Twitter finally gets around to developing a save-for-later feature

Why it matters to you

A bookmarking button is likely to be warmly welcomed by Twitter users who up to now have been getting by with a variety of workarounds to save tweets.

A feature that many on Twitter have long been asking for looks like it’s finally heading to the microblogging service.

We’re talking about a bookmarking button that lets you save tweets, whether you want to check them out later or simply store them because they resonated or made you laugh.

At the current time, you probably use one of a variety of methods to save a tweet, including DMing it to yourself or tapping the Like button. But these methods aren’t necessarily convenient — or private. Indeed, some on Twitter lament the fact that their Liked tweets — often with links to articles — can now show up in their followers’ timelines, “inadvertently giving big exposure to things I haven’t read yet,” as one user recently put it.

News of the upcoming feature came directly from Twitter product manager Jesar Shah, who revealed on Monday that an early version had been developed at a recent Hack Week. She even posted a video demonstration (below) showing how it might work, though Shah noted that the prototype was “likely” to change prior to release.

For Hack Week @Twitter we started developing #SaveForLater. Here’s the early prototype that we put together in a week, which is likely to change. pic.twitter.com/c5LekvVF3l

— jesar (@jesarshah) October 9, 2017

In its current form, the feature certainly seems straightforward enough. When you see a tweet you want to save, it’s simply a case of tapping the more-options button that appears to the right of the Like button, and then again on the add-to-bookmarks option. When you want to access your saved tweets, just tap on your profile picture and select bookmarks from the drop-down list.

With Twitter never having gotten around to building a save-for-later feature, many users turned to apps like Pocket that allow you to save links to articles in tweets for offline reading at a later time. But a quick and easy method for saving funny or fascinating content, with or without links, is likely to prove popular with Twitter users who’d prefer to save tweets in a private space, accessible in a couple of taps at any time.

Shah said she wants input from anyone on Twitter interested in helping to develop the feature. “We’ll be tweeting to ask for feedback, and share our thinking as we compare designs, experiment, do research, and more,” she said. But hopefully it won’t be too long before it lands on the service.

Xiaomi’s Mi Mix 2 with 6GB RAM and 128GB storage lands in India for ₹35,999

Xiaomi finally launches a flagship phone in India, and it’s amazing.

Xiaomi unveiled the Mi Mix 2 last month in China, and the manufacturer has launched the phone in India, its second-largest market. The Mi Mix 2 will go up for sale later this month for ₹35,999 for the variant with 6GB of RAM and 128GB storage, and will be available exclusively on Flipkart.

The main highlight with the Mi Mix 2 is the bezel-less design, with three sides of the phone sporting virtually no bezels. To achieve the effect, Xiaomi had to move the front camera to the bottom bezel. The phone has a 5.9-inch screen with a 2048 x 1080 FHD+ panel, and there’s also a notification LED tucked away in the bottom bar. Last year’s Mi Mix used a piezoelectric driver for calls, but the Mi Mix 2 offers a regular earpiece.

Other specs include the Snapdragon 835, 6GB of RAM, 128GB storage, 12MP camera (the same sensor as the Mi 6), 5MP front shooter, Wi-Fi ac, global LTE bands including the three requisite bands for India (3/5/40), and a 3400mAh battery with Quick Charge 3.0. On the software front, the Mi Mix 2 is running the latest build of MIUI 9 atop Android 7.1.1 Nougat.

• READ: Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 specs
• Xiaomi Mi Mix 2 review: Astounding, audacious, accessible

The launch of the Mi Mix 2 is a big deal for Xiaomi, considering the manufacturer didn’t launch the Mi 6 in India. Xiaomi instead turned its attention to the budget segment, where it fared exceedingly well over the last 12 months. The company has released two of the year’s best-selling phones — the Redmi Note 4 and the Redmi 4 — and has solidified its position as the second-largest handset maker in the country.

By bringing the Mi Mix 2 to India, Xiaomi is signaling its intent to expand into the mid-range segment. The Chinese manufacturer has been very cognizant of customer demands, pricing its devices very aggressively. That trend continues with the Mi Mix 2, which will retail for ₹35,999.

