Month: October 2024

EU ruling clamps down on Meta’s use of personal data for ads

October 7, 2024 /

The European Court of Justice has decided that Facebook owner Meta must minimize the amount of personal data it uses for personalized ads, the BBC reports . The decision from the EU’s top court means that only a small part of Meta’s data collection can be used for advertisements.

The ruling stems from a complaint by privacy activist Max Schrems, who said Facebook used data about his sexual orientation for targeted ads — even though Schrems himself had not shared information about his sexual orientation on the platform.

Meta said it does not use so-called specially categorized data linked to sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, state of healt,h or religion for personalized ads. Such data is classified as sensitive and EU data protection legislation has strict requirements for processing it. The company says it takes privacy very seriously and would have further comment after it reviews the ruling.

Think data leaks are bad now? Wait until genAI supersizes them

October 7, 2024 /

The concept of data leakage — and all of its privacy, legal, compliance and cybersecurity implications — today has to be fundamentally re-envisioned, thanks to the biggest IT disruptor in decades: generativeAI (genAI).

Data leakage used to be straight-forward. Either an employee/contractor was sloppy (leaving a laptop in an unlocked car, forgetting highly-sensitive printouts on an airplane seat, accidentally sending internal financial projections to the wrong email recipient) or because an attacker stole data either while it was at rest or in transit. 

Those worries now seem delightfully quaint. Enterprise environments are entirely amorphous, with data leakage just as easily coming from a corporate cloud site, a SaaS partner, or from everyone’s new-favorite bugaboo: a partner’s large language model (LLM) environment. 

Your enterprise is responsible for every bit of data your team collects from customers and prospects. What happens when new applications use your old data in new ways? And what then happens when that customer objects? What about when a regulator or a lawyer in a deposition objects?

When the walls are this amorphous, how precisely is IT supposed to be in control? 

Consider this scary tidbit. A group of Harvard University students started playing with digital glasses to leverage real-time data access. The most obvious takeaway from their experiment is it that it can be a highly effective tool for thieves (conmen, really). It allows someone to walk up to a stranger and instantly know quite a bit about them. What a perfect way to kidnap someone or steal their money. 

Imagine a thief using this tool to talk his/her way into a highly-sensitive part of your office? Think about how persuasive it could make a phishing attack.

As bad as that all is, it’s not the worst IT nightmare — that nightmare is when the victim later figures out the misused data came from your enterprise database, courtesy of a detour through a partner’s LLM. 

Let’s step away from the glasses nightmare. What happens when an insurance company uses your data to deny a loan or your HR department uses the data to deny someone a job? Let’s further assume that it was the AI partner’s software that made a mistake. Hallucinations anyone? And that mistake led to a destructive decision. What happens then?

The underlying data came from your confidential database. Your team shared it with genAI partner 1234. Your team hired 1234 and willingly gave them the data. Their software screwed it up. How much of this is your IT department’s fault?

There is a terrible tendency of litigation to split fault into percentages and to give a healthier percentage to the entity with the deepest pocket. (Hello, enterprise IT — your company quite likely has the deepest pocket.) 

There are several ways to deal with these scenarios, but not all of them will be particularly popular.

1. Contractual — put it in writing. Have strict legal terms that put your AI partner on the hook for anything it does with your data or any fallout. This won’t prevent people from seeing the inside of a courtroom, but at least they’ll have company.

2. Don’t share data. This is probably the least popular option. Set strict limits on which business units can play with your LLM partners, and review and approve the level of data they are permitted to share.

When the line-of-business chief complains — virtually guaranteed to happen — tell that boss that this all about protecting that groups’ intellectual property and, in turn, that LOB chief’s bonus. Mention that this preserves their bonus and watch the objections melt away.

3. Impose stiff punishments for Shadow AI violations. In theory, you can control contacts and data access with your key genAI partners. But if your people start feeding data into ChatGPT, Perplexity or their own account on CoPilot, they need to know that they will be discovered and that two violations mean termination.

First, you need to take this request up as high as you can to get in writing that it will happen. Because, trust me, if you say that a second violation will result in termination, and then some top-tier salesperson violates and does not get fired, wave bye-bye to your credibility. And with that, any chance people will take your rules seriously. Don’t threaten to fire someone until you are certain you can.

Maybe something equally effective would be canceling their next two bonus/commission payments. Either way, find something that will get the attention of the workforce.

4. The anti-contract. Lawyers love to generate 200-page terms of service that no one reads. I just need to remind you that such terms will be ignored by courtroom juries. Don’t think you can really right-click your legal exposure away.

This is triply the case when your customers are outside the United States. Canada, Europe, Australia and Japan, among others, focus on meaningful and knowing consent. Sometimes, you are banned from forcing acceptance of the terms if you choose to use the product/service.

5. Compliance. Do you even have legal permission to share all of that data with an LLM partner? Outside the US, most regulators are told that customers own their data, not the enterprise. Data being mis-used — as in the Harvard glasses example — is one thing. But if your genAI partner makes a mistake or hallucinates and sends flawed data out into the world, you can be exposed to pain well beyond simply sharing too much info. 

You can never have too many human-in-the-loop processes in place to watch for data glitches. Yes, it will absolutely dilute genAI efficiency gains. Trust me: for the next couple of years, it will deliver a better ROI than genAI will on its own. 

How to use Window Tiling with macOS Sequoia

October 7, 2024 /

Window management on Macs gets an upgrade with macOS Sequoia, which introduces window tiling and makes it much easier to work on tasks within multiple applications by arranging windows as you please. 

Windows users moving to a Mac (and there’s an ever increasing number of those) will have come across this before. Window tiling is a great way to maximize the value of your available desktop space, even when working with multiple displays. 

What Apple says

Announcing the feature at WWDC in June, Apple explained: “New ways to arrange windows let users stay organized with the layout that works best for them. By simply dragging a window to the edge of the screen, macOS Sequoia automatically suggests a tiled position on the user’s desktop. Users can release a window right into place, quickly arrange tiles side by side, or place them in corners to keep even more apps in view. And new keyboard and menu shortcuts help organize tiles even faster.”

