Share the perfect GIF or emoji using Gboard for Android.
Gboard (formerly Google Keyboard) is probably the best keyboard you can use for Android, and thankfully it is preinstalled on many handsets sold today, even those not made by Google.
One of Gboard's best little-known features is the ability to share GIFs straight into the text box of certain apps, as well as search for emoji when you just need to quickly find the perfect character. Here's how to do both.
Do I need to be running a particular version of Android to access GIFs on Gboard?
No! Well, yes, but you probably are running a phone with that version. See, Google initially launched the feature with support for just Android 7.1, but in an update to Gboard, Google backported the feature to support Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and above, which comprises over 90% of the Android ecosystem.
Questions?
Can't get it to work? Got an app that supports GIF sharing? Let us know in the comments!
NBC Nightly News shared this absolutely adorable footage of animals at the Oregon Zoo frolicking in the snow. The storm was big enough to cause the zoo to shut down to the public for the day, but the animals didn’t seem to mind. The Oregon Zoo’s Twitter account has been sharing even more videos:
Yahoo is going through some changes right now. Not necessarily the good kind, either. Verizon is buying a chunk of the company, and the rest is changing its name to Altaba. So, there are some changes in the Flickr app, which Yahoo has been accused of neglecting in recent years. For the first time in several years, you can sign into Flickr without a Yahoo account.
Here's the full changelog of the latest Flickr app update.
Everyone loves to be one of the first to discover a new up-and-coming artist before they make it, but with thousands of thriving artists out there launching new music daily, discovering the next big musical breakthrough isn’t easy. Google Play Music has you covered! After hours of listening, analyzing and discussing who you should keep your eye (or ear) on this year, our team of music experts put together a list of the top 10 “Ones to Watch” in 2017—and a new playlist featuring top tracks from these rising stars.
So, how did we select our “Ones to Watch” list? Our Google Play Music editorial team locked themselves in a room (well, sort of) and considered everything from track performance on Pop Before It Breaks and Blogged 50 to Google search counts and social media reach, to just pure, inalienable music expert gut instinct. Then, by way of committee, lots of strong coffee, some heated debates, and even more coffee, the final 10 artists were chosen.
Listen now so that when one of their singles hits the radio, you can say with confidence that you heard it first.
Learn more about the 2017 “Ones to Watch” Artists:
EDM duo Lost Kings scored an Internet hit in 2015 with the Carl Carlton via Chris Brown “Bad.” Their latest single, “Phone Down,” with singer and hit songwriter Emily Warren shows how they could follow in the The Chainsmokers’ footsteps from the blogs onto the pop charts. For fans of: The Chainsmokers, Classixx, Matoma.
Atlanta’s Kodie Shane opened her debut mixtape with “Drip In My Walk,” one of the best do-it-for-the-Vine,Travolta-in-white-polyester swagger anthems we heard in 2016. “Baby, you know I’m a star!” Here’s hoping 2017 is the year that becomes incontrovertible. For fans of Lil Yachty, Dreezy, D.R.A.M.
Bound to be a festival favorite this year, Bishop Briggs brings energy and an almost manic array of beats to her dark synth-pop. With a soulful voice that packs a punch, Briggs snagged an opening spot on Coldplay’s stadium tour, a long way from the karaoke bars she performed in growing up. For fans of: BANKS, Alessia Cara, St. Vincent.
Gracefully nodding to ’70s and ’80s country with a modern twist, Texas trio Midland are poised to bring back traditionalism to the country airwaves. Their harmonies and classic steel guitar evoke the Old West erasing the bro-country invasion of recent years. For fans of: George Strait, Dwight Yoakam, The Eagles.
Twin sister and erstwhile bandmate of Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield, Allison Crutchfield is a powerful indie rock singer-songwriter in her own right. “Dean's Room” is a propulsive and buoyant power-pop number from forthcoming the album “Tourists in This Town,” which showcases Crutchfield's softer songwriting. For fans of: Angel Olsen, Mitski, Courtney Barnett.
If Clipse and Pharrell wrote a love song, it would probably sound like “Caroline,” the off-kilter and impossibly catchy debut song from Portland, OR native Aminé. We’ll be eagerly anticipating his debut album this year. For fans of: Rae Sremmurd, The Neptunes, Tarantino movies.
Hand-picked and boosted to viral fame by no less powerful a taste-maker than Pharrell, young singer-songwriter Maggie Rogers is bound for big things in 2017 and beyond. "Alaska," the song that started it all, is an infectious, alternately frosty and thawed-out blend of electro-pop, R&B, and Rogers’ roots in indie folk. For fans of: BANKS, Tove Lo, Låpsley.
This Bay Area MC has already held her own against Drake and Y.G., when she released a critically acclaimed mixtape and rhymed her own name with “please retire.” When that flat, unflappably boss flow of hers rolls by, you will sit up and pay attention. For fans of: Lil Yachty, Young Jeezy, D.R.A.M.
Listen to this Oakland R&B singer’s cooing confession about needing a “Gangsta” on the “Suicide Squad” soundtrack. If you prefer your slinky, intimate soul sans the Jared Leto association, there was also the commanding, ubiquitous 2016 single "CRZY" to get you hooked. The first tracks off her major label debut (out Jan. 27) suggests an even wider range. For fans of: Jhené Aiko, PARTYNEXTDOOR, Tinashe.
