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This Stand Makes Your Google Home Mini Look Like a Retro Alarm Clock


We’re all for the sleek, modern design of the Google Home Mini, but sometimes you just want a touch of whimsy on your bedside table. This stand that turns your smart speaker into […]

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What to Stream on Amazon Prime This Weekend


The weekend is the best for relaxing activities, including binge-watching some Amazon Prime flicks. We’ve rounded up the best movies, TV shows, and documentaries that you can stream on Amazon Prime from May 31 to June […]

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NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope Snaps Stellar ‘Family Portrait’ of Stars


NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope recently snapped a celestial mosaic of star clusters and it is a beautiful generational stellar portrait. The stunning image, which features multiple clusters of stars that were born from […]

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Top Movie and TV Trailers of the Week: ‘Jessica Jones,’ ‘Rambo,’ and More


TGIF. While you’re planning for the long weekend ahead, we’ve rounded up the top movie and TV trailers that you might have missed during the week. Marvel’s Jessica Jones is returning for its third […]

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It’s 2019 and John Romero Is Giving Away New Doom Levels


Update: It’s 2019, and John Romero’s new Doom levels, “Sigil,” are available now One of the biggest gaming surprise of the last few years was that the reboot of Doom was not only […]

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Watch: Italy’s Mount Etna Volcano Erupts, Spews Lava Into Night Sky


Italy’s Mount Etna launched streams of lava into the night sky in the early hours Friday. The volcano, located on the east coast of Sicily, began erupting at 3 a.m. local time following an […]

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What to Stream on Hulu This Weekend


Hulu has a lot to offer, however, deciding what to watch on the platform isn’t always easy. If you need help choosing a flick for your next movie night, you’ve come to the […]

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5 Upcoming Android Phones That Are Worth Waiting For


New year, new phones! Maybe you aren’t smitten with today's superphones or you have a suspicion that the perfect phone is just around the corner. Here's a list of the most intriguing upcoming Android phones.

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Photos: Best Food, Drinks, and Merch at ‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ at Disneyland


Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney’s new theme park land, officially opens at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California on May 31, and Star Wars fans will no doubt flock to the 14-acre park to […]

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Enormous, 11-Foot Alligator ‘Breaks Into Home’ at 3 A.M. in Florida


In Florida, a woman caught an unusual burglar snooping around her home in the middle of the night: a giant, 11-foot alligator who somehow made it to her wine stash. On Friday morning, […]

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Watch: NASA Picks First Companies to Send Science Experiments to the Moon


NASA is shooting for the moon: Today, the agency is unveiling its first batch of commercial companies to deliver science experiments to the lunar surface, and you can livestream this major Artemis lunar […]

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Robert Pattinson? Nicholas Hoult? There Is No New Batman Yet


Update: It’s official, Robert Pattinson is the new Batman. But while we may have seen this coming, our original point remains that it pays to be patient. Last night the internet had a… […]

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‘Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’ Is Still Majestic in VR


Considering the somewhat limited nature of Labo VR (both the modest power of the tech and the fact the headset is made of cardboard) we initially figured Nintendo would just keep it limited to […]

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Sophie Turner Amazed By ‘Game of Thrones’ Spoiler Hidden in Season 1 Poster


Sophie Turner was completely shocked after Jessica Chastain, her X-Men: Dark Phoenix co-star, hinted at a big Game of Thrones Easter Egg from the show’s first season. In an interview with Metro, Chastain and Turner briefly […]

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Spotify is building shared queue Social Listening

Want to rock out together even when you’re apart? Spotify has prototyped an unreleased feature called “Social Listening” that lets multiple people add songs to a queue they can all listen to. You just all scan one friend’s QR-style Spotify Social Listening code, and then anyone can add songs to the real-time playlist. Spotify could potentially expand the feature to synchronize playback so you’d actually hear the same notes at the same time, but for now it’s a just a shared queue.

Social Listening could give Spotify a new viral growth channel, as users could urge friends to download the app to sync up. The intimate experience of co-listening might lead to longer sessions with Spotify, boosting ad plays or subscription retention. Plus it could differentiate Spotify from Apple Music, YouTube Music, Tidal, and other competing streaming services.