The phone will be available online from October 17, and will be up for purchase at Mi Home stores from next month. Who’s interested in buying one?

Mark Zuckerberg uses Facebook to visit Puerto Rico in VR

More than three years have passed since Facebook purchased virtual reality headset-maker Oculus VR for $2 billion. Now, with its fourth annual Oculus Connect event fast approaching, Mark Zuckerberg is demonstrating the unique ways he uses VR. While the rest of us goof around with friends, take selfies, and go live on the social network’s virtual reality experience (known as Facebook Spaces), the company’s CEO plugs in to coordinate his humanitarian endeavours. In the course of his latest virtual livestream, Zuckerberg met up with Facebook’s head of social VR Rachel Dwyer. They then set course for Puerto Rico to explain how the tech giant is utilizing machine learning as part of its relief efforts on the island.

To make the transition from California to the Caribbean, Zuck used a “transportation orb,” which sounds like something you’d find in a kids’ sci-fi flick of the Flight of the Navigator variety. It’s essentially just an interactive, 360-video backdrop that allows you to transition from one virtual environment to another.

As Zuckerberg explains in the stream, Facebook is doing its part to help hurricane victims on the island. Aside from monetary assistance, it’s also offering its AI-assisted maps to aid search and rescue teams on the ground. These come in three shapes and sizes. The first uses Facebook’s existing tech to create a location density map to indicate where people were stationed before and after a natural disaster. The second reveals movement data between cities and neighborhoods during set time periods. And, the third taps into the company’s Safety Check tool to show the areas where clusters of people are marking themselves as safe. Facebook is sharing the maps with the Red Cross in Puerto Rico, and in collaboration with tech nonprofit NetHope. Elsewhere, it’s using the same software as part of its global internet delivery plans.

Like a regular Mr. Peabody and Sherman, Zuck and Dwyer then zapped themselves to the Oculus Connect stage, and then the moon. The CEO should be back on earth in time for the main event on Wednesday, where he’ll announce plenty of new VR updates.

Source: Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook)

Twitter is developing a ‘Save for Later’ bookmarking feature

While most tweets are a quick read, a lot of people still want a way to save those worthy of a more in-depth inspection. After getting tons of requests for a “Save for Later” feature, the company has finally started developing a Bookmarking tool during its annual Hack Week activities. Twitter product manager Jesar Shah has announced the feature on the platform and posted a quick demo of the prototype they created at the event.

Hi Twitter! Many of you (especially in Japan!) have said you’d like to be able to easily + privately save Tweets for later. Right now, people bookmark Tweets by liking, DM-ing to themselves, or Retweeting. But this could be easier. https://t.co/iQ9W9mB1uV

— jesar 💭 (@jesarshah) October 9, 2017

For Hack Week @Twitter we started developing #SaveForLater. Here’s the early prototype that we put together in a week, which is likely to change. pic.twitter.com/c5LekvVF3l

— jesar 💭 (@jesarshah) October 9, 2017

Apparently, they plan to replace the “send via DM” icon on the bottom right portion of tweets with an overflow menu. That menu will house both the “share via DM” and the upcoming “Add to Bookmark” features, though the final version could take on a different form. All the tweets added to Bookmarks can then be accessed through a list in settings.

Shah also revealed that users currently make do by Liking or sending tweets to themselves via DM. When the feature comes out, they no longer have to do either of those whenever they see tweets with photos containing a longer message, those that mark the beginning of a series or those that link to long pieces they’d like to access when they have more time on their hands.

Source: Keith Coleman (Twitter), Jesar Shah (Twitter)

Nokia halts development of its $45,000 VR camera

Nokia created the Ozo spherical camera to get into the virtual reality market without having to compete with head-mounted devices like the Oculus Rift. Alas, things didn’t go as well as the company wanted despite not having to compete with a plethora of VR goggles — it’s halting Ozo’s development and cutting up to 310 jobs in the process. Nokia said the “the slower-than-expected development of the VR market” forced it to optimize its investments in virtual reality, and the rig happened to be one of the casualties. It now plans to focus on its digital health projects, particularly the ones it acquired when it purchased Withings, and its profitable patent licensing business.