In essence, it really is (almost) as simple as that, once you learn how it’s used.

macOS Sequoia has many ways to tile windows

Perhaps reflecting that individual productivity relies on slightly different working patterns, there are several ways to tile windows:

  • You can drag the window to the edge of the screen.
  • Or press the option key while dragging the window to a highlighted area.
  • Or tap the green button at the top left corner of the application window.
  • Or use the Windows item in the menu bar.
  • Use keyboard shortcuts.

Window tiling means you can organize one or more applications easily, one app may be in one window or one full screen window. One or more applications can be visible in two windows alongside each other, three windows with one large window and two sharing half the screen, or four application windows. You can also have windows one above the other. One caveat is that some application developers (including Apple with News) have set window sizes for their apps that don’t let you see everything in one of these views.

How to tile windows on a Mac

This is how each method works:

Tile by drag

Drag an application window to the edge of your display — it can be the top, left, or right, or even any corner — and a highlighted area should appear in the region in which your window sits. Release the window and it will snap into position once your pointer reaches the edge of the screen; don’t be impatient as the Mac responds to the position of your cursor to decide where the window is placed.

Use the Option key

A faster way to get your windows in order is to press the Option key while dragging the window toward the top, left, or right edge of the screen and release that window once it is in the highlighted area. It will snap into place, though if you intend on placing four windows you must move the cursor all the way to the corner.

The Green button code

When in an application window, hover the pointer over the green button. A menu will appear offering you several window options, four in Move & Resize and another four in a section called Fill & Arrange. To see any available additional layouts tap the Option key. 

  • To tile the active window, click one of the layouts in the Move & Resize section.
  • To tile multiple windows chose a layout in Fill & Arrange.

Use the menu

While working in an application, choose Window in the Menu bar and choose one of these options:

  • To tile the active window, select one of the options offered in the Halves or Quarters selection in Move & Resize.
  • To arrange multiple windows, again choose Move & Resize and then choose one of the layouts gathered within the Arrange section.

You can also center the active window on the desktop, enter full screen view or fill the desktop with the active window using options in the menu.

Use keyboard shortcuts

Power users will want to learn the following keyboard shortcuts for window tiling on the Mac. 

  • Fill: fn – control – F 
  • Center: fn – control – C 
  • Left half: fn – control – left arrow key 
  • Right half: fn – control – right arrow key 
  • Top half: fn – control – top arrow key 
  • Bottom half: fn – control – bottom arrow key 
  • Arrange Left & Right: fn – control – Shift – left arrow key 
  • Arrange Right & Left: fn – control – Shift – right arrow key 
  • Arrange Top & Bottom: fn – control – Shift – top arrow key 
  • Arrange Bottom & Top: fn – control – Shift – bottom arrow key

How to turn window tiling features on or off

You can disable some of the ways used to invoke windows tiling; this can be useful if you rely on other Mac gestures within your existing workflow. You can get to windows tiling controls in System Settings > Desktop & Dock, then explore the Windows section, where you will find three options:

  • Tile by dragging windows to screen edges.
  • Hold the Option key while dragging windows to tile.
  • Tiled windows have margins. 

The first two options let you enable or disable some of the windows tiling user interfaces, while the third option lets you get rid of that bit of space inserted between windows when working with them.

How to turn window tiling off

If you don’t want to use window tiling on your Mac you can also turn it off in the Windows section which you will find in System Settings >Desktop & Dock.

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.

Why evolving cyber threats mean small businesses are ransomware targets

October 7, 2024 /

Dark Matter’s powerful fictional short film based on real events, Butterfly, goes inside the experience of a small business as its world is turned upside down by ransomware.

It’s an experience shared by a growing number of small businesses  – half experienced some form of cybersecurity breach or attack in the last 12 months.

Yet not all want to tell their story, or even report they’ve been attacked. This helps propagate the myth that small businesses don’t need the same protection as larger firms.

“Small businesses, maybe ten years ago, were not such attractive targets” explains Jake North, Product Manager for Consumer & Small Business Security Software at Dell Technologies.

“The tools and the technologies that attackers would use weren’t so sophisticated – they weren’t able to do so much – and there was a bit of an epidemic failure to understand the value of the information that small businesses had.”

This has changed, and the problem is compounded by the fact that small and medium sized businesses (SMBs), working with limited IT resources, are usually less aware of and prepared for attacks.

“Large organizations tend to report that they’ve had more” says Steve Furnell, Professor of Cybersecurity at the University of Nottingham, “but that’s not necessarily because they’re larger organisations and a bigger target, but because they have more capability to identify what’s going on.”

Today’s cybercriminal organisations aren’t always targeting specific companies or types of business. Their sophisticated tools spread widely, probing for vulnerabilities, and they harness email phishing campaigns as well as compromised apps or websites.

“The IT threat landscape has evolved massively,” says Martin Pivetta, Director of Product Management for small business at McAfee. “The cybercrime business is bigger than the drug crime business nowadays, and it’s more anonymous. These organisations are set up with very big structures and act in a very professional way.”

This puts small businesses in the firing line, even if they might not seem as juicy a target as larger corporations.

“If you are able to harness, shall we say, a thousand small businesses” notes Furnell, “you’re going to get a fair amount of money from that collectively, and perhaps with less resistance.”

So, what can small businesses do?

“Make sure that employees are aware of scams and what to look out for,” says Pivetta. “Get the basic training done with them. If you don’t know how to do that, resources are available on the Internet and from the McAfee website.” 

Secondly, Pivetta suggests businesses should “make sure you have basic protection across your whole business, for your devices, for your mobile devices, and for your employees”.

Doing so doesn’t have to be onerous or expensive.

“There are a number of risks that are pervasive and scary,” says North, “and small businesses can spend a lot of time and a lot of money remediating those risk, but they do not have to.”

He points small business owners to McAfee Business Protection, a simplified, highly-automated security suite.

Available exclusively at Dell, on Dell business PCs, it takes businesses step-by-step through encrypting hard drives and installing software to set up a high-level, frontline defence.

It then leaves business leaders to focus on their core activities rather than security, while ensuring they maintain awareness.

As North puts it: “McAfee is very good at providing the advice, then helping you to act on that to make sure it gets done, then monitoring to make sure that your employees are following these policies so that, if your employee does something that’s risky, you get a notification.’

Watch the full Butterfly film or learn more about McAfee Business Protection now.

