How to change your Twitter username and display name

While it can often be difficult to change an unfortunate birth name, you’re not stuck with a bad name on your Twitter account. How you identify yourself online can say a lot about you, so it’s crucial to tailor your username to best fit your online persona. Luckily, it’s easy to change both your username and display name on Twitter, and there is no limit to how many times you can change them.

Though used interchangeably, your Twitter username and display name are not the same thing. Your username is your unique Twitter handle, the name that appears in your profile URL and allows you to log in, reply to tweets, and direct message others (it’s the name that follows the @ sign). Your display name, on the other hand, appears above your username on your profile page and is likely the name that most users will recognize you by.

If you’ve ever wanted to add a level of professionalism to your online persona or were curious about adding to your display name after Twitter’s latest character limit update, here is our quick-hit guide on how to change your Twitter name. Rather than creating a new account, changing your username or display name will leave your existing followers, direct messages, and replies intact. Here’s how:

How to change your Twitter username

Step 1: Log in to your Twitter account

Log into Twitter as you normally would with your current username (or email) and password. Note: This can also be done using the Twitter app on your phone or tablet.

Step 2: Access the Account Settings

Next, click on your profile image — or the gear icon, if you don’t have a profile image — between the search bar and the Tweet button in the upper-right corner. Select Settings near the center of the resulting list. The Account tab should open by default, but you can click on the Account option in the menu to the left if it doesn’t.

The steps to accessing Account Settings is the same in the app, but your profile image will be on the opposite side of the screen.

Step 3: Change your username

Type your desired username in the text field next to Username (or in the Username tab in the app) – it just needs to be 15 characters or less. A message will appear prompting you to choose another username if your first choice is unavailable.

Your new username can only contain alphanumerical characters and must omit both the words “Twitter” and “Admin” unless you’re using an official Twitter account. You can refer to the Twitter Help Center for more details regarding username restrictions. When you’ve finished, click the blue Save changes button at the bottom of the page to save your new username.

If you have a verified account (designated by the blue checkmark next to your name), you’ll lose your badge if you change your username. We recommend that you contact and alert Twitter before you make any changes.

How to change your Twitter display name

Step 1: Log in to your Twitter account

Like before, log into Twitter with your username and password. Note: This can also be done in the app.

Step 2: Head to your profile

In order to access your profile, click on your portrait (or the gear icon) located between the search bar and the Tweet button in the upper-right corner. Then, select Profile. You can also click on your header photo, profile photo, display name, username, or number of total tweet, which are located either on the left-hand side of yours screen or above the Profile button.

Next, select Edit profile. It’s a big, hard-to-miss button on the right-hand side of the screen. The edges of the screen should fade, and your profile information on the left-hand side will be highlighted.

Step 3: Change your Twitter display name

Type in your desired username — it can be 50 characters or less now — in the text field located directly below your profile picture. Unlike your username, your display name doesn’t have to be unique to your account (John Smiths of the world, rejoice!) and can even include emojis.

When you’re finished, click the blue Save changes button on the right-hand side of the page to save your new display name.

And that’s it! You can change your name on Twitter as many times as you’d like following these instructions. As mentioned before, however, if you have a verified account, changing your username will cause you to lose your verification check mark. It can also be confusing to your followers if you are constantly changing your name. After all, with great power comes great responsibility. Happy tweeting!

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What’s a pressure cooker and how do you use it? Your burning questions answered

It’s common for even experienced cooks to be somewhat intimidated by pressure cookers. The word “pressure” can throw some people off, and others simply don’t know how to use them. But the knowledge of what a pressure cooker is and how to properly cook with them can open up a whole world of possibilities in the kitchen. These versatile machines can make everything from stews to curries or even cakes. Knowledge is power, so we’ve broken down exactly what a pressure cooker is, how to use one, and the cool stuff you can make with one of these devices.

What is a pressure cooker?

A pressure cooker is an airtight cooking device that cooks food quickly, thanks to the steam pressure that builds up inside. The steam also makes the food moist, which is why this device is perfect for meat stews, cheesecakes, and much more.

How do I use one?