Rag’n’Bone Man has already scored a top 10 hit in Germany and his native U.K. with the hip-hop meets blues stomper “Human.” Expect this aggro-tender song to turn up in every “gritty” movie trailer after his debut album drops in February. For fans of: Hozier, Imagine Dragons, impressive beards.
Last year, we introduced a new ride services mode to Google Maps as a convenient option for people to easily get where they need to go. Since then we’ve added a number of new ride service partners in the U.S. and worldwide. Today, we’re starting to roll out an updated ride services experience to make it even easier for you to book a ride directly from Google Maps, on both Android and iOS globally.
A new look
With today's updates, you'll now see more types of ride options and more actionable information. When you open ride services mode, instead of a long list of ride service providers and ride options, you’ll see the map you know and love, along with a carousel of ride service providers in your area. Just tap on your preferred provider to see a complete list of ride options and special offers or promotions.
Past ride services experience (left), new ride services experience (right)
Book an Uber ride directly within Google Maps
We’re also trying out a new integration that lets you book, complete and pay for an Uber ride without ever leaving Google Maps—even if you don’t have the Uber app installed on your device. Once you sign into your existing Uber account (or create one), you can book an Uber ride, track your driver on the map, and connect with your driver—all from within the Google Maps app. Here’s how it works:
You can even take a look at information about your destination while en route. So menus, hours and other helpful details are only a swipe away.
From booking a ride to reserving a table at a local restaurant, booking your favorite fitness class to ordering delivery for a night in, Google Maps no longer just shows you the information you're looking for. It also makes it easier to get things done in the real world — all in one place.
Google today announced a small update to Google Maps that makes it easier to hail a ridesharing service like Uber, Lyft, Gett or Hailo from the app. With this update, Google Maps now feels a bit more like the native apps those services already offer. Instead of showing you a list with only a few ride options, the app now shows a map with the location of nearby cars and a larger list… Read More
Put your music where you want to hear it by setting up Chromecast Audio groups.
One of the coolest features of Chromecast Audio and the Google Home app is the grouping setting. If you have multiple Chromecast Audio or Google Cast-ready speakers, you can set things up so that you can cast audio to specific devices while others stay silent. For me, this reason alone makes the Chromecast Audio the best solution for a complete home audio setup.
And doing it is easy. We love easy. But like many of the cool things Goggle lets us do, it's buried in the settings and it seems like nobody at Google PR is talking about it. No problem. We can talk about it instead!
For starters, you'll need to have at least two devices to do anything here, and they both need to be set up through the Google Home app. If you have the devices but haven't set them up yet, figure out where you'll put them and plug them in (one at a time) then look at your phone. Tap the notification and go through the setup process. It's easy, promise. At the end, make sure you sign into your Google account on each device if you want to cast Google Play Music or audio from YouTube. This will let you use any subscription services you might be paying for and help filter music based on your tastes if you are using a Google Home (also an audio Cast target!) and voice commands to cast from.
When you've got things setup, follow these three steps to make a group.
In the Google Home app, tap the devices button in the upper right corner.
Pick a device that you want in a group, then press the settings button (three vertical dots) in the upper right of its card and choose the Create group option.
Choose a name and the other devices you want in that group then press the save button.
Just like setting up the devices themselves, it helps to give things a descriptive name so you know what is what. If you are going to use Google Assistant (either through your phone, Google Home or NVIDIA Shield TV) make it a name you can say and one that Google will understand. Weird stuff isn't recognized very well and you can't always say some things, like when mom is visiting.
When you want to cast music (from any valid Cast audio-enabled app) you can cast it to the group you named, and all the devices you picked will play at the same time. Any devices you didn't pick won't play anything. This is a great way to have music fill the places you are or have a podcast follow you from room to room so you don't miss anything. You can still cast to a single target, too — just pick it by name in the list of available devices or say it by name to Google Assistant.
A device can be in more than one group at a time or no groups at all. It's completely up to you.
Groups work with any device that's a valid audio Cast target. That means the Chromecast Audio as well as stand-alone Google Cast-ready speakers or other devices. It doesn't work with video devices, like a regular Chromecast, Android TV or Chromecast Ultra. Hopefully, Google enables a method that these devices can also play in a restricted audio-only mode so they can join the party. But as of now, they don't work.
If you have a house full of audio Cast-ready things, you owe it to yourself to set up a group or two and fill your life with sound.
The European Union is not happy with the explanation provided by the US government for why its domestic spy agencies co-opted Yahoo to scan all emails of users of its webmail service during a six month period in 2015, Reuters is reporting. Read More
HTC has been lagging behind its competitors for years, despite some fantastic hardware and critical acclaim. So for 2017 the company is going in a completely new design direction, dumping the aluminum unibody phones it's become known for and shifting to a more generic glass front and back. The first products displaying this new direction are the HTC U Ultra, the new flagship phone, and the U Play, a mid-range model.
