It’s official: Facebook knows that Instagram, which it owns, is bad for your brain. In a presentation posted to Facebook’s internal message board in 2020 and leaked by Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen, Instagram researchers noted that “32% of teen girls said that when they felt bad about their bodies, Instagram made them feel worse.” In a slide dated 2019, the researchers reported that “We make body image issues worse for one in three teen girls.”

According to Haugen, “The choices being made inside of Facebook are disastrous for our children, for our public safety, for privacy and for our democracy.”

As you’d expect, Facebook and Instagram deny the allegations. But there’s tons of evidence that Instagram isn’t great for everybody. So what can we do about it?

Before we look at the tools we can use, it’s important to understand why we may need to curate our feeds more carefully. According to Instagram’s own research, “aspects of Instagram exacerbate each other to create a perfect storm”. Those aspects are the addictiveness of the app, the pressure to show only your best moments and the focus on beauty.

Social media such as Instagram encourages us to post heavily edited versions of ourselves and our lives, and to compare ourselves to other people who are doing the same: it’s all about the likes. Some of the most popular content features very beautiful people in very beautiful places doing very beautiful things. When we compare our real lives to their airbrushed, professionally lit, professionally styled, carefully photographed ones, because that’s what people do, that can have a significant effect on our self-esteem.

In a 2018 study of teenagers’ social media habits, 43% said they felt pressure to post only things that made them look good; 37% felt pressure to share things that will get a lot of likes or comments. A 2020 study of social media use among teenagers found that “social media was very robustly related to increases in depressive symptoms” in a way video games and other screen-based activities weren’t.

There are three key ways you can make Instagram a healthier place to hang out. You can use tools to restrict your use of the app, for example by limiting it to certain times or ensuring you don’t stay on it for hours. You can be more choosy about who you follow, although of course that doesn’t stop you seeing the ads or recommended follows. And you can use tools inside the Instagram to get more control over what you see.

Apple and Android phones and tablets have excellent tools for limiting screen time. In iOS you’ll find them in Settings > Screen Time > App Limits, and in Android they’re in Settings > Digital Wellbeing & Parental Controls. You can then set daily limits for your app, so for example you might want to limit access to one hour a day. For parents you can also use these features to set limits on your kids’ devices; on Android, you do that through the Family Link app.

There are lots of features inside the Instagram app itself that you can use to change how the app works for you. They’re spread over multiple sections of the Settings page, which you can access from your Profile.

If you go into Settings > Privacy, you can use the Hidden Words section to block potentially offensive or triggering content; in Settings > Privacy > Posts you can disable Like and View counts, and limit who can tag you or message you.

In this guide we show you how to downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10.

There really is a lot to love about Windows 11, but there is no getting away from the fact that it is not going to be to everyone’s liking. 

The fact that Microsoft has made it available as a free upgrade from Windows 10 means that there is no risk involved in trying out the latest version of the operating system. 

If you decide that you simply don’t like Windows 11 – you may not like the look and feel, or you may have issues with hardware or software, for instance – you will be pleased to hear that it’s possible to roll back to Windows 10. 

So, here’s how to downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10.

While Microsoft has made it possible to downgrade from Windows 11 to Windows 10 in the event that you change your mind about the operating system for some reason, it’s important to remember that this is a time-limited offer. 

The method of reverting to Windows 10 we explain here is only available for a period of ten days after you have upgrade. 

It’s also worth pointing out that this method only works if you have performed an upgrade from Windows 10 to Windows 11. If you have bought a computer with Windows 10 pre-installed, there is no quick and easy way to switch to the older version.

If you find yourself within Microsoft’s permitted downgrade window and you are sure you want to roll back to Windows 10 after upgrading to Windows 11, here’s what you need to do. 

Start by closing down any running applications, save any documents you had open, and then open Settings from the Start menu – or press the Windows key + I at the same time. Move to the ‘Windows Update’ section in the list to the left and then click ‘Advanced Options’ in the right-hand pane. Scroll down to the ‘Additional options’ section and click ‘Recovery’.

*Update: William Shatner’s trip into space was a success and the crew of NS-18 has safely returned to Earth.*

William Shatner, the iconic actor made famous by his portrayal of Captain James Tiberius Kirk on Star Trek in the 1960s, is set to go to space for real later today, thanks to the private space company Blue Origin.

The Blue Origin flight, designated NS-18 (it will be the 18th flight of the New Shepherd rocket), will launch Shatner; Audrey Powers, Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations; Chris Boshuizen, co-founder of Planet, an Earth-observation venture; and Glen de Vries, vice chair for life sciences and healthcare at Dassault Systèmes, a French software firm.

