Vol 0919-1

40 Pages CURSOR September 2019 | 150

www.cursormag.com

SNAPPING POINT
Dipping revenue and a string of
failed ventures. Where does
Snapchat go from here?

REVIEWS GUIDES Deep Dive

iPhone 11 & • The beginner’s Everything
11 Pro, Bose guide to pod- wrong with
QC 700, casting mics Facebook
the Switch
• A Cursor guide Twin Cursor
Lite, new
to Privacy and Features
DJI Gear
Security
+ more!
 landing page
FIRST Where the Cursor
Editor-at-Large uses

WORD editor’s privilege to

claim a page, and sell
you the magazine
@SamSharma99 you just bought. Such
privilege, much cool.

A hoy, reader. Here is my anchor text for the September issue of Cursor India.
The month of September kicks of the busiest news cycle in tech. It all begins
with the Apple iPhone keynote, and it all goes to hell from there. Good hell. Lined up
after the iPhone event this month are the OnePlus launch event, with a 7T lined up, and if
we haven’t been naughty this year, a OnePlus TV. Also lined up are the Amazon Echo event,
a Microsoft event and a Facebook Oculus event. Tech Jesus bless us all. Follow it all on cursor
online, while we ready the presses for a bumper October issue, including the annual Diwali sale
guide. We value traditions here at Cursor. And technology, obviously technology. Stay tuned for the
most exciting quarter for tech news.

Our cover story this month is all about the impending decline of Snapchat. Now that Instagram, Whatsapp
and Facebbok (basically Facebook and subsidiaries) have done away with a copy cat stories feature, what is
next for Snap Inc. Hardware? Snap for business? Not really. Dipping revenue and a string of failed ventures.
Where does Snapchat go from here?

As ever, our experts have been busy testing new tech in a bumper reviews section, including a double bill for
one of the most exciting phone drop of the year, the new iPhones. No peeking. Also a deep dive into the dark
side of Facebook, its role in supporting fringe groups, and subsequent calls to break away Whatsapp and Ins-
tagram from the Silicon Valley monolith. We also cover the rise of abusive content on Youtube, a guide on the
best podcasting mics to buy, and as always, columns by Walter Mossberg and Deiter Bohn. Read on to enjoy
the intersection of technology and culture. Go peek, you have my blessing.

Samit Sharma,
Editor in Chief, Cursor magazine.

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 HOMEPAGE
WHAT’S IN Simply, a lot of iPhone back & forth,
Trashing monopolies and big tech.
STORE >>> Also, the song September by Earth, Wind & Fire

CURSOR REVIEWS

P5 P6
Nintedo Bose
Switch Lite QC 700

P7 P8
Apple Apple
iPhone 11 Pro iPhone 11

P9 P10
DJI Osmo Apple
Action MacBook Pro

P11 P12
DJI Samsung
Spark Galaxy Tab S6

COVER THE DECLINE

P13
STORY OF SNAPCHAT
 FEATURES

P19 P21

How Facebook It’s time to

became a break up
fringe haven Facebook

BUYING GUIDE

P23

Buying Guide:
Podcasting
Mics

COLUMNS

P25 P26

How Chrome Silicon Valley,

is making the Zuckerberg
internet better and Trump

GAMING GUIDE

Top 10
The
Games
Cursor
we can’t
P27 guide to
wait to
Privacy
play this
winter P29

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 REVIEWED
NINTENDO
SWITCH LITE

A TRIUMPHANT RETURN TO
DEDICATED HANDHELDS
Liz Lopatto
At its most basic, the Switch five hours with most titles. provement. It’s not as big, sure, and
Lite really is just a smaller Switch. It There are obvious things it’s the same resolution as the orig-
has a 5.5-inch touchscreen, com- about the Switch Lite that are de- inal Switch. But by shrinking things
pared to the original’s 6.2-inch dis- monstrably worse than its prede- down slightly, the Lite’s display ac-
play, and it’s overall much tinier. The cessor. In order to get that smaller tually makes games appear sharper
Switch Lite clocks in at 3.6 inches size and price point, Nintendo had and clearer. All clear, we say.
high, 8.2 inches long, and 0.55 inch- to cut out key features, most nota-
es deep. It’s extremely light, at a bly the detachable controls, built-in
minuscule 0.61 pounds, so it’s a lot rumble, and the ability to connect to
easier on your arms if you want to a television set. But what remains is,
play some Zelda in bed. The con- in many ways, a welcomw improve-
troller layout is largely the same, ment over the original.
and it has the same slots for game It also looks much better.
cards and a microSD card. And yes, The Switch Lite comes in three col-
there’s a headphone jack. (Though, ors — gray, yellow, and teal — and
if you thought the lack of detachable the entire unit, bezel included, is
controllers would mean Bluetooth a uniform shade, so you don’t get
headphone support, you’re out of the ugly black border of the original NINTEDO SWITCH LITE
luck). It also runs the exact same, Switch. It’s just a much cleaner look,
fairly basic operating system as the and the Switch Lite’s matte plastic PRICE: 19,000 CURSOR SCORE: 5
base Switch, and Nintendo says it body is also more grippy and com-
has three to seven hours of battery fortable, and less prone to smears
life. That’s proved largely true during from sweaty hands.
my time with it so far. I tested a lot The screen is nearly identi-
of different kinds of games and gen- cal to the original, aside from being
erally had to recharge every four or smaller, yet it, too, feels like an im-
5
 REVIEWED
BOSE QC 700
WIRELESS
HEADPHONES

RIGHTFUL
HEIR
TO THE
THRONE Vlad Savov

Bose has finally returned earcup. You adjust fit by sliding the get a reading of remaining battery
with its own new pair of head- earcups up or down that steel pole. life (in hours, not percentage). With
phones. At $400, they don’t come It’s a smooth movement without the Noise Cancelling Headphones
cheap, but Bose tries to justify that any clicks or feedback. I’ve got an 700, Bose has successfully played
cost with a premium build, even enormous head, so for me the fit is catchup with the strong competition
more effective (and adjustable) straightforward: I just put the head- it now faces in a category that this
noise cancellation, far better voice phones on and pull the earcups on company helped create.
call quality, and yes, a long-awaited each side as far as they’ll go. But
move to USB-C charging. The NCH some people might miss the clicky
700s aren’t without issues — and slider style of other headphones.
Bose has made some frustrating Following the trends of
unforced errors that I’ll cover later modern over-ear headphone de-
on. But they send the strong mes- sign, Bose did away with physical
sage that Bose is back, and in many buttons for controlling your music
ways better than ever. on the 700s. Instead, the front half
The NCH 700s mark a new of the right earcup can detect your
path for Bose headphone design, index finger’s taps and swipes, and
and you can sum up that direction this system works quite well once
with one word: clean. There are no you master the muscle memory BOSE QC 700
visible hinges or screws, and the of where to reach. You tap twice to
result is a much more modern look play or pause, swipe up to raise the PRICE: 34,000 CURSOR SCORE: 5
compared to the early-2000s in- volume, down to lower it, forward to
dustrial design of the QC35s. A skip tracks, or back to return to the
stainless steel headband is the previous song. A double-tap an-
foundation of it all, running down swers calls, while tapping and hold-
and shrinking to a cylindrical shape ing rejects an incoming call. You can
that cuts through the middle of each also hold down on the touch area to
6
 REVIEWED