Nokia announced the Ozo camera back in 2015 with a $60,000 price tag. That pricing made it pretty clear that it’s a professional-level 360-degree 3D camera capable of live streaming, live monitoring and automatic stitching. Disney, UEFA, Sony Pictures and other big-name companies nabbed one to create VR content, and other companies followed suit after Nokia dropped the price to $45,000. Unfortunately, the camera’s sales might not have been enough to sustain its continued development, but Nokia promises to continue providing support to its current customers.

Source: Nokia

37,000 Chrome users downloaded a fake Adblock Plus extension

If you use Adblock Plus with Chrome and downloaded the extension pretty recently, you may want to check what you’ve installed. Apparently, a fake Adblock Plus extension made it through Google’s verification process and lived in the official Chrome Web Store alongside the real one. Google has taken down the phony listing after SwiftOnSecurity tweeted about it and put the company on blast, but by then, it has already been up long enough to fool 37,000 people. That’s a drop in the bucket for a service that has 10 million users, but it sounds like trouble for those who were unlucky enough to download it.

Google allows 37,000 Chrome users to be tricked with a fake extension by fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords. pic.twitter.com/ZtY5WpSgLt

— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017

Legitimate developers just have to sit back and watch as Google smears them with fake extensions that steal their good name pic.twitter.com/3Tnv4NtY9t

— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017

I’m being mean to Google because there’s no way their Chrome team is happy with this extension vetting/moderation situation.

— SwiftOnSecurity (@SwiftOnSecurity) October 9, 2017

SwiftOnSecurity says the fake extension was created by a “fraudulent developer who clones popular name and spams keywords.” Indeed, it’s pretty hard to tell that it’s fake, since its developer’s name is “Adblock Plus,” and it has a considerable number of reviews.

According to one of the fake Adblock’s reviewers, he started getting invasive ads that open lots of tabs after he installed it. Unfortunately, it’s unclear what else it can do or if it has even more detrimental effects that we still don’t know of. We asked Google if it has unearthed anything about the fraudulent extension, but even if we never hear back, it may be best to re-install Adblock Plus if you notice getting random ads after downloading it.

Via: The Verge

Source: SwiftOnSecurity

How to clean headlights: Freshen your car’s look and improve visibility

Headlights, like every other part of your car — or any machine or piece of tech, for that matter — will surely get dirty and begin to deteriorate over time without the proper upkeep. No matter how clear the polycarbonate plastic is when you purchase it, it will eventually begin to look foggy and obscure the brightness of your headlights. The fogginess results from a combination of general filth accumulation, and a natural chemical reaction the plastic has to long exposure to the sun’s ultraviolet rays. Tired of poor visibility and nasty-looking bulb housings? Let us teach you how to clean headlights. Your car — and other drivers — will thank you.

This buildup can make it more difficult to illuminate the road and your surroundings at night, which increases the risk of unfortunate incidents. Thankfully, there are a few simple strategies one can employ to restore clarity to your headlights, most of wthem from the comfort of your own home. Without further ado, let’s get into the prep, procedure, and products associated with cleaning your headlights.

Initial cleaning

You may want to get down and dirty with the headlight restoration, but giving your car a proper cleaning (or at least washing the front end of your car) before getting started will assure the best result. Wash the headlights themselves and all surrounding panels. Thoroughly dry the vehicle so no droplets or water runoff will get onto the headlights during your restoration.

Masking

Next up is taping/masking of the headlight perimeter. You’ll need some painter’s tape that isn’t crazy adhesive. Tape around the headlight, being careful not to put tape on any of the housing that needs to be polished. It will look weird if you have a line of foggy next to a line of clear on the headlamp. Typically, your turn signals (yellow lights) won’t haze as much as the clear headlight, so if you don’t want to go through the trouble of cleaning those, just tape them off. Any other surfaces that could be damaged while polishing/sanding should be protected.