Android apps are a game changer for the Chrome OS platform, and hardware manufacturers are responding with devices that embrace the new capabilities. However, despite the ideal hardware, Google’s software isn’t quite perfect yet, but that’s changing…
by Beth Skwarecki on Vitals, shared by Beth Skwarecki to Lifehacker
Eat This Much has moved some of its best premium features to free accounts, so now you can track and plan your meals in addition to getting ideas for what to eat next.
Free users will see these new features:
A calendar, so you can plan what you will eat and track what you have eaten.
An “I ate this” button, to add meals that you’ve already eaten to the calendar. If you already ate (and logged) breakfast but want new ideas for dinner, Eat This Much will keep that in mind rather than regenerating the entire day’s menu.
Statistics on your past meals, so you can tell if, for example, you’re truly eating low carb like you promised yourself you would.
A restaurant meal search, to find foods that fit your diet.
Alternative meals, so you don’t have to keep hitting the “regenerate” button when Eat This Much gives you a dud. Just click on the offending meal and pick an alternative.
Premium accounts still have a major thing the free ones don’t: they can plan two weeks’ worth of meals and give you a shopping list (or send said list to Instacart). Read more at the link below:
Make a habit of making habits with these helpful tracking apps.
You're probably sick of hearing the same old clichés about getting a handle back on life. Well, I'm not here to give you that rah-rah speech. Whether you get back on the saddle is ultimately up to you, but I can help you on a journey by suggesting a few apps that are effective at helping implement healthier habits into your daily life.
Whether your goal for the year is to simply text your friends more often or to get into shape, here are a few Android apps worth trying out for yourself.
Habitica
If the standard check-it-off list of things to doesn't work for you, try to gamify your goals with Habitica. This app turns your everyday tasks and weekly goals into a riveting role-playing game. You can sign up with your Google or Facebook account and then create an avatar that looks like you. Every task, habit, and to-do that you cross off rewards you money and experience points that you can redeem for items and upgrades.
Be forewarned that there are quite a few nuances to Habitica. If you're serious about truly turning your daily life into a game, you'll have to stick with the program. There are penalties for not completing daily tasks. If you need help staying on track, you can join a guild with several others to ensure that your character is leveled up with completed tasks before the next boss fight.
Having trouble getting the day-to-day in order? Todoist can be a particularly effective aid in managing those daily, weekly, and monthly tasks, whether it's at work or in your personal life. The app is built using the standard Material Design layout, complete with a hamburger menu and floating action buttons. It's also cross-platform, so you can use it on your smartphone, computer, or smartwatch. You can also add tasks with Google Home or by forwarding an email.
Be aware that you'll have to pay an annual membership fee — around $30 a year — to unlock Todoist's full set of features, which also includes themes, push notifications, and the ability to sync up with Dropbox or Google Drive.
Loop Habit Tracker is merely a "simple" tracking app because it isn't bogged down by all the extra elements that tracking apps typically require of you. There are no due dates or sprint goals, nor do you have to log in to have others hold you accountable. All you have to do is press and hold when you've completely a task and move on with your day.
As you get through completing tasks, Loop Habit Tracker will aggregate all of that data for you into an easy-to-read detailed graph. The app lets you backup that data to take it with you, and it supports imports from other applications, including the popular app Habitbull, which did not make this roundup because of its confusing multi-tier payment options.
If you have trouble remembering to complete the minutiae of the day-to-day, Nomie might be your answer for getting it done. You can use Nomie to track anything. If you can assign it an icon and a name, you can track it. For every item you create, you can choose whether ticking the items has a positive or negative impact on your overall score. Best of all, Nomie is completely private. You don't need an account to keep track of your data. When you're ready to switch smartphones, simply carry over that data by exporting and backing it up to Dropbox.
Recent surveillance laws in Germany, France and the UK require online service providers to store (undoubtedly leaky and infinitely toxic) databases of everything you do online, and allow government agencies to raid these databases without accountability or meaningful oversight).
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Asus File Manager is the best file manager currently available for Android. You can move, share and delete your files, as well as compressing them to help save space.
ASUS File Manager manages to heave itself to the top of the file manager food chain on Android by delivering tons of great features that work well together to make your life easier in the long run. You'll see the usual features like moving, sharing and deleting the files on your phone, as well as less common features like compressing files, and streaming files located in cloud storage. Of course you'll also find the ability to easily browse your files, and manage your files with their cadre of useful disk tools.
Bottom line: ASUS File Manager delivers a great experience with all of the features you didn't realize that you wanted. From managing files, to storage, their features all work well together delivering a simple and easy to use app.
One more thing: ASUS File Manager is the highest rated file manager on Google Play, with over 600,000 reviews for a scored of 4.6. And despite the name, it's not exclusive to ASUS devices!
Why the ASUS File Manager is the best
ASUS File Manager delivers a great experience with tons of features, at the low, low, price of free.
I'll be clear, that when I'm looking for a good file manager what I'm most concerned about is price, quality, and features — although not necessarily in that order. With that being said, it's fairly clear how ASUS File Manager is able to climb to the head of the pack.