Enterprise buyer’s guide: Digital whiteboard software

October 7, 2024 /

Many people think of digital whiteboards as a simple adjunct to their videoconferencing software, an online space where remote and in-office participants — often software developers — can brainstorm, post ideas, and create simple diagrams on a whiteboard “canvas” using basic text and drawing tools. But with the current crop of dedicated tools, those are table stakes.

Today’s advanced, dedicated digital whiteboard software tools can serve much broader audiences and a wider range of use cases. “Think of these as visual collaboration tools. It’s definitely filling an unmet need,” says Chris Trueman, senior principal analyst at Gartner.

In this buyer’s guide

  • What is digital whiteboard software?
  • Top trends in digital whiteboard software
  • What to look for in digital whiteboard tools
  • Before you shop: Questions to ask yourself and your stakeholders
  • Key questions to ask vendors when shopping for digital whiteboard software
  • 10 leading digital whiteboard software vendors

What is digital whiteboard software?

At their most basic, digital whiteboards provide a shared interactive space where participants collaborate by typing notes or sketching on the canvas. In addition to colored “sticky notes” you can post to the digital canvas, digital whiteboard applications can pull in rich media assets such as images, video, and audio files; offer diagramming and annotation tools; and include features that encourage audience engagement, such as reviews, voting, and crowdsourcing ideas.

Unlike notes jotted on a physical whiteboard in a meeting room, a digital canvas can be saved and later revisited, edited, expanded, and shared with additional collaborators, both inside and outside the company. Although these tools are often used for real-time collaboration, they can also be used asynchronously, a plus for organizations with employees in different time zones.

Many digital whiteboards offer APIs or integrations with other enterprise apps, including office suites and project management platforms. Some vendors offer designer or developer modes where you can hand off elements of the whiteboard based on roles at different stages of the process. “For example, developers working on a new mobile app could share their coding work with UI designers and work back and forth to show what happens when you, say, click a button,” says Trueman.

Going beyond their core collaboration function, digital whiteboards can be also used for interactive presentations with active audience participation. For example, “Some manufacturing companies in the fashion industry use these tools to lay out their upcoming lineup for, say, their spring collection,” says Trueman. When used with traditional meeting software, digital whiteboards can add freshness to online meetings, helping to avoid “Zoom fatigue,” he adds.

Canvases generally aren’t portable from one whiteboarding tool to another, which can be a problem if your organization is using more than one vendor’s software. They can, however, be exported as PDF, CSV, or image files.

Top trends in digital whiteboard software

Enterprise use of digital whiteboards escalated during the Covid pandemic. Although it has subsided a bit since then, it’s still higher than it was in 2019 due to a sustained increase in remote work, Trueman says. And many organizations have expanded their use of the tools beyond software development teams as they’ve come to realize that digital whiteboards can increase productivity for a variety of workers, such as designers, engineers, educators, operations experts, and project managers, and as an enhancement to sales and other presentations.

Pure-play digital whiteboard vendors are also beginning to introduce AI-based features into their products. Today these mostly focus on summarization and categorization of whiteboard content, but the market is rapidly evolving to include new features for text generation, insertion, replacement, and translation, says Trueman. “We’re seeing additional AI use for brainstorming activities, where you have a mind map diagram and AI will expand the tree,” he says.

In response, traditional meeting software vendors such as Zoom, Microsoft, and Cisco haven’t been standing still. Many vendors in the unified communications space have begun adding new features to their basic whiteboarding tools, and Microsoft has added templates to the Microsoft Whiteboard app in its Microsoft 365 suite to help users get started.

“As the meeting providers increase features, pure-play vendors have to focus more on verticals,” Trueman says. iObeya has responded by adding features tailored to visual management and manufacturing, while Lucid Software has added new features tuned for engineers and developers. For example, AI may enable users to generate code from natural language sentences, to generate or alter existing images, or to assist with mind mapping.

While unified communications vendors are shooting for “good enough” in their whiteboard tools, says Gartner’s Market Guide for Visual Collaboration Applications report, “…unified communications and cloud-office vendors’ visual collaboration applications trail the specialized vendors in this market by a significant margin of capabilities and may never be as complete, barring a significant acquisition for more complex needs.”

The tradeoff, says Trueman, is that the pure play tools can be relatively expensive. Prices range from under $10 per month to as much as $75 per month per seat for some enterprise licenses. Most vendors offer trial versions that are either feature or time limited.

What to look for in digital whiteboard tools

Digital whiteboard tools typically include a wide range of templates to get users started and avoid what Trueman calls “the blank page canvas problem.” They serve as “a springboard to productivity.” Review what templates are available and make sure there are examples for all your use cases, he advises. For example, is there a mind mapping template for brainstorming? Project management? Engineering? Also, check to see whether the vendor has templates that are tailored to your vertical, such as manufacturing or software development.

Compatibility with the existing digital whiteboard hardware-based systems in your conference rooms is key, and “that’s not fully addressed by vendors,” Trueman says, so review which systems will work with your hardware and what features are supported — or not supported. While many digital whiteboard software vendors work with partners to support the devices, they don’t design their own hardware. “So if you have Microsoft Surface Hub in a conference room, make sure the digital whiteboard app will work with that.”

Privacy and security features are another important consideration. Can you use the product on premises, or if in the cloud, where will your data be hosted? Some products support audit trails, support permission-based access, and can comply with data retention policies. Enterprise versions should include single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and data encryption features, as well as compliance with FedRAMP, GDPR, and other standards specific to the buyer’s industry.

AI-based capabilities in these tools are rapidly evolving, so check with prospective vendors to see what’s on offer — and what’s planned for release in the near future. New features, such as summarization and categorization, may increase productivity during whiteboarding sessions.

Before you shop: Questions to ask yourself and your stakeholders

Start by assessing your use cases. How many groups in your organization could benefit from using digital whiteboards? Be sure to include all stakeholders in a discussion before moving forward.

What features do you need to support your use cases? For software design work, for example, look for features that provide ways to write code in the digital whiteboard system as well as to review and annotate the content, says Trueman.

Where does your data need to be stored, geographically, for privacy and compliance purposes?

Do you have specific needs for your vertical market? If so, some tools may have targeted features, such as industry-specific templates, that you can use.

Are the digital whiteboarding features included in your online meeting software or office suite good enough for your organization’s needs? The cost for pure-play solutions is significant, so make sure you really need more than the whiteboarding functions that are included with software you’re already paying for.