Getting to know your pressure cooker for the first time? Try pressure cooking with just water — this is called a water test, and it’ll help you get to know your machine better. All you have to do is add one or two cups of water into the pot (always use the inner pot, and never put food directly into the cooker without this pot for safety reasons). Lock the lid into position, and make sure to adjust the valve so that it is in the sealed position. Next, select a button for which the cooking time is relatively short. For example, if your device has a button for fish, use that. Now, all you have to do is watch the pressure cooker do its magic. After five minutes or so of the water heating up and building steam pressure, the pressure will then start counting down and slowing releasing. Now you should be able to try it out with real food items.

How do I make sure the pressure is released?

This is a top concern among people who have never used pressure cookers before. The good news is that modern models of pressure cookers are very safe and easy to use. The easiest approach is to just let the pressure cooker slowly release the pressure all by itself. Keep an eye on the countdown to make sure it’s complete — don’t try to open the lid before the countdown is up, or you could get burned. Some cooks even like letting the pressure cooker sit for a little while longer past the countdown, just to make sure every last bit of pressure is gone.

Which settings do I use?

Most pressure cookers cook all foods in exactly the same way, but there are different cooking times for different foods. For example, the preset button for white rice on your pressure cooker may cook for just 15 minutes, while brown rice will cook for longer. For foods that don’t have preset buttons on the device, there are plenty of helpful charts online that will tell you exactly how long different ingredients should cook for. Here’s one from Hip Pressure Cooking.

What Should I Cook?

The world is your oyster when it comes to cooking with an electric pressure cooker, whether you want to try making porridge, risotto, chicken, or soup. The results are often creamier and more moist than what you would get from a stovetop or oven recipe.

If you have a springform pan, you can even try making desserts like cakes and cheesecakes. Got an oven-safe dish lying around? If it fits into the pressure cooker, you can use that to cook things you might normally cook in an oven.

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Shanghai may sign Overwatch League’s first female player

Shanghai Dragons is reportedly fixing a problem with Overwatch League: the lack of female players for a game with an impressively diverse cast of characters. According to ESPN, the team has signed South Korean player Kim “Geguri” Se-yeon, who’s so good at playing Zarya (pictured above), she was once accused of using cheats. After Geguri livestreamed a game to prove her critics wrong, she played in the Overwatch Apex tournament in her home country last year. Now, she might be bringing her skills to an even bigger platform.

As ESPN noted, Geguri won’t only be the first female player to play in the League, she will also be making history as “one of only a few women competing professionally in e-Sports at the highest level of their respective game.” Geguri and Shanghai Dragon’s other Korean recruits will provide the team a much-needed boost after a poor debut at Overwatch League’s inaugural season. Unfortunately, they haven’t confirmed the report yet — we’ll simply have to wait for their announcement, or wait for the Zarya-player to make her debut on Blizzard’s new eSports league.

Source: ESPN

Alphabet picks former cable exec to run its Google Fiber division

The Alphabet division behind Google Fiber finally has a replacement leader 5 months after its former chief left. The tech giant has hired Dinesh Jain, most recently Time Warner Cable’s former chief operating officer, as the Access team’s CEO. He’ll watch over business in the nearly 20 markets where both Fiber and Webpass operate. There aren’t any indications as to whether or not he’ll usher in a change of direction, but his career may speak volumes about Alphabet’s intentions.

Jain has had over 20 years of experience working at telecoms. Before TWC, he had multiple leading roles at the American cable company Insight and the European provider NTL. Alphabet is picking someone who’s intimately familiar with the telco world and a rock of stability, which it probably wants given the abrupt departure of former CEO Greg McCray.

The Access unit could probably use the help. Access has been on shaky ground ever since Alphabet changed Google Fiber’s direction to pause actual fiber rollouts and focus more on wireless internet. This doesn’t mean you’ll witness a renaissance, but you might see Access regroup and push forward after a year of uncertainty.

Source: Google Fiber Official Blog

Marvel’s Wolverine podcast debuts on March 12th

We first heard about Marvel’s Wolverine-starring 10-episode podcast series at the tail end of 2017, and it sure sounded sweet: Ten episodes following agents tracking the legendary mutant as he hunts down a serial killer in a fictional Alaskan town. Now we have a release date. Wolverine: The Long Night’s first episode airs on March 12th exclusively on Stitcher Premium, with a new one dropping every week.