BEHOLD, THE BEST CAMERA

Nilay Patel
The iPhone 11 Pro is Apple’s ‘Night Mode’, meanwhile, ting that buy button. the iPhone 11
most powerful phone that come in addresses the single biggest com- Pro stands out as a major step for-
a one-hand-friendly size. It has a plaint we’ve heard from iPhone us- ward from the XS, and one of the
triple-lens camera to capture best- ers over the years: photos in dim- best flagship phones of the year.
in-class photos and video from a ly-lit bars and restaurants don’t look
variety of perspectives, a new night very good – not next to their Android
mode to enhance low-light photog- phone-touting friends. The shame!
raphy and extra battery life prowess. The iPhone 11 Pro has the
Even if the design hasn’t changed, best low-light camera we’ve test-
this is the camera and battery up- ed on a phone – any phone. Apple
grade iPhone users have been after. brightens with the best of them and
The iPhone 11 Pro is Apple’s its night mode is automatically ap-
latest iPhone that has people ask- plied, topping Samsung, Huawei and
ing us “What’s really changed?” It’s Google’s interfaces.
a fair question because it looks very The extra money for the
similar to last year’s iPhone. But use Pro basically buys you a far superior
the new cameras for a few minutes display, a telephoto camera, and im-
and both that question and inquis- proved LTE performance. And if you
itive looks from doubters quickly want a smaller phone, the iPhone 11
fade. Apple put a lot of effort into its Pro is a little smaller than the iPhone IPHONE 11 PRO & PRO MAX
triple-lens rear camera, offering a 11, which seems a tiny bit unfair to PRICE: 19,000 CURSOR SCORE: 5
trio of 12MP lenses that shoot reg- people who want smaller phones.
ular, telephoto, and brand new ul- (The entire lineup is huge, though, so
tra-wide perspectives. Not having to if you were hoping for something to
back up to fit into the widened frame replace that aging iPhone SE, well,
is a perk. Also, all of our friends ap- keep waiting). But I would also wait
preciate not having their heads cut a couple of weeks for Apple to ship
off in portrait photos. some bug fixes to iOS 13 before hit-

7
 REVIEWED

THE DEFAULT IPHONE

Dan Seifert
The iPhone 11 is basically an Apple didn’t skimp anywhere else really care about the display. I don’t
S update to last year’s very popular — plus the battery life was stellar. think you’re missing out on much by
iPhone XR. From the front, it looks Despite not having the best specs, it not having a telephoto camera lens,
exactly the same. It has the same was the best iPhone for most peo- to be honest. I personally care quite
design, the same 6.1-inch 720p LCD ple, and it quickly became Apple’s a bit about displays, so I’m getting a
with fancy rounded corners, the best-selling model. That’s probably Pro, but I think most people will be
same giant bezels, and the same why this year’s XR upgrade is just very happy with the iPhone 11.
aluminum body. called the “iPhone 11.”
But that design has been The only major differences
made slightly better: the water re- between the iPhone XR and the iP-
sistance is a little better, and Apple hone 11 are the cameras, the slightly
says the glass on front and back is a better battery life, and the processor.
little stronger. The camera bump on There’s a bunch of other little things
the back is now milled right into the we’ll get to, but that’s what you real-
glass, which is kind of neat, but it’s ly need to know. Let’s start with the
still a camera bump. The whole de- battery. In short, still brilliant.
sign remains a little surfboard-y, and So, is it worth upgrading to
it’s definitely not small. If you’re look- the iPhone 11? If you’ve got an iPhone
ing to upgrade from an iPhone SE, older than the XR and you’re look-
this thing is going to feel huge. ing to upgrade, I think the answer is
IPHONE 11
If you’ve been holding off yes. The camera is substantially im-
upgrades and aren’t familiar with the proved, and you will get vastly better PRICE: 62,500 CURSOR SCORE: 4
iPhone XR, here’s a quick catch-up: battery life than anything aside from
the iPhone XR was the lower-cost a XR. That’s what most people care
model in Apple’s 2018 line of iP- about, and Apple has really delivered
hones, swapping in an LCD screen here: Cameras and the battery.
for the OLED in the iPhone XS. It also I’d only spend the extra
had one fewer camera, but, critically, money on the iPhone 11 Pro if you

8
 REVIEWED
DJI OSMO
ACTION

GIVING THE GOPRO SOME

REAL COMPETITION
Dan Seifert olutions up to 4K60 and 1080p240, SuperView FOV. The Hero7 Black is
as well as 12MP still photos in JPG just the better camera, but not by a
Let’s start with the basics. and RAW formats. The Osmo Ac- ton. Personally, as a consumer, I’m
The Osmo Action looks a hell of a lot tion is slightly more waterproof than really looking forward to this arms
like a GoPro. It has the same dark, the Hero7 (36 feet vs. 33 feet). Both race now that it’s among equals.
boxy shape with a lens on the left. cameras have detachable front lens
Around back, as with the Hero7, is a covers which can be switched for
touchscreen display. The Osmo’s is ND filters or polarizers, but I found
a wider 16:9 screen (the Hero7’s is DJI’s easier to swap in and out.
4:3), which gives you a larger image, Battery life is more or less identi-
but the screen is a lot dimmer than cal. This should be a wake-up call
the GoPro’s which I found frustrat- for GoPro. It’s taken the California
ing in bright sunlight. The biggest company many years to get to this
physical difference is that the Osmo point. The fact that DJI got this close
on its very first try should make the
Action has a screen on the front of DJI OSMO ACTION
the camera, too. It’s a small, 1.4-inch people at GoPro nervous and send
them scrambling to introduce some PRICE: 12,000 CURSOR SCORE: 3
square, so you can’t see a ton, but
it’s generally good enough to see real innovation for the Hero8 (likely
if your silhouette is in frame or not. coming this fall). They both offer in-
Definitely handy this will prove. credible stabilization, but the GoPro
The two cameras ultimately sacrifices less to achieve it, with less
have more similarities than differ- severe image cropping and more
ences. Both can shoot video at res- frame rates, as well as its fantastic

9
 REVIEWED
2019 APPLE MACBOOK PRO

AN OBVIOUS UPGRADE
Sameer Mitha vides a better overall experience last MacBook Pro where we have
than the Air for everyday tasks, to worry about the keyboard
There’s a new entry-level but doesn’t cost nearly as much breaking, as Apple is rumored to
MacBook Pro in town. An “en- as Apple’s higher-end MacBook release a new design in the next
try-level pro” machine is a bit of Pro models (six figures and up). year or so that utilizes an entirely
an oxymoron, so the best way to Apple’s MacBook Pro line new keyboard setup.
look at this computer is to think has turned out to be one of the
of it as an upgrade to the main- most controversial tech products
stream MacBook Air — one that of the past few years. Beyond the
doesn’t command the extremely already-mentioned keyboard,
high price tags of the rest of Ap- the last major design revision
ple’s MacBook Pro lineup. ditched all ports save for USB-C
If you need to buy a new and traded the standard row of
laptop this year and you want function keys for the Touch Bar APPLE MACBOOK PRO
one with macOS, you’re going on the higher-end models. That PRICE: 119,000 CURSOR SCORE: 4
to have to live with the butterfly last feature has now made it to
keyboard, as it’s the only option the entry-level MacBook Pro,
across the entire lineup. That leaving only the MacBook Air
makes the new entry-level Pro with physical keys for brightness,
the best model for most people, volume, and escape in Apple’s
as it has more power and pro- lineup. Hopefully this will be the
10
 REVIEWED