A Spotify spokesperson tells TechCrunch that “We’re always testing new products and experiences, but have no further news to share at this time.” Spotify already offers Collaborative Playlists friends can add to, but Social Listening is designed for real-time sharing. The company refused to provide further details on the prototype or when it might launch.

The feature is reminiscent of Turntable.fm, a 2011 startup that let people DJ in virtual rooms on their desktop that other people could join where they could chat, vote on the next song, and watch everyone’s avatars dance. But the company struggled to properly monetize through ad-free subscriptions and shut down in 2014. Facebook briefly offered its own version called “Listen With…” in 2012 that let Spotify or Rdio users synchronize music playback.

Spotify Social Listening was first spotted by reverse engineering sorceress and frequent TechCrunch tipster Jane Manchun Wong. She discovered code for the feature buried in Spotify’s Android app, but for now it’s only available to Spotify employees. Social Listening appears in the menu of connected devices you can open while playing a song beside nearby Wi-Fi and Bluetooth devices. “Connect with friends: Your friends can add tracks by scanning this code – You can also scan a friend’s code” the feature explains.

A help screen describes Social Listening as “Listen to music together. 1. On your phone, play a song and select (Connected Devices). You’ll see a code at the bottom of the screen. 2. On your friend’s phone, select the same (Connected Devices) icon, tap SCAN CODE, and point the camera at your code. 3. Now you can control the music together.” You’ll then see friends who are part of your Social Listening session listed in the Connected Devices menu. Users can also copy and share a link to join their Social Listening session that starts with the URL prefix https://spoti.fi/2HOWshq Note that Spotify never explicitly says that playback will be synchronized.

With streaming apps largely having the same music catalog and similar $9.99 per month premium pricing, they have to compete on discovery and user experience. Spotify has long been in the lead here with its algorithmically personalized Discover Weekly playlists that were promptly copied by Apple and SoundCloud.

Oddly, Spotify has stripped out some of its own social features over the years, eliminating the in-app messing inbox and instead pushing users to share songs over third-party messaging apps. The deemphasis in discovery through friends conveniently puts the focus on Spotify’s owned playlists. That gives it leverage over the record labels during their rate negotations since it’s who influences which songs will become hits, so if labels don’t play nice their artists might not get promoted via playlists.

That’s why it’s good to see Spotify remembering that music is an inherently social experience. Music physically touches us through its vibrations, and when people listen to the same songs and are literally moved by it at the same time, it creates a sense of togetherness we’re too often deprived of on the Internet.



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Watch These Movies Before ‘Godzilla: King of the Monsters’


Do you need to watch all 30+ movies in the Godzilla kaiju canon, stretching all the way back to the 1950s, to prepare for the upcoming American film Godzilla: King of the Monsters? […]

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Watch: First-Ever Footage of a Solar Eclipse Was Captured in 1900 By Magician


The first moving image of a solar eclipse, captured by a British magician-turned-filmmaker in 1900, has been “rediscovered,” astronomers said Thursday. The footage, captured by John Nevil Maskelyne in North Carolina using a specially-adapted […]

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What to Stream on Netflix This Weekend


It’s finally the weekend, which means it’s time to binge-watch some documentaries, TV shows, and films on Netflix. With so many good options available, deciding what to stream can be tough. To help you […]

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Supercharge Your Game With a Price Cut on the ROG Strix SCAR II Gaming Laptop


With E3 2019 right around the corner, it’s a better time than ever to make sure your gaming gear is as up-to-date as it can possibly be. There’s a deluge of new, taxing […]

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Ben & Jerry’s Wants to Make CBD-Infused Ice Cream—Once It’s Legal


No stranger to groovy flavors, Ben & Jerry’s this week unveiled its latest creation: CBD-infused ice cream. Cannabidiol (CBD), the non-psychoactive compound in cannabis and hemp products, has been making headlines for its […]

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New York City Schools May Introduce Facial Recognition