Originally slated for October 12, the launch window was pushed back one day and after a 30 minute pre-launch delay, the mission is now scheduled for take off at 10:30AM EDT / 7:30AM PDT / 3:30PM BST on October 13.

The launch isn’t just a cultural event, but also a historic one. Shatner, at 90 years old, will be the oldest person to ever fly in space, following Wally Funk’s trip into space on New Shephard’s first crewed mission back in July. Funk is 82 years old, and remains the oldest woman to ever fly in space.

Fortunately, rocket launches have become popular media events for private space companies, so there are plenty of livestreams of the launch site in Van Horn, Texas, that will capture all the action.

Blue Origin will have its official livestream up on its homepage, with the webcast scheduled to start at 8:30AM EDT / 5:30AM PDT / 1:30PM BST and will run until just after the crew capsule returns to Earth.

The webcast will also run on Blue Origin’s YouTube channel and the company will be providing live mission updates on its Twitter feed if you want to follow along. We’re also embedding the stream below.

 A smart device with a built-in voice assistant can take on a range of tasks for you, from setting timers to getting the day’s weather, freeing up your hands so you can get on with other things. . 

According to Statista, 157 million US homes owned one of the best smart speakers or smart displays by the end of 2019, but not everyone is using them to their full potential, especially when it comes to making audio, and in the case of smart displays, video calls. 

As well as making audio calls to landlines or those with the Alexa app installed on their smartphone, Alexa also offers a feature called Drop In that acts as an intercom so you can instantly head, and if you have a smart display, see what’s happening in different rooms of your home. 

Fancy grabbing yourself one of Amazon’s smart speakers or smart displays? Check out the best prices on offer right now. 

Firstly, it is worth explaining what Alexa Drop In is not. This feature does not work like a phone call, where one person uses an Echo device to call up the other, who then decides whether to answer their ringing Echo speaker or not. Instead, Drop In opens an audio link between two (or more) Echo devices right away, as soon as you ask Alexa to do so.

When you ask Alexa to drop-in on one of your Echo devices or that of one of your contacts, you immediately receive an audio feed from that device. Or if you are using Echo Show smart displays, a video feed between the two devices will open too.

Naturally, there are some critical privacy implications to be aware of here, and Alexa Drop In can only be set up with the permission of the person intended to be dropped in on. And, while it can be used by two people wishing to communicate between different homes (more on that later), most Drop In use cases happen between Echo devices in the same home.

Drop In is one of the few Alexa features that Amazon reserves for its own Echo devices. So while it doesn’t work on Alexa speakers from other companies, Drop In works on almost every Echo device, plus Amazon’s Fire tablets and the Alexa smartphone app. The only Echo products it doesn’t work on are the now-discontinued Echo Look and the battery-powered (and also now unavailable) Echo Tap.

Alexa Drop In is switched off on all of your devices by default. To enable it on a specific Echo device, open the Alexa smartphone app, tap on the menu icon in the bottom-right corner, then tap on the settings icon in the top-right corner. Now tap on Communications, tap the toggle switch to the on position, then tap on Drop In and tap On or My Household. The former allows Drop In calls from contacts outside the home, while the second option limits Drop In to Echo devices attached to your Alexa account.

You will need to do this with every device you want to use Drop In with, and turning the feature off is simply a case of following the same instructions then tapping Off on the final menu page.

DC has finally adapted the universe of Injustice: Gods Among Us for an animated movie. First brought to Xbox 360, PC and PS3 in 2013, Injustice was a fighting game created by the Mortal Kombat developers at NetherRealm Studios. It was a DC Comics storyline built on a dark premise: what if The Joker killed Lois Lane, and Superman turned super-evil? 

The Justice League was then broken apart, with different heroes picking sides throughout the conflict. It was really silly, even by comic book standards, but very popular.

The first game then spawned massively successful comic books, mobile games and a sequel video game on consoles, and even appeared to inspire Zack Snyder’s Batman Vs Superman in 2016. Now, the DC animation machine is adapting the core storyline, in a movie that releases on VOD from October 18, 2021. 

The cast includes Justin Hartley as Superman, Anson Mount as Batman and Gillian Jacobs as Harley Quinn, with Kevin Pollak playing the Joker.

Below, we’ll explain how to watch the film in the US, the UK and Australia.

In the US, the DC animated Injustice movie releases on video on demand platforms on Monday, October 18. You can pre-order it on the service of your choice – here are a few options:

As far as we can tell, no, Injustice is not releasing on HBO Max. There would be no point releasing it separately as a commercial release if the intention was to get people to support a subscription-based streaming service.