DJI SPARK
A LITTLE BIT OF MAGIC
Ben Popper that keeps its size and price to a scribe the Spark as the best starter
minimum. drone on the market right now. It’s
DJI’s Phantom 4 came out Like all DJI drones, the easy to carry around, simple to con-
in March 2016. Six months later it Spark’s basic performance was ex- trol, and safe to fly indoors and out,
released the Mavic Pro, which was cellent. The battery delivered be- while retaining just enough oomph
about half the weight and, with its tween 12–15 minutes of flight time to capture imagery that will look ab-
folding design, less than half the in my testing, depending on wind solutely epic on your social media
size. Eights months after that, and conditions and how aggressively I feeds.
DJI’s latest drone, the $499 Spark, was flying. The battery takes about
halves the size and weight of the al- 40–50 minutes to go from dead to
ready slim Mavic. If things keep up full with the dedicated wall charger.
at this rate, DJI will be able to cram a If you don’t want to lug that along
full payload of its advanced sensors, on your next vacation, you can also
stabilizers, and camera into a drone charge it with a standard Micro USB
the size of a matchbox by Christmas cable, but be warned: charging is
of this year. And we’ll be here for it. much slower that way.
To deliver this form factor, There’s a vision sensor on
however, DJI had to do something the belly of the aircraft, and in my
it’s never done before: compromise testing, the Spark could definitely
hold its position indoors. But, you
on performance. While the Mavic DJI SPARK
was much smaller than the Phan- need to be aware that buildings,
especially big metal ones, wreak PRICE: 22,000 CURSOR SCORE: 3
tom 4, it actually packed more range
and advanced flight features, while havoc on the internal compass of
nearly matching the camera stabi- your drone, so plan to calibrate your
lization and speed. The Spark is the compass in a more comfortable,
first DJI drone that clearly offers less amenable spot beforehand.
range and lower image quality than The ideal drone depends on
units that came before, a trade-off what you’re after, and I would de-
11
 REVIEWED

SAMSUNG
GALAXY TAB S6

MASTER ENTERTAINER,
AMATEUR WORKER
Sameer Mitha attempts to make the Tab S6 a pro- and unreliable, the scanner just
ductivity device fall short, there are doesn’t work at all when the blue

A ndroid tablets are on life sup- a number of annoying bugs in the light filter activates in the evening.
port. The iPad has run away with software, and it’s not a great enough Other manufacturers use similar
the consumer tablet market, and device to replace your laptop. optical scanners.
where it has left some scraps, Am- The star of the show is the
azon’s line of Fire tablets has picked 10.5-inch OLED HDR (HDR10 and
them up. Even Google is done trying HDR10+, but not Dolby Vision) dis-
to compete with premium Android play. This screen is really a treat to
tablet hardware, meeting only fail- look at: colors pop, blacks are inky
ure. deep, and it gets bright enough
But that isn’t stopping Sam- to use outdoors. It’s an excellent
sung. The $649.99 Galaxy Tab S6 screen for watching movies or You-
is the company’s latest attempt at Tube videos, and it has enough res-
a device that can be used for both olution for text to look sharp at a
consuming content and productivity. comfortable viewing distance. It’s
And yes, it does run Android. basically the same pixel density as SAMSUNG GALAXY TAB S6
The Tab S6 is an excellent the iPad Air or iPad Pro.
The display isn’t perfect, PRICE: 55,000 CURSOR SCORE: 3
content consumption tablet. It has
a great screen and speakers, and however. Like the Galaxy S10, the
it’s thin and light enough to hold Tab S6 has a fingerprint scanner
for extended watching sessions. embedded in the screen. Samsung
It even has enough battery life to is using an optical scanner here, as
last through at least three Marvel opposed to the ultrasonic one found
movies. On the flip side, Samsung’s in its phones. On top of being slow
12
THE SNAPP
PING POINT
 THE DECLINE
OF SNAPCHAT
Snap’s unusual structure led to a series of breakthroughs
— but could it break the company?
Linus Seb

T
his fall, employees on a separate, dynamic feed for con- firm slashed its revenue forecast
Snap’s product team re- tent from your friends and anoth- for the company by 30 percent
ceived a surprising message er one for publishers and other after a survey of large advertis-
from CEO Evan Spiegel: stop what users who don’t follow you, is ers found that 96 percent would
you’re working on, they were told. supposed to be rolling out to us- rather spend their money on Ins-
Plans have changed. ers around the world. But five tagram.
With its stock price falling and weeks later, few users have got- And so, as 2018 begins,
user growth stagnant, Snap ten the update — and Snap won’t Snap finds itself under heightened
would undertake a mad dash to say when they can expect it. scrutiny. On one hand, the compa-
overhaul its flagship app. In just A month after Cheetah ny continues to excel at develop-
over six weeks starting this past wrapped, Snap rang in the new ing new products and generating
October, the company shifted 100 year with a lavish party in down- buzz around their release. On the
engineers to the project, which town Los Angeles where employ- other, the company’s struggles il-
was codenamed “Cheetah.” The ees and their invited guests en- lustrate the challenges created by
mission: to simplify Snapchat in a joyed performances by Drake and its unusual “hub-and-spoke” or-
way that shifted its focus from big Diplo in the shadow of the com- ganizational structure, which puts
publishers back to close friends. pany’s glowing ghost logo. Days Spiegel at the center of all deci-
The result, which creates later, a key Wall Street investment sion-making at the company.
15
Half a dozen current and former last year. “One strategy a lot of
employees interviewed by Cur- people employ is finding the areas THE SNAPCHAT STORY
sor say the high-level decree he doesn’t care about or things he Snapchat was co-founded
that kicked off Cheetah, followed doesn’t notice … or finding an area in 2011 by Spiegel and Bobby Mur-
by a flurry of activity, is typical of where you can improve the app phy, who were fraternity brothers
Snap’s approach. They describe without having to get his explicit at Stanford. (A classmate, Reggie
a company in a state of anxious approval. Half a dozen current and Brown, claimed to have had the
transition, from an innovative up- former employees interviewed by original idea for disappearing pho-
start fueled by venture capital to Cursor say the high-level decree tos; the company settled with him
a public company hemorrhaging that kicked off Cheetah, followed for $157.5 million in 2014.) It began
cash as it fights off a rich, ruthless by a flurry of activity, is typical of to take off in the spring of 2012
competitor in Facebook. The Snap’s approach. They describe when a cousin of Spiegel’s began