Smile, you’re on facial-and-object-recognition camera! Eight schools in western New York are slated to be the nation’s first to pilot facial recognition on students and faculty. The Lockport City School District is scheduled […]

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Dive Deeper Into Wizarding World With Harry Potter E-Books


Nearly 30 years after J.K. Rowling dreamed up a boy wizard with a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead, the history of Harry Potter’s magic is becoming clearer. This June, Pottermore Publishing is launching […]

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Google Maps Highlights Restaurants’ Most Popular Dishes


Growing up, my family ate out a lot: We frequented the same handful of restaurants, where I ordered the same handful of meals. As an adult, I’ve become more culinarily adventurous—though I still […]

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NASA’s NICER Shows Entire Sky in X-Rays in Stunning Arc Image


NASA recently shared an image of the entire sky in X-rays recorded by its Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), and it is a stunning map of bright sweeping arcs. NICER, an International […]

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‘Game of Thrones: Beyond The Wall’ Is A VR Westeros Adventure


Game of Thrones the television show might be over (at least until the spin-offs starts) but Game of Thrones the content wellspring will never run dry. And this new adventure into George R.R. […]

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‘Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge’ at Disneyland: Here’s What It’s Like Inside


It’s set to be the Happiest Place on… a galaxy far, far away. Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge, Disney’s new, much-anticipated theme park land, is opening at Disneyland Park in Anaheim, California on May 31 […]

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Viral Mount Everest ‘Traffic Jam’ Video Raises Climber Safety Concerns


A video of climbers waiting to reach Mount Everest’s summit has gone viral on Instagram, as officials in Nepal are debating on whether to limit permits to the peak due to dangerous overcrowding […]

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‘Game of Thrones’ Actress Sophie Turner: ‘It’s Time to Say Goodbye to Sansa’


Sophie Turner’s Game of Thrones character, Sansa Stark, was recently crowned Queen of the North in the show’s epic finale. Following the end of Season 8, Turner is ready to bid farewell to […]

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ExoMars 2020 Rover Operations Control Center Opens in Italy


The control center that will run and monitor the operations during the Rosalind Franklin rover’s explorations of Mars has been inaugurated in Italy. The facility in Turin will be the central location where […]

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‘Call of Duty: Modern Warfare’ Trailer Steps Out Of The Shadows


Yes, it’s true! For this year’s Call of Duty game the OG developers at Infinity Ward are returning to the Modern Warfare #brand that really made the military shooter series explode in 2007. […]

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Alibaba pumps $100 million into Vmate to grow its video app in India

Chinese tech giant Alibaba is doubling down on India’s burgeoning video market, looking to fight back local rival ByteDance, Google, and Disney to gain its foothold in the nation. The company said today that it is pumping $100 million into Vmate, a three-year-old social video app owned by subsidiary UC Web.

Vmate was launched as a video streaming and sharing app in 2016. But in the years since, it has added features such as video downloads and 3-dimensional face emojis to expand its use cases. It has amassed 30 million users globally, and will use the capital to scale its business in India, the company told TechCrunch. Alibaba Group did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions about its ownership of the app.

The move comes as Alibaba revives its attempts to take on the growing social video apps market, something it has missed out completely in China. Vmate could potentially help it fill the gap in India. Many of the features Vmate offers are similar to those by ByteDance’s TikTok, which currently has more than 120 million active users in India. ByteDance, with valuation of about $75 billion, has grown its business without taking money from either Alibaba or Tencent, the latter of which has launched its own TikTok-like apps with limited success.

Alibaba remains one of the biggest global investors in India’s e-commerce and food-tech markets. It has heavily invested in Paytm, BigBasket, Zomato, and Snapdeal. It was also supposedly planning to launch a video streaming service in India last year — a rumor that was fueled after it acquired majority stake in TicketNew, a Chennai-based online ticketing service.

UC Web, a subsidiary of Alibaba Group, also counts India as one of its biggest markets. The browser maker has attempted to become a super app in India in recent years by including news and videos. In the last two years, it has been in talks with several bloggers and small publishers to host their articles directly on its platform, many people involved in the project told TechCrunch.