Do your meetings include on-site conference room participants as well as remote workers? If so, be sure that your conference room systems, such as touchscreen digital whiteboards, will work with the digital whiteboard software you choose.

Key questions to ask vendors when shopping for digital whiteboard software

Once you’ve nailed down your organization’s needs and who the stakeholders are, it’s time to review what the vendors offer. Here are questions to ask about both core and extended features you may want to consider.

  • Does the tool have a web- or app-based virtual canvas that multiple remote and conference room digital whiteboard system users can access simultaneously?
  • Does it support rich media such as images, video, diagramming, graphics, flow charts, tables, etc.?
  • How do key features work? “The richness of sticky notes support, the ways for people to organize and categorize information, brainstorming, storyboarding, and diagramming features vary,” Trueman says, so dig into the details.
  • Annotation: Does it offer ways to mark up images and documents with commenting?
  • Does it support user roles, access rights/levels, and permissions for each canvas or space? You may want some participants to have view-only access, some to have editing capabilities, and some comment-only rights.
  • What are the core security features? Does it support single sign-on, multifactor authentication, and encryption? “Support for SSO is not always a given, and support for Active Directory, LDAP, or Okta varies,” Trueman says.
  • What compliance and governance features does it offer? Does it comply with GDPR? FedRAMP? CCPA? Does it support auditing? eDiscovery? Can content be set to expire?
  • Does it integrate with your online meeting software?
  • Can you export a canvas or whiteboard, as a whole or in part, as an image, PDF, comma-delimited text file, or other desired option?
  • Multi-device support: Can you access the application from mobile devices, Mac and Windows PCs, and conference room devices and synchronize between them?
  • Are features aimed at your vertical market included in the template library?
  • Does it support version control?
  • Does it have integrated voice or video capabilities, or do you need to use separate meeting software to collaborate by voice or video? Rather than juggling between applications, it may be it quicker to use basic voice capabilities in the whiteboard app, Trueman says.
  • What AI-based features are available? Does it support summarization, categorization, text generation, insertion, replacement, and/or translation?
  • Is two-way integration with Atlassian’s Jira available for engineers? Can you get live updates in the digital whiteboard canvas?
  • Does it offer similar integrations for other business applications or business process tools your organization uses?

10 leading digital whiteboard software vendors

Gartner doesn’t have a Magic Quadrant for digital whiteboard software vendors, but some names come up more often with clients, says Trueman. These include Figma, Lucid, Miro, and Mural.

The companies listed below represent a sampling of the more than two dozen digital whiteboard software tools, also called visual collaboration platforms, available today. (Digital whiteboard tools that are included as a feature in traditional online meeting software are not listed.) Here’s a quick summary of each tool.

Bluescape

Bluescape focuses on security with its on-premises and cloud-based virtual workspace tool offerings. Its drag-and-drop interface lets you bring images, graphics, videos, live streams, and documents into a shared whiteboard from local storage or file storage services such as Google Drive, Box, and OneDrive. It features “canvas carousels” for presentations and includes an API for workflow automation.

Bluescape boasts “military-grade security” with what it calls an “air-gapped communication suite” and compliance with DoD IL4 ATO, FedRamp, and ISO 270001 standards. Prices are not disclosed on the website; visitors must fill out an online form.

Collaboard

This Swiss company describes Collaboard, its eponymously named product, as a place to collect ideas, plan and execute projects. It offers an infinitely large whiteboard canvas onto which you can place text, drawings, sticky notes, images, videos, and audio. It offers more than 150 templates in areas such as agile, brainstorming, strategy and planning, diagramming, and tables. Users can pin content, vote on it, and rate it.

Administrative features include single sign-on, support for Active Directory, access controls, version control, permission management, and audit logs. The software can reside on premises or as a cloud service, with data residing in Germany, Switzerland, or the Netherlands. Its many integrations include Teams, WebEx, and Jira. Collaboard has a limited free edition, and paid versions start at $10/user/mo. Enterprise, education, and public-sector packages are also available.

Figma

Figma describes FigJam as a team collaboration tool for diagramming, brainstorming, agile workflows, meetings and workshops, and strategy and planning functions with a focus on project management, engineering, and product management. It makes prominent use of sticky notes, which can be organized into “themes.” AI features can sort and summarize information; generate templates, visualizations, and design mockups; rewrite text; and create interactive prototypes from design mockups.

FigJam supports SAML SSO, 2FA, and domain capture; encrypts data in transit and at rest; maintains SOC 2 Type II compliance; and complies with GDPR and CCPA. Pricing ranges from $0 for the starter plan up to $75/seat/mo. for the full-featured enterprise version.

iObeya

iObeya, based in France, bills itself as a “visual management platform supporting lean and agile ways of working,” with a focus on lean project management, lean manufacturing, agile, and the pharmaceuticals industry. It includes an API and supports Microsoft Power Automate, with integrations for Atlassian’s Jira and ADO, as well as Microsoft 365.

The product is ISO/IEC 27001:2013 certified; supports enterprise-grade encryption; supports SSO with Azure AD, Google, IBM Verify, Okta, and OneLogin; and is available in on-premises and single-tenant cloud versions. Pricing ranges from approximately $4/user/mo. to $40/user/mo. for a full enterprise license.

Klaxoon

The Klaxoon Work Collaboration Platform includes a wide variety of templates in areas such as HR, training, sales, agile, project management, and IT. It includes a developer platform as well as integrations for a variety of Microsoft, Google, Adobe, and Jira applications. Klaxoon offers enterprise-grade data encryption and supports SSO via Azure AD, Google, Okta, and other platforms. Prices start at $25/user/mo. A limited, free trial version is also available.

Lucid Software

Lucid Software’s Lucidspark is a popular choice for engineering and software development. It comes bundled with the company’s Lucidchart software for creating diagrams. It includes a wide range of templates covering areas such as brainstorming, project planning, research, sprint planning, kanban boards, strategic visioning, and education. The software includes AI features to ​​generate, sort, and summarize ideas that users can then vote on, and it can generate diagrams from text descriptions.

Lucidspark integrates with more than three dozen apps and platforms, including Salesforce, Slack, Microsoft Teams, Jira, and Google Workspace. Lucid offers a free starter with paid versions beginning at $13.50/user/mo.