As the preview above indicates, Marvel’s channeling some old-fashioned noir for its first scripted podcast. It has serious talent behind and in front of the microphone: Wolverine himself will be voiced by Richard Armitage (Castlevania, The Hobbit films), Broadway veteran Celia Keenan-Bolger, Scott Adsit (30 Rock) and Ato Essandoh. The series is written by comics vet Ben Percy, directed by Brendan Baker (Love and Radio podcast) with sound designer Chloe Prasinos (Reply All podcast).

If you’re not keen on ponying up $5 per month (or $35 per year) to subscribe to Stitcher Premium, Wolverine: The Long Night will make its way to other platforms in fall 2018.

Source: Marvel

The weirdest, wildest, and most wonderful wearables in the world

From monitoring your health to helping you keep fit, there are a whole lot of amazing, life altering wearable devices out there. Thanks to devices like the Apple Watch, wearables are now a massive industry — predicted to be worth a crazy $34 billion by 2020.

But hidden among the more well-known entries in the field are some pretty darn strange wearable devices, offering oddball functions like canine emotion tracking and actually playable air guitars. Here are 9 of our favorite devices from the weird side of the wearables business. And we don’t necessarily mean that in a bad way, either!

The rig that started it all

Let’s kick things off by paying tribute to Steve Mann, an engineering professor at the University of Toronto, who is credited as the father of wearable technology. Back in the early 1980s, Mann cemented his status as the world’s first cyborg by creating this bulky rig consisting of a backpack-based general-purpose multimedia wearable computer system, complete with a head mounted display.

It allowed him to move around while continuing to carry out personal computing applications. At the time, it seemed totally nuts. Today… well, he’s kind of been proved correct in his ambitions.

Headband temple massager

Want to relieve that headache that’s building in your cranium, but too tired to move your arms? No problem: the Vi-Band hands-free head massager promises to do it for you. It’s a neoprene band with built-in brushless vibration motors designed to sit over the head’s pressure points and give you a calming massage.

Combine it with a curved neck pillow and you’ve got the perfect solution to any long haul flight. Even if headbands do make you look a bit like you’re cosplaying as a 1980s sports star.

A wearable for, you know, down there

Ever dreamed of quantifying your love life? Quite possibly not. If you have, however, then you may be in the market for Lovely, the wearable for your penis. The slip-on device communicates with your smartphone and comes with a frankly exhausting-sounding battery life of seven hours.

It will monitor all your, erm, intimate movements and then send the numbers to make some kind of weird bar graph with. Heck, it’ll even tell you how many calories you’ve burned and use Amazon-style recommendations to suggest other maneuvers you may be interested in. What a glorious time to be alive!

A wearable keyboard

It’s kind of impolite to constantly be tapping away at your smartphone or laptop when you’re surrounded by friends and family. You know what also looks kind of impolite, but is way more high tech? A wearable Bluetooth keyboard device that allows you to type out messages by drumming your fingers on tables or your leg as though you’re the world’s least patient caffeine freak in the middle of a paranoiac episode.

That’s pretty much what the Tap Strap promises to deliver. To be fair, it’s actually a pretty cool sounding device — although the thought of entire subway trains of people nervously tapping out Morse Code-style messages on the commute to work does make us laugh.

Pho-dog-raphy

Emotion tracking is pretty darn exciting, and opens up some intriguing possibilities. One of the weirder ones? An emotion sniffing camera for dogs, which measures Fido’s heart rate and takes a photo every time it passes a threshold. If you ever wanted a commemorative set of images of whichever fire hydrants, cats, and sprinklers most excited your mutt on their walk, this is a great idea — albeit an unusual one.

Unfortunately, the Heartography device was created as a one-off hack for a Nikon Coolpix ad, and isn’t available to purchase. Still, there’s nothing to stop the more talented, canine-loving engineer from building his or her own.

A mask that changes with your emotions

Feeling left out of the emotion tracking fun? Thanks to this emotion tracking mask you don’t have to be. Created by a team of designers from London’s Bartlett School of Architecture, using 3D printing and Harvard University’s Soft Robotics Toolkit, this soft silicone mask changes its pattern depending on the expression made by its wearer.

