The other morning I posted an unnecessarily snarky tweet about VERO and a breach of my copyright. That afternoon, I found myself on an hour-long Zoom call with founder CEO Ayman Hariri after he got in touch to discuss what VERO can do to improve.
I’ve written about social media freebooting extensively in the past (1, 2). So-called feature accounts spring up, spreading community vibes, garnering an audience of tens if not hundreds of thousands, only to pivot to selling dropship t-shirts and novelty mugs. Others build followers and then start charging money for featured posts while touting for sponsored posts. The vast majority of these feature accounts post people’s artwork without permission, despite this being against any platform’s terms and conditions — and, let’s not forget, unlawful. It’s a quick way to make easy money from other people’s creativity.
On the left, my Explore page where four of the first 11 posts are feature accounts. On the right, a feature account that takes payments for sharing posts.
At the same time, Instagram and other platform benefits massively, actively encouraging this large-scale copyright infringement by featuring these accounts on the Explore page, and dropping them into people’s “you might also like this” feeds. Instagram must know that these practices are wrong but, given that feature posts account for hundreds of millions of post views each day — and therefore generate vast advertising revenue — it appears to be a policy decision, supported by the legal immunity afforded to them under the DMCA.
Appropriation Should Not Be Normal
For me, Instagram has normalized a culture of appropriation, both casual and blatant, to the point that artists blindly accept these breaches of copyright as they extend their reach, bagging them more followers in the ongoing popularity contest that is social media. I’m one of the few photographers that doesn’t appreciate this new normal, as it frustrates me to see my work enriching others while leaving me with nothing.
At an individual level, it’s small fry — a fraction of a penny in ad revenue that should go to me, not to Instagram. However, at a global level, it’s damaging to artists as, cumulatively, the value inherent in our art is extracted and diverted to Mark Zuckerberg’s immense coffers instead. We’ve accepted this because we’ve been conditioned to compete for attention rather than work as a collective.
VERO: A Different Approach
VERO has been a breath of fresh air, offering a platform that fixes many of the issues that Instagram users have been complaining about for almost a decade. High-resolution images, a chronological feed, more control over sharing, the ability to share different types of content, no ads, only content from people you want to see, and a desktop app. VERO has seen a surge in interest in recent months as Instagram has continued to ostracize photographers and influencers have been gushing about VERO’s superiority.
Like many photographers, I opened an account more than five years ago and lost interest before then rediscovering it in recent months. I don’t put a lot of effort into sharing on social media, but I like the VERO experience, and it feels like a genuine competitor to Instagram. Unlike many other Instagram alternatives that have come and gone, it’s not just for photographers, though photography is at the forefront.
A few days ago, I logged on and discovered an unexpected number of notifications: a “hub” account (as VERO refers to them) had reposted one of my photographs, crediting me and congratulating me on my work. The relentless cynic inside of me sighed and assumed that freebooting had taken next to no time to arrive on VERO, triggering my annoyance. Like every good millennial, I immediately turned to Twitter to voice my disgust and tagged VERO’s account. In my defense, countless people moan at social media companies every day and are met by resounding silence. I have next to no clout, so I figured I was just venting my frustration into the void, maybe prompting a few sympathetic replies to soothe my bad mood.
My unnecessarily snarky tweet triggered a back-and-forth with a couple of photographers with a few trolls jumping on board to inform me that I’m wrong before being soundly schooled by the ridiculously knowledgeable law student and photographer Martin McNeil. What I didn’t expect was a response from Ayman Hariri, the co-founder and CEO of VERO, offering to contact the hub account on my behalf and ask for the post to be removed. A constructive discussion ensued and, to my even greater surprise, Hariri then asked if we could continue on Zoom.
A Zoom Call With the Boss
Four of us — myself, Ayman Hariri, Martin McNeil, and VERO’s Head of Community Tom Hodgson — chatted for an hour, and it would have continued had I not cut it short due to other commitments. I’m aware that I’m in the minority when it comes to having my work posted without my permission and, from what we discussed, it’s apparent that VERO is keen to find a way to give creatives control over their content without impacting people’s desire to share work and have their work shared. Feature accounts are popular for a reason, offering ground-up, community-driven curation of encountered content rather than top-down, algorithm-fed discovery feeds controlled by the platform. As Hariri pointed out, VERO is ad-free — and has stated its commitment to remaining ad-free — so these feature accounts are not generating ad revenue for the platform, as is the case with Instagram.
I put forward my own thoughts on how artists can feel that they have more control, such as the option to mark an image as being available for reposting, or a system of reposting that is built into the app, effectively co-publishing the post, not too dissimilar to Tumblr. No doubt, VERO has pondered these options, and Hariri made it clear that he was wary of adding complexity to a social app that depends on simplicity. We seemed to differ in opinion here, but I’ve not just plowed literally tens of millions of dollars into my own Instagram alternative and, not having the same depth of knowledge, there are likely a host of implications that I’ve not thought through. Maybe my ideas are rubbish. We shall see.
My feed on the rather beautiful VERO desktop app, currently in beta.
A chunk of the discussion was centered around the technological solutions that would give artists more control, with McNeil citing the success of YouTube’s ContentID system — notably, something that it was forced to implement in order to avoid chaos, not a feature that it established out of a noble desire to protect creators (in 2007, Google faced a Federal court claim brought by Viacom who sought $1 billion in damages for secondary infringement, a case that ran for seven years and resulted in an out-of-court settlement. The lawsuit prompted Google to begin work that same year on what would become the ContentID system).
Solutions are out there — Google’s own reverse image search is evidence enough — and McNeil has been part of a collective of musicians, authors, illustrators, and photographers who have been consulted by Meta and others on the topic in ongoing talks. I’ve discussed previously the potential of technology such as that provided by French company IMATAG. None of these will resolve freebooting or intellectual property theft completely, but that’s not a reason to ignore it.
If You Care About Social Media, You Should Care About VERO
There are no quick fixes and our conversation was never going to find any, but the discussion felt productive, and it was refreshing to be able to engage, not just with the heads of a social media company, but with people who appear to be genuinely interested in taking our views on board and working to create a platform that is the best possible version of what it can be. Hariri came across as authentic and deeply invested, not just financially, but in establishing VERO as a social media app that respects its users and their content.
In Zuckerberg, we have a billionaire that is busy destroying his share price thanks to an obsession with technology that even his employees believe is pointless, while his chief underling tells photographers: “Thanks for your help now jog along.” In Hariri, we have a billionaire that loves photography and who has invested a vast sum of money gambling on an idea — an alternative to Instagram — that according to precedent, is destined to fail. I, for one, hope that it doesn’t.