“
hub-and-spoke model means using it at her Los Angeles high
the company can sometimes it- school, and the company raised
RECENTLY, A NUM-
erate faster than its peers, cutting venture capital shortly thereafter.
through internal politics to arrive BER OF KEY WALL STREET Stories, the public snaps that dis-
at visionary breakthroughs. Spie- INVESTMENT FIRMS appear 24 hours after posting, ar-
gel still spends about 40 percent SLASHED ITS REVENUE rived in the fall of 2013, and drove
of his time working on Snap- FORECAST FOR SNAPCHAT a new wave of growth. Whimsical
chat’s core product, a person who BY AS MUCH AS 30% lenses, publisher partnerships,
worked with him said. the acquisition of Bitmoji, and the
launch of Spectacles all followed.
SPIEGEL’S SORROWS By February 2017, the app had 158
The Snapchat model can million daily users and filed to go
create bottlenecks that result public. The subsequent initial pub-
in core complaints going unad- lic offering valued the company at
dressed for months or years, $30 billion.
insiders say. Among other con-
sequences, Spiegel’s more de- NOT VERY JOBS-IAN
liberate approach can put the The public face and chief
company at a disadvantage to strategist at the company has
Facebook, which has not just been Spiegel, an obsessive prod-
cloned its most successful prod- uct mind who reveres Steve Jobs,
ucts, but has also rapidly iterated a company in a state of anxious former employees say. (Spie-
on them. Snap’s structure also transition, from an innovative up- gel has a portrait of Jobs hanging
usurps authority from its product start fueled by venture capital to in his office.) Like Jobs, Spiegel
managers, some of whom have a public company hemorrhaging is known to involve himself in
left amid complaints they lacked cash as it fights off Facebook. seemingly minor decisions in-
the autonomy they would have First with ephemeral mes- volving office aesthetics. He once
at other large tech companies, saging, and again with ephemeral ordered employees’ individual
former employees said. At Snap, broadcast “Stories,” Spiegel de- trash cans in New York City be re-
Spiegel’s priorities reign supreme, livered two of the decade’s most moved in favor of communal re-
and everything else is secondary consequential ideas in social me- ceptacles, because he disliked the
— a fact that could make it harder dia. “All of the smartest people look of so many trash cans in the
for the company to attract and re- working on social in the world office, one source said. This week,
tain top talent. could never iterate their way to he personally co-sponsored the
“Even when I was being in- the story,” says another former company’s New Year’s Eve party,
terviewed, and [I] asked the bene- employee, referring to one of where public snaps were banned.
fits and downsides of working at founder and CEO Spiegel’s ear- But Spiegel’s instincts
Snapchat, the downside was that lier and signature achievements. have also led the company
everything goes through Evan, “You just couldn’t do it. It took a astray. Former employees said
and if Evan is on vacation, deci- new generation with a fresh per- he devoted significant energy to
sions don’t get made,” said one spective of the internet and of the Snapcash, a peer-to-peer pay-
former employee, who left Snap internet driven world.” ment product that has seen little
16
adoption. Spectacles, a high-pro- cost the company time and mon- accelerating. (Instagram gained
file move into hardware, sold far ey. “Things sink in with him finally, more than 200 million new us-
fewer units than the company but it takes too long,” one former ers — more than Snapchat’s en-

“
projected, leaving the company employee says. “Facebook is on
with $40 million in unsold cam- full assault. Every app they have
era-augmented sunglasses. “The is going after Snapchat. I think it’s SPIEGEL’S INSTINCTS
hard thing about your strategy too little, too late.” HAVE ALSO LED THE
being to out-innovate your com- Spiegel has taken some COMPANY ASTRAY. HE
petitors is that you have to con- steps to delegate more work, DEVOTED SIGNIFICANT
tinue pulling rabbits out of hats,” people who have worked with ENERGY TO SNAPCASH, A
him say. “He aspires to go to a
PEER-TO-PEER PAYMENT
more distributed leader-
ship role,” one former PRODUCT THAT HAS SEEN
employee said. But LITTLE ADOPTION.
in the meantime,
current and for- tire user base — in the year after
mer employees cloning stories.) Meanwhile, Snap
said, information lost an eye-popping $443 million
is tightly con- in the past quarter. The company’s
trolled. Only a stock price has declined by $15
handful of lieu- billion, or about 60 percent, since
tenants truly it went public in March.
have Spiegel’s The Cheetah project,
trust, one for- which Snap unveiled on Novem-
mer employee ber 29th, was designed to return
said — where the company to fast growth. The
“trust” is streamlined app that emerged
defined as from the project is intended to
the abili- encourage more candid sharing
ty to ship among groups of close friends
chang- while moving professionally pro-
es to the duced content into a separate part
product of the app. It includes a new dy-
that Spie- namic friends page that, for the
gel person- first time, will push items from
ally disagrees your close friends to the top of
with. One person the feed, based on how often you
Spiegel is said to trust interact with them. (Previously,
is Tom Conrad, the the Stories feed was arranged in
co-creator and former chronological order.)
chief technical officer of
Pandora, who joined the THE DESIGN DILEMMA
company in March 2016 as Snap has positioned the
vice president of product. redesign as a more evolved form
“He keeps a pulse on the of social media. “While blurring
spokes, and is a shadow the lines between professional
for Evan,” one person said. content creators and your friends
a former employee says. “That’s a “He extends Evan’s view when has been an interesting internet
difficult thing to do.” Former em- Evan’s not in the room.” experiment, it has also produced
ployees say Spiegel’s meticulous Snap picked up just 4.5 some strange side-effects (like
involvement with every product million new users in the past fake news) and made us feel
proposal and risky investments in quarter, at a time when growth like we have to perform for our
pet projects like Spectacles have at its chief rival, Instagram, is still friends rather than just express

17
ourselves,” the company said in a downgrading earlier predictions. post on an interim basis. In Janu-
publicly released statement . The researchers said they ex- ary, her predecessor Tim Stone
This marked a significant pected the app to have 77.5m resigned less than a year into the
reversal for a company that has monthly US users in 2019 and role after clashing with Mr Spie-
prided itself on baffling older peo- 14.5m UK users, as competition in gel, which sent Snap’s shares
ple. One former employee char- photo-sharing intensified. While tumbling.
acterized Snapchat’s ideal user, in Snap does not report monthly us- Snap countered its decline
the eyes of Spiegel, as “a 16-year- ers, the year-on-year fall in daily in daily users by reporting that its
old girl in the US on the newest users was driven by Europe and monthly user base — a group it
iPhone.” Having mostly saturated North America, which each saw has never shared stats about be-
that market — while losing ground user numbers slip by 1m to 61m fore — was the biggest it has ever
to Instagram internationally — the and 80m respectively. Mean- been. But Snap didn’t share how

“
company is now belatedly work- big that audience is, except in the
ing in earnest to make itself more U.S. and Canada, where it’s bigger
approachable. SNAPCHAT’S US than 100 million people. And even
That has been slow going. AND UK USER BASES ARE then, the metric mostly felt like a
While it was announced in No- EXPECTED TO SHRINK BY distraction from the more serious
vember, the new design appears problem.
7% IN Q3 OF 2019 FOR THE
to have rolled out to very few us- The fact that Snapchat
ers, and when the new look does FIRST TIME, EARLIER THAN has user growth issues at this
become more broadly available, PREVIOUSLY PREDICTED. stage in the game is concerning.
the company has already warned The fact that it’s shrinking is very
that the new design will likely re- while, Snap’s adjusted losses concerning. Snap’s argument has
sult in lower advertising revenue before interest, taxation, depreci- never been that it would be Face-
as users spend more time chat- ation and amortisation narrowed book-big, but that it would some-
ting with friends and less time substantially to $123m, from day be able to make money from
browsing ad-heavy publisher $218m in the same quarter last its user base the way Facebook
content. year, beating analyst forecasts does. Snap liked to tout a highly
“There is a strong like- for losses of $148m. Looking to engaged audience in the world’s
lihood that the redesign of our the second quarter, the company most valuable advertising mar-
application will be disruptive to said it expected sales growth to kets — the U.S. and Europe — as
our business in the short term, slow to between 28 per cent and evidence that it has potential to
and we don’t yet know how the 37 per cent, while adjusted loss- make serious money off each ac-
behavior of our community will es would widen again to between tive application user.
change when they begin to use $125m and $150m. But while Snap’s business
our updated application,” Spiegel Snap has still not named is still young, it’s nowhere close to
said during the company’s last a new chief financial officer, al- Facebook in terms of how much
earnings call. The company re- though it appointed money it generates from each
mains, as ever, a bet on his vision. its for- mer head user. Optimists will see this as
of ac- counting a sign that Snapchat has a lot of
IMPENDING SHRINKAGE La ra Swee t room to grow. That, is the story
Amid growing competi- t o t h e of Snapchat’s downward spiral. It
tion in the social media space, re- is not a ghost town yet, but may
searchers at eMarketer this month become one. It has not snspped
said they expect- yet, but is getting to the
ed Snapchat’s US snapping point. It is a
and UK user bases rather simple story for
to shrink in 2019 us to follow. No pun in-
for the first time, tended. No filter too.
 DEEP DIVE