To begin with, ASUS File Manager is absolutely free. There are no add-ons, or pro editions that you'll feel obligated to buy in order to access all of the features that you want. One of the biggest perks here is the ability to share, save, edit and delete your files whether they are located on your phone, microSD card, or in cloud storage. When it comes to cloud storage, you've also got access to accounts whether they happen to be Dropbox, OneDrive, Google Drive, and more.
ASUS also gives you the ability to stream media that you've stored in the cloud. That means that you don't need to keep all of your photos or videos stored on your phone if you want to show them to friends, you can upload them to the cloud and still whip them out at a moment's notice.
Of course the most important aspect of any file manager is how easy it is to actually manage your files. Well, ASUS File Manager has you covered on that front as well. To save space on your phone, you have the ability to compress or extract files into and out of ZIP and RAR files. From the ASUS File Manager home, you can browse through all of your files and adjust them as necessary. Additionally their Disk Tools like the storage analyzer and recycle bin help you make sure that everything is exactly as you want it.
While you might find some of these features in other file managers, having them all in one place with an app that is easy to use, is why ASUS File Manager is the best file manager currently available on Android.
File Explorer is currently the second highest rated file manager on Google Play with over 50 thousand reviews chiming in for a 4.4 rating. That's because what File Explorer does, it does quite well, delivering an easy and intuitive file manager that lets you easily handle your business.
While File Manager does have plenty of awesome features, to access absolutely everything offered you'll need to purchase File Explorer Pro. When using the app there are popups which will inform you of an error, as well as help you out in learning the app, making it far more intuitive than many of its competitors. When using File Explorer you'll be able to you can transfer files from phone to phone using Wi-Fi, it supports multi-windowed mode, gives you the ability to see the size of each folder on your phone, and offers a home screen to allow you to easily browse and adjust your files. However, to access features like extracting ZIP and RAR files, connect to Cloud storage, and directly browse your multimedia files you will need to upgrade to File Explorer Pro.
Bottom line: File Explorer is a decent option for those who don't need a ton of bells and whistles, or who prefer an easy and intuitive app to use. However, some of their best — and most useful — features are hidden behind a paywall.
One more thing: If you've been looking for an ad-free experience that also does not participate in user tracking, then File Explorer is definitely your best bet.
ASTRO File Manager has been one of the best file managers on Google Play for years now, and with good reason. It's got an easy to use and intuitive UI which is always a solid plus, but it also comes at the lovely price of free. While ASTRO File Manager includes many of the same features as other file managing apps, it also has a few surprises that nobody else currently includes.
To begin with, ASTRO File Manager includes a task killer. This means that it's easy to kill tasks or processes killing your battery life, without a hassle. You also have access to File Manager Backup, which can be a boon for anyone who has to switch phones often, or is prone to losing their devices.
ASTRO File Manager also delivers the best features that you're used to have access to. You'll be able to deal with files located on your phone, SD card, Cloud Storage, LAN, and even on Facebook. There is also the ability to add FTP and SMB servers.
Bottom line: ASTRO File Manager delivers you the awesome features you need in order to access and organize your files, as well as a task killer, and the lovely ability to backup your filed before switching phones. With access to files on your phone, social media, and cloud storage, you'll always be able to access what you need with a tap.
One more thing: ASTRO File Manager is available in 13 different languages, making it ideal for non-english speakers and readers.
Conclusion
Plenty of us use File Managers in order to keep track all of the many files we have. While there are many dozens of them available on the Google Play Store, many don't offer the features or ease of access that you want — or need—in a file manager. Of the many managers out there, ASUS File Manager delivers the best experience and price, with all the features you could ask for.
ASUS File Manager manages to heave itself to the top of the file manager food chain on Android by delivering tons of great features that work well together to make your life easier in the long run. You'll see the usual features like moving, sharing and deleting the files on your phone, as well as less common features like compressing files, and streaming files located in cloud storage. Of course you'll also find the ability to easily browse your files, and manage your files with their cadre of useful disk tools.
Bottom line: ASUS File Manager delivers a great experience with all of the features you didn't realize that you wanted. From managing files, to storage, their features all work well together delivering a simple and easy to use app.
One more thing: ASUS File Manager is the highest rated file manager on Google Play, with over 600,000 reviews for a scored of 4.6. And despite the name, it's not exclusive to ASUS devices!
A paper from a group of Kings College London researchers documents an unexpected and welcome side effect from an experimental anti-Alzheimer's drug called Tideglusib: test subjects experienced a regeneration of dentin, the bony part of teeth that sits between the pulp and the enamel.
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For some, the winter is a magical time of year. For others like me, it’s a gloomy, cold, darkness you just have to wait out. But there’s a better way to get through winter. A mindset that involves embracing the unique aspects of the winter months. Enter the Danish concept of “hygge.”
Hygge, which is actually a word of Norwegian origin, is pronounced “hoo-gah” and loosely translates to “coziness.” But while coziness is a major piece of the puzzle, hygge is really more of an attitude or mindset. As Natalie Van Deusen, professor of Scandinavian Studies at the University of Alberta, puts it:
“The best translation is coziness, but not the physical coziness that you get when you put on a sweater or cuddle up with a blanket. It’s more of a state mental balance and psychological well-being.”