Three ways to clean:

Toothpaste

The simplest (and cheapest) way to clean your headlight covers is by using basic toothpaste to clear and polish the plastic. Squirt a bit of toothpaste directly on a washcloth, then spread the toothpaste over the entire head light. Next, rinse with water and dry with a towel. That’s it! Since toothpaste is a light abrasive, it will scrape away the gunk while filling in any scratches. It will even lightly polish the plastic in the process. Keep in mind that you want to use toothpaste that does not have any sort of cooling beads, crystals, or similar components,  as these will potentially scratch your headlights. They’re bad for the environment, too. Just a heads-up.

Soap, sand paper, and polish

Using some soap and water, wash your headlights and remove as much buildup as possible. Afterward, dry them with a towel and use 400- or 800-grit sandpaper to remove the remaining gunk, sanding back and forth as you do. You’ll then want to sand it again with a finer sandpaper — this time from a different angle — and polish the plastic to restore clarity. You can use a commercial polish, such as 3M’s Lens Polish and Protector, or you can use toothpaste like in the method outlined above.

Commercial products

If you’d rather fork over some money for a commercial solution, there are plenty of products out there that will get the job done. Most are fairly inexpensive, too, and readily available through online retailers and brick-and-mortar stores in your area. These are a great option, though, in the end, they work about as well as the cheaper methods listed above.

Additional preventative tips

Now that you’ve gone to the trouble of restoring your headlights, it would be a real shame if they became foggy just weeks or months after your labor. To prevent a quick return to ugly form, try a UV sealant, protectant, or film. These products will shield your headlights from the same combo of UV punishment and built-up filth that made them hazy the first time.

HTC’s U11 offers a disappointing overall package with a few very bright spots (Review)

We’re celebrating ten years of AndroidGuys with a ton of giveaways!

Display

Perhaps the most distinguishing feature of a modern smartphone is the display – in a world of shrinking bezels and 6″ phablets, phone real estate is dominated by the display. As such, OEM’s are striving to find ways to use the display to separate their phones from the competition, often in the form of “innovations” in display technology. These gimmicks are legion: Infinity Screen. Super Retina. Second Screen. Dual Edge. And while these concepts are interesting and certainly striking in their own right, mostly they’re just design quirks and flashy terminology used to justify jacking up the price of a flagship phone.

What is important, however, is that you enjoy looking at – and interacting with – your device’s screen. And in that area, at least the HTC U11 excels. With a 5.5″, 1440×2560 Gorilla Glass 5 LCD display, the U11 offers a no-frills screen that nonetheless delivers crisp, vibrant picture quality. While the brightness leaves something to be desired (when your softkeys put out more light than your primary screen, you know there’s a problem), the resolution and color depth are really great. There are a couple quality-of-life tweaks included in the Display Settings, including both Nightmode (which can be configured manually or automatically at sundown) and Color Temperature (to manually tune the screen to your preference).

Of the U11’s set of features, its display is likely it’s strongest.  If only the rest of the phone was as impressive.

Build

I’ve always been a fan of HTC’s hardware. My first two Android phones (MyTouch 3G, T-Mobile G2) were both HTC-made, and I have fonder memories of those devices than any since. HTC always seemed to have a cleaner, more utilitarian design to its phones, where Samsung and LG always tended toward the more flashy.

And while the U11 has its flaws and gimmicks, that approach remains consistent. It feels solid in-hand, with buttons that are within easy reach that press with a satisfying click. The front-mounted fingerprint scanner is responsive and error-tolerant, allowing you to unlock it from a variety of angles. The phone is rated at IP67, making it dustproof and waterproof up to 3′ – personally, I feel in today’s market this should be the industry standard.

Where the U11 falters, though, is the chassis. The aluminum frame is nice, and the phone feels durable enough, but the chromed, electric blue backplate is an true eyesore in my opinion. Other blogs have commented on the design, calling it a “stunning effect.” This is what the back is supposed to be, according to HTC:

The liquid glass surface is crafted to impress using Optical Spectrum Hybrid Deposition. By layering highly-refractive precious minerals across the phone’s back cover, we’ve created stunningly vivid new colors that transform light with every movement you make.