HOW FACEBOOK BECAME

A HAVEN FOR THE FRINGE
Twitter’s not the only one with a Nazi problem
Vlad Savov

Y
esterday Twitter, in are thousands of white ly laud their artificial
response to years supremacists on Twitter intelligence efforts
of complaints about with the same mindset, whenever questions
letting white nationalists most of them anonymous of moderation
use the platform even and working in concert. In come up, I’m
though they had already a 2018 study, extremism struck by how
been banned, said that it expert J.M. Berger offered easily white
plans to conduct academic an “extremely conser- suprema-
research on the subject. vative” estimate that at cists have
At HuffPost, Luke O’Brien least 100,000 alt-right managed
took the occasion to note users are on Twitter. The to evade
just how many white repercussions for these these
nationalists are using the bad actors are practically purported
platform: nonexistent. bans. If a
The white suprem- Opposing immigration Nazi can
acist accused of murdering might not automatically rejoin
51 people in Christchurch, make you a white nation- Face-
New Zealand, in March alist, but forming a militia book
was also on Twitter, where to harass terrified asylum just by
he spread Islamopho- seekers probably quali- abbre-
bia, white supremacist fies. And at a time when viating a
propaganda and articles Facebook is pushing its group’s
about terrorist attacks. He users to spend more time name
tweeted pictures of his in private groups, it seems differently,
weapons and posted links notable that the compa- a different
to a disturbing manifesto ny has no comment on approach
he wrote, apparently in a 5,000-member militia would
anticipation of the deadly that’s coordinating on its seem to
rampage. Only after he platform. be war-
was charged in a mass Saying that you’ve ranted. It’s
murder did Twitter act. banned white suprem- up to us to
The shooter may acists is obviously much ask exactly
have carried out the geno- easier than doing so. But how they
cidal end goal of white given the way that tech plan to do
supremacy, but there platforms now reflexive- all of it.

19
 The distorted video of Nancy Pe- and some,” Lewandowsky said. very little recourse. You could fill
losi managed to stay in the news “So the question then becomes out a little text box and pray, but
cycle for a sixth day today, so here whether you gain more by being you were unlikely to ever receive
are three quick things about it. explicit and taking the risk with much more than an automated
One, I mentioned yester- a backfire effect, or by sticking message in response. The sys-
day that one reason Facebook to ‘additional information’ (thus tem might work in the majority of
didn’t explicitly label the video avoiding backfire) but being in- cases, but it never felt particularly
phony was that doing so might sufficiently explicit for the major- just — which is to say, open and
lead people to share it more. Alex ity of people who might not be accountable.
Kantrowitz takes issue with this susceptible to a backfire effect. As laid out in today’s ma-
idea in BuzzFeed, interviewing This is a difficult question that terials, the board is designed to
the professor who first studied does not have a one-size-fits-all create a feeling of justice where
the so-called “backfire effect.” answer. However, given the rel- none has existed before. The
“Under some circum- atively infrequent occurrence of board will have meaningful in-
stances, i.e. with world-view backfire effects—they occur less dependence from Facebook, and
challenging material in particular, frequently than initially thought—I while its decisions will not be le-
there is some evidence for a would lean towards being more gally binding, Facebook is highly
backfire effect. However, explicit as this might maximize incentivized to follow its recom-
the keywords here the overall impact even if the oc- mendations. Its decisions will be
are some casional person backfires.” public, and will serve as prece-
Two, I got some ques- dents — meaning that a kind of
tions about why YouTube case law will develop over time.
banned the video when And the board will be able to go
Facebook did not. You- beyond decisions to offer advice
Tube’s answer is that on policymaking — Facebook will
the video was banned obligate itself to respond in public.
under its deceptive prac- “I have no idea if the Board
tices policy. The policy will gain legitimacy. Maybe it will
was initially designed to disappear overnight like Goo-
counter spam but has gle’s AI Ethics Board,” said Kate
since expanded to include Klonick, a law professor who has
political deception, I’m told. spent the past several months
The company is being a lit- studying Facebook’s board plan,
tle slippery here, I think: You- in a Twitter thread.Why would
Tube pointed me to the part of Facebook put itself through this?
the policy that bans “misleading I think Zuckerberg is being sincere
metadata or thumbnails,” which when he says he doesn’t want
would not seem relevant to the to make important speech de-
Pelosi video at all. In any case, I’ll cisions by himself. There’s very
be interested to see how Google little upside in doing so — when
applies this policy as more you run a platform that the whole
deceptive videos appear. world uses, every high-profile
But we also know now speech decision that you make
that Facebook and its modera- can alienate millions of people.
tors currently police the bound- Better to entrust those decisions
aries of speech on an enor- to a board, and give it just enough
mous portion of the internet. independence that you can credi-
And for those who feel that bly say you had nothing to do with
the company made the the decision.
wrong decision about a post,
there has historically been