It does this using a MyoWare Muscle Sensor, an Arduino-powered, all-in-one electromyography (EMG) sensor, which measures the activity of facial muscles and then outputs a signal which triggers a response. Pointless? Perhaps. Kind of awesome in a Rorschach from Watchmen way? You betcha!

A wearable to stop you cheating

That dishy hunk in the office who you’ve always flirted with, and is now newly single? That tempting Tinder account that reminds you that there are girls just like your girlfriend, but who wouldn’t laugh at you for attending Comic Con? That kind of cheating is so five years ago.

Here in 2018, the real threat to many relationships is the chance that either you or your partner will jeopardize your relationship by forging ahead with a TV series on Netflix when you’re not there. The Commitment Ring wearables aims to end this kind of trust-destroying villainy. The rings come in packs of two, both outfitted with NFC technology. You pair them with an app and, from that point on, you’ll only be able to watch certain shows on Netflix, Hulu, Amazon and other streaming services when you and your partner are present at the same time.

A genius idea — although they’re currently still listed as being pre-order only.

The world’s greatest air guitar

Developed as part of Sony’s Motion Sonic Project, the Motion Sonic wearable turns users’ movement into music. The idea of being able to play air guitar and have it actually sound like a guitar is all kinds of awesome, but Motion Sonic also covers a broad range of other instruments.

While it’s certainly pretty chunky, that extra space is used to pack in a “six-axis sensor” that’s able to track the rotation, angle, and acceleration of a wearer’s leg or arm, in addition to a trio of microphones. Prototypes of the device have been shown off at events like the South By South West (SXSW) festival.

A wearable for plants

Liang Dong

Who said you needed to be human (or, well, canine) to have a wearable designed for you? Researchers at Iowa State University has developed wearable sensors for plants, which allow their growers to measure how their crops are using water.

Described as “plant tattoo sensors,”the devices use graphene to track how leaves release water vapor by measuring changes in conductivity. They’re not available to farmers just yet, but it’s an amazing glimpse at the future promise of wearable devices. Things will only get weirder from here.

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AR stickers are now available on most Android smartphones with Motion Stills

When Google announced the Pixel 2 and Pixel 2 XL in October, it boasted a lot of augmented reality features exclusive to the new flagships. When the company finally released AR stickers in December however, it shared the love with both Pixel and Pixel 2 devices. After a few months of exclusivity, Google is bringing AR stickers to the Android masses.

This week, Google updated its Motion Stills app to include support for AR stickers. Now, most Android users can use Motion Stills to add one of several different AR objects to their photos.

Right now, the selection of AR objects in Motion Stills is pretty sparse, so you are not going to find your favorite characters from Star Wars or Stranger Things. You’re currently limited to a globe, gingerbread person, robot, chicken, or dinosaur in Motion Stills, however, we certainly hope to see more in the future.

Adding AR stickers in Motion Stills is easy. You simply open the app, tap on AR and then select the AR object you want to insert into your picture. Once you have the object selected, tap the viewfinder to place it on a horizontal surface. You can resize or change the orientation of your 3D object by using two fingers to make adjustments.

While the addition of AR mode in Motion Stills is a nice addition for many Android users, don’t expect the experience to be as seamless as what you would find on the Pixel or Pixel 2. Once you’ve captured your image, you need to save it as either a GIF or MP4 and then manually share it with the Google Photos app.

While Google was able to create its Google-branded devices with AR in mind, it had to take a different approach to make the AR mode in Motion Stills work on the majority of Android devices. Google refined the instant motion-tracking technology it uses to power both the Motion Text feature in the iOS version of Motion Stills as well as the privacy blur feature on YouTube to create a six degree of freedom tracking system that uses the built-in gyroscope on Android devices to properly place 3D objects.

If you want to try out AR mode, you need to update to the newest version of Motion Stills in the Google Play Store. If you don’t have the app installed on your phone, make sure you’re running Android 5.1 or later. You also want to make sure your device has a gyroscope. Not to worry, however, as most newer phones should easily meet the minimum requirements.

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SpaceX nailed the Falcon Heavy launch — but what happened with the landing?