But all I see is a hideous, fingerprint attracting, plastic-feeling back that reminds me of the early ’00s, when chrome spinners on pickups were all the rage. It’s certainly a distinctive, but then again, so are hot pink legwarmers. It’s striking, but it’s more akin to being punched in the face. Phones lately have been trending toward laser-cut, aluminum unibody exteriors, but HTC appears content to rock a glass back, slap a coat of chrome on it, and call it unique. I suppose, despite the criticism, it should be noted that in addition to the blue, it also comes in red, black, and what can only be described as “powder.”

The U11 also features touch-sense, the ability to squeeze the sides of the frame and have it be detected as an input. This can be configured and personalized to launch various functions, though at launch it was only used to launch the camera and take pictures. I’ll detail this feature in the next section, but I think it’s relevant to state here that I’m really not impressed with the functionality and don’t consider it to be any value added.

Internals

By and large, the internal are about what you’d expect from a higher-end these days. At its core is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 835, an octa-core processor that’s pretty common among flagships recently. The base model sports 4/64GB RAM/ROM – fairly standard – while the upgraded, dual-sim model has 6/128 – much less common. Both models have a MicroSD slot for expandable storage, though it should be noted than in the dual-sim model, using a MicroSD card takes up your secondary slot.

Its connectivity standards are all top-of-the-line, or close to it: NFC, 802.11ac WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, and a USB-C 3.1 port. Sound-wise, the U11 sports something called USonic, which,er…well, I’ll just let HTC tell you:

Immerse yourself in purer audio. HTC U11 introduces the latest version of HTC USonic, which now combines active noise cancellation with the ability to tune audio to your unique hearing. Other headsets focus more on obtaining great sound quality while overlooking the fundamentals – each of our hearing structures are different. Our USonic earbuds map your inner ear with an advanced sonar-like technology and then adapt the sound profile to your unique biology. This creates an incredibly personal and optimized listening experience with vibrant audio shaped specifically for you.

In practice, I didn’t notice all that much difference from other quality wired headsets, though it does seem to be quite an upgrade over the crap that’s usually thrown into phone boxes. While all of this combines to be a very solid set of features, there’s also nothing that truly stands out and sets it apart from other flagships, or even second-tier phones.

In memorium

Since it doesn’t quite fit into any other category in this review, I’ll slip a rant on TouchSense in right here. The ability to squeeze your phone and have it perform a function is no different or unique than placing a dedicated shutter button on the side of the phone, or adding a fourth button on the on-screen Nav Bar. It’s just another button, concealed in the frame of the phone. It’s a gimmick – nothing more.

I prefer that dedicated, two-stage shutter button, personally.

Battery

Call me picky, but I won’t even consider a phone that has less than a 3000mAh battery these days. As hungry and powerful as phones are getting, anything less is not worth buying. Luckily for the U11, it just made the cut. I won’t tell you the battery life is great, because it isn’t. It’s adequate, and it might get you through a day if you’re judicious with your usage, but what fun is that? Life is stressful enough without having anxiety over the battery life of an inanimate object that is, nonetheless, our gateway to socialization in the modern world. With smaller companies like Blu and Oukitel bringing phones to market with 5000 and 10000 mAh batteries, it’s time bigger OEMs got the hint.

Camera

I’ll be frank – for as much as I’ve criticized the U11 thus far, it takes beautiful, beautiful photos. It doesn’t feature the dual-sensor rear camera setup that’s currently en vogue, but the single sensor it does have is really impressive. I took a few casual, real-world style shots on my way into the airport, and I was really satisfied with the level of detail and the color quality in each shot. Even in the extreme-zoom photo of the (super creepy) bird art pieces outside the parking structure, the pictures are in focus and at passable resolution. Even in low-light conditions the camera performs admirably – I have to say, it’s probably the best camera I’ve personally tested.

That praise out of the way, I’m a little concerned with the way the camera performance is being marketed. HTC has constantly shoved the phrase “The #1 smartphone camera on the market” down our throats in reference to the HTC U11, but with a DXOMark of 90 (certainly no slouch), it ranks as the fifth-best camera (tied with the original Pixel) on the market. “Damned good camera” wasn’t good enough for you, LG, you had to stretch the truth by throwing “Best” into the mix? It’s a small thing, perhaps, but lends credence to the growing idea that the concept of Truth is kind of….flexible, these days.