UC Web’s eponymous browser rose to stardom in the days of feature phones, but has since lost the lion’s share to Google Chrome as smartphones become more ubiquitous. Chrome ships as the default browser on most Android smartphones.

The major investment by Alibaba Group also serves as a testament to the growing popularity of video apps in India. Once cautious about each megabyte they spent on the internet, thrifty Indians have become heavy video consumers online as mobile data gets significantly cheaper in the country. Video apps are increasingly climbing up the charts on Google Play Store.

In an event for marketers late last year, YouTube said that India was the only nation where it had more unique users than its parent company Google. The video juggernaut had about 250 million active users in India at the end of 2017. The service, used by more than 2 billion users worldwide, has not revealed its India-specific user base since.

T Series, the largest record label in India, became the first YouTube channel this week to claim more than 100 million subscribers. What’s even more noteworthy is that T-Series took 10 years to get to its first 10 million subscribers. The rest 90 million subscribers signed up to its channel in the last two years. Also fighting for users’ attention is Hotstar, which is owned by Disney. Earlier this month, it set a new global record for most simultaneous views on a live streaming event.



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Lego Launches Stunning 50th Anniversary Tribute to Apollo 11


Fifty years ago, Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong landed the Apollo 11 lunar module on the moon’s surface while Michael Collins kept things running smoothly in the command and service module. Lego is […]

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‘The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance’ Netflix Series Teaser: Gelfling Heroes Unite


The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance is hitting Netflix this summer, and the animated fantasy series’ teaser gives fans a sneak peek of Gelfling heroes who have to save Thra from evil rulers. […]

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Secret Underground Chamber Discovered in Ruins of Roman Emperor Nero’s Palace


The vast palace built by the Roman emperor Nero nearly 2,000 years ago had been hiding a secret. Archaeologists working on the restoration of the palace in Rome earlier this month have discovered […]

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Play These Nintendo Switch Games In 2019


It’s new year so you know what that means. It’s time for a new list of Nintendo Switch games to check out. We’re not talking about the big games like Super Smash Bros. Ultimate or […]

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Watch: Driver Captures Footage of Lynx ‘Yelling’ Faceoff in Maine


You never know what you will encounter in the great outdoors, and one man recently came across an eerie sight on his drive in Maine when he witnessed two lynx caterwauling on the […]

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Rare, Venomous Snake Hitches a Ride on Kayak Paddle in Michigan


Here’s something you probably don’t want to see on a kayaking trip. A couple encountered a rare, venomous rattlesnake during a kayaking trip and it ended up hitching a ride on their paddle. […]

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Netflix ‘Dark’ Series Season 2 Trailer Is an Infinite Mystery Loop


Dark, a sci-fi series about four families trying to solve unexplainable occurrences over the course of several decades, is returning to Netflix next month. For Season 2, a new Dark trailer teases a […]

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Xbox Game Pass Coming To PC, So Why Have An Xbox?

Xbox Game Pass

Update: Microsoft has confirmed that Xbox Game Pass is coming to PC. At E3 we’ll hear even more details about how Windows players can enjoy hundred of games through the popular subscription service. […]

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Butterflies Inspired and Helped Brew This Craft Beer


Thirty years ago the frosted elfin butterfly could be found in forests from Ontario all the way down to Florida. These days it’s considered endangered in some states. Professor Jaret Daniels of the […]

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Arnold Schwarzenegger Lends Voice to ‘Stan Lee’s Superhero Kindergarten’


What do bodybuilder-cum-actor-cum-politician Arnold Schwarzenegger and late comic book writer Stan Lee have in common? An appreciation for ’90s comedy Kindergarten Cop. Nearly three decades after John Kimble traded his police badge for […]

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‘Assassins Creed III’ Is Still The ‘Hamilton’ of Video Games


Assassin’s Creed 3 is actually the first Assassin’s Creed game I ever played and finished. In college, living with dudes who were both video game fans and European history majors meant I’ve seen the […]

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UK Internet attitudes study finds public support for social media regulation

UK telecoms regulator Ofcom has published a new joint report and stat-fest on Internet attitudes and usage with the national data protection watchdog, the ICO — a quantitative study to be published annually which they’re calling the Online Nation report.