I don’t know whether VERO can find a solution to freebooting, but in our conversation, its intentions seem clear. We need a new normal when it comes to social media, and VERO appears determined to provide it.
Andy Day is a British photographer and writer living in France. He began photographing parkour in 2003 and has been doing weird things in the city and elsewhere ever since. He’s addicted to climbing and owns a fairly useless dog. He has an MA in Sociology & Photography which often makes him ponder what all of this really means. andyday.com
(Pocket-lint) – No one likes to be interrupted by an annoying advert, but on our phones, it has become an all too common experience.
Most people know that they can block ads on their desktop or laptop computer, but our phones tend to be plagued with the things. Long gone are the days when you could install Ad Block Plus from the Play Store, Google doesn’t allow system-wide ad blockers anymore.
So, how do you go about blocking ads? Thankfully, it’s very easy, and we’ve got everything covered in this guide.
But first, a few things to mention. It’s important to remember that ads help keep sites going (including this one) and they’re important for content creators, too. So even though they can be irritating, in some cases, it’s worth allowing ads to help support the content that you love.
Also, we’ll be focusing on browser-based ad blocking, so keep in mind that these solutions won’t block ads in other apps, like games, for instance.
With that said, let’s get into the guide.
How to block pop-ups and intrusive ads in Chrome
Chrome is the default browser on the majority of Android phones, and as such, it’s the one the vast majority of people stick to.
You don’t need to swap to another browser to block ads, though. Thankfully, Chrome has some handy tools built-in to help with this.
The only caveat is that Chrome doesn’t block all ads, just pop-ups and ads that it deems intrusive or misleading. Here’s how you activate the features:
Open Chrome on your Android phone
Tap the three dots in the top right corner
Tap on Settings
Scroll down to Site settings and select it
Tap Pop-ups and redirects
Make sure the slider is toggled to the left
Go back to the previous page
Tap Ads and do the same thing
Now, Chrome will prevent the majority of pop-up ads from loading, and block ads entirely on sites that have misleading and intrusive ads. In some ways, it’s the best of both worlds as it allows you to support the content that you care about without suffering through egregious pop-ups.
But what if you want to take things a step further and block everything? Read on.
How to block ads with different browsers
If you’re willing to ditch Chrome, there are plenty of browsers that offer more robust ad-blocking options. Just keep in mind that you won’t be able to sync your history and bookmarks with Chrome on desktop, if you use that.
Our favourite option is Firefox, it allows for add-ons to be installed, and they work like Chrome extensions on desktop. uBlock Origin is a powerful, free and open-source ad blocker that can easily be added to the Firefox Android browser, and it’ll block just about everything.
Another great and full-featured option is the Opera browser, which has a solid ad blocker built-in and even a free VPN. There’s even a straight-up Adblock Browser, if all you care about is blocking ads.
How to block ads with an app
So, that’s browsers sorted, but what if you want to block ads in other apps? As we mentioned up top, Google has long since removed ad-blocking apps from its Play Store, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t block ads elsewhere.
You’ll have to side-load these apps, which can be a little daunting if you’ve never done it before, but it doesn’t mean the apps are untrustworthy – just that Google’s not so keen on you using them. Which is understandable, given its business model.
Best iPhone apps 2022: The ultimate guide By Maggie Tillman ·
These are the absolute best iPhone apps available right now, from productivity apps to apps for traveling, reading, listening to music, and more.
Apps like AdGuard and AdLock come from notable cyber-security brands and so should be perfectly safe to use. The downside is that they’re subscription based, so you’ll have to pay a monthly fee once your trial ends.
There’s no doubt that technology has transformed the design world. While much of the design process used to involve hands-on work with X-Acto blades, Cow Gum, and French curves, it’s now evolved into a largely digital-driven industry. Apps of all kinds have digitized the functional elements of a creative studio: Dropbox in place of a filing cabinet, Slack in place of a quick call.
While it may seem that the litany of apps could potentially overwhelm a project or even stifle creativity, a handful of them have risen to the top of the design world’s list—for productivity, inspiration, and communication. We asked designers, illustrators, and creatives from around the world to share their go-to apps. Here are 22 they told us they can’t live without.
The responses have been edited for length and clarity.
Things and RightFont
The first is Things, a task management and productivity app. I find it super useful to manage my days, weeks, and months as far as organizing projects both professionally and personally. It’s native to iOS and macOS and keeps my mind clear and my desk clean.
The second is RightFont, which is a professional font manager for macOS. It’s intuitive and easy to use and has the ability to auto-activate with Adobe software such as Illustrator or InDesign. The dynamic font preview tool is also useful for comparing various typefaces with one another. It makes managing and installing fonts a smooth and enjoyable process.
My most useful work app would be Dropbox. I keep all my work files and photos saved there, and it keeps multiple older versions of every file saved so I can go back if I overwrote something by mistake.
Insight Timer is my go-to meditation app for goal setting, affirmation, and staying optimistic. I don’t consider myself a spiritual person but I believe in the power of the mind and visualizing success—just like athletes do. I’m happy to report that great things keep happening to my career as a designer and an artist.
I don’t know how to work or live without Todoist! [With] all my work and personal to-dos in one place and also connected to my calendar, my mind is at rest and I can focus on designing. I have “Work This Week” for priority jobs and “Work Bucket” for jobs that need doing but have no deadline (e.g., PR, website update, find art residency).
It sounds funny but my go-to app is really just Spotify currently. I can work from anywhere at this point, and I can work both digitally or even with raw essentials—paper and pencil are easily accessible anywhere. The only thing I can’t work without is my music library!
One of my favourite apps for inspiration is, in fact, Tumblr. I’ve remained loyal since 2010, and while the app has seen its ups and downs, from a design inspiration standpoint the sheer quantity of content, images, posters, archival documents, colours, textures, and text helps to keep my creative juices flowing.
My photo editing is done through Lightroom. I also use Do You Travel pre-sets to give my pics a little added punch. I use Retouch for quick photo edits like removing stray lines or random objects from pics, and I use InShot for any simple video editing like splicing clips and speeding up footage.
My go-to app would be Behance! It’s a great source of inspiration because not only can you see a range of amazing work from various artists covering multiple disciplines, but you are able to watch in-depth livestreams which show a creative’s design process and methodologies. You really get a sense of the individual behind the work. Streams on Behance like Adobe Live are a perfect example of this! As well as being a freelance designer, I also have the privilege of being a host on Adobe Live. This gives me the opportunity to speak with creatives from different backgrounds and upbringings. This can certainly provide inspiration and influence within my own practice.
VSCO and my photos app go hand in hand. As a designer and illustrator, I often get inspired by the colours, scenes, and composition of the world around me. I capture photos often and edit them in VSCO, which allows me to really bring photos to life with their filters and editing options, like bumping up the saturation and adding some grain.