20
 DEEP DIVE

IT’S TIME TO BREAK

UP FACEBOOK Start by breaking off WhatsApp and Instagram
Casey Newton

T
im Wu thinks it’s time to serious government oversight, that we all think seriously about
break up Facebook. Best which was a mistake. Instead of the conditions that create innova-
known for coining the facing competition, Facebook was tion.
phrase “net neutrality” and his able to swallow its rivals and con- Antitrust law in America
book The Master Switch: The Rise solidate the market. seems to be at an inflection point:
and Fall of Information Empires, “I think if you took a after a proud history of aggres-
Wu has a new book coming out hard look at the acquisition of sive enforcement that saw the
in November called The Curse WhatsApp and Instagram, the breakups of everything from
of Bigness: Antitrust in the New argument that the effects of Standard Oil to the original AT&T,
Gilded Age. In it, he argues com- those acquisitions have been the past few decades have been
pellingly for a return to aggres- anticompetitive would be easy to incredibly lax as something called
sive antitrust enforcement in the prove for a number of reasons,” the “consumer welfare standard”
style of Teddy Roosevelt, saying says Wu. And breaking up the has swept the courts. Basically,
that Google, Facebook, Amazon, company wouldn’t be hard, he the consumer welfare standard
and other huge tech companies says. “What would be the harm? says the government has to
are a threat to democracy as they You’ll have three competitors. It’s show that a merger will result in
get bigger and bigger. not ‘Oh my god, if you get rid of increasing prices for consumers
“We live in America, which WhatsApp and Instagram, well before it can stop it. “I think any-
has a strong and proud tradition then the whole world’s going to one will agree that [the consum-
of breaking up companies that fall apart.’ It would be like ‘Okay, er welfare standard] creates a
are too big for inefficient rea- now you have some companies very challenging screen where
sons,” Wu told me on this week’s actually trying to offer you an most antitrust cases die,” says
Vergecast. “We need to reverse alternative to Facebook.’” Wu. “And sometimes the prices
this idea that it’s not an American Breaking up Facebook will go up, but you can’t prove it
tradition. We’ve broken up dozens (and other huge tech companies because it’s hard to prove. That’s
of companies.” And breaking up like Google and Amazon) could what I’m trying to
Facebook isn’t a new idea. Ever be simple under the current law, overthrow.” There
since Mark Zuckerberg bought suggests Wu. But it could also are two problems
Instagram and WhatsApp, the lead to a major rethinking of how with the consumer
idea of undoing those deals has antitrust law should work in a welfare standard
been present at the periphery of world where the giant platform in 2018: first, after
the conversation about regulating companies give their products years of dancing
tech companies. Both were se- away for free, and the ability for around it, giant
rious burgeoning competitors to the government to restrict corpo- corporations and
the social network, and both ac- rate power seems to be dimin- their lawyers have
quisitions sailed through without ishing by the day. And it demands learned to make their

21
arguments about price increas- Hal Singer, an economist and what AT&T thought. They were
es ridiculously technical. This antitrust expert. “We need to like, ‘Listen. We know the phone
leads to comical misdirection. attack them with a different system. We know what works.
For example, the judge in the standard because the probability This internet stuff is never going
AT&T-Time Warner merger case of prevailing under the consumer to work.’ I think Facebook is in ex-
devoted hundreds of pages to welfare standard is zero.” actly the same position,” Wu said.
the technical discussion of price One or two companies “They’re trying to set themselves
increases and paid zero attention ruling over segments of the mar- up as regulated monopolist for
to the anticompetitive effects of ket has historically chilled innova- the foreseeable future.”
AT&T prioritizing its own vid- tion, says Wu. “I think some peo- And the chilling effect of
eo services over others.“I think ple in Silicon Valley are like, ‘Yeah, Facebook and other tech gi-
everyone’s steering way away competition is for losers.’ If you’re ants buying up every promising
from the monopolies, and I think competing with other people, startup is noticeable. “​I think if
it’s hurting innovation in the tech you might have to make compro- we have a tech economy entirely
sector,” says Wu. mises or [suggest] it’s better just premised on the idea that mo-
Second, it’s all but impos- to have one guy, the right guy, nopolists may one day buy the
sible to show a consumer price making all of the decisions. That’s underlying thing, it really limits
increase when major internet what can happen,” says Wu.
services like Google and Face- And so the movement to
book are free. Making a case for break away from the consumer
breaking up these companies will welfare standard is growing.
rely on showing a different type Sometimes called the New
of harm than high consumer pric- Brandeis movement, the idea
es — something like anticompet- is that the law should prioritize
itive practices, or that innovative competition. It’s the same sort
businesses get suffocated when of standard EU regulators have
they’re absorbed by their gigantic been using to crack down on big
acquirers. tech companies; these stan-
“There are a subset of dards were originally based on
cases where the pri- the American approach under
mary harm mani- Brandeis and Roosevelt. It’s the
fests itself as an same with Facebook now, he
innovation says. “Facebook sits down with
loss,” someone and says, ‘We could
says steal the functionality and bring
it into the mothership, or you
could sell to us at this dis-
tressed price.’”
“There’s really nothing to
stop Facebook from
swallowing all of
these verticals.”

22
 BUYING GUIDE

THE BEST MICROPHONES TO

START PODCASTING WITH
Linus Seb

W
hen Apple started to The microphone should be us- than ever to get your show up and
sell Blue’s Snowball er-friendly, accessible, and pro- running for a fairly low price.
microphone in their vide excellent sound quality. As you look for the best
stores in 2005, it opened doors Podcasting at its heart is podcast mic for your setup, you’ll
for independent creators to make independent and accessible to learn that they come in two differ-
their home recordings sound everyone; for both the creator and ent types: dynamic and condens-
significantly better than what the the listener. With the rise of pod- er. Both are great for podcasts, but
consumer market had offered cast companies and the boom- the condenser records more ac-
previously, by just plugging a ing on-demand audio industry, curate audio and is generally more
microphone right into the USB there are independent creators sensitive to loud sounds, which is
port on their computer. Now that left behind who cannot afford a why you’ll also find them in re-
the market is full of these types of multitude of equipment, space, cording studios. We feature both
microphones, it can be difficult to and time to produce an audio types within most price points
understand what the best option show. So before media compa- in this list, but the “best one” still
is for your own setup. So we’ve nies gentrify the podcast industry, really depends on you and your
tested out the top USB micro- here are some microphones that unique needs. Once you’ve picked
phones on the market today to can help you start making your out the right one for you, you be-
help you choose your next pod- show sound its best on a budget. come that much closer to starting
cast or streaming investment. You can’t just plug any micro- your own podcast or improving
The qualifications for this phone into your computer and your audio quality for the benefit
list are specific to a podcaster start recording. But for a hobbyist of your hopefully loyal and loving
starting out or upgrading to using or someone starting out in the podcast audience. Mic check, mic
a higher-quality microphone. field, there are now more options check 123 anyone?
23
1. THE BEST OPTION your recorded voice), and Whenever I suggest
FOR MOST PODCAST- require little equalizing. someone at Cursor
ERS: RØDE NT-USB What you get in Magazine to bring a Blue
the box is a mountable Yeti along with them to
Testing out 12 USB mics pop shield for blocking record a podcast re-
plugged into my Mac- plosives (an unwanted motely while traveling,
Book Pro in a quiet envi- air popping sound from they are very hesitant
ronment (Cursor Media’s letters like P and B), a because of its size. The
podcast studio), the clear stand, and a cable. The NT-USB is fairly compact.
winner for bestsounding mic comes with a USB If you separate the mic,
mic was the Røde NT- Type B cable which is the shield, and the stand,
USB. Voice recordings fine for general use, but it’s a lot easier to pack in
are rich and full, with a if you want to use this a bag. As far as having
wide signal-to-noise with an iPad (which Røde everything you need
ratio (the amount of advertises), you have to record yourself for a
background noise in a re- to go buy a Lightning to podcast out of the box,
cording in comparison to USB Type B cable. this gets you there.

2. A STEP-UP OPTION: lution than a CD—during have the option of using

BLUE YETI PRO any recording scenario. it as a standard XLR ana-
Whether you record at log output (with a stereo
A standard in podcasting home, in a studio, or in breakout cable) for using
as far as USB micro- the Himalayas, Yeti Pro with any audio interface
phones go, the Blue Yeti combines the conve- as well as the capabil-
is versatile, readily avail- nience of USB micro- ity to record at 24bit /
able in most consumer phones with the flexibili- 96kHz sample rates for
electronic stores, and ty of XLR microphones. higher-quality record-
easy to use. Because of its ings. That kind of func-
Featuring three ability to record in ste- tionality is why the Yeti
custom condenser reo, the Yeti is used a lot Pro costs considerably
capsules and four dif- in the ASMR Youtube more than the standard
ferent pattern settings, community as well as Yeti, but it makes this mic
Yeti Pro delivers detailed podcasting and stream- still usable if you end up
audio that’s more than ing. With the introduction upgrading to more pro-
four times higher reso- of the Yeti Pro, you now fessional studio gear.