Microsoft

Microsoft Whiteboard, included with the Microsoft 365 suite and available as a web, Windows, and mobile app, works closely with its Teams chat and meeting app. As an app in its own right, Whiteboard is more fully featured than tools built into other meeting platforms, and Microsoft has added about 60 templates for general areas such as problem solving, design and research, brainstorming strategy, project planning, and retrospectives. AI-based automatic visualization, categorization, and summarization features are available through Microsoft’s Copilot tool, which requires a separate subscription.

The basic editing tools support inserting text, sticky notes, shapes, and images. If that’s all you need and you already have the Microsoft 365 suite, look no further.

Miro

Miro markets itself as “the AI-powered visual workspace.” Its online service includes more than 100 templates that focus on mind mapping, product planning, customer journey mapping, technical diagramming, wireframing, strategy and planning, process mapping, retrospectives, and general whiteboarding. Miro’s “AI Sidekicks,” embedded into its templates, help users create documents, diagrams and images, and to build briefs and summaries from content posted on the whiteboard canvas.

Miro provides an audit trail for retention, disposition, and trash policies; offers more than 100 integrations; complies with nine security certifications; and supports encryption through the AWS Key Management Service. Miro offers a limited, free edition and a business version for $8/user/mo. Pricing for the enterprise-level licensing is available upon request.

Mural

Mural’s “visual work platform” offers both infinite and resizable canvas options, a variety of mapping and diagramming tools, flexible permissions options, and the ability to create and share custom templates. The company promotes Microsoft Copilot-enabled AI capabilities that can automatically expand mind map diagrams, generate text and categorize sticky notes by topic, and summarize content.

Mural offers a centralized admin console and supports single sign-on and two-factor authentication, encryption, audit logs, e-discovery and reporting tools, and the ability to expire links. It complies with SOC 2 Type 2, ISO 27001, and Microsoft 365 security certifications as well as GDPR and CCPA regulations. A free limited version lets you kick the tires. Business-grade licensing starts at $18/user/mo.

Stormboard

The Stormboard digital whiteboard offers agile teams tight integration with Jira, Rally, and Azure DevOps. Its StormAI feature can create custom templates based when the user describes the outcome and goal for a new workspace. It can summarize and group sticky tags by theme or sentiment and can export content to Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel as well as Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. Other features include idea voting and task assignments.

Stormboard includes an array of enterprise-grade security features, such as single sign-on, 256-bit SSL encryption and GDPR and SOC2 compliance. It also offers data residency options and single-tenant hosting. A free version accommodates up to five people, the business version is approximately $8/user/mo., and enterprise pricing is available upon request.

Google’s ad-tech antitrust trial: Wrapping up the case for the defense

October 4, 2024 /

And now we wait. 

Last week, Google did its best to refute the US Department of Justice’s case that the company has built a series of monopolies in the markets for ad serving, ad exchanges, and ad networks, and the DOJ made its rebuttal. Closing arguments will be heard Nov. 25, after both parties have presented their amended findings of fact.

Judge Leonie Brinkema moved the hearing along briskly: The first phase, which had been expected to take up to two months, wrapped in just three weeks. The first two weeks were mostly devoted to the DOJ’s presentation of its case that Google engaged in a “systematic campaign to seize control” of the “tools used by publishers, advertisers, and brokers to facilitate digital advertising.”

As the trial headed towards its third week, Google called its first witness, Scott Sheffer, the company’s vice president of publisher partnerships,.

As Google Vice President of Regulatory Affairs Lee-Anne Mulholland recounted in a blog post, Sheffer explained that Google offers publishers tools that the DOJ completely ignored in making its case — such as AdSense, used by more publishers than the Ad Manager product at issue in the trial.

But a reporter for the CheckMyAds campaign group attending the trial described how, on cross-examination, DOJ lawyers stripped back the tangled web of advertising products Google presented, removing those that do not allow publishers to monetize display ad inventory on their websites, leaving only “the products that form the basis of the markets in the DOJ’s complaint.”

Last look

Later in the week, Google called economist Paul Milgrom, winner of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Economics for his work on auction theory. According to Mulholland, he testified “every one of the conducts we’ve described — Google’s programs — benefited its own customers, either advertisers or publishers or both,” and said that “Google’s changes to its own auction were improvements at the time in which they occurred relative to what had come before.”

Under the DOJ’s cross-examination, according to the CheckMyAds’ reporter, Milgrom conceded that Google does have an advantage over competitors because of practices such as “Last Look” (in which Google gets a chance to outbid the highest bidder in an ad auction) and Sell-Side Dynamic Revenue Share (in which Google sits on the buy and sell sides of transactions, potentially allowing it to manipulate its margin to win auctions). Milgrom acknowledged he had not analyzed the impact of Last Look on other exchanges or on competition in his research. 

Per Bjorke, product management director of Google’s Ad Traffic Quality team, was called to testify about how Google keeps bad actors out of its ad exchanges (so publishers don’t end up paying them for fake traffic, for example). 

Judith Chevalier, a professor of finance and economics at Yale University, told the court that using Google tools takes a lower share of publishers’ revenue, and that on average it is “less expensive to use Google-to-Google than using third-party-to-third-party” tools for connecting publishers and advertisers, Mulholland wrote.

Only connect

CheckMyAds noted that a chart presented by Chevalier showed that Google Ads was the only buying tool that connected with Google Ad Exchange, a fact DOJ noted in its cross-examination. The integration of Google’s different ad technologies and the lack of openness to competitors is one elements of the DOJ’s case.

Mulholland didn’t namecheck any of the witnesses Google called in its last two days of evidence, but CheckMyAds had plenty to say about Mark Israel, an economics expert who, it came out in questioning, has done paid work for Google in the past. He sought to show that the market for online advertising is a single two-sided market and not the three separate markets (ad servers, ad networks, and ad exchanges) the DOJ says it is.

After Google wrapped up its case, this phase of the hearing concluded with the DOJ calling one last witness in a bid to rebut some of Google’s claims. It asked Matthew Wheatland, chief digital officer of British newspaper The Daily Mail, about some of the alternatives to Google that Israel had suggested publishers might use; according to CheckMyAds’ account of the session, Israel’s and Wheatland’s views did not align.

Brinkema sent Google and the DOJ away with about a month to present their amended findings of fact. After closing arguments, she may issue her opinion before the end of the year. 