—Sophia Yeshi, illustrator and designer, Yeshi Designs
Adobe Illustrator
I use Adobe Illustrator as a daily tool for poster and logo creation. It’s a very versatile tool that helps me achieve very complex designs and have fun in the process. It helps me as a designer/human in the way I can play around with shapes and generate striking pieces and patterns that can be used in lots of formats.
Amongst my notes and camera apps, TikTok (and its “For You Page”) is a constant scroll of new, unexpected, and richly authentic perspectives, sandwiched between current world events, tear-inducing stories, and, of course, the occasional meme. Yes, it can turn into procrastination (we’ve all been there), but I truly believe many of the next top creatives are utilizing the platform and pushing it to be something far beyond the initial intention. Personally, I’m not there for “design inspo,” but instead open the app with a creative project top of mind and leave with a fresh outlook that I believe feeds back into the work and keeps it culturally relevant.
My current go-to app is Procreate for the iPad Pro. Seeing as I mix traditional and digital mediums, pen and ink has always been my preferred medium. I’m from the old-school era of designers who used light boxes, tracing paper, and scanners to create illustrations. Since switching to Procreate about four years ago, it has helped a great deal in bridging the gap in the process I was used to for executing my artwork. I find that I produce at a much faster rate now as I directly sketch/ink in the app, replacing the process of sketching, inking, and touching up on a light box or tracing paper; scanning; then transferring to either Photoshop or Illustrator, which I had been accustomed to for so many years.
I admit I’m not the most app-centric type, but I will say that I love my Notes app. I have notes for basically every avenue of my life ,from meeting notes to TV shows I want to start to Wordle guesses I’m sitting on. It’s chaotic, but it’s all there.
—Katrina Ricks Peterson, art director, Actual Source
Are.na
There are only a few primary apps I use (other than the ubiquitous design software) worth noting. The main one would be Are.na. I use this as a research tool for projects—mostly as private channels, but a few that are public. It allows you to gather not only images but documents, text, links, sounds, etc. There’s also a bit of community involved that you can tailor and isn’t based on an algorithm.
Apple Calendar is synchronized with my Google account, my phone, and my computer, so I have my schedule very organized. I think this is a very important point in my day as a freelance designer in order to focus on work, complete my tasks, and have a life-work balance.
I use Pinterest for quick inspiration every day. What I like best about Pinterest is the strong visual associations, but I’ll say my fave for this are some websites like Savee (they should make an app!), The Brand Identity, or Fonts in Use.
Instagram is a great source because it has been used by designers to showcase their portfolio/works. I follow a lot of creative individuals, and they all have different design approaches, so the pieces shown on my feed have a range and have mixed styles, from mild to wild ideas! Looking at the best works isn’t just to gather inspiration for my next work, but it has become a motivation that I can also do more great things that other creative individuals would be able to take inspiration from.
My go-to app would have to be InDesign. As much as I would love to work exclusively on an iPad (I love the idea and simplicity of it), it’s InDesign that keeps me attached to my MacBook. Besides being the only full-featured app to lay out books and magazines on, it’s the perfect blank canvas to throw ideas onto and organize however you like, with very few restrictions. But then again, it’s one of the first applications I was trained on, so you learn to basically do everything on it. . . . I’m sure the same could be said with Excel?
Your iPhone has secret apps. Do you know how to find them?
There’s no reason to let your iPhone keep secrets from you, especially when those secrets could be so helpful in your everyday life. For instance, you may not be aware that any iPhone with a relatively modern version of iOS installed has hidden apps that you might actually want to use. Here’s how to surface the ones that aren’t so easy to find.
Code Scanner
You can scan a QR code by opening your Camera, but there’s also a Code Scanner app in iOS 14 and later that doesn’t come up when you search your iPhone apps. From Settings, tap Control Centre, scroll down to find Code Scanner and then hit the plus sign to move it into the Included Controls section. When you’re ready to use Code Scanner, just swipe down from the top right of your iPhone to open the Control Centre, then tap on the Code Scanner icon, which will bring up a camera view with the prompt, “Find a code to scan.”
IDG
Magnifier
Likewise, Camera isn’t the only app that will allow you to get a zoomed-in view of your immediate environment. The hidden Magnifier app will not only bring you closer, but it’ll also allow you to adjust the brightness. Use the same process as with the Code Scanner to put Magnifier in your Control Centre. Tap Settings, Control Centre and the plus sign next to Magnifier, then swipe down from the top right of your iPhone to open the Control Centre. The slider adjusts zoom level (or you can pinch to zoom), and you can swipe up on it for more controls, including a shutter button, settings, flashlight, and adjustments for brightness, contrast, colour filters, etc.
IDG
Field Test Mode
It may be Murphy’s Law that your iPhone has the weakest connectivity in the part of your house where you want to use it the most, but Field Test Mode can help you figure out the strength of your signal in numbers, not bars. In order to use Field Test Mode, you should first turn off Wi-Fi in your Control Centre or Settings. Then, open the Phone app and enter the following sequence of symbols and numbers:
*3001#12345#*
Then press the Call button, which will bring up the Field Test dashboard, where you can see which cellular bands you’re connected to, signal strength, and so much more.
IDG
Feedback Assistant
If you’re good at identifying bugs, you should use Feedback Assistant (on iOS 12.4 and later) to report any that you find on Apple TV, Apple Watch, or HomePod. Automatic might catch a lot, but there’s no substitute for a good personal bug report. Open the Safari app and type applefeedback:// as the URL. This will open the Feedback Assistant which will prompt you to sign in using your Apple ID. If you’re using an iOS beta release, this app is likely visible in your App Library and may have been added to your home screen, but it’s secretly there even if you’re not running a beta version of iOS.
Ever wonder how much of your personal data your favorite iPhone apps use or give away? Thanks to a new study, you can quickly find out — and it may not be a surprise that Instagram and Facebook are among the “worst.”
Among the other “most invasive” apps (we’ll get back to that designation in a bit) are LinkedIn, GrubHub, Uber, Uber Eats, a Swedish shopping app called Klarna and a British train-ticket app called Trainline.
Among the “least” invasive were Microsoft Teams, Netflix, Signal, Telegram, Zoom and app-of-the-moment Clubhouse. None of them collected any data for marketing or advertising purposes for use by themselves or by third parties.
Swiss cloud-storage service pCloud generated these lists by checking out the App Privacy disclosures in the App Store, which Apple began to require in December 2020.
Specifically, pCloud counted how many times an app used personal data for in-house advertising or marketing, or for third-party advertising.