3. FOR LOWER BUD- music, voice, or neutral caster sounds fuller and
GETS: NEAT MICRO- as well as mic gain and more flexible for a vari-
PHONES BUMBLEBEE / headphone volume. ety of use cases such as
CASTER For the Beecaster, you recording acoustic guitar
are able to switch from or voiceover for video.
The Bumblebee and the mono to various stereo This is really a
Beecaster have a dry, wideness instead of the desktop mic not meant
yet tonally flat, kind of voice / music / neutral to be moved. The good
sound, but they do match preset and there is also thing about these stands,
up well against the Yeti a mute button for cut- though, is they actually
and the Røde. The way ting off sound from the have adjustable height,
the settings are laid out mic for whatever rea- unlike basically every
is very neat and easy to son. These two mics do other stand that’s includ-
use. For the Bumblebee, have different frequency ed with a USB mic. I don’t
the base of the stand has responses; I’ve found the know why no other USB
three knobs to adjust for more expensive Bee- mics have this.
24
 COLUMN

chrome is making the internet

a safe place for everyone
Vlad Savov

F
or five years, Google has the company has been aware of Project Zero has had a massive
funded Project Zero, a team the issue, and able to knowingly impact on the security of devices,
of hackers with the sole fix the bugs, for zero-days. As operating systems, and applica-
mission of finding bugs in what- well as vulnerabilities, the term tions used by millions of people
ever software they wanted to zero-days can be used to refer every day.
research, be it Google’s or some- to exploits, which are techniques For Google, these disclosures
body else’s. Are they making the and code used to take advantage give the internet giant good pub-
internet safer? of those bugs. licity by showing how much the
Between 2016 and 2018, In five years, Project Zero company cares for the security of
Ian Beer found more than 30 researchers have helped find not just its users—but everyone
vulnerabilities in the iPhone’s op- and fix more than 1,500 vulner- else too. In assembling one of the
erating system. These bugs were abilities in some of the world’s most elite hacking teams on the
worth millions of dollars on the most popular software, according planet, Google is messaging to its
open market. Project Zero’s own tally. In Apple customers that it takes security
Beer’s ultimate goal is products, Beer and his colleagues very seriously. Along the way,
to make the iPhone even more have found more than 300 bugs; Google has given itself an excuse
secure, but he doesn’t work at in Microsoft’s products they to probe its competitors products
Apple. He’s a hacker for Google’s found more than 500; in Adobe’s and software, doubtlessly learn-
Project Zero, an elite hacking Flash, they found more than 200. ing from others’ security mis-
team focused on finding bugs in Project Zero has also found crit- takes. Project Zero has been able
popular software and products ical issues in CloudFlare, several to poke holes in the bulletproof
made by companies like Apple, antivirus apps, and chat apps mystique of the iPhone’s security,
Microsoft, and by Google itself. such as WhatsApp and FaceTime. which is widely believed to be the
Zero-days are vulnerabilities or A Project Zero researcher was hardest consumer device to hack.
bugs in software that are un- also part of the group who found In doing so, Google is able to
known to the software maker, the infamous Spectre and Melt- insert itself into conversations it
meaning they haven’t been down flaws in Intel chips. might not otherwise be a part of.
patched yet. Hence their name: These numbers show
25
 COLUMN

silicon valley
cynicism in
the age of
trump and
zuckerberg
Ashley Carmen

E
lizabeth Warren had Facebook “Even if the substance of Scavino Jr. Facebook’s readout on
in her sights this week, using that claim has been debunked the meeting was terse: “Mark is
Twitter to ask a provocative elsewhere,” a Facebook executive in Washington, DC, meeting with
question many of us were thinking explained about the new policy, policymakers to hear their con-
to ourselves: “Trump and Zuck- “if the claim is made directly by a cerns and talk about future internet
erberg met at the White House politician on their page, in an ad, or regulation. He also had a good,
two weeks ago. What did they talk on their website, it is considered constructive meeting with Pres-
about?” In the process, she shined direct speech and ineligible for our ident Trump at the White House
a light on the cynicism and culture third-party fact checking program.” today.” Once news broke of the
of mistrust that’s rampant in Silicon Thus, we all learned about the White House visit, Trump released
Valley and Washington. conveniently valuable “politician a picture of the two shaking hands
The question from Warren, exemption” to rules against ma- after a “nice meeting.” Good luck
who is steadily rising in the polls nipulating the public on Facebook. keeping this visit under the radar,
among Democratic voters, didn’t In her tweetstorm, Warren Mark!
exactly come out of the blue; she first noted that Facebook helped For if you concede that
had two recent developments elect Trump in 2016 by being Warren is simply trying to get a
to triangulate with. First, Mark “asleep at the wheel” while Russia handle on out-of-control tech
Zuckerberg was recorded on tape worked for his election. She then monopolies, you would propose
describing to Facebook employees moved to today, concluding that discussion and deliberation, not
his view that the election of War- “this time they’re going further by warfare. Likewise, if you recognize
ren represented an “existential” taking deliberate steps to help one that the press has exposed serious
threat to the company, something candidate intentionally mislead the flaws in the design and execution
“you go to the mat and you fight.” American people, while painting of Silicon Valley platforms, you
Unstated but implied is that the the candidacy of others (specifical- would be open to a vision of social
current president does not repre- ly: mine) as an ‘existential’ threat. networks that are much smaller in
sent an existential threat to Face- This is a serious concern for our scale and prevented from exploit-
book—nor does climate change, democratic process.” ing personal data. But if your real
for that matter. Second, Facebook This brings us back to goals are money and power (as
just reversed its policies on trying that unannounced White House opposed to say, making the world
to keep demonstrable lies from meeting between Zuckerberg and a better place), you’re more apt to
its platform in a way that protects Trump, which was attended by see your opponents as a threat to
President Donald Trump’s reelec- Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner your very existence, as rapacious
tion campaign. and his digital media strategist Dan and cynical as you are.

26
 Gaming

10 GAMES WE CAN’T WAIT TO

PLAY THIS HOLIDAY SEASON
Cursor Staff
charge — Deus Ex studio Eidos
1. DRAGON QUEST XI - SEP- Montréal has taken the lead
TEMBER 4 from Crystal Dynamics. Shad-
The eleventh Dragon Quest is ow sees Lara descend into the
the first single-player game in South American jungle in a bid
the series to come to a home to stop the Mayan apocalypse
console in 14 years. That’s not to and, unlike the previous game,
say that much has changed — it’s will be coming to the PlaySta-
the same classic JRPG blend of tion 4 at the same time as the
fighting monsters, exploring the Xbox One and PC. Lara’s
world, and fighting some more, biggest foes so far have
and it’s as charming and comfort- been clunky scripts and
able as ever. But Dragon Quest’s convoluted Dan Brown-
leap to the PlayStation 4, as well style plotting — here’s
as its debut on PC, means that hoping the switch in
Akira Toriyama’s unmistakable art creative personnel can
has never looked so gorgeous. help her vanquish them.