That’s not going to be the end of it, though. If things go the DOJ’s way, a separate hearing will be held to determine appropriate remedies. And with its business model at stake, Google will almost certainly appeal any ruling, or part of the ruling, that goes against it.

Apple, Amkor, and TSMC ‘neath the Arizona Skies

October 4, 2024 /

It is strategically essential for the US to bring home the manufacture of key components for the technology used across government, consumer, and enterprise markets, an imperative impacting IT leadership that will generate change across the coming decade.

That’s why it matters that Apple’s chip manufacturing partner, TSMC, has inked a deal with Amkor to “collaborate and bring advanced packaging and test capabilities to Arizona, further expanding the region’s semiconductor ecosystem.” Both TSMC and Amkor are investing in major projects in Arizona. Apple is the biggest customer of both firms.

Apple, Amkor, TSMC, ‘Neath the Arizona Skies

If this news sounds familiar it’s because Apple confirmed its own deal with Amkor to package Apple Silicon at TSMC last November. This made Apple the “first and largest” customer at Amkor’s new manufacturing plant, which at that time was billed as the “largest advanced packaging facility in the US.” 

Discussing that arrangement at the time, Apple Chief Operating Officer Jeff Williams said: “Apple is deeply committed to the future of American manufacturing, and we’ll continue to expand our investment here in the United States.” 

He characterized Apple as, “thrilled that Apple Silicon will soon be produced and packaged in Arizona.” Since then, TSMC has begun small-scale production of the A16 chip used in iPhone 15 and 15 Plus. 

Arizona becomes a silicon development powerhouse

The most recent announcement from Amkor and TSMC suggests the wind under this plan is blowing a little more strongly. The memorandum of understanding between the two companies means they will work together to bring “advanced packaging and test capabilities” to Arizona.

There is quite a lot more to the agreement:

  • First, the pact confirms that Amkor and TSMC have been closely collaborating to deliver high volume, leading-edge technologies for advanced packaging and testing of semiconductors to support critical markets such as high-performance computing and communications. 
  • Second, it tells us that TSMC will now contract turnkey advanced packaging and test services from Amkor in their planned facility in Peoria, AZ.
  • These services will see particular use in advanced wafer fabrication.
  • The partners believe that the geographical proximity of the two firms will accelerate product cycle times, which presumably means they’ll be able to accelerate processor design.

But what may perhaps be most important is that the companies intend to jointly define some packaging technologies, such as TSMC’s Integrated Fan-Out (InFO) and Chip on Wafer on Substrate (CoWoS). 

Chips in play

Apple watchers take note that InFO packaging features have been in chips since the A10 and also in the R1 chip inside Vision Pro. It is also notable that Google is expected to begin using chips with InFO packaging beginning in 2025. With many in tech coalescing around Arm-based processors, it’s hard not to see the strategic importance of bringing manufacturing into the US, particularly around AI.

CoWoS could also hold interesting opportunities for Apple, as it’s an advanced chip packaging tech that can efficiently link graphics processors, memory, and CPU together. There may be some implications as Apple is expected to move to 2nm chips (made by TSMC, designed by Apple’s silicon teams, and based on Arm reference designs) in 2025. 

TSMC Chairman and CEO C.C. Wei referenced this a little earlier in the year, telling Nikkei, “AI is so hot that all my customers want to put AI into their devices.” As history shows, Apple has now accomplished precisely that and Nvidia uses CoWoS chip packaging tech in its own high-performance graphics processors.

What the partners say

Speculation aside, this is what Amkor and TSMC had to say in a statement announcing the agreement: “Amkor is proud to collaborate with TSMC to provide seamless integration of silicon manufacturing and packaging processes through an efficient turnkey advanced packaging and test business model in the United States,” said Giel Rutten, Amkor’s president and CEO. “This expanded partnership underscores our commitment to driving innovation and advancing semiconductor technology while ensuring resilient supply chains.”

“Our customers are increasingly depending on advanced packaging technologies for their breakthroughs in advanced mobile applications, artificial intelligence and high-performance computing, and TSMC is pleased to work side by side with a trusted longtime strategic partner in Amkor to support them with a more diverse manufacturing footprint,” said Kevin Zhang, TSMC’s senior vice president of business development and global sales and deputy Co-COO. 

“We look forward to close collaboration with Amkor at their Peoria facility to maximize the value of our fabs in Phoenix and provide more comprehensive services to our customers in the United States.”

Designed in Arizona

It is almost certainly no coincidence these deals are all falling into place just two years after the US passed the CHIPS and Science Act to fund corporations such as TSMC and Amkor to increase investment in US semiconductor industries.

Apple last year confirmed that Amkor will invest approximately $2 billion in its Arizona project, even as Cupertino confirmed itself to be on target to invest $430 billion in the US economy by 2026. Of course, behind all of this, with the company quietly beginning iPhone manufacturing in Brazil, to what extent will future iPhones be American made?

Please follow me on LinkedIn, Mastodon, or join me in the AppleHolic’s bar & grill group on MeWe.

Open AI is testing a new interface for ChatGPT — ‘Canvas’

October 4, 2024 /

Open AI has unveiled Canvas, a new ChatGPT interface specifically crafted for developers that is now available in beta.

Canvas has been developed using GPT-4o and makes it possible, among other things, to use a separate window for code. It also provides a number of shortcuts that can be used to review code, track down bugs, add comments, and translate code to Javascript, Typescript, Python, Java, C++ and PHP. The new interface can also help make texts longer or shorter, fix grammatical errors, or add emojis at appropriate places.

The first to get access to Canvas are users of ChatGPT Plus and Team, followed next week by Enterprise and Edu users. Non-paying users have to wait until the beta testing is finished before they’ll get access.

15 advanced Android gesture actions

October 4, 2024 /

Ah, gestures. Whether we’re waltzin’ around the world or working on a touch-enabled tech toy, don’t you just love how much you can convey with a simple swish of a single finger?

While our single-fingered movements in the physical world may be more, let’s say, communicative in nature, here in the land o’ Android, a gesture is a powerful action initiator. Deploying the right finger motion at the right moment can save you time and help you accomplish all sorts of interesting things on whatever device you’re using.