Apple lists the types of data disclosed by apps into 14 categories: Browsing History, Contact Info, Contacts, Diagnostics, Financial Info, Health and Fitness, Identifiers, Location, Purchases, Search History, Sensitive Info, Usage Data, User Content and Other Data.
The worst offenders
The Instagram app, said pCloud, shares 11 out of these 14 categories, or 79%, with third parties for purposes of selling ads. It uses 12 out of 14, or 86%, for its own advertising and marketing.
Instagram’s corporate stablemate Facebook matches that 86% score with its own app regarding in-house advertising and marketing, and comes in at No. 2 in the third-party sharing rankings with a 57% (8 out of 14) score.
(Image credit: pCloud)
The specific categories pCloud listed didn’t quite match up with what we can see in the U.S. version of the App Store — perhaps European privacy rules are creating different results on the other side of the Atlantic.
LinkedIn and Uber Eats shared third place among the apps that shared the most personal data with third parties, scoring 50% each. Just behind them were Trainline, YouTube and YouTube Music with 43% (6 out of 14) apiece.
Even pCloud’s own iPhone app was not blameless. The service didn’t analyze it, but we looked it up in the App Store. The Pcloud app uses four categories of personal data — purchases, contact info, identifiers and usage data — for its own purposes.
That results in an invasiveness scores of 29% for in-house marketing and advertising, enough to place among Lyft, ESPN, Grindr and others. (The pCloud app shared no data with third parties.)
The pCloud blog post also contained a third ranking called “How much data each app is tracking overall.” Instagram and Facebook topped that as well, followed by Uber Eats, Trainline and eBay.
(Image credit: pCloud)
However, pCloud didn’t explain how it got the numbers for that chart, and we couldn’t figure out how. (Instagram scores 67%, less than the average of its other two scores.) We’ve asked pCloud about this, as well as how it determined which apps to analyze, and will update this story when we receive a reply.
How bad is this, and what can I do about it?
Now back to the designation of “invasive.” It’s hard to put clear definitions on privacy issues, because what seems invasive to one person might be completely fine to another person.
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For example, I don’t really mind if third parties see what else I may have purchased on Instagram, but it does bother me that Instagram shared my financial information, contact info, contacts and search and browsing histories. You may feel differently.
You also have to bear in mind that these rankings are based entirely on what app developers have chosen to share with Apple. Apps that don’t fully disclose such information may be kicked out of the App Store, but that doesn’t mean they’re all being honest.
We already know that thousands of iPhone apps leak personal information from their back-end cloud servers. It’s a safe bet that many iPhone apps have privacy-leaking errors in their code that they’re not aware of.
Unfortunately, we’ll likely never know how many do because unlike Android, Apple doesn’t let you take apart and check any app’s code for errors or suspicious behavior.
The silver lining is that you can control much of what apps collect and share about you. When you first open an app, it will ask you for several permissions, which you can grant, deny, or grant only while the app is in use. (The third option is probably best.)
You can also go into your iPhone’s Settings app to fine-tune what an app collects about you, but the process isn’t as clear as it is when you first open an app.
According to Avast, various user reviews on the Google Play StoreThey mentioned that the platforms caught their attention through ads on YouTube and promised a different game than the app finally offered.
Do you want to install a game because you saw its advertising and it caught your attention? Better think twice. According to a group of experts from the antivirus company Avast , some applications from the Android store that disguise themselves as harmless games show you intrusive advertising that compromises the security of your data.
The researchers found 21 applications that can compromise your data, through intrusive advertising, known as ‘adware’, some of them are still active in the Play Store although they have already been reported.
According to Avast , various user reviews on the Google Play Store mentioned that the platforms caught their attention through ads on YouTube and promised a different game than the app finally offered. According to SensorTower, these platforms have been downloaded eight million times.
Among the applications that have these characteristics are:
Assassin Legend – 2020 NEW
Cream Trip – NEW
Crush Car
Desert Against
Find 5 Differences – 2020 NEW
Find Hidden
Find the Differences – Puzzle Game
Flying Skateboard
Helicopter Attack – NEW
Helicopter Shoot
Iron it
Jump jump
Money destroyer
Plant monster
Props Rescue
Rolling Scroll
Rotate Shape
Rugby Pass
Shoot Them
Shooting Run
Sway Man.
Feature Image Credit: The Average Tech Guy vía Unsplash
This article was translated from the Spanish edition using AI technologies. Errors may exist due to this process.
Entrepreneurs are building tools that create emails or marketing copy using GPT-3, text-generation technology released earlier this year.
Michael Shuffett didn’t waste any keystrokes when responding to a message about the automated email writer he’s building. He tapped out “Yes 45m” and clicked a button marked “Generate email.” His app, Compose.ai, drafted a courteous three-sentence reply with a link to schedule a 45-minute call. Shuffett checked it over and clicked Send.
Now, some entrepreneurs are harnessing GPT-3 to perform real work, like drafting emails or marketing copy. “Billions of people write email,” says Shuffett, a cocreator of Compose. “It’s a space that has not had much innovation for years.” Google’s Gmail will suggest ways to complete sentences and supply short, peppy replies to some emails—”Thanks so much!” But it doesn’t draft fuller messages.
Snazzy.ai, which launched to early testers last week, generates verbiage for web pages and Google ads, based on basic information about a campaign or brand. When supplied with keywords about WIRED and a phrase from its founding manifesto, Snazzy suggested marketing gloss with bits of robotic inspiration. One proffered Google ad included the coinage “geekspace,” a word that is rare online and has appeared on WIRED.com only twice, most recently eight years ago.
Courtesy of Snazzy AI
Chris Frantz, a Snazzy cofounder and marketer by trade, says the service reduces the drudgery of creating an initial splurge of ideas to be honed into a fresh campaign. “The goal is to offload the somewhat monotonous job of writing the copy, and move to the editing part,” he says.
VWO, which helps companies measure the performance of marketing content, has tested GPT-3 against human-written material for clients including travel site Booking.com. Of six tests with statistically significant results, AI-generated copy gained more clicks or interactions twice, and human-authored copy performed better once. The remaining three matchups were tied. More tests are ongoing, but VWO founder Paras Chopra believes marketers will gravitate to auto-generated material because it speeds experimentation. “The more you can test, the higher the likelihood you end up impacting your business metrics,” he says.
For email, Compose and others trying to inject GPT-3 have converged on a similar design: Write terse bullet points, click a button, and the AI will transform your laconic input into flowing paragraphs.
In a demo, Matt Shumer, a cofounder of OthersideAI, typed six short lines in response to a mock email asking what features coders should build next. When he clicked a button marked “Generate,” 21 words of snippets like “ofc,” “voice integration is easiest,” and “free every monday at 1pm” became 43 flowing words in reply.