You can, however, expect the movie to roll out on the service at some point. The issue is, Warner Bros. can be inconsistent with how these things are released. For example, both parts 1 and 2 of The Long Halloween movie, released in June and July 2021 respectively, were added to HBO Max at the start of October 2021.

By comparison, though, April 2021’s Justice Society: World War II movie is not available on HBO Max. So there is no pattern we can use to form a smart estimate of when Injustice will land on HBO Max.

If you’re not in a rush to watch it, then, check back a few months down the line to see what the deal is.

For some of us, nothing soothes the soul more than a good coffee. From short, intense espressos to long, creamy lattes, it’s never been easier to make an exceptional brew at home. That is of course if you have the right tools and the know-how. 

Having one of the best coffee makers is half the battle, but according to Will Woodhouse-Banks, Operations Developer at British coffee roaster Taylors of Harrogate and a former barista, the coffee, and water you use is just as important.

While you can follow step-by-step instructions and use the correct ratios, if your coffee isn’t freshly ground or the water you use has high levels of dissolved calcium, magnesium, or other minerals in it, then it won’t taste as good as one made by a trained barista. 

Fancy making coffee at home rather than reading on to find how to make various coffee-based drinks, then check out these great deals for some of the best on the market. 

How to achieve the perfect brew depends a lot on the beverage of your choice.  However, no matter whether you’re a latte lover or craving the deep roast of an espresso, there are two aspects that are key to any coffee, and unsurprisingly that’s the ground coffee and the water you use. 

“Grinding your coffee will always give you a fresher, more aromatic cup,” Woodhouse-Banks said. 

Woodhouse-Banks said freshly ground coffee has a lot of ‘volatile aromatics’ which contribute to a delicious brew, but these can escape if the coffee is left for too long. 

“Coffee exposed to too much oxygen goes stale quickly,” he said.  

If you don’t have the ability to freshly grind coffee, Woodhouse-Banks suggests storing it in an air-tight container and in a cool, dark place. For even fresher results follow the ‘best before guidelines.

It’s not just the aroma and taste fresh coffee provides, it also ensures a thick, rich crema (the hazelnut-colored layer that sits on top of an espresso). This contributes to the espresso’s fuller flavor and ensures a longer aftertaste than with drip coffee.

The other key to the perfect caffeine hit is good water and sometimes what comes out of the tap just won’t cut it. 

Salesforce is widely recognized as one of the best CRM software options available today, while Slack has become the de facto instant messaging tool for many businesses. 

In August 2021, Salesforce released a new Slack to Salesforce integration tool, enabling teams to get updates on Salesforce records from within Slack. This allows team members to respond faster to new opportunities, resolve problems faster, and act on insights immediately.

In this article, we’ll outline the steps required to get Slack and Salesforce talking to each other.

• First, you will need both Salesforce and Slack accounts. 

• You will need a Salesforce account that supports API access. These are the Performance Edition, Developer Edition, Unlimited Edition, and Enterprise Edition. 

• If you have Salesforce Professional Edition, you can get API access by purchasing an API access plugin from the Salesforce sales team. 

Note: Group Edition and Essentials Edition don’t have API access, so if you have one of these above plans you will need to upgrade for the Slack to Salesforce integration to work.

• We highly suggest using the Google Chrome browser and disabling any pop-up blockers while setting up this bridge between apps. Otherwise, some steps, such as logging in to the AppExchange Marketplace, may not work.

Log in to Salesforce and click on the Settings cog to the top right of the interface. In the menu, select the AppExchange Marketplace, which is found within the Apps submenu.

Here, search for Salesforce for Slack. Click on the first app, developed by Slack Technologies. Choose Get It Now. If you’re not already logged into the AppExchange, you will be asked to log in to the AppExchange using your Salesforce credentials or AppExchange account.

Despite the abundance of brand new website builders and content management systems, WordPress remains the most popular choice for webmasters. Loved for its extensive range of plugins and blog capabilities, this software is currently powering over 40% of existing websites. 

So, how do you get started with WordPress? The first step is to install the platform on your web hosting account. 

This guide will show you how to install WordPress using three methods:

We’ll also walk you through installing WordPress themes and plugins in order to get your website up and running. 

First, we’ll show how to install WordPress with Hostinger. They offer speedy, beginner-friendly hosting services at a fair price, starting from $1.39/month. All plans come with a WordPress auto-installer, so you can jump right into building a website.

To install WordPress using Hostinger, follow these steps:

By now, the WordPress dashboard should show up on the screen. Depending on the hosting plan, you may see some pre-installed plugins, such as LiteSpeed Cache to boost performance. 

