posting to other social media platforms
– Advanced custom trend analysis and alerting tools
– Exclusive content on social media best practices and strategy
– Enhanced tools for managing and creating custom audience lists (e.g., by interest, customer, or region, etc.)
– Exclusive priority customer support
– The ability to manage multiple Twitter accounts
– Advanced publishing features (e.g., scheduling, collaboration, drafting, etc.)
– Advanced tools for sorting or filtering searches
– An ad-free experience
– Analysis tools for understanding topics or conversations on Twitter
– Ability to access this experience on both desktop and mobile devices
– Ability to securely manage the account across multiple team members
– Twitter customization such as color themes and layouts
– Access to pre-populated lists of users and influencers by interest topic (e.g., industry or subject experts)
– Additional account activity details (e.g., influence scores, account unfollows, or ability to see who is looking at your profile page)
– Ability to import user lists from outside sources
– Advanced analytics on my own content performance

The news was shared by The New York Times affiliated journalist Andrew Tavani, and in addition to the detailed list of features, he tweeted out an overall summary of what the service is said to encompass. With the premium additions, Twitter is aiming to help journalists, marketers, and other such professionals “get even more out of Twitter.”

“Twitter is considering offering a more advanced TweetDeck experience, with more powerful tools to help marketers, journalists, professionals, and others in our community find out what is happening in the world quicker, to gain more insights, and see the broadest range of what people are saying on Twitter. Whether you use Twitter for work or just want to be more informed on the latest news, sports, entertainment, political viewpoints, and information in today’s world, this more advanced TweetDeck experience will be designed to help you get even more out of Twitter.

This premium tool set will provide valuable viewing, posting, and signaling tools like alerts, trends and activity analysis, advanced analytics, and composing and posting tools all in one customizable dashboard.

It will be designed to make it easier than ever to keep up with multiple interests, grow your audience, and see even more great content and information in real-time. It would also offer extra features such as advanced audience insight and analytics, tools to monitor multiple timelines from multiple accounts and from multiple devices, including mobile, all in an ad-free experience.

Twitter confirmed that it is conducting a survey “to access the interest” in this premium version of the service, so no official decision has been made as of yet. It should also be pointed out that the company’s wording strictly stuck to the added value proposition for “professionals,” with no apparent intention to make a monthly subscription version of Twitter for its casual users.

In the past few years, Twitter has struggled to convince users to stay with the service, as well as faced difficulties in enticing new users to adopt Twitter over its competitors like Snapchat and Facebook. Changes to the service have done some good in improving certain annoyances users had with it — like removing handles and media attachments from the character count limit and improving anti-harassment tools — but Twitter has seen little growth from these initiatives. Twitter’s total worldwide users currently sit at 319 million, compared to Facebook’s 1.86 billion.

Tags: Twitter, TweetDeck
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Casetify Debuts Red iPhone 7 Case Collection

Casetify, a site that specializes in custom designed iPhone and iPad cases, today debuted a collection of shine-through design cases especially curated for Apple’s special edition (PRODUCT)RED iPhone 7 and iPhone 7 Plus, which also debuts on Friday.

In total, 60 different designs make up the collection, which includes repeating pattern designs, favorite quotes, and vector graphics, among other illustrations. Individual cases cost $40 each for both 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch handset sizes.

The cases are made in a soft polycarbonate (TPU) Classic Grip, which safeguards the phone from any accidental drops. The matte, soft-touch frame enables a soft grip, while the semi-transparent back exposes the anodized aluminum red finish of Apple’s new iPhone colorway.

Using the site’s design feature, or the company’s mobile app, users also have the ability to create their own see-through designs, by adding photos from their computers, Instagram, or Facebook to personalize their case.

Tag: Casetify
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