An email composed by OthersideAI.
Courtesy of Otherside AI
Behind the scenes, apps built on GPT-3 send snippets of text dubbed “prompts” to OpenAI’s cloud servers. GPT-3 sends back new text it calculates will follow seamlessly from the input, based on statistical patterns it saw in online text.
That unusual way of interacting with a computer makes GPT-3 fun to play with but tricky to work with. Its broad experience of the web and lack of grounding in physical reality means it often veers into non sequiturs and nonsense.
Shumer says OthersideAI has been focusing on making GPT-3’s output “reliable and safe.” An early version of the app was too creative. It correctly interpreted prompts like “1pm meeting” but added fabrications like nonexistent doctor’s appointments. Shumer says that’s been fixed, and he’s now testing ways to make his service mimic a person’s writing style. He hasn’t yet decided if that should stretch to including curse words.
WIRED’s own experiments with the GPT-3-powered service Magic Email showed both the promise and perils of automated writing.
Drafting formulaic emails such as scheduling calls generally went well. Given three blunt bullet points—thanks; can call u Weds around 6pm yr time; yr new project snds interesting—Magic Email drafted the six-line email below, conveying the same information more warmly.
Courtesy of Magic Email
That could be useful for conversations where telegraphic, ungrammatical messages would come off as impolite. Magic Email provides buttons to give suggestions a thumbs up or down, and to ask the algorithms to try again.
The writing algorithms were less reliable on more complex messages. When drafting an email including a link about Covid-19 research, the app incorrectly wrote that it was related to skin cancer, perhaps because another part of the prompt mentioned dermatology.
Fixing such glitches was easy but raised the question of whether correcting auto drafts is more efficient than writing the email from scratch. Samanyou Garg, the UK developer behind Magic Email, says his service is improving and can be useful if as much as 30 percent of generated text needs tweaking. “I’ve had good feedback from people who say they’re saving a lot of time,” he says.
Magic Email refused to write at all when prompted with bullet points about online hate speech that included the phrase “Misogynist content big problem on Facebook.” A message appeared warning, “Your provided input seems to contain unsafe content so we have blocked your request.”
The safety filter may have been overcautious on that occasion, but it’s there with good reason. GPT-3 has learned the patterns of unsavory text online. Researchers at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies reported last month that it can fluently mimic anti-Semitic and terrorist content. More than four years since Microsoft’s chatbot Tay went rogue and tweeted favorably about Hitler, researchers still don’t know how to prevent algorithms from repeating or amplifying bias or bad judgment in text or other data.
OpenAI says that it vets customers before giving them access to GPT-3 and reviews every application of the service before it goes live. It has implemented a toxicity filter and suggests customers apply constraints such as always having a human review auto-generated text and implementing filters of their own.
The economics of AI-generated text are still unknown. With no competition from rival text-generation services, GPT-3 is relatively expensive—reflecting how OpenAI has pushed the boundaries of machine learning with help from immense computing power. Frantz of Snazzy gave up on offering a free tier when OpenAI revealed its pricing last month. Yet it shouldn’t be difficult for other AI players such as Google and Amazon to create similar text generators, and the technology could get cheaper and more accessible quickly.
Feature Image Credit: Illustration: Elena Lacey; Getty Images
People around the world are craving human connection in lockdown, leading dating apps to experience a boost that proves romance isn’t dead (well, virtually at least). As usage heats up, these matchmaking services are not only taking advantage of abandoned ad space, but some are even braced for a revenue boost of their own as brands look to capitalise on digital dates.
Before the turn of the century, the thought of linking up with a stranger on a mobile app would have been unimaginable. Fast-forward to the present day, and platforms like Tinder, Bumble, Happn, Grindr and Hinge sit unashamedly on the phone screens of millions of singletons.
When the pandemic hit, many questioned how dating apps could survive with an estimated 2.6 billion people locked inside, date venues closed for the foreseeable future and casual hookups out of the question.
Yet while entwined hearts during the Spanish Influenza might have seen love blossom through the exchanging of letters, love in the time of coronavirus is ablaze through video calls and instant messaging, as people flock to dating apps to find that special someone.
With more and more people exploring this Black Mirror-esque world of ‘virtual dating,’ a new era of dating has dawned.
Where household brands are slashing ad spend, these modern matchmakers are making the most of their moment in the sun and being smart about their brand investment. Some are even reaping the rewards of an in-app ad surge of their own as advertisers look to reach switched-on audiences.
Using tech to power connections
Prior to the pandemic, online dating was already big business. Now as Covid-19 looms large and social distancing looks to continue throughout 2020 many are retuning their business models in response.
In 2019 the number of smartphone dating app users in the US was 25.1 million and Match Group, which owns Tinder, Hinge and Match.com posted revenues of $2.05bn, gleaned from subscriptions and advertising deals.
To continue this upwards trajectory, Tinder last week (6 May) announced plans to add a video dating feature in the second quarter of this year as a direct response to the threat posed by coronavirus in slowing its user growth.
Tinder is actually a bit late to the video dating party — its rival apps have been far less tardy when it comes to capitalising on the trend for face-to-face calls, thus rendering them more lockdown ready. Bumble, for instance, introduced a video and voice call feature last year, while Hinge launched its own ‘Date From Home’ feature at the start of lockdown in March.
“I imagine that we’re going to see far more dates than ever come out of this,” Hinge’s chief marketing officer, Nathan Roth tells The Drum, explaining how through ‘Date From Home’ users can easily share when they’re ready for a digital date, to ease that often awkward and vulnerable transition from messaging to meeting digitally for the first time.
“This specifically came out as a response to listening to our customers and their needs during the quarantine, and figuring out a way how we could serve them best,” he adds.
“During social isolation, everyone has had to adapt their dating strategies to use virtual solutions, such as video dating,” explains Naomi Walkland, associate director for EMEA marketing at Bumble, a dating app, that boasts nearly 90 million users worldwide. It is singular in that women make the first move.
Walkland explains how physical distancing has shown us that in times of uncertainty, people seek meaningful connections and “that connections made online are just as meaningful as those made in real-life. People will always look for new ways to socially connect.”
She explains that overall: “data indicates a trend of increased use by our new and existing users, especially in regards to the chat, video call, and voice call features.”
“We have seen users spending more time speaking to each other on the app, with call durations averaging at 21 minutes as well as a 12% increase in messaging. This shows that people are taking the time to really get to know each other, even whilst apart,” she continues.
After introducing the ‘Date from Home’ feature, in March, Hinge experienced a 30% increase in messages among users in March (compared to January and February) with 70% of its members would be open for a virtual date.