To open the dashboard without signing into your hosting account, insert the website’s domain name and add /wp-admin/ at the end of the URL. Then, enter the login information.

Bluehost is a US-based company with robust WordPress site hosting plans. It has a marketplace full of custom themes and plugins for its clients, making it easy to find any extension you might need. The subscriptions start from $3.95/month.

Here’s how to install WordPress with Bluehost:

The Kingdom Hearts series is notorious for being the most confusing convoluted adventure in all of gaming. With titles ranging from Kingdom Hearts Birth By Sleep 0.2: A Fragmentary Passage to Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance to just Kingdom Hearts 3, we can definitely see why people have trouble understanding what game they need to play next.

Now that Sora has been unveiled as the final Super Smash Bros Ultimate fighter, and with the whole series coming to the Nintendo Switch, we expect there may be several new fans eager to take on the series. But we also expect they’ll need a hand understanding the series’ order.

If you’re looking for advice on what order to play the Kingdom Hearts games in then you’ve come to the right place. Here we have the game series’ chronological and release orders, as well as our recommendation for how to play the series.

Before we explain how to play the games in order, you’ll first need to know how to actually play them at all. It’s hard to think of any other series that has managed to span a stranger series of consoles over the past 20 years than Kingdom Hearts, so gathering everything you need has been tough in the past.

Thankfully, for the most part, you can rely on the Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix, 2.5 Remix, 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue to cover almost all of the older games – as these collections combine nine adventures into three simple packages on Xbox One, PS4, and Nintendo Switch. 

On top of that, you’ll also need console games Kingdom Hearts 3 and Kingdom Hearts Melody of Memories, as well as the mobile games Kingdom Hearts Union X and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road to round out the list.

However, with this method, you won’t actually be able to ‘play’ every Kingdom Hearts game. In the 1.5 and 2.5 Remixes, the Nintendo DS games Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days and Kingdom Hearts Re: Coded feature as cinematic cutscene-only experiences that just recap the story of the games. 

Additionally, some titles such as Kingdom Hearts Union X and Kingdom Hearts Dark Road are no longer playable because their online servers have been shut down. However, offline story-only versions of the games will still let you experience the stories – with Dark Road adding its final chapter later this year. You can also experience a very short segment of the Union X story in the X Back Cover cinematic.

Lastly, before we kick off we’ll be omitting games like Kingdom Hearts 1.5 Remix and 2.5 Remix from the lists below as these aren’t really their own games but a collection of the others. 

If you want to play the Kingdom Hearts series in its full chronological order this is the list you need. It takes you from the series’ earliest moments – depicting the great Keyblade War that reshaped the entire universe into what we see in later games – all the way through to the end of the Dark Seeker Saga – which concluded in Kingdom Hearts 3.

Using a smart device with a built-in voice assistant, for everything from setting timers to getting the day’s weather, can be a great way of freeing up your hands for other tasks. 

But while 157 million US homes owned one of the best smart speakers or smart display by the end of 2019, according to Statista, not enough people know how to have fun with them.

In the case of Amazon’s voice assistant, you may have heard about Super Alexa Mode, which is one of several ‘easter eggs’, fun little quirks built into Alexa that can provide some much-needed entertainment from just setting timers and asking whether you’re going to get wet in the rain today.

Fancy grabbing yourself one of Amazon’s smart speakers or smart displays? Check out the best prices on offer right now. 

Super Alexa Mode is an easter egg built-in to Amazon’s voice assistant and it basically provokes a fun response from Alexa, accompanied by a jolly tune… and not much more. So if you had ideas about the LED light ring pulsing different colors or new power being unleashed, we’re sorry to disappoint you.

So, how is it activated? Unlike most other Alexa features that can be switched on using your voice or the Alexa app, there’s only one way to activate Super Alexa mode, and it’s with your voice. You’ll need to repeat a specific phrase to an Amazon Echo smart speaker or Amazon Echo Show smart display – although you need to brace yourself, as it’s not simple. 

You’ll need to say “Alexa, up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, start” to activate Super Alexa Mode. If you don’t use the precise phrase or stumble over the words Alexa will respond with “Code incorrect, try again”.

Some of you may already know what the command and response are references to (if so, skip the next part) but others may be left wondering, what if anything, it all means.

The phrase you say to Alexa is a reference to Konami Code – a popular cheat that was entered at the start menu when playing a number of games, such as Castlevania and Mortal Kombat III, on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console from the 1980s, to access secret menus.

When Alexa is asked to activate Super Alexa Mode, Amazon’s voice assistant responds with “Super Alexa mode activated. Starting reactors … online. Enabling advanced systems … online. Raising dongers. Error. Dongers missing. Aborting.”