Today, at approximately 3:45 PM EST, SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket — the largest operational rocket in the world — lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Despite suffering a few minor delays caused by weather, the launch went almost perfectly. After safely delivering its flashy payload (Elon Musk’s cherry-red Tesla roadster), the rocket’s first two stages fell back to Earth and landed themselves in spectacular fashion — touching down at Cape Canaveral almost simultaneously.

Shortly after, the third booster fell back and attempted to land itself on SpaceX’s autonomous droneship, Of Course I Still Love You, in the Atlantic ocean — but unfortunately, something went wrong. According to statements made by Elon Musk during a press conference held after the launch, the center core didn’t have enough propellant to re-ignite all nine of its Merlin engines during the final landing burn. As such, it crash landed and was destroyed.

Not one to shy away from failure, Musk remarked on the crash with some dry humor, telling reporters, “if the cameras didn’t get blown up as well, we’ll put that up in a blooper reel or something.”

Getty Images

Regardless of the fate of the Falcon Heavy’s center core, this historic achievement bodes well for the future of SpaceX. Unlike the company’s smaller Falcon 9 rockets, the Falcon Heavy is designed to carry heavier payloads. According to SpaceX, the rocket has the “ability to lift into orbit nearly 64 metric tons (141,000 lb) — a mass greater than a 737 jetliner loaded with passengers, crew, luggage and fuel.”

Crucially, the Falcon Heavy can send these payloads into orbit not only around Earth, but also to the Moon and Mars. SpaceX definitely isn’t the only launch provider in the world that’s capable of sending payloads to Mars and the Moon — but because the Falcon Heavy’s first stage boosters are capable of being landed, recovered, and reused; SpaceX should be able to conduct these large rocket launches at a substantially lower cost than its competitors.

Decreasing the cost of rocket launches is critical if we ever hope to explore the Moon and colonize Mars — something that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk thinks will be possible in the next few years.

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Essential Phone gets February security patch one day after Pixel/Nexus

Say what you will about Essential, this is how you do software updates.

The Essential Phone is far from a perfect device, but one thing that it’s excelled at since its release is fast software updates. Aside from a delay with Android 8.0 Oreo’s public release, the team at Essential has kicked out updates for the PH-1 faster than just about anyone else.

Google officially released the February 2018 security patch for Pixel and Nexus devices on February 5, and just one day later, Essential announced on Twitter that it was pushing out a software update to the Essential Phone that contained this new patch.

We’re rolling out a software update (NMK24B) that includes February 2018 Security Patches from Google.

— Essential (@essential) February 6, 2018

Security patches aren’t the most exciting thing in the world, but there’s no denying their importance. While we’ve been critical of Essential in the past regarding its clunky camera app, annoying touch latency, etc., this is one area where it’s always been strong.

In the meantime, I’m over here with my Pixel 2 that’s apparently “up to date” with the January 5 patch ¯_(ツ)_/¯.

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Mercedes will build an electric version of its popular Sprinter van

It’s all well and good to drive your own electric car, but what about the companies delivering your mail or fixing your water heater? They could stand to benefit from EVs, too — and Mercedes-Benz is happy to help out. It’s launching a refreshed Sprinter van that will, for the first time, include an eSprinter electric version. Details on the range and performance aren’t available, but that’s likely to vary widely as Mercedes customizes the eSprinter based on individual companies’ demands. It’s mainly aimed at “city centers,” so we wouldn’t expect hundreds of miles of driving.

The costs of running the EV are “on par” with those of running a diesel van, Mercedes said. This is more about reducing emissions than trimming costs. Having said that, there are situations where it could both save cash and the planet. As cities like London often have congestion charges in key areas, couriers could operate downtown without racking up charges.

This and other versions of the Sprinter also promise to be the first truly connected models. You could restock a van by ordering parts while you’re still in the van, for example, while fleet managers could keep tabs on their vehicles. A camper van edition, meanwhile promises creature comforts you’re probably not used to in the wild — you could use your smartphone to heat up the van when you’re returning from a ski trip.

Mercedes expects to release the eSprinter sometime in 2019, although we wouldn’t expect a US release right away. That’s to be announced, according to the automaker. However long the rollout takes, it could be important even if you never take the wheel. Especially in Europe, Sprinter vans are everywhere. If a significant number of those are electric, that represents a significant reduction in urban pollution and noise.

Source: Mercedes-Benz, Daimler