Globally on OkCupid, there has been a 30% overall increase in messages sent each day since March 11. Matches have increased by 10%, conversations increased by over 20% – as singles turn to online dating for company.
Bucking the ad spend trend
Unprecedented numbers of users are turning to dating apps during lockdown, and as such, dating apps have admitted their ad spend has been largely unaffected.
“The coronavirus hasn’t actually changed our ad spend that dramatically,” says Melissa Hobley, chief marketing officer at OkCupid. “This is driven by the fact that OkCupid has seen a surge in activity since early March across the globe, and this continues, so we want to continue to be top of mind for the millions of singles who are connecting right now — albeit virtually.”
While broadcasters are scrambling to fill ad slots abandoned by the collapse of travel and leisure brands, dating apps have found they are able to buy on platforms that would have been out of their reach just months ago.
“Initially, there was shock and uncertainty,“ she says of the pandemic rendering many campaigns obsolete, but she shares news of a new partnership with Bumble, who spotted an opportunity on Capital FM to talk about virtual dating.
OkCupid has also taken advantage of discount rates online. “Digitally, we’ve seen lower costs and greater efficiencies, driven by other categories pulling out and time spent on devices exploding,” Hobley continues. “Like many folks, we love out-of-home, but we have had to pivot some of the plans we had to support our ‘As Yourself’ campaign.
Hobley admits like while OkCupid doesn’t advertise on TV, it is looking at all the options that might help the platform reach the single, younger dater at this time.
And while OkCupid see podcasts as a perfect channel to tell its story, “not surprisingly, the costs with the bigger players here have not shifted that much.”
As for in-app ads, Happn’s chief exec Didier Rappaport says “advertising on our app hasn’t changed at all. Dating is a digital industry, therefore the impact on our industry has been small compared to other industries, as users keep using our services.”
Rappaport goes on to explain that because Happn’s marketing is already very digitally-oriented, the app has taken advantage of reduced costs.
“With other brands, from other industries, reducing their ad spend, this has enabled us to have a greater digital reach for our campaigns, with the same amount of budget,“ he says.
Hinge has also admitted that its ad spend has been unaffected by the outbreak.
Keeping advertisers interested
Usage is up during lockdown, and OkCupid’s chief marketing officer reveals that this surge has sparked an increase in brands looking to advertise on the app.
“One thing that is super exciting is the interest that OkCupid has seen from brands wanting to reach our daters and advertise with us,” Hobley shares. “Dating apps have exploded over the last 2 months and I think brands are interested in how they can reach these singles who are connecting and dating at twice the rate they were before corona.“
Given that many daters love watching a TV show together, she says there “have been a few entertainment partners who are tapping into this with exciting results.”
Happn has experienced the complete opposite. “Regarding advertising revenues, we have noticed a real decrease, which is easily explained,” its chief exec Rappaport admits. “Many brands have stopped or postponed their marketing expenses but advertising is a very small part of our revenue.”
Dating post-pandemic
While lockdown has provoked a new dawn of virtual dating, Bumble’s Walkland says it’s “too soon to state the expected impact” on matchmaker’s businesses.
On this new age of dating, she says her team suspects that users will continue to use its video/voice calling features as a way to get to know their matches before making the move to meet in person.
OkCupid, meanwhile, predicts there will be a boom in dating, post-lockdown.
“We’ll likely see a lot of people spending more time on OkCupid when things start to return to normal and more of a dependence on digital or virtual communication before actually going out on a date,” claims Hobley.
With the pandemic forcing people to truly embrace digital when it comes to dating, it’s fair to say that dating post-lockdown will look radically different than it did before. As for advertisers, they’ll have to figure out where they fit into this new virtual world to make connections with their audiences.
With the growing and busy times, productivity is something everyone looks forward to. It doesn’t matter if you are working or in school or just trying to develop a hobby, you can find a way to be productive in multiple ways.
To enhance one’s productivity and skills certain tools have been developed digitally that can not only help plan your day ahead but also keep track of your progress.
If the planning, and organization part of the work can be taken over by these productivity tools, one can truly focus on doing their work and excel in the same.
Slack is a team collaboration tool which facilitates chat and message features. This can help in avoiding the repetition of the same information to different team members over and over again. All the relevant conversations can be found in the same place to save time.It is also compatible with applications that facilitate sharing documents and files which can be really handy for sharing data quickly. Check out our guide on how to use Slack if you want to go in-depth on the tool.
Troop Messenger is a messenger tool that can aid team communication with features that help share files and keep the team informed and updated about the latest occurrences in a project. This application has a wide range of chat supporting features such as Screen Sharing, Video call, Burnout, Workout, Recall, delete etc., to enhance team communication and collaboration.
Troop Messenger’s user interface is quite intuitive and impressive that all its features are self-explanatory for any novice user. Any business user can start the application’s free trial using their email.
Fleep is a messenger application that combines with the email feature to be able to facilitate team communication. It integrates emails, messages, and file sharing at one place for easy access. The communication platform is truly flexible in every way. It is like an open network where users of different teams can communicate. It keeps everything in one place.
Quip is a tool for effective communication across different platforms. It helps to ensure maximum productivity with efficient features to keep you updated with your team at all times. Its key feature is getting everyone on the same page. One can view the document and another can simultaneously edit it, thus, saving time and facilitating efficiency.
GoToMeeting is a video conferencing tool. You can easily organize meetings and share screens in real time. This helps to share and display both the individual and team’s progress. This is perfect to keep everyone updated during scheduled meetings. It is an integration of an online meeting and video conferencing software in one package.
Calendar is an AI-powered time management app that improves how you leverage a digital calendar to schedule, track, and share your time each day, week, month and year. Highly integrative with other digital calendars like Google Calendar, Outlook, and iCal, the Calendar app for desktop and mobile use (Android and iOS) brings all those calendars into one view, offering new ways to see how you can use your time more effectively. Decide who can see what and let the app contact meeting participants to schedule events for you. The Calendar app offers free and paid versions for individuals and teams.
10to8 appointment scheduling software is a booking tool, that makes it easier for businesses to schedule both internal meetings and appointments with clients seamlessly and skip date ping-pong.
The tool is quick and easy to set up, it syncs with iCal, Google and other popular calendars, and integrates with thousands of apps via Zapier.
Time Doctor is a team time tracking application. It helps to keep track of how each individual person is keeping track of their time and hence makes them accountable for their working hours. You can even use alerting and other features to avoid distraction for extra productivity. It includes a desktop software, mobile version and even a chrome app. It even offers a free 14-day trial without the need of a credit card.
Hubstaff can be used to track time for several hundred teams working in distant locations. It has features like randomized screenshots and tracking the mouse movements so that a check can be kept on the workers. You can use the work-time tracker with additional screenshots and time sheets. This can help to analyze where every minute was spent and hence create a sense of accountability. Our Hubstaff review shows all of these features in detail. Go check it out.