The new structure hints at the direction of travel for online regulation in the UK, following government plans set out in a recent whitepaper to regulate online harms — which will include creating a new independent regulator to ensure Internet companies meet their responsibilities.

Ministers are still consulting on whether this should be a new or existing body. But both Ofcom and the ICO have relevant interests in being involved — so it’s fitting to see joint working going into this report.

As most of us spend more time than ever online, we’re increasingly worried about harmful content — and also more likely to come across it,” writes Yih-Choung Teh, group director of strategy and research at Ofcom, in a statement. “ For most people, those risks are still outweighed by the huge benefits of the internet. And while most internet users favour tighter rules in some areas, particularly social media, people also recognise the importance of protecting free speech – which is one of the internet’s great strengths.”

While it’s not yet clear exactly what form the UK’s future Internet regulator will take, the Online Nation report does suggest a flavor of the planned focus.

The report, which is based on responses from 2,057 adult internet users and 1,001 children, flags as a top-line finding that eight in ten adults have concerns about some aspects of Internet use and further suggests the proportion of adults concerned about going online has risen from 59% to 78% since last year (though its small-print notes this result is not directly comparable with last year’s survey so “can only be interpreted as indicative”).

Another stat being highlighted is a finding that 61% of adults have had a potentially harmful online experience in the past year — rising to 79% among children (aged 12-15). (Albeit with the caveat that it’s using a “broad definition”, with experiences ranging from “mildly annoying to seriously harmful”.)

While a full 83% of polled adults are found to have expressed concern about harms to children on the Internet.

The UK government, meanwhile, has made child safety a key focus of its push to regulate online content.

At the same time the report found that most adults (59%) agree that the benefits of going online outweigh the risks, and 61% of children think the internet makes their lives better.

While Ofcom’s annual Internet reports of years past often had a fairly dry flavor, tracking usage such as time spent online on different devices and particular services, the new joint study puts more of an emphasis on attitudes to online content and how people understand (or don’t) the commercial workings of the Internet — delving into more nuanced questions, such as by asking web users whether they understand how and why their data is collected, and assessing their understanding of ad-supported business models, as well as registering relative trust in different online services’ use of personal data.

The report also assesses public support for Internet regulation — and on that front it suggests there is increased support for greater online regulation in a range of areas. Specifically it found that most adults favour tighter rules for social media sites (70% in 2019, up from 52% in 2018); video-sharing sites (64% v. 46%); and instant-messaging services (61% v. 40%).

At the same time it says nearly half (47%) of adult internet users expressed recognition that websites and social media platforms play an important role in supporting free speech — “even where some people might find content offensive”. So the subtext there is that future regulation of harmful Internet content needs to strike the right balance.

On managing personal data, the report found most Internet users (74%) say they feel confident to do so. A majority of UK adults are also happy for companies to collect their information under certain conditions — vs over a third (39%) saying they are not happy for companies to collect and use their personal information.

Those conditions look to be key, though — with only small minorities reporting they are happy for their personal data to be used to program content (17% of adult Internet users were okay with this); and to target them with ads (only 18% didn’t mind that, so most do).

Trust in online services to protect user data and/or use it responsibly also varies significantly, per the report findings — with social media definitely in the dog house on that front. “Among ten leading UK sites, trust among users of these services was highest for BBC News (67%) and Amazon (66%) and lowest for Facebook (31%) and YouTube (34%),” the report notes.

Despite low privacy trust in tech giants, more than a third (35%) of the total time spent online in the UK is on sites owned by Google or Facebook.

“This reflects the primacy of video and social media in people’s online consumption, particularly on smartphones,” it writes. “Around nine in ten internet users visit YouTube every month, spending an average of 27 minutes a day on the site. A similar number visit Facebook, spending an average of 23 minutes a day there.”