The only problem is that by their very nature, gestures are invisible. You don’t see ’em or have any real signs of their existence — which means it’s up to you to remember they exist and then get yourself in the habit of using ’em. And no matter how long you’ve used Android or how intelligent of a mammal you may (allegedly) be, you’re bound to forget about some gestures over time or never even notice that they’re there in the first place.

With that in mind, I’ve been racking my brain to remind myself of all the awesome Android gesture tricks that are out of sight, out of mind for most of us.

Here are 15 of my favorite finds.

[Psst: Love shortcuts? My free Android Shortcut Supercourse will teach you tons of time-saving tricks for your phone. Start your first lesson today!]

Android gesture action #1: Quicker Quick Settings

We’ll start with one of the simplest but most effective Android gesture actions around. While it may be relatively basic, though, you’d better believe it’s all too easy to lose sight of over time.

So, for context: Android’s Quick Settings — y’know, those one-tap tiles that show up when you swipe down twice from the top of your screen — are all about saving time and making it easier to access common adjustments.

And here, for ye, is a quick time-saving gesture for getting to those Quick Settings even more quickly:

Swipe down from the very top of your screen with two fingers together, side by side — and hey, how ’bout that?!

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?quality=50&strip=all 700w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=267%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 267w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=621%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 621w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=150%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=75%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 75w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=427%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 427w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=321%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 321w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-quick-settings.webp?resize=223%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 223w" width="700" height="786" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px">
Two fingers, one swipe for a faster path to Android’s Quick Settings.

JR Raphael, IDG

You got exactly where you wanted to go, in precisely half the steps it’d typically take ya.

And speaking of Quick Settings…

Android gesture action #2: Hidden holds

When you see a tile or a button, like the ones in Android’s Quick Settings area, your first instinct is to tap it — right?

Well, here’s a little secret: With certain Android Quick Settings options, you can also press and hold the buttons to accomplish an extra invisible action.

The tricky thing is that there’s no real way to know when that maneuver’s possible. But, for instance, in the standard Google Android interface that’s present on Pixels and certain other devices, pressing and holding the Quick Settings tiles for Internet, Hotspot, Bluetooth, Quick Share, Dark Theme, Do Not Disturb, and even Auto-Rotate zaps you directly to the associated section of your full system settings.

Samsung handles this a bit differently and less consistently (because — well, Samsung), but you’ll find some long-press surprises within its Quick Settings setup, too, if you press and hold to see what happens.

Android gesture action #3: On-demand shortcuts

While we’re thinkin’ about that good old-fashioned long-press Android gesture, take a sec to remind yourself of this brilliantly invisible little benefit:

Pressing and holding any icon on your home screen or in your app drawer will surface a series of simple shortcuts for jumping directly to specific areas within the associated app.

So, for instance, with Google Docs, you can go straight into working on a new document without having to first open up the app and find the right options. With Google Calendar, you can create a new event with a single tap. With Slack, you can make your way immediately into any recently accessed workspace or conversation. And with Google Maps, you can fire up instant navigations to any of your favorite places right from your home screen.

Android gesture actions: App shortcuts
Android’s app shortcuts are never more than a press away.

JR Raphael, IDG

The list of useful Android app shortcuts goes on from there. (And if you really want to get wild, you can create your own custom Android app shortcuts and give yourself all sorts of step-savers specific to your own needs, too.)

Once more, all you’ve gotta do is remember.

Android gesture action #4: The Overview swift swipe

First things first, with our next nifty trick: You know about Android’s Overview interface, right?

That’s the list of recently opened apps you can access by swiping upward about an inch from the bottom of your screen and then stopping, if you’re using the current Android gesture navigation system — or by tapping one of the icons along the bottom edge of your screen, if you’re still stickin’ with the old legacy three-button nav setup. (It’s a square-shaped icon at the right in the standard Google version of Android and a three-vertical-line icon at the left with Samsung — again, ’cause Samsung.)

Once you’re in that area, take advantage of two easy-to-miss extra gesture options:

  • You can swipe up on any app’s card you see to close it and dismiss it from the list.
  • And you can swipe down on any app to open it quickly.
srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?quality=50&strip=all 700w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=288%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 288w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=669%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 669w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=161%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 161w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=81%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 81w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=461%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 461w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=346%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 346w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-overview-swipe.webp?resize=240%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 240w" width="700" height="729" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px">
Android’s Overview area has hidden gestures of its own.

JR Raphael, IDG

Whee!

Android gesture action #5: The fast app flip

When you want to zip back to the app you had opened most recently, remember this:

With the current Android gesture nav setup, you can flick your finger horizontally to the right along the bottom edge of your screen to move backwards one step in your app continuum — and then you can swipe to the left in that same area to flip back from there.

It’s basically like Alt-Tab in Windows, only on Android:

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?quality=50&strip=all 700w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=284%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 284w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=659%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 659w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=159%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 159w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=79%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 79w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=454%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 454w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=341%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 341w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-toggle-apps.webp?resize=236%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 236w" width="700" height="740" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px">
Flick to flip for a fast app switch.

JR Raphael, IDG

If you’re still with the old three-button nav approach, double-tapping the Overview icon will accomplish something similar.

Android gesture action #6: History in a hurry

Android’s notification history is one of the platform’s most useful and underused elements. Once you activate it, you can access a list of alerts that’ve popped up on your device — even after you’ve dismissed ’em. Handy, wouldn’t ya say?

And here’s a hidden gesture few Android-appreciating animals are even aware of: In addition to the History button at the bottom of the Android notification panel — in the standard Google version of Android, at least, when you have one or more notifications present — you can press your favorite fingie onto the words “No notifications” when no notifications are showing to get to that same place in a flash.

This is one even Samsung hasn’t stripped out of the software. (Hallelujah!)

Just note that you may have to manually enable Android’s notification history option first, if it wasn’t already on by default on your device.

Android gesture action #7: The clock quickie

Pixel pals, time to teach yourself a faster way to access your Pixel Clock app:

Swipe down once from the top of your screen to open your notifications panel, then tap the time in the upper-left corner of the screen.

Good to know, no?!

Android gesture action #8: The split-screen slide

If you’re using a reasonably recent large-screen Android device, be it a tablet or a foldable, this next one’s for you:

Google’s brilliantly useful taskbar is an awesome way to switch between apps and slide into Android’s typically out-of-the-way split-screen mode especially easily.