Toggl helps to track time along with other added features. With a history of working hours, it can deduce the chargeable hours and track the availability of different employees all at once. This can further be used for invoice generation with the pre-recorded chargeable hours. It is free and can be used to create detailed reports of time spent on various activities.
Check out our Toggl review to have a better look at the tool.
Paymo helps in tracking time along with planning and project management tasks. It also automatically generates invoices according to the number of working hours and assist in carrying out the payments. Additional features include resource planning, charts, reports, and invoices. The combination of these features makes it an excellent overall productivity tool.
Harvest is a business-oriented time tracking software that can work on multiple devices. It helps in creating time specific reports for the employees. This can also be used for generating and sending their due invoices online. It has an efficient mechanism of starting and stopping time as you work. We also have a comprehensive Harvest review so you can see more of its features.
actiTIME is a work management and time tracking solution for teams of any size. It offers a hassle-free way to keep record of work and leave time, allows to track project progress, and provides managers and employees with valuable insights on work results and productivity.
Its cost & billing module helps calculate billable amounts and process payroll, analyze profitability of specific projects, and create professional invoices. The robust reporting module helps analyze the collected data and get actionable results.
actiTIME also offers native mobile apps that simplify time tracking on the go and allow to implement the tool for remote and field service teams.
Celoxis is an award-winning, affordable, all-in-one project management & collaboration solution. Manage projects, tasks, resources, timesheets, expenses, issues, risks & more from one place saving your team license fees & the hassle of jumping through multiple tools. The reporting and dashboards are fantastic. It also has a built-in workflow engine that enables you to automate things you never thought possible.
Monday helps to manage and organize work in a spreadsheet format. It distributes the workload, tracks progress, and conducts project management for the team as a whole. It simplifies and organizes the work for easier and more efficient management. Additional features include the tracking of projects and communication tools.
This is an extremely flexible project management tool. The Kanban Method it uses helps to keep track of the project progress at different stages. It is also an efficient way of organization. Trello is great for businesses as well as educational projects and task management.
Asana is helpful in organizing, tracking and managing projects. It aids the process of communication and collaboration among team members. It also helps to formulate deadlines and create an efficient working environment. Asana provides a free version for use that can accommodate up to 15 people. Other paid versions can be accessed for the addition of more members.
Hive is used to manage the economics, business and collaboration aspects of different projects. It can be helpful in dividing the project into current target lines and serves as a platform for the entire team to be updated with the progress. It provides an SQL type of interface for storage of data in different databases.
Workzone is a project management and collaboration software for teams. It can help to create reminders and prioritized task lists for added productivity. It allows one to access the employee portal from the convenience of any location. The workplace documents can be viewed and updated by any member of the team according to the requirements.
ProofHub is an online project management software that lets you stay in control of your projects, project communications, and project delivery. The software provides scalable features such as Chats, Discussions, Notes, Gantt Charts, Kanban Boards, Timesheets, Reports, etc to match the requirements of any business size from small startups to large enterprise. It also integrates well with popular productivity tools such as Google Drive, OneDrive, Box and Dropbox, thereby enhancing your overall project management experience.
Another key feature that grabs everyone’s attention is ProofHub’s compatibility with various devices and popular operating systems, including iOS, Android, and Windows. Plus, it offers a free trial and exceptional support services before you go for a paid version.
Canva is a designing software apt for creating resumes and other documents in an extremely creative fashion. It offers several templates and options to customize your creations. You can set a tone for how formal or informal you want your document to be. You can get a list of predefined fields for ease in creating your document. These fields can also be edited and customized according to one’s needs.
PicMonkey is a photo editing and designing software. It can be used to edit and format pictures with a series of options available. You can also create a collage and design it in any style. It is, essentially, a platform that encourages visual and creative communication.
Crello is a graphics and animation software. It can be used to edit images as well as create animation designs. There are several templates available for you to choose from, hence making it highly customizable. You can create posts, covers, graphics and other documents.
Design Bold is an online photo editing and design studio. It helps you create resumes, collections, posters, etc. You can choose from the thousands of templates available in order to be able to give your creation a professional look.
Adobe Spark is a graphic designing application which incorporates the creation of videos and graphics. It is a platform which can be used to effectively create and share content including graphics, animated videos, posts for social media and other web stories.
Evernote is an efficient note-taking application which can help you to organize and share notes effectively. The notes can be synced across various devices for ease of access. It also allows the attachment of audio recordings and reference links. It even has a feature that allows you to read digital media like physical documents.
Microsoft OneNote is a note-taking app which allows writing and drawing freely. The app allows audio and video recording with facial recognition features. It also allows you to take side notes along with PDFs or other documents just like you would in real life. Plus, you can use it free with just your email address.
Google Keep is a note taking app for lists, reminders, and checklists. It is compatible with Google Docs. You can sync your notes and even add audio and color codes to them. It is absolutely free of cost. You can attach reminders even in the form of voice notes for future reference. It helps to capture notes together and organize them efficiently.
Apple Notes is the note-taking app for iOS and macOS devices. It allows adding text, photos, videos and other forms of notes and finally synchronizes them with multiple devices. The Notes app is compatible with the Apple Pencil. You can draw a line of varying thickness by pressing the pencil lighter or harder. These variations provide a life-like feel.
Brain.fm is a focus and productivity application based on music. It uses music to stimulate the brain and helps to boost focus. It aims at unlocking the potential of music to assist our cognitive states. You can choose a mental state to get music from that genre. Focus, relaxation, meditation, and sleep are some of the modes that you can enhance. It is designed in a way that noticeable results can be observed in 15 minutes.
Hocus Focus is a focus application for Mac and iOS device which helps reduce the distraction and create an aura of concentration. This can be very efficient in ensuring productivity as people tend to waste a considerable amount of time on their devices without even actively doing something. The tools provide several creative features to encourage the user to concentrate and keep the desktop clutter-free.
It is a focus-based app integrated with a daily planner which helps to enhance productivity and efficiency. It acts as a planner with a focus timer based on the timeboxing technique. This includes boxing several hours of the day to a certain activity. It is basically a way of visualizing the hours of the day.
RescueTime is a time management tool which gives you an analysis of how you are spending your day. It helps minimize wasted time and formulate a strategy for productivity. Its motto is to find an ideal work-life balance. It continuously tracks the time you spend on websites and in other apps to give you an accurate picture of your workday.
This is a focus tool that helps set the light of your computer to match the exact time of the day. When it is night time, your computer screen will look like indoor lights. But, when it’s day time, it will look like sunlight. These light changes will actually help you sleep better at night.