 Value

In a vacuum, HTC‘s U11 is a perfectly adequate phone. But context matters, and the price of that adequacy needs to be considered. A $650 (at minimum!) phone with this set of specifications is ludicrous in a world where OnePlus’ 5 – or even 3T (from a year ago) – can be had for $200 less with largely better specs. For all the praise it got around the web, frankly, I expected better. In the end, the HTC U11 is just another adequate “flagship” with gimmicky features and the bloated price tag we’ve come to expect from the big name OEMs. If you’re a big camera buff, you might be able to justify the price in your own head – it’s a ridiculously well-performing device in that regard – but for people that don’t put a premium on camera performance…there’s better devices out there for cheaper.

The HTC U11 is now available on all major US carriers (or unlocked), starting at $649 – if you just really, really dig that chrome back and gotta have it, I suppose. It should be noted that as of this publishing, the 64GB unlocked version is on sale for $549, and the 128GB unlocked version is $629 – much better values.

‘Harvest’ funds climate research with wind-powered cryptocurrency mining rigs

Why it matters to you

Creative means to fund climate change research may be an art project, but it could work outside of galleries, too.

Given the fact that, for now, Earth’s the only home we’ve got, climate change is a subject well worth researching. But how do you fund this research? If you’re anything like artist-engineer Julian Oliver, the answer is simple: use wind energy to mine for cryptocurrency to pay for it, of course. It’s a nifty idea — not least because it means that the more pronounced the meteorological effects of climate change turn out to be, the more money gets pumped into researching the topic.

The so-called “Harvest” project involves using a small 700W wind turbine that’s attached to a robust tripod and tethered to the ground in a windy location. This charges two large interconnected 12V batteries, each in a case of their own. Drawing from those batteries is the Harvest cryptocurrency mining rig in the form of a water- and insect-proof case complete with thermal exhaust, air intakes and a lot of hardware.

“Connected to the internet via a 4G USB stick, the rig mines the cryptocurrency ZCash using a high-end GPU (Graphical Processing Unit), the rewards of which are paid into a cryptographically secured wallet over a VPN (Virtual Private Network),” Oliver told Digital Trends. “Rather than mining all alone, it does so on a ‘mining pool’, a way for individual miners to share their processing power over a network, the rewards of which are split equally based on the amount of mining work done. As the Harvest rig mines day in and out, a weather sensor and IP camera monitor the site, reporting to a publicly accessible monitoring console and dashboard. If wind speeds drop below a certain minimum, mining is paused so that the batteries aren’t drained faster than they can be charged. Then, once sufficient wind energy is available again, the miner resumes its work.”

Oliver said he first had the idea for the Harvest project back in 2013, when he realized that the costs involved with mining on grid power would soon become so expensive most would barely make ends meet unless operating on a large scale. This led to him considering using alternate sources of energy and, due to his home in Northern Europe not receiving enough regular sun to make solar viable, decided on wind energy instead. Harvest was then commissioned as a work of high tech art (currently on display in Sweden), although Oliver says the idea could also work practically.

“It’s very much my intention to see this scale right up, both as mass-produced inexpensive single nodes for scattering about the windiest parts of the world, and as ‘farms’ of such rigs that feed off pre-existent large 250W+ wind turbines,” Oliver said.

Poll: Windows Phone is finally dead, are you going to miss it?

This week Microsoft put the final nail in the Windows Phone’s coffin, officially conceding the mobile marketplace to Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android. It’s a big move, and there are sure to be some Windows Phone die-hards out there who will lament the loss of their favored mobile operating system but it wasn’t a total shock.

Microsoft has gradually pivoted away from Windows Phone, leaning hard toward VR and its Surface lineup while once-proud flagships like the Nokia Lumia are left by the wayside, forgotten. The problem Microsoft seemed to face with Windows Phone was one of exposure. Android and iOS are, and were, everywhere. Windows Phone had some cool ideas, but never quite caught on.

Which begs the question, does it really matter that Windows Phone is dead? Was it ever a real competitor to iOS and Android? You tell us.

The #WindowsPhone is dead, but was it ever a real competitor to #iOS and #Android?

— Digital Trends (@DigitalTrends) October 9, 2017