And while the report records relatively high awareness that personal data collection is happening online — finding that 71% of adults were aware of cookies being used to collect information through websites they’re browsing (falling to 60% for social media accounts; and 49% for smartphone apps) — most (69%) also reported accepting terms and conditions without reading them.

So, again, mainstream public awareness of how personal data is being used looks questionable.

The report also flags limited understanding of how search engines are funded — despite the bald fact that around half of UK online advertising revenue comes from paid-for search (£6.7BN in 2018). “[T]here is still widespread lack of understanding about how search engines are funded,” it writes. “Fifty-four per cent of adult internet users correctly said they are funded by advertising, with 18% giving an incorrect response and 28% saying they did not know.”

The report also highlights the disconnect between time spent online and digital ad revenue generated by the adtech duopoly, Google and Facebook — which it says together generated an estimated 61% of UK online advertising revenue in 2018; a share of revenue that it points out is far greater than time spent (35%) on their websites (even as those websites are the most visited by adults in the UK).

As in previous years of Ofcom ‘state of the Internet’ reports, the Online Nation study also found that Facebook use still dominates the social media landscape in the UK.

Though use of the eponymous service continues falling (from 95% of social media users in 2016 to 88% in 2018). Even as use of other Facebook-owned social properties — Instagram and WhatsApp — grew over the same period.


The report also recorded an increase in people using multiple social services — with just a fifth of social media users only using Facebook in 2018 (down from 32% in 2018). Though as noted above, Facebook still dominates time spent, clocking up way more time (~23 minutes) per user per day on average vs Snapchat (around nine minutes) and Instagram (five minutes).  

A large majority (74%) of Facebook users also still check it at least once a day.

Overall, the report found that Brits have a varied online diet, though — on average spending a minute or more each day on 15 different internet sites and apps. Even as online ad revenues are not so equally distributed.

“Sites and apps that were not among the top 40 sites ranked by time spent accounted for 43% of average daily consumption,” the report notes. “Just over one in five internet users said that in the past month they had used ‘lots of websites or apps they’ve used before’ while a third (36%) said they ‘only use websites or apps they’ve used before’.”

There is also variety when it comes to how Brits search for stuff online, and while 97% of adult internet users still use search engines the report found a variety of other services also in the mix. 

It found that nearly two-thirds of people (65%) go more often to specific sites to find specific things, such as a news site for news stories or a video site for videos; while 30% of respondents said they used to have a search engine as their home page but no longer do.

The high proportion of searches being registered on shopping websites/apps (61%) also looks interesting in light of the 2017 EU antitrust ruling against Google Shopping — when the European Commission found Google had demoted rival shopping comparison services in search results, while promoting its own, thereby undermining rivals’ ability to gain traffic and brand recognition.

The report findings also indicate that use of voice-based search interfaces remains relatively low in the UK, with just 10% using voice assistants on a mobile phone — and even smaller percentages tapping into smart speakers (7%) or voice AIs on connected TVs (3%).

In another finding, the report suggests recommendation engines play a major part in content discovery.

“Recommendation engines are a key way for platforms to help people discover content and products — 70% of viewing to YouTube is reportedly driven by recommendations, while 35% of what consumers purchase on Amazon comes from recommendations,” it writes. 

In overarching aggregate, the report says UK adults now spend the equivalent of almost 50 days online per year.

While, each week, 44 million Brits use the internet to send or receive email; 29 million send instant messages; 30 million bank or pay bills via the internet; 27 million shop online; and 21 million people download information for work, school or university.

The full report can be found here.



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Google Maps Shows Speed Limits, Camera Traps in 40+ Countries


Google Maps users in more than 40 countries can receive real-time speed limit and speed camera alerts. Poached from Google subsidiary Waze, the feature began appearing in select markets two years ago; folks […]

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Uber Now Deactivates Poorly Rated Riders


Below-average Uber riders may start losing access to the ridesharing service. As part of a Community Guidelines update, the company this week announced changes to its platform—including ratings-based rider deactivations. Common decency should […]

The post Uber Now Deactivates Poorly Rated Riders appeared first on Geek.com.



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