PomoDone App is a productivity and time management ecosystem for all your devices, integrated and synchronized (Windows/Linux/macOS/web, iOS and Android).
Boost, hack and track your workflow using the Pomodoro technique, on top of your current task management system (Asana, Trello, JIRA, Basecamp, Evernote, Slack, etc).
Sharpen your focus by using an interruption shield: block certain websites while you are working, notify your distributed team via Slack and switch it to silent mode by managing its Do Not Disturb. Use your work history log to analyze, report and invoice.
Free version for everyone, paid plans for advanced and team users.
Google Docs is a Google-based word processor. It also makes available other variants like spreadsheets and presentation. You can edit and update the documents in real time. This avoids the trouble of loss of content due to unsaved data. One can access the document from various platforms with the use of the shareable link.
It is a documentation tool that is integrated with an iterative interface which proves to be helpful in creating and sharing professional documents. Real-time uploading and updating can help team members and co-workers to access information as and when it is made available.
Zoho Docs is an online documentation software which enables one to centrally access documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, etc. You can also share these by a mere link, thus avoiding the hassle of a lot of system space being consumed.
Confluence is a collaboration software which assists in organizing your work and creating professional documents. Its features include being able to update documents online without having to save it separately.
It is a document creation and editing software to design creative work. You can efficiently edit, format and design professional looking documents with absolute ease. It also has features for tasks and to-do lists. It is collaborative and team friendly. You can create, review, revise, manage and organize all project documents. You can even work in offline mode when required. One can read, comment and edit without any Internet connection.
MyFitnessPal is a trusted calorie counting app which helps to lose weight and encourages healthy eating. There are features which can also help to provide tips and ideas on health benefits and fitness techniques. The calorie counting in daily activities can be an interesting way of keeping score and being motivated to lose more weight.
StrongLifts 5×5 is a strength and muscle building application which focuses on primarily five exercises, namely squat, bench press, deadlift, overhead press, and barbell row. The app encourages a three-time workout weekly while focusing on weightlifting techniques. It emphasizes proper sleeping and eating schedules to maintain health along with fitness.
It is a fitness app based on Yoga by Rodney Yee. It provides HD video classes from experts. Videos for different purposes including treatment of posture oriented diseases and other bodily problems are available. You can focus your yoga routine on the results you want to obtain.
It is a gym workout application for training and keeping track of your progress. It helps to focus on different gym sessions for building fitness. You can focus on arm strength, legs or lower body according to your preference. The tool helps you to keep track of previous progress in gym routines to effectively improve performance.
Strava.com is a health application for athletes with features to track and organize their activities. It mainly focuses on a range of athletic activities to enhance the physical features of the body. An organized routine of activities for stipulated periods of time can help to develop the body into an athletic form.
AWeber is an email marketing and auto responding tool to send commercial messages to people via emails. This can be greatly beneficial in attaining a perfect email pitch that markets and advertises your brand positively. AWeber lets you build audience of diverse verticals with its result-oriented email marketing strategies. This can be considered as a perfect tool for small businesses to communicate more effectively and profitably.
SendinBlue is a relationship and marketing tool which helps in a transaction and automated email generation. It provides a wide range of templates to choose for a response or advertising mail. This tool ensures custom marketing workflows to inform, guide and convert customers into loyal clients. The transactional messaging of SendinBlue includes sending emails and SMS to customers.
GetResponse is an email marketing software with features suitable for auto-responding and appealing to business clients. You can give specific instructions to generate emails according to the message you want to convey. This tool lets you build an impressionable and profitable customer base. It has got the highest reachability rate, to make sure that each email gets delivered to the destined inboxes.
MailChimp is a marketing and automation tool which processes advertisements and emails for the purpose of marketing. You can easily attain a professional vibe that is desirable for your brand. MailChimp allows you to create unique campaigns by sending out emails and SMS.
This is an automation and email marketing tool used by professionals and bloggers to generate responses and carry out advertising via email. It has features that bloggers need like newsletter promotions and other professional communication. The drag and drop email builder feature of this tool helps the user to create professional newsletters, instead of using the regular HTML email format.
EmailAnalytics is a unique tool that integrates with Gmail or G Suite and visualizes your employees’ email activity such as emails sent, emails received, top senders, average email response time, and much more. It enables managers to identify imbalances in employee workloads, and identify top performers, while also identifying employees who don’t have enough work to do.
Google Drive is a cloud-based real-time file creation and sharing tool. It makes different types of file styles like documents, spreadsheets, and presentations available. One can directly share the link to the file for easy access without the consumption of any extra space for the storage of the shared file.
Wimi helps to manage and formulate documents and share them on a platform for easy access of all team members. It helps in project management and collaboration as well.
Dropbox is a file hosting and sharing service used to share files by syncing them online directly. Dropbox also offers cloud storage and file synchronization which can be essential in being efficient and productive.
OneDrive is a cloud-based file hosting and synchronization service which helps to share files and documents online. It helps to save the system space and effectively update documents immediately. Team members can access the updated documents from different locations at their ease.
SugarSync is a cloud service platform for the synchronization of files. It provides features for the access, backup, synchronization, and sharing of files and documents across various operating systems. Contrary to other popular file sharing tools, it enables you to generate a backup for the shared documents which can be helpful and beneficial for future references. It is, therefore, an efficient file management and productivity tool.
Evidently, there are a number of different types of tools which can help you achieve your maximum potential, whether it is by and for yourself or for your team at work. However, the onus eventually lies on you to take the initiative and work towards it with the help of these incredible apps, tools, and software programs.
By Md Mohsin Ansari
Md Mohsin Ansari is the Marketing Manager of Troop Messenger – a business messenger that comes with all the requisite features. It is a viable team communication tool that is spreading its wings across all industries by bringing all the internal communication at one place. Connect with me on Linkedin.
Just like a small child, artificial intelligence has to learn about the world through observation. This process is called machine learning, and it’s set to define technology for the next decade. The Complete Machine Learning A to Z Bundle provides a great introduction to the topic, with nine courses and over 30 hours of hands-on developer training. You can get the bundle now for only $35 at the PopSci Shop.
Machine learning powers everything from facial recognition to self-driving cars and Netflix recommendations. It’s an exciting field to work in, and many companies are looking for new talent.
Whether you want to go pro or simply keep up with the latest tech, this bundle is the place to start. Through concise video lessons, you discover how machine learning works and how to build your own intelligent apps — including smart chatbots and voice assistants.
The training covers a variety of tools, including Google DialogFlow, Amazon Lex and Spark. You also learn about neural networks and data analysis. These skills are valuable for any aspiring developer, and they are valued in many other industries.