It’s a feeling many of us feel when we go home for the holidays. But it doesn’t have go away when you head back to the real world. And, believe me, the Danish know what they’re talking about. They have some of the longest, harshest winters, yet they’re one of the happiest countries in the world. Here are some tips on how you can achieve hygge this winter and hopefully enjoy it more than usual.
Double Down On Coziness
It may not be the true definition of hygge, but getting physically cozy can still help. Basically, become an expert at hunkering down at home and getting as comfortable as possible. Reading a book by the fire with a hot drink is hygge. So is eating homemade baked goods while watching TV under a mountain of blankets. You can never have enough blankets, pillows, warm socks, hot drinks, or cuddling with your pet or significant other.
To achieve the ultimate cozy atmosphere, Susanne Nilsson, a lecturer on Danish language at Morley College, suggests you mind the space around you. It’s best to avoid large, empty rooms, as well as spaces that look cold. Ditch the fluorescent lights and use other types of lighting to your advantage to make big rooms feel smaller and warmer. Meik Wiking, the author of The Little Book of Hygge, recommends you light tons of candles, use lamps with warm, soft-lit bulbs, and get a fire going in the fireplace if you have one. If not, even a TV with a fake fireplace video can help. It’s all about transforming your home to match the aesthetics of the season so it feels like an impenetrable fortress of happiness and warmth.
Think of winter as your time to hibernate and your warm home as your bear cave. Use the winter as an excuse to do all of those things you’ve been putting off. Cuddle up on the couch and finally finish that book, stay under your covers and get through that TV show everyone has been talking about, or hop in the bath and listen to your backlog of podcasts. Do those things you won’t have time for once the weather clears up and you want to go outside instead. I’ve been spending more time in my comfy bed, sipping great coffee, reading books, and playing Vita games I haven’t finished yet.
Gather With Good Company as Often as You Can
The winter often dwindles the amount of time you spend with others. Harsh cold, foul weather, and dangerous roads makes gatherings and outings a hassle. But companionship and friendliness is an essential aspect of hygge, and the Danish believe maintaining strong social connections are good for the soul.
There are two ways to go about hygge-style gatherings. First, you can organize regular, relaxed meetups with friends or family at someone’s home with snacks, treats, and delicious drinks. Helen Russell, the author of The Year of Living Danishly: Uncovering the Secrets of the World’s Happiest Country, suggests these gatherings are about nothing more than indulging and having a nice time. So invite your friends over, have some cake, coffee, cider, donuts, or whatever you like, and just spend time chatting in your cozy living room and enjoying each other’s company. The more often you do this the better. Pro tip: bust out the seasonal items to truly embrace what the winter has to offer. Beers, cookies, and anything else that is exclusive to this time of year.
If you don’t have a comfy home, you can have hygge-style gatherings in cozy restaurants, bars, cafes, or even bookstores. Don’t let those comfy couches at the local coffee shop go to waste. My friends and I like boardgame cafes, where you can keep warm, have coffee, and play tons of games for cheap. And if you’re on your own in a new place, the Lonely Planet Guide to Copenhagen suggests hygge participants don’t even have to be people you know. Post up at a cozy cafe or bar and try to make some new friends.
Appreciate Winter Wonderlands In the Right Gear
I hate being cold and wet, so I don’t like going out in the snow or freezing wind. And because of that, I’ve never invested in decent winter garb. Could it be that I don’t enjoy being out in the cold simply because I’ve prevented myself from being properly prepared for it? If I did buy some nice winter clothes, and they kept me warm, maybe I’d actually enjoy it...
As the old saying goes: ‘There’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes.’
Just because it’s freezing out doesn’t mean you don’t need a little activity, even if it’s just a walk. Get a nice jacket, pair of gloves, boots, hats, snow pants, whatever you need to step outside and feel 100% comfortable. Again, not “warm enough,” 100% comfortable. And when you do go outside, consider doing activities you can only do during the winter. It could be skiing, snowboarding, ice skating, sledding, or having a snowball fight. Try to appreciate the activities, sights, and sounds you can only experience during this time of year and you’ll stop wishing it was summer already.
Wiking sums up the essence of hygge as “the pursuit of everyday happiness.” It’s using the winter months to focus on the simple pleasures in life, strive for relaxation and comfort, and pursue togetherness on a daily basis. When you look at winter through a lens like that, it feels a whole lot warmer. Who knows? You might even start to miss winter come spring time.
In a different kind of British invasion, Snap (the company that launched 1,000 ephemeral selfies) has planted its disappearing flag in the UK for its international home-away-from-home as it preps for an initial public offering in the U.S. Read More
Well this is a relatively fast exit. In March last year a brand new smart watch brand appeared, hoping to offer something different. Combining the incredible engineering talent in Central Europe’s Romania, with the business smarts of London and former executives from Citizen watches, the Vector startup carved out a very credible slot in the ‘affordable luxury’ smart watch… Read More
Despite hiccups, Yahoo’s planned sale to Verizon appears to be moving forward — but some portions of the company will be left behind and renamed Altaba Inc.