2. SPIDER-MAN - SEPTEMBER 7 4. NINTENDO LABO

Insomniac Games takes on VEHICLE KIT - SEPTEM-
the costumed webslinger in BER 14
what looks like a match made When Nintendo released
in heaven for the PlayStation 4. its first batch of kits for
Spider-Man lets players step into Labo — a line of DIY
the shoes of the eponymous cardboard ac-
arachnid hero as he swings and cesso-
fights his way around an open-
world New York. There’s an all- ries
new story, too, offering its own and games
spin on the Spider-Man lore with for the Switch — it
an older, more mature version of seemed inevitable that
the character — but if we’re being more were on the way. And the
honest, we’re pretty much just first new kit looks like it might be themselves, and this could be
here for the webslinging.—CG the most exciting so far. Called the first step toward rectifying
simply the “vehicle kit,” it lets you that. It also has some added util-
3. SHADOW OF THE TOMB build your own cardboard con- ity, as the cardboard contraptions
RAIDER - SEPTEMBER 14 trols to pilot a car, plane, and sub- are compatible with Mario Kart
Lara Croft returns for the third marine. There’s even a cardboard 8 Deluxe. Now to figure out if
entry in Square Enix’s generally key to get each engine started. you have room in your house for
excellent Tomb Raider reboot. While the initial Labo kits were more huge Labo creations.
This time, however, there’s a new fun to build, there was much
developer and writing team in to be desired from the games
27
 yssey to help mend the mur-
5. LIFE IS STRANGE 2 - SEP- 6. FORZA HORIZON 4 - OCTO- der-filled Grecian hole in your
TEMBER 27 BER 2ND heart. Giving players the option
Dontnod’s episodic, sci-fi adven- Microsoft’s open-world arcade to fully choose between a male
ture series Life is Strange was a racer gets better with each in- or female character for the first
critical darling when it launched stallment and for the latest entry, time in the series, Odyssey looks
in 2015, and its sequel is highly developer Playground Games is to move the long-running histor-
anticipated. Details have been bringing the series to its home ical murder simulation series into
scarce leading up to the first turf: Britain. That decision means a more traditional role-playing
episode’s release, but the sequel Forza Horizon 4 has to support vein, with interactive dialogue,
— set three years later more, um, unpredictable weather unlockable skills, branching story
in the same universe, conditions than was needed for paths, and romance options.
but only loosely the last game’s setting of Aus- It also brings back the popular
connect- tralia, and the team has delivered naval combat system from Black
accordingly with a full-blown Flag, complete with Grecian sea
dynamic seasonal system shanties.
that’ll see the game shift
from winter to spring to 9. SUPER MARIO PARTY - OC-
summer to autumn on a TOBER
weekly basis for all play- Since the very first Mario Party
ers. Even the sheep will release in 1998, this mini-game-
have varying degrees of filled competition has long been
fluffiness. the best way to get into a fight
with your friends. Nintendo is
7. MEGA MAN 11 - OCTOBER finally adding a Switch version
2ND to the series, which will allow
Mega Man is back. On Octo- players to pair two systems for
ber 2nd, the blue robot kid multiplayer. The game includes
returns on his eleventh 80 new mini-games, new
appearance in his epony- modes, and new play styles. RIP
mous series, with Mega your friendships.
Man 11. This time around,
Mega Man is facing off 10. STARLINK: BATTLE FOR
against eight of Dr. Wily’s ATLAS - OCTOBER 16
Robot Masters and What if No Man’s Sky was de-
their new, up- signed with kids in mind? And
graded tech- what if it came with a series of
nology — the seriously cool collectible toys?
Double Gear. Using it, That’s the premise behind Star-
Wily’s robots can ei- link, a brand new property from
ther power up their Ubisoft that fuses open-world
attacks or increase sci-fi exploration with the toys-
their move speed. to-life platform popularized by
Luckily, Mega Man Skylanders. Starlink doesn’t fea-
also has the Gear. ture the same impossible scale
ed — will follow two brothers Sounds like you’ll need it. as No Man’s Sky, but it makes up
on the run from the law after a for it with more structure, includ-
tragic event. The new series will 8. ASSASSIN’S CREED ODYS- ing plentiful missions to take on
still include special powers for SEY - OCTOBER 5 and a proper story to follow. And
players to take advantage of, but Kratos may have moved on to unlike most games designed
it appears time travel won’t be in the world of Norse mythology for younger audiences, Starlink
the cards this time. earlier this year, but Ubisoft is doesn’t hold your hand: it’s huge
here with Assassin’s Creed Od- and filled with dangers.

28
 GUIDE

THE CURSOR
GUIDE TO
PRIVACY
AND
SECURITY
Cursor Staff

P
rivacy and security are on everyone’s minds ber by a text-based confirmation. (Note: You can
these days — and for good reason. It some- only link one Google Voice number to each “real”
times seems like every week, there’s a new phone number.)
story about a corporate database getting hacked,
releasing thousands of names, email addresses, and HOW TO SET UP TWO-FACTOR AUTHENTICATION
even Aadhaar numbers into the wild. Meanwhile, click ON ALL YOUR ONLINE ACCOUNTS
on the wrong link, and your computer could send all • Use authenticator apps. Authenticator apps are
of your personal info out for misuse. Data aggrega- considered more secure than texting; in addition,
tors pull your personal information from hundreds of they offer flexibility when you are traveling to a
sites and sell it to whoever wants to pay. Your identity place without cellular service.
is in danger if the wrong people get hold of your in- • To turn on 2FA on Twitter or Facebook using
formation. And if you say something on social media the web, log in and head to your profile. Next to
that angers an aggressive group, the pile-on can your profile name, there is a gear icon next to
affect your work, life, and emotional well-being. the Edit Profile button. Clicking this will pop open
Luckily, there are strategies you can use to a settings menu, where you can find the same
minimize or even avoid these dangers. In this guide Privacy and Security section as on the app. From
to privacy and security, we offer a toolkit for dealing here, you can turn on 2FA and, just as in the app,
with issues like identity theft, online harassment, and choose your method for verification.
general data security. In short, don’t just worry about
today’s privacy issues — do something about it. HOW TO BLOCK AD TRACKING ON YOUR PHONE:
• You may not be able to get rid of ads entirely, but
HOW TO GENERATE VIRTUAL ONLINE IDS TO PRE- you can supply the advertisers with as little info
VENT SPAM, SCAMS, AND PHISHING ATTACKS about you as possible. Limit Ad Tracking (LAT)
Google lets you do this using an iOS or Android app, puts the kibosh on what is called “interest-based
or on the web. Personally, I find it easier to do it on the ads” — in other words, ads that target you based
web so I can copy and paste the numbers to various on your search history and other usage stats.
services quickly. Here’s how: Shut it off, and you may get ads that are totally in-
• Head to voice.google.com and sign in with your appropriate for your needs, but at least marketers
Gmail address (if you’re not signed in already). won’t bombard you with ads.
• Choose a number based on the digits available in • Go to Settings
the area code you desire. Select the number you • Select “Advertising” (at the bottom of the Settings
want. screen)
• You’ll then be asked to link it to your actual num- • Turn on “Limit Ad Tracking”
29