First, to summon the taskbar, swipe up gently from the bottom of your screen — just barely, then stop. (And note that this’ll work only in a large-screen Android environment — meaning only in the fully unfolded, tablet-like state of a phone like the Pixel Fold or on a traditional tablet’s spacious display.)

Then, once you’ve got the taskbar in front of you, press and hold your finger onto any icon either in the favorites area or within the app drawer at the left of the taskbar, then drag it up into either side of the screen to start a split between that and whatever other app you already had open.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=289%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 289w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=162%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 162w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=81%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 81w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=463%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 463w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=347%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 347w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-taskbar.webp?resize=241%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 241w" width="600" height="622" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">
Swipe, press, slide: Multitasking magic, as seen on Google’s Pixel 9 Pro Fold phone.

JR Raphael, IDG

And while we’re thinking about that large-screen Android experience…

Android gesture action #9: Keep’s split-screen secret

This next trick is one I just discovered during my Pixel 9 Pro Fold explorations the other day, and my goodness, is it a good’un:

When you’re looking at the Google Keep Android app on any large-screen setup, be it an unfolded foldable phone or a tablet, take note: You can press and hold your finger onto the line separating the app’s two panels — the note list and whatever individual note you’re actively viewing — and then slide your finger in either direction to change the panels’ sizes.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=300%2C289&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=175%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 175w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=87%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 87w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=499%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 499w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=374%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 374w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/google-pixel-9-pro-fold-google-keep-panels.webp?resize=260%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 260w" width="600" height="577" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">
Google Keep’s incredibly handy and completely invisible sliding gesture — available on any large-screened Android device.

JR Raphael, IDG

It’s the same gesture available in the standard Android split-screen interface, now possible within a single specific app’s view, too.

On a related note…

Android gesture action #10: The Calendar divide

Following that revelation last week, a thoughtful Android Intelligence reader reached out to tell me about a similarly invisible advanced gesture they’d noticed in the Google Calendar Android app — again, when it’s being used in a large-screen setup.

With Calendar, when you’re looking at any split view — showing both a full calendar interview and a specific event, in other words — you can press and then slide your finger along the line separating the panels to adjust each side’s size.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?quality=50&strip=all 600w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=300%2C290&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=174%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 174w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=87%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 87w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=497%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 497w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=373%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 373w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-google-calendar.webp?resize=259%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 259w" width="600" height="579" sizes="(max-width: 600px) 100vw, 600px">
Oh, dear Calendar: We had no idea you were so gesture-filled!

JR Raphael, IDG

Mind. Blown.

Android gesture action #11: Video vrooming

Android’s picture-in-picture system is fantastic for keeping a video or even Google Maps navigation present on your screen while you’re doing other things.

In most apps that support the function, you can start a picture-in-picture view by heading back to your home screen while the video or navigation is playing (though some apps, like YouTube, do have certain restrictions in place for when the feature can be used).

Then — here’s the fun advanced-gesture-requiring part — once that picture-in-picture box is present, with recent Android versions, you can use two fingers to pinch in or out on the box itself to make it smaller or larger.

You can also press and hold your finger onto the box to fling it around to any area of your screen — including, even, off to the side, if you want it out of the way and just barely visible for a moment — and to dismiss it entirely, too, by dragging it down to the bottommost edge of the display.

Android gesture action #12: The tab swipe

The next time you need to see your tabs in Chrome, swipe down from the address bar area.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?quality=50&strip=all 700w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=288%2C300&quality=50&strip=all 288w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=668%2C697&quality=50&strip=all 668w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=161%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 161w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=81%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 81w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=460%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 460w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=345%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 345w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-chrome-tabs.webp?resize=240%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 240w" width="700" height="730" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px">
The Chrome Android app’s tabs are teeming with titillating gestures.

JR Raphael, IDG

From there, you can tap any tab to open it and swipe left or right on any tab in your list to dismiss and close it.

Android gesture action #13: The menu slider

Speaking of sliding, an oldie-but-a-goodie Android gesture gem that’s all too easy to forget is the slide-down gesture that’s possible in lots of app menus.

When you see a three-dot menu icon within an app, instead of pressing it, try sliding your finger downward on it. In Chrome, Gmail, and plenty of other places, that’ll open up the menu and then allow you to simply keep sliding downward and stop on the option you want.

Android gesture action #14: Camera slidin’

Before you stop slippity-sliding, take a sec to open your phone’s Camera app — then try sliding your finger up or down and left or right on the main viewfinder area.

The specifics of what happens will vary depending on who made your device, but you might just uncover some interesting possibilities you never knew existed.

That’s absolutely the case for Pixels and Samsung devices alike!

Android gesture action #15: Keyboard switchin’

Last but not least, Google’s Gboard Android keyboard is jam-packed with out-of-sight shortcuts — and one in particular stands out from the pack as an advanced-gesture-oriented goodie that fits right into this list.

It’s an easy way to use your keyboard as a trackpad of sorts and shift the on-screen cursor in any text field simply by sliding your finger around.

And here’s all there is to it: Anytime you’ve got an active text field open, just swipe your finger side to side on the Gboard space bar. You’ll see the on-screen cursor move right along with that friendly li’l fingie of yours.

srcset="https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?quality=50&strip=all 700w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=150%2C150&quality=50&strip=all 150w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=300%2C297&quality=50&strip=all 300w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=170%2C168&quality=50&strip=all 170w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=85%2C84&quality=50&strip=all 85w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=485%2C480&quality=50&strip=all 485w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=364%2C360&quality=50&strip=all 364w, https://b2b-contenthub.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/android-gesture-actions-gboard-cursor.webp?resize=253%2C250&quality=50&strip=all 253w" width="700" height="693" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px">
Gboard’s space bar — the cursor-moving trackpad you never knew you had.

JR Raphael, IDG

If the gesture isn’t workin’ for ya, tap the four-square menu icon in Gboard’s upper-left corner, select “Settings,” then tap “Glide typing” and make sure the toggle next to “Gesture cursor control” is in the on and active position.

And there you have it: With this and all the other advanced Android gesture actions we just went over, the power’s officially in your fingertips. Once you remember to swipe, slide, and press in all the right places, you’ll be flyin’ around your phone like never before.

Get even more advanced shortcut knowledge with my free Android Shortcut Supercourse. You’ll learn tons of time-saving tricks for your phone!