Yahoo is hanging on to its 15 percent stake in Alibaba and its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, and those assets will survive as an investment company under the new name Altaba Inc., as the rest of Yahoo integrates with Verizon. Read More
by Beth Skwarecki on Vitals, shared by Andy Orin to Lifehacker
If you have trouble figuring out the best way to stretch a particular muscle, try this chart that has a huge range of stretches for each body part. The stretches are arranged into easy, medium, and hard categories, so if the stretches you know don’t quite hit the spot, you should be able to find a good alternative.
Sadly, stretching doesn’t help soreness and static stretching won’t prevent injuries. But dynamic stretches, the right-hand column in this table, make a great warmup to help you get ready for your workout. And if you do any stretch on a regular basis, you can ultimately improve your flexibility. Try out some of these stretches, and don’t forget to click each one for a video demonstration.
We’ve mentioned time and time again that Chrome’s password manager is not very secure, but it was never very easy to actually heed that advice unless you wanted to start over from scratch. Ghacks points to an experimental feature where you can enable the option to export passwords.
All you need to do to enable is type in chrome://flags into your URL bar, then search for “Password import and export.” Set that toggle to enabled and relaunch your browser. Then, head to chrome://settings/passwords (or Menu > Settings > Advanced Settings > Manage Passwords), and click the Export button. That exports your passwords as a plain text CSV file, which is pretty easy to take to just about any other password manager you want. A few password managers have had import options right from Chrome, but this makes it so you can take a little more control over the process.
Built in 1982, this 4 bedroom, 4.5 bath home based on Snow White's cottage is for sale in Olalla, Washington. It's 2,800 square-feet on 7.52 acres and listed at $925,000. From Realtor.com:
There's not a square corner anywhere. Each door was hand built with extensive iron work. Wood beams were hand carved, stained glass windows are everywhere, and the walls appear to more like a magical cave. Perfect for a B & B or a wedding business.
French workers now have the “right to disconnect,” or more appropriately, a new law instructs companies to ask workers on how they can—if at all—be contacted outside of the office or during non-work hours. Would you want that right for yourself?
Of course, the law sounds great, but not everyone has the same cultural approach to work-life balance as the French do. From the PayScale piece linked below:
“Under the new law, companies will be obliged to negotiate with employees to agree on their rights to switch off and ways they can reduce the intrusion of work into their private lives,” writes the Agence France-Presse at The Guardian. “If a deal cannot be reached, the company must publish a charter that would make explicit the demands on, and rights of, employees out-of-hours.”
...“All the studies show there is far more work-related stress today than there used to be, and that the stress is constant,” MP Benoit Hamon told the BBC. “Employees physically leave the office, but they do not leave their work. They remain attached by a kind of electronic leash — like a dog. The texts, the messages, the emails — they colonize the life of the individual to the point where he or she eventually breaks down.”
There are no penalties for companies that don’t comply, however. We imagine it’s one of those situations where the “penalty” comes in the form of word of mouth about the type of place that company is, and how it treats its employees. At the same time, there are drawbacks as well. While we all hate those “I know you’re off today but….” phone calls and text messages, no one likes going back to the office to a pileup or an emergency that should have been handled while you were out, but just didn’t get touched.
What do you think? Would you want the “right to disconnect” enshrined in law? Would you want it more toothsome and penalties for companies that defied it, or would you prefer to let companies make a name for themselves by respecting the work-life balance of their employees, thus attracting the best talent? Let us know in the discussions below.
The Spotify app isn't bad, per se, but it could probably be better (similar to certain other music apps). It's good, then, that the company is testing a new material-esque now playing screen, which looks much improved compared to the old one.
It would appear this is being A/B tested at the moment, due to it being randomly turned on for certain users. It is not clear what version is running on this phone - no Android Police team members have this on their specific Spotify app install.
HMD Global isn't waiting until MWC to launch its first Android phone.
In a low-key affair, HMD Global — the Finnish company that snagged exclusive rights to Nokia's branding — has launched its first Android smartphone. Dubbed the Nokia 6, the phone will be exclusively offered on China's JD.com for ¥1,699 ($245).
The phone itself is crafted out of aluminium, with HMD Global describing the process thusly:
It takes 55 minutes to machine a single Nokia 6 from a solid block of 6000 series aluminium. It then receives two separate anodising processes, taking over ten hours to complete, with each phone being polished no less than five times. The end result is an aluminium unibody with the highest level of visual and structural quality.
In terms of hardware, the Nokia 6 offers a 5.5-inch Full HD display with 2.5D curved glass, Snapdragon 430 SoC, 4GB of RAM, 64GB storage, microSD slot, dual-SIM connectivity, 16MP camera at the back with PDAF, Dolby Atmos sound with stereo speakers, Bluetooth 4.1, LTE, 3000mAh battery, and a fingerprint sensor. The phone runs Android 7.0 Nougat out of the box.
With 552 million smartphone users, China is a "strategically important market" for HMD Global, which is why it is launching its first handset in the country. The brand is set to launch six phones under the Nokia name this year, so we should hear more about its plans at Mobile World Congress. If the Nokia 6 is any indication, it's going to be an exciting year for the brand.
It used to be that fitness apps were primarily used to count calories, and check in after workouts. That's no longer the case. There are dozens of fantastic apps out there, and they cater to what you are specifically looking for. Whether you're always looking for a new fun app to help motivate you along, or you've never been inclined to look into them at all, fitness apps can help make your average day healthier.
Keeping fit is easier than ever
Most of us get some amount of exercise every day, just by living our lives. We walk around, in some cases all day long. Plenty of fitness apps will track this and let you know what your activity level is like each day, including the number of steps taken and calories burned based off of your height and weight. There are apps which do this without ever even needing to be opened after you initially set them up.
Fitness doesn't have to be a chore, at least not with these apps.
If you're just starting a fitness routine, there are apps that can help build workout plans, count calories, give you videos so you can workout at home and much more. It might seem a little strange at first to have an app tracking your fitness level. By integrating these apps into your day you can see how active you already are, without ever having to hit the gym. That isn't to say that all fitness apps are made for that purpose. They've branched out, and the abundance of choice lets you determine what you need out of a fitness app.
If you're looking for something that turns fitness into a game there is Zombies, Run! The Walk, or even Pokémon Go. Charity Miles donates money to a charity of your choice for the distance you run. Fitness doesn't have to be a chore, at least not with these apps. They take what you're already doing, and put a spin on it to make it fun and encourage you to do more.
Assistants can help
When it comes to working out, maybe you need to fit things in right in the middle of a busy day. If you have a Google Home, a Samsung phone with Bixby and Samsung Health, or an Amazon Alexa your digital assistants can be of help.
That's because each different Assistant can launch a workout for you. With Samsung devices, you can build a workout plan right from inside of Samsung Health, whether that be drinking more water or training for a 5K program. Alexa has workout based skills that you can enable, and Google Home can talk to several workout programs. This means that you can trigger a quick workout just by talking to your connected device, making it easy to fit in some activity even when you only have a few short minutes to spare.
One size fits all fitness is a thing of the past
Even if you aren't particularly fitness-minded, integrating an app into your life can be a benefit. With unobtrusive tracking apps, you can see your daily activity levels. While that might not seem like much if you're a city dweller you could be walking miles every day without ever realizing it. These apps can help with your health as well, outlining when you have more energy for activity, or what your stamina is like. Some games even have fitness benefits that are purely accidental, like Ingress where walking around to capture portals is a game mechanic. Apps like Aqualert can even help to make sure you're drinking enough water. Fitness apps are no longer just for the people who live and breathe getting and staying in shape. They're built now to be friendly to everyone no matter what your level of motivation might be.
With the ways that fitness apps have diversified, there really is something out there for absolutely everyone.
These aren't the apps from years ago which were tailored for a specific type of person to use. Rather, they have spread their influence and tried to find new niches for people who might not usually use a fitness app. The analytics and data can be fantastic if you're a fan of graphs and charts, but even better is the fact that using these apps can actually help you to live a healthier life. We only get one body, so why not treat it right with the help of technology?
Questions?
It doesn't matter what your activity level is like on a day to day basis. Everyone can benefit from having a fitness app in their life. It can be something small like simply tracking your activity levels, or detailed down to your caloric intake and workout intensity. No matter where you sit on the fitness spectrum, there is an app for you. So are you using any of these apps, or is there a fitness app that you stand by already? Tell us all about it in the comments!
January 2018: We've updated this post with information about using the Assistant on your phone to help make fitness a part of your daily routine!
Working long hours at a desk, whether you use a computer all day or some other tool to get your work done, can wreak havoc on your wrists, knees, and other joints. Here are ten ways you can keep them in good health, and reduce the pain and discomfort your day-to-day may be putting you through.
Keeping yourself hydrated will keep your body happy (and seriously, you’ll feel better too,) but it’ll also keep you from reaching for hand-to-mouth snacks. Perhaps more importantly from an at-the-office perspective though, it’ll get you up and moving around on a regular basis as you go to refill that water bottle, and...well, as you go to the bathroom because you’ve been drinking so much water. Consider them small, short breaks where you get a chance to get up from your desk and move around a bit.
9. Take Regular Breaks to Get Up and Move Around
Speaking of taking every opportunity to get up and move around, doing so is another good way to stave off muscle and joint pain or soreness at work. Whether it’s giving your poor wrists a chance to rest and recover between long sessions of typing, or giving your knees a break and alleviating the pressure on them that comes with sitting for long periods (not to mention all the other ways sitting for hours on end is bad for you,) getting up just to stretch, walk around the office, and maybe get some face time with your coworkers, is a great idea. Ideally you wouldn’t go more than 9o minutes without taking one.
If you have the flexibility to, switch up where you work. If you have a work-issued laptop and an office with common areas or conference rooms—or even phone rooms you can escape into, grab one for a few hours at a time. Of course, not everyone has the privilege to have a desk they work at for a few hours, and then some comfy couches or a common area they can work at for the rest of the day (especially if people swing by your desk looking for you often), but if you do, take it.
In the same vein as working from different desks and locations whenever you can, consider working from home too, if you have space to do so. For many of us, working from a home office is more relaxing, more comfortable, and in most cases, just more space. Of course, just like above, your home office, a coffee shop, or a library may not offer better ergonomics, but being able to choose and change the position you work in can be a benefit in itself.
Regardless of the dress code at your office, make sure you wear comfortable, well-fitted clothes. Even if you have to squeeze on professional garb every day, the least you can do is make sure it’s not too tight, uncomfortable, or worse, so hard to move around in that you can’t stretch or move your arms and legs with full range of motion. After all, you spend eight hours of the day in these clothes. They should be comfortable, supportive, and healthy to work in, whatever your job may be.
I learned a long time ago that even if your approach to work clothes is to buy cheap as long as it remotely fits, you’re doing your look—and your health—a disservice every time you cut off circulation to your legs, or wear something just too tight around the arms or sleeves that your wrists feel awful at the end of the day. Then you inevitable have to replace them. Bottom line: cheap clothes are too expensive. Buy quality instead.
4. Embrace Fidgeting and Simple Stretches If You’re Chained to Your Desk
Maybe you don’t have the type of job that allows you to just up and walk around whenever you want, or take a break whenever you’d like to stretch. That’s okay—frankly, few of us really do. Most people have to be at their desk to get work done, and if they’re not at their desk working, someone’s missing them, whether they have to take calls, crank out reports, or write code. For those folks, fidgeting and small movements are where it’s at.
When I worked in a call center and had to be on a phone for hours and hours a day, fidgeting and other minimal exercises I could do while I was on the phone with someone or within reach of my headset from my desk were a windfall. Embrace them. Swing around in your chair a bit. Stretch out your legs where you can, either into the space behind your desk or under it. Do wrist stretches and small exercises through the day. Get whatever activity in your joints and muscles you can, even if you can’t get away from your desk. Bonus: it helps you focus, too.
3. Reboot Your Workspace for Ergonomics
Stretching, bending, working from different locations, and staying hydrated are all good, but there’s a certain point where you just need to buckle down and rearrange your desk. If your desk is set up to cause you pain, well, no amount of trying to fidget and stretch will really fix it. Take a little time to completely reboot your workspace, and do it with ergonomics and healthy posture in mind.
Start by cleaning everything out and come up with a plan for how you’d ideally like to work. Then start with your chair, then your keyboard and mouse, and your monitor, working around all of the items you have and use on your desk and position them so you’re not craning to use them, bending awkwardly to type or read, and the things you need are within easy reach. If you need to make a few ergonomic upgrades to your desk while you’re at it, we have some suggestions there, too.
2. Keep Fit Outside the Office
The next big thing you can do to relieve joint and wrist pain while you work is to make sure you keep yourself flexible, limber, and healthy outside the office as well as inside the office. Luckily, good joint health and flexibility isn’t hard to maintain. Simple stretches, foam rolling, and some easy-to-do mobility drills can do a world of good but at and outside the office. Foam rolling is also good for improving your posture, and can even help you with strength training.
Beyond keeping your joints limber, don’t neglect the rest of your body. A good bodyweight workout will keep you healthy and you don’t need any special equipment, but if you already hit the gym regularly, don’t forget to do some strength training. They can do a world of good for those aching joints and muscles. Even some simple hip flexes and regular stretches at home can offset some of the effects of all that sitting.
1. Incorporate Simple Stretches and Office Yoga Into Your Routine
Lifehacker’s Weekend Roundup gathers our best guides, explainers, and other posts on a certain subject so you can tackle big projects with ease. For more, check out our Weekend Roundup and Top 10 tags.
Meet Blitab, an Android tablet combined with a smart Braille surface. It’s one of the most affordable Braille devices out there and could change the way visually impaired people use computing devices. The company is participating in TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield at CES.
The devices for this niche market are really disappointing. There are specialized devices called Braille… Read More
Google today announced a small update to Google Maps that makes it easier to hail a ridesharing service like Uber, Lyft, Gett or Hailo from the app. With this update, Google Maps now feels a bit more like the native apps those services already offer. Instead of showing you a list with only a few ride options, the app now shows a map with the location of nearby cars and a larger list… 
The European Union is not happy with the explanation provided by the US government for why its domestic spy agencies co-opted Yahoo to scan all emails of users of its webmail service during a six month period in 2015, Reuters is reporting. 
In a different kind of British invasion, Snap (the company that launched 1,000 ephemeral selfies) has planted its disappearing flag in the UK for its international home-away-from-home as it preps for an initial public offering in the U.S. 
Well this is a relatively fast exit. In March last year a brand new smart watch brand appeared, hoping to offer something different. Combining the incredible engineering talent in Central Europe’s Romania, with the business smarts of London and former executives from Citizen watches, the Vector startup carved out a very credible slot in the ‘affordable luxury’ smart watch… 
Despite hiccups, Yahoo’s planned sale to Verizon appears to be moving forward — but some portions of the company will be left behind and renamed Altaba Inc.
Yahoo is hanging on to its 15 percent stake in Alibaba and its 35.5 percent stake in Yahoo Japan, and those assets will survive as an investment company under the new name Altaba Inc., as the rest of Yahoo integrates with Verizon. 
Meet Blitab, an Android tablet combined with a smart Braille surface. It’s one of the most affordable Braille devices out there and could change the way visually impaired people use computing devices. The company is participating in TechCrunch’s Hardware Battlefield at CES.
The devices for this niche market are really disappointing. There are specialized devices called Braille…